Germany, Berlin, Potsdamer Square
She absolutely hated the cold.
As Lieutenant Clarissa Harfouch stepped out of her tiny apartment at the Potsdamer Square, she immediately regretted her choice of not wearing an extra scarf. To her luck the headquarters of the german military-special-unit "Schwarzer Hase", to which she was underway, were located on the opposite side of the Potsdamer Square, so she didn't had to bother with the cold for too long.
While walking she looked up, hoping to see a piece of sun in the sky.
Much to her disappointment, all she could see where black clouds and falling snowflakes. Since yesterday, the snow was falling and had created a remarkable layer of snow. Most of the traffic was jammed and the city cleaners had to work extra shifts to clear it all up.
The dark-blue-haired woman sighed in relief as she entered the warm lobby of the Angela-Merkel-Skyscraper and took out her ID.
All employees, which worked in the building were in possession of a duty-ID. It was the only way to reach the floor, they were working on, because the building had no staircase.
This was meant to prevent any intruders from entering the office floors and stealing data from the companies or their employees. She waited until an empty elevator arrived. She quickly slipped in and let her ID glide over the sensor. The doors suddenly locked themselves and another floor appeared on the digital display. She touched the button which lead to the floor and felt how the elevator started moving. The Elevator went downward into the headquarters of "Schwarzer Hase".
When Clarissa arrived, she was greeted as usual by her comrades.
The unit consisted exclusively of women, all of which were wearing a black eyepatch covering their left eye. This was because their eyes featured an integrated miniature version of the Hyper-Sensor-Package, a system designed to heavily boost the human sensory system. The left eye of a person that was undergoing the process of receiving the HSP was removed and replaced by an artificial eye which, for some reason, was only available in yellow color.
Because of this, the members of "Schwarzer Hase" were forced to wear eyepatches in every place they went to prevent detection by anyone who might want to use them against the government. Clarissa was ripped from her thoughts when she arrived at the OPS of the headquarters. She was greeted loud and not to ignore by the crew members that were already present.
"Lieutenant, Sir. You are late." The somehow childish voice came from Sargent Maia, her second-in-command." Laughingly Clarissa replied: "It´s good to see you too, Sargent. Anyone missing?" "Commander Bodewig is still at the IS Academy in Japan, but everyone else is present, Sir." "Allright, then let´s begin with the daily schedule."
In fact, Clarissa herself was only the second-in-command of the unit, but the acting commander, Laura Bodewig, left the country a few months ago with the purpose of attending the IS Academy in Japan, the only one of its kind worldwide. She called Clarissa only one time, with the purpose of getting advice about Japanese swimsuit trends. Until then, none of the members of "Schwarzer Hase" had received any personal message from Laura, but they were able to keep track of the events in the IS Academy via News.
On this way they had found out, that Laura´s personal IS featured an integrated Valkyrie Trace System.
This system was meant to increase the strength of its user during the battle, by mimicking the tactics of the winners of the Mondo Grosso Tournament. However, the system was prohibited due to various reasons including the pilot´s safety. Every member had watched it´s activation and rampage through the IS Academy with horror.
Luckily the IS of Laura was defeated by Ichika Orimura, a first-year student at IS Academy and the only male in the world who was able to pilot an IS. Clarissa herself had developed a deep admiration for him and was curios to meet him. But those thoughts didn´t kept her from doing her work, which was to run military simulations and weapon tests. Although "Schwarzer Hase" was a unit to be deployed in military conflicts, they were used as Weapons Research Department in peaceful times.
Their work was boring and they began to talk about everything that made its way into their head. It was until the alarm suddenly went off, making everyone in the room flinch. Clarissa immediately set up a link to the guards but none of them responded.
When she had a look into the surveillance cameras, all she could see was white. Suddenly a loud voice came from her communicator: "Hello is anyone there? This is the Gate Guard. We´re under attack by unknown attackers. They have already breached into the main testing area and we´re in desperate need for backup."
