Dust & Devils (Kroenen)

It was not often that Karl Ruprecht Kroenen was sent out on inspection of facilities such as this, let alone one under HYDRA's jurisdiction. He did not understand the need for such an organization writhing its serpentine form beneath the Fuhrer's flag, but all the same they had proven useful in the past. Their head of operations, their Red Skull as he was referred to, was a madman of the highest order. How Kroenen would have been curious to discover the exact conditions which left the man's head looking like that. Perhaps he would be permitted to do so after his demise.
These were the thoughts that the Lieutenant-Colonel turned over in his mind as he sat in the long, black car that drove along with the two trucks of his SS men to inspect the facility. The officer seated beside him, by the name of Klaus Werner von Krupt, had been sent along to inspect the fortifications of the facility while Kroenen was sent for the laboratories and research wings. Von Krupt was a dull man, older and always hiding behind his dark glasses.
Still, Kroenen kept his gas mask on at all times, never an inch of flesh showing on his person. But that was a different matter. Never hiding.
Perfect.

When the motorcade stopped and the troops dismounted their trucks, the doors were opened for the officers to exit their car. The troops saluted, HYDRA and SS alike, and Von Krupt turned and looked up at his masked companion.
"I suppose you would prefer to continue with your uh-" he began to say, but Kroenen disregarded his speech and moved passed Von Krupt, heading toward one of the open doors into the facility, signaling for two of the SS troops to follow him.
It was not a complex layout, but would undoubtedly confuse any who attacked. While not confusing, it was not necessarily intuitive. Still, Kroenen's long overcoat moved behind him as he took his long strides down into the intestines of the place. All seemed in order along the passageways, at least.
He entered the laboratory and stood with his arms clasped behind his back, looking around and noting that it was indeed...quite pristine, at first glance. The HYDRA scientists who stopped to stare at him were irksome, but it was not something he was unaccustomed to.
And then his eyes fell upon a dark haired woman. Surely this was his long time contact. She met his assumptions in terms of her appearance, though he was immediately impressed with the confidence she seemed to carry herself with. In such a profession as theirs, a woman being the head scientist of anything was a surprise.
Kroenen approached Ophelia and saluted her.
"Good afternoon." he rasped through his mask as he looked down at the woman.

Kroenen slowly but deliberately saluted Viper back, his fingers clasped together and his palm open, before he settled back into his eerie statuesque calm with his hands clasped behind his back. He noted that the woman's first instinct was to salute him in the manner of HYDRA rather than the member of their party. But he did not find his master's methods or ideologies very practical, least of all a wise means to spend one's career, political or otherwise. If nothing else, his camps would provide Kroenen with a neverending supply of test subjects.
And that would suffice for now. And Viper was making progress of her own, which pleased him.
"Very good. Yes." he rasped.

His attention was diverted immediately when the HYDRA scientist shook the vial loose and it shattered onto the floor. Kroenen turned slowly to the man and watched silently, save for the breathing of his gas mask, as the scientist was bludgeoned and then ultimately dragged from the room. The masked man turned his head to peer back down at Viper when the gunshot sounded. He paid it no particular mind. Another corpse for the pile or for reconstruction.
"I have come with another purpose," he continued in his garbled voice, "It has been part of my continuing mission to retrieve fresh corpses from the camps and laboratories while I have been on inspection route. Not for the Fuhrer. But for myself."
He turned and looked at his guards he had come in with. They nodded immediately and issued the other scientists from the room, closing the doors behind them.

Removing his cap slowly, revealing the polished dome of his mask, Kroenen began to walk through the room examining the equipment as he went.
"It is a project you might perhaps be interested in," he went on, "Not this...super soldier formula. That is the Red Skull's pet project."
He looked back at her.
"For his pet doctor."
His glassy lenses went back to perusing the equipment and chambers.
"It is my intention to create a perfect soldier as well," he growled, "But not with this chemical formula that you have been so driven to chase. Science, yes. And black magic. You require data no doubt."
Kroenen had been unbuttoning his tunic as he spoke, then the black shirt underneath that. The usually muffled ticking he produced became louder. His flesh underneath was a twisted road map of scars and pale, wrinkled flesh. On the left side near his heart was a cavity and within it a dial like a key. Giving it two deliberate turns, he wound himself like a watch and withdrew the long key with its many prongs.
"Like me," he hissed as he reinserted the key, "A perfect soldier need not be the result of a serum. But a careful melding of other sources. I trust none other with this vision. Not our Fuhrer. He has been driven to madness. Not my science division. They are of narrow mind. Not the Thule Society. Fanatics, little more. You are the only one I find capable of appreciating this. An army of six hundred and sixty-six perfect soldiers."

