Schwarzesmarken '86 Volume 1: Deep Water

It had been three years since that fateful winter day in Berlin. Three years since those prophetic words left her lips.

The man suppressed a shudder in his train cabin. It had been three years yet he still couldn't help but react at the thought of her. The piercing red eyes. Although the Americans and NATO pushed back the BETA in the nick of time, it was only a stopgap solution. The Oder Neisse absolute defence line had been breached and with the activation of the Rovaniemi Hive, it was an inevitability that the line would fall.

The man sighed as he lay his head back. Memories of the time just after the fall came unbidden to the forefront of his mind. Germany was a nation that no longer existed in this world. The BETA ruthlessly destroyed everything despite the valiant efforts of the defenders. He had been one of them. His comrades were either dead or broken. And...

"Katia," the name slipped from his lips as a whisper.

He was grateful he was alone in the cabin. He looked out the window as the scenery all blended together. He was going to bring her back. He saw her get on one of the trains to evacuate. She was still alive, that he was sure of. Perhaps she was already in Britain or maybe she was in one of the last human holdouts in Europe, being as foolishly optimistic as ever in her quest to unite humanity against the BETA.

Theodor Eberbach smiled to himself as he remembered that smiling, optimistic, foolish girl...

Well, no matter, he was going to bring Katia home.

======================================================= Schwarzesmarken '86 ===========================================================

It had been a few months since the Fall of Berlin. The rest of Europe rapidly fell to the BETA hordes. While nuclear mines planted in the event of the Line collapsing slowed the BETA down initially, their sheer numbers allowed them to keep marching, inexorably forward to the furthest reaches of Europe. Currently, there was still a resistance in France but the BETA were slowly but surely pushing them back. Theo gave them a few more weeks before the only thing left of human life in Europe were coastal forts.

For his part, Theodor was settling into his new life in Great Britain. After the fall of the DDR, him and Anett were no longer required to be soldiers. They took this opportunity to retire from the military life. Theo hoped he would find Katia waiting for him in Great Britain. And Anett...

Theodor could still remember the feel of her in that cramped room they shared in the refugee building. That soft feminine scent despite everything she had gone through. Her behavior then should have been a warning for what was to come. She was asking for someone, anyone to help her. Save her.

He closed his eyes. What was done was done. There were no redos in this life, he knew that all too well. He had lost contact with her once they made landfall in Britain although he has kept an ear out for news of her. What little he found was not good. No doubt trying to drown her sorrows, she indulged in sex, alcohol and drugs. It didn't tell an expert to tell that she was in a self-destructive downwards spiral. Perhaps he could...

"Focus!" he hissed as he slapped his cheeks lightly.

He opened his eyes and once again stared down the massive stack of newspapers he had gathered and laid down on his table. Multiple publications all covering the same time period, the months between the fall and his arrival in Britain. He had promised Irisdina he would protect Katia. He even promised Katia herself. Yet Katia and yet when she needed him to protect her the most, he had failed. And now he wasn't even sure if she was alive, dead or worse.

He sifted through the massive amounts of information. It reminded him of his days in the DDR when he was hunting down information about Katia's father. He supposed one good thing about the West was that he wasn't risking arrest this time.

However, just like all the other times he had done this, his search bore no fruits. All the publications repeated the same things. The coup d'etat, the daughter of the revolutionary hero general, the fall of the Line and the disappearance of Saint Ursula. No one had any further information. He supposed if he had stayed in the military, he would have had more information available to view.

He violently shook his head. Never again. He had already seen what happened to his comrades. To Anett. He would never return to that world.

Leaning back in his chair, he reached for the remote and turned on his TV. He had a headache and needed some white noise in the background to clear his head. Maybe fall asleep without those screams...

The TV turned on, already on a news channel. Some special report on the European Front was on. Probably to raise morale and show that humanity could stand up against the BETA hordes. Theodor couldn't help but chuckle in a dark amusement. He supposed it helped civilians pretend that everything would be okay. Theodor closed his eyes.

"...beat them back!" a soldier said on the program "The Saint was with us. There was no way we could die!"

Theo's eyes snapped open.

==

The knock on his cabin door woke Theodor from his sleep. At some point he must have fallen asleep, thinking of past events.

