The Bavarian Coalition
Hans found Hilda in the Antiquarium of the Residenz, staring up at the ceiling. People passed her by, paying her no mind, going to and from the various rooms, offices, and markets of the Munich Residence. Hans stopped right next to her and she looked at him. For a moment neither of them spoke, unsure of what to say or even if they should say it.
More than a day had passed since the mission to the BMW museum. They'd made their report, Kommandant Wolfgang had offered his condolences, and then they'd been left to take time to rest and mourn their loss. Everywhere Hans looked, however, he could see that things were going to pick up. Members of the Order scurrying about, vertibirds coming and landing, and recruits training.
Hilda looked at him, her expression gloomy. They hadn't talked much since returning from BMW, none of them had. Paul had been by to visit them a few times here and there, just to check on them, but he wasn't officially part of the team. He was an officer of The Final Order. Hans was beginning to count him as a friend, and he was a valued, if temporary, member, but he had his own responsibilities and concerns. Hans wanted more time to properly mourn Walter's passing, but the cold truth was that too many important things were happening.
"Come with me" Hans said, and the two of them started walking. Hilda followed him as he led her back through the winding halls of the Residenz to Kommandant Wolfgang's office. The secretary waved them in and, after a few minutes, they proceeded into the office proper. Wolfgang was there, standing by the window, Paul and Klara in the seats before the desk. They looked over their shoulders as Hans and Hilda entered, and Wolfgang stepped back from the window.
"Good, everyone's here. Operation Atomsturm, or Projekt Atomsturm, or whatever they actually want to call it, began today. Six detachments, plus their vertibird support, assaulted six districts of Munich. The Alte Pinakothek, the Old Town Hall, and the Hochschule were taken without incident. Two other districts, the Verkehrsztentrum Museum and Theresienwiese, were taken with minimal losses. The assault on the final district was a failure. The problems started here" Wolfgang said, and pointed to a map on his table. Hans took a look; the Kommandant was pointing at Menzingerstrasse, near the Schloss Nymphenburg.
Hans looked back up at the Commander. "The Bavarian Coalition. They've been around for a while, and they've set up shop in the Nymphenburg. Every day our forces and theirs clash in every street, house, and room of Munich. At least, the ones not infested with Godless abominations. They're after Natursturm. They know it's the key to reforming Germany, but whereas the Final Order wants to take our country in a new direction, the Coalition wants to drag it back to the Old World. Democracy, Communism, the frail left wing of the Eagle, were the catalysts for the war that was almost man's final hour. The Order has a new vision, one free from the thinking of yesterday, yet these uneducated bleeding hearts stand in our way."
"Chancellor Dietrich mentioned a Coalition in his speech a few days ago. Is that them?" Hilda asked, and Wolfgang nodded.
"Operation Atomsturm isn't just the beginning of the end for ghouls and mutants, it's the final death knell for the human opponents of the Order. Raiders, bandits, tribal warlords, and the Coalition. I have a new mission for you, Herr Eckhart. Infiltrate the Bavarian Coalition, and find out just what the plans of their leader, Friedrich Ademar, are."
Hans raised his brow, stunned. "Councilor Ademar?"
"You know the man?"
"He was the director of the U-Bahn station at the Deutsches Historische Museum. He asked my team to clean the museum out, a pack of feral ghouls had moved in, but when we got there..." Hans trailed off. "The ghouls were all dead. Piled up in one of the museum's rooms. We never found out why."
"The Final Order. We had our own interest in DHM. A search of records recovered from a military base described one 'Empress Panacea', the cure to all of society's ills, as created by IG Farben and Porsche. The prototype, serial number one, was going to be delivered to the German History Museum in Berlin, but the Bombs struck first. The Final Order started recruiting from U-Bahn stations, and Herr Ademar's station was one of the most important ones. When representatives of the Order arrived at the DHM station, the then-councilor told them about his plans to move people into the museum. An investigation was carried out, and a safe was discovered in a basement office of the museum. Inside were the details on Empress Panacea; the replicator. Friedrich Ademar helped the Order find Panacea, what we now call the Natursturm device, but left us soon after due to ideological differences" Wolfgang explained.
