Act 5-1
—
Narration by:
Lise Hohenstein (First day on the job)
Starring:
Beatrix Brehme (Follow the leader)
Gretel Jeckeln (The pacifist commissar)
Farka Murenkamp (Loyal worker of the State)
Featuring:
NVA's 609th TSF Squadron
—
Setting:
1981 March, 27, 0330 hours
Harz mountain range, Erfurt region
"Final TSF component check. Engine one, green; engine two, green. Weapon system, WS-16 Assault Cannons loaded at full capacity; CIWS dagger storage functional. All system green, no error detected."
Lise's mundane report wasn't meant for anyone's ears but hers, she reviewed her TSF one last time before reaching the front. The camouflaged MiG-23 was operating perfectly, therefore leaving the blonde as the sole factor accountable for her own life.
"—Achtung, all units. We're closing in on hostile TSFs, ETA five minutes. As a reminder, the deserting pilots have obtained four MiG-21s from nearby military base. Their total armaments equals to six WS-16s, two DS-3 Reactive Shields and two Type-77 Halberds. Execute as per standard procedure." Beatrix broadcasted for all to hear, her usual sweet vibe was firmer this time.
Unsurprisingly, this was Lise's first mission as a Werewolf pilot, she was again hunting down defectors seeking refuge to the West. However, the new upgrade for her tools of lethality was much appreciated once she understood the controls for the Cheburaskha. It was faster, stronger and better in general compared to the First-Gen Balalaika.
"—Oberleutnant Hohenstein, do you want me to explain what our standard procedure is? We kinda left the base in a hurry so the Major didn't have time to brief you yet." Calmly, Lise's partner kindly offered to update her on the Battalion's strategy over a separate channel. The Farka now was much different from the eager girl in her first impression.
"—Do we not have permission to kill?"
"Only after the first warning, Oberleutnant. The Major will call for them to surrender, if they don't then we can kill them."
"That's… strange, my last unit always shot first."
"Mine too… but the Major is pretty merciful, all things considered. It's always faster and safer to just fire without announcing ourselves, right?" Farka's jovial attitude had frequently clashed with her dark past many times as she and Lise communicated.
"So we're humane, I'll get used to it."
Lise's painted TSF smoothly coasted over a black forest, her tired feet pressed down on the control pedals at a fine degree to maintain her constant velocity across the night's sky. Whoever was becoming the Stasi's victim tonight held no leverage over her, as long as she persisted to be one of the survivors.
"—You girls done talking? We're coming up to the interception point." A new speaker made its debut to Lise and Farka's comms, Gretel relaxingly warned them to ready up.
"Oberleutnant Jeckeln, I thought you didn't fly against human combatants?"
"I don't, but as the political officer, I have to monitor the newest member to make sure she doesn't step out of line. You know how it is, Hohenstein." Almost apologetic, Gretel waved at Lise from her cockpit.
"Of course, Oberleutnant Jeckeln. Thank you for your guidance."
"Hehe… the Major seriously trusts you if she brings you on mission right away, Hohenstein. And only taking us along too, your files say you got adept skills, don't let me down, got it?"
"Jawohl, I'll do what you can't, Oberleutnant." Unlike the commissar, Lise was the true definition of a coldblooded killer.
"…Right, I'm gonna stay here and watch, thanks."
"—All units, I have visual on hostile fast movers. Hold fire and wait for my command." Beatrix ordered strictly.
Then Lise noticed them too, an average Flight of Balalaikas were horizontally boosting towards the West. They wanted to run; they desired for freedom upon themselves, in a way, Lise could understand that wish. She understood it, but she would not allow it to transpire.
"—To members of the 609th TSF Squadron, you are in violation of multiple laws of the Nationale Volksarmee and are branded as enemies of the State. The Ministerium für Staatssicherheit is demanding you to stand down immediately and surrender, or else we will use lethal force. This is your final warning."
The formidable message declared by Beatrix for resignation was met by harsh volleys of 120mm Sabot, the runaways had chosen to fight back in face of the Major's mercy, thus also sealing their fate once and for all.
"Werwolf zwei, drei, weapons free, shoot to kill." Lise didn't need to be told twice.
Truly, the technical prowess gap between the MiG-21 and 23 was not only a matter of different specs. In comparison, the Cheburaskha was superior of in terms of both finesse and power to the Balalaika. Lise could feel the raw output of her Khatchaturov K-35-300 turbojets propelling her forward at a spectacular speed, a speed of which was faster than the MiG-21s.
