Old Glory

Night came and under the silver glow of the moonlight the team advanced on Air Station Richardson, moving slow and quietly as they approached the fence around the base. It had once just been simple chain link but over the years the Americans had reinforced it with sheet metal and wood planks, for both cover and concealment. The few guard towers were all occupied and sported spotlights, which the team took care to avoid.

The five of them sidled up to the fence, at a spot far from the towers, and stopped, ears open for any sign of alarm. "I don't hear any humming, so the fence isn't electrified," Erich said. Hans looked up at the top of it, at the barbed wire and spikes. On the other side of the fence a few buildings stood, sparsely lit by the few lights still working. The largest one was right on the other side of the fence, and Hans took it to be the HQ building.

"Do you know anything about this place?" Hans asked.

"Like I said, I'm pretty sure this is the only pre-War military base still occupied by its original inhabitants," Erich said. "The Final Order only sent us to bases confirmed to be unoccupied, to minimize risks. Usually just automated security remained, like turrets and Panzerbots. The United States was the most technologically advanced country before the war, so be ready for anything."

Erich reached up to the fence. The boards and plates were lashed to it with metal clasps, which easily broke under Erich's grip. A plate soon came loose and fell to the pavement, clattering loudly. Erich wasted no time, breaking apart parts of the chain link piece by piece until he had a big enough part to hold on to. He grabbed it and pulled, tearing open a hole in the fence that the team quickly scurried through.

"So, I have a question," Friedrich whispered. "And really, I ought to have asked this earlier, but does anyone here speak English? Or read it?"

Irmina nodded. "I know a few words, enough to know when we've found what we're looking for. We're looking for what they call an 'are-mor-ree.' It'll have arms and armor in it."

"Let's get inside, quick," Erich said, and the team got moving. They kept close to the main building, cautiously eyeing the gaps between the buildings for any patrolling guards. They headed for the first door they found, weapons at the ready. Predictably, it was locked. "Time to go loud."

"Not so fast," Friedrich said. "Let me try." He crouched in front of the door, fished out his picks and torsion bars, and got to work. Slowly he gently coaxed the lock along, turning and aligning the tumblers. "This is a real master's lock, let me tell you..."

"Just get it open," Hans said. He licked his lips as he watched Friedrich make his way through the lock, turning it more and more until eventually it clicked. He pulled the latch and pulled, and the door opened. He smiled, put his picks away, and gestured at Erich.

"After you."

Hans could only picture the smile on Erich's helmeted face as the Panzertrooper moved through the open door, the rest of them right behind him. The door closed and locked behind them, the hall inside brightly lit and well-kept, the walls white and the floors gray. The hall went on for about ten feet and then sharply turned right. The team moved up to the corner, ensured it was clear, and kept moving.

At the end of the hall was a T-junction, a door at the right end. The left hall forked in a Y-shape, a sign on the wall by the fork. Irmina motioned for them to stay put and walked up to the sign, reading it over. The sign had arrows on it, pointing this way and that, so Hans figured it was directions for the building's various rooms and facilities. Irmina came back after a moment and said "follow me."

The team did as asked and stuck close to her as she led them down the left fork, checking each door they passed. Try as he might Hans couldn't read a single one, though a few words were similar enough to German words that he felt he could confidently guess. He was on edge the whole way, waiting for the inevitable alarm.

As they neared a door labeled with some word Hans couldn't even guess at it opened and a man in a jumpsuit emerged. He took one look at them and was about to bolt back into the room when Irmina grabbed him. A choked shout was all he was able to get out before she put him in a chokehold, crushing his larynx. She lifted him off the floor and he flailed in silence before quickly falling limp.

There was someone else in the room. He said something in English and then Hans heard him approaching the door. The team moved to the other side of the door as the man came out, holding the door open and looking down the empty side of the hall. He started turning his head to the right and Oskar rammed the door shut, crushing the man between it and the frame. He cried out in pain and Oskar hit him with the door again, killing.

