I'm so, so, so sorry that this chapter is late. I had a serious case of writer's block and I was stuck on this story and where it should go; subsequently I wrote other stories and eventually this came to the back burner. Only recently did I return to this story and finished this chapter. Sorry guys! In saying that I hope you do enjoy this story and I'm also here to say that the story is nearly finished, just a few more chapters to go. Thanks to everyone who has been loyal to this story and I look forward to your opinions and comments. Till next time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Familiar of Zero characters, just my OCs

"What? Jack's in one of the Confederacy base?" Laura exclaimed when the squad received their latest mission. That came as a shock to everyone because they had not heard from Jack in a long time and they had thought that he had left Belfast after what happened in Riang along with the Deloitte sisters.

"Correct," Mason said, "he's apparently holed up in there and we don't know what they're planning just staying there. However I can assure that it's probably nothing good."

"So we're going in there to mess up their plans right?" Laura asked as Mason glanced at her.

"Well we're working in tandem with another squad, but yes we are going in there to send them running. However," he closed the folder with a loud snap, "I want everyone to focus on the mission and not any other grudges that you may have," as he looked at Laura knowing that the message was intended solely for her. "We don't have a lot of time to execute the mission and once they know what we're doing we'll have to quickly complete our mission and then get out of there. So suit up and get ready for combat guys we're moving in two hours," as Mason turned and walked away, however he looked at Louise and there was an untold message to her.

As the squad dismissed themselves Laura went to the locker room as Louise told the others that she needed to do something first as she entered the locker room and locked it, "Do I need to tell you?" Louise asked as Laura scoffed.

"You don't need to tell me Louise," she said turning and smiling at her, "I'll be professional."

"Hmm…why do I have a hard time believing that?" Louise asked smiling back at her.

"Don't you trust me?" Laura asked.

"Not when it comes to Jack, whenever his name is mentioned you get hot-headed and reckless. We can't let ourselves become emotional in this Laura, we just can't. If we become emotional it compromises our judgement and that's deadly on the battlefield."

"We both been in combat long enough to know that Louise, I know first hand what being emotional results in."

"I know…you're a good soldier Laura, and a good friend too, however I am genuinely concerned about you Laura. You rarely talk about anything some days…"

"I'm fine Louise I just have a lot of things in my mind."

"You know that's what I used to say when I was down back in my world."

"Are you saying I'm depressed?"

"I'm saying that you don't need to shoulder everything on your own."

"Louise I'm fine…really I am, I'll be professional during the battle and I won't go off for personal grudges. There that's what you want me to say right?"

"Stop being so stubborn you owe me remember?"

"I owe everything to you Louise," Laura said looking at Louise, "you saved me. Without you I would already be gone…you're literally my saviour."

"Stop it you're making me blush," Louise said as she walked up to Laura and hugged the former police officer, "don't die. That's an order."

"Yes Corporal," Laura said, "I'll follow it to the letter," as Laura felt a warm feeling in her. She had never felt this way around people before, she felt like she could trust Louise with everything and knew that she would guide her on the right path, although she may be obsessed about getting her revenge on Jack for some reason whenever she was with Louise she would simply feel calm and loved. "Thank you Louise…you are truly a remarkable person," she whispered.

"Of course I am, I can't abandon my friends after all," Louise said before patting Laura's head, "come on Laura we got work to do."

"Yes Corporal," Laura said with a big smile as she opened the door to see Suzie pouting and on the verge of crying.

"Now, now Suzie," Louise began before Suzie went into another rant about how her sister wasn't loving her at all as Louise hugged her and laughed, "I love you Susie don't worry," she said stroking the girl's head.

"I bet you were doing indecent things to sister weren't you Laura," Suzie said glaring at the woman.

"Oh…" Laura said her eye twitching, "and if I was? Maybe Louise prefers a woman like me over a flat chested girl like you."

"What did you say?" Suzie shouted.

"Enough you two it's a headache when you two fight you know," Louise said with a sigh trying to placate one of many people who seemed to be loyal to her.

"How envious…" Kirche said looking at the scene alongside Tabitha, "it's so strange to see Louise having so many people loyal and dedicated to her."

"Yeah…" Tabitha said.

"But then again it has been some time since she came back to Helkeginia and I suppose this is where she's found her calling," Kirche remarked.

"So you don't mind her being a soldier?" Tabitha asked.

"Not really I guess it's the Germanian blood in me, but I don't think that it's particularly bad that Louise is a soldier. In fact…she seems to be well at home with it."

"And you?"

