I do not own anything relating to RWBY and Battlefield 1. RWBY is belonged to Rooster Teeth and Battlefield 1 is belonged to DICE and EA. All names mentioned in this fanfic belong to their respective owners.
The ideas in this fanfic belongs to me.
All criticisms are welcomed, especially the ones that are constructive.
"I lost my way back there.", McManus said with a small grin.
"HE CAME BACK!", a combination of shrieks courtesy of Ruby and Nora was enough to pierce the eardrums of anyone nearby had they not had aura.
"Ow...", Jaune and many others groaned as they massaged their ears, though none of them was as bad as Blake. Poor kitty was temporarily deaf and gaping like a fish while making weird noises.
"If only the Grimms could be killed by simply shrieking...", Ozpin chuckled in amusement at his students' antics.
"Just like that time when I screwed around with a flashbang.", Eli sighed at the not-so-glorious memory. "Didn't hear a thing for a few days."
Ironwood couldn't help but got intrigued at the mention of such device. "What's a flashbang, Eli?"
"It's a less-lethal explosive device used to temporarily disorient an enemy's senses.", Eli replied, seeing no harm in sharing some knowledge of otherworldly weaponry. "Basically Ruby's shriek combined with a blinding flash of light."
He really interested in the prospect of such a weapon. The Atlesian general made mental note to order the R&D Department once he got back.
"A non-lethal weapon would definitely make it easier to subdue criminals.", Specialist Winter mused to herself.
"Here's hoping Ice Queen ain't gonna throw a bunch of those flashbangs at my face.", Qrow jokingly said while chugging a mouthful of booze, ignoring the intense glares from the Schnee sisters.
McManus then pulled Edwards up on his feet and held his rifle at low ready.
Taking a few breaths, Edwards managed to calm down after the whole ordeal. "There's no right way in a place like this."
"We'll find one.", McManus looked at the driver directly in the eyes. "You're the driver."
"Damn right.", Yang proudly proclaimed and stuffed some lien cards into the infamous swear jar without her little sister's prompt.
"One should not hit a man when he is down.", Ozpin smiled and sipped his coffee. "It seems that Mr. McManus regretted his decision and thus chose to return to his team."
"That doesn't mean he can get away of being a coward for abandoning the mission earlier.", Blake frowned and crossed her arms. Behind her, Eli just merely rolled his eyes.
Edwards then proceeded to climb back into the tank with McManus covering his rear. Once inside, the young driver immediately set to work on replacing the faulty sparkplugs with new ones.
"Ah. Nice work, boys.", Townsend complimented his men while holding a flask in his hand.
"Yeah, we did good, didn't we?", Edwards responded and pointedly looked at the cranky gunner. That little sentence brought a small smile to the man.
"Aye."
"Last time I checked, that guy ran away, not helping Edwards in any ways.", Winter scowled. "How come he just casually took credits like that with no shame at all?"
Off to the side, Ren provided his input. "To his defense, he did save Edwards' life."
"Right sir, that's the last of them.", Edwards commented after giving the engine one last look before he walked towards the crankshaft, preparing to bring the Mark V's engine back to life. "Let's get her moving."
The young driver then lifted and turned the large piece of metal with all his might. For a brief second, the engine made a small noise as it tried to start... before it died, again.
The audience expected the tank to roared back to life once again, so it came with no surprise that they got disappointed at the sight of still broken down tank.
"Aw come on!", Sun yelled in frustration.
"All that trouble for nothing, then.", Neptune sighed and shook his head.
However, they all weren't prepared for what was about to come next...
"I've done everything right.", Edwards still had his eyes closed as he said venomously. "Everything!"
He tried to turn the crankshaft again, but this time the engine didn't even bother to make a noise aside from the noise produced by the crankshaft itself. "My whole sodding life!"
Letting the big piece of metal go, Edwards stood up straight. Saying he was pissed would be putting it lightly. The young man was livid.
"What...is he doing...?", Pyrrha timidly asked.
"He's angry.", Penny exclaimed before musing to herself. "But why would he do that?"
"I think we're about to find out.", Qrow replied to the robot-in-disguise girl. Though he had a feeling that he might knew what caused the driver to snap.
"All I've done is live my life by the manual. By the manual!", Edwards continued to rant as he punched one of the engine's metal pipes.
The rest of his crew just kept silence. Even Townsend didn't even bother to calm his driver down. He totally understood what Edwards was going though.
"What's wrong with you?!", Edwards shouted and walked to the side of Bess' engine. "You stupid, you stupid bloody machine!", he growled and began to kick the faulty engine. McManus frowned and looked like he was about to say something, but ultimately decided to keep his mouth shut.
Everyone flinched at the young man's outburst. Normally, it would be the ones who had been to the battlefield for a long time to exhibit such reaction, not the newbies like Edwards.
"To think that the guy would possess such a strong reaction...", Neo tapped into her scroll.
"I can understand his emotions.", Torchwick shrugged. "I mean, anyone would be like that after risking their lives to achieve something but then that something won't do jack shit."
Ozpin, Glynda and Summer didn't say anything, but their eyes spoke of sympathy for the young man's desperate attempts.
Winter scowled and folded her arms at the scene. "I fail to see why vandalizing military hardware can help his problem. If I were the commander, I would bring him to the court martial myself."
"You are all talk, Ice Queen.", Qrow sneered. "How about you put yourself in his shoes first before standing on that moral high ground of yours and preaching as if you are some sort of deity?"
"Why you dirty...", the Specialist was about to counter but Ironwood intervened.
"As much as I hate to say this Specialist Winter, but Branwen is right. For a new guy like him, Edwards has had a very rough day so this kind of behavior is to be expected.", the general explained.
"Hey that's my idea!", Torchwick shouted but was ignored by pretty much everyone.
After kicking the engine for a few time, Edwards went back to the crankshaft.
"Now, come on. Come on, Bess. Pull yourself together and work with me here.", he turned the crankshaft only to receive no respond, with his commander grimaced at the sight.
"Ah fuck's sake! I thought you liked a bloody well fight!", he shouted as he again punched a metal pipe with more force than before.
Trying for one last time, the young driver grabbed the crankshaft and lifted it up...
"Come on!"
"Come on Big Bess, please work.", Ruby and her friends prayed.
