Conspiracy, chapter one

SS-Untersturmführer Francine Albright lit what was now her second cigarette and continued to bounce her left foot up and down rapidly against the floor nervously, causing her chair to shake ever so slightly. The dark haired woman glanced at the other two conspirators seated in the small conference room. Despite the fact that the room had been searched methodically for bugs, both electronically and physically, Albright couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that they were all under observation and any moment now Ilsa's stormtroopers would burst through the sealed door and mowed them down under the chatter of machine gun fire...or worse, take them prisoner back to the Red Doctor or Ilsa herself for interrogation. If the others thought anything like that they were putting on a good poker face. SS-Obersturmführer Helen Trevor looked as cool a character as they come. Tall, beautiful and perfectly Aryan, the Obersturmführer didn't smoke or drink to her knowledge despite everythign she had been put through. Albirght had served under her as junior commander now for more than a year and had come to respect her both as an officer and as a friend. Trevor was been in a series of violent relationships, both within her family and with other men and finally joined the US military as an escape. Instead her victimization continued and it wasn't long before she was discharged, her charges or rape and misconduct shuffled off to a dust-bin somewhere. Helen had joined the Reich for a lot of the same reasons she had: Anger, frustration, a chance to get back at a world that refused to stop kicking them down. What they got instead was a lot of the same bullshit but with chemical dependance and sadism as a bonus. Most of the girls who joined up accepted it, or even learned to wield it themselves like a blunt instrument.


The other woman seated at the end of the table was SS-Rottenführer Claudia Strausser, also stone-faced. Strausser wore a black eyepatch and had a patch of scar-tissue on the left side of her face. Albright heard she had survived a terrible assault from the Crimson Conservative and that her crisp, grey uniform covered the majority of the horrific injuries inflicted on it, but outside of that she knew nothing about her. Strausser was a confidante of Helen's that she only knew in passing. Tall, and coldly beautiful even with her injuries, Claudia Strausser was highly intelligent and physically imposing. This was the longest Albright had actually been in the Rottenführer's presence.


For a long time no one had spoke beyond the pleasantries and Albright hoped she was not going to be the one to have to break the silence. When Trevor spoke up she breathed a quiet sigh of relief.


"I've read over your proposal Rottenführer. Frankly I have some concerns Claudia." she stated matter of factly.


"I assumed you would." Strausser answered smiling. "I'd love to hear them Helen."


"For example, I'd like to know who this mysterious contact is that is giving you all this valuable information. It will be our asses on the line. How can you be so sure this isn't a trap?"


"I know the contact personally. I can vouch for them with my life, but for now I cannot reveal who it is."


"Bloody hell Claudia!" Helen exclaimed with a hiss, "Do you understand what it is that you are suggesting? What could happen to all of us? How can you keep something this vital a secret and expect me or my squad to support you?"


Helen's gaze turned sharply from Strausser to the surprised Albright. "Put out that damned cigarette Untersturmführer! For every two you smoke, I smoke one."


Albright nodded sharply and ground out her cigarette in the ashtray nearby as Claudia continued. Strausser took out one of her own much to Helen's growing irritation.


"You aren't my squad commander and right now I need one." Claudia smirked as she lit the tobacco at the tip. She took a long drag off it before continuing. "Believe me Helen we go back a long time and I want to tell you, but I can't...not yet anyway. Suffice to say it is someone very close to the Reichsführer. All of the information is accurate."



Francine finally spoke up, directing the question that had been nagging her toward the young Rottenführer.



"I'm a bit confused on one point. You claim that Ilsa uses a serum to keep herself human. I was under the impression that the serum is what transformed her into that thing."



Claudia shook her head. "She wants everyone to believe that. No, Genocide is her real form. Ilsa Hauppman is just a disguise she uses and the serum is an inhibitor. She takes a dose of it every morning to control her transformations. The single dose we have been supplied with will keep her from becoming that monster and keep her vulnerable to conventional weapons."


"The dose given to you by your same mysterious source." Helen snapped. "Whose to say it has any effect at all on her and isn't just colored water."


"It isn't colored water, it's definitely a chemical compound of some kind." Claudia responded. "I had someone uninvolved in this take a brief look at it, but they couldn't tell me what it was for exactly. I didn't press them since I don't want that kind of attention."


"So what is your plan exactly?" Albright pressed, throwing up her hands. "You want to simply kick in the Reichsführer's door, stab her with this serum and shoot her to death? You think it will be that simple of a fucking task?"


"No..." Claudia stood up and motioned with her black, gloved hand, of which she only had three remaining fingers. "Here is what I am proposing. The first obstacle was getting her out of her headquarters. It's far too secure and full of any number of unknown elements. In exactly a week's time Ilsa will be making an unscheduled inspection tour of her active squadrons, mine included. My contact has made sure that I am the second name on her list to visit. The next obstacle was to make certain that Scharführer Terry Keller is not with her on this tour. She's a headache we don't need and my contact has reassigned her for this particular inspection tour..."