Clarissa immediately pressed the button to make a facility-wide announcement: "This is Clarissa Harfouch. All security forces move to the main testing area, I repeat all units move to the main testing area."
She told Maia to activate the security drones. On the screen could then be seen how the drones swarmed the main testing facility and immediately began raining fire upon the attackers. Unfortunately, a loose shot hit the camera and once again she only saw white.
"Everyone, we cannot just watch while our facility is being torn apart. The mobilization will take some time so let´s grab some guns and give `em hell." The armory was only a few doors away, so they were equipped in next to no time.
Clarissa had chosen an HK866 Assault Rifle, Maia was equipped with an DSR-3 Sniper Rifle and the rest of the team chose the HK242 to provide covering fire.
As soon as they entered the main testing facility alongside their reinforcements they were greeted by a bullet, which only missed Clarissa´s chest for centimeters and instead hit Maia in the leg. She cried out in pain and sunk to her knees trying to stop the bleeding on her leg. Clarissa took cover behind a stacked layer of destroyed drones while the rest of her team moved to the other side of the room where they were harder to hit but in return, didn´t had great field of shot. Clarissa could only hear Maia groaning in pain.
At this moment she began to feel an indescribably rage that made up its way her throat. She dropped out of her cover and let a scream filled with hatred through the air. The first intruder that came into her field of sight was immediately shot down and as other members of the unit heard that scream they knew it was their time to fight. As she made her way to the scattered front units she encountered more and more of the intruders. They were all dressed in a complete white soldier garniture and every one of them had a red star sticking on their vest. They all seemed to speak Russian and were highly trained in armed and unarmed combat, due to the many corpses an injured lying around. Most of them had bullet wounds but a remarkable number were also featuring injuries caused by knifes and fists. As she reached the outermost foothold she immediately demanded a situation report. To her surprise the person that felt spoken to most, was none other than her intelligence officer, Emilie. "The enemy has taken us by surprise. We are still busy with fortifying our covers and patch up the injured. The attackers seem to be highly trained mercenaries, I´ll have to gather some Intel later." "You know anything about that red star on their chests?" "If I wasn't under constant fire I would be able to find out something." "I´m gonna take your position. Just go and do what you do best." "Yes, Sir."
Emilie immediately bended down to her knees and opened her chest pocket, taking out her cellphone. Clarissa meanwhile took aim for the head of the next mercenary stupid enough to take a look over his cover. A few loud bangs later the man went down. From the opposite side of the room she could hear the Russians swear loud as hell. She couldn't speak Russian but there were enough words she could understand without having taken language lessons. Probably that was what saved her live as she heard one of the men scream: "Ostorozhno, grenada." She didn't understand the first part but as she heard the second word she got up in a matter of nanoseconds. Before the grenade-thrower could slip back into his cover his head was perforated with bullets. To her despair she noticed a shiny object flying through the air. But before it could reach the ground it was shot down and exploded, making only little fragments hit the ground.
Clarissa turned into the direction the shot came from and saw Maia lying on a wall-like layer of destroyed drones. Talking of drones, Clarissa noticed, that the drones had been wiped from the sky only in a matter of minutes.
It made the situation look worse than it already was.
If those mercenaries were able to deal with a number of drones this large and still be able to resist them in a remarkable manner, they were screwed. Suddenly she had an Idea: she herself was in possession of a personal IS "Schwarzer Zweig". She slapped herself mentally several times, for not having this Idea earlier and activated her IS. She was well aware of the destruction this battle would cause, but it was nothing in comparison to what would happen if the facility fell into the hands of the mercenaries.
As she rose up in the air she could see the shocked expression on the mercenaries´ faces which put a little smile on her face. She accelerated to attack speed and made her way through the hall to aid her struggling comrades. The mercenaries were no match, as most of them just tried to shoot her as soon as they noticed her.
It wasn't long until she returned to the now stabilized front lines. Three mercenaries were still holding out and as soon as they noticed her, tried to shoot her which, of course, was no match for her IS.
