Since I created crossover stories with the Avengers, I thought it was time for the Strike Witches to have a crossover with the Justice League. Cue the Justice League animated series opener!
I do not own Strike Witches or the Justice league franchise
"How long until we get that portal up?" A worried Superman asked Batman, who was typing in some coordinates and putting the final touches to the computer
"Just about… there." He answered as the dimensional portal located in the Batcave powered up. Seconds later, a dimensional hole opened with a mild wind pulling things in, but it was not strong enough to suck large objects in.
"I managed to analyze time distortion residue left behind and managed to punch in the coordinates to where the Atomic Skull should have appeared." Batman informed Clark. "Once you find him, use this to open up a return portal back to our dimension." Batman explained while handing Superman the return controller. It had an egg-shape to it with multiple button, but Superman was able to identify the "Return Home" button as that button was red and the largest, which was located in the center of the remote. He took it from Batman and placed it in one of his yellow belt pocket around his waist.
"How do you think the Atomic Skull was able to transport himself between dimensions?" Superman questioned.
"I doubt Skull has the intellect and ingenuity to create a dimensional portal. Judging by the fact he teleported during your battle with him may suggest that somebody else is behind this." Batman hypothesized. Superman then proceeded towards the portal, readying himself for interdimensional travel. This was the first time he has done this in a while. In fact, he doesn't remember how many times he has traveled to different dimensions, but something about this trip made him uneasy. It almost felt like there was a sudden feeling to this entire situation that made him think that him traveling to the specified dimension will not be the last time, but that was just a hunch. Right now, he has to drag the Atomic Skull back to this dimension, then he will share his concerns with Batman.
"You think Skull will come quietly?" Superman started.
"This is not the time to be a comedian, Clark." Batman responded.
"Yeah, I thought so too." He finished expecting him to answer in that fashion. He flew up off the ground a few centimeters before he dived right into the portal. The portal then deactivated. It was up to Superman now to take down Atomic Skull. Batman looked over to the digital clock on his computer, and it said nine p.m., which meant it was time for him to get to work.
"Alright everyone, Dinner is ready." Yoshika announced as every member of the 501st who were already seated at the table waiting for the food.
"It is about time." Perrine retorted in a displeased tone.
"Yeah! Food! What did you make this time, Yoshika?" Lucchini asked in a hyper voice as she has been starving since two o'clock.
"Oh. It's a Fusonian cuisine: Miso soup with sashimi and cook rice." She responded. Lucchini's eyes beamed as she heard her answer. Fusonian foods, in her opinion were always the best if Yoshika and Lynne were the ones who made it. Not everybody was as pleased as Lucchini as Perrine frowned a little as she doesn't like Fuso foods that much. She still remembers the awful taste of the food Yoshika made last time. If she really focuses, she can kind of taste the awful food. It began to turn her stomach. One by one, Yoshika and Lynne handed out the plates and bowls of food to everyone starting with the Wing Commander. Once everybody got their food, some waited for Yoshika and Lynne to return so they could eat with them, but others, like Lucchini, immediately started in on their food the moment they got it. It was currently 5 p.m. when dinner started. These last three days were peaceful as the Neuroi have not made an attempt to cross the Britannish Channel. Everybody at the base was very excited that no Neuroi were coming as they took this allotted time to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet gifted to them. Everybody did their own things: Minna was able to catch up on some paperwork. Sakamoto placed Yoshika, Lynne, and Perrine into training. Shirley worked on her Striker while Lucchini watched. Eila and Sanya were able to spend some time together during the later hours. Hartmann was able to sleep her time away much to Barkhorn's disapproval. Everybody was enjoying their time; however, the only person who had some creeping suspicions with this was Barkhorn. The lack of urgency during this time was lacking. The witches and personnel here should be at least alert and ready at a moment's notice, but the lack of urgency not demonstrated during this time caused discomfort for the strict Karlsland Witch. In her opinion, she thinks that they have gotten a bit careless seeing that the enemy is right across the channel. Her train of thought was soon interrupted by her wingman.
"Boy, these past couple of days have been sweet. Without any Neuroi around, I could just sleep my days away." Erica stated as she let out a yawn.
"No you won't. As a Karlsland soldier, you have the obligation to always be prepared. Karlsland soldiers do not waste their time with unneeded sleep." Barkhorn corrected Hartmann. "Just because the Neuroi haven't attacked for a few days doesn't mean we should take it easy. We must always be prepared." At this point, Hartmann blocked out her ideas and continued eating her dinner. This caused her to become angry. Right before she was going to lash out at Hartmann about discipline, somebody else contributed to the conversation.
"Your right, Trude." Minna joined in. "We should always be ready for we never know when the Neuroi might come, but days like this where we get a break from battle doesn't come around that often. You should try to use this time to relax a bit; a luxury like this shouldn't go to waste, wouldn't you agree." Minna suggested. Barkhorn hesitated to answer. She did have a point; times like this are a rare occurrence, but being in a state of relaxation while on the front line is not desirable to her. Hartmann is one example as to what a time like this would do to soldiers, but even before, she was always like that. Maybe is was just that she, herself, doesn't know every well how to relax during a time like this. Taking a deep breath and releasing it, she came to an understanding.
"Very well, Minna." She reconciled.
"Good, after dinner, why don't you try and take a long bath?" She suggested. Barkhorn hesitated but eventually nodded to her suggestion.
Everything was now right again, and everybody did enjoy their food while they talked to watch other. The sense of peace right here at the table was uplifting to them. But that sense of peace would quickly vanish as the harsh sounds of gunfire echoed throughout the halls and dining room. Everybody suddenly became alert as they did not expect for gunfire to go off. Minna gets on her earpiece to establish communications while Sakamoto, Barkhorn, and Shirley arose from their seats while the rest stayed seated as they didn't know what to do at a time like this.
"This is Wing Commander Wilcke. What is going on out there?" she demanded. There was static before multiple response came through to her.
"What is that?!" one person responded.
"I don't know, keep firing!"
"Nothing working!" another shouted though communications
"Gavin, Noooo!"
The signal cuts off. Sanya herself was using her magic antennas, but got the same result as Minna. Before Minna could issue out any orders, the door located to the left of the dining room creaked open sluggishly. Everybody turned towards the door and were greeted with a Britannian soldier, a private to be exact. Something was definitely wrong the moment they laid their eyes on him. He looked pale, very pale almost looking like a ghost. His physical appearance looked frightening as it looked like he was skin and bones and looked as if he has aged a lot. He stumbled in towards the witches, lifting his hands up in desperation to get to them like he couldn't see anymore.
