Chapter Nine: Einheints

*Serena gasped lightly as she felt Hiiro’s grip around her hand tighten considerably, and then loosen. Those women were returning! They would catch Hiiro with her, and then know that she had been lying, and that she wasn’t a German civilian!

“Cancel the strategy.” Hiiro finally whispered. “Play along with them. They think you were a German captive?” Serena nodded. Hiiro eyed the door warily. “Let them think what they will. Don’t answer any questions unless you have to—No information leakages about this war to them, understand?”

“Yes.” The blonde nodded her pale face, causing her glasses to slide down to the tip of her nose again. Pushing them up, she looked hard at Hiiro. “What if they suspect because I don’t say anything?”

“They’ll believe you were traumatized. Worst-case scenario, lie to them. Do whatever you have to do to mislead them in the Allies plans, as well as any tactical mistakes they may have made that turned the tide of the war to the Allies’ favor.”

“And you?” She gasped. This was moving too fast, she couldn’t possibly lie to German Nazis! But she had to! She should have stayed with her books, should have stayed with skeletons and artifacts and carbon dating… why hadn’t she?

“I’ll be around.” He muttered, groaning. The women were coming; he didn’t have time to dally.

“Around? Around?” Serena whispered, clutching his hand harder. Hiiro swore under his breath. He knew fear when he saw it, even in thickset old maids.

“Around.” He told her firmly, finally detaching her from his hand. Serena nodded, swallowing hard and closing her eyes for one final prayer. Then she stood to her full height, which made Hiiro almost smirk—even when she wasn’t hunched over, she was still incredibly short—and took hold of the doorknob. When she turned the old brass handle, it creaked and squeaked, and she winced, but nevertheless managed to open the door and shut it quickly behind her.

“Oh, did you already finish your bath dear?” Matilda asked her smiling gently. “That’s good. A good woman is always quick and efficient in everything she does, you will set a good example for your daughters one day.” Serena fought the urge to back away from these women and run, and instead simply blushed and looked down at the hardwood floor. The women took her actions as modesty, and grinned again.

“Now dear, do you have a name? Something we can call you other than dear?” Greta asked her sweetly. Oh no! Serena wasn’t a very German name! She needed something to convince the women that she was a Nazi supporter more than anything.

“Einheits.” Serena threw out randomly.

“Unity? What a lovely name for a lovely young woman. Even in your name do you support your country, what patriotism!” Matilda laughed gaily. Serena watched the strawberry blonde as she began to move and make the bed she had been laying in before. The other woman, Greta, neared her, and Serena began to tremble.

“Now, now Einheits, not to worry. I’ve brought you a skirt and blouse to try on. You looked as though you might be my younger sister’s size, but since I haven’t anything that small, we’ll simply have to make due with this.” Greta held out a pile of folded clothing in one hand—a blue skirt and white blouse, with a pair of nylon stockings atop the pile—and black shoes in her other.

“Thank you.” Serena nodded, taking the clothes from her.

“Go change in the bathroom, and then come on out. We’ll worry about cleaning the tub later—right now the commander has a few question he’d like you to answer.” As quickly as she could, Serena ducked back into the bathroom to change, leaving the other two women in the room next door. Looking around, she was mildly shocked not to find Hiiro still in the bathroom.

“Pre, Preventer Zero?”

“Shh.” A warning hush came from the window. Hidden behind the curtains was the man she had traveled to the past with, and relief flooded her greatly for some reason to know he had been so close by.

“They want to take me to their commander—he wants to ask a few questions.” She explained as she placed the pile of clothes in the empty sink.

“Then answer a few questions. With backwards information.”

“What if they find out I’m lying?” Serena whined softly.

“They’re only men.” Hiiro scoffed. “And from what I’ve seen, they’re only a few clubs and spades, not even in the royal suit. They won’t be able to tell the difference.”

