Back with Steve and his team…
[Sporadic gunfire]
Hydra and SS soldiers were engaged in a futile firefight in trying to keep their encroaching enemies from advancing through their secret lab levels. Under strict orders from Baron Strucker, they were ordered to make their attackers fight for every single yard they took and to make it cost them. Easier said than done in most cases but the soldiers had set up an effective firing line with some Hydra energy rifles and an MG-42 set up at the end of hallway. The constant fire kept Steve and the others pinned down behind whatever cover they could find.
"They really don't want us here, do they?" Dugan remarked as Lucas opened up one of his satchels and took out a grenade.
"Cap…" Lucas tossed it over to Steve. "Think you can get that close enough?"
Steve pulled the pin and the others laid down quick bursts of cover fire before he popped out with his shield to protect himself. He hurled the grenade down the hallway far enough that it rolled next to the firing line. Once it exploded and halted their fire, Steve raced forward with his shield and his super-soldier speed allowed him to close the distance before the enemy could regroup. Steve dove forward shield first, bashing into several soldiers and sending them flying back. Some slammed into walls while others hit the ground hard. Steve rolled back to his feet and uppercut one soldier with enough force that he was knocked into the ceiling before he back-kicked another in the chest, sending him crashing into two others. Steve pulled out his pistol to shoot the rest of them and once it was clear he holstered his pistol.
"All right. We're clear. Let's move!" Steve ordered and the rest of his team regrouped on him and proceeded further through the secret lab. They encountered offices and planning rooms, taking all the documents they could find and planting explosives where they could. They continued down the hallway leading to an important room if the heavy steel double doors were any indication. Steve rushed forward and bashed into them shield first, breaking them open. He rolled forward and pulled out his pistol, ready for anything but the room was empty. The rest of his team came in and they secure the area which was a command/planning room and what it was overlooking was their target. "Oh…my…god…"
Steve and the others went wide-eyed as they couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was a massive hangar that would make any military Airforce green with envy and likely inspire their own creation of a hangar like it. It had everything the military would need to build and maintain a series of planes only there were none in this hangar. Only rockets. There were five in total but four were just the basic shell and outer workings of the vessels, nowhere near ready for actual testing and launching. The fifth was fully built and it was big. A length of 18 meters with a conical nose at the top like a bullet, a tube-like body, and small wings at the bottom around the engine. There were many scientists and engineers working on the rocket, fueling it up and placing the payload in the body.
"Steve…" Bucky pointed to the large map on the opposite wall of the windows overlooking the hangar. It had the calculations and trajectory of the rocket that was currently being fueled and ready. It's target was London.
"Bloody hell…if even a cannister of that Nova 6 hits the city than it'll kill thousands." Lucas said.
"And it's not just the Nova 6." Anna pointed at the faint glow of blue they could see from the small window pane on the side of the rocket. "That glow look familiar?"
"If Hydra put a bomb on that rocket than it could wipe out the entire city." Bucky added.
"Then let's make sure it doesn't get there. Dugan, take the others over to the catwalk and draw their attention. Take up positions and give us cover when they start shooting. Anna, Lucas, Bucky, you three come with me. Let's go!" Steve led them out the door into the hangar with Lucas leaving behind a nice explosive present in the command room. The team split up and did their jobs with Steve, Anna, Lucas, and Bucky headed down into the hangar while Dugan and the others would cover them from the catwalk.
Seeing as how the hangar was already on alert from Clark's distraction attack, Steve and the others moved quickly to try and avoid as much detection to make their odds better. Anna, Lucas, and Bucky took cover behind some carts of supplies and Steve was across from them hiding behind the tailpiece of one of the unbuilt rockets. He peaked his head out and saw the scientists seemed to finish loading whatever the payload of the rocket was into its chassis but what drew his attention was the protective clothing they were wearing. Heavy lead-lined aprons, heavy duty gloves and boots along with gas masks. Clearly they weren't taking any risks with the Nova 6 gas, if all that protective gear was even for the Nova 6 gas as they could have some kind of other secret material in it to make it more dangerous. That also meant that they needed to be careful with how they moved forward because if they caused too much damage to the rocket before they could escape than they risked blowing themselves up.
