Invasion to harmony world

At the same time. Unknown where

Luster woke up in a strange room with bare concrete walls and the same floor, on which construction debris was scattered. She was brought to her senses by an unfamiliar sound, resembling the roar of something, and this something rushed under the window. The strangest find was an anthropomorphic creature without fur and in a decent black suit that lay right in front of her, but Luster had every right to assume that it was "she" and not "it" in front of her.
"What… What are you? Where am I and what did you do with Starlight?! Luster screamed in panic, trying to escape, but some strange changes in her body prevented her from jumping on her hooves. The only thing she did well was to crawl back.

The creature rose to its feet and, holding its head, gently reached out to Luster with a worried expression on its face.
"Luster, it's me! Calm down and don't shout like that!.."

"What?.." Luster tried for some time to remember where she had previously heard this voice, but then she realized that it was Starlight. "Starlight? What's the matter with you?"

"Well... let's start with "what's wrong with us," and continue with the fact that we are people," Starlight explained, but from the expression on Luster's face it was impossible to say that she believed, although as soon as she looked at herself, she almost panicked. Starlight had to grab her by the shoulders and shake her hard to bring her to her senses. "Calm down! Princess Twilight has been here before, and more than once… And so am I. A couple of times..."

"Was the princess here?.. And how… How are we going to get back?" It seems that Luster had endless questions on this topic in stock.

Starlight's attitude suggested that there wasn't much time, but she had a plan to get back.
"There's nothing to worry about, this world is as friendly and hospitable as Equestria, but only something has obviously changed here… Okay, get up, we need to figure out where Kanterlot High School is..." then she helped Luster to her feet, and the new form of movement somewhat confused her.

"How do these people walk on two hooves?.. Luster mumbled, balancing so as not to fall, simultaneously trying to feel something on her forehead. "And the horn? Where is my magic?"

"Let me tell you right away..." Starlight began to inspect the abandoned building, simultaneously scratching her chin and rummaging through her pockets. "Humans don't have tails, magic, hooves and wings… They have legs and arms," she pointed to this and that in order. "On the feet are feet, and on the hands are hands and fingers similar to the claws of griffins or hippogriffs… Well, then you'll figure it out yourself..."

Luster leaned on the window sill without a window frame and pointed at something, simultaneously calling out to her friend.
"Starlight, does this look like a school flag?"

Approaching the window, Starlight saw a narrow street previously unknown to her, and several red banners with a white circle and an unknown black symbol inside hung on the neighboring three-story beige building.
"Hmm... No, but maybe we just happened to be on the eve of the Night of Nightmares in the Crystal Empire and they hung up such flags?" panicked Starlight, realizing that in the Crystal Empire the Night of Nightmares is not celebrated, and remotely it looks like the banners of the King of Sombra... "Well, we'll have to walk along the streets and ask the locals where we are..." Starlight concluded, moving away from the windowsill and heading for the stairs leading to the first floor. Luster, after admiring the architecture of the neighboring building a little more, followed her, but experienced some difficulties during the descent due to the new body.

"How do people walk on two legs at all?" she moaned, gripping the metal railing tightly and slowly going down. The situation on the street resembled the situation in an abandoned building… There was a lot of garbage on the street, and in places there were piles of broken concrete and glass, some of the windows on the ground floors were boarded up with plywood and boards, and some buildings near the lower floors had sandbagged fortifications ... Not to say that there were battles in the city - rather, no one dared to rake these rubble or someone specially created similar conditions. "Starlight, are you sure everything's okay here?" Luster asked, looking at the squalid state of the street.

"I can't be sure of anything right now..." Starlight turned around and saw a radio tower and an ominous massive building. After seeing all this, she boldly began to draw analogies between the Crystal Empire under the yoke of King Sombra and this place. "Maybe Sombra showed up here?"

"You have ideas, don't you? Judging by this hefty clock, we have about an hour left before the opening of the festival," Luster said, looking at the large clock tower standing next to the tower and this building. Surprisingly, she kept calm, and the prospect of missing this ceremony because she was "stuck in an unknown world" looked very tempting, if not for the question: how to get back from the world in which King Sombra won?

"I have no ideas… But there is a firm belief that there is no point in going to the Crystal Castle ..." suggested Starlight, stepping over a pile of garbage and heading in the opposite direction from this "castle". "So, let's try to find at least one of the residents and ask what happened at all! - Starlight announced the further plan of action, although she was well aware that there is nothing to do here without Princess Twilight and her friends..."

