Escherich and His Toy Factory
It wouldn't be surprising, from a person born in the far future, to look at a weapon from Wolfenstein and compare it to their own technology, Robotic dogs that tore through people and tank armor with ease as it spews flames that could melt through a thick pane of steel, guns mounted on its torso to kill anything it senses at any range and a tail that could emit disruption signals at a 100 meter radius, towering weapons of mass destruction that could rival thermobaric warheads, a floating aircraft carrier designed to deal devastating amounts of damage below its large propellers. No, it wouldn't be unfamiliar with someone like that who also has the knowledge to make those things a reality.
There was once a boy, he was a fan of Alternative History, Science-Fiction and the bizarre, children mocked him for liking those things while the adults exploited this boy's genius, his skills as an Engineer that rivaled a machine, a creative mind that could put famous artists and writers to shame, he was a straight A student who simply loved the prospect of 'Nazis with technologies of his time', it would take years to perfect this art, his so called dream-like world that suspended reality, the laws of nature, the natural order and the laws of man, he wished to violate it all to fulfill his dreams of what he thought off as Utopia.
For a few years, he has made a name for himself as the inventor of the first practical spaceship capable of transporting people to Mars, the revolutionary mind that solved the key to AI and its imperfections such as its lack of empathy, and finally, time-travel.
Until he vanished, his assets were gone, his laboratory and the staff that worked there, their families, countless locations that were owned by the man had simply vanished without a trace, taking all of his technology with him, they tried to launch a global search of the man until they realized one thing in their investigation, what all those sites had in common were a Hakenkreuz made of metal stuck on the ground.
"Reminiscing about the past my love?" A blonde woman with baby blue eyes approached the man named Escherich, a man-made God of time.
"Yes, it was fun while it lasted, to be honest those fools back on Earth must have thought I was working for them this entire time, the look on their faces would have been priceless"
"You really did loved the shock factor in everything you do, you implement it to everything you make, it has become a sort of 'style of art' in your own words"
"Yes Gertrude, you know me so well, but enough of that, we should really release the Panzerhunds and the Ausmerzer now, what would be the perfect excuse for that?"
"How about implanting brains of trained dogs into the Panzerhunds and the Ausmezer could be magic powered, using Mana as a fuel source"
"It would explain them vaguely, but the Fuhrer loves his animals, the laws protecting the wildlife are still in place, I have already suggested to the Fuhrer about the possibility of humanoid animals and people with ears or other distinct features of animals like a dog or cat and what would his stance be"
"He would probably be infatuated with the idea of that, Himmler most definitely would order the SS to slaughter the demihuman folk"
"I would love to keep some in containment, using them for my testing, my attempts at crossbreeding humans and other mammals have all failed so far, dissecting and learning about its DNA Structure and their composition would boost my research further, maybe making genetically modified super humans in the process like those in Wolfenstein"
"I would like to leave them be, the Japanese division has already caught one in the wild and have begun training it, it is what the Japanese call a Neko Girl, so far it has produced results that humans could never compete in"
"Thats why we are turning them into guinea pigs, I want to know how they came to be and I want to make them, it's that easy"
"Easy to say, but difficult in practice, the Japanese Branch has already given their seal of approval in trying to conserve these fascinating creatures, keeping them as pets instead of experimenting on them"
"Darling, my poor, naive sweetie pie" Caressing her face with his palm, he leans closer until their noses touched.
"You cannot stop science" he said in a whisper, pulling himself away from the Blond beauty and immediately with a wave of his hand a large pathway is revealed, leading deeper into the laboratory.
A man clad in Iron stood still infront of the path, goggles glowing red as the modified version of the Stahlhelm, its signature curves and a few modifications such as an inbuilt thermal scanner and night vision mode, it was also impervious to Anti-Material Rifles such as the famous Barret 50 Calibre Anti-Material Sniper Rifle.