"Help…. Me…." He said. Yoshika was the one who stood up from her position and hustled towards him as he was about to fall over. Extending her hands out, she was ready to catch him, but something completely unexpected happen to him. His skin and his clothes turned into an ash grey right before he collapsed. When Yoshika caught him, his body and clothes broke apart as he fell right through her arms, leaving nothing more than a pile of ash. Yoshika looked on in horror as this was the first time somebody died in her hands. She looked at her palms and could see the grey ash of the soldier still stuck to her and her sailor uniform. Nobody here, not even the veteran witches, have ever seen somebody die like that. They have had the unfortunate experience of watching people being blasted by Neuroi beams directly before an explosion ensued, but this was something different. Eila hugged Sanya closely and tried to prevent her from seeing that even though she already has. Lucchini wrapped her arms around Shirley and dug her face into her side. Lynne began to shed a few tears, but she was more concerned as to what Yoshika might be feeling. Without even thinking about it, Yoshika raised her hands over the ash pile and called on her familiar to use her healing magic on the ash pile. He began her futile effort as a green aura formed around the ash pile. A hand then rested upon Yoshika's right soldier. She turned to see the tender hand of the major looking at her with sadness and grief.
"It is too late Miyafugi…" she stated, not knowing what else to say. She stopped the healing process and placed her hand on the ground as streams of tears began to flow through her eyes, feeling useless as she couldn't help him. More gunfire began to go off as whatever did this to that soldier has apparently not died yet.
"Whatever did this, it is still here!" Barkhorn announced breaking the sad mood that established itself. As much as they wanted to grieve for the fallen soldier, the first had to deal with the problem at hand.
"Trude is right. We still have a problem on our hands. Trude, Shirley, Major Sakamoto, and I will go towards the hanger. All of you are to remain here and wait for us to return." Minna ordered. Everybody seemed okay with it, but a voice of disagreement soon revealed itself.
"What?! But what about the people who are still out there. They might be injured. I could help them." Yoshika protested, wiping away the tears as there are others who could possibly need her.
"No." Minna stated objectively. "We don't know what is out there, and I can't place you out there without any close-quarter combat experience." She then turned to the rest of the witches. "None of you, save for Sakamoto, Barkhorn, and Shirley, have any experience in combat situations outside your striker units. You will be nothing more than a liability if any of you try to follow us. Miyafugi, I can understand your willingness to help, but you will only get in the way." She coldly revealed to the young witch. Minna would never say something like that to another comrade, but what choice did she have. Yoshika doesn't have any experience outside the striker unit, and she wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing that Yoshika got hurt, or possibly, suffer the same fate as the solder. She is already having a hard time trying to come to terms with that day that changed her forever. It pained her to bluntly say Miyafugi will not help, but if it meant keeping her safe, then she would do it over again if it meant that she wouldn't get hurt. Yoshika tried to issue out a rebuttal, but the Wing Commander was right. She doesn't have any non-striker unit fighting experience. Her bitter truth stung, but it had to be let out. She only looked down to the floor as she hesitantly accepted her orders.
"All of you, stay here, do not come out and follow us. That's an order." She emphasized before the four witches departed from the dining room.
Minna, Sakamoto, Barkhorn, and Shirley all rushed towards the sounds of bullets shooting. They didn't know what to expect as all they can think of was some sort of new Neuroi that was capable of avoiding detection by radar. If that was the case, then things in the war would change for the worse as now they might have to have witches on dayshift patrols. Each of them prepared themselves as they pulled out their side arms from their holsters with Minna and Barkhorn pulling out their Mausers, and Shirley pulling out her Colt. Sakamoto unsheathed her sword instead of pulling out a sidearm pistol. The noise of gunfire grew louder as they came closer to the hanger. They all stopped at the door.
"Are you guys ready?" Minna asked.
"Yes." All of them replied. Minna took ahold of the doorknob and swung the door open. All of them rushed through the door with their weapons ready. It didn't take long before they found the problem. They were not sure as to what they were looking as they have never seen something like it.
"What is that? That doesn't look Neuroi?" Shirley pointed out, even though it was obvious.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it is attacking our base." Barkhorn replied. Beside them, there were two other solders off to the side and one engineer in the middle of the runway with a MG42. The engineer walked backwards as he kept shooting the approaching juggernaut. It had a human-shaped body, with massive arms and legs and a broad chest with some sort of purple glass window right in the middle. It had some sort of armor on that covers its chest, shoulders, legs, and arms. The armor itself proved to be very resilient as the bullets that pelted it just ricocheted off without leaving a mark. The one prominent feature that grabbed their attention was its head. It was some sort of skull with purple flames enveloping it. The engineer eventually stumbled and fell back on his bottom. The giant skull person then stood over him and reached down with his right hand, grabbing his forehead. Something happened as a same glow around the intruder glowed around the engineer. Once the glow faded, the engineer began to turn grey until he collapsed into a pile of ash, similar to how the soldier transformed. The four witches were stunned that it was the person in front of them that did that. The two soldiers on the side continue to fire at the intruder, but their efforts were in vain he didn't seem threatened but rather annoyed. He stretched out his hands and fired off some sort of purple energy at the two soldiers, striking them and killing them in the process. The hanger now only had the four witches and the intruder as everybody else was dead. Behind the intruder were ash piles all scattered about and disappearing as the wind came through. They counted five ash piles, meaning he killed five people, plus the engineer and the two soldiers, making it seven.
The witches prepared themselves as he took notice of the four of them standing near the door, and he seemed rather confused, as far as they can tell. He may be a meta-human, but never has Atomic Skull seen young women dressed in military uniforms with weapons in their hands while not wearing any pants and showing their undergarments. He did not know what to make of it.
"What do we have here? Don't tell me you all plan to take me on looking like that?" he scoffed as he still was trying to process what he is seeing. They were yet again surprised as this intruder, which they can identify as male as he had a male voice, was able to speak Britannish.
"You can speak Britannish." Shirley questioned in amazement. The Atomic Skull was a bit confused as to what she said.
"What? I don't speak Britannish. If you mean English, then yes. Why is that surprising that I can speak English?" Now that I think about it, I don't really care what? He responded to her statement.