"Be a good girl now and get back to the fight.", Summer muttered.
Everyone was now on the edge of their seats in anticipation. They all have the same wish: for the tank to come alive and fight once more.
"If you're going to die then do it on the battlefield, not like this."
...and turned it.
Instead of being unresponsive like before, the tank's engine began to roar back to life with smoke and steam began to emit from the engine. With his eyes wide opened, Edwards turned his whole body to the engine in disbelief, Townsend slowly followed suit in surprise. With no time to celebrate, Edwards immediately went to the driver's seat.
"SHE'S BACK!", Ruby and Nora yet again shrieked, though this time they were joined in by their teammates and friends.
"Kids, please, settle down.", Glynda tried her best to calm the students down though she couldn't help but smile a bit, both at their antics as well as Edwards' success in reviving the tank.
"Let them be, Glynda. They deserve it.", Headmaster Ozpin chuckled and sipped his coffee.
"I guess 'vandalizing military hardware' does help in the end, eh?", Qrow pointedly jabbed at Winter while drinking his alcohol, with said person fuming at him.
McManus laughed to celebrate the revival of his beloved tank. "Hey Edwards! She likes it when you swear, boy!"
"You hear that Ruby? Swearing does help!", Yang grinned at her little sister.
"Oh yeah?", Ruby challenged.
"Fuck yeah, sis!", Yang grinned harder, though that grin faltered a bit as Ruby shoved the infamous jar at her face. "Oh come on, sis! The dude even said so himself!"
"Yang, sweetie?", her step mother smiled sweetly at her, which sent shivers down the fiery brawler. Sighing in defeat, Yang had no choice but shoving some lien cards into the jar.
"Good girl~."
"Alright Edwards. Rendezvous is past those hills in the distance. Just mind that village down there.", McManus summarized to the driver.
"Alright lads. Hang on. Here we go.", Edwards exclaimed as he began to drive the tank down towards the fortress of a village downhill.
"Left flank. Captured tanks moving into the village.", the gunner reported.
Although he did not want to ruin his men excitement, Townsend had to remind them not to be too overconfident. "Steady, lads. We're well behind Jerry's lines now. No way of knowing what we're up against."
"That's a cheerful thought.", McManus sarcastically responded.
"Come on lads, we've help together this long. Let's not fall apart now.", the young driver tried to encourage his crewmates.
"Old Bess has got us this far and she'll get us all the way if we do our bit.", the tank commander concluded.
"Alright, back on business now, ladies and gents.", Scarlet uttered excitedly as he rubbed his hands together.
"Let's blow some Jerry shit up!", Sun shouted.
"I sincerely hope they will accomplish their mission.", Weiss said with a small smile.
"I believe they will, Weiss.", Blake spoke in agreement. "They have survived the odds and made it this far after all."
Ren, however, couldn't ignore a small problem that the crew of Big Bess was facing. "It will be very difficult, though. They are currently two people short."
"I think they will figure something out. Quality is always better than quantity, you know?", Jaune replied to his teammate's concern, beside him Pyrrha nodded in agreement to the boy's statement.
"You're right, let's hope they can pull this off.", Ren smiled.
As the tank made its way towards the village, shouts of alert and surprise appeared all over the village. The crew of Big Bess deliberately ignored the troops armed with only small arms and only returned fire at the ones posing real threats like field guns' crews and machine gunners in order to conserve ammo. They also fired and destroyed buildings with ammunition caches to deny the enemy's access to such valuable supply.
"Field gun!", McManus yelled before firing his cannon, obliterating the threat.
Driving along the village's street a bit more, the crew came across the enemy reinforcement in large open field area. Few FT light tanks, armored vehicles, light infantry and grenadiers were waiting for them.
"That's a bit overkill for just one tank.", Penny muttered in shock.
"These Germans absolutely have no chill at all.", Nora nervously said.
"It's war, miss Valkyrie.", Ironwood reciprocated the orange haired girl. "The Germans here didn't know that they were being attacked by just one tank so it's understandable that they would respond with everything they got."
"The faster they can neutralize the threat, the better.", Penny chimed in, earning a nod of approval from the Atlesian general as well as nods of understanding from the students.
Instead of going around or flank the area, Edwards decided to drive straight into the enemy force.
"Engage! Engage!", Townsend ordered as he spotted an FT tank just right in front of them from afar. McManus then answered in kind by shooting a round straight into the side of the enemy's tank.
Just a few feet away, anti-tank grenades were sent flying towards Big Bess' location.
"Grenades! Move! Move!", the tank commander yelled in alarm and the tank jerked to the side, narrowly evaded the oncoming explosives.
"It's nice to see how Mr. Edwards grew from a young inexperience tank driver into a courageous individual.", Ozpin smiled fondly.
"Though it's still sad to know that he gained such trait through a bloody war.", his assistant sighed sorrowfully.
"Kid got balls!", Qrow chuckled. "He just dives headfirst straight into the shitstorm!"
Unfortunately for him, despite sitting at a distance behind Qrow, Summer heard all the colorful words coming out of his mouth. "Qrow Branwen! Swear jar, later!"
As the tank kept moving forward, McManus and Townsend were busy moving around the tank and manning the cannons as well as the turrets. Edwards then began to drive the tank in random directions so as to dodge and confuse the enemy. Together, they all made short work of the surrounding German foot soldiers and tanks.
"Keep 'em off our backs, McManus!", the young driver ordered as he dodged a tank round sailing towards Bess' side.
After eliminating one of the two FT light tanks, McManus then immediately switched to the cannon on the opposite side of the Mark V and fired, scoring another kill. "Burn you Jerry bastards!"
"They're coordinating very well.", the Atlesian specialist hummed.
"Better than most of your troops, that's for sure.", Qrow shrugged and downed a mouthful of alcohol, again ignoring the intense glare behind him.
"They just obliterated their enemy despite of being alone!", Ruby exclaimed in shock and awe.
"That's what teamwork brings you.", Summer smiled and patted her daughter, who giggled in response. "I truly believe that your team can also work well with each other just like Edwards' team."
In response, whole team RWBY lit up at the comment. "Thanks, Mom!", "Thank you for your kind words, Mrs. Rose.", "Your words of wisdom humble us, Mrs. Rose."
