Shock and Awe

*CRACK!*

The Sturmutant fell to the ground, bleeding from both his mouth and the tear in his cheek caused by his jawbone piercing the flesh. Erich Braun stood over him and slammed the stock of his M72 into the mutant's head, crushing his skull and killing him.

The rest of the team entered the park, Hans on the far left, and they spread out. They'd come through the park's main gate, on Otto-von-Bismarck Allee, and with the sentry out of the way they were free to stop for a moment and plan their next move.

"There's the building they kept us in at night," Hans said, and pointed to his left. The brick building was unguarded outside, though he was sure there were Sturmers inside. "There are gardens spread throughout the park, where the human slaves work. Once the shooting starts they'll all seek shelter, I'm sure."

"Check your targets all the same," Erich said to the Panzertroopers. "No human dies today if we can help it."

"Achtung!"

Hans looked right and saw a Rotter guard coming out of a shack, unslinging his MP34. Irmina put an end to that with her Madsen, the machine gun barking loudly in the open skies and no doubt alerting the entire camp. Guards, both Rotters and Sturmutants, began to come out of the shacks and shanties.

The team got to work, the Panzertroopers laying waste to everything that stood in their path. Even without their energiegewehrs they were still a force to be reckoned with. Hans and Friedrich watched their backs, engaging anyone that tried to come up behind them. The first few minutes were relatively calm, with just standard Sturmutants and Rotters coming out to engage them. Hans knew it wouldn't be long, though.

As they approached the first garden, the camp's largest, they fanned out and started pulling open the doors of shacks and outhouses, looking for the human workers. "We're here to bust you out!" Erich said to one, a woman, as he dragged her out of an outhouse. She struggled at first, then calmed down.

"Bust us out?" she said. "We're safe here! The mutants feed us, make sure we're healthy. What the Hell do you think you're doing?!"

"My job," Erich said. "There are other settlements around, where you can be around humans, and not this repugnant filth."

"Ugh!"

Hans opened the door to a shed and coaxed out the three people inside. "We won't hurt you, don't worry," he said, and they began to come out.

"These people want to be here?" Friedrich asked, a brow cocked. "So much for rescuing them. They probably think we're barbarians."

"Would you like to live with this garbage? Actually, wait, forget I said that. I know you would, because you do," Hans said. He left the door open as the humans came out, to make sure the others knew it'd been searched already. "I'm surprised you never came to live here yourself, actually."

"Oh shut up Hans, you stupid thug."

Before Hans could reply a Vengeance Trooper leapt down from a nearby rooftop and landed in the middle of the garden, zweihander on her hip. She was wielding a PG-60 plasma rifle, which she aimed at the Panzertroopers. Hans shouldered the CAWS and fired, the slugs hitting the mutant in the arm and knocking her off balance. The Panzertroopers took the opportunity to move into cover, with Erich rushing straight for the mutant. He thundered across the field, his armored boots kicking up the soft earth, and rammed the mutant with his shoulder. He fired his M72 at point-blank, the slug shattering on her breastplate.

"Fuck, just what the Hell is your armor made of?!" he shouted, and the Sturmer laughed. She raised her PG-60 and Erich swung the M72, knocking the plasma gun from her hands. She moved forward and tried to tackle him, the two of them locked in a struggle. Erich kneed her in the groin and flung her to the ground, and she rolled away and scrambled back to her feet. She reached for the zweihander and drew the massive sword, holding it high with one hand. Erich dropped the Gauss Rifle and pulled a metal tube from his left thigh. "You wanna duel, you little bitch?" With a flick of the wrist a blue axe-blade ignited at the end of the tube and he swung it at her, the air crackling around the blade. The Sturmutant ducked under the proton axe and swung the sword, the blade clanging off the back of Erich's suit.

With her back to him Hans was free to take aim. He put her legs in the CAWS' trench sight, waiting for the right moment. She stopped to take a swing at Erich and that's when Hans fired, the slug punching through the thinner armor on her calf and tearing up her leg. She dropped to one knee and Erich brought the proton axe down, the blade passing through her like she was butter. Hans swore he'd never forget her scream as her shoulder and the right side of her ribcage were separated from her body. Her torso hung down, split open at the collarbone. She was still screaming when Erich swung the proton axe horizontally and separated her waist from her body.

"Jesus!" Hans said as her remains plopped to the ground, the proton axe humming loudly as Erich stepped over her corpse. He plucked his Gauss Rifle from the dirt and switched the axe off, returning it to the slot on his leg.

"Love that thing!" Erich said, thumping his chest. "The front gate's unlocked, so if you can walk or run, get out of here!" Erich said to the humans they'd liberated from the garden. "We're going to keep going!"

