"Dummkopf. I have been waiting here for fifteen minutes. It does not do to keep a lady waiting, Herr Yezhny."
The man gulped and looked at the diminutive girl in front of him. "Ah-my, uh, apologies, Fraulein Hipper-"
"It is not my pardon you need, but hers." Hipper pulled out a photo of a young girl from her coat pocket and jabbed savagely at it.
"Now, you mentioned you had some information regarding the Marie Stresemann case?"
"Uh...yes." The man was sweating buckets.
Odd. He's perspiring, even though it's cold. His eyes are looking all over the place, and he keeps glancing behind him.
Admiral Hipper continued blithely into a cafe, not letting any clue of her growing suspicion drop.
"Ah, Fraulein, the, uh, information-private...is that the word?"
So he is pretending not to be able to understand German-I heard him speak it just fine when he was conversing with the woman across the street. KAN-SEN had acute senses, far beyond those of normal humans, which served Hipper well in her current job.
"Certainly." Hipper retreated from the cafe and walked down the rain-soaked Dusseldorf street, turning into a thin alley roughly three metres across. Nothing to lose if I try to find out what kind of fast one this twat is trying to pull.
"Will this do?"
The man never answered. Hipper felt a rough hand close around her neck and wrestle her deeper into the alley.
A glint in the dark. Knife. Three inches long.
The man plunged it at Hipper's throat, and she grasped his hand firmly, then flipped him unceremoniously onto the ground. She fought the urge to roll her eyes, because that would have limited her vision, and opted to scoff instead.
"Dummkopf, did you seriously just try to stab a KAN-SEN?"
Hipper didn't wait for an answer. She continued to hit the unfortunate man, slamming her boots into his prone form. When he curled up, she walked around and kicked him in the crotch.
"Alter Schwester!"
Now that's something I haven't heard in a long time.
"What is it, can't you see I'm busy-"
Wait. Alter Schwester?
A redhead stood at the entrance the the alley, wearing a long black coat and absolutely sopping wet.
"...Weser? What are you doing here?" Hipper carefully removed her foot from the bastard's face and walked slowly towards the girl, as if she was fearful her sister ship would disappear into thin air.
"Schwester...it is you."
"Yeah. It's me."
"So it is." Hipper could see Weser's chin trembling.
"Hey, hey. What's going on?" Hipper reached out an arm and touched Weser's shoulder.
"You...left us." A single tear slid down Weser's cheek and her breath hitched. "I know it wasn't your fault, but one day I woke up, and they just said that you couldn't come to see me and… and…"
When the Northern Parliament had advanced far enough into Ironblood land that their land forces met head-on with the Eagle Union's, some of the Ironblood's ships were inadvertently stranded away from their comrades. Weser was one of such girls. The Northern Union had captured the port she was assigned to, away from her sisters. Prinz Eugen, Blucher and Hipper were in Brest and Seydlitz, the estranged sister that had been sent to the Northerners before the war as an exchange program, had changed so much that she was nearly unrecognisable under her new name.
In many ways, until the travel ban between East and West Ironblood was taken down scant months ago, Weser was alone. Hipper at least had Blucher. Weser had no one.
And all of the loneliness was taking its toll on the fragile girl that now stood in front of her.
"I...I!" Weser rubbed at her eyes aggressively, as if she was trying to rub her tears back under her eyelids.
"It's all right."
"...Eh?" Weser put down her hands after she felt a warmth on her cheek. She stared in mute shock as she realised the warmth was a hand, connected to a gently smiling Hipper.
Hipper? Smiling?
Weser began to cry.
"Shhh… Mein Mauschen, don't cry…"
Now Hipper using pet names was unheard of. But the war, and the years afterward, had changed them all greatly, and one thing Hipper had learnt was that sometimes it didn't hurt to put aside one's brash behaviour and gentle other people. Especially when it involved sniffling little sisters that hadn't seen you in years and thought you were dead.
Hipper put her arms around Weser and squeezed, which felt weird as Weser was taller than she was. Weser didn't seem to mind though, clinging on to her sister like a lifeline, wetting Hipper's collarbone with her sobs. Hipper felt her ribs compress under the full strength of a KAN-SEN, something that would have definitely ended loudly had they still been back fighting the Royals five years ago, but right now she didn't really mind.
"I th-thought...I thought the same thing as Eugen h-h-happened to you…" Weser managed to gulp out. The reminder of her sister's fate cause Hipper's chest to clench, as she remembered Eugen valiantly fighting back tears as she received the letter from a stoic-faced Union battleship, wearing that fake smirk as she assured Hipper it would only be a temporary thing. But Hipper had seen her trembling frame under her blankets that night, and knew it deep in her heart that this was more than a short trip to the Union. If she had cared, she might have found out what it was and comforted her little sister, as was her duty. But she didn't.
"Schw-"
"Even when you're leaving, you're still trying to make fun of me, Eugen? Enough is enough! If you hate me so much, just leave! Leave for the Union, where you'll be out of earshot. And stay there for as long as you want. It'll be better for both of us anyway."
I can't believe that's how we parted.
Hipper could never forget the look of abject hurt in Eugen's eyes, but the look of despondent understanding that came next would probably haunt her for as long as she lived. Despite the stake that Hipper had driven into Eugen's heart, Eugen could understand why her older sister did what she did, and blamed herself for the wedge that had formed between the two.
In many ways, although Eugen was imperfect, she had matured a lot earlier than this big sister.
I'll never let that happen again.
Hipper let Weser lean into her as she stroked her hair and whispered soothing words into her ears.
I refuse to do this to anyone else.
"Hang on a second, Weser. I'll be right back but there's one thing I need to do first."
Hipper walked back to the man that she kicked in the crotch and bent down, pulling his head up by his hair. "Schweinhund. I have other things to do, so I will make this quick. Why?"
The man groaned and began to babble in Russian.
Hipper slapped him. "Hochdeutsch!" She thundered. "I know you can understand me!"
It took a little more convincing, but eventually Hipper was able to piece together the fact that this man was hired by a shady figure who ordered him to approach her, trick her into following him, and then "kill the Bundespolizei wench."
Interesting. I will have to follow up on this later...no, tomorrow. Today, Weser.
Hipper gave the man one last kick and strode to her sister, who was drying her eyes on her coat. Hipper sighed and retrieved a handkerchief from her pocket, dabbing at Weser's face.
"There...all clean. Now, you must be hungry, Weser. Come, I know this brilliant Ratskeller that serves the best currywurst in all of Dusseldorf."