The officer, who I learned was called Alexander Arc led me, my companions, and his companion Anna Schmidt to a coffee shop. We were probably a strange sight the the barista, considering that the SWAT squad was still in their armor, I was still fully decked with my G-86 slung over my shoulder, and the girls were sticking close to me. We took a seat, the girls and Anna chatting as they went to order coffee, while me and Alexander were locked in a staring contest. Alexander coughed, and glanced at the panzer outside, that had already attracted a crowd of onlookers that were taking pictures and whatnot.
"She have a name?" Alexander asked, and I looked confused.
"Come again?"
"Your tank. Does it have a name?" Alexander questioned, and I shook my head.
"Nein. My panzer has no name yet." Alexander glanced again, face in thought.
At least, I think so. It was hard to tell when a balaclava and a metal helmet obscured his face.
"Paladin. it seems fitting." I looked at the panzer, and made a split decision.
"Do you have any black paint?" I asked Alexander, who nodded slowly.
A few minutes later, I looked at my newly christened panzer, now with the name 'Paladin' painted in black on the side. Me and Alexander sat on the chassis of the Paladin, Staring at at the setting sun. I noticed Anna and the girls walk out down the field, cups of coffee in hand. I hopped off and stuck my hand out, Sara handing me a cup of coffee. I took a sip, the drink invigorating me as the caffeine rushed through my body. Alexander pulled off his helmet and balaclava, revealing blue eyes and blonde hair. He took a sip and sighed, seemingly content.
"So. What made you want to be a officer?" I questioned, and Anna made a face.
"It's fine, Anna." He turned to me.
"Joined the force looking for my nephew. He was only eighteen when he left, not leaving anything to tell us where he went. He barely has any experience with the world-" He broke down and sobbed, and I nodded for him to continue, pulling off my helmet as well. He regained his composure, and
"My brother, Julius asked me to help look for him, because we didn't know where he was. I eventually followed a lead that told me he might be here. I looked around the city but I still couldn't find him. And that leads us to now." I nodded, digesting all the information.
"If you find him, can you tell him that his family wants him to come back home? Tell him that Jeanne misses her big brother." Alexander smiled somberly, and began to walk away, Anna in tow. I pulled on my helmet, and began to think about our next of operations.
"Well, first of all, we need to find a place to stay..." I looked around, and found what seemed to be a electronics store. A few moments later, I walked out with what apparently was called a scroll, and began searching for a nearby hotel. And luckily enough, I found one.
"Alright everyone, back to the Paladin!" I shouted, and Bismarck rolled her eyes.
"Why did you name it the Paladin? we could have named it better. At the very least, you could have consulted us first." I sighed.
"Just get in the panzer. Schnell." Prinz Eugen dragged Bismarck into the Paladin, with Bismarck complaining that she could get in herself. Warspite elegantly walked in through the back, the door closing behind her. I climbed up to the turret and held out my hand, helping Sara get in before slamming the hatch shut. They all sat at the table, as I tossed the scroll onto the table for them to look at before heading to the driver's seat. We rode along, their conversations blocked by the door and the sound of the engine. I parked the Paladin in what I assumed was a parking lot, the panzer taking up quite some space. If this were Earth, when civilization was at it's peak, people would be complaining about car space. I ordered a room for four, and handed the keys to the girls. Sara looked confused.
"How about your room?" I shook my head.
"You guys take it easy. I'll watch the Paladin." I marched off before they could argue, fully intent on exploring the surrounding buildings. I must have wandered off quite a bit, as I reached what seemed to be a store that sold... dust?
And of course, a fucking body comes flying out the window. Like seriously, this has to fucking stop.
I drew my G-86 and attached my cut down gas mask, goggles over my eyes. Taking out the bundswehr combat knife, I attached it to the barrel taking out a flash bang, I tossed it into the building. A flash of searing light erupted, and I kicked open the door and identified several targets. The first one was what seemed to be dsome stereotypical rich villain with a top hat and a cane, while there were five men that appeared to be bouncers. A old man was behind the register, with a girl in a red dress. All had been blinded by the flash bang, and it was time for me to act. I opened fire on the bouncer closest to me, riddling his body full of 7.62mm bullets. I snapped to another target, gunning him down as well, my face impassive as I shot them down left and right. Targets. That's all they were. The effects of the flash bang wore off, and by then, the targets were lying in pools of red, gurgling as they choked on their own blood. The last target was locked in my sights, and I prepared to fire. The target was had backed up, cane in the air.
"Wow there. calm down. We can talk this out like people, right?" His voice began to turn more and more frantic, As I walked towards him, bayonet fixed and rifle ready to fire. Considering that this guy tried to rob a poor defenseless man and also tried to take a girl hostage, My dad's words came back to me.
"Those that choose to harm will harm you, especially when cornered like a animal."
I raised the G-86 and fired, obliterating his kneecaps. He screamed in pain as something that resembled a personal shield dissipated, and the rounds tore through. I stepped foward, bayonet thrusting into his right arm, twisting as I tore off his arm with brutal fashion. His cane dropped to the ground, revealing a trigger that probably would have blasted me apart if I didn't react. I stepped over to him, securing him with some binding tape that I had procured from the Panzer. I turned towards the two civilians, who looked horrified by what I had done.
"Call the polizei to arrest him... and anyone still alive." I looked at the bodies, looking at the mess I made.
*tap*
I turned around and discovered a woman that had what appeared to be pink, brown and yellow hair, holding what appeared to be a razor sharp umbrella pointed at my neck.
