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Tuesday
November 5th
2018
Berlin
The hall was aburst with bureaucracy and stagnation. Ministers stood up speaking much longer than possible and saying nothing at all. Tom Hans sat in his assigned wooden chair listening to this mindless dribble. Surely he could serve his small province of Ukraine in a better way than this. In fact, the only reason he ended up in this poor excuse for an “effective government” was that his friend was simply too sick to come. He normally would have refused but she had called in the time she saved his life during the battle of Kursk and here he was.
The bureaucracy of the Reichstag has only gotten worse ever since the third Weltkrieg ended as it stood over a ruined nation. Ministers debated which cities would be repaired first and what to do with the spoils of war. There were those in the Reichstag that believed that the punishment of the nations of the Warsaw Pact was simply too harsh and unnecessary. Tom could somewhat agree with them as simply the dismantling of China and Russia had gone too far as the nations were a shell of their former selves but that did not mean that the Reichstag should hastily shun away the spoils of war Germany had received. Riches and industry had been reclaimed by the Kaiserreich and more importantly, the nations of the Baltic and Eastern Europe had been once more brought under the Kaiserreichs influence. So much so that now they were more or less considered a Reichskommissariat and were allowed seats in the Reichstag. That was how Tom was here today having to listen to this babbling bureaucracy and wanting to put a bullet through his brain.
Suddenly the vice chancellor of the Reichstag entered the room and stood on the podium where the Head chancellor of the Reichstag was supposed to be. There we whispering mutters coming from the crowd of ministers but they were silent when the Vice-chancellor spoke. The vice-chancellor was a small man by comparison with the ministers, many of which were veterans of the recent Weltkrieg, but now he spoke in a booming voice. “Misters and misses of the Reichstag, you may be wondering why I stand on my college, Bismarck, podium of speech. Well, don’t worry. Just an hour ago the Head chancellor was involved in a car accident.”
The last sentence sent the Reichstag in a fury of confusing mutters and barely masked panic. Tom stood up among the crowd and asked the man next to him, the representative of Manchuria, what he thought was going to happen. But before he could reply the Vice-chancellor shouted “Ladies and Gentlemen please calm down. We are after all in the center of the government.”
Some in the crowd became silent but there were still many more that had either not heard or heeded the vice chancellor words.
“Quiet down or I will dismiss today’s session!”
This statement caused the entire hall to be silent. The vice chancellor continued. “Don’t worry for Bismarck is not hurt. There was a drunk driver that wasn’t looking at the lights and hit Bismarck’s car. Still, do not fret for the drunk driver is unhurt and Bismarck’s simply has broken his right leg. Trust me he wanted to attend this session himself but I insisted that he rest, Anyway I declare today, November the fifth, session to begin. Today we are discussing…”
The vice chancellor shuffled through some papers on the desk. Presumably left by the Head chancellor. Finally, the vice chancellor found what he was looking for.
“The anti-communist Bill.”
Tom ears perked and he was now giving this mindless bureaucracy his full attention.
Mary Mainstein cocked the rifle in her had and checked her magazines that were on her chest. Five other men and women stood at her wings decked out with armor and weapons. Their faces were covered with gas masks and their hands held the heaviest of weapons. On their shoulders and right breast the insignia of a screaming eagle with a snake of evil In Its beak with its right claw holding a sword and another a balancing scale. Below all this stood the proud words “The Berlin Police department” and below that stood the motto “Protecting the innocent and protecting the guilty”. The motto was strange but it held the main precepts of the German officer code “Protect the innocent and the guilty for they are people we have sworn to protect”. This time however Alpha squad was punishing the evil.
“Why should this bill pass? Because even with our defeat of the Warsaw Pact many members of the party are missing and are dangerous…”
“I’m gonna have to interrupt this. I agree with you that communism and the party members are dangerous but that does not mean that we should give the right to the intelligence services to spy on German citizens simply because on a whim that they might have commie sympathy.”
“Simply said the…”
Alpha squad walked down the dank and musty tunnel making sure not to touch the rails. They had been walking or sometimes ever since they left the platform but the target was just around the corner. Alpha leader, Mary, heard her radio squawk and crackle before a male voice came through:
“Alpha lead the target is just behind that corner.” The man said with a gruff voice that sounded distorted and frustrated. “Remember opfor is extremely dangerous and determined to proceed with caution. Remember the mission objective… kill all opfor and defuse the bomb. If you cannot diffuse than secure the area and wait for the disarming team.”
Mary grunted her approval and turned to her squad to speak, “Opfor is just around the corner. Remember we are facing a highly determined enemy so proceed with caution.”