“You’re trained to lie, to withhold information!” She narrowed her eyes. Now she was getting upset. But it was not with Hiiro, not really. She was just nervous about confronting people and having to lie. It was bad enough to have to be around them. It was bad enough to have to associate with them. It was bad enough to let them see her vulnerable side when she was asleep. But to lie face to face with them? Serena wasn’t quite all that sure that her heart could take the pressure!

“I may have been trained to withstand torture conditions, but this isn’t any such situation. Those men don’t believe woman can possibly be an equal, I’ve been watching for a few hours. You should know, you’re the historian.”

“Of course I know they think we’re the inferior sex. But if they find out I’m lying, they won’t care what I am, they’ll shoot me all the same.”

“I’ll have you out of here before they can accomplish that feat.” Hiiro told her soothingly. His voice had dropped the hardcore military drill that she had become accustomed to in hopes that it would help to calm her fears. If she thought he was worried, or wavered even slightly, chances were she would go into hysterics and then they really would be up a creek without a paddle.

And then there was that pesky guilt gnawing on his stomach again. Every time she looked up at him through those horrible tortoiseshell glasses with those too-big blue eyes he felt a little worse for bringing her and then leaving her with incompetent men while he went and scouted ahead. He should have been there; he should have stopped them from taking her. On some deeper level, Hiiro knew he had change the tone of his voice so that as well as helping to calm her down, it would also help towards apologizing—something he never, not in a million years, would be able to do aloud.

“Einheits! Are you dressed yet?” One of the women in the room beside them shouted. Serena jumped, and Hiiro caught her by her shoulders and turned her around so she faced the door.

“Tell them you’ll be right out.” Hiiro prodded her.

“I’ll be right out.” She said aloud. Though it came out more as a strangled and broken announcement, the women on the other side of the door chuckled.

“Don’t worry about the size so much dear, just do with it what you can.” Serena nodded on instinct, as if they could really see her through the door.

“Get dressed, don’t let them suspect you’ve been wasting time in here, or they’ll want to know why.”

“Preventer Zero, help with the buttons, there’re a good deal on these clothes. We’ll get it done faster.” Serena finally hissed. Throwing the blouse at him, she made sure he had begun unbuttoning the front buttons before she stripped herself of her belt and let the jeans that were too big fall to the floor. There was no time for reserve at the moment; she needed speed over modesty. Fortunately for her, Hiiro turned his back to her without even being asked. She was grateful to him in ways she knew she would never be able to express aloud.

Tugging on the skirt proved easy—it fit her better than she had expected by simply looking at it. Cinching it as tightly as possibly, she then began to work on pulling up the hose while Hiiro finished with the buttons of the blouse. They were tan stockings, and slightly thicker than she knew they were in the future. But she had to confess, she had never actually worn a pair of them—her family had never exactly been upper class, and it had never mattered whether or not she had had proper hose, she never would have worn them. But now she struggled, going only on what she thought she knew, and what she could assume from looking at the pair. The garters that went up to her thy were uncomfortable, but at least she was beginning to fit in with the time period.

“Here.” Hiiro grunted, flinging the serviceable blouse in her direction. Serena briefly flushed, then tossed off her turtleneck and threw on the blouse, buttoning as fast as she could and then tucking it into the skirt. Straightening the collar, she hoped she looked semi-decent. Shoes! She turned to say something to Hiiro, but found that he was already holding the pair of shoes up, though keeping his head turned in the opposite direction. Serena let a small smile slip, then grabbed them from his large hand.

Sitting on the end of the bathtub, she looked at the shoes, trying to figure out how to begin. They were high heeled, thick-soled, and black. She could see that they had a tiny bow across the front, in proper fashion of nineteen-forties shoes. Finally she settled for just shoving her foot into each and pushing until her foot slipped in. At least they fit fairly well.

“I’m dressed.” She announced. Hiiro grunted, but turned around.

“It only took you three minutes.” He told her.

“Good.” She nodded, peeking in the dirty and broken mirror that sat above the sink. Hiiro too, for the first time, checked her new appearance and pursed his lips together. Pretty…

“Preventer Zero?” Serena asked for the third time.

