Had to update the prologue due to grammar and spelling errors! Anyway... on with the beginning of the series! :)

One Karlsland night… December 1945…

"Scheiße!" A Karlslander soldier muttered while running through the streets of Berlin. He was carrying a briefcase containing intelligence that another party needed. Not much people was roaming in the streets, and currently, no patrols were present. 'Damn! My luck…! Why did I have to end up in a dead zone?!'

The soldier kept on his running, not turning back as he took a turn to a nearby alley, hopefully losing his pursuer. He stopped by the corner and peaked out the wall, looking at the supposed direction of his pursuer would come from. 'This is not good. If other parties get a hold of this information… the world will be in panic.' He sighed as he put his head back behind the wall and sighed. 'Who am I kidding? My client wants this done… and HQ wouldn't expect this, but it's just intelligence. They'll give me a raise… before the plan is executed anyway so…' He saw a man with jet black hair wearing a brown jacket in the corner of his eye, but wasn't fast enough to react. The soldier received a fist to the right side of his head and he was on the floor, forcing him to let go of the briefcase. He looked up to his attacker, and the man lifted the soldier up by his collar and slammed him to the wall, then was pinned.

The man knew his career was on the line, as well as his identity. 'They better be fucking right about this.' "Karlslander… I'm gonna ask you a simple question. Where did you get that briefcase? I want a simple and clear answer." Then, the man saw the soldier, just in silence. 'He doesn't want to confess.' Then the man pulled and slammed the soldier's head to the wall. "I asked you, and I'm doing it again. WHERE… DID YOU GET…?! Aggh!" The man's vision blacked out as a fist connected to his head, forcing him to let go of the soldier. He slowly opened his eyes while his vision was blurred to see a brown haired girl in a Karlslander enlisted army uniform asking if the soldier was okay. 'Barkhorn. Figures.' The girl then looked back at the man and approached him, then punched his head again until he was unconscious…

*2231 hours…*

He opened his eyes. The blur in his vision was there, but then it cleared up, to reveal that he was in a dimly lit room. 'If Barkhorn weren't there, I wouldn't be able to be here with…' Then he saw familiar figures, all wearing Karlslander enlisted uniforms. His eyes widened in shock. 'Well I'll be damned. Minna, Gertrude and Erica, huh?' He identified the red-haired girl as Minna and the short-haired blonde as Erica Hartmann.

Erica was separated from the other two. Gertrude then whispered in Minna's ear. "What are we gonna do with him? He's a Liberian."

"I don't know. Why the hell would a Liberian be touching one of our officers?"

"This is not a coincidence, I think." Gertrude said. "One of our staff sergeants reported that the Chancellor has received a call directly from the officer who carried the briefcase."

Minna then focused on Barkhorn's eyes. "A direct call?" 'Barkhorn's right. It isn't just coincidence.' "Let's start the interrogation."

Gertrude and Minna approached the Liberian spy and saw he was already stirring awake. Gertrude was the first to speak. "I see you're awake."

The spy then looked up to them and he realized he was sitting down with his legs and hands tied behind his back to the chair. 'This isn't my day…'

"I'm going to ask you something, spy." Gertrude crossed her arms. "What were you doing in Berlin? You know our country has made a treaty together with Liberion signing peace between us… and here you are, spotted punching one of our officers. Explain yourself!"

"What's there to explain?" The spy answered. In exchange, a fist got to his face and he moaned in pain.

"Answer the question!" Gertrude shouted at him demanding answers.

He looked back at Barkhorn's eyes with sincerity. "I meant what I said. What's there to explain? And I thought you were smart with the other two."

"Why I oughta…" Gertrude attempted another punch but Minna stopped her. 'Commander?'

"That means you already know us." Minna said. "I have no doubts about that, but what do you want?"

He then looked at Minna's eyes, not with anger but with desperation. "I don't want to cause panic. Damn it… if your superiors ever think of looking at that briefcase… I don't know what else they'll expect. Anything can be inside the briefcase, goddamn it!" He stopped when he saw the barrel of Gertrude's pistol point at his forehead. 'What the hell?!'

Minna looked at Barkhorn and glared at her. "Put it down, Barkhorn!"