Finished up with the Germans in the area, the tank then moved across a stone bridge towards a group of houses. Behind one of the houses, Edwards and his crewmates saw the German troops as well as two tanks waiting to ambush them, but they didn't care. They would either see this mission through or die together.
"Get ready boys. Soon as we crossed this bridge I'll stop the tank before moving again.", Edwards told his two comrades.
Understanding their driver's intention, the gunner and commander moved towards their respective weapon stations and braced. Just as the tank crossed the bridge and appeared around the corner of a house, Edwards immediately stopped the tank, narrowly dodging two tank rounds and three anti-tank grenades flying towards them.
"So close!", Pyrrha yelped. Just a few feet more and those two tank rounds would have slammed into the side of Bess.
"That Edwards guy is really talented!", Nora cheered as she gulped a mouthful of syrup. "He went from being a rookie to a professional in such a small amount of time!"
Next to her, Ren nodded in agreement. "He's a very quick learner and also a very competent individual. These situations really helped refined his skills.
Unbeknownst to them, Jaune Arc paid a lot of attention to what they just said. He felt envious of Edwards, he really wanted to be stronger and competent enough to lead his team. Jaune just sighed, knowing full well that their team wasn't going to get a leader like that any time soon.
After the dust had settled, Edwards immediately put the engine in gear and drove the tank forward. He constantly shifted directions to provide his gunners their needed firing angles.
"Let 'em have it McManus!", Townsend yelled.
While McManus and Townsend were busied dealing with a captured Mark V and an FT-17, Edwards did his part by dodging incoming rounds as well as killing some foot soldiers in his own way. He again shifted his directions, though this time he was driving straight towards the German soldiers.
"Oh hell no, don't tell me he's gonna do THAT!", Scarlet exclaimed in horror.
"Fuck that, I can't watch!", Neptune immediately turned away from the screen.
Sun looked at the both of them incredulously. "What the hell are you two talking about?"
"They're saying that our Edwards is going to deal with the enemy by running a beast made out of steel and metal over them.", Sage sighed, slightly annoyed that Sun was so oblivious about something so predictable like that.
The rest of the audience, mostly the ones that were still in training, turned their heads towards Sage in shock and horror, before turning their heads back onto the screen with wide eyes. Shooting someone to kill them was one thing but crushing them with tons of steel was just plain cruel. To them, this was crossing the line.
"Why don't he just like, drive around and let the other two kill them with machine gun?", Weiss asked, her face which already had a pale complexion now looked even paler.
"Both of them are still having to deal with two armored threats.", Ironwood responded. His facial expression clearly showed that he also didn't like killing enemies by crushing, either. "Edwards here is just doing what he has to do."
"But he had a gun, general! He can shoot them down from that view port of his!", Blake retorted indignantly. Being in the White Fang meant she had seen some messed up things and death by crushing was also on the list.
Ironwood seemed stuck at that. To be honest, she's completely right. "I... honestly don't know."
"You're soooo dumb, Ironwood.", Torchwick sighed and facepalmed. "No wonder why your toys are so easy to steal."
The general in return growled and it looked like he was about to jump onto the criminal and rip his head off. His Specialist was also furious but not as much as her superior.
"Then enlighten us, oh wise Roman Torchwick.", Winter sarcastically spat.
The criminal in question just shrugged off the hate. "Remember at the beginning when Edwards accidentally pushed those two sticks causing the tank to jerk forward?". The rest of the audience slowly nodded while still glaring at him.
"If he let go of them to get the gun, Bess will stop, the enemy tanks will have no problem gutting her open with their cannons, and the surrounding soldiers will once again try and pry open the tank. Let's not forget that they only had one pigeon and they used it already so no backup."
Next to him, Neo raised her scroll towards everyone. "~~YOU'RE WELCOME~~"
The rest of the crowd frowned and shifted their eyes back onto the screen. They knew he's right and they would rather damn themselves to hell than saying it out loud. Torchwick just smirked and lit up another cigar, though he also summoned two paper bags, one for himself and one for Neo, for what's about to come.
McManus glanced at the direction that they were going and realized what Edwards was about to do. Rather than objecting the young driver's action, he shouted excitedly.
"Run him down! Get him!"
The German foot soldiers were desperately firing their weapons at the Mark V to no avail. They were all so afraid of the steel monster in front of them that they forgot to use their legs and run. Tears began to run down their cheeks, some didn't even realize that their guns were empty and just kept pulling the trigger in desperation. Then it happened.
Screams of agony and the crunching sound of flesh and bones rang out from beneath the tank, though with how loud those sounds were, they might as well come from every direction. After a few more seconds, the screaming seized, and Edwards drove the tank back towards the two other enemy tanks. What were left of the soldiers were puddles of flattened and mangled gore and red paste. Some of the corpses were still recognizable though just barely, their faces all had the same expression of extreme agony and terror.
The Remnant locals all emptied whatever there was in their stomachs into their respective paper bags. Even someone that had lived through several millennia like Ozpin could not stop himself from reacting like that. He had witnessed many wars and the horrors that came with them, even the deaths that were caused by being crushed like the one onscreen. That didn't mean he was okay with it.
"That was too horrible...", Glynda coughed as she finished puking. She then summoned a bottle of water and began taking several big gulps from it.
"That's putting it lightly, miss Goodwitch.", Ozpin calmly said, though his face was still a bit green.
"I have been a Huntsman for like 19 years already and this thing takes the cake.", Qrow grumbled while downing his alcohol at an alarming rate. He then turned towards Torchwick who was puffing his cigar in order to calm himself down. "Want some?"
"No thanks, but she can use some.", the criminal motioned towards Neo. Poor girl literally snatched the flask out of Qrow's hand and emptied the whole thing.
"Mr. Eli... pl-please tell me that after the war, actions like that are at the very least frowned upon...", Penny timidly asked.
Eli waited a bit more for everyone to recollect themselves before giving his answer. "Prior to the war, there was a set of rules regarding what can what cannot be done in wars. It was called the Geneva Convention, though you can say it's pretty 'incomplete' because of some loopholes that countries exploited in order to gain an upper hand, just like what you just saw. I'm not going to explain everything about it because it'll take forever but you just need to know this: The Geneva Convention is technically a set of laws and rules made to prevent inhumane things from happening in armed conflicts, so death by being ran over by a tank is a big no-no."