He stood with the STG-48 with handling and grip, capable of surviving in extreme weather conditions and is a very reliable rifle fit for Marksmanship as well as regular Assault Rifle roles. The modified soldier salutes and lets them through in a quick motion.
"Contact Director Ishida and Head of Security of the Japanese Branch Junpei"
"Yes sir" the soldier understood and touched the side of his stahlhelm, he repeats the order and continues to stand guard.
But they have already left by the time the soldier finished relaying the order to the communications hub.
"Why are we holding back by the way? All of these wonderful machines could easily topple the Allied armies"
"I want Germany and Japan to familiarize itself to what we consider the norm, the populace would be thrown into a frenzy if they saw Panzerhunds and Robots like the Das Faust roam the streets and pick up a volkswagen with ease, flying machines that would have made those early future predictions look cartoonish" flipping a switch to open another section of the massive complex "We are here to teach, not give" he finally stops, looking at the metallic door with a calm expression, he jerks his head up signalling the operators at the door control panel to lift the locks.
"But someone didn't get the memo it seems" the dark room immediately filled with light, revealing an urn.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk" opening the lid and pouring out its contents into a large funnel linked into a large contraption with large tubes and electrical cables connecting to the glass container with the mold of a human.
"This is what happens if we don't stick to the plan people! If I hear anything about our supersuits getting leaked ahead of schedule I swear to everyone you will be sent to Detroit!" Everyone besides Escherich shivered at the thought, being sent to a hellhole such as Detroit was worse than dying a thousand times over and over.
"Yes sir!" They affirmed, going back to work as they have before, developing new technologies to sustain the Reich and keep it balanced.
"I just hope Albert Speer agrees to succeed the role as Fuhrer in the future, I feel uncomfortable whenever I'm around Himmler and Goering" Gertrude comments as she shivers at the sight of them ruling Germany.
"Indeed, well do you have anything to report about Operation Criminal Brigade?" Cracking his knuckles as he sits down on his chair and begins typing.
"Ah yes, we have covertly field tested the suits, the operators seemed to have some trouble landing but they excelled in their flight control and could keep stable flight for 5 hours, we have also successfully eliminated Dirlewanger and his crooks leaving none alive"
"Good, I don't want someone like Dirlewanger in my vision, I just hope that we could keep peace with Japan, some joint research projects in the future, something like that"
Escherich for a while could sense that something was wrong with Gertrude, she hasn't said anything about them but he knows she fears them, his East Asian partners.
"Do you fear the Japanese division Gertrude?" He asked calmly,
"Yes, I fear the Japanese division would secede from us, making something like the Imperial Japanese Anomalous Research Division."
"I guess so, I don't really mind the Japanese using our technology, maybe they could recreate some killer game titles like Elden Ring since I forgot to bring any of my games with me sadly" hoping to relax the atmosphere abit with a comment like that.
The room instantly darkens with him still seated on his chair, Gertrude stood beside him making her seem like his Assistant,
"A pleasant evening Director Escherich and Madam Gertrude" A Japanese man spoke in a dignified voice, his perfect pronunciation in the German language along with his appearance of a hard-working salaryman with top results to back all of this up.
He was simply known as 'The Director of the Rising Sun Branch'
Another Japanese man could be seen from another video feed, he opened his mouth to speak "Pleasant evening to you two"
This was the Head of Security in the Japanese Division, a no nonsense man that has been trained in the harshest military training regimes he was known as the 'Iron Golem of the Rising Sun Branch'
"Good Evening everyone, sorry about the sudden call" The old german man scratched the back of his head with a shy smile on his face.
"Why have you suddenly called us friend?" Ishida asked the german as he sipped his nice brew of tea.
"It's because of the report I have recieved in my office, large leviathans that lurk beneath the ocean spanning over 100 meters long, walking and talking trees that protect its habitat and people capable of flying without any apparatus we could identify to help them fly? Are you making a fool out of me?" The absurdity of all of these things, Escherich was either being played like a fiddle or there was something else at play.
