Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or World of Tanks

Creak...

Ruby glanced eagerly up, glad to be doing anything other than focusing on the in-class assignment that professor Peaches' had given them, and saw Gladys' head peeking through the now-open door. Quietly, she crept in, and the teacher looked over. Quickly, Gladys murmured, "I, ah, h-hope I'm not interrupting-"

"Go to the nurse's office," Peaches shot. As the three other red-coated folk came in- notably without any of the careful tact their commander had been using- Gladys shook her head, "It's quite alright- I simply needed to know what I'd missed."

"Hey!" Weiss shot in a whisper, directing her leader back to her almost entirely unfinished work. Ruby promptly, and too-loudly, blurted, "Sorry!"

The teacher's glare turned from Gladys and onto her, and Ruby nervously chuckled, then finished, "For, um... scribbling on your paper... not, uh..."

"The word you're looking for is eavesdropping," Weiss informed. Ruby nodded, "Y-Yeah. I didn't do that."

Peaches let out a long sigh, and Gladys muttered, "I have interrupted, then."

"Because your team," Peaches explained, putting special emphasis on whose blame it was, "Knocked out another team of students-"

"Whoo!" came a cheer from one of the other tankers, "Now if only we'd gotten-"

"Do be quiet, please, we've done enough," Gladys cut off, then looked back over at the teacher, murmuring, "Apologies for that scuffle."

"As I was saying," Peaches said, "Because of your team's actions, we don't have a full class, so you're doing a packet."

She indicated a neat little pile of papers, and Gladys nodded, "Righto."

Quickly, she grabbed a few packets, and headed back to where the rest of her crew was. Then, she just sat down, and-

"Miss Rose," the teacher reminded, "You all have to do the work."

"Yep!" Ruby said, "Uh, doing that!"

And indeed, Ruby did do her work... for approximately two minutes, in which time she only ended up reading a question. But, of course, homework was boring, so she looked over at the people who had proven very interesting and entertaining so far, and saw them... quietly doing their work. Ruby stared for a few seconds, and Gladys ended up poking her head up and looking back at her for a moment. The two locked eyes for an instant, and Ruby looked away, back down at her paper.

That, unfortunately for her and Yang, who'd been doing roughly the same thing- but with a greater amount of subtlety borne from a greater amount of experience in doinking off and not doing schoolwork- that proved to be the last interesting thing to happen in professor Peaches' class. Fortunately, the next class was Glynda's, which could always be counted on at least for a neat fight to watch.

And, just before the bell rang, the team which seemed to really like fighting came in. Yang chuckled a little at the sight of them, and Weiss sighed deeply. Ruby murmured, "Ooh, fight, fight, fight-"

"I'm sure we'll see enough of that in class," Weiss shot. With an emphasis on using 'shot' rather than 'cut off' as the quotative verb, as Ruby continued the chanting despite Weiss' interrupting. She only fell silent when the fight was about to start, and the guy looked at Gladys, hand on his hip...

"Ihr Inselaffen seid weder die Mühe noch den Preis einer Kugel wert," he shot, storming off. Ruby blinked, and Yang asked, "Quick, Weiss, what's that mean?"

"They aren't going to fight," Weiss answered, and Yang nodded, "Yeah, yeah, we know you're boring, but what'd he say?"

Weiss huffed, then informed, "The 'island apes' aren't worth the trouble."

"Hey," Yang shot, "I asked, what did he say about them. And we aren't apes."

"Uh, I think she meant he called them island-apes," Ruby said. Weiss nodded, and Yang murmured, "Oh..."

-Later

The air itself was silent in professor Peach's classroom that afternoon, as the teacher herself, the headmaster, and the English tank crew all waited around in silence for the time when the meeting could properly begin. Namely, when the last three, possibly five- Gladys wasn't sure why she'd seen some of the Krauts and not all of them- participants would arrive. For once, the quiet wasn't even broken by the sipping of tea; when the Limeys had arrived with their usual pot of tea and collection of cups, professor Peaches had told them in no uncertain terms that they couldn't bring beverages into a classroom. Consequently, after fifteen minutes Gladys found herself, for just about the first time in her life, glaring at an authority figure, the off-orange haired teacher.