"Let me guess," Hilda said. "Operation Atomsturm."
Wolfgang nodded. "The man had objections to the Order's goal of exterminating the vermin from our nation, primarily the supposedly sane ghouls. Complained to the high heavens about that mission, called us Nazis and fascists. There was a minor clash, Ademar and his followers made off with most of the Order's energy guns, and his Coalition's been hassling us ever since."
We found that safe Hans thought, thinking back to that mission into the eerily deserted museum. What felt like a lifetime ago was just a little over two weeks. Seventeen days. We found that safe but couldn't open it. Right inside, untouched since the war, was information on the replicator. Amazing.
"This is just a fact-finding mission? To learn what they're doing?" Hans asked, and Wolfgang nodded.
"Yes. If we can get an idea of what they're planning, see what kind of tactics they might use against us, we can more easily counter them. We'd also like you to find out what they know about the Natursturm device. Our vertibirds give us the advantage in the air, but as you'll see the Coalition has a sizeable amount of energy weapons" Wolfgang said. "When the time comes, we'll strike at the Coalition and kill their leader."
Hans wasn't sure what to think of this. Friedrich Ademar hadn't been his friend, but he had been an ally. A trusted member of the U-Bahn council. To treat him like an enemy would be hard to swallow.
"I'm not going to ply you with money, though you will be paid, of course. I'm throwing a lot at you here, but a lot is riding on this. This is a clash of ideologies, a mission to ensure the future of Germany and her people. The Natursturm device is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. What the Order is seeking to achieve is a complete shift in the way our nation thinks, at least according to Dietrich. To do that, to address matters of education and policy, we must first solve the issue of clean and sustainable food and water. Nothing else matters until then, which is why it's vitally important we take care of the Coalition first."
Hans thought about it for a few moments before he reluctantly nodded. "Where should we begin?"
"I can't say I like this, but it'll be nice to have a little time to spend learning how to read."
It had taken some convincing, but eventually Hans had agreed to do what Kommandant Wolfgang was asking of him. It wasn't going to be hard in the traditional sense, but Hans knew it was still going to be a challenge. Naturally, Hilda had balked at the plan, for reasons she wasn't willing to share but were obvious enough to Hans. It had taken some convincing, but eventually she had agreed to go along with it.
"I am going to miss you, though. Both of you."
"We're not leaving permanently, maybe a week at most" Hans said. The three of them had assembled in one of the Residence's nicer courtyards, the Perseusbrunnen, following the meeting with the Kommandant, and although the grass was still dead it was better than asphalt and gravel. "And Paul will still be around, should you need someone to talk to."
Hilda rolled her eyes. "I don't care about old cars, and I certainly don't want to become a pack rat like him" she said. The plan that Wolfgang had laid out required Hans and Klara to infiltrate the Bavarian Coalition. Since Friedrich Ademar was likely to recognize them it'd make it easier to get close to him, and with just the two of them they'd leave a smaller footprint. Of course that left Hilda alone at the Residence, but Hans was confident she'd be able to manage. They still had their room overlooking the Hofgarten, and the Order's schools were supposed to be good. Good enough, anyway.
"We should talk. Before you go" Hilda said, and Hans nodded.
"Go wait for me in the Hofgarten, Klara. I won't be long."
Their former councilor nodded, her blonde hair bobbing, and she took off. The two of them watched her go before Hilda turned back to face Hans, her expression firm. "Come with me" she said, and Hans followed her as she entered the Residence. The two of them made their way through the halls of the building, and Hans thought she was going to take them back to her room when she instead turned the other way and led him through a narrow corridor. The hall twisted and turned, a few doors here and there, before it ended at the foot of a small spiral staircase. Hans followed Hilda up, careful not to ogle her backside too much, though something in the back of his mind told him she wouldn't mind. They went all the way up to the top of the staircase, an iron gate at the top opening up into a small eight-sided room, a window on every wall. Hans realized they were at the top of the Residence's clocktower, the four faces of the clock below them. The view wasn't quite as spectacular as being in a vertibird, but still impressive.
