Having just scouted out the Austrian village of Berwang; Frank, Mimi and Sven are just about to head back to their hidden cave to rest up. The fourth member of the team is also preparing to rest, but she is nestled on the underside of a Tiger tank parked outside the. mine entrance. The team consists of Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Franklin Fort, hard bitten soldier and teleporter; and Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter. The team needs to be ready, for tomorrow they kill Hitler.

Berwang, Austria, January 1943

Just as we are preparing to leave Frank spots that the main doors of the bunker are opening. He bellies down to watch what happens. A group of German troopers leave the bunker and begin walking towards the village. Frank can see through his scope that there are six Wolfenkorps troopers accompanied by a Wolfenkorps Unterfeldwebel and a German dressed in tank fatigues.

From her position under the Tiger tank, Madeline sees someone climb down from the tank, join the two guards at the mine entrance and begin walking towards the bunker.

Sven, in his owl form we myself on him in shadow form, swoops down onto the top of the mine entrance and I slide off of him. He quickly transforms into a small thrush and hops into position so that he can watch what is happening. The group that left the bunker split and three of them head towards the mine entrance while the others head through the village. The group heading to the mine and the group leaving it stop and have a quick discussion, and then the ones leaving the mine head into the bunker.

Frank checks his watch and it is zero two zero two hours, he surmises that it is the standard changing of the guard. The troops heading through the village move towards the checkpoints and again after a brief chat, the guards that were at their posts there head back towards the bunker. The whole process takes about five minutes, during which the doors to the bunker are open all of the time. Once the bunker doors close, Sven transforms back into a large owl and I slide back onto him and we return to RV2 and Frank.

After a very quick discussion we decide that Frank and I will stay near to Berwang and Sven will head back to RV1 and return to us once he has confirmed that Hitler has arrived at the schloss. Frank remembers a sheep shack about an hour away that would provide us with shelter overnight and so we head for that. As soon as we have secured ourselves within the empty sheep hut Sven leaves us. We sit there is silence for a moment and then I turn to Frank and say;

Tomorrow we could die. Tonight, we shall embrace life!

A broad smile passes over Frank’s face.

As soon as Sven arrives back at the schloss he heads into the surrounding woodland and reconnoiters the area, transitioning from owl to fox to hare as he covers the area and makes sure that there will be no surprises and plenty of bolt holes should he need them. Once he is satisfied that he has covered the ground he heads back to RV1 for a well deserved rest. He wakes early and heads to OP1, and finds that the schloss is a hive of activity with people running to and fro getting the area ready for an inspection.

Twenty one miles away, Madeline is finding the Berwang is also full of movement as the mine and bunkered are prepared. At one point the Tiger tank that Madeline is hidden under starts up it’s engine and runs for several minutes.

Just before zero eight hundred hours Sven sees a truck arrive at the schloss and pick up a small group of scientists and technicians, the truck then leaves and heads towards the industrial site by the lake.

At zero eight forty three hours, Madeline sees a truck pull up to the bunker and a small group of scientists and technicians climb out. They split into two groups, one of which enters the bunker and the others head into the mine.

Ten fifteen hours and OP1 is occupied by a chimpanzee watching the schloss and the surrounding area through a pair of binoculars. The chimp catches sight of movement along the road to the far north of the schloss, and so the chimpanzee transforms into a peregrine falcon and launches into the air. A few minutes later and the falcon is gliding high above a cavalcade of German vehicles. Sven speeds ahead of the convoy and lands in a tree close to the bend in the road where it heads up to the schloss, a spot where the vehicles will have to slow down so the Sven can see who is within.

He is passed by two motorcycles; a halftrack; a staff car containing the unmistakable person of Hitler; a staff car containing Goebbels, Goering, and Speer; three more staff cars full of a variety of German officers; two trucks full of German troopers; another halftrack, and finally two more motorcycles. With concrete confirmation that Hitler is indeed in the area, Sven leaps up into the sky and heads for the Austrian sheep hut.

At sixteen hundred hours exactly, Frank, Sven and I slide quietly into RV2. The sun is just setting and the long shadows give us enough cover to pass unnoticed. Frank scans the area with his scope and confirms that the Germans have clearly doubled the guard, but that is only to be expected and does not perturb us. It is not long before the sound of a large convoy of vehicles starts to bounce around the valley walls, and minutes later the cavalcade comes into view just beyond the village.

Sven transforms into a thrush and flies over to the top of the mine entrance. He then changes into a snake and slithers in through the roof vent and onto the rafters inside the mine head building. He then transforms once again, this time into a bat and hangs from the rafter watching what is happening. He spots that the Germans are connecting up the charges rigged in the ceiling of the mine shaft, once they have finished they run the firing cable halfway to the bunker. As soon as the mine shaft is clear of people, Sven drops from the rafter and flaps into the shaft, he flies all the way to the first spur and hides in the darkness.

Frank watches the proceedings occurring outside of the bunker through his scope, the convoy is met by a Wolfenkorps Oberst and three Wolfenkorps Hauptmann. Frank takes a deep breath as Adolf Hitler steps out of his car and into Frank’s crosshairs. Frank follows them with his rifle as they stroll from the entrance of the bunker up the hill towards the mine entrance. They stand around at the mine entrance in deep discussion for a few minutes and then two trucks, with their rear covering removed, pull up and the entourage board. As the trucks drive through the mine head entrance, Hitler disappears from Frank’s crosshairs and Frank relaxes.