***

About an hour later. The fortress of the "Skull". General Strasse's office

In a modestly furnished office with gray-painted walls, in addition to Strasse, there were several guards of the "Skull", silently digging through stacks of documents, because of which the almost deathly silence was broken by the rustle of pages. The general himself was sitting at his desk with a self-written dictionary "Daat-Ihud" and untranslated parchments found in the same repository where the artifact was spontaneously activated.

Suddenly Strasse discovered an interesting pattern between a half-translated parchment with unknown runes and the same illuminated runes on the artifact, and, without thinking twice, voiced it to himself.
" «Map», «Invasion», «Other World» and «Space»... Oh no, it's not a weapon!" He stood up from his chair with the parchment in his hands. "This is a map..." a sinister grin appeared on his face, indicating another success in solving the mystery of Daat-Ihud. The guards, seeing this look, silently exchanged glances and began to put the documents back in place, waiting for further instructions. “Great, take everything to the archive!” he pointed to the boxes of documents and parchments extracted from the archives. “And close the office behind you!” the guards, standing at attention and nodding, began to collect papers even faster, while the general moved with a confident step to the exit.

***

The elevator with the general stopped at the right floor of the laboratories, and there was already readiness for anything. Strasse remembered perfectly well that he was advised to evacuate the entire complex in case this artifact was a bomb, but having extensive experience with artifacts and vast knowledge gained from parchments and these very artifacts, he knew for sure that this was not a weapon. In fact, Strasse knew almost more than ordinary members of the cult, although he had been raking out all the knowledge and secrets with incredible effort for seventeen long years...

After going into the armored room where the artifact was stored, he demanded to open it, but one of the scientists with the ''Wolfenstein'' badge, who belonged to the ''Daat-Ihud'' researchers under general Strasse, left the guarded observation room. Adjusting his glasses, he tried to reason with the general:
"Herr Strasse, I still insist on the evacuation of the entire complex... If there is a bomb there, it threatens not only the loss of such a brilliant general as you, but also all the equipment, personal personnel and archives with invaluable knowledge..."

Two soldiers without helmets and with SS buttonholes opened the armored door, and Strasse, waving away the scientist, answered him by stepping over the threshold.
''Excuse me, Herr Furst, I myself know what to do and how to do it, but I will take your warnings into account!''

A golden multi-faceted artifact appeared before the general, inside of which was a raging yellow energy sphere. Without thinking twice, he approached the artifact and reached for the first rune, but he Furst's exclamation distracted him.
''Herr Strasse, maybe we shouldn't make everything out of your personal assumptions?'' it seems that this exclamation distracted Strasse for only a couple of seconds, because he touched all three illuminated runes, while Furst closed his eyes, expecting an explosion.

There was no explosion, but instead an energy sphere burst out of the artifact, forming a detailed map of the Earth in the form of a hologram with a strange blue mark in the south of the British Isles.
"You see, Herr Furst? It's time to finally remember that the ''Daat-Ihud'' Order did not store weapons in such small vaults… But I dare say that I already assumed that this is a map… But what does she have to show us?'' Strasse scratched his chin thoughtfully while the scientist adjusted his glasses and stared at the map in shock.

After a little thought, Strasse tried to touch the map, and it reacted to the touch by zooming in on the blue dot. It became clear that this point was in London. After repeating this movement a couple of times, Strasse was even able to see the area and the street on which this point was located. After a little reflection and remembering that he had already read about this map in one of those parchments, he concluded that it shows anomalous objects that came here from another world… And that means… No, for Strasse, this was not a reason for panic, but rather a new source of knowledge that he could not just miss. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Friedrich Boer enter the room, who was assigned to keep Strasse informed of the latest developments, but there was no urgent need for that now.
''Boer, I heard you're from London… Tell me, what can you say about this street?'' It was about the intersection of streets with a blue mark, and Boer understood it perfectly.

''The sixteenth district at the intersection of Vauxhall and Black Prince Road ...'' Boer immediately replied, but then dared to ask: ''Is something serious, Herr Strasse?!''

The general did not answer the question, went to the exit and gave a new order to Boer and another assistant standing at the door:
''Tie me up with the commandant of the city and prepare my plane to London!''

