❘❙❚ CHAPTER 22 ░░░░ VOLUME 4
❛ BATTLEFIELD ❜ ┆🌹
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The smoke and gunpowder filled the air in the trenches, choking the lungs of the new soldiers like James Barnes and some of his comrades, because others had already become addicted to the taste of gunpowder and blood. Soldier Barnes adjusted his helmet that had been knocked askew by a bullet that passed right in front of his eyes. His hands trembled from the shock, and even moving them gave him more fear; his own body forced him to feel comfortable in a mummy-like position, that's what happened when your name was already written on the tombstone. The enemy had advanced overnight, while the superheroes boarded a plane and left them behind. That moment came back to his mind, when he and Reiben waved goodbye to the Vought plane with the strongest man in the world and a woman who could manipulate the earth at will. The silence had been intense, no one knew what to say. Deep down, he hoped that the rumors were false and that the superheroes were what they claimed to be. James had never felt such a great disappointment in his life, he had never felt so betrayed and abandoned like an animal that was worth nothing, as if he had no life waiting for him back home.
He heard the rumble of enemy tanks in the distance. The soldiers exchanged worried glances, knowing that they would soon have to leave the trenches and fight for their country. James looked at the grey sky one last time.
"Those fucking sons of bitches really left, didn't they?" Reiben asked, watching the battlefield. He knew the answer, he saw it with his own eyes. Reiben had spent the whole night talking about how superheroes were the scum of humanity, the worst invention. It seemed like talking about them infuriated him, he took their abandonment personally.
"They treat us like pigs, you know Barnes? Have you ever been to a slaughterhouse?"
"Yes, do you think they'll see us like this? Hanging from our legs? Do you think they'll say, 'another pair of dead pigs'?" Reiben's eyes reflected a mix of disappointment and anger. "What do they live for? They're phonies, charlatans who only care about their own image and people praising them."
Barnes, on the other hand, had his mind occupied with the fear of getting his head blown off; at any moment they could receive the order to come out of their hiding spots and advance towards the enemy lines.
"I don't know, Reiben," Barnes said calmly. "That's just how they are. It's disappointing, really it is, but let it go. We're here, fighting and surviving. We don't need them, wars have been fought and won without superheroes."
Reiben grunted, clearly frustrated, unable to let the topic go.
"They're not reliable, not loyal, they're worthless, a piece of shit."
"Hey," Grayson suddenly joined them, crouching down. "Captain Richards said we'll advance in five, I heard we're waiting for the signal. Do you guys know anything about Maison?"
"No," Barnes said. "I haven't seen him since he got on the plane."
"What signal?" Reiben asked.
"I don't know, the signal."
Time seemed to stretch in endless agony as the soldiers awaited the order to advance. James felt cold sweat trickling down his back and a lump in his throat preventing him from speaking. Beside him, Reiben continued to stare into the horizon, gripping his machine gun tightly, as if it were the only thing that gave meaning to his existence. Grayson, on the other hand, prayed to the Virgin Mary with his eyes forward and his lips moving in an inaudible murmur. The enemy artillery noise turned into the sound of impending danger. The battlefield in front of them was shrouded in the darkness of the night, which was about to turn into day. The African undergrowth was vast, and the distant trees around them took on nightmarish silhouettes, and it seemed to Private Barnes that they multiplied with every passing second.
He wasn't the only one who noticed.
"Did a tree just grow in front of us?" Grayson asked, bewildered, momentarily pointing the muzzle of his machine gun at his own head.
"You've got to be kidding me," murmured Reiben. "This has got to be some damn drugs."
They began to feel a strange vibration coming from the frontlines, an intense buzzing resonating in the air, and the ground started to shake beneath their feet. The soldiers thought it was an earthquake, but soon realized something much stranger was happening. The vegetation stirred as if coming to life. Suddenly, the ground began to rise and tree roots emerged from the earth, twisting and entangling in the air. The trunks grew taller, reaching dizzying heights, and the branches extended as if reaching for the sky. The forest growth seemed accelerated, almost supernatural. The flora seemed to have a life of its own, with leaves shimmering with the glow of the full moon and stars. The colors of the leaves and plants were unlike those of the savannah or any biome described in biology books. The forest exuded an aura of mystery and power that left them breathless. It felt as if they had been transported to a completely different world, where everything they thought they knew about nature and their own existence had been transformed into something new and unknown. The soldier felt saved.
"Holy shit," Barnes whispered.
The forest created a pathway right in the middle. It was so dark that nothing could be seen, and James Barnes didn't know what to expect. But suddenly, a feminine silhouette emerged from the dark pathway. Reiben let out a dry laugh, and Greyson thanked the Virgin Mary.
"They're back?!" The words spread like a plague among the soldiers, thousands of questions about the superheroes. Poison Rose was the only possible explanation, but where was she? "I saw her get on the plane," others said.
"They're back?" Barnes asked his comrades. "Reiben?"
"I don't know, man," Reiben said. "If it were any other situation, I would be laughing in their faces and making them admit they were wrong. They have serious issues up there."
