It had only been a day in Florennes, and Tui was already feeling anxious. She wanted more than anything to just have the newly re-formed 512 just perform drills, re familiarize themselves with each other, reform old tactics, and form new ones, and slowly build up her confidence in them and in herself as commander.
Heinrike threw a wrench in those plans.
She was adamant the 512 and 3rd squadron should have a practice dogfight.
Tui understood the point of facing off the squadrons against each other, but she was afraid that throwing the 512 into conflict so soon would undermine the whole point of the exercise. She wasn't aware how good or cohesive the 3rd squadron actually was, and she was afraid the Belgicans would simply become vindicated in their isolationist mentality.
She eventually relented, and on only the Second day of the 512th reformation, they would face off against another squadron.
Not all of them though.
Six witches would fly the flag for the 3rd squadron; Jeanne Offenberg, the stubborn, jaded and infinitely beautiful talisman with her Spitfire striker, Remy Van Lierde, the young shadow to Jeanne, flying her Hurricane striker. Looking at the old thing made Tui feel a sudden pang of nostalgia, but it also made her realize how obsolete the weapons they carried were. She felt even sorrier for the Belgicans. Victorique Ortmans had her Liberion built Martlet striker. Brittania had used those previous, renaming it Martlet form its original name, Wildcat. It was a hand-me-down handed down. Rounding up the Belgicans was Francine Auguste with an even older Spitfire than Jeanne's the Mk.I
Among the Belgicans were the two Foreigners, Mika Zursk, former 512 with her Karlsland BF-109 and Giovanna Ravelli, the Romagnan with her MC205.
Ryuujou had brought many parts and supplies for the Belgicans with her, it was nowhere near what they wanted, or needed but it was enough that the strikers were at their most presentable in a long time. Even if they were obsolete compared to the 512's, this could still be a fair fight.
Tui decided to match numbers with the 3rd squadron; she elected 6 witches to face Heinrike's charges.
The most senior witches she'd allow to fly were Mattia Garcia, with her P-47, Renee Puoyade with a striker she'd only received after Liberating Malta, the Yak-3, and Sam Rechkalov with another new striker, a P-63, which looked mostly identical to her old P-39.
Alongside them were the Raiden equipped pairing of Akamatsu Atsuko and Itou Madoka, with Eerika Lehtinen rounding up the selection.
Tui, Crystal, Veronica, and Fernandia would be grounded for this battle. They stood next to Heinrike as the combatants prepared to launch.
"Are you sure it's ok cutting out most your senior witches?" Heinrike asked Tui.
"This is about training. I want to shore up my weakest links first" Tui replied stubbornly.
Heinrike was partially pleased that Tui adamantly stuck to her own philosophy and choices but was afraid of losing control of the 3rd squadron if they walked all over the 512.
Even Heinrike could not predict how the 3rd would perform. They had been wildly inconsistent in training since she'd arrived. It was partially because of their strikers, but mostly because of Jeanne. Her influence on them was simply unmatched.
Heinrike decided on the rules of engagement. The two groups would fly away from each other for a period of time, and then double back, in formation, guns blazing.
A short time after they took off, Heinrike removed her eye patch to follow the two groups using her magic eye.
The 3rd flew a Finger four formation. Jeanne was Flight lead, with Remy as her Wingman; Victorique was Element lead, with Francine as her wingman. Mika and Giovanna flew top cover, some distance above the finger four. Heinrike knew the truth though. They were simply ignored and flew top cover of their own volition.
The 512 was much more cohesive. They flew in two groups of three. Atsuko was flanked either side by Eerika and Madoka while Mattia was flanked either side by Sam and Renee.
The superior climbing strikers of the 512 meant that they were much higher than their rivals. Atsuko's flight dove first. The Raidens she and Madoka used were well matched in a dive with Eerika's 109, and they aimed for the top cover of Giovanna and Mika, not realizing how detached they actually were from the Finger four they supposedly covered.
They reacted instantly, diving to fall beneath the Finger Four. The Belgicans broke. Jeanne and Remy went left, while Victorique and Francine went right.
Victorique followed the diving trio, trying to land hits on Eerika or Madoka who lagged behind Atsuko.
She tunnelvisioned, and became oblivious to her surroundings. She didn't realize Jeanne and Remy were far away, and Mika and Giovanna were too deep into their dive to be any help.
The second pairing dived on them easily. Mattia scored hits on Francine, while Renee coiled around to protect her from Victorique who attempted to retaliate. Renee had all the advantage and speed. Victorique simply could not score hits on her as she maneuvered well enough to hit her. She went out with her partner. They both raised their hands to admit defeat and landed, dejected.
It was Four versus Six now. The 512 were performing as one unit.
Jeanne and Remy showed no sign of backing away, despite losing their comrades. They turned around and headed straight for the 512 who were still relatively low after vanquishing Victorique and Francine.
