"Azzuri!" Steve called out, pressing against a gap in the debris. "Can you hear me?"
"Steve!" came Azzuri's voice from the other side. "We're here! Are you hurt?"
"We're okay! Listen, you need to get everyone to the roof! We'll find another way up and meet you there!"
"What about you?" That was Logan's voice, rough with concern.
"We'll make it! Just get Wilhelm and the others out!" Steve looked around at the smoke filling their section of the laboratory. "How long do we have?"
G.I. Robot's voice boomed from the other side: "NINETY SECONDS BEFORE TOTAL STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE, CAPTAIN!"
"Got it! Move now! We'll see you on the roof!"
Steve turned to Peter and Bucky. "Come on. We need to find stairs."
They moved through the smoke-filled corridors, Peter helping support Bucky who was still unsteady from whatever HYDRA had given him. The building shook around them with each explosion, emergency lighting flickering and dying.
"There!" Peter pointed to a stairwell at the end of the corridor. "Think it's still stable?"
"Only one way to find out," Steve said, leading them toward it.
The HYDRA compound was chaos. Freed prisoners streamed out of burning buildings while Diana's team worked to get them clear of the facility. Explosions lit up the night as Schmidt's self-destruct sequence tore through the complex.
Diana stood near the main gate, directing groups of prisoners toward the tree line. "Keep moving! Stay together! Don't stop until you reach the rally point!"
An elderly French resistance fighter stumbled, blood seeping from a wound on his leg. Diana caught him before he fell.
"I can't make it," he gasped in accented English. "Leave me."
"No one gets left behind," Diana said firmly, supporting his weight. "Human Torch! I need help over here!"
Jim Hammond dropped from the sky, his flames dimmed to avoid frightening the prisoners. "I've got him." He lifted the wounded man carefully. "There's a medic at the tree line."
A British sergeant stared in amazement as Jim flew away. "Bloody hell, is that really the Human Torch? From the comics?"
"Close enough," Diana replied.
Jay blurred past them, moving at super speed to scout the perimeter. He reappeared moments later, slightly out of breath.
"Flash!" one of the American prisoners called out. "Flash, over here! We got wounded!"
Jay nodded and blurred over to help carry injured soldiers toward the medical station.
"How many more?" Diana asked when he returned.
"Maybe fifty still in the buildings," Jay said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Some are trapped in the lower levels. Alan's working on getting them out."
In the distance, they could see Alan's green constructs pulling debris away from collapsed doorways. Prisoners emerged from the wreckage, coughing and disoriented but alive.
A Canadian soldier pointed at the glowing green light. "Is that actually Green Lantern? Like from the comic books?"
"Something like that," Diana said.
Amaya moved through the groups of refugees, her tactical training evident as she organized the evacuation. "You three, help carry the wounded. You five, take point and watch for patrols. Stay in sight of each other."
A young Polish soldier approached her, supporting an injured comrade. "Ma'am, where should we take him?"
"Get him to the tree line," Amaya replied, pointing toward the rally point. "Stay low and keep moving. This whole place is coming down."
"Thank you," the soldier said, then paused. "Who are you people?"
"We're here to help," Diana said, moving past them to assist another group.
"Wait," called out a British Royal Air Force sergeant. "What should we call you? In case we get separated?"
Diana paused. She thought of Themyscira, of her trial to become the Amazon champion, of Steve's words when he'd seen her fight. In her homeland, she was Diana Princess of Themyscira. But here, in Man's World, fighting for those who couldn't fight for themselves, she needed something else. A name that meant something.
"Diana," she said firmly. "I'm Diana."
The sergeant nodded. "Right then, Diana. Lead the way."
She was helping a group of French resistance fighters when the temperature suddenly spiked. The cold Austrian night became stifling hot in seconds. Heat waves shimmered in the air around them.
"What the hell?" one of the prisoners muttered, loosening his collar.
Diana looked up, her warrior instincts screaming danger. A figure stepped out from behind a burning building. He wore ancient bronze armor over a modern military greatcoat, and the air around him seemed to vibrate with barely contained violence.
"Princess," the man said, his voice carrying easily over the noise of the evacuation.
Diana's hand moved to the Godkiller's hilt. "Ares."
Jay appeared at her side in a blur of yellow, then stopped dead. The figure before them was massive, easily seven feet tall, wearing bronze armor that looked like it belonged in a museum. Ancient Greek designs covered the breastplate, and his helmet bore the image of a snarling war hound.
"What the hell is that?!" Jay exclaimed, his usual confidence shaken.
"The God of War," Diana replied, never taking her eyes off Ares.
"God of what now?" Jay asked, but the way Diana shifted into a combat stance answered his question.
