Cole and company continued searching the halls of the underground prison. Cole was about to take a turn when he heard a voice yelling frantically in the halls.
"Come on! Which way is the exit?!" A voice spoke.
"Looks like we got a survivor. Which way was that voice?" Cole asked.
Brooklyn pointed to a hall on their left.
"That way. We need to hurry, they sound desperate." Brooklyn said as she began running in that direction. Cole, Gneisenau and the three sailors Cole had brought followed suit and took off down the hallway.
Upon reaching a four-way intersection, Brooklyn stopped.
"Which way did he go?" Cole asked as he and the others caught up with the light cruiser.
"I don't know… Hey! Where are you?!" Brooklyn shouted, expecting a response. When none came, Brooklyn's face fell into a worried look.
"I don't know where he went." Brooklyn said. The building was rocked by an explosion from the outside, causing Cole to stumble a bit. The bleeding from his injury had finally stopped and was causing less pain than before.
"Gneisenau, how is the battle progressing?" Cole asked.
"The enemy fleet is building steadily. I'm beginning to think that they're bringing in reinforcements from the Northern seas. We need to hurry up with what we're doing because my cannons and the other girls aren't going to be able to fend off a war of attrition." Gneisenau said seriously.
Cole thought for a moment. All of a sudden, he spotted red dots on the floor.
"Blood. And it's heading in this direction." Cole said as he began following the blood trail down the hall to their right.
After a few seconds of running, they came to a door at the end of the hall.
"The trail goes inside this door." Cole said as he tried the handle.
"Locked." Cole said as he was unable to open the door's knob.
"Move aside." Gneisenau said as she stood in front of the door. Cole did as instructed just as Gneisenau brought her leg up and slammed it into the door, breaking the door off its hinges and sending it flying into the room.
"S…stay back! I'll shoot! I …Nyet! Stay back, Cyka!" A man spoke as the dust began to clear.
"A ruskie? What the hell's a Russian doing here?" Gneisenau spat as she looked down to see the man in question shakily holding an MP-40 and aiming it for her head.
"Gneisenau, ease up a little bit. This guy looks like shit. Brook, cover the door and make sure none of those Nazi bastards make it in here. Boys, check that woman and make sure she's ready to get the hell out of here. We have what we came for, so we should begin heading back for the exit." Cole said.
"And what of my sister?" Gneisenau growled.
"We're going to find her, but these two need to reach the exit and get transferred to the fleet." Cole said.
Cole looked down at the Russian.
"You speak English pretty well for a ruskie. Where'd you learn it in a place like this?" Cole asked.
"Not here… but from a large Dutch woman." The man spoke.
"Dutch? As in Natalie? Large Dutch woman?" Cole asked.
"That's the one… you know her? Her name is Natalie Dijkgraaf. She taught me. She's…Sestra svoyego roda... i ona upryameye korovy…" The man spoke, slipping back into his natural language.
"Um… sorry sir… I don't speak Ruskie. Care to say that again in English?" Cole asked.
"Ah… my apologies. It's a bit hard for me to find a direct translation without full knowledge of your language… She is someone very important to me… like one's sister. She is, however, as stubborn as a bull." The man said awkwardly.
"Yeah. I know her. She's the one that we ran into when we first landed here before this fight began." Cole explained.
"I see… and she is okay?" The man asked.
"As far as I could tell… she just killed the lights on Alpha's show, so I'm sure she's fine." Cole said.
"That's good… I had hoped she had made it somewhere safe. If you are looking for survivors… there's only one left that I know of… Alpha made it her personal task to bleed the life from a woman with pink hair." The man said, moments before Gneisenau clamped onto his shoulders and lifted him by them.
"You will tell me where this woman is… immediately. I do not have the patience to be kept waiting." Gneisenau spoke, her angry tone back as she tried to force the man to spill the information.
"All I know is that she was kept near where Natalie found her wife. Down the hall and to the left. Follow it down and you will see a hallway filled with prison cells. She's in the very last one." The man spoke as Gneisenau shook him.
Brooklyn came up and put her hand on Gneisenau's shoulder.
"She may have gotten out during the fighting. I'll go and search for her outside while you guys go and check the cells." Brooklyn said.
"Brook, if you don't find her, get back to the fleet and give those blueprints to Admiral Nimitz. We need those Blueprints in order to finally secure the Mediterranean." Cole said.
"Right. On it." Brooklyn said as she left the room in a full sprint.
"Gneisenau, let's head down and look for her. You three, get these two back above ground, quickly." Cole said as he turned to the Russian man.
"What is your name?" Cole asked.
"Pavel Bilinski… Soviet Third Shock Army, Private." Pavel said.
"Who are you?" Pavel followed up.
"Cole Spirits. Sergeant of the United States Army's 82nd Airborne Division." Cole said.
"Well met, Cole of the 82nd… I shall remember your name…" Pavel said right before a sharp jolt of pain dropped him to the floor. He moaned as the excruciating pain rolled through his body like an unstoppable tidal wave.
Cole turned to the woman, who seemed to have features common to residents of Germany.