Still, she was a student, and the woman was her teacher, and so Gladys, at the very least, did her best to not overtly glare at her. There was another reason for this, too; she knew full well that she wouldn't have to be the one to yell at the teacher. Instead-

"Bugger this," Emma shot, right on schedule. The loader got up, griping, "We've a lot better things to be doing than just sitting around."

"Consider the wait part of your punishment," Peaches suggested, and Ribbans retorted, "We're being punished?"

"You've already taken our bloody tea!" Emma shot, storming away. Gladys half-heartedly murmured, "Wait, no, don't..."

The loader left the room, and Gladys let out a fake sigh, then excused, "It's been rather a-"

She was cut off when Emma shouted, loud enough to be heard through the door, "YOU DIRTY BASTARDS!"

Promptly, Gladys got up, as she hadn't been betting on that bet. Peaches beat her to the door, though, throwing it open just as the sounds of a scuffle started coming from that direction. The teacher, standing in the doorway ordered, "That's enough! Get back to your seats... we've been waiting on you!"

Gladys peeked over Peaches' shoulder, and saw that, just outside the classroom, Emma had startled a round of fisticuffs with the Germans that they'd been waiting on the whole time. Nearby sat a few of the tea cups in various degrees of fullness, all having, at the very least, been drank from at least a little. As the fighting continued, the teacher stepped out the doorway to try and physically separate the belligerents. Promptly, Gladys shot out and quickly grabbed the tea set. She had to stop a moment to let Ozpin get out and start saying something or other to the fighting bunch- of course, not staying long enough to actually hear it. Instead, she quickly got back into the classroom and set the pot and cups on one of the seats. Ribbans balked, "Did they drink our tea?"

Gladys nodded swiftly, and Carney murmured, "Yet we're the ones in the wrong."

"We'll see in the meeting," Gladys said, "The best thing for it is to not anger them more, so we'll all just stay here, alright?"

"And leave her on her own?" Ribbans retorted, "I should think not."

The gunner stood quickly up, charging to the doorway- only to be stopped, as Ozpin made his way in, followed by Peaches, and then Emma, and then three- still not all five- of the Germans. And again, it was Karl, Fritz, and Hans- commander, gunner, and radio operator. About the strangest combination of crew members Gladys could think of. She didn't think of it, though, instead quickly moving the tea set off the chair, murmuring, "I'm, ah, glad that's resolved, at least."

Peaches shot, "I told you that you-"

"I believe, in recognition for their timeliness, a small amount of leniency may be granted to miss Gladys and her companions," Ozpin said. Peaches stopped in place for a moment, and as Gladys finally sat down and Emma made her way to her seat, the teacher nodded, "I... suppose so."

"Good," Ozpin said, "Then, if there aren't any more objections, I suppose we can begin."

There were various nods and agreements, one of which Gladys half-mindedly gave as she started pouring tea for her crew. Owing to the fact that they were going to a meeting where they would be, at minimum, eight people, Gladys had brought along nine cups- enough that the three used ones were safely quarantined, there were four for her four crew members, and another two to spare.

"Karl, jetzt ist es soweit,"Hans shot, and Karl informed, "Mein commander und radio operator cannot speak English. Since there's no point in them being here-"

"We've waited hours on you sorry lot!" Emma cut off, and Ribbans corrected, "More like an hour, actually."

"It's only been fifteen minutes," Gladys informed, "But the point still stands."

"There is no point to my commander being here," Karl informed, "He has many duties to attend to."

"Does he have another student he needs to shoot?" Peaches asked, then requested, "Translate that for him."

Karl shook his head, and Ozpin translated, "Müssen Sie einen anderen Schüler erschießen?"

Karl glanced askance at the headmaster, and Hans simply answered, "Jawohl. Diese Schule ist eine Höhle des bunten Bolschewismus."

Ozpin nodded quietly, informing, "He can stay."

"Gut," Hans said, standing up, "Ich freue mich zu sehen, dass Sie in der Lage sind, meine Autorität anzuerkennen."

