[ I'M SO SORRY I CAN'T BELIEVE IT TOOK ME THREE MONTHS TO UPDATE... In my defence I was really busy with things and this chapter was hard as hell to write, but other than that there's really no excuse for leaving you guys with such a cliffhanger... Well, here it is. The new chapter. It's pretty long to make up for the long wait. It's also a big plot twist from what I've read in the comments. Enjoy! c: ]

"I said, 'No'," Rill repeated.

"What?" Sky asked, blinking. The moment of confusion went by, and her wrath returned. "That was an order!" she said.

"So what?" Rill asked.

Sky seemed to interpret his obvious defiance as a lack of understanding. She pointed her cannon at the KV-4. Rex and Crowley followed suit immediately, both of them apparently forgetting or ignoring that it was an empty threat in their respective cases.

"I kicked you," Sky explained, with a sense of angry patience. "You're no longer part of my team. Leave or we'll make you leave."

An icy glare accompanied her words, spoken in a collected tone of voice. She was displaying the confidence that was expected of her in this situation, but Rill had the feeling that it was just a front. He didn't return her gesture and instead looked around, making sure one last time that what he was about to do would not backfire horribly.

The low tier artillery had no power in this situation, and they most likely knew it well. While Awol was staring at Sky anxiously, Arty's gaze was darting from one heavy to the next. The SPGs were scared.

Barfly seemed to be trying to hold his brother back, whispering to the Jumbo imploringly. Rill knew Barfly as a cheeky but ultimately diplomatic tank, someone who would avoid in-fighting if he could. Crowley was different, but he was apparently all bark and no bite, because Rill wasn't noticing any shells bouncing off his front yet. Or maybe, behind the belligerent attitude, Crowley too was scared.

Now some would have argued that fear is not a good basis for getting someone to support you. Respect is. But fear - in Rill's opinion - is just as powerful, and to him, the difference between the two was miniscule anyway. He didn't need their respect as long as he had their fear. In this case, it was enough because someone else had neither respect nor fear; that someone was a certain Pershing whose supporters had become very few.

There was Eohelm, but even he had averted his optics. He had always been fond of Sky, trying to help her wherever he could for the good of the team. But he wasn't unreasonable, and he must have realized by now that by doing this, he ironically was hurting his own cause.

Eject was on Rill's side of course. It wasn't like they had made any elaborate plans of overthrowing Sky's leadership, but Rill knew for sure and without the need for talking that now that the opportunity had come, the T29 would not disappoint.

It was hard to tell with Fox; the King Tiger was the wildcard. He had expressed his discontent with the state of the team, and from what Rill understood, unlike Rex he never had chosen Sky as his leader — but he was a wary tank who was unapproachable to Rill. It was hard to predict whose side he was really on. Especially since he and Rex were friends, and Rill wasn't sure if Fox would do something that would potentially end that friendship. For all intents and purposes, it would already be sufficient if he chose to stay neutral, however.

Satisfied with what he was seeing, Rill eventually looked at Sky again.

"We?" he said calmly.

Sky gave him an uncomprehending stare.

"Who is we?" Rill asked.

Sky's turret twitched to the side as she subconsciously threw a quick look around as well. Why weren't the others doing anything indeed? There was the only just noticeable way her tracks tensed up - was she suddenly missing the instinctive comfort of being surrounded by allies? Beyond her resolute demeanor, it was this subtle thing that betrayed a certain anxiety taking hold of her. She started fumbling for words.

"Well, uh —"

Rill rolled closer to her, and she didn't manage to stop herself from backing up.

"A scared little tier 3 artillery?" Rill asked.

Awol flinched and looked at the ground. Rill went on.

"A guy with a broken gun?"

There was an angry "Shut up!" from Rex, but Rill ignored it.

"Or maybe two Shermans? … Or rather, none, I think."

Crowley's cannon sank in defeat, while Barfly averted his gaze.

Rill tilted his cannon, giving Sky a friendly, yet patronizing look.

"Come on Sky, just admit it. You're leading a team that doesn't want to be led by you. You may have a handful of supporters left, but they are the minority. And I think I am speaking for the majority, when I say, …"

He rolled even closer, even though this time Sky didn't back up further — mostly because she was almost bumping into Fox already.