There Hilda was, in the center of the room, hands on her hips. She let them drop to her sides, and Hans waited patiently for her to speak. A few of the windows in the tower were broken, the wind sending Hilda's dirty red hair fluttering. Her green eyes sparkled, regarding him with admiration. The way her gaze roamed up and down his body told him what he already knew, but it was still strange to see it. "I wasn't going to say anything, but there's a chance you might not come back, so I figure I'd better get it all out while I still have the chance. I don't know what I should say, so maybe I'll just show you instead" Hilda said.
She gently grabbed Hans' hands, grasping them in her own, her thumbs rubbing circles on the back of his hands. He looked down at them, then back up at her. "You don't have to say anything. I already know."
"You do? Oh... Well that's good. I don't know when it started. Peenemunde, I think, when you saved me from those weirdos. The way you grabbed that guy, stabbed him to death, it...changed something in me" Hilda said. Hans had suspected as much, from the way she had stared at him when it happened, watched him as he killed one of the men who had tied her up. "You didn't hesitate. There he was, standing over me, undressing me, and you just...stalked up to him and stabbed him." Her tone was rising, becoming more excited.
"Anyone would've done that. Would you feel the same now if Paul or Walter had been the one to kill those men?" Hans asked, and Hilda shook her head.
"No. Because it was you. Like I said, I don't know exactly when it started, but I know that Peenemunde is where I became aware of it. When I executed those ghouls and you stood up for me, and when I told you about my childhood and you listened to me, understood why I wanted to be here to help the Final Order, it told me you care about me. When I wore that skirt, the way you looked at me, it... I felt something I hadn't felt before. I felt like a woman for the first time, instead of just...a person."
Hans smiled. "That night, after we'd gone to bed, I woke up in the middle of the night to find you cuddling me. Every inch of your body was pressed to the back of mine. That's when I knew something was changing between us. I didn't hate it, but I still haven't figured out how I feel."
Hilda frowned, and stopped rubbing her thumbs. "I did that?" she asked, and Hans nodded. "Oh. Then...what's there to figure out? I'm only three years younger than you and, unless you've started spending time with Klara or Paul while I wasn't looking, we're both single. If you say no then fine, I understand, but...I'm hoping for at least a maybe."
Arrested development, unresolved trauma that makes you prone to bouts of anger, plus the unrepentant execution of three unarmed people. Part of me wonders just where exactly this road ends, but I'm sure I already know.
He does already know, but he decided he just doesn't care. He ignored all the thoughts pestering him and pulled his hands back from Hilda's. She started to look down, the rejection setting in, when he grabbed her hands again and started rubbing his own thumbs on the back of them. She looked back up at him, her expression confused but hopeful. "I don't know how I feel," he said. "But I know how I'd like to feel. We can discuss it more once I return, but for now... We have work to do..." He trailed off. When did they get so close to each other? Their hands were drawn up, their arms sandwiched between their bodies, their stomachs grazing. How did that happen?
Who cares?!
"Can I kiss you?" Hilda asked. He had to think about it for only a second before he nodded, and then there they were, at the top of the clocktower, embracing. Hilda's hands slipped his grasp and found their way to his shoulders, gently gripping him as their lips met. Neither of them closed their eyes, instead preferring to gaze into each other. The way Hilda's eyes sparkled in the afternoon light as she stared back into his own made him feel...lightheaded.
After a moment they broke the kiss, hands on each other's shoulders. Hilda smiled at him, and he smiled back. "Whatever comes, we'll face it together. We'll stand at each other's backs, guns in hand, and face down the whole of Germany if we have to. If it comes to that then I won't give up. I'll stand before the howling dark to give you the future we deserve. Ein Deutschland, ein volk, ein vorstellung" Hilda said, and slowly pulled away from him.
"Take care."
By the time Hans and Klara actually left it was late afternoon, the sun beginning to set. A Hanomag halftrack drove them Northwest along a boulevard, far away from the Munich Residence. They were somewhere in a residential district when the Hanomag came to a stop. Paul March had tagged along with them, just to see them off, crouched by the doors to the halftrack's troop compartment.