The Boer and the assistant nodded meekly, and the first one got out in front of the Strasse and went to a protected room, and the assistant hurried to hide in the corridor. No sooner had the general followed him in, than Boer was already rummaging through the phone book in search of the corresponding number. The patient and cold gaze of the "Skull" directed at Boer made it clear to him that procrastination could cost a lot. Having found and dialed the desired number, he exhaled calmly and handed the phone to the general.

Several rings passed before a man's voice was heard on the phone, but it was so quiet that the still-standing Boer could not make out anything. After listening to the standard speech from the commandant's secretary, but then, when he was contacted directly, he also coldly and neutrally began:
''Herr Falk?.. I have an urgent assignment for you, on which the fate of the Reich may depend…''

***

London. The sixteenth district

All this time Luster and Starlight wandered aimlessly through an unpleasant, one might say, creepy city, in which even passers-by tried to avoid two strangely dressed and no less strangely behaving girls — by the way, they got strict black suits with fedoras, which is why they were constantly mistaken for someone, and they could not figure out who. Special attention was attracted by strange metal carts, which, apparently, moved independently and no one needed to be harnessed to them... But only along the way they met only a few such carts standing on the side of the road and they could not know about what these achievements of local technology were called cars.

Starlight found several more confirmations of her theory when she saw soldiers in the streets wearing strange helmets similar to those worn by Sombra on their fighters, and they were armed with a very strange weapon, which Luster compared to a broken black piece of a wooden fence. In any case, they decided not to check the effectiveness of these pieces of wood, avoiding meetings with patrolmen and continuing to wander aimlessly.

It seemed that this walk through a new, creepy and mysterious city could last for a long time, but suddenly a long and booming siren sounded. An alarm was raised over the city. Hearing her, rare passers-by disappeared into buildings and alleys, and people in houses hurried to close the curtains and move away from the windows.
"Starlight? I don't like it here..." Luster said worriedly, not even assuming that Starlight herself didn't like it here either.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Starlight noticed strange distant footsteps and the clang of machinery getting closer and closer.

"Perhaps we should go..." Luster did not have time to finish, as a mechanical voice with a strange accent was heard, the source of which, apparently, was hiding somewhere behind the building.

"Residents of London! A curfew has been imposed in the city, return to your homes immediately for the sake of your own safety and justice."

Several rocket blocks of a huge robot peeked out from around the corner, which peeked out from behind the building more and more with every step. Here, stepping over one of his three legs through an apartment building and stepping on the asphalt with a characteristic sound of hydraulics, he appeared to his full height and turned towards Luster and Starlight. Without thinking twice, Starlight dared to assume that he was about thirty meters tall… Useful knowledge in a similar situation.

"Listen, can we really go?" nervous and looking around, Luster asked, pulling her friend in misfortune by the sleeve.

"Dangerous terrorists have been detected! Residents of London do not leave their shelters!" the voice from the speaker was heard again. He took a few more steps, looking sternly at the intruders from another world. Suddenly the doors of his "eye" opened and the red light illuminated them like a searchlight. Judging by the sounds characteristic of faulty electronics and the red lightning that occasionally appeared around the eye, the robot was either faulty or was preparing to open fire... "Raise your hands and surrender, scum of society!" an order followed, after which the robot opened the doors of all six rocket blocks.

Several armored personnel carriers and army trucks rushed to the scene at full speed, which surrounded the intersection with Luster and Starlight standing on it in complete bewilderment. In the blink of an eye, several detachments unloaded from them, some of the fighters from which grabbed heavy shields and lined up in a row, while the rest with assault rifles took cover behind them, aiming at the intruders. Realizing that this world is not so friendly and very dangerous, Starlight quickly raised her hands, and a little later Luster followed her example.

One officer grabbed a loudspeaker and carefully peeked out from behind the armored personnel carrier's armor.
"Terrorists! You are surrounded! Surrender immediately and ease your lot!"

"Look, this is a mistake, we don't pose any danger!" Luster tried to defuse the situation, but Starlight had her own plans in this regard.

"Okay, we give up!" Starlight replied loudly and nervously, slowly kneeling down and putting her hands behind her head. Then she turned to Luster: "Listen, now it's better not to show aggression towards them, but to do as they say..."

