Spiel Des Todes Part Two

Continued from:



Sowjetisches Ehrenmal Tiergarten, Berlin

Hilde knew she was in trouble. She had already gone in and out of consciousness at least twice. When she came to her face was being driven hard down into the pavement by the big woman's foot. There was a white-hot pain not only in her temples, but also her jaw as several of her teeth had shattered under the withering assault. Blood had filled her left eye as she stared out directly ahead of her, but she kept trying to get back on her feet. The last thing she recalled was being driven into the ground by Schadenfreude using the immense bronze statue of the Soviet soldier as a hammer.

She cursed, she wasn’t healing fast enough to stay in this fight, but she had to, she had to keep on fighting… People were watching the display of violence in horror, pointing and running backwards. Some of them were injured, being carried out of harm’s way by loved ones or police. These were the everyday people of Germany she had sworn to give her life in the defense and protection of. Civilians now caught in the crossfire between Ilsa Hauppman and her struggle for supremacy with the Iron Chancellor. Neither of them gave a damn about Germany or its people. All they cared about was carrying out the dreams of a man who had driven the nation to the brink of extinction and exterminated those who had not fit the perfect Aryan example. The same leader who in the end chose suicide rather than face humanity over the crimes she now knew had been committed by the Nazi regime. They had perverted the German nation and its military and left a stain that would endure forever. It filled her with equal measures of boiling rage and incredible guilt. All of this was flashing through her mind as she watched the people screaming and fleeing for their lives, some taking pictures and others trying to help the wounded.

Two massive hands grabbed the frayed back of her once-proud uniform and hefted her to her feet, taking hold of her arms and pinning them agonizingly to her sides. Her feet dangled from the ground as blood trickled and dripped down onto the shattered pavement. As she looked up she could see von Trotha rocketing down to land amidst the rubble of the Tiergarten Soviet War Memorial. It was an unexpected bonus that his champion’s battle with Ilsa Hauppman’s puppet had also levelled this hated symbol of Soviet victory over the Third Reich.

A pair of Luftwaffe Typhoons streaked overhead helpless to intervene- they had not been cleared to attack due to the presence of civilians in the danger zone. Ironic that she, Der Todesengel, master of the skies would meet her end not as a fighting eagle going down in a blaze of glory like the brave young fighter aces she loved but as a lowly earthworm, crushed beneath a monstrous behemoth’s boots.

The cybernetic weaponsmith would have been smiling from ear to ear if still possessed the means to. It had been a hard fight, but his genetic creation had predictably triumphed over her and now he was here to gloat. She wasn't going to give him or his Frankenstein’s monster the satisfaction.

"If this is the part where you offer me a chance to live and serve you, then you don't know me very well...I'd rather be a martyr for my nation than a slave like this one." she spat out at him through blood-stained lips.

The Chancellor chuckled, a hollow and electronic sound devoid of emotion. "My dear, you are obviously inferior to Schadenfreude in every way. No, I plan on taking a sample of your genetic material for analysis before shipping your remains back to the so-called Reichsführer as a warning that her days are numbered as well."

“Then get it over with, monster. Before you bore me to death,” Hilde spat back defiantly.

Von Trotha chuckled and raised his arm like a mock Roman emperor, thumb pointed skywards before slowly turning the opposite direction.

"Finish her Schadenfreude. Make sure it is both messy and painful for the cameras."

Hilde heard the massive woman almost squeal in delight above her. Then there was another sound, like a jackhammer slamming into a side of beef only amplified a thousandfold, and a flash of movement as something smashing into Schadenfreude from behind sending both she and Hilde flying through the air not of their own accord. Hilde hit the pavement and skipped, bouncing into the air about twenty feet before flattening a parked car, setting off the alarm. She did her best to shake it off and looked up to see who had come to her aid. What she saw made her jaw drop open in surprise.

"Freedom..." she mouthed painfully.