"If you can understand us, then tell us why you are attacking us? Are you some sort of Neuroi?" Minna questioned the Atomic Skull. Again, he was thrown off by yet more terminology that he was unfamiliar with.
"I am not a Neuroi, whatever that means. I came here to cause havoc, that all." He answered with the flames around his skull growing larger. Barkhorn couldn't believe what she was hearing from this... thing. It wasn't Neuroi, and yet, was will to cause so much damage and take lives. Her hand formed into a fist as she used a lot of her strength to form a fist.
"Is that your only reason?! To cause problems for us." Barkhorn gasped out in anger as she found his reasoning to be unacceptable, causing her blood to boil. "You kill our soldiers and engineers just because you want to cause trouble. What kind of monster are you? You are no better than the Neuroi!" She seethed.
"Give me a break. Those people were soldiers, expendable and could be easily replaced. Come closer if you all want to talk about it. You know what, I have a better idea…" he stopped before he shot out more purple energy beams from the opening in his skull. Minna, in response, put up her shield to block out his attack. She felt the power of his beam as her body began to strain a bit. The other three dispersed with Shirley and Sakamoto going to the right, and Barkhorn going to the left. Both Flight lieutenants fired their sidearm at him, but they were getting the same result as the other soldiers, even with magic infused into the bullets. The Atomic Skull found their attacks pitiful, almost laughable as they didn't even scratch him. Barkhorn and Shirley saw that their bullets weren't having any effect on them even though they imbued their magic into it. They shifted their aim towards his head, but that didn't do much as the bullets just evaporated away when they got too close to the purple flame. Looking at the one witch who was alone, which is Barkhorn, the Atomic skull lunged at her with great speed. He moved through the space with his fist cocked back, ready to inflict some serious damage. Barkhorn wasn't expecting him to fly toward her like that, especially for somebody of his stature. Instinctively, she lunged forward, narrowly avoiding his attack as he missed and hit the concrete wall, making a hole the size of his fist on it. Again, she was thrown back as to how powerful this guy was. To be able to punch a concrete wall without getting hurt is impressive, let alone making a hole into it. He pulled his hand out of the wall and stood over Barkhorn, getting ready to throw a punch at her until bullets pelted the right side of his body. He turned and found Shirley shooting at him with her Colt with Sakamoto standing on her left with her sword ready. While this happened. Minna took the opportunity to go towards her Striker unit and jumped into it. A large magic circle then appeared under her, grabbing the Atomic Skull's attention and realizing that these are no ordinary women. She accelerated out towards the runway as her engines roared. Once gaining sufficient speed, she lifted herself up, quickly turned around, and began firing her MG42 at the Atomic Skull. He blocked the barrage of bullets with his hands as the bullets now seemed to sting a bit, even though they still bounced right off his armor. He rushed outside, passing Barkhorn, and chased after Minna, who gained altitude quickly. She continued to fire at him as she felt a bit safe as he couldn't get up here. The Atomic Skull began to become furious as the flames continued to grow larger and brighter. Bending his legs, he used his super strength to leap up into the air, quickly closing the distance between him and the Wing Commander. A shocked expression came of Minna as he was able to leap 50 meters into the air, and be located right in front of her. She didn't have time to dodge as he prepared his hands to hit her, so she instinctively put up her shield. he swung his joined hands down, striking the magic shield with all of his might. The superhuman strength of the force did block out the damage, but it was enough to absorb the momentum as the Wing Commander was now plummeting towards the earth at an incredible speed. She tried her best to maneuver her way into landing in the most comfortable fashion as she couldn't pull up. She managed to get on her back before she impacted the ground. Her magic barrier instinctively came on and cushioned some of her fall, but she still got hurt on the landing as she skidded on the runway, sustaining scrapes and bruises. Once she stopped, she took off her striker unit and tried to get up, but was bogged down by how much damage and pain her body sustained on the landing, and was immobilized.
"Minna!" Sakamoto and Barkhorn shouted. Landing just a few feet in front of her was the Atomic Skull. The impact of his landing created a small crater as the gravel underneath him cracked. He approached the downed Wing Commander, getting his fist ready as he cracked his knuckles. Right as he stood over her, he began to reach down at her until more bullets pelted his back. He looked behind him and saw Shirley with her BAR in her hands. He turned back towards Minna and pondered whether he should finish her off before going toward Shirley.
"You aren't going anymore for a while." He stated before he turned his body towards the assaulting witch and sprinted towards her. Minna couldn't do anything at the moment; she was too injured to move. Her mind was restless as she thought about the witches under her and how will they fair they can't defeat him. This intruder has already proven to be quite powerful as exhibited through his super strength, super endurance, and bullet resistance.
"Wing Commander!" A voice in the distance called to her. She couldn't believe what she was hearing so she raised her head up as far as she can to confirm who was coming towards her.
"Miyafugi! What are you doing here?! I told you to wait in the dining hall and not to follow us!" she reminded her in a stern voice and displeased voice.
"We couldn't just wait in there when you guys are in trouble. Once we felt the walls and floor shake, we had to help you; that is why I came here to Britannia: To help people, and you need help." She answered, unbuttoning her vest to prepare the healing process.
"You have to get out of here, Miyafugi. You and the others don't know what you are up against. Whatever he is, he is too powerful! Listen to me and go!" she ordered
"No! I am staying here to help you." She denied
"Miyafugi, I am giving you an order! Get out of here now!" She ordered, but by this point, it sounded more like plead as she doesn't want for any other witches to get hurt or worse. Miyafugi thus began the healing process, ignoring Minna's orders in order to save her. Yes, Yoshika was scared; she has never seen anything like that before, but that won't stop her determination to saving the Wing Commander. As she continued heal Minna, Shirley continued firing at the charging Atomic Skull. Like before, the bullets didn't seem too effective as they continued to ricochet off of him.
"Crap!" she shouted as the empty clip sounded off. She quickly endeavored to reload her BAR, but the Atomic skull took the opportunity to fire one of his energy beams at her, forcing her to raise a shield. Following his attack, he lunged at her and punched her magic shield, sending her flying towards the wall and hitting it with a great amount of force. Shirley gasped as the wind was knocked out of her before she fell to the ground face down.
"Shirley!" Lucchini cried as she saw what happed from a distance.
