Yelena smiled a little at the exploding head of the panzerfauster. It was quite a shot from that distance, and the sniper still took pride in her work. When the view through her scope seemed to suggest that the enemy were surrendering, she took a moment to reload and then looked over at Lyagushova, her spotter. [Language unknown: "E rotiis u ic teaspa ers ecouev. Isckie houlil ponc wilonsble."]

The blonde didn't wait for a response, but started to quickly and quietly move back toward her comrades with Lyagushova close behind.

Well.

Lena hadn't expected that.  She should have, it made sense.  She'd almost forgotten, because that missive had been weeks and weeks ago, before they stopped contacting her at all.  Lena actually had no idea if any of her reports had been getting through to Allied intelligence, she'd just been dutifully following standing orders.

It was difficult to answer too.  Except for two occassions where she'd been used as a cut-out, Lena hadn't used spoken English in literal years; it lived on in her thoughts and in her encoded messages (though calling that "English" was being generous).

"[Language unknown: Ec polefo blemenine trbe beint atiek.]"  She replied in a low voice, hoping the general din and confusion would not make it clear she did, in fact, speak the language, because Lena Vogt was a good German girl who didn't know a word of that foreign blather.  "[Language unknown: Unyin fi nt eau ee p ichecttic m m omeic houvirnde peons venthuave i al n mevor a relo Wasereble i wipr isloniek.]"

With that Lena screamed at him and flailed ineffectively with her fists.  "[Language unknown: Ectblesomhou any!  On rewh ouos Romntewil!]  Heil Hitler!"

She was not looking forward to a soldier punching her in the stomach, but she hadn't left herself a lot of options for maintaining cover.  Taken prisoner by invading soldiers was a good end to Lena Vogt though, it closed the book on what happened to the girl from Tübingen: eaten by Americans.

Arthur hadn't expected that and stared at the nurse for a moment.... That quickly changed when she then started screaming...

As he was trying to shield her he wasn't too keen on her shouts drawing fire in their direction so as she had asked he complied and grabbing the back of her neck he. Rough his fist into her stomach... He didn't put too much force in it but used the punch and force on the back of her neck to double her over without hurting her too much.

As she bent over he bent down and took her up over his shoulder and as he started to trot back towards their own side he whispered slightly embarrassed "sorry about that"

I haven't rolled to hit as I assume lena was going to allow it to happen

Lena folded like an accordion and went limp and silent.  It didn't really make sense, anatomically, for a punch to the gut to cause unconsciousness, but she hoped the Germans were so distracted they would not think to analyze it.  Plus it wasn't too crazy it would stun her, she'd portrayed her legend as helpless and fragile.

She said nothing, she was the poor nurse who'd just been brutally beaten by vicious Allied invaders and taken away to be raped and cannibalized.

More Russians enter the tunnel, roughly handling the surviving Hitler Youth and dragging them against the wall, yelling at them.

Konnikov sends First Platoon to set up a perimeter to the North, while the Second starts searching the stadium for more soldiers. Some panicked screams of men and women can be heard from inside, but it is relatively quiet, after all.

Arthur carries Lena back towards the bell tower and out of earshot of everybody else and lets her down. The Russian Third Platoon forms a circle around her and the Allied officers, offering a secure space of sorts to have a quick talk and a chance to discuss their next steps.

((Every PC is present and the group is united. Hurray!))
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:57, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

Once she saw the other members of her platoon, Yelena stowed her rifle and shouldered her way into the encirclement. If nothing else, she wanted to keep an eye on the proceedings.

Max knelt down and spoke quietly to the captured nurse. "We are out of sight and earshot of any Nazis. Are you okay?"

Lena looked at the G.I., and then laughed a little.  She spoke strangely.  Her time in Germany speaking German, and not just speaking German but specifically speaking a particular High German dialect authentically and doing her best to imitate her mother's accent had permanently altered her speech patterns.

"I just spent five years on a god damn Nazi pecker to get access to The Party's garden parties so I could report who was there and what they were talking about while helping bandage those sister kissing murdering bastards so they could get better and go kill some more.  So no."  It was a partial lie, she hadn't literally spent five years screwing Arthur.  Three and a half.  "But that's my problem and I'll get over it.  It's over... Oh God...  it's over..."

