Part 3 - Devil's Dawn

Chapter 60 - Rampage

Teresa placed the brass cube which was the Animator on a briefing room table. The Sol admirals and the team stared at it.

"So you think she'll go on a rampage?" Asked one of the admirals.

Teresa nodded and looked at each person in front of her in turn.

"Admiral Melbourne. You of all people should know that Gwen will not stop until she get's what she wants; at least while she and that plate are one and the same."

"I agree. Many remember what she did to Earth 7065, her home. Nothing is safe unless we can incapacitate her to perform the operation to remove the plate. Last time we had Miles to get inside her head while also wielding some brute force; obviously we don't this time. It has to be a team effort. She will bring some sort of force with her; surprising as it may seem, she isn't stupid. Admiral Cochrane, is the Sixth Fleet ready to defend Earth?"

"As ready, as ever, sir. Whatever force she brings, we will crush it."

"I wouldn't be so sure. The First to Eighth fleets will fall back as many ships as they can to defend the planet. Form a sphere to block her. The Animator will be hidden in Pandora's Vault, which for those of you who don't know, is buried five kilometres beneath the seabed of the Marianas Trench."

Teresa sighed.

"Water and rock won't stop her if she get's through. I've pissed her off, she's out for blood. Fight to the last ship, give no ground. She will show no mercy. I will go to the Vault with the Animator. Peter, Hiccup, Astrid: you'll go to Sol headquarters in Glasgow, Scotland. It's where she'll look first if I've judged her right."

"You heard Teresa. Those with orders, get to it. Those without, amass the remaining fleets as reserves around Mars. Any questions? Good. Dismissed, double time."

There were no salutes; the room emptied faster than a shipping container housing a family of angry skunks until only Edward and Teresa were left. The admiral clicked his tongue.

"I almost wish you hadn't stood up to her like that."

"It wouldn't have ended there. Better to show we won't bow to her every wish than to let her have her way. Besides, I was right...wasn't I?"

"You were. Too much blood has been shed. I just hope there won't be too much more."

The SGC Valour was almost silent as it waited beside the rest of the Sol fleet. Edward tapped the arm of his chair. It was coming up on exactly twenty-four hours since the Scarlet King had been slain. They had sent a call for help but nobody had come. He missed the good old days before he, the admiralty and council had decided it was for the benefit of every dimension to overthrow Conall's ruling with an iron fist. Everything had been so simple: a distress call was just some freighter being attacked by pirates, most missions were scientific. He looked up as a vaguely robotic voice spoke:

"Warning: temporal anomaly detected. Capital ship signatures detected."

"On screen." He ordered.

The view changed a little. So there they were...she had gone with the exact line-up as before: the Reapers. It was a shame they hadn't been wiped out.

"All ships fire at will."

Some of the Reapers hadn't even cleared the enormous magenta gate, that floated in front of the Sol fleet, before being subject to a torrential bombardment of ammunition.

Peter could see the explosions from the ground. He turned to the ranks of dragons and their riders; Hiccup and Astrid had decided this fight would change the lives of their people and it was worth bringing Berk in full force. They numbered just under a hundred and fifty, down from three hundred after the Battle of Skuldafn. The dragons took up most of the street, so it was a good thing there was a 'road closed' sign at each end. Peter turned his gaze to one end of the street and saw people staring up at the splodges of light marking the destruction of ships. For one side or another, it was a massacre. He just hoped it was Gwen's.

Edward gritted his teeth against the pain. The Valour had rolled onto its side a few moments ago as a Reaper clamped onto it, sending things all over the place; a shattered coffee mug had struck him across the forehead and blood oozed from the gash. He put his hand to it to stem the flow a little. Besides his injuries, the battle was not going well at all. A number of broken Reapers floated through the fight but the trashed shells of Sol ships were even more abundant.

"Sir, they've broken through. The battle up here is lost." Said ops through a coughing fit brought on by the rancid electrical smoke.

"Shake the damn Reaper off and bring us about. Pursuit course. Order the rest of the fleet to do the same."

"Aye."

The ship shook violently, for almost a minute until it broke free, shredding enormous holes in its hull. It surged towards the planet, followed by more Reapers and the majority of the surviving Sol fleet.