"Locked on, firing."
Gracefully manoeuvring herself in and out of the woods, Lise closed the distance between her and the slowest of the Balalaikas. Its single Pylon mounted rifle adjusted its aim numerous times to line her up with the end of its barrel, but the blonde girl proved herself to be adequate as the Stasi's enforcer when her burst of 36mm struck the Jump Unit of the escaping craft precisely.
As the emerging victor, Lise gilded down in the direction of the disabled TSF. The brutal impact of its crash reduced the fighter to nothing but a hulk of burning metal. Nonetheless, whatever was sitting inside that cockpit couldn't be verified as dead unless she ensures its demise.
So the MiG-23 standing by the incapacitated 21 delivered another surge of AP rounds, blasting apart the control unit until there were literally only smithereens left.
"Splashed one, pilot kill confirmed." Lise reported to her commander, not a hint of emotion to be detected in her expressionless tone.
"—Bandit splashed, pilot is kill." Over the channel, Lise recognized Farka's statement of scratching one more target off their list.
She looked to her left, where the Second Lieutenant was wiggling her Type-77 out of the wreckage of another dead MiG-21. Lise speculated that Farka was the Squadron's CQC specialist, demonstrated by those masterly movements she exerted to close the distance and slash apart the fugitive TSF.
"Two down, do you see the third one?"
"Negative! But if they're not shooting at us, then the Major probably got them already." Lise scanned over her radar again, it was only showing the fighters belonging to her Battalion.
"—All targets Neutralized. Werwolf zwei, drei, vier, regroup on me."
"Well, we're done. That was much quicker than I thought for an operation for hunting deserters. These MiG-23s are incomparable to the 21s, it seems."
"They are… they really are strong…" Lise admired the power provided to her by the next generation of surface fighter, she wouldn't lose to anything if this machine were to become her instrument.
"—You goddamn Stasi DOGS! Do you have NO SHAME for what you're doing!?" There was a man's voice, an unknown voice cursed madly at Lise's occupation.
"We have additional Bandits?"
"…No- n-negative, there's a survivor left here by me, I'll finish him off." How Beatrix worded her sentence sounded almost frightful, the irregular absent of her usual steamy arrogance concerned the First Lieutenant.
"—Even though the BETA is RIGHT IN FRONT OF US-! Our real enemies are just on Germany's BORDER! You're still going to hunt people escaping for THEIR LIVES!"
This type of people Lise had encountered at least a dozen of during her time acting as Axmann's dog, and she probably killed even more. Fools who blame the State for their miserable condition, idiots who believe the joy and happiness of life should be granted to them on a silver platter.
"—Is that all you wanted to say? I will hear it, your last words, that is." To a groundless insult, Beatrix somehow decided to concede.
"How could people like you live with yourselves!? Knowing everyday you're robbing lives from people doing their best to survive!? The enemy is the BETA! NOT US! Don't people have the right to be free!?"
"… 'The world is not to be put in order. The world is order. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order.' -Said by Henry Miller. What I see before me is only a traitor, not just to our country, but to mankind." Beatrix accused, leaving the wounded soldier flabbergasted inside his cockpit.
"By running away from the front, running away under the pitiful pretext of escaping a Socialist nation, you're leaving us with one less man to defend against the onslaught of our real enemies. Thus, you have indirectly contributed to the collapse of the Oder-Neisse Defence line, the fall of East Germany will result in the doom of the entire Europe."
"That kind of LOGIC! Who do you think will accept that BULLSHIT!? You're the ones KILLING so much INNOCENT PEOPLE!" When an opportunity presented itself, the man arguing with the Major screamed back a meagre counter.
"Then I am only wasting my breath… as an enemy of the State— no, as an enemy of humanity, I will have you executed right here and now. Still, I will pray for you upon the journey every man must eventually voyage… may our Father in the Heaven take mercy on your soul… ruhe in frieden. (rest in peace)"
Lise watched the vehement scene displayed over her retina projector from a few dozen metres away, herself detached from whatever mood influenced Beatrix to converse that much with a criminal. It was none of her business, her commander's viewpoint, belief, religion; she didn't care in the slightest.
The tip of Beatrix's WS-16 rose up, its magazine was far from empty.
"I see you on the other side, Stasi bitch—!"
"Strafe." The trees planted on East Germany's soil muffled the booming echoes of fired 36mm shells.
