Episode 7: The Darers Go First Raid pt. 2

Outside Frankfurt, around 09:15

The jeep slowed to a halt before powering down on the outskirts of Frankfurt, the GIs and Lucia peering around for any sign of movement.

"Nothing here." Lucia said in a harsh whisper.

"Same over here." Buck whispered back.

"Alright, let's get some more gasoline in this thing since we're stopped." Private Schnider said to the rest of the group.

"Good idea. We still have a long way to go." Buck said, climbing out of the jeep.

Lucia climbed out of the jeep and looked around the bombed-out city.

"Hell of a thing ain't it." Byron said, coming up behind Lucia, "So much history laid to waste."

Lucia glanced over at Byron, curious that he would even care. He was right however, many of the historic buildings were now rubble laying around their feet. Standing there staring at the wreckage of the city, Lucia was hit with a surge of anger toward the Eagle Union GIs around her. Taking out her knife, she lunged at Byron, a fire in her eyes.

"What the hell?" Byron yelled, startled at Lucia actions.

The other two GIs came running from the other side of the jeep.

"Hey! Get off him." Buck shouted as he tried to pull a furious Lucia off of Byron.

Lucia whipped around and flung herself at Buck, who went down with a yelp.

"Hey!"

Lucia suddenly found herself locked in a crushing vice-like grip as Byron wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her off of Buck.

"Cool it kraut." Byron hissed, "You injure one of us, I'll do one worse to you."

"Let me go you Eagle Union bastarde. You did this to my homeland!"

"Lucia, you calm yourself down right now. Killing us won't change what happened. The only thing we can do now is unite andbeat the sirens so we can rebuild this city and others like it." Private Schnider said to the struggling Lucia.

Lucia slowly stopped fighting Byron as she realized what Private Schnider said was true.

"Alright. I won't kill any of you, yet. However, if you give me a reason to kill you, I will do so without hesitation." Lucia said, earning her a glare from Buck and Private Schnider and a low growl from Byron, who still had Lucia locked in his grip.

"Understood Lucia. Just keep that knife away for now." Buck said to Lucia before addressing Byron, "Byron, please let go of our guide. We need her intact as much as possible."

Byron roughly shoved Lucia away from him with a "harumph" of disapproval before turning and heading back toward the jeep. With a cautionary look at Lucia, Buck followed Byron's lead back to the jeep, quickly followed by Lucia and Private Schnider.

Outskirts of Paderborn, around 13:05

"Shut it down. We move on foot from here."

Buck glanced cautiously at Lucia, still wary of her after Lucia went off on Byron.

"I'm serious. We've most likely already been spotted. We need to move as quietly as possible." Lucia said to Buck, already climbing out of the jeep.

The GIs glanced at each other, then shrugged and climbed out of the jeep. They followed Lucia to what remained of a small store. Peering around the edge of the wall, Lucia watched as a pair of SS men walked past a few streets over.

"See? This is why we need to move on foot." Lucia whispered to the three GIs. who simply nodded. "Keep close to me."

The group darted down the street, ducking behind bombed out buildings every third building. As they moved along the curve in the road, Lucia suddenly veered off onto a side street.

"What is it?" Buck asked Lucia.

Lucia pointed to the end of the street, where, its armor glinting in the sunlight, sat a Tiger II.

"That." Was all Lucia needed to say.

The small group continued along the side road, and after a short time, turned again on a road that took them deeper into the city. As they moved, an alarm blared across the city.

"What the hell?" Private Schnider asked.

"Don't think, run!" Lucia called.

The group sprinted down the last couple hundred feet of the road before turning down yet another side street. This time, they weren't so lucky. Standing at the end of the street, stood an explorer. For now, it's back was to them, but it wouldn't be for long.

"Here." Lucia hissed.

The group ducked into a bombed-out house, and continued through it until Buck noticed something.

"The cathedral!"

They all turned a sprinted toward the cathedral.

"Why haven't we been shot at?" Byron asked, breathing hard.

"That was the warning alarm. They still don't know exactly where we are, until we hit the cathedral." Lucia told them as they slowed to a stop. "Alright. Carefully now."

The group peered around the corner, then quickly yanked their heads back. Roughly thirty explorers were moving around the courtyard, obviously on watch duty.

"This is going to be tricky," Lucia thought, not daring to say a word.

The group silently slipped around the corner and stayed low to the ground while walking toward an opening in the wall. Slipping inside, the group found that the inside was just as dangerous as the outside. Another twenty explorers were within sight, and Lucia could see more moving in the distance.

"This way." Lucia whispered, before moving toward a doorway on the other side of the hallway. As the group slipped inside, Lucia swore she saw an explorer turn to them, but before she could confirm the explorer saw them, the explorer was gone.

"Where now?" Byron whispered.

"Follow me." Lucia whispered back.

The group made their way down a set of stairs before arriving at a big wooden door.

"I guess this is it." Buck whispered, before pushing the door open.

The group rushed inside to find a middle-aged man talking to…

"What the hell?" Was all the four of them could get out.

Their eyes had fallen on the man in a crisp SS uniform. The SS man turned toward the group, gave a small knowing smile, before turning back to the first man.

"Lady Observer will be informed of this Herr Dokter. You need not worry".

With that, the SS man turned, walked toward the group who simply let the man pass.

"Traitor." the SS officer growled as he passed Lucia.

"Ignore him, get that." Private Schnider called out, jolting the rest of the group back to the moment.

"Right!"

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The SS officer smiled as he walked out of the Cathedral. He would inform Heinrich of this immediately. His superior would immediately inform Lady Observer of this development. The girl they had been searching for had finally been located. There would be nowhere for her to run now, and he had plenty of experience doing just that.

The man began walking across the street to the temporary radio shack that had been set up. As he did, he smiled again at being able to freely walk an Iron Blood city again.

"Private!"

The radio operator stood from his position at the radio and stood to attention.

"Sir!"

"Send this message to Gruppenführer Heinrich at the Führerbunker: the girl you seek is here in Paderborn. I do not know how long she will remain, so we must react quickly."

"Yes sir."

The radio operator sat back down at his post and began to send the message as the man gazed around. This would make Lady Observer very happy.

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"Hand it over. I am done asking politly." Lucia demanded.

"I cannot. Orders from Lady…" The doctor started before being cut off the being punched across the jaw by Lucia.

"Last chance. Hand it over now." Lucia demanded again, levelling her Thompson at the man.

"You will lose. It is inevita…" The man never finished. His words were cut off by Lucia firing a brief burst from her Thompson.

Lucia walked over to the table and grabbed the box containing the transmitter. Briefly inspecting it to make sure it wasn't damaged, she placed the transmitter into its case and closed it up before turning to the three GIs, who were even warier of her now.

"Prepare to fight our way out boys," Lucia said with a nasty gleam in her eyes, "Those sirens are gaurenteed to have heard that."

The GIs looked at each other. Lucia may have been slightly crazy, but she was right. There was only one way they were all going to get out of this. They were going to shoot their way out,