Atsuko was surprised why they wouldn't wait for Giovanna and Mika to gain altitude and cover them. Either way, she decided to stay low and continue to build speed along with Madoka and Eerika, dragging Jeanne with them.
Right on cue, with Jeanne giving chase, she heard the practice guns firing. She continued to run, and attempted to climb to gain altitude. As she did, she looked behind her.
She was shocked. Renee and Mattia were both taken out, caught unawares by Jeanne and Remy turning around, and firing back at them after it seemed they had the drop on them. They headed back to land leaving Sam alone, firing wildly, trying to take either of them out. Despite being an excellent marksman, the two belgicans were simply too nimble, they dodged every shot of her huge practice gun, which simulated her 37mm. She eventually fell too, her position was too awkward as all the abilities of her P-63 were negated.
Suddenly the advantage seemed to swing in the 3rd squadron's favor.
It was four versus three.
Atsuko gave a signal to Madoka, and her student instantly understood. She broke off, leaving Atsuko and Eerika alone.
Tui admired the idea. She knew Atsuko wanted top cover, and trusted Madoka to give her that.
Madoka and Eerika braved the pairing, relying on their steep diving angles, each one picking a target. Atsuko fired at Jeanne and Eerika fired at Remy.
Atsuko missed, Eerika did not. Remy had tears in her eyes, and broke off the conflict, sobbing.
She was bitterly disappointed in leaving Jeanne to fend for herself.
Atsuko and Eerika felt rounds whizz past their faces. It was Giovanna and Mika, finally able to be a part of the action, having been left out for most of it. Atsuko and Eerika attempted to dive and dodge, but the 3rd Squadron pairing had all the advantages, speed and altitude.
That was when Mika was taken out. Madoka showed up almost out of nowhere, dispatching her instantly.
Atsuko expected Giovanna to follow.
Something amazing happened right then.
Giovanna pulled upwards and spiraled, killing all her speed. After a spiral, she dived down heavily, and pirouetted, somewhere in that maneuver, she fired at Madoka.
She had no right to get anywhere near the young Fuso doing that, but she did. In fact, Madoka flew the Raiden to its very limit to avoid the Romagnan's shots. Soon enough, with both of them pushing their strikers to their very limits, they broke away from the remaining witches.
Atsuko and Eerika decided to leave them be and chase Jeanne.
She waited for them to dive on her, utilizing her marksmanship and abilities, jinking every which way, firing on them as they streaked back, her shots coming dangerously close each time.
Eerika and Atsuko took turns, diving on her, trying to get that last hit, but it was to no avail. She eventually managed to catch Eerika offguard, she tried to turn back to attack Jeanne too soon after diving, her impatience showing. Jeanne scored hits on her, eliminating her.
Atsuko attacked hard to capitalize, but she was caught offguard. Jeanne knew she had her like a deer in the headlights and jinked strongly to hit her as well.
The only 512 witch remaining was Madoka, and she had two adversaries to face, Giovanna who she was in a heated dogfight with, and Jeanne who was too low to be any immediate threat.
While she and Giovanna were maneuvering, manipulating speed and energy, and pushing their strikers to, and past their limit to flank each other, Tui came to a sudden realization.
The two of them were simply impossibly gifted.
This was not a dogfight between a starstruck protégé and a stammering shy girl who rode her bike around all day; this was a dogfight between two demons. No striker could perform the maneuvers they pulled, let alone two relatively un-maneuverable ones. Jeanne simply could not climb fast enough to get involved in the conflict.
The battle went on for some time, everyone watching in complete silence. Even Tui was amazed.
Atsuko docked her striker quickly and stood next to Tui, who whispered a question to her.
"What kind of monster did you bring us, Akamatsu?"
"Oh… um… Sergeant Itou is so good that we simply don't let her dogfight with other cadets. Either me or Pilot Officer Yokokawa have to face her… and even then it's not an advantage"
Veronica then interrupted.
"The Race bike girl isn't half bad either"
Atsuko nodded, despite not knowing much about Giovanna, she felt proud of her as well. But her chest was swelling with pride for the display Madoka was giving, so much so, it outweighed her disappointment in own failure against Jeanne.
Madoka disappeared into the clouds after an especiall difficult energy turn to shake Giovanna.
Giovanna kept her distance, waiting for Madoka to pop up again, when shots were heard.
It was Madoka. The shots seemed to fly out of the clouds straight down. Nobody expected them to hit anything.
That was when Jeanne lifted her arm, seemingly in shock, and came back to land.
She landed heavily, discarding her striker, and standing a far distance from the crowd, her head bowed down.
Heinrike sighed. "She's taking it exactly as I expected. Atsuko, was that a lucky shot from Madoka?"
Atsuko looked at Heinrike "No… she's done it before…"
Heinrike's eyes widened. "how?"
