A year later, while the ship Terra Magica was anchored in Kiel, longshoremen unloaded weapons, equipment, and ammunition from the floating factory, while soldiers and sailors boasted of their exploits as Lorenzini inspected the unloading of super-soldier capsules, an aide-de-camp from Berlin approached the subject:
- Ten years of exhausting research, drachengruppenführer Lorenzini, ten years! Bear in mind that the Fuhrer does not fail!
"There will be no mistakes, hauptsturmführer Schreiner. I promised Herr Hitler a miracle weapon and it is already coming to him! Lorenzini replied calmly. - Our scientists managed to remove the serum from the blood of an experimental boy, who turned out to be much more resistant to its effects, many of the experimental ones before him died some time after the injection. But he turned out to be special, as if higher powers sent him to us, with his help we will create a whole army like him and we can already start mass production of super soldiers! All components and results of the experiment are recorded and forwarded to a safe place!
- I hope that you will justify our hopes and think twice before betraying us! - Strictly repeated Krammer - I'm going to Berlin and personally inform the Führer about you, but keep in mind if something goes wrong, then you can't do it!
Then he went to the ship to his cabin, where he began to count his profits with a satisfied smile:
- Stupid kids, you made me rich because you behaved like donkeys! You chose to be lazy and enjoy life, and now it's time to pay for it all. Now we will go to Sweden, where I will sell you to farmers and miners!
Then he began to remember how he sent the children to a separate room on the ship, where he conducted experiments on them, one of which was an idle life: they were given everything they wanted, and in return they had to do nothing and spend their days on end in games and entertainment, as a result, in a few days they degraded and turned into donkeys, another real gladiatorial duel with bloodthirsty ghouls from which no one came out alive. There were also those cases when he showed sexual interest in boys and girls, pulling out of violence with the help of improvised objects while showing bloodthirsty sadism using his whip while enjoying it, but most of all he was interested in the boys with whom he spent more time, in including with William Turner III, sexually abusing him, while brutally beating him in an attempt to resist. Sometimes William managed to fend off Lorenzini's attacks, and sometimes not. Such was his fate, like thousands of other child prisoners. Every day there were some events: someone was beaten, someone was raped by the SS soldiers, and someone became a donkey because of the special water that Lorenzini made. The third experiments with the drug Victor Frankenstein with which he revived his creation, but none of them survived after being injected into the veins. He recalled how, as the commandant of the Dachau concentration camp in 1937, he enjoyed sending people to their deaths in the gas chamber, before receiving the unfinished German aircraft carrier, which he converted into a floating concentration camp, factory and military base for raids on the Allied coasts. During the Night of the Long Knives, he participated in the ruthless massacre of the Nazi opposition of Ernst Röhm and his SA units being the head of the Order of the Dragon with the rank drachengruppenfuhrer, ruthlessly and sadistically slaughtering all his supporters. He recalled how he participated in the Spanish Civil War, having been awarded the Spanish Campaign Medal, the Condor Legion Cross of Glory and the Knight's Iron Cross for bravery, the year before in 1935 he had been awarded the chevron of the old fighter. During the Polish campaign in 1939, where he was slightly wounded, but later continued to participate in the campaign, but here again he showed himself during the capture of important fortifications in Poland and was awarded the badge "For wound" 3rd degree and the German Cross 2nd degree in 1941 after returning.
When the ship arrived in Sweden, the SS soldiers orden Dragon and sailors jointly began unloading the children who turned into donkeys, and of course the buyers did not wait for themselves, they bought someone for the farm, someone for the mines, someone for the circus, someone for the household for work in the field or as a horse-drawn vehicle for transporting vegetables and fruits to the market for sale. Then, with the proceeds, Lorenzini purchased the ore necessary for the German military machine and loaded it onto the ship, where the children of the prisoners continued to create military products not for the German armed forces, but for the elite of the Nazi army - the SS troops.
Until one day, when the children were returning to the punishment cell after several months of hard work, Lucinola, having fought off the others, hid so that the guards would not find him, overheard the conversation of two soldiers SS clad in armor and wearing masks that hid their faces, their eyes glowed with red fire:
- It seems that the Herr Commandant is so carried away by his new toy that he no longer pays attention to anything, it's all strange!
- Heinrich, he will take on an important project on which the fate of Germany depends!
- I wonder what could be so serious about this that he does not appear in front of his people and where is this Metzner, he would now explain to us what is wrong with him.
- Matthias, you will be shot for this if you ask again about our commandant, he sent one of ours to the laboratory and made a monster out of him, shot the other and threw him overboard for a job done wrong, so be quiet otherwise you will be next!
- So who can be this unfortunate? Matthias asked.
- Some boy who made his way to the pen to the donkeys, he was captured while trying to free them - Heinrich answered.
- What happened next? Matthias asked.