"Sir, we have arrived at the destination," the conductor told him.

"Ah, thank you," Theodor replied somewhat shakily.

He stood up, took his baggage and exited the cabin. Although it wasn't that much of a lead, he had followed that lead obsessively. Three years later and many trips between the European mainland and Britain, Theodor was finally sure he located Katia. The evidence lead him to where he is now, the city of Caen. With humanity being pushed back, this was currently one of the most populous cities in the European mainland. The commune transformed citadel was filled to bursting with refugees from all over Europe who couldn't pay for the trip over to Britain, America or whatever other country would take them, begging for money to make the trip. Or perhaps just to shut out the world for another day. He had heard of how seedy the city had become and with his brief experience as a refugee, he wasn't surprised at all.

Stepping out of the train station, Theodor adjusted the tie on his suit. He had taken to wearing them but felt like he hadn't exactly mastered the look just yet. He caught a reflection of himself breathing out mist. It had started getting cold. It reminded him of those days.

He ran his hand through his hair to clear his thoughts.

"Perhaps I should start styling this better, I'm not a teenager anymore," he thought to himself.

==

It had been a week since he had arrived at the citadel city. He had a job back in Britain that he was currently getting out of using his accumulated vacation time. Still though, he didn't feel comfortable not doing anything so he volunteered his time at the local soup kitchen. This killed two birds with one stone. First, he had something to occupy him whenever he wasn't actively searching for Katia and second, he could also gather information from the refugees by listening in on their conversations. Having been a refugee temporarily himself, Theodor could sympathize with their struggles.

As he walked to the soup kitchen, he heard the sound of screaming jump packs above him. A formation of F-15 Eagles flew over his head. Theodor found himself in awe of the leaps and bounds that TSF technology had taken since the last time he was on the front lines and caught himself wondering if this is how the civilians thought of him and his squadron when they flew over populated areas. He should be used to seeing cutting edge TSFs by now, having been here a week, but he still couldn't help but marvel at them.

After a few seconds, the machines disappeared from sight, blocked by buildings. Theo's gaze returns to the ground. He walks a little faster as he was running slightly late and standing still to admire the TSFs had slowed him down some.

Turning the corner, the soup kitchen was in sight. At the door, a larger and rowdier crowd than usual. Theodor had a bad feeling as he slipped into the crowd.

Pushing his way through the multinational throng, Theodor eventually reached the door that let him into the kitchen. He quickly slipped inside and locked the door. It wouldn't be smart to leave that entrance open longer than he had to. He leaned against the locked door and let out a sigh.

"Hey!" the matron, an older woman yelled at him as soon as she saw him "Get to work!"

Theo quickly donned an apron and rushed to his position to help serve food. Everyone was expectedly rather high strung. There was something dangerous in the air. Still, he wouldn't allow this to distract him and he continued to serve food. As he did so, we made note of the people he gave food to. Elderly, young, male, female, Italian, German, Scandinavian, French who were pushed out of their home as the BETA advanced. Even small children such as the girl he was serving right now. Theo shook his head slightly at the madness of the world. As he moved to serve the next person, he heard a shrill scream that pierced through the crowd's din. He had expected a problem to erupt with the crowd like this. He looked to the matron and she nodded, giving him her tacit approval. Not bothering hanging his apron, Theo ran to the door and exit the kitchen. Pushing his way through the crowd, he reaches where the commotion is centered.

In the center is the girl he had served nursing a rapidly developing bruise on her face and a man he had never seen before at the soup kitchen with two plates of food. Double the portions given.

Before he knew what he was doing, Theodor was grabbing the man by his lapels.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he snarled, spittle getting on the other man's face.

The food had already fallen out of the man's hands. Normally, the other refugees would pounce for the food, taking advantage of any chance to get more food. However, the crowd could feel a fight was about to start. Slowly, they started to form a circle around Theodor, the girl on the floor and the man. The other volunteers in the soup kitchen were kept out by the people on the outside of the circle.

The man, fueled by desperation and egged on by the jeering crowd violently pushed Theodor away.