"… we won't be taking orders from you any longer. You are unfit for being our leader."

Everyone looked at Sky now, who stared at Rill like she was seeing a ghost. Her gaze darted to Eject as the T29 spoke up.

"Consider your leadership revoked," he said, making it clear beyond any doubt what Rill was getting at.

"What?! You … can't do that!" Sky shouted, her turret turning from side to side as she looked at everyone.

"Arty!" she gasped, staring at the Sturmpanzer. But Arty didn't reply, just looked at her with an aghast expression. Sky turned to the next tank she could think of.

"Eohelm?!"

The Centurion returned her gaze with an apologetic expression, but he shook his turret.

"I'm sorry, Sky. It's the best for the team," he said gently.

Sky gaped at him. Her turret traversed around all the way until she was looking at Fox, whose expression was still distant. He didn't say anything, but the message was clear. Sky looked at Rill and Eject again, her distress now obvious.

"You can't fucking do this!" she shouted. "You can't just … just …"

"It's your team's decision. Accept it or leave," Rill said firmly.

Sky stared at him for a moment longer, but then she seemed to crumble away. She sank low on her suspension, her cannon drooping. There was something like a brief flash of defiance, refusal to give in, but it petered out almost immediately.

"I see," she said dryly.

She looked at Awol, who nodded meekly. Then, she turned around, and drove off slowly, past the silent others. Her brother followed her without looking at anyone.

Only when she was gone, it seemed to slowly sink in what had just happened and what it meant. Crowley suddenly let out a frustrated growl and spun around to storm off into the direction Sky had gone. Barfly stared after him with surprise, shouting "Wait!" and shuffling on his tracks as he was obviously unsure what to do about his brother's departure.

"He'll come back," the Easy Eight said hastily, giving the others somewhat apologetic looks. He stayed where he was, but assumably started trying to persuade the other Sherman to return over the radio. For a moment, it looked like Rex was about to follow Sky as well; he turned around halfway, but then looked at Fox, who didn't move or return the look. Rex stayed as he was, only turning his turret back towards the others with an utterly unsettled expression. Rill was intrigued by the VK's inner conflict. He was probably Sky's most zealous follower, and if it hadn't been for his broken cannon, most likely would have shot someone out of confusion already. Despite his high tier, he was young and — though skilled — still inexperienced. He was lost, looking for guidance from someone who was confident in this unclear situation. That someone certainly wasn't Rill — not yet — but instead, in this case, it seemed to be Fox; whose agenda, if he had any, appeared to coincide with Rill's.

Rill was still looking at Rex when someone spoke up. The KV-4 turned to look at Fox. His voice and expression conveyed something that came across as aloof, almost annoyed.

"So what now? Who's the leader now?" he asked. Rill knew that his only chance had come, and he chose his words wisely to appeal to as many of the present tanks as possible.

"Basically, I think no one should be. A team should consist of equals," he explained, looking at Fox directly for a moment before speaking to the general crowd again. "But asking for everyone's opinions first when decisions need to be made quickly would be impractical. Imagine we were in a battle and we disagreed. Therefore we need someone who can make these decisions when needed. Someone who knows what the rest of the team wants and can act accordingly, without delay."

"That makes sense," Eohelm said with a nod. His team mates — except for Rex, who remained quiet — agreed. A brief silence ensued as everyone was looking at each other, thinking the same thing.

"But who would that someone be?" Arty eventually asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Me," Rill said plainly. Before anyone could question that, he added, "I am the oldest and most experienced tank of this team. But I understand your concerns. We saw what happens when one tank has all the power. Therefore I propose that Eject will be the second leader."

Eject blinked; he obviously hadn't anticipated this development.

"You mean, a second-in-command?" the T29 asked.

"No," Rill replied. "I mean that we will both be leaders."

Eject remained silent for a moment, then nodded. He turned to the others.

"Does anyone disagree with this? Speak up now," he said.

No one said anything, not even Rex, and therefore it was decided. Rill and Eject were the new leaders of the Tanking League.