"Get these two out of here! This is no place for them!" Cole ordered as the three sailors set about getting the two survivors on their backs and running out towards the exit, fully intent on delivering them to the life rafts that were still sitting on the beaches. Cole and Gneisenau then set off in the direction given to them by Pavel as they headed for the detention center of the sprawling underground complex.
Brooklyn had just made it to the outside world and was actively searching the battlefield for any shocks of pink hair. Searching for this led her to see that the car that Natalie had pinned Alpha to before lighting her on fire was now just a smoldering wreck with no sign of Alpha. Brooklyn, however, was too engrossed in her search for the pink hair that she failed to notice several Nazi soldiers setting up a heavy caliber gun to take aim at her.
"Brooklyn! Get Down!"
She was quickly brought out of her searching frenzy by Ania, who tackled her to the ground right before a massive shell ripped through Ania's midsection, almost tearing the Siren in half from the sheer velocity of the round.
Brooklyn scrambled to her feet and took aim with all fifteen guns on her rigging, firing them in quick succession as round after round peppered the bunker where these Nazi's were holed up. Only when the roof collapsed on this makeshift bunker did Brooklyn look back to see Ania on the ground, using her only arm to cover the wound she had received, proving to be fruitless by the sheer amount of black liquid pooling on the ground.
"N… Natalie? W… where are you?" Ania spoke weakly as her eyes frantically looked around for the Dutchess she had so loyally served.
"Hey… don't talk. You've lost a lot of blood. Keep quiet and save your energy." Brooklyn said as she too applied pressure to the wound, managing to slow the blood loss considerably, buying Ania at least a few more minutes.
"She's on her way… I know she is." Brooklyn said as she looked at the smoldering bunker with poorly concealed hatred.
Despite their rough start, Ania had grown on Brooklyn just enough for Brooklyn to consider her a friend. And now she sat here, on her knees, trying her damndest to keep her friend from bleeding out into the unforgiving streets of Wilhelmshaven.
All of a sudden, Brooklyn's shields were assaulted by a sustained flurry of bullets that were meant to take her out of the fight for good. However, Brooklyn's rage and remaining strength kept her shields at full, nullifying the bullets entirely.
"No! Ania, No!" A scream could be heard from across the courtyard as Brooklyn turned. Natalie was there with another woman. Natalie, suddenly, was running towards her, full tilt, and fully intent on reaching them. When the machine guns changed their target, Natalie ducked behind cover and picked up an unused Panzerfaust from a dead Nazi. Spitting on the corpse as she took aim, she fired the rocket launcher and took off again as the rocket smashed into the machine gun section, tearing the men apart with no mercy.
"Natalie?" Ania spoke, mustering a large amount of her remaining strength to ensure her voice was heard.
Natalie turned and sprinted over, dropping to her knees at her friend's side.
"Ania, no!" Natalie cried as she held her dying friend's hand.
"The pain… it's gone. I don't hurt anymore, My Dutchess." Ania spoke weakly.
"I should have never sent you out here. This happened because I was too focused on fighting Alpha… I should have kept you by my side." Natalie cried as Ania reached up from her wound and gently touched Natalie's cheek.
"Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. This had to happen, Natalie… I have to be removed from your life… before you become a monster… like my original Natalie did. I'm glad you found Van Kinsbergen… I am happy to have served you… one final time." Ania said. Brooklyn could tell that Ania was fading faster now. She stood no chance of survival from an injury like this. Brooklyn looked up at Ania's face, which was still hidden from Natalie, who was hugging her friend with everything she had. Brooklyn knew that her time was up as her eyes lost focus and glazed over. Brooklyn, who had been acutely aware of the Siren's breathing, teared up now that she no longer heard any signs of life coming from the Siren.
It was a few seconds later that Natalie finally noticed the lack of breathing coming from her friend. Pulling away, Natalie confirmed her worst fear. Ania had passed away due to her injuries.
It was then that Natalie began to cry uncontrollably as she shook the body of her friend in an attempt to wake her up. The effort was futile. Brooklyn stood and walked the few steps needed to get to Natalie.
Brook placed her hands on the large woman's shoulders and pulled, trying to get the woman to release the corpse, to no avail. Sensing that a little more force would be needed, Brooklyn wound up and slapped Natalie with all the power she could muster.
"Snap out of it, damn it! We stay here, we die too!" Brooklyn yelled.
"She was my friend!" Natalie roared as she spun around to deck Brooklyn, stopped only by the trails of tears coming from Brooklyn's eyes.
"I know… she was mine too. We may not have started off the best… but I came to like her, okay? You think this is any easier for me?" Brooklyn asked.
Natalie was taken aback.
"I… I can't just leave her here." Natalie said sadly.
"I'll take her to the fleet so she can be buried at sea. But for right now, the rest of our friends are still inside that damn warehouse. I'll take care of Ania. You go help them. If they get caught, we're in trouble." Brooklyn said as she set about wrapping Ania's body with a white sheet she had pulled from the surrounding rubble.
Natalie sniffed sadly, taking one final look at her best friend before breaking away and turning to see the woman she had escaped with.
"My love… go with Brooklyn. She will see you safely back to the fleet. But for now, I must save the rest of our friends before we end up with more casualties." Natalie said as she took off back towards the Warehouse where this had all begun.