The Grossglockner Massif rose like a series of jagged, ice-crowned teeth against the bruised winter sky of the Austrian Alps. Festung Niemals, if Anya's intelligence and the Abwehr officer's coerced whispers were accurate, lay hidden within its most inaccessible, unmapped valley, a veritable fortress carved into the living rock, shielded by experimental technology and guarded by Hydra's most fanatical zealots. This was to be Logan's most challenging hunt yet, a direct assault on the presumed nerve center of the Red Skull's resurgent power.
Elias Thorne, despite being an ocean away, felt an almost physical connection to this impending confrontation through his link with Logan and Miller. His own Omega-tier healing factor, now fully mirrored from Wolverine, was a constant, reassuring thrum of vitality within him, a silent testament to the ever-deepening synergy with his Prime Conduits. He had dispatched one final, critical piece of equipment to O'Malley before Logan's team went dark for their final approach: a miniaturized, highly encrypted burst transmitter of his own anachronistic design, capable of sending a single, brief data packet even through significant interference. Its purpose: if they found Schmidt, if they engaged him, Logan or Miller were to trigger it. The data it would relay, however fragmented, would be invaluable.
The infiltration of Festung Niemals was a nightmare. The valley was indeed shielded by some kind of subtle energy field that played havoc with O'Malley's standard radio equipment and even seemed to dampen sound and light. SS ski patrols, equipped with advanced night vision goggles (another unsettling sign of Hydra's technological prowess), were a constant threat. Automated gun emplacements, cleverly concealed amongst the rocks and snowdrifts, covered every likely approach.
It was Miller, with his "Trauma Variant" Feral Striker's almost preternatural danger sense and Logan's savage cunning, who found their way in. They discovered a glacial meltwater tunnel, partially frozen but leading deep beneath the fortress's outer defenses. The crawl through the icy, suffocating darkness was an ordeal that would have broken lesser men, but Logan's relentless drive and Miller's unyielding resilience saw them through. O'Malley, despite his non-enhanced status, followed doggedly, his engineering skills proving vital in bypassing several crude pressure-plate traps laid within the tunnel.
They emerged into a geothermal cavern deep beneath Festung Niemals, the air thick with sulfurous steam and the distant hum of powerful machinery. This was clearly the fortress's power source. And it was heavily guarded by Hydra Ubersoldaten, clad in improved versions of the segmented armor they'd encountered at Adlerhorst, wielding upgraded energy rifles that fired bolts of concussive force.
The fight was immediate and brutal. Logan, Miller, and O'Malley (providing covering fire with a modified StG 44 he'd "acquired") fought as a desperate, cohesive unit. Logan was a whirlwind of adamantium, his berserker rage focused and deadly. Miller, his greyish-white bone claws a stark contrast to Logan's gleaming metal, fought with a cold, terrifying precision, his movements economical, his resilience inhuman. He absorbed energy blasts that would have vaporized an ordinary soldier, his Feral Striker healing factor working furiously to knit torn flesh and mend shattered bone, albeit leaving behind angrier, more prominent scars each time.
The Hydra super-soldiers were formidable, each a match for several elite SS troopers, but they were not Logan or Miller. One by one, they fell.
[HYDRA Ubersoldaten (Mk II) Neutralized. Prime Essence Shard Echo Acquired: +1.2 Shard Fragments (Enhanced Bio-Armor/Energy Weapon Attunement). Total Shards: 3.3/5.0.]
[Combat Data (Wolverine/Miller vs. Hydra Mk II Ubersoldaten): Acquired. Conduit Integration (Wolverine) +0.5%. Loyalty (Wolverine): +1% (Total 79% – Shared High-Threat Combat). Miller (Feral Striker – Trauma Variant): Evolution Sub-Routine (Energy Blast Resistance) Activated – Minor adaptation occurring.]
With the geothermal power station secured (and O'Malley already working to rig it with demolition charges), they pressed deeper into the fortress, following ventilation shafts and service tunnels, guided by Logan's senses which could now smell the faint, distinctive chemical taint he associated with Johann Schmidt's presence at Adlerhorst.
They found him in what could only be described as a throne room. Carved from black, obsidian-like rock, the vast chamber was dominated by a single, raised dais upon which sat a massive, ornate chair. And in that chair, clad in a field-grey uniform adorned with stark Hydra insignia, was the Red Skull.
He was not alone. Flanking his throne were two figures that made even Logan pause. They were female, identical twins, their features sharp and predatory, their eyes glowing with an internal, silver light. They wore form-fitting black uniforms, and each wielded a pair of impossibly long, monomolecular-edged blades that shimmered in the eerie light of the chamber. They moved with a fluid, inhuman grace. These were not Ubersoldaten. These were something… else.
The System screamed a warning in Elias's mind, an alert triggered by the proximity sensors in Logan's gear (relaying via O'Malley's active transmitter before it inevitably failed): [ALPHA-PLUS THREAT DETECTED: FENRIS TWINS (ANDREA & ANDREAS VON STRUCKER – POST-HUMAN MUTATES – HYDRA PRIME ASSETS). Powers: Bio-Energy Blasts (Incineration/Concussive), Enhanced Strength/Speed/Agility (Superseding Ubersoldaten Mk II), Probable Psionic Link. EXTREME DANGER. RED SKULL PRESENCE CONFIRMED.]
Baron Strucker's children. Mutated by their father's horrific experiments with "Compound X" – the same substance that had likely played a role in Wolverine's own lost past, a detail Elias was only now beginning to piece together from fragmented Hydra intel. This was Hydra's true elite.
