Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (31 page)

Terra watched, using her
shieldwatch to Speed her vision. Alya charged the tank first, pulling
the trigger on her sword. The tank exploded, sending a ripple of heat
and wind through the camp.

Nazis took cover behind
sandbags after drawing their weapons. The command tent flapped open
as Hanns and several SS officers rushed into the open to see the
disturbance.

Emmerich followed. “What's
going on?”

“She could at least humor us
by using tactics,” Hanns said. He turned to another soldier, one
who did not wear an SS uniform. “Just as we discussed.”

“Yes, sir. Good luck,” the
soldier said and then nodded. He ran to a nearby sensor post.

The SS soldiers focused fire
on Alya. Terra saw the bullets streaking towards Alya, but Alya Sped
her movements, dodging each bullet with her usual impossible grace.
Terra still found Alya's skill impressive even when compared with all
she had seen at the Academy.

When Alya reached the foremost
group of ten soldiers, she sent each to the ground with a few quick
strikes. Another group pulled out knives and batons. They charged
Alya together. She smiled.

Alya didn't bother to draw her
sword again. Each soldier attacked, hitting nothing but air, like
swatting rain in a hurricane. She met each attack with a counter
attack that landed another soldier on the ground, bleeding.

Terra's gaze followed Hanns as
he ran to one of the antenna like, time travel devices. He activated
it and a bright green glowing sphere formed like the one at the
library. Hanns's troops retreated through it, though the SS remained
fighting Alya.

“Hurry! Retreat!” Hanns
yelled, gesturing to his last few men.

Terra stood, knowing she
couldn't let Hanns escape again. She Slowed gravity around her and
jumped, clearing the razor wire before stumbling onto the ground.

Terra stood and moved into the
center of the camp, Speeding her movements to avoid stray shots that
flew close. Alya flipped one soldier and he rolled right in front of
Terra. The soldier groaned before standing.

“Enemy reinforcements!” he
yelled when he saw Terra's white uniform.

Terra's training, however
incomplete, still served her well. She didn't hesitate when the SS
soldier charged her. Moving fast into a defensive hand to hand
stance, Terra Sped her reflexes to deflect his first blow. Hand to
hand fighting with a shieldwatch felt different from her sparring
practice. The soldier's movements seemed trapped in slow motion with
each strike easily evaded.

The soldier collected himself
and charged again. Terra blocked his wide punch before she struck her
palm against his chin snapping the man's head back. The SS soldier
fell to the ground and Terra waited for him to stand. He didn't.

Terra stared at the beaten
soldier slack-jawed. “I got one!”

She then spotted Hanns. He
helped the last soldier through the portal, but did not step through
himself. Instead he ran inside a tent and scrambled out a moment
later, holding the strange clock like device he had used in the
library to escape. In his other hand he carried something small that
he put in his mouth.

Terra charged. Hanns turned,
pulling out a pistol with his left hand. He hesitated when seeing
Terra as though he recognized her, but his eyes widened when he saw
Terra's uniform.

Hanns took several shots.
Terra dodged, using her Sped vision and reflexes to avoid the
bullets. Each shot she evaded gained her a few more paces on Hanns.
When she drew near, Hanns pulled the trigger and his gun clicked.

Hanns slung the empty pistol
at her. She dodge it with ease. He then drew a knife, slashing at
Terra. Each time Terra weaved around the blade. His movements seemed
sluggish with the shieldwatch. When Hanns stumbled, she struck his
wrist sending the blade out of his hand. Hanns swung his fist at
Terra, but she blocked each blow with perfect precision.

Terra grinned as she marveled
at the power of the shieldwatch. She was in complete control of the
fight. Hanns couldn't touch her. She was invincible.

Her shieldwatch beeped.
“Battery power critically low. Shutting down non essential
functions,” came Minerva’s voice from Terra's shieldwatch.

Terra and Hanns stood still
for a moment.

Hanns grinned.

“Crap,” Terra said,
feeling her panic rise.

Hanns's strikes now came fast.
She struggled to evade them. When Terra stumbled, Hanns lunged,
slamming his fist into her stomach. Terra gasp, falling to the
ground.

Hanns wiped the sweat off of
his brow while turning his back to Terra.

Terra pushed herself up and
charged. Hanns noticed too late. He tried to turn to face her, but
Terra moved inside his reach before he could react. She put one foot
behind Hanns's own and grabbed his arm. Using Hanns's own center of
gravity, Terra flipped him over her shoulder and he landed on the
ground with a hard thump.

Hanns groaned and struggled to
stand. He collapsed. Terra sighed, looking to where Alya now stood.

Emmerich had Alya surrounded
by four tall SS soldiers.

“Filthy mongrel!” Emmerich
said with a grin. “These are my best men. They are of the purest
Aryan stock. They are–”

Alya moved in a flash,
striking each seemingly at the same time. The blur of her silver hair
made it appear as though a silver wind swept around them. The
soldiers all fell at once.

“Unconscious...” Emmerich
said as he watched his soldiers fall with widening eyes. He tried to
run, but Alya knocked him down before placing a foot on Emmerich's
back, preventing his escape.

Alya dusted off her hands.
“Well that was rather disappointing. The foes at the library put up
a much better fight.”

∞

Alya Restored the area after
their battle. All the villagers returned safely and no trace of the
Nazis, Terra, or Alya remained, save for the missing day in the
villager’s memories. With time Restored, Alya attached a
shieldwatch like device to Hanns and Emmerich and they both
disappeared when a glowing ring ran around them. Alya explained that
she sent them back to Saturn City for processing.

