Pop! Pop!

"WAS-"

Pop!

Gladys jolted awake, suddenly hearing a series of loud noises. Quickly, she glanced around, to see her crew alright and doing just about the same thing she was. Finally, Ribbans shot, "Those bloody Krauts."

Gladys hesitated a moment, then informed, "I'lll, ah- E-Emma, would you mind grabbing the kit?"

"Wh... why?" Emma said, yawning midway through, and as she got out of bed, Gladys answered, "I rather think that those gunshots may have injured someone."

Quietly, she walked over to the dresser and got her clothes out, while Emma bickered, "Why bother..."

The loader groaned slightly, then flopped back into her bed. Gladys sighed, then informed, "I... I s-said I was going to stand up for, ah, my principals, so, ah, I'll go alone if none of you wish to help."

She waited a long moment, during which Ribbans laid back down, Emma did nothing. Carney was the only one to get up to help, and even he mumbled, "I should rather like to chide those louts."

Gladys lethargically nodded in agreement, then set about going through her usual morning routine, doing her best to keep quiet as she did. After the few minutes needed to go about all that, though, she and Carney were ready, and so she led the way out the door, holding it for Carney, who reminded, "Have you remembered the keycard, by chance?"

Gladys paused, then patted the two rather small pockets at the bottom of her coat, before murmuring, "I'm afraid I haven't."

Quietly, she passed the door off to Carney, then headed back in and got the keycard. As soon as the door closed, she asked, now at a normal volume, "Could you run and get the kit for me, while I..." she sighed, "Attempt to negotiate with the lunatics?"

"Certainly," Carney nodded, and Gladys returned, "Thank you."

Carney nodded again, then asked, "By the by, would you happen to know which room the Germans were put in?"

Gladys paused, then murmured, "I suppose I don't. Would you happen to?"

Carney shook his head, and Gladys noted, "Well then, that, ah, is rather a conundrum. I suppose... that we could... try..."

She trailed off, having hoped to come up with a solution mid-sentence, but finding that nothing came to her. Finally, Carney suggested, "If they were standing up, we might see them through the windows outside."

"Ah, yes," Gladys nodded, "That's brilliant. We could even take their kit while we're around the tanks."

With that settled, the two both headed out of the dorm building. A few moments after getting out the main door- and merely steps away from her Cruiser- Gladys stopped, then turned around, to see a pair of Krauts struggling to get out of a window. Calmly, she said, "Carney, I believe we needn't look for very long."

Carney turned, then guessed, "I suppose you'll pop off and negotiate then?"

"No- you can get Jerry's kit, I'll get ours," Gladys said. Nodding, Carney headed over to the Panzer III, while Gladys walked up to the Cruiser IV, then hoisted herself onto the engine deck. She'd just managed to get into the cupola when she heard a shouted, "Was machst du in unserem Tank, Engländer?"

"Bother," Gladys murmured to herself, trying to quickly shimmy her way out of the cupola, even as she heard Carney saying, "I was merely here to see about getting your multi-kit-"

"Wir haben den Kommandanten bereits getötet," came another German voice, "Überhaupt keine Zeugen!"

"Get out of here," the first Kraut said, "And-"

"What's all this?" Gladys asked while rounding the corner of the Panzer III. Quickly, two things became apparent to her; she was dealing with Jerry and Karl, and Karl had a gun trained on her. All thoughts of talking or helping flew from her mind the moment she looked down the steel barrel of the Luger he was holding, and so it was Carney who spoke up, chiding, "We were only coming here to see if you lot needed help."

"Nein," Karl shot, lowering his pistol, "No. Go away already."

"W-Well," Gladys said, still somewhat shaken, "We, ah, heard gunshots, and shouting-"

"Scheisse!" Karl cut off. Gladys didn't chide him for interrupting, though, instead suddenly feeling as if she was being watched from behind- but before she could look behind, either, Jerry guessed, "Sie haben einen nicht zum Schweigen gebrachten Luger gehört, richtig?"

Karl huffed, and Jerry sighed, "Ich wusste, dass es nicht leise genug sein würde."

"What you heard was... unser- our commander, being killed by Otto," Karl informed, "Give us the kits and we'll deal with it ourselves- no involvement from you Island-Apes."

