BLOODWORTH 3: Blut und Stahl by Tai Goodman (distant reading TXT) 📕

Hitler turned to his desk and flipped through his book of translated words to English. "AH! Here we go... I have thought you called in 'reinforcements.' Did you not?"

"Yes, Adolf. I called for artillery shipments, firearms, and more troops for zhe Reich."

"Then vhy haven't we stopped this idiot?"

"I... I don't know.... Mein Fuhrer...."

Hitler pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Fegelein's head. "ADOLF. I HAVE TOLD YOU... Call me... ADOLF. But nevermind, do me a favor, go into that corner and fix that painting that keeps falling over."

Hitler walked around his desk to admire the painting, again. Fegelein nodded and rushed over to the corner, frightened. With his two fingers, he corrected the painting with two fingers on both hands. "Alright. Done." Then a half-circular panel of glass rose out of the ground and enclosed him in the corner. Fegelein banged on the glass, staring at Hitler with his finger on a set of buttons. "Fegelein. I thought you vere my assistant. My friend. Und vhat have you done? You have gotten me one step further to being killed by un maniac. And zhat must be punished."

He pulled a circuit breaker upwards. Then below Fegelein, steam erupted from below, and when it cleared, Fegelein was trapped inside of metal. The glass lowered and Hitler walked over to him. "Sie haben mir gut gedient, Hermann Fegelein. Aber nicht am Ende, guter Freund." 

 IOWA

Phoenix stopped by a gas station to refuel his vehicle. He stuck the gas nozzle into the fuel tank and stood by, waiting. The fuel numbers rolled up and down and up and down. Phoenix watched Tyler pop out from behind a gas pump. "Hey, Phoenix. What're you up to?"

"Fueling up the choppercycle."

"Great.... Uhh... Quick question, were you the one who blew up that bus?"

Phoenix looked around. "You bet."

Tyler clapped his hands. "BRAVO! That's the kind of shit I'm talking about. That's the Phoenix that I know. Persevering, brave. That's you. Don't forget that, man." 

"I won't and I haven't." 

There was an audibly loud helicopter that landed on a skyscraper nearby. "Well well well. A whirly-bird. I could pilot that thing. But it wouldn't be smooth."

Phoenix then heard a far away line of RAT-A-TAT-TAT's in the distance. He turned his head as he removed the nozzle from his choppercycle and looked around. Nothing to be seen. And then, from the left of the gas station, a British man with an electronic Tommy-Gun was sprinting away from Nazis. "STEP THE HELL AWAY FROM ME, YOU BLOKES!" 

Then three exhausted guards took a second to catch their breath once they circled around him. "SCHTOP RESISTING! YOU VILL COME VITH US, OR YOU VILL DIE!"

"BLIMEY, THEN COME OVER HERE AND DO IT!"

One of the guards whipped a telescopic baton out, extending it, and then casually walked toward the Brit. Phoenix watched the British man kick the baton out of his hands, and then shoot him to death. "ANYONE ELSE WANT TO GIVE THAT A TRY? I HAVE PLENTY OF LOADS TO GO AROUND!"

Then more guards tried to surround him. Phoenix retracted his choppercycle and walked away from the gas station. "Help him out, he might help you, Phoenix." He drank a swig of his Pink Fury, and donned his mask. His vision turned pink, and was bulging out of control. Phoenix pulled the slide on his pistol backwards and said, "DEFAULT." The ammunition type changed back to its default bullet. He aimed his pistol at one of the guards, and BANG! One guard down, four to go. The other guards looked at Phoenix, as well as the Brit. "OI', WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?"

Then a guard out of the four ordered the others, "Zwei von euch bekommen den britischen Mann! Einer von euch kommt mit mir, um das zu bekommen!"

"JA!"

"JA!"

"IN ORDUNG!"

Two guards pulled out beam-batons and wielded them with two hands. "I'm gonna kick your ass, bitch!"

Phoenix shot the one on the left in his shoulder, and knocked him backwards on his bottom. The second one attempted to help him up, and did successfully. "SCHISSE!"

Phoenix whispered, "FRAGMENTATION." The ammunition type changed, and Phoenix fired an explosive bullet that blew the two Nazis to giblets. An arm and two organs landed by Phoenix, and when the cloud of smoke cleared, the Brit was punching one of the two guards he killed while Phoenix was taking on the other two. The Brit finished the guard off with one punch to the skull, and left a black bruise. "Mate, what are you doing? I was fine the way I was!" the Brit complained to Phoenix.

"No, you weren't. Listen, no time to talk, what's your name?"

"Calvin. Nice to be of service, Mr. Masked Terror, I presume?"

"Yeah, just call me Phoenix."

"Right, right, so what are we going to do, because I got about half the city on my ass!"

Phoenix looked up at the skyscrapers and the helicopter gave him a good opportunity out of Iowa. "Alright, you see that chopper up there? We're gonna go steal that fucking thing and get the fuck outta this place. You dig?"

"Yes, but bollocks, can we hurry up?"

Phoenix transformed his choppercycle and patted the back seat. "Hop on, let's go!"

Calvin jumped onto the back seat of the choppercycle, gripping the shoulders of Phoenix as they drove to the skyscraper. He watched a tank roll into the city, and start rotating its barrel to target the two. "SHITE! HURRY UP, MAN! WE'VE GOT A TANK!" 

The tank fired, and blew up a nearby cement rectangular-prism shaped block containing plants. Calvin latched onto Phoenix even harder. "DRIVE!"

"SHUT UP, I'M GOING AS FAST AS I CAN!"