"Sie bleiben in der Besprechung," Ozpin deadpanned. Hans stopped a moment, seemingly shocked that someone would go against his reason, then shouted, "Du kannst mich nicht hier behalten! Ich bin ein Offizier von-"

"Oh, shut it, Jerry!" Ribbans shot, "Let's get on with it!"

"Inselaffe!" Hans fumed, "Halt deinen Mund oder ich schneide es raus, bevor ich dich töte wie das Schwein, das du bist!"

In the blink of an eye, the man had his pistol out once again- and in another blink, Ozpin had smacked the man on the wrist with his cane, causing the Luger to clatter to the floor. Gladys quickly scrambled for it, and as she drew away, Hans kicked her in the side, shouting, "Kenne deinen Platz-"

He was then tackled by Ribbans, and...

...a few minutes later, the situation had been forcibly calmed yet again, with all the German firearms- Fritz's Broomhandle, Hans' P08, and an MP40 with a collapsed stock that Karl had had- now placed by the door. The German TC was glaring at his gunner, his gunner was glaring at Ozpin, and the radio operator was glaring at Gladys, who, for her part, said, "I suppose we can begin now, since we all know that we'll be here?"

"About bloody time," Emma shot, and Peaches explained, "This is the exact same sort of behavior which they were engaging in during this morning's class, but a bit worse now."

"Indeed," Karl shot, "It is their nature to start conflicts!"

"Your commander's the one who threw a tantrum!" Ribbans shot back, and Karl retorted, "You started the conflict, but were too meek to act on it, preying on our superior ways as men of action!"

"Enough!" Peaches shot, "I called you here to get this to stop!"

"There is a solution which would be final," Karl noted, and Carney noted, "Rather original with your humor."

"Professor Peaches," Ozpin interjected, "Are you aware that these are the... late arrivals which I warned the faculty of?"

The teacher hesitated a moment, and Emma guessed, "That lot really are here to stick around as schoolchildren?"

Ozpin nodded, and Gladys asked, "Where are Otto and-"

"Du hast den Verräter korrumpiert und willst jetzt, wo er ist! Er ist unter der Erde, weil sein Charakter unter dem der Erde ist, wie deiner!" Hans said, getting up and starting his rant in an instant, continuing, "Ich habe diese Männer bei mir bleiben lassen, weil wir stark sind! Wir sind stolze Arier, eine Bastion gegen die bolschewistische Bedrohung und Ihre kleinliche, judenhafte Einmischung!"

And then the man did something like pulling out a pistol, but he didn't actually have his pistol, so instead he just brought his hand up in a rather odd sort of finger gun. Ozpin calmly requested, "Setz dich bitte."

Hans huffed, and sat back down, while Gladys asked, "Did he say anything of worth just then?"

Ozpin nodded, "He killed a traitor."

Gladys sighed, and Carney noted, "Would murder not be grounds for expulsion?"

"Given you all have a... unique way of dying," Ozpin answered, "Not in this case."

"Oh, lovely to hear I can be killed without consequence," Ribbans said, and Emma noted, "Nothing wrong with me strangling the daylights out of that lot, then?"

"Please don't," Peaches shot, "There's been enough of that. You all need to stop fighting with each other."

Gladys sighed quietly, and Karl said, in a joking voice, "Sie sagt, wir sollten aufhören zu kämpfen."

Hans and Fritz both started laughing, and Peaches fumed, "Can you not be peaceable students?"

"We'll do our best," Gladys informed, and Ozpin noted, "In due time."

"You have bloody class for dueling," Ribbans noted, "And we're supposed to be peaceable?"

"Peaceable," Carney noted, "Not pacifist."

Ribbans shook his head quietly, and Peaches sighed, then dismissed, "Then... there's no point to this, I guess. You can leave."

"Finally," Emma shot, "I've needed a loo for ages."

Gladys watched as her loader, then gunner, then driver all left to do whatever it was they did after school- she still hadn't figured out what. Behind them, the Krauts got their weapons back from the wall, and left to do whatever it is that Germans do. Finally, it was just her, the headmaster, the teacher, and the teaset. The teacher glared at her, and Gladys murmured, "I really do mean that I'll do my best to wrangle them. And... it isn't much, but might I at least offer a cup of tea as an apology for how my crew has been?"

