Gunfire broke the silence of the night, three rounds taking one of the soldiers in the chest and knocking him back against the artillery carriage where he crumpled to the ground, leaving a red trail down the metal siding. The next round took the man next to him in the forehead, and he fell to the ground like a weight. The two men who had been closing in on Suzuki turned to face their attacker, immediately opening fire on the hillside behind them. Their bullets disappeared harmlessly into the black night.

The invisible killer struck again, peppering the man farther from Suzuki with fire and dropping him into the dirt. The last man backed toward Suzuki, ducking in behind the carriage. He hadn't noticed, all his focus on whoever was shooting at them from the hill, that Suzuki was right next to him.

She knew that every second she didn't act was another second for him to see her and turn his gun and pull the trigger and end her life. Lifting the knife in her hand, reaching out for him, every second giving her every reason she could think of to keep moving and to stop moving. Whoever was shooting would know there were four men, and if she killed him they would know she was there, which she couldn't risk, but if she didn't act, he would see her and then they would know all the same. She argued with herself until it was too late to stop, but the answer was still the same. This man needed to die so she could have a chance at living.

She slid her knife in under his chin and pulled it away, dragging it across his throat. The serrated edge tore his throat out, spraying blood and gore out onto the ground. It would later occur to her that she should have used the straight edge, but for now she just stumbled back from her kill and tried not to make too much noise or throw up. She had to calm herself and let her stomach settle before she moved. She couldn't focus, she couldn't hear if the shooter was moving closer. She couldn't hear anything but her own heartbeat. She couldn't move for fear of giving herself away.

The night air came alive with the rumble of a large engine. Her heart skipped several beats at a time. She knew what that sound meant. Someone had found her. If it was the Turkish military, she had to avoid capture at all costs, especially while she was still in her underwear. Looking up at the hill ahead of the artillery carriage, she could see the dark shape of a tank moving under the moonlight. This was it. She had to move now.

The top hatch opened and Erika popped her head out, holding a lantern up. "Which of you Ooarai losers is down there?"

Suzuki's mind went through her options, recalculating based on what she knew. Erika must have returned to her post at some point and confronted Turtle Team. She would have found out what Maho was up to, learned of their orders, and decided to make her way into hostile territory in pursuit. Unfortunately, Suzuki knew this meant Erika was going against all her orders now, real and fake. Maho would be sure to tear her apart for this.

Suzuki backed away into the water. If Erika knew it was an Ooarai girl, she wouldn't shoot, but she didn't want Erika's full attention until she had her clothes back on. Judging by the way Erika was scanning the darkness around the artillery, Suzuki guessed she couldn't actually see her. As long as she didn't make any sound, she was safe. The sound of the engine from Erika's tank sure helped.

She slipped silently into the water and started moving across the pond, making her way back to her clothes. She could afford to move a bit quicker, even swimming some of the way. Again, she was relying on Erika not just shooting her. It should have been immediately obvious there was no such risk, but her mind was still in emergency mode and told her to avoid even the remotest chances.

Erika jumped down off her Tiger II and walked over to the fallen enemy soldiers. She set about searching each body and salvaging various items she found interesting. She took one of each of their weapons, and removed their rank insignias. Taking everything she found, and pocketing the insignias, she returned to her tank. Dropping back into her seat and closing the hatch behind her, she directed her crew to aim for the artillery.

"Destroy it. Then we'll find out what's going on."

Suzuki had removed her underwear and was pulling her pants back on when the artillery exploded, sending a fireball into the air that would be visible for miles. After a brief moment in stunned silence, she went back to work, zipping up and buttoning her pants. She buckled up the belt next and reached for her shirt. Already she could hear the Kuromorimine tank getting closer as it made its way around the pond, probably looking for her.

She buttoned up her shirt and picked up her gear, slinging it over her shoulder. She was making sure her watches were still working when the Tiger II finally rolled up beside her. Erika stuck her head out the hatch, holding out the lantern again. She looked far less than pleased, but Suzuki took the fact that she hadn't been shot yet to mean she wasn't going to get shot. She picked up her rifle and waved to the tank's commander.

"Thanks for the save. Can I dry my panties on your engine?"

Erika let out a low sigh. "Akiyama, you better have a good excuse for this."

"I'm Suzuki."

"You all look the same." Erika glanced around, looking for any sign of the rest of Ooarai's forces. "Are you the only one left?"

"I'm scouting. And what does 'you all' mean?"

Erika seemed perfectly content to not answer that. "You are to scouting what James Bond is to spying. Take us to the rest of your forces."

"Sure, I'll take the ride." Suzuki quickly clamored up onto the Tiger II, pointedly plopping her underwear down on top of the radiator. She quickly checked her compass and pointed Erika in the right direction. "That way. I'll adjust our heading as needed on the way."

Erika started heading back in, but paused, just barely looking out of the hatch. "I'd invite you in, but there's not enough room and I don't like you."

"Come up for directions regularly then."

Grumbling inaudibly, Erika disappeared inside her tank. A few seconds later, it started rolling forward, turning to the direction Suzuki had told them. She leaned back against the turret, keeping her eyes on her compass. It was going to be a long ride back.

Yukari couldn't sleep. She'd finished her shift on lookout and gotten back to her station to sleep the rest of the night, but falling asleep had proven harder than she'd expected. Climbing out of the tank, she found where a couple others were huddled around a lantern. Erwin nodded to her, and Hoshino patted the ground next to her. Yukari took a seat.

