Dieselpunk Magical Girl Quest #1

Your name is Victory. Well, not your real name, but the codename assigned to you by the Bureau of Special Research and Actions. The primary governing body for American ‘magical girl’ operations. They’ve dropped you off in Italy, Bureau agents leaving you at a cafe in Rome to await additional mission details from a spy returning from deep within Nazi territory.

Said mission was relatively simple. A defector of critical importance was looking to escape the clutches of the regime, and you were to provide them with the means to do so. The Bureau has remained extraordinarily tight lipped regarding the exact nature of the defector. All you know is that they’re valuable to the Allied war effort. Failure here would be a very, very bad thing, that much is certain.

You take another sip of your fancy coffee and enjoy the cool night air as you wait for this contact to show his face. Maybe he won’t. Maybe he’s getting tortured by the Hexenkraft or the SS as you sit here. You shake those thoughts from your mind. It was never a good idea to start a mission pessimistically.

Soon after you drain your cup of it’s contents, a blonde haired man sits at your table wordlessly. His eyes quickly dart behind him, before settling back onto you. His leather jacket is bulging, obviously hiding something. If this man is supposed to a spy then he definitely doesn’t look the part. He clears his throat nosily,

“Excuse me fraulein, you are Victoria Jones, correct? I believe I have something for you, a book from a family friend”

The blonde haired man has somewhat of an accent, maybe he picked it up after spending so much time around the Krauts? He glances over his shoulder again, scanning the surroundings for something, or someone. After he’s seemingly satisfied he turns to you, giving you an uneasy smile.

[x] Nod, take whatever ‘book’ he has for you
[x] German? If that’s not a dead give away to who he really is then you don’t know what is
[x] Make small talk with him first, see if you can’t get him to divulge any information
[x] Write in

>[x] Make small talk with him first, see if you can’t get him to divulge any information

"You're unpracticed at this. Stop looking around so anxiously I and other agents already scoped the area out, you're only drawing attention to yourself."

Seconding

Would this quest be related to Magical Girl Liberty in any way?

yeah, i took some inspiration from it and other sources
I'll take one more vote before calling it

You raise an eyebrow at the stranger. You suppose this was the contact, and wonder how someone like him managed to infiltrate the heart of the Reich and live to tell the tale.

"You're unpracticed at this. Stop looking around so anxiously we've already scoped the area out, you're only drawing attention to yourself."

He looks quite shocked that you've managed to see through his cover. He turns away from you, and pops a pill into his mouth before clearing his throat one more time.

"Apologies, Miss Jones, I suppose my time in Berlin has made me rather paranoid. The SS is rather good at rooting out spies, and their prisons aren't particularly hospitable. Anyways, as I'm sure you've already deduced, I'm your contact, Joseph James"

Any trace of a German accent has been replaced by a posh British one. He unzips his jacket, revealing a bunch of manila folders filled to the brim with papers.

"The fruits of 6 months of espionage, please, read through them carefully when you have the time Miss Jones, there's some extraordinary stuff in there. Our defector is a lot like, uh." Joseph pauses, staring at the sky pensively.

"A lot like you, I would say."

You tilt your head in confusion.

[x] Try to pry some more information from him
[x] Go home and get cracking on the intel
[x] Write in

>[x] Go home and get cracking on the intel

"Thank you for your service sir and best of luck."

Let's not keep him here for longer than he needs to be

>[x] Go home and get cracking on the intel

You leave the cafe and start headed for the small apartment the Bureau has arranged for you to stay at, for the duration of your operations in Europe. You marvel at the lights of the city. Rome was the only city untouched by the Allied invasion of Italy, the Italians surrendering before their capital could fall. Allied troops and civilians mingle in the streets.

You find your way to your small apartment, and lay the folders on your desk. They're annotated with English notes, thanks to Joseph's efforts. Three of them are labelled Operation: Sandstorm, parts 1 to 3. One of them is labelled Faust, Maria Erika. The final folder is named Codename: Panzer.

Which one would you like to read first?

