Hello, it's me again! Sorry it's taking so long and all, I'll try to speed up- oh who am I kidding, I've been saying this for more than a year...
Anyway, I want to give a huge shoutout to Darkhound for helping me big time on stuff! Also, I'll like to mention that we're on a "multiversal collaboration", fancy way of saying we're helping each other out, so don't be alarmed if some stuff around have their own counterparts and/or takes here. A huge thank you for her indeed! Check out her flagship fic, Hell on Tracks, as well as our collaboration GuP/KC crossover fic Yet Still We Sail, posted under her profile!
Now, let's start!
Four: Good Mornin', Starshine! The Ace Says "Hello"!
"Commander!" Nina and Alina called out to their team commander happily, standing in front of a particular Russian heavy tank. "The KV-2 is repaired!"
Sitting on the shoulders of Nonna, Katyusha beamed happily as she looked at her favorite tank. "Splendid! The Great Katyusha is pleased! Katyusha shall now call the girls that helped repair the KV-2 miracle workers!"
Upon hearing this, elated cheers came from girls around the garage.
"Katyusha is sorry that the KV-2 crew that you girls were not able to take part in the match," the short commander apologized to the crew of the Russian heavy. "Katyusha trusts that this unfortunate mistake will not be repeated again?"
"It won't happen again! I promise!" the driver nodded eagerly; she was the one that had accidentally driven the KV-2 into a ditch during the initial drive to the camp after the arrival in France, in which it had promptly gotten stuck. Further attempts at trying to free the tank resulted in an error that quickly led to a transmission failure, thus omitting it from the exhibition match.
"Good! Katyusha will take your word for it! You girls are dismissed! Nonna, let's go! I want to get a drink, I'm thirsty!"
"Yes, Katyusha-sama," the dark-haired girl replied as she turned around and began to walk away, headed for the mess hall.
"[Katyusha]!" a certain fair-haired girl greeted them from ahead just a few moments later.
"Ah, Klara!" Katyusha greeted back. "Follow us, will you?"
"[Affirmative.]"
"Speak Japanese! Drop the act, I know you do speak Japanese now!"
"[What?]"
"Never mind…"
"Well, if it's all fine to you, I would like to continue speaking Russian," Klara smiled sweetly as the trio continued to walk on. "At least for a few things. Russian is my first language, after all."
"Huh? Oh, well," the Pravda commander scratched her cheek, "that's a request that I cannot reasonably deny. Do what you see fit!"
"Thank you, Katyusha-sama."
"[Katyusha does look sweet when she reacts to not being able to understand a thing of what we say, doesn't she?]" Nonna smiled sweetly.
"[Indeed,]" was the amused Russian reply.
"On second thought, you both are not allowed to speak Russian!" Katyusha shouted in exasperation. "Not even once, not just for today! Great followers can't speak in a language their leader can't understand! Is that clear?!"
"[What?]" was the simultaneous reply from both the Russian-speaking girls.
"... Never mind…"
"[Katyusha's cute when she's angry, isn't she?]"
"[Indeed! Truth be told, I'm a bit jealous you seem to spend more time with her than me.]"
"NO MORE RUSSIAAAAAAAN!"
Another day had started and ended, and with the sun retreated, the dark night sky had taken its place. Of course, it goes without saying that this day had lasted just as long as any other would.
For one certain Louise Tuckerman, however, the day had been too short. Far, far too short.
Much of the morning was spent settling a ton of paperwork at school with her uncle, while dealing with the massive amount of attention that now came with her at the same time. Surprisingly, Kay herself had turned up, saying that she would like to help out in case her presence was needed. That wasn't the only reason she paid a visit, however; the blonde team commander had also came to tell Lou what she should bring to Saunders and reassured the niece-and-uncle pair that they would bring petrol for Ace, so they wouldn't have to worry about it. On top of that, she invited Lou to come over to the old camp the next day at the same time, if she liked of course. To give herself an early orientation and meet the people she would be spending a lot of time with, she said. The idea was a good one to the young Tuckerman, and after asking her uncle about it, happily agreed, and that decision was set.