“How are we supposed to prepare for an opfor we know nothing about it.” One of the younger members, alpha one, asked. “In fact what the hell are we doing. All we know is that some damn detached monorail car was located in an unfinished station just above the Reichstag and that we’re supposed to shoot up anyone inside.”
“Alpha one cut the chatter and no I don’t know why the hell we are here. For all, I know we could be fighting damm squid dog things. All I know is that there is opfor around the corner armed with firearms. In fact, you should also know cause Agent Motti gave us all the same briefings. Take point one.”
Alpha one gave a long sigh and Mary swore that he was showing her the finger underneath his glove. He “hugged” the wall and peeked around the corner. Only his helmet was visible and anyway the tunnel was nearly pitch dark.
“Your intelligence was right Motti. The cart is… at most 7 meters from us and I count at least four opfor in the cart. None outside.” Alpha one told Alpha squad And over the radio. He shifted nervously readying himself for what was to come. “Orders?”
“Exterminate with extreme prejudice,” Motti said coldly. Even though Motti was on the other side of the tunnel and speaking over the radio Alpha squad could feel his ruthlessness.
Tom was now wishing that he hadn’t accepted that extra glass of water at the restaurant during lunch. It was his fault for trying spicy Indian food for the first time and drinking a liter of water just before the session. Now he really needed to go so he simply flipped the card on his table that read: “Urgent business.” And walked out the hall. Tom dashed to the toilet unbuckling his pants as he entered the toilet. The problem was there were no urinals and there was a lady putting up lipstick near a mirror. This was starting to be even worse than when he fought in Volgograd.
Leonard sighed as the makeup artist put the final touches on his face. In his ear, the reporter of Central European News spoke to her audience. Leoperd tuned her out for a moment and looked behind him. The sun was setting behind the Reichstag and the street lamps had just switched on. Vendors and tourists now began to vacate the main gate. The guards secretly sighed as finally, those annoying hordes of hecklers had finally stopped taking selfies with them. Even with everyone leaving and dark clouds overhead the guards stood ever still. Leoperd was snapped out of it when the cameraman began to count down from ten. Leoperd sighed once more and took a deep breath.
The cart was alit with sparks and screams. The bullets of Alpha squad smashed through the thin walls and then smashing into exposed skin. Blood spurted all over as jugulars were cut and a man's heart was smashed apart. The men in the cart didn’t last long against the heavy weapons of Alpha squad and no more sound came from within.
“The Reich ministers have just entered the Reichstag and are currently debating about the new anti-communist bill. The bill has met significant opposition as many call its legalization of intelligence gathering on suspected German communist sympathizers as “Orwellian” and “not needed” ever since the dismantling of the Warsaw Pact during the most recent Weltkrieg. Those for the bill say that the number of communist party members unaccounted for after the fall of the Soviets could still pose a high danger level. Many political advisers here at RCN have said that the bill is too close to call.”
Alpha one was the first one in and saw a horror show. Men lay in different positions with their blood covering the walls of the cart and their blood pooling on the floor. It seemed that many had taken dozens of rounds before falling to Alpha squad. Alpha one looked at the face of the man slouched over in one of the seats. He saw the mans face contorted with fear and pain.
“We did what we had to do.” Alpha six patted him on the shoulder as she spoke.
“At what cost?.” Alpha One replied before sticking his face out of one of the broken windows and expelling his lunch.
Tom managed to get out of the ladies room but not before he had gotten her number. As Tom relieved himself, of course in the men’s bathroom, he realized maybe today wasn’t so bad after all. He could now hear the mummers of the Reichstag through the walls and rolled his eyes. Surely he had not fought in the most brutal battles during the Third Weltkreig for this shit. He had survived Volgograd, Moscow, and fucking Kursk but this… this… fucking this… was what was going to kill him.
“Yes, that’s right Leoperd. he unprecedented event of the main conservative and liberal parties uniting under the banner of opposition this bill will significantly diminish the chance of it passing. However with many higher-ups campaigning for this bill the “for side” has received significant support.”Leoperd heard the reporter say over his earpiece and hummed the day away. “Prime minister Angela Merkel has remained neutral on this subject but the Kaiserin has voiced her unofficial support in passing the bill. It is likely however that this session will declare the bill inconclusive.”
The alpha squad had searched the compartment for a dozen minutes yet could not find what they were looking.
“Motti! The detonator isn’t here.” Frustrated, Mary had opened comms with HQ. “Either it isn’t here or it never existed in the first place.”
“Negative. The intelligence agent Karen Schmidt gave me assures me it is here. And no, I’m not telling you how she got that. Search the compartment again.”
“Fine but in my opinion, this is a wild goose chase.” Mary’s tone was now one of impatience and anger.