Suddenly their commanding officer shouted at them in accentless German: "Get the AISC! Quickly!" The two mercenaries ran off to the exit of the facility but Clarissa was able to grab one at his leg before he was able to enter the corridor.
She lifted him up and shook him making him lose his weapon. Then she shouted: "Who the hell are you? Why are you attacking us?" The mercenary just replied laughingly: "Looks like intelligence failed us once again."
"Wha- What do you mean by that?"
"Isn´t "Schwarzer Hase" supposed to be a special unit consisting of the best fighters the German military has to offer."
"We do consist of the best. And for comparison, we can pilot IS, you cannot."
"You may have a point but where I come from special units are not only good at fighting but also at developing tactics and strategies."
"As you can see we developed a very good tactic to decimate your troops, so what are you trying to say?"
"I know, I know but"
"What but?" She shouted.
"You forgot one of the most important combat rules: Always watch your back while interrogating enemies in the field." He replied calmly.
With that said he took out an EMP-grenade and slammed it into her IS´s arm. The grenade went of nanoseconds later making her loose her grip in the soldier which then laughingly ran away into the corridor. She tried to shoot him but was distracted by a clang on her back. She turned around only to see the laughing mercenary commander, holding a grenade launcher in his hands. The following explosion threw her down to the ground. As she stood up she was filled with anger and hatred once more. She got into the air chasing directly after the mercenary. He just laughed und moments before she reached him he jumped up a solid ten meters into the air.
She could just gaze at him before crashing into a layer of drones which then fell down covering her whole body.
As she struggled to stand up the mercenary walked over to her and said: "This is why I hate girls like you. You are impulsive and overlook the important things. If you don't want to lose your honor among your comrades and superiors you better fight me well next time. I´m gonna wait for you at the corridor."
He walked away and sat down at the wall next to the exit corridor but still in Clarissa´s field of sight. He took of his full-face-covering combat helmet, which revealed a white balaclava beneath it.
The little part of his face that she could see through the balaclava was covered in sweat and the boy was heavily breathing. It was clear that this fight did exhaust him.
She lied there for a time until she felt the weight on her shoulders being lifted slowly. She looked around only to be surprised by Emilie and Maia using Zero-G-Generators to make the scrapped drones hover off her back.
At the same time two other SH-members slipped out of their covers, their weapons pointed at the boy. He slowly raised his hands and stood up. When he was escorted into front of Clarissa she took a closer look at him.
She couldn´t see anything usefull in his face shrouded except for an eyepatch that covered his left eye.
"I´m going to ask one last time before I´ll slap you with my IS. Who are you and why are you attacking us?"
"I´m going to tell you as soon as you defeat me." He replied chuckling. "I even might tell you why this operation is more important to me than to my superiors. Besides if you slap me I´m more likely to get knocked out which will reduce your chance of getting information to zero."
Clarissa frowned at him and nodded at her comrades. The two other SH-Members lost their grip on the boy. He put on his combat helmet and shifted into a battle pose.
That sudden rise of aggression put a little smile on her face: "Pretty big words for someone who´s about to get beat up. I hope you know the rules. 1vs1, no one interferes until the battle is over. The battle ends if one of the combatants is unable to continue in an orderly manner. Everything is allowed to be used in the battle in order to disable your opponent."
"Sounds good to me."
"Then let´s go."
She immediately charged at him. He acted exactly how she predicted by jumping up into the air. She ignited a jump boost to follow him into the air and tried to grab his leg. However, he seemed to have foreseen this and turned himself making her grab another EMP-grenade instead of his leg. As he began to fall back down the grenade went off in her hand making her flinch for a second. Before she could get back into her battle stance she crashed against the ceiling of the main testing facility.
At this moment she had an idea. She closed her eyes to make it look like she was unconscious. She could still her the bleeping of her altimeter. Shortly before it went off into a constant bleep she ripped off her eyepatch. Now everything around, her went really slow. She turned her head several times and as she finally catched sight of the mercenary she thrusted forward catching him by surprise.