Read the personal one first, always best to know background

Read about Faust

You flip through the Faust's file. It appears to be some a dossier of some sort. A picture of Erika is paperclipped to the top of the file. She appears to be about the same age as you, give or take a year or two. The girl looks like she hasn't smiled for years. Apparently, she graduated from Schwarzwald Girls Academy, a relatively unremarkable student, if her grades are to be believed. Below her academic grades are grades for something else.

Control: A
Range: B
Power: A
Technique: F

Weird. You continue reading, she's joined the Hexenkraft immediately after graduation, like all the other students of the academy. Her service record among them is rather unassuming as well, deployments to support German offensives into Poland, Finland, and Luxembourg.

However, what catches your eyes is at the bottom. A big red TRAITOR is stamped on the bottom of the file. Agent James' note at the end translates why.

"Murder of superior officer, destruction of Hexenkraft assets, murder of Hexenkraft commissioned officer, desertion."

What a resume.

What do you read next?

Operation Sandstorm

Panzer

Or I will switch to sandstorm if it presents an impass

You read the folder about Operation: Sandstorm next. It's obviously a military operation, but the target of the invasion makes you do a double take. The Reich was gearing up for an invasion of Mesopotamia. You raise an eyebrow suspiciously. The strategic value of the Middle East was virtually obliterated when that meteor slammed into the region five years ago. Why invade a sandy wasteland?

The second part of the folder marks the participants of the invasion. The Afrika Korps, Second and Third Divisions, supported by a full Panzer walker brigade. Along with the conventional forces, a company of Hexenkraft commandos and a squad of magical girls was to accompany them. Your eyes go wide at the the deployment lists. That's enough firepower to roll over almost anything that can respond in a timely manner. The final folder is a simple collection of pictures of a large spire, jutting up from a crater in the middle of the desert.

(1/2)

It's fine, I just wanted to split the exposition up into different posts

(2/3)
You set down Sandstorm's folder and open up the one about Panzer. You're greeted by an image of Erika again, this time she's in the commander's cupola of a Tiger II, her eyes are glowing a fiery red. Erika's left arm is clad in a silvery gauntlet, which she uses to point at some distant target, most likely an unfortunate enemy tank.

This files lists Erika's abilities as a magical girl. The codename 'Panzer' is rather appropriate for her, being able to magically operate a tank all on her lonesome, and being able to outmatch hardened tank crews in combat to boot. Images of shells loading themselves and the turret traversing without a gunner follow a description of her abilities.

No wonder the Bureau wants her so badly. That gauntlet looks like it packs a punch too. As you continue reading, your suspicions about it are confirmed. There are reports of Erika punching clean through the frontal armor of a captured IS-2, and even denting steel intended for battle ship armor.

Impressive

You yawn loudly as the night drags on. Who knew that reading could leave you so tired. As you're about to wash up and hit the hay the phone rings. A smokey, baritone voice emerges from the speaker. You recognize it immediately as your Handler, aptly named 'Handler Bravo'

"Hello, Victory. Agent James has reported that he has successfully made contact with you this evening. Preparations for your operation have already commenced. You are to leave Italy at 0600 hours tomorrow. If you have any further questions or concerns about your upcoming deployment, now would be the time to ask them. Good luck."

Are there gonna be more posts? Can we ask where we're going, what's the extraction plan, any backup available or is it just us?

>Are there gonna be more posts?
Yeah, I intend to keep going at least until you meet Erika in person, which shouldn't be too long from now

"You are to rendezvous with the USS Narwhal at Pier 12. From there you will sail up to the southern coast of France, where you will be deployed via manned torpedoes. While much of the coastal fortifications that were lost during D-Day by have been repaired, Free French scouts have pinpointed a small gap in the Atlantic Wall. An area that has not yet been refortified. You are to then link with Free French fighters who will escort you to the deserter's location. Once you've met the defector, an extreme altitude aircraft will be waiting at the local airport, and will return you to Italy. Due to the sensitive nature of the operation, you will be deployed. Alone. I trust that answers all your questions?"

Actually, I think I'm going to call it for this thread here. Getting way too tired and making mistakes I shouldn't be making in my writing

I'll be back tomorrow, around the same time I started today, but on most likely on /qst/