Act 5-1 End
—
Act 5-2
—
Narration by:
Lise Hohenstein (First day on the job)
Starring:
Beatrix Brehme (Follow the leader)
Gretel Jeckeln (The pacifist commissar)
Farka Murenkamp (Loyal worker of the State)
Featuring:
Erich Schmidt (The only white uniform)
Martin Karel (Pen-pal)
Heinz Axmann (Giver of fun times)
—
Setting:
1981 March, 27, 0430 hours
Harz mountain range, Erfurt region
"—…I-I didn't learn the Brevity code anywhere… I just kinda…"
"Used whatever you heard, Hohenstein?"
"Y-yeah…" Lise nodded, not too invested in her conversation with Gretel and Farka.
"—It sounds really cool though! I dunno, I just like saying stuff." On their way home, the cheerful Farka resurfaced.
"Sure you do, Leutnant." She focused on piloting the MiG-23, there was simply nothing hooking Lise's curiosity as the Flight of four sailed across the forest.
"You don't talk much, do you, Hohenstein?" A couple of minutes later, her apathetic attitude had led Gretel to invite her to a new topic.
"I'm not the talkative type, Oberleutnant Jeckeln."
"…Why did you join the Stasi, Lise?" Her first name was addressed by the political officer as Lise noticed the symbol for a private channel blinked on.
The startling inquiry from Gretel almost drew an expression to Lise's frozen aspect. The question was too out of place, too illogical and most likely against the Werewolf's code of mutual sovereignty.
"…Shouldn't you know that already, Comrade commissar?"
"Maybe, but I want to hear it from you."
"Commissar Gretel… I suggest you keep your personal inquisitiveness in check, we're not meant to know everything there is to know, after all." Her sombre threat was definitely not empty.
"…Guess it'll take time, Hohenstein, sorry."
"No, I apologize for being so secretive as to my—"
"—Achtung, a change of plan, ladies. I have new orders from HQ… they want us to make a deviation on our way back to base, location is a WWII-era bunker by the Sömmerda Region, forwarding waypoint marker now."
Feigning ignorance to the undisclosed discussion going on between Lise and Gretel, Beatrix called for her Flight to change their destination suddenly.
"Mission, Major?"
"Executing a group of Republikflüchtlinge."
"Wait, so are the deserters caught already?"
"Ja."
"Then what the hell!? That's not our job, Major. We're a TSF frontier Battalion! We don't deal with renegades that leg their way to the West!" Rightfully upset with the situation at hand, Gretel made her argument clear.
"It's from Berlin, Jeckeln, why else do you think the orders didn't reach you first? They came from Direktor (Director) Schmidt himself, we don't have a choice. Now be quiet and go through the files I'm sending you, it's the convicts we're responsible for." The infuriated commissar pushed up her glasses repetitively as an outlet for her vexing mood.
"…What is this!? They're almost twenty people here, Major! Are we condemning all of these citizens!? There're even children on this list!" Those familiar conditions elicited some extremely unpleasant memories from Lise, memories that would often hunt her during the dead of night.
Children or adult, it didn't matter; the colour of their blood was all the same on her hands.
"Orders are orders, Jeckeln. You know that's what we do for a living… I'm sorry, I can't protect you from this one…" Lise perceived a bit of trivia as Gretel bit her lips hard enough to draw blood. During the entire briefing, Beatrix never once purposely spoke with her seductive pitch, the commander acted sincerely in her instruction and apology.
"…Blyat! …When we reach there, I'll not look and cover my ears or something…" The new vocabulary from Gretel had Lise turning heads.
"Heh… okay, do your best." Whatever the First Lieutenant said in another language, Beatrix graced her with a quick giggle.
"As for the rest of you… Hohenstein, Murenkamp, stand guard outside and protect our TSFs." The demand attached to her name wasn't one Lise could agree upon.
"Wait, Major. I highly doubt we will come under attack by anti-TSF weaponry, allow me to accompany you inside the bunker."
"Hohenstein… you know what we are going to do, right?" Was her leader revealing apprehension for Lise's wellbeing? The last time someone cared for her was too long ago, after all.
"I'm acting as your backup, Major. In case any accidents happen."
"I have enough ammo this time… it won't come to that."
"I'm there for when you miss, Major." Beatrix gawked at the blonde girl a little, but she sighed away her worry soon after.
"Well… you'll fine on your own, Leutnant?"
