Avengers: Dawn of Justice Chapter 5 (MCU/DCU Commission)

At the edge of their base, a watchtower manned by two German soldiers overlooked a dirt road. They were both armed with automatic weapons and highly advanced goggles designed to enhance night vision. This was no ordinary base. It was the seat of power of Johan Schmidt and his elite organization: Hydra.

No matter how advanced the goggles were, they were useless to the soldiers when two circular shields shot out of the dark. One was decorated like an American flag; the other, a Union Jack. The soldiers fell to the floor unconscious before ever getting a chance to raise the alarm. 

Steve and Peggy vaulted into the tower to collect their shields. Diana landed between them at the same time, having jumped the full height of the watchtower without bothering to climb anything. The Howling Commandos crawled up a few seconds later, Bucky in the lead. 

“How do we go in?” Bucky asked.

“I will destroy them all!” Diana said eagerly.

She was excited now that they were so close to the goal she came for. Diana was certain that Ares must be here. He would be at the center of the war. What could be the center, if not the home base of the enemy soldiers?

“You heard the woman,” Steve said. “We’re on support duty this time Commandos.”

They saluted him. Grinning, Diana took her shield off of her back and drew her sword. Forgoing the element of surprise, she hurled herself out of the watchtower with a battle cry.

Nazi soldiers streamed toward her position. She charged through a loading zone for armored vehicles, deflecting bullets with her shield and bracers. She was a blur of red, wielding a silver arc; human eyes couldn’t even properly make out the shape of her sword as it was in motion. Soldiers were cut to pieces. Diana remembered exactly what these men and their allies were willing to do to villages full of civilians. She had mercy in her heart as she fought. 

They tried to bring out tanks, but it was an arduous process because all the heavy weaponry was positioned to fight exterior enemies, not one already in the base. It was inconceivable that an invading force would infiltrate before the alarm was raised. They never counted on a demigoddess that their rifles couldn’t harm invading with superhuman speed.

Diana’s immediate success emboldened her. She invaded the base’s deeper regions as fast as possible, eager to meet her fated enemy. These soldiers were no match for her. The more she cut down, the easier her advance became. 

For all her power Diana was a novice in the ways of war. She had fought two battles, one with her Amazon sisters to defend their home and one with the element of surprise on her side, defeating the soldiers that tried to slaughter a village.

Acting as the aggressor like this was a new experience. Her previous battles filled her with confidence that she was undefeatable by mortal standards. When the volume of soldiers she was facing started to fade, she thought only that she was winning the battle. It never crossed her mind that it could be a trap.

Inside the base’s defensive walls was a large yard that housed their vehicles and even held a functioning airport. The center of the compound was a big, bunker-esque building. That was Diana’s goal as the clear hub of the base. She slashed through soldiers and managed to reach the bunker’s entrance through the thinning crowd.

She went to hit the door with her sword and slice it down. Before she could, the door fell forward.

Diana found herself staring into the barrel of something unnatural. It was a titanic gun that could even be described as a cannon. The unusual thing was the glowing blue lines that were all over its surface. They didn’t look like something mortal. A man wearing an officer’s uniform with a receding hairline was aiming it. 

“Hello,” he said. “And goodbye.”

The cannon glowed on its sides. It charged up to a power level that made Diana’s skin prickle. 

Too late, she realized that in her eagerness to find Ares, she had overlooked other variables. Diana was struck in the chest and forced to her knees. She screamed out loud, feeling a burning and pushing force. She’d been right that this wasn’t something mortals should be able to manage. This power… It was foreign in some way. And it was burning her up.

“Gaaaaaaaah! Ah… Ah…” Diana gasped as the blast finished. The man who shot her looked disappointed.

“To think you would live. Zola’s work disappoints me. Oh well; I am sure a second shot will change that,” he said.

The cannon charged up again. Diana got ready to spring forward. 

The moment the cannon fired, Steve and Peggy were there. They put their shields together to protect Diana. The powerful beam that even hurt Diana was reflected back at the canon that fired it. The canon was destroyed and the man wielding it was knocked back. He rolled to reduce the damage from his fall and, seemingly unharmed, assessed how outnumbered he was. Instead of fighting he took off running with freakish speed, heading to the base’s airstrip.

