In the midst of World War I, the German research organization known as Group 935 are tasked with creating powerful new weaponry to ensure victory for the Central Powers.
During September of 1917 Dr. Maxis and his partner Dr. Edward Richtofen lead an archaeological excavation into the trenches of northern France after Dr. Maxis promises Group 935's leaders that this is the location of an unknown and enigmatic new element. The excavation not only discovers this new element but also uncovers a mysterious and ancient ruin beneath the battlefield. Dr. Maxis classifies the new element as number 115 on the periodic table of elements. The group plan to use Element 115 as a power source for new weaponry in the Wonder Weapon program. At the excavation site, Group 935 installs a series of conversion generators that utilize element 115 to create localized energy fields. To their surprise the energy fields act like portals and begin to materialize advanced machinery of indeterminate origin, leading Maxis to surmise that the conversion of element 115 is somehow capable of creating a crease or tear in space and time.
As the excavation continues, Group 935 discover more wonders such as an ancient box capable of delivering weapons from various time periods, further confirming Maxis' suspicion that Element 115 has time-altering properties. Dr. Richtofen takes part in the creation of four giant mechanical humanoids whose creation is only possible due to the use of Element 115 as a power source. Group 935 plans to deliver these to the German Army for use in battle.
It is at this time Richtofen notices Maxis start to show signs of paranoia and mental psychosis. The symptoms worsen as Maxis begins to hear the voice of a child named Samantha who claims not only to be his daughter (at this point he has no children) but also that she is trapped in a realm known as Agartha and needs his help to escape. Due to Samantha's constant interference with their work, Richtofen fears for his friend Maxis' safety and grows to despise the unseen voice.
Meanwhile, the excavation in Northern France unearths a sealed main chamber within the ancient ruins. All attempts to open this chamber are unsuccessful until purely by chance, one of the workers sets up a gramophone for entertainment. When the gramophone begins to play music, the chamber seal opens revealing cryptic writing on the walls. Maxis studies the writing and learns of an ancient race and their ability to create powerful devices such as an 'Amplification Rod' and 'Elemental Stones'. According to the writing, the Amplification Rod is capable of harnessing energy from the Elemental Stones. The excavation group has found neither the rod nor the stones so Maxis instructs Richtofen to create four replica rods or 'Elemental Staffs' while continuing to search for the original devices.
When presenting the idea, Richtofen began to question Maxis' actions, believing the Amplification Rod to be a myth. Convinced of his insanity, he planned to report his mental instability to Group 935's leaders, while Samantha began to communicate more frequently with Maxis, now attempting to convince him of her being his future daughter. One night, as a team of soldiers were installing more generators, they reported seeing strange and ancient figures emerging from the mound and finding many of the men dead or missing by morning. As more figures emerged, now revealed to be corpses reanimated by Element 115's powers, the test site slowly became infected by the creatures, with Maxis himself slowly turning.
The reports of the creatures provoked the United States to send Tank Dempsey to the test site to investigate the group's work, and acquire Dr. Richtofen as a H.V.T. Meanwhile, civil war-torn Russia did the same, believing the Germans had been gearing up to unleash a dangerous new weapon and sent Nikolai Belinski to undertake the mission. The Emperor, wishing to seize the German weaponry for Japan, sends Takeo Masaki. As the three soldiers made their way to the site, Richtofen attempted to preserve Maxis' mind and prevent it from succumbing to the disease, and removed his brain.
Eventually, the four heroes meet and agree to put aside their country's allegiances to band together and survive the zombie attack and Group 935's mechanical robots, while being contacted by Samantha in the midst of battle begging to be released from Agartha. While Tank, Nikolai, and Takeo agreed to help, Richtofen focused on creating a makeshift quadrotor drone using Maxis' brain, allowing him to live temporarily until a human body could be provided. The four are able to open a portal to Agartha beneath the ruins, allowing Maxis to meet his future daughter and Samantha to be freed from controlling the zombies. The zombie outbreak was contained. Months later, the war would end in an Allied victory after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
21 years later, the world would once again be threatened by a second world war after Germany's chancellor and supreme dictator Adolf Hitler rose to power. Dr. Maxis, now returned to a younger and suitable human body, reunited Group 935 as an international German-led research team, and emerged as its head scientist. Rather than their previous goal, Maxis sought to use Element 115 to improve the human condition by developing advanced technologies, and enlisted Dr. Richtofen as his senior assistant rather than equal partner, much to his chagrin. However, the group's goal immediately detoured due to a lack of funding, and Maxis regretfully turned to making a contract with the Nazi Wunderwaffe Program to use 115 as a power source for deadly new weaponry to help the Axis Powers win the war. Maxis hoped that after the war, the generous funds and Germany's ultimate victory would put Group 935 in a much better position to help the world.
Using a large supply of Element 115 found in meteors, Maxis began a series of tests experimenting with 115 being used to power devices capable of teleportation, called MDTs, at the Der Riese facility in Lower Silesia. While the majority of the tests failed, Richtofen and another 935 scientist, Dr. Schuster, conducted a successful test on their own by teleporting a walnut using a small amount of Element 115. Though Edward assumed it was a sign of progress, Maxis criticized the scientists for failing to work on their assigned experiments, which led Richtofen into thinking that Maxis planned to betray the scientists and claim their work as his own. Despite Maxis' displeasure, Richtofen and Schuster continued their research with the MDT device, and after a month of tests, Richtofen agreed to be teleported himself. But rather than appearing at the test site's mainframe, he arrived within a catacomb on the moon, where a large, triangular device known as the MPD was located. After touching the device, Richtofen began hearing a series of voices in his head, unknowingly gaining schizophrenia from the pyramid before being teleported away from the strange device. Arriving in an exotic shrine in the Himalayan jungles known as Shangri-La, Richtofen remained there for three weeks and learned of a mysterious energy force known as the Vril.
Richtofen returned to the Der Riese facility with full knowledge of the MPD and the Vril, and with Schuster and other Group 935 scientists, spent two years building a top-secret moon base, Griffin Station, to study the device, which he now knew to be a dimensional gateway to the Aether. Placing Schuster and his superior, Dr. Groph, in charge of the facility, Richtofen continued his charade as Maxis' senior assistant, whom he planned to eventually kill and enter the Aether using the MPD to take control of its energy. As Groph and Schuster toiled with the device, Maxis and Richtofen began a project to create Wonder Weapons for the Nazi Party. Richtofen used the element to create the Wunderwaffe-DG2, a weapon so deadly even Maxis himself felt uneasy about its mass-production. Nonetheless, he promised Richtofen it would be produced, but his growing attraction with his secretary Sophia prevented him from doing so.
While other weapons were produced from several Group 935 facilities, such as the Quantum Entanglement Device made by Richtofen and the second generation Ray Gun created by Dr. Porter, Maxis focused his attention on the matter transference devices, hoping to manufacture them to the Wehrmacht granting German forces easy travel in the war. The initial tests failed, with test subjects either being killed or exposed to Element 115, resulting in their deceased cells being reanimated and becoming unresponsive zombies. However, the first successful test would be conducted after a dog had been sent through the device and failed to return to the mainframe. While Maxis believed the MDT experiments to be failures, the Reichstag saw the creation of the zombies as another advantage in the war, forcing Maxis to control the zombies.
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