44: Repercussions 2

44: Repercussions 2

"John!" Followed by Peggy's call, a pair of arms wrapped around John. He didn't resist—being hugged by a beautiful woman, no matter who it was, was always welcome in his book. Besides, smelling the pleasant fragrance of her hair and feeling the softness of her breasts against his body made his stress melt away in a much-needed way. Now he understood better the person who would invent stress balls forty years in the future.

But the hug couldn't last too long at this moment, or John wouldn't be able to keep his hands still. So, after patting her back, he gently pulled her away from his side.

What comics didn't tell you about gaining superpowers that enhanced physical condition was that certain types of desires also intensified. John associated it somewhat with what happened when you went to the gym and increased your testosterone due to exercise, which also resulted in a boost in libido.

He had felt it for the first time when he took both serums, and he had felt it again when he enhanced himself with the power of the Tesseract and the Vita rays. It wasn't something completely uncontrollable, of course, but it was still there, like a small voice buzzing at the back of his mind like an annoying mosquito.

Before joining the war, John had needed the help of several girls to keep it from becoming too irritating. Of course, it wasn't that he didn't want to do it—he actually did it quite gladly—but if that need had been a little less intense, he could have kept things more discreet and avoided putting his hands on so many women so early in his new life.

After joining the war, he had to put such activities on the back burner for a while, which was difficult. Fortunately, the thrill of being in the midst of battle helped him "let off steam" a little, but sometimes, it was barely enough.

And now that his body had been "enhanced" again, it would probably be much harder than before.

"I'm sorry for the delay," he said, looking at Peggy's "new" office, which was inside a newly installed military tent.

At the moment, the survivors of Sword were at another Allied base in Italy, one that wasn't too far from where their previous base had been in Sand in Taufers.

The place wasn't bad, but it was clearly not suitable for staying too long, so they would need to move soon.

"John, what happened?" After calming her excitement at seeing him again, Peggy asked with a frown. For her, everything had been quite confusing since the attack, and she needed some clarity—or she might actually start getting gray hairs.

"It's... a bit complicated. I'm still confused about some things myself, but I brought someone who can help me explain it," he said before gesturing behind him, where a silent Clea stood.

"Is she...?"

"A new friend."

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"I just... need a moment."

John sighed at the sight of Peggy's pale face. He supposed it was too optimistic to expect everyone to take certain revelations as if they were nothing.

Peggy was a smart woman, but like many others of this era, she had a strong sense of skepticism. Accepting scientifically backed facts was one thing—accepting things beyond science was something else entirely. Learning about the existence of magic and demons, with everything that implied, had still left her quite disoriented.

Adding that to all the stress she had been enduring lately, it was understandable that she had a bit of a breakdown. Still, he had faith that she would recover from this sooner rather than later.

"It's okay, you can take a break. I'll handle everything for now," he told her, making her nod without much resistance before going off to rest. She needed to be alone with her thoughts for a while.

"If you want, you can go rest too. I still have a few things to take care of before we can leave," he said to Clea, who was still with him.

"If you don't mind, could I stay and watch?"

Her request made him raise an eyebrow, but seeing the curiosity in her eyes, he more or less understood what was going on.

'She mentioned that she normally wasn't allowed to leave Kamar-Taj. Maybe she's curious about how things work in the normal world," It reminded him of when she had offered to go with Raven to help the people in Warsaw, even though she didn't have to. There hadn't just been 'kindness' in her eyes that time, but also simple curiosity.

"I don't mind, but you might get bored."

With that said, John got to work, mostly ignoring Clea, who stood to the side watching him work.

Paperwork and administrative tasks had never been enjoyable for John, who above all preferred being on the battlefield. Still, he had long since learned from Peggy how to do both things correctly.

He quickly reorganized what remained of Sword, made preparations for the personnel to depart for the United States, and contacted the necessary people to report the attack and explain why they were temporarily withdrawing from Italy—without, of course, revealing the involvement of the mystical side of the world in all of this.