Jim Hammond landed nearby, flames flickering around his hands as he stared at the armored figure. "That's not possible. People don't look like that. People don't wear armor like that."
"He's not people," Diana said grimly.
Ares smiled, clearly enjoying their reactions. "Ah, the primitive beings speak. How... quaint." His voice carried the weight of millennia, each word precise and cutting. "You know, Princess, I've been watching your little rescue operation. Very touching. Very noble. Very pointless."
"Get the prisoners clear," Diana said quietly to Jay. "All of them. Now."
"What about you?" Jay asked, though his eyes never left Ares.
"I'll handle this. Alone."
"Like hell you will," Jim said, his flames burning brighter. "We came into this together; we fight it together."
"Diana," Jay added, "whatever this guy is, you're not facing him by yourself."
Ares chuckled, the sound like grinding stone. "How adorable. The insects think they can challenge a god." He looked at each of them with obvious disdain. "Tell me, little sparks of consciousness, do you have any idea what you're looking at?"
Alan Scott jogged over, his ring glowing green, but stopped short when he saw Ares. "Jesus Christ. Diana, what is that thing?"
"Ares," she replied. "And he's not a thing. He's the reason my aunt died. The reason Steve Trevor crashed on our island. The reason the gods are dead."
Ares's expression darkened. "The gods are dead because they forgot what they were," he said, his voice carrying a defensiveness that hadn't been there before. "Do you know what it's like, Princess, to watch mortals who once worshipped you turn away? To see them kneel before crosses instead of altars?"
Diana's hand moved to the Godkiller's hilt. "So you killed them. Your own family."
"I reminded them of their purpose," Ares snarled. "Zeus grew weak, content to let mortals abandon us for their carpenter god. Athena preached wisdom while the world burned in ignorance. Hera clung to her domestic concerns while humanity forgot the very concept of divine authority."
The temperature around them began to rise as Ares's divine power leaked through his control. The grass beneath his feet started to wither and burn.
"They deserved what they got," he continued, his voice growing louder. "When Rome embraced the Christ, when Constantine rejected the old ways, Zeus forbade me from punishing humanity for their betrayal. My own father chose mortal ingratitude over divine justice."
Amaya had been listening with growing disgust, her hand moving to her necklace. "So you murdered your family because people found something better to believe in?"
Ares's head snapped toward her with such violence that several prisoners flinched. "Better? You call their abandonment of power, of strength, of everything that made them great... better?"
"Better than being worshipped by people who had no choice," Diana said firmly. "Better than demanding fear instead of earning respect."
"Respect?" Ares laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Tell me, Princess, what respect did your precious mortals show when they turned their backs on millennia of divine guidance? What gratitude did they offer when Zeus stopped the Titans from destroying their fragile little lives?"
Jim's flames flared higher. "Maybe they got tired of gods who treated them like toys."
Ares turned his burning gaze on the android. "And what would you know of it, artificial thing? You've existed for what, a handful of years? I have witnessed the rise and fall of empires that your tiny mind couldn't comprehend."
"I know enough to recognize a bully when I see one," Jim shot back.
The god of war took a step forward, and the very ground cracked beneath his boot. "The other Olympians fled to Omnipotence City when I showed them the price of weakness. There they cower with gods from every pantheon, hiding behind the Skyfather's protection like children behind their mother's skirts."
"But you couldn't follow them," Diana observed. "Something kept you here."
Ares's expression twisted with rage and something that might have been shame. "The barriers between realms require... significant power to breach. Power I have been gathering for millennia." His eyes fixed on the still-burning remnants of HYDRA technology. "Power that Schmidt's cosmic toys have finally provided."
Alan's ring pulsed brighter as he stepped closer to his friends. "So you've been using this war, using all this death and suffering, just to get revenge on your family?"
"It's not revenge," Ares snapped. "Look around you, Princess. Look at what these mortals have built without us." He swept his arm toward the burning facility. "They've created weapons that can erase matter from existence. They slaughter each other by the millions. They poison their own world with smoke and chemicals." His voice grew bitter. "At least when they worshipped us, there was order. Purpose. Now they stumble around in the dark, destroying everything they touch."
"They need protection from people like you," Diana said, drawing the Godkiller. The blade sang as it cleared its sheath, divine metal gleaming in the firelight.
Ares's eyes fixed on the weapon, and for a moment, his expression shifted to something that might have been amusement. "Ah, the Godkiller. My brother Hephaestus always did enjoy his ironies. Tell me, Princess, do you truly understand what you're holding?"
"It was made to kill gods," Diana said, trying to keep her voice steady even though her hands were shaking. "I hope to God I never have to use it that way."