"Hey!" someone else yelled from inside the room. What that meant Hans had no idea, but he took it to mean that the jig was up. A moment later an alarm rang and he swore under his breath. The team got moving again and Hans followed, bringing up the rear, walking backwards and watching the door until they rounded another corner and the door was out of sight.

A gun went off behind him and he spun around, crouching low. "SCATTER!" Erich yelled, and the team spread out. The hall was a bit wider, a few trash cans and file carts the only cover. Hans crouched behind one of the carts, his back to it to watch the way they'd come from. The single gunshot was followed by another, and another, and then a burst, and then the whole hall was filled with the roaring din of gun and laser fire. Hans grit his teeth and felt the tunnel vision coming on, the edges of the world washed away in the gray haze that always came on when the bullets started flying.

An American Remnant soldier peeked around the corner he was watching and Hans fired, ripping up the wall with buckshot but not hitting him. With no cover between him and Hans all the American had to do was stick his rifle around the corner and blind fire, but thankfully he stayed where he was.

"BUTCHERS, GET OUT OF THE HALL," Erich barked. A grenade went off down the hall, giving them enough cover to head for the nearby doors. Hans followed Friedrich into a records room, the shelves lined with boxes and tape reels. He slammed the door shut and locked it, taking the room in at a glance. It was clear, with another door 90 degrees to the first door's left. Friedrich moved up to it and yanked it open, an American crouched behind a water cooler on the other side. He rolled backwards just as Hans fired, the pellets punching through the water cooler and dousing the floor. Hans moved up to the open door, ready to peek out when the hall was suddenly filled with a storm of blue plasma.

Irmina came up a moment later. "Come on!" she yelled, and Hans and Friedrich moved out to follow her and the other Panzertroopers. They went down to the end of the hall, where it sharply turned left. Irmina peeked it and moved up, the coast clear. As they moved down the hall a squad of Americans appeared in the intersection halfway down, quickly scattering into cover to avoid the waves of plasma orbs fired at them.

Hans moved into the open doorway of a janitor's closet and crouched down, once again watching their backs. An announcement came over the base's PA system, but of course he couldn't understand it. They hadn't been in the base more than ten minutes and already he'd realized just how much he took for granted that he could usually understand what his enemies were saying. Here all he could do was rely on his instincts and the cover of their Panzertrooper friends.

An American Remnant peeked around the corner Hans was watching and he fired, splattering the wall with blood. The Remnant dropped to the floor, his gun clattering next to him. A grenade went off down the hall again, shaking the walls. Erich came back down the hall, checked on Hans, and looked around the corner. He was met with a wave of gunfire that harmlessly bounced off his suit. He shouldered the M72, aimed, and fired. Hans swore his eardrums were nearly torn apart by the hypersonic crack as the 700-grain hunk of steel flashed down the hall at the unseen Americans.

"With me!" Erich said, and Hans quickly scrambled to his feet. He followed the Panzertrooper down to the intersection, stepping over the simmering bodies of American Remnants killed by a plasma grenade. Erich went left, the rest of the team down the hall, crowded by a door in the corner. Above it was the word 'armory.'

"This is it," Irmina said. "It's got a card lock, but luckily I have my masterkey with me." She hefted her PG-60, pressed the muzzle to the doorframe, and fired. Superheated plasma washed over the steel door, and it quickly began to glow. The steel soon began to sag and warp, dripping to the floor in molten drops of a bluish-orange.

After a few minutes Irmina stopped and took a step back from the door. She waited a moment for the molten metal to cool before she and Oskar grabbed the door and yanked, flicking molten slag everywhere. The metal locks gave on the second pull, the door squealing open with a grinding noise. The inside of the armory was clear, as expected, and well stocked. Erich and Hans moved inside, the others keeping watch outside, and took in the magnificent amount of guns and ammo.

