The guardian of Maxstadt

Overview
The Guardian of Maxstadt is a fictional Eisenlandian book series authored by Blue2806 whom is a member of the ministry of culture. The series is has a fictional superhero setting used as a form of propaganda for Eisenlandian children and teens. It features a man known as "The lord of the night" who patrols the afterhours of Maxstadt dispensing justice to criminals much to the annoyance of the police force. Like all superheroes there are super villains, these are the personification of what is deemed "anti Eisenlandian" such as "Thy Anarchist" who is the representation of Anarchism and all its forms. Currently there is only 1 book published only that has been approved by the kaiser and minister of culture for Eisenland to be circulated to the public.

Book 1, "The guardian of Maxstadt"
 Prologue 

A cold wind passed through the streets of Maxstadt, it was the dead of night, and most residents were asleep. Some hard-working Eisenlandian men were awake working nightshifts while others had just returned home from work. But the dead of night is game for the lowest of Eisenland society, criminals, gangsters, and hooligans. These men do not deserve to be called Eisenlandian even, looking for ways to make money while doing the least to fuel their greedy desires.

Battles between gangs and law enforcement were common, gunshots waking up sleeping residents. But salvation would come from an unseen force, in a back alley of Maxstadt, 3 men were preparing their weapons to “ruffle up” a mere teenager. His crime? Telling law enforcement about their gang’s activity in his apartment complex. These gangsters were from the wheat gang and were monsters in the skin of men, footsteps were heard and the 3 men hid behind a wall.

Walking through the alleyway was Ralph Gansz, returning home after a day at work. From behind the wall the 3 gangsters popped out, brandishing improvised clubs made of bats and machine gears, wearing a somewhat formal attire consisting of button-on short sleeve shirts, messily tied ties, suit pants, and flat caps. “Oi kid! What you think you're doing snitching on us huh?!” One of them shouted at him pointing his club at Ralph. Ralph was stunned, frozen in place like a statue in fear before attempting to run.

Sadly the same gangster who shouted at him grabbed the teen and pulled him deeper into the alleyway. “Little runt! Come here!!!” In a quick motion, he threw him against an apartment’s wall causing trash bins to fall over, sending rubbish rattling everywhere on the ground. “You know what they say, snitches get stitches!” Another gangster said maliciously. All readied themselves, smiling like the devils they were, ready to turn him into a broken wreck.

Suddenly one of the men buckles, falling to the ground in pain. It happened so fast, all Ralph remembered was a person dressed like the knights of old fighting with an Eisenland flag on his back only with his fists and legs. The pure fury radiating from him could be felt for miles as he didn't hold back smashing the men's faces against walls and the ground, dispersing justice to them finally leaving Ralph as the knight stood there waiting for more to come, his partially armored metal gauntlet showing the only bit of visible skin of this man with his fingers all bruised up from the punching. “Young boy why are you not at home?” He asked Ralph, somehow he seemed more human and not at the same time, as a strict military father would to a disobedient child.

Ralph stutters trying to find his words, “I-I'm the only person with a job in my family, I work the evening shift at the rail yards so that my siblings can go to school sir” The man takes a deep breath and responds “Your a good kid, Eisenland needs boys like you. Someday you will go on to do something great for Eisenland and its people” Ralph calmed down seeing the stranger was not a threat “Thanks sir” he began to pick himself up letting the stranger out of his sights, but in that time he vanished back into the shadows he came from leaving him bewildered.

 Chapter 1 

2 men of the Maxstadt police force were being directed by a resident of an apartment building who had seen 3 men lying on the ground supposedly dead in the alleyway separating his apartment and another. When the man still in his pajamas showed the alleyway with the 3 gangsters still knocked out, a thief had been looting their pockets. 1 of the officers shouted at him taking out a baton from his duty belt and began to chase the thief trying to catch him “Stop!!! Maxstadt police force!!!”.

The other officer gets on one knee observing one of the men’s injuries, “Wheat gang, the nose is all caved in, the face is probably gonna be deformed but he’ll live” The officer puts his Redstone radio to his ear, “Dispatch requesting senior investigation officer Alica Schwertner, additional officers and paramedics to the Van Corn apartment complex, 3 severely injured wheat gang members in the alleyway.” The man who lead them looked shocked, how could a man so injured like that live? These thoughts circled around in his head. “H-how could you tell?!”.

Without even looking at him the officer stated quite simply, “Served 2 years in the military as a combat medic and 2 years as a mercenary, you’ll be surprised how hard people are to kill. Certain peoples are very hard to kill especially, Montroigians, Arourans, and especially Eisenlandians. We can survive a lot of abuse” shortly his partner arrived dragging the knocked-out thief by his collar behind him. “Found a passport belonging to one of them, Josua Neuner. Age 25, born in Eisenburg”.