"I don't know what your intention is." Gertrude said. "But you've clearly stepped into something you don't understand! The briefcase was identified as a friendly intel retrieved object. Your course of action is to grab it yourself. Or is there another reason to?"

Minna kept a short glare at Barkhorn and looked back at the spy. He then made a reply. "That's right. I got no intention of grabbing it at all."

'It doesn't make any sense.' Minna thought and knew that he had another objective, but then asked him something different. "Where… did the briefcase come from?"

"Huh?" Gertrude asked. "Where'd that come from?"

"From the Neuroi." The man said and the three were shocked.

The revelation made Erica approach him with curiosity. "You're kidding!" She exclaimed.

"No, it's true! Our top brass didn't want to make panics. A witness just called us saying he saw something, then he explained."

The man then started to explain.

His name was Rick Gantt… 27 years of age and a Liberian tourist. He's gotten used to Britannian and Gallian sights and he didn't want to leave it for 5 months, if I'm right.

Anyway, he was on his way to a pier in Brittannia one night to pick up a package from his loved ones back in the states, but then he noticed the pier was closed down, which didn't make any sense. We've known a little later that a request came in from the mayor of the city to close the pier for one day. This tourist of ours was once an army man, and the closure of the pier didn't make sense, so he decided to break in.

He was sneaking once he noticed that no one was there, and we had our ears on our witness as it clearly isn't feeling right. He noticed there was someone near the ships on the pier, and he hid behind a close building. He noticed the uniform was clearly not Brittanian but actually Karlslander army, like yours. He was looking at Minna's military patch insignia.

He was waiting for someone, and then Gantt noticed that something wasn't right in his sights, as he saw something travelling with what appears to be mirrors of some sort. We later called it reflectors. The reflectors were surrounding a flying vessel, making it seem invisible, but then it stopped, and just above the officer. Then, a briefcase came from under the vessel, falling towards the officer, who later caught it. Gantt then described to us for a brief moment that he saw a red hexagonal outline from the ship. That's when he was suspicious it was a Neuroi.

The witness knew his evidence wasn't enough, but we have evidence of our own. The appearance of the red hexagonal outline was in the exact time Brittannian navy forces have a radar spike on a certain contact inland Brittania, and it was confirmed as a Neuroi. That place Gantt was, is exactly the place where the spike was, and we put the pieces together.

The higher-ups have decided I'm the one to chase the bastard down before he would make it back to Karlsland army HQ, and prevent him to getting that intel to them. We knew there's nothing intelligent inside the briefcase, and for that… we needed to keep a lot of people in the dark. We may not be believed in, after all.

Minna was somehow thinking it was ridiculous. "Nothing intelligent in the briefcase?" Barkhorn lowered the pistol and was listening. Minna then continued. "What are you suggesting there could be inside?"

Then the double doors burst open. The three witches looked at him with shock and even listened to the air raid alarm. The officer was panting as he appeared to have run from somewhere far. Once he calmed down, he spoke up. "Commander… Minna. We've got a situation!"

"What happened?!" Minna asked the officer.

"Communications are down… an explosion… came from the chancellor's quarters and…"

"Wait… the chancellor?!"

"He's… caught in the explosion. He… didn't make it."

Barkhorn widened her eyes and then looked at the spy. "He tried to stop our officer because there were explosives in it."

"That's the smallest of our problems. Berlin… is under attack! Turtles and Goblets are swarming around Karlsland." The officer reported. "They need the three of you to…"

"Hartmann, you're staying here." Minna said to Erica who was then a bit absent minded.

"Huh? Why me?"

Gertrude then whispered to Minna. "I don't think it's a good idea. She slacks off sometimes."

"I don't think our spy is serious to ruin our national security. You said it yourself that he tried to stop the officer from delivering those explosives. There's no threat here, except we need someone to watch him. If the Neuroi are surely involved in the Chancellor's death, then they're willing to take out whoever knows their plans. I'm putting Erica in that duty."

"Oh." Gertrude said and looked to Erica. "Do your best in it, Erica. Don't let anything happen to him, and don't let him loose either." Erica nodded and Gertrude looked at Minna. "Go ahead. I need to ask him one last thing before I join you."

"Make it quick." Minna said while he urged the officer to lead her, and the two of them left the room through the double doors.

Gertrude looked at the spy with intent. "I have to know something. The report about the Neuroi… you said that the Brittannian royal navy detected that radar spike?"

