Author's Notes: Greetings! It's been two months and a half since the last update and since it's that time of the year again, consider this update my Christmas gift to you. Also, this will be the last of our Spymaster for a while. Anywho, until the end of this chapter, later!

Chapter 7
Drunken Tanker

Faultry Tower
25th of April
8:03 AM

The chirping of the birds was the first thing Assam took note of; the little feathered creatures going on with their cheerful song to celebrate the coming of a new day. Tired from all the shenanigans last night, she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep once again. She buried her head in the pillows, hoping to return to dreamland for a second time but the sound of curtains getting swept aside dashed her hopes as light flooded into the room.

"Wake up, sleeping beauties, we still have a duel to fight!"

Assam blinked her tiredness away and began to open her eyes. Rosehip was still fast asleep next to her, her side of the bed all but a mess, with all her twisting and turning the night before. She sat up on the bed and was putting on her slippers when she saw Rosemallow come out of the bathroom, "What do we do about Rosehip?" Assam found herself asking.

Rosemallow, wrapped in a bath towel, opened the closet and retrieved her uniform from inside, her orange hair tied into a still dripping bun, "Roselle's inside right now," she said referring to the bathroom." Get ready to go after and don't worry, the two of us will take care of her." She pointed at the drunken mess that was Rosehip.

While Assam took a bath, Roselle and Rosemallow began taking on the sleeping problem and even the flow of water couldn't muffle the shouting happening outside. After drying her hair and emerging out the bathroom, Assam noted the paraphernalia they used in every failed attempt, laid scattered around the bed; from a rolled-up newspaper to an empty glass.

Roselle was already sitting on top of Rosehip, armed with a pillow, "Why. Won't. You. Wake. Up?!" the brunette shouted, punctuating each word with a hit to the face and only stopped when she noticed her presence.

Rosehip began to stir and her two teammates quickly dragged her off to the bathroom, amongst screams of protests. The noise of fighting could still be heard even from where Assam was.

Assam got herself dressed and even managed to write down some of the made-up rules they would use later on, especially if that little lassie came asking again.

A bath and a change of uniform later, and the four of them were ready to go. She was the one responsible for locking the door, making sure it was properly closed, lest any unwanted guests came to visit.

They were on their way to the staircase to begin their arduous hike downstairs when a hotel staff member intercepted them and said the elevator was now working. A quick trip down and a bit of a walk later, their entourage arrived at the restaurant, where more staff approached them, leading them to a window-side table.

Restaurant personnel came and arranged their cutlery before giving them tea to drink as they were asked to wait for their complimentary breakfast. While they were waiting for their food, Roselle took out a soda can from her pocket, undoubtedly having taken it from the refreshments bar upstairs, and popped open its top.

"Seriously, soda this early in the morning? Why don't you have some tea first?" Rosemallow chastised her, nudging the teapot closer to the brunette.

"We always have tea back home, one more cup and I'll be pissing out the stuff," Roselle replied, taking a large sip.

"Language!"

Ignoring Rosemallow, Roselle turned her attention to Rosehip, who had her head buried in her arms and was not participating in any of the conversations beforehand, "Hey, hey, how was your first drinking session?" she asked, snapping her fingers in front of the girl's face.

"Wha...what happened last night?" Rosehip lifted her head, her face hidden by her still uncombed wet hair, accepting the cup of tea given to her by her crewmate.

"Nothing, you just challenged someone to a duel," Roselle replied nonchalantly.

"Oh alri- I DID WHAT?!" Rosehip nearly spat out the tea but must have realized she was in public and so simply swallowed the scalding hot liquid. It took her a while before she could form a response, "You're kidding right?"

"Nope, why don't you ask Assam-senpai herself?"

Assam was busy looking out of the window, which gave her a perfect view of the garden that she roamed yesterday evening, and was surprised when her name was mentioned, "Technically, you accepted Erne's request to do a duel-"

Roselle cut her off midstream and added, "And not just any duel, but a tank duel at that!"

"You're kidding, right? You're just making things up!" Rosehip shot back, clearly in distraught.

"I knew you'd say something like that, so here, hear it for yourself," Rosemallow replied, sliding her phone towards Rosehip.

Rosehip was at first sceptical when she got the phone but Assam watched her go through the five stages of grief as last night's conversation played out for everyone to hear.

Rosehip slumped further into her seat and looked like she would resign herself to her fate before finally speaking up, "I can't do it!" she protested.

With silent pleading eyes, Rosehip began looking over at each and every one of them, hoping for someone to take her place.

"Don't look at me, you still owe me a favour for last time," Rosemallow promptly said, shooting down Rosehip's hope.

"I can drive you around, but don't expect me to man the gun." Roselle finished her can of soda and went off to put in the trash, before coming back.

Rosehip finally reached her, and once again, that stare of hers tugged strings Assam didn't know she had in her cold, stoic heart. But here she was, ready to bend over backwards yet again.

"Fine…."

Rosehip quickly looked up as if she saw salvation, which it probably was for her, and at the corner of her eyes, Assam noticed the other two exchange something under the table.

"You should be ashamed of yourself! Letting someone else fight for you," Roselle jokingly said, earning her a stern look from Rosemallow that shut her up completely.

As the chit-chat died on their table, the sound of squeaky wheels slowly approached them. A procession of carts came up to their place and the waiters lifted the silver cover, revealing the cornucopia underneath.

Roselle let out a low whistle, "Isn't that a bit too much?"

"This is your regular full Irish breakfast, ma'am. We have some toast, potato pancakes, bacon, sausages, white pudding and fried eggs, all accompanied by baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, and grilled tomatoes.

"Well, that's a mouthful!"

The staff transferred the food from the carts and onto their table, where they soon found out that the provided chopsticks were ill-suited in tackling the baked beans and had to request spoons to finish the job. Assam, seated directly across from Rosehip, noticed the girl taking her food in small portions while Roselle beside her attacked hers with vigour. The poor girl probably had too much going on inside her head to appreciate the meal she was eating, which was a shame really, since the food was not only painting-worthy but one could taste the love and care mixed into the cooking too.

Other than Rosemallow trying to tell Roselle to slow down, which to no one's surprise fell on deaf ears, the four of them spent the next hour in silence since while eating fast is at least tolerable, talking while eating was still a big faux pas even outside of St. Gloriana. Besides, even if they weren't as hammered as Rosehip, the night before had been a long one, so naturally, they were acting somewhat like zombies that early in the morning.

As they were finishing their meals, she noticed Roselle taking a glance at the wall clock, once in a while. Assam pulled her out of her reverie by asking her, "Waiting for anyone, Roselle-san?"

"Clare should arrive just about... now!" Roselle said confidently. As if on cue, the door of the restaurant swung open and the girl in question entered, looking like she had just run a mile.

Clare wore the same skirt as last night but instead of a green blouse, she now wore a white t-shirt with a green shamrock leaf in the middle. She also had a wet towel around her shoulders and a tumbler by her side, which further supported Assam's assumption that the girl had just finished her exercises.

"Phew! I just got in time! I decided to hit the gym before picking you guys up!" Clare explained.

Roselle immediately shoved Rosehip aside to make room for Clare to sit next to her.

"Done eating yet?" the ginger asked.

"Just finished." Roselle set her utensils down and helped herself to more of Rosehip's tea.

"Mind if I have that? I'm starving." Clare pointed to a piece of toast which somehow had survived Roselle's purge.

Maybe she was saving some of her, knowing Clare would want a bite, interesting….

"Yea, you can have it," Roselle said, even pouring out a cup of tea for the new arrival using her unused cup.

After cleaning off their plates and draining all the tea, the five of them piled into the Rolls-Royce, Roselle jumping into the front passenger seat and leaving the rest of them to settle on the back, before racing off to their destination.

As they neared the school complex, pedestrians, which she assumed were students on their weekend off, started to appear. Assam wished that Clare had put up the roof of the convertible to avoid people on the street gawking and pointing at the vividly dressed redcoats and their stylish automobile.

It did, however, give them a good wide view of the place and as such, was able to spot an unusual monument on the road ahead. In front of the school building was a giant statue of a fish made to look like it was leaping out of the water. The fish continuously spewed forth water and was mounted on a stone block.

"Is that a statue of a fish?!" Rosemallow inquired, looking over the side of the car to catch a glimpse of the peculiarity, as her twin-tails flew behind her in the wind.

"Yup, that's Salmon-senpai, the school's mascot. Some students here a few years back have spread the story that the water that flows out of its mouth supposedly gives you the knowledge that would help you in your academics. Personally, I think that's just a load of rubbish," their redhead guide replied, her eyes still on the road.

With their perceived destination near, they readied themselves to leave the car, until Clare continued to gun down the vehicle, eventually driving past the campus.

"I thought we're going to the campus?" Roselle was the first one to voice out the question stuck in their throats.

"Nope."

"Where do you guys train then?" Rosehip's cheeky driver carried on, turning on her seat to give her a view of the fish statue, which they were leaving further behind with every passing minute.

Clare breathed in some of the cool spring wind and started explaining, "When the team was formed, we cut a deal with the student council where they would allow our club to exist and even provide the facilities, however, in exchange, we would be on the far away side of the carrier, away from the school itself and the residential area."

Roselle raised her head a bit over the car's windscreen in a bid to locate Shamrock's training range.

"How far exactly are we talking about?" she asked.

"The other side of the carrier."

"So do you have to walk or drive a long distance just to go to your garages and training field?" Assam found herself asking, feeling incredulous at this weird arrangement. Back in St. Gloriana, the Tea Garden and the garages were walking distance from the school itself; any more than that and the students would riot.

"No, we have that," Clare pointed at a continuously raised fence that they had been driving alongside for the past few minutes.

"So, a barrier then?" Roselle asked.

"What? No! Wait for it, there!" All four of them followed where their guide's finger was pointing and found an oddly-shaped train making its way on top of the railing.

"That's one weird-looking train," Rosemallow whispered.

"That's because it isn't a train, it's a monorail and it's the only one of its kind in Japan!" Clare puffed up her chest in pride and watched with them as the locomotive steamed passed at a leisurely pace, with narrow cabins on both sides of the carriage.

Now that the sun was out and about, Assam was able to appreciate how green the school was. Where a storefront would be located on another carrier, a grove of trees occupied the lot, giving shelter to a wide variety of birds. The roadside bushes she saw the night before were gleaming with morning dew which made them more lovely. Eventually, the trees and the bushes turned into fields of grass, eventually culminating into an enormous open space that was unmatched by any other thing put to sea by mankind.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Clare asked.

"Yup…" She was so fixated on the wonder that she wasn't able to give out a more dignified answer other than that.

The Rolls-Royce mounted a bridge that gave them a better view of the place. Somehow, through the magic of landscaping, they managed to have a whole valley onboard, with twin lakes at the very bottom, its pristine surfaces reflected light off, sending a twinkle to the eyes of those fascinated at the sight. Even from this far above, Assam could spot a number of people canoeing on the lakes and many more simply enjoying a stroll around the shores.

"That's Glendalough Park, the biggest of its kind on board a carrier. It started as a structural defect caused by the ship's long service life, driving the price down and making the carrier super cheap. However, with a bit of ingenuity and modelling, the founder managed to transform an embarrassing scar into a work of art. Now every time we pass it on the monorail, the sight of it just saps away your exhaustion."

Conversation ceased to exist for a while as the four of them took the time to absorb the scenery. It was only when they had left the bridge behind did Assam find herself asking, "Say, why aren't you allowed to drive your tanks on the roads again?"

Even without seeing Clare's face, Assam knew that she had struck a nerve as the said girl anxiously shifted the gears around.

"About that… as you may know, our team is still fairly new, that's why we need any help we can get. That's not just in terms of equipment but it also extends to experience as well. With how difficult the blasted things are to drive, we ended up crushing a few bushes and knocking down some signposts and so the council's hopping mad. Make of that what you will."

"But what about last night, weren't those tanks that were parked outside the pub?"

"I was getting to that. Fortunately, they turn a blind eye during the night as long as we don't cause any more accidents," Clare ended.

Silence once again reigned in the car as they continued to speed on the road. In the distance, Assam spied a set of dilapidated buildings in the middle of a field with a large crowd of people outside, before a set of trees hid the spectacle from view.

"That's a lot of people, what's the fuss all about?" Rosehip inquired as the throng once again became visible, this time around banners and placards could be seen but what exactly they contained were illegible from this far off.

"It's your duel; the whole circuit's been abuzz last night and your little contest being held at the weekend didn't help either," Clare answered, turning on the blinkers, possibly indicating the need to turn. "So don't be surprised if there are people asking for your signature or worse, photograph."

The ginger had a laugh as she turned the wheel, veering the car off into the sideroads; bumpy gravel replacing the smooth asphalt.

Clare told them she would drop them off , in front of the vehicle sheds, and then meet them again in a few moments once she had parked the car around the back. The Rolls Royce hadn't even stopped when the first of the swarm of students started gathering around the car. One of the persons waiting was Inny, wearing a black collared red jacket that suspiciously looked like their own red Senshadou uniform, with meticulously added gold-plated buttons and epaulettes although emblazoned with an unnecessary St. Gloriana school badge.

Roselle instantly hopped out of the car and pulled Rosehip with her, not paying heed that the girl in question was still green in the face. The two of them or rather one of them, greeted the crowd and posed for photos with them using those new-fangled iPhones.

Assam herself was going to step out of the car when her hand was tugged by Rosemallow who looked like she wanted a word.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Remember the conversation last night?" Rosemallow said, looking at her straight in the eye.

"Yea, what about it?"

Rosemallow changed her tone and steeled her gaze.

"Listen, they may make their move today; it's best if we keep an eye on Rosehip."

"Alright," Assam nodded and stepped out of the car with her.

The crowd was ecstatic as ever and Assam lost count of how many hands she shook and she even gained a shiny new pen after one of the countless fans who asked for her signature just disappeared into the throng. After dealing with the mob, one of the first persons they saw from last night was Erne, who as expected, didn't look hungover at all and even had the gall to greet them.

"Morning!" she said.

"Good morning, you don't seem to be quite as hungover as I would have expected," Assam replied back.

"Well, you could say I have an iron liver," Erne cheerfully replied, oblivious to the sarcastic remark that just flew over her big redhead.

"Anyways, I'll be the one duelling with you in place of Rosehip because unlike you, she has a weak stomach for alcohol."

"It doesn't matter who I will fight, I'll still prevail in the end," the cocky girl replied.

You pompous prat, let's see if you can back your words with action.

Erne turned her attention to Rosehip, who was still wide-eyed and looking around like a lost child.

"Would you like some coffee?" she asked, producing a flask from her uniform and unscrewing the cap.

Alarm bells rang inside Assam's mind and she began to make her move as Rosehip reached out to receive the flask but Rosemallow made it there first. In the nick of time, Rosemallow came zooming in, unlike her usual graceful self and 'accidentally' knocked the coffee out of her hand and spilt it on Rosehip's skirt, causing the girl to jump in a mixture of shock and pain.

"Ah, my bad, very clumsy of me," Rosemallow bashfully said, retrieving a packet of tissues from her pockets and helped Rosehip wipe off the scalding coffee from her clothes, leaving the flask pouring its contents on the grass.

"Quite alright, but I must say, that's the second time you had something spill on you, you must be one unlucky girl," Erne said as she picked up the container herself and went off before any of them could utter another word.

"What was that all about? Don't tell me you're drunk as well?" Roselle asked, untying her scarf and using it to clean up the remaining mess.

"I tripped and fell, there's no need to make a big deal out of it," Rosemallow dismissed the question and went ahead with the cleanup process.

Once they were done, they all turned their attention to the unmistakable steel behemoths in front of them.

Parked outside the vehicle shed, a glorified derelict warehouse really, were the three Shamrock tanks, all looked well-kept despite being aged and weathered, painted in what was becoming a repetitive green paint scheme. Alongside these were the ones they brought along on the Pinafore and from where Assam stood, they did convincingly look like lorries.

"Shouldn't we remove the canopy from your tank? Clare asked, suddenly popping out from around the corner.

"Great idea!" Roselle replied, starting the unwrapping process with gusto.

While Clare and the rest of the Rosebush disassembled the disguise, Assam stood guard next to Rosehip, who looked like she could fall over at any moment.

"Senpai…" Rosehip whispered out, looking pitiful while doing it, as the two of them stood in front of the Crusader, the sunshield now split in half.

"What is it? Do you need anything? A glass of water? A seat? A trip to the lavatory?"

Rosehip shook her head and carried on, "I just wanted to thank you for taking us along this trip."

"The pleasure is mine."

With that out of her system, Rosehip went silent again, giving Assam time to look around. While Rosemallow was busy giving out instructions to the other two, Assam caught sight of a pole carrying a windsock, fluttering in the wind.

Nine knots, going northwest

It was a great thing that she now had an accurate measurement, and therefore didn't have to rely on her own fallible calculations. Many people underestimated the importance of wind in Senshadou; not only was it useful in determining how much her hair would be blown by the breeze, but also how her shots would fly or how large the dust cloud generated by the tracks would be.

Within a few minutes time, the sunshield was torn down and packed into the tank's stowage bins and the three walked the length to get to them.

Roselle pointed to the three Covenanters, still underneath their shroud and asked, "What about the gift wrapping for our presents?"

"I think the decision is not mine to make; that's Shannon's call," Clare answered.

"Speaking of Shannon, where is she?" Assam asked, noting the absence of their gracious host.

"Ah, don't worry, she's always late for everything, get used to it. Even back then, she was always fashionably late," the redhead replied, beckoning them over to one of the green-painted tanks.

"How long have the two of you known each other?" Rosemallow suddenly chipped in.

"Way back, ever since childhood. Without my help, she wouldn't have a tank, much less a team," Clare said, standing in front of the Vickers Independent. "Anyway, while we wait, would you like to see the insides of our 'school bus'?"

"I'm sorry?" Assam asked.

"Our 'school bus', this! The Vickers Independent," Clare said as she swiftly climbed up the ladder with ease. Said ladder was welded onto the side of the tank, something the Churchill would have benefited from.

Bloody hell, this tank is longer than the Churchill, no wonder they decided to leave it behind

The redhead strode her way towards the heavy tank's set of turrets and opened the hatch on the main turret.

"Because of its large size, we have plenty of space to move around in, both inside and outside," she finished, before hopping inside.

"If you're in a hurry, you can go out through the side doors, just like this!" came Clare's voice from within the steel hull. The sound of the hatch opening being slid open was then followed by the sight of Clare's long red hair coming out in a blur. The girl's body followed suit and a speeding green mass made contact with the ground, rolling before the redhead suddenly now stood before them.

"Ta-da!"

Assam found herself clapping along with the rest of the group and watched the redhead take her time to dust off her uniform before returning back to the tank.

"Well, do I have any takers?" Clare started up on the ladder once more, but this time stopped at the middle and looked back, with an outstretched hand. Roselle's face betrayed her giddy expression and she immediately dashed towards the redhead, not wanting to miss the chance to hold the girl's hand.

Assam also took her up on her offer, planning on combing through every detail on the tank's interior. However, before she went ahead, she threw a glance at Rosemallow, who seemed to know immediately what she wanted even before she asked.

"Don't worry, I'll do nanny duty for a while, you girls enjoy yourselves."

With her worry now suppressed, Assam began to scale the ladder, which despite its coat of paint felt rough, a tell-tale sign of rust. As she gripped one rung after the other, she chuckled to herself as it didn't come as a surprise that the tanks would bear the bruises of time.

The heavy tank might as well have been dressed in Shamrock colours but it didn't change the fact that it was Gloriana property. So she made sure to go over the tank with scrutiny to look for marks left behind by its previous owners, not that she intended to reclaim it for Gloriana.

The Independent was better off here. Back home it would have been shoved into a cold, dark storage room somewhere inside the carrier or worse, be used for target practice on its own training field. At least here it was treated with the love and respect it deserved.

"This is the engine," Clare said as she tapped her boots on the engine deck. "It's pretty exposed compared to other tanks and you have these massive exhaust pipes sticking out as well as the noisy radiator fans. Overall it's a bit of a letdown at times although is it a nifty place to lie down at night."

The orange-haired girl then turned her attention to the turrets and brushed passed Roselle when she made her walk to the front.

"Here we have its five turrets; the main one armed with the formidable quick-firing three-pounder and there are four machine gun turrets but we modified the two at the rear to accommodate additional equipment. Honestly, if you ask me, I'd rather have all of them be vacant."

"What's this mushroom-shaped thing?" Roselle, who was now leaning against the main turret, tapped the weird protrusion, which let out a metallic clang.

"That's the housing for the air circulation fan. That's it for the outside; pick a hatch and I'll show you the insides."

Roselle hopped over the other turrets, probably wanting to enter via the driver's hatch. Assam, on the other hand, took the main one and was surprised at how hot it was inside.

Noise from her side alerted her to Clare following her inside the tank, via the hatch of one of the machine gun turrets. "Flick that switch on your side, will ya?" Clare requested.

Assam did what she was asked to and the rickety grinding of the metal fan blades soon drowned out all the other noises inside. Clare looked as if she was trying to tell her something but it wasn't until she was given a headset and wore it that she heard what the redhead was saying.

"-rry, it's very noisy inside but the choice is between this or a heat stroke."

Without missing a beat, Clare continued her tour inside.

"As you can see, we removed the rear machine guns and replaced them with a wireless and a makeshift boiling vessel. May I interest you in some Irish coffee?"

"Uhhh, sure!" Assam replied, moving out of the way as the redhead made her way to the back, where a metal box was sitting on the corner, reminiscent of the standard-issue tins back home.

"How about you, Roselle-san?" Clare asked over the intercom.

"Yes, please!" Roselle called out from the front through the radio. It would seem that in the ruckus caused by the fans earlier the noise of the driver's hatch and Roselle clambering down had been virtually swamped over.

Clare removed the lid of the bin and poured in water from a tin, before plugging in the kettle. "Would you like some whisky in your coffee?"

"Don't you think it's a bit early for that?" Assam answered back, not too keen on ending up like Rosehip outside.

"Don't worry, the whisky's non-alcoholic unlike the ones at the pub, so it's all the fun and none of the tipsiness," Clare reassured her just as she was pulling out mugs from another container, a bit of downgrade from the china teacups she was used to.

While waiting for the water to brew up, Assam turned her attention to the gun and noticed a bizarre thing sticking out of the back, "What's this sack for?"

Assam watched Clare take her time answering the question, first fishing out a pot of sugar and a jar of coffee from the ready rack and dumping spoonfuls of sugar into the mugs, before throwing in the instant coffee into the mix.

"One of the Independent's disadvantages is the lack of a built-in shell catcher which meant used shell casing would litter the floor. So with the help of Shannon, we crafted a dandy innovation, a canvas bag. Once the gun fired, the shell casing would be ejected straight into the bag, not onto the floor. Less clutter, more space to move around in," Clare explained.

"This is a pretty wacky tank! I sure hope I can command my own tank in the future. Say, you haven't introduced us to your crew yet?" Roselle said while she was in the driver's seat, where Assam imagined her tinkering around with the levers and buttons surrounding her.

Clare, who at the meantime, was busy filling up the water jackets of the Vickers machine guns on the auxiliary turrets, looked up and replied, "Well, to put it mildly, everyone is my crew."

"Isn't that a bit impractical?" Assam asked, trying out the hand crack for the main turret traverse, something she had in the Churchill as well but never found time to use since the one in her heavy tank was electrically operated.

"Finally, someone with common sense," the redhead replied, opening a hatch on the floor, revealing rows and rows of tank shells and quickly counting the number of rounds still in stock. "A hundred and eighteen rounds left… Thing is we have more members than we have tanks, but Shannon wants everyone to experience being inside the tank, so we switch around. Those Covenanters will change things though."

"But, from the way you worded it, it sounds like you, yourself, don't get switched around?" Assam pressed the transmit button on her headset as the boiling vessel whistled out its tune, announcing that it had finished its job.

Clare threw a switch and poured steaming hot water into mugs, melting the ingredients up while she pulled out a can of whipped cream spray and a bottle of what could only be assumed was whisky from a bin and placed them onto a bolted surface in the side-turret.

"Correct, Shannon, Erne and I don't move around and have been assigned to command our respective tank," she said. The smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted throughout Independent as Clare grabbed three teaspoons and used them to stir each mug.

Roselle moved into the turret area as well and was examining a Vickers machine gun, a whole lot different than the Besas used back in Gloriana.

"Where are the seats in here?" she asked.

Clare unscrewed the cap off the whisky bottle and took out a metallic hour-glass shaped cylinder from her jacket and used it to measure the alleged non-alcohol before pouring it into each individual mug.

"Unfortunately, that's the biggest issue of this tank; the fact that other than the driver, we have no seats so to speak of!"

"Ah, you're all just like Rosehip then," the brunette replied, gazing starry-eyed at the redhead, who was shaking the can of whipped cream, before topping all of their mugs off with white circles of cream which added a beautiful layer of contrast between the hot coffee and the cream.

"Add some chocolate and we're done!" Clare said, handing them their piping hot mugs but leaving her own cup untouched, eagerly waiting for their reactions first.

Assam delicately grabbed the handle of the mug and took a sip, only tasting cream. She found it a bit difficult to drink any of the coffee through the whipped cream, but once she found the sweet spot, the first thing that registered in her head was how well the two blended and complemented each other. It wasn't bitter like the coffee she used to drink as a child nor did it have the sting of the liquors she'd had this week.

Roselle, on the other hand, had no hesitation and took a large gulp, not pausing to appreciate the flavours and went through what she thought was half the mug in a single swig. The brunette eventually brought down the mug, revealing a frothy moustache and a wide grin on her face.

"Delicious! That was wonderful, you're a bloody artist," Roselle finally spoke up, showering praise onto Clare, who was blushing so hard, she hid her rose-red face by opening the hatch on the floor and began counting the shells again, even though she had done that earlier.

Clare recovered and began to drink from her own cup. "Thank you, but that's just basic bartending," she replied, closing the hatch into the ammunition storage.

It was when the door was shut that Assam noticed a faded emblem on it. Years of damage and corrosion wouldn't stop her from recognising that shade of blue anytime soon and just like that, she finally found the clue she was looking for. However, she didn't want to bring attention to it and so she kept her mouth shut and drank her brew.

As they were enjoying their coffee, the noise of the crowd outside increased tenfold as they heard the tooting of a car horn in-between the cheers.

"Why, I believe, that's Shannon alright," Clare said out loud, pouring out more whisky from the bottle and into her coffee.

Each of them went to the nearest hatch and pushed it open, poking their heads out of the tank to find out what was going on outside.

A Standard Beaverette, something smaller even than the Silver Wraith was careering through the parade grounds and riding it was the eager beaver herself. Shannon was dressed sharply, casually waving her hands to the people present like some sort of politician.

If that wasn't enough, the driver of the scout car, who Clare told her was Laune, steered the Beaverette dangerously close alongside the edge of the crowd, so as to allow Shannon to shake hands with her fans, while giving them a slight chance of being crushed.

The twin-tailed redhead suddenly ducked back into the vehicle before emerging with a plastic megaphone and screaming into it;

"TOP OF THE MORNING TO YOU LADIES!"

By the groan and look of shame on the face of her Shamrock counterparts, Assam guessed it was a regular occurrence and Clare excused herself by saying she needed to clean up first, telling them to go ahead.

Both she and Roselle hopped down the tank and went to the duo, who were still where they had left them. This time, however, Rosemallow had managed to find a crate for Rosehip to sit down on and, along with the mob, was watching the spectacle happening before them.

Rosemallow saw the two of them coming and walked to meet them. Without a word, the redhead took her hand and placed something metallic into Assam's palm.

"What's this?" Assam asked, surprised.

Rosemallow simply smiled and said. "That's the key for the padlock on the Crusader's hatch. Go out there and win for St. Gloriana!"

Amongst the crowd that cheered when the armoured car arrived, two figures were talking to each other, taking comfort at the fact that it was practically impossible for them to be overheard in this racket.

"Did you give her the pen?"

"Aye."

"Did you arm it?"

"Oh… So that's why I was thinking I forgot something."

"You blithering idiot! Then it wouldn't explode even if we waited till Christmas time!"

Author's Note: Compared to the last update, this one took considerably less time and this all thanks to Sharky! Not only did he help me hammer down details and proofread the story but he also made fanart of my OCs! So, I owe a big thanks to Sharky for helping out in this chapter and to the others who were there when I needed some questions answered. Well, till we meet again, I don't know when, however, be assured that it will be here, so no need to ask where.