Story Indiana Jones and the Return of the Fallen

When Marion caught up to Ned in the pitch black desert night, he was laying on the sand, his bike tipped over.

"Are you allnright, Mister Lawrence?" she asked, helping the young man up. Marion couldn't make him kit clearly, but she could tell that he'd been injured and could hardly walk.

"The thugs attacked me and took the kid," Ned replied. He was hardly older than Mutt, Marion's teenage son, but he was so well educated, from what Indy had said about him.

"Do you know where they were going?" Marion said, panting. She couldn't bring herself to think that not only had she encountered a one hundred year old Indy, but now she's seen the nine year old version of him as well. It all made no sense.

"I believe I know exactly where they are going," Ned replied, holding out his arm in the darkness.

"What do we do?" Marion asked. She hated feeling so dependent on someone else to lead the way, particularly with something so nonsensical as time travel.

"Take a hold of my arm," Ned ordered, "we'll be seeing Belloq and Junior in just a few minutes."

Marion hesitated, then put her hand on his elbow. Immediately, they both suddenly flew upwards into the night sky and put of sight.
A split second later, it was broad daylight and Marion and Ned stood just inside a large stone building. On one side was a massive brass gate and on the other was a large stone pathway. A terrifying number of Nazi guards stood with rifles, and an old man lay moaning on the floor, while two other men knelt by him.

Was that... Marion recognized Dr. Marcus Brody, an old friend of Indy's. She'd met him shortly after the quest for the ark of the covenant and he'd died not long before she'd reunited with Indy. But what was he doing here, amid Nazis?

The Nazis immediately trained their guns on the sudden newcomers.

"Who are you and how did you get in?" the commander snarled.

"Grab my arm again," Ned said quickly. Marion seized his wrist as they teleported again and landed only a few hundred meters away, in a large circular stone room.

Tables surrounded the stone chamber, stacked with goblets of various shapes and sizes. Marion immediately recognized the adult Indiana Jones of 1938, who was watching an older gentleman and a young woman as they searched among the goblets. This must have been the fabled holy grail.

Indy immediately turned to Marion and Ned.

"Marion!" he exclaimed. Though she looked much older than she truly had in 1938, Indy would have recognized her anywhere."what the devil are you doing all the way over here? And....Ned? You're the Lawrence of Arabia? But you're dead!"

The man and woman shifted their attention to the newcomers. "Friends of yours, Doctor Jones?" asked Walter Donovan in a mocking tone.

"Now!" Ned shouted, charging forward. He tackled Donovan with all of his might, sending the heavy, gray-haired man to the stone ground. Donovan struggled and punched at Ned, but the wiry man was surprisingly strong. He placed his palm on Donovan's throat and pushed down. At last, the man stopped struggling and passed out, his face the color of a grape.

Meanwhile, the nicely dressed, blond haired Elsa immediately swung a punch at Marion; who was quick to seize her arm and twist it behind her back. Elsa kicked at Marion, but the stronger, older woman wrapped an arm around her neck. Marion squeezed hard and Elsa became limp and likewise collapsed to the stone floor.

The middle aged Indy merely gaped at the two ghosts from his past as they disabled his enemies. "I must be hallucinating," he muttered. Was he actually dying as a result of being in the cave? All he knew for sure was that his father was fatally wounded at the entrance and he needed to get the Grail soon.

"Choose wisely, and beware," warned the elderly, neared Grail knight as he stepped out of the shadows. "The wrong choice will be the difference between life and death."

Indy's heart raced. The unexpected appearance of these two, one of them dead, was distracting him from what he needed to do. It's all in my head, he reasoned, it's a test by the Grail knight. He scanned the goblets, considering which one would be the Grail. Donovan had assumed that the largest, most majestic looking goblet was the true grail, so Indy knew that couldn't be it.
Maybe the most ordinary looking goblet, appearing the least significant...

"I believe this is what you are looking for, old friend," Ned said, picking up a small brass bottle from across the room.

"What are you," demanded Indy, "get out of my head!"

"Just trust me!" snapped Ned impatiently, "you're running out of time!" Suddenly, Belloq vaporized out of the thin air, along with the nine year old Indy, who looked nervoaus but determined.

"What on earth," Indy gaped, looking from his already-defeated foe to his childhood image. He turned to the grail knight and screamed. "Stop messing with my head!"

"The visions you see are not on my account," relied the knight calmly, "nor will it be if your father dies before you can use the grail to cure him." Indy hesitated, then took the bottle from Ned.

Suddenly, Belloq screamed, "Give me the Grail or he dies!" With no one noticing, he'd grabbed the young Henry Jones by the shirt and was holding a knife to the terrified boy's ear.

"You wouldn't dare!" Ned exclaimed. Belloq looked more insane than ever, his face red and his arms trembling as he held Junior at knifepoint. Junior was shaking in terror, not daring to cry out.

"Why are you here, alive," the adult Indy demanded, "why are they all here?" he asked the grail knight desperately.

Ned whispered to Indy regretfully. "You'd better hand it to Belloq. It'll be best for all of us."

Indy held it firmly. "Excuse me," he said angrily, walking toward the exit, "I have to heal my father."

"Give it to him!" Marion shouted in desperation, "he's going to kill you."

"That kid is an illusion," Indy snapped back, and so are you!" He continued to walk forward, past his childhood self, who repressed an urge to scream in fright at the threat that the strange man had made.

"Drop the grail!" Marion, Ned and Belloq all yelled simultaneously. Finally, Indy screamed, dropped it, and ran from the chamber. He was going insane, he just knew it. He and his father were doomed, and they would all die here where Dr. Jones Senior had searched all his life.

Dragging junior by the shirt, Belloq walked over to the dropped cauldron; from which boiling liquid was trickling. He released Junior and picked up the Goblet

"You may try and stop me," gloated Belloq, "but the ark has granted me the powers of a god. I can stop you all from ever existing. The Fuher will be quite pleased." He held up the knife, daring anyone to approach him.