"Shirley!" Minna yelled out also. With Atomic Skull focused on Shirley, Sakamoto took this time to rush in with her sword. Once she got to near him, she raised her sword and swung down with all her force. Her sword does have a bit of magic infused in it, so maybe if she provided enough force, she could possibly pierce his armor. But once the sword hit his armor, it created a "clang" sound as the sword vibrated, something Sakamoto hoped that wouldn't happen. The Atomic Skull turned toward her.
"Was that supposed to hurt me?" he mocked before swing his right arm at her, hitting her in the stomach with her sword in front of her. She gasped as she was sent a few meters out, landing hard near Minna and Yoshika.
"Sakamoto-san!" Yoshika gasped.
"Mio! No!" Minna cried.
"MAJOR SAKAMOTO!" Perrine cried out as she sprinted towards the major.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, you call that an attack. I didn't even get scratched. How exactly are you supposed to hurt me?!" he mocked the witches with his challenge.
"Like this!" Barkhorn answered, charging in while calling on her familiar to use her strength augmentation magic. He turned to face Barkhorn and was greeted with her fist striking his skull, forcing him to stumble a bit backwards. The magic shield that cover witches bodies to protect them from hazardous environments seemed to ward off the negative effects of touching his skull. She delivered a few more jabs and punches at him, actually hurting him to an extent. It seems that the Atomic Skull has underestimated Barkhorn as he realized she was a lot stronger than he expected. The Atomic Skull kept on taking Barkhorn's punches with every other punch forcing him to take a step back to keep his balance. It got to the point where she has damaged him enough that he was forced to take a knee in order for him to catch his breath. Normally, Barkhorn would have to restrain herself and moderate her strength as using that kind of force could be lethal for people, but she concluded that with all the things he was able to resist, she knew that he could take her punches without any restraint. Grinding his teeth out of frustration, the Atomic Skull arose up and began attacking her with various combinations of punches and jabs. Due to her training she has had, Barkhorn could easily predict his moves as she dodged each one of his attacks, and managed to counterattack.
"Come on, Trude. You can take this guy down." Hartmann cheers from the hanger.
"Yes, Captain Barkhorn! Defeat him for the Major!" Perrine contributed. Barkhorn continued to unleash her attacks on him, and he couldn't even land one. There were some close calls, but luckily she avoided them. Finally, at his limit with frustration, the Atomic Skull thrusted his hands down, causing some sort of minor shockwave that caused Barkhorn to lose her balance. She attempted to gain her balance again, but it was too late as she could see his fist coming right for her. Unable to dodge it at his point, she raised up her shield. His fist collided with her shield, and using her enhance strength, managed to stand her ground. He let out another punch, and another, and another, but she withstood them all, but she didn't know how long she could take his hits. She slowly dropped down to one knee as the Atomic Skull unleashed a fury of punches at an alarming rate. Being able to summon that amount of strength in a rapid barrage of punches was overbearing for her. With one last hit, he cocked his fist back and hit the shield with all his strength. The shield was at its limit and shattered upon impact, sending Barkhorn sliding and rolling towards Yoshika, landing to the right of Yoshika and Minna, seriously injured and exhausted.
"Trude!" Minna cried once more with tears beginning to build up in her eyes. With all the withes with close-combat experience down, the situation didn't look good for the witches. Once seeing that there were no more charging witches, the Atomic Skull turned his attention back towards Minna, who Yoshika was not yet finished healing. Not only did she have to heal Minna, but she also has to heal Barkhorn, Sakamoto, and Shirley as they have sustained serious damage. But with no more opponents standing against the Atomic Skull, it was time for him to clean up the remains. He began to walk towards Minna, Yoshika, Sakamoto, and Barkhorn. His hand started to glow purple as he focusses a lot of his energy towards them. Minna began to sweat more as nothing seemed to be able to take him down, but that wasn't going to stop the remaining able witches from protecting their friends.
"Hey! Big and ugly, over here!" Eila shouted at him. Taking the bait of her insult, he turned towards her rapidly as he didn't like her insult. He was about to fire his energy beams at her, but Eila was able to beat him to the punch. Standing next to her, Sanya was on one knee, aiming down the sight of her Fliegerhammer at him. She pulled the trigger, and three rockets fired out in succession. All three rockets rocketed towards him at an alarming rate. He shot out his energy beam, and destroyed the first rocket, but the other two were left unimpeded and they continued on their path. He performed the same thing again, and destroyed the second rocket, but the third rocket managed to go by uninterrupted and hit his chest, with a large explosion filled with magic ensuing, consuming him in a fiery inferno. Sanya didn't want it to resort to this; having to fire at him with her rockets. Her hands trembled as she finished firing the rockets at the intruder. Even if it was to protect her friends, she still had a hard time with it because even though he might have hurt her friends, to her, he still was a living being with emotions and thoughts. But there was no others choice, and she would have to make the only choice to save those dear to her.
With the danger everted, Yoshika continued healing the Wing Commander. Hartmann, Lynne, and Lucchini managed to pick Shirley up and carefully carried her to Yoshika for healing. Shirley was conscious, along with Sakamoto and Barkhorn, but they were just too injured to move without feeling a lot of pain. The injuries sustained by the witches was starting to become too much for Minna as the injuries started to remind her of the days of the Karlsland evacuation. Seeing them like that started to make her bring up painful memories of him, and how she couldn't do anything for him. She tried to control her breathing as it felt that she was having a panic attack. She doesn't handle situations well that require tough decisions to be made that might endanger someone' lives, and today's events really started to get to her.
Yoshika, on the other hand, seemed to by handling the situation quite well for somebody who is relatively new. She was an emotional wreck when that soldier died in her hands and broke down into tears, but when she came out and saw that her friends were in trouble, she had to endure her sorrows and ascertain determination for the situation called for it. It was not the right time for her to feel sad if her friends were being injured by some sort of giant skull man. It came to a surprise to her that it wasn't a Neuroi that was attacking the base. She has never seen anything like this, but if he was hurting them, then she will try her best to help those around her, and if she could, possibly fight back.
The healing aura around Minna began to fade as Yoshika was finishing up her healing. Minna began to gingerly get back on her feet as to not strain herself too much. She didn't feel any pain other than some soreness, but that was okay. Yoshika, on the other hand, exhausted a lot of her magic power into the Wing Commander's healing and was starting to feel the fatigue. However, she couldn't take a break, not when Barkhorn, Sakamoto, and Shirley all needed her. She troublingly got up on her feet, and slowly walked over towards Barkhorn. She immediately dropped to her knees and placed her hands over Barkhorn to start once again the healing process. Lynne, Hartmann, Perrine, and everybody else could see how exhausted Yoshika was. They noticed her legs shaking as she couldn't stand up for long. Even her walk towards Barkhorn was a challenge as each step she took looked as if she was going to fall straight to the ground. Minna decided to say something to her.