He himself could hardly believe such things but he was in a magical world, it was either the claims were true or they were doctored or are just rumors, any piece of information from the other branches regarding the peculiar event was taken with a grain of salt.
But if that wasn't the case and the reports claim are true then this would further complicate things, a lot of planned projects would be either scrapped or moved to a later date, the war itself has dragged on a bit longer making the release of these sorts of technologies easier, but incorporating magic into this war would create more bloodshed and suffering.
It was the path to mutually assured destruction in the worst case and a stalemate at best, the old german scientist just hopes it was the latter rather than the former.
"Of course not friend, our researchers and operatives have been hard at work this past few days collecting vital samples, the Neko girl video should explain everything" Ishida spoke back.
"I have seen the video, but for all we know she is hiding the rest of her abiliti-"
"We have done countless tests on her and have gone through a lie detector test 10 times now, either the machines are broken or she has actually showcased everything she can do" It was Junpei who jumped in, Escherich being critical about the validity of the report on the Neko Girl and her testimonies, for all they knew she probably had the ability to falsify the readings.
"Sounds great, what about security? Have you done checks to see if the Neko girl could get past our detection systems?"
"They work perfectly, the girl herself could turn invisible just by standing still and blending in with the environment, but our thermal and heat sensors could pick up her signature just fine, the Security Branch has been having a field day with the curious little girl, she would make a great mascot for our division"
But this wasn't a major issue to Escherich, it was the Japanese's problem, he just wanted to mess with them for a bit.
"Is that all? We have work to do if you don't mind" but just as Ishida was about to cut the call, Elscherich pressed on.
"Well besides that I also want to ask about another operation by the Japanese Survey Corps, have they found anything about the Eastern hemisphere yet? Any new continents or countries atleast?"
Ishida sighs before speaking.
"Well, we have located another continent besides the 4, we are still waiting for Tojo to give us the go ahead since we haven't had the resources to launch our satellites yet"
"What about the locals? Have you captured some for research?"
"Yes, coincidentally we were about to research on them, I want to implant a vaccine so that when the Empire colonizes the continent they wouldn't croak just like the Natives of America"
"Alright sounds great, is there anything else we should discuss about?"
"I am very excited to see the Japanese populaces reaction to the Neko girl, maybe we should also introduce more modern Animation and animation styles, it would diversify the economy a bit"
"I hope so, maybe we should fund a campaign or something, Herr Hitler has made some remarks about the possibility of Demi-humans living within germany under special conditions, I hope that my efforts would bear more fruit in the long term, probably a few more years of conditioning the german psyche into eventually integrating them as part of our norm"
"Then maybe we wouldn't have to spend so much money and resources on unrelated projects, we shouldnt be funding in the first place"
"We are getting off-topic, and besides we already have a massive amount of income being produced by my private companies, the Zeibatsus should also have a monopoly in Asia as well, it would take decades for them to no longer produce any funds for us"
Gertrude taps Escherichs shoulder, leaning into his ear she whispered something to him.
But as the Director was about to speak he was cut off. "Yes bu-" with a finger raised, the old scientist silenced the director.
"I almost forgot about this but check this out" Escherich taps a few buttons on the holographic keyboard and lo and behold walls of texts and pictures started to pop out, all of these had one thing in common.
"There is actually something you should know about" The Japanese waited for Esherich to speak when they heard this sudden announcement
"There is a point of connection once between this world and the earth correct?" The Japanese nodded
"Madam Ilga, the visitor from the Elven Federation has commented on the portrait of the Iron Chancellor, claiming him to be the great unifier of the Elven tribes."
"Bismarck? Really?" The Japanese were sent into a frenzy when they heard of the Iron Chancellor, that would mean more and more people have actually affected this planets politics, economy, military and more, just like those stories you would find in popular Japanese media.