- Then he was sent to the laboratory, where he was injected with serum, but this bastard turned out to be tenacious. Lorenzini became very interested in him and ordered him to be chained in an iron mask in the shape of a wolf's muzzle, dressed in a straitjacket and sent to the punishment cell, which is on the lower level.
- How do you know?
- I was there during the detention and the experiment, he was a very aggressive bastard that I had to carry him with his partner like a pig. And you better not tell anyone what you heard from me, otherwise we will both be in serious trouble!
- So that's where they sent you William," Lucinola replied to himself. Then he went to look for that very place, quietly passing by the guards, he got to that very punishment cell, opening the door, he saw something kneeling on his knees, like a human boy, dressed in a strait jacket, his legs were handcuffed, and on his face was an iron mask in the form the wolf muzzle of which was looked at by an empty look, the right and left eyes were of different colors, the left blue, the right green, as if they were suffering from heterochromia. Lucinola removed his mask by undoing the straps at the back of his head, and then removed his strait jacket as he did so. William pounced on him as if he didn't recognize:
- You that William calm down, it's me Lucinola your friend, I came to save you!
- Lucinola! William replied anxiously.
- What did they do to you? I thought you were dead!
- They injected me with some stuff that makes ordinary people super-strong!
- And how long will it last for you?
- Forever!
- Then we need to get off this ship, can you go?
- Seems to be yes.
Unfortunately, their noise attracted the attention of the guards who were sitting in one of the cabins, two of them, armed with MP 40 submachine guns, decided to check what was the matter and, finding two in the punishment cell, they ordered both to raise their hands.
- What are we going to do William? asked Lucinola.
- Let's see what these new forces are capable of! William sighed heavily.
And then he began with incredible dexterity and strength to kill the Nazis with his bare hands, breaking their bones and smashing their heads against the wall. Then they brought the bodies to the punishment cell.
- We'll be easily spotted in our clothes, - Lucinola said.
- Then we'll dress like one of them! - William replied.
And having no other choice, they put on the uniform of the Germans, putting on their helmets on their heads and taking their submachine guns in their hands, they closed the doors of the punishment cell behind them and continued on their way to their own, killing all the Nazis along the way. William drew a dagger from its scabbard, throwing it killed a Nazi soldier standing with his back to him. Then, going to the second, he lured him with a whistle and with two blows, one in the left side, the other in the neck, he killed the scoundrel. William and Lucinola walked through the ship, submachine guns at gunpoint.
While the radio operator was listening to Beethoven's classical music on the radio, William and Lucinola went into one of the cabins and before they could shout the alarm, William and Lucinola shot four soldiers with machine guns. When they reached the corridor where the music was coming from, they entered the radio room, William gestured to Lucinola that firearms should not be used, as the shots would attract the attention of the guards, and Lucinola in turn persuaded William to use the radio line of communication with the German resistance, after he first appeared on On this ship, he met Heinz Kletske, one of the members of the German resistance from the Edelweiss pirates, so William had no choice but to pull the knife out of its sheath and slowly approaching the radio operators from the back to plunge the knife into the right part of the neck at the same time with his left hand, he shut his mouth to his cries were not fled by the rest. Having finished, Lucinola took the headphones from the dead man, took off his helmet and tuned the radio to the desired wave:
- Stertebeker, calls Gotland, answer! - Lucinola tried to contact the rebel headquarters, but nothing was heard, then he repeated again - Stertebeker calls Gotland, welcome!
But nothing happened:
- I'm afraid that we are on our own - Lucinola replied - send William here patrols will come soon.
They left the radio room in a hurry, having passed several corridors, they accidentally came across some kind of hangar, which stored new samples of military equipment, aircraft and missiles of the latest generation that were under development.
- So that's what they were doing, while we were processing raw materials, they were creating monstrous equipment to conquer the world! William replied.
- One way or another, these weapons must not reach Germany! Lucinola replied.
- We'll do it! If we fail to destroy this ship, then we will at least make it so that it does not sail to Germany, but rather make it a kind of Flying Dutchman! William replied.
Finally we reached the punishment cell where the rest of the prisoners were kept. William and Lucinola explained that there would be no help, and also told how to get to the armory, after which they began to prepare for the escape, going towards the armory, they heard an alarm, one of the soldiers found a cabin with dead soldiers who were shot by William and Lucinola, then he raised the alarm and all the soldiers, taking up arms, went to look for violators, the angry Lorenzini ordered to suppress the uprising at any cost! having reached the desired corridor, they were attacked by SS soldiers, mortally wounded from the inattentive prisoners, William and Lucinola, on opposite sides of the passerby, took up positions and shot the Germans about three, rejoicing too early, they noticed a silhouette from the darkness, it was a machine gunner from MG 42, who shouted in anger started firing from a machine gun, William and Lucinola had no choice but to return to their previous positions. because they were pressed by fire, but fortunately Lucinola had a grenade, which he threw to the machine gunner and he, in a panic, barely having time to scream a grenade, died from the explosion. Then the rebels continued their way to the armory, and upon entering they began to dismantle all the weapons that were produced by their own hands, in total there were five hundred rebels. They had to put on freshly embroidered uniforms and put on helmets, but all the symbols were cut off, convened and replaced with the symbol of the edelweiss flower, now the so-called pirates were ready to escape. Running past the doors leading to other parts of the ship, William and Lucinola noticed how two of them fell behind the group, they decided to check where they went and after a few steps they found another warehouse, this time filled with various artifacts and boxes with unknown contents.