All the fighters were closely watching their movements, and a good part of them were preparing to pull the trigger with trembling fingers.
"Jurgen, I've never seen such reckless terrorists!" the soldier turned to his comrade, gritting his teeth and preparing for the worst.

It seems that the officer did not like such conversations in the ranks, so he turned off the loudspeaker and made a remark:
"Put aside the conversations in the ranks! They are from another world and we have no idea what they can pull off!" noticing that the imaginary threat had surrendered, he made a gesture with his hand, thereby giving the appropriate order to the capture group.

Several fighters ran forward and knocked them to the ground, putting handcuffs and bags on their heads. The officer exhaled with calmness when this operation passed without consequences, although the reaction of some fighters to such a "brilliant" detention of two fragile girls with the involvement of three Waffen SS detachments, two armored personnel carriers and the London Monitor, which continued to monitor the detainees in full combat readiness, left much to be desired.

Luster and Starlight were packed into an APC and it started moving... Now they could only guess where and why they were being taken and what awaits them next…

***

A few hours later. London Nautica

General Strasse was in the elevator, accompanied by his guards, who stood quietly and silently behind him. The incident in London and Strasse's statements raised the ears of the entire oberkommandorstvo, and while an emergency meeting was planned in Berlin, General "Skull" personally arrived in London to interrogate the intruders from another world.

Stepping onto the right floor, the general and his guards saw that everything was turned upside down… In the sense that the guards could not find a place for themselves, being in full combat readiness, but the nautica staff was nowhere to be seen. Gray corridors with orange stripes and plastered with propaganda posters, most often on the subject of science or space, accompanied Strasse to the very laboratory where the perpetrators of this chaos were kept.

Finally, the procession came to the armored door, near which the commandant of London Klaus Falk personally wandered in confusion, who was waiting for the general's arrival.
Phew, Herr Strasse, you have finally arrived!" the commandant greeted the general with relief, extending his hand to shake.

"We don't have time for formalities..." picking up the white suitcase that the guardsman handed him, the general replied, immediately getting to the point. "Get to the point, Herr Falk… Do they understand our language? Did they say anything?"

"Yes, they understand him… But... We didn't start the interrogation without you, and so far one of them tried to assure us that we were wrong, and the other tried to shut her up..." wearing a black glove, Falk said with a degree of uncertainty, and then decided to clarify the question he had been interested in for a long time: "I heard that the oberkommandor is planning to drop atomic bombs on London… Is it true?"

While waiting for two SS soldiers to open the armored door, the general replied:
"They will give such an order only if London is lost… They haven't even had time to get together to make a decision yet," having finished and decided not to waste any more time, Strasse went into the room, the guards followed him.

The first thing Wilhelm Strasse saw in an empty room with bare walls and floor were two decently dressed girls chained up with bags on their heads, behind which stood two super soldiers, closely watching them, holding heavy machine guns at the ready.

"Take the bags off them!" He gave the order to Strasse, getting down on one knee and putting the suitcase on the floor. Obediently nodding, one of the fighters stepped forward and, in order not to keep the general waiting, pulled the bags off the girls' heads as quickly as possible.

Squinting against the light and trying to peer into the figure in the olive-colored general's uniform, Starlight unconsciously asked out loud:
"Is... the local King Sombra?.."

Hearing this, one of the guards tried to restrain a burst of laughter caused by the analogy with a sombrero, but the second poked him in the side with the machine gun, which calmed him down. Strasse didn't even move an ear, putting on white medical gloves taken out of a suitcase.
"What nonsense is this?! I'm not a king... hmm... it doesn't matter..." he couldn't remember the name of that king, continuing: "I'm just a citizen of the Reich concerned about your invasion! Can you introduce yourself?" seeing the worried and confused looks of the captives, he began himself: "Okay, I'll start first… I'm General Wilhelm Strasse, or you can call me Totenkopf!" he said, carefully examining the Starlight. "Yes… I think I was told that you are able to speak our language… So, can you finally introduce yourself?"

When the general's gaze fell on Luster, her pupils rounded with fear and she, trying not to stutter, introduced herself:
"Yes... I... my name is Luster… And this is..." she looked away, "... my friend, Starlight..."

Judging by Starlight's look, she was ready to hit herself in the face, but the chains did not allow her to move at all. Strasse also noticed one point of interest to him.
"These are names, or… So you're from SOE... so… In your world, the Reich has fallen… Ahem..." He looked at the situation with interest, trying to figure out exactly how British spies got into another world.