When they returned to the city
Alya disappeared, again leaving Terra with Hanns, a man named
Emmerich, and two Legionnaires who came to collect them for
processing. Terra stayed with Hanns and Emmerich who timeport
security brought into separate offices. They brought Hanns to an
interrogation room with a single table and two chairs. Terra guarded
him with two other Legionnaires.

One Legionnaire examined
Hanns's pocket watch like device. “This is really interesting tech,
Hanns. Where did you steal it from?”

Hanns raised an eyebrow.
“Steal? I built it.”

The man rolled his eyes.
“Right. And I'm from the Thirteenth Cohort.”

The second legionnaire looked
at the device. “Interesting. This device works like a salient. It
allows instant time travel between to spacial points by bridging two
times together. This allows time travel and teleportation. Caminus
will want to look at this for sure. Tiro, can you watch him?”

Terra nodded. “Yes, sir,”
she said unsure of proper protocol in this situation.

The two other Legionnaires
then left the room.

“I remember you now,”
Hanns said after the guards left. “You're that girl at the library
that attacked me. What is your name?”

“Terra.”

“Funny that these people
would conscript you after that, Terra.”

“I joined willingly.”

“Then you have bought into
their lies then.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you really think these
people are better than any other empire? They are just like the rest
of the corrupt imperialist democracies. They developed time travel
technology first so they enforce their will upon others using
technological superiority. It doesn’t make them right.”

“These people don't seem so
bad. Besides, like you have any room to talk.”

A timeport staff member walked
in, interrupting them. “Okay, Hanns, you are in the system. I will
send a legionnaire from the Third Cohort to escort you to Tartarus
shortly. Your trial will be in a few days,” he said while looking
at a holoface before glancing to Terra. “Could you watch him for a
few more minutes? The guard should be here soon.”

“Sure,” Terra said with
confidence now that her shieldwatch had partially recharged. “Do I
need to be careful of what I tell him?”

The man laughed. “He isn't
going anywhere. You can tell him whatever you want. It won't alter
time.”

Once the man left, Terra took
a seat at the table in front of Hanns. “Do you still think you are
hero, Hanns? Do you still think you are with the good guys?”

Hanns leaned forward on the
table, knitting his fingers together under his chin. “Why wouldn't
we be?”

Terra's brow lowered. “How
could you possibly think that?”

Hanns shrugged. “Because
it's true. What has democracy brought us? You say many great things.
Oh yes. The Great War is one thing it brought. It also brought us the
Great Depression. Your democracy has failed. You need strong
centralized leadership. Our system has proven successful. We brought
a dying country from the brink of extinction, turning it into a
mighty nation. Our science has even brought us through time itself.
Yes it is authoritarian, but power must be centralized to deal with
crises. Much like the dictators of ancient Rome.”

“You know who else said
that? The Naz... Oh right,” Terra said, focusing on Hanns's
steel-gray uniform. She had forgotten since he had removed his red
arm band. “What about what you did to the Jews and the other
peoples you oppressed?”

Hanns's brow knitted. “Well
surely being an American you can understand the problem with the
Jews? I do not go so far as many of my colleagues and delve into
conspiracy theories. The links between the Jews and the communist
party is tenuous as best and I find the Protocols of the Elders of
Zion of rather dubious authenticity myself. Why would those hoarding
wealth wish to redistribute it equally? Still, they are a people who
are holding us back by hoarding all the wealth. Something needs to be
done about it.”

Terra pointed at Hanns. “So
you kill them? Along with thousands of others; gypsies, political
prisoners, anyone who disagrees with you?”

Hanns leaned back, his eyes
wide. “What? No! Why would we do that?”

Terra stood, her hands on the
table. “So you really don't know?”

“Know what?” Hanns said in
an irritated tone.

Terra sat back down,
slack-jawed. “Are you that blind? Your nation commits genocide,
Hanns.”

Hanns chuckled. “Genowhat? I
am sure our quest for social justice is quite overstated in the
Americas. You shouldn't believe in such exaggerations. We would never
do such a terrible thing. History will redeem us.”

Terra's fists clenched as she
glared at Hanns. “Listen, Hanns. In my time your entire political
party is considered the worst villains in all of history. Nazis are
used as cheap disposable villains in video games, movies, and books.
That's because no one will ever feel bad for them no matter how many
of them the heroes kill. You practically have an entire television
channel dedicated to just how evil the Nazis and Hitler were. When
politicians want to slander their opponents they compare them to
Hitler. History didn't redeem you. It damned all of you. How can you
just sit there and still think you are the heroes in your own
personal Saturday morning cartoon?”

Hanns leaned back. After a
moment he cleared his throat before straightening his posture. “I
see now. You Americans are terrified of us. I suppose news of our
victories must have frightened you. You are clearly under the
influence of propaganda.”

Terra had to stop herself from
grinding her teeth. “No, Hanns! You don't win. You lose and you
lose bad. Germany gets chopped in half after the war is over and your
Fuhrer shoots himself in head rather than face trial for his war
crimes.”

Hanns smirked. “I highly
doubt that. I don't think England will charge across that channel
anytime soon.”

“Do you just blindly follow
orders? Don't you look around and see what's happening in your
country?”

A slight smile touched the
edge of Hanns's lips. “Without a sign, his sword the brave man
draws, and asks no omen, but his country's cause.”

Terra
sighed. This must be what it's like for other people to argue with
her. “Well Hanns, you are smug for someone who is about to spend
his life in prison,” Terra said with a grin.
Let
him chew on that
,
she thought.

Hanns smirk widened. “You
can't frighten me. These time travelers don’t frighten me either.
They have this magnificent city, but so was Atlantis and Troy. In the
end they all fell because of their hubris, as will this city. I'm
smarter than you and I'm smarter than them because I embrace the
truth.”