"Never, I can't damage this pretty face and beautiful body you know?"

"Typical."

"Oi you…"

The battle against the military base was a disaster the moment that they executed it, someone must have told them that they were coming because instead of a surprised military unit they were faced with a barrage of machine gun fire the moment that they sighed them. It quickly turned into a battle of attrition as the Confederacy soldiers were bombing them with mortar though the fact that they were not accurate against spread out units made it ineffective, something that Louise was glad for, "Who the hell told them that we were coming?" Robert asked.

"No idea," David shouted back, "but we better keep moving or else we'll be here the whole day."

"Mason can't support us or else the mortars will just blow up the tank," Louise commented.

"Flank them?" Laura suggested as a burst of machine gun fire echoed over.

"No good they're covering all sides, looks like they're not going to go down easily," Louise said firing a couple of shots.

"How about magic?" Kirche asked, "Burn them where they sit and it'll be a piece of cake."

"Magic shields," Louise said pointing to runes floating around the base, "it looked like they're prepared for this outcome."

"Great," Kirche sardonically said, "what other choices do we have?"

"Other than a full scale assault? Not much," Robert retorted.

"You got a plan Louise?" Alexander asked.

"Not really, kind of stuck aren't we?" Louise said.

"Well you always think of something," Alexander off handedly said.

"My brain can only go so far," Louise smirked.

"Ah is that so?"

"But in all seriousness we are in a pinch. They got us well covered and we don't have a lot of cover that we can go to either; I don't know how the other squad is doing, but we can depend on them for back up or any kind of distraction."

"Then what's your plan?"

"I guess we'll have to try to use magic as a make shift smoke screen, but the problem is that they'll know we will do that and they'll just be waiting for us."

"So we're stuck here?"

"For the moment."

"Well I guess I can take my time then."

"Are you trying to hurry me up?"

"Me? Certainly not~"

Louise sighed as she stared out onto the open field and began to work her mind in trying to solve their current situation, she was good at problem solving and with time she knew that she would be able to solve their problem and achieve victory. However they didn't have a lot of time, they only had a limited time, therefore she would need to think quickly about what their next move should be as she began to brainstorm all the possibilities and outcomes of any move. Finally after brainstorming for some time, and completely zoning out, she finally hit upon an idea, "Got it!" she exclaimed surprising Alexander and sending him sprawling.

"Got what?" he asked.

"I got what we need to do next," as she explained the idea to everyone as they looked quite worried about the plan, however Louise managed to convince them that it was the only plan that they had and that she would make sure it would go off without a hitch.

"Well if it's Louise saying this I have no problem," Claudia said, "I trust in her."

"You've gotten us this far," Robert said, "no harm in trying one of your plans again."

"Alright let's do this!" Louise said as they began to execute the plan. A squad would continue to attack the base and grab the attention of the defenders while another squad would go around, basically it wasn't a flanking tactic to be precise, but it was similar to that. The true goal of the second squad was to use magic point-blank where the shields wouldn't be able to protect them. The second squad was led by Kirche and included her, Tabitha and Guiche along with Claudia and Alex. The five man squad sneakily made their way to the base before they were close enough to do what they needed to do.

"Alright you guys ready?" Kirche asked.

"Yes," Tabitha said nodding.

"No," Guiche whimpered.

"Why am I not surprised?" Claudia remarked disapprovingly.

"Don't worry I won't let any of you die," Kirche said as her eyes drifted to Alex who noticed her looking at him and smiled back. She then casted a fire spell and sent it towards the machine gun emplacement as it exploded surprising the Confederacy soldiers as they weren't expecting them to attack head on. However with the machine gun emplacement gone it allowed Louise's squad to go forward and finally take some sort of action as they managed to penetrate the base.

"Good job you guys," Louise said.

"That was easier than I expected," Alex remarked.

"Of course with me there's nothing that we can't do," Kirche said.

"Is that so?" Alex said as Kirche blushed and quickly looked away.

"A-anyways let's get to it," before she quickly went with the other Shocktroopers.

"What's up with her?" Louise asked as Tabitha shrugged. With squad 13 breaking into the base it was easy for the other squad to support them as the enemy was flanked on all sides; eventually they had to abandon perimeter defence for a centralised one. "Alright we got this so far so good," she said always keeping an eye out for any sign of Jack or the Deloitte sisters since they could be anywhere and they could strike at anytime.

"Where are they?" Laura growled.

"Calm down Laura don't go off on a tangent," Louise said, "focus on the mission."