"Sir, I reccomend you transfer to the ground. They'll need your help, and you're worth about ten foot soldiers. We can handle it from here."

Edward stood up slowly.

"Better to go down fighting than being frozen in space."

"Exactly. Bridge to transfer one, send the Admiral to Glasgow."

Peter saw the energy beam and tensed up, ready for the fight. Instead he was met by Edward with a large gash on his forehead.

"What's happening?" Asked the spider.

"They're coming. The fleet is scrapped."

"Then here's where we stand next."

"Or sent six feet under. Heads up."

Peter looked up into the sky to see a black dot growing steadily larger. Soon he could make out the talons of a Reaper. The metal behemoth slammed into the ground a couple of miles away with a force that crumbled the buildings around it for a kilometre and shattered every piece of glass for the next five. The dragons took-off as a door opened on the Reaper's side and an army began to pour out. The Reaper itself seemed to do nothing. Two objects hovered over the army: one a man in a suit clutching a red blade, the other a blazing ball of magenta flames. Peter ignored Venom taking over Edward as Gwen tore down and landed in front of them.

"I'll give you two another chance. Hand over the Animator and nobody get's hurt."

"It's a bit late for that." Peter replied.

Venom laughed.

"I'll be sure to savour the flavour of an Ethereal plate."

Gwen cracked a smile before barreling into the symbiote. Peter fired a web at her and was dragged along until Toothless seemingly swooped down out of nowhere and blasted her with a ball of fire. She tumbled a little before firing a beam back which sliced directly through the Nightfury's wing. Dragon and rider fell; Peter released his web and managed to catch them both, sticking onto the steel frame of the Sol headquarters. Gwen floated down in front of him, brandishing a katana.

"You really think Miles will even be able to look at you after that?" He asked.

She scoffed.

"You really think he'll be able to look at you for not even trying to bring him back? Show's how much you care."

She swung the blade at his head; he ducked and it clanged off the support. She stabbed at his chest, only to be blasted away by a blue shockwave. She tore down at Hiccup, only to be scorched by fire from a blue dragon which grabbed her in its claws and hurled her down. Peter jumped down little by little until Hiccup and Toothless were on the ground. Hiccup placed a reassuring hand on the dragon's snout and drew Darian's golden sword as Peter joined him, and Astrid landed, dismounting and drawing an axe. Gwen stood up again.

"Three on one? Seems a little...unfair, doesn't it?"

She raised her hand and clenched it. Hiccup and Astrid grasped their heads for a few seconds before standing up straight and staring blankly at Peter, their eyes glowing magenta.

"Fus ro..."

Peter slammed a fist into Hiccup's chin and ducked an axe swing before headbutting Astrid in the stomach and knocking her down. Venom lunged on top of Gwen, distracting her enough to free the Vikings from the mind control. Suddenly, there was a mighty roar overhead. Peter looked up to see a fleet of aircraft. They weren't anything he had ever seen before. But a bolt of lightning explained it all as Thor smashed through the Reaper, causing it to crumble; Asgard had come. The Asgardian soldiers formed up and charged on the slowly thinning ranks of Gwen and Lucifer's army, supported by the dragons. Gwen snarled and turned to the skyscraper, having thrown Venom away. She flew up its side, searching for the Animator. When she reached the top she realised it wasn't there. She glided down in an almost terrifying way.

"So, that's why you put your strongest player on the other side of the world."

Her wings folded back as she flew away, forming a delta shape and allowing her to smash through the sound barrier numerous times with a series of bangs. Venom bounded over and growled.

"Pussy."

Pandora's Vault was an incredible construct. There was a version in Teresa's dimension, but it was far smaller and housed only the Oppenheimer: a neutronium bomb wih enough potential energy to flatten the entire surface of the Earth sixteen times over and continue to wreck havoc in the vicinity for hours after. She wondered whether using it might be a viable way of dealing wih Gwen. Sure, it would kill the commander, but at the same time Gwen would be seperated from the plate and reunited with Miles. Once the spider had the Animator, it wouldn't end. From the endless stream of reports being filed it seemed that she and Lucifer had made a pact and had an army of some kind with air and space support provided by Reapers. From all the research, Teresa knew the Reapers weren't actually a multi-dimensional species; in fact they weren't a species at all. Instead they were an artificial intelligence with the sole purpose of wiping out life, and Gwen had dragged them into her fight. A call broke Teresa's chain of thought; she tapped her com badge.