"You haven't heard the last of this, Belloq," Ned growled at him. He took Marion by the sleeve and put his other hand on the speechless Junior's arm. The poor boy was shaken up by his near death encounter and silently vowed never to go on an adventure again.
Ned knew that leavin the Grail with Belloq would have fatal consequences, but he had to get young Indy to safety. As he took hold of both his allies, the three of them floated out of the Canyon of Crescent Moon, leaving the triumphant Belloq with the Grail.

 

1999 Indy sat awkwardly beside Ms. Seymour by the desert campfire. Helen continued to fret over the kidnapped Henry, while Indy listened knowing that if Ned and Marion couldn't rescue young Henry, he could possibly die right here in the same desert where it had all begun ninety one years earlier. Marion had always been a risk taker, perhaps more so than Indy himself. He hoped she wouldn't get herself in a pickle chasing Belloq's thugs.

"Oh woe is me," Helen was muttering to herself, "why the boy's mother and father ever trusted him in the care of a foolish old woman, I'll never imagine." Indeed she looked ready to faint in the sand.

Indy had a sudden urge to reveal himself to his old tutor. Shortly before her death in 1918, Helen Seymour had written to Indy (then stationed in World War I with his friend Remy) and urged him to reconcile with the senior Henry Jones. Indy had attempted to do so, yet his dad remained as cold and distant as ever. Indy had given up for many years afterward, accepting that he and his father would never be close.

Yet twenty years after the fact, Helen's dying wish had been achieved. It had taken a quest for the Holy Grail and Old Doctor Jones to nearly be killed by Walter Donovan's bullet, but Indy had indeed reconnected with his father during that time, a treasure more valuable than any religious or historical artifact.
Indy always remembered the following years with his dad with warm sentiment, yet he wished it had been longer. The mere thirteen year gap between the Jones men's renewed bond and Henry Jones Senior's passing made it all the more painful that Indy had been distant from his father most of his life.

Looking back at the panicking Helen, Indy felt tempted to tell her that he had indeed bonded with his father, fulfilling her last wish. But that would make no sense to Helen. Not only was Helen still a decade away from death, and barely acquainted with Indy's younger self at this point in time, but she'd think him an insane old man if he told her he was from a century in the future.

Indy closed his one eye and pondered the past and future. Both he and Helen were startled by the sudden appearance of young Junior, Ned and Marion.
Junior had burst into tears and Ned and Marion looked grim.
"Oh Henry, wherever did you come from?" asked Helen in worry. Old Indy felt touched at the concern she was showing towards his young self, considering he had taken a while to like her at that time.

"Never mind that, I'm just so glad that you're safe," Helen said, drawing the sobbing nine year old close to her.

Indy looked awkwardly at his childhood self, wondering if he should do something. No, he decided, there was no point. It was all nine decades in the past.

"Belloq has the Grail," Marion said immediately, "he's going to hand it over to Hitler."

Indy struggled to stand, his back cracking with the effort.

"A little help?" he asked in embarrassment. Ned and Marion each grabbed his hands and hauled the old archaeologist to his feet.

"Hitler will have the whole world under Nazi rule by the end of the war," Ned said, "there's only one thing left to do."

"What's that?" asked Marion and Indy in unison.

"We're going to have to find the Covenant Ark that gives Belloq and me our time travel powers, and destroy it."

 

Berlin, Germany, 1936

Two guards were stationed outside his study. The interior was filled with shelves of books, a desk facing the window overlooking the city. The streets of Berlin were adjacent, as a terrible pouring of rain took place outside. The man himself sat at his desk, writing in his journal. The swatstika flag hung on all four walls of the humble room. The man at the desk wore the uniform of a Nazi officer, and kept his small mustache neatly trimmed.

As the man finished his entry of the day, one of his guards creaked open the wooden door. The man turned around in his chair to face the door.

"Fuher," the green uniformed SS guard said "Doctor Belloq has come with good news."

"Let him in," replied the sitting mustachioed man. A moment later, Rene Belloq entered the study, clutching a clay goblet with aluminum foil wrapped over the cup. He had a triumphant smile on his face as he performed the customary salute.
"Heil Hitler," Belloq said in greeting. The man stood and returned the gesture.

"Rene, my friend," Adolf Hitler chuckled lightheartedly, clapping Belloq on the arm, "I hope your travels were a success."

"Yes, indeed, Fuher," replied Belloq, returning the laugh. "I have found a treasure that makes the Ark cower in comparison. Behold... the legendary Holy Grail!" He unwrapped the aluminum foil to reveal a shimmering, bubbly liquid inside.

Hitler gaped at the treasure in Belloq's hand. He of all people knew that the greatest treasures did not come with fancy jewels, and inwardly sensed that this was indeed the supposedly lost grail.

"However did you find this, Doctor Belloq?" inquired Hitler incredulously. He touched the goblet with his finger.

"Drink it, and your powers will be beyond the realm of possibility," Belloq promised, "but first, you must come with me. You cannot just drink it anywhere."

Hitler raised his eyebrows skeptically. "What the devil are you saying? I have to go somewhere to drink the Holy Grail."

"With all due respect, oh Fuher," Belloq said, "do you recall the writings? You must be in the Temple of the Sun for the powers of the Grail to work for you. Just take my hand and we'll be there in an instant."

"Are you..." Hitler began, but Belloq seized his elbow and they both became transparent and floated out of the study.

Before Hitler knew it, he was standing in a stone temple, with an array of goblets and cauldrons lined up on a wooded table. A white-bearded knight stood guard with his sword drawn.

"Who dares enter the chamber of the Holy grail?" demanded the aged knight.

"What on Earth..." Hitler exclaimed, looking from the knight to the goblets.

Belloq knew he couldn't possibly explain the effects of the Ark to the Fuher, Hitler would definitely be enraged if anyone knew a secret that he didn't. So he handed Hitler the goblet and said, "Drink up. Ignore the foolish old man."

