Chapter 6: Darkness and Steel
The Austrian wind howled, but the humming of the black fortress was louder. Blue light bled from the narrow slits of the bunker, a sickening, artificial glow that felt wrong to Arthur's 21st-century soul.
"Steve, the generators are on the south tier," Arthur whispered, his eyes glowing faintly as [Tactical Calculation] mapped the facility's power grid. "They're using the Tesseract to stabilize the base's internal output. If we pull the plug, their fancy guns become expensive paperweights for at least ninety seconds while the backups kick in."
Steve gripped his steel shield. "Ninety seconds isn't much time."
"It's plenty for us."
The Saboteur's Strike
Arthur moved like a blur, ghosting through the treeline toward the massive cooling vents. He didn't use the stairs; he used the wall, his fingers digging into the stone as if it were clay.
[ SKILL ACTIVE: VITA-CELL OVERLOAD ]
[ Current Bio-Electricity: 100% ]
He reached the primary transformer—a massive, humming cylinder of pulsating blue energy. Two Hydra guards turned, their strange, glowing rifles rising. They didn't even have time to shout.
Arthur slammed his Kinetic Conductor staff into the floor between them. He didn't hit the guards; he hit the ground, discharging a massive surge of bio-electricity directly into the base's nervous system.
BOOM.
The transformer erupted in a shower of white-hot sparks. The blue glow of the base flickered, pulsed once, and then died. The rhythmic hum of the facility was replaced by a terrifying, heavy silence.
[ QUEST NOTIFICATION ]
Objective: Sabotage Generators (COMPLETE)
Reward: +800 DP
New Perk: 'Blackout Predator' — Your AGI increases by 15% when fighting in total darkness.
The Siege of Schloss Klessheim
"Now, Steve!" Arthur roared.
Down below, the front gates didn't just open; they were dented inward as Steve Rogers turned himself into a human battering ram. With the power out, the Hydra soldiers were left fumbling for sidearms and flashlights.
Arthur dropped from the rafters into the center of the main laboratory. He didn't waste time on the foot soldiers. He was looking for one specific door.
[ WATCHER SKILL: SCANNING... ]
[ TARGET LOCATED: SERGEANT JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES ]
[ STATUS: CRITICAL — EXPERIMENTATION IN PROGRESS ]
Arthur kicked a heavy steel door off its hinges. Inside, he found a nightmare of 1940s medical horror. Bucky Barnes was strapped to a table, a strange, glowing liquid being dripped into his arm.
"Arthur?" Bucky rasped, his eyes bloodshot and unfocused. "Is that... you look different."
"Stark's cooking," Arthur muttered, ripping the leather straps like they were wet paper. He didn't just lift Bucky; he slung him over his shoulder like he weighed nothing. "We're getting out of here, Buck. Steve is waiting."
The Encounter
As they reached the central hall, the red emergency lights flickered on. Standing at the far end of the corridor was a figure in a high-collared black leather coat. His face was hidden in the shadows, but the glow of the Tesseract in the container beside him illuminated a terrifying, skinless red brow.
Johann Schmidt. The Red Skull.
"An interloper," Schmidt's voice was like grinding stones. "You are not the miracle Erskine promised. You are an anomaly."
[ SYSTEM WARNING: BOSS ENCOUNTER ]
Target: Red Skull (Enhanced)
Threat Level: High
Current Divergence: 14.2% (The Red Skull is attempting to take the Tesseract to an escape plane early!)
Arthur felt his [Mercury Catalyst] blood boiling. He knew that in canon, the Tesseract wouldn't be lost until much later. If Schmidt took it now, the war would change in ways he couldn't predict.
"Steve!" Arthur shouted as the blond giant burst into the hall, covered in soot and Hydra blood. "Take Bucky and the prisoners! Get them to the extraction point!"
"What about you?" Steve yelled, his shield raised against a line of recovering Hydra guards.
Arthur spun his staff, the metal crackling with blue light. "I'm going to see if this 'God' can bleed."
[ ARCHIVIST DATA: CHAPTER 6 COMPLETE ]
Current DP Balance: 800.
Relationship: Steve Rogers (Brother-in-Arms: 60/100).