“Go on Diana,” Peggy said. “We will catch him. That man is the enemy we’ve been chasing.”

“But you’re after a different one,” Steve said. “Isn’t that right?”

Diana nodded, suddenly overcome by emotion to the point of words failing. It felt good, facing dangers with allies alongside her.

“I will not fail you,” Diana said. “I’ll finish this!”

Steve and Peggy smiled at her.

“Let’s save the world,” Steve said.

LINE BREAK

The layout of the enemy base was confusing. It was full of laboratories and rooms of science. Diana was getting lost. She assumed that somewhere, in the deepest regions, would be a throne room. That’s how she imagined Ares would spend his time, sitting on a gilded seat while the world went to ruin because of him.

But she couldn’t find anything like that. All she saw were more rooms that blended together and made her feel lost. As she was getting frustrated, someone said her name: “Diana!”

It was a voice with a British accent that wasn’t Peggy’s. This voice was a man’s. When Diana turned around she discovered the British general, Patrick Morgan, smiling at her.

“You… How are you here? Have you been captured?” Diana asked.

As she said it she realized that made no sense. He had been in London at the time that they left. There was no way he could’ve traveled all the way here… by mortal means.

“It’s you!” Diana said.

Sir Patrick Morgan smiled. His general’s uniform transformed into a suit of armor Diana had heard described in stories since she was a little girl. Although his mustached face stayed the same, it was obvious who was standing in front of her. This was her enemy. It was Ares, the god of war.

“Yes, Diana, what you’re thinking is correct,” Ares said. “I—”

“RAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” Diana bellowed.

She thought of all the carnage she had seen and charged without hesitation. Lifting God Killer, she swung the fabled sword to behead the villain.

He caught the blade. Diana flinched. Ares smiled the way her mother Hippolyta would, whenever Diana would do something foolish. 

Ares squeezed his fingers. The sword fractured. With a musical sound, it was destroyed, crumbling into fragments. Diana stumbled away with an expression of shock.

“Must we fight?” Ares chided her. “Who are you fighting for, these twisted mortals? There’s no need. They’ll be gone soon enough. This world is going to end, Diana.”

“I’ll stop you!” Diana hissed.

“Correction,” Ares said. “You can stop me, or you can stop it, but you cannot stop both. It’s already too late.”

LINE BREAK

The Howling Commandos moved as one practiced unit. Steven and Peggy went in front, using their shields to block fire. The others shot their weapons, dropping and scattering enemy soldiers. Diana had torn apart Hydra’s ranks, leaving fragments for the Commandos to pick off.

“I don’t like the look of that plane!” Peggy shouted.

A weirdly shaped bomber was sitting on the runway. It was probably no coincidence that Johan Schmidt had run straight for that plane. Odd thick propellers were spinning up rapidly for takeoff. Hydra soldiers formed a hasty defensive formation to fend off any attempts at reaching the plane.

That confirmed what they had to do.

“Commandos! We’re breaking through!” Steve said.

“We’re right behind you Cap’n!” Bucky said.

They crashed into the last line of soldiers. Steve and Peggy ransacked dozens of soldiers each, reflecting bullets and swinging their fists. Whenever a soldier got into their blindspot, he would fall to the ground bleeding out of his head. The Howling Commandos knew exactly how to back their leaders up.

“The plane is moving!” Dum Dum Dugan bellowed.

Seeing that he was right, Peggy and Steve and Bucky took off. Bucky lagged behind the supersoldiers, but he still managed to get his hand on the landing gear before the plane picked up too much speed. The three of them crawled up into the vehicle, leaving the rest of the commandos to subdue the base. 

The three infiltrators lay on their stomach catching their breath. They had crawled up into the plane through a maintenance entrance. Steve’s walkie talkie on his belt fizzed and spoke.

“Are you alive? Over.” Dum Dum Dugan’s fuzzy voice asked.

