Chapter Seven; End Game
Commandos Prt 6
In the early days of the cold war, Tony Stark was the head of the space program. His rival on the other side of the curtain was a man named Ivan Kragoff.
Eventually, the two were squaring off. On the day that the Russians announced a manned mission to the moon, Nasa announced their own manned flight. The two flights were to take place on the same day. The Cold War was to be decided on the flight of two geniuses.
Tony Stark himself was the leading astronaut on the flight. He insisted, because nobody else would be able to trouble-shoot his engines. Piloting the ship was James Rhodes, the first colored astronaut. And along for the ride was his crypto zoologist girlfriend Nicolle Fury and Jojo the chimp.
But the Red Ghost sabotaged them.
For a brief moment, the Red Ghost's space ship and Stark's were side by side. The Red Ghost had arranged it that way, just so he could point out of the window and mock Stark as his engines failed and he began to crash back to earth.
Thankfully, in that brief moment, the Red Ghost's rockets failed too, bombarded with cosmic radiation. He didn't triumph over Tony Stark that day. And when he realized that his crew was instilled with fantastic powers, Stark vowed he never would.
But he never stopped trying. Not even on Stark's baby girl.
"How are you here?" The Mask asked. The pair of them circled, each looking for an opening.
"You left the door open." The Red Ghost said. "Didn't your Timebroker tell you I slipped through?"
The Mask hesitated. Timebroker had told her to close the gate so nobody else could get through. He should have known that Red Ghost got through. He should have warned her.
Ivan charged as she thought to herself. Without even noticing, she nimbly leaped out of the way and launched a mid-air flying kick. He blocked it, and threw her into a wall. She phased through, landing gently like her mother taught her. She ran back through the wall at him, but he was waiting for her with an outstretched arm. She ran right into it, clotheslining herself. She barely managed to teleport a shot distance away before his fist made a crater where her head used to be.
"You'd follow me across dimensions just to kill me?"
"Little girl." Ivan smiled. "It is saddening that still you underestimate me. I would cross the multiverse to kill you. But that is the least I would do. I would spread this cancer, reshape it in my image, and kill every version of you and your pathetic father."
The Mask froze. She really hated when she underestimated the Red Ghost.
She was so busy being caught up by him being here that she'd forgotten Impossible Man's plan. She didn't know all of it, but from what she could tell in her part of it, it seemed like a good plan. She had to prep the explosives.
A tiny robot with little tentacles emerged from her cape with a stick of plastique. The Red Ghost took out his signature gun and shot at the Mask. She phased on instinct, only to realize too slowly that he was expecting her to do so and he was aiming for her sneakbot.
"No, none of that." The Red Ghost smiled. She hated when he smiled.
Titan punched through the metal man's armor, and tore the engine out of his chest cavity. "My armor was designed by Reed Richards!" He said. "Who built you, you pile o' scraps?" He punched the robot's head off.
The Japanese diplomat removed his shirt. The dragon tattoo underneath began to glow with a fierce energy. He shouted "HAI! Metal Man!" That caught the Titan's attention. He ran forward.
"Oh you want a piece of me?" Titan clanged his metal fists together. "You wanna see if you can tackle the Titan!"
Nova had one of the jetpack men in a headlock, when he looked over to see what was happening with the Titan. He instantly recognized the tattoo. "Titan! No!"
The man's fist glowed with green energy, and as his fist met Titan's, the armor around it disintegrated.
Titan withdrew his fist, and looked at the bare skin with shock.
Nova gritted his teeth. The iron fist was going for a combo attack. He used the Nova Force to hack into Titan's armor systems, and set his shields to max.
The Japanese man landed a flurry of blows against the shields, finishing it off with a kick. The blows were negated by the shields, but the kick sent him flying, crashing into the ruins of the fallen tower. Titan got up again, breastplate dented and energy core cracked but alive. "Caught me by surprise." Titan grunted. "I've got a surprise for you too!" Four miniature missile shot out of titan's shoulder. Titan's adversary plucked two of them out of the air, then kicked the other two.
