Hello, it's me again! I took quite a while, huh...
Well, that's the thing I want to address today, which is basically my writing consistency. Or lack thereof. Long story short, there are a few complications outside of writing that impact my work. But I'm going to do my best to not let them affect me! Which means I'll be working on reducing wait times, so no worries!
Other than that, check out the new cover! At the same time, I'll be publishing the fic on AO3 as well, so you can catch me there!
Yeah, that's it from me this round. Now, onto Chapter 2! I hope you guys like it!
Two: The Hidden Past
"(I wanna be a tanker when I grow up! Just like you and Mom!)"
"(My friends said tanks are for girls, and they don't believe that you're a tanker...)"
"(Heheh, I'll never forget it!)"
"(Grandpa, can I ride in her someday?)"
"I still don't think this is a good idea…" Azusa muttered in complaint as she and her team quietly pushed the Jeep ahead, quietly moving along at a snail's pace in front of the garage doors.
"Oh come on Azusa, it's fine!" Yukari grinned behind the wheel. "Nobody will ever notice even half a thing! I promise!"
"Why are we the ones pushing while you're the one sitting behind there?" Ayumi huffed, getting tired from the pushing.
"Well, 'cos someone's still got to steer this thing!" was the chipper reply. "Also, it's not like I'm doing nothing either," the Anglerfish Team loader continued, torchlight in hand and a map and compass on her lap. "Gotta figure out which way to go or else we're gonna get lost. It's not fun being stuck in an unfamiliar area in the middle of the night."
Now, why were Yukari and Rabbit Team pushing a Jeep towards the gates of the camp in the middle of the night?
Well, it all began during the evening of the previous day. Just before dinner, Captain Chono Ami, the official elected by the Japanese Sensha-do Federation to be in charge for the entire event and beloved instructor of Ooarai's sensha-do team, had announced that after much careful discussion with the other officials present for the trip, they have decided to allow the girls to, for the remaining days of their stay, visit the nearby town of Sainte Marie cote de colline, or Sainte Marie in short. Granted, there would be some supervision from the officials at the town and the girls would have to return to the camp before the sun set, but other than that, they were free to spend their time outside the camp and enjoy the local scene and culture. Needless to say, this was extremely well-received by all the students.
Unfortunately for Yukari, however, she had betted on this "free time" starting right at that evening instead, and thus had no choice but to postpone her visit to that former battle site. Of course, as the area was nowhere near Sainte Marie, it would have to involve her sneaking out anyway, but she wanted to do it during a time when not being in the camp was something that wasn't out of the ordinary. However, as night fell, her impatience got the better of her, and the Anglerfish Team loader decided to take her trip early the next morning. And by "early", she really meant early. But she still required help from some other people while the rest of Anglerfish Team were unwilling, and the first person that came to mind was Azusa. However, one thing led to another, and soon enough all of Rabbit Team was dragged into the plan.
"You absolutely sure this is gonna work?" Azusa asked, still unconvinced.
"Yes, I'm sure," Yukari answered, still looking over the map. "Right, I've got it figured out! Who's gonna drive?"
"Me, of course!" Karina immediately replied, raising her hand.
"Sweet! Hey, look, we're near the gates!" the Anglerfish Team loader pointed ahead. "Told you it'll be eas-"
"Hey! You there!" a familiar adult female voice shouted from a distance away as the beam of light from a torchlight shone on them.
"Oh boy, here we go…" the Rabbit Team commander muttered as the rest of her crew sighed and stopped pushing.
"So, now what?" she asked Yukari as the black silhouette of the woman in question marched over to them at a very firm pace. "I thought you promised we wouldn't get caught."
"Eheh…" was the reply she got as the figure got closer. As the beam from the torchlight got narrower and less glaring, the familiar identity of the woman was immediately recognized by the girls.
"Miss Sasagawa!" Aya greeted.
"What are you girls doing out here at this time?" Sasagawa Kanon asked in her usual stern tone. "Why are you girls not in your beds? Why are you pushing one of Saunders' Jeeps away from its spot?"
"M-Miss Sasagawa," Yukari stammered nervously, "I-I can explain-"
"I do hope so, Miss Akiyama, because I've got a feeling that you're the one behind this," the JSF official interrupted, turning her attention towards the Anglerfish Team loader.
"W-well…"
"Hey, what's going on?" another familiar voice called out from a distance behind.
"Ma'am! I caught Yukari and Rabbit Team pushing this Jeep towards the gates!" Kanon reported as Ami walked up to them.
"W-we're not pushing it to the gates!" Yuuki protested. "We're just… we're just helping Saunders roll their Jeeps around so they won't squeak tomorrow!"
The rest of Rabbit Team, aside from Saki, collectively facepalmed.
Amused, Ami laughed heartily. "Well, it doesn't take much to figure out you guys want to sneak out. You might want to know that we lock the gates every night, so even if you manage to evade us you've still got a dead end."
"Eheh, I was hoping that wasn't the case…" Yukari laughed sheepishly as the Ooarai First-Years glared at her.
"So much for pre-planning…" Ayumi grumbled under her breath.
"Where do you want to go at this time, anyway?" Miss Chono asked curiously. "Can't it wait till tomorrow morning? We also have shuttles for you guys as well!"
"Oh, we're not going to town, it's a former battle site I wanna visit!" Yukari elaborated eagerly, as if she had forgotten the current situation she was in. "It's relatively nearby, too, and I can't wait anymore!"
"I see, but at three in the morning…?"
"Eheh…"
"Huh… And what about you girls?" the instructor turned towards the Ooarai 1st Years.
"W-we're just tagging along! We swear!" Yuuki quickly replied as the rest of them nodded in unison.
"I see. Hmm…"
Instructor Chono rubbed her chin, deep in thought as the Ooarai girls watched on in anticipation.
A short while later, the Captain smiled and looked up. "Alright, here's the deal: since you girls took the effort to get up this early, let's not put it to waste, shall we? So, I'm gonna actually let you guys go ahead. But!" she quickly interrupted before the girls or Kanon could say anything. "Kanon here must go with you."
"That's Miss Sasagawa to you!" the bespectacled official added on sternly.
"Come now, Kanon, loosen up for 'em a lil!" Ami laughed, patting her collegue rather heavily on the back.
"Oof!"
"It's not like you're judging a match now!" Miss Chono continued cheerfully. "And besides, you can take this as a break for a while! And even if you don't you're still looking after them!"
Considering her superior's words, Kanon sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll accompany them."
"Very nice!" Captain Chono grinned, patting the other woman rather heavily on the back again.
"Oof!"
"So, you girls want to go ahead!"
"Yeah!" all seven girls replied enthusiastically in unison.
"Sweet! I'll go get the gates unlocked then," the instructor said, pointing towards the direction of the gates as she walked towards there. "Oh, right," she stopped momentarily. "We'll have to tell Saunders that we borrowed one of their Jeeps later. It's not nice to take someone else's stuff without saying anything, you know."
"Will do, Instructor!" Yukari gave a thumbs-up.
She turned back to the others and grinned. "See, told you all will go well!"
Six frowns and one blank face were what she received in return.
At three in the morning, it was dark and quiet in the French countryside, save from the sound of crickets chirping, unseen in the darkness. Though, those sounds were soon easily overshadowed by the rumble of an inline-4 engine as the Willys MB it powered drove down the quiet road, the light from its headlights standing out brightly against its dark surroundings.
