2

Heinz couldn't concentrate on one thought. All he wanted to do was find out more about his father that had been distant and aloof his whole life. Now he found himself caught in the middle of something that seemed beyond him. After Marie had given him information on the secrets of his father, he left, leaving behind the file of graphs and solutions on this super soldier serum. What reason could anyone have to want to alter the human form? Who was this Johann Schmidt to the Germans? From what Marie told him that evening he sounded like a dangerous man.

Walking home, it was dark now, and still no one was in sight. Not that he would have noticed anyways with the freezing air lashing at his face. He left Marie's as soon as he could, no longer feeling safe in the little old ladies' home. He quickened his step to his own place, eager for comfort and familiarity. He tried to shake the feeling of eyes watching him from the dark, but it only urged him faster through the desolate town.

He reached for the door handle of his house and quickly slunk inside taking a quick glance behind him before he shut and bolted the door. He breathed a sigh of relief at being in his home. Small and sparse as it was, it was his. He pulled off his jacket for the first time today, not even close to being warm enough to do so. Walking towards the fire place he turned on the gas and lit the flame, rubbing his hands together to try and feel human again. He sat back in his green tattered arm chair hugging his arms to his chest.

He shook not from the cold but from the thoughts swimming through his half frozen mind. He tried to remember if there was anything that he could remember about his father. He remembered the day he and his mother found out that he was dead. His mother hadn't cried just held him to her, telling him that nothing would change. It fuelled him in the coming years to find out more about his father. Now that he sat in the light of the measly flame, the feeling in his limbs coming back to life, he recalled that there was never any explanation about how his father died. It's like it was just accepted that he was gone, never to come back.

He always found it odd that his mother never mourned for his father, not that he could see anyways. But she never bothered to see anyone else either. She never moved on, stuck in time, never living again. Rubbing his face with both hands he sat forward closer to the flames. Everything that Marie had told him he believed completely. Why was it so easy to trust someone that he'd never met? Was it that he really knew nothing about his father and was so desperate to know him?

So far what he knew was this. His father was a scientist, of what he didn't know. He was hired along with Marie Hausen and a few others by a Johann Schmidt to create a serum. Something went horribly wrong involving Schmidt. Without further notice everyone was let go and told to keep quiet, or else. Years later Marie comes to him asking for his help against Schmidt.

What could he do? He wasn't a scientist. He went to University for only a few years studying history and journalism, but even then he had to drop out due to the war and his mother becoming ill. He never went back. He spent his time working on construction sites, rebuilding destroyed and fallen cities. There wasn't time for anything else besides surviving. So why him? He couldn't help her even if he wanted to.

Then it occurred to him.

I could help. Sure he felt like he was doing his part by rebuilding rubble back into sturdy structures, but with this he could really do something. If Schmidt was as dangerous as Marie led on and he could help stop him from continuing on with these experiments, what exactly those experiments were he still wasn't sure, but he could help any way that he could. He would do it.

Feeling warm at the sudden determination he scrounged through his closet looking for the box that his mother had filled with photographs, birth certificates and "things that will come in handy" as she had told him. Removing old newspapers, his leather brief case that belonged to his father before him (empty, he remembered), and clutter from the closet he dragged the box out from the closet bringing it in front of the chair.

With the illumination of the fire he browsed through the contents, paying more attention at pictures and paper work then he had before. Now, he knew what he was looking for. After looking through old photos of relatives and hand written recipes his mother had kept, he came across a photo he didn't remember seeing.

A group of seven people, unknown to him besides his father, all dressed in lab coats. Then he saw the woman standing next to his father. Marie Hausen.

It was definitely her. At least he could rule out that she hadn't lied about knowing his father. But that didn't mean he could trust her.

He wondered if any of the men in the photo was Schmidt. He turned over the photo. On the back was written Kruger and Buell.

It didn't mean anything to him, only that his father and Marie were the only ones in the photo he recognized. But he didn't know who Buell was. He set it aside still rummaging through the case. It seemed futile after all he pulled were newspaper clippings his mother had obviously kept for recipes. There was nothing else in the box.

He sat back confused more than ever. How could his father have kept nothing of his life? Was it so bad that he had to destroy everything that would link him to his job? Maybe he was protecting us.

The thought of it being so bad that his father feared for the safety of his family made Heinz all the more cautious to be delving any deeper into this. He picked up the photo again, hoping he had missed something. He didn't recognize anyone else in the photo besides his father and now Marie.

Feeling tired and useless with everything that happened that day he started to place everything back into the box, leaving the photo out.

As he was placing papers back in their original order he took one more glance at every piece of paper just in case he overlooked something. Scanning over his mothers recipes he could remember every single dish she made. He smiled at the thought of his mother skimming through the newspapers looking for a new recipe. The ones in his hands were for almond cakes, honey jam, and other recipes he could still remember the taste of. His mother loved to cook and every time it was always perfect. And then he read one for red cabbage stew. For a moment he thought it was odd, his mother knew how much he detested cabbage. He smiled at the thought that she was probably determined to get him to like it with this recipe, but she never did. He didn't give it a second thought as he placed it in the box, but noticed as he covered it with another recipe that it was cut off mid instructions. He pulled the cabbage stew recipe back out and turned it over. The head line read Mysterious Death of Seven Acclaimed Scientists Baffles Authorities.

Heinz froze reading the article as fast as he could.

Authorities are at a dead end in the missing person case of seven of Germany's most acclaimed scientists. None of the missing persons have had any previous connection within each other besides profession, authorities say. It was some two months ago that the families of the missing persons reported the absence of their loved ones. Although there is no lead on if any of Scientists had any connection with the other, authorities are sure there is a connection. Six bodies were found in an abandoned warehouse that was thought to be burned down due to negligence. Upon further inspection six bodies were found, all identified as the six of the seven missing scientists. Authorities are still baffled as to why only six bodies turned up and why these scientists were a particular target. Although one scientist is still missing they are confident that they are deceased as well. Police are asking for any information that could help them in closing this case.

Heinz read further down at the list of the deceased scientists that were found.

Dead: Dr. Fitzwilliam Harmon, Dr. Thomas Shnell, Dr. Karl Kruger, Dr. Henry Feiser, Dr. Alexandria Turrig. Dr. Maeve Ensen.

Missing, presumed dead: Marie Buell.

Even with this huge information Heinz felt even more at a loss. His mother knew more then she led on, he realized. She was keeping quiet too, fearing for her life and his. She left this for him to find one day. He grabbed the photo and the newspaper clipping keeping them in his coat pocket. There was no way he would be going back to Marie's tonight, but first thing in the morning he was going to ask if she was the other missing scientist in the photo and what he had to do to help bring down Schmidt.