Standing up straighter and clicking his boots together, Kroenen nodded curtly.
He was irritated at this woman's lack of vision. But orders were orders, and she had hers. He could not fault her for that.
Still, it was a shame.
She would have been perhaps a valuable help.
Regardless, that was a final word on the matter. Kroenen was not one to request anything twice, nor offer it. Time was eternally too short for that.
"Very well," he growled, "There is no call for an apology. You have your-"

His reply was cut off as a massive explosion, like that of a bomb dropped overhead, blew half the wall of the laboratory away. Quick as a flash, Kroenen leapt over one of the consoles and dove onto Viper to move her out of the way. Once the debris cleared, disregarding the shrapnel that had embedded itself slightly through his back, he stood quickly and drew his pistol, looking around. Who would dare...
...and then his thought was answered with the vision before him.
Countless Allied troops stormed the breach in the base, leaping over the shattered walls outside and exchanging fire with both SS and HYDRA soldiers.
Kroenen stood, removing his overcoat and tossing his cap aside, firing his pistol to direct kill shots. Quick and efficient. He was never anything less. There was no pain. There was no fear.
There was only the endgame.

The doors to the laboratory were bashed open with a log used as a ram, but the four soldiers were quickly dispatched again by Kroenen before he swiftly reloaded his pistol, looking down at Viper.
"They have come at last."

Kroenen watched the woman's skill, genuinely impressed with her prowess in battle. He had not anticipated this level of determination from a mere scientist. Then again, perhaps both of them were not entirely what they seemed on first glance.
As Viper moved through the doorway, Kroenen determined he would be better used heading them off from the other direction, and so he proceeded through the breech in the laboratory out to the yard.

Upon stepping out, many of the soldier's eyes turned on him. Not in recognition, he fancied, but simply that another officer had appeared.
"Take the freak out!" one of the commanding Allied officers shouted.
An English dialect. From the country.
Kroenen made note of this.
Bullets battered through his tunic and in and out through his torso, causing dust to trickle out of the wounds...but he hardly budged from the barrage. Soon enough, even with all the chaos about, the shots stopped on him as the men reloaded. Kroenen held out a hand and caught some of the dust escaping his body, holding it up to his eyes before tossing it into the wind. He fired his last rounds from his pistol into the commanding officer's neck, both jugulars. As the man gagged and became a fountain of blood, Kroenen cast his sidearm to the ground and thrust his hands out on either side of him.

Two thick blades shot out of his cuffs along the top side of his forearms and hands. He took some small amount of pleasure in the fear he saw in these mens' eyes now.
They knew who he was at last.
Their enemy's assassin.
Karl Ruprecht Kroenen.
He crossed the blades before him as the men attacked with further shot, deflecting them with deft motions before diving at them, cutting through each as if they were hardly there.
His task complete, he moved toward a squadron of the pinned down SS men and assisted them by deflecting more shot before diving into the fray like a top, slicing through flesh and bone as he moved toward where the corridor Viper had taken would let out.

Fighting through the hail of gunfire like the devil, Kroenen continued to press what was left of the SS forces forward. As they moved, Kroenen could see Viper's abilities in his peripheral vision.
She had made it out and was simultaneously proving to be formidable. This was good.
He even admired it.
How such a mortal could be so well coordinated. Rarely a set of traits seen on the battlefield in his experience. Though considering that most of the soldiers he had fought alongside were cannon fodder, this ultimately complimented her little.

Kroenen heard cries of warning ringing in his ears before he turned to see the Allies throwing their grenades into his troops' lines. He shouted a signal and they scattered.
One.
Two.
Three sets of explosions sent them flying. Kroenen ducked the debris and managed to run at the offending enemy soldiers, before one tossed another grenade toward the car he had come in. It had been riddled with holes already, but otherwise had been left untouched, thought no doubt to be merely a showy vehicle of little importance. The back wheels had been damaged, and so the back end was lodged in the mud. Yet it was all still intact.