"No! These are our full names - Luster Don and Starlight Glimmer! We are local… But we live in..." 2 the attempt to deceive from Luster ended in complete failure, given that Strasse was no longer listening to her, only looking at them with interest.

"Luster, that's enough!" Starlight made a loud remark. "They have already realized that we are not local and..."

"...that you're from another world?" the general interrupted her. "I have to note that your intelligence has deteriorated greatly since the Second World War, if it began to send people like you… And how many of your agents do we have?.. "fear appeared on the faces of Starlight and Luster, which Strasse could not help noticing. "Well... tell me about your world… You know, we don't get visitors from another dimension every day..." he turned to Starlight. "Maybe Frau Glimmer can tell me something?"

"What? No… How do you know?"

"Listen up… I am a busy man of age… Do yourself and me a favor - don't aggravate your situation and don't take up my time..." Strasse waved his hand to the super soldier and he growled something maliciously and took the machine gun in one hand, grabbed Starlight by the neck with the other and lifted her off the ground.

She began to wheeze from suffocation, while Luster was hysterical from what was happening, and tears appeared on her face.
"STARLIGHT! NO!" she shouted with unprecedented fear in her voice, being ready for any conditions. "Good! Well… I'll tell you everything, just don't kill her!.." she lowered her gaze and squeezed her eyes shut so as not to see her friend's death.

"The right and wise decision..." Strasse gave another signal with his hand to the super soldier, and he threw it on the floor. Starlight, coughing and not believing that she was still alive, tried to catch her breath, greedily gulping air.

With his hands behind his back and looking down at Luster, Strasse was waiting for the promised recognition, and Luster understood this perfectly well.
"We came here from the magical land of Equestria, where earthly ponies, pegasus and unicorns live in peace and harmony!.."

One of the fighters burst out laughing, even Strasse found it funny, but did not show it.
"Yes... Leprechauns and elves... it's a pity that your friend won't share our laughter and fun..." Strasse was preparing to give the order that was supposed to take Starlight's life.

"No! Please! I have no reason to lie!" Luster became hysterical, starting to think about the worst again. This trick distracted and briefly persuaded the general.

"Unnoticed… But, in that case, tell me, how did you get into our world?" Strasse walked up to Luster and knelt down in front of her, preparing to listen to another excuse.

"I... I accidentally used magic on a magic mirror… We didn't even imagine all the danger and now we don't know how we'll get back! Please let us go!" Luster still believed that it was possible to achieve freedom by polite conversation and persuasion, but she did not know Totenkopf's future plans.

"It would be a great pity to lose such beautiful samples..." Strasse closed the suitcase and got to his feet, holding it in his hand. Turning his back to the prisoners, he turned to the guardsman: "Even if they are the only, but beautiful samples... Ahem... Let's have this one!" He turned abruptly and pointed at the Luster.

"What? What are you going to do?" she screamed in panic, looking at the approaching guardsman, who lifted her by the chain and dragged her to the door, but suddenly the girl began to shine, and with every second brighter and brighter.

The General couldn't help but notice this glow. Turning to its source, he quickly realized what was going on.
"Don't let them get away!.. Liquidate!" Strasse shouted when the light became so bright that he had to cover his face with his hand.

The super soldier was already preparing to crush Starlight's head, but the light became unbearably bright. When the supersoldier kicked Starlight with all his weight and strength, she was no longer in this world. The same fate befell the guardsman who tried to grab the glowing Luster.
"Got it!" he joyfully declared, but when the glow disappeared, he saw that he was holding the general's tunic. "Oh... I'm sorry."

Strasse unhooked his hand from his tunic and pushed the guardsman away, and with obvious dissatisfaction caused by the loss of samples, went to the exit.
"We don't have time… I have to be in Berlin..." gritting his teeth, he said, holding his hands behind his back and leaving the room in thought.

Several officers were waiting for him in the corridor and Klaus Falk, who had been personally supervising the interrogation all this time.
"Nice work, Herr Strasse… It's a pity that we lost them. Just think how much knowledge they would have given us!" Falk tried to ingratiate himself with the general with his approach, and Strasse understood this perfectly well.

"Thank you for your comment, Herr Falk," Strasse said confidently and loudly, walking with a firm step towards the elevator, "But I know all this without you..."

