Having fully scouted the areas of Schloss Wewelsburg that aren’t guarded by enhanced creatures, MI6s team of enhanced individuals are planning their next move. The team consists of Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter; and Franklin Fort, hard bitten soldier and teleporter.
Wewelsburg Village, Germany, November 1942
OK! You know your teams, and you know your objectives! Let’s do this!
Sven rubs out the rough map of the Schloss that he has drawn in the dirt that was the culmination of thirty minutes of planning. He then transforms once again into a sea eagle and Madeline and I slide onto him in our shadow forms.
During that thirty minute briefing I had rigged three explosives charges set to detonate at zero one fifteen hours, and a fourth charge set with a ten second timer. The other four charges will be going inside the building with Madeline and I. Eagle Sven lands on the roof of the Schloss and Madeline and I quickly slip off, in a matter of seconds a small thrush is sat on the edge of the inner gutter. Madeline, who has been carrying Sven’s bag, delivers it to his perch atop one of the smaller towers and leaves it there alongside her rifle and ammunition.
Madeline and I then slide down the inner wall of the Schloss towards the window of the Kommandant’s secretary on the ground floor. I push out with my senses and discover that all of the enhanced are in the same locations as previously, and so Madeline slices in through the closed window and then cracks it open a tiny bit so that I can follow her in. By zero forty five hours we are both hidden within the office awaiting our time to move.
At our team’s observation point, as the minute hand moves to forty five, Frank disappears out of existence only to reappear one hundred yards away in the edge of the treeline running around the village of Wewelsburg. Twenty seconds later Frank has travelled just over a mile and is crouched on top of the dormer vent on the uppermost of the smaller towers. He pauses long enough to survey the perimeter of the German base and then disappears once more.
Having dropped us off, Sven readies his equipment on top of the dormer vent on the lower of the smaller towers. Once he is satisfied that everything is ready he transforms back into a large hawk, grabs one of the explosive charges in his talons and flaps up into the dark night sky to get a good view of the bases troop placement.
Frank reappears just behind the bases fuel tank and as he is looking for his next blink location he hears the sound of German voices drawing closer. Not wishing to run the risk of triggering an early alarm he teleports instantly back to his perch on the small tower and watches as two German guards return a Wolfenhund back to the kennels before heading off to the accommodation block.
Having circled the Schloss and noted that while it is clearly at a higher level of watchfulness it is not at full alert, Sven lands just behind the fuel tank ready to place his charge. He is only mildly surprised when Frank appears next to him. Frank drops into a crouch and sneaks across to the back of the generator building while Sven places his charge on the fuel tank.
Once he has finished Sven leaps up into the night sky once again heading for his perch and his rifle. Frank places one of his charges on the temporary generator truck that is parked up behind the main generator building, he then levers up one of the buildings vents just enough so that he can see inside. A second later and he is stood within the generator building and he quickly places his final charge against the generators fuel line. A heartbeat later and Frank is kneeling on his own tower dormer with his rifle nestled into his shoulder. The time is now zero one hundred hours and the wait begins.
Inside the secretaries office Madeline and I hear the patrol approaching and so we quickly slip out and hide in the inner courtyard until they have passed. Once we know that they are moving toward the lower wing we decide to head to our target in the basement of the Schloss. We slip down the tower stairs and find a single door in the towers basement room, we listen at the door and can hear two German voices discussing how dull this guard shift is. Then one of them says;
It so quiet down here, even the bloody patrol doesn’t bother coming down!
Music to our ears. We slide up to the dark ceiling and settle in to wait.
If any of the Wolfenkorps troops had looked up to the top of the towers, and if they had very sharp eyes and a lot of luck, they may have seen two figures kneeling with rifles aimed at the two Wolfenkorps troops keeping watch on top of the larger tower. The clock ticks past zero one fifteen, then zero one sixteen. All four of us wait in silence with our patience being eroded as each second slips by without the expected explosion.
Then the tension is broken. Zero one seventeen and the silence is shattered by a double explosion as first the charge explodes closely followed by the fuel tank burning off in catastrophic fashion. The detonation is the cue, and it is closely followed by the double crack sound of twin rifle shots. Frank drops his target with a head shot and simultaneously Sven kills his target with a bullet to the chest.
But the sound of the rifle shots are lost in the noise of both generators exploding as the final two charges do their work. Frank once again disappears and reappears on the top of the large tower where he quickly checks the bodies and relieves them of their grenades. Sven transforms back into a hawk and picks up his final charge and heads for the halftrack.