She shook and trembled.  Lena (she couldn't bring herself to call herself Katie just yet) had been scared to death of being discovered and horrifically tortured and killed every day for so long she couldn't help it.

She recollected herself quickly though.  She could freak out later, she'd have the rest of her life to be traumatized.  This... wasn't really over. It wasn't over until she was back in Pennsylvania and her parents were safe.  It wasn't going to be this easy.  They'd warned her about that before she left, the Allies would want to find certain people, certain facilities, documents proving war crimes, and track down any SS who would try to flee the country.  She hadn't been installed in Berlin to sell Girl Scout Cookies.

A part of her had changed though.  Initially, she was terrified of the Nazis, but over time she'd learned to hate them, hate them completely and utterly.  Right now, the thought crossed her mind she hoped more than anything that these soldiers would kill the people she'd been spying on.  All of them.  That such a hope found root in her heart disturbed her and she wondered if hatred hadn't led her to become the thing she purported to hate so much.

She looked back up at the soldier, and wasn't sure what to say.  Do you thank them?  Ask his name?  Ask about her parents?  No, he wouldn't know about her parents, no one they actually sent out here would.  Ask for orders?

"So... uh... anything interesting happen back home while I was away?"

It was her best attempt at a joke.  She sounded like a German who could do an uncanny American accent.

Arthur lowered the nurse down gently still embarrassed that he had hit her

He turned to max "we can talk later at present this lady is now my patient and as such under my care...." he looked towards the fighting... "sir perhaps you'd like to go finish off some nazis" he hoped it didn't sound disrespectful

Then he turned his attention to the nurse.

"my name is Arthur now I really need to check you out but I think you've been man handled enough for one day so if you could direct me to any injuries you might have ill deal with them as quickly as possible"

Once everything had calmed down, and they had regrouped at the bell tower, Julius watched and observed the debrief of the "nurse", Lena.

He didn't want to push her for information - That wasn't his role here, but he didn't want to miss her saying anything about Kemmel either.

So he let Staff Sergeant Randel continue to look after her, not knowing what to do with himself.

"Ugh, that's an unfortunate name Arthur."  Lena couldn't help but laugh at the coincidence.  She had run from one Arthur to another.  Maybe she could call this one Good Arthur.  "But that's not your fault.  Unless you have a fifth of whiskey in that kit I don't think there's anything you can do for me other than help me stand up get me the hell out of here so I can take this nurse's uniform off, it sticks out like a sore thumb."

Now that was an expression she had not used in a long time.  She was surprised it came so easily.

"of course" Arthur said and held out his hand to help her up "simply call me Randel if that makes you feel more at ease" he added.

With that he moved her over to one of the building going in to make sure it was clear of men first "I have a change of clothes in my back pack, they might be a little on the big size but you are welcome to them for the time being" with that he pulled out a pair of army issue trousers a flannel shirt and a jacket. Looking down at her feet "you might have to continue wearing those shoes for now but I'll ask about to see if I can find some boots for you once you've changed" with that he backed out of the room and closing the door stood outside so that no one would walk in on her

As the men (and few women) of the Third platoon wait for the captured or rescued nurse to change into other clothes, a squad of the Russian first platoon escorts several men out of the stadium, their arms raised high above their hands. Behind the men walk the boys that had fought them earlier.
The men - most of them at least - wore doctors' coats, all stained with blood. The captives looked tired, exhausted and resigned to their fate.

The Russians kept yelling at them, pointing towards the wall of the stadium, and slowly, very slowly, did the Germans line up against it, putting their hands against the wall, their back to the Russians.

((Giving the group time to react.))

Arthur watched and slowly realised what was about to happen... He spotted max and moved over to him "Sir you can't let 5his happen they are prisoners they have rights even if we don't agree with their views.... Also there are children there sir you can't let this happen I didn't join up to take life without purpose this just makes us as bad as they are"

Seeing the German prisoners marched out by the Russians, and then when Randel makes his impassioned speech, Julius chirps up.

"I agree with the sergeant. They are children, doctors, prisoners. They aren't soldiers, dying on the battlefield. They surrendered. They should be punished, but not executed."

