Chapter 27
When Holdstein’s bullet sounded in the area, the first one to respond to it was Tony.
It was the last push to his already rising nervousness since the moment he stopped the car in front of the hospital.
He found himself jumping out of the car while clutching his machine gun and darted towards the hospital with only one thought repeating in his mind: he needs to save Dean and Sydney.
Because of his move, every German soldier surrounding the area also started to move.
Then bullets ran down on him relentlessly.
Tony didn’t know what happened, but he felt like he was in a living hell as he fired back while making his way inside the hospital as bullets hit everything around him.
Even with the situation he was in, his brain never stopped thinking.
It was a ruse.
Holdstein never left the hospital. He fooled everyone to believe otherwise. He stayed there to trap them.
There was another thing that made him confused.
He wasn’t hit by any bullet.
Not even a scratch.
True, even with all the bullets he was firing himself he didn’t kill anyone, but this wasn’t enough reason for the Germans to not kill him.
Unless they were given firm orders not to.
Holdstein wants them alive.
The moment that conclusion crossed his mind, he stormed inside the hospital more confidently towards the staircase that will take him to Dean and Sydney.
But Holdstein wasn’t stupid to just let his men not to kill Tony.
So, five soldiers emerged in front of him with guns raised towards his face.
He raised his own gun and fired.
Bullets pierced two of the soldiers and threw them back to hit the wall, while the third was hit by two bullets. The last two attacked Tony angrily.
Tony hit the first with the heel of his gun and turned to face the other at the same moment he saw another seven soldiers running towards him.
And he knew then that he couldn’t win this fight.
***
At the same time, Carl was pulling his gun from his holster while yelling: “You whore! How dare you-“
Sydney didn’t give him time to finish, she just jumped to kick him with her right foot in the stomach then with her left she kicked his face in a graceful flip in the air.
Carl fell back to hit the window, staring at her in shock before it changed to anger.
“You will die, whore! You will die for what you did!” he screamed while rising his gun towards her and fired.
She leaned away fast and heard the bullet as it passes over her head to pierce through the chest of one of the two soldiers that entered the room then.
The soldier fell to the floor while the other one raised his gun towards her and Carl raised his again.
“You will not survive, bitch!” Carl snarled in anger.
Sydney trailed her eyes between the two guns nervously and knew that she won’t be able to dodge both bullets.
Which meant she might die.
More than hundred years of her own time.
“Stop!”
Came the firm, short order from Holdstein, who stood with his full height sternly, like he didn’t just get beaten a second ago.
Carl let out an enraged yell. “Sir! She deserves to-“
“I said: stop!” Holstein shouted in anger. “Do you understand German? Or you only respond to Russian now?”
Carl’s face flushed in anger as the hand that was holding the gun shook, while the soldier lowered his gun immediately.
Sydney didn’t waste any time, the moment the soldier lowered his gun, she punched him and rushed towards the door.
But Carl’s bullet was faster.
The bullet pierced Sydney’s back and made Holdstein to boil in anger as he slapped the gun from Carl’s hand. “You idiot!”
The bullet made Sydney jerk forward to hit the door, but she held on to it desperately as she tried to get up again.
“Don’t you ever give up?!” Holdstein yelled as he moved towards her and punched her hard at the back of her head.
Sydney fell to the floor unconscious at Holdstein’s feet.
Then a soldier entered the room and panted as he did the usual greeting. “Everything is under control, sir. The other one was taken alive.”
Holdstein furrowed his brows as he rushed to get down the stairs rapidly until he reached the ground floor. The moment his eyes landed on the unconscious Tony with bloody forehead, he grinned.
“Well, well, Tony Stark himself.” His grin widened. “I was hoping it would be you.”
***
Natasha’s eyes widened at what she found and trailed her eyes around the room carefully.
Sam and Jane were still working tirelessly on understanding the map. Charlie and Bruce were working to help Fury and Clint in finding Sydney’s partner while Steve, Castiel and Thor were moving around trying to help in any way. Rhodey had to leave an hour ago but promised to come back soon.
“Guys.” she called out, hating to break it to them what she just found. “I found something. You are not going to like it.”
Immediately, everyone were surrounding her anxiously.
“What? What is it?” Steve asked nervously.
“Since the moment Charlie found Dean’s picture in that old newspaper, I have been searching in every references and archives about WW2, I even watched every recorded films during the war, searching for anything mentioning Dean, Tony and Sydney.”
“Did you find anything?” Castiel asked impatiently.
“Unfortunately.” She murmured bitterly.
“Why unfortunately?” Sam stared at her in panic. “What did you find?”
Instead of answering, she clicked a few buttons and the screen was filled with old documents all with Holdstein’s signature on them. “These are all the papers Holdstein ever signed from the beginning of the war till its end. And I found one that held Tony, Dean and Sydney’s names.”
“What kind of document?” Steve’s heart was bounding so hard.
She clicked on a button and the document filled the screen. When everyone read it, they all gasped and flinched back like someone had slapped them.
Because that document that held the three names and Holdstein’s signature was a sentence.
A death sentence.