Nova tore the jetpack off of the last nazi, and threw him away. This fight wasn't going well. The Avengers were fairing poorly against the Invaders. Crossbones and Ares were virtually neck-and-neck equals, but the Patriot was sporting multiple gashes against an unharmed Nightcrawler, and the Hulk was beginning to move slower, more dazed. Hank and Janet were holding out well, but they were slowly giving ground.
Nova had one job to do; keep the Avengers from dying. He was failing.
Impossible Man had told him to direct the fight towards the base of the collapsed tower. He thought that maybe he would teleport them out, but he was busy fighting the Red Skull. He couldn't possibly teleport them with any accuracy. And he didn't have any powers and he didn't look like he was carrying a teleporter on him.
Regardless, he had to see it through to protect the Avengers.
Patriot looked like he was the one in most danger. He flew towards Nightcrawler. It hurt that he had to fight him, but he reminded himself this wasn't the fun loving imp he was friends with in his home dimension.
Of course, he was about as skilled. Kurt saw him coming, and teleported out of the way. Nova flew right into the Invader's Hulk, breaking his fist.
The wind whipped around Pete Wisdom as he climbed up the ladder. A pair of Nazi stood at the top, and the tried to stomp his fingers. He dodged, struggling to keep his fingers one step ahead of the soldiers. He reach up, grabbing one of them by the legs and pulling. The two of the fell off the edge together, but the Nazi spun around and grabbed a hold of the ledge by his fingertips. Pete crawled up the soldier's leg, stealing his knife on the way up. He heaved himself over the annoyed soldier's head, stabbing the other one's leg. He pulled himself over the edge, kicking the soldier he'd used as a ladder in the face and throwing the other one off the side.
He took a moment to catch his breath, then went on with the mission. Pete really preferred charming his way through the enemies' girls to running around like this.
The Red Skull lead a simple life.
He was once a humble bellhop working in a hotel where Hitler was staying. He was angry at one of his lieutenants, and in a fit of rage pointed to the first person to enter the room – him – and exclaim that he could turn this bellhop into a better Nazi than the lieutenant.
He didn't boast in vain. Two years later, and a few experiments that went horribly right, the Red Skull was born.
He didn't know whether it was the training that made him a monster, or whether he would turn out to be a monster regardless. But he did know, that he was taught swordplay by the master himself, and eventually killed the man.
So how was this ordinary man besting him without even a weapon!
The Impossible Man was practically dancing around him. He must have metal in his sleeves to be able to deflect the Red Skull's sword like he was doing.
"I was expecting this you know." The Skull said through gritted teeth.
"You were expecting to lose?" The Impossible Man asked. "You're smarter than I was led to believe."
In frustration, the Red Skull lashed out. The Impossible Man danced around and deflected his sword through the two soldier arming a cannon.
The Red Skull became enraged, but he hid it. It would not do to show this man weakness. "No, I foresaw that this base would come under attack. It was I who let the Allied spies slip through my net."
"Well, letting things slip through your fingers seems to be the only thing you're good for." The Impossible Man let out a sharp kick… but it wasn't directed at the Red Skull. It was directed at the Cannon. It flipped around and fired. The Cannon inside it turned into a thick smokescreen as it left the barrel.
The Red Skull opened up all of his senses… and heard nothing. He snarled and sliced through the smoke. When it cleared there was nobody.
The Red Skull yelled with rage. He knew the Impossible Man was playing him… but this was too much! How could one man, one pathetic man, defeat him!
Then he remembered his earlier theory.
Invisibility.
The voice from the shadows, the Russian voice, it had told him that the Impossible Man was just a man. But that was clearly not the case. No ordinary man could do this. He was hiding, invisibly…
And the Red Skull smiled, knowing he had the upper hand.
"Of course, your Allied sensibilities could not comprehend this." He said. "You see a castle stocked with weapons and you see a target, stocked to overflowing with precious weapons to use against us. The cleverer ones see a trap, and send in only the best, those who can turn an enemies' trap into a trap of their own."