From his position hidden in the first left hand spur, Sven watches as two trucks pass slowly. As soon as he is sure that there are no more coming he flaps up to the ceiling and the first hidden detonator left by Madeline and I. He pulls the trigger cord and then quickly flaps to the second detonator. He repeats the procedure eight more times and after the final one he transforms into a hawk and flies as fast and as straight as an arrow out of the mine entrance, he arcs upwards and performing a perfect loop lands once more on the roof of the mine entrance.

The German guards are a little confused by the fast moving bird, but that is soon forgotten as a massive explosion emanates from the mine shaft. That single explosion turns into a cascade of explosions that shake the mountain to its very foundations. It was as if the world was holding its breath, nothing seemed to move for several seconds and then all hell broke loose.

I slide onto Frank in shadow form and he teleports through the village to the rear of the bunker. He settles into position with his rifle as I slide down to the back of the bunker, and then up onto its roof and position myself just above the main doors. I push out with my senses and can tell that there are two enhanced not far from the bunkers doors.

In the confusion and smoke at the mine head no one sees Madeline slide out from beneath the Tiger tank, she slides up on top and comes face to face with the tank commander who is just opening the tanks top hatch. Madeline locks eyes with him and then an icy blast shoots from her eyes and hits the tank commander freezing the blood in his veins instantly. He slumps over, dead.

Slowly pulling themselves together, German troops and technicians start to run towards the mine entrance to discover what has happened and to rescue their Führer. Unfortunately for them, Sven has transformed once more back into human form and as the groups close on the mine entrance they are met with two phosphorus grenades.

From his position on the hill just behind the bunker, Frank has a clear line of sight to a group of Wolfenkorps troopers not far from the bunker. He plays his scope over them and picks out the senior officer, a Hauptmann, and takes aim. The troops are shook into action by the sound of two grenades exploding at the mine entrance and the screams of German troops and technicians.

In the confusion no one notices a dark shadow slide down from the roof of the bunker and in through the open doors onto the ceiling. I find myself in an empty corridor with several closed doors and one open one. The open door leads into an empty guard room and I slide in to see if there is any way to seal the bunker, but I can not find anything that looks like a door mechanism.

With the tank commander blocking the tanks main hatch Madeline begins to drop the temperature within the tank using her enhanced powers. The temperature within the tank starts to plummet ten degrees every second. Initially the tank crew don’t comprehend what is happening, but soon they begin to panic and try their damnedest to escape the icy death trap.

Just as the Hauptmann gets his troops to start moving towards the mine shaft, Frank squeezes the trigger on his rifle. His aim is true and the bullet strikes the Wolfenkorps officer, watching through his scope Frank sees a weird ripple effect where the bullet strikes and then feels himself hit by the force of a bullet. Frank’s enhanced suit absorbs most of the damage, but a trickle of blood runs down Franks cheek from a head wound that should be impossible for him to have received. Frank is gratified, though, to see that the Hauptmann has dropped to one knee. But to be on the safe side he starts to aim at the Unterfeldwebel.

Hearing the sound of a rifle shot, Sven looks over towards the bunker. Seeing the group of Wolfenkorps troops he picks up his Bren gun and takes aim. He notices that a Wolfenkorps Unterfeldwebel is helping what looks like an injured Hauptmann towards the bunker doors so he decides to aim for him. The rest of the Wolfenkorps troops in the area are already running for the safety of the bunker.

Within the bunker I head for the door at the end of the corridor, and finding that it is airtight and I cannot slide through I become solid. I try the door and find that it is open, so I open it, step in, and close the door behind me. Little knowing that as I close the door a squad of Wolfenkorps troops rush into the bunker entrance and take up defensive positions. I look about and discover that I am stood in what must be the living quarters of an officer.

Frank squeezes his trigger once more and hits the Unterfeldwebel, again watching through his scope he can see that there is a definite rippling effect where the bullet strikes, but he is relieved when this time he does not seem to take any damage. Almost simultaneously Sven presses the trigger on his Bren gun and it thunders into life sending a hail of death towards the Unterfeldwebel. His enhanced abilities are unable to cope with the volume of destruction that is rained upon him and he is blown backwards in a haze of blood.

The crew of the Tiger tank manage to pull the body of their dead commander out of the way, thus clearing an escape route for themselves, however, Madeline has different ideas and slams the hatch closed. The screams of the men trapped inside can still be heard as the temperature inside the tank drops to below minus sixty.

Inside the officers room I decide to rig up a large explosive charge with the hope of buckling the doors so that I can pass through in shadow form, I start to wire a double pack of explosive with a two second charge.

Sven lines up his aim on the Wolfenkorps Hauptmann and pulls the trigger, hitting him with a full burst. He is a little surprised when he realises that he must be taking damage himself, he knows this not because of pain or blood, but because his Bren gun becomes lighter in his hands as his strength increases. Sven’s enhanced powers have absorbed the damage and converted it into power for his muscles. When the Hauptmann doesn’t go down, Sven hits him with another burst. This time, not only does Sven grow slightly stronger but the Hauptmann collapses dead at the entrance to the bunker.

Having finished wiring the explosive charge, I open the door of the officers room and lob the charge into the corridor. I then slam the door closed and wait for the explosion.