Other than Karina behind the wheel and Yukari riding shotgun beside her, the occupants of the Jeep were not seated in any particular order. Or rather, squeezed in for that matter. On the left side, clinging onto Azusa for dear life from behind was Aya, the two of them sitting with their left legs dangling off the side of the Jeep. Similarly on the other side, Ayumi and Yuuki were seated with their right legs outside; with the space left, Saki was able to squeeze in at the back, and in front of her was Kanon sitting on the floor. It was fortunate that the corners of the road have been gentle enough, or else they'd have already fallen off.
Naturally, the adult of the group was not too happy about the arrangement. "Why did I get roped into this..." she grumbled to herself.
"You agreed to accompany us, though…" Azusa commented.
"Of course I had to!" the older woman shot back. "We're halfway across the planet from home, do you think I will knowingly let seven girls sneak out in the middle of the night to the middle of nowhere?!"
"We would've been fine ourselves…" Yuuki commented.
"No, you won't," Kanon retorted.
"Are we there yet, anyway?" Ayumi asked, changing the subject. "How nearby is 'nearby' anyway?"
"Well, just a bit more…" Yukari replied, reading the map while shining her flashlight on it. "Hold on, stop here."
With the Jeep pulled over to the side, the Anglerfish loader looked up at her surroundings for a moment. "If I'm right… Yeah, we're going offroad!" she said.
"Wait, what?" Karina puzzled. "Why?"
"Well, the other option's walking, and I don't think any of you guys want to do that," Yukari replied. "So yeah, it's that way," she said, pointing to the left side of the road, into the darkness.
"Okay then…" the Rabbit driver grumbled a little as she put the Willys MB into gear, stepped on the gas and turned the wheel.
The already-precarious ride became a lot less comfortable and stable after the Jeep left the asphalt and onto literal French soil, the four Rabbit Team girls clinging on tightly as the vehicle bumped around on the uneven, softer terrain.
Feeling Aya's grasp on her waist growing tighter, Azusa began to regret choosing to sit on the edge of the Jeep like that, clinging onto the sides tightly in fear of falling off.
"How long more are we gonna go at it like this?" she asked worriedly.
"Not for long, no worries!" Yukari replied, comfortably seated in the front passenger's seat.
"You said that, but we've been on this Jeep for ten minutes already!"
"Yeah, this is not really that close!" Miss Sasagawa agreed. "Hey, hang on there!"
"We seem to be going a bit too fast for comfort," the Rabbit Team commander commented. "Karina, I think you should slo- Watch out!" she suddenly shouted as the headlights of the Jeep illuminated an obstacle ahead.
Instinctively, the Rabbit Team driver slammed on the brakes. The Willys MB rocked forward as it came to a skidding halt, stopping just short of a bush in the way.
The four girls on the sides barely stayed on the Jeep, yelling as they hung on to whatever support they had.
"Sorry!" Karina apologized sheepishly as those four scrambled back into their most comfortable positions. ""Yeah, I'll drive slower."
"How far off is it anyway? This isn't the most comfortable ride around, you know," Aya commented, annoyed, as the Jeep reversed a bit before moving forward again, this time driving around the bush.
"Or safest…" Kanon grumbled.
"Not to worry, we're really almost there!" Yukari replied. "If it's daytime we would be able to see them ahead already, but since it's dark we can't- Oh, we're here already!" she noticed, looking ahead.
What was revealed by the headlights of the Jeep was the orange-brown hulk of something larger than the car itself, lying right ahead of the path of the Japanese girls. All it took was a glance for the mysterious mass to be quickly identified as the rusting remains of a tank, and a few moments was all it took for the identity of it to be specifically determined to be an M4 Sherman, specifically an M4A1 judging from the cast hull. The Jeep had come up from diagonally behind the American tank towards its left, and it felt as if its hull was angled against an unseen enemy, the long-defunct gun and turret aimed at something in the distance, within the pitch-black darkness.
In the darkness, the wreck felt ghostly, as if it was a long-lost spirit from a time long since past. Indeed, it looked like the M4A1 had been here for a very, very long time.
"Yep, we're here!" the Anglerfish loader beamed, hopping out of the Jeep and turning on her flashlight. "This is cool!" she commented in awe, shining the torch over the wreck as the others climbed out.
Azusa had brought along her own flashlight as well, and taking it out, she flicked the switch. Intending to shine hers on the M4A1 as well, the beam glanced past another curious figure before she could do so, and that got her attention instead.
Bringing the light onto the other figure, another rusting wreck of an M4 was revealed. This one, situated facing the previous one, diagonally towards its rear right, had its turret pointed straight ahead, as if it was suddenly stopped and abandoned. This one, unlike the M4A1, had a welded hull, and being able to see the barrel helped quickly identify the gun as a 75 mm M3.
"Woah…" Ayumi muttered.
"Wow, two Shermans!" Yukari beamed in excitement. "Not sure what the variant of that one behind is. I wonder if there are more around…" she mused, shining her light around before spotting something. "There! Oh my god!" she shouted excitedly, illuminating a third wreck a short distance away, creating a straight line with the other two. Like the middle tank in the line, it was an M4A1, and its hull was facing in the same direction as the last tank, further implying that all three tanks were part of a platoon column. As for the turret, well, nobody knows whether it was turned towards something; in fact, it wasn't even there. A quick scan to the left of the wreck, however, revealed the status of the now-found turret; rusted and upside down, probably torn off the poor tank by an explosion.
"Alright, I'll admit, this is interesting," Kanon commented as the group walked closer towards the M4A1 they first encountered. "These weren't shown anywhere when I did my own research."
"Multiple wreck sites like this are littered all around Europe," Yukari explained as they got up close to the Sherman. "Most of the time they're too far from the nearby towns, so they're not that popular and thus left mostly alone, waiting only for the keenest of explorers to discover them. I only found out about this place by asking around online."
She put her hand on the rusty wreck. "It's surreal. Standing here and all, knowing that an actual fight took place here decades ago. This kind of stuff never fails to amaze me, and this is my first time visiting one outside of Japan."
"T-that means people died here…" Aya shivered a bit.
"Yeah, you bet they did!" was the reply from the Anglerfish loader.
"It's creepy…" Karina replied.
"Nah, it's all okay! Here, let's come to this side!" the older girl directed as she walked towards the front of the tank. Shining the torch at the barrel, the tank was quickly confirmed to be an M4A1(76).
"Woah…" Azusa muttered as her flashlight shone on the gun mantlet, a large hole visible on the right side relative to the turret. "This…"
"Should be the killing blow, yes," Miss Sasagawa confirmed. "That was a hard hit, went straight through. The guys inside never stood a chance."
"Are there similar holes on the others?" Yuuki asked.
"Probably," Yukari replied as she glanced over to the others. "We'll have to take a closer look at them before anything. Anything else?" she wondered, shining her torch into the darkness.
What greeted her a few moments later was yet another wreck of a Sherman, its turret nowhere to be seen.
"Four Shermans!" the tank nut beamed excitedly. "Holy hell, this place is a treasure trove! I'm so glad we got out here!"
"You still didn't have to drag us out in the middle of the night…" the Rabbit Team commander muttered.
"Oh cheer up Azusa, this is a great experience!" was the reply from Yukari. "Hey, what's that there?" she asked as the beam illuminated something in the distance. Something that stood out even amongst the wrecks.
She brought the beam back and steadied it on the object in question.