"Of course. I'll leave all the killing to you, Major Brehme and Oberleutnant Hohenstein." Receiving a nod from Beatrix, Farka exited the comms without any extra noise.
"Werwolf Battalion, relocate to objective area."
—
Intermission
—
"—All units, disembark, we've arrived."
Riding the elevating cable descending from the seat of her TSF to the snowy ground, Lise was greeted by a set of iron doors bolted shut reinforced by icy concrete walls built to withstand shots from multiple 120mm AP shells. She surveyed her environment, darkness seeping between the woods was only halted by the search lights of her Flight's MiG-23s.
Two more sets of footsteps crunched behind her, Beatrix and Gretel treaded onto the frozen soil shortly after her. Lise's inherent dead-eyed salute reaped her a half smile from the commissar and a faint hand gesture from her superior.
"Something's not right here, Major. Where're the guards? Don't tell me they left the captives here unwatched!" Gretel urgently drew her sidearm, preparing for anything to jump out from the shadows.
"Put that thing away, Jeckeln. You'll get in the way if you're not ready to shoot it."
"But Major! We're the only two armed right now—!"
"-then here, hold my extra ammo." Cutting her off entirely, Beatrix instead threw a couple of magazines for the glasses girl to catch.
The eerily air of a cold, March night blew tension into all of the Werewolf pilots. As they walked down the stairs leading into the abandoned bunker, their only source of illumination was the flashlight brought by Beatrix which she shined on the path ahead.
"Where are the damn guards!? There is definitely something going on here! Major, we should contact HQ and verify our order! This place is empty for all we know!"
"Enough, Oberleutnant Jeckeln. If there is nothing after we search this compound, then I will contact Berlin. Keep focused and walk, everyone."
For Lise, this was more of an insight into the Werewolf's political officer than an actual mission. From what she could gather, Gretel was obviously not accommodated to the method of how Stasi operated. However long she had been with the Battalion, the slim girl wasn't trained to fully assimilate into the horrifying system that was the Ministerium.
"Major, this is a trap." Lise whispered quietly only for Beatrix to hear.
"I know, but that makes it a very bad one."
"Meaning somebody wants you dead more than they want to hide it."
"…That imbecile Schmidt, why doesn't he poison my tea or something if he wants me dead so badly…" Lise had to consciously stifle her chuckle for the joke from Beatrix right there.
The trio wandered for a good dozen minutes, seeking and missing any signs of life in the underground tunnels. Finally, they arrived at the end of a long hallway, most likely the final hallway if Lise's speculation was correct.
"Got another set of doors here, Major. Hopefully we have nobody behind there as well-"
"–Is-is someone out there!? HELP! HELP US!"
"…Scheiße." Gretel's wish was denied straightaway.
Unlocking the crack mechanism fastening the two metal sheets together, the commissar slammed open the entryway exuding a long screech of rusted metal. Once Beatrix swatted away the dust particles hindering her vision, she aimed her flashlight at the centre of a room where the previous scream came from.
"PLEASE! Help us! W-we've been held here for god knows how long! The people that caught us! The Stasi! They just left us tied up with no food or water! We have children here! PLEASE HELP!"
Five adults; two men and three women were restrained by their wrists and ankles in the kneeling position, all of them wore a black cloth over their eyes, effectively blindfolding the hostages.
"Major… what're we going to do?" A disinclined Gretel asked under her breath.
"All of you, it's okay. My name is Irisdina Bernhard, we're here to help you. My unit is with the anti-establishment resistance. May I ask why has the Stasi captured and locked you in this bunker?" That name Beatrix decided to adopt, Lise thought how funny of a selection it was.
"We were trying to get away from here! East Germany is just too much! But the Stasi scums trapped us just at the border!"
"Where are the rest of you?"
"In those rooms behind us! The kids are in there! Please get them out first!" Shrouded by darkness, Lise could barely make out the rows of sealed doors spaced out evenly in the background.
"…Thank you for your cooperation, ladies and gentlemen. We will assist in your escape shorty." There was only one thing left to be done, Beatrix lured out the information she wanted to hear.
"That's all we need, Major?" Lise sneakily muttered into Beatrix's ear after taking her stand to her leader's left.
"Yeah… I'll finish it fast…" The Major behaved hesitant as she pulled back on the slide of her handgun, echoing a crisp click of bumping metal.
"Wa-what was that!? Was that a gun!?" Impressive observation from the deserters correctly identifying the tick as the chambering of a pistol, Lise thought.
