Chapter 44
*
We finally made it to the arena, or rather to our seats in the stands. Albeit through yet another ambiguous encounter. Candra came up to greet Suo, congratulated her on her marriage, and also warned her about En Sabah Nur.
What kind of gathering is this, damn it? For more than a century and a half of history known to me, not a single External had appeared here, and this time already three! It's some kind of nightmare.
So I wasn't surprised at all when I spotted En Sabah Nur himself in the stands, and next to him, Sinister, known to the world as Nathaniel Essex. Much more questions were raised by another company: thirty Soviet paratroopers in summer field uniforms. Bright blue "Margelov" berets, introduced only last year, flaunted on their heads, and telnyashkas peeked out from under their gymnastyorkas. The most interesting thing is that there wasn't a single soldier, sergeant, or warrant officer in this company—only officers.
All with "Kalashnikovs", but besides them, they also had sabers, entrenching tools, NR combat knives, battle axes, grenades, and even grenade launchers... A funny company. Fit, athletic, serious... From their small movements, plasticity, and characteristic glances, it was easy to read that they were fighters. And serious ones at that. I'd say they were barely inferior even to Cap. Except for experience, naturally. The most interesting thing is that I noticed three girls among the dashing mustached men. In the same uniform, male, but qualitatively tailored.
I estimated their age—it turned out that they were all from that very generation that should have grown up already under Erskine's program. Soviet Super Soldiers... At the Battle of Dragons.
That's who I didn't expect to see here.
But I wasn't the only one looking at them; they were looking at me too. Or rather, they were looking at everyone, attentively and tenaciously catching any of the smallest details. But as soon as they reached my humble person, the rest became of little interest to them.
A red-haired girl, strikingly resembling Scarlett Johansson from my past world, rose from her seat. Captain's shoulder boards flaunted on her shoulders. Three more rose with her. Also with the rank of captain. And these four headed precisely in my direction. The others gathered themselves and gripped their weapons more comfortably, but didn't touch the safeties yet.
"Comrade Major!" approaching, the red-haired woman addressed me. "Captain Romanova. Permission to speak?"
"You are mistaken," with the soft and kind smile of a monk follower of the path of Zen, I answered her in Russian. "My name is Victor Lehnsherr. And I do not hold the rank of major."
"Excuse me, Comrade Lehnsherr," she corrected herself easily, without removing the seriousness from her face. "Can we talk here?" she swept a meaningful glance over my companions. I also looked at them and sighed: to some of them I am not ready to reveal certain secrets. Or rather, to the majority.
"Shall we step aside?" I asked. The captain nodded. I got up from the bench and unhurriedly walked towards the exit of the arena. The quartet of officers followed me.
* * *
"So what did you want to tell me, Natasha?" still with the same smile and a bright, kind to the point of moronic look, I asked. Yes, I blew my cover. But let her think now how much I know and from where.
"I have instructions to pass on to you a request for a meeting, Comrade Lehnsherr," she didn't even bat an eye.
"From whom?" I became interested, although I was already beginning to guess from whom, but was afraid to believe and even imagine such a thing.
"From Comrade Stalin," she didn't disappoint me. My smile somehow faded a little by itself, but I managed to hold it and even bring it back.
"Where? When?" I asked. If this man is seeking a personal meeting with me, then sooner or later, one way or another or by some method, he will achieve his goal—he has enough resources for that. "But only on neutral territory."
"Why?" Natasha was surprised or feigned surprise. "They will be glad to see you in Moscow, they will greet you as a Hero."
"Too many Heroes have been expended since the year thirty-seven. Even more sent to the camps in transports."
"That is just anti-Soviet propaganda, Comrade Lehnsherr," Captain Romanova smiled. It is not yet known what exactly she is a captain of—blue shoulder boards and a beret don't mean anything yet—a scout can pull on any uniform.
"And yet. I am a citizen of France. A country where 'anti-Soviet propaganda' is the dominant ideology."
"Comrade Stalin expected such distrust on your part, Comrade Lehnsherr," Captain Romanova returned a serious expression to her face. "He proposes Kamar-Taj as the meeting place. Immediately upon the conclusion of the Battle of Dragons. He hopes that your wife will not object to his presence on her territory."
"Do you know why he wants to meet, Natasha?" I asked. My eyes remained just as kind, but at the same time became very attentive, since the answer to this question was important to me. It could change a lot.
"No," Captain Romanova answered. "He did not initiate us into the details. My task was only to personally pass the invitation to you. The rest must ensure my safety at the event."
"So you will not take part in the Battle?" I was surprised.
"There was no such task."
"And if I ask for a fight?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know who I am, right?"
"To be honest, not very well. Only that you are Major of the Red Army Victor Ivanovich Creed, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, considered dead since forty-three. That you can be found here under the nickname Sabretooth."
"And Kamar-Taj? And my wife?"
"Those are the words of Comrade Stalin. The meaning of them was not explained to me," she became a little embarrassed, or feigned embarrassment. Well, I have no reason not to believe her, just as I have no reason to believe her.
"And who Sabretooth is, did you manage to find out here, on the spot?"
"No. We just arrived. Recognized you immediately from the photograph."
"I am the Champion of the last Battle of Dragons. And only minor health problems prevented me from participating in it today. And I want a fight with you."
"With me?" Captain Romanova was surprised.
"Not necessarily," I shook my head. "Any of you will suit me. The one you consider the strongest. It can be more than one."