"Me and my family are starving," he yelled at Theodor "What does some fucking suit wearing fuck from Britain or wherever the hell you're from know about what we go through! You think you can feed us like we're some sort of zoo animals to feel better about yourself! You FUCKERS!"

The obviously irrational man lunged at Theodor. Had he still been in the military and keeping up with his training, Theo would have easily dodged or blocked the clumsy punch. But, it had been three years since he last was in combat and he took the punch to the face. As pain blossomed on his nose and blood dripped down, Theo remembered those blood stained snow fields all those years ago.

==

Theo sat on a stool in the now emptied soup kitchen, a paper towel up his nose to stop the bleeding and an ice pack to the back of his head. His dress shirt was ruined now, with all the blood stains. He also had a few bruises that dully hurt. Still, better than what the other guy had looked like.

After the punch to his nose, he lost recollection of exactly what he did, his memory picking back up to him straddling the man's chest and beating the unconscious face into a bloodier pulp than it already was, screaming in rage. Perhaps a part of him was still in those snow fields to the east.

After his fight with the man, the local military police patrol came and quickly got the situation under control and business went back to usual. Theo could swear that the crowd had gotten smaller and the unfamiliar faces had disappeared completely. Perhaps there was something more going on...

He found himself sighing again. He wasn't sure if he could keep this job after this. He doubted that there would be legal consequences for this, after all, that man had attacked a little girl and he only acted to defend her. Speaking of the little girl, she was sitting in front of him cross legged. She had apparently latched onto him when his co workers dragged him off the man and back into the kitchen. The matron let her in out of the goodness of her heart.

The two of them, bloodied grown man and bruised little girl stared at each other without saying a word. Theo, feeling somewhat awkward being stared at decided to try and talk to her.

"Hi," he said trying to smile in a friendly fashion despite his bloody, bruised face producing the opposite effect "My name's Theodor Eberbach. What's yours?"

An awkward silence descended on the two. Theodor lamented that he wasn't good at dealing with children or people in general. On the verge of giving up and going back to staring at the ceiling, the girl responded.

"My name is Natalie," she said,her voice lacking any inflection or emotions "Natalie Duclert."

==

Theodor walked down the street, heading home. It was already starting to get darker. Following behind him was Natalie, the strange girl who had taken to following him. Theo sighed and shook his head.

After recovering enough from the fight, Theodor had his ear yelled off by the matron. Against his expectations, she didn't fire him, but did tell him to take a few days off to both cool off and let things blow over. He was incredibly thankful for the matron's generosity despite her prickly exterior.

In no time, he was at the entrance to the apartment complex.

"You're not going to follow me in right?" he asked Natalie as he opened the door.

The girl said nothing as she followed him into the building. Theo almost clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Don't you have a family? Won't they be worried about you?"

The girl didn't answer and looked away instead. Theo sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. Her hurt reaction confirmed that her family were dead. It wasn't an uncommon thing around these parts. He didn't want to imagine how she survived in the slums. While his comment did confirm something about the mysterious girl, it also set off an emotional landmine. Despite his better judgement, Theo felt guilty and wanted to make up for it.

"Alright look," he said "I'll let you stay in my apartment for a few days, okay?"

The girl looked up at him, surprised that he would offer this to someone like her. The happy smile that spread across her face, told Theo all he needed to know about her thoughts on the matter.

Thankfully, the landlord wasn't in the lobby so Theo didn't have to explain why he was taking an obviously undereage refugee girl into his apartment. Just before Theodor was about to open the door, his stomach let out a loud rumble.

"Ah sorry," he said somewhat embarrassed "It's been a while since I..."

He trailed off when he noticed that Natalie had a blush on her face. It seems as if her stomach was also empty. Smiling, he unlocked the door and motioned for her to enter.

"I'll make dinner for us," he told her as he headed to the kitchen "You can watch TV in that room over there if you want."

Theo went and put on his apron as he heard the sound of the TV turning on. It had been a long time since he had someone in over.

==

Theodor wasn't sure exactly what the girl would have wanted to eat for dinner so he made some Linseneintopf, the soup she was served at the soup kitchen. Living alone for a few years now, he had learned to cook himself with a bit of competency. Making some German food reminded him of his childhood when Mrs. Hohenstein would make dinner for the family. With fond memories of his family in his heart, food preparation went by quickly. He set the table and went to the living room which contained the TV to tell Natalie to come eat.

