"Of course not. Schmidt has gone completely insane. He wants to destroy the entire world!" Upon hearing Josh's words, Ophelia answered without hesitation.
"We once followed him because we believed he could lead us to the pinnacle of the world. But he failed. Yet he refuses to admit his failure and still insists on using the Tesseract to create even more powerful weapons…weapons that could destroy an entire city with a single shot, aiming to perish together with the Americans and the Soviets…but that's not what we want!"
Hearing Ophelia's words, Josh couldn't help but nod slightly, sensing that she was likely telling the truth.
Because according to the plotlines he'd seen in the films of his previous life, very few in Schmidt's Hydra faction followed him to the bitter end; most were merely brainwashed lower-level soldiers.
The real elites, once captured, generally chose to surrender and secretly return to the embrace of the Council of Nine.
Such as Arnim Zola, or Reinhardt—better known in the future as Daniel Whitehall.
After all, most people are still fairly rational—waging war is to seek a better life, not to perish together.
"I believe what you're saying. So… what is the reason you approached me?" Josh asked.
"We're planning a coup in Bavaria and northern Austria!" Ophelia said.
"A coup?" Josh was stunned.
"Yes. After suffering a defeat at the hands of the Soviets, Schmidt proactively reached a ceasefire agreement with Hitler and transferred large numbers of troops to the Eastern Front to block the Soviet counteroffensive. Meanwhile, Hitler also moved more troops to the Western Front to resist the Allied advance. So now the regions of Bavaria and northern Austria are very empty. The stationed German and Hydra forces are all local units, and we have already turned most of their officers." Ophelia explained.
Goodness…so these people were planning to switch sides right before the end.
Wasn't this the Italians' usual tactic? Since when did the Austrians and Bavarians learn the same trick?
Was this even a part of real history? Even in the Marvel universe, he had never heard of such a thing.
Seems like aside from the Italians, only Romania did something similar during WWII in Europe.
But actually, if Austria could pull this off, they might really be able to avoid the fate from Josh's past life—being divided by the four powers for decades and ending up as a permanently neutral state.
And they could even reunify Bavaria and Austria.
What a brilliant scheme.
But alas…
Josh couldn't help but shake his head at the thought.
"Mr. Kane, why are you shaking your head?" Ophelia asked with a frown.
"The idea is good, but setting aside whether or not the coup will succeed, even if it does, what makes you think you can withstand the joint counterattack of Hitler and Schmidt? Those two are both madmen!" Josh asked.
"That's exactly why we came to you. According to what I learned from Mr. Schneider, you have good relations with the senior leadership of the U.S. military. So we hope you can represent us and persuade the Allied command to rapidly advance from Italy into Austria at the same time as our uprising, attacking the Alpine defensive line. We will strike from behind. Once we join forces, whether to attack Schmidt to the west or Hitler to the north, it will be very convenient!" Ophelia said with great confidence.
"And then, when the war is completely over, you can join the feast of carving up Germany as a victorious nation, like France did, and fully integrate Bavaria and Austria…am I right?" Josh continued her line of thought with a smile.
"Of course, that's what we deserve, isn't it?" Ophelia replied with a smile.
"That may be true, but I still don't understand why you approached me. You could have gone directly to the Allied command yourselves. I don't believe you don't have any channels." Josh asked.
"In fact, getting you to be our spokesperson is just one of our goals. The real reason…is that we want to recruit you to join us." At this point, Ophelia took a moment to gather her words and then answered, "Your connections, funding, even your technology, are all things we need… especially that serum that can cause beast transformation."
"...You captured Aldo?" Hearing the mention of the beast transformation serum, Josh's previously calm expression immediately darkened.
Because up to now, Josh had only distributed four doses of the beast serum.
One to the Blackwater Gang leader Dix, one each to his two most capable bodyguards, Vito and Brook, and one to Aldo.
Josh had instructed all four to only use the serum in times of critical danger and hadn't told them its exact effects. So unless one of them had used it, none of them should even know what it really does.
But now, Ophelia had directly mentioned "beast transformation," which meant they had seen the serum in use.
Dix, based locally, had remained in telegraph contact with Josh and showed no abnormalities, so he likely hadn't used the serum.
Vito and Brook were always with Josh and had no opportunity to use it either.
So it was obvious—something had happened to Aldo.
Most likely, the poor guy had been captured by Hydra.
"No, no, no, we didn't capture him—I rescued him. Half a month ago, while passing through Paris, I happened to see him rampaging against German troops in beast form. So I followed him and witnessed him reverting to human form!" Ophelia quickly explained.
"And then you used mind control on him, got everything about me from him, right?" After hearing her explanation, Josh stared into her eyes and asked.
That explained everything—why this "fellow countryman" had suddenly come to him.
Turns out Aldo was the root of it all. No wonder the Army Department hadn't received any intel about him for over a month—he'd run into trouble.
"…Hehe, well, it's just more convenient this way… a habit! I'm used to it~~" Ophelia said awkwardly.
"I can understand. If I had such power, I'd probably do the same!" Josh unexpectedly expressed approval for her actions.
Indeed, if one had such a convenient ability, why not use it?
Hearing this, Ophelia relaxed a little.
"But understanding doesn't mean forgiving!" Yet before Ophelia could fully relax, Josh's next sentence instantly made her tense up again.
"Where is he now?" Josh asked.
"Paris. I've placed him in one of our secret bases there!" Ophelia replied quickly.
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