The year was 1987. A cool summer's evening about half an hour outside the city of Dresden. Not much went on here, just a road going through the countryside with overgrown fields on either side. But there was someone who saw value in being here. A woman was walking straight down the middle of the road, seemingly unaware that she could have been hit by a car at any moment.
Blonde hair, beautiful, elegant blonde hair going down past her shoulders. Blue eyes, like the ocean, you could get lost in them so easily. She was a bombshell except for one thing. Her clothes. It begged the question, what was she wearing? What could she be wearing that was so bad it made her look awful?
The answer was: An SS uniform. Complete and immaculate, swastika armband and all. She wore a scarf around her neck too, a plaid black and white scarf to be exact, despite it not being that cold. She was out in the middle of an overgrown field, waiting for a trap door to open. Soon enough, it did. A man dressed in ordinary clothes, no sign of political affiliation. "Has anyone followed you?" She shook her head. "Nein."
"Are you sure? You know what will happen if the Stasi catch wind of this..." He began to get worried, lowering his head below the grass to make sure no one could see him. "Ja, ja, ja, Ich weiss! Now let me in!" She walked in before the door was closed again.
No, the Nazis hadn't won WWII, far from it. They lost, and so Germany was split into two. West and East. The West being capitalist and the East being communist, and passage between the two being strictly prohibited. "Any news, Hanna?" She shook her head. "Another day in this communist shithole without reprieve. I'll go mad before we find a way out."
The other man, Herman Stickler, had blond short hair which was combed over to one side, but his eyes were brown. Hanna didn't mind that though, Herman was Aryan enough for her. She didn't mind non-Aryans, well, except for a few groups. Jews, gypsies, slavs and communists were the only ones that would have to be put to death. Hanna couldn't stand them. As far as other races were concerned, so long as there was segregation, then there would be no problems.
Herman didn't share any of these extreme views. He didn't care about race, unlike Hanna. In fact, he had no Nazi leanings of any kind to speak of. So why did he tag along with her so willingly?
For a start, Herman was no fan of communism either. Though he found that Hanna had extreme views, she promised change. Secondly, the Stasi made it almost impossible to trust anyone. They had informants everywhere, making it unsafe to express opinions about wanting to defect. When he found out someone was as eager as him to escape, he leapt at the opportunity to join up with her.
"I don't know." Herman shrugged. "You've been here for twenty-five years already."
"That's twenty-five years too many." She responded. She then took out a photo of an old general and looked at it. A black and white photo of a Wehrmacht marshal. Herman understood the importance of the photo to Hanna, and understood well.
The man was Erwin Rommel. He was a famed marshal, though little information on him was available anywhere around. It played a huge part in Hanna's life, despite knowing that her father was an illegitimate child of Rommel. It didn't seem to faze her at all. She didn't know a lot about him, but she knew that he was a well respected man. Despite this, Herman still couldn't comprehend Hanna's affinity for Nazi ideology. However, no amount of that would be enough to get Hanna to abandon her, for one simple reason: Hanna had one of the most powerful weapons in the world.
A stand.
Herman wasn't a stand user, but he had seen Hanna's stand. It was extremely rare for that to happen, but he understood that all stands were unique. Granted, he had only seen the one stand, the rest were only things he read about. Even then, Hanna's stand was extremely powerful amongst all stands. Funny enough, she had served in the Stasi, gathering information on suspect enemies of the state. That lead her to Herman, who she allowed to get off the hitlist.
The purpose of the service was not any mandatory conscription though, but instead to receive formal training with firearms amongst other things. She had used an alias too, meaning that once she left, it was as if she had never been there.
"Oh!" Herman slapped his head. "I almost forgot." He went over to a nearby table and picked up an envelope. "This came for you today." Hanna raised an eyebrow. "To this address? Who the fuck even delivered it here?" She began opening the letter. "I don't know. It was here when I arrived."