The people of Remnant seemed relieved to hear that such horrifying actions were now outlawed. All of them then turned back towards the screen, though in doing so they missed the smirk of their Host as well as him muttering to himself. "It's now more like the Geneva Suggestion, if you ask me."
Just as the tank began to get onto the tank-on-tank firefight, McManus landed a lucky shot on the FT-17 light tank, blowing it into pieces of scrap metal. With no time to celebrate, he immediately loaded another round into the cannon and aimed it right at the back of the captured Mark V, where the weak point of the tank was. With one well-placed shot, he disabled the enemy tank with fire coming out of its rear. Another round was loaded though this time, he shifted his aim a bit, aiming straight at where the ammo rack would be. He then fired, the round left the barrel and hit its mark, punched through the armor and hit the ammo rack inside, blowing the captured Mark V to kingdom come.
"That did him in!", Townsend praised with great excitement.
"Fireball!", Nora yelled excitedly at the amount of explosions onscreen.
"They must have hit the ammo storage unit or something.", Jaune commented.
"Possibly.", Pyrrha nodded in agreement.
"That's to be expected, honestly. He was firing against the same tank as Big Bess, the tank that he has grown attached to, so it came with no surprise that he knew where to shoot in order to destroy it most efficiently.", Ren spoke his mind.
Leaving behind the carnage, the tank moved on over a small hill and onto a dirt road. From afar, the silhouettes of what seemed to be train carts began to appear in front of them.
"Train tracks.", Edwards reported to the rest of the crew.
"There's a train yard on the other side of this hill. We're looking for a main road just past it.", Townsend announced as he too began to look to try and find the road that they were supposed to go to.
After a bit more driving and the early morning fog began to dissipate more, the commanding officer couldn't help but widened his eyes as he now saw the full picture of where they were heading towards.
"This is a staging area. They're fixing to retake Cambrai!"
Edwards and McManus immediately went on full alert as they braced themselves at their stations for what's about to come.
"So we drive straight through!", McManus voiced his idea.
However, that idea was shot down immediately by his commander. "And what? Let them surprise everyone at the rendezvous?"
"So what's the plan?", asked McManus.
"We have to take the initiative.", Townsend answered. "If we hit them hard and fast here, we can make a difference."
McManus wanted to voice his objection to this daring decision, but he was smarter than that and chose not to. "Alright, then. Let's bloody do it!"
Smirking in satisfaction, the tank commander then addressed his crew. "Right. Keep moving. Keep 'em confused and off balance, and let's hope they don't realize we're on our own!"
Weiss sighed in slight annoyance after hearing Townsend's decision. His orders reminded her of two specific team leaders. "He's just like you two.", she grumbled. "Making irrational decision and don't know when to retreat."
"Actually, I think this plan is for the best.", Blake countered.
"And how is that? They will reduce the risk tremendously by doing what McManus suggested earlier, alert their ally and prepare for the counter attack. Easy!"
"You forgot one element, Weiss. We don't really know how far this Cambrai is and when they get there, they might not have enough time to prepare.", her sister, Winter, calmly explained. "The enemy won't wait for them. They will definitely get going as soon as possible in order to take the British forces by surprise."
"Now you see why Headmaster Ozpin chose Ruby to be your team's leader instead of you, Weiss?", Eli smirked. Somewhere in the crowd, a few quiet and muffled 'Ooooooohhhhh burnnnnnnn' could be heard.
The girl in question just blushed in embarrassment and crossed her arms while trying to ignore the snickering around her.
"Two-men short but they still keep going. They truly exhibit the valuable traits of Huntsmen.", Glynda hummed, her superior beside her also smiled and nodded fondly.
At the train yard, one of the German guards heard a rumbling noise that was coming closer and closer to him. Thinking that was the sound of one of the allied tank, he intended to go and greet them, a smile etched on his face. Indeed, there was a tank coming towards him, but for some reason, one of the four machine guns was pointing straight at him. As the tank came closer, he then suddenly realized what was wrong: The Mark V in front of him didn't wear any German insignia or camouflage.
"He's so fucked.", Sun chuckled while shaking his head.
"It would be a miracle if he could outrun Big Bess' machine gun, which he just can't.", Neptune said, earning nods from his whole team.
The terrified German was only able to let out a 1-second scream before he got turned into Swiss cheese by a stream of angry .303 British bullets. That proper English welcome also alerted the rest of the soldiers as they all hastily ran towards their battle station.
A moment later, Big Bess appeared, her machine guns and cannons announced the imminent doom.
"This is it, lads!", Townsend exclaimed as he fired a shell at a field gun, blowing it up.
The deeper they moved into the train yard, the heavier the resistance they met. Not even five minutes after firing their first shots, the three-men crew of Big Bess found themselves surrounded by German infantry, captured Mark Vs as well as light FT tanks.
"Odds are now greatly stacked against them in every way possible.", General Ironwood exclaimed in shock. With zero advantage to exploit, it came with no surprise that the General found this battle would be hard to win.
"They've kicked the hornet nest now.", Pyrrha nervously said, her teammates and friends were all on the same page.
"It's going to be awesome! I can already feel it!", Nora yelled in anticipation.
"They have made it this far just to fail now.", Blake voiced her support. "They will definitely make it to the end!".
The elder Rose nodded in agreement. "Just a bit further. Let's go team!". Her two daughters also cheered with her.
Shells from field guns and tank cannons as well as anti-tank grenades flew towards Bess' position with its crew also responded in kind. Edwards expertly maneuvered the mechanical beast to dodge the incoming threats, while his gunner and commander worked on the weapons. Together, the three men formed an effective and fearsome fighting force.
Everywhere they went, the terrified screams of dead and dying German troops filled that area.
A shell coming from a Mark V slammed into the left side of the tank though thankfully it ricocheted off. McManus returned the favor by expertly shot the engine compartment, immobilizing the captured tank and making it went up in flames. German soldiers then hastily exited the burning metal coffin only to be cut down by machinegun fire, courtesy of McManus himself.
"Got 'em!", the gunner yelled triumphantly.
"That's it! That's it! Keep at it!", Townsend complimented as he himself also finished off an FT light tank shortly after.
Edwards continued to drive the tank around in random directions. Capitalizing on the fact that enemy tanks always seemed to stop before firing their guns, the young driver drove around the back of one of the remaining light tanks.
