The Alps were blanketed in snow, and the howling wind lashed fiercely at everyone like a whip.
Luke stood tall amid the ice and snow in a thin brigadier general's uniform, utterly unaffected by the weather.
According to the original timeline, to capture the underground base in the Alps and launch a surprise attack on Hydra's headquarters,
Captain America had to infiltrate the enemy camp alone, create an opportunity, and draw Red Skull's attention.
Then, the Howling Commandos would descend from the sky and crush Hydra.
But this time, Rogers did not need to take such a risk.
With Luke serving as the main attacker, he only needed to lead the Howling Commandos and hold off Hydra's soldiers.
"Will you be all right on your own...?"
Although he had seen Luke storm into a Hydra base alone, overturn trucks, and smash tanks with astonishing strength, Rogers was still somewhat worried.
After all, no one knew what secret weapons Red Skull might still be hiding!
"Don't worry. We move in half an hour!"
Luke spoke casually, indicating that it would not be a problem.
Red Skull could rely on nothing more than Hydra's special forces and the powerful weapons created by extracting energy from the Tesseract.
His own combat ability was roughly on par with Rogers'—considering that Captain America would later be able to trade blows with Iron Man, Thor, and even Thanos.
Being evenly matched with Rogers might even count as praise for Red Skull.
"Luke, do you think Bucky is in this base?"
Rogers lowered the binoculars in his hand. He was still thinking about his friend, who had been missing without news for so long.
"I don't know. According to the information I received, Bucky may have been transferred to another Hydra laboratory in Germany."
Luke did not yet have time to search for Baron Strucker's exact whereabouts. He could only hope that, when he saw Bucky next time, Bucky had not yet become an emotionless killer.
Countries everywhere were researching programs similar to the Super Soldier project.
Germany had its "Aryan Superman," the Soviet Union had its "Winter Soldier," and there were even rumors that the British had strange mystical things like Wizards, Werewolves, and Vampires.
In short, this was a crazy era.
People worshipped supernatural power and regarded powerful creatures as gods.
I can already feel it. The butterfly's wings have begun to flap.
As he became more involved in the plot, the original timeline gradually began to shift.
An instinctive feeling warned him that even more unpredictable events would happen in the future.
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Luke cleared his mind and looked toward the snow-covered mountains.
Hydra's hidden headquarters lay deep within the valley.
At this moment, beneath the Alps, Hydra headquarters.
Red Skull was delivering his final speech before ruling the world to his fanatical followers who were loyal to him.
He wore black leather and made no attempt to conceal his crimson skull-like head.
In the past, Red Skull had needed a mask to disguise himself as a normal person and avoid the frightened or disbelieving stares of others.
But not anymore!
He was about to ascend the throne of world ruler, and an unprecedented empire would be born!
His swelling ambition and immense confidence made Red Skull disdain concealing his true face any longer.
Besides, to those fanatical followers he had brainwashed, his savage and terrifying appearance not only inspired no disgust or fear, but instead earned sincere awe and submission.
"Hydra will win this war! Valkyrie will unleash the wrath of the gods and burn every enemy who defies us to ashes!"
Behind Red Skull stood a new aircraft equipped with Valkyrie warheads.
In another two hours, the Axis Powers would launch a counteroffensive against the Allied Nations at his suggestion.
He had long prepared a group of loyal followers willing to give their lives for Hydra. When the time came, they would pilot the aircraft, drop Valkyrie upon the target cities, and bring this war to a complete end!
"...If one aircraft is shot down, hundreds more will deliver the fiercest retaliation!"
Red Skull raised his wineglass, his voice firm and forceful. "Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place!"
"Long live Hydra!"
"Long live Hydra..."
Below, many uniformly dressed fanatical followers raised their arms and shouted loudly.
At that moment, Red Skull felt incomparably satisfied and confident.
He believed himself to be the chosen one, a more outstanding leader than the Fuhrer who had led the Third Reich in sounding the trumpet of war, only to meet defeat afterward!
"I am destined to rule this world! The Hydra Empire shall rise!"