"This is close enough to Coalition territory. Disembark here and make your way to Castle Nymphenburg, one of their patrols is bound to come across you. Act natural, don't tell them who you are, and eventually you'll probably bump into Herr Ademar. He'll recognize you two, if you really knew him, and that'll be your ticket inside. Shouldn't take more than a week" Paul said.
"Once we have the information we need, how do we escape?" Hans asked.
"You're freelancers, all you have to do is walk out. When you're done, come straight back to the Residence. Then the real work will begin. The work that will save our country. Good luck" Paul said, and pushed open the halftrack's rear doors. Hans and Klara jumped out and the Hanomag pulled away a moment later, quickly going back the way they'd came.
"Let's get moving."
Down the street they went, walking by rows and rows of abandoned houses. Most still stood, faded and decaying like the rest of Germany, their red roofs sagging. The rest have collapsed into piles of steel and wood, cars rusting in the driveways. The light from the setting sun was casting an orange hue to everything, a color that Hans found melancholic and nostalgic. It was the color of childhood summers, when one would frolic in a field or backyard, a freshly grilled dinner waiting for them back at the house. It was a color that brought back the few happy memories he had, before The Bomb came. The sky had been that color that day, too. An orange-casted sky, the sun beginning to set as early as 5:00pm, a sign of the approaching winter. Hans had been in his room, reading, when the flash came. A brilliant eruption of light, even in the fading daytime, followed by the crack of sound. An unflinching juggernaut of noise, roaring across the land.
Followed by another, and another. He thought back to the terminal entries at the BMW museum, and remembered how the writer had mentioned the flash. Hans too would always remember the flash, but it was the sound that really stuck with him. Seeing the mushroom cloud unfold in complete silence, expanding, rising, and then being suddenly slammed with the tremendous soul-crushing sound as it slammed across the country. Nothing before or since had ever terrified him so completely.
"Are you alright, Hans?" Klara asked. They'd stopped in the middle of the street, and Hans looked at her. The whole neighborhood was silent, the only noise being the wind and very distant gunfire. Hans licked his lips, nodded, and they got moving again.
"Just thinking back to the day the day the world ended. Were you there?" Hans asked, and Klara shook her head.
"Mm. Born just a year after. What... What was it like?" she asked.
Hans stopped again. "No word could ever describe it. The flash, the thunder, again and again. You think you're going to die, that the shockwave will blow you apart or the debris will crush or eviscerate you. When the bombs stopped coming, that was the worst part. Because there I was, the last person on Earth as far as I knew, until I heard shooting. It was sporadic at first, until night fell. I never knew how dark the night could be until I lived my first without the moon and streetlights. The Bomb spewed so much crap into the sky, so much ash and dirt, it blocked out the moon. My mother brought me to a shelter and we lived there for a few months. So many who survived The Bomb died that winter, the worst in recorded history, made worse by the shroud of pollution that darkened the skies."
"I...see" Klara said. "You were, what, just six years old? My God."
Hans nodded, and they started to walk again. "What little childhood I had I am grateful for, because they were the only good years I've ever had. Our leaders failed our country, our people, and our species. Between the Resource Wars and The Bomb Germany hasn't known peace for decades."
"This business with the Natursturm device is supposed to change all that, thankfully. It feels good to be doing something that will improve our lives, and put our country back on track, don't you think?" Klara asked, and Hans nodded.
"I do. The cost scares me, though. It's already begun to take from us, and from the sound of things, it's going to get worse before it gets better" Hans said.
Before Klara could respond there was a smattering of gunfire the street over, a series of sharp and deep slams, unlike anything Hans had heard in a while. Energiegewehrs, if memory served. Laser-based ones, from the sound of it. A series of short bursts and then the streets were quiet again. Hans nodded at Klara and they moved closer to the houses, keeping low. They passed between two collapsed homes and paused by the corners, watching. The shooters were dressed in a mostly-matching motif of blues and whites, the same patch on every chest. A circle of hands gripping the wrist in front of it, a shield in the center. Their weapons were all energy-based; a mix of Wattz 2000 and 3000 laser rifles, plus what looked to Hans like Wattz 1000 laser pistols in their holsters.