"Put one on its arse!", Townsend ordered.
"He could have worded it better...", Winter reprimanded the tank commander while the more immature individuals in the audience giggled or laughed at what the tank commander just said.
"Oh just shut up and someone please pull that stick out of that ass of yours already.", Qrow facepalmed and exclaimed loudly. "The boys are in the middle of a life or death situation and are also surrounded. I bet 'wording' some orders will be the last thing that Townsend guy does. And don't worry Summer and Kiddo, I'll put my lien cards in that jar later."
Needless to say, the Atlesian Specialist was a few inches away from tearing the Huntsman into ribbons if not for Eli's protective shielding. Under the intense glare of the host as well as her commanding officer's order, she reluctantly settled back down.
Torchwick smirked as he observed the whole ordeal. Feinting a friendly smile, he turned to the Branwen Huntsman.
"You're okay there? Need a smoke?", the crook asked as he offered Qrow a cigar.
"Fuck off.", the Huntsman lowly growled but enough for the criminal hear. In response, Torchwick just chuckled and turned back to the screen.
McManus immediately nailed the light tank with a well-placed 57-mm shell as soon as he got his aiming right, erasing the FT light tank from existence.
"We got the little bastard!"
Not a second later, the whole tank shook violently as an anti-tank grenade exploded next to it, tearing a very small piece of armor off.
"Watch it!", McManus warned everyone, though it was mainly aimed at the young driver.
Edwards didn't say anything in return as he focused on his task. He also chased down some soldiers though his crewmates beat him to it by shooting them dead before he even got the chance to score a kill. The last remaining enemy Mark V then appeared around the corner of a building with soldiers taking positions nearby. The two tanks traded blows, though it was clear that Big Bess had the upper hand as most of the enemy shells simply missed, ricocheted or bounced off its sturdy armor. The hostile Mark V was suffering major damage as its armor was penetrated in multiple places, then another shot rendered the tank immobile as one of its tracks was thrown off. McManus fired a shot at the back of the Mark V where the engine was placed, blowing the tank to pieces.
"Take that you Jerry bastard!", McManus shouted.
The remaining German soldiers then attempted to flee, though they were all cut down by machinegun fire.
The cinema shook a bit as everyone cheered on the victory of Big Bess and her crew over the German forces. Minutes earlier, they were all worried for the three-men crew but seeing the impossible happened before them, they couldn't help themselves. Beating the odds while staying unharmed was often unheard of, especially in their line of work.
"They've made it! They've won!", Ruby, her teammates, her mother and friends all cheered, some even shed a few tears of relief and happiness.
"That's the best display of teamwork that I've ever seen!", Penny exclaimed with barely contained excitement for the victory.
"Alright! The boys got this in the bag! Right, Sage?", Neptune excitedly said to his teammate, who merely chuckled as he responded.
"Impressive. Very impressive. Simple as that."
To say they were impressed would be an understatement. The two Atlesian officers downright admired the show put up by the tankers.
"If they were on Remnant, they will have no problem obtaining the ranks of Specialist or even higher.", General Ironwood muttered in shock.
His assistant slowly nodded, her jaw still dropped from the impressive display.
The Headmaster of Beacon Academy also had the same albeit slightly different opinion from his fellow Atlesian counterpart.
"I wonder if they have what it takes to help me in this war of mine...", the Headmaster mused, his assistant Glynda Goodwitch eyed him cautiously.
"Settle down now, everyone.", Eli calmly said with a smile. "The show ain't over yet."
"Whatever, those Germans can throw everything they've got! Those guys will kick their as-butts regardless!", Yang shouted, eager to see the rest of the battle.
"Yang, you're jinxing them.", Blake the cat faunus deadpanned.
"No I'm not!"
"Yes, you are.", Jaune also joined in.
"Shut it, Vomit Boy!", the blonde brawler pouted and crossed her arms before turning back to the screen.
"Enemy group coming in!", McManus reported as he spotted the silhouette of tanks further down the main road. "Let's just high tail it for Cambrai, straight down the main road."
"That's exactly where they'll be coming from! Edwards, find us a position so we can hit them when they arrive.", Townsend commanded his crew, who immediately obeyed without the need to respond. Edwards drove the tank and positioned it behind a brick wall next to a lake, giving everyone a clear view of the incoming reinforcement. A few seconds of waiting passed and they could see what they were up against: a formation of few armored trucks, FT-17 light tanks and captured Mark V tanks.
"Target!", McManus yelled as he got one of the light tanks in his sights, ready to fire on command.
"Smash him!", Townsend ordered the gunner, and right after his command a 57-mm tank shell slammed into the back of the light tank, turning it into a burning metal coffin.
With no time to waste, McManus immediately reloaded and shifted his sights towards an approaching armored truck. He fired, blowing the truck as well as its occupants to kingdom come. "How do you like that, Fritz?!"
However, as they were busying with the targets that were still on the main road, the crew failed to notice that two light tanks had slipped through and were began opening fire on them. Most of the shots were either missed or bounced off the sturdy armor, though one shell was lodged into the steel, creating a noticeable dent to the interior.
"Keep us moving! Use cover where you can!", Townsend said to Edwards, who immediately moved the tank to avoid getting hit.
"That was extremely lucky of them!", Neptune gasped in shock at the sight of the dent.
"Yeah, that shell might have been their end right there!", Scarlet exclaimed in agreement.
"It's a good thing that Lady Luck hasn't given up on them.", Jaune said while wincing at the thing that almost killed the rest of Big Bess' crew.
A bit further from them, a certain person was trying his best to keep his semblance under control. Last thing he needed was for his semblance to damn all three brave men to hell after going through that roller coaster ride of clusterfuck.
The moment Big Bess got back into motion, both Townsend and McManus immediately train their cannons at the two light tanks. McManus, being an expert gunner as he was, easily one-shot the thing. His commander, on the other hand, needed two shots to erase the other FT-17 from existence.
"Target knocked out!", Townsend cheered.
Turning their attention back on the main road, the crew spotted only one lone Mark V left.
"Let 'em have it McManus!", the tank commander ordered.
"Easy prey!", Nora grinned savagely at the last remaining tank.