“Alive and kicking. Over.” Steve whispered back.

Every member of the team was equipped with the communication devices for the mission. They were too separated now to come to each other’s aid now, but they could at least communicate. Even Diana had been given one.

Dum Dum kept it short: “Kick their asses, Captain. Over.”

Steve, Bucky, and Peggy crawled deeper into the plane. Steve held up three fingers, counted down to one, and the three of them sprung out. 

They instantly took down six of the soldiers patrolling the plane. Steve threw a punch at another one. 

The enemy caught his punch. A retaliatory uppercut knocked him back. It even winded him. Steve still managed to lash out. His fist tore the cheek of the man he was brawling against. The skin tore… but the red that spilled out wasn’t blood.

Johan Schmidt, the leader of Hydra, looked down at his split skin. He smiled. He didn’t even seem shocked about the enemies getting this close to him. He grabbed his cheek… and pulled away his face.

Underneath was a swollen red face that looked like a human skull.

“What are you?” Steve asked.

“The future,” Schmidt said. “I am what will happen when human limits are transcended. I have let nothing get in the way of my goals, not even biological confines. I am sure you can feel the rewards I reaped.”

Steve’s stomach still ached from where he’d been hit. Schmidt was almost as strong as he was. Even so, with Peggy there, they should have been able to team up on him. Unfortunately, Schmidt wasn’t empty handed. He grabbed a small portable version of the cannon that stunned Diana with its blue beam of energy.

Schmidt pulled the trigger at Steve, who blocked the beam. It was redirected into the side of the plane, opening a small hole that quickly started growing.

“Get out of the room!” Steve yelled to his allies. 

The cockpit was still sealed. That was where they would be able to divert this plane. Whatever it was made for, it couldn’t be good.

“You still think that you can stop this?” Schmidt asked. “You have no idea of my plans. I am the Red Skull, harbinger of a new future! With the power of the gods… I am unstoppable!”

Steve rushed him. Schmidt shot his gun at Steve’s feet, who had to dive away to keep his legs from being cut in half. Steve rolled through the impact. Peggy reached Smidt and hit the gun out of his hands with her shield. Schmidt used his enhanced strength to punch her and kick her away. She grunted in pain as she hit the wall. The hole opened in the side of the plane was still growing bigger.

“You fools fight a war of flags, countries, and mortals!” Schmidt said. “When you should be submitting to the will of the gods!”

“I’ve heard about this Ares character,” Steve said. “He doesn’t sound like my kind of god. Even if she’s only half… I’ve met one I like much better.”

He rocked on the balls of his feet. Diving forward, Steve got in the Red Skull’s face, trading blows. Their punches were even, each of them giving as good as they got. Steve swung his shield and managed to hit Schmidt in the head. That would’ve killed a regular person; Schmidt wasn’t even stunned.

The Red Skull grabbed Steve’s shield and held it with one of his hands. His other hand went into his jacket and procured a sidearm with the same lines of blue energy as the superweapons he’d been using. He aimed at Steve’s head and pulled the trigger.

Peggy threw her shield. Timed perfectly, it blocked the shot but was knocked away. Schmidt grinned.

“This is the end for you!” he said.

He shot again before Steve could dodge. With The Red Skull fighting him for control of it, Steve couldn’t use his shield.

Peggy’s shield blocked the second shot.

Bucky had grabbed it out of the air and jumped in the way. He wasn’t a supersoldier. He was able to stop the beam, but doing so knocked him off his feet. His grip on the shield was loosened. The Union Jack shield flew one direction while his body was tossed in another. The hole in the side of the plane had gotten bigger and bigger. Bucky, airborne with nothing to hold onto, was sucked toward it. He caught the rim… But he lacked the strength to hold on for more than a few seconds. 

The wind was too loud to hear it, but Steve could read his lips. Bucky looked him in the eyes and said: “Save the world.”

He lost his grip.

LINE BREAK

Diana slammed into the wall. She grunted loudly but hauled herself up. Charging Ares, he easily dodged her punch. His counterattack was lazy, almost an afterthought, but she barely blocked it with her shield. The metal dented. She was launched into the same wall she hit seconds earlier.