“Your opinion is not warranted Alpha lead. Obey orders. Sending another’s squad in.”
Motti sat down onto the uncomfortable metal foldable chair. He wondered to himself that perhaps the intelligence he had given was wrong. But Karen had said that it was true so Motti, like the love-struck idiot he was, took it as the gospel truth. Motti now could see what an idiot he had been believing her word but she was a credible agent. But what if she was wrong? Perhaps it had, as alpha six had said, been a wild goose chases and he had diverted Berlin police resources for nothing. If he was wrong he was sure in for a good talking down by the director and a demotion. Good I hope I’m not wrong Motti thought and sure enough he wasn’t.
Mary sighed in frustration as Motti ordered them to search the compartment again. Alpha squad was now stripping the bodies to their underwear looking for the device Motti wanted. Mary sat down on the seats on the side of the cart and rubbed the bridge of the nose.
This was obviously a wild goose chase and yet Motti, the bastard, wanted to search for the goose. She could be doing better things than being called away during the work mandated vacation. In fact, she was now supposed to be in the mountains of Transylvania with her fiancé smelling the pine cones and sitting by a roaring fireside. God… what was her fiancé, Michelle, going to saw this time.
“You work too much”, “You always come home late”, “It’s so dangerous”, and “come to bed”. Actually, Mart didn’t mind the last part but she was getting impatient. She was about to open comms again when she noticed that the seat she was sitting on felt lumpy. She bent down and lifted it up.
“Everyone out...NOW.”
Motti was starting to drown into a sea of despair as he imagined having to be a damn coffee boy just when he was starting to climb the ranks until the radio squawked once more.
“Ah, have you found it yet Alpha lead? Told you I was right.” His voice dripped with such arrogance and smugness it would make however heard it want to bash his head in with a golf ball and pour a jar of piss down his throat.
“No! You son of a bitch.” Mary’s rudeness shocked Motti so much that he almost fell out his chair and everyone in the train station turning their heads to him. His face turned red as he straightened his tie and gave a glare to the officers around him that meant to get back to work, this never happened.
“Alpha lead please refrain from such rude… words to a man that can destroy your career.”
“Shut the fuck up Motti!”
“I’m… sorry?”
“You were damn wrong!” Mary’s voice once more turned the heads of everyone in the control center.
“The detonator isn’t there?” Motti was now nervous. He pictured himself now as the office’s janitor.
“No. The whole damn cart is about to detonate.”
“What do you mean!” Motti now stood up and the whole command center had stopped their work and now listened.
“You were wrong! The Whole damn cart is filled with explosives.”
“Wait! I sent another squad in. They have experience with dealing in explosives.”
“I know. We just passed the squad.” This time the voice wasn’t over the radio but coming from the end of the platform as Alpha squad could be seen dashing down the tunnel.
Howard looked at the bundle of wires in front of him. There was a clock in the center of the bundle that was counting down from one and a half minutes. Sweat poured down his forehead entering his eyes causing him to blink more than often. He and Gorge had just passed Alpha squad and told them to run to HQ and tell them to evacuate the Reichstag. At first Alpha, lead was confused as they were deep underground in a train station that never reached the surface until Howard had pointed up to to a large ventilation shaft. The last piece of the puzzle was filled in her mind when Howard told her that the Reichstag shared the same ventilation system.
Now was now or never. Howard has examined every inch of this device and noticed that all wires lead to a transmitter on the roof. He followed the wires back into the cart and found the main switch to the transmitter. Smiling he grabbed his wire cutters and…
“Oh god, no,” Howard muttered drawing George’s attention.
“What is it?”
“There’s a camera here.” Howard pointed to a fist eye leans embedded right next to the transmitter. Suddenly the clock ticked down from thirty seconds to…
…Zero seconds.
Tom had just barely walked out the stall when he heard the painful wailing sound of a klaxon fill the hallway. Tom knew what it meant and his leather shoes dug into the carpeted floor and launched into the air. He dashed down the hallway and turned left. HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON was Tom’s only concrete thought in a wave of instincts he had gotten during the third Weltkreig. As he turned the corner he saw an open window and thought I’m only on the first floor. But as he about to do possibly the most stupid thing ever the woman from the bathroom, who Tom had gotten her number from… god, he was getting too old at this, with a confused look. Tom dashed back and grabbed her hand dragging her along as he crashed through the window.
“I’m sorry sir but WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT.” The girl said brushing glass off her shoulder and climbing out of the bush they landed in. She stared intensely at Tom who was struggling to climb out of the bush and was about p ask for her number back when he finally emerged from the bush and grabbed her wrist.