There, standing there, was a cross erected seemingly out of nowhere, its pale white color standing out against all of its surroundings.
"Ooh, is that a small memorial of sorts?" the Anglerfish gunner mused. "Let's go get a closer look!" she decided excitedly.
"Can we go back now?" Karina yawned in protest. "It's three in the morning…"
"Yeah, we're all tired…" Yuuki grumbled.
"Eh?! But we haven't seen much!" the Anglerfish loader protested.
"Yeah, we're definitely going back right now," Azusa decided, grabbing the older girl by the collar and heading back towards the Jeep. "Let's go."
"But don't you want to go take a look?!" was the protest coming from behind the Rabbit tank commander.
"Yeah, we're interested in that as well, but that's been sorta dulled by the fact it's three in the morning…" Azusa sighed tiredly. "We can always get permission to come back during the day, everything will be visible too…"
"I'd grant that request and get some of the others to accompany any interested parties," Miss Sasagawa affirmed. "Besides, you can bring the rest of your team along as well."
"Ooh, that's right!" Yukari beamed, still being dragged along by Azusa. "Miho might be interested in this as well! I wonder about the rest, though," she commented as Rabbit Team loaded her into the Willys MB before piling on themselves. "I mean, Saori's probably going to be more interested in the boys in Sainte Marie, for one, and Mako's probably too tired as always. Oh, but Hana will definitely comment on the smell of iron, that's for sure! She's got her amazingly strong sense of smell, of course! Well, which other teams will want to come along? Leopon? Turtle? Mallard, perhaps? Oh, crap! Erwin and her guys are gonna wish they came along! Dang! I'll need to get some pictures of these wrecks so they won't feel left out! Actually, can we get them to come here as well…"
And as Yukari went on and on, Karina put the Jeep in gear, turned around and headed back the way they came, towards the road. And with the car now headed away, the former battle site was thus left in complete darkness once again, quiet and undisturbed.
As the first rays of the morning sun streamed from over the horizon and onto the French countryside, most of the girls were roused from their well-deserved night's rest one by one. As they went about with their morning routines, an air of excitement had steadily built up as everyone prepared to board the still-yet-to-arrive chartered shuttle buses to Sainte Marie. Well, most of them, anyway; for one, Mako was still asleep. Which was normal, of course; however, Yukari and Rabbit Team seemed to be knocked out for some reason, the seven girls still fast asleep by the time the three woken girls of Anglerfish Team came to check on them.
Those few girls were not the only ones that were absent; Instructor Chono, who assured the Ooarai girls that she would be accompanying them to the nearby French town, was instead nowhere to be found. After some asking around, some of the girls that had woken up earlier had claimed that they had seen her leave the camp earlier than even them, headed off for some reason. Further prodding of some of the JSF officials confirmed the claims as genuine; though, the reason behind it was kept unrevealed. Or rather, unclear.
Meanwhile, on the Saunders side, Kay was still in her dormitory room, having just dressed up in her casuals and was ready to go, whenever that was. Joined by her were the other two girls of the Saunders Sensha-Do Team Command; Alisa was still tying her signature pigtails while Naomi was just putting on her T-shirt.
"So, where do you girls want to go first?" the blondie asked enthusiastically. "What's there in France, anyway? Any shopping for us? Mimes? Oh, they've definitely got some good food for sure!" she teased.
"Well, we've got to keep in mind that this isn't Paris we're talking about," the pigtailed vice-commander commented as she finished up her last pigtail. "Sainte Marie is just a small town with little to no local tourism after all, so we shouldn't expect much."
"It'll be nice to just walk around and all, too," the short-haired vice-commander replied. "It's not everyday that most of us get to travel to the other side of the globe, so we should spend the time sightseeing as well."
"Yeah, I suppose there are some historic spots down here as well," Alisa nodded. "I wonder what they are, though. Buildings? Landmarks? A museum, perhaps?"
"Only one way to find out!" Kay replied cheerfully as she hopped out of her bed. "Come on, let's go!" she beckoned.
"The bus doesn't arrive until 30 minutes later, though…"
"Well, like they say, the early bird gets the worm!" was the cheerful reply the shorter vice-commander got. "Come along now, you two!"
Just then, the door to the room swung open, and there at the doorway was a young woman older than the three girls, her light brown hair tied by a black bow in a ponytail reaching below her shoulders. Judging from the smart, neat JSF uniform she wore professionally, it was obvious that she was an official, if her older age was not already a major indication.
"Oh good, you guys are still here," the older woman sighed, some sweat on her forehead. "I've been looking for you guys around!"
"You are…" Naomi asked.
"Takashima Remi," the JSF official identified herself. "You guys may have seen me around being one of the match judges. That rings a bell?"
"... Oh yeah, I've noticed you before," Alisa recalled. "You're the one that acts so serious it honestly becomes funny, like your two friends."
That comment resulted in poor Remi promptly tumbling into the side of the doorframe.
"Why do I keep getting that?!" Miss Takashima whined as she got up, a small bruise on her left cheek. "I'm only just doing my jooob…"
"Yeah, you guys are pretty dedicated," the pigtailed vice-commander nodded. "Not even one nook or cranny is left untouched by your inspections."
"Yeah, funny you mentioned that, cos we still haven't gotten back to you for that sandbag trick!" the JSF official retorted. "Do you know how much work we did taking every bag down, checking them one by one and then putting them back on?!"
"Well, but after that it was smooth-sailing, wasn't it?" Alisa smirked knowingly.
"YOU DID THAT WITH A WHOLE DAMN PLATOON!" the poor judge snapped back indignantly, tears almost welling up in her eyes. "I WORKED SO DAMNED HARD FOR YOUR STUPID SANDBAGS FOR NOTHING!"
"Yeah, before you two settle your scores, what is it again?" Naomi interjected.
Remi recomposed herself, clearing her throat and dusting off her uniform. "Okay. So, basically, I don't have all the details but Captain Chono's looking for you guys now, said she's got something important you three need to see."
"Oh, cool!" Kay smiled, eager for some exciting turn for events. "Where's she?"
"That's the thing, she's in Sainte Marie cote de… um, co… uhh, whatwasthat- ugh, whatever, she's in Sainte Marie right now!" the JSF official explained, having stumbled there a little. "So she sent me and Hibiki to get you guys once you're ready, we're taking one of our cars there."
"Ah, gotcha!" Kay nodded. "Well, we're ready to go already!"
"That's good! Come, let's go then," Miss Takashima urged.
Within a few minutes, the girls had piled into the black JSF-owned Mercedes S 65 AMG, and soon they had quickly left the camp, now well en route to the French town. Driving the car was none other than Inatomi Hibiki, another JSF official present and fellow friend of Remi. The three Saunders girls, meanwhile, were seated in the rear seats of the sports sedan; Kay on the left, Alisa in the center and Naomi on the right.
"Hey, where's your other friend?" Alisa asked out of curiosity. "You know, the one with glasses?"
"Oh, Kanon?" Hibiki was the first to respond. "She was on night duty last night, so she's currently asleep. Oh, which reminds me, she told us this morning that Ooarai borrowed one of your Jeeps last night."
"Wait, what?" Kay's ears perked up. "Why?"
"Beats me, something about Yukari dragging Rabbit Team along or something," was the reply. "She was too tired to give any more information."
"Ah, Oddball!" the Saunders commander smiled. "She could've just asked, we would've let her use one."
