Author's note: All Lucia's thoughts and conversations with other Germans/People who speak German will be in English (so we can understand what she is saying). Discussions involving a translator will be in German, but the translator will roughly translate what Lucia said. I am using ole' reliable Google Translate, so don't get too irritated at me if something is off.

Episode 2: An unexpected encounter

SNAP CRACK CRUNCH

Lucia tried not to think about what had made that crunch as she ran through the forest. Hot on her trail were three explorer class sirens.

"How the hell were they able to find me?" Lucia thought as a tree to her right shattered into splinters of bark from one of the explorers chasing her firing at her, "I hid myself incredibly well. There must have been more explorers than I had first counted."

Lucia chanced a look back, and what she saw scared her. Half a dozen explorers were chasing her, and judging from the fact that one had shot at Lucia, they weren't ordered to bring her in.

"Don't look, run faster." Lucia thought to herself as another tree exploded to her left. As Lucia kept running, she swore she saw a flash of steel off to her right in the distance, but she ignored it.

"Probably just a destroyed tank, plenty of them around here." Lucia thought. Just then, Lucia heard someone call out what sounded like a warning from her right, before she was promptly tackled and brought to the ground hard.

"Was zum..." Lucia started to say before she got cut off

BOOM!

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BOOM!

A column of dirt appeared in front of the explorers, sending dirt clods and, disgustingly, pieces of explorers everywhere. A yell from the same direction as the first explosion was followed by what sounded like the harsh clatter of Eagle Union guns. Glancing up, Lucia found an Eagle Union GI keeping her to the ground as the bullets flew overhead. As suddenly as they had begun, the GIs ceased firing, and the GI on top of Lucia stood up and offered her assistance in standing up.

"Can't just lay on the ground with the sirens all around us. C'mon, we'll help you out, keep you safe."

Lucia was incredibly indignant. How dare this Eagle Union GI first tackle her to the ground and then tell her the ground wasn't safe. She knew plenty of English, as one of her friends had taught her entire group of Edelweiss Pirates the English, but she wasn't about to speak in English until she had felt that they were sufficiently annoyed.

"Was willst du?"

"Hey Buck, get Clarence. He speaks kraut."

A different Eagle Union GI turned and jogged toward a tank that Lucia hadn't noticed. As Lucia watched, the GI passed the tank and climbed onto a second tank Lucia noticed was facing the opposite direction. The GI rapped on the turret hatch and waited. A few seconds later, a GI poked his head through the hatch and, after getting some information from the first GI, looked in the direction of Lucia.

"The war between the Eagle Union and the Fatherland is over. What could they possibly want?" A look of worry flashed across her face as her mind instantly leapt to the worst conclusion.

As the Eagle Union tanker jogged over to the first GI and talked to him, Lucia's worry increased as the first GI pointed toward Lucia, and the tanker nodded. Lucia started to slip away, but just as she started, the tanker spoke.

"Sie da. Es ist in Ordnung. Mein name ist Clarence und ich bin bei den Überresten der dritten Panzerdivision. Wir versuchen nur zu helfen. Möchten Sie uns Ihren Namen mitteilen?"

Lucia was startled. She hadn't expected a tanker from the Eagle Union to know German.

"Lucia, und ich kann mir selbst helfen."

The tanker turned to the GI and translated what Lucia had just said.

"She said her name is Lucia, and that she doesn't want our help."

"Well, tell her that from where I was standing, she looked like she needed help getting rid of those sirens."

Clarence turned back to Lucia.

"Er sagt, und ich zitiere: Von meinem Standpunkt aus sah sie aus, als bräuchte sie Hilfe, um diese Sirenen loszuwerden."

"Ich wusste, was ich tat. Er war im Weg. Dies war nicht das erste Mal, dass mich Entdecker verfolgten."

"Actually," Lucia thought to herself, "it was the first time I was chased by explorers."

Clarence knew Lucia wasn't being entirely honest about the siren incident, but he let it slide.

"Lucia says she knew what I was doing, and you got in the way. She also said that this wasn't the first time she's been chased by explorers."

"I doubt that is the truth. Considering how panicked she looked as she was running, this was definitely her first time being chased by what she calls 'explorers'. Regardless, she is still free to accept our help or go on her way."

"Should I tell her that sir?" Clarence asked.

"Since you seem so pushy, I'll accept your offer of help." Lucia told the two soldiers from the Eagle Union, who could only stare at Lucia in utter shock.