____________________________________________________________

 
American Mom stuck with the larger woman, glancing over only for a second to make sure Hilde was knocked free and still conscious. Hiltraud stumbled forward from the impact as Carol reared back, punching her full force several times to the side of the head. The answer as to what had happened to the alternate Soviet Superwoman's body were now apparent. The Iron Chancellor had used it to create this woman, larger and more heavily muscled than Olga, but still the resemblance was uncanny. The Tiergarten reverberated with the sound of explosive detonations as Hiltraud staggered under the furious rain of blows as Carol hit her again and again and again at supersonic speed. Finally she came around with a haymaker and followed it up with a leg-sweep that knocked the big woman off her feet and sent her cascading down to the street, landing on her side. If she did have approximately the same speed and strength of Olga, or more as she’d clearly demonstrated with her vicious pummelling of Der Todesengel, then this was going to be a long, nasty fight. She was going to need Hilde's help to bring her down if she was to have any hope of ending it quickly and avoiding civilian casualties, but Bruni seemed to be down for the count. She silently cursed herself for not letting Jane in on what she was doing, she could really use her help right now… Even now Hiltraud was recovering, attempting to shake off the surprise attack by a fresh, powerful new opponent. Carol looked over to for a brief moment see how Hilde was doing when something slammed into her chest.

It didn't hurt, but the impact caught her off guard. Looking down she saw it was two thick, coiled durasteel cables that had affixed themselves to her with some kind of epoxy. As her eyes shot upwards, blue electricity arched from the cables, seizing up her muscles and dropping her down beside the Soviet clone. The Iron Chancellor was advancing towards her, the cables attached to his wrist from several ports channelling over 10,000,000 volts of electricity at high amperage into her body powered by his own micro-fusion reactors. Carol flopped onto her back, teeth clenched as her muscles continued to spasm involuntarily, but still she struggled to get on her feet. The Iron Chancellor had learned his lesson well- the last time he fought a Soviet-Superwoman he’d used a fraction of the power that was now ripping through the American Mom’s beautiful body and it had barely slowed his opponent down. That mistake had cost him an arm and a leg. This time he went for overkill; he no longer had any inclination for hand-to-hand combat against such powerful foes- better to put them down for good rather than risk harm. That was what Hiltraud was for- killing metahumans.

"Imbecile!" he shouted at her, the green lights on his chest-plate glowing as the words formed. "You will pay for your interruption here my dear. Underestimating me was a fatal mistake."

The blade of Der Todesengel sliced downwards in an arc, slicing through both cables with ease. Before they had time to hit the ground, the wounded air ace spun around with her knee high boot and planted it directly into the Iron Chancellor with what strength she still had. The force of the hit coupled with his surprise hurled him back harder than it should have, giving her a second opening for her to exploit. Hilde plunged her blade deep into his chest, spraying her with various fluids and causing a series of sparks to erupt from the wound. Von Trotha made an anguished sound as he took hold of the blade with his metallic hand in an attempt to keep her from withdrawing it and stabbing him a second time. Hilde snarled and ripped the blade free, severing his forearm as she twisted the blade in doing so. Von Trotha screamed in pain. As she reared back to deliver the killing blow - a piercing strike straight through his corrupt brain - she was punched hard and sent flying away from her quarry. Hiltraud had gotten back to her feet and now interposed herself between the beautiful Luftwaffe officer and the injured Iron Chancellor. Freedom had regained her senses as well, ripping the cables from her uniform which tore two holes in the fabric. The black haired beauty quickly got to her feet and assumed a defensive position, facing off against the Wahre Reich hunter killer and her master.

‘It looks like normal ‘techniques’ will just get me killed,’ Carol thought grimly. ‘If I’m going to save Bruni and get home to my family safely tonight, I’m going to have to put this beast down quickly- going toe-to-toe with her is getting nowhere fast…’ And there was no way she was going to leave her husband all alone and her children motherless.

Hitraud charged Hilde with a look of sheer rage on her snarling face.  Hilde shot into the air to avoid her, but Hiltraud caught her legs and slammed her into the ground. Hiltraud seized Hilde’s hated sword, the weapon that had caused so much pain to her master, with both hands and in a show of unbelievable strength snapped the adamantine blade in two, leaving about two inches jutting out of the hilt. Hilde managed to grab hold of the sword hilt as Hiltraud kicked her viciously, sending her sprawling across the ruined Memorial.

