A/N:I'd give credit of this long chapter to a good fan of mine RANDOM-P4 for writing a large kinda filler (I'm sorry if I am bad at descriptions RANDOM, I kinda owe you one)chapter of Survivors Eradicate the Front. So big thanks to Random, and I guess y'all enjoy his chapter, which kinda makes me feel a bit jelly knowing that he writes over 11k words and I only manage around 3-4k words. R.I.P Lenju-sama… kek, there goes my writing lol. Tell me if you want my writing to be a bit similar and I'll try my best to do it.
-Lenju II
RANDOM's A/N: Well, because I couldn't determine whether Leon and co decides to stay in San Diego Harbor or leave it to continue on Project: RECONSTRUCT (Lenju: Both actually eventually), so I'll just assume this happened some time after their arrival at the harbor, I hope you like it.
P.S. I completely made up one of my characters...
1925 hours, clear night.
"AAAAAH I'M SO HAPPY ADMIRAL, POIIIII!"
"*cough* Alright! *gasp* I know! Just *gasp* let go!"
"Yuudachi onee-san! How many times do I have to tell you not to strangle admiral Leon-san like that!"
Leon was busy prying off a very happy Yuudachi from killing him for the hundredth time.
"I just told you that I'm going to bring you all to the city carnival, you don't have to overreact like that!" Leon replied when he finally managed to free himself from the destroyer's python-like hug.
"I'm sorry, poi..."
"I don't think she can help it, commander. I mean, we barely have fun when we first awoke in this place, so naturally we are all excited!"
Valeriya's spoke up with a big grin, sure enough, as Leon looked around, nearly every single tank/ship girl is either cheering like their favorite football team won the World Cup or chatting excitedly.
"Haha, it's good to see you retire from being an asshole for weeks now, Leon, see how happy they are?"
"Shut the fuck up Tomlin. Anyways, the carnival is almost starting now, so we'll just go the the café and get some quick calories, because we are going to have a blast tonight!"
Leon's speech ended with the cheers of the tank and ship girls as they are all thrilled at the event ahead of them.
"Welcome back, sir!"
The waitress greeted the café most visited customer cheerily as they entered it. As they walk towards their regular seat, Leon spied a group of girls talking to each other, before he can take a good look though, he was pulled towards the gang's usual seat by a grinning Erwin. After they placed their orders, they sat down chatting and waiting for their food to arrive.
"Commander, what would we expect from the carnival?"
"Well, Chiyoko, we would expect a lot of people, for sure, I heard that there will be a concert, not sure by who, though. And there will be lots of games, lots of food, and..."
His speech is cut short by an unfamiliar voice,
"YOU ARE GOING BACK TO ENGLAND!?"
"SHHH!"
The entire café was silenced by the group of girls sitting beside them, the same group that Leon saw earlier. Now that he got a good look, he saw that they are a group of five,
"Sorry..."
One of them, in which he presumed is the one that is shouting earlier, sat down slowly blushing like a tomato while apologizing silently. She is pretty short, only standing at roughly Alheid's height, she has a short copper red hair and wore a black shirt under a sleeveless grey jacket, she also wears a pair of black gloves that is pretty worn as far as he can see. The other girls sitting beside her are busy apologizing to the other customers for the shorter girl's action. The one to the left of the copper haired girl is slightly taller, similar to Erwin. She has a deep, short hazel hair that covers her right eye and wears a similar type of attire to her shorter companion, but instead of a grey, sleeveless jacket, she wears a brown flight jacket with a badge on her shoulder that he couldn't quite make out.
The one to the right of the copper haired girl surpasses them both, somewhat Alyona's height, she has a black hair that extends to her middle back, she wears a pair of black, leather gloves and a grey cloak of some sort that covered the majority of her uniform, though Leon can make out that she has a desert camouflage on her uniform. The other one right in front of the black-haired girl is quite tall as well. She has a long, steely blue hair and wears similar clothing to her partner that sits in front of her. The most notable difference is the different color choice on the grey-haired girl, her uniform is mostly military drab but her gloves are made of brown leather. Otherwise they have nearly identical uniform choices.
One of them nodded apologetically to Leon, and he nodded back. The girl...no, woman, that nodded to Leon sparks his interest the most, she is very tall, easily standing at 180cm, she has a light hazel hair that extends a little bit above her waist, styled in a French braid. Unlike the other girls who wore clothing resembling the army, she wore the uniform resembling a naval officer, she wears a white coat, shirt, skirt and gloves, she bears the Royal Navy's insignia for the rank "Captain" on her sleeve and shoulder, as well as a sword on her left hip, except for her tie and, every single piece of her uniform is white (except for the insignias, of course). What differs her from any other female officer, though, is the...very peculiar clothing choices. Tight uniform aside, instead of the standard knee length dress the normal female Royal Navy officer wore, she wore something that is more of a miniskirt, way, way shorter for any military standard. What replaces the space the skirt is supposed to cover up is a pair of light blue thigh-highs held up by garter straps. Her boots are (surprise surprise) also white.
"Yes, I will be leaving for England, Charlotte, you don't have to make a fuss about it," the naval officer bears a heavy British accent.
"But we've just arrived here, and you are leaving so quickly?"
The grey-haired girl spoke up, her voice has a quite stereotypical Russian accent.
"Well, Svetlana, it's the admiral's order that I return as quickly as possible, there is actually nothing I can do about it."
Ah, so her name is Svetlana.
"Plus, I'll be escorting your new commander, so someone can help me take care of you all."
"Wait, does that mean you're leaving us?" This time the hazel haired girl spoke.
"*chuckle* Of course not! You'd think I'll leave you lot to handle those bloody bastards alone? No chances. If nothing goes wrong, the flight would be on tonight, I'll be back in 4 days, give or take. So, Churchill,"
The black-haired girl nodded.
"You will be in charge of taking care of them while I'm away, can you do for me?"
"Of course," it seems that everyone here but Svetlana is British.
"Splendid! Now we got things settled, finish your tea and let's go."
They quickly downed the rest of their drinks and left the table, Leon noticed that only the female captain didn't carry a gun. The other girls seem to carry some pretty nice firearms, the 2 taller girls carried a machinegun and a sniper rifle each, and the British girl had a Heckler and Koch MG5 and an Accuracy International AS50 while the Russian carried an RPK-16 and an OSV-96. The hazel haired girl carried an IWI Tavor while her shorter companion holds a UMP45, all in which are high-end military products.
As they leave, Leon also noticed that they all wear headdresses, the British machine gunner (as well as the hazel haired one that Leon has yet to catch the name of) wore a black beret, her Russian counterpart wore a pilotka instead of a beret, which made Leon wonder if those things are put back into service. The shorter girl if Leon remembers correctly, named Charlotte, wore a headset instead of a military cap. The naval officer also wears the Royal Navy's standard tricone hat for female officers, but instead of the Royal Navy insignia, her hat has something like a ship's crest on it, which as far as the now confused Leon know, is not in the Royal Navy rules and regulations. They all seems to wear long pants and boots as well, save for the tall British officer.
"Leon, are you gonna keep staring or you gonna get outta here? You realize you are drinking air right?"
"Shut up Tomlin."
The rest of his platoon laughed as Leon retreats the scene.
Note: Italic words means Japanese, bolded means Russian and underlined means German. All 3 at once means author notes.
"HARUSAME, SUZUKAZE-CHAN, LETS GO TO THE ROLLERCOASTER! POIIIIIII!"
"WAIT, YUUDACHI-ONEE, OW, STOP TUGGING!"
