Die Geister Hexen
-1-
Phoenix
It was late in the year of 1943. A slight breeze moved through the silent hills and the leaves were in the colors of autumn as they covered the Gallian countryside one by leaves rolled with the wind and everything looked so peaceful but the tranquility was soon shattered. Red beams arched across the evening sky and tracer fire lit up the sky in response as witches from the 363rd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group were engaged with the Neuroi in a wild furball. Among the Neuroi were drones, mostly cube or sphere shaped, and large-types that resembled giant flying manta rays.
A rocket destroyed the last large-type, sending white shards everywhere. The flight lead, Katharine Williams, a brunette in her late teens wearing a brown Liberion flight jacket, shielded herself from the incoming shards. Four drones headed in her direction and she took off, firing as she went. Three drones were taken out and she destroyed the last one with all seven bullets from her M1911.
As she dragged an ammo belt over the feed tray of her hungry .30 caliber AN/M2, she shouted over the intercom, "Who else still has ammo and how much do you have?"
"Half a belt left!"
"Three mags left"
"Two rockets left!"
A witch with short light brown hair moved to the edge of the fight to reload as the reports came in. She wore a light brown U.S. Army Air Corps jacket, which boasted the insignia of a Captain, and a light tan button shirt underneath. The P-51D model Striker Units she wore had Old Crow painted on the engine cowlings. A certain report caught her attention. Well of course Jackson has more ammo than the rest of us. Just then she saw the aforementioned witch shoot a single bullet from her M1903, taking out two drones. At least she's making good use of her ammo.
"Anderson!" Katharine's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Yeager! How much ammo do you have?"
"Clarissa Anderson here. I have four mags left," she said as she loaded a thirty round magazine into her M1 Carbine that was modified to shoot fully automatic. "As for Shirley..."
"Whooo-hoooo!" Shirley shouted with glee.
Clarissa watched the red headed witch flash by with a bogey on her tail. Clarissa quickly dispatched it. She then noticed how fast Shirley was moving. Modding your Strikers again were you?
"Shirley only has a couple mags left," Clarissa finished.
Suddenly, a warning from her wingman, Mikayla Langley, rang in her ears.
"Claire! There's a drone right above you!"
Claire looked up and saw a shape diving out of the afternoon sun. She fired and destroyed it before it could fire.
"Thanks! Guh!" Claire grunted as two beams slammed into her shield. Two cubed shape drones dove down and attacked and Claire poured as much magic as she could into her Strikers and shot off as fast as she could. The Neuroi gave chase. She jinked left, right, up, and down. Mikayla saw the problem and shot one rocket, destroying both of them. Claire looked over her shoulder and when she looked back forward she screeched to a stop as two more cube drones closed in. They soon became crystals when Shirley dove in between them, guns blazing. Claire covered her face from the glowing shrapnel. Another Neuroi shot out of the fragments, catching the witch by surprise. She tried to raise her gun, but wasn't quick enough. It rammed into her and she hung onto the front. I'll take it out with my power, she thought to herself as she raised her hand. But before she could act, the red hexagon on the center started to glow. It was about to fire its beam right through her! Thinking quickly, Claire threw herself upward and landed on her back just as the flying cube fired its beam. Holding onto the edge of the cube, she raised her right arm with an open hand. Flames formed and wreathed around her hand and arm.
"Firestorm!" Claire shouted with a lot of power behind her voice and slammed her palm against the black surface. The Neuroi let out a screech of pain as a red hot jet of flame shot through its metallic body. It resisted and tried to shake the witch off but to no avail.
"Come on you son of a bitch!"
Claire released a fury of flame from her left hand. The Neuroi screamed and it glowed orange before exploding into the brilliant white crystals. She shielded her face as shards ripped by her, cutting her clothes and legs. Her Old Crow was damaged but it kept her aloft. All around the witches, the remaining drones disintegrated. Apparently Claire had destroyed the one with the core.
"Nice one, Claire!" a witch shouted through the intercom.
"Good job, Anderson," Katharine acknowledged. "Guess we won't need the 352nd after all."
All the witches seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief as they started to drag their weary bodies back to base.
"Uh, Kate?" a witch said nervously. "You'd better call for backup."
Everyone looked at the witch then followed her gaze that stretched across Gallia. What they saw were many…many black dots growing larger and larger.
"Sarah! Call 352nd! We need them up here now!" Katharine shouted at the radio operator. As Sarah called for the Blue Legs, the Neuroi broke into the witches' formation firing machine guns; it was the Laros-Kai.