“Must we do this?” Ares asked. “I’m not surprised that you hate me. You don’t understand me. These humans… you blame me for their faults. I regret to tell you, Diana. Those faults are all theirs.”

“I will… bring you down…” Diana said.

“How? You don’t even know what you are,” Ares said. “You thought that flimsy sword was the God Killer. Who told you that? Your mother? No, Diana, YOU are the God Killer. And you always have been.”

Diana refused to let him in your head. “All the better. I will slay you!”

“Or, you could choose not to,” Ares said. “You are the only one who might be able to stop me. If we join forces, ushering in a new age is an inevitability. The humans will wipe themselves out and we can start over! We can create something much better than this awful world!”

“I reject your future. I want no part of it,” Diana said.

She rushed him again. In less than a minute, Ares slammed her away again. This time, her shield shattered in half, rendering it unusable.

“Humans are hopelessly corrupted! Do not sacrifice yourself for them!” Ares said.

Diana’s body ached. She had never been beaten like this. She wanted to curl into a ball… until Steve and Peggy came into her head.

She pushed herself up, lifting her fists.

“I have seen the good in them,” Diana said. “So I will stand and fight for that. Because I know it is what he would’ve done.”

She never would have guessed that the strange man who washed up on the shores of her home would affect her so quickly. Yet here she was, emulating him with all her might. 

Ares snarled. “Are you willing to die for humans?”

“If I must,” Diana said. “But right now, I must kill for them.”

She charged again, now with just her bracers and lasso. Deep inside of her, something was starting to stir.

LINE BREAK

The door to the cockpit was smashed open. The Red Skull tumbled into the room. Peggy and Steve advanced, both holding their shields, moving in tandem.

Red Skull had run out of guns. He was as strong as each of them alone, but helpless against the coordinated assault of both. Peggy punched him from one direction. Steve blocked his next blow and gut punched him. Peggy hit his head with her shield. Steve took out his kneecaps. Peggy kicked him in the stomach, launching him through the room.

The pilot’s seat of this strange plane was empty. It was flying itself. Red skull hit a glowing contraption in the center of the room, his impact busting it open. Inside was a cube made of concentrated blue light. Steve and Peggy recognized the power source for all the weapons he had been wielding against them.

Red Skull laughed, spitting blood.

“Fools,” he said. “You have fought so hard. The future will still trample you. You do not even know what this plane is, do you? It is doom, despair, and destruction. We have harnessed the power of gods. When it reaches the United States, every major city will be blown away within the hour. Drones that can explode with force beyond any bomb will remove every population center. You cannot stop it!”

“Tough talk,” Steve said. “But you’re the one on the ground.”

There was still a long time before they crossed the Atlantic. If they took down the Red Skull, they would find a way to stop his plan. Red Skull realized that too. He tried something desperate.

He turned to the source of his power and yanked it out of its protective case. Holding it in his hands, his demonic face grinned, his eyes glowing bright blue.

“I will destroy you if it is the final thing I do!” he yelled.

Steve and Peggy flinched. Steve moved in front of her faster than she could react, trying to shield her. The cube powered up, its shine growing more brilliant.

Instead of vaporizing his enemies, what looked like blue fire turned on the Red Skull. He screamed in pain. A terrifying effect happened as the starry cosmos appeared on the roof of the cockpit. With a final scream, the Red Skull was vaporized, disappearing into upward traveling particles. As fast as it started the entire reaction disappeared.

The cube fell to the floor. It burned through as if it was made of magma. The cube fell toward the ocean… and that was that.

Steve and Peggy looked at each other, before realizing there was no time to spare. They ran to the controls.

The ship was programmed on autopilot but there were controls to guide it manually. Neither of them were pilots, and this plane was beyond the most advanced jets that the Allies had. Worse, from what Red Skull said before his demise drones would fly off of it as soon as it got within range of the US. It was too risky to try and land it.

Steve and Peggy looked at each other, thinking the same thing.

“Save the world,” Steve said softly.