"Yeah I got it Louise," Laura said, "but I know that he's here…I can tell…" then just when they were about to rout the Confederacy forces when a large explosion rocked the base as several tanks came out.

"Damn it!" Louise cursed as the tanks began to pummel the surprised Belfast troops, "How could we not see that?"

"Must've been some sort of invisibility magic," Kirche said, "common and crude, but effective nonetheless."

"I knew I should've grabbed some magicians," Louise said.

"What we're not enough?" Kirche asked with a smirk.

"Depends," Louise said as she began to chant the magic words as her rifle glowed.

"Ouch that hurt," Kirche said before she also began chanting as Tabitha followed suit.

"Cover them," Laura shouted as the squad began to cover the three magicians as they began to chant the words of magic as the Confederacy soldiers began to pepper them with bullets intending to stop them from even finishing the spell.

"Oi why aren't you helping them?" Laura asked Guiche.

"I'm not good at magic," Guiche whined as Laura shook her head.

"How did you ever become a mage then," she remarked as she fired her machine gun at the incoming soldiers.

"Doesn't matter we need all the guns we can get," Alexander said firing his rifle, "just make sure none of them get to Louise."

"Yeah, yeah," Laura said her eyes shifting from right to left, it was clear to anyone that she was looking for Jack and that her inability to find him was frustrating her. A minute later three spells flew overhead them and landed on the Confederacy side sending soldiers and debris alike flying including tanks as they exploded in a fiery fireball.

"That took care of them," Louise said with a confident nod. However that seemed to not be the end of their trials as a larger tank rumbled in, with two cannons and huge treads, it looked like a juggarnaut had entered the battle and Louise wondered how they were able to make such a monstrosity.

"What is that?" Laura asked.

"Another one of those Confederacy toys I believe," Kirche said as a loud laughter echoed from within the tank and it was a familiar laugh.

"Jack!" Laura screamed.

"Good day squad 13 I was expecting you, honestly I thought those fools would have slowed you down even more than what I expected. Such disappointing things," Jack said.

"Why stay inside a tank?" Louise asked, "Too scared to come out and fight us? I thought an assassin like you would prefer killing us face-to-face."

"I may be an assassin, but I'm more importantly a smart assassin. I adapt, there is no way I'm facing off against four mages and an entire squad of Belfast's elite," Jack said, "but this will tank will make short work of you," as the twin cannons roared and destroyed an entire barrack behind them in one shot.

"Ah damn it…why do we always get the short end of the stick?" Adrian asked.

"Well I guess we can blame it to my misfortune," Louise said with a smile.

"I'm guessing that the armour is pretty thick," Alexander said, "that will make it hard for us to destroy it."

"Nothing is indestructible," Louise said, "well technically something can be made indestructible, but I don't think that applies to our current situation does it?"

"Let's hope that they haven't used magic on that tank or else we'll have to find another way to destroy it," Alexander said.

"Thankfully no," Louise said, "let's finish this everyone!" she shouted in encouragement as the rest roared their approval. They began to surround the tank and try to give as little opportunity for Jack to target them as possible, although there were plenty of covers owing to the militaristic environment it would be quickly destroyed by Jack's cannons.

"Oh come on we're nearly out of covers here," Kirche shouted, "you got a plan Louise?"

"I can't seem to find a weakpoint," Louise said, "it looks to be well armoured."

"Well a well-armoured tank is just a sitting duck if it can't move or aim right?" Alex remarked as Kirche looked at him and then to Guiche then back to the tank. "What?" he asked.

"Alex you are a genius," Kirche said making Alex blush, "Guiche do you remember what we did at the border town?"

"Huh? You mean that spire thing?" Guiche asked.

"No you making a giant hole in the ground, do you think you can do that again?" Kirche asked.

"Well…I'll try I guess," Guiche said scratching his head.

"You have five minutes," Kirche said shocking him.

"Five! It took more than fifteen minutes the first time round."

"Well you have five this time and don't screw up," as Kirche began to cast a fire spell in order to distract Jack while Guiche began to chant the spell.

"Huh so they're trying to sink the tank huh?" Louise remarked.

"Quite clever of them, I thought you would be the one to come up with that idea," Alexander said.

"Hey I can't be the only one that thinks of these things," Louise smirked, "the others need to learn not to be too dependant on me."

"Oh really?" Alexander asked smirking as Louise didn't comment on it and continued to fire on the tank, "How come you don't use any of your magic then?"

"Well…" Louise said, "maybe because I just want to sit back this time."