"I told you the keyless Jeeps were going to be prone to things like this," the pigtailed vice-commander retorted. "Which Jeep was it?"
"It's the one parked away from the others, no worries," Kanon answered. "When they came back they decided to do that, seeing how you guys may like to identify it like that and all."
"Well, that's good," Naomi nodded. "Just a few checks is all, mainly how much fuel they've used. We don't need them running out of fuel halfway to the railyard when we leave."
"I think it's all cool nonetheless!" Kay commented cheerfully. "Nothing we can't fix if anything. Also, hey you two," she continued, referring to the two JSF officials, "you guys seem to have a hell lot more personality than you like to let up. Show this side more sometimes!"
"Well, we do!" Miss Inatomi replied rather enthusiastically and somewhat defensively. "It's just that you guys aren't usually around to see it! You can ask your Megumi-senpai about that someday."
"Oh, she hangs out with you guys?" Naomi looked at the two officials, surprised.
"Yes she does," Miss Takashima smiled, "but that's adult stuff that you guys won't get to do until you're eighteen."
"Such as…?" Alisa raised an eyebrow.
"Oh," Remi smirked cheekily, turning back to look at the pigtailed vice-commander, "wouldn't you like to know?"
"Drinking! We only went drinking!" poor Hibiki yelped, flustered at what her friend was trying to imply.
"Bikiii, you ruined it!" the ponytailed light brown-haired woman pouted.
"Yeah, we don't need you giving them the wrong idea!"
"I was just playing around, you meanieee~!"
"Well," Naomi interjected, a small smirk on her face as she put her arm over Alisa's shoulders, "even if that's the case, what makes you think we have to be eighteen to do that?"
Hearing that reply, the two officials stopped jousting with each other, both their eyes wide open as Alisa blushed, trying to get Naomi to stop messing around while Kay held back a chuckle.
Her cheeks red, Remi slowly turned back around and leaned back in her seat. "... O-oh my…"
"T-the new generation is pretty different, huh…" Hibiki muttered out as she refocused on simply driving the S 65. Just driving the S 65.
A short while later, the view of the town of Sainte Marie came into view, and with that the Mercedes arrived at the town, the French countryside now behind it. Looking out of the windows, the Saunders girls looked around their new surroundings as the car drove down the roads of the quiet town. The place was a mix of both old and new, with old buildings standing alongside new designs, and as expected, not a single skyscraper was in sight. But old and new, strangely enough, complimented each other rather than repel, which was a rather strange sight to see. Meanwhile, people quietly went on with their business on the sidewalks as cars and buses roamed on the roads, the S 65 AMG currently being the loudest thing on the road, the low grumble of the bi-turbo V12 engine noticeable by all despite Hibiki's best efforts at driving it as quietly as possible. But pleasantly enough, nobody seemed to mind, and some of them even took their phones out to take pictures of the black car.
Taking a turn ahead, the sports sedan entered one of the residential areas of Sainte Marie and continued driving on, both sides of the road lined with houses two storeys high of various designs; like the other buildings, some were classic, others were more modern. But again, both types complimented each other just fine. Most of all, the cozy, homely atmosphere of the town was extremely welcoming to all, and the occupants of the Mercedes could not help but feel relaxed.
Though, that peace and quiet was soon interrupted by a rather large commotion ahead that was visible from the car. As the car got closer, Alisa, having the best view of the Saunders trio, could see that it was an entire crowd surrounding a particular house, with a few police cars and even an armoured van parked on the side of the road. And as they got even closer and came to a stop, the wind revealed the presence of police tape, likely cordoning the house away from everything else.
"Yep, this is the spot," Hibiki commented as she took off her seat belt. "That looks serious!"
"Right, you girls, stay close to us," Remi instructed as the five of them got out of the sports sedan. Taking a closer look, Kay noticed the presence of a couple news vans and the reporters and cameras that came along with them.
This did not go unnoticed to the others. "Damn, this is quite the affair..." Naomi commented.
Locking the car behind them, the two JSF officials began forming a path through the crowd. Though, with the obvious language barrier present, that naturally took more difficulty than it would in a similar situation back in Japan, with people not knowing that they had to move aside other than the pushing of two Japanese women for them to finally understand what was going on.
Nevertheless, the five of them made it inside. Cordoned behind yellow tape, the house looked just like a typical two-storey home of a typical design, its comfortable brown walls and roof not really standing out amongst the others. The front yard was full of police officers, however, and some of them were even decked out in armour vests. Amongst this group stood a familiar female figure.
Noticing that the five of them had arrived, Captain Chono beamed, walking straight towards them.
"Oh boy, glad you girls are here!" she greeted them enthusiastically. "Oh, come on in!" she continued, pulling the tape up to allow her two subordinates and three Saunders girls to come in. "(No worry, they my people!)" she shouted to a French officer in broken English, who gave her a thumbs-up in response.
"Captain, what's going on?" Remi asked curiously as she got in underneath the tape.
"Oh, you guys are gonna like this!" the Captain grinned as Naomi, behind everyone else, came in, the Ooarai instructor releasing the tape behind the Saunders sharpshooter. "Just this morning I was going about making sure everything's in order, and while that happened I checked my phone for any local news, the typical stuff," she explained as she led the group towards the house. "What I got was some breaking news, so I immediately came over to investigate. And then when I finally found out what everything was about, I contacted you guys."
"So, what is it about exactly?" Hibiki asked as her superior climbed up the steps and opened the front door.
"Yeah, why are we tagging along?" Kay continued.
"Well," Ami grinned excitedly. "you girls are about to find out! Come on in!"
The interior of the house, unsurprisingly, felt just like any comfortable European house; well, other than the fact that even more police officers were swarming about inside it. Some were busy checking and ransacking through items, others were busy taking pictures for documentation purposes. What was constant, however, was the fact that all of them wore vests in here as well.
One of these officers woke up to them and spoke to Instructor Chono in English, which the other Japanese girls could not understand while Ami could still roughly converse with him in somewhat understandable but nonetheless broken English. Other than the common words, Kay couldn't really make out anything the man said, especially with that thick a French accent, and even Ami seemed like she had trouble understanding some parts too.
Eventually, though, the officer gave a nod and showed the group an open doorway, with what seemed like a dimly-lit flight of stairs lying after a left turn behind the door.
"Yeah, he says he's going to bring us down to the basement," Miss Chono explained.
Before any of them could proceed, however, a commotion started from behind the group of police officers.
Looking in that direction, Kay could see a bespectacled, suited man that seemed to be speaking with someone. By "speaking", however, it felt and sounded more like he was being ferociously yelled at, particularly by what sounded like a girl, probably no more than 15 years old.
And as the cops cleared out of her view, that hypothesis was proven true; a girl was indeed yelling at the man at the top of her lungs, tears in her eyes as she was held back by another man. The girl was rather short by French standards, probably about 150 centimeters tall, more or less, and her brown hair, somewhat unkempt, was tied in a ponytail that only barely reached past her shoulders. Holding her back and keeping her from putting her hands on the suited man was an older man, who looked like she was related to the girl in some way. Her father, perhaps?
Even as the cops came and tried to calm the highly-agitated girl down, the blonde girl could not understand most of the English that spewed from the French girl's mouth, which came out in an unexpected American-esque accent with hints of a French accent strewn around. What Kay could easily make out, however, were the unbarred, unadulterated, repeated, extremely angry screams of "FUCK YOU" that the French girl had included in her shouting as she continued to verbally pummel the suited man without any form of hesitation.