The knight began to approach, sword raised. "You will not steal the Holy Grail from my protection," he declared. Hitler hesitated. What if he was hallucinating? What sort of trick was Belloq playing.

"Drink and you shall become immortal!" Belloq urged, "Drink and you will inevitably fulfill your ambitions for Germany." As the knight came nearer. Hitler tipped the clay goblet to his lips and drank the liquid.

The knight stopped in his tracks. He dropped the sword and put his hands on his chest, groaning in pain. At last, the grail knight collapsed to the stone floor and faded.

"Congratulations, Fuher," Belloq laughed, "you're immortal."

Hitler paused, then said ,"I feel... stronger. I feel healthier than I have in years." He laughed along with Belloq. "But however did you get us here?"

"Never mind that," replied Belloq hastily, "Lets get back to Berlin." He quickly took Hitler's sleeve and they floated out of the Temple of the Sun and landed directly back into Hitler's study. No time had passed at all.

"But...how.." Hitler stammered, at a loss for words.

"Best of fortunes, Adolf," replied Belloq, "good luck with the Final Solution." And he vanished into thin air.

"I must be going mad," Hitler muttered. He wondered if it was the effects of the stress of his burden. His burden to purify Europe and allow Germany to dominate the globe was not an easy one, but it was one few others were willing to take.
Finally, Hitler decided to test and see if Belloq was telling the truth about the grail. He opened his desk drawer and took out a small knife. Without hesitation, Hitler pierced it through his left arm, as hard as he could. He felt a sharp, blunt pain as blood began to flow out, but it lasted only an instant. As soon as he pulled out the knife, the blood disappeared from his sleeve and the wound closed.

Yes, indeed Hitler had become immortal. This was the best day he'd ever had, even as ruler of Nazi Germany. There was no way his enemies could win now. He laughed wildly as he set down the knife, echoing across the building. Outside, lightning struck as the storm continued.

 

Ooooh! An immortal Hitler is almost as scary as the Sheeviness of the original Sheevster, Sheev Palpatine.

 

Double double toil and trouble, into the cauldron boil and bubble came to mind when Hitler drank the liquid. What a mindbender event!

 

Wanna know what went through MY mind? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

Area 51, Lincoln County, Nevada, 1999

As soon as Indy, Marion and Ned materialized in their intended destination, Indy knew something was terribly wrong. He knew that the Ark was being kept by the federal government in Area 51 and exactly what it should have looked like, seeing as he'd been there himself in an encounter with Spalko's thugs years ago. Yet now Nazi Germany tanks were parked in the sand and a tall unfamiliar building stood where the storage facility should have been. The soldiers that patrolled the desert area on foot outside the barbed wire were not American troops, but Nazis.

Indy knew those uniforms anywhere, and it gave him the same nausea in his stomach, worse now that his organs has aged.

"Out of the frying pan," Ned said quietly, "and into the fire."

"Hey, you!" the Nazi drill sergeant on duty nearby shouted, spotting the newcomers almost immediately, in perfect English to boot, "nobody move."

"Hitler used the Grail to win the war," Marion realized aloud. The Nazi troopers approached them with their machine guns pointed at the trio. There were five of them, and the sergeant stopped directly in front of the three intruders.

"Where the bloody hell did you three come from," the Nazi demanded, spitting into Indy's wizened face, "how did you get past our security?" He signaled for his men to hold their fire, curious of the three that suddenly had appeared on maximum secure territory.

"Grab on," Ned shouted instantly. . Indy made to grasp his arm, but the sergeant kicked him in the chest. Indy groaned embarrassingly as he fell backwards. Disoriented, Indy saw that Marion and Ned had also been knocked to the sand.

"Don't try anything," the blond haired-blue eyed officer snapped, waving his gun, "tell me who you are and where you came from. How did you get into the premises?"

Marion got to her feet immediately, bravely swinging a punch at the Nazi.

"No!" Indy rasped, knowing horribly what would happen next. One of the soldiers sent a bullet into Marion's brain, and she collapsed back onto the ruthless sandy ground.
Indy blinked with his one eye. Before he could process what had happened, Ned had put his hand to Marion's forehead and oddly, the fatal would was gone.

"What.." Marion asked, unsure of what had just happened.

"Time travel isn't the only power granted to me by the ark," explained Ned with confidence unnatural to the serious predicament they were all in, "I also have the power to heal."

"What on earth.." the Nazi grumbled, too shocked to order his men to shoot.

"Marion, you've got to be careful," Indy said seriously, "you didn't know that Ned could have saved you."

"I know what I'm doing, Grandpa," replied Marion smartly. She turned back to the Nazi officer and spat at him. Indy shook his head. He'd known her technically for seventy years and she still continued to surprise him. He then realized awkwardly that Marion was young enough to be his granddaughter, despite not being young herself anymore. He'd thought of her as his wife the same way he had when she'd passed on a few weeks prior, but now she was only forty-seven.

"Get up, all of you," the Nazi officer ordered, "and don't you dare touch one another. You're Lawrence of Arabia, the time traveling freak! And you, Doctor Indiana Jones. Our immortal Fuher has been hunting you both for years."

"The Grail," Indy muttered as Marion snapped, "Hitler doesn't see me as a threat at all, does he? A delicate, dainty woman!" She and Ned stood nonetheless, while Indy could not. As he struggled to get off his back, he grunted as it ached sorely from the attempts.

Finally, two Nazi troopers grabbed Indy's arms and hauled him to his feet. The man keeping his gun on Ned made sure to keep him away from Marion and Indy, so he couldn't transport them away with his powers.

"We'll detain you three here for now," the sergeant said with a sinister grin, "the Fuher will want to execute you all personally."

"You can't win," Ned retorted with defiance, "the power of the ark is on my side!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," said an annoyingly familiar voice behind them. Belloq walked between Indy and Ned and clapped the officer on the back.

"Doctor Belloq," the man said in acknowledgment.