Meanwhile, things regarding her pulling out of her lycee had fortunately progressed relatively smoothly, and soon enough, everything was settled. The afternoon would've been spent by Louise with her friends, but school was still school, so with them being bogged down, she decided to return home to finish packing her items. Not much could be talked about that, of course; it was simply packing. But once that was done, she immediately headed over to the kitchen, where her uncle was waiting, and that was where she put in all her effort in making one hell of a dinner for her friends. And when they came, what a splendid dinner that was indeed!
As night fell, her friends had to go, and so they did, to the reluctance of all four girls. There just wasn't as much time they wanted till Lou had to go off, an unfortunate downside of the circumstances. But they promised that they would try to meet her again before she left for Japan; besides, they could contact the young Tuckerman any time they wanted.
And so, with everything else settled, Louise went down to the basement, intending to prepare the Easy-Eight for the big day tomorrow. She looked at Ace from the sides, wondering where she should start.
"(You'll finally be outside for the first time in decades, huh…)" she muttered softly in English.
"(Thought you'd be down there,)" another voice called out. "(Checking her?)"
The young Tuckerman turned to face her uncle. "(Oh, you're back. Yep! She hasn't run for a while now, so I thought I'd give her a little inspection.)"
"(Just can't relax, can you?)" the man grinned.
"(You can say that, heh…)" Lou scratched her cheek sheepishly. How could she?
"(Well, you should go to bed early, I'll look through things myself,)" her uncle suggested. "(I'll wake you up, if you're worried about not making it in time.)"
"(Aww, I wanna pull an all-nighter…)" the young Tuckerman groaned.
"(No, you should be resting,)" David insisted. "(You need to stop taking so much Red Bull too, it's a really bad habit.)"
"(It makes me more energetic…)"
"(And kills your kidneys if you keep drinking it like water. Tell you what, if you go to bed now I'll leave the morning inspections to you. I'll give things a quick look meanwhile.)"
Louise looked at her uncle with both eagerness and surprise. "(Really?)"
"(Hey, are you forgetting I work on Ace too?)" he chuckled.
"(I haven't seen you work on her for a good while!)" was the cheeky reply. "(You sure you're not rusty?)"
"(Oh, you little shit,)" David grinned. "(Seriously though, go get your rest and I'll just look at stuff for a while. Deal?)"
"(Deal,)" the young girl grinned as well.
"(As long as you actually go to bed early. No staying up doing things.)"
"(Aw…)"
"(Yeah, nice try. Oh, and one more thing, here's something for you,)" David continued as he took out an envelope.
Opening it up and looking at the contents, Louise recognized it immediately, her eyes widening in surprise. "(Wait, this is…)"
"(Your grandpa's favorite record disc, yep. The one you loved listening to as a kid. Found it yesterday actually.)"
"(I haven't seen or heard that in ages!)" the girl commented excitedly. "(Hold on, are you really giving this to me?)"
"(Yep, why not? You'll have more use for it than me, I don't think I'll be listening to it much. What was your favorite track again, 'The Army Goes Rolling Along' or something?)"
"(That's the current US variation,") Louise corrected, taking the envelope. ("Down here it's 'The Caissons Go Rolling Along', same tune more or less but with different lyrics. Always preferred Caissons over the newer one, especially this version,") she went on, running her hand over the envelope.
"(Well, you gotta find a record player for that either way, couldn't find your grandpa's anywhere. Probably broken, that's why he stopped playing discs like this in the first place.)"
"(Ah, bummer. EIther way, thanks Uncle! Let me worry about getting a player after I get there. For now, I'll pack it in and get some rest, but I don't think I'll sleep while thinking about tomorrow,)" she grinned. "(I'm excited as hell!)"
David smiled and rubbed her niece's hair. "(You should be. It's your big break after all.)"
"(Yeah! And I already can't wait!)" was the ecstatic reply from the girl.