Erwin started talking right away, barely able to contain herself apparently. "Have you talked to Pazomi yet?"

Yukari looked up, surprised. She glanced to Hoshino for some explanation, but it seemed she was curious as well. "No, I didn't want to wake her up. Did you?"

Erwin nodded. "She and I were third watch. We had some time to chat. She told me she's worried about Sodoko."

"Why would she be worried about her?" Yukari pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. "I'm more worried about Hana. She's the one who got hurt the worst. What… what happened to Sono?" Yukari wasn't really keen on using the nicknames Mallard Team had been given by the others.

Hoshino shook her head. "Not what happened to her. What she did. Apparently, and I'm hearing this from Erwin who heard it from Nozomi, Private Sono blew away those soldiers we met earlier."

Erwin nodded. "Blew two of them up with the 47 and took the other two out with her sidearm."

So it had happened. Yukari wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it, that a member of Ooarai's after school club had killed four men, even if they were enemy soldiers. Really, it was startling to her that any of them had actually killed anyone. She should have expected it, considering they were in the military and well into hostile territory. It was technically their job. Still, it felt strange. Not quite wrong, though she felt there was good reason for it to feel wrong, it was just strange. Surreal, almost.

But in the end… "Is there really anything wrong with that? Isn't that what she was supposed to do?"

Erwin let out a long sigh. "I suppose so. I mean, but who's most likely to actually end up killing someone. It's the gunner, right?"

Hoshino casually waved her hand. "Yo."

Continuing, Erwin pointed back and forth between herself and Hoshino. "Right, and other than that it's the commander. I'm the one, Maho and Sodoko are the ones, who are gonna have to stick our heads out the top and shoot people off when they start climbing all over us."

Hoshino did a double take. "Ye-huh? You really think we're going to have people climbing on our tanks?"

"I don't know." She shrugged nonchalantly. "I just feel like it could happen at some point, I think it would be interesting, and it's probably a hell of a lot more likely now that I've said it out loud." She suddenly looked spooked. "Well, anyway, yeah… that, uh… gunners and commanders are the most likely to have to kill anyone."

"Or the drivers, if you want to be especially grusome." Hoshino nodded at her team's tank. "Tsuchiya is really concerned about it. Says she doesn't want to go crazy and start running people over. I think she'll be fine, though."

A breeze blew past, causing them all to shiver. Yukari pulled her legs in closer. "It's way too cold for the middle of the summer."

"Wide open terrain in early morning, it's to be expected." Erwin pointed past Hoshino, up at the hill to their South. "Somebody's here. Looks like Oryou."

They watched and waited for the next minute and a half as Saori, who was on watch, led Oryou back into the center of their makeshift camp. Oryou had been talking to Saori on the way over. She saw the others, offered a weak salute, and promptly crawled into the StuG to sleep.

Saori approached the three girls huddled around the lantern. "She says there's a weird sound coming from the East. Like an engine."

All three of them bolted up. Erwin patted herself down, looking for her sidearm. "An enemy vehicle? We should check it out…" She held her sidearm up and passed it to Saori, grabbing her rifle. "Trade. Stay here. I'm going to check it out."

Nakajima joined them. "I'll come with you. The rest of you arm up and be ready. We may have to start moving as soon as we get back."

"Or if you don't come back." Saori pushed Yukari towards the Panzer IV H. "Don't worry. We'll leave without you if we hear you getting shot."

Nakajima nodded to Erwin. "Come on." She led them away to the East, the two girls dropping to the ground on the other side of the second hill away. They listened in silence for a minute, waiting to hear anything.

Slowly, but surely, a low rumble started to echo over the hills. Erwin stood up. "Sounds like a Kuromorimine tank, I'd say a Tiger II. Most likely friendly."

Nakajima stood up as well. "A Tiger II? Out here? Why would… what do you mean 'most likely'?"

"I mean, they shouldn't be here, but I don't know anyone else with a Tiger II. It's getting closer. Might be looking for us. Maybe someone heading in to give us backup?"

They scaled the next hill, peering over the top. Just as they could see the top of the hill ahead of them, it came into sight. The large gray metal form of the Tiger II, with someone holding a lantern standing beside the turret. As it rolled down the side of the hill, drawing nearer, they could see that it was Suzuki standing on top. They watched as it rolled right up beside them and stopped.

Suzuki waved. "I made friends."

Erika pushed the hatch open and stuck her head out. "We're not your friends." She looked over Nakajima and Erwin. She shot a quick glare at Erwin. "Oh, great, it's you. At this rate my day won't be able to get any worse before the sun's even up."

Erwin saluted, half joking. "Good to see you too. Welcome back, private, and other private. I bet you were working on that quip for at least the past ten minutes."

Nakajima waved back. "Oryou's already returned. Now we're just waiting for Nishizumi." She turned to Erika. "And, hey, what about me? Don't I make your day any worse?"

Erika squinted at her. "Noriko, right?"

"I swear, it's like she has no clue Leopon Team exists." Suzuki climbed down with the lantern. "Come on, let's guide her back to camp."

Erwin patted Nakajima on the shoulder as she headed off alone. "I'll go ahead and make sure they know you're coming. Don't need panic fire."

Nakajima gave Suzuki a quick hug. "Glad you're safe. We were all pretty worried you guys wouldn't be coming back." She paused and sniffed the air. "Is something burning?"

Erika looked behind her and suddenly shouted at them. "Caesar! Get your underwear off my tank!"

Shaking her head, Suzuki moved to do as she was told. "Wrong again. Boy do I have a story for everyone."