As soon as word arrived for Captain Derby, Dog Company was directed towards a small outside of the walls of Vale. The town was one of the few places which the creatures of Grimm attacked during the Fall of Beacon. However, the company commander was given information that the location could use some defenses to fight off against the creatures and allow the town some breathing room to survive the months.

The officer took the opportunity to fortify the town by whatever means necessary as his assault engineers took the time to set up barricade after barricade of defenses. Yet, the veteran's time in the town was unsure since he was foreigner. Despite that, he gained the trust of the townspeople for his efforts in assisting them in their reconstruction.

What concerned Captain Derby was when the town was going to be attacked. If he left the town, there would barely be enough manpower to man the defenses and there was a chance the Grimm would overrun the location through sheer numbers. It was worsened when he was told by Professor Goodwitch and her colleagues that she wouldn't accompany him on his time helping the town with the reconstruction.

The captain looked outside of the window of a restaurant, watching his men pass by with materials for a building on the other side of the street. In some ways, he was keeping an eye over them with a meal to occupy him. He turned away from the window as a waitress came up to him with a glass of orange juice and his order of pancakes. "Thank you miss."

In return for his manners, he was given a smile as she departed from his booth. Then he turned his full attention back to his men across the street. Kurt's attention was thrown away from the construction once more when someone had taken a seat across from him. "Captain Derby, I was trying to find you, but it took me awhile to learn that you were here having a nice meal all by yourself." The old man began. "I appreciate your company assisting us."

The old man was frail, but the captain knew he was the town elder. Despite his appearance, Kurt was happy that he was happy with the way things were going with him. Initially, this man was unsure about having him around, but now he was quite happy with how things were going. "You're welcome, sir." Derby replied. "Besides, it's been awhile since my boys built something that isn't made for war."

"Say, I hear you and your men are from another world. Is that true? I mean, my town doesn't always keep up with the news, but are you from another world?"

A chuckle slipped away from Derby's lips. "Yes indeed. We might not look like much, but my boys and I are not around these parts. Forgive me for not asking this earlier, but what's your name. I would love to ask since calling you the elder isn't a proper way to have a conversation with someone."

The old man laughed at this simple question. "Me? Why you can call me Elder John. It's strange how no one ever told you about my name."

"I don't blame them. After all, you got around two hundred men coming into your town and surprising the hell out them for no apparent reason."

"I heard from my people that you also supplied them with guns, but they are not exactly the ones they wanted to get their hands on."

Captain Derby sipped his orange juice before he began to cut into his pancakes. "I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone, but I'm just here to reconstruct this place before I head back to Vale. Besides, I'm sure the Atlesian Military wouldn't appreciate it if a second company was taking some weapons out of their stockpile."

"The Atlas Military?" Elder John asked. "You and your men came from Atlas. How was it?"

"Cold and freezing." He answered. "Weather isn't exactly fun to deal with while I was there. I had to make sure someone wasn't freezing in the first place."

"I wished we had some kind of weather like that over here every now and then. It would be nice for the children."

The captain took a piece from his pancake and took the piece whole into his mouth as he leaned back on the booth chairs. "Ah, it's been awhile since I had a good meal like this. Reminds me of home."

"Captain Derby, you mentioned that you were fighting in a middle of a war. Was it from your world?"

A simple nod was given. "Yes sir. My boys and I were fighting the Third Reich for the freedom of a continent. Now that the war is over, I can relax and not have to worry about anything."

"You're in peacetime?" Elder John asked. "I'm sorry for asking, but I am quite curious."

"Yeah, right now the continent is at peace. Once I return home, I'm going to retire after that."

"Captain, you might have to be careful of the Grimm. They usually like lone people living outside of the settlements."

"How do I explain this?" He pondered to himself. "In my world, we don't have any Grimm. We don't have these creatures that attack us in the middle of the night every now and then."

Surprised by the news, the old man was taken aback. "No Grimm, how?"

Kurt shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me. I don't know why. I'm just an old dog of war that's all."

A man had burst into the restaurant with fear left on his face. He was sweating, but Derby knew there was something wrong… very wrong. "Elder John, where are you?"

The old man rose from his booth and turned his full gaze towards the younger man. "I'm here. What is going on young man?"

"The Grimm, they're going to attack the town!"

Captain Derby looked around and noticed the civilians in the room were filled with terror and fear. "Shit." He swore under his breath as he removed himself from the booth and walked out of the restaurant. "Dog Company, rally point to the village center. I want a headcount!"


Night had fallen on the town as the men of Dog Company had been dispersed to their various defenses. From the information coming from the villager who reported the danger, the creatures of Grimm were going to attack from the east. Thankfully, that was where the defenses were strongest.