"You shouldn't underestimate the enemy in any situation, Nora.", Ren countered the explosive girl. "Just because there is one enemy left doesn't mean they've won the whole war."
The girl in question, however, just shrugged and stuffed pancakes in her mouth. "I don't see any problem here, Renny. They have steamrolled through any and all opposition so far. What can one tank do against such a team like them?"
"Expect the unexpected.", Summer surprisingly answered.
"What do you mean, miss Rose? As far as I can see, Nora is right.", inquired Weiss in confusion.
The elder Rose calmly explained. "Bess and her crew are very skillful, yes, but that doesn't mean they are invincible."
"Very true, Mrs. Rose.", Glynda nodded in agreement. "As you can see earlier, Miss Schnee, one of the light tanks from before nearly penetrated the armor of Bess. Had it not for sheer luck, they would have been all killed."
The explanation really struck home with many students. After all, they were guilty with judging the opponent through first glance. If what both legendary Huntresses said was true, then they would need to rethink and reevaluate their ways of thinking before things got out of control.
McManus aimed and fired his cannon, hitting the hostile Mark V engine and just like their opponents from before, this one also lost all mobility.
"Bloody good hit!", Edwards congratulated with a big grin.
Muffled cries and panicked shouting of German crew members could be heard coming from the burning Mark V. The veteran gunner of Big Bess decided to show some mercy and end the Germans' suffering by shifting his aim to the position where the shells are stored and fired. The 57-mm round sailed through the air, slammed into the side armor of the captured tank, penetrated it and exploded, detonating the rest of shells inside.
"Nice shooting, McManus!", the tank driver laughed.
With all threats eliminated, the crew used this time to tend to any mechanical wounds that Bess suffered during the fight.
"That fight's difficulty was like 24 letters of the alphabet!", Yang fist bumped energetically. Nora suddenly recognized what the blonde was about to say as she gasped and stared wide-eyed at the brawler.
"Erm... the alphabet has 26 letters, Yang.", Pyrrha sweat-dropped, the rest of team RWBY also had the same expression as her.
Instead of answering her, Yang shifted her gaze towards Nora, who was grinning at her. She grinned back, and together the two of them yelled loudly. "Oh yeah? Maybe because I forgot E Z!"
Some of the people didn't anticipate that busted out laughing, both at the joke and the two's antics. Even Penny, a robot, and the criminal duos laughed their asses off.
"That was...", Torchwick tried to speak between laughs. "That was some top tier stuff, blondie. Phew!"
The Schnee sisters however, just sighed in annoyance. "I'm surrounded by idiots..."
"While that was fun and all, I don't think this is the end of it.", General Ironwood said as he kept his calculative gaze glued to the end.
"Very true. That counterattack was a bit light.", Glynda nodded in agreement.
Ozpin commented while he slowly sipping his coffee. "I feel like that was just a test of their enemy to evaluate their threat level."
"That counterattack wasn't as stiff as it coulda been.", Townsend said to his men. "There'll be more to come."
"Then we dig in here and fight!", Edwards exclaimed, his eyes spoke of determination.
"Let's get Bess doin' what she does best!", McManus yelled in agreement.
"Yeah! Let's win this war, everyone!", Sun excitedly roared with the rest of the audience all on the same page as him.
"Just a little bit more and everything will be over.", Sage commented with a smile.
Everyone leaned forward in anticipation. They all had the same mindset: to see Bess and her brave crew members survive this horrible war. To see a happy ending of this dark age of history.
As soon as the crew finished the quick inspection, Big Bess once again got moving, this time towards the main road itself. Just as they appeared from behind the brick wall and about to line up on the road, two heavy tank shells impacted the ground next to them.
"Moving fortress! Line me up!", McManus growled as he prepared his cannon.
Just as he finished lining one of the two A7V heavy tanks in his sight, he immediately fired a round into its side armor, removing a considerable chunk of steel and metal. In response, one of the enemy tanks fired at Bess, also scoring a hit and removing a chunk of steel armor.
"Oh no!", Jaune gasped as he saw the damage Bess had taken.
"It seems to be a minor damage.", Blake commented, though she couldn't hide the wince on her face after seeing the tank got damaged.
"Minor damage as it was, they still have to be careful.", Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Overconfidence right now will spell doom for them all."
"That's very true, Weiss.", Winter complimented her sister, who beamed at the praise.
Everyone started to get worried though that didn't mean they had given up hope. They still had great confidence in Bess and her crew of brave individuals, the same individuals that had made the impossible possible. To even think that they would give up now would be laughable.
"Just a little bit more. Come on, you guys can do it."
McManus quickly glanced at the place where the shell impacted and was relieved to find that the damage was not major at all. "We're fine, keep moving!"
For the next two minutes, an epic one versus four tank battle occurred. Both sides threw tank shells after tank shells at each other. Some of the shells connected the target, some did not.
McManus sent a sixth cannon shot right at the center of a heavy tank side. The ninety-degree impact provides the maximum penetration as the round gutted the German tank and exploded, destroying it and its crew entirely.
"Good hit!", Townsend praised.
Another shell impacted Bess, this time at the front of the tank. Despite a big chunk of steel was removed, the crew didn't give a damn and kept on fighting.
Townsend himself just finished off one of the two light tanks at the same time as McManus scored a kill. After seeing the damage that his beloved tank suffered, he frowned in anger and trained his cannon onto the turret of the last light tank. He fired his cannon and the round slammed right through the armored turret, killing the gunner first before exploding inside.
"Burn you bastard!", McManus yelled in excitement.
Only one enemy tank remained, the heavily armored A7V. Edwards saw that the enemy tank had already fired a round towards them, but instead of dodging he angled the Mark V so that the incoming shell would ricocheted off the armor harmlessly. The shell connected the side of the hull and just like expected, it bounced off and impacted the ground.
"Dear Oum!", Pyrrha yelped in surprise.
"That was way too close for comfort!", Blake exclaimed while taking deep breaths to ease her nervousness.
"The credits all went to Edwards for his quick thinking.", commented Penny with everyone also agreed with her opinion.
McManus fired his cannon in retaliation, tearing away a big chunk of armor.
"You show 'em!", the young driver cheered as he continued to drive around the tank, carefully staying away from the forward-facing cannon.
"Hit 'em again!", Townsend ordered and in respond, the gunner fired another shot at the enemy tank, dealing another damage but not enough to destroy the tank completely.
