Iowa had been driving around aimlessly through the rural back roads of the state of Iowa for a good hour. Along the way she saw the Nazi convoy from the other side of the field most likely headed for the base when they failed to report back. She eventually reached a proper road sign once she knew the general direction of the main road, but it was strange and unfamiliar, She could recognize the wording for Des Moines, but not the signs marking the route. Rather than a black and white shield, it was a blue square directing her to something called an autobahn.
"An Autobahn? What the heck is an autobahn? What kind of kraut speak is that? And who the heck just decides to install road signs during an invasion? She thought.
She can only guess how far they pushed into the country, since they already act like they owned the place and she's smack dab in the middle of her namesake. That fact made Iowa worry, if the Nazis made it all the way to America's heartland, and the Japanese having most likely made a landing, was the United States losing, or dare she say it, truly fallen like the SS officer said. She violently shoved those thoughts aside, this was no time for quitter talk.
It couldn't have been too long, it's only been several hours from her perspective since she sank in the Pacific, even if she was asleep for a little bit longer than that she could still find the US forces holed up in the rockies or the great reached the entrance of the highway and was astonished at how fast they must've built these limited access invasion corridors. As she drove down the freeway, she couldn't help but think about the Nazi's claims as she saw more and more civilian cars on the road, as if there wasn't a war going on. Otherwise they would be bound by the fuel gritted her teeth, the USA had to have survived somehow, maybe it was a rump nation in Colorado, an isolated city state in Delaware, hell even a government in exile on the Moon would be sufficient for her needs, anything that she can report too.
As she rounded the bend and traveled over the slope, she expected to see Des Moines, and it's Chicago school buildings, but in its place was a monstrosity. The city was filled with large, brutal, concrete blocks which tore into the evening sky, massive banners celebrating the German Reich were draped over the sides of the largest towers in downtown. While she was gone, they tore down the entire city and in their wake created a massive blight on the Great Plains. Iowa didn't want to believe it at first, but she could no longer deny the reality, the Nazis won. She could only choke out a laugh, she didn't whether to feel sad, humbled, resigned, shocked or angry. She tried to focus her thoughts into that of anger, she can't afford to succumb to her turmoil.
"Oh my god, what have they done with you." Iowa said, having barely worked up the composure to even gasp. Here placed in plain view in front of her, was a world burnt to the ground to satisfy their inflated egos and molded the ashes into an effigy of their false superiority. She was getting closer to the city now, as forests and fields gave way to factories and houses, she muttered this under her breath.
"You bastards. I promise you this, I will finish what I started and make things right again. I'll do what I was built to do."
She mindlessly drove deeper into the city, she didn't know why or what for, but right now it was as good a place as any. The highway transitioned to city streets by way of not knowing where the ramps go. As she was descending the ramp and turned through the junction, the military car ran out of gas and coasted into a gas station. Unfortunately, Iowa had no money so she couldn't refuel it and keep going, she would have to walk the rest of the way.
Hoping to avoid detection she used the hood of the car to go over the wall and avoid any and all observation. She found herself in the backyard of a row of terraced houses, it must've been a weekday because she could see that on both sides that they were devoid of life. All there was is an abandoned swing set and an unused clothes rack. She lurked around hopping fences hoping to find a way around and make it to the street. On her way she walked past an open window sill occupied by a housewife, who looked at her with suspicion.
"Oh sorry, just trying to find a shortcut, didn't mean to trespass." Iowa said, trying to reassure the doting housewife.
"Just get the heck out of here before I call the police, you no good deviant." She spat out.
"Okay fine I'm leaving, jeez." After swiftly leaping over more fences she muttered to herself. "Is this how you treat the hero of America?"