Steve signaled the others to hold their position. He wanted to check the area a bit more while they were still undetected. Using the giant frames of the rocket for cover, he moved closer and closer to the operational one. If he could get close to it he might be able to find something to sabotage so it couldn't be launched. Steve walked past the cone of the third rocket when he heard the distinct patter of someone running at him.
[Shing]
Steve raised his shield to block a thrust from a medieval-style longsword. The blade came in at a downward angle, so it skimmed past the shield to the ground, but its wielder didn't let up as Steve's shield arm was grabbed by something that felt like a human hand but was much larger and felt rough and abrasive like stone. Steve saw his attacker was Baron Wolfgang von Strucker who was using a medieval longsword as a weapon but the most striking thing about him other than the scars on his face and the monocle on his right eye was the red-colored stone-like armored hand that he grabbed him with. The fingers had elongated nails like claws, and it looked ancient like some kind of artifact. Strucker had it on his right arm connected at the elbow like a prosthetic limb but one he seemed to have full control over. Steve paid it no mind but once that red hand touched him he suddenly felt weaker. To his shock, he saw the red hand glow with a red aura before it spread over Strucker's body. Acting quickly, Steve moved his shield and hit Strucker in the face before kicking him away.
Steve collapsed to the ground, falling onto his back as a sudden wave of fatigue washed over him. Like he had run all the way from London to Belgium with an anchor chained to his back. Bucky saw Steve fall to the ground, so he was going to help him when Lucas quickly pulled him back behind cover.
[Rapid gunfire]
"Get your head down! You're no good to him, dead!" Lucas shouted, firing a burst from his Owen submachine gun while Anna did the same with her MP-28. The SS and Hydra soldiers unloaded everything they had to keep Bucky, Anna, and Lucas pinned down and even though Dugan and the others on the catwalk helped in alleviating the pressure on the ground team, it just turned into a general firefight. The Hydra and SS soldiers main goal was to keep the intruders back, so they set up affective fields of fire and used MG-42s and Hydra energy guns to keep them pinned down. And the Commandos knew they couldn't use explosives or heavy weapons as they risked setting something off that could release some Nova 6 gas and kill them all. And with Steve otherwise occupied, they were stuck in between a rock and a hard place with a traditional firefight.
Steve shook his head and fought through the exhaustion, managing to push himself back up onto one knee. He caught his reflection in the shine of a sheet of metal earmarked for a rocket's nose cone and his skin was slightly paler which was odd.
"Impressive…" Steve turned and saw Baron Strucker do a stylish kip-up back to his feet and flourished his sword. On a second glance, Baron Strucker looked stronger than before like he was invigorated with new life. "…most victims of the transference are usually unable to move. Clearly, you are built of stronger stuff, Captain."
"W-what did you do to me?" Steve questioned, pushing through fatigue to get back to his feet.
Strucker in turn raised his red-clawed hand like he was inspecting it. "Interesting appendage, don't you think? An improvement, I'll admit. When I lost my arm I thought it would be the end but instead it turned into a rare opportunity curtesy of the friend of an associate. All I thought Savage's introduction would merit would be another weapon to use in this war but instead I benefited from it greatly. In more ways than one. A gift from his associate. At first I thought Dr. Essex was nothing more than a raving fool, but his work proved to be quite extraordinary. Enough to make me an Übermensch like you and Schmidt in my own way."