The other scoffs at this “Waste of our forefathers' blood, sweat, and energy” soon he turns to the man who had led the 2 here, “it will be a while until our backup arrives, you should go and get ready for the morning” he says smiling warmly. A few minutes pass and a crowd has formed, police officers, stop the curious onlookers from getting any nearer. Senior investigation officer Alicia Schwertner finally arrives, and her kill squad bodyguards forcefully make a path for her through the crowd.

“What do we have here…” She puts her arms on her hips watching paramedics check on what looked to be wheat gang goons. “Madam 3 wheat gang members were found badly injured, officer Herbert and I were lead to this scene by a resident living in the Van Corn apartment complex” Alica nods as a response and puts some leather gloves on so as to not disturb the crime scene brushing her long red hair aside. “May I?” She asked the paramedic who steps aside.

Observing the man’s injuries, she notes everything as best as her photographic memory could, her injuries were violent and blunt. A powerful man or woman could have used a steel bat to bash these men so the local cricket store and boxing league would be the first places to check, “Any witnesses?” she asks the police officers. “Yes, we have the address of a boy these men were harassing provided by several residents of the apartment complex” Alica nods to her bodyguards and they begin making a path again for her while the paramedics begin hauling the 3 injured men off to the hospital so that doctors could try fixing their broken bodies.

 Chapter 2 

3 loud knocks came on the door of the Gansz residence located a 3-minute walk from the Van Corn apartment complex. “Maxstadt police-” Those 2 words Alica spoke caused the door to be swung open almost immediately, “Yes…?” what she saw immediately made her regret even knocking on the door, it was a frail man that looked to be in his mid-50s in a wheelchair missing both his legs. “Is Ralph Gansz home?” she asks swallowing the guilt.

“Yes he’s sleeping…what has he done…?” The man sounded defeated, she could feel even her bodyguards, trained to be emotionless killing machines that dispensed justice to anything disobeying the kaiser’s will beginning to take pity on the man. “We’re here because your son was the victim of the wheat gang” The man’s face turns into a scowl looking disappointed after hearing her words, “I told him not to do it!!!”.

His voice boomed across the apartment hallway, soon a tired Ralph walks to his father’s side sluggishly woken up by his shouting. “What do you mean sir?” Alica presses further into the man’s statement.

“Our neighbor is in debt to the wheat gang, I told him not to report it to the police but he just had to!!!” The man buries his face into his hands feeling defeated by the world “he’s all I have left…I cannot lose him…” Ralph puts his hand on his father’s shoulder “I’m sorry father…I just wanted to help her…”.

“It's alright son… it's alright…”

“You know…we’re the Maxstadt police right…? We can protect common folk like you from undesirables” both their eyes lit up, and no longer would they live in fear of the wheat gang’s retaliation “Thank you, madam, I assume you're here because of the incident right…?” Alica nods and begins the question “So tell me how it all happened?”.

Ralph began to retell the events of last night, it sounded like something a child would say while playing with his toys. A lord of shadows dressed like a knight wearing the flag of Eisenland as a cape beating gangsters in the dead of night? That's one hell of a story she would tell her kid if she had one, maybe something like this would entertain her husband. “You sure your not making this up?” She presses further into his account trying to find potholes she could exploit to find the truth “I swear by kaiser Gustav himself that this is all true! I saw it with my own eyes!!!”.

After a lengthy back-and-forth questioning, she couldn't find anything and so reluctantly Alica had to take it as the truth going back to the station with such information. Usually with this kind of information alone as evidence for the case to be shelved due to a lack of evidence but she would be in shock when she returned to the secret society investigation headquarters in the parliament police headquarters. “Hey, Alica!” Senior investigation officer Jack Hoff shouted to her getting Alica’s attention the moment she entered the department through its double glass doors. “What now Jack?”.

“We need you at the blackboard.” He says before walking into a secluded room made of bricks with 1-way glass. Inside there were members of the investigation team which meant there would be a rundown of recent gang activity, “Alright, we got problems. Some guy is going around beating up criminals until their half dead” The lead investigation officer Hanz Fredrick said in a raspy voice while pacing in front of the blackboard. “It has begun to bleed to our department, this vigilante was under investigation by the guys in the normal crimes department for a large amount of assault, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and so on. Alica, you were on a case involving this guy, knight costume, Eisenland flag, you know, and heard”.

“So what do we do now?” The kill squad senior sergeant asked him, “Well if we don't do anything about him the kaiser is gonna get the government involved or nothing because this is probably beneficial to everyone but our public image and those getting their heads caved in by the guy” Everyone groans at the prospect of the government getting involved, only the kill squad was comfortable with the government since they're the police’s own military-style force.