"Kate! They'll be here in ten minutes!" Sarah reported. Katharine was unloading into the I-16 shaped Neuroi and shouted above the gunfire.
"That's no good! Everyone, fall ba-!" Katharine stopped when she noticed her entire flight was swarmed in a cloud of the black metallic foes.
"The Bastards better move their asses if we are to survive," she said under her breath.
At the 352nd airbase in Bodney, Britannia, one of the Blue Legs, Geena Preddy, sat on a couch doing what she always does; solving a crossword puzzle.
"A word that starts with 'F'…" she murmured to herself.
"Focke," Carla Luksic said in a joking manner.
"No, no, no. Focke Wulf," replied Roberta Powell.
"Where did you pull that name from?" Carla asked. "The company is called Flak Wulf."
"If you insist then, Fokker."
The familiar sound of the air raid siren sounded throughout the base. A witch, Rosalind Littge, that ran by the room shouted at the lounging witches.
"Get off your asses and get to your Strikers! The 363rd needs our help!"
Powell sprang out of her chair and Carla vaulted over the couch. Geena followed in a more tranquil manner, closing her book with her pencil inside and stuffed it in her breast pocket.
"Come on!" Carla complained as she dragged Geena by her arm. "Why are you moving so slowly?"
Claire had just sliced through the wing of a Neuroi that mimicked an I-153 with a bayonet. She had ran out of ammunition for her Carbine and resorted to using her blades; an M1905 bayonet and a Tomahawk.
"How's it going for you?" Mikayla asked as she loaded more rockets into her M10 Bazooka.
"Not bad, considering…" Claire broke off when she noticed that her friend's nose was practically drooling blood. "What the hell happened to you?" she asked, failing to hide her amusement.
"I accidently ran into somebody else's shield," Mikayla responded. "What?"
"Bwahahaha! Oh my god!" Claire exclaimed, clutching her sides. "How does that even work?"
Mikayla didn't answer that question. "You were saying?"
"Yeah. I don't have any ammo. Can I have your Thompson?" She asked with her voice still trembling.
"Sure." Mikayla always carried an M1928 Thompson to accompany her launcher but rarely ever uses it.
"We've got a large-type coming in!" someone screamed.
"All units not occupied with enemy fighters, take down the heavy," Katharine ordered.
"Mikayla and Claire here. Roger that." Mikayla locked the third rocket into her launcher.
"Let's go."
The Neuroi was a heavy bomber shaped like B-17 but without any propellers in the engine housings. Such a large-type would typically be easy to shoot down but this Neuroi bristled with extra turrets like spikes on a porcupine. The duo met up with seven other witches who were led by Rachel.
"Good. We got extra firepower," Rachel commented when she saw Mikayla.
"Mind you. I only got four rockets left," Mikayla responded.
They were a kilometer from their target when a wall of bright red tracers formed in front of them.
"Spread out and divide its defensive fire!" Rachel ordered. "Destroy the turrets and clear a path for Langley!"
Everyone replied in unison.
"Roger!"
Katharine slammed the top cover of her Stinger closed when a hail of red tracers flew at her. Her shield deployed and she strained under the weight of fire. It was weakening, that much was clear. The Laros came closer and closer and when it was no more than a hundred feet away, a bullet broke through her shield and her striker, embedding itself in her leg. She screamed at the excruciating pain and dropped enough altitude for the Neuroi to pass over her. Another came in to strafe her position, catcher her in her arms and legs. The Units exploded and revealed her mangled and bleeding legs.
"Kate!"
As everyone drew away the heavy's fire, Mikayla found an opening and made her move. She approached head on and fired one rocket at the cockpit and another where the front gunner would be. The first was shredded by gunfire and the second hit between the cockpit and the nose gunner. The force of the magically enhanced explosion ripped open the left side of the cockpit, peeling back twisted metal.
"What-!" Mikayla exclaimed. Claire pulled her to the side.
"Remember that it's not an actual plane. There's no pilot."
"Where am I supposed to aim then?"
They saw part of the left wing snap off but the Neuroi kept on flying.
Well, it looks like that won't work. A Neuroi like this doesn't use beams to create destruction so there should be bombs on board. An idea popped into her mind.
"Okay," Claire said. "If it is anything like a B-17, aim at the fuselage just behind the wing. Hit it there and it'll likely break in half and the explosion should set off any bombs that thing is carrying."