###

Sky didn't look back as her tracks carried her away from the base and the others. She wasn't hurrying. She had nowhere to go. Awol had been quiet for the last minutes, just driving after her with his cannon lowered. They drove on for a while longer, but then Sky noticed something in the distance to her left. Something was moving into the direction they came from, far away. Sky tensed up, but then realized that even if this something was an enemy tank going for their base, it didn't concern her anymore. She turned her gaze away as it didn't seem like the unknown threat had noticed her and Awol.

However, from her peripheral vision, she suddenly noticed the movement approaching them. She loaded a shell and told Awol to take a look. The SPG switched to his artillery sights, but after a moment turned back to Sky.

"It's Pepper," he said.

Almost at the same time, Sky received a radio transmission.

«... Sky? We are you going? Are we leaving?»

Sky didn't reply and just drove on silently. Moments later, Pepper appeared at her side, braking sharply after his short sprint. Sky halted, but only looked at the Leopard from the corner of her optics. Awol returned the look Pepper was giving him at first, but quickly averted his gaze again.

"Where are the others?" Pepper asked. As he got no response still, he tilted his cannon, and then seemingly got a suspicion what could be going on.

"They really …" he began to say, but trailed off.

"They've made a decision. I have nothing to add," Sky said and set herself into motion again, leaving Pepper standing. He didn't do anything about it; she heard his engine idle for a moment, and then rev as he turned around and continued his way back to the base.

Before the sound of the engine had faded completely, Awol halted again. Sky halted as well and turned around to him with a frown. He spoke up in a subdued voice.

"What are we going to do now?"

Sky's expression grew even darker.

"I don't know," she said truthfully.

"How are we going to get fuel? What if someone just —"

Sky interrupted him sharply.

" I said, I don't know!" she snapped.

Awol flinched, looking at her with a shocked expression.

"You don't have to yell at me," he said.

Sky closed her optics for a moment and sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know. I really don't."

###

"What the hell was that?!"

Fox stopped and turned towards the source of the angry voice. The words were shouted in German, so it could only be one tank, and that tank had to be very mad. Rex was approaching him with a wild glare.

"What the hell happened there?!" he barked.

Fox just let the other heavy come towards him, returning the glare with an impassive look. As soon as Rex reached him, the King Tiger replied, in German as well.

"I don't know what you mean," he said coolly, despite knowing very well. This confrontation had been bound to happen, but that didn't mean that Fox was ready for it. He had known that Rex would explode once he managed to sort out his thoughts after all those confusing events. And he had also known that he would be the first target of the VK's wrath, if only for the lack of any other targets.

"Why didn't you say anything? Why did you let them kick Sky out?!" Rex went on.

It was odd to be the one to experience his anger first-hand for once. Rex got angry a lot at many things, and sometimes didn't have qualms about confronting other tanks about it. Sometimes that resulted in him and Fox arguing, but it was never serious arguments, only banter. Rex had never been furious when addressing his friend. It seemed like this time, things were different.

"I had my reasons," Fox said. Of course, Rex didn't take that as an answer.

"What reasons?" the VK snapped. "I want to hear those, and they better be damn good reasons!"

Fox couldn't help but get irritated as well. He didn't have to let someone talk to him in that tone. No matter who it was.

"Maybe if you looked past your obsession with that Pershing for once, you would see that she wasn't suitable for leading a high tier team," he said in a low, but firm tone. "How many more dead team mates and defeats would it have taken for you to realize that?"

Rex' stance got defensive and he struggled for words, but before he could really reply, Fox went on already.

"Look, I don't have anything against her personally. I never did. But I don't feel like dying for her. Her ideas of leading a team were admirable in theory, but in practice she was killing people."

Rex wanted to object again, but again Fox didn't let him talk, which resulted in the King Tiger having to shout over Rex' words of protest.

"We were heading towards our demise at full throttle. Stopping her was the only way to avoid the crash. If I had realized that sooner, I would have advocated for kicking her long before she ran the team into the ground like she did," he said assertively. Rex had stopped trying to drown out the other's voice with his own and was just glaring now.

"Besides, you didn't say anything either when we told her to leave," Fox concluded.

"But I didn't agree!" Rex growled, finally able to get a word in. "I don't want Rill or Eject to be my leaders! I won't accept it! My leader is Sky."