Leon chuckled as he watched Yuudachi drags the 2 poor destroyers along. It seems to him that even the Russian tank girls are having fun laughing and playing games tonight, which is what Leon wants to see, Tomlin is...where the hell is he? Never mind, probably just drooling over some costumes. Having trying to fight off zombies for the past few weeks or so, this carnival is exactly what the platoon needs to stay sane, liberating a country full of aggressive predators immune to pain requires a clear head, you know.
Leon took a big bite at the huge burger he bought at one of the food stalls, the Juggernaut, as the owner calls it, as he strolled through the streets of the carnival, or more precisely, squeezing through. This is one of the most massive carnivals Leon had ever seen, so it's no surprise that the whole San Diego residence came. Tired of sandwiched between people, he decides to walk towards one of the city walls to get himself some oxygen. As he approach though. He saw 2 familiar figures, the copper haired girl named Charlotte, and her hazel haired friend, both from the café.
'What a coincidence,' Leon thought, 'Maybe I should go talk to them for a bit, and the quality of their equipment tells me that they are not some ordinary girls with guns. Maybe I can get info about other officers around here.'
As he walks towards them though, he noticed that the two girls are engaged in a conversation on a map, which sparks Leon's interest. As he closes in, they are so concentrated on their conversation and did not notice Leon, because of the height difference, Leon can easily see above their heads as he walks behind them.
"You see, Valentine. We are stationed here temporarily until the generals can spare more forces in helping us, but uh...judging by the condition Europe is in now, chances are...just the four of us."
"Well of course, by the time they manage to get Europe into functioning order, I'm sure the zombies would've expired already."
"I know, I wonder how Australia is doing though."
"Australia? The bloody spiders had probably eaten all of the zombies."
"Haha, well about that..."
Charlotte stops moving suddenly, causing both Valentine (why do they have weird names, I wonder?) and Leon stop in their tracks. The short girl slowly turns her head towards the wall, before grabbing her partner's hand and start running away from it.
"Hey, Charlotte, what is it!?"
"Just run, Valentine, just, there's a tank!"
A tank?
Just as she finishes it Leon felt rumbling from the ground, the same feeling when an express train is coming full steam.
"Oh, bullocks..."
BOOM!
A giant object charged through the city walls, nearly running over Leon and stops several meters in front. This time, it is Leon's turn to say...
"You've got to be kidding me..."
In front of Leon is none other, than a giant, armored infected that looks like Ivan Drago injected with Russian Bias as though he wasn't already full with it. (You are too young if you don't know who he is!) Leon reached towards his side, expecting to feel the familiar grip of his M4 carbine, instead, he grabbed an HK Mk 23 armed with .45 hollow point rounds, scientifically proven to cause minimal damage against an armored zombie, not to mention a giant one capable of ramming down reinforced concrete.
"Fuck!"
Leon cursed loudly as he tries to call Tomlin and the rest of his platoon via voice comm.
Meanwhile at the other side of the city.
"AAAHHHHAHAHAHAHH!"
"YUUDACHI-ONEE SAN STOP SCREAMING IN MY EAR!"
"Valeryia, did you hear something?"
"Well of course I do, screaming!"
"No, I mean..."
"WHOOO-HOO!"
"Noel...I uh...I felt sick..."
"Yeah...me too..."
They huddled closer to each other as the giant Ferris wheel climbs slowly, the 2 tanks on the very top.
Back at Leon
"What the...Tomlin, Tomlin! FUCK!"
He threw down his comm in anger as he grabs his Mk 23, the giant zombie left off an earth-shaking roar as it charges at the 2 girls in front of it, ignoring Leon at the back.
"HEY!"
Leon tries to fire at the zombie, but the bullets are simply shrugged off,
"Charlotte! Get Churchill and Svetlana! I'll stall it until they come!"
Valentine raised her IWI Tavor assault rifle as she fired straight at the zombie's face, disorienting it.
"Churchill! We got a giant tank here at North East! It just came into the wall!"
Valentine rolled aside as the tank charged blindly towards her, narrowly avoiding ramming into her. Leon looked at the direction of the carnival, realizing that the entire ruckus has caused the residents to realize that there is a wall breach, and a scary looking monster, causing them to panic and started running away, screaming.
'Damn! Even if they know there is trouble it'll be impossible to go through this crowd!'
Valentine emptied the rest of her clip as she stood up again, quickly reloading the gun, as the giant zombie realized that it missed its mark, Valentine took aim at the zombie's head, only to realize that her shots didn't do much but make it angrier.
"Bloody hell..."
As the giant zombie charged at her again, another gunshot rang out behind them, it is Charlotte, holding her UMP45. This does not stop the armored giant though, as it continues to charge after Valentine, causing her to dodge its giant hands once again, but this time it managed to nick Valentine in the leg, causing her to fall over and roll aside.
"Ack!"
The hazel haired girl grabbed her leg in pain, the zombie took no time to celebrate though, as it turns around to deliver one last blow at Valentine, sending out a deafening roar, completely ignoring the combined fire of .45 and 7.62mm bullets. Before it reaches her though, she raised her guns and let off a burst of fire at the zombie's face, this time, however, it sounded more like cannon fire, and dust even rises from Valentine's feet as she pulled the trigger. The projectile struck right in the zombie's eye, smashing it into mush, it tripped over and fell, as Valentine jumped aside to dodge its rolling body. Wasting no time, Charlotte ran in and grabbed Valentine's hand as they reached for cover, Leon did the same, despite how he hates being useless, he has to retreat in order to stay alive as he knows stubbornness will not do him any good in this situation. They took cover near a shed, hiding themselves from the giant's view. Leon took cover behind a bunch of random stuff near the wall. He can narrowly see the two girls leaning against the shed, hoping that they will not be found. As the zombie regained its senses, it started to look around for its target, before realizing that they are long gone. It let off a predatory growl as it slowly walked forward, looking for its prey that escaped its claws three times. Leon can just manage to hear their hushed voices behind the shed, Charlotte is the first to speak.
"I've never seen a tank this tough..."
"I can just manage myself with a normal one, but this one is too much to take on by myself, you can already see that from my last shot..."
"We'll try to stall it with smoke?"
"Yeah, that'll buy us a little more time...it's not like it's in a hurry to go to town anyway..."
Valentine took out 2 grenades, he can see her pull out the pins as she stands ready, then charged out. As she ran out she rolled the 2 grenades towards the giant zombie, as they blew up, Leon realized that they are smoke grenades, each one of them laid down a surprisingly thick smoke, effectively covering up the area. Both Leon, Valentine and Charlotte took the chance to retreat while covered by the smoke, while the zombie is visibly confused. However, Leon never expected the action that is about to happen.
The zombie raised both its arms before bringing them down with an earth crushing force, roaring as though it wanted people from China to hear it. The shockwave generated by the force is strong enough to blow away the smokescreen and knocked them off their feet, Leon was quick to stand up and dived for the nearest cover, unfortunately for the rest of the girls that is in direct sight of the zombie, they are being charged on by a very angry giant. Valentine was the first to receive the blow, a punch that sent her off flying to a nearby wall, her back slammed into it so hard that Leon swear he saw cracks in the wall, Valentine screamed in pain as she received impact, before falling onto the ground, struggling to stand back up. Charlotte, however, was instead grabbed on and raised above the zombie's head as it let off a victory cry, drowning the screaming of the copper haired girl as she tries to break off, her weapon knocked off by the shockwave.
"LET ME GO!"