She hit him with the back of her hand and he was sent flying through the air. He crashed against the wall and hit the ground near the exit corridor. Clarissa watched him trying to get up for a while. As he was unable to do so he began crawling in the direction of the exit but Clarissa jumped right in front of him. "What about your promise, boy?" He just began laughing. "Do you really think I would betray my comrades?" "You really are a strange person. In case you didn't notice: Most of your comrades are dead and the last two have abandoned you."
"It was all part of our plan." He replied "Besides how many corpses do you see lying around here?"
Clarissa took a few glimpses around.
He was right. Most of the corpses she could see were members of "Schwarzer Hase" and only one seemed to be a mercenary. "If that's so, then even more comrades have abandoned you."
"Actually they´re all standing behind that blast door." He pointed at the corridor blast door. He pressed a button at his wrist and shouted: "Fire the AISC. Now." Clarissa suddenly was wrapped in a light a then everything went black.
As she opened her eyes she was lying in a corner of the OPS. She tried to move but noticed that her hands were tied behind her back. She took another look around and noticed Maia and Emilie lying around, both unconscious. She also noticed two mercenaries standing at the entrance of the OPS.
As she tried to move one of the mercenaries took out his communicator. "Sir, this is OPS-G-1. It seems one of the commanders has woken up. I thought you might want to talk to her." "Excellent, I´m going to be here in a few minutes. Make sure she doesn't hurt anyone." "Yes Sir."
A few minutes went by and then the door opened and the mercenary commander she had fought with earlier came in. He was sitting in a wheelchair and was pushed by another mercenary. He stopped a few meters from Clarissa. He then stepped out of the wheelchair, made a few more steps into her direction and then laid down on his back.
"Bring that wheelchair back to where we got it from."
The other mercenary nodded and collapsed the wheelchair. He then left the room. The mercenary commander looked at Clarissa and said: "Now you can ask me anything you want."
"That's good. Because I´ve got a ton of questions. First off: Why don't you just sit in your wheelchair and why do you even need it?"
"I needed that wheelchair because you broke two of my dorsal vertebras when throwing me against that wall. Second: That Wheelchair was stolen from a pensioner not far from here. It´d be a shame if she didn´t got it back wouldn´t it? But I think you have much more important questions."
"Who the hell are you?"
"Isn´t that obvious. See this?" He pointed at the red star on his vest. "It seems although Germany is an advanced country news are still spreading at medieval speed."
He laughed. "But let me tell you a little story. A few days ago, there was a bank robbery in Frankfurt. The attackers were well equipped and took several hostages. The police couldn't reach anything through negotiations so the send an SEK. The SEK was completely wiped out but the attackers did not kill any hostages and kept demanding for an escape vehicle. The police made another attempt of rescuing the hostages by sending the GSG9. It was a fight indeed, but the GSG9 had to retread after too many casualties. In the end the situation was solved by sending in an Police-IS. But the attackers seemed to be a very heavy obstacle even for an IS. Mostly because some of them were able to jump up ten meters in the air and land again without any injuries."
He made a break only to be interrupted by Clarissa. "That means you have participated in that robbery."
He looked at her with an expression of played impression. "You catch on more quickly than expected. Yes, I did participate in that robbery. But let me finish first. Well, the robbery ended with the attackers retreating in an amphibious tank which suddenly crashed through a wall and several million euros. There were minimal casualties on the side of the mercenaries. Although they all seemed to be from different countries they had one thing in common."
"The Red Star." She interrupted him once again.
He smiled at her. "You´re right and now that this topic is finished you can guess what happens in all major cities of Germany at this point."
She was shocked at the next moment. "Oh, no." She whispered almost impossible to hear.
"Oh yes." He replied laughingly. "Wha- What´s the meaning of this?"
He began to laugh once. "I thought this was obvious. Germany is getting annexed and no one knows it."
"Just wait you little …. As soon as Commander Bodewig hears of this she will come and beat you."
At that, the boy only continued laughing.
"You´re a funny one. Let me tell you one thing: Before it comes that far, I´ll deal with her myself."