"Oi Louise help us out will you!" Kirche shouted as Alexander chuckled.

"Yeah on my way," Louise said beginning to cast a spell as Jack's turret slowly turned towards her, but she did not falter and before Jack fired his cannon Louise casted a large explosion spell strong enough to tilt the tank upwards causing the shell to fly right above them damaging the armor.

"Not bad, you okay?" Alexander asked.

"Never better, but Guiche better hurry it up with that spell of his," Louise said seeing the stress on the blonde boy's face.

"He'll make it," Suzie said, "I believe in him."

"You always do make the best of everything little sister," Louise said with a smile, "give him covering fire people we can win this!"

"Yeah!" they shouted back before anti-tank rockets slammed into the tank and magic spells dented the armor; Louise's words seemed to have an effect on Guiche who could be seen smirking slightly before he finally finished the spell and caused a giant sinkhole to appear beneath Jack's tank sending the tank sinking into the ground causing it to be useless.

"Good job Guiche," Louise said as Laura was the first to slide down the sinkhole, "hold on Laura there could still be a trap!" she warned.

"I'm fine," she growled, "charges," as Alex threw her an explosive charge and blew up the top of the tank. There was then a sound of a scuffle and a couple of gunshots ringing out before she dragged a bounded Jack out of the tank as the rest of the Belfast military began to takeover the base.

"When did she have that?" Guiche asked.

"She always have it with her," Claudia said, "you just never noticed."

"Haha," Jack laughed, "you got me there, I didn't think their magic would be that strong."

"You've underestimated us for the last time," Laura hissed kicking Jack in the stomach knocking the wind out of him.

"Laura that's enough," Mason said, "we need him alive."

"Why? Why do we need him at all?" Laura asked.

"He has information that may be valuable to us," Mason said.

"He has nothing, always had nothing, he won't tell you anything," Laura said.

"That's not for you to decide."

"He has to pay for his crimes."

"And he will, but delivering vigilante justice won't help any of us at all. You'll have to wait your turn," as Laura looked at Jack fingering her weapon and seemed to be having an internal debate within herself, one that she was losing. Louise then walked up to Laura and grabbed her arm as she looked at her.

"Don't Laura, vengeance will only bring you suffering, it's not worth it," she said looking at Laura with seriousness on her face. The former police officer looked back at the pink haired Corporal as her eyes betrayed confusion and anger before her shoulder slumped and she walked away with Louise following her while Jack was taken in by the military.

"I had him," Laura said when they were away from everyone else, "he was right in front of me Louise."

"I know…I can't imagine how hard it was not to kill him on sight," Louise said.

"He took everything away from me…my friends…my family…even my moral code and ethics," Laura whispered before sitting down on a log. "Now that he's captured I…I feel empty…like everything I've done is just…gone."

"Because you joined only to capture Jack right?" Louise asked.

Laura nodded, "I came here hoping that one day I would be able to capture him, I lived for this moment, of course that's not to say I didn't want the war to end quickly; but I hoped that with his capture the war would end in some way…but now…" tears began to fall out of her eyes, "now what do I do Corporal? I feel so lost that I don't know where to go."

Louise slowly put down her rifle and walked up to Laura before hugging her tightly as Laura hugged her back tightly as though she never wanted to let her go pouring out all of her feelings out to the one person that saved her once. Louise comforted Laura and whispered to her, "I'm here always Laura, to guide you like I promised, no matter what I'll be guiding you on the right path."

Laura sniffled and wiped away her tears, "Thank you Louise…without you I would've been lost in darkness without a way out, I feel lost without you," she said.

"It's what I'm here for to help out my friends," Louise said, "now…let's go back shall we? Let's end the war together," holding out her hand as Laura looked at her and smiled.

"Louise…can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Of course."

"If you ever decide to join the military full-time…can I join you? Please? I…I don't know who else to trust, but you Corporal," as Louise was surprised at that before she chuckled.

"I don't know if I am going to join the military full time or not, that's still a long ways away, but if I do…of course you can Laura, you're one of my friends after all. But I thought you would want to go back to law enforcement?"

Laura shook her head, "I don't think I would ever be able to become a police officer again, not with what I have done, I want to follow you wherever you go Louise. For the one that has always supported me I will always be loyal to you," she said making Louise blush.

"Come on don't talk like that…you're going to make me feel embarrassed," Louise said making Laura laugh as she then got up and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you for everything Louise," she whispered before walking away before turning to her, "Private Laura York ready for duty," she said.

"Alright then Private let's end this war once and for all," Louise said.