"Indeed, I was able to use the ark in my favor, to give Hitler the Grail so that he could conquer the world, which I am happy to report he has successfully done," Belloq boasted, sticking out his chest, "and I have gained more glory than you ever will, Indiana Jones. I am an immortal legend while you are no more than a joke, a children's fairy tale." He laughed, echoing across the bare desert.

"What do you have to gain?" Indy asked him. He hated to try and reason with Belloq, but at this point he was out of options, "what do the Nazis do for you?"

"My old friend Doctor Jones," Belloq replied, "you have always failed to grasp the true meaning of archeology. You always sought treasures for the museums and government, never taking advantage of the personal glory it had to offer. Well, you believed me to be dead for that exact reason, yet here I am, the most powerful man alive."

" Besides Hitler, you mean," Indy said scornfully.

" Take those two inside," the Nazi sergeant said to his men, indicating Indy and Marion, "I'll stand guard over Lawrence rift out here."

Ned looked at Marion and Indy helplessly as the four Nazi guards led them towards the building at gunpoint. Belloq remained behind with the officer guarding Ned.

"Looks like this is the end," Marion whispered to Indy as they approached the steel Nazi base.

"If I had a gold drachma for every time I heard that..." Indy began.

At that moment, a shell of artillery went off behind them, followed by cannon fire.

 

The Nazis began yelling and shouting incomprehensible orders. More Nazi troops rushed out of the base as artillery shells flew into the barbed wire. Tanks could be seen in the distance, as well as soldiers wearing unfamiliar uniforms. Ned's captor also concentrated his fire on the distant invaders. Ned ran towards Indy and Marion, shouting "let's get out of here."

The two started for him, holding their arms out, but Belloq suddenly tacked Ned to the ground.

"No!" Indy shouted as the two vanished into thin air, teleported to another point in time and space.

"Well this is just great!" Marion shouted over the gunfire as the Nazis ran towards the barbed wire boundary, shooting at the approaching tanks and soldiers, "we're trapped here with the Nazis and no way to destroy the ark!"

Indy's old eardrums felt as though they were about to explode. He'd retired from adventuring after his last expedition with Remy in 1972, he was far too old for this. At least if he died here and now, he'd get to see the real Marion again, not this younger version. He'd reunite with his mother and father, his friends that had all passed on. He'd lived during almost three centuries, he could make peace with dying now.
Then again, Marion would also perish and never marry the 1957 Indy back in the past. He'd never see her again in the original timeline and forever live with leaving her...

As the battle continued, a heavy wave of missle fire sent the Nazis flying backwards. The building was also hit with heavy rounds of tank fire as the Nazi vehicles were overwhelmed. Indy and Marion didn't dare move from where they were, and stood idly as the Rebels began to overtake the Nazi troops Finally, the black uniformed soldiers reached the barbed wire and began climbing over, shooting at the surviving Nazis. A pool of blood and dead bodies lay in the perimeter of Area 51, and the smell of burnt flesh rang strong in the Nevada desert.

The commander of the rebel troops approached the odd pair. He was a black man, certainly a rarity in Nazi America.

"Doctor Jones, Miss Ravenwood," the commander said, bowing respectfully to them both, "I cannot believe I am seeing you in the flesh."

"Do I know you!" asked Indy in a cynical tone. He coughed over the smoke of the battle. , his ancient lungs burning.

"Hitler has long feared your return," the Resistance commander replied, "he's been pursuing you and TE Lawrence since the 1930s. I suppose you don't know. Hitler has not aged since World War II and won the battle of Berlin without a single injury. The United States continued an arms race against Nazi Germany, but we were unable to free any land. Hitler singlehandedly conquered us in 1970. We're among the last pockets of resistance in the world."

"Do you have shelter?" Marion asked curiously, studying the Resistance soldiers that were entering the Nazi base.

"Our main base of operation is in Los Angeles, one of the last free cities in the world," replied the rebel officer, "We can take you there to meet our leaders."

"As long as we're stuck here, we may as well..." Indy began coughing more severely, stumbling forward.

"Indy!" Marion shouted, grabbing him as he fell towards the sand weakly.

"I need... water," Indy sputtered, finding it more difficult to breathe. His fedora fell off of his grey hair onto the ground.

"How old are you, Doctor Jones?" asked the rebel commander curiously as the old archeologist struggled to breathe in Marion's arms.

"I'm... one hundred..." Indy gasped, struggling for air, "Eighteen ninety-nine." He seized his fedora and put it back on his head, feeling weaker by the minute.

"You're not safe out here in the desert," the man said, "come aboard and I'll take you both back to headquarters."

Marion dragged Indy after the commander and his men as they climbed back over the fence towards the tanks. The officer, who then introduced himself as Commander Mulholland, took a canteen out of his emergency pack and handed it to Indy, reaching over the barbed wire to hand it to the coughing old man. Indy took it and poured it into his dry, burning mouth.


Marion hoisted Indy into the air effortlessly, then Mulholland seized his arms and pulled him over the barbed wire fence. Marion then climbed over herself and they all headed towards the tanks, which the Resistance soldiers were now boarding. Mulholland and Marion helped Indy into the hatch of the lead tank and Mulholland singaled for the engineer to move.

Indy's lungs felt better, but as the tank plowed along the Nevada desert, his stomach felt a bit nauseous. My organs are failing, he thought to himself, my age is catching up. Despite sometimes needing a cane, Indy had been in fairly good shape throughout his old age, but he knew better than anyone that time was the most powerful thing in the universe.

 

Here's a hug!

Indy's age is portrayed realistically - wow, he's getting up there and knows it. I'd say this expedition is about his most worthy and even more so since he's involved so heavily in the Grail and Ark issues.

 

The line of army tanks cruised along the Nevada desert. Indy continued to guzzle down the canteen water, his eyepatch and hair sweating. Judging by the bumps, Indy gathered that they were still on rocky terrain. There was no way to see out of the tank except for the top hatch. Marion quietly sat beside him, making sure he drank up.