She took out a hunting knife as she stabs the zombie's fingers with it, but they failed to penetrate the extra hard calcium carbonate of the armored infected.
"VALENTINE! HELP ME..AAHH!"
The giant tightened its already crushing grip on the poor girl causing her to scream in pain, Leon couldn't stand being a bystander and watching a girl suffer anymore. Despite his gun being empty, he charges it with his K-BAR in hand, however, the towering infected simply kicked Leon aside as though it couldn't care less.
"VALENTINE! GAAHH!"
The infected left off an evil laugh and shakes its fist as it watches the helpless girl desperately squirm in its grip.
"Charlotte..."
As Leon got thrown away (extra hard) from his third (failed) attempt to get the zombie to let go, he saw Valentine is also desperately trying to stand up, but couldn't remain on 2 feet before falling down in pain again, staring helplessly as the zombie toyed with her friend.
"I'm sorry, Charlotte...I...can't..."
Just as Leon is going to charge it the fourth time. A flash went through his eyes and the next moment he felt chunks of calcium carbonate hitting his face, as he looked towards the direction the fire came from, he saw the 2 other girls from the café previously, sniper rifle in hand. Churchill, and Svetlana. They both look tired and has messy hair, a side effect from having to go through entire city worth of panicking people going the other direction. Churchill, if Leon recalled correctly, is the first to run ahead, closing the distance before screaming:
"PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE, YOU MINDLESS BRUTE!"
With such a volume he swear he heard 50 echoes of it.
The next moment he saw Svetlana giving Churchill the most what-the-fuck-have-you-done face Leon has ever seen. With one mighty roar of anger, the zombie threw Charlotte at the duo with all its might, but due to a missing eye, the projectile hit Svetlana instead, knocking her down as she tries to catch Charlotte. And with that, the giant started charging at Churchill, eyes red with blood (both metaphorically and literally), and all Churchill did is raise her AS50 sniper rifle and looks down the scope at the charging infected, just as it was about to leap towards Churchill, a loud crack of cannon fire rang out, and the infected's face is engulfed in a fireball. It was at this moment, Leon just realized.
They were tank girls.
The sniper simply side stepped and avoided the heavy thud of the zombie as it falls in front of her, unmoving. But the weird thing is, the armoured zombie's face seems to be unharmed, safe for a few burnt marks, but yet Leon can see blood coming out every nook and cranny in the zombie's face, telling Leon that the insides are pretty messed up. Churchill didn't stay long to admire her kill though (despite the kill isn't really worth admiring), she turned around and ran towards Valentine, who is still lying beside the wall she slammed into, and tried to help her. When he looked back at Svetlana, she is trying to comfort Charlotte as the cried in her shoulders.
As he stands up, he turned back to examine the breach, and check if any infected had heard all the noise. His eyes are met with a large crowd of inching ants, or more precisely, a huge group of infected, sprinting towards the breach from afar.
"Oh, fuck..."
As he turned back, he noticed that Churchill and Svetlana both saw what was happening. Churchill let off a long sigh before helping Valentine up (or at least, let her lean on a wall), then took out her HK MG 5 and cocks the gun, Svetlana did the same with her RPK-16, as they both stand side-by-side, ready to fire. Before they can pull the trigger, however, they heard a loud noise, the sound of a JET ENGINE. 3 jet aircraft soar through the air above them, one looks specifically designed for ground attack missions, as they both fly towards the army of zombies. They were flying so fast Leon couldn't even make out the model of the aircraft. Before they knew it, the huge army of zombies were replaced by fire and smoke as the aircraft let off their loads, incinerating everything caught in the flames that lit up the night sky.
"HELL FUCKING YEAH!"
Leon couldn't contain his excitement anymore as he threw his fists in the air, watching an air strike is always nothing short of spectacular, especially at night. What he never expected, is the jets decide to play Top Gun and flew back, at super low altitude, nearly hitting each other as they fly dangerously close, and they don't seem to have the idea of slowing down or climbing, instead they went head on into the city.
"Aww what the..."
Leon cursed as he jumped aside to dodge the aircrafts as they flew straight into the city, as though they have a death wish, and Leon watches as they fly over the tall walls, expecting to see a fireball of planes.
He did.
...Sort of.
The 3 aircrafts burst into flames in mid-air, and when the smoke cleared, he saw a familiar, tall shadow; what Leon presumed, the British captain from the café, holding her tricone hat with an outstretched hand as though she just caught it in the wind.
'Is she a ship girl!?' Leon thought with disbelieve, he had never known someone managed to summon a modern ship.
She put the hat back onto her head and tidied her messy hair, looks like she went through quite the crowd as well, and walked towards the rest of her team of tank girls, before she can say anything, their attention was caught by a loud
"HEY!"
It was Tomlin, alongside the rest of his platoon, fully armed, late for the party. Leon can feel the anger boil inside him as he tried his best not to knock out each one of Tomlin's teeth, as his EQ was busy on his fists, nothing was left to control his tongue.
"WHAT THE FUCK, TOMLIN, YOU SON OF A BITCH! DID YOU KNOW HOW MANY FUCKING TIME I TRIED TO CALL YOU! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU ASSHOLES ONTO THE ENTIRE FUCKING TIME?! HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE COULD FUCKING DIE BECAUSE YOU ALL DECIDE TO IGNORE MY CALLS!"
"HEY CUT IT LEON, THE CARNIVAL WAS SO LOUD WE CAN BARELY HEAR ANY OF YOUR COMM, PLUS WE WERE AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING CITY, HOW'D YOU EXPECT US TO GO THROUGH AN ENTIRE CROWD FULL OF PANICKING PEOPLE!?"
As the two commanders continue to argue with each other, the British ship girl whispered to the rest of her team.
"I think we'll leave it to them...Valentine, Charlotte, can you still walk?"
She looked at them with concern as she knelt down to be on eye level with them.
"I, uh...we can manage...thank you."
"Well...we'll talk about this as we..."
Her speech was cut short as she got hit by a grey bullet straight to the chest.
That is Yuudachi.
Followed by Harusame and Suzukaze as they tackled the British ship girl. Despite the rather large height difference, the combined force of 3 destroyers, plus Suzukaze which is literally hugging her legs (there are no more space to cling onto), causing her to lose balance and fall backwards.
"Oof!"
Valentine raised her gun in alarm upon seeing the ship girl getting tackled but the barrel was pressed down by Churchill, who glared at her sternly. Valentine sulked a little while keeping she disengaged the safe.
"I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU HORNET! POIIII!"
Both Leon and Tomlin, alongside the rest of his platoon turned towards the 3 destroyers.
Hornet?
"What...who is this?"
The ship girl Yuudachi called 'Hornet', was still slightly dazed out from the tackle, and sounded a little annoyed.
"Yuudachi-onee san, I don't think she recognizes us..."
"Who is..."
As the British shook off her dizziness, her eyes met with the red orbs of Yuudachi, the former widened in realization.
"Yuudachi..."
Yuudachi beamed in joy as she said:
"You remembered me! Poi!"
The British chucked lightly, and answered with a surprisingly accurate Japanese.
"Yes, I do, Yuudachi. I do. I can see you are still as hyperactive as the last time I met you, and I would very like you three to stop straddling me."
"Oops."
They realized that they are indeed, straddling the British, in a rather awkward way. They moved aside so the taller ship girl can stand up, dusting her skirt as she do so.
"Wow...did you spawn your planes from this?"
Suzukaze picked up the tricone hat that was knocked off during the tackling.
"Yes, they do, in fact. I can choose whether to launch one, two, or three planes, which is the most I can carry."