Hanna read the letter with a confused look on her face, which soon became frustration. "What?! How the hell am I gonna get to Helsinki?! This is all bullshit!"
Herman took the letter and read it. "Maybe you should read the whole letter first." He muttered. "Enclosed you will find the money for a private flight from a nearby airport to Helsinki as well as more to spend as you wish. Signed, Teemu." The letter read. "Do you know anyone named Teemu?" Hanna shook her head. "No. But it's a Finnish name alright. Besides, this seems fishy. What if this is a ploy to get me to turn myself in?" She asked. Herman thought about it. "Well..." He had to take his time, but he did have a response. "Think about it. If the government really was trying this, then they would already have this address. After that, what point is there to not trying?"
Hanna was convinced, but still slightly reluctant. "Alright. You've convinced me." She then took the ticket. "Leider, only one ticket. I'm gonna have to go on my own." Herman nodded. "I know." He bit his lip, disappointed that the invite wasn't for him. At the same time though, he knew Hanna would be fine. She always was.
Next week rolled around in a flash. Hanna had gotten herself to Helsinki, and to the designated meeting point. Why the hell did it have to be here? She absolutely hated the cold, and boy was Helsinki cold. Hanna must have been wearing at least three coats and five pairs of tights yet it still felt bitingly cold. No SS uniform today, out in the public. Hanna had packed it though, just in case she needed it.
"Feeling a bit cold?" A man asked, speaking perfect German. Slightly sallow skin, short, spiky dark hair and a light beard. He had a coat on too, but appeared to be adapting very well to the climate. "What's it to you?" She asked. He offered a handshake. "Vahid Ghoochannejhad. I'm a stand user, like you." Hanna was surprised. "Huh? Who told you that?"
"That would be me." A man stepped out from the alley. His skin was pale, with light brown hair. He was clean shaven, and wore almost entirely white clothing, perfectly equipped to blend in with the snow all around him. "My name is Teemu Toivonen. I'm the one responsible for trying to gather stand users for the rebellion against communism." Hanna liked the sound of that. "Wait a minute." She said. "I want to know what your stands do before I sign up to this. You too, Gooch."
"I can understand that. I'm sure Vahid will have no qualms either." Vahid nodded.
"Tato!" Teemu summoned his stand. A strange, metallic stand with humanoid shape appeared. Its arms came to a point on the ends, rather than the stand having hands. The stand had bright blue eyes, but no mouth. "Tato has been my stand since I was eight years old." Teemu explained. He then produced an empty beer can and threw it into the air.
Tato jumped into the air and punched the can with his sharp arm. As the stand jumped down, Teemu pointed up. "Look. It has stopped." Hanna was impressed. The beer can was suspended in mid-air by absolutely nothing. Snow was beginning to accumulate on top of the can, yet it didn't move.
"I see. How long will this last?" She asked. "A full minute. Until then, the can will not move. Try it!" He encouraged her. Hanna was skeptical. "Fine then." Teemu shrugged and hoisted himself up. Amazingly, the can supported his weight easily. He then jumped back down.
"Now, my turn." Vahid summoned his stand. "Sailor 22!" A gun appeared in his hands. It looked like a regular gun, a standard M16 Assault Rifle commonly used by the United States. Painted all black, it had white Persian writing along the side which Hanna did not understand.
"This gun is a never ending oil well." Vahid explained, shooting at the can to demonstrate. "With this, we will never be in need oil again!" Hanna was less impressed, but nonetheless, she showed respect for Vahid's stand. There were clearly combat uses for it too.
"Well, it's good." Hanna remarked. "But we will need more people."
"We have plans to recruit more members. There is one stand user in particular who we have our eye on. A Burmese by the name of Nanda Aung."
"Sounds alright." Hanna agreed, not too fond of the idea of a lesser race joining in. "What does his stand do?"
"It's a remarkably powerful stand from what I hear." Teemu explained. "One that would help us immeasurably in our fight against communism."