Before the morning sun had even risen over the horizon, Louise had already gotten up, excitedly ready for the big day ahead. Heading down to the basement, the young Tuckerman immediately started her final checks on the family's Easy-Eight while still in her pyjamas, making sure everything looked just as it was supposed to. Well, at least as much as she could; without petrol she obviously couldn't start the tank, so whether Ace could actually run was a different question, though she should. Though, she could test out the electronics; while the Ford GAA itself had not been running for some time, the auxiliary power generator was used and maintained frequently simply to keep the tank's batteries charged up. The current batteries, ones of official tankery/sensha-do specifications like most of its countless predecessors, were relatively new as well; the latest of a decades-worth routine of replacing them every few years was done just fairly recently. Therefore, Louise was not worried about the batteries being depleted or having expired past their shelf lives.
And the checking of Ace's electronics would've started if not for her uncle, who had come down to see where his niece had gone right after she woke up. After being forced to go back upstairs to clean up, have breakfast and prepare herself, the girl returned to the basement a good several minutes later in her T-shirt and jeans, and from then on the pair worked together to complete the checks. Shortly afterwards, the doorbell rang, and when the girl went upstairs to get it, the Saunders trio, dressed in their school uniform, happily greeted her, Naomi carrying a jerry can full of petrol in her hands. Gratefully accepting the can, the gas it carried was promptly emptied into Ace's fuel tanks. That wasn't the only jerry can the Saunders girls brought, of course, and soon enough four more were emptied and placed back in the Willys MB parked outside. Once that was done, the driver of the Jeep was instructed to drive back to the camp first, leaving the Saunders Trio behind at the Tuckerman residence. Though, that was not before getting Lou to load her luggage onto the Jeep first; it was going to save some time this way.
As the morning sun rose and shone down on the French town, an increasingly-larger crowd began to grow. First it was the reporters, having gotten wind that something truly big about the local tank in the basement was about to happen. Then came along the general public, standing around to see something interesting happen.
"Woah, there's really a lot of people here," Kay commented as she scanned the crowd. "It's larger than the one on Tuesday!"
"They are even broadcasting it live," Naomi observed, pointing at the reporters in the distance, talking to the rolling cameras in front of them..
"I would be surprised if there wasn't," Alisa replied. "It's not everyday that someone finds a tank hidden in a basement."
Turning to look at the team commander, the pigtailed vice-commander raised an eyebrow as she watched Kay unbutton her inner shirt. "... What are you doing?"
"Getting publicity!" Kay grinned as she opened it up, revealing her Star-Spangled bikini.
Alisa facepalmed. "Why… how is this 'publicity'..."
Kay, grinning like an idiot, ignored the brunette as she waved happily at a few French boys.
Naturally, they all looked away in embarrassment.
"Hello, are you the girls from Saunders University High School?" a voice spoke in Japanese.
Turning to their left, the trio noticed that a Japanese-speaking French reporter had just walked up to them, a cameraman filming her as he trailed her from behind.
Realizing what was happening, Alisa wasted no time to quickly rush to button up Kay's shirt, shielding her chest from the camera with her own body. "Nonono, not like this!" she hissed as Kay protested. "We don't need Tal-"
"Yes we are," Naomi interrupted the pigtailed vice-commander as she answered the reporter's question. "I'm a vice-commander, she's a vice-commander and this is our team commander," she pointed at the other two girls respectively.
"Hello," Alisa greeted politely.
"Heya!" Kay waved, her shirt now buttoned back up. "If you guys follow sensha-do you might know us! I'm Kay, team commander of Saunders!" she grinned. "That's Alisa and Naomi over there!"
As the resulting interview went on, things continued to progress around the trio. After what felt like forever, the authorities had finally arrived; in this case, four police motorcycles to escort the tank on the streets were deployed, as well as a few armour experts and technicians of the French military to help assist the Tuckerman family and Saunders girls in any possible way if needed.
Not like they were of any actual help, of course. For one, both the two Tuckermen and the Saunders trio were intimately familiar with the M4, and for the former two that was especially true with that particular Easy-Eight they were currently working on. Having these experts and technicians around was thus rather pointless.