Strucker raised his sword and lunged forward with surprising speed. Steve managed to raise his shield to block the thrust and the series of cuts and slashes that followed. Steve fought through the fatigue, but Strucker moved with such quick movements and force in his attacks that it felt like fighting Schmidt. Steve ducked a sword slash to the head and threw out a low sweep kick, but Strucker side flipped to the side and made a quick cut with his sword before spinning around and holding his sword up high. Steve spun back to his feet and held his shield ready but noticed a cut on his sleeve where Strucker's sword managed to nick him. This time Steve went on the offensive and attacked with his shield. Strucker sidestepped his shield punch and then leaned back to dodge a right hook before spinning around and slicing with his sword. Steve blocked the sword and threw out a side kick that Strucker countered with his own and they hit one another. Both fell to the ground, but Steve quickly got back to his feet and moved into a side flip axe kick that Strucker rolled to the side to dodge and then flipped back to his feet to dodge a shield strike. Steve threw his shield at Strucker who caught it with his red clawed hand and threw it back. Steve caught his shield and quickly raised it to block Strucker's flying knee. Strucker hit Steve's shield but grabbed it with his clawed hand and spun to the ground, using his momentum to take Steve with him in a takedown. Strucker stabbed with his sword, piercing through Steve's suit near his right arm. He missed the limb by a slim margin but stabbed his sword into the ground so the limb was trapped while he forced his weight and pushed Steve's shield into his chest so he could grab him by the head with his clawed hand.
"Don't fret, Captain. It'll all be over soon…" Strucker smiled in delight as his claw absorbed Steve's life force/energy and transferred it to him. He could feel himself getting stronger and his body getting younger, feeling like a super soldier. Steve's skin got paler, and his strength was leaving him. "Soon…I shall everything that makes you special."
[Whoosh of air]
A hand grabbed Strucker's claw and pulled it away from Steve. Strucker turned and saw Superman had interfered. He tried to pull his arm away but even with the strength of Captain America, it was nothing compared to the Superman. Clark slowly forced Strucker's hand backwards until it was at an angle that really began to hurt. Strucker pulled his sword free with his left hand and stabbed Clark in the chest only for the sword to shatter. Clark gave Strucker a palm strike to the chest that seemed gentle but hit the Hydra member with enough force to send him flying back. Strucker crashed into the chassis of unfinished rocket, denting the metal with how hard he impacted. Strucker groaned in pain when he saw that his clawed arm was gone, still in the grasp of Superman.
"What makes Captain America special isn't something that can be taken…" Clark dropped the arm to the ground and put his boot over it. "…least of all by you."
With little effort he crushed the red arm with his boot. It exploded with a bright flash of red and was shattered into hundreds of pieces which glowed and to Clark's amazement he saw the red glow of the pieces flow into Steve. Strucker's body also glowed red for a bit as he grew weaker and lost the strength he had stolen from Captain America. The red glow then flowed back over to Steve, reinvigorating him back to normal.
Steve managed to get back to his feet, feeling like himself again. "Games over, Strucker."
"No, Captain. This game is far from over!" Strucker pulled something out of his pocket only for Steve to throw his shield as hard as he could. It hit Strucker in the chest and knocked him against the unfinished rocket again, this time knocking him out. The Hydra and SS soldiers in the hangar saw the arrival of Superman and opened fire at him so he quickly did a thunder clap. The shockwave knocked them all back or disorientated them.
"Thanks for the assistance. How did you know I needed help?" Steve asked Clark.
"I have really good hearing." Clark told him as the two rushed over to Strucker. Steve reclaimed his shield and they saw that Strucker was bleeding from the mouth with a lifeless gaze in his eyes but what was important was the object in his left hand. It wasn't a weapon but a small radio signal transmitter. Small enough to fit in his hands so likely Hydra's engineering but for what.
That's when they heard some ticking so the rushed over to the functioning rocket and while they had no idea on all the science equipment surrounding the rocket they saw a timer counting down from sixty seconds. "This isn't good. Do you have any idea on how to stop this thing?" Steve asked Clark.
"You're too late!"
They turned and saw Dr. Maru standing near the heavily reinforced doors of the laboratory where the Nova 6 gas was kept. She had a gas mask on her face and pulled the pin on a grenade before tossing it into the lab. There were dozens of gas cannisters containing the deadly chemical agent and she just threw in an explosive. "You lose!"
"GET OUT!"