"Jeckeln, look away if you want to."
"…Thanks for the offer, Major… but I don't think I can dodge this forever." Somehow, the pacifist officer refused to avoid her gaze, instead Gretel stood to the right of Beatrix, staring on with devoted eyes.
"What's going on here!? What're you people talking about!?"
"For the crime of attempted Republikflucht, the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit will have you executed here. Do you have any last words?"
"You…! YOU TRICKED US, YOU BITCH!" Frankly, Lise wanted to laugh at the foolishness some people were capable of. She learned painfully how hope could easily blind one's rationale.
Beatrix tightened her grip on the PPK pushed directly into the first prisoner's forehead, a faint hint of a twisted smile flashed over her mouth before she quickly bit her lips to suppress the grin. The older girl appeared ready to pull the trigger, so Lise knew the waiting was almost over.
A gunshot ringed violently in their confined space, but it wasn't one originating from Beatrix's firearm.
The agonising sting struck Lise in such a short instant she didn't have the time to scream, all she realized was the colossal exertion of a 9mm bullet impacting her at the centre point of her chest, sending her body flying backwards when its momentum was transferred to her fortified suit and distributed over its hardened surface for protection.
"Wha-the—! LISE! Get do— arg—!"
Vigorously drawing in air to her lungs, Lise felt the choking pain of having her gasp extorted by a shooter hiding somewhere in this room. However, before she could calibrate their current situation, someone was struggling to plunge a sharp objective into her heart.
Her mind was already hazy from taking a bullet to the chest, therefore Lise was less than adequate when forced to fight for her life. There was a Caucasian woman straddling over her, gripping some kind of a knife that will doubtlessly spell her doom if she wasn't putting effort into shoving back the attacker's hands.
Sweat, spit or blood was dripping onto the blonde's face from her assailant as they both wrestled over the pavement, Lise was unfortunately not the one winning her brawl. No matter how hard her kicks were, the woman on-top of her didn't give away under the strikes to her stomach and legs.
"HOHENSTEIN!" Still brutally scuffling against the runaway, Lise barely turned to see who just called her name.
There was Beatrix not too far away from her, the First Lieutenant missed some details since she couldn't afford to divide her attention from the immediate danger. Going by what she could gather, her commander was grappling another opponent as well, although more successful than she was.
It was perhaps due to her advantage that led Beatrix to believe Lise was in a direr need of the pistol than her.
The Walther slid across the floor with a near perfect sling from the Major, skidding into Lise's reach accurately for her to snatch the gun in record time. In that fraction of a second, Lise and her opponent locked eyes as their judgment raced to fully determine the circumstances in sight. Whoever was the quicker thinker would emerge victorious, there was no exception.
To survive, Lise must win her struggle as the faster draw; to shoot her foe before she overpowers the girl and pierce her chest. Jeopardizing everything she was on the line, Lise reacted and shot.
Once the gunpowder smoke swirled away, the first feedback Lise perceived was a gush of moisture plopping over her body, mostly her face. A normal person would be scared for a lifetime if they wore the blonde's boots, but the particular pilot couldn't even lie about this being her first time seeing a corpse bleed from its nose due to a ruptured brain.
The bullet which shredded her victim's jaw rammed upwards through her mouth until it blasted apart her skull, exploding bones and brain tissue outwards over Lise. Fortunately, the blood leaking out of the body's nostril was the only bits of her victim's disseminated gore which came in contact with the ribbon girl.
Cumbersomely, Lise pushed off the dead person from weighing her down while swiping away what red fluid obscured her vision. After gaining a proper foothold, her fuzzy mind sought to observe the current situation she was trapped in.
"Ah- shit…!" They were not in a good shape, far from it.
That moment, Beatrix came crashing into her field of version tumbling down fighting. Lise watched in stupor as the Major delivered a ruthless knee right between a man's legs before using that window of opportunity to jam an improvised scalpel into his neck. A spout of blood chased after the dagger which exited her opponent's wound, painting the standard black fortified suit of the Stasi red.
"Hohenstein! More incoming! Second left door!" Beatrix gestured towards a new flood of rebels rushing in to join the feud.
Without checking with her prudence, Lise shot under the stress of a life-threatening battle. By fortune or good marksmanship, all her shots met their intended mark.