"She memorizes the location of her target, hides in the clouds, tracks it in her head, and then fires. There's usually some spread, but it always hits"
Eerika grabbed onto Atsuko and asked her "did you teach her that, or Yokokawa?"
Atsuko shook her head and looked at Eerika, red faced "I can't even do it myself"
After dispatching Jeanne, she returned her focus to the Romagnan.
No one could see anything except the streaks of Green and Grey, the colours of their respective strikers.
It became more and more intense, until Giovanna seemed to over-extend herself, performing an extremely tight turn while pitching up. She simply lost all energy, and stalled, beginning to plummet.
Madoka took the opportunity to finish the battle.
Except it wasn't over.
The maneuver was simulated. Giovanna still had full control. When Madoka dove after her and fired, Giovanna rolled and banked hard, aiming at Madoka and firing.
What Giovanna didn't realize was that she completely misjudged Madoka's flightpath.
The Fuso witch did not fall for her trick; she kept her energy, approached her from the side, and fired at her with point blank shots.
Giovanna raised her hand, and looked demoralized.
Madoka did a couple of barrel rolls, smiling happily, she allowed herself to be proud of her victory. She closed her eyes, smiling to herself while approaching her landing. She was still too excited to land, so her flight path became more and more jittery as she approached the runway.
"Atsuko will be so proud of me" she thought to herself "She'll finally give me the praise I deserve. The technique I spent so many hours preparing worked like a charm"
While Madoka was pleased with herself, lost in her self-satisfaction and well deserved pride, she suddenly felt the force of a sudden impact, and felt her body scrape against something hard. She instinctively managed to protect her face with her hands, and felt the fabric of her navy uniform tear and burn out from the friction.
She had crashed onto the runway, completely unaware of her surroundings. She followed up a huge achievement with great embarassement. When she finally managed to stop, She just buried her face into her hands and wept out of embarrassment on the runway, while hearing the concerned voice of Akamatsu Atsuko asking about her wellbeing.
Elsewhere, Giovanna Ravelli did manage to land her striker unscathed, but the reception she received was somehow much worse.
She was face to face with Jeanne Offenberg who hardly even spoke a word to her, but simply stared her down.
Suddenly her failure to take down Madoka felt compounded. It felt a hundred times worse than it felt in the air. She had not only failed to hit Madoka but she also allowed her to take Jeanne. It was all her fault. It was Giovanna's fault.
She began to sink with those thoughts.
That was when she felt a hand clasp down on her shoulder. She recoiled before seeing a gently smiling Heinrike Falkenhausen looking down on her. Giovanna was still sinking and recoiling when Heinrike started speaking emphatically
"Well, that was unlucky, Ravelli but you did well. So did everyone. Just on the basis of the gap in equipment, lasting this long is an achievement. I'm proud of you all. Although, Jeanne…?"
Her inquisitive tone stopped Jeanne in her tracks
"You could've made much more use of Mika and Giovanna's cover. Leaving them out did hurt you a bit"
Jeanne looked back, stone faced, staring blankly
"We wouldn't need them if we had similar equipment" She said defiantly.
"Is that so? I've seen a witch take down many superior foes with a Hurricane. Equipment is important, but tactics matter. You had several opportunities to have the 512 at your mercy and you squandered them simply because you refused to use Zursk and Ravelli"
"My tactics were ideal, considering the situation and caliber of witch involved" Jeanne replied in a monotone voice that still failed to hide her annoyance.
"You say that… but based on flight, the best witch besides you among the 3rd was… well, it was Flying Officer Ravelli. That's just my opinion though"
With that, Heinrike took her hand off Giovanna's shoulder and walked off, leaving Jeanne to seethe at her words.
Itou Madoka was on her knees, she had gotten her striker off, and now sat, attempting to wipe her tears with her left sleeve, her right one burnt halfway up its length from the friction of her rather eventful landing. The robust J2M unit had managed to survive the impact, needing nothing more than a new coat of paint.
Akamatsu Atsuko was standing over her, petting her on the shoulder. Madoka could not stop crying, her embarrassment taking over completely.
Atsuko could not help but smile at the ridiculousness of what she was seeing. She started speaking to Madoka in a gentle voice
"That was a rough landing, Sergeant Itou. Are you ok?"
The younger witch still would not stop crying. Atsuko continued to pet her like a child.
"I hope you're not hurt. The striker seems fine. You did well"
She looked up from crying into her sleeve to look up at Atsuko, the tears still overflowing. The crying seemed to slow down
"You did very well, that was some excellent flying. We won because of you"
Madoka's eyes seemed to produce more tears, even though she was now smiling.
"Really? I did well? Did I please you, Officer Akamatsu?" Atsuko was asking, her eyes still overflowing with tears.