Seconds after the main generator is disabled the Schloss is plunged into darkness. That is the cue for Madeline and I. We slide in under the basement door and immediately the enhanced owl starts to screech, but in the darkness the guards are unable to tell what it is screeching at. With her dark vision, and the fact that I have borrowed is from her, Madeline and I are both able to see. In front of us we can see two Wolfenkorps guards, two security doors, one of which has the enhanced owl position above it. Madeline puts two shots into one of the guards and I put three into the other. Madeline’s third shot silences the owl.
The main doors of the Schloss open up and two Wolfenhund leading two handlers exit. They are closely followed by a Wolfenkorps Unterfeldwebel and all of them are heading towards the burning generator building. Unfortunately for them that puts them square in the sights of both Frank and Sven. Yet again the sound of twin rifle shots rings out and one of the Wolfenhund drops motionless to the floor, shortly followed by the other Wolfenhund’s handler. The remaining two troopers dive for cover while the second Wolfenhund runs free into the darkness.
The Unterfeldwebel and the second handler begin crawling for the safety of the buildings, with no knowledge of where the shots are coming from they end up remaining within the sights of Frank and Sven. Frank fires at the Unterfeldwebel and hits him square in the back. It is a shot that should kill a normal man, but he continues to crawl for safety and it becomes obvious that he is not a normal man. Frank has found the enhanced Wolfenkorps that we had not yet seen, but that I had sensed. A second later another shot rings out and the Unterfeldwebel stops moving. Sven ejects the spent cartridge and reloads with a slight smile on his face.
In the basement I quickly search the two Wolfenkorps bodies while Madeline checks out the two doors. One of them has a small white plaque that says that it is a boiler room but the other is unmarked. As we are searching there comes three bangs from the other side of the unmarked door. Madeline walks over to it and bangs on it twice. There is no reply so she slides into the room beyond under the security door. She finds herself in a large room that seems to be being used as a scientific office and sterile room. At the far side of the room are a set of double doors that remind Madeline of large refrigerator doors, but what draws her attention are the two scientists in the middle of the room discussing what is happening;
...is the second time that this has happened. And that wasn’t the correct signal from the guards
Calm down Klaus, it is just another power cut. And as for the signal being wrong, those guards are so lazy they have probably forgotten the correct signal.
Madeline transforms from her shadow form into herself and walks slowly towards the two scientists. At the same time I slide in under the door I over hear Madeline, in flawless German, saying;
What is beyond that door?
One of the scientists replies;
Who is that?
Madeline shoots the scientist and then turns to the remaining scientist and repeats the question. That is enough to loosen his lips;
There are chemicals stored behind there. They are for experiments on the Wolfenkorps soldiers.
Madeline changes track;
Who’s in charge?
We don’t know! We answer to Oberstleutnant Baynurn.
Who is the lead scientist?
Professor Vogel.
I transform into myself and Madeline tells the scientist to open the double doors. He moves to one of the tables and lights a paraffin lamp, as light flickers around the room you can see the shock in his face as he realises that he is faced with two female SS officers. Both of whom are aiming pistols at him. He quickly heads for the doors and opens them, in the small room beyond there is a large, locked metal cabinet. Madeline says;
Open it!
The German scientist replies that they don’t have the key, they are just here to monitor the temperature. Madeline then asks him how much of the chemical there is, the scientist moves to one of the filing cabinets and pulls out a file;
We are currently holding twenty three vials of the chemical.
Madeline heads into the room to look at the cabinet and I tell the scientist to move to the far corner of the room. When he is there I say;
Heil Hitler!
There is a moment's hesitation from the scientist before he half heartedly copies me. It is that hesitation that saves his life. I tie him up and gag him.
On the towers Frank and Sven are sowing chaos and confusion with well picked sniper shots. Frank takes out the other Wolfenhund handler while Sven picks off a Wolfenkorps trooper who was looking for an enemy to fight. More troops are now rushing from the camp and the accommodation block towards the burning buildings to see what they can do, Frank and Sven scan the troops through their rifle scopes looking for officers and when they find them the trigger is gently squeezed as they exhale slowly. Two officers drop dead.
By this stage the Germans have started to realise that the sniper shots are coming from their own towers, Frank spots a Wolfenkorps officer in the doorway of the accommodation block pointing in his direction and signaling for two troopers to head in that direction. As the troopers set off at a run Frank’s rifle barks and the Wolfenkorps officer is thrown backwards into the accommodation block foyer where he leaves a blood trail down the wall on the far side. The two troopers quickly hit the deck and scramble for cover.