Wanting to help cool the situation, Kay walked over to try to help calm the situation, soon quickly followed by the rest of the Japanese group. Instead of trying to drag the girl back and away from the suited man, the Saunders commander went over to the front of the girl instead, and rather than trying to push her away, instead put her arms on the girl's shoulders and used the only three English words she could speak that she knew could ease the situation.
"(Calm down, please!)"
It took a few seconds, but it worked; the rage and indignation left the French girl's brown eyes and she relaxed. Seeing this, the man that was probably related to her, as well as the police officers around, slowly eased up their grasps on her, soon only just holding onto her without any pulling force. The poor girl, now calm, staggered a bit and took a few deep breaths to compose herself after that tirade.
Grabbing a cold bottle of water Alisa had just passed to her, Kay opened it and passed it over to the French girl, who accepted it and took a few big gulps, nearly choking in the process. The man probably related to her gave her a few pats on the back as she stopped drinking and gasped for air, still catching her breath.
Finally having composed herself, the girl looked up at the blonde Saunders commander. "(Now who the hell are you?)"
"(Uh…)" was the only response Kay could give. "(Eheh, sorry,) I don't speak much English," she chuckled a bit.
This seemed to click something in the French girl as she looked away for a few seconds before regaining eye contact once more. "That's okay, I can… speak Japanese as well," the girl smiled a little.
The Japanese group was surprised at the reveal.
"You can speak Japanese?!" Alisa gasped.
"W-well, y-yeah…" the French girl smiled sheepishly, shyly looking away, the "fire and fury" from just a minute or so ago now completely gone and replaced with its opposite. "I'm trilingual, y-you see, was b-brought up with English, French a-and Japanese… T-though, I've never… never really used much of Japanese, a-am a bit rusty, too..."
"Well, I think you're handling it just fine!" Kay chuckled, giving the girl a heavy pat on the shoulder.
"(Oof!)"
"Well, what's your name?" the Saunders commander asked cheerfully.
"W-well, i-it's… it's… (ohgoddamnit, Louise. Louise Tuckerman. W-well, Louise Carolyn Tuckerman in full, but I don't use my middle name much…)"
"Ah, so, Lou-i-se..." Kay nodded, converting it into Japanese. "Hey, Lou-chan works!" she grinned. "Will that be fine for you?"
"L-Lou… chan?" Louise blinked. "That… it's nice," the girl smiled happily, pleased with her new nickname.
"(Yay!)"
"Barely a few minutes in and she's already given her a nickname," Naomi commented as she watched the conversation go on.
"Yeah, next thing you know she's enrolled in Saunders," Alisa deadpanned.
"So, who are you?" Kay asked, asking the man that seemed to be related to Louise.
Unable to understand her, the man looked at Lou for some clarity.
"Oh, this is my… un... uncle, he does not speak Japanese," Lou replied on his behalf, pausing a bit mid-sentence as she recalled what "uncle" was in Japanese. "(She's asking who you are,)" she explained to the older Tuckerman in English.
"(Oh,)" was the reply. "(You probably don't understand me but nice to meet you, it's David,)" he smiled, shaking the Saunders team commander's hand.
"(Nice to meet you too!)" Kay smiled. "That's about all the English I know," she chuckled to Lou.
"I-it's alright," the younger Tuckerman smiled politely.
"Well, on my side here, this is Alisa and Naomi," the blondie introduced her vice-commanders, pointing to them at their mentions.
"Hello." "Yo."
"Pleased to m-meet you too," Louise smiled.
"Well, glad someone around can understand us," Ami beamed. "I'm Captain Ami Chono of the Japanese Sensha-do Federation, and these two are my subordinates, Takashima Remi and Inatomi Hibiki."
"Hello!" "Hey there!"
"N-nice to meet you as well!" the girl greeted politely.
"(What are they saying?)" David asked.
"(Just them introducing themselves is all,)" his niece replied before turning back to the Japanese group. "B-by the way, I watched the match l-live yesterday, it was a blast!"
"Glad you like it!" Kay grinned. "The three of us here are from Saunders!"
"S-Saunders? T-the team with the M4s?"
"Yep!" Alisa nodded proudly.
"T-that's nice, I love M4s!" the young Tuckerman smiled happily.
"Really?! That's perfect!" the Saunders team commander beamed. "Before that though, there is something we're here for, right? Weren't you supposed to show us something?" she asked the police officer that Ami had been talking to, who had been standing at the side.
"{What did she say?}" he asked Louise, who had just become the unofficial translator between the two groups.
"{She asked whether you were supposed to show her something.}"
"{Oh, right, this way,}" he responded, pointing back at the door and getting ready to move.
"But I want Lou here to lead the way, if that's fine," the Saunders commander smiled.
"{... What was that?}"
"{She said she wants me to lead the way if it's fine. And I do hope you'll allow it, because I'm pretty sure I know far more about her than you and your officers.}"
"That sounded quite a bit more than what Kay said…" Alisa mused to Naomi.
The officer's eyes narrowed for a moment.
"{Go ahead,}" he finally replied after a few moments. "{I'm following you down anyway.}"
"(I'll come along as well,)" David joined in.
And at that moment, the suited man finally spoke. The Japanese group, of course, could not understand what he said, but whatever he said was responded to by the police officer, his hands gesturing in a way that could mean that something could wait. No matter what it was that he said, the man nodded and relented, allowing Louise and David to pass him, the former giving him a less-than-happy glare for a moment.
"This way," Lou beckoned the Japanese girls to follow her.
"Ooh, I wonder what's down there!" Kay commented excitedly, walking right behind the niece and uncle pair.
"Well, you're about to find out," Ami chuckled from behind as the blonde girl walked through the doorway.
"Mind your step," Louise warned from ahead as Kay looked down at the flight of stairs. It was completely dark, with the only lights coming from the basement on the other side, just after a right turn below.
"Yeah, feels like something out of a haunted house!" Kay added on, earning a chuckle from the young Tuckerman ahead.
Walking down the stairs was, unlike what the dim environment implied, a comfortable affair, the smooth concrete steps beneath them providing perfect stability and having wooden edges instead, preventing any accidental scratches or cuts, were well-maintained. Furthermore, a wooden railing had been installed on one side of the wall, and from what Kay could feel as her right hand held onto it, it was clean and well-maintained. That being said, each step the group took down the dustier the air felt, Alisa letting out a sneeze as the group approached the end of the flight.
Reaching the bottom, Louise and her uncle turned right and entered the basement, and the Saunders team commander followed in.
The large basement, which turned out to be a garage that was about ten meters long, seven meters wide and four meters high, was rather dimly-lit, with only a grand total of two dim, yellow overhead lights providing an inadequate amount of illumination. To the left of the open doorway the blonde girl stepped out of was the large garage shutter door, completely made out of metal unlike modern versions of the same type with small plastic "viewports" to allow outside light in. The place was dusty as well and various items were present around; some were stored neatly, some were messily strewn around, everything being looked through by some of the police officers already present. But all of those paled starkly in comparison to what was parked right smack in the middle of everything, cordoned off with police tape and being inspected from the outside by the majority of the police officers in the basement.