"Miyafugi, you have…"
"I know that I can do it! Please let me try!" she interrupted her as she knew what she was going to say. Just by saying that, it looked like it took quite a bit of energy as she was breathing heavily to maintain her healing field around Barkhorn.
"Miyafugi…" she trailed off in surprise of her determination… or stubbornness as pushing herself this far could be dangerous for the young witch. Minna's mouth opened a bit before she decided to stop herself. She could tell that Miyafugi wasn't going to listen to her, even if it was an order. She was determined to help those around her, and she can respect that. At his point, Minna and the others needed to have faith in Yoshika in that she can perform the challenging task before her.
Shifting the attention to Sanya and Eila, Sanya rose up from her crouched position, lowering her Fliegerhammer and flicking on the safety. Eila saw the sadden looked on her face and decided to say something.
"Sanya, you okay?" Eila inquired.
"…Yeah… just a little fazed is all…" she responded quietly.
"Don't be. Think about the people you just saved from that monster. You saved Minna, Barkhorn, Miyafugi, and the rest of the witches when they were down. You didn't do anything wrong; you did the right thing." She reassured her in her actions. Sanya looked up to Eila and gave her a warm, small smile. As the two began to walk towards the others, the smoke and fire still persisted over the impact zone. As a matter of fact, it was strange that the fire was still burning after the explosion. If it was over grass, then Eila could understand why it was still burning, but this was over concrete, so it shouldn't burn. She was starting to get a bad feeling about that open fire. Suddenly, he magic ability kicked in as she knew what was going to happen.
"Sanya, look out!" Eila alerted her as immediately raised up a shield to protect them both. The open flames burned hotter and brighter as the orange color morphed into a light-purple flame. A beam of purple energy shot out of the purple flame and stroked Eila's shield. The amount of power behind that purple beam was magic-draining at Eila had to fuel her shield with more magic as the beam duration continued. She tried her best to hold out, but soon she found her magic shield starting to crack until an explosion occurred, sending Elia and Sanya back several meters in different directions with Sanya going towards the hanger and Eila going to the right of her. Eila groggily opened her eyes and endeavored to lift herself up. She only managed to get her upper body up while using her elbows as leverage. She looked to the right of and saw Sanya laying on the ground unconscious with several scrapes on her hands and knees as her dress along with her stockings were ripped.
"Sanya!" she yelled as she pushed herself to get back up, but fell on the ground on her stomach the moment she did. She refused to let the pain prevent her for caring for her friend, so taking both her elbows, she used the friction between the ground and her elbows to drag herself towards Sanya. The moment she started, she could feel the raspy ground dig into her skin. A couple of seconds into it, her elbows were already reddening. Anymore and she will start to take off skin, but she didn't care. If Sanya is in trouble, then she will endure any form of pain for her. It was obvious that she wasn't making any progress fast enough, but that would change for in the corner of her eye, out of the purple flame that now disappeared, the Atomic Skull walked over towards the unconscious Sanya. Stricken with fear, she pushed herself to drag herself over to Sanya, but she was too slow as walking is much faster than dragging.
How did he survive? He was hit with a rocket directly. How… Sanya… Sanya!
Eila thought to herself. At this point, she thought that this person they have been fighting was indestructible, incapable of being hurt to their weapons. Sanya slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with the horrible sight of an approaching Atomic Skull. Sanya already has pale skin, and her skin got paler like a ghost the moment she realized that the Atomic Skull was coming for her. He was planning to just take out the four women who attacked him, but seeing that the silver-haired girl in front of him shot rockets at him, even if she is just a child, it would not let this go by. He had decided that she need to pay with her life. Sanya looked at him in trepidation as he stood over her with his shadow cast over her. She looked over to a desperate Eila who tried so very hard to get to her, but she knew that she would not make it in time. Looking past him, she saw Minna sprinting as fast as she can towards them in attempts to save her, but she was too far away to do anything for her. She looked over to Eila one last time before tears beginning form in the corner of her eyes and began to flow down her cheeks. Her time had come.
"Sanya!" Both Eila and Minna screamed. The Atomic Skull hovered his hand over the Orussian witch and began to draw closer to her. Her eyes widen more as his hand drew closer to her face.
"You can cry all you want, but that isn't going to change your fate. There is nobody who can save you." He stated to her. Right as he was about to grab her, he got a response to his statement.
"I wouldn't say nobody." A familiar voice corrected him. He recognized that voice—a voice he didn't want to hear—and quickly turned to his right, hoping it was not who he thought it was. He was greeted with a massive punch directly in the face, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying several meters away from Sanya. He landed on the ground and continued to tumble a few more feet before he came to a complete stop. Standing in front of Sanya was a man. He had an excellent body as his arms and legs looked very strong. His clothing was very odd because he wore some sort of blue uniform with a boots, a cape, and a yellow belt. Not seen by everybody except Sanya, he had a giant red "S" in the middle of his chest. Whoever this guy was, he just did something that none of the other witches could do… He managed to send their intruder flying through the air with one punch. Everybody looked on in shock as a man showed some excellent abilities as men in their world don't have magic powers and are not very effective against Neuroi. But the biggest relief of all of this was that he had just saved Sanya. The man looks over to her, making eye contact with her, and asked her…
"Are you okay?" Sanya wiped the tears from her eye and replies with a nod.
"That's a relief." He states before turning his attention towards the Atomic Skull with a angered expression, who was starting to get back up on his feet.
"You gone too far this time, Skull. Attacking the youth is just disgraceful." He proclaimed to him in a commanding voice.
"Superman! Fancy meeting you here. What brings you here to this world?" The Atomic Skull replied, ignoring his claim about disgrace.
"Superman…" Sanya said under her breath, knowing the man's name, at least, his pen name of sorts, who had saved her. Everybody else, on the other hand, were flabbergasted by the sudden turn of event, but also took note that these two know each other, and judging by that last transaction, they were enemies, and the man was on their side with him saving Sanya as evidence.
"I'm here to put an end to your reign of terror. How did you even get here anyway? I know for a fact you don't have the resources or the knowledge to do something like this. Who sent you here?" Superman pointed out. The Atomic skull simply laughed to his question.