"Still, I hope you didn't listen to their pathetic excuses..."

"Maybe they were lying openly, considering me an imbecile..." he continued with unprecedented calmness, "... but I have knowledge that is more expensive than their pathetic attempts to distract my attention..." the general stood in front of the elevator doors, waiting for him to go down to the right floor. "There are other worlds, and most importantly - it is possible to move between them… Believe me, this matter does not concern your mind further," he summed up in a rude manner and entered the elevator.

Falk tried to follow, but the guards stopped him, which is why he, being in an awkward position, was forced to step back, realizing that he had just fallen in the eyes of Wilhelm Strasse and the entire security of the nineteenth floor of the London Nautica…

***

Canterlot Castle. The living room on the ground floor

Fluttershy was resting peacefully on the sofa, enjoying the singing of birds that were sitting on the windowsill of an open window, and looking at the burning fireplace. The serene pastime of the yellow pegasus could continue to take place at such a leisurely, pleasant pace, but, according to the law of meanness, something had to spoil it.)

This something became Luster and Starlight, materialized in the air in a large glowing sphere. Fluttershy, not expecting such surprises, jumped up in fright and jumped behind the sofa in order to hide from the glowing threat. The bright light also scared the birds, who almost flew right out into the street. Soon there was a thud, followed by a groan from Starlight.
''What? Where are we?!'' Luster asked herself, without realizing it, jumped on her hooves, but only after a few moments did she realize that they were back in their real bodies. ''Starlight! We are ponies!'' she squealed joyfully, no longer restraining the flow of joy caused by relief from their miraculous rescue.

Slowly lifting her body, simultaneously holding onto her sore neck, Starlight noticed Luster rushing towards her with tears of joy. Jumping to Starlight and hugging her tightly by the neck, Luster not only knocked her over, but also caused a new wave of pain, since her neck still hurt after the grip of the cold steel hand of the super soldier.

''Neck! My neck!'' Starlight screamed with a groan, pushing the Luster away with her hoof.

''Oh, I'm sorry ...'' Luster laughed nervously, realizing her annoying blunder.

"It's you!'' Fluttershy, who looked out from behind her hiding place, modestly declared with fear, but when she saw familiar faces, she calmed down and exhaled with relief. ''I was so scared… You won't believe..." she came out from behind the sofa, looking at her friends in a relaxed way.

''Fluttershy! You won't believe what we've been through!..'' Luster exclaimed with joy, but one of the princess's best friends reminded her about an important event - the festival of two sisters. ''Festival! Can I still catch?'' she asked, coming to her senses.

''No, the opening ceremony ended three hours ago ...'' Fluttershy replied modestly, and then looked away and quietly added: ''And also… Twilight didn't like your absence much…''

Starlight looked at Luster, stunned by such a discovery, who had already mentally put an end to herself and her future life… An unpleasant situation…

***

Somehow Fluttershy and Starlight still managed to calm Luster, who had fallen into despair, and Starlight completely reminded her about everything that had happened that day, managing to convince her that once Twilight heard about their adventures, she would no longer be up to Luster's absence at the opening ceremony.

This story was told personally by Starlight at the moment when all six heroines gathered in the throne room, who silently listened to them, opening their mouths and creating mental images of the horrors experienced by both unicorns. As it turned out, the reason for this miraculous rescue was Rarity, who could not help but approach such a wonderful golden mirror standing at the magic door to the archive - she accidentally broke it… But, despite this, the fragments were still placed in the archive, so that no one else would end up in this cursed world.…

Maybe this story ended well… Yes, but no one thought that that other world also continued to exist, and the news about the possibility of getting into parallel universes and worlds seriously stirred the minds of the top of the Reich, and Strasse volunteered to be the one to solve this riddle… Moreover, he received approval personally from the Fuhrer.

***

• The presenter carefully adjusted the microphone attached to his jacket and began his speech:
  "Good morning, citizens of the Reich! Today we gathered in this modest studio to discuss one wonderful news! But first I would like to ask just one question: have you already planned how you will spend your weekend?" the presenter paused a little, as if waiting for an answer. "Yes or no - it doesn't matter! It is important that the residents of London, after a month, can finally breathe easy and take to the streets, because the state of emergency has been lifted! On such a significant occasion for everyone, the Commandant of London, Klaus Falk, personally came to us!"