"Should? We're going to gamble my last two rockets on a theory?"
"Well if you got a better idea, I'm all ears."
Mikayla shrugged and the duo took off. Claire blocked the incoming fire as they raced toward the Neuroi because was pouring all available magic she had into the rockets so she couldn't concentrate on her shield. They closed in fast. 1500 feet... 1000 feet... 500 feet...
"Now!" Mikayla shouted. Claire pulled up and hit her brakes as Mikayla zoomed under her. As soon as Claire was clear, she doubled tapped the last of her rockets. Two white contrails streaked towards the bomber. The first punched a hole in the side and the second broke through and detonated when it struck the inside wall. The result was a massive explosion that engulfed the entire Neuroi. Mikayla dived away from the fireball and the rest of the witches shielded themselves as they got blasted by hot air. The fireball receded and the bomber could be seen plummeting to the earth in two flaming pieces. A couple seconds later, a giant secondary explosion wiped out any trace of it.
"Whoo! Yeah, Mikayla!" Claire shouted. "You and your overkill magic ability!"
Mikayla's magic ability allowed her to magically enhance a weapon's firepower well beyond that of a normal witch. The downside is that it takes up an unsafe amount of magic and she could cut her sortie short if she wasn't careful.
The other witches who attacked the bomber cheered and Rachel reported in.
"Kate. This is Rachel. The bomber has been destroyed. I repeat; the Neuroi bomber is down. Credit goes to Langley." There was no response from the flight lead. "Kate? Kate, do you copy? Kate?"
Suddenly, a chaotic flow of radio traffic was heard.
"Kate is falling!"
"Commander Williams!"
"Somebody catch her!"
Two witches who were dogfighting fighters had caught Kate. She was bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds and her Strikers were gone, exposing her legs laced with shrapnel. Black curtains threatened to shut her off from the rest of the world but she managed to hold on to the tiniest bit of consciousness.
Claire arrived just in time to see Rachel panic over Kate's state.
"I said, 'What are we supposed to do now Captain?'"
Claire had just realized that she was being addressed. She was the next highest ranking officer there and the Rachel, the Major, was clearly unfit to lead at the moment.
"Uh-" Claire began.
"We got more Neuroi incoming!" someone interrupted.
They don't let up do they?
"Sarah, what's the status on reinforcements?" Claire asked.
"Four minutes."
"Can we hold them off until then?" The words were out of her mouth and in the air before she could stop them.
"There's no way," a witch bleeding from a cut on her waist said with fatigue. "We're all injured...and exhausted." She was carrying a younger with on her back. Claire thought she was dead until the witch moved her arm to get a better grip.
"Fall back across the Channel. The badly wounded and the witches helping them, leave your weapons of give them to someone else. Everyone else, cover them."
With no time to lose, everyone moved towards Britannia while exchanging weapons and wounded. When they were done arming or discarding weapons, there were many with multiple weapons. Claire dropped the Thompson and was given the Stinger that had belonged to Kate.
The first Neuroi came into range. It was another Laros. Mikayla shot her .45 caliber handgun once at the Neuroi and it blew apart as if a 30mm cannon took it out. Mikayla and Claire along with the other five or so witches who were escorting were getting hammered but they were so close to the Channel.
"Where are the Neuroi that shoot beams?" Claire wondered aloud.
"What? Would you rather fight them?" Mikayla asked.
"Uh, no-"
A witch named Samantha overheard the exchanged and barged in.
"Just shut up and keep shooting!"
She unloaded the rest of the .50 caliber rounds then dumped her M2.
"Andrea, gun!" she shouted.
Andrea was dual wielding Thompsons. One was an M1A1 and the other was an M1928. She tossed Samantha the M1A1. Samantha caught it and used the remaining rounds in the magazine to destroy a Neuroi.
"Sam! Catch!" Andrea threw a triple magazine pouch to Samantha.
A Chaika shaped Neuroi had latched onto Claire's proverbial tail and won't let go. Mikayla fired her M1911 but it caused no damage at all. It did distract it long enough for Claire to turn around and attack. She formed a fireball in her left hand and threw it towards the biplane, blowing it to smithereens. Claire noticed what happened to Mikayla and ordered her to leave the combat zone before she got hurt.
Half of the squadron was over the Channel. Kate was among the half still over Gallia. By this time, there were only two combat effective witches; Captain Clarissa Anderson and Lieutenant Charlotte Yeager.