- It seems that they were engaged not only in scientific experiments, but also in the occult - one of them replied.
- Looks what I found in this box! - answered the other. Having opened it, the heroes saw pure gold in it.
"We don't have time for all this, besides, we don't need an extra load that might turn out to be useless," William answered sternly.
- What is your name? he asked again.
- Nicholas - answered one.
- Your?
- François - answered the other.
"Come on, we need to get out of here," Lucinola replied.
- We want to take this box of gold, who knows how fate will decide, because we are pirates, even if not real ones - Nicholas answered.
"Okay, but you will be responsible for your cargo," William answered sternly.
François and Nicholas, without objecting, took the box of gold and carried it with them. Finally they ran out onto the upper deck of the aircraft carrier-concentration camp, they were surrounded by guards and the sailors of the ship among them was the notorious deputy of Lorenzini - Metzner, who offered the prisoners to surrender in exchange for a pardon, the heroes knew perfectly well what awaited them if they laid down their arms, so they accepted the battle without hesitation.
Having barricaded themselves at the stern of the ship, they took the fight, repelling the attacks of the Nazis, who attacked their positions more and more violently. They heard Lorenzini's order to crush the rebellion at any cost, but to save the life of his test subject - William! Lorenzini ordered to release forward the main forces of the guard of the fighting dogs of bloodthirsty ghouls, once former people, but who became them because of dirty experiments, the heroes used anti-aircraft weapons and barricaded the stairs with all the small arms that they had, but the ghouls each time became more and more more and every time the former prisoners suffered losses, the monsters broke through the barricades, attacking with two, three individuals one by one, cutting their throats and ripping open their stomachs with their razor-sharp claws, they dragged the wounded towards the fortification and tore them apart, sharp teeth dug into into supple flesh, drowning out their cries of agony with a loud champ. angry William, together with Lucinola, Francois and Nicholas, eager to avenge their comrades, rushed into battle and here William first showed his new abilities, he broke the bones of ghouls with his bare hands, smashed their skulls and heavy cages, with each anger he became stronger, his friends using improvised means, not inferior in cruelty to him, beat the bloodthirsty ghouls, and when the battle ended and all the ghouls were exterminated, they briefly mourned their dead comrades and betrayed their bodies to the finally, Iron Hans himself entered the battle, he walked towards their positions, making loud noises with every step, stopping, he fired into the air from his aircraft machine gun, shouting angrily.
- Welcome to the war! - William answered and, cocking the bolt of his STG 44 assault rifle, he began to shoot at Iron Hans, but realizing that ordinary bullets would not take him, he ordered Lucinola, Francois and Nicholas to sit down at the anti-aircraft gun and shoot at him while he was preparing explosives for him. While William ran through the fire, his friends covered with dense fire, in the end he was able to blow up some kind of tower, which collapsed on Iron Hans and at the same time on the German soldiers, so that they fell through to the lower level. Realizing that the ship could not be held, Lorenzini collected all the documentation and experimental results in his briefcase and hurriedly left the ship on a jet plane, unfortunately William and his comrades missed the plane, which developed too high a speed to be aimed at it and it flies away without receiving damage, then William approaches the wounded Metzner and he laughing said:
- You can't win this war! - he answered gloatingly.
- Nobody will win this war! People like you can play God all they want! But in the end there will be a chosen person who will dig your graves! - William answered and taking out a dagger, he coolly and slowly cuts the throat of the screaming Metzner. Then one of the children reported to William that they found several boats, including those with an engine, and launched them into the water, then loaded ammunition and provisions, they themselves went down into the boats, hooking a rope to the motor boat that connected the other boats with a chain, they floated to the northern coast of Germany in Pomerania. Unfortunately, Iron Hans, whom they considered dead, survived with difficulty getting out from under the wreckage, firmly deciding to rush after them on the wreckage of the deck, rowing with his powerful hands, while the ship, without control and with the engines turned off, was carried away by the current to the open sea, where it disappeared on the horizon. Luckily, the heroes made it to the coast and then continued on foot in search of the resistance's hideout, unaware that Iron Hans was on their heels.