The squad leader, judging by her weapon and armor, was using something much different. Something Hans had only ever seen once, in a Waffen und Munition magazine; a Rheinmetall Plasmagewehr-60. Looking like a cross between the MG-42 and the G3 the magazine article had claimed the PG-60 could lay down a veritable storm of super-heated plasma. Sixty plasma bolts, if the author of the article could be believed, hence the name. Spread out on the street were a number of ghoul corpses. Ferals, from the state of their clothes(and lack thereof.)
Hans edged out a little farther, just enough for the patrol to see him, and waved. They stopped, dropped, and took aim, but didn't fire. Hans made a show of sticking his rifle out, showing he was holding it by the barrel, and the soldiers relaxed. Hans knew from experience what they were thinking: we're out in the open and he saw us first. If he wanted us dead, we would be.
Hans and Klara emerged from the houses and approached the soldiers, who had all stood and were milling about. He slung his rifle as he approached, a friendly smile on his face. "Am I glad to see you lot. When I heard the shots I feared raiders, but no raider has access to energiegewehrs and combat armor. What's your story?"
The squad leader cocked an eyebrow. "Bavarian Coalition. Guessin' you're not from 'round here, if you think there's raiders around" she said, and Hans shook his head.
"No, no, we're from Berlin. Left a few weeks ago, when our U-Bahn station up and vanished. We were out on a supply run, the two of us, and when we came back... Everyone was gone" Hans said. Utter lies.
"Final Order, I bet. Those fascists have been snatching up recruits left right and center lately. Dunno why, but from all the skirmishes we been fighting with 'em lately it must be somethin' big" the squad leader said.
"Final Order? What's that?" Klara asked.
"Buncha Nazis, south'a here. Suggest ya stay away. You two looking for a place to stay or getta bite to eat hit up the Castle, boutta quarter mile from here. Got work, too, if you're lookin' for money. Tell the gatekeeper Strauss sent ya."
Hans nodded. "We'll do that, thanks."
He'd been very impressed with the Munich Residence, but seeing the Schloss Nymphenburg completely blew him away. The building had lost much of its grandeur over the decades, much like the Residenz, but the architecture was still every bit as grand as it had originally been.
Hans and Klara approached the impressive manor, having been waved through the equally impressive wall built around the pond by the not so impressive guard, a gangly ginger-haired man. Hans had thought getting in was going to be difficult, even once he'd told the guard the name of the Coalition squad leader they'd encountered, but the fellow had waved them in after only a few minutes.
"Too bad Hilda's not here, hmm?" Klara asked. "I think she'd find this place even more amazing than the Residence."
Hans nodded. "Let's try not to mention the Residence, the Final Order, or Hilda where others can hear us. I've come up with a good enough cover story that'll keep Ademar's suspicions at rest, should he have any." The two of them proceeded through the staging area and up the stairs that led to the palace's doors.
Inside was a grand ballroom now info center, a number of desks haphazardly arranged in the center with soldiers going to and fro. The checkered floor and high ceiling reminded Hans so much so of the Residenz; antique, tasteful décor marred by decades of neglect and man's predilection for violence. The soldiers in the ballroom paid him and Klara no mind, instead focusing on their duties.
"You two look like mercenaries. Here for work?" a woman's voice asked, and Hans turned to look. She regarded the two of them with a basic interest, a pair of only slightly cracked glasses resting on top of her head. She looked like she was around Hilda's age; a child of The Bomb, just like Klara.
Hans nodded. "That's right."
"Come with me."
He and Klara followed the woman as she led them through the halls of the palace, and Hans couldn't help but feel a bit of Deja vu. Two factions, two pre-War castles, two ideologies, but the same procedures. It was funny, in a strange and abstract way.