The two arrived in front of the skyscraper as soon as reinforcements arrived in the outside area. "SHIT! WE'RE SURROUNDED!" Calvin said, cocking his Tommy-Gun. "Don't fret, but you should hold on!" 

He revved the engine and crashed through the front glass doors and into the lobby. Phoenix pulled the brake and they screeched to a halt. "Get off, now!"

Phoenix retracted his choppercycle, as soon as gunfire started unloading into the building. Phoenix pointed at the stairwell in the corner. "Quick! The stairs!" 

A bullet hit Phoenix in his side. He grunted, clutching the bleeding wound. "Get over it. You took several already." Phoenix headed into the stairwell. Meanwhile, Calvin was firing off at the crowd behind the two as he was approaching the stairwell. He popped a Nazi's helmet off, and then shot him in the face and neck. Another troop popped out with an assault rifle and nearly shot Calvin in his forehead, but hit a metal corner of the stairwell door. Calvin headed through the door and followed Phoenix who was one flight ahead of him. "Jesus, how many fucking flights of stairs does this place have?" he whined, looking over the railing and upwards at the top of the stairwell. It was a twisting square spiraled pattern. "Plenty."

Calvin caught up with Phoenix in the stairs and walked along with him. "Where are we going to go anyways?" 

"I'm heading to Montana."

"That's where the Fuhrer lies, you sure you want to go there?" 

"Well the reason I am is because I'm gonna kill that guy."

They past a room, and then the door creased open. "I'LL KILL YOU, AMERICAN!" the figure in the door screamed. Pointing an assault rifle through the crease, Phoenix yanked it out of the man's hand, and unloaded it, then threw the gun over the railing. He then shot the Nazi in the forehead and kept moving. Nazis started entering the stairway below, and firing directly upwards. "GET AGAINST THE WALL!" 

Shining lines of bullets were firing through the middle of the stairs and missed Phoenix and Calvin. All of a sudden, one hit Calvin's sleeve and left a hole. He stared at the burning tear, and then was yanked aside by Phoenix. "QUIT PLAYIN', LET'S GET A MOVE ON!" Phoenix inspired Calvin. 

A big wide white man on the floor above sat being a desk, and received a call from somewhere. He mashed the answer button, BZZT! 

"Verdigo Industries, how may we help you?"

"Ja, zhis is Karl Schmidt, from zhe Third Reich. Listen, your building is under attack by zhe Masked Terror-"

"I have ears, you know. I can hear gunfire."

"Well, take refuge under something metal and tell your workers to do zhe same. The situation will be handled."

"Actually, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Sir, I assure you it is. We are doing this for your protec-"

"I don't give a damn, so let ME tell YOU about how we'll solve this problem: I am going to kill this punk myself. You're offering a reward for this guy, right? Well I'm gonna give him to you myself."

"Sir-" 

"Heil Hitler, g'bye!"

The employee named Rick declined the call. He reached under his desk and pulled a grenade launcher out of a secret compartment. "I don't give two shits if this is illegal or not, I'm baggin' me a terrorist." Phoenix and Calvin continued walking upstairs, and then the set of stairs above them were blown to pieces. "WHOA!"

Rocks and wooden shards fell from the ceiling. "Crap." 

He then noticed a door to the side. The 13th floor. "Go in, we'll take the elevator!" Phoenix said, guarding the door. Calvin waltzed inside with his submachine gun, and stopped in a pose where he paused himself from running. "Uh-oh."

Phoenix aimed his pistol at the stairs below. The ironsight aligned with the pupil of his eye. "Smile for the camera." 

Four seconds past, and a Nazi walked upstairs in front of the sight of Phoenix's pistol. "ACHTUN-" 

BANG! 

"One."

Two more arrived at the scene, shooting at Phoenix. He took three bullets in the front and was hit in his arm. "GAH!" he grunted, retaliating with more gunfire. One shot. Missed by a few centimeters. Second shot. Hit the Nazi in his chestplate. Third shot. Hit the Nazi in his jugular. Fourth shot. Shot the hand covering the bleeding wound. Fifth shot. Killed that Nazi. Sixth shot. Picked the second Nazi's helmet off. Seventh shot. Hit the Nazi in his brain. 

"That's right, assholes. You ain't nothing but ticks."

Phoenix entered the room, and saw Calvin standing in the middle of the room, idle. "The fuck you doing? We gotta go!" Phoenix screamed at him. Calvin pointed at Rick, standing there with a grenade launcher."Well well well, the Masked Terror walks into MY office. What're you even doing? Here to assassinate me? Well you've got something coming." 

Phoenix watched Rick aim the barrel of the grenade launcher towards the two. "Shit. I don't think I can take one of those." Rick tapped the hammer on the back of the grenade launcher. "GOODBYE!"

Calvin closed his eyes. Rick's finger squeezed the trigger, and fired a projectile towards the two. "DUCK AND COVER!" Phoenix called out, leaping in front of the grenade. He shut his eyes and extended his arm. 

"Have I really met my end? Killed by a grenade. One of the most painful and worst ways to go, but I guess to them it suits as a punishment. Who the hell was I even killed by? This guy didn't look like a Nazi. Looked like a fatass. But anyways. Let's finish this." Phoenix's arm twitched, his muscles felt a strong push. And then he opened his eyes. Between the tips of his fingers, there was a projectile. 

He caught the grenade.

Calvin opened his eyes, and looked at the phenomenon. "What the bloody hell?"

Rick wiped his eyes and said, "YOU'RE KIDDING!"

Phoenix crushed the projectile in his hand and threw it