I can't die now, Indy realized internally, I can't die in peace knowing that the Nazis have won. That Belloq has won.

He drank like his life depended on it. And to think that after Ned's initial murder in that coffee shop, he'd been prepared to commit suicide. No, he had to do what he was best at, saving the world, and then he could settle for the next chapter.

"You're going to make it," Marion whispered beside him, as if reading his mind. Her tone sounded unusually soft and tender. She was afraid for him, Indy knew. He had to stay alive for her, at least for now.
Above them, Mulholland's radio activated. "Commander, I'm detecting Nazi vehicles approaching at ten o clock."

Mulholland replied, "hold them off. I need to get the Jones' back to base safely. The General demands it."

The general, Indy wondered, what rebellious genera would be interested in him? Before he could dwell on it any longer, the sound of artillery fire he'd first heard as a young man in the trenches of northern France rang loudly outside the tank. An explosion nearby.

"Indy," Marion said trembling, "there's something I never told you. The boy, Mutt..." She sounded more terrified than ever, and Indy couldn't bear it.

"I know," he replied softly. A blast hit the tank and Indy fell to its floor as it swerved to the side. He removed his whip from his belt, feeling more alert than before. Marion fell on top of him, screaming as a shell suddenly came at the rebel tank, blasting it open.

"I'm under fire!" Indy heard Mulholland shout as smoke clouded his vision. Everything went black as the sound of gunfire resumed.


When Ned came to his senses, he was standing back in the Temple of the Sun with Belloq. The French archeologist was holding tightly to his arm. Ned kicked at him but and tried punching him, but Belloq would not relent.

"It's a shame you couldn't stop me when you had the chance," Belloq taunted as he wrestled with Lawrence of Arabia. Ned willed himself to return to future Nevada, but Belloq was keeping him in 1938.

"Indiana Jones stopped you once," Ned panted as he and his enemy fell to the stone floor, holding onto one another. "he'll stop you again."

Belloq grunted as his hands crept up Ned's throat. "You forget that Indiana Jones did not recover the ark on his own, and lost possession of it. When the ark was reopened by accident, I was released with the powers of a god."

Ned closed his eyes and concentrated. Finally, he felt himself teleporting to his true destination, home. Not England, or the Middle East, but the top secret bunker under Berlin where the immortal Hitler kept the ark.

Once they landed in the dark, empty room, Ned struggled out of Belloq's grip and got to his feet. "I am a god," he replied, "I am the god of all religions, I am the ark. I am the Grail. Every artifact you have ever sought is right in front of you."

Belloq stood up on the damp floor, his hat askew and his face as red as a bloodbath. As he charged, Ned held out his hand and telekinetically threw Belloq across the room. He sprinted down the cobblestone corridor and came across the room at the end. Ned put his hand to the wooden door and it flew open. Sure enough, the ark that Hitler had stolen from the US government was there, the source of Belloq's power, the source of all evils of religion.

"You do realize that if you destroy the arc, you will be trapped," Belloq panted as he appeared in the doorway, "you can't win without destroying your self."

"I'll never be destroyed," Ned replied defiantly, "as long as people like Indiana Jones keep me alive. Your Nazi agenda will never destroy the holiness of our world." With that he kicked open the lid to the ark and it banged hard against the floor.

Belloq froze in place as the golden dust that had once been his undoing began to simmer out of the ark. He knew he had to act fast, or it was all over. He may have been powerless next to this... diety that was clearly not Lawrence of Arabia, but he could still make sure that Indiana Jones wouldnt benefit from his downfall. Before Ned could stop him, Belloq willed himself to separate back to the US, disappearing just in the nick of time.

Left alone in Hitler's bunker, Ned picked up the heavy lid and smashed it against the ark itself. Once it was broken, Belloq would lose his powers and the corruption that lay within both the ark and even the greatest of all divinities would be destroyed or at least contained. He was not TE Lawrence. He was the man in the sky.

 

At first, Indy thought he was dead. He couldn't see or feel anything, just a ringing in his old ears. How could a man as decrepit as himself survive this much danger and violence. He'd survived plenty of life threatening perils his entire life, but this was too unrealistic. Why am I still alive?

The first thing he heard was faint, distant gunfire. The all too familiar sound of a shell dropping and battle commands being shouted. He supposed he was still in Nevada, and the Resistance was still fighting against Nazi forces in America.
So this whole thing wasn't a dream, or a near death hallucination. Indy had gone in and out of that mentality this whole voyage, against his oldest foe and at the side of two of his oldest friends.
When Indy's vision returned to his only eye, he found himself sitting against the metal of a wrecked tank, tipped over on its side and a wide crater through it. A few American rebels stood nearby, AK 47s raised, and about fifty feet away, surviving tanks and solidiers were repelling a larger Nazi army advancing. Indy noticed more tanks and jeeps on both sides, and vaguely heard the roar of a helicopter.

"Breathe," the man crouching next to him whispered gently, in the middle of applying a bandage to Indy's bloody arm, "take it easy." He was an Asian man, wearing a white doctor's uniform and had a first aid kit beside him.

"Where's....Marion.." Indy panted, only now becoming fully aware of his environment, "need to see..her."

The Doctor hesitated. "Indy... I don't know what l to say...." He looked almost afraid of Indy's reaction.

"We were ambushed by the Nazis," the Doctor said sadly, "I'm afraid your wife didn't make it."

Indy remained silent as the man's words rang in his head again and again. So Marion was dead. He'd lost her once, to old age, and now she had been murdered.
"No," he muttered, feeling his eye water up, "no, no." He tried telling himself that this Marion wasn't real, that she was only a product of time travel, but he still felt the same blow.
The Doctor patted his arm awkwardly. Indy felt a tear stream down his aged face, but he did not make a sound. Outside the damaged tank, the battle continued.