"But none of you consider… it is beyond your grasp to imagine… that I would expect the best, that I would expect them to come and fight, and that for their deaths I would sacrifice all of my secret weapons, all of my soldiers, and all of the indispensible weapons in this castle, I cast away as I would a cheap gun."
"The bombers are on their way here as we speak."
A slight intake of air. A slight shimmer in the morning sky. The Red Skull's blade struck true.
"Invisibility." He smiled. "A joke. You will die along with the other Avengers."
The figure on the ground shimmered into full view as he clasped his wound.
But… he looked a great deal more feminine than he did just moments ago. And… blue?
"You…" His eyes went wide. "Wagner's shapeshifting mother!"
She smiled and her yellow eyes flashed. "I left you alone because you treated my son with respect. 'All of the indispensible weapons in this castle, I cast away as I would a cheap gun?" She parroted the Skull's voice perfectly. "My son is the only reason I haven't killed you. How indispensible is he now?"
She pulled a radio out of a pocket in her skin. "Impossible." She said. "The Skull has bombers on the way. Whatever you're about to do, do it fast."
The Red Skull roared. He'd been duped! He'd been tricked into fighting this… this girl! While the true Impossible Man roamed his castle freely!
He turned to run… to find him… but the blue woman turned her arms into swords, her wound healed, and attacked.
The Mask still couldn't get past the Red Ghost.
She unleashed a swarm of sneakbots. She directed half of them to attack the Red Ghost and the other half to retrieve the plastique. The Red Ghost looked slightly annoyed, but ignored the sneakbots trying to distract him and kept up fire on the others.
The Mask couldn't hit him. He was the one person she couldn't hit. So she spun her cape around, trying to shield them from his view and protect him from his gun. He just ran through her.
One last sneakbot. She threw caution to the wind and unphased. The shot felt like a rod was being jammed into her leg.
"Impressive." The Red Ghost gloated. "Is this the first time you've ever felt the pain of being shot? How fragile you are. Your father would be ashamed."
The Mask made a show of being hurt. She just wanted him to keep talking. To keep focusing on her so that her sneakbot could retrieve the explosives…
She spun around in panic as she recieved a signal from her sneakbot.
The Red Ghost followed her line of sight with a concerned look. "Where are the explosives your little robot dropped?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." The Impossible Man stepped out of the shadows. "We're going to have to run a bit ahead of schedule, so seeing as you're busy I set them up myself. And as for you Ms. Mask, when this is over we're going to have to talk about the fact that you have a bunch of little robots, and since this man wasn't here during my night-time reconnaissance I'll assume he's your responsibility too?"
"Ha! Clever man! Know that you stand before Ivan –"
"Kragoff, the Red Ghost, I know." O'Grady brushed some dirt of his sleeve. "Listen, I don't have time to deal with you right now. So just ghost your way out of here before the places blows. Even if you're not effected by the explosions themselves, my bombs tend to give off quite a bit more heat than you can phase through. You'll get second degree burns at least."
Ivan aimed his laser at the Impossible Man's head. "The Red Ghost fears no pain! Can the same be said for…" He winced as the Mask dealt a karate chop to the back of his neck, than kicked his knees out from under him.
"On the other hand." He tore open his sleeve revealing… a Tallus.
The Red Ghost blinked out into the multiverse.
"Well." The Impossible Man rolled the apple core around in his hand. "Now we have an arch-enemy. How fun. Nevertheless, am I right in assuming you can teleport, or is it just invisibility?"
Mask was surprised. "T-teleporting." She tried to stand, but her leg was shot.
"Here." O'Grady supported her. "It's almost time for the final phase. I hope you have a few jumps left in you."
"Impossible Man…" Mask tried to think of a nice way to say what she was thinking. "I don't think your plan will work. The explosives will only be wired to a pair of support columns. But there are more. And even if we took all five of them out…"
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that." O'Grady smiled. "You're not the only one with explosives."
Rachel set the final bomb. "Finally." She brushed some hair out of her eyes.
