Propaganda Extravaganza

By the time Shion and Chizuru left Lavender books hand and hand it was around 0730. The workers were readying for the big Victory Day Extravaganza. For these kinds of events, the biggest priority was showmanship and a fresh set of New Japanese propaganda.

All the billboards, light posts, windows of shops, and even the front doors of people's houses were all covered in posters and images meant to make the Prime Minister and the Fuhrer look like saints. In fact, it was required for these images to be displayed at all businesses, homes and government buildings during these special events. Any non-compliance could be subject to investigation which usually resulted in execution.

This year's main poster featured Adulf Hitler and Prime Minister Tojo passing out food to the Lowerclass farmers. All had huge grins on their faces and looked as if that was the happiest moment of their lives. The blonde hair and blue-eyed world leaders give sustenance to dirty and derelict looking brown-eyed brunettes couldn't be any better than that.

Both Hitler and Tojo were now blonde with blue eyes and much more attractive than they had been during the time of World War Two. This again was all thanks to the Nietzsche Protocol. While cloning was definitely possible from a genetics perspective, for world leaders and people deemed essential to the Nazi regime, transference of the mind and memories was also possible. In a word, immortality.

It was for this along with many other reasons why Shion's mission to find and destroy the protocol and those involved in its creation was so important. With the ability to transfer a person's mind and recreate or even alter their bodies, the same world leaders had been in charge for over 200 years. 200 years of the same leadership meant that similar problems remained in the current world as did during the WWII era.

Once again, the Nazi empire stood at the brink of an all out global war. Instead of discriminatory treatment and mass murder based on descent, disability, or sexual orientation, it was based on genetics. The scarier part is that those same people who were discriminatory were also the ones deciding who was selected to receive the "best and strongest" genes.

In other words, the elite chose to intentionally not give certain people all the beneficial genes they had found based on their original lineage. In New Japan, there were about seven different last names of all Upperclass citizens. All from generals during the war, Yamada, Tanaka, Tojo, Yamashita, Hajime, Yamamoto, and Honda. Genetic material from those men were used as the basic templates for the upper class citizens with gene alterations added or removed to make the perfect humans which existed in the 22nd century. This led to people having similar appearances, and even behaviors which were less common in previous time periods. Based on Nazi beliefs, Aryan or blonde hair and blue eyes were the preferred appearance of the elite, those clans like the Yamamotos often had variations of blonde hair like Chizuru's light right hair.

Due to the lack of genetic diversity, the ban on natural reproduction made sense in that way, however, if allowed between elite and lower class people could still produce normal offspring. Relations between the two were also banned however, thus reducing the possibility of natural born children even further.

Those who weren't of the last names of the great generals, or were from places like China, India, or lower born Japanese were not created to be perfect. Their genes for appearances remained largely untouched, while physical strength, endurance, and ability to dissipate toxins like those from high levels of pollution were enhanced.

Why would someone give people some, but not all traits that made them superior to natural born humans? There were two very simple reasons. People with increased durability made for both better test subjects who could endure more before dying, and better farmers and manual laborers who could work harder for longer periods of time. So essentially, these people were created to do all the hard jobs and to sacrifice their lives for the advancement of technology and science. They had no value as human beings and could very easily be replaced.

People like Shion who were natural born of a Lowerclass and a genetically superior being were feared because they could have those adaptations of endurance, and chemical resistance plus the strength, speed, and intellect of the Upperclass.

The reason this year’s propaganda was based on smoothing relations between Upperclass and Lowerclass was because there were increasing incidents of organized uprisings, and targeted attacks on resources and strongholds controlled by the Nazi regime. Though not officially recognized, they were essentially in the midst of the start of a civil war.

Videos also played on the billboards depicting upper and lower class drinking beer together, playing sports, and going to church. This year, the Capitol would even allow Lowerclass citizens to watch the speeches at designated locations. Normally a work permit was needed for Lowerclass to even enter the main city let alone the Capitol.

Shion was increasingly suspicious that something more sinister was planned for her promotion ceremony. The circumstances were highly unusual, and usually demonstrations of power took place at events like this.

It was becoming more and more obvious that the turn out for this Victory Day celebration was going to be huge. The streets were already becoming crowded so early in the morning with not even a finger's breadth between people walking around.

In fact, the crowd had gotten so large that Chizuru and Shion had become separated.

Shion beemed Chizuru "Where are you? Are you alright?"

Chizuru responded, "I may need a little help Lt. Alley fifteen meters to your six".

Shion turned around and fought her way to the alleyway behind her.

Chizuru was backed up against a with a knife held to her throat. She was her normal bubbly self trying to talk the three men surrounding her into leaving her alone.

"Boys, do you have any idea who I am? Do you kmow how much trouble you can get into for assaulting an officer?"

The man holding the knife responded, " Do you think we are stupid? There is no way a beauty like you is a member of the SS, let alone an officer. You probably stole that outfit. Plus, no one is going to notice some guys like us fleeing the scene with this big ass crowd. You got no chance of getting away anyways, it's three against one."

Shion interrupted him, " You mean two to three. Also THAT officer you have pinned to the wall happens to be one of the most lethal soldiers in all of history. I will give you one more chance to drop the knife and leave before things get ugly."

"Are you fucking kidding me. This little lady is a killer?! Now I know your ass is lying. "

Chizuru replied, " I don't usually like to harm civilians. It makes the SS look bad, and I really don't want to get my dress clothes dirty so it would be best if you just walk away."

"You dumb bitch, sounding all cocky. Ill show you who is boss." The man proceeded to press the blade into Chizuru's throat drawing blood.

Shion spoke up, "Ok we are done here. You were given a chance to flee and have not taken it."

Shion beemed to Chizuru, "This is your commanding officer, first Lt. Tanaka authorizing use of lethal force. Dispatch all the enemies as you see fit."

Chizuru replied, "Roger that."

Out loud she said, "Sorry guys, but you did this to yourselves. You should have ran when you had the chance. Enjoy your last five seconds to live."

One. The knife along with the man's arm past the elbow clattered against the wet asphalt.

Two. His other hand reached up to his throat as blood sprayed from a deep gash in his neck.

Three. Four puncture marks showed up in one of the men's abdomen.

Four. The same man began choking on his own blood and tripped over the first man's leg.

Five. As the last man started to turn around and run, he heard the sound of his own neck snapping, his bones crunching and slowly toppled over.

Shion squatted down and admired the cleanness of the cuts, "Nice work, you got through the bone in a single swing."

Chizuru added, "And I did it without getting a drop of blood on me! That's why they call me "The Butcher."

Shion stood up and approached Chizuru while removing her gloves, "Almost," she whispered as she wiped a small drop of blood off Chizuru's cheek.

"Help me search these guys. I have a feeling this wasn't a random attack. I mean I've seen scum, but most aren't stupid enough to attack SS members."

The two began to riffle through the coat pockets of the men and Shion found a ring with a snake biting its own tail on it. She tossed it to Chizuru.

"Ouroboros," she said. "These guys were with the church of Nietzsche".

"That psycho cult I keep hearing about?"

"Yes that one. During my last investigation I did a deep dive into the church. I found some dirt on them but not enough to shut them down. Coming after me is one thing. But coming after one of my subordinates is a whole other issue," Shion said between gritted teeth, her eyes seethed with skillfully hidden rage. Chizuru could only tell how angry she was because she knew Shion so well.

"Take their rings and call a cleaning crew. Let's keep this between us for now. Let's get going to the ceremony stage." With that the two departed with the question about what secrets the cult was hiding that made them try to kill SS officers.