She hurried her way into a side alley towards the street, and aside from a Nazi soldier on the street corner to her right, it was also as empty as the back. She didn't want to attract attention to herself just yet, and she managed to slink away without being spotted. She would later reach a much more busy road filled with crowds of people, parked cars, stalls, and Nazis. She wondered what the commotion was all about, at least she could eavesdrop on people and try to find any sign of resistance amongst Americans. The sound of jet engines above drew her attention to a closed off street.
The street was clear of traffic, and most pedestrians were clustered around various booths on the sidewalks. She walked up to one of them, as she craned her neck to see through the crowd, she could see that it was a food booth. She was starting to get a little bit hungry, but she was reminded that she had no money on her, and she doubted they accepted American dollars now. She was about to leave when she overheard a conversation off to the side. Next to a parked car was a pair of young men talking about movies. She would have ignored it but something caught her attention, and warranted tuning in.
"So did you catch the new episode of brother knows best? The one guest starring the fuhrer?"
"Sure did, and can you believe that the Sandersons were actually hidden Jews the entire time?"
"Eh, it was foreshadowed since the beginning of the season."
"I'm just glad that in this day and age television is allowed to openly talk about these things, back in the old days controversial content would've been shut down by the Jewish hell hole in Hollywood. What do they make nowadays?"
Iowa contorted her face in disgust at how casually they were able to talk about this. It would seem that they already gotten to America's youth, they would've been in diapers by the time the war ended. She walked away before they might attempt to hit on her, aside from politics she was still trying to figure out being Human. She carried on down the sidewalk hiding behind throngs of people away from prying eyes. Surely the older people, those who grew up in the old republic would think differently? Just as she finished that thought, she noticed a commandant leaning against an old Volkswagen, talking to a redhead women.
"I am truly thankful for what you nice Germans have done for this country. After all, you brought peace, jobs and purity to our great country."
"That's good to hear Fraulein Jamie, and to think I was suspecting that the loyalty of America was beginning to waver.."
"Fucking quislings. She must've never had pride in the first place if she was so willing to suck up to the Nazis." Iowa thought to herself.
Finally she passed by an outdoor cafe, most of its attendants were inside the building awaiting food. One of them had gotten a container full of chicken salad greeting an older women with excitement and was almost jumping up and down with joy.
"I just got the letter from Internal affairs, they just approved our marriage!" Said the young one.
Aside from the implication of marriage being run through a bureaucracy, it was still nice to see something actually sweet in this world.
"I got some great news too, I was able to buy some slaves at the auction. They could help serve at the reception.
Iowa almost choked on the air she was breathing. "Didn't we fight a civil war over that a century ago?" She asked herself. Iowa left the premises, she had seen everything.
Iowa was at a loss for words, how could the American people be so accepting towards Nazi oppression? What happened to the proud freedom loving people who through their support when Japan invaded, then were repelled from Hawaii? Were they simply too afraid to fight back, after all every street corner is stationed by a scary dude in a face concealing helmet with a big assault rifle. The commotion from down the street grew louder and louder as she walked closer to the source. The crowd had filled up the street behind a metal barricade separating civilians from a military parade, filled with hundreds of soldiers goose stepping down the road. This was her chance to show America they had nothing to fear anymore, as she forced her way through the crowd she was face to face with a soldier, guarding the perimeter.
"The roads closed citizen, your going to have to find another way."
Iowa merely rolled her eyes and wrested the assault rifle from his hands and swung it against his face, knocking him out cold. The crowd started running away from Iowa in a mad panic.
"Don't be afraid, I am here to help you. I can get the ball running but only you can do your part in restoring America." Iowa shouted at the top of her lungs.
Turning around she saw the military start to funnel through the street with the intent to stop a terrorist attack, so much for igniting igniting the fires of revolution. Iowa summoned her rigging as quickly as possible before she could find out if she was bullet proof without it. Nine sixteen inch guns sprouted out of her back, training on the massed forces. However, Iowa didn't intend to use it just yet, supplies were scarce and she couldn't afford to burn through ammo.