 Chapter 3 

Night fell upon Maxstadt again, atop the sandstone apartments and high rises of the city the lord of the night sat. The clocktower near parliament turned to midnight and soon the city becomes quiet again say for the occasional dog bark or nightshift workers going and returning to and from work. He observes quietly, his movements are as fluid as water and silent. Swiftly he covers neighborhood after neighborhood until he stops at the last bank open.

But the police were already there, stoically guarding the business. So he leaves until something catches his attention, in a bin he finds an Eisenland flag with the wooden pole still attached to it. “My my…” he mutters dropping down and picking up the flag, “what has happened to you…” He grasps it tightly and straps it to his back, “I will use you for a new purpose, to purge the fatherland of all evil” Finally he continues on his journey of guarding Maxstadt’s night.

Finally, he finds prey, men piling into a store and entering the backroom, they wear red and black armbands. Immediately he knew what they were, anarchists, he drops in. Prepared to dispense justice against them he drops down and follows the men, blending into the shadows silently. Inside the backroom was something unexpected, men and women, populating an anarchist hideout.

The walls were colored a crimson red with the lights bleached blood red like a red traffic light. It was well organized, and rooms were organized for various purposes. 1 room was an armory stocked full of weaponry, 1 was a library with anarchist works from all over Rathnir and another was a large meeting hall with a stage, 2 massive red and black anarchist flags were hung. It all made him sick and eager to make them all pay.

But before he could start everyone began to move to that meeting hall, and waiting paid off. There was their leader, it was a man dressed in a black and red 3-piece suit that had shoulder plate metal armor on. A hood and cowl obscured his face, strangely there weren't even any shadows showing an outline of his face. Like a black void sucking in any light attempting to reflect off it, pure darkness.

“Comrades!” The leader began to speak, 30 of the damned anarchists had gathered in a crowd in front listening to him. “This is a very important announcement, our allies in Montroig have sent us a large shipment of essays” From inside his coat he pulls out a book titled in a different foreign language. Damn these anarchists, subscribing to foreign ideals and philosophy! This shall not stand! His rage built up and had burst!

From the shadows, he comes to drop kicking their leader down through the stage’s floorboards. His bodyguards open fire on him, and bullets ricochet off his armor as he menacingly grabs one by his throat and slams him to the ground. “Anarchist scum come fight me!” The second bodyguard comes up with a diamond axe swinging a heavy blow at him. With the flag, he blocks the blow and sends the axe flying into a wall, and kicks the man down on the floor.

From now it's the normal anarchists who are all in chaos panicking, attempting to get to the armory or run for their lives but the hall only had 1 entrance, everyone began a stampede, and the number of people trying to exit caused a jam. Before he could begin going to town their leader had miraculously gotten up and shot him in the knee.

He falls down getting on 1 knee grunting at the shot, “Well well well we meet finally…” he tosses the pistol he had just used, smoke still coming out of the barrel, and takes out an axe. “I am thy anarchist lord of the night, and you are in the way of our glorious revolution!” He circles around him, like a vulture would, waiting for a dying animal to finally breathe its last breath.

“You're delusional! Do you want to destroy Eisenland while subscribing to foreign anarchist propaganda?! Who do you think you are!!!” He spat at him, thy anarchist just laughs like a madman. “I am saving you all! For a brighter future than under this authority! All authority must be questioned-” Mid rant he had gotten up and given him a painful punch to the face. Thy anarchist was so self-absorbed with delusions of grandeur that he didn't even realize that he had gotten up.

He stumbles back but using his fag he smacks the axe out of his hands and begins to go into brutal hand-to-hand combat with him. Both trade punches and kicks but his superior strength slowly but surely overpowers and tires out thy anarchist. “No! No! I cannot fail!!!” He shouts in pure rage, his true colors beginning to show.

 Chapter 4 

“All hands on deck! We need every available officer!” The chief of parliament police headquarters shouted before blaring the alarm through the redstone speaker system. Every night shift officer instantly became alert dropping doughnuts and coffee on the nearest flat surface. “Empty the armory! We have a massive shootout at Wilhelm Avenue 5!” Alica quickly ran to the armory, the armorer had unlocked the door to the weapons room and was handing out guns, swords, shields, and armor to officers left-right, and center.

“Holy kaiser what's happening?! We’re not even involved in this!” She shouts while grabbing a sharps rifle and a couple of bullets “Possible gang violence, they need everyone since it's the night shift” Hanz Fredrick responds taking his own sharps rifle before bolting it out of the doors. She runs out after him and sees a sight she has only seen once in a blue moon before. Police officers running, equipped with armor and rifles towards a single location which kinda looked epic if she was being honest.