"Incredible, but let's not dawdle. Grab anything that might be useful," Erich said, and Hans nodded. He passed the racks of rifles and SMGs, going for the big crates at the back. He began popping them open, rooting through the straw and desiccant paper for anything of value. He quickly found a crate that held a suit of American combat armor, the plates a clean and dull black. He pulled out the chestplate and marveled at it, impressed. Certainly better than what he was currently wearing. He pulled out two complete suits, one for him and one for Friedrich, and yanked an empty duffel bag off the wall to put them all in.

"I've got the armor," he quickly said, and slung the duffel bag. "Let's get going!"

"Hold on," Erich said. "I think I found something."

Hans walked across the armory and joined Erich by a large metal crate. Inside, on a wooden rack, was what looked like a Panzerschreck, but partially disassembled. Erich was holding a sheet of paper, looking it over. "This was inside. I can't read any of this shit, but apparently this thing is called an M42."

"It looks like a rocket launcher," Hans said. Erich reached inside and picked up the device, hefting it on one shoulder. It really did look like a rocket launcher, but missing the tube. Instead there were two rings, riding on a track. The rear ring had a spigot on it, sticking forward. Similar to a PIAT launcher Hans had once seen in Stuttgart. Erich pulled the trigger and the rings shot forward, the front ring snapping down when it reached the end of the track. Erich grabbed the ring, folded it back up, and pulled back until there was a click. When he let go, the rings remained in place at the rear. "I think it's a catapult."

"For what?" Erich asked. "This track is fucking huge, too big for a rocket." He looked inside the crate. Under the wood rack was a sheet of desiccant paper, stretched over the bottom half of the crate. He tore it open and what Hans saw at the bottom made his heart jump. Erich reached inside and pulled one of the things out, about the size of a canteen and shaped like an atomic bomb.

"No way, no fucking way..." Hans said, a smile spreading across his face as Erich slotted the bomb onto the spigot. It was a perfect fit.

"Heheheee..." Erich giggled darkly. He pulled the miniature nuke off the launcher and pocketed it, along with three others. "Time to go." Hans nodded and followed the Panzertrooper out of the armory, where the rest of the team was wait. "We got what we came for. Back to the hole in the fence."

The five of them moved down the hall, back towards the intersection, to retrace their steps. There hadn't been any signs of the Americans in the time it took them to break into the armory, a fact that put Hans on edge. There was no chance they'd killed them all, so he could only hope they were taking the time to regroup. Worst case scenario they were setting up to box them in, which would force them to fight their way out. Not a pleasant prospect.

As they neared the intersection Hans heard a heavy stomping sound and stopped, the others doing the same. The gunfight, plus the grenades, had blown out most of the ceiling lights in the hall, darkening the intersection. Hans heard a light snap on, the intersection suddenly bathed in an orange glow, and he tensed up. The Panzertroopers were in the lead, weapons at the ready.

What emerged in the intersection of the hall made Hans' blood freeze. It was a Panzertrooper, but wasn't wearing any suit he'd ever seen. Whereas the German Semi-Powered Armor Suit was strapped onto the wearer like medieval armor this suit looked like an exoskeleton the user stepped into. It was black, the edges rounded and soft. The helmet, instead of having a visor, had two bug-like eyepieces, the source of the orange light they'd seen. A hose ran from the right side of the helmet, disappearing into a pack on the user's back. Stenciled in bright white paint on the left side of the black chestplate was the letter 'E', surrounded by a circle of stars. Held in his hands was a weapon Hans could only describe as a Gatling laser, the diodes glowing a deep crimson red.

The American Panzertrooper turned toward them and the Gatling laser began to spin up.

"RUN!" Erich barked, and the team turned tail and beat feet down the hall and around the corner. The Gatling laser discharged, a storm of crimson lasers flashing into the partially melted armory door and scoring it with deep, black scorch marks. The machine-man gave chase, his titanium boots slamming loudly into the tiled floor behind them. Hans heard the Gatling laser spin up and fire again, lasers flashing by them. One of them lanced by his leg, torching all his hairs and making him stumble. They scrambled around the corner at the end of the hall and up a flight of stairs.