Though, what was appreciated was their interest in Ace herself, and as Lou finished her final checks and climbed out of the commander's hatch, she noticed them asking Uncle David about various things regarding the M4. The brunette smiled, happy with the increasing interest and popularity her grandfather's tank was getting after her discovery.
As Louise climbed down the turret and onto the hull, one of the military men walked up beside Ace and her. "(Hello there! So, this is your grandfather's tank.)"
"(Yep,)" Lou replied, mildly surprised by the use of English.
"(She's a beauty,)" the man complimented as the girl opened the driver's hatch.
"(She is!)" the girl grinned as she slid down the hatch, stopping with just her head outside the tank. "(Thanks!") she looked at the guy happily before she ducked in and looked around, making sure everything was in order.
"(So, how old is she?)" the man continued to ask, climbing up and sitting in front of the open hatch. "(Around seventy, I take it?)"
"(Sixty-nine to be precise,)" the brunette replied.
"(Nice! How did you guys get the tank in here?)"
"(Well, that's my grandfather with some friends all those decades back,)" she explained as she twisted the master power switch on before looking up at the man, the red high water temperature and low oil pressure warning light on the dashboard immediately coming on. "(Ace had been abandoned at that battle site for a while already, but fortunately she was still in a good-enough condition to be . So, he got fuel, oil and some new batteries, jury-rigged the electronics enough for her to start and then drove her back. All of that was done in the middle of a single night, by the way, took some prior planning of course.)"
"(I see,)" the man nodded as he watched the girl put her hands on the side of the opening, pulling herself out of the driver's compartment.
His curiosity is piqued "(What are you doing, getting up again?)"
"(Opening the fuel valves and engine compartment door,)" was the reply as the girl climbed up to the turret.
"(Ah,)" the man ah'd as Lou disappeared into the turret. "(Why the compartment door?)"
"(To keep the engine from overheating,)" was the reply from inside the tank.
"(I see. This is quite some work, isn't it?)"
"(Well, it's not a big deal,)" the brunette continued as she climbed out of the commander's hatch. "(Plus, usually the entire crew is around.)"
"(That's fair.)"
The hatch squeaked as she shut it, the young Tuckerman evidently having forgotten to oil its hinge prior. Though, that would have to be further delayed; there wasn't really any time for her to do that at the moment.
"(Uncle!)" Louise called out. "(I'm gonna start her!)"
"(I'm opening the doors!)" was the reply she got.
"(It's time, huh…)" the military expert commented as the girl climbed back down from the turret.
"(Yep,)" Lou nodded, slipping into the driver's compartment.
"(She'll start, right?)"
The brunette looked up at the man and raised an eyebrow. "(What do you mean?)"
"(Well, your uncle said you guys haven't run her in a while yet,)" the man elaborated. "(So, you sure everything's alright?)"
"(Ah…)" Lou nodded in understanding as she cracked her knuckles. Stepping down on the gas pedal, she pulled the hand throttle to the 1/4 position, locking it in place with a click of the center button, releasing her foot once that was done. Turning to the dashboard, she turned the ignition switch to the "both" position before looking back ahead, grabbing the priming pump and giving it three pumps.
Turning back on the dashboard, she twisted the starter switch on.
The Ford GAA immediately began to crank, white smoke coughing out of the exhaust deflectors as the V8 sputtered on for several seconds, the starter motor's whirring barely audible over the firing of the spark plugs. Suddenly, a flame shot out from the exhaust with a bang and the engine came to life, puffing out a significant amount of smoke as it grumbled in idle.
Shutting the starter motor off, Lou looked up at the military expert, a grin plastered on her face. "(You were saying?!)"
Over the course of the next few minutes, the girl observed the tank as she allowed the tank to warm up, adjusting and eventually shutting off the hand throttle once the tank had warmed up. Getting out, she joined her uncle in checking over the Easy-Eight one last time, the tank still continuing to puff out smoke like there was no tomorrow, though it had significantly cleared up from the initial amount. This was, of course, abnormal but unsurprising, considering the condition of the tank. Even with the garage door open the area was still filled with smoke and that was what drove everyone else out and into the open. Even the uncle and niece pair had to come out for a few moments of fresh air before returning to continue their checks.