The teacher nodded, and Ozpin asked, "Did you have something to say?"

"Ah... yes, though I am sincere with staying to apologize," Gladys answered, "But there is a matter of concern- I presume professor Goodwitch told you about my death in the arena yesterday?"

Ozpin nodded, and Peaches pointed out, "You clearly didn't die, so don't call it that."

"Regardless," Gladys said, choosing not to debate the woman in what counted as being dead, "While it didn't do any lasting damage, it did hurt a might bit, and... my crew and I are tankers, not infantry. So, I'd like to abstain from the class- at least until we can get some sort of small arms, that is."

"You're a student here, aren't you?" Peaches shot, "Or did you come simply to disrupt life?"

"What professor Peaches means to say," Ozpin interjected, "Is that this Academy is for training huntsmen- not just infantry, but huntsmen, who are expected to bear great pain. Though, admittedly, they usually do have access to weapons."

"Perhaps, uh, if you'll let me propose an idea," Gladys said, "Perhaps my crew and I could, ah, fight with our weapon, then? It could be balanced out by the opponent being another team, maybe-"

"There isn't a point to training you in what you already know," Ozpin retorted. Gladys hesitated, then pleaded, "M-Maybe- consider it for the other side, teaching anti-tank tactics-"

"The answer is no," Ozpin cut off. Gladys stared at him a long moment, then nodded, "I... uh... see. Very, um, w-well then. I'll... I'll just be off, if you don't mind."

Ozpin nodded slightly, and Gladys quickly left the room, then the building, making her way over to where she knew her tank was. It had come back in the same spot that it'd been parked in when it was destroyed, and Gladys and her crew had passed it on their way to the meeting. And, staring at it for a moment, Gladys felt relieved to see it and its safe, tan steel, its angular features radiating strength and its juxtaposition with the grass giving an image of solidness and might. So close to her familiar tank, the nippy little Cruiser she'd spent a day in not so long ago, everything seemed alright again, and so Gladys scrambled onto the engine deck, then through her cupola- not bothering to question why it was already open- finally sitting down and-

"Do you have any plan to get a life of your own?"

-looked hastily up, to see her loader half-in their normal position- not sitting like normal, but very awkwardly crouched. Most notably, holding the coaxial machine gun. Gladys sniffed quietly, and Emma shot, "Move out of the way, will you?"

"Uh- o-of course," Gladys quickly said, before lifting herself out of the cupola and stepping back onto the engine deck. After a moment, Emma yelled, "Catch!"

Through the air soared the MG, and Gladys let out a startled yelp and, rather than catch it, shuffled quickly back. The Besa fell in a moment, making hard contact and producing a very loud thunk! as its steel components made contact with the Cruiser's steel armor. Emma asked, "Are you alright?"

Quickly, the woman came out of the cupola, and Gladys nodded at her, murmuring, "Just, ah, startling to see a-a machine gun flying at me, is all."

Emma stared at her a long moment, and Gladys swallowed hard, before asking, "Why, ah, are you removing it, by the by?"

"Well," Emma answered, "If a bunch of Krauts are roaming around, seems rather smart to carry something around to shoot the bastards."

Glads nodded slightly, then informed, "Doubly so, since... ah... we will be expected to, um, duel like footsloggers in Goodwitch's class."

Emma snorted, and Gladys continued, "Speaking of actually using this... do you know how?"

"Well," Emma answered, "Y'know... I can load it, and I know to pull back the trigger."

Gladys stared quizzically at her, and the loader answered, "I-It doesn't shoot, if you don't do it."

"Alright," Gladys nodded, "And for dealing with the recoil?"

Emma shrugged, "Just put your back into it."

Gladys sighed, and Emma pointed out, "Not like you know, either."

At that the commander nodded slightly, before sighing again.

-The next day

"Sie sind hier?"

Gladys glanced up, recognizing the German language and wanting to at least look Hans in the eye before he shot her again, only to find Hans' whole crew- in particular, Otto was staring at her.