"Ha, ha, ha, wouldn't you like to know." He scoffed with him immediately sprinting as he finished. He accelerated very quickly from rest until he gained enough speed to allow him to lunge over towards Sanya and Superman. Superman didn't want the silver-haired girl to be mixed up in the oncoming battle, so he quickly flew towards the Atomic Skull to keep Sanya out of the fighting radius as the witches have no idea just how destructive a battle between a superhero and supervillain are. Meeting up at the halfway point, both parties landed their feet on the ground and began their battle. The Atomic skull started off the fight by throwing various combinations of punches, ranging from jabs, side swings, and uppercuts. Superman quickly anticipated each attack and dodged them all. When an opening presented itself when Atomic Skull missed an uppercut, Superman threw a few punches of his own, striking his chest and head. Unlike Barkhorn's punches, Superman's punches had enough force behind them that the Atomic Skull couldn't retaliate back, and began walking backwards in order to keep his balance. Each punch was effective as the Atomic Skull was starting, for the first time being here, feel like he was being beaten. The witches watched as the fight between the two went on with Superman having the upper edge on the Atomic Skull. Minna, during the battle began, went over to Sanya and picked her up to get her to safety. Sanya was actually very light, so she had no problem carrying her on her back. She also made a pass by Eila and managed to help her up.
"Sanya, are you okay?!" Eila immediately burst out the moment Sanya was near as she attempted to get back up again, and with assistance from the Wing Commander, she did.
"Yes, I am fine." She responded. Eila gave a breath of relief to hear that Sanya was fine.
"Come on, you two. We have to go with the others. Miyafugi can heal you two there." She stated. With Eila grabbing onto the Wing Commander's arm along with holding Sanya's hand, the three of them walked over to the rest of the witches. Yoshika had finished healing Barkhorn and moved on to Major Sakamoto. Barkhorn herself was standing up with the help of Hartmann. Minna gently set down Sanya and Eila, and rushed towards Barkhorn. She wrapped her hands around her body, hugging away the worries and fears that she accumulated.
"Trude! Are you alright?" she let out, a bit teary eye to see her friend up and well.
"Yes, Minna, I am fine, thanks to Miyafugi. She really saved me there." She explained.
"We are really lucky to have Miyafugi around, aren't we?" Hartmann added in.
"Yes. Yes, we are." Minna responded. This heart-felt moment would not last long as the sounds of hard punches making contact with metal vibrated through the air. The three Karlsland witches turned toward the ongoing fight between the two interlopers. They watched as each one of them attacked each other. Atomic Skull managed to retaliate and counterattack Superman by hitting him in the head and chest with all the strength he could muster. Superman also managed to beat down Atomic Skull.
"Just who are these two people?" Barkhorn asked. "We couldn't even hurt him, and the person over there is managing to stand his ground."
"Superman…" Sanya stated quietly as the three Karlsland witches along with the others turning toward her.
"What did you say?" Eila asked.
"His name is Superman. That is what that Skull person called him." She explained.
"Superman… that sounds very odd." Barkhorn shared as it sounds like something to come from a comic.
"But it does sound fitting." Minna added. "He has incredible strength and the ability to fly without a Striker unit. I don't know if he uses magic or not, but he is certainly unique."
Returning back to the fight, Superman gave one last big punch to the Atomic Skull that send him towards the walls of the base, creating an impact zone as the wall cracked as he crashed into it. He couldn't stop himself from going to the wall; the gravel under him gave away as he endeavored to do so. Superman flew towards him, grabbed him by the collar, and began repeatedly hitting him in the head until the Atomic Skull head-butted him and grabbed Superman's head with both hands and delivered a powerful burst of energy throughout his body. Screams of agony filled the air, causing the witches from afar to flinch. Sanya drew closer Eila and Lucchini to Shirley as the screams scared them.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Do you feel the pain, Superman? Because I going to make sure you feel it even after your death." he promised in an insidious joy in his voice.
"Do you?" Superman retorted before delivering a head-but of his own, tearing himself away from Atomic Skull's grasp, grabbing him by the collar once more while exerting force on him against the wall, and flying up towards the sky. His body would uproot the concrete on the wall, leaving behind a visible trail of where Skull's body was as he was dragged through the wall. Superman did this until he ran out of wall. After that, he continued to gain more altitude until he let the Atomic skull go, only to power-punch him downward towards the ground at a great velocity in an angle. Superman matched his falling speed and the moment he crash-landed on the runway, he grabbed him once more and dragged his body against the runway, once again uprooting the concrete and leaving a path of destroyed runway where Skull's body has been. Getting close to the walls of the base again, Superman flung him toward it, crashing through the outer wall and piercing more inner walls, leaving behind a large hole in the side of the base along with the inside as well. A dust cloud of concrete and dust perforated the area, making it impossible to see if Atomic Skull was down.
The witches were speechless at this point. The abilities and endurance these two people have shown is over appalling. Nobody, not even a witch with a striker unit, could produce the same amount of destruction in a matter of minutes. Not only did surprise reside in the witches, but there was also a fear present. The amount of destruction caused by these two is unbelievable. The base itself is starting to look like it was hit with multiple mortars or a Neuroi's beam. Minna began to wonder if to defeat somebody with extraordinary powers, there would have to be a lot of destruction? Only two people are fighting, and already they have excavated the runway with Atomic Skulls body. Structural damage is clearly present as the base has a hole on the side along with the inside. The walls of the base have seen better days as there was now a damage where Superman dragged Skull's body was. Minna looked around and noticed the expressions on her witches… scared. Lynne stood with her hands clasped together with a worried expression with her hand fidgeting. Eila held Sanya in her hands as she could visibly see Sanya's trepidation. It was clear that even though Superman is there helping them with the Atomic Skull, they can't help but have bit of fear of him.