"Oh, that's rich," Ares said, actually grinning now. "You have no idea what you're really holding, do you? The blade you think will save you..." He shook his head, looking genuinely amused. "Well, let's just say Hephaestus had quite the sense of humor when he forged that thing."
Diana's knuckles went white around the sword's grip. "Stop talking in riddles and face me."
"Face you?" Ares threw back his head and laughed. "I'm about to give these soldiers a gift your Amazon training never prepared you for. Tell me, Princess, how did those noble Amazon ideals work out for Antiope when my weapons found their way to your precious island?"
The words hit Diana like a physical blow, but she forced herself not to flinch. "Antiope died defending Themyscira. She gave her life protecting our people."
"She died because she was weak," Ares said, his voice dripping with contempt. "The greatest Amazon warrior, cut down on her own beach by mortals wielding weapons I provided. And why? Because she believed you could actually stop me." He leaned forward, his burning eyes fixed on Diana's face. "Even in her final moments, bleeding out in the sand, she still thought her precious princess would be humanity's salvation. Pathetic."
Diana felt rage building in her chest, but she kept her voice steady. "Antiope believed in something greater than herself. That's not weakness."
"Heroes," Ares spat. "You still believe in heroes after watching your aunt die for nothing? These mortals will forget her name before the year's out. Just like they'll forget yours."
He turned away from her, raising both arms toward the sky. "Soldiers of HYDRA! Come to me!"
Diana's stomach dropped as HYDRA troops started emerging from all over the facility. Maybe forty men, moving in formation but she could see it in their faces. The confusion. The fear. These weren't volunteers.
"Don't do this," she said, but Ares was already beginning to glow.
"Watch and learn what real power looks like."
The energy that exploded out of him hit every soldier at the same time. The screaming started immediately.
Diana had seen violence before, had witnessed death and suffering, but this was something else entirely. Forty men convulsing as their bodies stretched and twisted. Bones cracking as they shot up past six feet, past seven feet. Uniforms ripping apart as muscle mass swelled to impossible proportions.
"Sweet Jesus," Jay whispered, and for once he wasn't moving at all. "What is he doing to them?"
The worst part wasn't the physical transformation. It was watching their eyes. One moment these were men, scared and confused. The next, something else looked out from behind those faces. Their eyes went white, then snapped back to burning red, and when they opened their mouths, they all spoke with one voice:
"FOR THE GOD OF WAR! FOR THE GOD OF WAR! FOR THE GOD OF WAR!"
"Perfect soldiers," Ares said with obvious satisfaction, surveying his handiwork. "Seven feet of divine muscle and bone, immune to pain, fear, and the weakness of individual thought. Everything Schmidt wanted for his army, and everything I need to breach the barriers protecting Omnipotence City."
The enhanced soldiers spread out in a wide circle, their movements perfectly coordinated. Forty giants, each one identical in their terrible perfection, their glowing red eyes tracking every movement with inhuman precision. The very ground seemed to tremble under their synchronized steps as they formed an unbreakable perimeter.
"Enough talk," Ares said, drawing his blade. The weapon that materialized in his hands was a nightmare of divine craftsmanship, its dark metal seeming to drink in the light around it. "Kill them all. Leave the princess for me."
"FOR THE GOD OF WAR!" the enhanced soldiers roared in unison, their voices creating a sound like thunder that shook the entire facility. Windows shattered in nearby buildings, and the very ground beneath their feet cracked from the sonic assault.
The attack began with devastating coordination. Three enhanced soldiers moved to intercept Jay as he tried to blur toward the prisoners, their divine enhancement allowing them to actually match his superhuman velocity. The speedster's eyes went wide as he found himself boxed in by opponents who could track his movements.
"What the hell?" Jay skidded to a stop, his father's helmet reflecting the red glow of enemy eyes. His voice cracked slightly. "How are you that fast?"
The lead soldier's response was a backhand that would have decapitated a normal man. Jay ducked under it, feeling the wind from the blow ruffle his hair, then tried to circle around. But the other two soldiers were already there, moving like they could read his mind.
"This isn't possible," Jay panted, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool night air. "Nobody should be able to keep up with me."
He tried to put on more speed, pushing his abilities beyond their usual limits. For a split second, he pulled ahead of his pursuers. Then one of them simply appeared in front of him, moving faster than Jay had ever seen anyone move. The collision sent him tumbling across the courtyard, his father's helmet rolling away into the darkness.
Meanwhile, Jim launched himself into the air, flames streaming behind him like a comet as he dove straight at Ares. "Let's see how fireproof a god really is!"
Ares didn't even look up from where he was stalking Diana. He simply raised one hand, and Jim's flames were snuffed out instantly, as if a cosmic switch had been thrown. The android's momentum carried him forward, but without his fire, he was just falling metal and synthetic flesh.