The five of them got moving again, continuing through the park. They moved East, across the park, killing the guards as they went. Hans could see another pre-War building over a shack, one that he hadn't seen when he was held by the Sturmers. The team passed through a kind of restaurant or bar for the mutants, the shelves lined with vintages, and emerged on the other side before the pre-War building. What appeared to be a gazebo or outdoor shrine. The Sturmutants had repurposed it to be outdoor dining, complete with patio tables.

To the left of the dining gazebo was a well, and to the right was an outdoor market. Guarded by Sturmers and Rotters. They saw the team and opened fire, forcing Hans and Friedrich into cover. The Panzertroopers were wearing their cover, the SMG and light rifle bullets bouncing off their plates. Hans kept low below a dead planter, watching their heavily-armored friends advance. He watched Erich raise his M72, a gleeful smile no doubt on his face, when he saw a Vengeance Trooper emerge from a building on the other side of the market.

"ERICH! LEFT!"

Erich looked left, saw the Vengeance Trooper, and dove into cover. A second later a burst of blue plasma stuttered out from the VT's PG-60, hitting the building next to Hans and flashing through the wood, the edges scorched with blue flames. The Panzertroopers spread out and focused their fire on the mutant with the plasma gun, driving him back even as a second one appeared, wielding a plazmawerfer.

While the Panzertroopers engaged the more serious threat Hans decided to busy himself with the other Sturmers and the Rotters in the market, who were moving to flank the Panzertroopers. He waited until one came around the corner of a market stand before he fired, the slug punching through the Rotter's torso. He tumbled to the ground, his MP40 clattering along next to him. Friedrich popped up from behind the planter and fired a burst from his G3, the air shimmering around the muzzle. Hans couldn't see his target, so he moved left.

He was about to shift cover when an M24 stick grenade with a red band around the cap landed next to him. He snatched the grenade up and threw it back, and it detonated in air. An immense and overpowering wave of heat washed over him, along with a sense of deja vu, and he instantly broke out in a sweat. He leaned out from the cover and aimed down the shotgun's trench sight, looking for targets. The Rotters were pressing the attack, ignoring the Panzertroopers in favor of Hans and Friedrich. From the brief glance the Panzertroopers were locked in a stalemate with the Vengeance Troopers, outgunned for once.

Hans went back around to the other end of the planter, joining Friedrich by the right side, nearest to the market stalls. The old man kept up the pressure with his rifle fire, encouraging the Rotters to back off. He fired a particularly long burst and Hans broke from cover, scurrying to the nearest market stall. A short burst of 9mm bullets hit the stall with a series of thumps but didn't penetrate. He leaned out around the stall and fired the shotgun down the way, the empty brass shells sailing through the air and sticking upright in the mud. The CAWS ran empty and he switched back to buckshot, figuring it'd be the better choice.

He leaned out from cover just in time to see a Rotter toss another grenade his way, and he fired on instinct. To his amazement the pellets hit the grenade and set it off, an inferno of thermite erupting in the air over the market and setting two of the stalls ablaze. The Rotter fell to the ground, dead, though Hans could hardly tell the difference between the burns and the decay from radiation sickness.

Hans was about to move up again when a screaming whistle opened up over the market, and his blood turned to ice. He scrambled underneath the market stall just in time. The mini-nuke hit the buildings on the far side of the market and the atomic sun blossomed once more. Hans screamed, trying to drown out the crushing roar of the blast wave as it flashed by him. Loose boards and fittings of the buildings were blown off, white smoke rising from their edges. The colossal pressure wave was enough to fling mud from the ground, plastering the buildings with it. A nanosecond later the heat came again, close enough to blister his left arm. He huddled away from the opening, pushing against the side of the stall's interior to get away from the inferno. A full second later it subsided, and pieces of debris began to rain down on the market.

Hans crawled out from under the stall, the market quiet. Erich and the Panzertroopers were to his left, advancing on the buildings that had been hit by the mini-nuke. The fireball was collapsing, the buildings not immediately blown away on fire. A black mushroom cloud hung over the impact site, already dispersing in the wind. Hans got to his feet and joined the Panzertroopers in time to see that one of the Vengeance Troopers, the one with the PG-60, was still alive. His left arm had fused with his torso, metal melding with flesh. The left side of his helmet had melted into his skull, blood and orbital fluid dripping off his face. Irmina plucked the plasma rifle from his hands and put an end to his misery.

"Finally," she said. "Back to using an energiegewehr. I hate ballistic guns."

Oskar found the Vengeance Trooper who'd been using the plazmawerfer and replaced his Madsen LMG with the terrifying weapon, strapping the plasma pack onto his back. "Marvelous," was all he had to say.

"Good job so far, Butchers," Erich said. "We've fucked their shit up pretty good. Time to rescue the rest of the prisoners and move on the Reichstag."

