The doctor's stride carried him across the grounds to the main chamber quickly.
He entered the chamber.The room was a large concrete structure and,despite the morning,still bathed in darkness.The doctor proceeded to seat himself in the large throne-like chair centered in the middle of the room.
At the far end of the room,the heavy steel door that connected the chamber to the furnace room,opened.It creaked on its hinges.Light escaped from the room and scattered onto the floor,the crackle of fires could be heard beyond the heavy frame.A figure,of what appeared to be a man clothed in a heavy leather trench coat,approached the throne.
As the man neared the doctor,the details of his structure could be made clear.The man was clearly dressed in an officers uniform.The black leather danced in view of the light that struck at the darkness of the room.He was not your ordinary man.
His face,clad in a mysterious red mask,was that of a skull.His eyes hid by an eerie blackness.For moments,no words were said.
"How much more time?"The voice echoed deeply and abrubtly into the
large chamber."Everything is almost ready sir,I just need a little more time"
"General Redskull,time is of the essence and at this point my friend,essence is something
we do not have."Redskull returned the statement with a steep glare,but bowed in to a submissive salute.
"I understand doctor."
"Good"
With that,the man known as Redskull,turned on his heel and exited the room via the furnace entrance.The door slammed shut and echoed through the thoughts of the doctor.The room was thickly sheltered against the outside elements,amazingly though,the rain could still be heard.The doctor scavenged through his own thoughts.
The doctor stood up and walked toward the exit.He jolted the heavy rusting door opene and stepped out of the room into the stormy light.The rain soaked his heavy wool cloak.He pulled his hood over his head.
He then surveyed the organized chaos that was his newly founded empire.
Everywhere the doctor looked there were dozens of armed soldiers and machinery.All of them preparing the onslaught that would soon be upon the world.
A sudden commotion shook the doctor from his locked gaze.A young 'SS' officer approached him,trailing a young boy.Behind him,there were two German soldiers.
"Meine Fuhrer,this boy tried to escape,we caught him on the second fence." The doctor could feel himself becoming very angry."How did he escape?" The German soldier shrugged and replied, "I'm not sure Meine Fuhrer,we're having all of the prisoner's barracks' checked now." The doctor,feeling grossly unsatisfied,took a knee in front of the boy.
"What's your name young man?" The doctor's voice was harsh and to the point,and the boy studdered a response. "Erik Magnus Lehnsherr sir." Behind the steel mask that covered the doctor's face,the boy could not make out any emotion. "And I suppose you know who I am?" ,asked the doctor."Doctor Doom sir." Doctor Doom laughed and stood up. "Yes that's right Erik,and I expect full
cooperation from you,or I will do very bad things to your family,and I'm sure you don't want that." Erik replied,"No sir"
"Good,now take him back to his barracks Feldwebel,and make sure he's sepereated from his family." The 'SS' officer returned a salute,"Ja meine Fuhrer."Doctor Doom shouted,"I can't deal with this insolence right now,I have much bigger things to deal with than runaway Jews."
The small party then left Doom to himself.The rain continued to fall.
The doctor returned to his chamber and called for his head general,formerly an elite terrorist for the Nazi regime,he was trained trained by Hitler himself.Redskull answered the call and gingerly entered the room and approached the throne.He saluted as he neared the doctor.A master of guise' he was in fluent in nearly every major language,and spoke in clean english.
"Yes Fuhrer Von Doom?"The doctor spoke softly due to the reverberations in the chamber."General,I need you to ready my men.Every regiment,every armored column,every agent in the field,I want them ready for the operation.Redskull tilted his head,"Patriarch,meine Fuhrer"
"Yes,Patriarch."Redskull did not hesitate."Ja meine Fuhrer!."Redskull snapped a quick salute and once again exited the chamber.
The weather was horrible.The rain hadn't stopped since Steven had entered Poland,and he definitely didn't expect it to be so muddy.He'd been overseas for three days and already he wanted to go back home.
Ever since the bombing of Pearl Steven Rogers had known what hed wanted to be, a bonified American hero.A leader of the troops,a hero of men,but this wasn't the Steven Rogers he'd wanted to be.Steven was a proud member of the Big Red 1,or in layman's terms,the United States 1st infantry division.Steven,in fact was a grunt.A meatbag in an army of meatbags.Nothing special.Not a hero.
He was bullet fodder,and now he was on his way to clear the way for 433rd armored division's entry into Poland.Where the krauts seemed to be coming to a head at.
Alot of German movement has been spotted in the areas surrounding the Polish town of Oswiecim.Or,better to be known to the American people,Auschwitz concentrational facilities.
Following the asassination of the German Fuhrer,Adolf Hitler in late 1941 by one of his colleagues,Johann Schmidt.Schmidt has been identified by American authorities as the terrorist,Redskull.
The truck rumbled away Rogers' thoughts as it trampeled down the uneven road to the deployment spot further down the way.
An elbow jolted Steven in the ribs,"Hey man,watcha got on your mind?" It was James."Nothing Bucky.Just worried,that's all.", replied Steven."I told you not to call me that,why do you and the guys always call me that?" Steven laughed at the thought of James,he was only a boy,angry at the fact his father had been killed in the same war he was now fighting.
"Buck,we've been through this,that's just the way it is." Steven smiled."Well you guys always treat me like a kid,that's all"
"James,you are a kid."