"Your contact has that kind of authority?" Helen balked.


"That...or certain commands were confused and orders misunderstood. Which do you think is more likely? Ilsa relies on dozens of daily communication reports since she rarely ventures out and above ground. All it would take would be one of those to be disturbing enough to dispatch her hulking brute to investigate and deal with accordingly."


Obersturmführer Trevor became quiet and allowed Strausser to continue.


"Without Keller...or her fat-assed psychic I might add, who I hear tell has been taken into police custody...our job becomes that much easier. We wait, let her inspect my unit and then she will want to meet with me personally to give me her report, possibly new orders and have a drink. Predictable since that is exactly what happened the last two times she arrived. Ilsa...likes me. She enjoys that fact that I am a combat veteran and produce results. She enjoys drinking with me as if she is reliving the good old days in Berlin or some such rubbish. In any event, she will of course have some of her personal, enhanced bodyguard with her. It won't be her entire unit, since she is in my territory and will feel safe. The plan is simple. I intend to slip the serum into her drink beforehand. She may have one of her soldiers check it, but near as I can tell this inhibitor does nothing to normal human beings. It is modified to only react with her specific blood chemistry. After a few drinks, while her guard is done and she is relaxed, that is when I will strike. I intend to gun down the stormtroopers in the room with us and then kill the Reichsführer. Then, after the loyal elements in my squad and I secure the location, I will put out a statement that the Reichsführer is dead and that she was assassinated by elements loyal to Obersturmbannfuhrer Anna Holt in an attempt to assume full command of the Fourth Reich. You will support this claim and arrest Holt, whom you will have already moved into position to intercept. Without Holt or Ilsa to give commands we will then be poised take control of the organization ourselves."


"My God..." Albright muttered looking down at the floor before covering her face with her palms.


"And what about Mr. Black?" The tall blonde woman asked raising an eyebrow.


"What about him?" Claudia responded, "I cannot plan for all the possible fallout but Black has never seemed interested in any sort of command or control of the organization. If he does attempt to assume control we will have to deal with it then, though honestly I have no idea what we would do against such a creature. Negotiation seems like the best approach. Ilsa will be dead, Holt arrested and we will be the new leaders of the Reich. Black seems to enjoy utilizing our resources and technologies and I see no reason not to indulge him as Ilsa did."


"And the rumor that she's fucking him?" Albright pressed, her voice sounding high and squeaky.


Claudia chuckled and tossed away her spent cigarette butt. "I don't see how it changes anything. We simply cannot defeat Black. If he intervenes against us, we're doomed, but at the very least so is the organization upon her death so look at it as a Pyrrhic victory."


"Madness..." Albright mumbled into her hands.


"Pull yourself together Untersturmführer!" Helen barked, at which the junior officer sat up trembling.


Strausser leaned in over the table at the black-haired, younger woman. "No madness is continuing to allow Ilsa Hauppman to destroy us all with her twisted version of Hitler's legacy. It is a doomed philosophy and she will drag us all to hell with her fallen leader. If we were a clear-thinking, goal-oriented criminal organization then this fucking Canadian Syndicate would be ashes right now. We would not throw women and resources away frivolously locked in a death-struggle with that Soviet Superwoman or any of those other capes. Our coffers would be full and our strikes would be quick, decisive and without mercy, hell we shouldn't even be using this city as a base of operations! Nazism is our true enemy my friends and Ilsa Hauppman is the worst of a bad lot."


"I still wish I knew who was giving you all this support." Obersturmführer Trevor continued, running a hand through her long blonde hair. "We are taking all the risk."


"I am taking the most risk and I am not ready to reveal my contact." Claudia snapped. "Do I have your support in this, both of you?"


Obersturmführer Trevor looked deep in thought for a moment, holding her hands up in front of her face. Her slender fingers flexed as folded together as she nodded her support. Albright nodded as well upon seeing her superior and friend reply. Claudia stood up and put her uniform hat back on, adjusting it on her head as she spoke to the two seated women.


"Good. Then hopefully, with God's grace, this time two weeks from now Ilsa Hauppman will be stone dead."


To be continued...

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First a major thank you to my dear, dear friend for this striking and picture-perfect render of Claudia Strausser. Joe was a last minute replacement for Nathan whose computer has sadly had a meltdown. Joe, I can't thank you enough!

Soviet Superwoman, Genocide, Claudia Strausser, Helen Trevor, Francine Albright and the story are all my creations and property.

Anna Holt, Terry Keller, the Red Doctor and the much discussed Mr. Black all belong to my good friend

This story takes place underneath