Published at 24th of January 2026 7:05 am

Chapter 838: Firefight at the Swiss Federal Palace

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The gathering parties had arrived at the Swiss Federal Palace, with the Latin American countries being the first to step through its gates.

After the last Latin American delegate entered the Palace, the Central Powers began to follow suit.

The city’s streets had been quartered off for security purposes, and the Swiss National Police were spread thin across the entire palace grounds. With municipal agents, and Military Police aiding where they could.

Compared to the heavily armed and armored Werwolf Sturmkommandos that acted as Bruno’s personal security detail, the Swiss Police looked from another era... another century.

Dressed in formal uniforms, with nightsticks and revolvers, they were almost cartoonish compared to the men that escorted Bruno who appeared to be stuck in traffic while the rest of the delegates and ambassadors gathered for the sake of peace talks.

The police officers did their best to keep citizens from entering the premises, but many had gathered, especially the French refugees and Swiss-French nationals, protesting loudly, and aggressively against the barricades, which the police desperately tried to hold up.

Many of those gathered were indirectly, or directly tied to Reveil de France, whom had riled up the public, with claims that Germany intended to invade Switzerland next, and that the Kaiser, Chancellor, and Reichsmarschall were all war criminals who needed to stand trial in the Hague.

Regardless of the truth behind these allegations, the mere notion that Switzerland was hosting a conference for war criminals to subjugate their enemies with unfair terms of surrender had gotten the particularly unemployed, mentally ill, and just generally overly sentimental types within the Swiss Confederation agitated beyond a healthy state.

Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher gazed over at the protesters. His time during the Great War had given him a keen insight into trouble, and the ability for it to quickly escalate into something fatal.

Despite appearing as if they had things under control, the Swiss Police were barely containing the gathered protestors who were on the verge of a riot.

Von Schleicher had limited time on the front lines during the Great War, and instead spent much of it at the General Staff, as an aide to Supreme Army Command.

But his position led him to the Balkans, where he had played a small role behind the scenes against the guerrilla campaign and the partisans who emerged in the region after Serbia surrendered.

And those scenes flashed in the back of his mind as he witnessed them unfolding again in front of him. He tried to force his way up the steps, and towards the entryway of the palace, hoping the walls would provide him an additional layer of safety.

But there were simply too many people in his way for him to barge through. No matter how he may try.

In the end, he could only resign himself to a slow, and forward march. That is until the man next to him tripped him to the floor.

And in that moment, a shot went off. The thunderous explosion crackled across the courtyard as protesters and police alike began to panic.

Blood sprayed across the Chancellor’s face, but it was not his own. Rather, it belonged to a Swiss police officer who stood just in front of him. Had Kurt not fallen he would most certainly have been the target of the sniper attack.

The rest of the Swiss police quickly reacted, forcing the most important members gathered out of the direct line of fire, while shots resounded throughout the courtyard outside the Palace gates.

Police and terrorists engaged in fire against one another. But it became increasingly clear that the Swiss police were outgunned.

Whether it M1918 BAR light machine guns, a mixture of old Thompson submachine guns, and French military surplus, or just plain old Mas and Garand semi-automatic rifles.

The firepower in the hands of the terrorists was just too much, as they fired from behind barricades, within the windows of buildings just outside the Palace that had not been properly sealed off due to lack of manpower, or even just behind automobiles.

Kurt could only huddle behind the nearest vehicle, where bodies had fallen in front of him, and use them as cover, hoping that any shots that went his way would be soaked up by those who had already lost their lives.

The police, having been pinned down by machine gun fire found themselves almost helpless as their revolvers did little to penetrate the cover the terrorists were spraying from behind.

---

The attack had gone off exactly when Bruno expected it would, and initial reports over the radio suggested that some of their own delegates were already wounded, if not killed outright.

But one thing had surprised Bruno: the Chancellor had proven remarkably resilient. Still alive by reports of men on the scene, watching and waiting for their arrival.

Bruno could only sigh and shake his head as he turned the radio off and looked at the men in his car, who looked all too eager to shed some blood.

"Well, I suppose the Swiss government will just have to owe us one, now won’t they?"

That was all Bruno needed to say as the motorcade of armored SUVs pulled into the street. The men within them departing from their armored doors, suppressed carbines in hand as they silently, and smoothly flanked the terrorists who were engaged in a firefight with the Swiss National Police.

The driver looked over at Bruno, a bit surprised. He and one other man were left behind in the car to protect him.

For the first time since entering the vehicle, he heard one of the men’s voices as he spoke. Proving there were still men, at least in the flesh behind those skull masks.

"You don’t want to get involved, sir?"

Bruno shook his head, opening up the compartment in the back where the beer was hidden. Popping off its cap with a Swiss Army Knife, he took a long swig before finally responding.

"It’s tempting... But I promised the Angel of Berlin that I would return to her alive and well. And though it’s been far too long since I last got my hands dirty, I fear the risk is not worth that woman’s fury should she find out I did something so utterly foolish."

The mercenary simply chuckled once before turning his attention back to the road. Bruno didn’t expect him to speak again until he did.

"You’re a lucky man...."

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