The man nodded. "That's right. It's because some of my guys have been keeping tabs on some strategical areas. The pier is a perfect entrance for Neuroi. It's a good thing they've made a good move when the Brit navy got there in time."

"I see. Are you army?"

The man shook his head and made her confused. "Ma'am… I'm under the radar… and so is my division."

*Hangar 13-D… 2237 hours…*

Minna saw the hangar doors open when her familiar ears and tail came out. She had her MG 42 machinegun in her hands. What she saw outside had a mix of black from darkness and orange from some fires made from the city. "Commander Minna… TAKING OFF!" She acknowledged her striker unit's engines as the RPM's roared to a higher rate. She began accelerating and she finally left the hangar, quickly taking off and raising to a higher altitude looking up, then hovering to see the city as parts of it are on fire. 'My god… This is… phenominal…' Then she saw the Neuroi, and indeed the Turtle Neuroi were large. It's less devastating to be stomped by its legs, but the lasers were still something to be worried about. She saw lasers coming at her and she activated her frontal shield. 'Damn it! It's a strong punch!' She felt the intensity of the attack and the lasers subsided as she went to strafe from the neuroi contact. 'This isn't the only contact, so I've got to be careful about…' Then she saw small flying neuroi coming at her. 'Recon units!' She aimed her weapon at them and immediately fired to protect herself.

*Back in that room…*

"My name… is Tyler Fray." The man said to Erica, who was asking who he is.

"I see. So… how'd you know there would be explosives?"

"I didn't. You see… the hunch only came to this question: What did the neuroi provide that officer with? And if he called it in as intel, then the one who would personally look at it back in Karlsland, would be none other than a Chancellor. This was debated over the higher-ups and my commanding officer as well. They decided to put me over there because I was in Gallia that time, the closest to Karlsland. But… I was too late. Barkhorn stopped me way before he could deliver the intel. And now that this is happening…" He looked down and shook his head. "Damn it… this is all my fault."

"Unsinn!" Erica interrupted. "Barkhorn was only protecting the important package. Look… we may have stopped you from doing what you had to do… but it doesn't mean you should blame yourself, or us. We didn't know either."

"It doesn't matter, does it?!" Fray snapped back. "It's simple enough for you because you don't encounter these things… but this is about LIFE! It's not about national security anymore, but how many lives one battle could take for each side. It's the same for this one, and only now… Berlin is almost on its knees without its leader! I BLAME MYSELF, BECAUSE I'VE FAILED MY OBJECTIVE!" Then next he knew is that his left cheek was hurt from a slap and his head was facing right. He eventually caught himself and faced Erica, who was still panting from what she's done. 'Wow… she's strong.'

"Let me just tell you something to make things clear." Erica said softly. "You've gotta relax for a while. I'm not that kind of person who would just consider something serious in a rush, unless it involves fighting for our lives. I told you… that we never knew, and you didn't expect this either. Now that this is happening, would you want to have self-pity all the time? Can't you see we're doing what we can now?"

"E-Erica…" His voice trailed off.

And she continued. "This is war. All we can do now, is do our best. If we fail one objective, we do the next most important one. And right now…"

"…It's saving this city or anyone else in it." Fray replied. "Get me out of here."

Erica went behind his chair. "Don't need to tell me twice." She used a pocket knife to cut his hands free from the ropes binding him. He was about to try untie his feet off the chair when he saw the tip of her pocket knife reach his neck. He looked up to see her serious. "Try anything, and I'm not hesitating."

Fray smiled. "Shirley mentioned about your nature. Doesn't change a bit."

Erica was taken aback but raised an eyebrow and pulling her knife back. "Touché." She said before she bent down and cut the ropes, and he stood up. "You knew Shirley?"

"She's got friends, and a lot of them." He said while checked himself. He only had a white tank shirt on and pants, and he eventually found his brown jacket and wore it. "I don't know how the hell the Neuroi are starting to grow brains, but ever since last month, they're starting to get too smart for us. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, right?"

Erica nodded. "So you know about Romagna?"

"Everyone has. Believe it or not… I wish it wouldn't have happened." Fray said while walking to the double doors. "We need to evacuate the town."