She turned around. The moat was filled with all manner of monstrosities. All dead now, blood mixing in with the water. "Well?" She asked. "Anything else feel like going for a bite?"
A low growl and a yellow eye was the response. She smiled grimly.
Avenge us!
Destroy them!
For Freedom!
Death to the Nazis!
All I ever wanted was to meet the Red Skull…
Peter Wisdom couldn't get the dead to keep quiet. The Red Skull had killed a lot of his own men. Some were Ally sympathizers, most were just standing next to him when he decided that there had been too few deaths that day.
He took charge of the laser cannon. There were only two more mounted on the castle, and he took them out quickly. Then he turned its sights to the middle of the courtyard.
The band of heroes was fighting. And losing. Patriot and Titan were unconscious. Nova was holding back the man who had the Iron Fist. Ares and Crossbones were bleeding profusely, but neither looked like they were slowing down or gaining ground. The insane Nazi Nightcrawler had Fury and Wolverine by the throats.
Wisdom recalled his part in the plan and cast his spell.
It was a simple augmentation spell. He loved augmentation spells. He could transform things, and he could fight things, and he could hurl fireballs with the best of them. But he loved the elegance and cunning it took to take something and make it suit to his own purpose.
And right now, that purpose was an instant cure for insomnia.
He fired at the laser and struck dead-on. All of the fighters collapsed to the ground.
"Hah!" The Red Skull gloated. "All of your men have taken leave of their consciousness. And look, there are the bombers now!"
As Mystique turned to look at the horizon, the Red Skull ran her through again, than twice more for good measure. She was a better blade than he, and a shapeshifter. He would take no chances.
Her eyes grew wet. "You monster." She whispered.
"Be that as it may." He bowed politely. "I am a victorious monster."
The bombers soared overhead, preparing to drop their bombs…
When the castle below them exploded of its own accord.
The entire front wall of the fortress crashed away. Water from the moat rushed in as a giant wave, ridden on by a pointy-ears girl and her steed.
"For Atlantis!" She cried, and the crocodile-with-a-head-of-a-Mako-shark-that-had-jellyfish-tentacles-for-a-tonuge-set she was riding on gave out a roar of triumph.
The bombers looked at each other with raised eyebrows through their cockpits.
"Coordinates set!" The Impossible Man yelled. "Take us out of here!"
As the wall of water and mutant corpses rushed through the sub-levels towards them, the Mask pulled her cape around the Impossible Man and the both vanished.
Baron Zemo's teleporting device retrieved the Avengers and Invaders from their coordinates, and sent them where the Impossible Man wanted them to go, an instant before the wave hit.
The Red Skull watched in horror as the Avengers and Invaders disappeared before his eyes.
"What just happened?" He asked.
Mystique grinned. "It looks like the Impossible Man fulfilled his end of the bargain and get my son to safety. We're going down together Herr Skull."
"That won't be necessary madam." The Impossible Man appeared behind her, and pulled her close as Mask. "Thank you for your services. Oh, and Skull?" He tossed and apple core at the Nazi. "Checkmate."
The threesome disappeared, and the Red Skull was left shaking, holding the apple core.
"You loathsome, foul, wretched man!" He screamed. "I swear I will hunt you down! Your children's children's children will never forget the Nazis, and will ever shudder at the mention of the Red – hurk!" And arrow pierced straight through the apple core and into the Red Skulls heart.
The Golden Archer lowered his bow where he stood, on a distant hillside surrounded by unconscious superheroes and villains. "Very classy signal O'Grady. Very William Tell. Nice."
The Red Skull gurgled as blood spilled out of his mouth. "I… will… return…"
Then the second waves of explosions hit, and the castle collapsed in on itself.
The bombers got on their radios. "Hey, that castle looks pretty destroyed. Should we waste the bombs on it?"
"Are you kidding? We got our orders from the Red Skull. You tell him why you didn't want to follow his orders."
And so, the last thing the Red Skull saw was a big fat bomb falling straight towards him as he fell to his death. And the last thing he heard was his own voice, silently cursing.