Hold Fire
The Fuhrer was down, but so was Buccaneer. So for now, Vato was the commanding officer in charge. And he was only there because Buccaneer had wanted him there.
"Those sissies will be shaking in their boots when they see us. Maybe if they see you, they'll figure out we're not the enemy and join us."
"You assume they'll remember who I am, sir."
"They'll remember you, Falman."
"Ready to fire, sir," said the Briggs soldier at the cannon to his left.
The Central troops were in disarray with the loss of their Fuhrer. The Briggs troops waited for Falman's orders, stoic and unconcerned despite the superhuman battle they'd just witnessed between Bradley and the other homunculus.
"Hold fire," said Vato. "The loudspeaker please, Private Vickers."
The tears he'd shed facing Bradley had dried in itchy streaks down his face, reminding him what a coward he was.
"You know me," he said. "Warrant Officer Falman? The guy with the memory from Archives?"
He scanned the Central troops, looking for familiar faces.
"Sergeant Browning. Captain Gatling. Private Chauchat. Did you ever know me to disobey an order?"
It looked like Falman, but what was he doing up there? Leading Briggs troops?
"If you're really Falman, then when's my second daughter's birthday?" called someone from the crowd.
"You only have one daughter, Sergeant Madsen, but Kim is your second son and his birthday is April 23, 1898."
"That's him all right," said Sergeant Madsen to the crowd. "Do you know what's going on?" he asked.
Before Vato could answer, there was a shot and the soldier on his right knocked him down as the bullet hit the wall behind him. At the same time, another shot rang out from the Briggs side. A sniper. No one else would have fired during a hold.
Vato was back up almost as soon as he hit the ground. The Central troops looked a hair trigger away from charging but the Briggs troops still stood there calm as glass.
"Thank you, Second Lieutenant Perosa," he said to the sniper. "You're not dead because I gave the hold fire, Private Pulemyot," he told the Central man cradling his right hand.
Vato searched for a ranking officer he trusted that he thought the leaderless Central soldiers would follow. "Major Marlin, are you charge?" he asked.
"I am now," came the gruff answer. "Stand down," he called to the troops behind.
Marlin crossed the space between them with calm, sure strides, still armed.
Later that day, when the ground opened up to reveal the dwarf who had swallowed god, they were all fighting on the same side.
Author's Note
I got the names that aren't from the manga from the names of WWI machine guns listed at this url: www dot firstworldwar dot com slash weaponry slash machineguns dot htm