Chapter 45: Suffering losses on both sides

Time flies, and the year has unknowingly entered January 1944.

In the middle of the night in one of the HYDRA facilities in Belgium, Captain America and the Howling Commandos storm the facility.

The team moves swiftly, taking out Hydra soldiers left and right. Captain America, Wolverine, and Sabertooth lead the charge.

Steve uses his shield to deflect the blue energy pulses of energy guns used by Hydra soldiers, while Logan and Victor use their superhuman speed and claws to quickly take out any enemy holding those dangerous weapon in their path.

The eight main members of the Howling Commandos in the rear are not willing to be left behind. With the Symbiote Suit on their bodies, they charge fearlessly amidst the hail of bullets.

As they make their way deeper into the facility, they suddenly stop on their tracks when they saw a two people casually waiting for them.

"Hello, Captain America," the woman greeted Steve and said, "I must say your unit is really a thorn in HYDRA's side."

"Who are you?" Steve asked, baffled at how they could confidently stand in front of them.

"Don't talk to them, Captain. Just do it, and I will show this lady how much of a thorn I am," Victor, the hot-headed guy, grinned and licked his bloody claw in a wretched manner.

"What did you say, bastard?" Melvin spoke in anger. Susan held her brother and said, "Calm down, brother. We will play with them later."

"Step aside for a moment, Victor," Steve also stopped his team from talking and looked at Susan to continue what she was going to say.

"Well, you really have a wild beast on your team, with a filthy mouth. You can call me Susan, and this one on my side is my brother, Melvin." Susan smiled at him and then said, "We heard that you just destroyed one of our facilities in France. Herr Skull is not pleased... So we decided to solved you personally and destroy your unit once and for all."

"And how are you going to do that? With your protective brother or by seducing us?" Logan said sarcastically, and the rest of the Howling Commandos smiled and were amused.

Seeing them laughing, Susan just smiled seductively and said, "Exactly."

The Howling Commandos burst out laughing after hearing her confirmation. Steve remained serious, wondering what the meaning of her words was.

"Well, let's see if you can still laugh later," Susan said in a ridiculing tone and glanced at her side and said, "Brother, let's start."

"Yes, sister," Melvin answered eagerly to play their mind.

"Why not try to look at us?" The two siblings wasted no time in using their hypnosis powers when they look at them and quickly take control of Bucky Barnes, Dum Dum Dugan, Jim Morita, Jacques Dernier, James Montgomery Falsworth, Gabe Jones, Junior Jupiter, Pinky Pinkerton, and Happy Sam Sawyers.

The eight of them suddenly stopped laughing and raised their guns, pointing them at Steve, Logan, and Victor.

"What are you all doing?" Steve asked, surprised by the scene. Gabe Jones fired the energy guns in his hand, and Steve used the shield to defend himself.

Dum Dum Dugan and Bucky Barnes used their guns on Logan and Victor, forcing them to find cover. Even with the symbiote suit, they would still feel pain because it was only designed on the level of modern body armor.

The other five also fired, killing all the military units behind them.

The two sibling successfully turned the eight of the Howling Commandos against them.

"Why we couldn't control Captain America and the two wild beasts on his team, sister?" Melvin asked worriedly.

Andy secretly construct a 'mental shield' on Steve's mind, while Logan and Victor has resistance to mind-control.

Instead of worrying like her brother, Susan laughed cheerfully and said, "Don't worry too much. Isn't this more exciting? Turning their team against each other."

Steve, Logan, and Victor were hiding behind the wall, and Victor screamed angrily, "Stop, or we will be forced to fight back."

He still couldn't believe that his team for months was trying to kill them. Logan, on the other hand, was also holding back his anger.

"Hey, guys," Steve shout and turned their attentiom to him and he seemed to think of something. "I think I know the reason. Maybe this is the situation that Andy told us about. Encountering people with extraordinary power like you, mutants."

After coming to this conclusion, they quickly realized what was happening.

"I will take care of Bucky and the others. You quickly solve the two mutants," Steve ordered them and got up from his cover and threw his shield, knocking Gabe Jones and sending him flying.

Logan and Victor also jumped up and ran straight to Susan and Melvin, not minding the pain of the raining bullets fired by the controlled Bucky and the others.

"Oh, shit," Susan and Melvin quickly drew the energy pistol on their waist and started shooting at them.

Susan shot and hit Logan on the left side of his waist, causing him to scream and roll on the ground. The energy pulse inflicted excruciating pain, but the symbiote suit appeared to be damaged, yet it neutralized the damage of the energy pistol, sparing him from vaporizing.