It wasn't a far walk from the ballroom to where the woman was leading them, a nondescript wood door, painted a very faded blue. "Wait here, please" the woman said, and walked into the room. After a few minutes she came back out and nodded. "Herr Ademar will see you now."
Hans licked his lips and together they entered the room. Friedrich was there, sitting at a desk and writing something on a sheet of paper. His desk was much more organized than Wolfgang's had been, though still plenty packed with papers and a typewriter. He finished what he was writing, pushed the paper aside, and grabbed another. He was about to start writing when he glanced up, down, and then back up again once he realized who was in his office.
"Herr Eckhart... Fraulein Edmund... Mein Gott... I wondered if I'd ever see anyone from the other stations again. It's been weeks! What are you two doing here? Sit down, sit down, please" Friedrich said, and set his pencil down. Hans and Klara sat on the folding chairs before the desk, the former councilor looking at them with rapt attention. "Is anyone else here with you?"
Hans shook his head. "It's good to see you again, Herr Ademar, but no. Walter died just a few days ago, and... And Hilda's gone. She went missing, about a week ago. I don't know if we'll ever see her again." The best lies had some truth laced in them.
"I see, I see. I'm very sorry to hear about that. Things have been a mess lately, let me tell you. It's been just three weeks since I left Berlin, but it feels like a lifetime ago. Either of you heard of a group named the Final Order?" Ademar asked.
Hans looked at Klara, who nodded. "Yes," she said. "But I'm afraid we don't know much about them."
"They're a menace, threatening to drag Germany back to a very dark place. They have something in their possession called a replicator, a machine capable of cloning endless amounts of food and water, and want to use it to provide these basic necessities to every German, free of charge. A noble goal, if they weren't also planning a genocide. I don't much care for things like Rovers and Sturmutants, but they want to eradicate all the normal ghouls, too. Well, as normal as it gets for those poor folks. It's a damned pogrom, is what it is, and the Bavarian Coalition is going to put a stop to it and take the replicator for ourselves. Do what the Order is doing without looking like a bunch of Nazis doing it."
"Is the Order at war with the Coalition? What exactly is going on?" Hans asked, and Ademar waved his hand dismissively.
"I ought not to talk about with you two, but... Well, perhaps you two could help. I understand you were a mercenary, Herr Eckhart, but this is a matter of morals. The Final Order wants to kill thousands of innocents and they have the means to do it, but the Coalition has a plan. There's been fighting all over the city the past few months, but things are getting worse, so we're going to strike at the enemy first" Ademar said.
"How?" Hans asked.
"The replicator is at Berchtesgaden. Not a coincidence that the Order wants to give birth to the Fourth Reich where the Third one died, and the position is heavily defensible, but we're working on that. We're going to ride straight for Berchtesgaden, bypassing the Residenz altogether, and strike. With luck, we'll eliminate the enemy and secure the replicator before any of their reinforcements can show." Ademar produced a map and set it out on the table for them to look at.
"And that's where we come in?" Hans asked.
Ademar nodded. "Indeed, Herr Eckhart. The Order has almost no ground vehicles, so with our energy weapons we've got the edge against infantry, but the problem is their vertibirds. I have no idea where they found them, but they've easily a dozen of the things. We're expecting the battle to be difficult, but not unwinnable."
"So what is the plan, exactly?"
Ademar pointed at the map. "Allow me to worry about that. It's going to take a few days to finish the planning, and I still have some things to discuss with my lieutenants, but we'll get it all figured out. I'll let you know when we're ready."
Hans nodded, already thinking of ways he and Klara could interfere with the operation. He looked back up at Friedrich Ademar, a man he once worked for, and nodded. "Klara and I are in, if you think we could help."
Ademar gave him a look. "Surely our dear Fraulein here would be better suited staying here? I'm certain her agricultural background will be useful" he said.
"Mmm, I'm sure it would, but crops won't do anyone any good if the Final Order wins. Securing Germany should come before fixing it, hmm?" she asked. "Besides, you're going to take their replicator, yes? I'm sure the crops here will sustain us all until then."