There, sitting quietly in the dim basement, was a tank, specifically an M4 Sherman. The Saunders team leaders, familiar with the very tanks they work with on a regular basis, immediately noted the more obvious details of the tank; a welded hull, late-production 47-degree angled front glacis, a muzzled 76 mm M1 gun alongside the T23 turret with what seemed like a fake muzzle mounted at the halfway point of the barrel, which was kept secure via its travel lock. And as Alisa in particular took note, the loader's hatch was the round, split hatch of earlier T23 turret designs, the M2 Browning machine gun mounted on its cupola mountings secured over it via its traveling lock. On the surface, this tank looked identical to the few remaining M4A2(76)Ws that Saunders itself had been keeping around back on board the George Washington, but something felt different about this one. Something… better?
"You've got to be kidding…" Naomi muttered as the group got closer, allowing a closer, better view of the M4. A thin layer of dust had settled on the tank, the Sherman obviously having not been cleaned in a while. But beneath the dust, the faded olive drab paint still revealed itself proudly, as did the white Allied identification stars, in their broken circles, painted on the transmission cover, as well as on the sides of the hull and turret. A black spade with a white border proudly showed itself on the top right side of the front plate, in line with the right head lamp directly below it.
The damage to the tank was also visible; despite the fact that the tank had been painted over at least once after receiving those hits, the numerous battle scars from its past were nonetheless visible, as was a single penetrating hole in the top left area of the front glacis, almost directly right at where the driver would be in his seat, but just a tad bit to his left.
What had also remained visible were further markings in white, Alisa able to read them and identify the division, regiment, company of the tank, even the number this M4 was assigned while in its company. But more visibly, what immediately cleared the national identity of the tank up to everyone was the registration number painted on the rear of both the left and right sides of the hull.
"U.S.A. 30101011".
This was, now without a doubt, an American variant of the Sherman. Alisa's mind continued to run through her vast knowledge on the M4, narrowing it down to just two candidates. However, while this tank looked like the M4A2, that variant was never used by the United States Army itself beyond limited use as mostly a training tank, having been mainly meant as an export model to the USSR. Which leaves only one…
The M4A3. The best possible wartime variant of the Shermans, this tank was equipped with the powerful Ford GAA, an 18-liter all-aluminium 32-valve DOHC V8 engine, capable of 500 gross horsepower at 2600 rpm and 1040 feet-pound of torque at 2200 rpm. Saunders had never dabbled with the M4A3 and the GAA before; sure, they could find working M4A3s around, and ready-to-run GAAs were also for sale alongside the GAF variant of the engine, used in the M26 Pershings and only being slightly different to the GAA in order to accommodate the other tank, but while they were superior to the others, purchasing them had been deemed unnecessary, the variants Saunders owned apparently being enough for the team. The pigtailed vice-commander had always felt that the M4A3s were the definitive Sherman variant and thus disagreed with that conclusion, but she could not do anything else about it but begrudgingly acknowledge that the other two had a reasonable point on their necessity, or lack thereof.
Now, there was one right in front of her. This was the first time she had seen an M4A3 up close in person, no matter how surprising that might sound to others, and it was surreal. Sure, she had stood in front of the rarest variant of the M4 on a daily basis, specifically the M4A6s Saunders owned, but an M4A3… this felt completely different to her; more intriguing, more significant. There were only seventy-five M4A6s in existence, sure, all of them original examples straight from America, and perhaps the diesel-powered Ordnance Engine RD-1820 9-cylinder radial engine performed better than the petrol-running Ford GAA, but the M4A3 was the real hero here, having actually been approved for mass production and actually seeing combat during the Second World War and beyond. To Alisa, that practical experience had already completely blown the A6's theoretical and Aberdeen performances out of the water.
There was still something different from this M4A3, though. Something that was obviously special, but had been overlooked by everyone. The hull looked fine, though those wide fenders covering over the top of-
… No. No way.
Immediately, Alisa looked down at the suspension bogeys.
Seeing them underneath the dim light, her eyes widened in surprise and excitement, unable to believe what she was seeing. "You're kidding! An Easy-Eight?! This is an Easy-Eight?!" she shouted excitedly, breaking the silence and looking up at Louise.
A wide grin broke out on the young Tuckerman's face. "(Yep!) M4A3(76)W HVSS! Or you guys may know it as the M4A3E8!"
"What's that?" Naomi asked, puzzled.
"Oh, it's that variant Alisa brought up some time ago!" Kay recalled. "She said it'll be great for us to have, being a 76 mm M4A3 using that V8 engine and better suspension!"
"Yeah, that one!" the pigtailed vice-commander replied ecstatically, akin to a young girl underneath the Christmas tree on Christmas day, opening up her new presents. "Oh my god! I've never even seen an M4A3 before, let alone an E8, but there's one right in front of me now!"
"She's great, isn't she?" Lou asked cheerfully, the prior shyness apparently having completely washed away from her. "Her name's (Ace of Spades)! Uh… Ace... of… Spades, yeah, that's how it should sound! Or just Ace in short, she's my grandfather's tank during the war!"
"Now where'd all that shyness go?" Ami muttered to herself, amused at the girl's sudden outburst of enthusiasm and confidence.
"Wow, that's cool!" the Saunders commander beamed, very interested in the tank. "Just as it's painted here and on the barrel!" she grinned, pointing to the black spade on the hull and the name "Ace" painted on both sides of the barrel.
"Yep!" Lou nodded happily. "My grandfather was given command of this tank along with his crew in July 1944 after he was promoted. Went fighting all the way until late August when, well, his platoon got ambushed. He was the only one who got out alive."
"The only tank that lived?" Naomi asked.
"Not just that," was the reply.
"What do you mean?"
Lou's expression was serious. "He was also the only person that lived."
Silence.
"Damn…" the Saunders sharpshooter muttered.
"But that's a whole story on its own," the young Tuckerman smiled. "Anyway, after that Ace here was left abandoned at the site, which is actually rather close to this town, I might add. She sat there alone for a while until sometime after the war, when my grandfather returned, got her back up and running and finally managed to drive her home. Since then we have restored and are maintaining her in good running order," she grinned proudly.
"Wait, this thing's running?!" Kay's jaw dropped. "With only your family working on it?"
"Sure is! Three generations have worked on Ace so far, including me! She really means a lot to us. Granted we've been keeping her stored here ever since she arrived and we can't do certain stuff, but yeah, we've done all we can to keep her fully operational. Not just for her engine and driving around, but for her turret and weapons as well!"
"Talk about dedication," Remi commented in awe.
"I'm guessing that's the reason why the police are here," Hibiki continued. "I mean, it feels obvious, but still..."
"No, yeah, they're here for Ace," Lou acknowledged, her expression darkening. "We've wanted to keep the job going, away from everyone else and just with us. Gramps is gone, but we've never thought about stopping. She's family after all, and we sure as hell were going to take good care of her. That has never changed."
She put a hand on the hull of the Easy-Eight, affectionately stroking the rolled homogeneous steel, a sad look on her face as she stared at the tank. She sighed. "But I guess that isn't going to happen anymore now. We knew we couldn't keep her hidden forever, but it's only been barely a month. Now that they've found her, they're definitely going to seize her, and when they do I know they're going to disable her, make her completely inoperative. Lock her away in some museum. Make her gather dust forever as a static display."
That sad expression was replaced with an angry scowl. "That's how things always go down here. Take something perfectly fine and ruin it because they're too dumb to understand anything. The government doesn't care. They think she's a dangerous weapon that has to be eliminated. And when they do they expect a standing ovation for a 'job well-done', how they've 'neutralized a public threat' and 'restored public safety'." Lou snorted in annoyance. "(Pretentious snobs,)" she hissed, briefly reverting back to English. "The public doesn't give a damn either. To them, Ace is just another old tank. Just some worthless piece of junk waiting to be thrown away. But she's not," she softened. "She's an important piece of history, to the world and especially to my family. And having her gone, ruined like that, that's just plain unacceptable."