Loud applause was heard, but as soon as the commandant spoke, they subsided.
"Thank you, Jurgen, but there is no need for such an ovation… We were just doing our job..."

"Why such modesty, Herr Falk? This news will certainly spread all over the planet, and I just have to ask this question that interests everyone: has the terrorist threat really been eliminated? I heard that you even connected the London monitor!"

"Monitor… Yes, it was an extreme measure to ensure security! The damned terrorists made false calls about mining, and a couple of times our sappers actually found explosive charges… And as for the detention... Hmm, isn't that an indicator of SS skill?" he said confidently.

"Wunderbar!" the announcer applauded, and the audience immediately supported him. "I am sure that it is because of this news that we came here and... Gentlemen, hold your hats and ladies, and meet - Die Käfer!" the applause became even stronger.

***

A month later, after the incident in London. South of Germany, at the entrance to Wolfburg.

Wolfburg is a city that fell due to the invasion of the dead, who appeared due to the ancient curse of King Otto ... It is still unknown how this hell on earth began, however, and how it all ended, too, no one knows.

The staff Mercedes Strasse was moving along a serpentine, and from the window the pitiful ruins of Wolfburg were visible… But General Strasse did not come here to admire the view, and, even more so, the company of the local leader Ralph Brun, whom for some unknown reason everyone called "Herr Oberst", was not very pleasant to him. A self-satisfied officer with a very unpleasant character and a tendency to bad habits, appointed head of this remote Alpine region, sat next to the general, sipping champagne from a glass.

Trying not to pay attention to the burden, Strasse tried to mentally solve the riddle of this artifact, which, after a detailed study of the parchments and new combinations of runes, showed a single green mark standing on the Wolfburg. Considering that he had previously encountered references to certain "gates", he had every right to believe that this golden trinket was leading him to them.

Meanwhile, Oberst, having heard the announcer say that Die Käfer was about to perform, leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and anticipating good modern music that could brighten up his boredom accumulated during a long trip to the south of Germany, but Strasse's indignant order upset his plans.
"Otto! For the sake of the bright future of the Reich, turn off the radio! I can't stand these "Bugs"!"

"Yes, Herr Strasse..." the driver muttered, turning off the radio.

Sighing softly and squeezing the glass tighter, Herr Oberst decided to ask how things were going at the facility.
"Hephaestus Group, report on the progress. The artifact has already been delivered," he listened to the commander's report without any desire. "I understand you, prepare the object for the arrival of the general!" after receiving another answer, he took his hand away from the headset and turned to Strasse. "Herr Strasse, the catacombs have been cleared, and the artifact is still on the way!"

"Good… So far, everything is going according to plan..." the general replied distantly, staring at the ruins of Wolfburg while the officer poured more champagne from the bottle.

***

The staff Mercedes drove up to the sagging gate, which is the entrance to the territory of the Wolfburg cemetery. If the general was interested in the local view and the dead "shamblers", who for unknown reasons managed not to rot for more than fourteen years and lay next to the gate, then this was an excuse for Oberst to smoke… So he did - he took a cigarette out of his cigarette case, lit it from a captured American lighter given to him by his father, and, lazily adjusting his cap, put the cigarette case back into the inner pocket of his black raincoat.

A walk through the cemetery did not cause any special emotions, and all Strasse's thoughts were occupied with the upcoming refutation or confirmation of his theory related to this unfortunate artifact. Soon they reached the entrance to the crypt, next to which, in addition to several cleaning squads consisting of heavy infantry "Fire Squad Fighters", there was also an army truck, and next to it - an unarmed super soldier, waiting in the wings.

The first thing the commander of the operation ran up to them - a fighter in armor with red inserts.
"Commander, do the catacombs pose any danger to the General?" Oberst asked with complete indifference, asking just for show.

"Jawohl, Herr Oberst! Recently, the last creature was nailed..."

"Fine!" said Strasse. "Lead us, Commander… We don't have much time left," he stated, following the Oberst further down the road.

As soon as the trio approached the truck, the super soldier saw the general and began unloading the artifact C-979, recently delivered to the crypt, from the body.
"Be careful! This artifact, although large, may be fragile!" Strasse worried and, approaching him, began to drive in a new combination of runes.