Everyone ran like hell to the exits as the grenade went off, destroying the cannisters and releasing the Nova 6 gas. Like a raging storm it bellowed out of the lab and enveloped the hangar moving fast enough that no one was safe. The Hydra and SS soldiers screamed in agony as they were exposed and sensing the danger, Clark used his super speed to race Steve and the others out of the hangar and over to the catacomb entrance in a manner of seconds. Once they were safe, Clark slammed the door shut just in time before the gas could get out.
"That'll by us some time. Run!" Clark said and they ran through the catacombs back up to the castle. They barreled through the doors of the castle into the main courtyard where Taskforce Vanguard had secured the area and several trucks for a quick exit. The took the moment to catch their breath with Steve spotting the half-melted suit of the Maschinensoldaten and the aftermath of a battle indicating how things up here went.
"What happened?" Logan wondered.
"Dr. Maru set off the gas. All of it." Steve answered as he and the others caught their breath.
"I trapped it down in the labs, but we should get out of here. Get on the trucks!" Clark told everyone so they did. "Lucas, did you plant the charges?"
"Yeah, but with everything that happened I didn't have the time to string up a long enough fuse which is still in the lab." Lucas told him.
"I'll handle it. Get on the trucks." Clark ordered as everyone got in to make a quick exit.
Back down in the lab, everyone had suffered a horrible death from exposure to the Nova 6 gas. The only person still alive down there was Dr. Maru thanks to the gas mask she was wearing but she was effectively trapped, not that she cared. She walked past the rocket and saw the timer was down to 15 seconds, so she walked over to the body of Baron Strucker and gently caressed his head.
"Hell holds no surprises for us." And with that she removed her mask, submitting her fate to the very poison she created. Not that it mattered as the timer finally counted down to zero and all the equipment blared to life, following the launch command.
The large gates in the hangar slowly opened revealing the exit for the rocket's path, literally built into the cliff face everything was underneath. The ignition system of the rockets powered up causing them to shake and rumble the hangar and even the castle itself with how powerful they were. The reaction inside the engines took place and red-hot flames of gas exhaust roared to life with an ear-deafening maelstrom of noise like a volcano erupting. The flames of the exhaust bellowed out of the rocket, engulfing anything and everything nearby, which included Baron Von Strucker and Dr. Maru. The two were incinerated by the flames of their rocket which began to fly up into the air, gaining tremendous speed as it kept moving skyward.
Back up top, everyone had gotten into the trucks and were driving off with Clark staying behind momentarily to blow up the explosives Lucas planted.
[Loud rumble, violent shaking, and roar of explosions]
Clark stumbled a bit from the sudden shaking like an earthquake suddenly hit them. Parts of the castle began to crumble but that wasn't because of the shaking as Clark could hear the distinct sound of explosions going off. Something clearly triggered the explosives Lucas planted but it wasn't Clark. He witnessed the castle crumble as the explosions did their job in destabilizing the foundations but then to his sheer shock he saw the V-2 rocket burst from the ground and make its ascension. The roar of its engines were deafening as it quickly gained speed and altitude. Seeing the rocket was active and on its way to its target Clark needed to stop it and with the quick glimpses of the schematics and data he caught in the command room before saving Steve, he couldn't just blow it up. If he did, then it would just go off here and spread for miles. He needed to shut it down and ground it somehow, but that time was quickly leaving as it ascended in the air.
Seeing no other choice Clark took a deep breath and crouched low, tensing up his leg muscles and channeling all his strength into this next moment. The ground cracked and crumbled underneath the weight of his feet before he jumped into the air. Clark's super jump launched him hundreds if not thousands of feet into the air, quickly catching up to the rocket. Unfamiliar with being this high up, Clark flailed his arms as he reached the apex of his jump and landed on the rocket but didn't have the right angle and hit the side. He tumbled down the rocket towards the tail, nearly falling off if not for the last second save. He dug his fingers into the metal to catch himself. Despite his fear of heights, Clark proceeded to climb up the rocket as it flew into the sky and headed west towards London.