"I've always wanted to be a battlecruiser..."
Harusame looked at the white hat in envy.
"In fact, Harusame-chan, you can!"
The British knelt down and put her tricone hat on Harusame.
"There! From now on, your name is Battlecruiser Harusame!"
"Don't tease me like that!"
The rest of the ship girls laughed as Harusame goes red.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but, do you know each other?"
Leon steps in.
"Admiral! She is Britain's most advanced battlecruiser, HO..."
Yuudachi was silenced by the British's hand as she whispered into Yuudachi's ears.
"Yuudachi, you can't just speak my name out loud in public!"
"Its okay, Hornet, poi! You can trust our admiral! Plus, there isn't anyone around!"
And there isn't, which makes Leon want to give the head engineer a piece of his mind.
"Well..."
Hornet looked around her for a while, and sighed softly while standing up.
"My name is Hornet. The first Eurocruiser, and the first modern ship girl to be summoned by the Royal Navy."
Huh? Curious, he never heard of a Eurocruiser before.
"...Pleased to meet you, Mr?"
She raised an eyebrow while extending her hand, in which Leon shook.
"Leon, Leon Henderson, please just call me Leon, I'm not really used to the term Mr Henderson."
Hornet gave him a smile and turned to Tomlin.
"And you are?"
"Just Tomlin is fine."
"Then, pleased to meet you, Tomlin."
Now that Leon can get a closer look, he saw that the British has blue eyes that turns into green as it gets closer to the pupil, which Leon thinks looks really beautiful.
"Well..."
Hornet turned to the British tank girls as Svetlana with a smile,
"You ladies gonna introduce yourselves or you want me to do it?"
Churchill chuckled lightly and stepped in front.
"My name is Churchill, a Churchill heavy tank, my commander back in the war used to call me Airalyn. You can call me that too, if you feel like it."
She as well shook both Leon and Tomlin's hand.
"I have a question though, Airalyn. (For some reason, calling a girl Churchill sounds a little wrong to Leon). How did you manage to take the armoured zombie out with just an HE shell? I've never seen something like it before."
"Haha, it wasn't an HE shell...well, it is, but it is called a High-Explosive Squash Head shell, HESH for short. It has a soft head that gets squashed during impact. As it explodes, it creates a shock wave that is transmitted through the material, a high-stress zone is created in the metal, causing pieces of steel to be projected off the interior wall at high velocity."
Aha, no wonder the armoured infected looks fine on the outside.
"Alright, I get it now. Thank you Airalyn."
Svetlana is next to step in front.
"My name is Svetlana, IS-2 heavy tank. Pleased to meet you Leon, Tomlin."
She as well followed the previous girls' example and shook their hands.
"Svetlana? Svetlana from the 1st Class Guards?"
Alyona said out loud while she stares at Svetlana, wide-eyed.
"Yes? And you are?"
"Did you remember me? I'm Alyona!"
"Alyona..."
Svetlana's eyes widened in realization.
"Alyona...KV-2...2nd Guards brigade..."
"It's been so long, Captain!"
Alyona slung her rocket launcher on her back as she bear-hugged Svetlana.
"Yes, yes, it's long, Alyona...just, please...not so tight..."
Svetlana groaned as she struggles in the 550 horse-power grip of the heavy tank.
"Uhh...Alyona, I'm sorry. But, we're both in the same brigade, and I've never heard of her..."
Valeriya raised her hand a little to get Alyona's attention.
"Well..."
Svetlana put a hand on Alyona's shoulder.
"I'll explain, Alyona. Alyona and I were in the same squad when we first arrived. At the time, the officials wanted to summon all of the Guards before dividing them into brigades. I was the captain back then."
"It's no wonder she was the captain and was sent to 1st class Guards. She was even called Moscow's Warhead back then!"
Several of the German girls shuddered at the mention of Svetlana's nickname. They still remember the tales of the seemingly indestructible heavy tanks smashing every hull it comes across, leaving no survivors.
"It was an old one Alyona..."
"But it feels good just saying it!"
Svetlana simply sighed and shook her head.
Churchill nudged Valentine a little to get her attention.
"Go ahead, Valentine."
Valentine cleared her throat a little and stepped in front.
"I'm Valentine. Valentine Mk XI infantry tank, and uh...thanks...for, trying to help us back there. Really appreciated it."
"No problem, but it feels really fucking bad not to be able to do any damage on that son-of-a-bitch."
Valentine simply smiled lightly at Leon and nods. All eyes are set on Charlotte now, her eyes still slightly red.
"Oh, uhh...hello. My name is Charlotte, it was given to me as a codename during the war, I'm a Daimler Armoured Car."
Just as Charlotte finished her sentence, they heard footsteps as the soldiers begin to come in and assessed the damage on the walls.
"I thought they'll never come. Now they got here, I think we can leave now."
Hornet said while observing the busy soldiers. She took out a golden pocket watch from her coat and flipped open the stylishly carved cover.
"In fact, I think I have to leave now. I have a flight to..."
Her speech was cut off by the sound of loudspeakers throughout the city.
"Due a breach at the Northern walls, all flights at San Diego Airport will be delayed until tomorrow. The Ministry of San Diego Defense and San Diego Airport officials would like to apologies for all the inconvenience caused."
"Ah bugger. Looks like my flight is due tomorrow."
"Does that mean Hornet-san can stay with us, poi?"
Yuudachi looked at Leon with the best puppy eyes she can give. Leon was immediately defeated by the destroyer.
"I, uh, I'll talk to Phoebe about that and I'll see what I can do. The apartment we currently have here is getting a little cramped."
The enemy has been eliminated, engaging next target.
"Hornet-san, you would stay with us right?"
Yuudachi clung onto Hornet giving her the same, huge, glassy eyes that one-shotted a Commander from Delta Force, and yet the battlecruiser managed to keep her composure (with an iron will).
"About that..."
Hornet looked at the rest of her crew, Churchill and Svetlana smiled and nodded, and she got an "Okay." and a shrug from the other two. Hornet sighed lightly and felt a tug on her lips again.
"Alright Yuudachi, we'll stay."
"WA-IIIIII!"
"BANZAIIII!"
The Japanese destroyers cheered simultaneously as they clung onto Hornet, causing her to lose balance and fall down on her butt again. Earning a laugh from everyone present.
"Uhh, I have a question, Hornet-san."
Furutaka spoke as they walked through the abandoned carnival. The distinctive clicks of Hornet's steel boots echoes through the empty stalls.
"Yes?"
"When exactly, are you laid down? Because the last time I check, the Royal Navy don't have a ship named Hornet."
"About this...let's just say, I was never commissioned properly. The infection broke out before I was completed, and with the zombies running wild all over the place, no one was left to take care of me. I sank in my own dock, due to irresponsible zombie crewmen."
"Oh...I'm sorry..."
Furutaka looked down at the ground with guilt, she didn't mean to remind her on how she died. Hornet put a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.
"its okay, Furutaka. I'm fine."
"How are you not known to the world yet, though? The Royal Navy building a large warship should've been big fucking news."
Tomlin asked,
"You see, a very large part of my construction is classified, and only known to the highest ranking Naval officials throughout the world. My hull, turret, some of the weapon systems, and engines are all built in different countries throughout Europe, some parts in Japan as well. Only several of the experimental missiles and torpedoes are announced to the world. When Yuudachi, Harusame and Suzukaze visited, only my hull, turret, and superstructure was completed, many are still in the works. I was planned to be announced to the world this year, because I am becoming a little too hard to hide, but the disease broke out before they had the chance."