Superman stood in front of the hole and waited out until the dust settled to see if the Atomic Skull was down. As the dust began to fade and clarity was being restored, he didn't see any sign of him. He lowered his guard as it looked like the Atomic Skull had enough. A beam of purple energy shot out from the dust cloud and hit Superman right in the chest. He was pushed back several meters and landed on his back. The dust cloud finally settled, and the Atomic Skull remained standing. He clasped his hands together and cracked his fingers, and started towards Superman until from the side of the base, a tank rolled up, aiming its barrel at the Atomic Skull. The soldiers that were engaged with the Atomic Skull before the witches must have contacted for ground reinforcements. That is the only explanation Minna could think of for the tank being here since the 501st base has no reserved tanks. With no hesitation whatsoever and still rolling towards the Atomic Skull, the tank fired its main cannon. The shot was loud as the witches plugged their ears before it shot. If he can, Skull would have given a grin because he found it amusing that the military could stop him with a tank, especially with such an old model compared to the tanks of his time. Thanks to his super reflexes, the Atomic Skull placed his hands in front of him, and actually managed to catch the shell with his hands without detonating it. He looked at his newly-acquired weapon, and looked at his options: throw it back at the tank, throw it at Superman, or throw it at the witches. He could throw it at Superman, but there is a chance that he might dodge it, but if he threw it at the girls in front of him, Superman might have to intervene. He looked over towards the witches, making eye contact with Minna and gave a wicked grin. He took one step forward and threw the shell at them.
"Look out!" Minna yelled before putting up her shield.
It wouldn't be enough. She thought as the splash damage would still be able to reach them, but she will still try to protect those under her, even with her life. She prepared for the worst to happen, until a red and blue blur instantaneously got in front of them. Her eyes widen as the blur turned out to be Superman. The shell thus detonated when it collided with Superman and sent out a large gust of wind toward the witches. Any closer and the explosion would have surely injured somebody. Superman fell out backwards from the explosion. He landed right in front of Eila and Sanya since they were the ones in the front. Sanya reached out and nudged him in the shoulder.
"Superman, are you okay?" she inquired. After seeing what Superman was capable of, it came as no surprise that he survived an explosion from a tank shell. Superman slowly picked himself up while keeping one hand on his head as he was starting to develop a headache.
"I'm fine." He replied to Sanya, looking as if the explosion didn't hurt him.
"Oh my goodness!" Lynne shouted while pointing towards the Atomic Skull. The Atomic Skull now had the heavy tank over his head. The driver of the tank quickly evacuated the tank, jumped off it, and ran away. Now with the empty tank, the Atomic Skull chucked it towards the witches and Superman. Eila quickly grabbed Sanya in attempts to shield from the incoming tank. The rest of the free witches, expect Yoshika and Sakamoto, put out their hand and prepared to put up their shield in hopes that their combine shielding would be enough to withstand an 84-ton war machine. But that would not be necessary for Superman had them covered. He placed his hands up in the air in anticipation to for the incoming tank. The tank's bottom landed in Superman's hand, transferring the large momentum it had to him, which caused him to be pushed back with his feet being dug into the gravel, again uprooting it. Sanya, Eila, Shirley, Minna, and Barkhorn were shocked to be looking the bottom of a tank as it hanged over them. They were especially surprised to see Superman having the strength to carry such a heavy object. Looking closer at him, he didn't seem strained at all, giving them the impression that Superman didn't find the tank heavy. Once caught, he chucked the tank back at Atomic Skull much harder. When he tried to catch it, it only sent him flying back into the wall, being crushed by the tank against the wall.
"Finished!" Yoshika exclaimed, lowering her healing aura from the Major. Sakamoto took her time to pick herself up from the floor. She checked every part of her body by moving, and though she felt a little bit of strain in some parts, she was fine for the most part. Yoshika has already moved on to Shirley and began to healing process. At his point, she was pushing her magic limits. She panted heavily as she doesn't know how much more she can take. Sakamoto tried to reason with Yoshika about taking a break, but she just wouldn't listen.
"Oh no!" Hartmann said while pointing towards the base. The flipped tank against the wall started to melt slowly. Emerging from the middle of the melted tank, the Atomic Skull rose up, looking as if he is ready for round two as his hands were glowing purple. Superman's fist began to tighten.
"This has gone on long enough!" Superman declared, flying towards the Atomic Skull at a very high speed before he could even attack. Superman's fist smashed into the Atomic Skull's chest and continued to fly through him. Both of them smashed through multiple walls of the base until they smashed through the last wall, appearing on the other side of the base. Not wanting him to recover, Superman grabbed his collar, and flung him backwards against the wall, quickly grabbed him again, and dragged his body up towards the sky, causing more damage to the walls of the base. Once they ran out of wall to drag Skull on, Superman continued to fly upward until the witches could see him. Putting every last bit of strength into his fist, Superman delivered a massive, sound-cracking punch right into the Atomic Skull's chest, literally causing him to summersault through the air, over the base, and over the witches. They watched the Atomic Skull fly through the air over them and witnessed him land in the Britannish Channel. The amount of force he created in the water caused a massive water spout 20 feet tall to be formed. Superman could leave him in the channel. In fact, he wanted to, but he couldn't. It doesn't matter how much bad a person has done, Superman won't compromise his morals.
Going back to the witches, they peered out into the Britannish channel, where they could see massive amounts of bubbles coming from where the Atomic Skull landed. His head was on fire, so it must be vaporizing the water. Eventually, the flames will be extinguished, showing as a sign of his death. At least now, they don't have to worry about him anymore. Barkhorn looked onto the bubbling water with an angered stare onto it.
"Good Riddance." She uttered. A massive gust of wind blew past them as they saw Superman dive head first into the water where the bubbling was.
Is he saving him? Barkhorn thought.
"Yoshika!" Lynne cried out. Minna and the others turned to see Yoshika's head collapsed onto Lynne's knees. Shirley slowly picked herself up from the floor. This caused Lucchini to run up to her and embrace her while snuggling up into Shirley's chest.
"She is just passed out!" Sakamoto said. "I mean, she pushed herself a lot today just to heal the four of us. I think Sanya and Eila will be fine as they seem to be able to walk around just fine."
Moments later, Superman burst out of the water, carrying Atomic Skull with one hand, which then proceeded with him throwing him on the runway, directly five meters in front of the witches. Eila, Sanya, Lynne, and Lucchini all back up from the Atomic Skull for he might get up on the floor. Moments passed, and he still remained where he was. Minna, Sakamoto, and Barkhorn slowly approached the supervillain. They curved around to see his head. They saw that his skull was very dim, and the flames were small. His mouth was opened as he laid there. They inspected other parts of his body and saw no movement from him, but very much alive.
"He is unconscious." Minna concluded. Understanding what that meant, they drew even closer until they stood over his head. Barkhorn, Sakamoto, and Minna took their time in trying to understand what exactly he was.