At the top Hans saw Erich turn left and collide with another American Panzertrooper, this one wielding a minigun. Erich slugged the American in the face, his armored fist harmlessly bouncing off the American's bug-eyed helmet. The American responded by decking Erich with his gun, sending him sprawling to the floor. This gave Oskar and Irmina enough time to raise their plazmagewehrs, which were apparently enough of a threat to make the American duck into a nearby door.

"This way!" Hans yelled, running down in the hall in the other direction. The team followed him, the Panzertroopers passing him by. Bullets and lasers flashed by all around them, a few striking the Panzertroopers in the back without effect. Oskar crashed through the door at the end of the hall and the team piled in, and Oskar knocked over a bookcase by the door to block it. The team all dived to the floor as the pursuing Americans opened fire, shredding the door. After a moment they ceased fire, giving the team a moment of reprieve.

The room they'd ended up in was a well-used office, a doubtless treasure trove of files. Passcards, key codes, locations of secret weapons, and so on. There was just no time to go through it all, even if any of them could read the language proper.

There was a window behind the desk, looking out on the base. Hans and Erich looked out and Hans saw an American vertibird spinning up, its rotors picking up speed and a searchlight snapping on. Hans looked at Erich, and he was already pulling out the M42 and reaching into his pack.

"Time to give this a shot," he said gleefully. He tugged the miniature nuke onto the spigot and yanked the catapult back until it locked, the weapon on his shoulder. Hans watched with bated breath and beating heart as Erich sighted through the weapon and fired. The catapult shot forward, the front ring dropped, and the mini-nuke was flung out the window. The sound of the breaking glass was drowned out by the bomb whistling as it screamed across the tarmac and slammed into the vertibird just as it lifted off.

Night turned to blinding day as the nuke went off, giving birth to a miniature sun that swallowed the vertibird. The blast wave hammered the building, loose papers and knick-knacks swept off the desk by an invisible hand, the sound of the window shattering into a thousand glittering pieces lost amidst the howling roar of the atomic explosion. The immense and scorching heat followed a microsecond later, enough to singe the corners of the papers as they swirled around the office.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" Hans screamed, lowering the hand he'd put up to block the blinding light. He looked out the window, the nuclear fireball still expanding. The vertibird had been out in the open air, parked on a pad, next to an empty hangar. The hangar had been warped by the heat and pressure of the atomic blast, the steel drooping. The spot the vertibird had occupied had been reduced to a glowing and cracked crater, jagged pieces of the aircraft sticking out of the walls of nearby buildings. "Jesus Christ..." Hans said again, unable to tear his gaze away from the destruction. He looked at Erich, who thumped his chest and slung the M42.

"FUCK YES, where has this majestic fucking machine been all my life!" he yelled. He looked out the window just as a second vertibird came around, its searchlight on and scrolling across the façade of the building, looking for them.

"I'm overjoyed that you have found the love of your life, Herr Braun, but perhaps we ought to think about how we're going to get out of here?" Friedrich asked, and Erich turned around to face them. The pursuing American Panzertroopers had seemingly given up or, more likely, were waiting to ambush them.

Or storm the room Hans thought. He got the impression that American Panzertroopers weren't the kind to lie in waiting. "We're only on the second floor, so we could all just climb down. It's dark enough that we probably won't be seen, unless that helicopter spots us."

"Maybe there's a hidden elevator or staircase in this room," Irmina said. Hans approached the desk and crouched by it, pulling open drawers to look for keys while the rest of the team fanned out to check behind bookcases and filing cabinets.