The little girl had been entranced by the TV as it was her first time actually getting to change the channels and watch what she wanted. Usually when she got the chance to watch a TV, someone had put it on a news or sports channel. Natalie was watching some tv channel that played music videos. She seemed to be enjoying the song currently playing, a 3 year old West German song that Theo recognized, having heard the Wessies listen to it during Operation Neptune. Something about red balloons.

"Natalie, it's time to eat, he said from the entrance to the room," he said.

Seeing her look somewhat disappointed while getting up, he added "You can keep the tv on."

With the now happy girl practically skipping to the kitchen, Theo suddenly felt a deep sense of loss. His quiet and peaceful days in the apartment had been destroyed and now he was going to be eating dinner with a little girl he picked up off the street with 3 year old pop music playing in the background.

"Well, things could be worse," he thought to himself as he shrugged and went after Natalie to the kitchen.

After eating dinner, Theo did the dishes while Natalie went back to the TV. Theo had made a note in his mind to buy her a book or toys because being glued to the screen like that couldn't possibly be healthy. After seeing how late it was on his digital watch, he decided to put Natalie to bed. With a bit of resistance from her, he managed to pry her away from the TV. This presented a new problem, where she would sleep. Theodor decided on letting her sleep on his bed while he sleeps on the couch. He would need to buy a bed for her too at some point. While he did mean to look over news sources to find Katia, it appeared that the day took more out of him than he thought and he fell asleep as soon as he sat down.

Waking up early, a habit from his military days, Theodor was about to head out as usual and try to find clues on where Katia was when he remembered his guest. He could hardly leave her alone without any warning and more importantly, without breakfast. As a result, Theo sat by her bedside for about an hour until she woke up, wasting valuable time her could be spending searching for Katia. Inexplicably, the normally taciturn girl started blushing when she noticed him and told him to get out of the room. On his way out, he noted that she had no pajamas or other clothes and resolved to go buy some for her. After that little incident, the rest of the morning went without incident.

Now Theo was walking the streets in the refugee occupied slums of Caen. The incident the other day reeked of something fishy and he would get to the bottom of it.

==

It had been around 3 hours and he had yet to find a lead on what happened in the soup kitchen. Theo was currently taking a break, eating a crepe he bought at a crepe stand while leaning on a wall. His thoughts on where to go next were suddenly interrupted by somewhat accented French.

"Hey buddy," a man, obviously a refugee said to him "You want cool gadget?"

Theo sighed. It wasn't the first time someone had tried to sell something to him. He supposed it was time to turn this one away too.

"I'm not interested, sorry," Theodor said amicably.

"Buddy, don't be like that," the man said "Look here, cool gadget."

He started pushing his wares at Theo. Watches of all makes were in the man's hands. Some obviously expensive ones mixed with the cheap plastic variety. All stolen no doubt.

Theo attempted to finish his crepe while holding off the advancing man with one hand.

"Listen, I don't want any of your stuff," he said somewhat annoyed now.

The man looked at him confused before a look of comprehension crossed his face.

"Okay okay, no watch for you," the man said "A walkman is what you want."

"Yes I don't want a watc- wait a Walkman?" Theodor asked confused.

Sensing a potential successful sale, the man smiled.

"Yes, do you want to see?" he asked "Come with me."

The man walked off into an alleyway, probably heading to where he stored his wares. Theo finished his crepe, crumpled up the wrapper and casually threw it before following him. He had never checked out this particular place and perhaps he could get some information here.

Theodor followed him through the twisting alleyways. Around him, was a hidden city within a city. Cardboard constructions, converted dumpsters, windows to apartments he didn't know existed. An undercity of refugees. He was so absorbed in taking in his surroundings that he almost bumped into his guide, who had stopped in front of an unmarked side door.

"Okay, we are here Master," he said in his thickly accented French as he opened the door.

Confused about the title he was given, Theodor nonetheless followed him inside. What greeted him was shelves upon shelves of assorted electronics. All of it no doubt gained through illegal means. Theo found himself thinking of a story he read with Lise when they were still children, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The man quickly disappeared into the shelves, no doubt to get Theo the "Walkman". Looking around, he saw two other men, probably friends of the one who led him here lounging around talking.