A short while later, the long-awaited moment finally arrived; the M4 was ready to leave. Back in the driver's seat, the brunette adjusted the seat, the hinges squeaking as she found her perfect spot. With her head partially sticking out of the hatch, she was able to get a clear field of vision around her; definitely handy in the situation.
Honking the Easy-Eight's horn, the girl waved at a police officer just outside the garage, signalling her readiness to move off. Giving an acknowledgement in response, the officer moved to the center of the tank's path, waving at her to move ahead.
This was going to be the very first time Louise was going to drive Ace in any significant capacity, and she was both excited and nervous.
Cracking her knuckles, the young Tuckerman put her hands on the steering levers. Holding them down, she pressed the lower pedal of the parking brake quadrant down while pushing it forward, releasing it. Now with the levers freed, Lou gently allowed them to retract forward to their default positions, fully releasing the brakes on both sides. Louise stepped down on the clutch pedal and moved the tank into 2nd gear, and, while controlling the clutch simultaneously, stepped on the accelerator slowly and carefully.
With loud squeaks, Ace began to slowly move forward, the Ford GAA rumbling as the Easy-Eight began to step outside the Tuckerman garage for the very first time in decades. Crossing the garage entrance, Lou paid her full attention to the M4 and her surroundings as the tank cautiously rolled onto the first incline of the gravel driveway, the suspension squeaking along with the change of gradient. They squeaked again when Ace slowly got onto the small flat square area that was part of the left right-angle turn to the second slope leading to the main road. Pulling down on the left steering yoke fully, Louise locked the left track up and allowed Ace to execute that turn without a hitch, and the M4 was soon pointed straight at the second slope. As the Easy-Eight rumbled slowly forward towards the main road, cameras snapped, lights flashed and recordings rolled on as the tank stepped out of the shadows of the nearby trees, finally being bathed in sunlight after so long.
If her grandfather was still around to see this, Lou knew that he would be immensely proud.
Arriving at the main road and watching and heeding the directions of the traffic police officer ahead of her, the young Tuckerman took another left turn as the tank continued to squeak, leaving the gravel path behind and onto the black asphalt surface. Driving on for a very short distance, Lou lifted her right foot off the gas pedal, stepped down on the clutch and gently pulled on the steering yokes, bringing Ace to a gentle, albeit squeaky stop at the side of the road, right in front of the Tuckerman residence, where the Saunders trio were waiting.
Pulling the yokes down fully and locking in the parking brake quadrant, Lou released her grasp on the yokes and shifted the transmission into neutral. It was then Lou finally noticed just how much attention there was around, all of it directed on both her and Ace. Her shyness finally kicking in, the brunette instinctively ducked down into the hull of the tank and out of sight from the outside world, where nobody else would be able to see her.
"Hey, we'll take it from here!" the voice of Kay called down from outside the hatch as the blondie looked down at Lou. "You can come out now!"
"O-Okay…" was the stammer of a reply as Lou slowly creeped out of Ace's driving compartment with the help of the Saunders team commander, trying her best to avoid the attention that was being paid to her. Hopping off the hull, she noticed Alisa and Naomi conducting a few basic inspections around the tank, Alisa in particular covering her mouth and nose as she walked into the smoky exhaust of the tank.
She walked towards her waiting uncle on the grass. "(Well, that was nice!)" she grinned.
"(It is,)" David smiled as he ruffled his niece's hair. "(That was a great first time!)"
"(Ehehe…)"
"(Hello there!)" a reporter with a British accent greeted as he walked up to the uncle-niece pair. "(May I ask you a few questions?)"
"{Good morning!}" another reporter stepped up to Lou and David as well. "{Do you have a few minutes?}"
Within a few seconds, reporters have surrounded the two of them, all of them trying to get their questions answered.
While this was going on, Alisa continued on with her side of the preliminary inspection, running through the condition of various parts of the tank before they would drive her back to the base. Passing by the front, the pigtailed vice-commander couldn't help but glance up at the various wartime damage on the M4, shivering as she looked at the single penetrating hole on the front armour plate.