With that,the conversation fell silent.Obviously there was a lot of tension between the two.Never the less,the truck full of olive drab clad soldiers rolled on.The truth is,Steven had alot on his mind.He was scared.
Who wasn't? This war had taken millions of lives in the course of just a year,and this new madman that had taken power of the Nazi regeme,was said to be the icon of fear itself.They say his skin is clad in iron and his face shows no emotion.But STeven refused to believe that,no one could really be all that bad,could they?
Steven shook away all of the thoughts of the "Doctor" and concentrated at the task at hand.His division was supposed to insert 1 mile away from the town and create a perimeter around the German forces until the tanks arrived.
Steven thought to himself,"Easy right?I mean we outnumber the Krauts two to one,this shouldn't be that big of a deal."
The first shell hit paydirt.The truck in front of Steven's exploded into a hail of metal and fire into the wet sky.Steven's truck skidded to a hault and the rest of the trucks in the column followed suit.Steven was rushed out of the back of the truck on to the dirt road.The distinct crack of gun fire could be heard all around him.The intensity of the heat from the flames burned his face.All around him there was motion.
Not as graceful as one would like.The shooters couldn't be identified,the battle seemed to be taking place a few trucks ahead of his.Steven heard the roar of plane engines overhead.He immediately then thought of Bucky.Steven couldn't stop running,he hoped he was ok."Where are the krauts!",Steven screamed at a man reloading his Thompson submachine gun behind a burned out vehicle."Up ahead,there's an MG nest about 800 feet directly in front of you"
Steven proceeded to take cover behind a ditched jeep.Gun fire sent sprayes of shattered iron into the air as it collided with the vehicle.
He could feel the fear run through him,and his adrenaline started pumping.Steven then realized that he forgot his rfle.He was without a weapon to fight the heroic war he'd always wanted to fight.The krauts were 800 feet in front of him and he was without the bullets to fight them.He peeked above the side of the damaged jeep and peered inside,and sure enough there was a M1 Garand laying in the seat.Steven picked up the weapon and pulled back the bolt.
The weapon was loaded,he then ducked quickly as a German shell whizzed past his head and made impact with some unlucky soul behind him.EVerywhere around him,there were men moving about,wounded or not.Everyone was trying to take cover from the deadly hail of bullets.
Then.Silence.
The Germans were reloading their weapon.This was Steven's chance to be a hero.He raised his weapon over the edge of the truck and aimed at the two Germans hunched over a portable machinegun that was hastily placed in a dirt shellhole further up the road.He fired two shots.One of the Germans was hit in the arm and fell as blood misted into the air.The other German,realizing the fate of his comrade,
reloaded the weapon faster.Steven took aim once more.He began to shake,over the ridge in the disatnce,he could see more black helmets against the pale grey sky and hear the echo of tanks as the rumbled into his mind.He was about to pull the trigger when he once again heard the drone of a plane's engine.The sound was so terrifying,so chilling that Steven dropped the gun and immediately hit the dirt in the fetal posistion.
The ground was torn to shreds around him.In the hazy mist of fire and dirt,Steven looked up and witnessed the massacare of the American soldiers.Men were literally torn to pieces by the German fighter.Limbs ripped from bodies,tumbled in the air and the screams of men could be heard for miles.
Suddenly.It all stopped.
Steven was weeping,and the quiet was odd and new to he stood up and surveyed the American wreckage.Only a few of the 100 or so men had survived.They were busy pulling wounded into cover and had too recognized the seldom heard quiet.Most of them stopped what they were doing and stepped out into the road,cautiously in fear of a German surprise,to find that the Germans were nowhere in sight.
Steven's own sight was obstructed by the hill at the turn of the road and could see no farther than the German machine gun nest,which was too,abandoned.For a moment,Steven thought himself to be in a dream.
He was harshly awoken from this dream when he saw the man.He was at least 7 feet tall.What little light that pierced the clouds,would glance off the steel that covered the man's body.His cowl fluttered in the stormy wind as he took the menacing steps towards the American column.His face,to Steven,was almost lost in the darkness created by the man's hood.Steven could not find his rifle,but doubted he would raise it to fire at such a being.
The man said no words.He only raised his hand,as if to beckon the Americans.The men behind Steven did not hesitate."Oh god,it's the Doctor!Kill that son of a bitch!",shouted one of the soldiers.The men all opened fire at once on the doctor with automatic weapons and grenades.The noise was horrible and the shouting of the Americans was only to be silenced as the silouhette of the lone figure was shone to be still standing after they expended all of their rounds."Fall back!",screamed the officer in charge.
But it was too late,the damage had been done.The doctor opened his hand and emitted a huge volt of electric wattage ,in the form of a beam, out of his palm.The beam met the nearest truck with a thunderous crash and exploded,the heat incinerated most of the men nearby.The troops fell into chaos and started retreating.Steven was in tears and struggled to run with the others as the ground seemed to shake under him.All around him, he could smell burning flesh and rubber.Steven tripped and hit the ground hard.He could see the others still running and leaving him behind.
He didn't care.He wasn't a hero.He was worthless.He muttered to himself,"Who the hell is that,hes no man!" Steven could hear heavy footsteps behind him.
A strong arm turned him over and Steven rolled to face the most horrific man he'd ever seen,he had a face covered in iron and rivets,one voidless of emotion.The face said these words,"Me?Why I'm the good Doctor my friend."