"Papers, more papers, some codebooks, a dis... Dick... Dick-tee-on-ary. What the fuck is... Oh, it's a word book. I'll take that, might come in handy," he said, and stuffed the dictionary into his pack. He went back to rooting through the drawers. "More papers. Here we are, what's this?" he said, and pulled out a small wooden case. He set it on the desk and popped it open, and inside was a pistol. An 'N99 10mm' apparently, clearly unused and brand-new. It was gigantic, easily as big as a Mars Automatic. Hans picked it up and swore: it had to have been four pounds, easy. He opened the included box of ammo and stared at one of the rounds for a moment, wondering just how powerful it was. Not as powerful as his Mars Automatic, he was sure.

I'll probably never get that gun back anyway.

He set the American pistol aside and searched through the rest of the next. Apart from a novelty blue-and-gold bobblehead holding a laser pistol there was nothing else of value. No keys, codes, or maps to secret passages. "Guess we're getting out of here the hard way," Hans said as he stood. The team approached the window again and Hans took a look outside. The landing pad that they'd nuked had little fires all across it, but otherwise nothing had changed, and Hans figured most of the Americans were inside the building.

"We'll be fine, but a drop like that is dangerous for you two," Erich said to Hans and Friedrich. "We could waste time looking for a ladder, but I've got another idea. I'll have Irmina stand on my shoulders and we'll lower you two down, one after the other."

Hans and Friedrich shared a look before Hans looked back at Erich. "Are you insane?"

"Got a better idea?" Irmina asked, and Hans sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Then let's get out of here," Irmina said, and the Panzertroopers approached the window. Oskar was first, leaping out and dropping almost twenty feet to the ground. The servos mounted to his legs soaked up the brunt of the impact, and he stepped back from the window to allow Erich and Irmina to drop.

"I'd wondered if running around with you would prove to be interesting. Let me say that you do not disappoint, Herr Eckhart," Friedrich said, and Hans rolled his eyes. "Never thought we'd go up against American soldiers, though. That one definitely surprised me."

"Shut the fuck up and climb out that window before I throw you out it," Hans said, and Friedrich smiled. He approached the window and climbed onto the sill, hand on the frame. Erich stood, hands on the wall and Irmina standing on his shoulders. She reached up for Friedrich and he began to climb out into her grasp.

A sudden kick to the door made Hans turn around, shotgun at the ready. He could see the black frame of an American Panzertrooper through the holes in the door, beams of orange light shooting through the bullet holes. The Panzertrooper kicked the door again, bending and cracking it. Hans glanced back and saw Erich crouch, allowing Friedrich to drop down from Irmina's grasp. Hans slung his shotgun and climbed into the window sill just as the American bashed through the door, the bookcase they'd put in front of it disintegrating under his steel-clad feet. The orange glow of his helmet's visor eyes wasn't anywhere near as intimidating as the orange glow of his flamethrower's nozzle, which he hefted and pointed straight at Hans.

"TIME FOR SOME ROAST SAUERKRAUT, AHAHAHAHA!" the American screamed in German, and ignited the flamethrower. A searing inferno jetted across the office, the flames expanding as the American opened up more of the fuel nozzle.

Hans practically leapt into Irmina's arms and she jumped off Erich's shoulders, the jet of fire erupting out of the window and into the sky. The globs of roaring napalm fell to the ground all around them, forcing them to scramble away from the area beneath the window.

"Fucking psycho Yanks," Erich said. "Let's get out of here, quick." The team got moving again, quickly scurrying towards the edge of the main building. With luck the hole in the fence would still be intact and they'd have a straight shot back to the half-track.

They rounded the corner and were halfway down the outside of the building when an American Panzertrooper dropped from the roof, six stories up, and landed with a titanic *WHAM!* in front of them, rising unharmed from his crouch. He hefted his Gatling laser, ready to fire.

"AUF WIEDERSEHEN, MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Oskar was closest. He grabbed the end of the gun with one hand and pushed it away, using his other to punch the American in his armored head. The American pulled the weapon back and rammed it into Oskar's midsection, forcing him back. Irmina rushed forward, aiming her PG-60 at the American's head. The American grabbed it and yanked both it and her forward, leaving him open. Erich took aim with the M72 and fired, the coils glowing blue. Hans watched as the solid hunk of steel flew from the end of the gun, amazement swiftly turning to horror as it hit his chestplate and shattered into a million pieces.