Shaking her head and shrugging it off, she went on with her checks.
"I'm done here!" Naomi called out from the other side. "No problems!"
"All clear too!" Alisa shouted at Kay, who was at the commander's hatch. "We're good to go! Engine's going to hold!"
"(Okay!)" the blonde team commander gave a huge thumbs-up before climbing out and down the Easy-Eight. "You two get in first. Which one of you is driving again?"
"Me," the pigtailed vice-commander replied.
"Gotcha! Do your best!" Kay grinned as she patted Alisa rather heavily on the back.
"Oof!"
With the two vice-commanders climbing into the M4, the blondie turned her attention to the French-American brunette. "Hey Lou!" she called out as she walked towards the girl, waving as the reporters just walked away, getting the information they needed. "Our checks are done! We're good to go!"
"Got it! (Well, this is it, huh…)" the young Tuckerman smiled as she turned back to her uncle. "(I'll keep in touch with you on Facebook!)"
"(I'll be waiting,)" David replied as the uncle-niece pair hugged. "(Now get going. They're waiting for you.)"
Nodding, Louise looked at her uncle one last time before turning back to Kay. "Let's go."
The Saunders team commander nodded.
Just a short while later, Louise, standing out of the loader's hatch, waved her uncle goodbye as Alisa shifted the M4 into gear. And with police escort, Ace rumbled off, white smoke pumping out of her exhaust as the cameras continued rolling.
With the schedule the Japanese girls were on, the base they were stationed on was busy. While most of the preparations for the trip home were ready, there was still a bit more work to be done; that included the few tanks that were still not yet repaired enough to be able to be driven. Though, of course, the repairs on them were about to be concluded by now.
Having been busy the entire day, two Saunders girls decided to take a short break from the repairs of their M4A1(76)W, leaving the allocated garage they had and heading towards and out of the main gates for a breath of fresh air.
"Ahh, we're finally almost done…" the yellow-blondie of the pair sighed before downing the remaining half a cold bottle of water in a go. "Any problems on your end, Yuko?"
Mirashiro Yuko, visibly tired from the work, finished gulping down her own cold bottle of water and sighed. Unlike the long hair of her close friend, her beautiful short orange hair was hidden beneath her M1938 tanker's helmet. "Nope, all clear…" she muttered before looking up at the other girl.
She stared at her incredulously. "Rin. How the hell are you not tired?"
"What do you mean?" Sazama Rin raised an eyebrow. "I'm exhausted!"
"That's not how you look to me!"
"Yeah, well, I'm just better at hiding it!"
"Yeah, right, whatever you say, Gunner-chan..."
"Hey, you shouldn't judge the moods of people just by looking at them, Helmet-chan!" the blonde girl retorted, swinging her empty plastic bottle at her friend's helmet.
Thunk!
"Ugh…" Helmet-chan groaned as she rubbed her helmet. "I know I'm the most popular one of the few that actually wear the damn helmet, but that nickname…"
"Is cute!" Gunner-chan chuckled. "It suits you perfectly!"
Yuko only groaned even more. "No, I'm being stereotyped…" she protested to no avail. "It's always 'Helmet-chan' this, 'Helmet-chan' that, 'Helmet-chan' 'Helmet-chan' 'Helmet-chan' 'Helmet-chan' 'Helmet-chan'! Ugh! Don't they have any other nicknames for me?!"
"You still have 'Hannah'!" Rin cheerfully reminded her friend.
"Yeah, nobody ever calls me that!" the orangehead retorted. "The only one that actually uses that is Tal-"
"Wait," the blondie looked up in alert as she suddenly interrupted Yuko's minor rant. "... Do you hear something?"
"Huh?"
Looking up, Helmet-chan listened closely to her surroundings. They weren't that far away from the garages, but whatever that engine was that they were hearing, it definitely wasn't coming from there.
"Hey, think it's that new tank from the town?" Rin asked as she looked down the road.
"Could be," Yuko nodded as she paid attention as well.
