Lynn's smile could be heard clearly in the dim tent.
"Of course, Colonel. Twisting the Krauts' heads off is why we're here."
Phillips's expression didn't relax in the slightest.
He studied the young man before him, his gaze trying to pierce flesh and see the schemes in his bones.
"Then what are your terms, Mr. Morris?"
"He's not a soldier."
Lynn raised a finger and gently wagged it.
"You can't bind him with army rules. Orders, discipline, schedules-they're all nonsense to him. What he needs is... satisfaction."
"Satisfaction?"
"The best food, the best liquor, the most comfortable bed."
With every word Lynn spoke, Phillips's brow furrowed a little deeper.
"And freedom of action. Colonel, you provide the target, and he decides how to fight. Respect him, and he can work miracles for you. If you try to put a collar on him, I guarantee he'll tear apart the man holding the leash first."
The air in the tent grew tense at those words.
Phillips glanced at Soldier Boy, whose impatience was written all over his face. The dangerous aura the man gave off made the guards in the tent instinctively tighten their grips on their guns.
Soldier Boy sensed the tension.
He grinned and squeezed the glass in his hand until it creaked, the sharp crack of breaking glass grating in the silent tent.
Phillips's eyelid twitched, and he fell silent for a full half minute.
"Deal!"
He took a map from the drawer and drew a circle on it with a forceful stroke.
"Saint-Mère Town, a German frontline communications hub. They turned the church in the town center into a fortress. The snipers and observation posts on the top floor are like fucking vipers. They've taken out more than thirty of our men in two days."
Phillips looked up, his eyes bloodshot, a complicated light in them that mingled anger and expectation.
"I want you to take it out for me."
"No problem, Colonel."
Lynn stood up.
"One more thing. Get me a camera, with plenty of film."
"At a time like this, you're still thinking about your news?"
"I'm a journalist. It's my job."
Lynn met Phillips's scrutiny openly.
"Colonel, faith needs witnesses, and fear needs to be spread too."
"Photographs are more effective weapons than bullets. I want every newspaper that comes off the press to be a piece of propaganda for us, and every officer in Berlin to imagine how Soldier Boy will tear their defenses apart before he goes to sleep."
The jeep bounced along the muddy dirt road, splattering the windshield with mud.
"Just one church?"
Soldier Boy leaned back in the passenger seat, idly fiddling with his triangular shield.
"I thought there'd at least be a whole armored regiment waiting for me. Boring."
"The audience matters more than the stage."
Lynn kept driving without looking at him.
"The soldiers need a miracle. Today, you need to be more than a destroyer. You need to be a savior too."
The jeep stopped behind a makeshift shelter two kilometers from the town.
In the distance, the outline of Saint-Mère Town appeared and vanished through the curtain of rain.
Bursts of heavy gunfire rang out from time to time.
Several American soldiers saw them, their faces showing a mixture of curiosity and awe.
Lynn pointed to a house up ahead that had been half demolished by bombing.
A medic wearing a red cross armband was pinned beneath a concrete slab, groaning in pain.
His companion was sweating with anxiety beside him, but could do nothing to help.
"Go there first."
"What?" Soldier Boy frowned. "My target's the church, not playing fucking Boy Scout."
"The church is the target, but those soldiers are the audience."
Lynn lowered his voice.
"If you charge straight in, they'll only see you as a useful killing machine. But if you save someone first, they'll see you as a god."
"Right now, all you have to do is lift a hand to earn the most genuine adoration."
Soldier Boy didn't argue.
He felt the kid had a point.
Under the shocked gazes of the soldiers around him, he strode toward the rubble.
He reached out with one hand and effortlessly lifted the concrete slab, which weighed several tons, then casually tossed it aside.
"Click!"
Lynn pressed the shutter at just the right moment.
In the photograph, the towering "hero" lifted the massive stone with one hand.
At his feet lay the medic, his face filled with gratitude and the relief of having survived.
A perfect composition.
A perfect story.
From the American positions around them came an uncontrollable burst of gasps and cheers.
"Oh, God..."
"He did it! He actually did it!"
Ignoring the excruciating pain in his leg, the rescued medic struggled to say something to Soldier Boy.
His lips moved, but in the end, all he managed was, "Thank you... sir..."
Soldier Boy stood there, listening to the heartfelt praise and cheers.
It was a strange feeling, completely different from the fan meetings Vought International arranged.
Those screams were rehearsed, fake.
But what he heard now came from the heart, born of the most primal awe and gratitude.
That adoration satisfied him more than any public relations release.
He instinctively straightened his chest, some of the violent menace fading from his face, and even gave the medic an awkward grunt.
Lynn watched, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Good. The beast is starting to taste the sweetness of "humanity."
After enjoying the adoration, Soldier Boy swept his gaze toward the towering church bell tower in the distance.
Without even needing Lynn to remind him, he charged straight toward the center of town.
The German snipers in the bell tower immediately spotted the live target sprinting through no man's land.
Bullets struck Soldier Boy, but couldn't make him pause for even a moment.
He didn't use the door.
As countless eyes watched, Soldier Boy slammed his shoulder into the church's ancient stone wall!
Boom!
Stone fragments flew, and dust filled the air.
A large, irregular hole had been smashed through the sturdy wall.
Terrified screams from German soldiers and the futile roar of machine guns came from inside the church.
The next second, a German soldier was thrown through a stained-glass window on the church's second floor and crashed to the ground.
Then the gunfire gave way to the sharp cracking of bones and screams.
At last, everything fell silent.
When the smoke cleared.
Everyone saw a German flag being torn down from the top of the bell tower, fluttering as it fell.
Then Soldier Boy appeared at the highest point of the tower.
Shield in hand, he stood at the edge, looking down over the entire battlefield.
The setting sun broke through the clouds just then, its golden rays falling on him and bathing him in a sacred halo.
"Click! Click! Click!"
Lynn calmly pressed the shutter again and again, capturing the scene forever.
At first, a deathly silence fell over the entire American position.
Then a thunderous roar of cheers erupted!
"Hooray!!"
"God bless America!!"