"Logan!" Seeing this, Victor was distracted and seethed with anger and shouted, "You two bastards, I will make you pay--"

Before he finished speaking, Susan and Melvin fired again.

"Arghhh!" Victor also howled in pain.

He was forced to use his two claws to block the incoming energy pulse. The energy pulse vaporized the claws on his two hands, and Victor knelt down in pain and didn't know how to properly hold his burned hand.

"Noooo." Logan screamed and stood up despite the pain. He then ran on all fours, dodging the energy pulses fired at him.

Susan and Melvin also panicked. Although they were mutants in this world, they didn't stand a chance in fighting Logan in hand-to-hand combat since they didn't have enhanced physiology and only had hypnosis ability.

Logan arrived in front of them, using his claws to stab Melvin in the chest and the other to Susan's abdomen. He then kicked them again and sent them flying.

Just as he thought he had successfully knocked them out and proceeded to kill them, Baron Blood appeared out of nowhere, stabbing Logan with his hand on his exposed waist, then sending a powerful punch to his face, knocking him back.

He grabbed the critically injured Scarob sibling and disappeared into the dark corner of the facility. On the other side, Steve also knocked out Bucky and the others to unconsciousness.

"What happened?" Steve muttered worriedly, hearing the screams of Victor and Logan. He headed to their side and checked their situation.

Captain America and the Howling Commandos were left shaken by the encounter, especially Bucky and the others. They were forced to kill their own soldiers.

Victor lost his claw, and Logan left a burned scar on the left side of his waist. The power of the energy pistol powered by Tesseract energy is no joke and can vaporized living people. The energy obstructing their healing ability, if the energy lingering on there bodies is not removed, it wil inflicted a permanent damage on them.

This battle was the first time that the Howling Commandos suffered a defeat, although they successfully destroyed the HYDRA Belgium facility.

------

At the HYDRA Headquarters, a Hydra plane landed, piloted by Baron Blood and carrying the critically injured Susan and Melvin.

Red Skull and Doctor Zola were already waiting with a team of doctors. The soldiers quickly carried the two injured onto stretchers and headed to the operating room.

While walking, Red Skull asked with anger in his tone, "What the hell happened there?"

He didn't expect that even after sending his three people with extraordinary power, they would still suffer a defeat confronting Captain America and his team.

"I don't know what to say," Baron Blood shook his head and said helplessly. "I wanted to aid the two of them, but suddenly, there was a female vampire in golden tights blocking my way. She was so fast, and I couldn't defend myself from her. If not for her kick sending me flying to their side, I doubt I could have rescued them and run."

"Or maybe she let you escape with them and follow you," Red Skull said, ordering the soldiers, "Quick, put the base on the highest alert."

Doctor Zola came to their side after checking the injuries of the Scarbo siblings and interjected, "Herr Skull, I have bad news for you. The two of them sustained serious injuries and will not make it through dawn."

"What did you say?" The Scarob siblings were so important to HYDRA because of their hypnosis ability. Especially Susan, he had some feelings for her, but she disliked his appearance. Damn Dr. Erskine and Captain America, it's their fault.

"Do anything you can do to save them," Red Skull held Doctor Zola on the shoulder and urged him to quickly think of a solution.

"Calm down, Herr Skull," Doctor Zola adjustedd his glasses and glanced at Baron Blood on the side. "There's only one way to save them. To stabilize their situation, we need the vampire blood of Baron Blood and turn the siblings into vampires, with the addition of our Hydra Serum."

"What are you waiting for? Just do the goddamn operation," Red Skull ordered, and Doctor Zola replied, "Y-yes, I will do my best to save them."

----

Meanwhile, at the Westeros Mansion in NYC, Andy was speechless hearing the solution of Doctor Zola while watching them. This guy was really imitating his operation.

Since he usually has anything to do, he always watched on his iPad, observing the campaign of Steve Rogers and the Howling Commandos.

He was also the one who sent Spitfire to help them. It was also unexpected for him the outcome of this battle, especially Susan Scarob getting seriously injured.

He didn't forget that he was nicknamed "Andy the Savior," and Susan was already on his list to save from the evil clutches of HYDRA.

Naturally, he would secretly help Susan and her brother survive the operation. It seemed that their aliases would really live up to their names if they became vampires.

Susan Scarbo as Mother Night, and Melvin Scarbo as Minister Blood.