From the middle of the corridor, a silhouette appeared, running at superhuman speeds, and the name of the superhero was on the lips of all the soldiers. Had they really returned? Barnes focused his sights, like the rest of his comrades, to get a better view of what was happening several meters away. The silhouette came closer and closer until he could make out the name Poison Rose. And where was Soldier Bo? The superheroine was running towards the trenches, dodging enemy bullets that struck her body. Any ordinary human would have been dead by now, but not her. Barnes couldn't deny that he was relieved to see her, unlike many others there. Her return gave him a sense of security in the midst of battle, having a superhero by their side, shoulder to shoulder. They had thought she had abandoned them, as they always did when the battle became uncontrollable. What made her change her mind?
The woman ran towards where the brigade Colonel was, and she disappeared from sight.
"What the hell do we do?" Reiben shouted at some soldiers who were a few meters away, perhaps the closest to the authorities who had news. They were not the only ones screaming for answers.
"They said only Poison Rose came back!" the young man shouted. "They set a trap, they say the Nazis will have to pass through that corridor no matter what. It's a death trap! We attack from the front, and Poison Rose will encircle them from behind if she can."
"Damn, we really have a super fighting with us," Grayson said. "Boys, we have to win this, we have a damn soldier."
"Don't get too excited," Reiben retorted, seeming angrier than before. "The Nazis know we have supers, they come prepared with bombs and specialized squads to kill supers, they have studied them. Look, idiot."
In the sky, there was a formation of planes heading towards the superhero. The bombs started to fall, and the war cry echoed across the African savannah. They were being bombed, and if they didn't leave, they would be buried alive. The Axis soldiers outnumbered them, but the corridor of death was taking its toll, until the corpses and tanks formed a wall, using the forest as cover.
The bombs shook the entire trench, and they knew that on the ground, they had the upper hand, but in the air, there was no one.
"Damn it! What about our aviation?" Barnes shouted.
No one responded; they were all dead.
"Get out!" several captains shouted. "Get out now!"
Barnes emerged from the trenches, his heart pounding in his chest, and a steely determination in his eyes. The battle raged in the distance, in a chaos of noise and dust, and the moon was barely visible behind the clouds of smoke and rain of bullets. But at that moment, amidst the confusion and darkness, there was only one objective on Barnes' mind: defeat the enemy. He advanced across the open field, his feet sinking into the blood-soaked mud, his rifle trembling with adrenaline in his hand. Around him, allied and Nazi soldiers fought in a frenzied dance of death, shooting, shouting, and throwing grenades. However, for Barnes, the only thing that mattered was the man in front of him, a Nazi soldier with a dirty beard and a torn uniform, whose eyes gleamed with animalistic ferocity.
He was about to shoot him when a grenade fell nearby, knocking both of them down. His rifle fell far away, into a pit. The Nazi approached Barnes, a knife glinting in his hand, and both engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Barnes blocked the first blow, his arm trembling from the impact, but managed to maintain his balance and counterattack with a punch to the enemy's jaw. The Nazi staggered back, with an expression of fury and surprise. Barnes didn't have time to enjoy his advantage, as the Nazi lunged at him again, his knife flickering dangerously in the dim light. Barnes dodged the attack, delivering a quick punch to the Nazi's stomach and then grabbing his arm, spinning and pulling the enemy towards him. The Nazi fell to the ground with a cry, but quickly got up, a murderous glint in his eyes.
The two men continued fighting, their sweaty bodies intertwined, the sound of their punches and breaths blending with the chaos of battle. Barnes managed to snatch the knife from the Nazi and threw it away, but in his momentary distraction, the enemy seized the opportunity to deliver a strong blow to his head, causing him to stagger.
Barnes tried to recover, but the Nazi was already on top of him, his fist raised. It was personal. Without thinking twice, Barnes struck the Nazi hard in the stomach and then brought him down with a swift leg movement. The enemy fell to the ground with a thud, and Barnes got on top of him, his fist ready to deliver the final blow, one after another to the head, losing count of how many they were. He breathed heavily as he looked at the lifeless body of the Nazi on the ground. A mix of anger and relief washed over him, but he knew he couldn't stop. The battle was not yet over.
An explosion threw him to the ground again. As he got up, he looked around and grabbed a rifle, taking it with him as he advanced toward the enemy line. He had lost his team. Barnes hid behind some rocks that Soldier Boy had moved to have a place to take cover. The Nazis were hiding in the forest, shooting at them through the damned trees, and more and more were coming out through that corridor. He looked at the sky, the planes were heading to a specific location, on the other side of the line. That's where the big guns and the superhero were, in fact, all the soldiers were heading there. Barnes set off.
