Berlin Police Department
*BAM!*
Hans shot the feral Rotter as it rapidly shuffled towards them, the buckshot tearing apart its frail body and dropping it to the pavement. Besides the lone feral, the street outside the Berlin Kriminalpolizei Hauptquartier was clear. The rusting, stripped husk of a Volkswagen Elektrisch Polizeiauto sat outside, devoid of anything interesting beyond the few patches of blue and white paint defiantly standing against the onslaught of rust.
"I'm surprised you didn't jump in front of it, zombie-lover," Hilda said, looking at Friedrich. The three of them were standing by the front steps of the Berlin Police Headquarters, the German flag still waving on the flagpole by the entrance. Friedrich said nothing in response.
Hans walked up to the front doors of the police station, Walther Automatic against his shoulder. He used his left hand to turn the handle and the muzzle of the shotgun to push the door open. A quick peek confirmed the lobby was clear, and the three of them quickly moved inside.
The lobby wasn't large, but it was grand. Or, at least, had been during its heyday. A statue of Otto von Bismarck stood in the center of the lobby, flanked by two short staircases. Before Otto were two decaying leather benches, and behind him was the U-shaped reception desk. Beyond that was an elevator, likely disabled, and two stairwells; one leading up and to the left, the other up and to the right. The floor was a cracked and filthy green linoleum, the walls a gray-painted brick affair.
Hans tried the elevator on principle alone and, as expected, it was out of order. He turned back to face his teammates. "Where should we begin?"
"Let's split up," Hilda said. "You and I can take the right wing, and the prick can take the left." Friedrich frowned but, thankfully, said nothing.
"As much as I'd like that I don't think our old friend here is going to accept that. Let's just start with the right wing," Hans said. The three of them proceeded up the staircase to the right of the elevator and onto the second floor.
The second floor East wing of the building was a straight hall, stretching from the staircase all the way to the end of the building. Six doors lined the hall, three to a side, a few standing open. Hans paused at the top of the stairs and licked his lips.
Between the office at Potsdamerplatz and the BMW building I'm already tired of fighting Sturmutants indoors he thought. With no other choice he pushed forward, keeping low and going slow as he approached the first door on the left. The door was open and he peeked inside, the room empty.
Hans stood and entered the room, a detective's office from the look of it. Two windows and two desks, pushed together so that the chair for each was right by the window. "Check the other desk," he said to Hilda, and sat at the right side desk, rifling through the drawers for anything of use. Keys, access cards, ammo, food, anything. The drawers were devoid of interest, but there was a red folder on top of the desk. Clipped to it was a photo of men in uniform marching with a Panzer II behind them. Hans thought it was an old photo at first, until he noticed the imported electric Corvega parked on the side of the street. The folder's header was dated September 2076, and titled 'violent political unrest in Vienna driven by mysterious instigator.' Strange...
He looked up at Hilda, who shook her head, and stood. They went back out into the hall. Friedrich stood waiting by the door, keeping watch. The three of them proceeded down the hall, checking the rooms as they went and coming up with nothing.
At the end of the hall, to the right of the window, was a staircase leading up to the third floor. Collapsed and inaccessible. Hans swore and gestured back towards the lobby. "Dead-end," he said. "Let's search the West wing."
The team walked back to the lobby, around the elevator, and up the stairs to the West wing. It looked mostly identical to the East wing hall, except the floor was finished in a (once nice) hardwood, the walls a navy blue. A Sturmutant walked out of one of the rooms, saw them, and was about to raise its weapon when both Hans and Hilda fired, killing it.
Two more Sturmers came out of rooms, opening fire and forcing the team to retreat back down the stairs. Hans paused at the stairwell's landing, watching the hall in case the mutants gave chase. An M24 stick grenade came sailing down the stairs, and he quickly snatched it up and threw it back. The walls and floor shook as the grenade detonated, the blast scorching the walls and cracking the floor.
Hans and Hilda took the opportunity to rush up the stairs and shoot the disoriented Sturmers as they struggled to recover, ending the fight. A quick check of the West wing's offices confirmed it was clear, and they all took a moment to relax and search the bodies.
"Nice to see that you two are just as efficient as I remember," Friedrich said, and Hilda gave him a look. Hans stood, having crouched to pilfer a few shotgun shells from a red-skinned Sturmutant.
"I should've asked this already: why did we bring him along?" Hilda asked.
"It was part of the deal," Hans said. "We come here to clear the department of Sturmutants, and he comes along to make sure we do. Then he's going to help us with our Sturmutant problem."
"Right, I got all that already. But..." Hilda said. She frowned, and seemed to realize just why Friedrich had come with them. "Fuck this whole situation." She walked down to the end of the hall, a staircase at the end just like in the East wing. "Stairs are intact. Let's go."
Hans joined her at her side and together the three of them proceeded up to the top floor of the police department. The floor here remained hardwood, the walls a muted gray. The hall was T-shaped, stretching all the way to the end before them, a right-hand turn halfway down. A perfect spot for an ambush, especially as the floor was quiet for the moment.
The team cautiously proceeded down the hall, watching the few doors and checking each room for any surprises. They reached the nexus of the T-junction and stopped, Hans in the lead. The other two were looking at him, and he was about to reach for one of his grenades when hundreds of thumping noises above him made him look up.
