The next morning, we made our way to the German High Command.
The air was tense with anticipation. My plan was simple but risky: infiltrate the gala to get information from Doctor Maru.
I slipped into the grand, opulent ballroom, a stark contrast to the muddy trenches we had just left.
The room was a whirlwind of music, champagne, and deceit, filled with the enemy's highest-ranking officers. I found my target, Doctor Maru, a brilliant but twisted scientist known as "Doctor Poison."
I approached her, playing the part of a charming, high-ranking German pilot, but my plan was foiled as Diana entered the venue. She was a vision of raw power in a world of subdued elegance, and her presence was a loud distraction.
Doctor Maru, sensing something was wrong, quickly slipped away. As I watched her go, I saw Diana ready to attack, her face a mask of fury. I quickly stepped in to stop her.
"We can't," I whispered, pulling her back. "Not yet. We have no evidence. We can't afford to have all diplomacy fail because of our actions." I somewhat regretted my decision, a part of me wanting to unleash her on the entire room, but I knew we needed to be smarter than that.
As soon as we left the ballroom, a thunderous explosion rocked the night. We saw a shell being fired from the castle, a trail of smoke and fire streaking across the sky.
Diana and I followed its trajectory with our eyes, a shared dread growing between us. I quickly radioed my team, telling them to follow Ludendorff and send a signal if they found the base of the attack.
When we reached the location of impact, the scene was one of unimaginable horror. The town of Veld, which we had passed through a few days ago, was no more. The poison gas, a vile, corrosive cloud, had done its work.
The streets were filled with the corpses of men, women, and children, their faces twisted in agony. The laughter and joy of the gala were replaced by the silence of death. The sight of it all, the result of our inaction, filled me with a cold, creeping dread.
Diana left the place in a rage, her sorrow replaced by a fierce, righteous fury. I followed her, my heart heavy with grief and a renewed sense of purpose. We followed the smoke signal given by our partners, a silent promise to make Ludendorff pay for what he had done.
I soon reached a military airstrip, the air thick with the roar of engines and the hurried shouts of men.
I saw the bombs being moved, their dark, cylindrical shapes a promise of annihilation. I followed Diana's trail of destruction and soon reached the command room. I saw her standing in front of General Ludendorff, his grotesque body impaled with her sword.
She had done it. She had killed the man she believed to be Ares. The room was eerily silent, the only sound the distant rumble of the airfield.
She looked around, a profound confusion in her eyes. "Why haven't they stopped after I killed him?" she asked me, her voice a desolate whisper. "You kill the God of War, you stop the war."
"I don't know, Diana," I said, my own heart sinking with the terrible weight of this revelation. "We have to stop them from succeeding."
"But why are they still fighting?" she asked, her voice cracking with despair. "Why are they still killing each other?"
I had no good answer, only the bitter truth. "Maybe there was no Ares. Maybe people aren't always good. Maybe it was just humans doing it themselves. Killing people they can't see." I saw her faith shatter, the idealized world she had come to save crumbling before her eyes.
"We have to go now," I urged, but she didn't move. Her shoulders slumped, and she looked at the battlefield outside the window with a look of utter hopelessness. "My mother was right. They don't deserve our help, Steve."
"Maybe we don't," I conceded, my voice low and earnest. "But even if that's the case, I will do what I believe is right. And I already made my choice." I knew her faith was broken, but I didn't have the time to help her.
I had hoped Ares was real, that there was one bad guy to blame. But I knew enough about wars and humans to know the horrors they could unleash upon their own kind.
I will do what I have to do, even if I have to do it alone.
I left her there, a lone figure in the command room, and made my way to the others. We had to stop the bombs from leaving the ground.
We found the flight plan and saw the target: London. I saw the big aircraft in the distance, its massive frame silhouetted against the dark sky. It was the one with the cargo.
"What if it reaches London?" I asked Sameer, my voice tight.
"Everyone in a fifty-square-mile radius is dead," he said, his face grim.
"What if we stop it from taking flight?"
"Same thing happens here," he replied. "It's on a timer."
"Is the poison gas flammable?" I asked, a desperate plan forming in my mind.
"It's hydrogen-based, so yeah," he said.
"Clear my way to the plane," I said, a grim resolve settling over me.
"You plan to—"
"Yeah," I interrupted. "I plan to be the biggest firework before the victory celebration."
As we made our way to the plane, we took out the guards with practiced ease. On our path, I came across Doctor Maru escaping, her eyes wide with fear. I looked at her, and in a moment of utter unexpectedness, I let her go.
"Why are you letting me go?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"I don't know," I said honestly. "I just felt pity that you did this. I mean, you are a genius. Unlike me, who only knows how to destroy."
"So what?" she asked.
"Think about it," I said, as I continued to move forward. "What if, instead of making something like this, you made something that saved people? But I don't know." I left her there, a look of stunned confusion on her face, and rejoined the others near the airstrip.
We heard a loud boom in the distance, and I saw a figure blasting Daian away. Diana flung through the air, landing hard a distace away from us.
"Oh, my God! What are we gonna do?" Sameer yelled, his eyes wide.
"If that's who I think it is," I said, watching the new figure on the battlefield. "There's not much we can do. But we can stop that plane."
I gave my final orders. "You clear the area and the airstrip. I'll be right back." Still worried about Diana, I quickly made my way toward her.
"Diana," I said, kneeling beside her. "Are you okay?"
She just looked at me not saying a word, her eyes focued.
"I guess this is goodbye." I said.
"What are you saying?" she asked, her voice distant and I realized she was probably still deafened by the explosion.
"I have to go," I said, louder this time.
"I can't hear you," she replied, her eyes searching my face.
"I wish we had more time," I said, reluctance welling in my eye.
"Whatever it is, I can do it," she said, trying to stand up. "Let me do it."
"No," I said firmly. "It has to be me. I can save today. You can save the world." And honestly 'Ares' the 'God of war' is kind of out of my league.
"What? What are you saying?" she asked, her eyes still searching my lips, unable to hear my words. The realization that she couldn't hear me gave me the courage to say what I had been holding back.
"I love you," I said, the words a silent promise that I knew she was reading. I probably did since the time I talked to you on the boat.
But I can't stop now.
Time to be the hero.