Max arched an eyebrow at Arthur's sudden change of heart. "Didn't you just tell me to go finish off some Nazis?"

He looked over at Julius and nodded. "It does happen that I generally agree with your assessment, even though they are enemy combatants. We would all be children, doctors, engineers, and many other things if not for war. But as I do not speak Russian, you can come with me."

"He looked over at Arthur. "Randel, you can find a volunteer or two to watch the prisoners while the rest of us continue with our mission."

Max then looked back to Julius and tipped his head toward the commander of the Soviet troops, then started walking that direction.

When Yelena saw Lena being led away from the group by a solitary man, she followed close behind with her weapon in hand. Her stance was protective and wary. While Arthur may not want to enter the room with Lene, Yelena certainly did.

Once they were alone, she nodded at the nurse. [Language unknown: "A ssoul lainth al Ersereher?"]

Lena was in the process of fishing a pin out of her nurse's uniform into the hem of the pants to try to keep them from being so long she'd walk on them.  It was improvised and awkward but it was working well enough.  She still had the nurse cap on however.  It tended to be the last part of the ensemble she removed due to having to slide out the hairpins.  She was honestly looking forward to never putting it on again, but she supposed for now she better keep it, a German nurse's uniform might continue to be useful for a time to come.

She was surprised, surprised that anyone joined her and surprised to see another woman.  The sight of other women besides her fellow nurses had almost completely vanished from her life over the last year or so and there'd been fewer and fewer of them as more and more went AWOL and the need for nurses swelled and the remaining nurses were stretched ever further and wider.  Before then there'd at least been the other women at Nazi high society events, but she hated them as much as if not more than the horrible men they accompanied, and a few female patients when she was at an actual hospital, but the men just displaced even that small minority from her life by sheer volume.  So many injured men.

"Oh hello there, afraid that's not English, though I don't exactly speak The King's."  She answered cheerfully, trying to make a joke but quickly realizing she wasn't funny.  She still sounded either like an American feigning a German accent or a German feigning an American accent, it would take some time before her native accent fully returned.  Not dwelling on it she tried her other option.  "[Language unknown: Mi Ughbletin o i eenwasast chinpo thudaylat?]"

Lena hoped it was one of the two.  Lena had been chosen for her unusual ability to speak German in a very particular and authentic way, not her ability to speak many languages.  Though maybe she was going to start picking those up before she knew it if this continued.

Arthur looked at max "well at the time they were shooting at us so they were the enemy but now they are prisoners" replied the medic before he went off to find two soldiers for guard duty

Arthur pointed at Johnson and Doyle and trotted off towards the prisoners about to be executed, yelling at the Russians as they get closer.



The Russian commander turns towards Max with an irritated look on his face. He said something in Russian to one of his subordinates.
[Language unknown: Resiwh, ei ultho pe t enivniis.
]

"Yes Major." Julius replied to Major Lewis, and then followed Lewis to the Russians. He was officially here to act as a translator after all.

When they arrived, he heard the commander request someone to translate for them.

With a cough to clear his throat, holding he hand up to his mouth, Julius speaks up. [Language unknown: Ulund enc ivset ck ivpr-ntiv. M som starutshecon.]

The Soviet commander looks at Jules with a face of granite.
[Language unknown: "Ugh sheredaststaith."]

He gestures at the troops and the prisoners.[Language unknown:
"O ectntecon elho tamone? Stwh eshat eerowe adutivchpa noof fiinad?"]

Turning to Lewis, Julius translates the commander's words. "He is asking if there is some kind of problem, and if we have identified our target."

Max shook his head. "No target yet. The problem is what appears to be a planned execution of properly surrendered combatants. If the Red Army is not prepared to take prisoners, then we will do so."

Watching as Lewis answered, Julius relayed the message back to the Russian commander. [Language unknown: Lo, no tiermo mant haus vennteher pro. Iome ilmell ou...] Julius then pauses, as if he is making sure to use the correct words and ordering. [Language unknown: romcomthasti ureconant le e, venantith. Prckevei, la histr san evpond labe? Eve Witesttho ith si theof thaameres nteet setrncse, t yinla.]