X
It was late in the evening on the Ooarai school grounds as the whole team came together after receiving a text from Hana there they all waited patiently for their spy to return.
"Any word from Hana yet?" Miho asked aloud among the team.
"I haven't got any texts yet, HUH! what if her cover was blown?" Saori jumped to conclusions.
"No way, if she paid attention to my lessons that guy would never figure it out," Yukari said otherwise.
"You are the spy master," Ewrin complimented having confidence in their team leader's plan.
As the girls were beginning to get impatient they was a knock on the hanger doors echoing inside the room interrupting whatever thought they were having.
"That must be our Jamie Bond, maybe she got him to kiss her," Anzu threw around the thought of Hana and the tanker boy George locking lips.
As the steel door opened Hana slid herself pass the crack showing her recognizable calm face and long silky black hair.
"Hana!" her friends cried out eagerly.
"Was your mission successful?" Momo asked loudly almost leaping onto Hana.
"Yeah did you get any juicy information out of him?" Saori followed.
"Did you do it? did you get caught?" Miho asked next but noticed the quiet and sadden look on her face, "Hana... ?"
"... I got caught," she broke it to them with half her body still on the other side of the door.
"Wha- ! how?" Yukari stammered hearing that the mission was a failure, "How did he catch you?"
"He didn't," a familiar voice shouted out from the other side of the door making the girls fall silent as the door swung fully open revealing a frowning Daulton gripping Hana tightly by her bicep, "I did."
When Daulton stepped in the girls felt like holding their own throats as if to keep the air in their lungs from escaping.
"Daulton!" Yukari was the one to greet him knowing that he will go easier on her the most trying to make herself vulnerable as possible, "H-how'd you know?"
"I went over to the Saunders' carrier to check on Geroge, but told me he had a date tonight. What a coincidence," Daulton told them finally letting go of Hana as he stepped towards the whole team, "And when I found them, George was heartbroken."
"So did Hana found out about anything?" Saori timidly asked leaving a silent room full of girls looking anxiously at their spy.
"... No... " Hana finally let out in regret.
"Wha- ? what happened? didn't you remember any of the tips I taught you?" Yukari questioned her feeling like she failed as a teacher of spy craft.
"Go ahead, Hana, tell them what happened," Daulton leaned in pressing Hana to come clean to the event that unfolded after dinner.
"... I-... I-... " she tried but her subconscious tried to stop her from revealing the truth, "I... fell in love with him."
"WHAAAAT!" everyone exclaimed in speechless shock, "What'd you mean fell in love?"
"I don't know what happened," Hana said in a startled tone dropping her bag onto the floor, "We talked, when I exposed him as a tanker he was so honest, and then he played on stage it was so beautiful. Not just the music, but how he sang, and I even felt the emotion dripping off him like how decorate my flowers. And I- I- I... I completely forgot I was suppose to... "
"No!" Yukari exclaimed in anguish running up to her place bother her hands on Hana's shoulders, "Hana you did the number one thing you WEREN'T suppose to do. You went in too deep."
At this point the girls were dumbfounded and their plan to extracted potential game plans from their enemy was a complete bust and Hana in tears.
"Oh don't cry Hana, this will pass I promise," Saori tried to reassure holding her close as her friend wept.
"I'm disappointed in you guys," Daulton commented.
"Disappointed? espionage is a common tactic in tankery," Yukari defended.
"Sneaking onto other school carriers to record their flag tank is one thing, but tugging this guy's heart string is completely low especially for any of you," Daulton argued with Yukari back down a bit with guilt.
Nevertheless everyone called it quits and went on home.
\Elsewhere/
Stepping onto next bus to the Saunders' carrier all feeling joy was gone, his head hung with a sadden frown spread across his face, George paid the fair, and took his seat in the back. The doors closed shut and the bus hissed out before lumbering forward down the street once more leaving George with his heartbroken thoughts, a gut wrenching feeling he hasn't felt in years, but then the bus made another scheduled stop. Looking forward the collapsible doors folded open and up came a beautifully long pale blonde girl with eyes, her sight caught George's attention, not because of her beauty, but because she was the only non-Asian girl he's ever seen since coming to Japan.
She paid her fair and walked to find her a seat, George rose a brow her face was soft and smooth as fresh blanket of snow, when she drew closer she was rather tall, but stopped right in front of him.
"Howdy," she spoke enthusiastically with a stereotypical Western American, "How was your evening?" she spoke rather friendly in an accent George knew she was faking, "My I sit next to you?" she requested.
"Uh... ? sure... ?" George granted, he didn't if she was making fun of him or not because how would she know he's American.
"Hi, I'm Klara," she introduced herself as she sat too close next to him.
"... George," he did likewise scooting a bit away for space.
"So, what's a handsome boy doing this late out?" Klara asked immediately.