Seeing that his shots weren't effective enough, McManus came up with a daring idea. "Line me up in front of him, Edwards!"
The young driver wanted to berate the gunner but he decided to do it anyway. After all, McManus was still a veteran compared to him.
"You better not get us all killed!", Edwards said as he lined up in front of the enemy tank.
"Are they out of their minds?!", Winter shrieked. "They're going to get killed!"
"Have faith, Specialist Schnee. Those boys got this.", Ironwood calmly said, his eyes still glued to the screen. Reluctantly, the Atlesian specialist slowly sit back down.
"You gotta believe.", surprisingly it was Torchwick of all people that gave the advice.
"Come on, everyone. I have already contained my semblance for you guys. Don't let me down now, yeah?", Qrow silently muttered to himself.
As soon as the tank positioned itself in front of the A7V, the German tank immediately fired. With extreme fortune, that shell only impacted the muddy ground in front of the Mark V. Grinning side-to-side, McManus glared at the enemy tank right in front of him.
"Gute nacht (Good night)", growled the gunner as he fired. The hot 57-mm shell exited the barrel, sailed through the air, and impacted the A7V's barrel. So great the energy that shell had that it even traveled further down the cannon's barrel before exploding, killing everyone inside and turning the heavy tank into a huge fireball.
However, as they were about to celebrate, McManus suddenly yelled in alarm.
"Artillery!"
"Drive, drive!", Townsend shouted as Edwards immediately worked on the gear. However, it seemed to be too late as an artillery barrage started raining down on them, blowing up the ground near them.
"Run! Get out of there!", everyone yelled in alarm.
"Oum dammit, it's right there! Victory is right there!", Yang yelled in frustration as her eyes turned red.
"Survive... You have to survive!", Pyrrha shouted. Tears began to roll down her flushed cheeks.
"Back it up! Fast!", Neptune and his teammates yelled in desperation.
The barrage continued to destroy everything around Big Bess before eventually, one of the shell impacted the ground hard enough and power enough that it snapped the Mark V's track, rendering the tank immobile.
"We've thrown a track!", Edwards shouted in alarm. He stayed in the tank for a few more seconds then began to exited the tank.
"Bess is handicapped now!", Summer gasped in shock as well as some of the others in the audience.
"They still have quite a distance to travel before they can meet up with their ally.", Jaune quickly said, his eyes never left the screen. "With commander Townsend injured, how can they get to their objective now?"
"They will have to somehow fix the tank as fast as they can or they will have to walk the remaining distance.", Glynda answered sharply.
Edwards jumped out of the tank with his C96 pistol in hand. He then immediately pointed the gun around him to ensure there was no threat, though he failed to notice that an anti-tank grenade just landed a few feet away from him.
"Shit!", Sun cursed in alarm.
"Watch out!", his teammate, Scarlet, joined in.
Seconds later, the grenade exploded, throwing the driver down on the ground backwards as he tried to quickly gain his senses back.
Everyone gasped in horror at the sight of the young man being thrown back by a grenade. Curses were thrown around and some even shed tears. Though that grenade also raised a question.
"Where the hell did that grenade come from?!", practically everyone, minus Eli, shouted.
Right on cue of the explosion, nearly fifteen German soldiers stood up from their prone position nearby and made a beeline towards the disabled tank while yelling their war cries.
"No no no! Not like this!", Jaune screamed in panic.
"It can't be the end! It can't be!", Nora sobbed loudly and hugged Ren, who was more than happy to be her emotional support.
Ruby also buried her face onto her mother's chest as she was afraid to see the fate that awaited the remaining crew of mighty Bess.
"Dammit, forget victory! Just survive!", Blake surprisingly yelled at the screen with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Edwards then slowly got his senses back and the first person that entered his vision was McManus.
"Are you okay, Edwards?", he urgently asked before turning away and pulled out his revolver. The gunner then opened fire three times, killing two soldiers at the front of the Mark V.
McManus then turned around upon hearing shouting from behind. Just as he turned around, he was shot in the left shoulder by a pistol-wielding soldier. The shot also threw him down on the ground not too far from Edwards' position.
As the German soldier approached McManus to deal the finishing blow, he was shot in the neck by Townsend, who was still sitting inside the tank.
The view then switched to inside the Mark V as it showed the final stand of commander Townsend and the Germans that got inside the tank.
The atmosphere of the whole cinema was getting gloomier and gloomier as reality began to slowly show its ugly side.
'So this is the end...', Neo sighed and showed her scroll to Torchwick, who nodded back solemnly.
"They're overwhelmed now... There's nothing they can do...", Glynda silently said as she wiped away a tear on her eye.
General Ironwood sighed in great sadness. He really had high hopes for the tank crew but in the end, all things would have to meet their ends.
"You did well.", Ozpin muttered to himself as he dipped his head forward slightly.
The old commander then killed two more German soldiers inside the tank before he noticed that the faulty fuel line was leaking high volume of flammable gas. He then managed to kill another two before he himself got shot in the stomach.
"Aah!"
Realizing that the situation was irredeemable, the seasoned commander came to his final decision. He took out of his pocket a match, and with great sorrow and ragged breaths, commander Townsend said his final words.
"Sorry, Bess."
He lit the match, and the small fire upon meeting the gas inside the Mark V turning it into an enclosed inferno, burning everyone inside as well as outside alive.
Silence. That was the only word that can be used to describe the whole cinema right now. Aside from muffled cries and sobs, the whole cinema was covered in uncomfortable, solemn silence.
No one dared to say a word, as their eyes still glued to the screen.
Edwards slowly sit up and stared at the burning wreckage that was his tank in shock. He slowly stood up and looked down on his gloved hands. The leather gloves were worn, covered in oil, grease, dirt, mud... and blood. A testament to all the hardships that he had been through in such a short amount of time.
The young driver slowly looked up from his hands. All around him, fires, corpses of soldiers, and smoke appeared all over the place, while he just stood there all alone. The man's eyes were voided of life and his face was emotionless. In other words, Edwards looked broken. A ghost of his former self.
"...It's the same scene from the beginning... When Edwards' was shown with CSR...", Winter muttered wide-eyed as she, along with everyone else, recognized the scene.