The five of them got moving once again, this time heading back West. The majority if the camp's defenders had been cleared out by now, leaving just stragglers behind. Black smoke poured into the afternoon sky from numerous fires, the air heavy with the stench of both death and ozone. If there were any humans left in the park to free Hans couldn't tell. He followed the team through an alley, an open field ahead. They emerged in the field, and Hans couldn't help but feel he'd been here before. To the left were more buildings, and to the right...

The gallows.

He stopped and stared at them. He knew that coming back here would bring back the memory, had thought he'd been ready for it, and was still caught off-guard by it. The day had been just like this one: warm, inviting, bright.

Then dark.

Standing on the platform was a Vengeance Trooper dressed in navy-blue armor, and for a moment he thought it was Queen Ilse. The mutant dropped down and withdrew two zweihanders, holding one above his head and pointing the other at them. When he spoke, Hans remembered.

"You," Commander Xavier said, pointing the sword at Hans. "I knew you'd return. I would've too, if I was you."

Erich, Friedrich, and the others turned to look at him. "Then you know what happens next," Hans said, and stepped forward. "I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to kill 'Queen' Ilse. But not before I make her work for her death, first. I'm going to pull her fucking teeth and stick them in her fucking eyes. As for you, I'm going to pull your fucking balls off and shove them down your throat, you son of a bitch."

"Ooh, big tough guy," Xavier mocked. "What did you expect? Your wife was a mass-murdering Nazi. We can't allow people like her to pollute our country any longer. That's why Queen Ilse hanged her; to prove a point, and deliver justice to her victims."

"She didn't even kill any Sturmutants, you idealistic retard," Hans said. Xavier scoffed.

"Have you forgotten your empathy, human? Or did The Monster take that from you, too? I can only imagine why you married her. You must be a Nazi too," Xavier said. He began pacing back and forth, keeping the swords raised. "Nazis, warlords, slavers, that's all our fucking country is anymore. All propagated by people like you and The Monster of Munich. We're going to change that, Queen Ilse and I."

Hans looked around. "What, with this? 'The Independent Republic of Mutants'? Give me a fucking break."

"Why not? We have as much a right to live as you do. Did you think we asked to become mutants? Did the Former Human, the 'Rotter', ask to be so horrifically irradiated as to become a new kind of life? Did the Arab ask to be born Arab? We are all victims of our governments and ideologies. Some of us just looked at all that and decided we wanted something better."

"So did I," Hans said. "Once upon a time, and then it was all destroyed. After that, Hilda was all I had left. She became my hopes and dreams, and you took her from me. Now I'm going to take something from you." He looked at Irmina. "Kill him."

Xavier lifted his head and lowered his arms a bit. "Wh-"

Irmina opened up with the PG-60, the orbs slamming into Xavier's legs and midsection, plucking chunks of flesh and bone from his body. He toppled over, the swords falling next to him, and screamed. Irmina let off the trigger and Hans watched Xavier writhe around on the ground, steam rising from his simmering flesh. He snatched up one of his swords and swung it at Hans. "COME HERE, YOU FUCKING NAZI," he screamed. "C'MON! C'MON!"

He swung the sword again and it slipped from his weakening grasp, sliding across the muddy ground. Irmina handed the PG-60 to Hans and he approached, stepping on Xavier's right arm and pinning it down. He looked up at Hans with eyes full of rage and pain, flailing his left arm. He scrabbled at Hans' leg, his fingernails scratching against the leather of Hans' boots. "Did you think I was going to fight you? One on one, in some kind of honorable duel?"

"QUEEN ILSE WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD, NAZI."

Hans lifted the PG-60 and aimed it down at Xavier's face. "This is justice, you shit-eating gray-skinned prick." He pulled the rifle's trigger and Xavier's head and upper torso vanished in a flash of blue light. The ground beneath his body was smoking and shimmering, a faint sheen visible, as if the heat had turned it to glass. He stepped off the mutant's body and handed the gun back to Irmina, who only nodded at him. Oskar and Erich did the same.

Friedrich, though, he just stared, a frown on his face. Hans unslung his CAWS, checked the load, and cast one last look at Xavier's body and the gallows beyond it. He turned back to face the others and nodded. "Let's finish this."

Erich nodded. "Oskar, sweep the park again and round up anyone we missed. I imagine most of the prisoners escaped on their own, but I'm sure they've got some kids and old folks around here. Check that pre-War building Hans mentioned, too, and get them all back to the venue. We'll meet you there once we're done."

"I'm on it," Oskar said. He quickly lumbered off, plazmawerfer at his side. Hans watched him go until he disappeared around a corner and turned his attention back to Erich. His expression was hidden behind his helmet, but Hans didn't need to see it. He knew that Erich knew.

"Let's finish this."