Very well, I didn't expect it to be so easy to destroy a military column, but now I'll have to create a modern army to stop the Russians from taking Italy and the Iberian Peninsula.
Marco was in the city of Rome conversing with Pope Clement XI at the Lateran Palace.
The Pope was incredulous upon learning of all that was going to happen in Europe: the French Revolution, the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the rise of Nazism and Fascism, the Cold War and the Yugoslav Wars.
Pope Clement XI then asks:
"So this is what would have happened in Europe if the Russians hadn't started conquering the entire continent now?" Clement asks.
Marco then replies:
"Your Holiness, that was exactly what was going to happen in Europe at the end of that century: King Louis XVI would be beheaded, and his wife Marie Antoinette would have her body quartered and be proclaimed a republic." Marco replies.
Pope Clement XI makes the sign of the cross upon hearing of something so drastic that would occur in France if everything proceeded normally.
Marco then says:
"There is something very important that His Holiness needs to know: There is a weapon that, up to this point in my timeline, is humanity's ultimate weapon; it's called the atomic bomb, but there's also the hydrogen bomb. My country, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom possess nuclear arsenals, and they are world powers." Marco says.
Pope Clement XI thinks for a few seconds and asks:
"Is there any way to stop the Russians with the current weaponry?" Clement asks.
Marco then replies:
"With all due respect to His Holiness, but his army doesn't even come close to the armies of fallen nations. Your Holiness, if we truly want to defeat the Russians, we will have to take drastic measures." Marco replies.
Pope Clement XI then says:
"Alright, since you come from 192 years in the future, I will accept your orders on military matters." Clement says.
Marco then says:
"Your Holiness, have you ever heard of mutants? I don't know if there are any here, but up to a certain point in my timeline, having mutants was quite normal." Marco says.
Pope Clement XI then thinks for a few seconds and replies:
"I've heard rumors of men with bull faces, but those are accounts from the time of the Roman Empire; they say there's a demon with blue skin and red hair that can transform into anyone. But this account comes from the late 15th century in southern France; it's very likely just a peasant legend." Clement replies.
Marco then says:
"Your Holiness, you are not mistaken; In my timeline, mutants only started appearing after World War II; before that, they were a rarity and featured on the front pages of sensationalist newspapers. Send priests and bishops all over Italy to search for people with strange powers; we have to find the mutants before the Russians make an offer to join their side." Marco says.
Pope Clement XI then says:
"Alright, let's find the mutants and stop the Russians from reaching Rome." Clement says.
Marco then shakes hands with Pope Clement XI and says:
"Rome will not fall this time; the liberation army of Europe is being formed at this very moment, Italian humans and mutants united against the Russians." Marco says.
After this encounter, the former papal army became the liberation army of Europe.
...
Six months passed and Marco had already modernized the papal army into a modern army, but the news was not good at all; the Spanish Empire had fallen and the Kingdom of Portugal was close to falling as well.
Marco was at Castel Sant'Angelo, famous for being the place that protected Pope Clement VIII from the mercenary troops of Emperor Charles V during the famous Sack of Rome in 1527.
During those six months, Marco became the field marshal of the army liberating Europe; many call him the Julius Caesar of the New World.
Marco is in a room when one of the soldiers enters and says:
"Field Marshal Francis Castiglione, we found the mutants." the soldier says.
Marco then orders:
"Tell him to come in." Marco orders.
The soldier then orders them to enter, and five mutants go in: two women and three men.
One of the women had gray hair and green eyes and was tall, the other had curly purple hair and blue eyes. The men, however, did not appear to have any obvious mutations and were most likely ordinary people who wanted to earn more money, since the mutants would receive more.
Marco then decided to sense the Ki of these three men and was surprised that one of them had a power as high as Magneto's, while the other two were just ordinary humans.
Marco then channels energy into his finger and says:
"If you're true mutants, dodge this attack." Marco says.
Marco then launches several Death Beams; the mutants manage to dodge them easily, but the opportunists die instantly, and gray orbs emerge from them, absorbing their vital energy.
Marco then stands up and says:
"Congratulations, you're mutants! I used the power to kill 5 hippos with each Death Beam, so we finally have real mutants." Marco says.
Marco then asks:
"What are their names and what are their powers?" Marco asks.
The mutant man then replies:
"My name is Lucca Tagliaferri, I'm from Urbino, I'm 25 years old, and my mutant power is manipulating metals, no matter how dense they are." Lucca replies.
The woman with gray hair then replies:
"My name is Giovanna Rossi, I'm from Ancona, I'm 31 years old, and my mutant power is creating swords of psychic energy." Giovanna replies.
The woman with curly purple hair then replies:
"My name is Claudia Marjorie, I'm from Ferrara, I'm 26 years old, and my mutant power is manipulating fire." Claudia replies.
Marco then says:
"Alright, I guess we won't find any more mutants in Italy. I'll ask His Holiness to shut down mutant recruitment; it's gone on for too long." Marco asks.
Lucca then asks:
"When will we go to the battlefield?" Lucca asks.
Marco then pulls out a map of the Italian Peninsula and replies:
"The Russian front in Emilia-Romagna was halted to allow for greater attention to be given to the Pyrenees front. We have about two months to reconquer Northern Italy; with our current army we can expel the Russians from Bologna, Turin, Milan, and Venice. Northern Italy will be easy, but then comes the real problem: we are surrounded by the Russians both in the Balkans and in France, and we could also suffer a naval invasion. So the first step is to take Northern Italy from the Russians, then we'll launch an invasion of France." Marco replies.
Lucca then says:
"As for the naval invasion, you can rest assured, I have enough power to mold the Russians' iron ships into twisted metal." Lucca says.
Marco then says:
"Great, this will halt the Russian advance at sea and give us time to recruit as many soldiers as possible." Marco says.