"I can't argue with that" Ademar said. He sat back down. "Have you two got a minute to talk? I've still got some questions. What happened to the station at Pariser Platz?"
"The Order," Klara said. "I sent Hans and his team on a mission to the Genetics Institute in Dahlem, and by the time they returned our whole station was gone. Everyone signed up with the Final Order. There was no reason to stay, and we couldn't trust the Order, so we left."
"Dangerous, but I can see the reason why."
"Klara heard the Order has a base in Hamburg, so we decided to go south. The trip was...hard. Like I said, Walter didn't make it, and Hilda vanished. It's a miracle we made it here alive, let alone in one piece, but... If there's work to be done we'll do it" Hans said.
Ademar was about to say something when the door opened, and a man walked in. He approached Friedrich's desk, set a sheet of paper on it, and walked out. Ademar read the paper over for a few minutes before he sighed, rubbed his temple, and set it down.
"Trouble?"
Ademar looked at him. "Like I said, things have been Hell. Things are desperate, Herr Eckhart. The Coalition doesn't have the strength to properly take on the Order. We've been at war for just a few weeks, just holding each other at bay, but the Order is expanding by the day. They're recruiting, and the promise of the replicator is driving that recruitment. Our nation's future, our species' future, hinges entirely on that device. Whoever controls it, controls Germany. I'd join up with them if they weren't so Hell-bent on reenacting our history."
Hans nodded. "Klara and I are in, if you need us."
"Mmm, I'm glad to hear that. I'll pay you both, if you like, but I'm hoping you're signing on simply because it's the right thing to do. We're running out of time, Herr Eckhart. Everything's riding on this. I'll let you two know when the battle is set to begin; until then I've got work to do. I'd very much like to catch up later, if you like. There are other U-Bahners around, too, the very few who didn't join the Final Order. I'll come find you when I'm done here" Ademar said, and gestured down to his desk.
Hans and Klara stood. "Alright. We'll see you later, Herr Ademar" Hans said, and Friedrich nodded. He and Klara walked to the door and left the office, standing in the sparsely populated hall. Despite how impressive the laser and plasma guns were it was definitely true that the Coalition didn't have the numbers the Order did. The two of them began walking back towards the rear of the building, passing a few people on the way.
"I'm going to assume we're not going to be doing any of that" Klara said, and Hans looked at her. He nodded as they left the palace and stepped out onto a rear terrace. The massive garden behind the manor stretched on before them, decaying. Hans stopped by a crumbling stone railing and turned to face Klara.
"We're going to make sure the Coalition loses that battle. If we've got a few days before it begins then we've got time to figure out their plans and how to deal with them. If we can do that then there's a chance the fight may not even happen" Hans said.
Klara seemed to think about it for a moment before she nodded. "It's going to be weird, doing this, but it's for a good reason, yeah? Although, does it really matter who controls the Natursturm device? It sounds like both the Order and the Coalition have the same idea for it."
Hans nodded. "That part doesn't matter, yes, but what does matter is what comes after. The Order has a plan to exterminate all the filth that The Bomb spawned, whereas the Coalition wants to protect it. You're too young, you never saw what Germany was like before The Bomb. Destitute and miserable, yes, but not dangerous. Our government and our corporations worked with the United States to create and test all sorts of horrific abominations. Rovers, Wanamingos, I bet even the Croakers and Sturmutants were created before the war. The Final Order wants to erase all of that and make us how we used to be; how we deserve to be. Whole, safe, and happy. I won't fight for anyone who wants to drag us back to the years before The Bomb."
"Mmm, I have to admit, you're very convincing, and you do make good points. Very well, we'll do it your way, as grim as it all seems. I just have to hope it will all be worth it in the end" Klara said, and cast her gaze East, across the dead gardens behind the Schloss Nymphenburg. Hans followed her gaze, forlornly looking at the faded splendor and serenity, replaced with death and misery.
"It will be. In the end, everything we've been through and suffered for will be worth the price we've paid to get there. The nightmare of the wasteland will come to an end, and we'll finally get to enjoy life the way it is meant to be enjoyed."