"Sheisse." I ducked just as she thrusted, taking out another bundswehr knife just in time as she stabbed again, parrying the blade. The girl from earlier looked at me, and I yelled at her.
"Take the old man and get out of here! I will hold her off!" I took out my sidearm, brandishing a large pistol with the word Bundesadler engraved onto the reciever. A round hit her, breaking her aura as she managed to dodge in time for it to graze her.
"Arschloch! Give up!" I ducked as she thrusted again, firing another round. We continued our dance of death, and eventually I ran out of ammunition. I holstered the Bundesadler, bundswehr knife at hand. I felt around my vest, and felt my hand close around something hard. I grinned.
"If you don't surrender now, I'll take all of us out." I drew a DM91, the fragmentation grenade at hand.
"This grenade has enough explosive force to obliterate this building, and everyone in it. Your aura is practically destroyed; My grenade will shred everything apart." I had a manic grin on my face as schadenfreude kicked in; the very thing my dad warned me about.
"I would love to see what this grenade will do to you. I've never seen it used against targets in such close quarters. It will be a very good experiment." My opponent seemed unnerved; I took a step forward, as she took a step back. I kept walking towards her, grenade in hand as my knife went away, sneaking away to my back pouch to grab some binding tape. She hit the wall, scrabbling to find a way to escape. I bore down on her, and promptly conked her head with the grenade, knocking her out. While DM91 grenades were dangerous, they were pretty much as useful as rocks when the pin wasn't pulled. I held my newfound opponent in my arms, picking up my dropped equipment and putting them back, G-86 slung over my shoulder. I exited the store, and saw the girl again. He turned his head to look at her, as she cautiously walked over to him. it took a few moments, but she eventually answered, in a whisper.
"Why did you kill them?" I tilted my head, not sure about her question.
"Pardon?" She gathered her courage once again, and asked.
"Why did you have to kill them? You could have just knocked them unconscious..." I looked at her, and bluntly replied.
"The targets will still fight unless they are dead." I continued walking off, and I heard her call out again.
"Can you at least tell me your name?" She yelled, and I froze. If the police got ahold of this, I would be in the shit. I thought quickly; historic german units, and randomly chose what probably described what I just did the best.
"Sturmjäger." I tossed into the night, the words echoing down the street. I turned around and marched off into the night, and Siri decided to be a massive miststück.
Now playing: Teufelslied.
"SS marschiert in Feindesland,
Und singt ein Teuf-"
Nein! Siri! mute!"
"What do you want to send to Nefen?" I took out the phone and manually shut it down, steaming all the way. I eventually reached the Paladin, hoisting the opponent on my shoulder as I climbed into the panzer. I sat her down on a chair, and took off my helmet, as I wiped sweat off my forehead. I set my helmet aside, and shook her awake. She groggily woke up, and instantly snapped awake as she saw my face in front of her.
"Alright, missy. First off, I'm going to need a name." She glared at me, and I sighed. I looked around, and found a booklet with the basic guidelines of the Geneva convention. I cut the bindings off her hands, and gave the booklet to her to read. I dragged another chair over, sitting down in front of her. She eventually tossed the booklet aside most likely of boredom, and look at me expectantly.
"Now, If you actually read the rules, you'll see that one of the rules was no torture. She nodded, and then I grinned.
"However, the United Nations has been gone for the past few years. Which means no punishment for not following the Geneva convention." She glared at me again, and I moved my hands in a plactating manner.
"But first. I still need your namen." She slid her hand into her pocket, to which I flinched backwards, but inwardly sighed when it was just a scroll. She typed something out, and shoved it in my face.
Neo.
"So. Your name is Neo, huh? Mind telling me why you tried to stick your oversized stick into my neck?" She mulled over something, before typing something into her scroll again.
Because you threatened my employer, Roman Torchwick. I failed the first time...
"So that target was called Roman, hmm? Well, He's missing a arm and possibly his legs, but other than that, he's fine." I rifled around the storage, and found the holy grail; a large, full bottle of fanta that must have been left behind by the panzer's former crew. I took two cups and poured in some fanta, offering her a cup. She took a sip, and greedily drank more. I sipped and sighed; this was some good fanta.
"Now. What was your plan in stealing all of this... 'dust'? and most of all, what is dust?" Neo looked at me like I a dummkopf, and I felt a bit self-conscious. I coughed, and averted my eyes, and Neo sighed. She tapped her scroll, and I was greeted by what resembled a Wikipedia page on everything (mostly everything) on dust. I read through, skimming a bit. As I read through, I came to a single conclusion; they had no electricity.
No electricity, meant no way to repower the panzer.
No panzer meant I would have to carry all my shit.
"Neo..." I trembled, shaking violently. "Is there no electricity on this planet?" Neo tilted her head, and typed something again.
Why use such a primitive source?
I slumped down in relief. At least they developed electricity beforehand.
"Is there some sort of large generator or something? I need it to power my panzer." She continued typing, and I felt a buzz on my scroll. I took it out, and saw what seemed to be a friend request. I hesitantly accepted it, and turned to look at Neo. Something was... off. Neo was frozen, unblinking.
"Neo?" I reached out, and then she broke into a million shards. I stumbled backwards; the seemingly glass shards melted away, and I froze.
"Oh. No she didn't." I turned towards the table, only to find my suspicions come true; the bottle of fanta was gone.
"NEIN! MEIN FANTA!" I wailed in anguish, as my last luxury good from Germany was stolen off to somewhere in Vale.