Freedom was already moving to intercept as the massive cloned warrior grabbed hold of Hilde's uniform, lifting her like a kitten held by its scruff and punching her hard in the stomach. Carol shot forward, unleashing a series of punches and kicks at the titanic German. Hiltraud tossed Hilde aside to defend herself, sending her crashing into a parked bus. Freedom feinted left and right, swinging her leg around to collide with Hiltraud's head, snapping it backwards. The American woman pressed her advantage: she was far better trained in hand-to-hand combat. It was time to go for pressure points. Carol shot her heel out with all her strength, sending it crashing downwards into her toes. She grinned in satisfaction as she felt them all break at the same time. Hiltraud took in a sharp intake of breath as her foot exploded in pain. She staggered on the injured foot giving Carol a second opening. Her gloved hand chopped upwards, smashing into Hiltraud's eye. The big woman howled and clutched at her injured eye, still off balance from her shattered foot. She was becoming enraged and losing her focus. A couple of reckless, ill-timed swings were easy for Carol to avoid and allowed her to strike the big Nazi with a blow to the ear. Schadenfreude's hand shot to her deafened ear as she let out a furious bellow. A few more surgical strikes and she could drop this hulking...

An incredibly powerful blast of ionic energy threw Carol backwards into a parked car, hopping it from the street to the sidewalk in an explosion of glass. Before she had time to realize what had happened, Schadenfreude was already on top of her, swinging with both hands at hypersonic speeds, channelling her ionic blasts through her fists to increase the destructive power of her blows. A flurry of incredibly destructive ionic-fuelled punches exploded into American Mom's body as Hiltraud unleashed her full power against her, cracking ribs and knocking the wind out of her. Hiltraud palmed her entire throat with her hand, lifting her up like a ragdoll. The clone of Olga smirked, one of her blue eyes still spattered with blood and tightly shut. She reared back and blasted Carol in the side of the face hard. Mom did her best to roll with and absorb the detonation, but it sent shockwaves through her skeleton. Hiltraud reared back slowly, painfully, to do it again but the blow never came. Carol watched as Hilde gracefully descended from behind and slammed the blade shard she had been left clutching into the side of the big woman's neck. Hiltraud screamed as blood jetted out several feet in a gory spectacle. She let go of Carol and shuffled to the side, her hands flying to her wound, bathing them in hot crimson. Hilde moved to Carol and helped the black-haired woman to her feet, neither of them taking their eyes off Hiltraud. The Iron Chancellor was nowhere to be seen, having escaped in the chaos.

There was a clatter of metal on pavement as the jagged piece of blade was pulled from Hiltraud's neck. Bleeding like a stuck pig, she was no condition to take on both foes at the same time. Clearly she had underestimated her opponents and needed to make good her escape. Still covering the quickly healing wound, Hiltraud took to the skies and flew away. Hilde moved to take off after her when Carol's hand fell on her shoulder and stopped her. Carol was shaking her head.

"No, it's not worth it. She's leaving...Berlin is out of danger and we aren't in any state to beat her once she recovers from those injuries. Let her go Hilde."

 
“You’re hurt,” Hilde finally said to American Mom. It was then she noticed; Freedom hadn’t aged a bit, not one day since the last time she saw her almost seventy years ago. How was that even possible?! Her violet eyes had been replaced by all-white heads-up displays, and her miniskirt was gone, revealing more skin around her pelvic region.

“I’ll live, healing factor, hun,” Carol smiled weakly. “It’s you I’m worried about; you really took a pounding from that monster.”

“It…it’s nothing,” Hilde lied. She was too proud to admit that Freedom had just saved her life. Despite the savage beating she’d received, she still managed to snap painfully to attention- there was steel in her spine. She was Der Todesengel.

