Axis Powers' Fury, the Backstabbing Turncoat

"I'm so angry!"

At Hydra's secret base, Red Skull, the leader, held the receiver of the phone a little further away, letting the Fuhrer of the Third Reich curse him out on the other end.

Italy had fallen, Mussolini had been captured alive, and the Allies had landed on Sicily...

The disadvantage the Axis Powers had finally managed to overcome was once again erased.

Facing the high morale of the Allies and the fall of allied nations, the Fuhrer could no longer maintain his composure, spewing profanities like a shrew.

"A bunch of trash! Scum!"

Finally, from Berlin, the Fuhrer ended the call with his signature catchphrase.

Red Skull's face turned ashen, and he slammed the phone down heavily.

Slam!

He crushed the receiver into a pile of parts!

Sparks of electricity jumped onto his skin, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Sebastian Shaw is such a failure! He hyped up mutants as so powerful, yet he couldn't even handle a team of less than thirty people!"

Red Skull repeated the Fuhrer's scolding and threw it at Sebastian Shaw at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

He had dispatched all his enhanced soldiers, along with the mutants from the Hellfire Club, but they had failed to rescue Mussolini and instead suffered a total annihilation.

This was an outcome Red Skull never could have anticipated!

Was that legendary Allied hero, the young Captain known as "Superman," really that powerful?

As a Super Soldier himself, Red Skull found it hard to believe.

He was the first Super Soldier created by Dr. Abraham Erskine, and he knew his own strength all too well.

"The Allies must have hidden other secret weapons! Capturing Italy single-handedly, causing the fall of Rome... that's just a myth concocted by the Allies! It's not to be believed!"

Red Skull sneered, then walked over to a metallic instrument.

Inside it rested a pure cube, emitting a faint blue light from its surface.

Subtle energy fluctuations flowed through the instrument's pipes, heading to an unknown destination.

"The Allied Superman, Shaw's mutants, they are all just inferior products destined to be eliminated! I have obtained the power to become a god! How can Hitler's 'Aryan Superman' project compare to the treasures in Odin's Vault!"

Red Skull gazed at the cube, his eyes filled with obsession.

He believed that those ancient myths were actually historical events.

They had merely been passed down and embellished by later generations, gradually evolving into their current form.

Coincidentally, the Fuhrer, whom Red Skull once admired, was also a staunch supporter of mysticism.

Influenced by his idol, Red Skull, who had become a Super Soldier after injecting the serum, began to explore the path of Norse mythology, searching for the lost precious gems in Odin's Vault!

Finally, he found the Tesseract in a church in Norway!

"The Third Reich has already hindered Hydra's development. We can no longer obey Hitler's orders. Do you agree with me, Dr. Zola?"

Red Skull turned to a short, middle-aged man, the chief researcher of Hydra's science division.

The special instrument for extracting the Tesseract's energy was his masterpiece.

"Long live Hydra!"

Dr. Zola replied shrewdly.

He was a scientist, not a [na]zi swayed by fanatical ideology.

Under Red Skull's leadership, Hydra had long since begun to break free from the Third Reich's control.

Anyone else receiving such an angry call from the Fuhrer would likely have been terrified, fearing arrest by the Gestapo and imprisonment to experience brutal torture.

But Red Skull was completely unfazed. With the Tesseract in hand, capable of providing energy weapons for the Third Reich, he was now an indispensable asset to the Axis Powers.

Without those invincible multi-turreted super tanks on the battlefield, without energy weapons that could turn a human body into dust with a single hit, the Soviets would have likely marched into Berlin.

"Mr. Schmidt, regarding the Allies..."

Dr. Zola asked cautiously.

Currently, Hydra was likely the only force within the Axis Powers capable of resisting the Allied Superman.

The Fuhrer's personal call must have been to request Red Skull to resolve this troublesome issue and crush Allied morale!

"Superman is nothing to fear! Hydra, possessing the Tesseract and controlling core technology, is the ruler of the world! The Valkyrie Project is our priority!"

Red Skull said dismissively, completely unconcerned about the legendary figure publicized by the Allies.

Following this, he delivered a passionate speech.

Just like the Fuhrer of the Third Reich had done in the past, he looked forward to the future of the world.

Dr. Zola, who remained silent, gazed at the portrait hanging on the wall.

A skull-like head with peeling skin.

That was Red Skull's true face!

He usually wore an exquisite mask to hide his horrifying face.

"What about Sebastian Shaw? He cherishes his 'mutant brethren.' Losing four at once will surely pain him. Our alliance with him might be affected..."

Dr. Zola lowered his head and asked softly.

"The Hellfire Club... If they want trouble, Sebastian Shaw should go find that Superman from the Allies. What does it have to do with me!"

Red Skull said dismissively.

"Aren't my enhanced soldiers more valuable than his group of freaks? It's so foolish to try and seize power with a bunch of freaks! Humans are the most xenophobic creatures in the world. Once Sebastian Shaw's mutants appear on the world stage, they will become a target of vigilance for everyone. Moreover, I no longer need to ally with him."