"... I had a date," George answered.
"Awe, and what's with the sad face? did she broke your heart at the restaurant?" Klara added, but possibly said too much as George snapped his eyes at her.
"How did you know any of that?" George made clear.
After being called out the fake smile that Klara had on her face just melted away now switching instantly to a cold motionless expression, her eyes just staring at him like a dartboard making George scoot back, but he was already hitting the pole in between benches.
"I guess happy talk is over," she spoke in her original accent sounding less than amused.
"Why do you sound more natural that way?" George asked and Klara stood up.
"I am Pravda transfer student from Russia," she introduced herself as she pulled out a line of rope, "I have mission to bring you back to my superior. Be still and this will not hurt... much."
"Well thank for being honest and it was very nice to meet you," George went on talking friendly as he dug into his pocket, "But I think I see my stop right here so- POCKET CHANGE!" In an instant George blindsided Klara with a fist full of coins he fished from his pocket throwing all he had into her face.
As Klara recovers George scrambles to grab the cord, but Klara quickly wraps her arm around his neck to pull him away before he could, wrapping her legs around his abdomen Klara put George in a lock as she jumps on his back. George struggled to balance himself with Klara weighing on his back so he threw himself to the ground with Klara absorbing all of the impact causing her to let go.
"HEY! No fighting on my bus!" the driver shouted in anger the lumbering vehicle halting to a hissing stop with the doors collapsing open, "Get off!"
Glancing back to a still dazed Klara, without a single word exchange George hurried to get off.
"I'm really sorry, I don't usually get into these sorta things," he quickly apologized before leaving then saw Klara just climbing back up.
Turning to the exit George was gonna bolt out there like a bat out of hell only to stop in his track as another girl with a stone cold stare stood right outside the bus with a length of rope.
"Come quietly, it will make our jobs much easier," Nonna promised with a emotionless tone.
Before George can even think of a way out Klara already tackled him, both went falling off the bus, and landing on the asphalt. This time George was the one cushioning Klara's fall as the bus drove off without a care of what was happening.
"There's no escape for you now, American," Klara asserted herself over George as she held his arms back while Nonna bind them.
"What? no cliche lines like: 'I will break you'. Total let down," George remarked only to shut up when Klara dug her elbow into his back, "Ow... you broke your promise."
"Silent, now it's time to bring you back to our leader for interrogation," Nonna said accordingly as a Zis-151 truck came by to pick them up.
"There better a bear on a unicycle where we're going, or I'm gonna be so pissed," George retorted as a team of Pravda girls hauled him to the back, "Look at that, good old American inspired truck."
\Saunders' Dorms/
In the living room Kay, Naomi, and Alisa sat waiting, the clocks ticking and the tv playing in the background to kill the time unaware of George's situation.
"I hope he's alright," Alisa spoke up in concern as she looked towards the door.
"George's a big boy, he knows how to handle himself," Kay reassured as she flipped through the channels.
"Yeah, but playing someone like that," Naomi said sounding irritated, "I never thought the Ooarai team will stoop that low, especially when stuck our necks out for them."
Clearly the mood was mixed with worry, patience, and anger, but the clock kept ticking away until Kay's phone went off ringing.
"Kay here?" she answered with the other two just sitting on the side and listing, "Oh hey, Peter... No, George hasn't made it back yet... Well he has been gone for so long... You don't think- What'd you mean he's missing!"
\X/
"I talked to the owners of the place George took Hana out to, they say they saw him got a bus, so I track the bus down, and the driver said he kicked him off for fighting with some chick," Daulton explained clearly as he searched around the streets.
\X/
"Alright, I'm on it," Kay replied before hanging up, "GIRLS GET THE JEEP!" she suddenly shouted intensely without warning, "We have a tanker that's MIA!"
As Kay screamed from the top of her lung Naomi and Alisa fell from their seats and flounder on the floor like fish for a brief moment before pulling themselves together and scrambled for the jeep. They hopped right on Alisa sat in the back, Kay in the passenger seat, and Naomi in the driver, the engine sparked to life then the three rode on out the garage, and off the school grounds. As the dust settled down two Pravda girls emerge from the bushes.
"Now let's extract the intel," one of them said just as they snuck in.
\Later/
As Naomi drove down the town streets Kay and Alisa called out for George's name.
"Geroge! Geroge where are you!" Alisa cried out from the back of the jeep.
"Where can he gone off to?" Naomi asked aloud.
"He could've have gotten far on foot," Kay logically noted scanning the streets for clues until, "STOP!"
Naomi slammed her foot on the breaks sending Alisa to smack the windshield, Kay jumped off shinning a flashlight on the ground seeing tire tracks that she recognises from Pravda's trucks and even a single slice strip of a potato peal.
"Pravda!" Kay said with a clenched fist.