The first woman that came barring out from the adjacent quarter took one round directly to the mouth, killing her instantly, although it didn't stop Lise from double taping her again in the chest. Her second target was already charging in too close for comfort, resulting in a clean headshot through the forehead and an additional body shot to the heart as the corpse fell onto Lise.
Pinch by another dead body, Lise could barely make out the last fugitive approaching her with an axe in hand. However, the petite girl snuck her right arm from under the carcass and rapidly pulled the trigger. A faint click of the pistol indicated its empty magazine, all eight shots of the Walther PPK had been exhausted and all eight served its purpose in defending her.
Nevertheless, the pistol wasn't the only tool exhausted of its usefulness. When the First Lieutenant was done killing traitors to the DDR, she herself could bare stand up straight, let alone climb out from the pile of bodies.
"Gretel! -Gretel you have to shoot!"
"B-b-but that's—! I-I can't, Major!"
"Don't think, just fire! You want the next letter Martin Karel to receive be from me!? You don't have a choice here! You want to LIVE! Don't you!?"
"I-I-I…! AAAH!"
Lise's comrades, they were all fighting their own battles, inside or outside.
Finally, gathering the strength to pull herself up from the blood-drenched floor in-between her haggard breath, Lise was greeted by a petrified Gretel holding a smoking gun alongside one more remains of a former soul.
"Jeckeln! Give me a magazine!" Lise shouted, also calling Gretel's mind back to reality in the process.
"W-w-wh-wha—"
"I need BULLETS! Hurry!" Lise knew the commissar was given Beatrix's spare ammo, whether she had them on her was another story.
"I-I dunno where they…! Ah- here!" Managing her panic, Gretel clumsily chucked a mag for Lise.
Snapping the magazine release button, Lise swung her gun to hasten the ejection of the previous case as she smacked the new ammunition into the mag catch all with one swift motion. She turned around in searching for more enemies, and amongst the pool of deceased by her foot; she found one.
But Lise faltered; even she couldn't pull the trigger on a child by mere instinct.
The young girl was certainly no older than twelve, her fatigue physique paired with her trembling hands only bolstered Lise of her assessment. But age was merely a measurement of years alive, not a defining factor on the neutrality of a person, that was determined by the gun she so feebly aimed at Lise.
"Why…? Mama and Papa just wanted to leave here… and you killed them…! They never did anything wrong in their lives! You people are at fault! YOU ARE THE BAD GUYS!"
The detestation fixated at Lise was born from the purest of emotions, the eyes emitting rays of hatred was burning her white skin. She mercilessly robbed an innocent child of her parents, just like how her own were killed years ago. The cycle of cruelty was never-ending, Lise was made to recall when she graduated from the victim to the murderer.
Still, Lise's heart was gripped by fear at that moment. Not the fear of dying to a kid, but the fear of death for her own conscious. So someone else stepped in, to finish her job.
A terrible force suddenly interrupted their standoff, the instant brutality caused Lise to flinch uncontrollably as her eyes only grasped a flash striking the lone youth to the ground. It was after the last enemy was reduced to a sobbing mess had she realized the situation.
Beatrix dropped a piece of brick smeared in blood for the gun she swatted out of the child's hand. She stood over the poor girl, her expression shielded from Lise's version. Not exchanging a single word with her prey, the Major fired off two shots into the temple of the child.
"…Hohenstein… hesitate again and I'll shoot you first."
"…Verstanden." There was no other choice for Lise other than agreeing.
Lise always believed she only ever seen one true monster in her life, that infamy was held by the Brown Beast since the day of their first meeting. So deep in her heart, the broken blonde was somewhat glad Beatrix didn't nominate herself for that despicable title when she turned around.
Her expression was that of masked horror. While the dark-haired beauty didn't expose it outwardly, her teeth clenched and grinded under her lips in utter sorrow and grief. Beatrix held back waves of emotion to properly display the virtues of a strong leader, which she was absolutely fitting to be in Lise's opinion.
Lise wasn't lied to; Beatrix was still human even after everything that happened.
However, that countenance changed instantly, it was all of a sudden filled by urgency and tension.
"LISE! BEHI—" That was the end of her sentence, for Lise Hohenstein.
Act 5 End
—
Author's note
I always thought Farka would be a bit cheerful in contrast with Lise's deadpan personality in the Stasi, I mean that's good characterisation, right? I was a bit wrong on that front, Farka's kinda mean and stuff too, but we don't really need to keep everything the exact same, or I can just copy paste the entire script of SM onto here.