Red Skull was indulging in the same sweet dream as every ambitionist.
Boom—
A massive explosion rang out, and a shrill alarm sounded, startling the entire base.
The Hydra leader's pleasant fantasy came to an abrupt halt!
"What happened?"
Red Skull asked angrily.
Could whatever bad news this was not have waited another two hours?
Let him peacefully flatten both the Axis Powers and the Allied Nations, then build a new world atop the ruins!
Red Skull was deeply displeased at being forcibly pulled from his dream of ruling the world.
That crimson head of his looked particularly horrifying!
"Th-that... the Allied Superman is back! He broke in!"
A Hydra soldier answered in panic.
"A bunch of useless fools! Damn Erskine!"
Red Skull cursed in a gloomy tone.
He had already witnessed the Allied Superman's terrifying power at the secret base in Klausburg.
Impervious to blades and bullets, possessed of immense strength—he was practically an enhanced version of the Super Soldier!
Even after dispatching the only four enhanced warriors under his command, they had only managed to delay him by a few minutes.
I should have joined forces with Sebastian Shaw...
Red Skull thought regretfully.
If he had not been worried that Sebastian Shaw might try to seize the Tesseract, he truly had intended to form an alliance with those Mutants.
After all, they belonged to the Axis Powers camp, and the Allied Superman was the true enemy they needed to face together.
Unfortunately, the leader of the Hellfire Club was also wildly ambitious and difficult to control.
He might not submit to Hydra's leadership, much less willingly become a weapon in Red Skull's hands!
"Go and meet the enemy! Resist the Allied Superman! The world belongs to Hydra!"
With a wave of his hand, Red Skull sent all his numerous subordinates out to resist the Allied Superman's assault.
He himself grabbed the briefcase containing the Tesseract and hurriedly boarded the aircraft behind him.
Those incomparably loyal Hydra soldiers were nothing more than cannon fodder.
Red Skull had no spare time to deal with the Allied Superman's surprise attack.
The Valkyrie Project would begin ahead of schedule!
As long as the aircraft crossed the Atlantic Ocean, destroyed the East Coast of America, and then erased the other target cities.
The leaderless Allied Nations and Third Reich would descend into chaos.
Then, if he stepped forward first and reorganized the Axis Powers through Hydra, he would naturally be able to defeat the leaderless Allied Nations.
As for that terrifying Allied Superman...
"Dr. Zola! I don't just want you to apply the Tesseract's energy to weapons! You must also speed up the human experiments!"
Red Skull boarded the aircraft, entered the cockpit, and spoke viciously.
"I want to become as strong as Luke Cahill! No! Stronger than him!"
Dr. Zola wore a bitter expression. Based on the blood samples Red Skull had provided, he could at most reverse-engineer an inferior imitation.
Those enhanced warriors without any self-awareness were defective products created after injection.
Reaching the Allied Superman's level was, at present, completely impossible!
Who knew what improvements Abraham Erskine had later made to the serum!
"I will do my best, Mr. Schmidt."
Dr. Zola answered rather reluctantly.
After receiving the reply, Red Skull took the pilot's seat and placed the Tesseract, housed within a metal device, into the central hub.
He seemed to have already seen the magnificent sight of mushroom clouds rising everywhere across the land.
P.S. Thanks to Speaking Voice for the 1,000-point donation, Tian Xing Jian for the 500-point donation, Wang Hao Himself for the 100-point donation, Jianfeng Lingyun for the 100-point donation, and Book Friend 20190304144516 for the 100-point donation. Hearts~
P.S. 2: Dear readers, please stop asking me why the protagonist is Superman but does not return to the Celestial Empire to support his homeland, punch Japan, and kick America. My head hurts just reading it all. (﹏)
P.S. 3: There is a novel next door called "Repaying the Motherland Starting from American Comics." You can see what censorship forced it into—it simply cannot advance the plot normally. Sometimes it is not that the author does not want to write certain things, but that some things simply cannot be touched. I hope you readers can understand. (ó﹏ò)
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