"Reports from Glasgow say she's coming."

"Understood."

It was to be expected. Gwen did a lot of stupid things, and with her influence they tended to have more disastrous consequences than the actions of a normal person. However, she was smart and persistent, a trait she shared with the commander. What they didn't have in common was an Ethereal plate. All Teresa had was a pistol and her projections. She'd thought about plugging herself into a computer and making some changes, but she had next to no knowledge of programming and all the data about her was destroyed in the fire that killed the other person like her. She sighed, wondering what the future held. Only time would tell.

Gwen slammed down on the platform that housed the entrance shaft to the vault. Security personnel opened fire with assault rifles; she clenched her fist, taking control of them and forcing them to drown themselves without so much of a glance. She reached a console in front of an elevator and pressed a button. The door rumbled open and the Ethereal spider stepped inside, sensing victory was near. All she had to do was deal with the freak who had taken the Animator from her. The door rumbled shut but nothing happened. A calm voice came from a speaker.

"Waiting for confirmation from bottom level."

Gwen rolled her eyes. Of course it wasn't that easy to get into the highest security facility in Sol's vast area of influence. She charged a fist and smashed it through the floor, peering into the darkness below before dropping down, falling faster and faster.

Teresa heard debris clattering at the bottom of the shaft. She knelt down, striking her metal-covered fist on the floor, choosing her blue and white projection. She had next to no control over it; all she could do was tell it what to attack and what not to. Her other forms she controlled completely, but this one was rogue. On the other hand, it had unmatched agility and relentlessness. There was another crash...no, more like a thump that travelled through the floor to the commander. Gwen blasted through the elevator door and scoffed.

'You think you can stop me?"

"It's my duty to try. I've put bullets in more people than you've met in your life. If I get you, does that count as two tallies?"

Gwen sprinted forward, firing a web at a wall and pulling herself onto it, scambling along like a spider trying to win a one-hundred metre sprint. Teresa's projection jumped at her, screeching horribly. Gwen dropped back to the floor of the long corridor and kept running until it bore down on her, tearing into her flesh like a ravenous beast. She grabbed its face and twisted its neck until there was a sickening crack and it disappeared. Suddenly, a gunshot rattled out and a searing pain shot through her shoulder. She hadn't been expecting Teresa to have such lightning reactions, so wasn't ready to take a bullet. She morphed her mask and hood up, ignoring the pain and blood that poured from the wound. Another projection appeared but she was ready. It skewered itself on an outstretched katana. Two bullets struck Gwen but turned to dust. A third projection appeared, this time the normal coloured version that had seen too many hours in the gym. It charged at her, ducking her katana, and driving its fist up into her chin so hard there was a horrible crack as she was knocked off her feet. The projection began to hammer her, aiming for the head. Gwen discarded her katana and stabbed a dagger into her transparent opponent which faded like its predecessors. She didn't let the next volley of ammunition come. Instead, she sat up and launched a shot of magenta energy from the palm of her hand, striking real Teresa and slamming her against the door to the next room. Teresa slid down and let out one more projection that was destroyed by another shot. Gwen sprinted forward, firing a web to pull her katana back into her hand.

"Let's see what you're really made of."

It turned out Teresa was better in hand-to-hand than the spider had expected from someone who usually hid in the room next door and let her clones do the dirty work. Her suit was solid titanium; the only blades that could pierce that were the Subtle Knife and Scarlet Crucible, neither of which she had on her. Lucifer was wreaking havoc with the Crucible and the Knife was abandoned somewhere in Skyrim. Teresa planted an extremely strong punch in her gut before grabbing her throat and driving her back against the wall. Gwen ignored her inability to breathe and charged a punch, blasting Teresa across the hall into the wall. The commander kicked off it, rugby tackling the spider to the floor and wrapping her arm around her former friend's throat, staying on top of Gwen. The spider struggled in vain while Teresa wondered why all the movies and professional fighters pulled the person on top of them. Right now, Gwen's arms were trapped and she could hardly move. If she tried to esape the choke-lock she'd break her neck. Her struggling grew slowly weaker and weaker until she went still. Teresa held tightly for a few more seconds before releasing the unconscious spider. She rolled off and stood up, grabbing her gun and using Gwen's hand to morph off her hood and mask. The commander held her finger ready, wondering why she hesitated. Her head began to hurt but she ignored it until she felt something trying to make her aim the gun at her own head. She looked Gwen over and saw the spider's fist was clenched. She shifted the pistol and pulled the trigger, shooting her enemy in the leg. Gwen jolted before rolling over on her front and grinning.