Not only because of the uproar and disbelief it would cause among high command but also because John knew it was best that sorcerers remained out of public knowledge—at least for now.

He was already going to struggle enough to get society to accept metahumans; trying to make them accept the mystical as well was too much to put on his plate at the moment.

Although it didn't seem like he did much, since Peggy had already taken care of a significant part of the work before he arrived, John still had to spend nearly five hours running back and forth in the "office" before finally finding some free time to relax a little.

Surprisingly, Clea remained steadfast throughout the entire process without showing any signs of boredom.

That was because she had long since become accustomed to spending hours upon hours in the company of books and nothing else, so for her, watching him work was actually quite entertaining.

"Alright, time for a break. Are you hungry?" he asked.

Clea hesitated slightly before nodding. In truth, she wasn't hungry, but she assumed most humans needed to eat frequently, and not doing so might seem strange.

"Well, let's see what we can find around here."

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"Seriously? We fight and risk our lives, and what do we get in return? Terrible food, that's what!" John complained as he sprinkled the cheese over the rounded dough covered in tomato sauce and pepperoni, laid out on the desk.

Then, he raised a finger, igniting a small flame at its tip, which he proceeded to toss onto the dough, completely covering it for a few seconds.

By controlling the heat of the flames, he was able to cook all the ingredients to perfection, and soon, a delicious and pleasant aroma reached his nose.

'Take that—pizza in less than 30 seconds. Suck my dick , fast food services.' Getting the ingredients hadn't been easy, but once he had everything, making it was a piece of cake.

With a triumphant smile, he pushed the delicious dish toward Clea, who was already salivating.

"I'll give you the honors—you can cut it."

"Cut it?" Clea blinked in confusion. It was the first time she had seen this type of food—how exactly was it supposed to be cut?

Seeing her confusion, John quickly explained and prepared to lend her his combat knife, but before he could, Clea acted first, invoking what appeared to be a small, gleaming sword using her sorcery.

"Eight equal parts." With more concentration than necessary, Clea carefully calculated the cuts and began separating the slices with great precision.

It was a little amusing to see the intensity she put into something so simple.

"Now, you take it like this and start eating."

Once she finished cutting, he grabbed a slice and brought it to his mouth, chewing it with satisfaction. Clea mimicked his movement, taking a small bite of her slice and widening her eyes in amazement as the flavor hit her tongue.

"This is incredible!" she praised sincerely.

"Of course it is—it's pizza." If there was one reason saving Italy had been worth it, it was this.

Finishing his slice, John grabbed three more, placed them on a plate, and started walking toward the tent's exit.

"You can have the rest—I'll go check on how the team is doing."

Clea nodded, though she was clearly more focused on continuing to eat.

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The first thing John saw upon entering the medical tent was three people still unconscious, resting on their cots with intravenous infusions connected to their arms.

"I see they're still sleeping."

At the sound of his voice, the conscious occupants in the tent turned to look at him.

"John! Good to see you," Howard greeted, setting aside what he was doing and approaching him, exhaustion evident in his steps.

Raven and Erik also perked up at his arrival. The girl, who had been sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, stood up, her gaze fixed on the plate John was carrying, while the boy, who was sitting on his own cot, remained there, playing with the vibranium bullets levitating above his hand.

"Any improvement?" John asked as he handed one of the pizza slices to Howard.

The man took it without hesitation, taking a bite before answering with some discouragement.

"We've treated their wounds as best we could. Janet is in the best condition and will probably wake up soon, but Cassandra and Charles... I don't want to jump to conclusions, but everything indicates they've fallen into a deep coma for some reason, and it's hard to tell how long it will last."

Hearing that Janet might wake up soon was good, but learning that the Xavier siblings were in a deep coma was not. In reality, neither of them had been that badly injured. Well, Cassandra had several broken bones in her hands, but aside from that, none of her injuries should have been severe enough to keep her unconscious. And since Charles was even less injured than his sister, logically, he shouldn't still be unconscious either.

