The sun had risen high into the sky, but it was still hidden by thick storm clouds. A few waterdrops were falling down to the earth, but not enough to call it rain. A hummed melody, interrupted every so often by the growl of thunder, wafted through the silence above the fourteen tanks that were driving towards an unknown destination, slowly making their way through rolling hills, across green meadows and past tall, slim trees.
Some of the tanks were driving together, however there were no verbal conversations. Many cannons were lowered, as if the recent defeat was weighing them down. Most expressions were grim. No one knew where the trek was going to lead them, not even Sky. She wasn't leading the way, instead driving at the end of the convoy. But she had given simple orders. Drive southward until she decided that the team had brought a sufficient amount of miles between them and their old base.
Among the general gloominess, it was hard to tell who was the most devastated. One tank had his suspicions, and — maybe partly due to the lack of anything better to do — had created a little ranking in his mind. The obvious winners in Fox' list were Sky and Awol, but it was a close tie with Rex. The VK took the defeat very personal. He was somewhat spoiled by numerous victories. Losing wasn't his style. Neither was running away. Yet, both had happened. And on top of that, he had lost a friend. He appeared quite calm at the moment, but Fox knew that on the inside, he was seething. That was about to change, however.
Rex had just been silently driving next to Fox since they had fled, gazing into the distance and not saying a word the whole time; but then he suddenly turned his turret and glared to the side for a moment. He mumbled a growled "Excuse me" before accelerating ahead. Fox looked after him, puzzled at the other tank's seemingly unprovoked anger. He then looked to the side as well, where the source of the humming was driving along: Rill. He seemed to notice the look. Moments later, Fox received a message from him.
"Your friend is quite upset about the defeat."
That explained Rex' moodswing at least. Fox knew that the VK should be approached with caution when he wasn't feeling well, and it seemed like Rill had either not known or disregarded this.
"You don't seem too bothered," Fox replied.
The KV-4 stopped humming.
"I've seen defeats before," he said.
"The base is a great loss."
"The rest...not so much," Rill added.
"The light?"
Rill only looked at Fox from the corner of his optics for a moment.
"A tier 1? Does that feel like a loss to you?" he asked eventually.
Fox shrugged.
"Claiming that, I'd be lying. I meant the WZ," he clarified.
"Shame that the he didn't make it," Rill agreed.
"He was quite useful, wasn't he?"
"It's going to be hard to find a replacement for him."
"It's going to be hard to find anyone at all, it appears," Fox mused.
The other heavy agreed and turned his gaze away, started humming again. Fox kept watching him for a while longer.
It wasn't surprising that Rill didn't share the hurt that the others — but not even all of them — felt over the death of their lowest-tiered team mate. Fox had reckoned the KV-4 as this pragmatic since their very first meeting. He had been wondering if Rill would be open about it, but it seemed like he was testing the waters instead, discreetly looking for like-minded tanks for some reason. The question was if there were any underlying intentions behind approaching only certain team mates about his opinion instead of confronting everyone with it. Fox hadn't experienced the other heavy as someone calculating or scheming, but the King Tiger didn't know him well beyond the side he presented to the others. Heavy tanks were often mistaken for being slow and dull, lacking agenda, but while it was true for many, Fox never underestimated any of his fellow heavies. It was never a bad idea to be wary; the densest seeming tank could be sly beneath the surface.
But it was also possible that he was interpreting too much into this. Rill didn't seem like someone who was actively trying to start fights either. Maybe he simply didn't care enough. Or maybe he was waiting for a suitable moment to voice his opinions. It was likely that such a moment could come soon. One could safely assume that there would be no debriefing of the battle in the form that the Tanking League usually held them. Maybe an attempt was going to be made. But to Fox, it was clear that a fight was going to happen. Was Sky going to be able to keep everyone in check, or was this defeat the straw that finally broke the camel's back? If the inevitable argument escalated, just how ugly would things get this time?
'We will see,' the King Tiger thought. If it came to the worst, he would have to pick a side; and if he was being honest to himself, he knew which side that was going to be.
###
One of the tanks was driving ahead of the others. Pepper couldn't have been more glad to do the scouting job. He didn't want to see or hear anyone; he couldn't bear being looked at by them when he felt judgement in every gaze, regardless of whether it was really there. Maybe no one was blaming him for the defeat ... Maybe he had failed as the highest tiered team member. Could a single tier 10 have prevented the defeat? Pepper didn't know, and that uncertainty was eating him up.
He slowly rolled up the hill ahead of him, peeking over the top before driving onto the ridge. Halting, the Leopard 1 let his weary gaze wander about. A stiff breeze pushed at his back, chased waves across the grass, shook the leaves on the trees and bushes. It would have been hard for him to make out a possible enemy with all that movement around him, but he was mostly unconcerned about that fact at the moment. There was simply no one here. None of the hilltops, hedgerows, or groups of trees were concealing any tanks. No convoys were anywhere in sight. The radio channels were dead silent. The closest to a tank he had seen all day was a trail of track marks, but they had petered out soon.
'They really have all fled,' he thought.
In the distance, he spotted what looked like buildings surrounding a couple of hills; even though he doubted that anyone was there, he wasn't going to take any risks. Also, if it was a base, maybe someone had left something useful behind. It was worth checking out. Dialing Arty's frequency, he told her to come to him. The Sturmpanzer showed up behind him a short while later, hurrying to reach him.
As soon as she was by his side, he pointed at the houses.