"Yes, everyone's very impressed. I'm proud to have trained you, but please… be careful. It'd be awful if you got hurt, especially in something as silly as landing"
On hearing that, Madoka sunk a little. Atsuko extended her hand, offering to help her protégé up. Madoka took it eagerly, looking up at Atsuko with worship in her eyes as she rose.
She stood for a second, while Atsuko helped her dry her tears. Madoka was calmed down, the embarrassment from her spectacular landing obviously dying down.
That was when Eerika's voice rung out.
"That shot was great! Can you do that all the time? Can you teach me?"
While talking to Madoka, Eerika seemed to lodge herself between the 2 Fuso witches, obviously closer to Atsuko than Madoka.
"How do you imagine positions so well? there was almost no spread. It was so cool"
As an experiment, Atsuko took a step backwards. Eerika took a step with her backwards, not failing to seem very interested in Madoka. On seeing this, Atsuko giggled, and so did Mika who wasn't far away.
Eerika seemed to notice, since she started to look around at both of them, with an air of self-awareness about her. She eventually backed off from the obviously awkward Madoka who was finally allowed by Tui to get a change of clothes after she'd burned her shirt.
Jeanne was alone, mulling over what happened. The 3rd squadron managed to get on even terms with the foreign witches, despite them having much better equipment, and by all rights she had the advantage towards the end. The little Fuso annoyed her, especially since she couldn't even land properly afterwards. She leaned against the wall in her room that she shared with Remy Van Lierde.
Remy walked in on her, as she was lost in thought, replaying every event in her mind like a film. She had seen every maneuver, every kill and every shot fired as it happened, and her tactical talent allowed her to visualize things clearly.
Remy knew to avoid her when she was so lost in thought, so she sat on her own bunk, giving her back to Jeanne, pretending to be busy disassembling and cleaning her sidearm. Her thoughts were not with her own activity though, but with the older witch who she feared for and was scared of.
"I won't bite, Remy" Jeanne spoke up.
Remy stopped what she was doing, placing the spring she had just taken out of her FN Model 1922 down on the small table. She didn't speak up, afraid of Jeanne.
"I don't blame you, or Victorique, or anyone for what happened. Not even the Romagnan. The had better weapons and strikers than us, and the Oriental got lucky with that shot from the clouds"
"we…." Remy started to speak, but quickly changed her mind "never mind…"
As she said that, she went back to cleaning her pistol.
"If you have something to say, Remy, say it" Jeanne replied, in a challenging tone.
"We would've won if the Karlslander and the Romagnan had covered us" Remy said, leaving the pistol aside, standing up and now looking directly at Jeanne
"well, that's what we expect of foreigners. They couldn't…"
"I mean if we allowed them to cover us, Jeanne" Remy snapped back, interrupting her.
Jeanne was silent. She picked up a pen that was on the table next to her, and started fidgeting with it, her eyes showing no emotion.
"We coordinate well, but if we had their cover from the start, we would've won before the engagement started. We might not even have lost Victorique and Francine. They're ultimately on our side, Jeanne, and…"
Remy was interrupted by the pen flying at the wall behind her. The impact was so strong that it shattered, and a part of it hit her in the back. She flinched slightly at the light sting of flying plastic.
Remy then regained her composure, quickly reconstructed her sidearm, the seconds it took her to do so feeling like hours, and left the room, slamming the door.
She then took a few steps, before collapsing to her knees, and weeping.
It was not a proper briefing, but Tui Gray managed to corner the entirety of the 512, and gave them an impromptu speech.
"Kia Ora, girls. Most the flying out there was sweet as, but we still have a ways to go"
Everyone looked at her in a state of surprise besides Crystal and Veronica who simply held their heads in their hands.
"She's speaking that weird dialect again" Veronica said
"Takes you back… and not in a good way" Crystal replied
"Now, this doesn't mean much. You don't have to take too much of a Squizz to see these girls are really Skinted. We still have a ways to go before they come around and don't think we just have gear that's in better nick" Tui went on
"Fearless leader just snapped" Veronica said in resignation
"No, it's much worse this time. The weird words have proper Britannian with them" Crystal replied
"Aren't you from the same place as she is?" Veronica asked Crystal
"There are places where you would get shot for saying Australis and Kiwiland are the same place, Veronica. Namely, Australis and Kiwiland"
Veronica laughed at Crystal's reply.
"Right, now if you all will excuse me, I've got things to do"
"Umm… where are you going?" Atsuko asked her, obviously confused at everything Tui had just said.
"up the boohai shooting pukeko's with a long-handled shovel" was the only reply Tui gave as she stormed off, leaving the entire 512 with their jaws agape.
After a few seconds of silence, Crystal and Veronica exploded into loud laughter, confusing their comrades even more.
"What the hell just happened?" Eerika was the first to speak up after the turmoil, looking in Veronica and Crystal's general direction.
After their laughter died down slightly, Veronica managed to answer the young Suomus.