"So," the Red Skull's voice, amplified by hidden speakers, filled the chamber, dripping with arrogant amusement. "The wild dog and his… rabid companion. And an engineer, I presume? You have been a persistent nuisance, 'Sergeant Logan'." He clearly knew of Logan's exploits. His intelligence network was indeed formidable.
"Came to return the favor, Skull-face," Logan snarled, his claws extending. Miller, beside him, did the same, his yellow-silver eyes fixed on the Fenris Twins. O'Malley wisely took cover, readying his explosives.
Schmidt chuckled, a dry, rasping sound. "Your resilience is… admirable. A testament to the flawed genius of those who unwittingly created you. But here, in my fortress, you are merely… specimens." He gestured languidly. "Andrea. Andreas. Dispose of them. But bring me the one with the metal claws alive, if possible. I have… uses for him."
The Fenris Twins attacked. They moved with a speed that was almost a blur, their monomolecular blades a silver whirlwind. Logan met Andrea, their claws and blades crashing together in a shower of sparks, adamantium a match for whatever arcane Hydra science had forged their weapons. Miller, with his raw, desperate strength, engaged Andreas, his bone claws seeking to parry and deflect, his Feral Striker healing working overtime as near-misses still managed to slice through his toughened hide.
The fight was on a level beyond anything Elias's assets had faced before. The Fenris Twins were a perfectly coordinated engine of destruction, their twin psionic link allowing them to anticipate and counter every move. Logan, for all his ferocity, found himself on the defensive against Andrea's relentless, lightning-fast assault. Miller was being systematically dismantled by Andreas, his bone claws chipping and breaking against the superior blades, his healing factor struggling to keep pace with the grievous wounds he was sustaining.
O'Malley, seeing his companions being overwhelmed, made a desperate move. He activated the detonator for the charges they'd set in the geothermal power station far below.
Festung Niemals shuddered violently as its power core began to overload. Emergency klaxons blared. Red lights pulsed.
Schmidt rose from his throne, his expression one of fury. "Insolent worms! You will not rob me of my victory!" He raised a hand, and a sphere of crackling, crimson energy began to form. This was his power, Elias realized, some form of potent energy manipulation.
But before Schmidt could unleash it, another, far greater tremor ripped through the fortress. Not from O'Malley's charges. This was something else.
From the Pacific, across thousands of miles, Elias felt an immense surge of raw, elemental power through his System link with Namor. The Sub-Mariner, in response to escalating Japanese "Oceanic Purity" cultist attacks on a series of Atlantean sacred sites near the Mariana Trench (attacks that had involved attempts to bind and control a colossal, squid-like kaiju – the "Kairyu-Shin" itself), had finally unleashed the full fury of his hydrokinetic abilities.
Namor had, in effect, created a localized, strategic tsunami, directing a monstrous wave, miles high, to obliterate the Japanese cultist fleet and their island stronghold. The psychic and elemental backlash was enormous.
[GLOBAL EVENT TRIGGERED (VIA NAMOR): PACIFIC KAIJU INCIDENT CONTAINED. JAPANESE "KAIRYU-SHIN" PROJECT DECIMATED. HOSTILE NAVAL ASSETS NEUTRALIZED. MASSIVE HYDRO-KINETIC ENERGY DISCHARGE DETECTED.]
[SYSTEM SYNERGY ALERT: HOST UNIT (ELIAS THORNE) EXPERIENCING TEMPORARY RESONANCE SURGE DUE TO NAMOR'S EXTREME POWER OUTPUT. SUB-ROUTINE UNLOCKED: "ELEMENTAL HYDROKINESIS PRINCIPLES (INTERMEDIATE)" – 75% ACCESSED. TEMPORARY ABILITY: MINOR AQUATIC MANIPULATION/SENSING WITHIN IMMEDIATE PROXIMITY.]
Back in Festung Niemals, the ground bucked violently. The fortress, already destabilized by O'Malley's charges and whatever Schmidt was doing with the Tesseract's residual energies (perhaps he had a fragment himself?), was literally tearing itself apart.
The Fenris Twins, momentarily distracted by the violent earthquakes, gave Logan and Miller a precious second. Logan, roaring, disengaged from Andrea and lunged for Schmidt, claws aimed at the Skull's hateful visage. Miller, despite his horrific injuries, threw himself at Andreas, tackling him, his bone claws finding purchase in the mutate's thigh.
Schmidt, his crimson energy sphere still crackling, was knocked off balance by a falling stone block the size of a car. His sphere discharged harmlessly into the collapsing ceiling.
Andrea shrieked as Logan's claws raked across her face, narrowly missing an eye. Andreas screamed as Miller's teeth, now fang-like, sank into his shoulder.
Then the floor of the throne room gave way.
Logan, Schmidt, Andrea, Andreas, and the gravely wounded Miller all plunged into a newly opened chasm, amidst a cascade of rock and flame from the failing geothermal core below.
O'Malley, clinging to a bucking piece of machinery, triggered Elias's emergency burst transmitter just as the main comms link died. The data packet was short, corrupted, but contained two vital pieces of information before the signal vanished into static: "SKULL ENGAGED… FORTRESS COLLAPSING… LOGAN AND MILLER… LOST…"
Elias Thorne, an ocean away, felt the connections to Logan and Miller abruptly sever, replaced by a screaming void in the System. The pain of that severance, even psychically, was immense, far greater than any physical injury he himself had sustained. Two of his most powerful, most loyal assets… gone.
The taste of victory at disrupting Schmidt was ashes in his mouth. Hydra's lair was burning, but it may have just claimed two of his best. The price of this war was proving to be impossibly, horrifyingly high.