*Airspace over berlin…*

Somehow, Gertrude is pissed of when she got in the air. Not only is she seeing turtles and Goblets… but she also encountered a medium sized carrier. 'This is unbelievable! First there's a call about multiple units spotted at the Karlsland border… now we've got Neuroi attacking Berlin?! These underground junkies are ruining our planet!' She thought as she kept firing on the nearby turtles firing at her. Eventually, she had to shield herself from attacks for a continuous minute and a half. The unit count was substantial, and they could lose Berlin within hours.

She kept on going and she fired on the drones while away from the capital ships. She had two machine guns with her, and it was useful enough for a survival rate, but eventually, she'll run out. 'If I don't do something soon, my ammo's gonna run dry!'

*Airstrip Hangar 14-A…*

"Oberleutnant Hartmann!" A corporal shouted beside a truck as he saw Erica and Taylor run in. "Hurry! This is the last one going out!"

Erica stopped and Taylor followed. He looked at her with confusion for a while. "Erica, what are you…?" Then she presented a submachine gun… the MP-40. "Wait… are you gonna fight them? You can't leave me here!"

"What does it look like? Besides… I can already be assured you can make it to safety." She said while she smiled.

Somehow, Taylor was shocked of the smile and took the submachine gun. "But… you don't even know me."

"For someone who wants to save someone important like the chancellor, I'll trust that person! Plus… if you know Shirley, that puts you off my blacklist."

"But the chancellor's dead."

"It doesn't matter. What do you want to do?"

Taylor was a little nervous of what to answer. 'Is she serious?' "I'd do the right thing. If I'm told to evacuate, I'll evacuate."

"See?" Erica giggled before she ran for her striker unit. It was under a big cloth, which she later unraveled. He looked at its beauty as the Messerscharf was being deployed. Then she jumped in, and a blue glow from within her striker was emitted, then followed by the engine started by herself. She looked at Fray for a while and nodded before looking forward. "Just get out of here, Taylor! I've got my friends to help out!" She sped up and accelerated, left the hangar and raised her altitude.

Taylor was astounded by her trust and smile. "Shirley looks highly of you, Erica. You better make sure you don't lose that attitude yourself. Good luck, Oberleutnant…" He then turned his head to the transport and mounted on it, then the truck started to move.

Minutes later, he was about a mile off the city and he saw the sight of Berlin, burning down. Big neuroi air units appeared over the city, including the ones that looked like carriers. All he saw was laser fire and anti-air fire from the ground as he knew lives were wasted in the battle itself. 'I hope the three of you make it.' Then, he looked at the officer near him and asked. "Do you have a radio here?" Then the officer looked for a bag sized radio and turned it on. Fray then turned to contact a specific frequency with the knobs on it. Once he has the proper frequency he spoke at the microphone:

Come in, this is Panther, Verification One-one-five. I repeat: This is Panther, Verification One-one-five. Do you read?

[This is Eagle. Go ahead.]

Mission has failed and I'm returning to base. After-action report summary… Chancellor Klaus has been killed. Contents of the briefcase were none other than high-explosives targeted for the chancellor himself. I'm requesting a full debrief on mission for next objective. Out.

[Panther, you have a new objective. Assemble with the 501st. We've got to start from scratch from here on out. You know what to do.]

What about Berlin?

[Concentration of the enemy has just been spotted from the north. Other units dispersed have hidden underground but we cannot trace them. For that, it is dangerous for you to stay in Berlin. We need to secure a stable Forward Operating Base before proceeding. You will assemble with the 501st for that.]

But our identity is crucial to be kept first!

[No. It's about time we show our true colors to the rest, and you know what I mean.]

Taylor's eyes widened. 'So we're finally gonna be coming out, huh?'

[Panther, respond.]

I understand. I'm on immediate rendezvous with the 501st. It's not in Dover, is it?

[Negative. The new base of the 501st is currently stationed in West Gallia. There will be units waiting for you there. Good luck, Panther.]

I acknowledge. Panther out.

Taylor then switched the radio off and turned the knobs while he looked around, making sure his frequency was not recognized. 'Oh, yeah. All hell's gonna break loose now.'

Looking forward, he soon thought that the war would last much longer, as the ever persistent neuroi had new tricks to uncover. Earth was in chaos… but it will once again find its way to be defended once more.