"A fight? To the death?" Natasha darkened. "We don't need casualties. And we are not allowed to kill you. Your death will mean our failure."
"No," I made my smile even wider and kinder. "Just a fight. To check your level of strength and training."
"Check the level?" Natasha was surprised. "Why?"
"I want to!"
"And we don't," she replied.
"Then, I will just attack you," the kindness from my smile slowly began to leave. At the same time, the smile itself became wider, exposing my not entirely human fangs. "And not everyone will leave alive..."
"We do not need a conflict," Natasha began to get a little nervous.
"Then you know what to do," I lowered the degree of kindness in my smile a little more.
"Is there really no other way?" she made another attempt to avoid the inevitable.
"No way," I cut off. "One minute."
"Vadim Semenych?" she addressed one of her three companions. He threw his AK-47 off his shoulder and handed it to his comrade, then cracked his neck and stepped forward.
I stepped back a little to provide room for maneuver. The captain followed me. For a while we stood opposite each other silently, sizing each other up. The monastic kindness, meekness, and love for the whole world returned to the smile on my face. The guy, on the contrary, frowned.
He struck fast, sharply, technically, aiming at my chin and froze in surprise, looking at his fist, which had imprinted itself into my palm.
He pushed harder, counting on his power, which quite reached, and maybe even slightly exceeded, the power of Cap. But to no avail. My leg shot sharply into his solar plexus. The hit wasn't "clean", so the guy was thrown about fifteen meters towards the nearest tree, into which he flew back first, and then slid to the ground, convulsively trying to inhale at least a little air.
"More!" I demanded from Natasha. She nodded her head to her remaining two companions. They, as if on command, put their assault rifles on the ground and walked towards me.
Well, I've checked strength and toughness, now I can take care of endurance, I thought, twisting and rolling both of them on the ground time after time. Soon the first one, who had more or less recovered, joined in.
And a little later three more were added to the three, then more... It was fun to use the techniques and methods received from Morihei instead of the usual hard striking styles. It turned out something very similar to what he himself demonstrated in his classes, staging exhibition randori. With the exception that he himself was of very small stature and fragile build, while I was practically the complete opposite in this. And they rarely rushed at him with weapons. My current "dance partners", however, began to throw themselves at me with sabers, and with entrenching tools, and with knives, some even with assault rifles with attached bayonets.
At some point, a fighter from this company who had not previously participated in the entertainment stepped forward. He stood opposite the place where I was throwing and twisting his comrades, and suddenly the exposed areas of his body sparkled with metal. Really?!!!
Noticing such an interesting moment, I immediately finished playing with my partners, quickly and efficiently taking them out of the fight, simply knocking them out, so that none of them would interfere with my enjoyment of a new game with a new interesting partner.
Colossus, and for some reason I had no doubt that it was him, moved towards me. I rushed at him myself and smashed my fist, not holding back, right into the middle of his chest. The sound, and the sensation, was as if I had hit a steel billet. But let me remind you: my punch used to crack the armor of a "Tiger" in its time, and since then I managed to undergo another "improvement", and even continued to develop as a Martial Arts Master.
Colossus withstood it. But staggered. What a happy smile crept onto my face after that! I had never in my life had such an awesome makiwara!!!
I couldn't even contain my emotions and laughed joyfully.
"Sorry, Pete!" I said to him, managing that laugh. "But you are so awesome!!!"
Then the holiday began: I delivered blow after blow, to various points of his impenetrable body, from various positions, different strikes, all the strikes known to me: from karate, kung fu, muay boran! Including killing and crippling ones. Very fast and as hard as possible, not holding back, not weakening my hand... I hit with fists, feet, knees, elbows, bent and straightened fingers, the edge of the hand and "whip"... From a jump, from a turn, with a twist, singles, pairs, series...
From the outside, I probably looked like a jackhammer knocking on a frying pan... or Iron Man hitting Hulk in the head with his mechanical fist, because few could see and appreciate the whole variety of strikes I delivered. Colossus staggered and retreated, retreated, retreated.
It must have been painful. At some point he stumbled and fell backwards under my pressure. I stopped, and he didn't try to get up. His body stopped shining with polished metal and he, first curled into a fetal position, and then simply passed out.
"Well," I sighed. "Not bad. Speed, strength, endurance, flexibility and reaction are top-notch, but the technique is a bit weak... However, it could have been worse."
"Are you satisfied?" with difficulty maintaining her composure, Natasha asked.
"Overall—yes. I would have liked, of course, to see your personal level as well, but a commander is not disgraced in front of subordinates..."
"Explain: why did you need all this?" she asked.
"A whim," I shrugged. "You can report to the command about the success of the mission."
"Meaning?"
"I will be waiting in Kamar-Taj after the Battle ends."
"Thank you, Comrade Lehnsherr," Captain Romanova nodded. By this time my recent "dance partners" had just begun to come to their senses and get up from the ground.
"Well done, men!" I walked among them and encouragingly patted them on the shoulders and backs. "The potential is excellent! The main thing is not to stop and work on yourselves!"
"Easy for you to say," one of them couldn't bear it, wiping blood from a busted lip. "Scattered us like blind puppies..."
"And how did you want it?" the smile on my face became slightly less kind and slightly more predatory.
"Vlasov!" Romanova said warningly, slightly raising her voice. He immediately fell silent and hurried to his weapon lying behind the girl's back.
I helped two more up, after which I moved back to the stands.
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