"So here it is," the man said slightly out of breath "Japan Walkman."

"Japan?" Theo asked.

Of course he had heard of that country, but he hadn't really thought much of it. It was rather irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It was an American puppet state at best. Still though, to produce such an interesting... thing.

"So what does it do exactly?" Theo asked the man.

"Ah," the man grinned "Put this on."

He gave Theo some headphones which Theo put on. The man put in a cassette tape in and pressed play. After a few seconds, music started playing. Theo recognized the song.

"Keine Heimat?" he asked slightly swaying with the song with a grin on his face.

"Yes, yes!" the man replied just as excited "Ideal!"

"I'll take it!" Theo said with a smile on his face.

As Theodor made his purchase, he listened in on the two men who were talking.

"...they cancelled the meeting there after the cops came," the first one said "Something about some crazy son of a bitch."

"A really? When's the next one gonna be?" the second one asked.

"I don't know yet," the first one replied somewhat annoyed "Just look for those uppity, rebellious types and ask them. The probably know."

"Damn kids," the second one said before taking a drag on his cigarette "They think this revolutionary crap will do anyone any good? All the RLF is gonna do is make things worse for us."

Theo couldn't contain his curiosity anymore. With his bag containing his cassettes, headphone and Walkman, he walked to the two men. They looked up at him, obviously not wanting him around. Despite this, Theo stayed.

"Well," the first one asked "Whaddaya want rich guy?"

Slightly taken aback by the man's rude speech Theo took a few seconds to respond.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't help but overhear you guys talking," he said trying to remain genial "What exactly is this RLF?"

The second man snorted, "Damn cowards, think you can go to Britain cuz you have enough money then come back and ask us for shit."

He was almost about to spit before the first man put a hand out to stop him.

"Well ya see, I've been having trouble remembrin' stuff recently," he started slowly "Now if there was something that could make me remember, I'm sure I could tell you."

Theodor sighed. While he could beat the answer out of both of them, it seemed more hassle than it was worth. Theodor prepared his wallet.

==

Theodor exited the thieves' cave, more enlightened than when he had entered. The RLF, or Refugee Liberation Front, is an organization founded by refugees to improve their living conditions. Supposedly they accomplish this through non-violent protests against the UN, but something about the whole organization seemed fishy to Theodor. It seemed very similar to groups founded by Stasi agents and other communist infiltrators in the West that were meant to undermine and destabilize the Warsaw Pact's enemies. The man earlier had mentioned that a lot of the members were impulsive youths. That combined with the multinational nature of the refugees and how most of them were undocumented, it would be very easy for a competent agent to infiltrate and subvert, assuming that the organization itself wasn't founded with that express purpose in mind.

Theodor shook his head. He had to remind himself that he wasn't still living in East Germany. Not everything was an evil plot. It is just as likely that the organization was founded by frustrated refugees who wanted a better life for themselves and their fellow men and women. While being skeptical was fine and dandy, he couldn't afford to be too close minded and ignore all the other possibilities until they were staring him right in his face and it was too late for him to change his mind and create a better outcome. Just like in Berlin in that snowy day all those years ago...

Theodor's head snapped up. It would do no good thinking about those days. At some point, it seemed he had zoned out and was already walking home with pure muscle memory. He quickly admonished himself internally. He couldn't afford to let that happen to himself too often. Unsavory sorts roamed the streets at night and it would do him good to keep his attention up.

He glanced at the bag he was holding. Perhaps some music would help him stay focused, or at least keep those thoughts away. He heard that the Bowie fellow was rather good.

==

On his way back to his apartment, Theodor remembered his decision to buy things for Natalie. He doubted that a store would still be open at this time, but fortunately, there was still a clothing store that hadn't closed. Making the purchases and ignoring the looks from the cashier, he continued on his way home. The reset of the trip passed uneventfully.

Ascending the stairs of the apartment building, Theodor finally got to his floor and walked to his door, unlocking it and entering.

"I'm home," he said.