Instead she opened fire on the horde of Nazi soldiers, with an assault rifle on one hand and an SMG in the other. She slowly advanced towards the Nazi horde as high caliber rounds ricochet off her metal skin. When the STG 60 ran out of bullets, she threw it as hard as she can at the nearest Nazi, which got lodged inside of his windpipe. She replaced the missing assault rifle with another SMG, Iowa sprayed them both left and right, wounding and killing many soldiers. However it became more apparent that the entire Germany military was going to be dropped on her, so she decided to get a lot more confrontational.
She ran forward at full speed, slamming into the pack head on. Many of which nearly died upon impact as a battleship the size of a person rammed them at nearly 40 miles per hour. Iowa was able to blitz all the way into the middle of the formation until she got bogged down in all the Nazis trying to grab and dog-pile her. This did nothing to slow her down as she dropped on her back, crushing those below her under the weight of a battleship, breaking the concrete. She launched herself upward, throwing those that managed to get on top off of her.
Surrounded on all sides by Nazis, she lunged forward and committed to a double haymaker, smashing a pair of bucket heads into each other, and crushing them between her hands. The Nazi forces began to back away as it slowly dawned on them how ineffective their weapons were against a battleship, and admittedly she was having fun. As she kicked, punched and shot her way through the Nazis, several robots stomped around the corner, charging their weapons. Iowa didn't need to worry as she dispatched them with ease using her smaller guns, spreading shrapnel and molten battery acid among her foes. She knew herself to be an unstoppable juggernaut, or at least she did until a fairy buzzed by her ear.
"Wait, what do you mean I'm running out of fuel."
"So this is what we're reduced too? Pixie dust and voodoo as defense policy? Cried a scientist.
"If you read the intelligence retrieved from the SS paranormal division Kenneth, you'd know that the Germans have been experimenting with something called the black sun dimension. Details are sketchy, but what came out of Germany is terrifying, zombies, magic medallions, the spear of longinus and demons. Answered another researcher
The Axis has been kicking our ass since Pearl Harbor and this is what we're working on? Not better weapons, vehicles or technology, no we're working with freaking magic?!' Was the reply.
"What do we have to lose? We're throwing everything we have against the walls to see what sticks, what does it matter if one of them is a magic wand."
After hearing the status report, Iowa fell back several blocks as fast as she can before could be vulnerable to small arms fire. She bought herself time by unlocking the .50 cal AA guns and fired at anything that came her way. The nearby streets were abandoned by now, the only thing that filled them were her, a whole Nazi regiment and their deceased. A few times a tank or mech would try to flank her, they got several 5 inch shells for their troubles. When she was forced to retract her rigging, they started firing underslung rocket launchers at her. Iowa hid behind a car, and lifted it's rear above her head to use as makeshift cover.
She dragged the car as it was being pelted by bullets into a nearby alleyway, and closed it off allowing her to escape. Unfortunately a pair of heavy troopers was there to greet her, each armed with automatic shotguns spraying shrapnel shells in her general direction. Iowa winced in pain as the metal scratched across her skin, leaving long streaks on her arms and face. Iowa grabbed a trash can, while providing minimal cover, allowed her to close the distance. She managed to wrest the shotgun from one one of them and shoved it under his chin, blowing his head off entirely. She bashed the shotgun into the other soldier's chest, causing him to stumble into a wall. Iowa finished him off shortly afterwards.
With dual automatic shotguns in hand, she turned and entered a nearby building. Inside was the packing section of a grocery store, and Iowa made it just in time time to see several more Nazis enter through the front entrance clearing house. She was spotted as she entered the shopping floor, and ducked behind a stack of canned bratwurst as bullets whizzed by her ears. Through a mirror in the corner, she could track their movements as they advanced along both left and right aisles behind her. The aisle on her right had half as many Nazis as the aisle on her left, so she chose the path of heaviest resistance and spun to her left, holding down the triggers.