"...So this is how you got it, huh...", Qrow shook his head grimly while downing another gulp of alcohol.
Ozpin looked upon the broken man in front of him in immense sadness. Slowly, he turned to his assistant and said. "Glynda, make a reminder to recruit more psychologists. I believe we will need their service a lot more than we first thought."
Glynda didn't say anything in response as she immediately got to work on making the requested reminder. She even took the liberty to make it a top priority.
Edwards then slowly took off his gloves and turned towards the burning wreckage of Bess. For a moment, he didn't know what to do. That was until a voice called out to him...
"Edwards..."
"Someone... else survived?", Nora slowly asked between sobs.
"Yeah... Someone else did survive.", Ren whispered soothingly to Nora while still holding her in his arms.
Upon hearing someone called his name, the young man immediately turned towards the source. Shock painted on his face as he saw it was none other than McManus.
Quickly, the driver put his gloves on the still intact track and ran towards the gunner. Edwards gave McManus a quick look-over of his wound before grabbing the gunner's hand and pulled him up, then he put the veteran's arm over his shoulder.
With heavy breaths, McManus calmly asked.
"So... What do we do now, driver?"
In response, Edwards took out his C96.
"We walk."
Bess' gunner chuckled a bit before both survivors turned around and together they walked along the dirt road towards their final destination, Cambrai.
The camera slowly rose behind the two men as well as their beloved Mark V, Black Bess. As it was happening, texts began to appear in the middle of the screen.
More than 300 tanks took part in the second battle of Cambrai.
The war ended one month later.
The screen then slowly turned black. Usually this meant it's the end of the viewing but the surrounding lights didn't light up, and a lot of them were starting to get worried.
"Um... Eli...?", Ruby nervously asked.
One second later, the answer came. Though it didn't come from their host himself but rather it came from the screen as it slowly lit up.
~~~~~~~~~~Omake~~~~~~~~~~
Germany, 1921
"For your information, the war ended in 1918.", Eli suddenly spoke up. "The following conversation is in German so I added the subtitles below for you guys."
Many of them got confused as to what Eli just said, though they all kept silent and paid attention to the screen.
A black Spyker C4 could be seen driving down an empty country road. Inside the car, a person dressed in a brown Service Dress was behind the wheel. That person was none other than Daniel Edwards, now 26, one of the two only survivors of the ambush on the triumphant Black Bess. Now, three years after the war had ended, he came to Germany for his own personal mission.
"I like his uniform.", Weiss commented, her cheeks suddenly had a small tinge of red.
"Like what you're seeing, Weiss Cream?", Yang cheekily asked with a smug grin.
"Sh-shut up...", the young heiress silently muttered under her breath to the blonde, whose grin only widened than before.
"Where is he going now?", inquired Sun as he tilted his head in confusion.
"I think we're about to find out.", Sage motioned his hand towards the screen as the car stopped in front of a house on top of a grassy hill.
Edwards shut off the engine and leaned back on his seat. He took a deep breath to compose himself and slowly, he opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle.
"Alright. Let's get this over with."
Since the house was built on top of a hill, it took him a bit of hiking in order to get there. Along the way, he noticed to his right a group of chickens and some cows were walking around feeding on the worms and, in the case of the cows, grass without a care in the world. To his left, a tall apple tree was bearing beautiful looking fruits captivated his eyes as well as a small pond next to it. The house itself was made of wood and he could see a small column of white smoke was rising from the chimney. In short, this was a very lovely place to live.
However, his mission wasn't to sight-seeing though.
Not long after walking, he finally found himself staring at the wooden front door of the house. Sounds of activities could be heard inside the house. Sighing heavily, he knocked on the door, and the sound of hasty footings reverberated from inside.
"Friedrich?!", a beautiful young lady swung the door open with a big, bright smile on her face.
"Hold on, do you guys feel like you've seen her somewhere before?", Jaune scratched his head and tried to search the woman's image in his memory.
"Yeah, Fearless Leader, you're right.", Nora responded as she too tried to remember the woman's face.
"That's because she's that lady in the photo.", Blake said with a heavy sighed.
Some of the people looked at her quizzically, while others knew what she was talking about. Now their gaze on the screen turned from one of confusion into one of sadness.
"What photo?", the leader of team JNPR asked in confusion.
"The photo in the pendant.", answered Summer solemnly. "Friedrich Weber's pendant."
It was then that everyone recognized this whole situation. They all found themselves feeling heartbroken by the viewing, many even wanted to be there just to offer the poor young woman emotional support that she was no doubt going to need.
"He spent three years to find the man's lover and now he personally visits her.", Ozpin hummed fondly.
His assistant, Glynda, nodded in agreement and swiped away a tear that was to roll down her face. "That action alone speaks volume about his character. A person with a big heart."
Sadly, the person standing in front of her was not the one she was expecting. Though that didn't mean she could be rude to strangers.
"Sorry about that.", the woman chuckled nervously. "How can I help you?"
Edwards lightly coughed into his clenched hand before returning the greetings.
"Good morning, miss. My name is Danny Edwards of the British Army.", he said with a friendly smile on his face. "Are you... a relative of one Friedrich Weber of the Imperial German Army?"
"Yes, I'm his fiancé, Gisela. Why?", the woman, now known as Gisela, replied, her smile faltered a bit. She had a sinking feeling of what was going on.
Releasing a heavy sigh, the former tank driver took out of his pockets two items: a small pendant and a small notebook, both of them were kept in pristine condition.
Gisela stared at the items in the man's hands and gasped in shock. "Those are Friedrich's...". She then immediately turned and looked directly into Edwards' eyes and raised her voice. "Where did you get this? Where's Friedrich?!"
Edwards himself said nothing as he presented the items towards the heartbroken woman. At last, he whispered four simple words.
"Sorry for your loss."
The screen finally turned black as the lights in the cinema came back on. Many of the youngsters were still busy crying in the sadness, even Ironwood himself was letting out a few tears, both of pain and nostalgia. Pain because he himself had done what the young man did before. Nostalgia because of the faces of the soldiers that had sacrificed their lives for the greater good.
After a full seven minutes, people began to slowly stood up. Some went to their friends and loved ones, while others went to their own personal places of interest. Just before everyone filed out, Eli announced loudly for everyone to hear.
"We will continue the next one in two more hours. It's not over yet."