"What the fuck..." Erich said, dumbfounded. The American laughed and pulled Irmina's gun from her grasp, forcing her to stumble forward. The American dropped her gun and slugged her in the stomach, denting her plate and sending her to the floor.

While he was distracted Oskar recovered and took aim with his PG-60, about to fire when the American lifted his Gatling laser and knocked the plazmagewehr from Oskar's hands. The Gatling laser spun up and fired, the red lasers reflecting harmlessly off Oskar's armor. Erich fired again, the slug once again hitting with no effect. The American swung his Gatling laser around and slammed the end into Irmina as she tried to stand back up, sending her back to the ground. Hans, unable to harm the American, could only watch along with Friedrich as the Panzertroopers duked it out. With his back to them the American was open, leaving Erich free to rush in. He pulled a metal tube from a pouch on his hip and, with a flick towards the ground, an axe blade ignited at the end. The American, aware of the threat behind him, ducked and rolled as Erich swung the proton axe.

The American brought his Gatling Laser up and fired just as Erich sidestepped, illuminating the whole lot of them in the red glow. Erich swung the proton axe again, the blade flashing through the energy gun and cutting it clean in two. The American dropped the weapon and squared up with Erich and the Panzertroopers. In their lighter armor the Panzertroopers were faster, but the American was stronger. He swung at Erich, who deflected the blow with the side of his arm and swung his proton axe, which the American ducked. Irmina rushed into the fray and American snapped out his left foot, catching her in the midsection. He delivered an uppercut to Erich's jaw, knocking him back, and lifted his leg to swing Irmina towards him. He released her from his boot, planted it firmly back on the ground, and slugged her straight in her helmet.

The American turned as the Panzertroopers were recovering, catching sight of Hans and Friedrich for seemingly the first time. Clearly judging them to not be a threat the American was about to turn his attention back to the Panzertroopers when Oskar jumped on his back, trying to pull off his helmet. The American pitched forward and Oskar fell off him, swinging his legs to try sweep out the American's to no avail.

Erich came after the American again, swinging his proton axe. The American ducked and punched Erich in his gut, simultaneously pushing him aside as Irmina followed up. He tried to uppercut her but she pulled back at the last second, leaving him open. She grabbed his arm and yanked him towards her, punching him square in his helmeted face hard enough to crack his eyepieces. She released his arm suddenly, putting him off-balance, and tried to kick his legs out. Her foot just bounced off his suit, and he was about to counter-attack when Erich stepped in. He swung the proton axe down vertically and the American lifted his arm to deflect the blow. As Erich's armored gauntlet shrieked across the American's he grabbed Erich's arm, intending to pull him to the ground and disarm him. Erich had anticipated his, apparently, because he released his hold on the proton axe and dropped it into his left hand, swinging the humming blade straight into the American's midsection. It dug into the metal, the steel sagging and drooping as the blade sank in deeper and deeper. It seemed to hit or sever something important, because the American suddenly dropped onto his right knee. He shouted in anger as Erich kicked him over onto his side. He sluggishly rolled over and was trying to get back up when the Panzertroopers snatched up their weapons, the Vertibird's searchlight passing nearby.

"Go, go!" Oskar said, and then the five of them were running for the fences. The hole they'd made was still there, thankfully, and they each quickly rushed through it and down the hill, heading straight for the warehouse. They ran through its rows of shelves and out the backdoor to the alley, which they followed back to the burned out mosque. Out its front door was the Hanomag, right where they'd left it. The Panzertroopers piled into the back as Hans and Friedrich climbed into the front seats, the engine roaring to life. Friedrich gunned the accelerator and they lurched forward, beginning the long drive back to Berlin.