Chapter 21 : Birth of Shadow Garden
The war was over, but the world was far from peaceful. Cities lay in ruins, governments scrambled to rebuild, and in the shadows, remnants of Hydra lurked like cockroaches.
Alex Rogers walked through the ruins of Berlin, his hands in his coat pockets, scanning the streets with sharp eyes.
The war was over. The Axis had fallen. The world celebrated victory.
But for Alex Rogers, the war hadn't truly ended.
In the streets of Berlin, he saw it—the devastation, the suffering, the chaos that followed in the wake of war. The news spoke of peace, but peace didn't come for the ones who had lost everything.
Orphans flooded the streets, their hollow eyes staring at passing soldiers, too weak to beg. Women, widowed by war, bartered whatever they had left just to survive another day. Crime surged, with black markets and war profiteers preying on the vulnerable.
And in the shadows, Hydra still breathed.
They had lost their leader, their bases, their armies—but not their ideology. Like a parasite, they burrowed deep, embedding themselves in governments, corporations, and secret organizations. The SSR was blind to it. SHIELD, once founded, would be too bureaucratic to stop it.
Someone had to finish the job.
Someone who could work in the darkness, unbound by laws or politics.
Alex walked through the ruins, his fists clenched.
This war had stolen everything from these children—their families, their homes, their futures. But if they had no future, he would give them one.
And Hydra?
He would erase them. Completely.
---
The First Recruits
He began his search in secret. He didn't just want soldiers—he wanted survivors.
In the ruins of Warsaw, he found her. A silver-haired girl, no older than ten, standing over the corpse of a dead man, a bloody knife in her trembling hands. Her clothes were ragged, her face smeared with dirt, but her eyes—her eyes were sharp, defiant.
He crouched before her. "What's your name?"
She said nothing, gripping the knife tighter.
Alex smiled. "Good. Never trust a stranger. But I'm not here to hurt you." He tossed a piece of bread onto the ground. She didn't move at first, but hunger won over pride.
She snatched it and ate, never looking away from him.
She was the first.
In a bombed-out church in France, he found twin sisters—dirty, malnourished, but fighting off three grown men. They worked together seamlessly, covering each other, using every dirty trick in the book.
They didn't hesitate to slit the men's throats.
They were the second and third.
In Berlin, he saved a mute girl with bright red hair who had been sold to ex-Hydra officers. She never spoke, but her golden eyes burned with silent fury.
She was the fourth.
One by one, he gathered them.
Twenty-five war orphans.
Some were young, barely ten. Others were in their teens, already hardened by life. Each of them had lost something. Each of them had killed to survive.
Now, they had a home. A purpose. A family.
But survival wasn't enough. They needed power.
Sophia had been running calculations in the background, refining breathing techniques based on Alex's memories. Breath of the Sun. The original, the pinnacle.
But Sun Breathing wasn't for everyone.
"Sun Breathing is too physically demanding. The others will need derivative forms," Sophia advised.
And so, he divided them.
The fastest would learn Thunder Breathing.
The strongest would master Stone Breathing.
The graceful would wield Water Breathing.
The sharp-eyed killers would embrace Wind Breathing.
And the silent ones, the assassins, would take Moonlit Shadow, a custom style blending Mist and Sound.
For weeks, he drilled them relentlessly. Their weak bodies strengthened. Their lung capacity expanded. They adapted.
By the second month, they could run for miles without tiring. By the third, they could fight grown men unarmed. By the sixth, they were killers in the making.
But they needed a test. A real one.
And there was one final name on Alex's list.
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The Last Hydra: Arnim Zola
Alex stood on a snow-covered mountain pass in Switzerland, his breath forming clouds in the cold air. Below him, a hidden bunker—Hydra's last stronghold in Europe. Inside was Arnim Zola, the last surviving high-ranking Hydra scientist.
Sophia's voice whispered. "Confirmed. Zola has minimal security—twenty men. You can eliminate them all within two minutes."
Alex smirked. "Two minutes? Let's go for one."
---
The Storm Begins
He exhaled slowly, his stance shifting.
"Hinokami Kagura—Dance."
Alex vanished.
In an instant, he was in the middle of the Hydra camp. Flames ignited along his blade as he moved through the first three soldiers. A flash of orange and red—three heads fell to the ground.
A rifle fired.
Alex twisted, dodging the bullet by inches. "Clear Blue Sky." His blade spun, fire sweeping in a full circle—five more collapsed, their bodies burning.
Shouts filled the air. Men scrambled for weapons. But it was already over.
"Flaming Thunder God."
Lightning and fire merged as he lunged forward, his blade piercing through five men in one motion. Their screams were lost in the storm of light and heat.
Twenty men. Fifty-nine seconds.
Alex wiped his blade clean.
"Sophia?"
"Zola is inside. He has locked himself in a vault. Shall I override it?"
"No need." Alex drove his blade into the steel door, heat surging through the metal until it glowed red-hot. With a single strike, he split it in half.
Inside, Arnim Zola cowered in the corner, sweat dripping down his pale face.
"P-please!" Zola stammered. "I can be useful! I have information, research—"
Alex stabbed him through the chest.
"No more Hydra," he whispered.
Zola choked, eyes wide, before falling lifeless.
The last remnant of Hydra was dead.
And Shadow Garden was ready to rise.
---
The Beginning of Shadows
Back at their hidden base, Alex gathered his recruits.
"You are the first of Shadow Garden," he told them. "From this day forward, you belong to no nation, no government. You serve only one purpose—to ensure that Hydra never returns. The world will never know you exist. But you will be its unseen shield."
They knelt before him, eyes burning with purpose.
Shadow Garden had been born.
And Hydra would never rise again.
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End of Chapter.