"No, no, no," Jim muttered as he realized what was happening. He crashed into the concrete hard enough to leave a crater, his synthetic skin cracking as smoke rose from his overloaded systems.
But before Jim could even try to stand, Ares was there. The god of war moved faster than thought, crossing the distance in a single stride. His massive hand clamped around Jim's throat like a vice, lifting the android off the ground as if he weighed nothing.
"I don't understand," Jim gasped, his voice distorting as Ares's grip tightened around his throat. "The fire, it's not responding. How did you just—"
Ares brought Jim up to eye level, his burning gaze boring into the android's optical sensors. When he spoke, his voice was like the rumble of distant thunder, carrying the weight of every battle ever fought.
"I am Ares, the God of War!" he roared, his divine power radiating outward in waves that made the air itself tremble. "I am the first weapon forged in the cosmic fires of creation! I am the rage that burns in every warrior's heart, the fury that drives mortals to slaughter their own kind!"
Jim struggled weakly in the god's grip, his synthetic hands clawing at the armored fingers around his throat. "Please, I—"
"You?" Ares's laugh was like the sound of clashing steel. "You are NOTHING!"
With contempt, Ares hurled Jim away like he was discarding a broken toy. The android flew through the air, crashed through a concrete support pillar, and slammed into the far wall of the compound with enough force to leave a spider web of cracks in the reinforced stone.
Jim hit the wall hard and dropped to the ground, his flames flickering out as the impact knocked the wind from his lungs. He rolled to his side, groaning, pain shooting through his artificial body. Blood trickled from a split in his lip where he'd bitten down on impact.
"Son of a bitch," Jim wheezed, pushing himself up on one elbow. His voice was strained but clear, anger cutting through the pain. "That actually hurt." He wiped the blood from his mouth, his skin already starting to heal.
"Disappointing," Ares said, already turning away from Jim's fallen form. "I had hoped for more of a challenge from Horton's creation. But artificial life is still just an imitation of the real thing."
Diana watched as her friend struggled to get back on his feet, shaking his head to clear it. The casual ease with which Ares had swatted Jim aside, the complete dismissal of everything the android represented, sent ice through her veins. Jim was tough, tougher than most, but Ares had just tossed him around like he was nothing.
"You bastard," Diana whispered, watching Jim wipe blood and debris from his face. Her hands shook with rage she'd never felt before, not in sixteen centuries of life. "You absolute bastard!"
The scream that tore from her throat was primal, carrying seventeen centuries of Amazon fury. She charged, the Godkiller singing through the air as she aimed for Ares's neck. Fury and grief drove her forward faster than she'd ever moved, her boots cracking concrete with each stride. The blade cut through the air so fast it left a silver trail, divine metal seeking divine flesh.
But Ares was waiting.
His hands snapped up and caught the blade between his palms just inches from his throat. The impact was like a thunderclap. Sparks exploded from where divine metal met divine flesh, cascading across the battlefield in brilliant arcs. The shockwave rippled outward, shattering every window in the surrounding buildings and sending enhanced soldiers stumbling backward.
Diana's eyes went wide. No one caught the Godkiller. No one.
"Still too slow, Princess," Ares said, his voice maddeningly casual as he held the god-killing blade motionless between his hands. Sweat beaded on Diana's forehead as she poured all her strength into the strike, her muscles straining. The sword wouldn't budge. "Sixteen centuries of Amazon training, and this is the best you can manage? Antiope would be so disappointed."
"Don't you dare," Diana snarled through gritted teeth, pushing harder. "Don't you fucking dare say her name."
Ares smiled, a cold thing that never reached his eyes. "Such a shame. All that training, all that love she poured into you, and you still couldn't save her when it mattered."
Something inside Diana snapped. She roared and threw all her weight behind the blade, but Ares just twisted his wrists. The Godkiller spun from her grip like a top, embedding itself in a concrete pillar twenty feet away.
Then his armored knee drove upward like a battering ram.
Diana twisted desperately, but she was off balance, overextended. The kneeguard caught her square in the ribs with a sickening crunch. Pain exploded through her chest as something definitely broke. The impact lifted her completely off the ground and hurled her backward across the concrete like a ragdoll.
She hit hard, rolled twice, and came to rest against a pile of rubble. Blood filled her mouth.
"Shit," she gasped, trying to push herself up. Every breath felt like knives in her chest. Her ribs were definitely broken, maybe worse. She'd been hurt before, sparring with Antiope, training with the greatest warriors of her people. But never like this. Never by something that made her feel small and helpless and mortal.
One of the enhanced soldiers turned toward her, his glowing red eyes fixed on her struggling form. He started walking in her direction with mechanical precision, each step deliberate and unstoppable.