"THEO!" an excited voice greeted him as Natalie's head popped up from the sofa she was sitting on "I-I mean, you're back."

She tried to to return to her monotone, but it was already to take back what had come out of her mouth. Theo let himself have a chuckle over the the now flustered girl's reaction.

"W-well anyway, you're home," the flustered girl said training to regain her usual monotone as she got off the couch and made her way to Theodor "What do you have in those bags?"

"Ah this?" Theodor said acting clueless "Well I've got this and that..."

The girl pouted at his reply. Theodor had a short laugh again.

"Okay okay, well I bought myself a "Walkman" and some cassettes," Theodor explained "And in this other one I have..."

Theodor trailed off, keeping the answer from her, wanting to see her cute pouting again. The girl huffed before turning around and walking back to the couch. It seemed that she wouldn't take the bait.

"Ah wait," Theodor said urgently "Sorry for teasing you like that. I bought some clothes for you."

The girl stopped upon hearing his words.

"Are you really sorry?" she asked in her monotone.

"Yes truly," Theodor said trying to appease her.

The girl turned around again and walked back to him.

"Well?" she asked.

"You want to try them already?" Theodor asked acting clueless once more.

Thus, another round of teasing and Theodor laughing at the girl's expense was started. In the midst of this, Theodor couldn't help wonder when he'd gotten this soft. More importantly, did he deserve to be this happy?

==

It was late at night when Theodor woke up. Natalie was still sound asleep in his bed as he dressed himself, put on his coat and scarf and exited the apartment. Among other things he learned from the two men he paid, was the fact that this "RLF" was having a meeting today in an unused warehouse. Theodor wondered how they managed to find a warehouse that was unused in a citadel city dedicated wholeheartedly to fighting off the BETA but decided it wasn't worth dwelling on right now. With questions in his mind and conviction in his footsteps, Theodor set off towards the meeting.

==

While finding Katia was still his main objective, Theodor knew trouble brewing when he saw it. That violent crowd affiliated with the RLF at the soup kitchen wasn't good news no matter how you looked at it. So this is why he was in his present situation. He was surrounded by self styled teen revolutionaries in an unused warehouse.

Theodor had to hand it to whoever was pulling the strings behind this whole movement. They had a rather good sense of aesthetics. Any successful movement needed a good look, whether that was banners, uniforms or something else. The Nazis (Theodor barely disguised his disgust at the thought of them) knew this fact and among other things had Hugo Boss design their uniforms. Looking around, he could see bold and brash banners hanging with proclamations such as "Peace, Security and Freedom" and "Unite Against The Oppressors" emblazoned boldly on them with some kind of thunderbolt of eagle imagery. He looked down at his sleeve, an armband given to him by the person who admitted him around it. Even the way the podium was set up and the way the light dramatically focused on whoever would be speaking spoke of the work of a master manipulator. Brash music popular with these kinds of "outsiders" blared as the teenagers did activities typical of what you would expect, treating the meeting like some sort of rave. Sex, drugs, you name it. Yes, whoever was in charge knew how to manipulate the minds of his audience of young impressionable teenagers with an urge to rebel and a need to fit into something larger than themselves and make a difference in the world. To say only, teenagers were here would be inaccurate, they were simply the largest majority. He also saw people who were around his age and people who were older as well. Some stayed above the influence while others dived straight into the debauchery. Theodor himself was given more than a few offers to join in, some of the offerors enough to get him arrested and placed on watchlists if he took them up on it. Despite himself, Theodor couldn't help but admire the work of a master of his craft at work.

In the middle of Theo's analysis of his surroundings, the lights suddenly dimmed and the din around him dissipated as the crowd hushed. It seems that the main event was starting.

[stuff I'll paste after posting in the thread]

Next Time On Schwarzesmarken '86!
Theodor has taken in the parentless orphan girl Natalie! Will her cuteness break through his hard shell and help him come to terms with his past? Who are the RLF and what do they have to do with what is going on? Theo investigates this mystery. A massive protest breaks out outside military headquarters as Theo, spurred on by news of an ace pilot using a modified MiG-23, breaks in! Two former comrades confront each other! Next time: Deep Water Part 3. Oh yeah, and there will be tons of fanservice as well!