“No time to explain.” Tom now dragged the girl as they dashed along the green pastures of the Reichstag’s front yard. He looked to the entrance way but could see only a few people trickling out. “You hear that? That’s the alarm to evacuated the Reichstag as soon as possible. Normally they used it back during the Weltkrieg when the Soviets began to shell us. Yours truly fought here.”
“You fought in Berlin?” They had now reached the gate and the guards let them through. They finally reached the sidewalk and Tom was struggling to breathe. He was a veteran of Kursk and he couldn’t dash thirty meters without having a near heart attack… he really was getting old. Tom was about to Reply when a terrible sound filled the air and the ground shook.
Howard’s last thought before he ceased to exist was I wish I could have seen her one last time.
George didn’t have time to think any last words before he was engulfed in flames.
Mary’s feet had just barely touched the second flight of stairs before she heard a terrible roaring sound from below. She kept running even as the ground shook and crumbled before her feet. She could now see the black sky of the night but she could also feel a searing heat on her back. She barely made it out into the cold December night before a tongue of flame licked her back and set it alight.
Victoria had just watched the grandfather clock in the corner of the study room turn to 6:31 and was about to leave her desk. She had a date and not even work was going to ruin it. They had booked a wonderful date at the Gazzebo and maybe spend the night in a hotel room. Apples or strawberries she thought as what to use for… whatever! it would come to her later. Victoria had switched off the lights leaving the room in a near pitch darkness and her hands had barely touched the door when she heard a distant sound. It was like that of a loud cracking noise and she swore the ground beneath her shook. The pitch black room was now gently alight and Victoria turned back to see a terrible fireball where the Reichstag should have been. Her instincts from the third Weltkrieg told her to dive for cover and draw the pistol at her belt but she restrained herself. She stood in shock for god knows how long before she walked over to the desk and grabbed the old fashioned dial phone. She heard the fail tone for only a second before it was picked up.
“Yes, your majesty; I have seen what just happened. I am sending a pair of guards to your study. Hold tight.” The phone went silent and Victoria dialed another number.
"Yes, dear; I am afraid we have to cancel tonight. I need you in the war room as soon as possible," with that, she put down the phone and looked again, in horror, at the dissipating fireball in the center of the German Empire.
Mary felt the heat on her back barely diving to the ground as unbearable heat flowed in the cold night sky above her. It felt like it lasted for an eternity and when it ended she found herself covered in soot. Two firm hands grabbed her shoulders and began to drag her on the flagstones of the sidewalk.
“That was too close Alpha lead.” Motti’s voice was not that of determination and firmness but now was that a terrified child “Thank god we evacuated everyone in time.”
“Not Martha. She was still packing equipment when I ran.” Mary’s voice was dry and she felt terrible. But as she finished her sentence a figure emerged from the soot. Mary’s hope raised but was crushed when the figure that emerged was a husk of its former self. Its clothes were nothing more smothering strips of clothes and the once place skin was covered in blood and was cracked everywhere. “Martha” outstretched her hand at them before collapsing onto her knees. Her cracked and burnt lungs contracted and expanded one last time before she collapsed.
“Oh god…” Mary had seen bodies riddled with bullets and dunked in acid but this drove her to the edge. She was no longer the grand and well-renowned captain of Alpha squad but a slobbering weeping child.
“Let’s get you out of here.” Motti was about to continue to drag Mary away from this horror but a terrible sound filled the air. It sounded like a dragon roaring and a bright pillar of flame filled the night sky. Motti was now terrified and could barely mumble out the words: “That was the Reichstag.”
“Any minute now the Ministers will be putting forth their…” Lepord was interrupted by a terrible noise. It sounded like a huge beast crushing away at a bus and the ground shook violently. Lepord looked back just in time to see the Reichstag windows burst into shards and the famous glass ceiling explode to reveal fiery tentacles of flames. Even though he was over a block away he could feel the heat of the searing flames now pouring out from every orifice. Then just a moment latter Lepord witnessed a hundred years of history and explode and collapse. Bricks were everywhere as the window above Lepord shattered as a burning body was thrown through. Dust was everywhere and made it difficult to breathe. The crew ducked into one of the buildings and that was when Lepord noticed one of the crew's mouth moving yet he could hear nothing. He put his hand up to his ear to find it wet and he could smell the metallic scent of blood. He explored further to find an object embedded in his head that felt cold. He started to stagger back and leaned on the wall as one of the crew members was ripping apart clothes to make bandages. The corners of his vision began to grow hazier as he slowly slumped down the wall. The last thing he saw was the melting bronze statue of Otto von Bismarck, the founder of Germany, cry it’s final tears of molten metal before the Reichstag crumbled, even more, obscuring the figure in the dust.