"Wow...when admiral brought us there, I'm not even sure you had a soul yet..."
Suzukaze thought out loud.
"Every ship has a soul, Suzukaze. Same goes to the smaller ones such as corvettes and patrol boats, as well as ground, and air units. Their soul comes alive as soon as their hull or main structure is completed, you girls came just in time."
"You can tell us about all your torpedoes and missiles right? The last time I went, admiral won't let me know more, you will, right?"
Yuudachi held the hand of the battlecruiser excitedly, and she chuckled softly back.
"Of course, Yuudachi. My design is mainly to locate, track, and take a target out at long range. I was built as a mobile missile platform to assist ground units, and to scare the bloody North Koreans back to their hidey holes. The engineers thought that they would want to cramp as much ammunition and weapons into my hull as possible, thus the "Iceberg" design, meaning that my hull expands and widens out underwater, somewhat like a pyramid, this can increase the stability significantly, and makes lots of space. However, that also means, except for the bow, important components and the superstructure, every other part has little to no armour. With the large space I have, they have fitted me with several types of torpedoes, and 14 types of offensive missiles, and defensive systems which I kind of lost count, some are still in testing stage. I can fire them from the smoothbore main gun, or an independent launcher. I am a combined work from technologies of multiple world leaders, and was built for the global anti-terrorism act. You might still remember that, the biggest anti-terrorism campaign in history, and nearly all capable countries participated, even the Russian Federation."
"Wow...you must've been unbeatable with 14 types of missiles..."
Harusame looked at Hornet in envy. In which Hornet just smiled.
"I am not unbeatable, Harusame, with the correct armament, I can be easily taken down by a well-placed shot to the unarmoured lower areas. That's why they ordered the 2 of my sisters."
"You have 2 sisters!? What are their names? Can we meet them, poi!?"
Yuudachi jumped at the mention of 2 other Hornet class battlecruisers.
"Haha, that is a story for another day, Yuudachi."
"Come on! Tell me, pleeeaaasssseeee?"
Yuudachi gave her the largest puppy eye than Leon has ever seen, he could swear he saw the universe in it.
"Nuh-uh, Yuudachi. That trick won't work on me twice."
The rest of their journey back to the safety bunker pretty much consists of a constantly pleading destroyer and an abnormally adamant battlecruiser.
2130 hours, clear night.
"Here, this one should hold all of you fine, and you can view the sea from here!"
Phoebe led Leon & Co to their new apartment to cope with the space issue, and the tank girls seem to love it very much.
"Thanks a lot Phoebe, really appreciated it."
"Anything for my big 'ol cousin. And, uhh, I have some other stuff to attend to right now, so here's the key. And Hornet, it's been a great pleasure to meet you!"
"Me too, Phoebe. Me too."
They both waved goodbye as Phoebe left them. When Leon turned back, he can see the all the girls fighting over their rooms, and he face palmed.
"Would you girls pick your rooms in peace!"
"We'll have this one!" Valeriya and Alyona announced loudly, as they entered their room, Svetlana in tow.
"The bed is so soft..."
Valeriya immediately fell down on the bed like anyone would after getting a new room.
"It has a pretty view on the city as well..."
Alyona leaned on the windowsill, and Svetlana joined in later.
"Yep...looks beautiful...reminds me of what Moscow used to be..."
"Me too..."
The Russians' attention was brought to the door as they heard a knock. The door opened to show Churchill poking her head in as they stared at each other for a while.
"Uhh, am I interrupting?"
"No, no, you are not. What is it?"
Valeriya responded to Churchill's question.
"Oh, I'm here just to check if there are still empty rooms, looks like this one is taken."
Churchill gave them a small smile as she muttered under her breath.
"Looks like I'll be sleeping on the sofa..."
What she didn't know, is that Svetlana can already tell from Churchill's eyes that she is disappointed.
"You can join us if you want, Churchill. Any friend of Svetlana is a comrade of ours."
Valeriya said while tapping beside her on the bed.
"It's alright, Valeriya. I'm good."
Though, before Churchill can go, her hand was grabbed on by Svetlana, and she turned back to meet the steely blue eyes of the Russian.
"I insist, Churchill. We all had our fair share on sleeping on bricks for the past month."
"But you only have one bed in your room...and the sofa is actually pretty comfy."
"It's a large bed, Churchill, I'm sure we can fit 4."
Several moments later, Churchill let of a tiny sigh and a small chuckle, as she was finally convinced to join the Russians in their room.
2155 hours, clear night
Chiyoko walked quietly towards Hornet, who was gazing at the ocean view.
"Uhh...Hornet-san..."
Hornet turned around to see Chiyoko standing behind her. She noticed that Hornet had a cup of tea in her hands, and she was wearing much more casually than she was before. Her coat and tie were hanging on a hook nearby.
'Looks like it's pretty uncomfortable wearing that tie all day.' Chiyoko thought.
"Yes, Chiyoko?"
"I uhh, can I take a look at your sword please? I can't help but feel attracted to it..."
Chiyoko points at Hornet's sword, the scabbard was black and has beautiful golden trimmings around it, and her name, HMS HORNET on it in gold as well. The entire blade glowed in the moonlight and seemed to let off an aura of nobility, and power.
"I feel like, there is a soul in this blade...a powerful spirit..."
Hornet chuckled lightly at the remark, and unhooked the sword from her belt. Before she unsheathed it, revealing the silver, long, straight sword inside.
"This sword came along my summoning and my cap as well. They are basically, the things that represent me as a Hornet class battlecruiser. They represent the strength, will, and honour as one of the battlecruisers built to bring peace to the world, maybe it's that you are seeing."
"Wow...can I see it?"
"Sure."
As she held the razor-sharp sword with both her hands as she was mesmerised by it, if you compare the scabbard to a fireworks show, the sword would be the equivalent of a full powered blast from the Starkiller Base. The blade features a gold-plated brass hilt, white fish-skin grip and a brass pommel in the form of a lion, it also had Hornet's name etched on it, as well as several beautiful patterns on the blade, all etched so deep she can nearly feel it with her fingertips. Chiyoko also saw a thin slit on the blade near the tip, and it seems to have a tiny flap on it as well.
"Hornet-san...what does this do?"
Chiyoko pointed at the slit.
"Hmm...I think it would be better for me to demonstrate what it does."
She took the sword from Chiyoko's hands as she stands ready. Then let off 4 quick swing with the sword. Each time she swings, the air flows through the slit and causes the flap to vibrate at high speed, and the sword buzzed at each swing, just like a hornet in flight.
"Wow...that's so cool! Can I try it?"
Chiyoko said excitedly, she would never pass up a chance to try out a sword, especially one like this.
"Of course."
Chiyoko took the sword with both hands as she swung it two times, with the sword buzzing each swing. Chiyoko can nearly feel the vibration of the sword each time it buzzes.
"Sugoi-ne..."
"Be careful though, Chiyoko-chan."
Chiyoko turned to the battlecruiser, there is something in Hornet's tone that she couldn't quite make out. Hornet bent down and whispered into Chiyoko's ear.
"She doesn't like strangers..."
Chiyoko gulped, even with her skill in Japanese swordsmanship, she still feels that this sword should not be taken lightly by anyone.
"Uhh, thank you Hornet-san. I think it's better for me to return it."
Chiyoko handed the sword back to Hornet, which laughed lightly at Chiyoko's reaction.