"Well, Tui's been really stressed out as of late, between coming over, receiving command and orchestrating the dogfight. She tends to speak in her native dialect when stressed. It seems like after what happened this morning, she's not bothering to hide it anymore, and probably expects us to translate"
"So what did she say?" Eerika asked
Crystal provided the translation "Well, in short: 'you all did well, but we still have a ways to go before we earn their trust'. As to what she said after you asked her where she was going, Akamatsu. I've been asking her what that's meant for 4 years and I still have no idea"
That seemed to sate everyone's curiosity, and ego.
Tui walked into Heinrike's office, Agitated and jumpy. Out of respect for her former superior though, she spoke as civil as she could, even shedding her kiwi dialect.
"With all due respect, Captain, we proved nothing" Tui started speaking, in as calm a tone as she could.
"What makes you say that, Tui?" Heinrike replied
"You wanted to prove that their isolationist mentality was damning, and you wanted to turn Jeanne around. Well… It didn't work. They came close to being vindicated, and the 512 only won because Madoka is especially gifted"
"They realized they could've been dominant if they hadn't actively attempted to avoid Mika and Giovanna's cover. They're taking this worse than you think. And I know for a fact, that at least Francine and Victorique have been turned around. I suspect Remy as well, but she's afraid of Jeanne"
"Do you have any idea why Jeanne's like this?"
"Do you really need me to ask that, Tui? Command made horrible tactical decision after horrible tactical decision with this base. It should've been evacuated and everyone here added to the force in St. Trond back before Jeanne was even drafted. Instead, here she is, losing superior after superior. My predecessor had to be shipped to Neue Karlsland to recover. She'll probably never see combat again"
Tui went silent. The story was sadly too familiar with her, and Witches like Jeanne were sadly not an uncommon sight.
"I've managed to speak to Victorique. She asked me to congratulate Madoka on her behalf, and made me promise Jeanne wouldn't find out she did. I also know for a fact she managed to privately give Giovanna words of encouragement after her performance"
"That's encouraging but they're still scared of Jeanne"
"I'll be honest; I would be too if I served under a superior like her"
"Isn't she Flying officer? She's no higher rank than anyone else" Tui replied
"It doesn't work like that here. She's been around the most, and she's seen the most. Honestly, how she hasn't been promoted to a much higher rank already perplexes me. But I suspect the reason is political and has to do with her hatred of command, and of foreign witches"
At that moment, Fer walked in. She gave a halfhearted greeting before sitting at Heinrike's desk, while Tui and Heinrike were content to simply lean against it while talking. It gave the air of three friends meeting. It was obvious military decorum had no place in that office.
"Well, looks like it worked, Fer. Thanks to having the girls here, the Belgicans are coming around" Heinrike said to the Romagnan
"You mean thanks to you, it was your plan" Fer replied coldly.
"Well, it was their efforts"
"How long are you going to do the hard work while others take the credit. It's enough almost nobody gives you credit for the victory in Malta"
"Well, I wasn't…" Heinrike started to talk before being interrupted by Tui.
"I know! It's infuriating. I keep telling everyone it was because of Heinrike's system and plan, but every time, I see my name on the paper the next day and Heinrike a footnote at best. It's like I'm speaking to myself"
Fer was surprised at her tone
"Well, Tui I wasn't there when it happened so…"
"Oh don't you start too, Heinrike. All I had to do in the battle was carry out your plan. I could not, no matter how hard I tried to, form a better one. The only reason Malta isn't still covered by Neuroi right this second is you"
Heinrike just gave up and laughed.
Meanwhile Fer got up out of her desk, walked towards Tui and stood over her menacingly.
The two witches weren't very far apart in age, and were the same rank, but Fernandia stood nearly a full head taller than Tui. Tui actually had to strain her neck upwards to meet her eyes.
That was when the unthinkable happened.
Fer locked her arms around Tui's neck and pulled her in close. Tui suddenly found herself buried in Fernandia's chest, struggling to break free, attempting to ask Heinrike for help.
Her muffled shouts fell on deaf ears as Fernandia started to talk.
"Finally… Finally someone recognizes her hard work. Thank you, Tui. I had you all wrong; I know you'd never lie to me."
Tui continued to struggle nearly in vain, while Fernandia held her tight, and Heinrike laughed in the background. It seemed Fernandia returned to old habits.
Jeanne was alone again. The shattered bits of pen, and clear notch in an already ruined wall tortured her. She hated herself for what she did to Remy.
She had been aware for a long time that her bitterness was taking over her thoughts, but she still knew she could not forgive the witches of the world, or the commanders who deployed them. Here she was, in a decrepit base, using a striker that had been replaced 4 times, while other places got advanced strikers and enough witches to operate them.
Friends, seniors and comrades died because of that. Jeanne even found herself thinking of Remy with fear in her heart. Not even she was immune from what could happen.