Little pieces of plaster and clouds of dust fell from the ceiling as the thumping continued, making the ceiling shake. "Why isn't the floor shaking too?" Hilda asked. Whatever was causing the thumping was in the ceiling.
The thumping ceased, there was a crash and a shout from down the hall, and then an eruption of gunfire. Hans and the others just listened as the Sturmutants emptied their guns. After a few moments the shooting stopped, and then the building was quiet again. Hans looked at Hilda, who just shrugged.
"Guess we'd better go take a look. Make sure they're all dead," Hans said. The team quickly checked the rest of the floor and then made their way down the offshoot of the T-junction, a single door at the end, the window on it covered in dust and grime. The door was half off its hinges, closed haphazardly. Hans turned the knob and pulled the door open, the office inside the scene of a massacre. Three dead Sturmutants lied on the floor, two greys and a red, all three missing their heads and one missing his arm. Hans slowly moved into the room, keeping his weapon ready, and the others followed him in.
"Whatever killed them is gone now," Friedrich said as Hans approached the desk opposite the door, the red Sturmer behind it. Their weapons hadn't been taken and the bodies hadn't been searched, and even if they had, then by who? Behind the desk was a window, but it was a three-story drop to asphalt. Surviving a drop like that was low, and making it without suffering severe injury was impossible.
Hans turned around and scanned the room again, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. He was about to suggest they leave when he noticed a ceiling vent on the right side of the room, the dented vent cover on the floor. Hilda was standing by it, her attention on a nearby bookshelf.
"Hil-" he started to say, cut off when some thing came skittering out of the vent, as big around as a dinner plate, and made a swipe at Hilda. She half-dropped, half-dived to the floor, screaming in disgust. It had no face, no eyes, just a thousand legs attached to a body as long as a table. Two dripping pincers opened and the whole wiggling, writhing mass came slinking out of the vent.
Hans wasted no time and emptied all five of his shotgun shells into the abomination. Viscous yellow-white blood splattered across the floor as it winded back and forth towards Hilda, the forward half of its body rearing up. She rolled onto her back and opened up with her MP5, the combined fire from both her and Friedrich shredding the monster into pieces. It fell to the floor next to Hilda, dead.
"What the FUCK?!" Hilda screamed, and shakily stood. She looked at the monster for a second or two and then looked at Hans, who reloaded as he approached her. He looked at the creature and felt his skin crawl.
"It's a centipede... A giant centipede," Hans said. For the first time since they left Alexanderplatz Hilda moved closer to him, the back of her hand touching the back of his.
"Not just a centipede," Friedrich said. "A Skullcracker. They like to scurry about in vents and pluck off peoples' heads or inject them with venom. Nasty beasts, I'm sure you'll agree, but simple. They have no intelligence to speak of, just an old-fashioned predatory nature."
Hilda kicked its body. "Fucking awful."
Hans nodded and turned to face Friedrich. "We did our part. Your turn, now" he said, and Friedrich put his hands up.
"Of course, Herr Eckhart. As agreed, I'll do what I can to help the U-Bahn stations with their Sturmutant problem. Why don't you tell me everything you know?" Friedrich said, and slung his weapon.
"I did. At Alexanderplatz. The Sturmutants have been attacking both your group and the stations for several weeks now. Hilda and I were at the BMW building on the Spree, investigating. The mutants have some kind of camp at the Spreebogenpark, across the river" Hans said.
Friedrich nodded "Mmm, I see. There's more to it than that, though, I'm sure. Why should the Sturmers care so much about the stations? U-Bahnen trade, barter, and buy everything they need. Sturmutants have no need for money. They've been attacking us at Alexanderplatz, as well as our caravans, because we grow our own food and produce our own water. Two things Sturmers have had only limited success at doing. So what could they want from the stations? Slaves, maybe?"
"Maybe," Hans said. He looked at Hilda, who shrugged. "I don't think it's people they want, necessarily, but instead a specific person," he said, and Friedrich cocked his head. "While Hilda and I were at Potsdamerplatz, helping the station there with the Sturmers, we discovered that they're looking for someone they call the Monster of Munich. They want to kill this person, it seems, and they seem to think this person is a U-Bahner."
Friedrich rubbed his chin. "Interesting," he said, and seemed to think for a few minutes. "Well," he eventually said, "we'll have to figure out who. If they have a camp at the Spreebogenpark, we ought to head over there and see if we can't find out who that person is."
"Getting too close to the river got us ambushed by those mutant pricks," Hilda said. "We should find another spot to watch them from that isn't so close. Watching them will only tell us so much, though; I think we're going to have to capture one to learn anything useful."
Hans looked at her. "You want to capture a Sturmutant? I don't think we could do it. It'd be too dangerous."
"Alright then, we'll just walk right into their camp and ask them," Hilda said, and Hans shook his head. "It's either that or we capture one. Unless you or the prick have a better idea."
"There's an abandoned factory across the Spree, a few blocks back from the bank of the river. It's got a few smokestacks we could climb, use to have a little look at what the Sturmers are doing at the park," Friedrich said.
Hans and Hilda shared a look, and she shrugged again. "Fine by me," she said, and Hans nodded.
"Let's go over to this factory, then." Hans gestured at the door and Friedrich unslung his rifle. "Lead the way." The three of them left the office and made their way through the police station and back outside, where they began the long trek back to the Spree.