0112 hours, drizzly night
Valentine leaned on the windowsill silently. She woke up with a dry mouth and now she had a hard time sleeping again. So she decided to just admire the city view while she bores herself out. Even in midnight, she can still see lights in some houses and cars moving through the city. Her mind wandered aimlessly for some time before she heard footsteps behind her. As she turned around, Alheid comes into view.
"Uh...do you mind?"
Alheid pointed at the chair beside Valentine.
"No, not at all. Go ahead."
Alheid gave her a small smile and sat down as they both gazed into the city, hearing the steady rhythm of rain tapping on the glass.
"Why aren't you sleeping with your friends?"
Valentine asked a few moments later, her eyes still wanders the city view.
"Well, I was actually being kicked off the bed. Literally, and I have trouble sleeping again."
They both chuckled at Alheid's story.
"Me too. I woke up to get some water, and I can't sleep again for some reason."
They both stared aimlessly through San Diego for a while, observing the distant walls with an awkward silence between them. Alheid is the first to break it.
"Valentine, are you ok?"
"Huh?"
"Are you ok, Valentine? You don't look really well."
Alheid looked at Valentine with concern in her eyes, she had only known her for a couple hours but she already thinks that they are her friends.
"I'm fine, Alheid...thanks..."
Alhied sighed while she puts her hand on Valentine's shoulder.
"I can see from your eyes that you are not fine. You are worried. Is everything okay? You can tell me, everyone else is asleep and I know how to keep secrets."
Valentine stared into Alheid's eyes for a while before looking around the apartment, she can see Charlotte sleeping on the couch, in which feels more like a bed thanks to her small stature, Hornet is sleeping on the sofa, how she managed to sleep upright is beyond Valentine. Turning back into the city view, she spoke.
"I missed my other friends..."
Without taking her eyes off the window, Valentine continued talking. The rain became heavier.
"We were put in the same squad during the initial sortie. After they've cleared Bury St Edmunds, Portsmouth, Richborough and some other important cities, we are split up, regrouped and sent to Europe and America. Most of my old squad were sent to HafenCity, Hamburg. They've lost contact with the command centre several days ago. That's why I'm worried."
"I see..."
They both kept silent before Alheid put both her hands on Valentine's shoulders, taking her by surprise a little.
"It's okay, Valentine. We have some of Germany's best soldiers in HafenCity, including Erwin Rommel's own desert corps, they'll help your squad to return home safely, trust them. I'm pretty sure the rest of your squad won't go down easily too, will they?"
Valentine stared into Alheid's eyes for a moment before her lips curved upwards into a smile.
"No, they won't...thank you Alheid, I feel much better now..."
"No problem Valentine."
They both spent the rest of their nights gazing at the city lights as the rain keeps on falling.
0801 hours, drizzly morning
Valentine woke up with a blanket around her shoulders as she realised she is snuggling into her seat, looks like this rainy night is particularly cold, she can still feel her hands shivering slightly in her jacket. Looking aside, she can also see a blanket on Alheid as well. Charlotte doesn't seem to need any cover whatsoever, which is odd since she is wearing fewer clothes than Valentine did.
Just a moment later, Charlotte stirred in her sofa (bed), she yawned and stretched as she rose.
"Good morning, Valentine..."
"Good morning, Charlotte...how are you not freezing? It's really chilly here..."
"You'd think I'd get used to the cold after staying so long in north Africa, temperatures sometimes drop below freezing if things got particularly nasty."
Charlotte shrugged and gave Valentine a toothy grin.
"Hmm..."
The two British girls noticed that Alheid is awake as well.
Alheid stretched in her seat, then immediately regretted the decision.
"My god, it's cold here..."
It wasn't soon before she noticed the blanket that was covering her moments ago. She looked at Valentine, who just shrugged. They both then looked at Charlotte, who raised both her hands and said:
"Don't look at me like that, I just woke up. Maybe it's Churchill or Svetlana, they wake early."
They both got up from their "bed", and decided to go to the dining room. When they arrive there, they saw Hornet and Churchill sitting on either side of the table, both reading the newspaper and has a cup of steaming tea in their hands. Hornet noticed their presence first.
"Good morning, ladies."
"Good morning."
The trio answered in unison.
"Why don't you three sit down and warm yourselves up with some tea?"
Churchill said next while she filled up 3 empty cups with tea.
"Thanks, Churchill."
They sat down on the table and took a sip each.
"Wow...I had tea before but this is different...it tastes really good."
Alheid said while taking another sip, the tea making her feel warm and fuzzy inside, a much welcomed feeling in the cold morning.
"Of course it does, I made them myself!"
Churchill boasted proudly.
Just as the group is talking and laughing together, Leon and Tomlin walked into the dining room, the Russian, German and Japanese tank/ship girls in tow.
"Alheid, where have you been last night?"
Erika asked while tidying her messy orange hair.
"I'd thought you'll notice me on the floor when you kicked me off the bed."
Alheid just said coldly while glaring at the heavy artillery. Several of the other German girls punched Erika in the arm while she apologized quietly. They spent their next few minutes chatting, before they were interrupted by the sound of the door opening, with Svetlana entering the door.
"There you are, captain. I'm starting to wonder where have you been."
"I just went for a walk, Alyona...and please, just Svetlana. I'm not the captain anymore."
"Zzz..."
Their attention was stolen by Valeriya, dozing off, while snoring lightly. She was then taken up by Alyona's elbow to her arm.
"Oh...sorry...feels extra sleepy lately..."
Her eyelids closed again right after her apology.
Svetlana chuckled at her sleepy comrade.
"I know exactly what to wake you up."
She pulled out a bottle of clear liquid from underneath her cloak and poured some into a small glass.
"Ooh..."
Alyona's eyes widened in realization. Svetlana put the glass in front of Valeriya as she stared at it for a while, too sleepy to identify the content, she emptied the liquid straight down her throat with a gulp, and then her eyes went from sleepy to shock.
"Ooh...it's been a while since I had alcohol..."
Svetlana chuckled as she poured herself a glass as well.
"Definitely, I hand-picked them."
She downed the shot just like Valeriya did, but turned out fine, unlike the now dizzy Valeriya who is giggling uncontrollably. Several of the other girls giggled as well, watching the drunk Russian.
"You want some, Alyona?"
"Uhh, no thank you..."
Alyona looked back at her own cup of tea, she still remembered having a drinking contest with Svetlana before, with her "hand-picked vodka", she couldn't last 3 shots.
"Well, you girls have your fun here, me and Tomlin are gonna get you all some breakfast, we have a long day ahead of ourselves."
"Count me out, Leon."
Hornet spoke, her attention finally off the newspaper and onto her golden watch. She then drags a (surprise, surprise) white luggage bag along her as she walks out of the room.
"I've arranged another flight this morning to England, I have to leave now if I want to catch the flight."
"EHH!? YOU ARE LEAVING SO EARLY!?"
The Japanese destroyers exclaimed loudly at the news. Hornet sighed silently as she explained.
"I am needed back at Europe for a meeting. The admiral will try to reposition the ship girls across the world according to their priorities. Plus, I have to escort an officer back here."
The Japanese girls pouted in reaction. Hornet just smiled lightly as she bent down to pat Yuudachi's head.
"It's okay, I promise I'll be back."
"Promise, Hornet-san?"
"Promise."
The destroyers beamed and hugged Hornet, who was stuck in an awkward position.
"Haha, alright, alright."
Hornet straightened and adjusted her tie.
"What about Svetlana and the rest? Will they be staying with us?"
Alyona asked while raising her hand.