The power displayed by the Tesseract had already immersed Red Skull in the dream of ruling the world.

He no longer needed the Third Reich, nor did he need mutants.

Because, the world would soon fall into Hydra's grasp!

Poland, Auschwitz concentration camp.

Sebastian Shaw sat behind an office desk; he was the administrator of this "death factory."

Soothing music flowed slowly from the gramophone, echoing in the room.

In this concentration camp, which held a large number of Jews, Poles, and Soviet prisoners, people died every day – buried alive, shot, gassed, vivisected... all sorts of methods were used.

The officers stationed at the concentration camp treated it as a playground, taking pleasure in wanton killing. Sebastian Shaw never stopped them, nor did he ever participate.

He was a scientist; his goal was to explore the essence and pursue the truth.

Compared to killing, Sebastian Shaw preferred research.

Unlocking the code of genes, the key to the door of evolution, this had been his long-cherished wish!

Influenced by Hitler, Sebastian Shaw once believed that blonde-haired, blue-eyed Germans were the most superior bloodline on Earth.

However, after deeply participating in the so-called "Aryan Superman" project, he was very disappointed.

The "perfect race" proclaimed by the Fuhrer was not Germans. They were no different from Jews or Poles; they were neither stronger nor smarter.

"Lehnsherr is the key to unlocking the new era,"

Sebastian Shaw said softly.

Ever since he discovered the little boy named Erik Lehnsherr, it was as if he had opened the door to a new world.

His previously firm belief in superhuman theory was finally confirmed.

There truly existed superior races to humans on this planet; they were the pioneers on the path of evolution and gifted superhumans.

In America, Dr. Bolivar Trask, who also studied genetic inheritance, called this group "mutants."

He believed their genes were like a magical code implanted within them, leading them down a completely different path from humans.

However, it was a pity that Dr. Trask was unwilling to say much about the secret of the X-Gene.

This made Sebastian Shaw a little disappointed, but fortunately, he had a real mutant in his hands to use as a reference.

Thus, this mad scientist, like a greedy wolf, attempted to extract more treasures from the mutants.

Especially after stimulating Erik Lehnsherr's innate abilities, he began to conduct experiments continuously, delving into the differences between mutant genes and normal human genes.

The prisoners of Auschwitz concentration camp became the best living test subjects.

A cold-blooded, mad scientist was far more terrifying than those Nazi butchers!

Hard work paid off, and Sebastian Shaw found a way to stimulate mutant genes.

That is, through painful torment and being in extremely harsh survival environments, the latent X-Gene in the human body could potentially be awakened—although the success rate was extremely low, with disregard for human life, using numbers to compensate could eventually lead to success a few times.

Using this method, Sebastian Shaw created a batch of acquired mutants.

"Chameleon" and "Gas Woman" belonged to this group.

He also recruited many natural mutants under the guise of fellow mutants.

"Red Devil" Azazel was one of them.

As for Sebastian Shaw himself, he adopted a more stable organ transplantation method.

He would vivisect the successfully created acquired mutants, extract their organs, and then transplant them into his own body.

As long as the rejection reaction could be resolved, he would successfully transform into a mutant!

As it turned out, Sebastian Shaw's crazy idea was correct, and he achieved it.

"This is the power God has bestowed upon me!"

Sebastian Shaw, with his hands on the desk, had a triumphant look in his eyes.

He felt every cell in his body filled with vitality, transforming from gradual aging to youthful vigor, and his withered muscles grew increasingly full.

"Mr. Shaw, Ilena says he's lost contact with Chameleon and Steel Shell!"

A subordinate knocked on the door, delivering the bad news to Sebastian Shaw.

The mad scientist, reveling in his satisfaction, suddenly changed his expression, emitting a chilling and violent aura.

His subordinates quickly lowered their heads, their legs trembling, afraid of incurring his wrath.

"How could this happen?"

Sebastian Shaw asked angrily.

Ilena was a mutant he had found, possessing rare psychic abilities.

She could leave psychic marks on three to five people, sensing their presence at any time.

Disconnecting the link meant someone had erased the psychic mark, or killed them!

Neither outcome made Sebastian Shaw happy.

Every mutant was his valuable asset, and no one was allowed to harm them but himself!

"Damn Hydra! I shouldn't have agreed to Red Skull's request in the first place!"

Sebastian Shaw was furious. He stared at the newspaper from an Allied nation on the table, which featured a headline calling that Italian conqueror "Superman," with Roosevelt and Churchill quoted.

"Superman? We'll meet sooner or later. Let's see what you're capable of then!"

ps: Thanks to [Emperor Heaven Unrivaled] for the 500-point tip and [Azure Sky Absolute Shadow] for the 100-point tip, sending love~

ps2: I can't be bothered to break the chapter, so 3,000 words for your recommendation tickets and collections, that's not too much to ask, right? (ω)