The thought of losing her made Jeanne clutch her chest tight.
As her own mind was torturing her, a piercing sound brought her back to reality.
It was the air raid siren
She was still not used to it. The sound brought fear and desperation to her. She rushed down to the 3rd Squadron's hangar. Zursk and Ravelli had already donned their strikers. Victorique and Francine were right behind her. She managed to get to her spitfire and jump into it before Remy appeared. She worried. Remy was always fast to respond.
Heinrike was there, and she gave out instructions.
"It's a small 4 bomber formation. They're not headed for us, but further north, most likely Brugge…"
"So, let them. The St. Trond Witches can handle them"
Heinrike attempted to ignore Jeanne and talked on
"The 512 has elected to intercept, but we'll be on standby for them…"
"If they wanna fly to their deaths, let them. We don't need to mop up their messes"
"Interrupt me one more time, Offenberg and you'll be locked up in the brig for insubordination until one of us retires!" Heinrike snapped at her, scaring everyone in the hangar.
"You're all to be at your most attentive. If FL Gray calls, we answer. Any questions?"
Silence.
"Good"
And with that, She docked into her FW 190 as well, listening intently to her earpiece.
The 512 flew in their usual interception formation. A finger four of Tui, Veronica, Fernandia and Crystal flew up front, with Tui as flight lead and Fer as element lead.
A few lengths behind them were Sam, Mattia and Renee, with the youngest trio at the very back formed of Atsuko in the center with Eerika and Madoka either side. Being able to keep up with the European strikers was still a new feeling for her. She loved the Raiden for its ability to do so, and she imagined Madoka did as well. Eerika also looked unfamiliar using her sleek 109 striker rather than the big, bulky Buffalo.
The large Type Neurois were clearly visible. Rather disconcertingly, they didn't seem to have any escorts. Tui was the first to remark about this.
"No escorts. You know what that means" She said into the earpiece
"They were too dumb to bring any?" Eerika asked
"No, Lehtinen; Ambush" Veronica responded dryly.
"Akamatsu, Lag behind please, I'd like you, Itou and Lehtinen to provide cover if we get taken from behind"
"Roger" Atsuko replied, and with that powered down her striker slightly. Her two wing witches followed suit.
As they approached, Tui drifted slightly to the side, taking her entire finger four with her. Sam, leading the trio that followed her, took this as her cue and took aim with the massive 37mm that she still carried even after transferring from the Airacobra to the KingCobra striker.
Two shots rang out. One practically split the Large Neuroi apart. The other making it disintegrate into white dust.
"Second time lucky" Renee remarked.
"Luck had nothing to do with it and you know it" Sam replied.
"Sure, if it helps you sleep at night" Renee replied to her.
"Vodka helps me sleep at night, Renee" as Sam gave her her reply, she let out another shot. It didn't take her more than one shot to produce silver dust from the second Neuroi.
Atsuko was frantically looking around her; at the clouds, at the horizon behind them, ahead, everywhere she could. She could not see the expected Ambush of fighter types.
"Isn't this usually where every Neuroi and their mother fire their beams at me?" Sam was musing to herself.
"Don't jinx it and just keep firing" Mattia replied to her.
Sam loosed another 37mm round. It only succeded in crippling the Neuroi, and she had to fire another to destroy it.
"2 shots? Less vodka, more target practice, Rechkalov" It was Renee teasing her again.
"I have enough ammo to shoot you after I'm done with the Neuroi, you know" Sam replied, agitated.
The last remaining bomber type was firing at the Witches, but its beams were so weak and so few that Sam could deploy her shield while aiming at it.
Everyone's earpieces went off, throwing off Sam's aim for the final shot.
"Decoy! The bombers were a decoy. We're being attacked at Florennes! Everyone is scrambling"
Tui was petrified. She immediately ordered everyone to immediately turn back. It wasn't hard for Sam to make her shot before doubling back as well.
Jeanne was fuming.
The so-called elite 512 had scampered off to fight a measly 4 bombers with their large numbers and high tech strikers.
Worst of all, she had no idea where Remy was. She never managed to report to the hangar, and here they were sortieing without her. Jeanne felt naked without Remy by her side. She was the only witch she trusted by her side of late.
She begrudgingly allowed herself to fly alongside Heinrike. As much as she despised the foreigner who carrier herself so arrogantly as a commander, she had to conform to some cohesion or risk putting the belgicans in even more danger, and with Remy still on the ground. She felt she could not afford a single stray beam or Neuroi bomb.
The number of fighters they saw unsettled her a bit. She lost count after she made it to a dozen, and decided to just kill as many as she could.
With Heinrike there, and without Remy, she was forced out of her favorite Finger Four formation, and the formation was forced to fly in twos; Her and Heinrike, Francine and Victorique, ever inseparable, and the two foreigners, Ravelli and Mika together.