"Leider," Hans answered, "Geh und sei mit den Leuten, für die du deine Nation und deine Rasse verraten hast, abscheuliche Schlange!"

"Ich bin immer noch Teil Ihrer Crew. Du hast mich leben lassen, um dein Lader zu sein, nicht wahr?" Otto said, turning to Hans, who shrieked in response, "Wenn es nicht die Regeln dieses Landes gäbe, hätte ich dich dort erschossen, wo du gestanden hast! Jetzt geh so weit aus meinen Augen wie du kannst! Ich verabscheue den Anblick ekelhafter Schweinehunde und hasse den Anblick von schlimmeren Dingen wie dir noch viel mehr!"

"Use your inside voice, please," professor Peaches said, to which Hans shouted, "Dass ich diese heimtückische Schlange nicht töten kann, ist alles, was ich zugeben werde, widerliches Miststück dieser neuen Welt!"

"I'm sorry about him," Otto said, heading over to-

"Go be with your own, Jerry," Ribbans shot, and Otto corrected, "Jerry is our driver. I am Otto, nice to meet you."

He extended his hand, and Gladys murmured, "If... if we could all scooch a little."

Emma snorted, and Gladys added, "Best not to be dramatic about it and disrupt class, at least."

"Fine," Emma shot, scooching a little. Ribbans followed suit, and then Carney, and finally Gladys scooted, allowing Otto to sit down and nod, "Thank you."

Gladys nodded, then murmured, "It's the least I can do, given what happened."

Otto nodded quietly, and Jaune abruptly yelled, "Wait, he's the one who-"

He was cut off by the bell loudly ringing, and class promptly beginning. Things after that went well enough, at least- professor Peaches didn't allow much talking during lectures, so there was at least that. It did nothing to alleviate Gladys feeling, like a physical weight, the numerous gazes upon her. Her own crew, wondering if she was some sort of lover of Bosh; RWBY and JNPR, curious in the extreme; and, of course, Hans, glaring at Otto with such an intensity that it showered off to everyone nearby. After a long, long hour, the bell finally rang again, and Gladys murmured, "If you'll, ah, follow me, please."

"I must get back to my crew," Otto said. Gladys hesitated a moment, then nodded, "I suppose so."

A few more moments passed before the line was finally clear enough for him to exit, and Gladys followed suit, leaving the classroom and heading off to the side. Turning, she sighed, preparing to address the crew. The weight of their staring felt somehow heavier now, and Gladys stammered a little as she explained, "O-Otto is, ah, a-a decent enough fellow. It'd, um, o-only be mannerly to give him refuge from that lot of moronic Nazis, I'd think."

A long moment of silence passed, and Gladys swallowed, hard, feeling the tension in the air. It wasn't the sort of tension she was used to; it wasn't the adrenaline-fueled nightmare of battle, where the stakes were life and death. It was simply the feeling that what she was now doing was wrong, and that her crew would recognize it and abandon her. And it felt somehow worse.

"Fine," Emma shot, finally breaking the silence. Gladys let out a breath she didn't fully know she'd been holding, and Emma murmured, "Reasonable enough to get away from a Kraut- even if it's another bloody Kraut."

Gladys nodded quietly, then said, "Let's get to class then, shall we?"

Author's Note: Yes, pulling back the handle is, as far as I'm aware, how you cock a Besa into action-readiness- it was mentioned in an offhand line in the Matilda Diaries, specifically during the breech special. I say this because there aren't a tremendous number of videos about the Besa, or the ZB-53 (The original Czech design that the Brits copied to make the Besa), or the MG37(t) (German designation for captured ZB-37, I'm unsure if it was used to refer to the Besa). What videos there are are mostly by reenactors, who, for obvious reasons, have the infantry configuration of the machine gun, which doesn't seem to have the same cocking motion. The only decent sources I have on the the Besa as it was when mounted in a vehicle are the aforementioned offhand line in the Matilda Diaries and a clip of one firing from the Churchill Trust. I say all this because the infantry model, from what I can tell, has a lot of bits that, if I were writing about it, I would want to mention. And also because I have spent far too much time and gotten far too exhausted and frustrated over this for there to be no payoff whatsoever.