Gladys paused a moment, then asked, "This wouldn't happen to be a repetition what happened Monday, is it?"

"Nein," Karl shot, "Of course not."

"Is it Otto who's staring at us?" Gladys asked. Karl fell silent, and Jerry noted, "Der Panzerkommandant hatte ein gutes Situationsbewusstsein. Stell dir das vor."

"Würdest du still sein?" Karl shot back, "Lass mich reden!"

"Ihr Plan ist bereits gescheitert, geben Sie einfach zu, dass es eine schlechte Idee war," Jerry retorted, "Oh, und gib mir das Geld, auf das ich gewettet habe."

"Du hast etwas getan, nicht wahr?" Karl bickered, "Es war der perfekte Plan-"

"Warum hätte ich etwas getan! Diese Mädchen sahen aus-"

"Ich hätte dich dazu bringen sollen, den MP40 zu bekommen, aber du dachtest-"

"Zuerst warst du dumm, diesen Plan zu machen, und jetzt denkst du, ich will das nicht-"

Gladys coughed a bit loudly, interjecting herself to finally end the argument between the two Krauts, then informed, "If you were killing off Hans- and Fritz too, I'd imagine- I daresay no one would much mind."

Carney- who still hadn't left the driver's position- glanced askance at her, as she continued, "And we certainly wouldn't say anything that would get you punished for having done it."

Karl huffed, then agreed, "Jawohl. You will keep silent about this and..." he sighed, a very deep, heavy sigh, then finished, "I will owe you one favor."

Gladys nodded, "Splendid."

With a sigh, Carney got out of the driver's position, as Karl turned to Jerry and informed, "Ich habe die Frau überredet zu schweigen."

"Du hast sie zu nichts überredet," Jerry retorted, to which Karl shot, "Der Plan kann voranschreiten! Das reicht, oder?"

"Und ich bekomme das Geld, das ich wette," Jerry said. As Gladys walked away, she calmly approached a bush, while Carney murmured, "Are you quite sure you wish to abandon the point of coming out here?"

"Yes," Gladys nodded. Carney noted, "I should think that picking and choosing who goodwill applies to is rather similar to what they do."

Gladys huffed, "Then you'd be wrong."

A long moment of silence passed- a long, empty silence. Gladys knew she was being stared at, and she swallowed hard, then excused, "They would apply it to larger groups, without knowing any of them. I, however, do know them."

"That is a difference," Carney said, to which Gladys nodded, "It's a drastic difference."

Finally, from the bush she was approaching, Otto came out, brandishing an MP40 and pointing it directly at the ground, guessing, "You saw me?"

"You did well enough," Gladys informed, "But I'd be a rather shoddy tank commander not to notice you."

"Then Karl owes Jerry money," Otto noted, "And I can put this back."

"If I might," Carney asked, "Might I ask whether you were the one to kill your commander?"

Otto shook his head, and Gladys guffawed, "You believed that?"

"Would you not?" Otto asked, and Gladys pointed out, "If you're loyal enough to bother sticking around your own crew after months of shooing, I should think you wouldn't mutiny at random."

Otto nodded, then said, "Well, I now have two dead bodies to clean up."

Gladys nodded, then quickly shook her head, murmuring, "I, ah, did ask about that- ah, apparently the, well, bloodstains and such vanish with the bodies. Rather convenient."

Otto nodded, and before the man could say anything, Gladys offered, "So, then, I suppose, if you'd like, you could come back with-"

She was cut off abruptly by the roar of an engine, and looked over to see the Panzer III rolling away, its cold-morning tracks creaking and groaning as it accelerated. Promptly, she asked, "What are those two doing, by the by?"

Otto chuckled a little, then informed, "They have a date."

Gladys sniffed in amusement, and Carney informed, "I'll be heading back to bed now."

"Of course," Gladys nodded, "Sorry to have kept you."

As the driver walked off, Gladys turned back to Otto, questioning, "Are you being quite serious?"

"Ja," Otto nodded, "They have been planning this all week."

Gladys chuckled a little, and Otto turned to head into the dorm building as he said, "I won't keep you any longer."