She cocked her FN model 1930, and took the safety off, preparing for the conflict.
Noticing them reminded her of Remy's words and how she told her to let them cover her. She instantly banished the thought. She still couldn't bring herself to relying on them.
The sound of Heinrike's 20mm rounds brought her to reality. She went head on with the Neuroi swarm, firing off a few shots before deploying her shield while continuing to streak forward.
She damaged a few but killed none. Jeanne cursed under her breath at Heinrike's inefficiency, but she was too destabilized to do any better so she simply deployed her shield and followed her.
Everyone did the same. Only one kill was scored, and it was Victorique, gaining a strike on the core of one Fighter type. Francine celebrated audibly, and it angered Jeanne slightly. There were still way too many to celebrate.
When they passed the Neuroi and began turning around, Jeanne understood why Heinrike was so hasty to go through the formation.
The fight became a huge turn fighting melee, and any shots fired were directed at the sky. Nearly nothing came close to Florennes, beams or Witches' bullets.
She begrudgingly felt thankfulness to the Karlslander. Her action kept Remy safe.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jeanne saw silver and heard the characteristic shattering sound of a Neuroi core being pierced. A quick glance revealed it was Mika and Giovanna's doing.
The numbers were being thinned at a reasonable pace. She knew the 512 were also on their way back, and would tip the scales in the Witches' favor.
At that moment, she saw Heinrike power down her striker drastically, allowing even the relatively very slow Spitfire she was using to overshoot her, and fired off her 20mm
A Fighter type disintegrated. When another launched its beam at Heinrike, she took the beam head on with her shield, before letting off a very short burst that ended that Neuroi's existence.
This sparked Jeanne's competitiveness. She pushed all her energy into her striker's engine, going full throttle. The speed was still not even close to the FW 190 or any of the 512's strikers, but for Jeanne, it was enough. She jinked between the Neuroi, letting off short bursts into them.
The caliber of her Model 1930 still wasn't big enough to destroy any of them but she did enough damage to severely affect their flight performance of the Neuroi she tagged.
She then turned around, surveyed the damage that she'd done, and sprayed 7.62 rounds.
Three Neuroi were reduced to silver dust.
"This is going rather well" she thought to herself, when immediately a beam streaked past her. When she turned around to retaliate, she heard a very loud bang, and saw the Neuroi shatter into silver dust.
It was the Orussian with the Liberion striker and the oversized gun. The 512 had finally made it.
In her entire time at Florennes, she'd never seen Witches outnumber Neuroi, and the sight put her at almost complete ease. Seeing a hail of 20mm, 7.7mm and .50cal rounds flying all over the place and Neuroi disappearing before them almost brought a tear to her eye. It was so easy when there were this many.
She actually did not need to interfere. Gray and the 512 were simply massacring the Neuroi effortlessly. She was seriously beginning to rethink herself on seeing that, realizing how stupid she looked constantly fighting with, and criticizing the foreigners. The desperation on their faces to make it back and help the Belgicans wasn't forced and was not simply out of a sense of duty. It suddenly dawned on her how strong these foreign witches actually were, and how much they cared.
With the sky almost completely covered in Neuroi dust, and with some of the younger witches even cheering, the battle looked to be over.
"The numbers are off. There's two unaccounted for" Heinrike shouted.
"It was a big melee. You might have missed them getting…" Francine was attempting to reply when Heinrike interrupted her.
"There! They were hiding in the clouds. They're diving on the second hangar"
Madoka, Atsuko and Eerika, since they were the lowest dived to intercept.
That was when Jeanne saw a sight that chilled her blood.
Remy was running towards the hangar, on the ground and unarmed, she was an easy target. When the Neuroi charged their beams, Jeanne let out an inhuman scream.
Remy dived into the hangar as one beam narrowly missed her. The other hit the archway of the hangar, collapsing it. It wasn't clear whether Remy dived past it, or whether the rubble fell on her.
Jeanne couldn't even bear to think of the result of the latter.
She dived, full throttle, with no regard for the abilities of her striker or even the tolerances of her own body. The outdated spitfire was coming apart. Jeanne could even feel one of the winglet threatening to snap off.
She didn't care. She could deploy her shield to absorb the impact with the ground. She had to make it to Remy.
And even with all that, the two Fuso girls outdived her, by a large margin, followed by the Suomus.
The three let loose their cannons. It wasn't clear who hit what, but both Neuroi disappeared. Like Jeanne, they both continued to dive, Clearly trying to push their strikers to the limit as well.
All three quickly discarded their strikers, and hurried to attempt to clear the rubble in a panic.
Jeanne tumbled behind them, one of the legs of her striker unit shattering. She quickly got up, obviously in pain. Her shield didn't absorb most the impact, since she didn't have the concentration to produce a robust enough shield.
She then limped towards the trio, pushing them out of the way, angrily.