"This is almost fun."

Why couldn't Teresa pull the trigger? She had killed before without hesitation; why now when the fate of the multiverse was at stake? Gwen seized her chance and blasted Teresa with a continuous stream of Ethereal energy, dragging herself to her feet and limping over to the commander who was now pinned against the wall. She ripped away Teresa's helmet; the commander headbutted her only to receive an Ethereal punch. However, instead of retracting her fist, Gwen held it there, burning more and more Ethereal energy into her. She could see pain in her enemy's eyes, but she hardly reacted. The spider pulled her hand away and the commander collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath but punching the ground as she fell. A blue and white projection leapt at Gwen, ripping away at her only to be taken out by a bullet. Gwen turned the weapon on Teresa who glared at her with narrow eyes.

"Do it. Do it you stuck up bitch. See how many bombs fall on your head, how many bullets shred you, how little Miles will be able to look at you. And when he does, all you will see is fear...anger...hatred."

Gwen laughed.

"He'll still love me. You'll see. He loved me after the last merge with a plate."

"That time you didn't know the consequences, you did it in the heat of battle. This time you had a choice and you chose a path he will struggle to forgive you for going down."

"You don't know Miles at all. He forgives everyone."

"No. He never forgave Conall, he never forgave Kingpin. The hatred was as clear as the Summer sky. You know, I think I've just figured it all out: the effects of the plate set in gradually this time. Because you started off with good intentions, thinking you could bring him back because you loved him. The plates are used to merging with people who only want them for power."

"That's got nothing to do with anything."

Gwen pulled the trigger; Teresa went limp. She chuckled and tossed the gun away.

"Idiot."

The remaining guards and researchers had gone down like a sand castle against a tsunami. Gwen blasted the door to the Animator's chamber off its hinges. The Animator itself was held on a pedestal in the centre of the room. Gwen picked it up slowly.

"How the hell do you work?" She muttered, looking for some button or other tell-tale thing for starting the internal mechanism.

"Oh fine. I'll do it later."

So, it had all been a failure: Sol Galactic Command's fleet had been massacred for the most part, Gwen and Lucifer had begun to construct an empire, and the former had the Animator while the latter possessed the strongest sword in existence. Edward stopped pacing in front of the remnants of the team, now only Peter, Hiccup and Astrid. He had made his decision.

"I want you all to return home. Teresa will be transferred to ICU in her home dimension as well. This has gone too far to be stopped by a spider, some Vikings and their fire-breathing counterparts. Sol will make its stand for everyone's good; we expect to stand alone."

"But why? You need all the help you can get." Said Peter.

"Because if you stay out of this from now on, this Empire might see no point in killing you. You've done everything you can, the SRS Haven will go to 6119 to act as your home and be out of the way of the fighting. Peter, you have a wife and kid. Go and be the person you are supposed to be. Stand up for what good there is left, but stay alive."

Peter stood up and offered Edward his hand.

"It's been an honour working with you, Admiral."

"And you. Good luck."

"Thank you. But you need it more."

The spider turned away and left, stopping outside the door and taking a deep breath. So this was it: Sol's suicidal demise in a pointless attempt to slow an unstoppable force. The future was going to be bleak, he just had to make the best of it while he could.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- How to Train Your Dragon
- Mass Effect
- Venom
- Avengers
- SCP Foundation
- His Dark Materials (I keep forgetting to put this in where the Subtle Knife is concerned, so there you go)

Note

So, the end of part three. Things are going quite quickly, but don't expect part four for a while. My computer is dead, and I'm nowhere near finished writing the next bit in the first place.

Will Gwen bring Miles back? You never know...