Peggy smiled at him, her expression loving and forlorn, and took out her walkie talkie. “I’ll make a call.”

LINE BREAK

At first Diana could barely keep up. She was hanging on by a thread, taking glancing blows from Ares’s fists. She focused on hanging on with all her might. She stayed in the fight by the skin of her teeth. Seconds turned into minutes. As they ticked by, things got easier.

She wondered if Ares had poor stamina. It felt like he was getting weaker.

No, that wasn’t it. She was getting stronger.

Her fists were swinging progressively harder. Ares felt threatened. He had been taking things easy before; now, he summoned a helmet over his head and summoned surrounding scrap metal into the shape of swords. He swung his swords. Diana blocked with her bracers. They held out and knocked the attacks aside. The strength inside of her magnified.

“WHY DO YOU GO SO FAR!” Ares bellowed.

Diana felt frighteningly calm. The answer immediately came to her.

“Because if I do not do this, no one else can. It must be me,” she said. 

The power of an old god flowed through her system. Diana directed it at Ares and hit him hard enough to launch him back. It was Ares’s turn to stagger.

“NO! YOU’RE FOOLISHNESS WILL NOT COST ME EVERYTHING!” Ares said.

Dozens of swords were telekinetically created around him, ripping apart the walls. They stabbed toward Diana but were stopped by her aura, failing to strike her. She had entered the realm of an old god, immune to such tricks. Ares screamed and gave everything he had to destroy her, blasting her with a thunderbolt so strong it caused an earthquake.

Diana crossed her arms. Her bracers stopped the blast and held onto the energy. Screaming, she directed it back at Ares. The god of war never stood a chance.

He was fried by his own reflected attack. The last thing he did was scream in pain. His armor disintegrated. When it disappeared, nothing was left behind inside. 

Diana caught her breath. She found herself grinning. Her hands were  shaking from exertion but she grabbed her walkie talkie.

“I did it! Ares is no more!” she said.

The device hissed for a second. Then Peggy spoke.

“Wonderful work, dear,” Peggy said. “And fantastic timing. I was about to call you.”

Diana laughed, so overjoyed that she didn’t notice Peggy’s somber tone. “We won!”

“That’s right. We did.” This time, Steve was talking. “We stopped Schmidt. Something happened to him, he’s most likely dead. We’re on his plane right now. He was going to destroy dozens of cities with its weapons.”

“Unfortunately, the plane was damaged in the fight,” Peggy said.

She was talking unusually slowly. Diana started to notice something was wrong.

“So what? He is gone. He can’t use those weapons anymore,” Diana said. “Just land it.”

“The weapons were programmed to go off with or without him,” Peggy said gently.

“The second this thing touches down, it’s designed to scatter and destroy,” Steve said. “Nothing in the area will be safe. Millions will die… or two.”

Diana always got back to her feet while fighting Ares. Now, she dropped to her knees.

“No,” she said. “Bring it here. I will stop it!”

“Even you can’t do that,” Peggy said. “It’s alright, Diana. You did your part. Now it’s up to us to do ours.”

“We said we’d save the world,” Steve said. “It’s not how we drew it up… but we did it.”

Diana blinked. Her cheeks were wet. “This isn’t right!”

“In the last few years, more people have sacrificed themselves for me than I can count,” Steve said. “They did that for a better future, for something bigger than themselves. Now, it’s our turn. This is the best choice we’ve got; the only one we’ve got.”

The Howling Commandos who stayed on the ground had entered the base. They had been descending the levels and came across Diana, kneeling and cradling her walkie talkie. None of them spoke. They let the other three have their conversation.

“Wh-What about my tour of Brooklyn? A-And London?” Diana asked desperately.

“We’ll have to take a rain check,” Steve said. “But hey, you should visit yourself. I’m sure you’ll find something you like.”

“I already found something I like,” Diana said. “You two!”

But there was no answer. The walkie talkie didn’t give any signal. Diana dropped it, her arms going limp. She sobbed. Crying just as much, the Howling Commandos saluted.

Diana never expected that victory could feel so very brutal.