Nothing showed up, but the sounds only got louder.
The orangehead raised an eyebrow. "What…"
"It's definitely getting closer," the blonde girl commented, looking around the surrounding area as the sounds only got closer. "They're not taking the road? Why aren't they taking the- Right there!"
As if right on cue, just a short distance away from them, Ace plowed right through the bushes on the other side of the road at speeds exceeding 30 kilometers an hour, startling the two Saunders girls as she practically leapt down the roadside slope and impacted rather harshly against the asphalt, the pained squeaks of the suspension bogeys clearly audible. The tracks screeched as the Easy-Eight lurched right, facing down the road and towards the camp, and the mighty Ford GAA roared as the M4 came barreling down.
"Oh, shit!" Helmet-chan yelped as both her and Gunner-chan immediately leapt back and away from the surroundings of the tank's immediate path. Standing out of the open commander's hatch is none other than a wildly-cheering Kay herself, and beside her at the loader's hatch, a little obscured by the M2 Browning, was a very pale-looking Alisa. The pigtailed brunette only had half her head sticking out, her eyes wide with fear, while her hands grabbed onto the cupola as tightly as she could.
With another screech, the tank banked left, visibly rolling to the right as it turned into the camp, barely avoiding hitting the gates at speeds still far exceeding the in-camp limits imposed.
In the driver's compartment, Louise grinned like an idiot, turning the tank right and down the main garage road before putting the pedal to the metal.
"Woohoohoooooo!" Kay's voice came through the intercom, waving energetically at the many girls that emerged to see what the commotion was all about. "You go, girl!"
"Hahah, I can't believe this is actually happening!" Lou laughed as she looked at the various tanks around, especially at the ones on her right. "Woah, all those M4s!"
"Watch the road!" Naomi's tense voice came through. "I don't want us to run something over! Or worse, someone! God, your driving's almost just as bad as Tal-"
"Look out!" Alisa yelled as a cat ran in front of the Easy-Eight, barely getting out of the way to avoid the tank.
"Oh, that was close!" the Saunders team commander commented as she turned back momentarily to look at the critter. "Anyway, Lou! Turn right and park us at the corner of our garage!"
"You got it!"
Lifting off the gas and pulling hard on the right steering yokes, Lou sent Ace screeching towards the right, fighting the lateral Gs and the tank's rolling as she looked out of the decent but nonetheless limited field of vision provided by the Periscope M6 in the mount of the driver's hatch. Adjusting her steering, she pointed the M4 to the side of the garage, allowing her to roll on a bit before applying the brakes as firmly as she needed to. The T66 tracks screeching in response, the Easy-Eight quickly came to a stop, the suspension bogeys squeaking rather loudly as she rocked back into stationary balance, the little cloud of dust she had made from her prior movement drifting and dispersing ahead of her.
Kay pumped her fist in the air. "Yeah! Nice driving, Lou!"
"'N-Nice'..." Alisa panted rather heavily in relief, slumping down into the turret.
"Louise Tuckerman…" it was Naomi's turn to say something. "You are never. Ever. Going to drive again."
"What?" was the response of disbelief from Lou. "B-but I think I did fairly well..."
"Yeah, it's decent!" Kay agreed. "Where'd you learn how to drive like that?"
"W-well, it's my first time driving Ace of course, but I'm into cars, driving and racing, and I've got simulator experience at least…" Tuckerman replied timidly.
"Huh," Kay huh'd, nodding in understanding. "Yeah, your driving does feel more refined than Tal- Oh, hey girls! We're getting quite the attention!"
Outside the tank, a crowd, mostly made out of Saunders girls, had already formed up, surrounding the M4 as the girls talked and commented curiously and excitedly.
"Well, she rolled over the very first tank she drove," Naomi deadpanned, having turned around to stare at the blondie as the Saunders team commander interacted with the girls outside. "That doesn't really set the bar high, you know."
"U-uh…" the French-American brunette intoned softly. "Who's this 'Tal-'"
"Alright girls, let's get out!" the blondie's cheerful voice unintentionally interrupted. "The other girls can take care of Ace!"