"Well, about that, you'll have to ask Leon, and Tomlin, they are the ones in charge after all."
All their eyes are now set on Leon and Tomlin and they felt the pressure immediately.
"Uhh, sure. Having some new members in the platoon is always welcomed."
"Of course, I'm fine with that too."
Hornet then turned towards the rest of her girls, who all nodded. Hornet cracked her signature half-smile and turned towards Leon.
"Alright Leon, Tomlin, my girls will be under your command upon my departure, please take care of them nicely."
She then turned towards the British girls and Svetlana, but not before giving Leon and Tomlin a look that spells 'You two better not fuck up, or else' which sends a chill down Leon's spine.
"Ladies, Leon and Tomlin will be your commander while I am gone. I expect you all to behave, I don't want to hear any unpleasant news while I'm not around, and I am pretty sure you won't want me to hear them either."
'Looks like Hornet-san can be stern when she needs to...'
Harusame looked at the tall British battlecruiser.
'I might need to remind Yuudachi-onee san to stop acting too immature towards Hornet-san, she could be really scary when angry...'
"With that said, I'll be heading off to the airport now, pleasure to meet you all."
She pulled up the handles of her bag and headed out of the door. But she stopped halfway, turning back to look at the girls with a rather dramatic expression on her face.
"Aww, you girls not gonna say a last goodbye at the airport?"
Churchill chuckled at Hornet's sudden change of expression.
"I thought you'd never ask."
The rest of the British girls decide to follow Hornet, as well as the Russians, and the Japanese. Leon looked back at the Germans, and gestured them to follow.
"Come on, let's go say goodbye to Hornet."
Hornet let off a satisfied smile and continued out of the door, with the rest of the room in tow.
"Commander...why are people all looking at us?"
"Well, it's not common to see a bunch of little girls walking around with guns, and some of you are carrying a rocket launcher."
Noel pouted, "I'm a tank, not a little girl...".
Leon chuckled, "I know, Noel, but the others don't. They only see what they see."
And this very reason, has attracted many unwanted attention.
Halfway through their journey, they heard a rough voice behind them.
"Stop right there."
They all stopped at the sound of guns cocking. As they turned, they were met with 3 guys with AKS-74U carbines, all have their barrels trained on the group. Leon groaned.
'Will these thugs ever fucking be gone!? They'd be far useful if they assigned to the army!'
Leon was about to pull out his gun before he heard a chuckle in front of them. A large and very muscular man, what Leon presumed, is the leader of the pack approached Hornet.
"Well, well, look what we have here, we're in luck boys!"
"Most of these are little girls anyways!"
One of the guys holding an AKS-74U said. Noel rolled her eyes.
"Open your eyes, dumbass! Don't you see that chick in front?"
This time it's Hornet's turn to roll her eyes.
"I'm sorry sir, but we are in a hurry. Go waste someone else's time."
Hornet was going to walk past them but was stopped by the leader who held Hornet's shoulders with both hands.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down there hot sauce, what's the hurry?"
Hornet sighed and answered with a threatening tone.
"I'll only say this once, get out."
The leader doesn't seem to take it seriously as he laughed loudly.
"Hahahaha, I don't think you understand the situation here, whore. What 'cha gonna do!? Smother me between your b..."
The thug was so busy looking at...elsewhere, he didn't notice the incoming warhead...that is a left fist, by a very, very angry Hornet. The leader is a 2m tall steroid junkie who can bench press 180kg, but that amount of strength was puny compared to the 190 mW nuclear reactors of the battlecruiser, the force lifted the 100kg man into the air and emptied his breakfast onto the ground. Just as he was falling, he was caught by Hornet, who effortlessly lifted him above her shoulders and slammed him onto the asphalt, hard. The rest of the thugs were taken aback by the fact that their leader was taken down in mere seconds. That small hesitation allowed Churchill and Svetlana to act quickly and took down the other 2 man. Churchill gave the man on the left a painful blow to the side with her knee, before knocking him out cold with a mean roundhouse kick to the jaw. Svetlana instead took out her rifle from underneath her coat and slammed the stock into the man standing the right side, before bringing it up to perform a rifle upper cut, disorienting the man, she then swung the gun back, lifted it up and brought it down like a battle axe, rendering the thug unconscious. The third thug standing at the back was standing there watching the whole ordeal, shaking in fear. As they all turned their eyes onto him he dropped his gun and fled, unknowing to him, Svetlana raised her rifle and looked down the scope. She opened fire. Dust rose from where she stood as a giant fireball came out of the rifle barrel, like an IS-2 unleashing it's 122mm warhead onto the enemy. However, no warhead came from the barrel, she merely fired a blank. Despite having no shell whizzing the thug's way, he was so terrified by the sound of cannon fire he immediately ducked and rolled, then never getting up, just lying there hugging his head. Svetlana let off an amused smirk.
"Coward..."
The rest of the girls don't have time to laugh at the terrified thug as the next moment their leader stood up and pulled out 2 kukri machetes, four other thugs armed with a large machete are also charging them from both sides, Chiyoko reacted quickly and drew her katana, quickly disarming the two thugs on the right by slashing at their hands, then turning behind them to delivers a quick cut to their Achilles tendons, and they dropped with a scream of pain. Hornet reacted fast as well by kicking the leader straight into the stomach again, sending him several metres back, the two other machete-wielding men are surprised by their leader being kicked away like a doll, Hornet took the chance to draw her sword, and delivered two swings at the thugs, one each. The edge sliced cleanly through their flesh, disarming both of them, and the loud buzzing the sword gave while in motion has stuck fear into the two men, causing them to run away despite receiving little injuries.
"GRR, COME 'ERE!"
The infuriated leader roared loudly at Hornet before charging at her blindly like an armoured zombie, kukris in hand. Before he managed to swing even once, his stomach was once again greeted by Hornet's steel boot, before he can regain his footing however, both of his kukris were met with a loud clash of steel, sparks of burning metal emitted from the blades as they were cut in half by Chiyoko's katana, and Hornet's sword. Before he knew it, his neck was sandwiched between the katana and the sword before the first spark reaches the ground. They stood there as their swords threatened to remove his head with one swift motion, both of his kukris are cut into two and he had no way to escape, he was completely at their mercy. He dropped both of his weapons and raised his hands, for the first time in his life, he felt true fear. They stood there, staring at each other for another few more moments before Hornet withdrew her sword, and brought it back into the man's neck. The blunt steel impacted with the back of his neck, and the force caused him to black out, he fell to the ground, taken down for the first time in his "career". Hornet took out a handkerchief from her coat pocket and used it to clean the blood stains from the blade. They can barely hear Hornet whisper to herself.
"Filthy lowlife creatures...bloody useless..."
When Hornet felt satisfied, she put the handkerchief back into her pocket and sheathed her sword. She turned her head back to look at the rest of the girls behind her, her grim face still remaining.
"Let's keep walking. I still have a flight to catch."
Wasting no time, she turned back and started walking in a faster pace than before.
'Looks like I really have to remind Yuudachi-onee san not to make her angry...'
San Diego Airport, 9005 hours, slightly cloudy morning
"Looks like we are just in time for boarding."
Hornet said while snapping the lid of her pocket watch shut. They are now standing at the gate, normally this will not be allowed, but the airport officials made an exception for them, several security officers are also sent to escort and keep an eye on them.
"Good afternoon passengers. This is the pre-boarding announcement for flight 110E to Suffolk..."
The flight attendant's voice rang through the intercoms, followed by the sound of passengers standing up.