"[Bzzt] Kal, come in! What are you doing?!"
Steve's voice would normally be drowned out by the roar of the rocket engine, but Clark could hear him. He dug his right hand into the rocket for a steady perch before moving his left wrist closer to his mouth so he could speak directly into the wrist watch walkie-talkie. "This rocket is armed with Nova 6 and a Hydra energy core. Even if I destroy it it'll spread for miles. I'm gonna try and ground the rocket."
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"I'll figure it out! Just get out of there! I'll regroup with you later!" Clark shut off the communicator watch on his left wrist before he pulled his right arm closer to him and moved the sleeve of his suit up revealing another watch which was his Kryptonian AI Kelex in his disguised form. "Kelex, how do I stop this thing before it kills thousands of people?!"
Kelex did a quick scan of the rocket to figure out a solution. "Upon a quick scan of this vessel and its configuration, it would appear that Hydra is using the unique energy of the core in its payload bay to amplify its thrust ratio. It will hit its target in approximately one hour and add on to the explosive yield to the chemical agent already onboard and the dangerous nuclear material. Its explosive yield will be much greater than originally designed and the dangerous nature of these materials make disarmament very complicated. But I believe I have found a solution. Move 5 meters to your left and you will find the payload compartment."
Clark carefully maneuvered himself five meters to the left and a quick scan of his x-ray vision put him in the right spot. He dug his fingers into the metal and ripped the panel off, revealing the payload for the rocket. Like a totem pole, the glowing blue energy core was at the bottom closer to the engines and tail of the rocket. Above that was a yellow painted container with an atomic structure painted in black and above that were 6 large cannisters of the Nova-6 gas. With a quick scan of his x-ray vision, Clark checked for any kind of secondary release system for the gas cannisters but all he saw were the cannisters. It seems that when the rocket impacted its target location, the collision and explosion would rupture the cannisters much like how Dr. Maru released the gas back at the castle.
"Carefully remove the cannisters from their locked positions and with the appropriate application of strength you can remove them from the rocket." Kelex informed him.
Clark reached into the rocket and snapped the locking mechanisms that kept the cannisters in place. He ripped off some of the paneling of the rocket and used it to wrap all the cannisters together in one giant bundle and cover it up as much as possible. The rocket had a lot of its components exposed due to Clark removing the panels to encapsulate the Nova 6 cannisters. As a result, the rocket began to shake, rattle, and its flight went from smooth to rocky. The second Clark felt that the Nova 6 cannisters were secured he didn't waste any more time and hurled them in their bound form into the sun. The bound cannisters flew through the air up into the sky, turning into a faint twinkle when it could no longer been seen indicating Clark was successful. With his super strength the Nova 6 was launched into space where it would continue moving until it ended up in the sun.
Clark smiled in satisfaction that the most dangerous element in the rocket was taken care of just as they seemed to pass over the Atlantic ocean.
[Hissing]
Clark looked down and saw the yellow container with an atomic atom symbol on it had cracked and its contents were leaking, likely from all the shaking and stress the rocket underwent when Clark removed its paneling for the Nova 6. Without the protective shell during the flight, all that stress caused ruptures in the nuclear material container. The crack glowed with a faint red light and some kind of vapor seemed to flow about but that was the least of the bad news as whatever kind of energy was in the container was powerful enough to rupture the Hydra energy core as it began glowing and humming like it was going to explode.
'Oh, this is gonna hurt.' Clark thought before he quickly jumped from the rocket. The glow of the energy core became blinding, and the next thing Clark knew he was throttled around violently after being caught in the explosion. To a few fishing villages and boats in the area they were witnesses to spectacle as the rocket exploded, first in a fiery explosion that seemed to produce a mushroom cloud of fire and smoke but then a large flash of blue light erupted, and all the smoke seemed to be sucked into a vortex before it all vanished. Not a second later everything in the vicinity of the rocket was gone. No smoke, no fire, no explosion, no rocket, and no Clark.
But where did he go?
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