"G-got it…" Lou muttered quietly as she took her headset off. Knowing that there was a crowd right outside, she slowly opened the driver's hatch, hesitating as she remained inside Ace, out of sight.
Slowly, she peeked out at the waiting crowd.
"Hey, who's that?"
Seeing and hearing one of the girls outside noticing her, she quickly ducked back in.
A few seconds passed.
"Need help?" Alisa offered a hand from above.
The French-American brunette jumped a little, startled at the unexpected appearance of the pigtailed voce-commander. "U-uh… s-sure, thanks…"
Gently grabbing the other brunette's hand, Lou hesitated for a further moment before finally climbing out of the hull.
Almost immediately, the crowd's attention was directed at the new arrival, and Louise tried to hide behind Alisa to no avail.
"Is that the new girl?" someone asked.
"Yep!" Kay beamed. "Her name's Louise! She's shy though, so be nice to her!"
"Okay~!" the girls cheerfully replied in unison.
"Hello!" someone called out to Lou.
"Hey there!" another waved. "Welcome to Saunders!"
"Hi!"
"Hey!"
"U-uh…" the brunette stammered, looking away shyly.
"Hey, don't you girls have stuff to do?" Alisa interjected, seeing how overwhelmed Lou was getting. "Looking can wait. Get back to work!"
"T-Thanks…" Lou thanked the older girl.
"No problem. Wait, not you girls!" the vice-commander called out, pointing at three girls as the crowd dispersed, the four girls hopping down from the M4. "You three are part of the repair team, right?"
"Yeah?" one of them nodded.
"Perfect! Take this tank and give her an inspection," the pigtailed girl ordered. "We just need to make sure she won't break down halfway through the move tomorrow."
"Got it!"
"Oh, and she's not using an engine we've got experience in!" Alisa added on as the three girls climbed on. "If you find a problem that you're not sure how to fix, tell us!"
The girls gave a confident thumbs up in response as they disappeared into the Easy-Eight.
"So, what do you girls think about so far?" Kay asked as the four girls gathered.
"Lou's never driving again," was the immediate response from Alisa.
"Seconded," Naomi immediately agreed.
"I-it's not that bad!" Lou protested indignantly. "I was in control the whole time..."
"Yeah, don't be mean, you two!" Kay playfully admonished. "I mean, you guys complain a bit too much about Tal-"
Vrooooom!
The Ford GAA roared, interrupting the conversation as it was tested by the driver.
"God, she's gonna choke the whole garage!" Alisa coughed as the Saunders Trio and Lou stepped away from the resulting smoke from the exhaust, blown into their direction by the wind. Strangely enough, it seemed like the impromptu all-out run seemed to have cleared the smoke up a little bit.
A second later, the tank squeaked as it began to back up.
"Hey! Kay!" a voice called out a distance away. Looking in that direction, Lou recognized the girl that was approaching as the Jeep driver from earlier, and what she definitely recognized was her luggage being rolled over by her.
"(Hey, Chika!)" Kay waved happily as Ace stopped reversing and drove off, headed towards her garage spot, wherever that is. "Thanks for helping us out!"
"Not a problem! And here you go!" the Jeep driver smiled as she passed the luggage over to the young Tuckerman.
"T-thanks," the ponytailed French-American brunette smiled back shyly.
"You're welcome! Now, I'll get going, catch y'all later!"
"See ya!" Kay waved back as the girl left. "Well, I guess we've got to find a room for Lou now. Oh, wait, don't we have an empty bunk in ours?"
"We do," Naomi nodded.
"It's settled then! Come along!" the blondie grinned, waving the young Tuckerman along. "We'll put your stuff down and I'll bring you around!"
"O-okay!" the brunette smiled.
"You two can go back to your own stuff!" the Saunders team commander told her two vice-commanders as she began to walk away. "I don't have anything else!"
"Got it!" Alisa nodded as Naomi gave a thumbs-up.
And with that, Kay and Louise set off for the dorm room, the two vice-commander watching them from behind before turning back to their own tasks.