The old war veteran found himself standing behind the eastern defenses as his eyes assessed the situation. If the Grimm were going to attack, they would be met with the initial fields littered with mines. However, Captain Derby expected the Grimm to bring in their heavier variants so among those mines they would have to step on the anti-tank mines.

Despite the power of the mines, the officer knew better than allow that to be the deciding factor for the defense of the village. The Grimm were likely to get past them and end up going through the funnels of tank traps that stood in their way. Like any good defender, Kurt had placed anti-tank guns and fighting positions to kill anything that came through there. To make it even easier on the gun crews, he had pack howitzers and mortars to zero their range on those lines of defense.

Captain Derby had placed his smoking cigar between his lips. "Well, this should do." He glanced over to the barricades that blocked off the eastern road to find his assault engineers and the regular infantry take the role of leadership for the village militia.

A familiar voice had spoken. "Captain Derby, I do hope those defenses can hold."

Kurt looked over his shoulder and saw Elder John standing in the middle of the road with a smile. "Elder John, shouldn't you be with the others? It's not going to be safe here when the guns start firing."

"I know." He replied. "I just came here to see the able-bodied men to the defenses. This might be the last time I might see them."

"Don't worry, my boys will do most of the fighting. We got more experience than them so they'll just help us out getting rid of the monsters."

The elder smiled. "Still, I am worried about such creatures. They are not so easy to fight."

"I can attest to that." Kurt replied. "Get into the shelter we'll get busy holding them off."

He immediately turned away from the officer to his own devices as he slowly walked towards the town hall at the center of the town.

"Into the valley of death, I shall fear no evil."

The night was young, but Captain Derby knew that on this night it would be violated by the machines of war. The civilians had taken up arms alongside their protectors as they stood beside the veterans who had seen many battles for locations such as this town. Now it was no longer against the German Army, but against monsters whose sole desire was to destroy man and their creations. However, Kurt had been through the Great War and he knew that the violence to come was going to be different than that era and his recent war.

A lieutenant ran up to him with a Grease Gun in one hand and a Trench gun in the other. "Captain, I think you'll need this." Then he handed the small sub-machine gun to the veteran before he cocked his shotgun and joined the men at the lines.

After Kurt loaded his weapon, he accompanied the worried faces of the village defenders while the soldiers remained calm under this pressure. There were two Shermans in the village, but they were broken up to protect he flanks and provide a crossfire in case the creatures get into the maze of tank traps built by the rear echelons.

The ground was shaking… it shouldn't be.

The officer looked over the heads of the infantry-made defenses and saw a large horde of red eyes closing the distance. Howls and bestial cries echoed through the night as the darkness fell upon the village outskirts. Then Kurt noticed a villager beside him, shaking.

His hand rested on his shoulder and caught the young man's attention. The stranger looked no older than eighteen as his brown hair was covered in dirt. "Sorry, it's my first time." He began. "I never thought I would be fighting the Grimm."

It earned a smile from the company commander. "Kid, I know you feel." Then he scrambled his hair. "Just listen to us and this won't be your last."

The man smiled back, afraid, but sure of the veteran's presence.

Kurt looked around as he noticed his men had their weapons trained on the darkness. "Visibility is too dark." He commented. "Somebody get some parachute flares!"

A cry amongst the crowd had answered his call. "On it, cap'n!"

The captain heard a launch echo out from the rifles as light floated above the village outskirts. Derby looked across the defenses as the creatures of Grimm were revealed to the defenders. It mostly consisted of the wolf-like monsters, but it was still more than enough for the town and Dog Company to handle.

The Grimm advanced like a wave, but were met with surprise when the ground exploded. Dark bodies and limbs flew into the air as Derby smiled at the sight of the carnage. The mines were at its work as the Grimm numbers were destroyed by this trap they found themselves in. However, it would only keep them at bay for a moment as three bewolves trickled into the opening and acted as a vanguard for the rest of the sea of monsters. They ran through the maze of the tank traps while one took the risk to jump over the tank traps and into the barbed wire.

The captain lined his weapon to his eyes as his trigger finger was at the ready. The targets were two-thirds deep through the maze. Now was the time for the guns to shine. "Gentlemen, open fire!"

The battle line of infantry fired as machine guns and rifles unleashed a hailstorm of bullets downrange. The small calibers were not enough, but it brought comfort to those who used it. Then the anti-tank guns opened their shots as their armor-piercing shells ripped the bewolves in two.

However, there was still more to come. Dozens of beowolves continued to make a breakthrough towards the village, but again they were repelled when the flanks had created a crossfire at the hostile monsters descending upon the village.

"Keep it up, pour it on'em!" Captain Derby shouted. His words were not normal for an officer, but it was fitting for a veteran who had seen many battles like these. The positive about his words, they were working.

Rifle clips ejected out of their rifles, bullet casings landed on the ground, and used shells were tossed aside with its smoking condition.

Then a village defender had shouted out a threat not on the ground, but from the skies. "Nevermores! Shit, there's nevermores!"