Indy felt more ready to die than ever. Once the Nazi situation was taken care of, Indy resolved not to live any longer. He had lived now through the entire 1900s and had lived a full, accomplished life. He though of his son Mutt, no, his son Henry. Following their expedition to Peru, Indy and Marion had pushed Henry III to go back to school, yet Henry had failed to find his calling. He'd dropped out of college a discouraged young man, and turned to drugs and alcohol to solve his problems. That infernal hippie movement had swept him in, further distancing Mutt from Indy and Marion. Indy didn't know where he was now, at sixty years old. He prayed that his son would find peace in life, and regretted more than anything never reconciling with Mutt.
He remembered the three of them, overlooking the mountaintop in Peru. Indy had known then that he and Marion would live a happy life with Mutt, they'd be the happy family Indy hadn't known in his own youth.
If only... he thought.

"It's been a long time, Doctor jones," the Doctor said, his voice perking slightly but staying sympathetic, "I've missed you."

"Who are..." Indy looked into the man's eyes and stared. Even though decades had passed, Indy would know him anywhere.

"Shorty?"

"Yes, it's me, Doctor Jones," Short Roind replied forlornly, "I only wish we could reunite under better circumstances." Indy slid upward slightly and studied the man who had been his sidekick, his ward. Some of the grief and pain he felt was replaced by a sense of nostalgia.

"It's good to see you again," Indy said, managing a wrinkly smile, "I see you've become a doctor."

"The battlefront was never my calling," Short Round replied ruefully, "yet I had to join the struggle somehow against those monsters."

"Makes the Kali Ma seem almost tame, doesn't it," Indy chuckled. The shells and gunfire outside was beginning to quiet down. Indy hoped that was a good thing.

"Yes, it does," said Short Round. "As glad as I am to see you, there's someone else who is in greater need of your presence. I'd like you to meet the General, our mighty leader. Wait here."

Short Round stood up and ran out into the desert. Indy could make out the Nazi vehicles and men falling back, as more rebellious tanks and trucks appeared on the dirt road.

Short Round was returning with another man, who wore a leather jacket. No, the leather jacket. That greased hair, now turned grey. The AK47 that the General carried in his hand. Once again, Indy wondered if he was entering the dying process, seeing people that weren't there. Of all the people in the world to lead the American rebels., it was his own boy, looking finer than indy had ever seen him.

The man stopped at the crater of the tank, and simply gaped at Indy, dropping the gun at his feet. "Dad..." he croaked... "it's really you. After all there years..."

Indy was seized with strength that he hadn't felt in years. Leaping to his feet, he ran to Mutt and threw his arms around him, sobbing into his son's chest.

"Oh my boy," he cried, "my son. I thought I'd lost you forever!" He wasn't making sense, but that didn't matter now. Nothing mattered except that father and son were reunited again.

Mutt hugged his father back, still shocked by his aged appearance. "I wondered if you were dead," he said, his tough voice cracking, "you and Mom disappeared when I was young."

"Son," Indy croaked, finding himself growing weaker by the pain, "your mother...."

"I know," Mutt replied, biting his lip in attempt not to burst into tears, "I saw the body."

"This whole rebellion... that's you?" Indy questioned, looking up into Mutt's face.

"Yes," Mutt replied, "the stories of your adventures inspired me to fight against the evil of the Nazis, and I led the navy in the Battle of the Atlantic, back in 1970. Most officers surrendered after Washington was destroyed, but I've been leading this regiment ever since."

"My son, I'm so proud of you," Indy said, more emotionally charged than he'd ever liked to show during his life, "you've become more of a hero than I could ever hope to be."

Suddenly, Commander Mulholland approached them from the battlefield. "General Jones!" he shouted, "we're receiving reports of Nazi reinforcements arriving from Germany. We believe Hitler himself is on his way and one of his planes is carrying an H Bomb."

Mutt picked up his gun and ran out of the wreckage, followed by Indy. Short Round was attending to wounded men across the battlefield, and high in the desert sky, Indy could make out an array of airplanes and helicopters approaching.

"We can't possibly repel an air strike," Mutt said grimly, "especially not against a hydrogen bomb." A dark shadow seemed to loom over them now.

"Man the tanks!" Mulholland was shouting at the rebel officers, "shoot any aircraft on sight!"
The soldiers scrambled for their vehicles, prepared to defend their country to the last breath. To everyone but Indy, this was the certain end.

Mutt turned to his elderly father, who stood ready for action with his whip and fedora. "Dad, I'm happy that I got to see you again, before..."

"We're not going to lose," Indy replied determinedly, "only one man needs to die, and everything will be all right again."

"Dad, Hitler is immortal!" replied Mutt, "there's no way we can take him out!"

"I don't mean him," replied Indy, "All I need to do is kill Belloq, and the ark's effects will disappear." He knew Mutt didn't know what he was talking about, but there was no time to explain.
"And he'd better hurry up," Indy added as the Nazi aircraft drew ominously closer.

 

Good to see Short Round once more.

 

In the lead helicopter flying over the plains of Nevada was Fuher Aldolf Hitler, ageless ruler of the known world for over fifty years. Because of Doctor Belloq and the Holy Grail, Hitler had been able to withstand any attack, whether it was a stabbing, a shooting, or an atomic bomb attack. As he looked over the landscape of the United States, Hitler recalled smugly when he'd feared the once-great nation, that had been the last real threat to his power.
But now the US was all but dust, subject to Nazi and Aryan rule. Today, after the last of the rebellion was destroyed along with Doctor Indiana Jones, Hitler would have achieved total universal domination.
Standing beside him in the passenger hold was his trusted second in command, the equally powerful Doctor Belloq. Thanks to the power of the arc, Belloq had been able to deliver the Grail to Hitler and grant him immortality. Hitler was content with the fact that Belloq was nearly as powerful as himself, but not quite.