With more and more troops focusing on the towers of the Schloss both Frank and Sven decide that it is time to change their angle of attack. Frank teleports from the top of the larger tower into the edge of the forest north of the main gate so that he can get a clear line of sight to the front of the castle. Sven transforms into a hawk once more and, clutching a grenade in his claw, flies towards the top of the accommodation block.
Madeline successfully picks the lock on the large metal cabinet and opens the doors where she discovers yet another set of locked cupboard doors. She sets about with her lockpicks again and unlocks this second set of doors. Inside she discovers twenty three metal test tubes stored in refrigerated conditions. We find carry cases for the test tubes, each one capable of holding six test tubes, and remove all of the samples before I rig a demolition charge set to detonate at zero one thirty two hours. Carrying two test tube cases each, we transform into shadows and head for the offices of Wolfenkorps Beta.
Sven lands on the roof of the accommodation block and spots groups of scientists and troops hiding at the rear of the building. He pulls the pin on the grenade with his beak and drops it into the centre of the largest group. The smaller explosion causes more chaos than the earlier large explosions as the huddled groups realise that they are not safe behind the building either.
On the second floor of the Schloss Madeline and I, who are once again in solid form, pause long enough for me to check my watch. It is zero one twenty six, only nine minutes since the first explosion. We are well aware that the longer we are the greater the chance that the German’s will recover from the shock and organise themselves. With the clock ticking we get on with the second target of Madeline and my task.
Madeline steps into the Oberst’s office and grabs a bottle of schnapps, she then heads to the administration offices and opens all of the draws and scatters the paperwork around the rooms. While we are doing that we feel the crump of an explosion going off below us in the building. Madeline douses the paper in alcohol before lighting a match and setting fire to the whole lot.
From the woods, as he is stealthing away, Frank sees that the scientists and troops are leaving from the main gate and running for the safety of the village of Wewelsburg. Frank decides to make the village less safe and disappears, to reappear on top of one of the houses. He gets out his rifle and starts searching for troops in the crowd leaving the Schloss.
Knowing that time is against, Madeline and I split up. She heads for the first floor offices to set fire to all of the paperwork of Wolfenkorps Alpha, while I head to the radio room to set one of our charges to take it out of action. It is zero one forty hours.
Frank shoots another Wolfenkorps trooper, causing the Schloss evacuees to dive for cover. At that moment he hears the sound of a siren from further in town, a few seconds later he sees a civilian fire engine driving at speed towards the Schloss. Sven, who has returned to his perch, takes aim with his rifle. As the fire engine enters the gate of the Schloss Sven opens fire and shoots the driver dead. He reloads and shoots the petrol tank causing the fire engine to burn in the perimeter gateway.
By zero one fifty hours Madeline and I have completed our tasks and are exiting the Schloss via the large tower and heading for the woods and then our observation point rendezvous. Meanwhile, Frank and Sven are both sowing chaos in the form of thrown grenades. Sven from the top of the Schloss’ tower and Frank from the village’s rooftops. When they run out of grenades Frank decides that it is time to move to the rendezvous. Sven has different ideas.
Sven is taking a couple more shots from his perch when he hears a commanding voice raised amid the din. The voice is shouting for the troops to get back to the Schloss, Sven scans around and catches sight of an officer leading a small group of troops back towards the main doors. Sven’s rifle barks again and the officer is blown backwards off of his feet. The troops scatter. It is then that Sven decides that his work is almost done.
He transforms once more into a hawk and flaps down to the corpse of the Wolfenhund that he shot. Upon closer inspection it appears the the beast has some kind of crystal matted into its fur, and Sven believes that it is this that made it difficult to kill. He grabs a sample of the beasts fur and leaps up into the night sky heading for the observation point.
Paderborn Lippstadt Airfield, Germany, November 1942
There is also a half full Heinkel, and Madeline had also crippled that to give us a head start. I rig our final two charges to detonate at zero four hundred hours and Sven flys them into place on the airfields fuel tank and their radio mast, again hoping to cripple their communication ability and buy us a few more precious minutes. As Sven heads in to set the final of the two charges the rest of us move in and board the Junkers. I drop down into the pilots seat and immediately begin the preflight check sequence. Frank slides into the tail gunners position and Madeline takes the nose gunners position, and once Sven returns he drops grudgingly into the navigators seat. I look at him and he does not fill me with confidence, it is at these moments that I remember how useful Doctor Jackal was.
At zero four oh one hours there is a huge explosion as the airfields fuel tank explodes. I fire the engines of the Junkers.