"Yes, just like in our history he has shaped the Elven tribes into a unified country similar to Germany and its many germanic kingdoms, dynasties and city states, not only that we have confirmed reports from our operatives that the Reich is in control of Alien Technology, probably what the Elves call the gift of the Gods"
"That would sort of explain this world's life then, there was a visitor who placed these creatures, cell dating as well as carbon dating efforts from our side has suggested these lifeforms have existed for over a million or billion of years ago, give or take"
"Interesting, well we should get back to work now, thank you for your time" The Japanese bow and suddenly the room went black again, those holographic pictures were nowhere to be seen in the dark room.
"Well we better get going now, I have a meeting with Herr Braun and Herr Mengele"
"For what purpose?"
"I want to release the Ausmerzer and the Panzerhunds as soon as possible, those two would be essential in that"
-------------------
It wouldn't take long for groups of scientists, physicists, psychiatrists, engineers and other sorts of profession that would relate to medicine and engineering, this was one of the most historic days Germany would bear witness to, the Bahner Conference.
Top names such as Wilhelm Emil 'Willy' Messerschmitt, the founder of Messerschmitt famous for the BF109 as well as the ME 262, Walter and Reimar Horten also known as the Horten brothers with their flying wing concept such as the Amerikabomber and the Horten Ho 229, Heinrich Focke co-founder of Focke-Wulf famous for their Fw 190 fighter aircraft and many more were present.
They were all seated inside of Escherichs personal bunker, housing multiple war machines, many of the participants looked at the various sorts of equipment along with labels and a introduction aswell as a demonstration video hooked into a helmet covering the users eyes, it was all too fascinating not to touch, but they were explicitly prohibited to touch it as stated by the menacing looking guards.
"Welcome everyone to the Bahner Science Conference! I am Professor Escherich Baumer, head of the Escherich Research Division and Father of Conventional Interdimensional Travel" murmurs could be heard from the crowd, who wouldn't know about Escherich and his Division, it was one of the most famous thinktanks in Germany, but only a few selected individuals knew that, even among the science community.
"I am here to give everyone here a proposal" everyone seated leaned closer, some were being ready to write down the proposal in their notebooks, keen on listening the genius, that was Escherich.
"Become my subordinates" Instantly, outrage... Everyone went into a frenzy calling the man who had transported 3 diffirent continents to a new world, stupid. "Gentlemen" Escherich said slowly, his grin from before disappearing from his wrinkly face, what they thought was just a silly old man from his appearance alone made him look like fear incarnate.
'Oh no' Gertrude knew where this was going, the sudden change in the atmosphere, what was once a curious and fun convention that would showcase the technology Escherich would give to Deutschland, has now turned into a hostage situation, everyone seated tried to get up and leave, but were instantly blocked by the Supersoldaten standing guard, their large statures made the participants shrink in fear due to the menacing appearance of these men clad in iron armor who bore the Insignia of the Party.
"How about we watch a film I have prepared"
Gertrude who has been watching from the control room knew what Escherich was doing the moment he brought up the film.
Then in an instant.
*Snap*
The lights went out, then went on. Everyone had blank expressions on their faces, Escherich nods to the guards and dragged the participants away, all 200 of them.
"Escherich, I thought we were going to convince them without using that?"
"I didn't like the way they hurled those harsh words to my little soft heart, so I used that" shrugging off Gertrudes angry look as he walked off the stage.
Escherich just watched as the guards kept dragging the participants away and into a room, a sign hung atop the door frame with the words 'Briefing Room'.
"Well that takes care of everything, tomorrow we will now have a monopoly on the Reichs Scientific Community and its heavy industries"
Gertrude still had the same angry look aimed at Escherich who laughed at her face.
"We needed to do it in the future anyways, they would never be convinced otherwise"
"We could have used other methods instea-"
"I just ticked off multiple research objectives because of that! We can finally use the Reichs human resources with ease, our cloning stations haven't reached maximum capacity to replace those figureheads yet, infact I have saved us alot of paperwork and manpower that could be directed at something else!" Escherich visibly frustrated at his wife stormed off, he couldn't believe it, he has saved everyone pointless work by using that one simple trick and when it finally worked Gertrude was utterly disappointed, he didn't like the face she made when she came up to him from the control room.