"Those icy brats took our man!" Alisa exclaims in anger and Kay hopping back, standing on the jeep like how George Washington sailed to Delaware.
"Follow those tracks Naomi, we have a tanker to rescue," she commanded with determination.
The tires screeched and burned launching the girls forward to the direction the tire marks that will lead them to their friend.
\X/
Further away George was sitting in the back of the truck with Klara and Nonna keeping watch on him from one side of the truck while George sat on the opposite end.
"Do all the ladies want a piece of me? I'm flattered," George tried to talk to them.
"My dolzhny byli prinesti izolentu (We should've brought duct tape)," Klara spoke in Russian.
"My pochti u desantnogo korablya. My skoro vernemsya v shtab-kvartiru (We're almost at the landing craft. We'll be back at HQ soon)," Nonna reassured with great patience.
They returned their glares upon their captive, George would've been trying his best to flirt with the two girls, they were both unbelievably actractive, from their eyes, their hair, to how they look to even how they spoke despite their cold dead tone. But of course the tone and lack of emotion didn't make it worth while especially from the deal breaker that happen just briefly. However glancing out from the behind George spotted a strange familiar shape closing in on him from the shadows. Passing by under the streetlights George had a glimpse of the Saunders' jeep gaining up on the truck with the headlights off, he felt quick release of joy as his friends came to rescue him.
Nonna noticed the slight shift in his facial expression and so when glanced at the same direction she spotted Kay and the others creeping up behind them, but before Nonna could order the driver to speed it up George kicked her in the shin distracting her and Klara. Without a second thought George shot up from his seat and threw himself off the truck flying through the air as Naomi swooped in to catch him just in time.
"You all see that!" George asked all excited from the stunt.
"Naomi, get us out of here!" Kay ordered and Naomi complied.
Hitting the break the jeep screeched to a halt, Naomi then shifted in reverse going back until she spun the jeep around launching the everyone far away for the truck to catch up. By the time the Pravda truck stopped their target was gone.
"I hope, team two, does better," Nonna hoped.
"If not, we're both in trouble," Klara suggested at the prospect of failure.
\Saunders' School Grounds/
Back at the safety school Naomi smoothly pulled into the garage the girls feeling relieved that George was alright... mostly. The after of his date with Hana still left him with a void in his heart, a feeling he was too familiar with.
"Are you alright, George?" Alisa asked reaching to him.
"... " there was a brief pause before he replied to her question, "I just need to meditate on this, there's just too much to think about."
"Ok, but just so you know we're always here for you," Kay told him.
As they exited the garage George felt like her had a long night and just wanted to go to bed, reaching for the door handle until from out of nowhere the front door just burst open knocking everyone to the ground. Reeling back George spotted two girl fumbling out in a panic with rest of his tankery team running up still dressed in their pyjamas.
"Intruders!" they cried out in alert, "They stole something from George's room."
George eyes shot wide open looking back to see that the two girls were also from Pravda, but one of them was holding his box and were making a break for it while laughed triumphantly.
"Haha,ha!" they cackle, "We got your game plans now burger-munchers"
They mocked as they made their escape only to slam right into Daulton by accident as they weren't paying attention to what was ahead.
"Hey! watch where you're going!" he yelled at them.
The box went flying high in the air, George scrambles to his feet his arms extended out to catch what's his, the others did the same, but none of them where fast enough for the box shattered into piece upon hitting the ground. George's old photos littered everywhere and the Pravda trespassers were left baffled until regain confidence when seeing the mysterious envelope Naomi saw earlier snatching up as if to claim victory.
"Yes! we got it!" they proclaimed only to have it snatched from their grasps by Daulton.
"Congratulation, you stole his birth certificate," he scolded.
"What?!" they exclaimed, "You tell us that there's no game plans?"
"No, now get outta here," Daulton told them pointing to the exit leaving the two intruders disappointed.
"We're gonna be pealling potatoes for the next week," they cried in defeat anxious about their punishment.
"Woo hoo! Daulton!" Kay cheered as he foiled the Pravda girl's plans to steal valuable intel however Daulton was too focused reading the certificate.
"Yeah thank you, but can you give that-" George tried to take the document, but Daulton pushes him away as he read further a hard and puzzled look on his face.
"What's you're name?" he questioned him out of nowhere.
"Uh, what are you on about, Daulton?" Naomi asked wandering what Daulton was talking about.
"Yeah, it's George, hello? you can read it on that piece of paper," Alisa said trying to answer for George who was now wearing an all too frozen expression, "George?"
"He's name's not, George," Daulton broke it to them all confusing everyone, "It's not even, Stuart."
Handing the certificate over to Kay she read the name that was imprinted on the document.
"John "Doe", Smith?" she read aloud sounding speechless
"That's your real name?" Alisa added looking over to a daunted George.
"Who... Are you... ?" Naomi finally asked.