"So, I guess we'll have to separate here, because I'm sure Mr Security Officers will not allow it."
Hornet gave the rest of group a small salute, in which they gladly returned.
"I'll miss you ladies lots."
"We'll miss you too Hornet."
Svetlana answered with a large smile, the smile in which Hornet gladly returned.
"I know you girls would..."
With that, Hornet walked towards the entrance, leaving the group behind. As they watch Hornet enter the airplane, Leon checks his watch.
"It's almost over 9010 now..."
"So..."
Leon spoke to get the girls' attention.
"First of all, I'd like to welcome Airalyn, Svetlana, Valentine and Charlotte into our platoon here, and..."
Leon left a little bit of suspense.
"...who's ready for breakfast?"
The next few moments consists of girls cheering loudly and several, very stern security officers.
***AN line***
Phew, that is one big chapter to work with.
This author notes session contains some extra info about the new OCs introduced in the chapter. As well as some reasoning behind some of my decisions.
The personalities of my OCs are pretty much displayed throughout the story, the British girls and Svetlana are usually well mannered, and won't cause much trouble, they seem carefree most of the time, but turns dead serious in combat, thanks to Hornet. Here are their individual info.
Churchill "Airalyn" - Churchill heavy tank (Mk VII, Mk VIII, Crocodile and 165mm demolition gun)
Churchill, or Airalyn, is considered the leader or caretaker of her squad while Hornet isn't around, she is left handed. In case you haven't noticed, she is very good friends with Svetlana. She received a total of 3 modifications, including the "Crocodile" during the war and the 165mm demolition gun modification before her decommissioning, significantly increasing her firepower. Thanks to her many modifications, she can be very versatile, she prefers to use her Ordnance QF 95mm cannon (Churchill Mk VIII) most of the time, but when the situation gets sticky, she can take out her 165mm demolition gun and give 'em the big 'ol Boom.
Svetlana - IS-2 heavy tank
Svetlana was awarded the military honour "Guard" whilst back in the Battle of Moscow and later, Berlin. Her commander's aggressive tactics in the battlefield earned her the nickname Moscow's Warhead. She retained the ferocity of her commander upon her summoning, and that is the main reason she a part of the 1st Class Guards, the best of Russia's most elite tank girls. After Russia reclaimed Sosnoviy Bor (for the nuclear power plants) and some of the Black Sea region (wheat), she was sent to help other European countries in recovering. Russia is successful in reclaiming most of their land as they are dealing with frozen zombies.
Valentine - Valentine Infantry Tank (Mk X, Mk XI)
Valentine was considered the main firepower source of her squad, in contrast to her heavier teammates' slow firing gun, her Ordnance QF 6-pounder and Ordnance QF 75mm can fire faster, and she has more mobility, with the cost of thinner armour. She was also fitted with 2 smoke grenade launchers in the war. She is excellent in flanking maneuvers, as well as a very good aim with her gun. She served in many of the major late-war theatres, thus having many combat experiences.
Charlotte - Daimler Armoured Car (field codename: Charlie)
Despite her young appearance, she is actually the most experienced member of her group, having served in nearly all major theatres throughout the entire war, she excels in reconnaissance, combat strategies and tactics. Being the girl with the lightest armour of all, she will have to rely on her speed to get out of sticky situations or her teammates to keep her safe if her QF 2 pounder gun is not enough.
Eurocruiser Hornet - Name ship of the Hornet class battlecruisers
Hornet is a ship I designed in my spare time, and my designs tend to be entirely fictional, therefore many of her weapons and systems don't even exist (yet), this story's version of Hornet is toned down a bit, because the original is very overpowered and too expensive to build in real life (even this Hornet would cost a giant fortune), she is a Eurocruiser, which is a cruiser that does not belong to any particular navy, but a combined project by European countries (and Japan). She has 2 twin barreled smoothbore gun turrets with a diameter of 381mm, they can act as a traditional naval cannon, or a missile launcher. The turret is located in the front while 36 anti-ship cruise missiles are packed tightly and neatly in the back of the superstructure.
With her vast array of weaponry, she also comes with many disadvantages, she had little to no armour at all, and she is full of explosives, she is also very, very heavy for a cruiser. Therefore, they planned 2 other Hornet class battlecruisers to assist Hornet in operations, and protect her in closer ranges, but they are a story for another day.
Even in ship girl mode, she usually won't summon her equipment unless she absolutely needs to, she is aware that without directly arming her riggings at the port, summoning them straight from England will spend a lot of fuel, or in her case, exhausting her energy bank, putting more stress on her reactors to keep her efficient in battle. Furthermore, rearming and refueling her requires a lot of resources, which is exactly what humanity is lacking now. Fortunately, her airplanes can still be used as they can be refueled multiple times before needing to replenish her tanks, which is much cheaper than refueling herself. She summons them by throwing her hat into the air, in which it will burst into flames before turning into the airplanes.
She is usually cheerful and kind, but as Harusame said, she can be very strict if she needs to, and an angry Hornet is nothing to look forward to. She is also left-handed, much like Churchill, but has no problem wielding her sword either hand. She also has a strange liking towards nuts, like all of them, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds and such, there's no reason behind it, she just likes them.
I will put up a download link for some more detailed info about the ship in the next few chapters or so.
***Extras***
Here is some of my reasoning for some decisions in made in the story, they are mainly just explanations and is not very important, so it's your choice to read it.
The reason in taking back Richborough, Portsmouth and Bury St Edmunds, partly because Portsmouth is an important naval city, but also food and power, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk is a nice little market town, so you can expect lots of farms around it, and Richborough is the link for the world's third biggest offshore wind farm (Thanet wind farm), relatively safe from zombies. Moreover, you know how wet South East Britain is, wet climate equals faster decomposition of zombies, which means they turn into mush faster, the warmer weather starts in June as well. Power is also the reason why Valentine's old squad was sent to HafenCity. HafenCity is the main headquarters for some of Germany's bigger wind farms (offshore).
The reason Hornet's squad is sent to San Diego, well, that's the only operational military base in America as far as I can see from the story, and the British's priorities are mainly to get into contact with other countries after they retake some of their more important cities, assess the situation Europe is in. So far, the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland are helping each other to recover, Russia is mostly managing themselves (they have a lot of land to liberate). Conditions in Asian countries such as China, India or Japan is still not yet known, but things will get easier for them the longer they can hold themselves up (hot, wet climate = zombies liquefy faster), if they can survive the initial horde, that is (Population!).
If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me at RANDOM-P4, that's it for now.
Still a big thanks to RANDOM. I initially had an idea for Churchill, but I guess I can't quite fight over her, cause I did say you could make any characters. Oh well I'll list out the list of girls that are used so far and would probably appear later on or so. I don't know when but it'll be there someday.
Panzerkampfwagen IV H "Noel"- medium tank
Panzerkampfwagen VI "Erwin" – heavy tank
Type 3 Chi-Nu "Chiyoko"- medium tank
Kliment Voroshilov 2 "Alyona"- heavy tank
T-34/76 "Valeriya"- medium tank
Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind "Alhied"- SPAA
Morser Karl "Erika"- SPG
In the future:
M4A3E8 "Sophia"- medium tank
Jagdtiger "Fritz"- Tank Destroyer
ISU-152 "Marina"- Tank destroyer
M3 & M5 Stuart "Alexi & Natalie"- Light tank
USS Atlanta- Light Cruiser
Well other than these, characters, I guess the others are free for you all to make up. Oh well, I'll leave the rest up to you all. As usual I'll see you all in the next chapter.
-Lenju II