Recomposing herself with a sigh, Louise turned back to the group. "Sorry, I went a bit too much there."
"No, it's fine!" Kay smiled reassuringly. "Say, I reckon you're a sensha-do fan?"
"Of course!" the young Tuckerman's eyes lit up again. "I've been working towards joining the sport! Which is difficult, since the EU banned tankery in here and all, that's what it's called outside of Japan, which means that I'll have to find a way overseas for that. My mom was a tanker before the ban came, by the way!"
"Oh, that's nice!" Remi commented.
"Yeah!" the young Tuckerman beamed proudly. "She joined the local school team here when she was 15, helped the team win many matches amongst the other schools, even went to the Nationals once! After she graduated she was actually scouted and recruited by a professional team, but shortly after that the incident happened and everything went downhill from there. It really devastated her, having her passion completely ripped away from her."
"Damn," Naomi commented.
"But yeah, tanks run through the entire family!" Lou smiled. "My uncle here was a mechanic in the school team as well!"
"He is?" Hibiki commented as they all looked at David curiously.
The older man just looked around in confusion. "(You were saying?)"
"(Oh, I only told them you were a mechanic for Mom's team,)" his niece smiled.
"(Ah. Are you going to tell them how my suggestions won us those matches?)" he asked proudly.
"(Mm, nah, I think I'll just mention how you filled Mom's tank up with diesel instead of petrol,)" Lou grinned cheekily.
"(You know that was an accident,)" the man groaned. "(Your mom gave me enough shit over it already.)"
"(Yeah, I know,)" Louise giggled. "Anyway, yeah, tanks run in my entire family. But I'm with tankery on a personal level, not because I feel some need to continue the family tradition or anything like that. I genuinely love the sport and really want to participate in it, continuing the family tradition is just a nice thing that comes along with it."
"That's a healthy thing," Kay nodded approvingly. "Doing it because you actually want to instead of thinking it's some sort of obligation is the most important thing."
"Yes," the young Tuckerman nodded.
The Saunders team commander smiled. "With your attitude, I think you'll go really far!"
"Y-you think so?"
"Yeah!" was the confident beam.
"H-heh, if I can find a way to even start, that is," Louise smiled sheepishly. "It hasn't been a short or easy search, but I had actually found a possible path in the States. I had to put my plans on hold though, because, well, my grandfather was already ailing and he didn't have much time left," she added sadly. "And now, with the situation with Ace now, that's another issue. Right now I want to focus on the situation at hand," she sighed, putting her hand on Ace again.
"I see," Kay nodded, beginning to think about the situation Louise and her family were currently in.
No matter whether it was legal or not, the girl and her family definitely loved the Sherman, and the love and dedication they had put into the tank proved that with utmost certainty, perhaps the most that had ever been put into a tank, above all the other tank restoration and preservation projects in the world. And if the French authorities had their way, then that love, passion and effort behind Ace would be all for naught, all of them being thrown away and adding on to the already-massive cost of losing the tank's fully-operational status. As a tanker herself, that was downright unacceptable.
And the girl; she had a beautiful dream, a dream that Kay realized that she herself may have taken a little bit for granted. It was relatively easy to get into sensha-do for her; all she had to do was join a school with a team and then sign up for that team. But Lou, poor Lou, joining a team would mean that she had to leave the country first. So much effort, so much money. But she had not given up, despite everything that had happened, and that was highly commendable.
The team commander's heart went out to the French-American girl; surely there was something she could do.
Yes. Yes, there definitely was.
"Hey," she turned back to whisper to her vice-commanders, "what do you say if we pick up a new tank and a freshman?"
Naomi raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, seriously?" Alisa whispered back.
"Yeah!" Kay nodded enthusiastically. "Think it's a bad idea?"
"No, of course not!" the pigtailed vice commander quickly clarified. "I'm just saying that it's not that easy."
"How so?"
"Well, for starters, we'll have to inform the school first."
"That's fine, we've got procedures that allow us to bring in foreigners," Kay reassured. "Lou'll be perfectly fine!"
"It's not just Lou, though," the pigtailed vice-commander replied. "In fact, Lou's the least problematic here. It's Ace."
The Saunders team commander raised an eyebrow. "Why? We're just buying a tank."
"Yeah, but not one that has been seized by a government," Alisa reminded. "We'll have to go through some negotiations with the authorities, not to mention all the paperwork and all. We definitely need the heads' help for this, and everything would take quite some time."
"I see," Kay nodded, thinking about how she should proceed from here. "Tricky indeed. Alright, tell you what, let's inform the GW first and get the heads to come up with something. Naomi, you'll handle that."
"Mh," was the nod as the Saunders sharpshooter pulled her phone out.
"And I'm going to be at the discussion table?" the other vice-commander asked.
"Yep!" the Saunders team commander smiled.
"Hope you haven't forgotten about us," Ami popped up cheerfully. "The JSF can handle the government side of things as well. We're the JSF, after all."
"Oh, yeah, you guys can make things easier for us!" Kay grinned.
"I'll have to make a few calls first myself," Miss Chono continued, whipping out her phone. "Remi, Hibiki, you two take care of things."
"Yes Ma'am," both replied in unison.
With that sorted out, Kat turned back to look at Louise, who had been watching the group converse within themselves in curiosity. "Hey, Lou! You said you had a plan to go for tankery in the US, right?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Well, want to try Japan instead?"
"J-Japan? W-well, t-they've got d-different qualifications," she stammered, completely missing the implication, "a-and I don't th-think my Japanese w-would make it t-there…"
"Bah, it's fine!" Kay grinned.
"B-but I'm n-not that good in academics, t-though…" the young Tuckerman continued on, still missing the somewhat-obvious hidden meaning, "I-I suppose i-it might-"
"We want to bring you into Saunders," Alisa downright stated before Lou could finish. "And your tank too, of course."
Silence.
"... R-Really?"
"Of course!" Kay laughed, Lou still staring at her, dumbfounded and unable to believe her ears. "Yes, we're planning on bringing you and Ace onboard! Nothing confirmed yet, but if it all goes well you'll be off in a week! You need to save your tank and you want to be a tanker, so now you've got a chance to settle both!"
"W-wait, hold on, are you pulling my leg?"
"Of course not!" Alisa grinned. "But like Kay said, nothing's set in stone yet."
"You two are a package deal to us!" Kay added on cheerfully. "We'll do the damndest we can to save your tank, and if we do succeed we're going to bring you along as well, and chances are you're going to be part of her crew too! Both of you being together is only right, after all."
"B-but my grades-"
"Are completely fine!" the Saunders team commander reassured. "Are you a chronic F-getter in class?"
"No."
"Then you're all safe!" the Saunders team commander grinned. "Even if you were we would be able to come up with something!"
"Wow," the young Tuckerman blinked, a wide smile beginning to form on her face. "I... I don't know what to-"
"(What are they saying?)" David asked, seeing how excited her niece was getting.
"(They're saying they want to take Ace in and bring me along as well!)" was the excited reply.
"(Wait, really?)"
"(Yeah! Nothing's confirmed yet but they're gonna try!)"