'Could it be because of Charles' powers?' John thought, unable to find another explanation.

According to Erik's account, Both siblings had managed to defeat the demon thanks to an ambush initiated by Cassandra after Angelo was killed while trying to protect Charles.

Erik wasn't sure how they had done it, but John theorized that Charles must have delivered a powerful blow to the monster's mind, which could have unintentionally affected his sister due to their proximity.

'Theorizing about what might have happened is pointless for now. If medicine can't help them, then we'll have to try another approach.' He would need to talk to Clea about it—maybe there was a spell that could help "heal" minds or something like that.

"Don't worry so much, I'll find a way to fix it. For now, go get some rest if you want—it looks like you need a nap." Howard didn't refuse the offer. The man had been quite busy and stressed since the attack, so he quickly said goodbye to everyone and left.

Then, John split the two remaining slices of pizza between Raven and Erik, sitting not too far from them.

"How are you feeling?" he asked Erik. The boy shrugged in response, speaking while chewing, much to Raven's disgust.

"A little tired, but overall fine. If you need me to do something, I can." The boy seemed eager to contribute, but John wasn't in a hurry to have him do anything at the moment. Even if his health wasn't bad, it was better to let him rest.

"What I need is for you to rest. The time to act will come." After saying that, he turned to Raven.

"Do you know where James is?"

The girl shook her head, wiping her mouth with a napkin that John had no idea where she'd gotten from.

"He left a while ago—said he needed some air or something."

Leaving Warsaw—and by extension, Poland—wasn't exactly pleasant for the meta-human supersoldier. After all, his main mission was to rescue his brother, and having to retreat seemed to push him further from that goal once again. Only when John clearly explained that this wasn't a real retreat but rather a moment to prepare for the final counterattack did James reluctantly accept the situation.

"Find him and tell him we'll be leaving in six hours." At the order, Raven, who had already finished eating, nodded, stood up, and left the tent to look for James.

'If only everyone followed orders as easily as she does,' he thought as he watched her go.

But he couldn't be distracted for long, as a low groan immediately caught his attention. He got up from his seat and approached the cot where Janet was lying, noticing how her eyelids began to tremble.

"W-where…" Janet struggled to get her bearings. Her eyelids felt too heavy, and her mind still seemed half-unconscious.

She tried to sit up, but a warm hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Easy, it's okay. Take it slow." Upon hearing the familiar voice, Janet felt her confusion clear up a little, and her body instinctively relaxed.

John quickly grabbed the canteen he always carried with him, uncapped it, and brought it close to Janet.

"Drink a little." Obeying, Janet took a sip, soothing her dry throat.

For his part, John couldn't help but sigh in relief upon seeing that she had woken up. Of course, he knew she wasn't actually that badly hurt or in any real danger, but the concern for her well-being had eaten away at him more than he wanted to admit.

One could say it was because he cared about her, which was true to some extent. The time they had spent together at the Sword base while he trained her—though short—had helped bring them a little closer. But there was more to it than that.

At this moment, Janet had become one of the three most important people to John, second only to himself and Raven. And the reason was simple: with Hank gone, she was the only one who had in-depth knowledge of everything related to Pym Particles.

And when he said 'everything', he meant 'everything'. Hank had been very reluctant to teach anyone about his technology, even John. Only Janet—who was, quite literally, a living Pym Particle generator—had earned the "right" to study all the discoveries the scientist had made regarding the mysterious particles.

In short, many things now depended on Janet—things that could completely change the future of humanity and it was extremely important to him that she could pass that knowledge on to him or, failing that, use it to help Sword, as had been the plan when Hank was still around.

Of course, John still hoped to find Hank someday, but based on what Steve and the Commandos had told him about the state in which they had found his lab, that seemed unlikely.

At least in the short term.

