Vol I | Chapter III

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In their slow dreadful march to the snowy mountains' top, a light within the midst of a small blizzard night had caught the attention of the Watchmaster – as the figure appeared to be the shape of a lit shelter – a bright beacon in their predicament.

Upon judgment, the injured Watchmaster that leaned heavily against the Grenadier, with an arm wrapped and swung around the back of the Grenadier's neck, she made her decision known by a mere nod. Knowingly enough, the Grenadier followed the direction of the emitting blurry light as he kept an arm around the Watchmaster's waist, hoisting the sergeant throughout their trek should she slip and lose her strength and grip and footing.

Thrust into an unknown place, and armed only with a shovel, the Grenadier had been tasked such a heavy burden so early since his promotion. However, such a struggling and the harsh situation did not make the Grenadier flinch, rather he faced it head-on without hesitance – with a shovel in hand, and the other supporting the Watchmaster – he will pull through whatever obstacles that may be, until death claims him in doing so. While the korpsmen limp in their march, as they did support the other, an excruciating grunt escaped in a form of a muffle through the skull-face gas mask, who belonged to the Watchmaster who was kneeling down onto one knee, whose body was spent and downright exhausted. Yet, the Watchmaster's will remained unbreakable, as in a poor attempt to push onward and stand, she nearly fell forward and collapse to the ground – that was until the Grenadier swooped in and held the Watchmaster in place, preventing it so.

The act and gesture displayed by the Grenadier had piqued the Watchmaster's interest since their transmigration to another place, or world. Comradery had never been a 'thing' in the Death Korps, only ever just another 'pair of hands' to fight alongside with. It was easier that way, she spared a thought. The Death Korps of Krieg, was no place for such bonds, only ever the objective, the completion of the mission, and the Emperor's Will and his forgiveness. Therefore, with only those fixed and wired in every korpsman's mind – the Grenadier had incited something rare.

Over the course of several campaigns, the Watchmaster who has risen in ranks, from regular infantry, to Grenadier and to at the current rank – Masha has never witnessed such extent of 'attention' and 'care' among guardsmen, just as herself, she would not wait and tend to the wounded nor offer a glance until only ever the battle has ended. Everyone had duties to perform, and everyone had the responsibility to carry it – concluding the Death Korps function with every guardsman taking on their role, and that their health comes second or to none at all.

As such, while the heavily injured Korpsmen set out once more through the breeze and cold-turned night, they are unaware of the search parties gaining in on them.

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"It may just be the cold, but the place is starting to give me the creeps." A young junior officer; a recruit, stuttered as the dropping temperature settles in. "Never been the type to appreciate and embrace Nature, and all its wilderness, huh Rookie?" The recruit's veteran partner amusingly asked, as he and his partner, and a few others with leashed dogs spread out into the massive woods. "No, that's not it. I mean you saw the ginormous church that's sink into the woods! Heck, I can safely assume that it's bigger than St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City – the largest cathedral on Earth. Now, I may not be religious, but if it's a place of worship and it's in that scale, ain't going to lie something is definitely off." Their youngest officer's speculation made those that heard took a moment to reflect their situation – what were they searching, and if they do stumble upon someone or something, what would it do?

"Beats me, Rookie. All I want to know is, in that size if it had been from outer space and penetrated our orbit. We'd be gone like the dinosaurs when it hit impact, so seeing that we're still walking and talking and freezing our balls off. Hey, Charlie what'd you think?" Chad passed the question along, hoping their conversation carries on as the eerie silence from the dark woods made them shiver differently than the cold does to their bodies. "Well no shit, Chad. If it came from space and acted like a fuckin' meteor, how the fuck is it still in one piece?! I mean sure, it looks decrypted and is broken to pieces and parts and all, but I'm pretty sure if you threw a rock at such speed it'd crumble to dust – not to pieces." Before Chad could return another question from up his ass, the sound of bush rustling gained all the officer's attention all at once. "What was that?!" The Rookie cop shrieked as he and the others frantically pointed their flashlight at the bushes.