The M1919 Stinger chewed up the last of the belt. Claire didn't have time to reload and she didn't have the strength to make a fireball powerful enough to be effective. There was an option, but she wasn't about to allow the caged beast escape again.
"Claire!" Shirley screamed. Claire looked in her direction as she zoomed past her. Shirley had thrown something and it reflected the light of the fiery red setting sun. It was a silver M1911, but it was not just any M1911. It was Shirley's personal handgun that she had custom made. There was gold plating that was shaped like a ribbon inscribed with "Charlotte E. Yeager" in cursive on the left side of the gun along with Shirley's personal emblem just behind it. Claire caught the pistol and unloaded all seven rounds into a Neuroi, destroying it.
With a bit of breathing room, Claire reloaded the M1919 with the last belt of a hundred rounds. She released the slide of the M1911 and held onto it. On the horizon over Gallia, more Neuroi appeared. This time...large-types.
"Any plans on what to do?" Shirley asked as she pulled up next to the Captain.
"Yeah. You hurry up and get over the Channel while I slow them down."
Shirley opposed her idea instantly.
"There's no way I'm leaving you here by yourself! I've got ammo, I can still fight!"
"You don't have enough magic to charge up your weapon. You need the rest to get back to base." Claire said, exhaustion creeping into her voice. Shirley noticed.
"How come you're staying then?" Shirley countered. "Are you trying to get more kills?"
"Don't bring my kill count into this."
"You want to increase your kill count, don't you?" Shirley continued. "Is being five kills ahead of me not enough?!"
"Why are talking about this now?!" Claire shouted, fully aware of the approaching enemies.
"Because you think you can stay because you're better than me!"
"That's not the case! As a friend's request, please return to base."
"I'm not gonna-"
"Lieutenant Yeager!"
Shirley fell silent at Claire's outburst. They haven't addressed each other by rank or last name since they met.
"Shirley. Please...don't force me to make it an order," Claire pleaded.
There was a long pause as they stare each other with no sounds other than the whirl of the wind and murmur of their Strikers.
"Okay," Shirley finally said.
"Thank you." Claire said as she held out the M1911.
Shirley looked at Claire's hand briefly before pushing it away.
"Give it back when you return to base. Promise me that."
"Promise."
Shirley shot off in her modded Strikers and Claire turned to face the oncoming swarm. Hatches on all the large-types opened and hundreds of drones shaped like 5 in rockets streamed from their mother crafts. The dark cloud of metal descended upon the witch and swirled around her, leaving her at the center of the sphere.
What's going on? Claire thought to herself. Why aren't they attacking me? It's almost as if they are afraid of me or something. In any case...
"Come on you bastards!" Claire screamed. The Stinger roared to life and white shards exploded all around her as tracers flew into the wall of Neuroi. The gun ran dry and she resorted to throwing fireballs. Her final attack, she threw a continuous stream of flame from her hands which sliced through the wall of metal. As quickly as the opening was made, the drones closed it like a zipper.
Guess I have no choice...
Claire had one option left and no matter how much she opposed it, it was the only choice she had left. Slowly, her mental wall that she kept that monster prisoner began crumbling one brick, one rivet, one weld at a time as it banged against its cage with fearful ferocity. She could hear her familiar, a dove, screaming inside her head as the white wings on her head and the tail on her back began to simmer. In front of her, a large-type peered through the wall and opened a hatch leading to a path of blinding white light in front of Claire.
There's no way I can walk away from this. Claire thought as she felt her entire body begin to smolder.
"Don't do it, Anderson!" she heard someone scream weakly over the intercom. "Do not let it out!"
Claire opened her eyes with a gasp
Commander Williams!
"Yes, I do know about it. Your mother told me about it and that no matter what happens, do not let the phoenix take control."
Claire took in Katherine's words. She knew the destruction it could cause and letting it out would put everyone in danger even if she could use its power to destroy all the Neuroi. She looked back forward and closed her eyes, allowing the white light to consume her.
A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter of Die Geister Hexen! Chapter 2 should be out soon. Anyways, any comments or reviews are greatly appreciated.
Just as the Old Crow reference suggests, I based Clarissa Anderson off Clarence Anderson.
I based the banter between the Blue Legged Bastards of Bodney off of a picture Shimada Fumikane drew where Geena also asked for a word that started with an "F".
Shirley's M1911 is based off the "Western Arms M1911 Charlotte E. Yeager".