The location wasn't far but at the site she nearly got her head taken off by a bullet, they were anarchists, outlawed by the state they went into hiding pursuing their baseless ideals. She takes cover behind a wall to prevent being shot, it was organized chaos with the police trading volley after volley with the anarchists who were shooting out of an abandoned storefront. Civilians screaming and running, dogs barking, and children crying, some officers had to direct them out of the battlefield. “Patrol 6 support kill squad Omegon!” The station chief shouts into his radio “With pleasure!” Patrol lead Goring says

The combined kill squad and patrol 6 push into the store, shields with the Eisenland flag blocking attacks from the anarchists hitting swords on the shields rapidly in quick succession as an intimidation tactic. This is when Alica fires a shot hitting one in the head, “nice shot you still can shoot Afterall” Fredrick comments shooting another but in the arm taking it off “Well its only been 5 years out of the academy. Plus no mercy to these anarchists, they wanna destroy Eisenland, then we can destroy them. We also should probably get into the building”

Inside the battle continued. Thy anarchist’s hands were mangled attempting to hit metal over and over again. At one point he threw him over some fuel barrels burning him and beginning a large fire. But alas the fight was over, he had beaten him in the duel and was laying into him with constant successive blows as fires spread around them.

“I’ll find you…I’ll kill you…one day…” Thy anarchist spits out his blood-filled spit onto his helmet before passing out. He wipes it off before some Maxstadt police officers run up to him standing a few feet away pointing guns. Alica couldn't believe it, it was him. Just 1 day ago she didn't believe he existed and yet here he is standing atop the limp body of the anarchist’s leader, fires threatening to burn down the entire building.

“Hands up!” Hanz comes up behind her pointing his gun at the man. He tosses the leader to them just before a burning piece of wood that made up the roof supports came crashing down sending her and the others stumbling back, separating the 2 sides. “Damn it!” Alica shouts seeing the only visible part of him was the Eisenland flag he was carrying still waving in the air proudly “Forget it, tell everyone to evacuate the building! Take all these stupid anarchists and get out!” Hanz orders the officers as he whistles for Alica to get out too “I need all available fire fighting units to come down to Wilhelm avenue 5! We have a burning building that’s fire is spreading fast!”

 Chapter 5 

The lord of the night stumbled leaning against the wall of the sewer with one hand and the flag in the other tired from fighting. He had gotten away from it all and down into the sewers of Maxstadt, this was how he navigated the city without being seen in his outfit. It was around 5 am, his wife wouldnt noticed he was gone. As for his gunshot wound, it thankfully grazed his skin so he could play it off as some sort of bad gash.

He reached his destination, it was a ladder with a white X mark painted beside it. Climbing up he reaches a secret room in his home, a shop house that was part home sweet home and his own restaurant that operated from lunch to dinner time only selling burgers and loaded potatoes. He took off his suit and hung it on an armor stand resting the flag next to it, putting on his normal pajamas consisting of a singlet and shorts while bandaging up his leg wound. A bookshelf blocked the exit but thankfully it was attached to some ball bearings on the ground making it more fluid but still hard to move it.

Too bad he was ripped, there was a reason why he could cave men’s faces in and so pushed the heavy bookshelf to enter his bedroom not before putting the shelf back in place. And so the lord of the night returned to his normal life as he fell onto his bed, dozing off into wonderland after a long day.

He would wake up to an alarm clock and his wife hugging him, he stops the alarm and checks the time, 10 am, he groans that he has to get up accidentally waking his wife up. “You know I saw him right?’ She said looking up at him “Saw who?” he pretended to be shocked looking down back at her. “The guy that goes around beating up criminals at night…I saw him, in the flesh…” continuing to put up the facade “You sure Alica?’

“I’m sure Steffen”

 END 

Characters
The Lord of the night, real name Steffen Schwertner, is the mysterious main protagonist of the series. He is a former veteran of many wars serving under Eisenland, fighting for kaiser and country until retiring in his mid 30s to open a restaurant near parliament in Maxstadt. In the day he operates his restaurant from lunch to dinner selling his named burgers and loaded potatoes but in the night he patrols the streets of Maxstadt finding criminals and dispensing justice to them wearing a specially made bulletproof suit of knight armor allowing him to move fluidly but survive lethal gunshot wounds striking fear into the blackest hearts of criminals. No one knows that Steffen is the Lord of the night and he intends to keep it that way leading this double life. Currently too it is unknown why did he begin on his brutal crusade of justice against the criminals rather than just joining the police force.

Thy Anarchist is the minicanal leader of a small alliance of anarchist groups all over Eisenland connected to a larger alliance of anarchist groups spread throughout rathnir although the only mention of a group outside Eisenland is one situated in Montroig. He is self absorbed and delusional having a superiority complex and a inflated ego, after being beaten up by the Lord of the night he seeks vengeance against him at all costs

Alica Schertner, wife of Steffen Schwertner, is a senior investigation officer of the Eisenland police force stationed at the parliament police headquarters and assigned to the secret society investigation team. She is completely oblivious that her husband is the famed Lord of the night and has even held him at gunpoint once when she would have dropped the gun and given him a slap in the face had she had known