"I asked what it does." Hanna repeated, growing impatient. "Well..." Teemu wasn't sure how to break it to her.
Vahid did it for him. "The spy was found and executed before we could learn that much." Hanna was confused. "Spy?" Then two and two came together in her head. "Of course." She realized. Burma the country no longer existed. It had been taken over by neighbouring Democratic Kampuchea just under a decade ago, in 1978.
"Are you serious about going on a trip down there?" Hanna asked, not liking the idea. Teemu shrugged. "If you have a better idea, then I will listen." She gritted her teeth. "Ich kann nicht glauben dass..." She finally responded. "Fine. But there's gotta be other, safer to reach stand users you wanna have a look at, right?"
Vahid nodded. "There is." Teemu took him aside. "Vahid, we talked about this. It's Burma or Bust!"
"I know, but she has a point. Besides, she will leave if she feels you are being difficult. This isn't a clueless stand user. You've been looking to get Hanna Rommel on our side since this operation began." It was true. Teemu knew the pedigree and professionalism Hanna brought to the table, something an otherwise mostly rough and rowdy vigilante unit would not have had. They both turned to her, which lead to Vahid asking an important question.
"I must ask though, Ms. Rommel. What does your stand do?" Vahid asked. "Call me Hanna." She began. Of course, her initial thoughts were those of confusion. How could he not know after going through so much trouble to get a hold of her?
Then again, while Vahid was an important member of this group, it was clear that Teemu called most of the shots. "Did you not tell him?" Hanna asked Teemu. The Finn shook his head. "I wanted him to see for himself." She scoffed. "Well, that was a fine idea. How the hell can I do that here?!"
Hanna regretted raising that question, because an hour later, they were outside Helsinki, in a forest that was even colder than the city. "I hope you got me good accomodation for this!" Hanna gritted her teeth.
"Sabaton! Blitz!" Hanna summoned her stand. All of a sudden, the air was filled with the loud noise of tanks.
An impressive seven tanks. "Wow..." Vahid was clearly impressed. Each tank was the same. They were modelled off German Panzers, but with many improvements as Hanna explained.
"The tanks are much lighter overall, while still being strong enough to roll over entire minefields with minimal damage. Three and a half metres tall, three metres wide und ten metres long. Capable of speeds of up to 155 kilometers per hour, und best of all, they are all terrain. These tanks do not need any roads to carry them. Only my willpower! Behold, Kriegpanzer!" The patriotic German within her had broken out.
Vahid and Teemu looked at one another.
"You know those other guys we were gonna recruit?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell 'em to stay at home."
7 Kriegpanzers.
Author's Note
Sabaton= Band of the same name
Tato= Toto
Sailor 22= twenty one pilots (I had to stretch)
Kriegpanzer= Literally, war tank. I wanted to come up with a cool name for the tanks the Nazis hadn't already used and I said to myself, "fuck it, that's good enough."
So yeah. One of the main characters is a Nazi. I want to get it out of the way now that I am not a Nazi, please don't dox me and mail boxes of poo to my house (not that I think anyone cares that much :P).
I intend to have her speaking small amounts of German here and there too. What's her role going to be? I can't say. DIO and co. will be showing up, so these guys aren't going to be the primary villains. Or villains at all really. That sounds insane, but hopefully it'll make sense as time goes on.
I feel like I should mention this for people who don't know, but the Stasi were the real life hyper efficient East German Secret Police that I learned about from my neighbour who grew up near Dresden.
On the flipside. The Stardust Crusaders will also be showing up, so yay I guess. Although, I will be making some changes to the world, as you have probably already guessed.
Really though, I won't be updating this too often. This is something I want to have, but not something I want to heavily invest in to a degree where it takes over other projects. I'm something of a modern history nerd and I like the idea of alternate histories. Maybe one day I'll post a world map for this.
Thanks for reading!