It had not been a few seconds later, that the dogs began to growl, snarl, and bark, which forced the officers to investigate. In their slow cautious approach and guns equipped in their hands, the troubling and shocking sound of shattering bones tore their attention from the bushes to stare at the disgusting horrendous sound coming from just behind them. "What the fuck?!" the scene was brief as when they caught sight of a perpetrator that had casually bashed the head of their officer who laid then unconscious and bleeding. The terrifying visage of a skull-face gas mask, and bloodied uniform – as it rushes them and used the dark woods as cover as the men took their aim. "I lost him! Where'd he go?!" "Argh!" a yelp pulled their attention to the source, and another man dropped unconscious, or possibly dead. "Requesting backup! A possible armed hostile within the area and two officers are down, I repeat two officers are down!" "Someone checks Charlie's and Gregory's pulse! Everyone else, make a damn circle shoulder-to-shoulder and keep your eyes peeled!" an officer relayed the order, and slowly in their tight closed formation covering all angles, they checked their downed fellow officer's pulse. "Still alive! Both of them! But might have a concussion after the severe blow to their heads." The Rookie reported, and Charlie couldn't help but talk about the 'soldier' they saw. "So anyone wants to confirm we got a world war 2 stormtroopers up in here stalking us?" "A ghost from the past, or just some crazy maniac that is into cosplaying, I don't give a flying fuck. It wants to kill us!"

Moments have passed by since the last assault, and in their brief respite – their guards down and lowered, the Watchmaster and Grenadier blitzkrieg the grouped officers in a mad sprint. Their flashlights had been knocked from their grip as it all fell to their feet, showing on their footing as their attacker beat the other to a pulp. Helpless, the officers made poor attempts to defend themselves from their assailant, as others crouched to pick their flashlight only to receive a knee to their nose and face. By then, all of the officers have been knocked unconscious without a fire shot, in great anticipation that they would accidentally hit one of their own. The strategic battle was perfectly won by the Imperial Guardsmen.

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It had been the Korpsmen that had found their pursuers first before their pursuers did. With that in their advantage, the ever-attentive gaze of the Watchmaster strategically calculated every possible plan to execute the most efficient yet effective approach – that be to interrogate the possible hostiles and collect intel, in the case they were in a non-imperial world.

Sharp and attentive, the Watchmaster had sensed the presence of the approaching squad at their tail, coming in hot in their pursuit, which had given little time to coordinate their next move. However, as Watchmaster in both title and rank, she rightfully earned it when within a blink of an eye – she was able to perfectly align and coordinate with the Grenadier as they split and encircled the squad that had just passed through. At their new position at the enemy's rear, she had given a strict order to the Grenadier – To use enough force or as lethal, so long as death is not inflicted – in a stern and firm tone despite showing signs of difficulty breathing.

As the Korpsmen continued to stalk the oblivious squad of cops, one among the group who suffered from asthma took a moment behind as he tried to catch up in breath. "You guys go on ahead, I need some quick air rest." The officer nearly whizzed as he spoke, but was heard nonetheless as Chad gave a thumbs up signaling – he heard. However, what went unheard was the rustling bushes until the first victim had been claimed, and like dominoes, one after the other was lost to their attacker until it had been too late and the danger had finally come to past, as all of them are left severely injured and battered, but unconscious and alive.

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"Requesting backup! A possible armed hostile within the area and two officers are down, I repeat two officers are down!" "Someone checks Charlie's and Gregory's pulse! Everyone else, make a damn circle shoulder-to-shoulder and keep-" The transmission had sent the police in the area over the edge at the potential hostiles that could have apparently had come along with the gothic cathedral that landed ruined and smacked at its impact within the tall and large mountains, yet its size alone was enough to compete with a mountain in both length and height. It had been an awe-striking sight to the first responders, and to any others that looked over the dark valley hills only to realize there within the thick fog and darkness was an enormous structure – and what made it so frightening was it could depict about a horror story of Vampires and their castle in fictional stories – yet the said-castle wouldn't be large to the extent as the cathedral they were seeing. In conclusion, everyone's thoughts were; this was a big deal.

The eye-catching blue and red hue lights lit the woods and nearby area as fire trucks, ambulances, and police cruisers light the narrow dirt road that goes deeper into the valley – strongly keeping the entry and its perimeters off-limit. That was until the massive large-scale area called for air support – and in addition to the troops and cruisers on the ground, there were now flying helicopters hovering through the woods and hills and cliffs with their bright searchlights scanning through the dense woods.

Among the flying 'birds' in the sky fixed in a deep search for the missing squad – a Superhero descent to meet with the officers stationed near the roadblock to the woods. "How is the situation here, officer?" The familiar and well-known voice of their city's superhero asked, to which pulled all their attention from their manual tasks to answer – Supergirl. "Situation is unclear at the moment. We got a missing squad, and potential hostile extraterrestrial." The male officer informed, until his female partner interrupted, "Yeah aside from the common threat that could annihilate a city apart, and those Supervillains – I got to say this one is just 'new' into my list of 'potentially more deadly threats' if I have a say" Slightly bewildered at what could be 'new' as the black lady has put, the male officer simply gestured as he stuck a thumb to the direction behind him and into the wood valley. 'Weird how she didn't see that when she arrived or flew down. Meh, I got more shit to worry about and that's what do I have for dinner.'

