December Twenty-fourth, Nineteen Forty-five. The roof of the Reichstag.
The outside of the Reichstag bustled with activity in the dead of the night.
"Look at all these people assembled just to see such a horrible man." Diana said with disgust.
"When the Fuhrer calls," Logan said with a snarl. "The people come. Most of 'em are either too afraid or too stupid to fight back."
"Maybe." Steve said with a shake of his head. "But I doubt he'd have gotten this far if a bunch of them weren't just his kind of people."
"His kind of people sure want his autograph." Dugan said, wryly as he looked through a pair of binoculars. "Ol' Adolf just pulled up in his limo."
The group watched as the dictator exited the vehicle, surrounded by members of the SS. He waved to the crowd with a smile on his face, as if he hadn't ordered the execution of millions of his own people that day alone.
"Get into position," Steve said. "It's almost go-time."
Mere minutes later, the Commandos burst through windows into an empty Reichstag hall. The only man inside appeared to be Adolf Hitler, who fled into another room.
Steve dashed after him, jumping over desks and seats and railings. He exploded through the open door, and found the dictator hiding behind a desk. He made a beeline for the man, and didn't even realize the door shut behind him with an ominous metallic THUNK.
Steve grabbed Hitler by the throat and yanked him from under the desk.
"Not so tough, now, are you?" Steve snarled. Then, he noticed something was wrong. The man's face was slipping off.
Steve grabbed the man's cheek and ripped off the mask, revealing someone he didn't even know. He dropped the man to the floor just as a pair of metal doors retracted from the opposite side of the room, releasing two heavy German troopers apiece into the room. All were armed with miniguns. One immediately opened-fire on the captain. Blue fire soared across the room, but Steve hunkered down behind his shield. Once the firing died down, he flung his shield into the troopers chest, and ran across the room to drop-kick it into the man's chest even harder. The trooper was down, but that left three more. One of the others opened up on Steve before he could retrieve his shield.
This time, the minigun didn't make the same type of noise. One of the rounds clipped Steve's leg as he dove behind a desk for cover. He winced as he felt what he thought was a beesting. He reached down to the point of impact, and pulled a tranquilizer dart out of his leg. The needle was so fine, it pierced between the fibers of his body armor.
Steve cursed himself for being too slow as his calf started to go numb. His shield was too far to get to without eating a handful of those darts from the other three troopers, but the minigun of the one he'd knocked out was much closer. He rolled from one spot of cover to another, between bursts of tranquilizers. He hugged the giant firearm to his chest, and made a few calculations in his head. The closest trooper had taken five, now six steps. Steve needed to mow him down, then move and recalculate where the others would be. Steve hoisted the gun above the desk, and squeezed the trigger. A scream of agony told him his aim had been true, but the wild fire of the man in death sent one dart into Steve's left hand and right arm each. The numbness continued to spread, this time faster.
To hell with it. Steve thought as he started to lose consciousness. He exploded from behind cover with a yell, and shot a wave of blue energy across the room. More troopers had poured into the room while he was behind cover. The sedative was affecting his senses more than he'd thought. He panned his fire across the room at the heavy troopers, with a mighty roar, but they fired a seemingly endless stream of tranquilizers his way, and many hit their mark. Eventually, the emitter on his commandeered minigun melted, and it stopped firing. Steve struggled to hold the weapon, but his hands finally gave out, and dropped the heavy, useless chunk of metal at his feet. Seve fought with every fiber of his being to stay on his feet, and keep his eyes open, but it was no use. He fell backwards onto the ground, and his eyes started to flicker shut.
One of the troops walked up to him as reality began to fade.
"Mein Führer," the man said into a radio "Das Ziel ist sicher." The target is secure.
With one final roar, Diana drove her sword deep into the latch of the door, and kicked the pommel with her heel. The door exploded from its hinges, and the God-Killer found itself driven into the floorboards. The Commandos fanned out in the room, but the only trace of Captain America were the corpses of the German heavy troopers, and his helmet on a desk in the center of the room.
Suddenly, the intercoms of the Reichstag crackled to life, and Diana pulled her sword from where it had landed. The rest of the team leveled their weapons, but no Germans came for them.
"Invaders come to Germany, bearing stars und stripes upon zeir armors!" The voice was unmistakably that of Adolf Hitler. "However, even super soldiers have limitations! Captain America's vas forty-five tranquilizers! Before the Invaders become too distraught, your dear Herr Rogers is not dead qvite yet. You might even be able to rescue him, Vonder Voman! I haff taken ze good captain to my shelter. Look beneath his helmet."
Diana carefully removed the helmet, and found a map of Berlin. A highlighted spot, not far from the Reichstag, proclaimed in all capitals "FUHRERBUNKER."
"All you haff to do is cross two kilometers of ze heaviest artillery Germany has to offer! Of course, you could go around, but my patience grows thin, und I vish to try out my new toys on ze Captain! However, I vill be generous, you may have ze Reichstag all to yourselves to plan your assault. Make your choice, Invaders. You have until Christmas day." The comms clicked as the transmission ended.
"Barricade the entrances!" Diana commanded. She and the others hefted what remained of the furniture in front of the doors and windows. Once they were done, they circled one remaining table, the one Steve's helmet had been placed upon.
"Jones, get on the radio to Fury, tell him the situation, and make sure it's secure." Diana said, pointing to the man in question. He nodded, and got to work. "Falsworth, get me eyes on the German troops, see what they're doing."
"Aye." He said with a salute.
"The rest of you," Diana said to the remaining Commandos. "Inventory munitions and weapons, see if the dead troopers have anything we can use."
They got to work, and reconvened fifteen minutes later.
"Falsworth?" Diana asked.
"The Germans are making no obvious attempt to breach the building." He said with a shake of his head.
"The ones out front aren't budging an inch, but it looks they have every gun in the Third Reich pointed at the front door. The ones between us and the bunker aren't even drawn down, and they left a trench out back as well. Seems like ol' 'brass ball's' living up to his name."
"The sheer arrogance." Diana whispered almost under her breath. It has to be the hubris of a god. She thought to herself. "Jones, did you get through to Fury?" She asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Jones said, handing her the radio.
"Colonel Fury, this is Captain Prince, do you read me, over?"
"Prince, this is Fury, read you loud and clear. Jones briefed me on your situation. I'm getting you air support right now, hopefully we can make your job a little easier, over."
"Much appreciated, Colonel, but are you sure it can get here in time? Over."
"Prince, check the Reichstag main hall, I have a bird in the area about to make a supply drop right through that dome. Be advised, it's gonna hit hard, over."
CRASH! A large crate of ammunition, and a few guns smashed through the Reichstag's ceiling.
"That should be enough to get you through the night until we get-" Fury was cut off by the sudden loud hum of an air-raid siren, and the firing of anti-air guns. One of the blasts hit its target, and the supply plane crashed to the ground of Berlin.
"Colonel, come again, did you hear that, over?" Diana asked.
"Prince, I don't know how they did it, but the Germans shot down our supply plane. I'll have to call you back on the air support, over."