As he stood next to the Fuher, prepared for his final confrontation with Doctor Jones, Belloq reflected on his situation. Hitler had no idea that the ark had been destroyed, he thought that Belloq was still able to travel through time. Hitler may have been able to withstand the hydrogen bomb, but Belloq knew he'd perish as soon as it was dropped. He wasn't about to back down like a coward though. He'd finally have the satisfaction of killing Indiana Jones before he died.
Ever since their college days, Belloq had always envied his fellow archeologist. Indy had proven better in every way, and Belloq had learned to fear mediocrity. So he'd started by plagiarizing Jones' college essay, and then finding every opportunity to undermine his work.

"Land our helicopter once we arrive at the battlefield," Hitler was ordering the pilot, "Belloq and I shall execute Doctor Jones personally. After he is dead, I will signal the dropping."
Through this career, Jones had been a nuisance to Hitler as well, foiling his attempts to use artifacts to his advantage. He'd almost had the American in his grasp in Berlin, and it was time to amend that mistake.

"Today will be a day long remembered," Hitler remarked to his old friend, "the start of the twenty first century will at least see the era that I have dreamed of all these years. The year 2000 will mark the beginning of the Golden Age and the death of the United States."
Belloq smiled and looked away. That man Ned had destroyed his powers, he was worthless to Hitler now. But he wasn't about to let the Fuher know that.

About five miles west and five thousand feet below, the rebel army manned their tanks and prepared to repel hopelessly against the air strike.

 

Standing next to his son General Henry Jones III, Indy squinted up with his eye at the approaching Nazi fleet of planes and helicopters. Mutt pulled his father to safety in the wrecked tank as the American artillery began firing at the enemy craft above.

The gunfire from the above vehicles came down hard into the sand, sending chunks of ground flying. Indy's old ears rang as Mutt ran out of the tank and directed his tanks and jeeps.

This is the end, Indy thought. Whether Belloq won or not, Indy had a strong feeling that this battle was his last. Aside from his venerable age, Indy didn't feel the sam motivation that he had to fight for his own survival. Life didn't feel as important anymore. Maybe it was because he was one hundred, or because he'd been completed by seeing his son one more time, but Indy now saw nothing else he needed to accomplish, save for defeating his oldest enemy and helping the rebels defeat the Nazis.

"Hitler's flagship is in the front!" Mutt shouted at his men as he shot his own AK47 towards the helicopters. Some of the other tanks were taking heavy fire and the soldiers were scattering.

"Once Hitler's helicopter is destroyed, retreat west!" Mutt shouted, "we have a better chance of taking them on our own turf.

Indy staggered out from under the tank where Marion had been killed and walked through the crossfire without any fear or thought of riskiness. He picked up a machine gun from a fallen soldier and began shooting up at the Nazi vehicles. He may have been an old man, but he was going to do whatever he could.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Mutt called as he kept shooting his own gun, "you're too old to do anything!"

"I've heard that before!" Indy yelled back as he let loose on the largest helicopter, undoubtedly containing both Hitler and Belloq. Decades of fighting had made him a formidable marksman and the years had done nothing to diminish his skill. Thinking of nothing but the reward of permanent rest, Indy centered his gun directly at the propeller of Hitler's helicopter. Behind him, a tank exploded.
As Indy's gunfire tore into the propeller, the large helicopter began to swerve off course. Aboard it, the Nazi pilot shouted, "Fuher, I've lost control of the engine!"

Butler didn't reply, focusing on the American resistance below. He wasn't worried, he could survive a helicopter crash landing. Belloq too had the power to teleport away before he impact hit.
Belloq grabbed onto the railing nervously as the helicopter plunged to the dusty ground below. He cringed as it crashed loudly against the sand, bracing for the pain.
When Belloq opened his eyes, he was thankfully still standing and relatively unscathed. The pilot was dead in the flaming cockpit, but Hitler was completely unharmed.

The American soldiers cheered as Hitler's helicopter spiraled and crashed in the distance. Snoke came up from where it landed. Indy reloaded his magazine and began slowly walking away from the battle towards the column of smoke.

"Dad, wait!" Mutt yelled, likewise ceasing fire and starting after Indy. Indy felt stronger and more energetic than at any point in his youth. It was time to show that son of a jackal what archeology was about, and that Belloq had had it all wrong.

"Don't tell me I'm too old!" Indy replied as he kept walking through the crossfire towards Hitler's damaged helicopter."I started this and I'm going to finish it!" He wasn't just talking about the competition for the ark, he was talking about the age old archeology race as well as his own life.

"At least let me go with you!" Mutt said, locking and loading his own gun. He caught up to his elderly one eyed father. "I don't want to lose you again, not so soon!" Indy stopped, hesitant. He felt a pull at his heart from his son's words, one that made him almost want the two of them to leave the battle entirely and live away somewhere remote. But no, he knew better than that. He was Indiana Jones through and through.

"All right," Indy said more softly, "let's go end this." Father and son trudged through the desert where Belloq and his boss the Fuher were waiting. Sure enough, when the Jones men reached the helicopter, Hitler stood tall with his arms crossed, while Belloq had a pistol aimed directly at Indy.

"At Last we meet again, Doctor Jones," Hitler said in perfect English, "last time I saw you, you were wearing the uniform of a Nazi. How time has been kind to you." He laughed at the irony of his jibe.

Indy directly faced Belloq and said, "today, we're going to end it the way we should have all those years ago. You may be brave hiding behind a loaded gun, but can you fight me like a real man?"

Belloq regarded him, considering the offer. It could be a bait and switch, Jones may have been trying to break the stalemate by disarming him so that he could fire the surely fatal shot. But Belloq knew Indy long enough to know that he was a man of his honor, and would not stoop so low. It was something he had to grudgingly respect about his rival archeologist. Besides, Belloq was essentially the same age that he'd been in 1936, even without the ark's blessing. Jones was a century old and not getting younger.

"Very well, Doctor Jones," Belloq replied, dropping his pistol on the sand. "We will operate on your terms."

"Dad..." Mutt whispered as Indy set down his own machine gun.
"Don't even think about interfering," Indy replied snappily, "This is my fight." He faced Belloq and raised his wrinkled fists.