John might have changed a bit these days, but deep down, he was still the same person and would always prioritize what benefited him the most.

And right now, having Janet by his side was the most beneficial thing.

"Your eyes… changed?" Janet, who had finally managed to clear her vision a little, asked as she looked at his face with curiosity and fascination.

She had noticed this change in him before, but due to the situation they were in at the time, she hadn't been able to point it out until now.

"You know, you're the first one to mention it." John gave a faint smile upon hearing her. Naturally, it was impossible that others hadn't noticed, but no one had said anything—not even Peggy.

"Do you think it's strange?" Going from blue to green would probably raise some questions once he returned to the United States. John wondered if he would need to get contact lenses, though he wasn't sure if they even existed in this era. He would have to find out.

On the other hand, maybe Clea would have some magical solution. Having a sorcerer around really did seem convenient. Though he didn't want to rely on her excessively, he would still take full advantage of her help while he could.

"No… I think you look really good," Janet said, being a bit more honest than she would have been if she were fully conscious, a slight blush forming on her face.

"You flatter me, but let's stop talking about me. Tell me, how do you feel? Do you have any pain or discomfort?" At his question, Janet looked down at herself, slightly furrowing her brow.

Suddenly, all the small aches she had unconsciously been ignoring came rushing back. The worst one, of course, was in the leg that one of the monsters had injured when she had been in her giant form.

Still, overall, she found it fairly manageable—almost like those days when she overtrained at the base, leaving her muscles burning.

"My leg hurts a little, but my Pym Particle reserves have almost recovered, so I should be fine in a few hours." A small trick she had discovered early in her training with John was that if she focused enough and directed her inner energy toward the areas of her body where she felt the most pain and exhaustion, they would begin to recover slightly faster.

"That's good to hear, but don't push yourself too hard. There's nothing urgent right now, so get some good rest. I'll go get you something to eat." If he had known she was going to wake up, he would have brought another slice of pizza with him.

Upon knowing that he would bring her food, Janet's eyes sparkled. In fact, she was starting to feel a little hungry.

"Keep an eye on her for me, Erik. Don't let her strain herself unnecessarily."

The boy, who had mostly been lost in his thoughts—since he couldn't understand what they were saying—snapped back to reality and nodded at John.

"Sure."

With Erik watching over things, John felt more comfortable leaving for a bit. Of course, there were several guards outside the tent as well, but he didn't trust that they would be able to stop any real threat.

'I can take advantage of the trip to bring Clea and see if she has some way to help Cassandra and Charles,' he thought as he walked.

'I also need to start looking for a way to find the location of Red Skull and Doctor Zola.' Thanks to all the information gathered about Hydra through Charles, John already had a general idea of where to search. But if he really wanted to deal a hard and decisive blow that would put an end to all of this, he needed more than that.

Before leaving Warsaw, John had asked Clea if Kamar-Taj had any way to locate them, but she had told him it wasn't possible at the moment, as Red Skull was somehow hiding his location from the sorcerers.

Probably the work of some demon or interdimensional being under his command.

Or perhaps it was part of what V had done to get in his way.

Whatever the case, John was determined not to let something like this slow him down for too long.

'Enjoy this little pause as much as you can because these will be your last days on Earth,' he thought, a cold light shining in his eyes as he looked in the direction of Germany.

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Note:

And that's the end of the chapter! What did you think?

For now, we're in a period of "relaxation" after all the past action. Of course, it won't last long, but we should enjoy it while we can.

Speaking of enjoyment, I'll probably be bringing another NSFW chapter soon. Honestly, this story should have had more of those kinds of things considering what John is like, but I think I focused too much on the war.

Something that makes me feel a bit bad, given that the main place where I post this is in the NSFW section of QQ. (On the other hand, my P)atreon is also restricted to an adult-only audience, which makes me feel like I'm failing you twice)

I promise to do better.

With all that said, I bid you farewell. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Remember that if you want to support me, you can do so through my Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader )