Olivia and Erwin rushed to where Maho was as she was preparing the defenses to the entrance of the parliament building as four tiger tanks were guarding its entrance. They ran up to her as Erwin began speaking.
"We got to the front too late, Pravda is going in deep as they managed to finish off the defenses of the clocktower. We took out one T-34 in the process but that's the only thing we could do." Erwin told Maho about what happened. Maho began to think about it for a moment as she came to the conclusion.
"Tell all the remaining students to fall back to the Parliament building itself. We'll keep the doors open to make sure they all escape inside as the students guarding its approaches will try to stall Pravda as long as possible. We will try holding out until time runs out." Maho told the group to start pulling the students back into the parliament building to continue the fight. Olivia nodded as she grabbed a radio.
"All students of Kuromorimine, begin falling back, your positions cannot be held for much longer, Pravda is bound to break through." Olivia began. Hopefully this will work.
Over the course of an hour, the Kuromorimine home guard or its remnants began to trickle in as Olivia and Erwin were guarding the doors. She hoped that the rear guard would stall their foes long enough to set up defenses inside of the building. However, Pravda was hot on their heels.
Pomorie, Brook, Nina, Alina, Katyusha and their companies had emerged from under the ship as they knew that Kuromorimine was taking the easy route and pulling the students back. Nina got into one of her T-34's as Pravda still had plenty of tanks left over compared to Kuromorimine which had less than a fifth of what they started this match with.
"Woo these small victories are allowing us to push deeper into Kuromorimine, their population with low morale is suffering heavy losses from this as we continue to creep closer and closer." Katyusha began as they were at the very gates of the beast. Pomorie was feeling triumphant but it was taking a toll on her.
"That's great but can we rest now, we've been fighting on and on for the past couple of hours." Pomorie heaved with exhaustion as much of the team was also tired as well. Katyusha began to think about it as she had the right answer.
"No, you will only rest when we beat Kuromorimine, we are so close." Katyusha responded as she wanted them to keep going. Klara walked over as she presented Katyusha their flag they were going to use to plant it on top of the building. Katyusha took the flag and gave it to Pomorie. "I will trust you to plant it on the top of the building."
"Yes Katyusha." Pomorie responded as she decided to keep the flag behind her back so she could still fight back. Nakhimov was directing the tanks as Brook and a few other students were standing below him.
"Brook, take your group and eradicate whatever scum remains." Nakhimov gave Brook the orders on what to do.
"Yes Tovarisch Commissar." Brook responded. The Kv-2 fired its massive shell as it was acting like some form of artillery. "Everyone, follow me." Brook told the girls to follow. Brook's and Pomorie's groups followed as they were going to begin their final assault on the parliament building itself. The groups headed left as they were going to continue the fight. Pomorie raced ahead as she slid into some cover and began firing at the crowd held up inside the building. The rest of the students joined as they began firing away too. They decided to take cover behind some cover as Varna peeked from behind the building.
"There it is!" Varna yipped with excitement, they were getting closer and closer to the parliament building. Brook looked on as she was firing her Papasha at the building.
"They aren't going to go down without a fight, keep on them." Brook called out as she wanted the students to keep fighting. Pomorie was firing her Mp-40 from behind a car as she noticed something, the students were pulling back in retreat.
"They are running away. Quick, chase them down!" Pomorie called out as she ran from the car. She motioned Varna and Rila to follow her as Pomorie was now using the building as cover. They were now firing on the second building off down the walkway to get the students moving. Brook noticed this as she decided now would be a good time to clear the first building.
"Pravda students, clear the building! Yogurt students, advance to the second one and secure a path in." Brook called out as she then raced into the first building. Srebarna had the Mg34 in her hands and she began to spray it at the building as they wanted to keep the students focused on her.
"Follow us then." Pomorie told everyone as she raced ahead. Rila and Varna went after their friend as the students one by one followed. Pomorie made it to the other side as the building was in her sights. "We're going in the right direction." Malko unscrewed one of the paintball grenades she had and tossed it inside of the building while Rila and Pomorie shot the retreating students to make sure more didn't get away. Pravda students emerged a couple minutes later and by the looks of things, Pomorie and her friends had caught a few of them.
"Good, we move into the next building." Brook told the group that they were going to keep this advance up. Brook began firing rapidly to keep the area suppressed as Pomorie and her friends were the first to enter the building, the students they were firing at the small hallway had been torn down so it was fortunate that they didn't get away. Once that area was cleared, they began to move into the hallway of the next building. So far nothing, the other students began to move in as they were definitely going to clear the building as fast as they could so more students didn't get away and into the parliament building. Pomorie dashed on in as a wall of paintballs tried to take her down but she hid behind one of the book cases. She occasionally fired back as Rila went into a back room to provide cover for Pomorie.
"Keep going when the others have ordered to." Rila told Pomorie to hold her position until more students came. Pomorie nodded as she ducked back out and fired on the crowd. Varna rushed up with a few students as they began laying fire on the crowd. More students arrived moments later as they continued to cover. Rila sensed the chance as she called out. "Let's move up, go!" Rila dashed up to the next bookcase as she motioned Pomorie to follow her. Pomorie ducked out of the cover as she followed Rila. The two students moved to the side as they began firing into the crowd. Four more students were taken down as Rila motioned the others to move up. They did so as Rila checked the room behind them for any more students. "They escaped, well we better get moving."
"Let's go." Varna called out as the students continued their way to their position. Brook noticed the window was wide open so she knew a way to whey they needed to go to.
"Through the window! Go!" Brook commanded. She jumped out first and landed in a ditch. Pomorie and her friends followed afterward as they were going to keep this journey up. They continued to run through the ditch as they had linked up with Nina, Alina and Klara. "The tanks will have to find another way around this mess but us students will take the direct route! Wait for Nakhimov's signal it is almost over, today is the day our vengeance for ourselves and for Pravda." Brook told the students to stand down until the moment is right. Then they heard the signal as Nakhimov blew the whistle. Now was the time to attack: "Charge!" Brook shouted as the students leaped from their positions as they were now at the courtyard of the Parliament building.
"Courtyard is ahead but Kuromorimine has heavily fortified it." Nina called out. A T-34 was coming to support them but it was instantly greeted with the fire from multiple tanks. Pomorie, Rila and Varna slid behind cover as they began to observe, Erika's Tiger 2 was taken out of action so that was a good sign but four more tanks remained.
"Then we figure out a way to take those tanks out." Brook responded as she began firing away at the buildings as she wanted to finish this line off. She turned to Pomorie as she had a question for her. "How many Panzerfausts do you have left?" Brook asked as she wanted to figure out what they had left.
"Only two." Pomorie responded as if that was what they had left.
"Okay we're going to have to take out the tanks head on." Brook told them as she wasn't going to hesitate to fight the tank head on. She leaped from her position as she sprayed as she ran to the nearest cover. What seemed to be the first tank ahead was the behemoth. The feared Kuromorimine tank that had been made as a rotating turret. Nonna, who was observing from afar, noticed this.
"They're taking on the Maus Katyusha." Nonna began as her group was finishing cleaning up what was left of the first building.
"Okay I'll wish them luck, Only Nina knows where the weak spot on the tank is." Katyusha replied. Nonna continued to observe as Brook and several students of her group were approaching the Maus as they were going to take it out. She began to lay out the instructions.
"Okay Srebarna, provide cover for us, Pomorie, get that Panzerfaust ready, Nina show her where the weak spot is." Brook told the group what their jobs will be. Srebarna finished reloading as she gave the thumbs up. She began to fire away.
"Now, now, now!" Pomorie shouted as the three students dashed up to the huge Maus. Brook decided to provide cover as she was guiding the others behind the Maus. Once behind, Brook was firing at the students ahead as she didn't want them to escape. Nina and Pomorie began chatting on what they should do next.
"There it is, fire!" Nina told Pomorie. Pomorie aimed her Panzerfaust rocket and clicked the firing mechanism. The hollow warhead flew on over as it penetrated the Maus on the rear of the turret and within moments, another white flag popped out. Nina nodded with a smile. "Spot on! One has been taken out." Nina, Brook and Pomorie dashed back as Pomorie threw down the empty Panzerfaust tube. The other students yipped as they knew one was down. The distant sound of another ping as the girls turned their heads. The Panther tank holding up the defenses had been taken out.
"Another one has been destroyed, two more remain!" Brook called out as the group was laying in cover trying to think of what to do next. Another T-34 rolled its way, suddenly it was knocked out by two more tanks further up the courtyard. "Now let's move." Brook called out as she hopped over some cover and began to lead the charge. Pomorie and the others followed suit as they were now moving on up.
"We should hopefully be able to take out these next two tanks and then we're inside the building and on our way to victory?" Pomorie asked. Ami was waiting on the top as she began firing her Mg42 into the crowd. "Get down!" Pomorie shouted as the students ducked for cover. Pomorie began to plan as she was now pointing fingers on which students should go where. "Okay Srebarna, cover for us, I'm taking Rila and Varna around to flank her." Pomorie told Srebarna what she needed to do. Srebarna nodded as she set up her Mg34 onto some cover and began firing it away at Ami. Sensing that it was now or never, Pomorie waved her hand for Rila and Varna to follow her.
Pomorie and her friends dashed over to the wall where Ami and Srebarna were having their duel. They began to look around as they realized they needed to backtrack to get access to the other side. Pomorie and her friends began to think of a form of short cut they needed to take so they didn't have to walk the long way back.
"What do we do now?" Varna asked as she didn't know what they needed to do if they were going to get up and over. Pomorie began to think as she had an idea.
"Hey Varna, give me a boost up." Pomorie told her friend as she slung the Mp-40 onto her back. Varna nodded as she laid her hands out for her friend. Pomorie stepped on her friend's hands as she began to pull herself over the she was on top. She motioned for Rila to be pushed up next. Rila walked over as Varna did the same thing. Pomorie grabbed her friend as she pulled Rila up and over the wall. Once both girls rested. Pomorie decided to give Varna some courage. "Jump Varna jump!" Varna jumped up as Pomorie and Rila grabbed onto Varna and pulled her over the wall. They were now over as they began to hurry up the stairs as they were going to take Ami out swiftly with paintballs. Pomorie raised the Mp-40 and fired a few shots at her. Ami collapsed as Pomorie walked over to her.
"We're sorry that we did that, we didn't that you are participating." Varna was quick to apologize for her friend shooting her. Ami lifted her head up in a cheery manner.
"It's fine, I've seen how far you've come along." Ami responded as she decided to look behind at the Parliament building that lay on the path ahead. She looked back to Pomorie and her friends. "Finish the journey as the end lies nearby." Ami got up as she began to walk down the stairs. Pomorie and her friends nodded as they raced to what lay behind the statue. A Panther and a Tiger 1 remained as they were going to intercept any tanks that were going to engage them.
"There's Maho's tank, right there." Pomorie pointed to her right. The Tiger 1 crew were trying to hold the area as Maho kept a look out for enemy tanks. Varna handed her the last Panzerfaust they had. Pomorie decided to set it up as quickly as she could so she could take out the Tiger 1 and get the students advance. Maho turned her head as she spotted Pomorie and her friends setting up their Panzerfaust.
"Oh no." Maho muttered as she scrambled out of her tank. Pomorie then fired the Panzerfaust into the side of the Tiger 1, taking it out as Maho dashed to cover. Pomorie and her friends looked over to each other.
"Well we got to take out the Tiger." Pomorie began as she tossed the empty Panzerfaust tube away. Rila and Varna nodded but they weren't satisfied.
"Yeah but we didn't take Maho's tank out with our tank." Varna replied as this didn't count compared to taking it out with the vickers. Rila looked at her friend as she had been thinking.
"But hey, we took out Solti's tank which was a Tiger 1 with our vickers so that counts?" Rila asked. Pomorie turned to her friend as she didn't know how to respond.
"Of course…" Pomorie stammered for a moment before Rila laughed and patted her friend on the back. The three of them dashed over as they looked down to see their friends exit from the hole below them. "Hey they're here, let's support the move up so we could take out their defenses and head on inside." Pomorie responded. She jumped over the high ledge as Kamchia and Malko caught her.
"So you're getting pretty brave there Pomorie." Kamchia responded. Rila jumped down next as the same girls caught her.
"Yeah, sometimes solutions require us doing something creative." Pomorie responded as Varna was the last to jump down. Kamchia and Malko caught her as Popovo ran up to the group.
"Looks like we're going to be leading this advance, the ISU-152 is taking care of the last tank. Once that tank has been taken care of, we'll move to the huts as we'll be fighting our way through those and we'll be able to enter inside of the building. Popovo laid out the plan. Srebarna just went prone and began firing as they were going to begin laying down cover for the others to advance on through.
Nina and her group weren't as prepared as Pomorie and her friends as they didn't have any effective weapons to take out tanks easily like the Panzefausts. Alina was keeping watch as Nina was praying for the ISU-152 she had called up to help assist them with clearing the last strongpoint.
"Tell us you've called that SPG over here?" Alina asked as she continued to watch the actions of that Panther tank.
"I called it over from Nonna a couple minutes ago. Hopefully it should be here by now." Nina responded as she had no effective weapons to take out the Panther. Suddenly an ISU-152 shell came hurling in as it landed on the Panther leaving its massive paint splatter on the tank. That tank was taken out as a white flag popped out. Kuromorimine had no tanks remaining. It came, now let's move." Nina called out as the students began to move up to the destroyed bunkers, firing their weapons as they ran. Pomorie looked to the other side as she saw Nina and the others had plowed on through.
"They're through." Pomorie told her friends as they were now making their advance. Maho who was watching this from afar knew that they had no tanks left but many of the students were trickling into the parliament building.
"Darn! They're beginning to race ahead as they are getting inside." Maho sighed as she knew that it was only a matter of time before they were able to make it inside. Maho knew that she needed to get all of her friends back.
"Everyone! Fall back! We're going to close the door!" Maho called out. A Large portion of students remaining began racing backward as two or three of them covered for their friend's withdrawal. Olivia and Erwin began firing at any shades of dark green and white that they could see. Maho kept her eyes open in the hope that the students were able to secure themselves inside. "You two keep firing! I'll get ready to shut the doors!" Maho turned as she walked inside as one student with an Mg42 began laying cover fire as the students raced inside one or two at a time.
Nina and her group of students were fighting hard as they were going to take the first bunker head on while Pomorie and the others were going to wait until the first bunker had fallen. Nina approached the ruined walls as she slammed her body against it. She looked inside to see if there was anyone still in there.
"All clear." Nina called out. She hopped inside along with Alina as they were going to clear the bunker. She noticed the ladder leading to the upper part of the bunker and decided that was where they were going to go next. "Alina up the ladder, you and me!" Nina called out as more students came in to secure the bunker. Nina gripped the steel ladder as she began to climb up the ladder. Alina followed her friend up as they were going to clear the bunker. Nina was the first to arrive on the second floor as she was looking around.
"This place looks clear." Alina began, Olivia spotted Nina and decided to fire at her. Nina heard the shot and moved out of the way.
"Someone's shooting at us, clear the Scaffolding above!" Nina called out as she went to the window to try striking down who was shooting her. Alina did so as she went to the last ladder and began climbing up it. Once she reached the top, she found nothing.
"It's clear." Alina responded. One bunker had been taken, the other one needed to fall now before they could continue their advance.
"Let's hope Pomorie and her friends will clear the second bunker." Nina prayed as she knew she didn't want the operation to stall as they were running on the clock. Maho had plans to shut the doors.
Pomorie was watching Nina as she knew that they had broken on through. One bunker taken, one more to go.
"She's through, now let's fight our way forward so we can take the next bunker!" Pomorie waved her hand to motion the students forward. All agreed except Srebarna who stayed behind to cover. The remaining Kuromorimine students saw the crowd that was coming as they decided to begin their withdrawal into the parliament building. Pomorie entered the bunker as she began to look around. "Everyone, search these rooms." Pomorie gave the order as she climbed up the ladder to what seemed to be above her. Pomorie began to look around as she wanted to see what was going to happen. Nothing. The place was empty. Rila and Varna climbed up to join her. Pomorie motioned them to follow her.
"Anything?" Rila asked as they wanted to make sure they were able to find the runaway Kuromorimine students.
"Nope we're coming up empty handed." Pomorie responded as she continued her way through the bunker. She reached the other side as Pomorie spotted the three Kuromorimine students retreat into the Parliament building. "Darn they got away!" Pomorie growled. Maho approached the three students as they were still providing cover fire to allow the students to retreat inside and gave an announcement.
"Get inside you three, I'm closing the doors." Maho told them as Olivia and Erwin nodded. They got up as the third student finished firing. She picked up her belongings and made a dash inside along with the other two. Once Maho made sure everyone got inside. She pushed a button to close the door to the parliament building. She knew Pravda would try to scramble inside. Pomorie heard the squeal of screeching steel as she spotted the doors beginning to close.
"Maho's closing the doors! We need to move now!" Pomorie shouted as she jumped down with her friends. Brook and Nina heard this as well as the Kuromorimine students began to scramble to the doors of the parliament building in a mass charge to get inside. The students charged up the stairs as they wanted to be the first to enter the building and continue the operation. The students found the ground to level out as they climbed up the first set of stairs and within moments began to climb up the second set. However the steel doors were faster than them, and they shut completely before the students could enter and instead slammed on the metal doors trying to get in.