“I’ll be around—you’ll never be out of my sight for more than three minutes.” She gulped and nodded.

“But I asked how I looked?” Hiiro simply stood and gaped, reminding himself to keep his facial expressions as stoic as possible while he did.

“Well enough.” He finally submitted. Serena gave him one last piercing glance, and then stood at the door taking in large, deep breaths. This time she was ready for the squeaking door handle, and when it did not, she found herself growing more and more nervous. She had to be insane! Leaving the only safety she had found since she had gotten to this time locked behind her in a bathroom?

“Einheits, you look so much better!” Matilda smiled.

“Beautiful. The men will be pleased to see they’ve rescued a real woman.” Greta grinned somewhat grudgingly. Seren simply stood in the doorway of the bathroom, the door shut behind her, as though she couldn’t quite move on her own. “Come on then dear, the commander will be waiting.”

Matilda took hold of one of Serena’s hands, and Serena immediately drew it back, not wanting to be touched by some strange person, regardless of who they were or what time they were from. Matilda gave her a strange look, and an echo of Hiiro’s words plagued her memory instantly. “Don’t let them suspect you’ve been wasting time in here, or they’ll want to know why.” Slowly she reached out, and offered her hand to the woman again.

“Sorry.” She muttered. But Matilda patted her hand gently and took hold of her whole arm as she led her out of the room, down the hall, and then down the stairs.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure those Americans treated you roughly, it’s only a natural response you’ve learned.” Serena pursed her lips and hoped that her silence would suffice as a yes. But even if it had, it wouldn’t have mattered—they had already stopped outside of a room bustling with activity.

Soldiers were standing at attention guarding the door with stern faces, and other were walking in and out with papers or simply talking to one another. Matilda and Greta led her into the room, and Serena realized it had once been a very lovely drawing room used to entertain high-class company when they had visited. Now, desks and chairs had been set up in the room, and large, bulky equipment she knew to be telegraph lines and radio transmitters. The clacking sound of typewriters also echoed faintly through the room, and she spied a man typing letter after letter in the corner of the room.

“Ah, Greta, Matilda. Is this our hostage survivor?” A tall man stood up from a desk surrounded by other soldiers.

“Yes sir. This is Einheints. She was taken captive by two American soldiers and forced to walk from Germany to here.”

“Are you in good health my dear? They did not hurt you, touch you?” The man frowned, his bushy mustache brushing against his top lips as he moved.

“She’s perfectly healthy.” Matilda told him when Serena did not answer. “She only still slightly shaken by her ordeal.”

“Is this true Einheints? Are you only in mild shock?”

“Yes sir.” Serena managed to garble. She knew her cheeks were bright red, and her eyes found a hard time focusing on anything—suddenly her new shoes were very much more interesting than they had been when she had put them on.

“I see. Tell me, did the Americans say anything to you that you might find important?” The man’s face was grim, and she did not like the way he glanced at her—as if she were a piece of meat to be devoured, or a songbird for his own personal amusement.

“No. They would not say anything in front of me. They only spoke of hunger.”

“Nothing about any plans to invade, or any bombing raids that they might be sending out? Think very carefully, this could be a life saving piece of information should we hear about it in time to evacuate a city. Any targets they may have mentioned?”

“They only thing I heard was that they now had troops in Italy. I did not know there was even war in Italy.” Serena lied through her teeth. The commander in front of her smiled a sly grin, and lightly began to stroke her arm. Sucking in her breath, Serena tried hard not to struggle or flinch.

“My dear, you are too innocent to have been kidnapped, but I suppose that is why they did it. And such pains they must have gone through to hide your beauty… well, do not worry. I will send you home with Matilda and Greta when we leave this house. Back to Germany, doesn’t that sound nice?”
“Yes.” Serena gritted out through her teeth.

“You don’t sound pleased my dear.” The man’s smile dropped a little. Serena was caught.*