Belloq charged the decrepit man and prepared to tackle him. With he reflexes of a man in his thirties, Indy punched him right in the nose, sending Belloq tumbling onto his back. The French archeologist wasted no time and attempted a sweeping kick. Indy tripped but made sure to land on Belloq.
Indy's used fists came down hard on Belloq, who struggled to get up. Hitler watched the fight and looked at Indy's son, who likewise was watching with wariness but acceptance of Indy's honor.
At last, Belloq managed to tear off Indy's eye patch, revealing his empty eye socket. Indy was confused by this and was not prepared as he was thrown to the side. His ribs hurt more than ever as he was thrust onto the ground by Belloq. Indy tried to stand but failed, crashing back to the burning ruthless ground.
The younger man stood up over his defeated foe, smirking with that familiar smugness that had haunted Indy's dreams. I'll see you soon, Marion, Indy thought as he lay helpless on the ground. Mutt would surely execute Belloq as soon as Indy died, though he still stood no chance against the Nazi leader.

"Now, Doctor jones, let us finish it, the way we were meant to." As he lunged, Indy's feeble hand went to the whip on his belt. With recovered speed and strength, Indy flicked his wrist, sending the length of his whip to the ruined helicopter's broken propeller blade. The whip latched onto the blade and Indy found himself flying upwards, swinging on his old reliable whip. His fedora firmly on his head, Indy kicked the unsuspecting Belloq in the stomach as he swun past. Belloq flew backwards, his spine hitting the propeller blade. Indy landed atop the helicopter's smoking roof as the blade ran straight through Belloq's chest. Belloq's mouth opened wide in pain and shock and was still.

Indy felt the adrenaline leaving him again and collapsed against the helicopter.

"No," Mutt called out, hurrying over to his exhausted father. Hitler glowered at the weakened Indy and suddenly dove for Belloq's abandoned pistol. So Belloq had lost the ark's powers. No matter, this would still be a Nazi victory. Hitler raised the pistol and fired directly at Indy's forehead. As Mutt reached Indy and helped him off of the helicopter, the bullet flew to the side and landed in the desert floor.
At that moment, Hitler began to glow, and his skin started to turn to liquid. In an incredible moment, he had melted into the Aryan colored sand, leaving his green Nazi uniform behind. In the German planes and helicopters above, the Nazi soldiers and pilots likewise melted leaving a confused Resistance to assume victory. Just like that, the Nazi Fuher and the party he had led for eight decades was evaporated, and America and the rest of the world were free once again from the greatest unholiness it had ever faced.

"Dad, you're going to be okay," Mutt panted desperately, shaking Indy gently. Indy's vision was starting to blur. Mother, he thought, father, Helen. He saw his mother Anna in the distance, dead for over eighty years. His father Henry stood there too in the desert, regarding his aged son with the pride he had never shown during Indy's childhood. Helen Seymour stood there too, with her strict but motherly aura.
He now saw the elderly Marion as well, the one he'd known and loved through their years together. His children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, he was a great-great-grandfather now as well... He could see them all, Remy, Sallah, Oxley, even old Marcus Brody, Indy's father figure for most of his adult life.

"Good to see you again, Marcus."
Dr. Brody gave him that same warm smile he'd known and loved his whole life.

"Dad, stay with me," Mutt pleaded, supporting Indy's weight. If only he could summon a medial kit...

Apparently Junior wasn't seeing the people that Indy saw. Indy slumped against his strong son and fell back down to the ground. He was looking directly at a point in the distance, his loved ones now gone from view.

Ned now had appeared from the scorching blue, his head wrapped in the turban it had been in upon their first meeting in Egypt in 1908.

"You've done it, Doctor Jones." Ned said to his old friend, "well done, my old friend."

"Ned?" Indy said, leaning upward in Mutt's arms. The young man stood before him in the desert horizon, appearing somehow larger than life.
"Alas, your friend Mr. Lawrence was merely an illusion," he said sadly, "He truly died in that motorcycle accident, and I chose to use his corporal form to enlist your help."

"Who..." Indy leaned back against Mutt's trembling leg.

"I am what all archeologists truly seek, the mystery behind every historical treasure," the false Ned explained, his body lit by the remorseless sunlight, "I have no representatives, despite what the religious documents say about me, and I do not have a set of beliefs for loyalists to follow. You know me very well, though no man alive has seen me."

"God..."

"Indeed, I am the divinity that you briefly glimpsed in the ark," the false Ned said, "when Belloq got ahold of my power, I knew instantly that you were the only man destined to stop him. While he sought me for selfish purposes, you wanted to preserve my knowledge for future generations.

"And now, Henry Walton Jones Junior, you will receive the salvation you have sought for so many years," the man said gently, "I'll be seeing you again soon."

And with that Indy saw all his loved ones again, and Ned transformed into an old man, far older than even Indy, with a long, flowing white beard. The true Ned materialized beside him and assumed his place between Anna Jones and Helen Seymour.

Indy smiled, feeling more at peace than ever. As the imagery faded out, Indy felt his consciousness leave him as Mutt held him in his arms, sobbing and shaking.

January 2, 2000

Mutt continued to cradle his father, now sitting in the middle of Indy's New York apartment. He was unaware of the timeline restoration and didn't care, all that mattered was that the father he'd sought after his whole life, the man he'd only known for a short while, was gone just as quickly. The crying Greaser turned War hero would never know of the merciful change that had been brought upon to him by the divinity beyond, he was a general instead of a drunk in the year 2000. Indy's eye was shut as the fedora stayed on his cold, grey head. He still held the whip in his hand. He'd made it through and lived the entire 1900s.
It was his time.

 

Aw, what an ending. I enjoyed your story - especially the part with the helicopter grabbing Indy's whip and meting out justice. Also, the tinge of supernatural happenings at the end upholds the Indy movies, with their touch of the Divine.

 

Well done! Action, adventure, and awesomeness to the last!