Götterdämmerung heist

> "Like a surgeon, or a painter, his masterpiece rendered in barely audible clicks. Finally she succumbs to the sheer dominance of his gentle touch."
>
> Bly Tanaka, *Army of the Dead*

The **Götterdämmerung heist** was the greatest heist in the world, orchestrated by Bly Tanaka to recover $200 million in cash from the Götterdämmerung - a safe left under the Las Vegas Strip after the city had fallen to the zombie outbreak. The heist was the primary story of *Army of the Dead*.

## History

Bly Tanaka approached Scott Ward, who had successfully survived the Las Vegas outbreak in the past, to offer him $50 million to lead an excursion into zombie-run Las Vegas, crack the Götterdämmerung safe, and escape with the $200 million sealed within. Ward accepted the offer and built a team to head into the city.

Ward's plan was to split $45 million evenly between himself, Maria Cruz, and Vanderohe, who were the "family" group, and would then give his share to his daughter, Kate Ward. They wouldn't tell the remaining members the size of the shares, instead offering them each specific amounts. Marianne Peters would get $2 million, Mikey Guzman would get $500,000, and Ludwig Dieter would get $250,000. Guzman would later cut Chambers in from his own share. Martin was to tag along as Bly's representative, and Lilly was brought in to help them sneak beyond the wall through her shop. Kate forced her father's hand and joined the team in order to find her missing friend, Geeta. Lilly convinced them they also needed Burt Cummings, and with that the team was set.

They headed into the Las Vegas Strip, where they crossed paths with the zombie tiger, Valentine. Valentine guarded the outer edges of the alpha horde's territory, so her presence meant they couldn't safely continue. Lilly manipulated Cummings into letting her hold his gun, which she then used to shoot him in the leg. She explained to the others that they wouldn't be allowed to enter the alpha kingdom without playing by the alphas' rules, which included presenting an offering to their queen, Athena. Lilly convinced them Cummings was a worthless person anyway, and revealed her reasoning behind bringing him in the first place. She used his own ties to bind his limbs and waited for Athena and the alpha general to approach. They came and took the offering back to The Olympus, leaving the Las Vengeance heist crew to push forward.

They decided to take an indoor path through an underground mall to avoid flaunting their good will with the alpha horde, and encountered a long building lined with hibernating shamblers. To avoid waking them they kept their lights low, and Scott charted a path through with glowsticks. Martin toyed with the path so Chambers, who was the last one behind him, would end up crowded in with the zombies in the hopes that she wouldn't get the chance to present her worries about his motives to the rest of the group. While she proved much tougher than he initially presumed, Martin's ploy was ultimately successful, and Chambers was swarmed by the undead.

The rest of the group made it to Bly's Casino, where they branched off into four task-based groups. Peters went to the roof to prepare Bly's rescue helicopter for their escape, and Cruz joined her as backup. Dieter, Vanderohe, and Guzman headed down to the vault to crack the safe. Martin and Lilly did a perimeter sweep outside, and Scott took Kate up to the third floor roof to start up the backup generators. With the generators whirring to life, Vanderohe's safecracking team was able to get down to the Götterdämmerung chamber. They began to use shamblers to deactivate the boobytraps. Meanwhile, Martin made a deal with Lilly to capture Athena and take a vial of her blood. If she helped, Martin would ensure the people of the McCarran Quarantine Camp were freed from the camps. Upon capturing her, instead of taking her blood, Martin took her head. Athena's death cry rattled through the skyscrapers, alerting the king of the zombies, Zeus, to the event.

Dieter managed to successfully break into the safe, but not before a WBC World News broadcast informed everyone that the nuclear strike on Las Vegas was being pushed up to less than two hours away. They still had plenty of time, so they briefly got lost in celebration. Kate used the excitement as a cover to sneak away and try to save Geeta, while Lilly used the excitement to swap Athena's head in Martin's bag for a cash counting machine in an attempt to prevent Martin from taking the zombie infection beyond the wall. Meanwhile, Zeus found Athena's body and, enraged, sent the alpha horde to attack the human intruders. Bly's Casino was soon filled with alpha zombies, so the heist crew quickly gathered the money and headed for the roof.

Martin was the first through the service hatch, which he closed on Lilly, preventing the others from leaving. Scott and Cruz had already planned to go after Kate before getting tangled up in the alpha horde. Cruz was killed, but Scott went ahead and caught up with Lilly, who had used Vanderohe's saw to cut a hole in the wall to escape. They were joined by Guzman, while Vanderohe and Dieter lingered with the money. Van fought Zeus, but was no match. Dieter created an opening to save Van by hitting Zeus in the head and pushing Van into the safe, but Dieter was caught by Zeus as Van was locked inside. Scott, Lilly, and Guz fought alphas in the main lobby, with Guz taking a bite and taking a crowd down with himself with a grenade. Scott and Lilly were the only two to make it to the roof, where Peters still needed a few seconds with the helicopter. Her delay allowed Zeus to catch up. Lilly pulled Athena's still-snapping head from the bag and held a gun to it. She urged the others to take off without her, and just as she hoped, Zeus stayed behind with her to save Athena. Zeus pinned Lilly's gun arm to a wall with his rebar rod to prevent her from shooting Athena, but Lilly managed to drop the head over the edge of the roof.

When the nuclear blast blew the city away, Vanderohe was freed from the safe, and he emerged with several million in cash. The heist at large had failed, but Van still procured a portion of the money for himself.

## Aftermath

Kate Ward walked away with several thousand U.S. dollars in cash and Vanderohe walked away with several million, but none of the other members survived. Everyone else on the team died when they would have lived if they hadn't participated.

## Map

Map of notable locations in Las Vegas seen during the Götterdämmerung heist.

The mission starts at the McCarran Quarantine Camp before sneaking through the quarantine wall into the city. The team meets Valentine at the crossing of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard and is forced to change direction instead of taking the straight shot to Bly's Casino.

The team is seen heading East to skirt the streets of the Las Vegas horde's territory and take an indoor path. The entrance to this path is estimated based on direction, distance, and the fact that a parking structure matching the one for the MGM can be seen in the background of the building they enter. This building also connects a long series of building interiors without any need to travel outdoors, making it a logical real-world path.

There is a short time skip and the team can be seen coming upon the ruins of a recognizable strip mall with a damaged Bally's sign to their right as they look North to Bly's Casino, confirming its location. The Olympus is also seen from multiple angles from both the ground and the air, confirming its location as a replacement for the real world Polo Towers. The alpha territory's edge is the crossing of Tropicana and Las Vegas, which means it consists of an area that is likely a rough circle with a radius from their base of operations, The Olympus, to that crossing.

## References

Shay Hatten, Zack Snyder, Joby Harold (writers) & Zack Snyder (director) (May 14, 2021). *Army of the Dead*.