A yellow energy sphere lit up inside the artifact, which began to beat against the invisible walls of the artifact, indicating the entrance to the crypt. Strasse now had enough evidence that his target was in the bowels of these catacombs.

***

The way lay through the Wulfburg catacombs, so Strasse and Oberst were accompanied by heavy infantry, although the commander assured them that the catacombs were completely cleared.

Several times Strasse witnessed how the soldiers of the cleaning group carried out the bodies of the walking dead, who were called "shamblers". But even despite the numerous questions of interest to the general related to these dead, he could not give up his important business to try to solve their riddles.

After ten minutes of wandering through the ancient catacombs, in which, in addition to the bodies of the long-dead, buried here under King Otto, there were also mummified bodies of German soldiers, the group got out into a spacious part of the cave, where the catacombs ended with a sharp descent down.

The general was distracted from contemplating the structures built for the descent by the familiar voice of an officer.
''Heil, Herr Strasse!'' Boer greeted the General. ''I see you've finally arrived…''

The general walked past a skeleton with a strange corset and a system of straps on his left leg. Special attention was drawn to his officer's uniform…
''General Strasse, please, let's not waste time on the dead here ...'' the Oberst noticed abstractly, who clearly did not care about this body.

''For your information, this is the body of Helga von Schabbs ... and I must note that it is extremely unpleasant for me to work with a person who does not know the name of this significant leader ...'' Strasse replied with disgust. It is unlikely that such "praise" from the general will have a good effect on the officer's personal file. And there wasn't much point in going down after him so now. Strasse calmed down and turned his attention to Boer, who stood silently waiting for his turn and put his hands behind his back. "Well, Herr Boer, is everything ready for the descent?"

''Yes, General! Everything is ready, I dare say that the design can withstand even a super soldier with his load..." Boer replied, looking at how several heavy infantrymen fixed carbines on their belts, while helping Strasse to put on a vest with carbines.

***

When Strasse touched the ground, he easily took off his vest on his own and threw it on the ground. Fighters with headlamps were already waiting for him from below, the light them which ran along the walls of the cave, but at one moment all the rays concentrated on the gilded doors that were the entrance to the next ''Daat-Ihud'' storage.

As soon as the super soldier with the artifact approached the door, the energy sphere broke out of the artifact and hit the door. The runes and lines on the door lit up with yellow light, and they began to slowly open, revealing to the general and the fighter a small room with a recess in which there was a pool with a diameter of no more than five meters, and a depth of no more than three.

Among other things, a multi-faceted cell in the floor caught eye, which perfectly matched the shape of the artifact. If the general's entire entourage tried to remain silent, and the fighters only signaled to each other with gestures, then Strasse had an assumption.
''You!'' He held out his hand, pointing at the super soldier. ''Leave the artifact there!'' he pointed to the box.

The super soldier, muttering something unintelligible, went to the cell and put the artifact in it. The cell scrolled and sank slightly down. The stripes and runes lit up yellow again, and the bottom of the pool began to sink, and soon light also appeared on the bottom, but dim and blue.

''This is too much ...'' the commander shared his opinion, hitting the speaker on his helmet, so that he did not junk.

Strasse walked to the edge of the pool and looked at the light source hiding under the thick water. It seems that the bottom was no longer visible… Remembering the description of the "gate" and drawing analogies with what he saw, it became clear to the general that this was the very "gate" that transported the person who entered it to another world… But the question still remained relevant: is the local population ready for battle and how many worlds can be obtained from one such portal? To answer this question, a detachment of heavy infantry was sent to the gate, which slowly sank into the water and disappeared…

It took less than a minute, as, to the surprise of the already dumbfounded officers, one of the heavy infantrymen got out of the water, and he got out completely dry.
''What? What did you see there?'' Strasse asked with interest, approaching the pool.

''I ... don't... well, I ...'' the fighter answered dumbfounded, unable at the moment for some reason to connect and two words.

'Were you resisted? Have you seen soldiers or locals?'' Strasse voice was already showing obvious impatience.

''No… But I can't understand ... there... in general '' the fighter was watching the general when he began to dive into the water without warning. ''What are you... No! Wait!'' he tried to grab him and pull him to dry land, but he had already disappeared under the water. ''Damn it… Should I follow now?'' He turned once more to the officers. They silently made it clear that the answer to his question was "yes", and the fighter followed the general.

TO BE CONTINUED...