Jeanne's familiar, a Belgian shepherd was still manifested in her, and she was overflowing with magic energy.
She punched her arm into the rubble, gaining a handhold, and pulled backwards and sideways with all the strength her body and magic could muster.
With that, she cleared much of the rubble away, before collapsing.
Under normal circumstances, she would have passed out. But her panic and fear kept her moving, with her vision blurring and the pain in one leg overwhelming. It was obvious she broke it.
She crawled up the rubble and through the gap she created, as she heard the other witches land behind her, and hastily discard heir strikers.
At the end of the rubble, she saw Remy, lying face forward. Propping herself up on her arms.
As she approached, Remy turned around slightly to face her. Her face showed some signs of pain, but still she managed to force a smile to Jeanne.
As Jeanne's vision and consciousness gave out, she saw Remy mouth out 'I'm ok. It was my fault. I'm ok'
And that's when everything went black. The last thought Jeanne had before collapsing next to Revy was
'no, it was mine'
Jeanne woke up in a comfortable bed. She smelled disinfectant. She knew this was the infirmary.
She remembered her leg being broken, but when she tried to move it, all she felt was a mild discomfort, not excruciating pain. It was almost completely healed.
She then remembered what happened before she passed out, and got up in a panic and cold sweat
She shouted almost at the top of her lungs "Remy! Where's Remy?!"
A groaning voice replied to her "I'm right here… too loud, Jeanne"
Jeanne looked next to her and saw her young comrade sleeping comfortably in the bed next to her.
"I'm ok, and so are you. Mika healed us both. Now let me get some more sleep" Remy said before turning the other way, and sleeping again.
Jeanne collapsed back into the bed, the relief almost overwhelming.
"Hey, Remy"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry. Everything was my fault. What I did to you in our room was unforgivable. You were right"
"Right about what?"
"It's not their fault. And even if it is, I'm just hurting us being how I am" Jeanne's voice was starting to break. "The reason is, Remy…. The reason is…" The tears were starting to stream down Jeanne's face. She wasn't bothering to fight them anymore "I just don't want to lose anyone any more. I know you haven't been here long, but I saw so many of my seniors…" That was when she started all out crying. "They're talented… They're well equipped… Couldn't command send us some of them? Couldn't they help us? Why did we have to lose so many. Seeing them kill the Neuroi so easily… It was painful, Remy" Jeanne was bawling now. Attempting to say what she wanted between sobs. "To think… because I upset you… you were late… and you almost…"
Jeanne was now lying on her back, sobbing loudly, her tears streaming down her face. She cried for a good few seconds before she felt a soft tissue gently wipe away her tears.
"Remy, you shouldn't be out…"
When she opened her eyes, she saw it wasn't Remy who was drying her eyes. It was Giovanna.
Jeanne embarrassedly sat up, trying to cover her face with the covers.
"Ravelli… I…"
She quickly did her best to regain her composure and make herself presentable.
"Why…? I was… How long have you been there?"
"Not long" Ravelli replied.
Ravelli then handed Jeanne the hankerchief which she used to dry her eyes some more.
"So, I'm guessing you don't hate me anymore?" Giovanna asked her.
Jeanne couldn't reply, but just blushed.
Giovanna waiting for a reply tried to meet Jeanne's eyes, bringing her face too close to hers.
This embarrassed Jeanne even further and led her to hit Giovanna on the head. As Giovanna reeled from the pain, Jeanne replied "No, no I don't. I never did"
"You could say that without hitting me!"
That was when Tui and Heinrike walked in together.
Seeing them both made Jeanne's heart sink. She was in no way prepared for what she needed to do. She didn't have an apology planned or worded.
"Oh, she's up? Good job, Ravelli" Heinrike exclaimed
"She hit me!" Giovanna whined to her superiors.
"She's healthy too? Wonderful job" Tui added
This angered Giovanna and led her to storm out.
"Good to see you in good health, Jeanne. We were worried" Tui continued.
"Well, sorry to bring you bad news so soon after your recovery, but your striker is completely trashed. But you're confined to the infirmary for a time for recovery so it might be for the best"
Jeanne lamented her stupidity.
"Is there no fixing it?" She asked Tui imploringly.
"Nope, that thing completely packed a sad"
"What?!" Jeanne asked, confused
"I think FL Gray means it's beyond repairing" Heinrike attempted to clear up "As such, you're getting a Spitfire Mk. IX delivered form Britannia as a replacement. We're trying to get two of them but… no promises, Remy"
"That's fine!" Remy said, as she sat up.
"We ARE planning on giving everyone newer strikers. Also, we might be getting another foreign witch from nearby. I hope you show her a better welcome than you showed me or the 512, Jeanne"
Jeanne went red in the face again.
She still couldn't bring herself to treating either her superiors as she now knew they should be. Too many demons still haunted her, but she knew she had to change.