The Immortality War || The Avengers

Chapter Twelve: The People's Uprising

Music is "Farewell" by The Brother's Bright.

Picture is The People's Uprising in Berlin, 1953.

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CHAPTER TWELVE: The People's Uprising

{June 17, 1953 - Fifty-Nine Years Ago}

I can hear the shouting outside of the schoolroom. Many of the children are oblivious to the lessons I teach. Most of them stretch their necks to sneak a peak outside the high windows. "Sit down and listen, please," I tell them in their native, German tongue.

"What is going on outside,  Fräulein Altmann?" one of the ten year olds asks me.

Before I can reply, another teacher bursts through the door. A look of panic covers her face. "Get the children to the buses," she speaks, also in German. "Hurry!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Forty-thousand construction workers are on strike. They're protesting the pay cuts all over the city. Soviet forces are crossing into the city to put an end to it. We have to get the children home to their families before it gets ugly."

With firm determination, I nod to her. I turn to the children with a forced smile. "Come, come, children. Pack your things. You're getting off early today!"

I've been in East Germany for four months now. Before that, I was in West Germany for a month, perfecting my accent and receiving my orders. Maria Stark was also assigned to Germany, though she mostly works in the Western part of Berlin. I took the heavier job because I can handle people shooting at me better than Maria. That, and her husband, Howard Stark, insisted he come with us to be "moral support."

The FBI do things very differently than I'm used to. While I'm still technically an operative of S.H.I.E.L.D., the exchange program with the FBI has me obeying their orders. Specifically those of Agent Langdon. So far, my orders are simple. Live an ordinary German life. Teach at the school, keep your head down, and look out for anything strange or suspicious. Like Peggy said, they haven't put me into play yet. They've been keeping me away from what matters. I'm five months into my six month mission, and all they've asked of me so far is to "keep an eye out for trouble."

I help the children load into one of the old buses. The other teachers do the same. We're given the addresses of all the students and told to get them home as fast as we can. The twelve children in my class remain incredibly quiet for ten year olds. They sit beside each other, hands trembling as they clutch their worn-out book bags to their chests. I start the vehicle and pull onto the broken road.

Life for these children hasn't been easy since the war ended. Germany was in chaos after Hitler died. The nation and its capital split down the middle. West Germany and Berlin became a free market economy with free elections and individual rights restored. East Germany and Berlin was taken over by the Soviets and communist runs rampant throughout the governments. East Germany is falling apart thanks to the overpowering government, lack of individual rights, and communist ideologies. Every part of the city shows this. The roads are never repaired and the buildings are falling apart. The people are starving, and the children are brainwashed from a young age. East Germany is no better now under the Soviets than it was under Hitler.

As I drive down the street, I turn over my shoulder to smile at the children. "Let's sing a song. Does anyone have a song they love?"

A small boy in the back, Fritz, pipes up, "'All Meine Entchen!'"