Arty nodded and the two tanks set themselves into motion to approach the buildings. Pepper drove a bit ahead to attract possible unexpected enemy fire first. As they had almost reached their destination, Arty switched to her artillery sights and checked for tanks between the buildings. Pepper waited at the border of the little village until Arty confirmed that it was empty except for a wreck. They went about searching likely hiding spots for supplies, but were unsuccessful.
Pepper was in the process of checking one of the buildings when Sky spoke on the team's shared radio channel.
«This looks like a good spot for a makeshift base,» she said. Pepper looked up and through the gaps between the buildings. His team mates had appeared on a hill ridge a little way off, a line of silhouettes against the dark horizon. Sky was standing in their midst. Arty rolled up to Pepper, looking into the direction of the rest of the tanks as well.
"I wouldn't mind taking a break," the Sturmpanzer said dejectedly.
Pepper nodded with a frown.
###
Arty looked at the silent tanks that were surrounding her. The whole Tanking League — except for their captive tank destroyers — had gathered on the biggest hill of their new temporary base as soon as they had deposited their fuel and spare parts. No one had actually called a meeting; it had simply been a hive-mind-like decision to come together. The last ones had arrived just now. Whatever was going to happen, it was about to start.
For a moment, Arty's and Sky's gazes met, but the Sturmpanzer quickly averted her optics.
Even as the moments passed, no one said anything. Everyone seemed to be waiting for some kind of sign. Arty felt that they were waiting for someone to throw the first stone. It was Sky who eventually broke the heavy silence.
"You all have something to say," she said calmly, but with a certain grimness in her voice. "So say it."
It took several more seconds until someone spoke up. All gazes turned to Crowley as he rose to speak, his expression resolute and his voice firm.
"Anyone who starts making accusations now — and I know you're gonna — Anyone who does it, I wanna hear say that they could have done it better. That they could have won the battle if they were in charge."
"No one was going to say that they could have turned the tide of the battle," Eject said. Crowley begun to say something, but Eject talked over him. "It was lost from the very beginning."
"What do you mean?" Sky asked.
"He is right," Fox said. "It was only a question of time until this was going to happen."
Crowley turned to the King Tiger and looked dumbfounded.
"This was no regular battle!" he said. "No normal team would have stood a chance against those ... things."
"We could have won if we —" Rex began to say, his cannon raised with irritation.
"That's where you're wrong, Sherman," Fox interrupted him, responding to Crowley. "A normal team would have won. But we are not a normal team. We are a charity."
"What do you mean?" Sky repeated.
Fox looked at her stoically but Rill replied instead of him.
"We got what was coming to us," the KV-4 said, his tone impassive.
"What the hell do you mean?" Sky barked, throwing angry glances at everyone now, even those who hadn't spoken yet. Arty avoided returning the look and tilted her cannon pensively. The heavies seemed to agree on something that wasn't that obvious to her and the others.
Eohelm, who looked quite uncomfortable, shared his interpretation of the heavies' words.
"It can't be denied that we are not as strong as a team as we could be," he said, seemingly choosing his words carefully as he spoke slowly. "We don't choose our members by skill or survivability."
Sky seemed speechless for a moment, and Arty was shocked as well at what felt like a sudden betrayal on the Centurion's part. She wouldn't have expected him to speak out against their leader. And she also realized that by extension, he was speaking out against herself. Eohelm used the pause to go on.
"That is a fact," he said, pre-empting Sky's protest. "I'm sorry, but it is."
"Low tiers have no place in a team like ours," Pepper added his opinion.
"So," Sky hissed at them, "What are you suggesting? Should I kick them right here and right now?"
Even though Arty knew that Sky wasn't serious, she couldn't help but feel her vents constrict. She knew that Sky had no intention of doing that … but what if the others actually took her up on the offer? She looked at Awol, who was ducking anxiously as well, probably thinking the same. Her gaze wandered on to Jack; the AT-2 shared Awol's expression. Sky went on angrily.
"Should we leave them to die? Or would you prefer fucking chasing them off and wishing them good luck?" she ranted. "If we find someone who is hurt, or alone and starving, will we pronounce them dead? Can you do it in good conscience? I can't."
Barfly tentatively spoke up.
"It's not like we are letting low tiers join every other day …!" he said. Fox frowned at him.
"I feel like the irony of your contribution to this topic is lost on you," the King Tiger said soberly. Crowley immediately shot a glare at him.
"Oh, are the grown ups speaking?" he snapped.
Fox' expression grew into a scowl.
"Know your place," he said. "You and your brother being here is a favour. A big one, from the very start. It's possible to overstay one's welcome."
"You're not speaking for anyone," Sky chimed in indignantly.
"Am I not?" Fox asked her without turning to look at her. Instead, he let his optics graze the other tanks. Arty followed his gaze, looking at Eject, Rill, Eohelm, and Pepper. Their expressions were distant. Then, she looked at Crowley and Barfly again, whose turrets were traversing in an almost unnerved seeming way as they looked at their team members as well.
As looks were exchanged, silence spread between the tanks. It was interrupted by Rex' scandalized voice.
"I can't believe this," he said. "I can't believe you guys."
"Me neither," Sky said in a bitter tone. She threw another dark look at the gathered tanks. It was obvious that the argument wasn't settled, but they remained silent. "Are we done here?" she asked.
Eject started turning around without a word; Rill and Pepper followed suit. They trundled off. Fox turned to leave as well, and Rex followed him after a moment of hesitation. Eohelm approached Sky. Arty used the chance to quickly make an exit — she was glad that this was over, even if it definitely wasn't the end.