Inside the temporary camp at the frontline, in the command tent.
“After last night’s battle, we have lost 987 soldiers, while the German enemy has suffered more casualties than us, with a total count of nearly two thousand,” The soldier reported the situation to Colonel Marcos.
Upon hearing the report, Colonel Marcos furrowed his brow deeply. The death toll of nearly three thousand soldiers, coupled with countless injuries that rendered them unable to fight, indicated just how brutal the battle had been.
“The Germans were so desperate to occupy this area last night. They must have intended to make it a strategic zone and then penetrate deep into European territory. Although they temporarily retreated, they won’t easily give up. After regrouping, they will soon launch another offensive. Communication Officer, how many troops do we have in the rear that can reinforce us?” Colonel Marcos’ brow tightened as he thought of the future attacks.
The communication soldier replied, “The remaining forces in other frontline areas are also stretched thin in terms of manpower and military resources. We have three units, totaling three hundred soldiers, available for reinforcement. One of the units is composed entirely of newly recruited soldiers formed from the training base.”
“New recruits?” Colonel Marcos, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but shout in anger, “What good are new recruits? This is the frontline, not a training camp!”
Just then, a soldier’s voice could be heard outside the tent, relaying a message. “Reporting! A soldier named Kyle has arrived, claiming to have important information that he needs to notify Colonel Marcos.”
“Soldier Kyle?” Colonel Marcos was taken aback for a moment, unable to recall the sudden appearance of this person in the camp. After some thought, he decided to let Kyle in.
As Kyle entered the tent, Colonel Marcos looked at him and exclaimed, “Aren’t you the new recruit who reported in yesterday?”
“Yes, Colonel Marcos,” Kyle nodded, recognizing the officer in front of him as the one who received him at the airport and then directly sent him to the frontline combat zone.
“What are you here for?” Colonel Marcos asked in a cold voice, feeling unimpressed at this moment. Kyle hadn’t even cleaned himself yet, and his battle suit was stained with the foul odor of blood and dirt.
“I obtained a crucial piece of intelligence from an Elite German squad last night. I believe it will greatly assist in this battle, so I came to inform you immediately after the battle ended,” Kyle said as he took two paper scrolls from his pocket.
“An Elite German squad? Intelligence?” Colonel Marcos was surprised when he heard this and he eagerly took the scrolls, asking, “How did you acquire them?”
“I killed them and found the papers on their bodies,” Kyle shrugged, briefly recounting the encounter with the German Elite Squad during his journey to the combat zone.
“The enemy’s elite squad lurking in the rear of our main forces, and you killed them all?” Colonel Marcos found it hard to believe. He then nervously unfolded the paper scrolls and saw that they contained maps and numerous coded words used by the German forces.
“It’s indeed the German code language,” Colonel Marcos’s eyes widened in both surprise and delight. “The information they gathered about the combat zone should be on here! Communication soldier, immediately go to the rear and request professional codebreakers to come over!”
“No need, it’s not necessary,” Kyle waved his hand as he spoke.
“Not necessary?” Colonel Marcos and the communication soldier looked at Kyle in confusion.
With a tired look on his face, Kyle smiled and said, “I happen to have learned the German code language from the experts at the training base.”
—
Three days later.
Inside the underground research lab.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
In the training area, the oversized punching bag kept flying through the air under the powerful punches.
Wearing a sweat-soaked tank top, a tall and muscular young man with blond hair stood firmly in front of the punching bag. Every punch he threw displayed an unimaginable strength contained in his arms as he relentlessly pummeled the bag back and forth.
Agent Carter watched this from nearby, her eyes filled with concern, as she spoke up, “Steve, you should take a break. You’ve been at it for an hour already.”
“Bang!”
Steve continued to pound the punching bag with increasing force, his sweat flying off and splattering onto the ground.
Agent Carter raised her voice, “Steve!” in an attempt to get his attention. Finally, Steve stopped his assault on the bag, which swung back and forth like a pendulum.
“What am I doing? Am I really a Super Soldier? Or just an experiment hidden in the basement? I don’t want to be like this,” Steve said with a bitter smile on his face.
“Steve, your time to fight will come,” Agent Carter reassured him.
“When? How long do I have to wait?” Steve’s face, handsome and full of righteousness, was now filled with a pained expression.
He sighed, “Kyle has already gone to the front lines to fight! And here I am, Steve Rogers, entrusted with great expectations, yet left behind to live in peace without even going to war.”
“Kyle…” Agent Carter fell silent upon hearing the name.
“I should be able to do more than just pass the time here,” Steve said with determination.
“Of course. Soldier Steve, you are capable of so much more.” Suddenly, a confident voice interjected their conversation as Steve and Agent Carter turned their heads to see a middle-aged man in a suit and tie walking toward them.
“I am Senator Brandt. I have ample resources and opportunities at my disposal, enough to showcase your extraordinary talents to the entire nation. It can also be a powerful aid in the ongoing war,” Senator Brandt smiled and took out a business card from his pocket, handing it over. “I call it the Captain America Publicity Campaign.”
“Captain America?” Steve was taken aback by the name and he hesitated for a moment before accepting the business card offered by Senator Brandt.
Meanwhile, at the frontline camp.
“Kyle, Colonel wants to see you at the command post.”
“The Command Post?” Kyle, who had just returned from combat, was momentarily surprised. He handed his firearms to the Communication Officer in charge of relaying messages and made his way to the white tent in the area which was also dubbed as the main tent or the headquarter for this battlefield.
“Soldier Kyle, reporting in!”
“Come in.”
As Kyle stepped into the tent, he noticed several officers in military uniforms, almost a dozen of them. Colonel Marcos, the highest-ranking officer at the ‘headquarters’, sat in a chair and, upon seeing Kyle’s arrival, raised his voice to introduce him. “Gentlemen, this is the Soldier Kyle, who brought back two pieces of intelligence maps three days ago and successfully deciphered them.”
All the officers immediately focused their gazes on Kyle, expressing their astonishment at his young and handsome appearance.
“Soldier Kyle, you have truly achieved a great feat this time!”
“Yes, I heard that one of the maps contained intelligence about our military camp. If it had fallen into the hands of those Nazis, this place would have been bombarded by enemy planes.”
“Don’t forget the importance of the second map.”
“They are both important! Being able to retrieve and decipher the intelligence maps shows the growing strength of our new recruits.”
“A rare talent indeed. Our army needs fresh blood like yours.”
Kyle found himself amidst a shower of praise until Colonel Marcos cleared his throat and the tent fell silent.
“Soldier Kyle, the significant contribution you have made to the army will be duly reported once we secure our victory,” Colonel Marcos said solemnly.
Kyle’s pupils constricted and a surprised expression appeared on his face as he asked, “Victory? Are you saying…”
“That’s right.” Colonel Marcos nodded, spreading out the decoded information from the second parchment on the table. With an imposing aura, he declared, “Thanks to you, the second map reveals several German encampments outside our combat zone.”
“With this information, the General has issued new orders— tonight, we will launch our first large-scale counterattack on them!”
…