“I like what you’ve done with your costume,” Hilde said. ‘Did I just say that??’ she thought absurdly to herself. It was an awkward moment. Here was her foe-woman, clad in the flag of the nation that had destroyed and later rebuilt and reshaped her homeland, standing in the very heart of Berlin. The same foe-woman who had just helped her to fight off a die-hard hold-over of the old regime she'd once sworn to defend. 'No, not the regime. Germany remains...' Hilde’s emotions were in turmoil- thoughts and memories came flooding back. They were enemies once, yet Freedom had risked her own life to save hers. And all she could think about was how happy she was to see her again!

Apparently Freedom felt the same way; Carol smiled again, “Thanks. It’s good to see you….BRUNI!!!” she cried out in alarm as Hilde pitched forward unconscious. Freedom caught her friend before she could hit the ground.

Tears streamed down Carol’s face as she cradled Bruni’s head in her lap.

“Help me,” she cried out. “Somebody, please… Help me save her!!”


Epilogue

Combined special operations troops of the German Border Police and Bundeswehr fast-roped through the gaping hole in the roof of the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken underground facility, quickly moving through the base to mop up any resistance. Scattered groups of Wahre Reich soldiers put up a ferocious fight, skilfully engaging the intruders and falling back to prepared defensive positions, using poison gas and command detonated mines, inflicting heavy casualties on their enemies. But their efforts were ultimately in vain- as good as they were they were still up against some of the best special ops troopers in the world. Running gun battles raged through the labyrinthine corridors, but the gunfire soon died down. Von Trotha’s men would rather die than be taken prisoner, and the German elite troops were all too happy to grant these unrepentant Nazis their wish.

Carefully feeling their way through the complex behind the GSG-9 and KSK commandos, explosives ordnance disposal teams searched for booby traps and other surprises left behind by von Trotha’s retreating troops.

Oberst Heinrich ‘Heini’ Donner, a KSK and ex-paratrooper veteran of countless conflicts ranging from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s to the on-going Global War of Terror surveyed the carnage around him. He’d waged a savage covert war in the dark places of the world and thought he’d seen it all, but he was still surprised by the brutality and destruction wrought by the metahuman battle that raged just a few hours ago in Berlin’s streets. Germany was definitely going to need better weaponry and resources to deal with this new threat against her. Perhaps a powerful new champion…

“Come on baby, give it up, give it up to me, liebchen,” a young tech officer under his command crooned to the Iron Chancellor’s command console. His eyes and hands glowed with unearthly power as he ‘hacked’ into the computer. Even though von Trotha had rigged the entire facility to blow after he’d abandoned it, Leutnant Bruno Blix was a technomancer and computer genius who’d managed to shut down the detonation sequence in the nick of time. He was attempting to gain access to the Wahre Reich database to recover information about what exactly the alternate dimension Waffen-SS Gruppenführer had been up to here. That the Iron Chancellor had managed to conceal his operations under Berlin for so long was especially worrying to the authorities- what were his plans for Germany?

“Yes, I’m in! The striker is in balls-deep and he goes for the gooooooooooooal!!” Blix, or ‘Blitz’ as he was known to his comrades shouted triumphantly, throwing his hands into the air. “Good girl,” he said, stroking the computer. “And you didn’t tell your daddy I had my hands down your panties, too. You’re a nasty, nasty little girl,” he purred to the console like it was a hot date. Donner rolled his eyes. ‘Computer geeks’.

“Herr Oberst, you’re going to want to have a look at this,” the tech wizard said worriedly as information flashed across the console screen. Uncharacteristically for the Iron Chancellor, he had not managed to destroy all information on the research and development activities he’d been conducting here. Apparently he’d been in more of a hurry to watch Hiltraud destroy Ilsa Hauppman’s champion…

‘Project Schadenfreude.’



To be continued…

Brunhilda Adelar, a.k.a Der Todesengel and American Mom both belong to the incredible who also created this jaw-dropping piece of artwork!

The story was written by Johnny and myself!

Hiltraud Volkenrath a.k.a Schadenfreude, the Iron Chancellor, Dr. Grievoux, Ilsa Hauppman and the Fourth Reich are my property and creations.

This story appears in and is a part of the world of