"People these days.. Augh" Escherich kicked at the Uberconcrete wall, nearly causing permament damage to his foot.
"Is everything alright sir?" An Ubersoldat walked up to him, offering to carry him to the infirmary if he needed to.
"No, Im fine, would you mind leaving me alone for now Soldier?"
"Uhm, yes sir!" Saluting he marched away from the old scientist who was now leaning against the wall.
"Well that has erased another one of my uncertainties" Escherich crashed to the floor, his bum impacting it trying to cushion the fall, but it ached, why was there no bench here in the first place? He asked himself.
----------
A new day had dawned the Reich, the Ausmerzer and the Panzerhunds were released and joined the Reichs glorious armies, looks like conditioning the citizens to finally accept that this was the new present didn't take as long, in fact they have tried to pet a Panzerhund if they came across it.
The roles of the Panzerhund was the same as regular patrol dogs, replacing a majority of them with the Panzerhunds and their undeniable reliability on many fronts of the war, from simple patrolling to policing and even being in actual combat, it had excellent anti-air capabilities as well as anti-tank and infantry support capabilities making it highly popular amongst the troops, field tests have shown that it could in fact tear through tank armor with ease and is useful in clearing trenches and buildings thanks to its anatomy and sensors, as for the Ausmerzer it has shown promise as a light aircraft carrier flying above the battlefield, it was modified to be thrice larger compared to the Wolfenstein games to accomodate the needed forward plane command and to support offensives wherever necessary, it is capable of launching three fighters all at once or one bomber with a capacity of atleast 20 aircraft and 50 light vehicles as well as 10'000 men.
"The Ausmerzers are now patrolling the skies of Berlin being met with jubilation and cheers! This is wonderful" Gertrude reads a newspaper about the war with the front page showcasing the large Ausmerzer over the Brandenburg Gate with thousands waving the flag of the Reich.
"See? I did this to smoothen the process, we can say that someone from Messerchmitt and Horten collaborated with us, making this even more believable since we are including some big names"
"Indeed, but what about the Japanese and Italian divisions? The way the war is going Hitler would leave nothing for Italy and Japan might protest to giving back former German Colonial holdings in Asia and Polynesia"
"Ahh but my darling, you mustn't worry since I have already done the necessary steps to make sure that doesn't happen"
"Well, if you say so, but what about the incident over at devil town? We have already sent over a Ausmerzer as well as a Battalions worth of Panzerhunds but the report is really concerning nonetheless"
"That is not our responsibility, we control science and production, and besides the Wehrmacht would have little difficulty dealing with them now that the Panzerhunds have arrived"
"I guess so"
"Anything about the modernization of the Reich yet?"
"Ah yes, I almost forgot sorry, Albert Speer has already approved of the reconstruction of Germany now that the Das Faust has been presented to them, we will also be able to launch satellites once we have been allocated enough land for our launching sites"
"What about replacing manual labor in favor of automation?"
"There are still some uncertainties about that but once we prove that our androids are more capable than a minimum wage worker then they will switch, the Department of Energy has raised some concerns about power generation though but we can easily mitigate it by using the engines of the Ausmerzer, it should be sufficient enough based off of our simulations for generating enough power to Germany, Himmler has requested that we also move forward with the modernization of the V2 and Jet program"
"Everything falls in place then, alright use our resources to modernize the V2 and the Jets and while we are at it release a more efficient and cleaner power generation method, something like our Solar panels should do the trick and push forward with the automation project"
"Alright I'll pass everything forward"
"Ok then, take care now we're having some Sushi later"
Escherich sat still in his leather office chair in the same office he has grown attached to after working for years now, he couldn't hold it in.
"Finally, now we play" Escherich said with an excited tone, his entire body shaking in excitement.