"Just what exactly is he?" Barkhorn her comrades, to which none of them had an answer.
"His name is the Atomic Skull." A voice responded coming from above them. Looking up, they saw Superman lowering himself down in front of the Atomic Skull. Minna, Sakamoto, and Barkhorn backed up from the unconscious villain.
"He is a supervillain that causes havoc and destruction in the city. Regular people don't stand a chance against him, so they are left with fleeing from him." He explained.
"Wait, did you say supervillain?" Barkhorn asked, making sure he heard him right.
"Yes, and like villains, he will stand trial for his crimes, and he will be locked up for a very long time." Superman reaffirmed them as he picked up the unconscious Atomic skull and hoisted him over his shoulder. He pulled out the dimensional remote from his belt as was about to press it until,
"What do you mean he is going to stand trial?! Look what he has done, he killed seven people, and tried to kill us. This would result in capital punishment. He is no better than a Neuroi, so why should he be tried?" Barkhorn interjected with fury imbedded in her tone.
"I know it can be easy to let anger control your decisions. Believe me, I know. But I am not an executioner. If I start following down that path, then I am no better than he is." Superman explained. Barkhorn was about to respond, but Minna intervened before she got the chance.
"Very well. I see that we can't stop you, and you know more on how to deal with these types of situations, so do what you like with him. Also, you have my thanks for saving me and my witches here. We are truly thankful, Superman." She stated.
"It was not a problem. Now, if you excuse me, I have to get going." He stated as he pushed the red button. In front of Superman and the witches, a dimensional wormhole opened up. Minna and other others shielded their eyes as the wind blew into them. Superman headed towards the dimensional hole, took one step in, and turned around to say something to the witches.
"I am sorry that this had to happen to your base, and if you don't mind, I suggest you cover yourselves up." He suggested before he entirely entered the dimensional hole before it collapsed. Everybody took a second to think about what he meant by that. They weren't one hundred percent sure, but some thought he was referring to their uniform. Minna continued to stare at where the portal was for a few seconds before she turned her attention towards the destroyed base with holes in the walls, the runway uprooted, and wall damage outside the building.
"This is going to be difficult to explain to command." She exclaimed as she can already see the troubles she is going to have in the near future, but that was the least of their problem as their home of operations has been partially destroyed. She wonders if can actually convince command that a supervillain and superhero battle, rather than a Neuroi, was responsible for the destruction of the base.
Gundula Rall sat behind her desk with a newspaper in her hands. Ordinarily, she would quickly skim through the newspaper to read up on the current situation of the war, most notability the 501st current status. She went in half expecting for more great news about the members kill out or something along the lines; however, today was not the case for she actually read thoroughly about the headliner on the newspaper. It took her several minutes to read the entirety of the article, and when she finished, she reread it again because the first read through sounded unbelievable, meaning that she did not believe it at first. Right as she finished her second read through, she placed the news paper down on her table to reflect on the material she read. She was none-the-least a bit surprised about the current turn of events on the inside, but kept her demeanor in tact. She heard knocks on the door before the person came into her office.
"Ah, Sensei, glad to see you here." Rall stated to Edytha Rossman.
"Have you not started on the paperwork yet?" Rossman noticed as all she can see is the folded newspaper on her desk and nothing else.
"Sorry, I was distracted by the current situation on the 501st status. Have you heard about it yet." she inquired.
"No, I have not. What is the current situation." Rossman asked.
"Apparently, the 501st base is partially destroyed." Rall stated in a slightly somber tone.
"What!?" Rossman asked quickly being caught off by the sudden news. Gundula approached her desk, grabbed the folded newspaper, and presented it to Rossman. She, in turn, received the paper, and quickly unfolded it for she does not believe that such a thing has happened for the witches at the 501st are elites. Her eyes were met with the bolded black letters plastered across the newspaper.
501st Base Partially Destroyed! Twist is Neuroi Didn't Cause Damage!
with an Air-view of the base lying in semi ruin as the walls have a giant hole on the side, the runway looks like it was excavated, and trail marks running up the side of the walls.
Rossman quickly scanned the newspaper to quickly understand what this article was trying to convey. Right when she reached the middle of the article, she straightened herself up and raised an eyebrow as she read the contents of the article.
"The cause for such destruction of the base was not because of Neuroi, but rather a battle between two people. Eye witnesses state that it was a battle between a superhero and a supervillain." Rossman read out loud, half believing what she just read. "Is this some kind of joke? Superhero's and Supervillains?" she asked.
"Keep reading." Gundula suggested.
"Wing Commander Wilcke comments on this claim. The supervillain's name was the Atomic Skull. Our weapons couldn't even damage him. It wasn't until the superhero named Superman came from no where and battled against the Atomic Skull. Both possessed magnificent powers each had superhuman strength, agility, speed, endurance, and more. These two had more powers than that of a witch. They were too powerful, and because of that power, they made our base into some battleground." she read. "After speaking with the other members of the 501st, they also stand by their commander's statement. After the fight was over, Wing Commander Wilcke and the others reported that Superman defeated Atomic Skull and took him back to where they both came from to stand trial for his crime of killing multiple military personal." Ross continued the read the rest of the article in her head. Once she finished, she handed the newspaper back to Rall, and she placed it on her desk.
"So, what do you think of all of this?" Rall questioned Rossman.
"It is... rather surprising that something like this happened, but I am still having some doubt about the validity of the article. There are no such thing as Superheroes and Supervillains. All I can think of is their higher ups letting that article being published to hide the actual truth as to how the 501st base was destroyed." she shared.
"That is what I thought so too, but as I thought about it more, something just didn't make sense. Why would they allow for such an absurd story to be published. They could have published more-likely stories to explain the destruction." Rall explained.
"Maybe it is not supposed to make since. Maybe it is just there as a way to draw attention away from something else?" Rossman suggested.
"Maybe... I will see what else I can get from command about this article. Maybe you can send a letter to that former student of yours, Hartmann. I sure she will tell you about the circumstances around that article." Rall suggested to Rossman, pulling out multiple sheets of paperwork from her desk.
"Yes, I can try that." Rossman acquiesced. "Anyway, how are the paperwork going along?"
"It is just remedial documents. I should be finished by this afternoon. While I do this, can you see what the others think about the article. I think it might be useful to see what their perspective are." she asked. Rossman gave her a quick nod before grabbing the newspaper and exiting Gundula's office, leaving her hours of paperwork she needs to fill out.