But when the grenade landed underneath the undercarriage of the car, Kroenen immediately focused on it...he had brought some of his own researches with him. His books, his....
....his books.
His ancient texts. His findings.
No.
He sheathed his blades back into his cuffs and dove at the car and reached for the grenade with his left hand, but his limbs were not long enough.
No...
Kroenen scurried under the car and gripped the grenade, pulling at its lodging, simultaneously counting the time down...
....until it blew.
It sent the spindly man and the car as well reeling back. Kroenen saw little and could hear not a sound from being so close to the explosion. His nerve endings had already been replaced, and so he did not even feel his body slam into the wall behind him, nor feel the now empty cuff where his left hand had once been.
He did not even feel when the pieces of debris pinned him to the wall like a beetle in a collection.
Kroenen merely watched on in momentary resignation. So much of his work...gone in flames. So much knowledge destroyed.

Viper had come for him.
This was a curious turn of events. One Kroenen had hardly anticipated. She did not owe him anything, even as a superior officer. Still, her wrenching him free with minimal damage to his clockwork insides was impressive. And not at all unhelpful.
And then the planes came...loud and searing overhead as they dropped their bombs. And Viper shielded him.
No, this was impractical.
An imperfect turn of events.
Then he witnessed her burning from the explosion. This would not do if further damage was taken. He required her for what he had in mind, HYDRA or no HYDRA.
Quickly, Kroenen threw off his overcoat in one long sweeping motion, wrapping it around her for additional protection from the flames, pressing one of the lapels onto her face to put out the searing damage. Like lightning he scooped the woman into his arms and ran out the back gate, away from the carnage and the chaos. He braced himself against the undamaged back wall of the facility. His eyes through the goggles of his gas mask looked all around.

The planes were not returning for a second pass.
This was good.
Yet the trouble remained...Viper had issued orders regarding a panic room and a daughter. Kroenen had suffered damage, including the loss of his left hand, but there was nevertheless work to still be done. He turned to see the back exit of the facility around the corner and ran to it, setting Viper over his shoulder as he turned the creaking lever and opened the door. Once inside, he closed and shut it again. The halls were quiet. The sound of the battle was outside. They had not been able to enter this part of the facility yet.
Kroenen set Viper down gingerly and drew his overcoat from her, surveying the scarring damage.
"The flames have cauterized the damage," he assessed as he felt her heartbeat with two of his fingers, "You are calmer than would be expected. This is good."
He stood and looked down the long corridor.
"Your daughter, yes?" he asked, "Where is this panic room? We must remove the others as best we can. This is a hopeless battle for the present."

She had been studying in her room when the first explosion sounded. Being a civilian on a military base was not an entirely unusual thing, but Jessica was at that age where she was old enough o not get into trouble, but also young enough where she wasn’t much use to HYDRA, not that her mother would allow her to do anything for this war in order to help. She had turned a blind eye to Seraph teaching her little bits of self defense and tactics, but now that they were in Germany, she was told to stay safe and away from the trouble of war. Which was why Jessica stayed in her and her mother’s quarters for most of the day.

When the explosion hit, Jessica sat up and strained to listen for something, anything that would say it had just been an accident, not an actual invading force. Her heart pounded at that thought. She didn’t know what she would do. What if her mother was hurt by the blast? What if they captured her, or worse, killed her? What would they do with her? These thoughts forced Jessica in to action, causing her to run for the door. Thankfully, she wasn’t able to do much other than get a few feet outside of her quarters before two HYDRA agents, Richter and Braun, arrived and began escorting her to the panic room. She protested, or at least she tried to. She wanted to be there and help her mother, but if they were sent to protect her, at least that meant Jessica’s mother had been alive to give such an order.

Once inside, all Jessica could do was wait. Wait and hope and pray. Neither Richter nor Braun spoke. Their duties were clear; keep Jessica safe at all costs. She tried to ask them about the status of her mother, but they simply said their commanding officer was fine, nothing more. Eventually, they just began to ignore her questions, so Jessica finally just gave up and sat down quietly to wait. If her mother was alive and safe, she would come for her. She always had in the past.

It seemed like an eternity before the wall to the panic room opened up and two figures stepped inside; a man and a woman. It took Jessica a moment for her eyes to adjust to the change in lighting, causing her to blink rapidly, but the hug was a wondrously welcomed sensation. “Are you all right, mama?” Her hair smelled burnt and bloody and that alone sent Jessica panicking, causing her to react as she always had when her mother had returned from a mission. The need to check her for injuries was overwhelming. She likely would have discovered the mess that was the side of Viper’s face if her eyes hadn’t glanced over at the individual who had followed Viper in. It was Kroenen. This was the closest she had ever been to the man and his presence was a bit disconcerting. “Mama…?” she asked softly, afraid that if she said anything more, it would draw further attention to herself.