Kurt looked up from the ground as he noticed the two beady red eyes that were flying towards the eastern section of the village. There was only one way to handle such a threat. "Where are my goddamn halftracks?!" He demanded. The response was swift as he noticed trails of tracers and clouds of shrapnel disrupt their current flight paths.

The two nevermores pulled themselves away from the fight and left the beowolves to their fate.

"Good, that will teach them." He whispered to himself as he looked back at the continuous wave of beowolves. However, the creatures were using the tank traps as cover for their advance.

Yet, Kurt noticed the 'boney' beowolves were using their fellow creatures for cover as they advanced from cover to cover. The monsters were getting smarter at the defensive line his engineers made specifically for them. Despite their advances, the Sherman tanks splashed the kill zone with high explosive shells, causing craters to break up the ground.

Then the captain noticed the last beowolf make a final rush towards the defensive line, but everyone was focusing their full firepower onto the single entity of hate and terror.

Derby loaded his Grease Gun and held the trigger as his SMG peppered the creature with its bullets. Shell casings were ejected out of the barrel as the old veteran made sure the Grimm was dead by the time he was finished.

The beowolf fell into the dirt as its body slowly dissipated into the air.

A smile fell on his face as he looked at the destruction of the monsters. "Well, I think that's all." He said.

Both civilians and U.S. Army personnel cheered at how merciful the night was to the village. Captain Derby could not blame them, they just held the line against a wave of evil creatures. He leaned onto the barricade as he felt relieved by the silence of the night despite the celebration of the defenders.

If only it stopped there…

A gunshot echoed from the darkness as a rifleman fell to the ground. "Shit, Larry!" The captain swore. He immediately came over to the body of the young man, only to see his forehead filled with a bullet hole. "Everyone, stand to. The village still needs to be defended."

A nearby soldier had shouted from the defenses. "Oh, shit! Contacts, fucking kraut infantry are heading towards us."

Captain Derby left the body of the fallen soldier and looked over the barricade, only to see the parachute flares still floating. However, he noticed dark figures walking towards the village with weapons he was familiar with. As these strangers walked closer to the light, the officer recognized the uniforms of the Oberkommando West. "Damn it all." He swore to himself. "Dog Company hold your ground!" Then he glanced over to the terrified village defenders. "You boys get to the village center. We'll hold them off while you defend the civilians."

One of the young men took the chance to ask. "Why? We can handle them."

Another soldier was struck as he fell beside the captain. "Go! This isn't your fight."

He watched as the young men, armed with American-made weapons, were leaving the men of Dog Company to their own devices. Then he looked over the sandbags and saw the enemy infantry approach where the Grimm had fallen. Compared to his previous experiences, this felt different.

No regular German would be insane enough to charge into the line of fire in the open. The first German approaching the barricade was met with heavy machine gun fire, but as the tracers tore him apart his body exploded into ash. The only remains was his torn uniform. Kurt was shocked. This was not even remotely human. Nothing about that man's death was normal.

Then the infantry behind the cloud of ash made their advance through their fallen comrade. To make matters worse, the defenders heard the infamous cries of a machine make a return.

"Shit, hit the deck!" Kurt cried out. Bullets whistled over his head, but he also knew the guns were also trained on the barricade. "Where is my indirect?" He demanded. "We need to smoke those bastards."

Two explosions erupted onto the wooden barricade, inflicting casualties on those who were nearby. Streams of rockets flew overhead, missing the defenders, and hitting the nearby buildings that were in the way.

A sergeant joined him after he had bypassed his fellow defenders manning the defenses. He saluted his superior as he cocked his shotgun. "Captain Derby, our left flank is exposed." The man reported.

"Didn't we have a Sherman covering the left flank?" Kurt wondered.

"Yes sir." Another burst of machine gun fire peppered over his head. "Krauts knocked it out with their Panzerschrecks."

"Get second platoon and third platoon to hold that flank by any means necessary. We cannot let them breach into the village."

Kurt noticed his sergeant glance up from his gaze before he was met with a barrel of an MG42. Bullets sprayed all over the young man's face as the officer rose from his cover to find a German soldier carrying his light machine gun from his hip.

"Die you son of a bitch!"

Before the German machine gunner could bring his weapon to bear, Kurt was quick to line up his Grease Gun to the man hidden away by a gas mask. Three bursts of bullets flew out of his small weapon, but it was enough to kill the assailant. His body shook violently before his body exploded into ash as well. Then the captain found himself coughing in the cloud of ash that had erupted.

The unhealthy air that stirred had found a place in his lungs as he walked away from the cloud of ashes for oxygen. As he coughed, he noticed a stream of yellow fly over the town and descend towards the barricades. However, Captain Derby was surprised when he heard an unladylike cry. "Hello boys, I heard you needed help."