It was really remarkable and incredibly irritating at the same time to Fox how blindly stubborn the other heavy was. How blindly loyal to someone who would most likely have been his own death in the end.

"Then why didn't you follow her when she left? Or, just run after her now. I'm sure it's not too late to catch up with her yet," Fox burst out, his voice now full of biting sarcasm.

Rex fell silent, trembling on his suspension with held back anger. When he finally replied, his voice sounded genuinely hurt.

"Would you come with me?" he asked. Fox didn't say anything in return. The other heavy understood the silence's meaning. "I thought we were going to stick together no matter what! I thought we weren't going to let anything or anyone change that!" he said. "And now you're telling me to leave and saying you wouldn't care if I did?"

Fox stared off to the side with a deep frown. Rex' voice got lower but all the more aggrieved as he said one more thing before falling quiet.

"I thought we were friends ."

A heavy silence spread between the two tanks. After a few moments, Fox turned around and drove off without another word.

###

Watching the scene silently, Rill and Eject were standing next to each other not far away. It had been hard to miss the yelling that had started shortly after the tanks had disbanded their meeting. Rill didn't understand what kind of insults they were apparently hurling at each other, but as the German heavies fell silent finally, it didn't look like they had come to an agreement.

"I'll keep an optic on that," Eject said matter-of-factly.

"As long as they don't end up interfering with each other during battles, let them argue," Rill replied with a shrug. Privately, he was more concerned than he let on. Fox had always been a good influence on Rex, and it was hard to predict into which direction the VK would develop when that influence was taken away. The last thing Rill needed was an incalculable tier 9.

"What about the low tiers? Assuming the Jumbo will come back," Eject asked, picking up the conversation again that they had paused to watch the argument. Rill's gaze wandered to the part of the base where they kept their fuel. Barfly was having a late breakfast there. Rill tuned in to the Sherman's private frequency.

"Where is your brother?" he asked Barfly.

«He's … out of range now,» Barfly replied. He sounded affected, to say the least. «Can I -» he began to ask, but Rill didn't let him finish the sentence. Barfly had asked the same question twice already. Each time the answer had been the same.

"No," Rill said. "You're staying."

It seemed like this time, Eject had an idea. He was listening to the radio conversation and turned to Rill.

"We could send Pepper for him. He'll find him in no time for sure," he suggested.

"I don't know if that's necessary. He might be on his way back to here already. He wouldn't abandon his brother, not even for the Pershing," Rill said.

"If he really managed to persuade her, he might have Sky in tow …" Eject added for consideration.

"Then so be it," Rill said. "We'll think about that when it happens. In any case, I think they can stay for now. We'll upgrade or replace them as soon as possible."

Eject's engine rumbled in agreement. Then, he seemed to think of something. He tilted his antennas as he looked at the heavy by his side.

"That's the Shermans. What about Arty?"

Rill knew that Eject had something like a soft spot for the SPG. Rill himself would have kicked her already, since to him, she was just another low tier. Another burden. But he knew better than to antagonize his new co-leader like that.

"I didn't forget about her," the KV-4 said calmly. "If we can get her to tier 7 at least, …"

"Tier 7?" Eject interrupted him. "She isn't ready."

"She will be. You'll just have to train her more frequently again," Rill said dismissively.

"It won't work. I'm not able to do that," Eject replied in a stubborn tone.

Rill raised an optic ridge.

"She's not a poor learner. And since it's not that … You were an SPG yourself, so where's the trouble?" he asked.

Eject didn't show any signs of being surprised at the revelation of Rill's knowledge, except for his voice turning wary.

"… How do you know?"

"It is obvious, really. Only an SPG can teach another SPG like that."

Eject was quiet for a moment, his engine emitting a discontent grumble. At first it seemed like he was done with the conversation, but then he replied anyway.

"I never made it that far, before …"

He fell silent again, looked off to the side. Rill didn't bother with feigning sympathy and waited patiently until Eject's gaze rested on him again before he went on.

"Can you do it or not?" he asked flatly, not interested in the other heavy's hemming and hawing. As he didn't receive a reply at all, he added, "With her current tier, she can't stay in the team. We'll have to kick her if —"

"No need. I'll do it," Eject said, his voice grumpy now.

Rill nodded, satisfied with that answer and the newfound leverage.