Amidst bombs and gunfire, the soldier advanced, taking cover behind exploded tanks and prepared hiding spots. He moved stealthily and hid well against the ground. Bombs were falling incessantly, and one explosion was so powerful that Barnes felt the air being knocked out of his lungs. Around him, the ground trembled, and the trenches had collapsed. Barnes was momentarily blinded and disoriented, trying to recover as quickly as possible. He crouched behind a tank. There, a few meters away, a small plane had crashed to the ground, and from the same wreckage, a man in the most famous costume in all of America had descended. Soldier Boy. Barnes couldn't believe it; soon, he felt a plane flying over his head, so close that he had to hold onto the tank wheel to keep his balance.
On the ground, not far from the crashed plane, was Poison Rose. She was with another soldier, guiding him towards where the rest of the soldiers were heading: some kind of trench or hole in the ground, she thought it could be a bunker or a strategy that some captain came up with. She accompanied him, shielding him from bullets, literally standing in front of him. Just as they were only a few meters away, a bomber plane appeared in the sky, dropping a bomb towards the location where they were.
Poison Rose reacted immediately. She raised a wall of earth to protect the soldier. Barnes could see how the wall of earth trembled under the force of the explosion and how dust rose in the air. He thought it was all over, that the superhero had died. The bomb fell on top of her head.
"No!" Barnes saw Soldier Boy run towards her, desperately shouting her name. "Rosie!"
The wall of earth lowered, like the curtain of a play, revealing the reality. Poison Rose was there, badly injured but alive. She had protected the other soldier with her body, taking the brunt of the impact. Barnes could see how her uniform was torn and the burn wounds all over her body, but nothing compared to the damage on one of her arms. He saw the bone, broken in half and bleeding out.
"Oh, Rosie!" Soldier Boy said, kneeling by her side. "No, no, no, look at me, sweetheart, cover your arm, make a makeshift bandage with whatever you can find. Damn it, fuck! Not you, I can't lose you. Why the hell did you go? What the fuck were you thinking?"
"I'm fine, I'll heal, take Kit with the other soldiers," she said weakly.
"I won't move from here without you."
"Save him, Ben, please. He has to get back home."
Soldier Boy did it, he took the soldier behind his shield, protecting him from the bullets of the Nazis that were all aimed at the superheroes. Barnes had to take the same path, but first he had to pass by where Poison Rose was lying. Soldier Boy returned to her.
"Well, well, honey, are you feeling better?" Poison Rose had made a bandage with her own plants, a thin extension that looked like a surgical procedure. "Don't you dare die, you're crazy. Look at me, how could you do such a thing?"
"Help him too," said the woman, nodding towards him. "Hurry, more planes are coming."
"Soldier!" he shouted. "I've got you covered, come running over here, don't stop. I'll watch your back."
In moments of desperation, extreme measures were taken. He trusted the superhero, took a deep breath, and ran a marathon holding it. It was a short distance, about three meters of torture. He made it. Soldier Boy grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the new earth wall. The Nazi soldiers were emptying all their bullets on them.
"Soldier Boy!" Barnes shouted. "They're coming."
"Damn it, Rosie, get down, bury us now."
In a blink, the earth opened up and they fell with a jarring impact. The superhero extended her healthy hand to hold the earth that was trying to collapse due to the explosion.
"Is everyone okay?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Yes, Ben."
"Very well, make a hole for air to come in," he instructed, and once the air had entered, he approached the superhero. "Rosie, you stay here, I'll go with the boy and finish this war."
"I'm fine, I can keep fighting," Poison Rose replied.
"I didn't tell you, you're missing half of your damn arm. I saw your damn bone, the bomb fell on your arm, woman. Don't be a crybaby, you stay here because if you go out and die... I swear to you," Barnes was astonished. Everyone saw the supersoldier as a narcissistic superstar who only loved himself. No one liked him, everyone was afraid of him... seeing him so vulnerable, with a trembling voice and fear in his eyes, Barnes didn't know, he seemed like a different person. Soldier Boy kissed her repeatedly. "You stay here until this battle is over, bury yourself deeper if you can..."
"I can clear a path to where the other soldiers are, it doesn't hurt as much now. I'm fine, Ben," the woman stood up determinedly. "I want to finish this, please let me, Ben."
"But you stay behind me," Poison Rose smiled and they exchanged a last kiss that Barnes didn't want to see, he looked down at his feet. "Soldier, what's your name?"
"James Barnes," he said loudly and clearly.
"Alright, Barnes, you'll cover our rear and follow me. You're in maximum danger, all the bullets will be directed at us, so if I give you an order, you follow it without hesitation. Agreed?"
"Yes, sir."
"Rosie, start clearing the path."
If he survived this, he would have the best war story to tell his future children.
💬！▬ @vesnax
(author's note)
Vote and COMMENT, it doesn't cost you anything.
Anyway, war chapter and it's almost the last one, the next one is Ben's point of view and get ready, ladies 👰♀️
This is the last chapter that I had to translate, now both versions are up-to-date. I don't know when I'll be able to publish again because I'm very busy with studying and work :)
I hope you like 'Toxin'. There's still a lot of story left, I'm estimating about 10 more volumes before reaching 2021 hahahaha. And if you like Dean Winchester, I also have a fic that you can go and read
Love you guys