Quickly, Gladys stopped, "Ah- n-no, I, ah, am rather too awake to go merely back to sleep now."

The loader murmured, "I wish you could."

"Yes," Gladys nodded, having to jog a little to catch up with the loader, "But, ah... well, I could, ah, use some way to pass the time. So... i-if you wouldn't terribly mind... w-would you like to have tea with me?"

"The rest of your crew is asleep," Otto pointed out, and Gladys informed, "I don't mind, ah, not having them about. But I would hate to make a whole kettle just for myself."

Otto finally stopped, then turned and nodded, "I'm not sure I could have gone to sleep with the commander's death stench, anyway."

"Might I ask that we perhaps not talk about corpses over a pleasant morning's teatime?" Gladys requested, and Otto nodded, "Of course."

-Elsewhere

Karl bit his lip slightly, counting the windows as he passed them, then abruptly ordered, "Halt!"

The tank quickly lurched to a stop, and the gunner-turned-commander was just as quick to turn out of the cupola, and yell, "Woman! We are here! The tank is here, we are ready to give you a ride! Come out!"

A moment of silence passed.

"COME OUT!" Karl shouted. After another moment, he huffed, then tapped his neck intercom and instructed, "Jerry, Nimm das Maschinengewehr und schiesse auf das Fenster."

There was a brief pause-

BUDUDUDU!

-and then, abruptly, a burst of fire from the machine gun, loud enough that the sound of glass shattering couldn't be heard over it. But, Karl could still see the glass shatter; and, a moment later, saw a white-haired girl approach the window, fuming, "This is school property and far too early for your hooliganism!"

"Where is the blonde?" Karl yelled. The girl leaned slightly towards the windowsill- then quickly doubled back. Karl shouted, "BLONDE! YELLOW HAIR!"

The girl adopted an expression that was somehow even angrier, then turned and left. Karl instructed, "Auf die Fensterbank schlagen."

BUDUDUDU!

The bricks about a foot below the window erupted with mortar dust flying out, and Karl fumed, "DIE FENSTERBANK!"

"Ich versuche!" came Jerry's retorted over the radio, to which Karl ranted, "Es ist ein stilles Ziel und sehr nah, du-"

He stopped, seeing the blonde finally come to the window. Quickly, he turned the intercom off, just as the girl fumed, "LET ME SLEEP!"

"We're here as promised!" Karl informed, "We're here to take you!"

Distantly, he could hear what sounded like snickering, before the blonde shouted, "I DON'T CARE! LET ME SLEEP!"

She then turned and left. After a moment, Jerry asked, "Was ist los?"

Karl paused, then turned in, and quietly shifted to his usual gunner's seat. Jerry repeated, "Was ist los?"

Karl answered, "Sie glaubt nicht, dass wir Männer genug sind, um sie zu wecken."

He huffed, then turned the traverse mechanism, letting the turret swing to the left, until he was on the entire opposite side of the hull. For a moment, he stared at the rounds, then yelled, "Welche sind hochexplosiv?"

"Was schiesst du?" Jerry questioned, and Karl explained, "Wir müssen beweisen, dass wir sie mitnehmen können. Welche sind hochexplosiv?"

Jerry paused, then answered, "Ich weiss nicht."

Karl huffed, "Hoffen wir, dass es dieser ist!"

Quickly, he grabbed a random round, then struggled for a good few minutes to load it without getting out of his seat. Eventually, though, he rammed the projectile into the breech, which promptly shut, and so he turned back to his gunner's sight and traversed the turret back around. Jerry murmured, "Sind Sie sicher, dass das funktioniert? Was, wenn es wie mein Schwanz ist?"

"Vertrauen Sie mir, ich kenne Leute, ich mache gute Pläne.," Karl assured, to which Jerry pointed out, "Du kennst keine Frauen. Ich will nicht, dass du das vermasselst-"

Boom!

Karl pulled the trigger, sending a five-centimeter armor-piercing round sailing beautifully through the open window, the floor above, the next floor after that, and then the roof of the building, coming out the top and making an artful arc that took it straight into the small pond behind. Being as they had a good bit of solid steel between them and the gun, though, the sheer volume of a five-centimeter cannon firing on a peaceful morning was mostly lost to the two tankers.