"(Well, well that's just perfect!)" Uncle David grinned as the uncle-niece pair hugged happily. "(We've got a lifeline! And you,)" he added, tapping the girl on her nose, "(seemed to have found the break you need!)"
"(Apparently so,)" Louise beamed. "(Wait…)" she figuratively stepped back a little and turned back to Kay, realizing something. "It can't be that simple, can it?"
"Oh, yes it can," Kay nodded. "I'm serious, it's not hard for us! At least that's what I think, that is, ʼcos not gonna lie, this would need a bit."
"What will?"
"Ace. She's technically government property now, isn't she?"
"... Oh. Right…"
"But don't you worry a single bit!" the Saunders team commander grinned, slapping the young Tuckerman hard on the back.
"(Oof!)"
"We're going to negotiate this as best as we can! And if anything, we've got Miss Chono here as the representative for the JSF!"
"Yep!" Ami gave a thumbs-up!"
"By hook or by crook, Ace is going to come to us unscathed!" Kay declared determinedly. "All we need is time, really."
"Well, I'll need time to settle my stuff and pack as well…" Lou added on.
"Then that's no prob at all!" the Saunders team commander grinned. "I suggest we get started right now! First off, who do we talk to?"
A while later, the group had already left the basement, the plan to bring Louise and Ace to Saunders already in action. As Naomi and Ami went off to make the necessary calls, and David off to talk to a few police officers, the rest of the group had begun talks with the French authorities via a suitable representative as the search for a professional translator started, the Tuckerman residence's dining table being selected as the negotiation area. As it turned out, the aforementioned representative had already been sent; one Bastien Arsene Rigal, a middle-man of a lanky build, dressed in a professional business suit and tie. The dark-haired man had been present the whole time the Japanese group was here; in fact, he was the one that Lou had been shouting at earlier.
And with that revelation, it was fortunate that both sides had agreed that the talks would not begin until after the translator arrived. Especially because another argument between Lou and the man had just sprung up.
"(No, my Gramps did NOT keep Ace running for decades just for some retarded bureaucratic fuck to turn her into a static art display!)" the young Tuckerman raged in English as Kay, Alisa, Remi and Hibiki could only try to hold her back.
"(Well, I feel that you are not aware of the costs involved to keep a tank running,)" Mr Rigal replied calmly and uncaringly.
"(Evidently not much, 'cos if some random middle-class family can keep one running perfectly fine why can't you?!)"
"(We don't know that.)"
"(Well with petrol I can prove it to you, but I guess you never will; you guys are just gonna damage her and call it a day!)"
"(Careful, miss; you come close to accusing us of attempting to fabricate evidence and circumstances to support our stance.)"
"(Oh, am I?!)"
"(Besides, this tank is an illegal possession by you and your entire family; how we treat it is entirely up to us and entirely none of your concern. Your grandfather is a criminal, and if he was still alive I would have him arrested.)"
That line ticked off something major in Lou, and the girl fell uncomfortably silent for a few moments. "(Mister,)" she began, her voice now quiet and dangerously low as she stared into the eyes of the man. (My grandfather was a World War Two veteran that actually fought and nearly died in combat, and he has the awards to back that statement up. He fought for the peace and freedom both you and I currently enjoy, a peace he was willing to put his life down to achieve, and he did not do it so that people like you could insult him and his accomplishments. Now that you are aware of this, would you like to retract your statement?)"
The restrained rage in Lou's eyes seemed to have managed to strike some intimation in Bastien. "(I apologize,)" he receded. "(That was out of line of me.)"
Seeing this, Louise eased back. "(Thank you.)"
"Hey, just leave the talking to us," Hibiki commented, managing to pull Lou back and away from the man. "It's not a good idea for you to lose your temper now, what happens at the negotiating table is where things are important."
"Yeah, and this kind of thing is something we do well," Remi added on. "In fact, we've got our own tricks up our sleeves!" she grinned.
"Yeah, just relax!" Kay agreed cheerfully. "We'll do our best, I promise."
"We're getting you and your tank over to us, by hook or by crook," Alisa smiled.
Hearing this, the young Tuckerman gave a small smile in return.
Just then, David stepped in.
"(So, I've talked to the cops, and there's good news,)" he said to his niece. "(Owing to how securely we have secured Ace all this time and the plan your new friends have come up with, the Gendarmerie has decided to be lenient and will not be going to be detaining us.)"
"(Oh, that's great!)" Lou grinned. "(Thank god for that!)"
"(Which means you still have to go to school,)" he continued.
"(... Oh.)"
"(Well, your teachers have been notified already. You've got some time, they're not rushing you, so go take a shower first. Clean and refresh yourself.)"
"(Wait, then what about you?)" the young Tuckerman asked incredulously.
"(I've taken a few days of leave.)"
Louise groaned. "(You could've told them I wouldn't be present…)"
"(No, you still need to go to school,)" Uncle David replied, "(you may have stuff to clear. Besides, I'm here as well, the negotiations will be fine, Not to mention, if this all works out you'll be going somewhere far, and I figured you might need as much time as possible saying goodbye to your friends. Especially those three.)"
Hearing this, Lou froze a bit, before silently and sadly nodding. "(Yeah, I do.)"
She turned to the Japanese party. "H-hey, I'll h-have to go clean up a-and go to school, s-so…"
"Oh, it's fine!" the Saunders commander smiled understandingly. "Go and do what you need to do, we've got it all under control."
"Count on us!" Miss Takashima grinned, giving a thumbs-up.
"T-thank you," Lou smiled shyly, excusing herself to go upstairs. And once she was there, the young Tuckerman spent most of her time in the bathroom, cleaning and clearing herself up, taking her time to simply relax and allowing the warm flowing water to ease her tired body and soothe her mind. After that was done, she went to her room and quickly packed the day's school stuff into her bag, which she had brought up sometime last night. This, unlike the long shower, didn't take long; she knew what to put in. It was fortunate that her teachers were kind enough to give little to no homework over the weekday nights; in this instance, she had none. Even if she did, though, she was sure that they would understand her plight and excuse her.
Finally, half an hour after she went up, Louise walked down the stairs, now freshened up enough for the day.
"Oh, is she off to school now?" Ami commented, her and Naomi having returned indoors.
"Y-yes I am," Lou smiled in return as she walked into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she grabbed a can of Red Bull and promptly opened it.
"(You need to stop drinking that stuff all the time,)" her uncle nagged as she took massive gulps of the energy drink. "(Sooner or later your kidneys will fail, and then you'll have a problem.)"
"(Nah, I always drink this in moderation,)" his niece replied reassuringly. "(Seriously though, this is the only thing keeping me from being knocked out cold.)"
"(Coffee in school, perhaps?)" David suggested as Lou went on to finish the entire can, throwing it into the rubbish bin once she was done.
"(Probably.)"
"(Well, just gonna warn you that there's quite a scene outside,)" he continued as the young Tuckerman headed towards the front door. "(Do you need help getting them away?)"
"(The media? Well, I think I can handle them I guess,)" Lou smiled. "(Well, see you later!)"
"(Yeah.)"
"I-I'll be off then. See y-you all later."
With the Japanese group waving goodbye, Lou opened the front door and stepped out.
The entire crowd of reporters and bystanders waiting outside immediately noticed her.
"(... Yeeeah, no, fuck that…)" was what the young Tuckerman muttered as she quickly backed into her house again, shutting the main door in front of her.