With C-Cups out of formation, Belle was now in charge. They were minutes away from Bremen and the Luftwaffe fighters peeled off to avoid the flak field. Her formation however had no choice but to go straight through. Belle struggled to regain her focus. C-Cups was her closest friend next to Windy City. Her nose broken and bleeding heavily she had no choice but to leave the formation. Belle prayed she'd make it home.

Belle was shaken by the intensity of the flak. "Jesus this is intense!" cried Baby Ruth cried. "I heard there's over 500 antiaircraft guns around Bremen." Said Black Eyed Peas. "I could have gone without knowing that!" Ruth growled. "Can it!" Belle hissed. "Belle, can't we-can't we go around?" Mother and Country asked nervously. Belle looked at her with some softness. "If we do we'll miss the target." She replied. "Don't worry, just aim for the spurts and you'll be fine. They won't shoot at the same area twice."

Approaching the target they could all see that something was very wrong. They had no visual contact with the ground. A thick smoke covered the city and it didn't lessen. Belle's senses told her she should be right over the target. In the past, she would have dropped her bombs anyways but this time she hesitated. A playground, a school, and a neighborhood surrounded the factory. Not only were there innocents on the ground but a previous bombing run had failed to hit the target forcing her to lead this formation back out here. No way was she willing to risk letting it go untouched again, costing more lives. She made her decision and banked hard right, hearing a few sighs and grumbles behind her but she was lead plane. Her decision was final. As one, the 100 odd bombers began a wide 360 degree turn that would take them out of and then back into the flak they had just flown through. It was not a choice Belle took lightly but it was the only option she could see.

The Luftwaffe were waiting for them when they emerged and came in from above as the group made its second turn to realign itself with the target. "Fighters on the roof, heads up girls!" Belle called. Everyone was on high alert and when the fighters came in, they were ready. Tracers all but covered the sky as the powerful guns on the B17s opened up. But the 109s were nimble craft, not at all like the lumbering bombers and outmaneuvered a lot of the weapons. One took a run at Black Eyed Peas who was positioned directly behind Belle. Belle was careful with her tail gun to avoid striking the friendly aircraft. A few quick rounds knocked the 109 out of the sky and straight into Mother and Country. Belle saw what was coming seconds before it happened and tried to warn the rookie. "Mother watch out!" Her warning was too late and the wounded fighter, dying and determined to take another plane down with him, slammed into Mother and Country's tail, severing it cleanly. The two halves spiraled downwards. Belle deliberately avoided looking at her for she knew there was nothing she could do. With her control lines cut, Mother and Country bled out within a minute. Dead long before she hit the ground in a fiery explosion, her screams going silent. Baby Ruth was looking at Belle curiously. She had not seen what had occurred. Belle met her gaze and shook her head. Baby Ruth looked way with a tight grimace. "God..." She whispered. The loss of a veteran plane was often devastating enough. Losing one so young and so vigorous was always heartbreaking. Like losing your own child.

The fighters peeled off again as their presence was replaced by the familiar bumps and bangs of the flak field. Smoke still obscured the target and Belle was silently pleading with the sky gods in her head. The last thing she wanted to do was to go around again, to be responsible for another death. No one blamed her for Mother and Country, this was war. But Belle would always blame herself. The rookie had perished under her watch. Through the smoke a shape appeared, a shape very distinctive as she had studied her target package long before. "That it! That's it!" She cried joyfully. "Bombs away girls!" As soon as she released her weapons, the rest of the squadron followed suit, dumping hundreds and hundreds of bombs onto the area. It was often give or take with carpet bombing. The practice was unreliable and with unguided weapons, later decried as indiscriminate. As if the raids of the Germans and the Japanese weren't. This time, Belle's brilliant eyesight paid off and most of the bombs landed in a concentrated area. Not bad for a drop at 25000 feet.

Reemerging from the flak field all the planes were jumpy. All bore the marks of their recent experience and the scent of blood was heavy in the air. Even Belle had a few scrapes along her belly from flak that had struck her. Like hungry sharks circling wounded prey, this was the time that the Luftwaffe preferred to attack. Today was no different. As soon as the familiar silhouettes were spotted, the planes on the outskirts of the formation opened up with everything they had, scattering the 109s. This forced the rest of the formation to divide their fire as the 109s now came in as singles or sometimes in pairs, targeting specific planes they felt were too wounded to fight back. Black Eyed Peas was not in that category and as a 109 mistook her for a wounded bird, she showed him his mistake. There was the satisfying sound of an explosion and the remains of the German fighter rained down towards the ground. "Nice shooting Pea!" Belle called. "Thank you dearie!" Pea replied, having developed a British accent during her time overseas. "Always happy to diminish the... bogie 9-o-clock low." With her warning, Belle was able to obliterate the fighter before he could strafe her belly. "And your mother too!" She shouted, the kill easing the pain of her previous losses somewhat. But the battle was just beginning.

Three German fighters made a run straight for her and the first flight. "They're gonna strafe you." Pea warned. "What am I supposed to do, spit on 'em?!" Belle snarled, frustrated that she had no guns up front to ward the fighters off with as the later models of the B17 would have. They flew up and over her, taking a chunk out of the top part of her tailfin. Belle bared her teeth as the pain registered but true to her nature, she did not cry out. Then she noticed something more unwelcome. A fire in one of her engines, the outboard on her right wing. She cut fuel and feathered the prop, shutting down the engine but before she could hit the fire extinguisher another fighter came in, his bullets narrowly missing her skull but bombarding the cockpit nonetheless. She tried and failed to put the fire out and if she let it burn, it would reach the fuel tanks. The memory of Windy City's explosion was at the forefront of her mind. She turned to Baby Ruth. "Get them home." She ordered. "Belle!" Ruth was a veteran of 21 missions and had known Belle since the older B17 had taken her under her wing. "I'm going to have to dive to put this fire out. I'll rejoin you when I can." Ruth sighed. "See you on the ground." Was all she said, settling into Belle's position at the head of the line as the older plane banked hard into a dive, gaining speed as she went.