"You can rest assured now, the Professor is hidden in a place where no one will ever find him, spending his days feeding horses, chopping wood, caring for grains and vegetables, facing the mountains, basking in the warmth of spring, and that's what he truly wants as a final home."
It's also the home I wish to give him... Su Ming added silently to himself.
Although it was hard to accept, Peggy and Nick nodded, considering the world is already in chaos, it's indeed best to let the Super Soldier program fade from everyone's view for the time being.
However, Nick subconsciously analyzed Deathstroke's mentioning of feeding horses and facing the mountains—could he be hiding the Professor deep within the Rocky Mountains...
But he quickly stopped dwelling on this thought.
"We know, once Steve regains mobility, we'll retreat from France, marking this mission as a failure." Nick, being decisive, quickly made a decision: "However, as the current leader of the squad, Peggy might face disciplinary action."
The original leader is already dead, but someone still needs to take the fall for the failed mission.
Peggy smiled, looking at the unconscious Steve on the stretcher, touched her own face, the sewer mud made her look like a raccoon.
"No problem, what can they do to a woman? At most, they'll just have me answer phones and serve tea, I can keep Lorin company, as to them, isn't that what a woman should do?"
Su Ming sighed, patting Nick's bald head; Nick couldn't resist Su Ming's speed and strength, only looked at him with a bitter expression.
"You two agents really have scrambled brains, don't you know Steve? He'll take all the responsibility because he's Captain America..."
The two were stunned for a moment but knew Deathstroke was right, as that is the Steve Rogers they know.
..................
Led by guerrilla fighters, a group of people in various outfits traveled underground for a long time, finally reaching the guerrilla headquarters located beneath central Paris.
Here is a large burial hall, containing not only countless ancestral relics but also many chairs for visitors to rest.
The monks were very mindful, even the chairs' color matched the bones—pale white.
Aside from this, there were people moving around who appeared almost like Dead, thin, with pallid faces.
If not for the burning flame and light in their eyes, one might have trouble distinguishing them from the pile of bones.
Here, they have only limited food and supplies, lacking medical equipment and communication facilities; for safety, they don't even have radios, relying solely on manpower for message transmission.
They showed great caution toward the new faces but soon relaxed during a fluent French conversation with Su Ming. Minutes later, knowing the situation from the guerrilla fighters, they sang the Marseillaise with Su Ming.
Su Ming pulled out his compressed biscuits from his backpack, few as they were, containing sugar and oil, to cheer these poor souls up.
Everyone received a small portion, likely just a taste.
He then instructed the doctors to treat these people, at least dealing with infections among the severely injured, amputating when necessary, injecting when needed.
The doctor didn't bring much medical supplies this time, only enough for treating the severely injured.
"Deathstroke, I'm out of bandages, sutures, antibiotics, and even alcohol; they're not like Captain America, a Super Soldier, they'll succumb to infection with this situation."
Su Ming looked at Holloway, below the mask his eyes held only the intent to save lives; he is a Superhero, and a doctor.
"You want to save them?"
"I dare not say I can cure them, but at least..."
"Then go ahead, don't hesitate, I've got your back." Su Ming patted his shoulder, turning to those behind him: "Little Rascal, you guys accompany the Avenging Angels up there, find some medical supplies in the German Army Hospital, and if possible, chocolates or canned goods as well."
The young girls watched the guerrilla fighters before them, feeling saddened; these people fought purely on belief, although human while they were Mutant, yet they all appeared the same.
Blood is red.
Even if Deathstroke didn't request it, they were eager to help; the X-Men were established to aid others, the Professor hoped ordinary people would see superpowers used for good deeds.
Thus, protecting the doctor, they left with the map provided by the guerrilla fighters.
Su Ming cast another glance at Peggy and the others, their condition wasn't great either, letting them rest here.
Monac was lying off to the side, seemingly asleep.
Su Ming suddenly realized, now the only one able to act seemed to be just himself...
Although reinforcements kept arriving from the start, why are there fewer usable people now?
"Well, ultimately, it still falls on oneself..."
Deathstroke had always been a lone mercenary, acting alone was no issue; with the Symbiote and Magic Floating Cloak compensating his weaknesses, he could complete the task solo.
"You all stay here, I'll handle the rest myself."
After saying this, without waiting for any reaction from Peggy and Fury, he signaled the cloak to fly over, bid farewell to the guerrilla fighters, and turned to leave the command post.
Walking through the deserted burial path, surrounded by nothing but heaps of bones, the place was heavily laden with Yin; not even rats or small animals could be found here.
Indeed, the underground tombs were exceedingly clean, no insects, no rats, nothing but bones.
From the burial path he first entered the sewer, then silently returned to the surface from there.
The sky had already darkened.
The current time was around 9 PM.
The streets were nearly devoid of pedestrians, only German Army patrols and powerful searchlights shining down from the airship.
These large beams swept over the city, searching for anyone possibly lurking in a stealthy manner."
"The sky had grown dark; if assumptions were correct, those three crazy women ought to make their move under the cover of night... so I should stay alert to the skies."
Now we'll see if the enemy can remain calm; a scare-the-snake type plan first requires the snake to be startled.
Thus, not only must those three women cause chaos on the ground, but also demonstrate capability to threaten aerial units."
Hence, the first step involves finding a flak cannon position."
Occupying a flak cannon, posing as part of the guerrilla squad, adjusting airburst fuses, making them feel threatened, forcing them to relocate the aerial laboratory."
Once the laboratory detaches from the airships and flees, I'll catch up with the cloak to sort it out."
Though possibly facing anti-aircraft guns, as long as identifying which airship holds the lab, before it's shot down, I should secure the Namor Fragment and retreat safely."
So, that's it."