"Let us in!" Pomorie squealed as she bashed the metal door with the butt of her Mp-40. The metal buckled as it looked like it wasn't going anywhere, the students then backed off as they knew they were locked outside. "It's done, Kuromorimine might as well win, we'll never get ourselves in there." Pomorie walked back as she sat down on the steps. The other students were beginning to have their doubts in a victory like this but some weren't ready to give up.
"We've come this far Pomorie, we're not giving up." Rila began. Varna held out her hand as she got Pomorie back to her feet.
"How? Kuromorimine has locked us out and we'll never be able to get in." Pomorie responded as she didn't know how they were going to break open the metal doors. Varna began to think, after a moment of reflection, she knew what to do.
"I have an idea, call me crazy but it might just work." Varna began, Rila and Pomorie looked at Varna as they seemed curious about her crazy idea.
"What's the idea?" Rila asked as she seemed curious about it. Varna walked over to everyone as she was ready to present the idea.
"We use the ISU-152 to break that door open!" Varna responded as she was going to use the SPG to break the door open. Nina nodded as that was a good idea. Might as well bring the door down with a massive HEAT round. The students moved out of the way and down the second set of stairs to hide in case the shot made some form of impact. Varna turned to Nina as she continued to speak: "Nina, call the ISU-152 to bust that door open."
"Okay." Nina nervously stammered. She grabbed the radio and began to speak: "Okay ISU-152 crew, yeah, bust the door wide open, Uh-huh. Okay? Bust the door open." Nina spoke on the radio.
"What did the crew say?" Varna asked if she wondered what Nina was going to say.
"They said they're loading and preparing to fire, they're just getting our coordinates." Nina responded as she knew that this was going to be the case. Nakhimov arrived as he was carrying a megaphone.
"What are you ladies doing here sitting and not storming the building. What's the matter?" Nakhimov asked as he was puzzled on why Pomorie and her friends weren't going to assault the parliament building. Brook looked up as she began to speak.
"We are locked out by two huge steel doors, Nina's called in the ISU-152 to blow a hole open in the hope we can find a way in and unlock the doors." Brook responded as she placed her arm in front of the commissar to make sure he wasn't hit by accident.
"Okay you will open this door and take this building?" Nakhimov asked as he wanted to make this clear.
"Yes Tovarisch." Brook responded. A massive 152mm shell rained in as it exploded causing a massive dent in the steel door close to the floor. "First shot has struck but it hasn't busted through. We need another shell."
"Yes Brook. ISU-152 crew, we need another shell." Nina called out over the radio. Within a minute another shell came raining in but this time the shell had much more of an impact. The steel door was broken open as there was now a very large hole in it. Nakhimov clapped as he knew that the door was now open.
"Very good. Brook, I would think you would want to go first right?" Nakhimov asked as he walked up to her.
"Of course Tovarisch, send a few students in after me as we can find out how to get the door open and therefore you can come in." Brook saluted to Nakhimov as he nodded.
"Okay now come with me." Nakhimov laughed. He and Brook as well as a few other students approached the door. Brook handed him the Papasha as she got off to a running start. She jumped into the hole as she was now on the other side. Nakhimov began to speak.
"Here Brook, your Papasha." Nakhimov responded as he handed her the smg. Brook took it as more students began to enter.
"We got company." Brook called out as she began firing the Papasha at a small group of Kuromorimine students who came to investigate what the noise was all about.
"Okay now see if you can get the door open." Nakhimov responded as he continued to ferry students in one at a time to provide reinforcements. Brook stopped firing as she began to look around.
"We need light." Brook called out among the fighting. Nakhimov nodded as he tossed in a flashlight for Brook. Brook grabbed the flashlight and switched it on. She began looking around when she found a large wheel. Brook dropped everything as she rushed over to the wheel and grabbed it. She tried to turn it to the right but the wheel wouldn't budge. She then tried to turn it to the left as the wheel was slowly turning. Brook continued to turn with all the strength she could muster as the doors began to slowly open. Brook laughed as she continued to turn the wheel as her pace became quicker and the wheel was becoming easier to turn. After that the door had finally opened as the students rushed in to finish this small fire fight off.
"We're in the Parliament building!" Pomorie shouted with excitement. The Kuromorimine students that prompted all of this ran off as they knew they were outnumbered.
"We're in but this mission is not finished, we still have to take that flag down." Nakhimov responded, the building itself would be the last obstacle.
[A/N]: The chapter was a bit shorter compared to the other one but it was a bit more straightforward as the main focus was taking the courtyard of the parliament building. The next part of the match will take place inside the parliament building as the students will have to climb their way to the top. Part two of three.