Part 4 - Resurgence

Chapter 74 - Ashes of the Empire

Miguel explained the plan to Gwen. The palace was protected by hundreds, if not thousands of Reapers. The Quintari, Grim Reaper and home fleet would all engage them. Meanwhile, on the ground, the most elite soldiers of the multiverse would storm the trenches surrounding an energy shield while the Scarlet King would tear the shield generator apart telekinetically. Once everything else was secure, the palace itself would be taken. She, Teresa and the spider people were to fight Lucifer while the remaining soldiers cleared out the rest of the building. In the meantime, Miles would go to 9674 and find the detective. Hopefully he would arrive before Lucifer killed them all and the final blow could be struck. Gwen pictured Miles in her head, replaying all the moments she held close to her heart. Could he still love her after everything she had done? She shook the thoughts away; she needed to concentrate or a lot of people would die, including her. She caught a glimpse of Miles sitting alone in a corner of the galley, but it was so busy here that she couldn't pick him out again. She took a deep breath to calm her fears of all that could go wrong. It was time to finish the atrocity she had started.

"This is Admiral Melbourne to all ships, to all officers, to every soldier, spider person, every Quintari. I don't know about all your worlds, but in mine there is a saying that history is written by the victors. Today decides whether we go down as villains in the Empire's history, or as heroes of the new Sol Temporal Republic. It doesn't matter who you were before this, which side you fought for, what status you held in the government. All that matters is that today we fight beside each other for not just our own worlds, but the worlds of the friends we have made along the way. United we stand, divided we fall. You have your orders; good luck, and I'll see you on whichever side of history we end up on."

Ops pressed the button to end the transmission and gave Edward a nod.

"That was a pretty stirring speech, sir."

"Hardly. Status report."

"All ships report ready to go on your mark."

"Well then. Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war."

SGC Bastion and all the ships beside her, in the world between worlds, were consumed by a bright display of colour which started from the bows of each vessel and worked its way towards the stern.

On the other side, the fleet stayed behind the cover of an enormous hexagonal shield on which was painted the resistance flag beside that of the Quintari. The largest Quintari ship slipped out from behind it and fired an enormous glass ball containing some sort of blue substance. As it ducked back behind cover, the ball struck a Reaper and shattered sending antimatter flying in all directions. Reapers were blown apart in their masses as the SGC Arachnid and Marvel touched down to drop off Stanley with Grim Reaper. Beside them, aircraft of all shapes and forms landed, dropping off perhaps thousands of soldiers from all backgrounds. Some were marines from varying countries, others were Quintari elites. Behind them formed an enormous red crack in reality itself; from it emerged the Scarlet King who roared a battle cry. Beside the crack, barely noticeable in comparison, Gwen stepped through a magenta wreath of flames. She pushed through the thousands of soldiers until she came to Teresa who was wearing a version of her old metal suit that she had worn the first time the Ethereal spider had met her. The commander turned to her and narrowed her eyes. Gwen held out her hand.

"There's a high chance one of us might die today. I've made a lot of mistakes, hurt a lot of people. I'd rather not die enemies with a friend."

Teresa grasped her hand firmly.

"I've made a lot of mistakes too. Maybe not as deadly as yours, but they're still mistakes. Nobody needs to take hatred to their grave."

"As Edward said, I guess I'll see you on whichever side of history."

There was a thundering boom sound from the direction of the palace. The pair looked in that direction to see aircraft, mainly Phantoms, bombarding the enemy trenches. A squadron of A10s flew in, unleashing their signature 'brrrrt' sound of gunfire on the enemy. The soldiers whooped victoriously, as a Phantom pulled the hardest manoeuvre even Teresa had seen to avoid an anti-aircraft missile. He projectile landed amongst the soldiers and exploded, killing a good few.

"We need to move or we'll be dead before we know it." Said Gwen.

"I know. Soldiers! The time has come! For friends, for family, for the Republic!"

The commander began to sprint forward, soon joined by Gwen overhead with her magenta wings. Iron Man, War Machine and the Falcon caught up. The ground trembled, the air was filled with battle cries and gunfire. Gwen dived into the first trench, decapitating an undead soldier and knocking over another. The rest of the Republic troops arrived and overran the dugout in an instant. Gwen was back over the top before it was completely cleared. She joined Dr Strange duelling a Draugr. As he slew it, she gave him a thumbs up.

"I thought you were assimilated?"

"Nobody assimilates the Sorcerer Supreme."

Gwen snapped another Draugr's neck but suddenly found herself frozen to the muddy ground. Strange hurled an orange semi-circle at the Draugr unleashing some sort of freezing mist from their hand. She quickly became unstuck, but it wasn't heat that broke her free.

"Fus ro dah!" Yelled a raspy voice, blasting her and Strange into the mud.

She hurled a magenta dagger at the Deathlord wishing she had Hiccup's golden sword which he had inherited from Darian. Draugr kept on coming, fighting viciously until, at long last, the rest of the Republic soldiers arrived. Only a third and final trench remained. Gwen knew there was a mine field, as well as short-range artillery on this one. Indeed, just as she was thinking of it, the shells started falling. Iron Man flew overhead, firing a repulsor beam at one of the guns and blowing it sky-high. Gwen made to climb over the top and help, but was greeted by a stream of bullets narrowly missing her head. She took a breath and climbed over on her stomach before standing up, making an X shape with her arms and absorbing the bullets with little care. As she walked calmly to the final line of defence, she wondered how Miles was getting on.