Buckshot and shrapnel began to fill the aisle, tearing into flesh, armor and non perishable goods alike. Iowa rushed through the the next aisle, not even checking to see whether or not they died or not. She had to keep moving, if she slowed down for one second they would catch up to her and exploit her vulnerability. After finishing off a few more Nazis at the checkout, she peaked out the front window to a ton of Nazis and machines patrolling the streets outside.
"Are you kidding me?" Iowa was internally exasperated at this point. There was no possible way she could take them all on in her current state, and she didn't have the fuel to deploy her rigging for more than a few seconds. Then, she had an idea. After probing the store, she found a set of stairs that climbed to the upper floors. They were far less quiet than any other previous location, as she heard the sounds of hushed voices. They heard the violence down below and didn't want to perish in the crossfire. She considered consoling them but thought it best they knew nothing that they would be interrogated for.
Iowa kicked the door to the roof open, the sky was filled with police helicopters and drones. Not wanting to give them the chance to spot her, she took a running start and leapt off the roof. She deployed her rigging right before she hit the ground. The street couldn't handle the sudden introduction to 45,000 tons of battleship and quickly collapsed soon afterwards, a loud bang shook the city block. As the dust settled, Iowa found herself in the middle of an exposed storm pipe, and was could she that she was surrounded by overturned machines, injured soldiers and a crater that used to be Walnut Street. Amidst all the chaos, she was able to not get shot long enough to climb out of the hole and escape.
-
So this is all we have left of these ships? I thought we'd be get something more substantial to work with. Said Kenneth.
"They were sunk in open ocean, this is all they could carry on the lifeboats and flotsam. I did tell you we were going to do some weird stuff." Answered Doctor Miller.
Right, so when will the "special personnel arrive"? He asked.
"Very shortly, it took a long time to get it without doing anything unspeakable."
-
It was not long until she was able to find a working car, the owner clearly left in a hurry because the engine was still running, the door was left ajar and the keys were still in the ignition. As soon as she sat down in the driver's seat., bullets flew into the car, shattering the rear window and broke off the rear view mirror. Iowa pressed down on the accelerator as hard as possible tires spun as gunfire began to concentrate on the car before she sped down the street. She tapped into her radio room in order to tune into the police frequency to evade the search. There wasn't as many cops down south, leaving it a relatively open route for escape.
As she tried driving out of the city, the streets were slowly becoming more and more filled with people. She swerved onto another street whenever she saw SS round up and interrogate the civilians. Iowa soon found herself on the SW 3rd street bridge, where she was met with SS police cruisers bearing down her path. They turned to the side and formed a quick roadblock to obstruct the road. She veered the car to the right in an attempt to slip through the barricade. The car grinded against the concrete barrier as it slammed into the front quarter of the police vehicle. The car had enough weight and momentum to keep going without slowing, but the impact had quickly started to hamper the vehicle as it was that much harder to steer. With the path clear, and only scattered police forces ahead, she was able to find her way out of the city and away from the eyes of the Nazis.
She temporarily got lost trying to stick to the side roads rather than any major highway, but the scanners were at the very least quiet. Iowa sat back and reflected on her previous battle, but as the adrenaline wore off she felt a quick sting of pain. A fairy crawled out of nowhere to inform her that there was about a dozen bullets lodged into her back, and that they were currently extracting it. The entire boondoggle was a wake up call for her, she was once again reminded that she isn't invincible. The biggest baddest battleship of the United States Navy was again driven out by overwhelming odds. Without fuel and ammunition she was pretty much useless by herself, even if logistics weren't an issue, any victory would be temporary as they would just come back and retake the area.
She needed to find allies, resistance groups, politicians and maybe, just maybe other ships just like her. Her mind lingered on that last part, she didn't know she didn't know how she came to be after her destruction. But if she's here, maybe there are others in the same situation all over the country too. A new spark ignited inside of her, one that would give the restoration of America a chance. For the first time since she woke up, Iowa had an actual concrete plan.