-Elsewhere

Boom!

Gladys blinked in surprise, abruptly hearing the crack of cannon-fire, then calmly sipped her tea, while Otto let out a heavy sigh. For a few more moments, Gladys let herself enjoy the tea, gulping down the last few drops, before finally sighing and murmuring, "Well, then, I suppose we ought to check up on what all is going on with your crew."

Otto nodded, saying, "I'll drive."

Calmly, he set his tea cup down, and while he was getting off the engine deck Gladys pointed out, "You haven't finished yet."

"Ah, sorry," Otto said, turning around. Quickly, Gladys scooched his cup over to the side, and while he finished his tea she started packing up the set, before finally grabbing the loader's now-empty cup and setting it with the others inside the turret. Otto murmured, "Do you want to drive?"

"What?" Gladys perplexed, and Otto pointed out, "I would think you would stay in the turret, as a commander."

"Why on Earth would we be taking the tank about?" Gladys retorted. Otto retorted, "We have just heard someone firing a round from a tank."

Gladys paused, then murmured, "I... do suppose we should, then."

Otto nodded, and Gladys shook her head, "I-I... n-no. It would be... much too far, to have you driving my tank."

"You would rather walk towards the Panzer after it has already started fighting something?" Otto asked, sounding genuinely curious more than anything. Gladys hesitated, then nodded, reaching out her hand. Quickly, Otto took it, helping her off the tank as she said, "That is a step too far, even with you."

Otto nodded quietly, and the two calmly started walking off in the direction from which they'd heard a noise, eventually passing by the corner of the dorm-building. Rounding the corner, the silhouette of the Panzer III presented itself roughly in the middle of the walkway, perfectly still and seemingly perfectly fine, though with its turret rotated towards the building. Otto paused a moment, then touched his neck, saying, "Stellvertretender Kommandant, hier ist Otto, ich fordere einen Bericht an."

Gladys glanced at him askance, and the loader lowered the collar of his uniform slightly to reveal a small, neck-mounted device, informing, "Hans didn't know which of us should have them, so we all do."

"That is an internal radio, then, I suppose?" Gladys questioned, and Otto nodded, to which Gladys pointed out, "You are aware that you're well outside of its possible range, then?"

Otto shrugged, noting, "I'm not sure how far it can reach."

"It's an internal radio," Gladys pointed out, to which the loader informed, "Fritz is the only one who knows much about the radio."

He paused, then noted, "Which means no one is receiving."

Gladys nodded quietly, and from the cupola of the Panzer Yang abruptly popped up. Gladys shuddered quickly at the sight of Yang, then stepped even further back on seeing how visibly angry the blonde was- not just the usual red eyes, but her whole demeanor seemed more like that of an angered predator than a young girl's. The girl barked, "I just wanna sleep, leave me alone already!"

"P-Put your gun down," Gladys whispered to Otto, who quickly unslung the MP40 and set it down while Gladys informed, "W-We w-w-were just leaving-"

Bang!-Bang!-Bang!

-and then, in a trio of gunshots, the blonde flew away without another word. Gladys stood stock-still for a few moments, waiting with her every nerve screaming at her that the girl was suddenly going to dive down in front of her and crush her skull with a single punch...

"Ruhe in Frieden," Otto sighed, stooping to pick the submachine gun back up. Calmly, he stood back up, then turned to Gladys and asked, "Could you get the turret back in place while I drive?"

"U-Uh?" Gladys blurted, then murmured, "Ah, s-sorry, I was, well... c-could you repeat that?"

"We should get the tank back in position," Otto answered, "Could you handle the turret?"

Gladys murmured, "I, ah, y-yes. Being i-in a turret might do some good for me."

She sighed, then headed along with Otto on the final approach to the Panzer III, finally splitting off as the loader continued along the tank's side, while Gladys struggled for a few moments to get onto the engine deck. Finally, though, she managed it, albeit with much less dignity than usual, and from there opened the cupola hatch. Quickly, she grasped the edges of the cupola and the rear stowage bin, raising her torso slightly and kicking her legs over the cupola's edge and inside. Then, abruptly, she paused, feeling something solid beneath her, then said, "Apologies, I wasn't aware that was the driver's position."