Following the direction pointed, she saw the largest structure she has yet seen that looked to be man-made, during her time on Earth, she has seen structures built in past ages and eras and compared them to modern buildings. Kara has noted that though there were alien structures that could easily stand triumph – the enormous Cathedral that lay ruined was capable of competing with humongous alien building standards. "Wow," she exclaimed as her eyes took in its charm and majestic look. 'Shoot! I better get back to work, otherwise, I might miss our date night.' Kara shook her head as an excited smile took over as she thought of her best friend Lena Luthor.

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As the Korpsmen looted and stripped their prisoners of their tools and possessions, the Grenadier had taken an interest on a firearm in which he inspected – a pistol – to which he recognized as he compared it to the ones Kommisars had holstered and use, except he reckoned it wasn't as powerful as a laspistol or bolt-pistol. Further in his inspection, it appeared to not be powered by power-cell, thus confused he attempted to locate the clip and look to the kind of ammo it holds until a rugged glove fell upon his shoulder pad. In a swift turn to look over, he was met with the Watchmaster – who had her other hand laid open-palm – to which gestured the weapon over.

In an interaction without words being uttered and exchanged, the Grenadier could almost appear saddened as he surrendered the intriguing weapon. However, as the Watchmaster began to demonstrate the machinery's functions and tweaks, the Grenadier watched in awe and sang praises to the Omnissiah. When the demonstration had all been witnessed, the Watchmaster returned the firearm to what could be told in the terms of body language – that the Grenadier seemed to be 'excited' – to which the Watchmaster thought was a peculiar Guardsman.

"Finally found you." A tired voice began as the Watchmaster and Grenadier immediately tracked for the source until a woman descent from the black starry skies. 'Another Psyker?!' the Watchmaster cursed and scowled at the sight that the Psyker was human, and to be a Psyker whilst a human was either be purged and killed, or sent to Holy Terra to be anointed a cleansed Psyker and instilled into the Inquisition. However, until the Psyker's allegiance is confirmed, the Watchmaster would take no chance to waste.

With hands gripping their weapons, and the Watchmaster holding a pistol and a bayonet in both hands as did the Grenadier with a shovel, Supergirl continued to stare between the two guardsmen until the korpsmen made their move. Running into a sprint heads-on towards the enemy while they shoot, Supergirl had merely reflected all the rounds like it were nothing – that was until close combat took initiate and the dodging, hitting, stabbing and cutting took effect. The weapons were useless against the Superhero, though she still feints to keep on defending and weaving and ducking. Until she grabbed hold of the fast-approaching shovel aimed for her head, and maneuvered it to strike the tree instead – forcing it stuck – as she soon kicked the Grenadier in the gut causing him to fly and bluntly hit a tree. 'Surely that's enough to keep him down and dizzy.' She huffed as though exhausted, but wasn't, as she continued on without breaking a sweat.

"You need to calm down! And talk! We haven't even talked yet and you're already swinging your-" Kara attempted to reason and converse but it fell short when it went through deaf ears as she was continuously pounced by the 'soldier'. "You leave me no choice!" and with forceful hands, Supergirl carefully acted a restraining maneuver as she placed the Watchmaster in a submissive and venerable position. "Just-just keep still, won't you?!" Supergirl huffed not out of exhaustion, but in being extremely careful in applying just the right pressure to hold the Watchmaster, but instead came more defiance and stubbornness until the crazy fanatic dislocated her own arm joint just to break free – which had briefly shocked the Superhero so much at her opponent's fury determination that those swift moments allowed the Watchmaster to use her intact and working arm and grabbed hold of her bayonet. It was by some favor of miracle, that Supergirl had been quick enough to stop the Watchmaster's advance.

It was a wide and very known fact, that bullets or nearly anything would not deter or effect a Kryptonian. However, just like any sentient being – no matter how small the danger may be presented; who would in right minds would voluntarily allow themselves to be the experiment to seek out just how invincible he or she was.

Locked in place, the hand that gripped tightly onto the bayonet as the Watchmaster forces and pushes everything she had left into it – only for the bayonet not to move any further as it was, as her hand's wrist was firmly gripped by Supergirl who had a frightening look painted on her face. 'These are nut-jobs! Absolute nut-jobs!' Kara screams out all inside her head as she kept the terrifying bayonet at bay.

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