Truth be told, Miles was slightly panicking. He was at the police precinct where Chloe worked, but she was apparently away investigating a crime and nobody would say where. Since she had said he and Gwen were the first thing she had investigated in years, he highly doubted she was away investigating another anomaly. His spidey sense told him she was here and it had rarely been wrong. An idea popped into his head to get past the security, but he just had to wait for someone to open the door.

This was it, the third trench had been taken although at a significant cost. Teresa looked up at the Scarlet King expectantly. The King raised a hand and clenched his fist. Sections of the shield began to shimmer, then flicker, before the entire thing disappeared and a plume of smoke erupted from the palace roof. The soldiers yelled victoriously as Teresa climbed out of the third trench.

"Come on, then!"

As the soldiers charged, under heavy gun fire from the palace windows and roof, Gwen looked up. The fight in the sky was going well, although she could see numerous Quintari and home fleet ships falling. The hexagonal shield had been torn apart except in a few places where sizeable chunks were being used as a battering ram. She turned back to her own objective. The front door of the palace had been barricaded, but it was blown apart by a missile barrage from War Machine. Guns blazed, soldiers on both sides fell but soon the throne room seemed quite empty. Gwen, Teresa and the spider army stuck around as the rest of the soldiers went to clear out what remained. Teresa gave Gwen a pat on the back.

"Looks like we aren't dead. Want to hate each other again?"

"There's time yet. I might do it for you if you're not careful."

Teresa grinned, looking around for the devil. Her gut told her he was nearby, but she had no idea where. Soon, she received her answer. A rock was hurled across the room, almost crushing some of the spider people. Gwen recognised the fragments of her statue and was quite glad it was gone. Lucifer floated down from his hiding place on the supporting beams of the roof.

"So this is how it all ends. Five years on a throne only to be brought down by a swarm of insects."

His face twisted into a horrible, twisted red mess. Teresa and a number of the weaker spider people began to back away in fear, but the rest stood strong. Gwen floated up to meet him, drawing a katana.

"You really think you can defeat me?"

"No. But I can try to prove that you aren't so invincible."

"Good luck with that."

Another piece of the statue flew past; Gwen ducked under and barrelled into him, charging an Ethereal fist and driving it into his chest. Lucifer caught in mid-air and began to twist her arm. She sliced across his face with her katana but it had no effect. She desperately hoped Miles was right about Chloe being his weakness or things were going to get ugly. She received a headbutt to the face before being hurled into the ground, cracking the once perfect tiling. The spider army attacked now, but the Scarlet Crucible flashed and with each stroke another spider fell. Miguel webbed one of the chunks of rock, smashing it over the devil's head only to receive a stony fist in the face in return. He wasn't killed by that, nor the fall, but by Lucifer ripping his guts out with his telekinesis. Soon nearly the entire spider army was slain. The only ones that remained were those who were too scared to fight and Gwen. She crashed into Lucifer from behind, driving him into the floor and laying in with Ethereal punch after Ethereal punch. The Scarlet Crucible had been knocked away on impact, but clearly he didn't need it. Somehow, Gwen found herself on the bottom, her face pinned to the floor.

Miles' plan had succeeded. He had slipped through the door while invisible. Chloe Decker was working at her desk, signing paperwork and drinking a cup of coffee.

"Detective Decker."

She looked up.

"What are you doing here?"

"There isn't much time to explain. How would you like to see Lucifer?"

"He's here?"

She stood up.

"No, but I can take you to see him."

He held out a dimensional watch. Chloe took it cautiously.

"It's already programmed. Just press the 'jump' button when you're ready."

She eyed him warily before hitting the button. Miles hit his own on his suit.

Gwen heard Lucifer pull the Scarlet Crucible into his hand with telekinesis.

"Finally."

So this was how she would die: a miserable failure who had broken Miles' heart. Lucifer raised the Crucible high.

"Lucifer!"

He looked up, his face suddenly turning to normal. Gwen took her chance and kicked him off, scrambling for freedom only to be thrown against a wall.

"Detective?"

"Lucifer...what have you done? I...I thought they...I thought they made it all up!"

"Detective, I will explain later. But you must leave now."

"No! What have you done?!"

Suddenly, there was a bang, a gunshot. It was followed by another, then another, and another three. Lucifer crumpled, a bullet through his head, one through the heart and one in each of his arms and legs. Miles turned to see who had fired. Teresa was breathing heavily, her pistol held high.

"What did you do?!" Yelled Chloe.

"I shot the devil."

Gwen put two fingers to Lucifer's neck.

"You killed him too..."

The commander pocketed her weapon, turning and leaving the scene behind. Chloe held Lucifer's body, cradling him in her arms and crying uncontrollably. Miles hung his head.

"I'm sorry."

She ignored him; he took a deep breath and walked after Gwen who had left after Teresa.

The ground around the palace was littered with debris and fire. The destroyed Reapers seemed intact for the most part except those destroyed by Grim Reaper.

"It's almost sad. Where do we go from here?" Miles muttered, staring up at the fleet.

"Get the plate out, Gwen. After that you might have to run. Things will get easier for most of us, but not for you. Many people want your blood; don't give them it. Miles, you do you."

Gwen nodded slowly as three energy beams appeared in front of them. The High Aether and two other Quintari emerged.

"You must be split from the plate."

One of the Quintari stepped forward and placed a small disc to Gwen's neck. She went limp, but the second Quintari caught her. The High Aether turned his head to Miles.

"Will you be joining us?"

"Yeah."

"Very well."

Crossovers in this Chapter

- Lucifer
- Avengers
- SCP Foundation
- Skyrim

Note

I feel like these big battles look epic in my head, then just sound pathetic on paper...