No response came from Otto, and so Gladys gently extending her leg again, only to feel the same solid something- which, on reflection, felt far too sturdy to be a person. So, she let her other leg onto the platform, and came to be standing with almost all of her body outside the tank, before ducking down and looking around. Inside, what struck her most immediately was the presence of Karl- minus his head- on the floor of the tank and Jerry- with a dinner-plate sized hole through his stomach- lying just nearby, his neck bent beyond where it should have been possible and his body at such an angle that Gladys could see his now-exposed lungs. Immediately after that, though, she noticed there wasn't a floor below the turret seats- there was a floor, of course, but at a glance she knew it was much too far for her legs to actually reach. So, it was with a great deal more care than usual that she lowered herself into a sitting position in the commander's seat. Otto requested, "Bring the turret to the front, please."

Gladys nodded quickly, then sat where she was for a moment, trying to fathom a way for her to actually get into the gunner's seat... and realizing there wasn't a loader's seat. Quickly, she glanced around, then dismissed it from mind, before instructing, "Keep your eyes ahead, please."

"Of course," Otto said. Gladys hesitated a moment, then stretched her leg all the way out the gunner's seat, with one eye on Otto to make sure he didn't try to look up her skirt while her leg was so outstretched. The loader turned driver didn't, though, and so Gladys gripped the commander's seat, then lifted herself away from it with her hands while dragging herself towards the other seat with her leg. Finally, she half-threw herself out of the commander's seat, and barely managed to land in the gunner's. Almost as soon as this happened, Otto turned around, asking, "Do you need help?"

"No need to worry," Gladys said, shaking her head, then wondered, "Where would you normally sit?"

"I don't," Otto calmly answered. Gladys blinked, then murmured, "Terribly sorry for you."

Otto shrugged, and Gladys dismissed it from mind, then turned the turret such that she and the loader-turned-driver- and thusly the one who was facing forwards- were facing the same direction. With the turret in position, she paused for a moment, glanced at the commander's seat, then shook her head, deciding to stay where she was rather than bother with the effort. And the rightness of this decision proved itself to her rather quickly, as only a few moments later the tank lurched to a stop. Quickly, Gladys looked above her, then looked around for a moment, before finally finding the side-mounted gunner's hatch and opening it up. As she got out, she could already hear Ribbans fuming, "What the bloody hell have you Kraut bastards decided to get on to? Firing wildly at anything that moves?"

As Gladys walked past the turret, she found Otto stood out of the driver's position, with the rest of her crew standing on the other side of the tank. A moment of silence passed, before Ribbans questioned, "What're you doing over there?"

"Have you been taking a lady out on a ride around?" Emma said to Otto, "Because that's a good idea, I'd think."

"N-No," Gladys quickly answered, "We were, ah, simply returning it back here. Carney, I presume you've filled them in about, ah, Karl and Jerry's doings?"

The driver shook his head, informing, "They were still asleep."

Gladys nodded, "Right. So, ah, if you'll allow me to explain..."

She then went and explained, more or less, the events of the morning. At the end of it, Emma informed, "If you want to gallivant with Otto, just bloody say so."

Gladys paused, and Ribbans pointed out, "She just explained she wasn't. What on Earth kind of 'gallivanting' could you do with a Jerry, anyways?"

"Jerry was already dead, actually," Otto informed, and Emma, while winking at Gladys, retorted, "Sure they weren't."

"We really weren't," Gladys insisted, to which Emma nodded, "Oh, I'm right certain."

She winked at Gladys again, and the commander simply sighed, then said, "Right, well, if that's all settled, I suppose we ought to be preparing for the field trip, then."

With that, her crew started towards their tank, and Otto asked, "Could I convoy with you all?"

"No," Ribbans immediately answered, while Gladys answered, "I suppose if you'd like."

Ribbans sighed deeply, and Otto nodded, "Thank you."

Author's Note: So, yes, this was just a filler chapter. In a work which already has plenty of extraneous chapters when compared with others. Feel free to boo me- it is filler, after all, in its most blatant form. I will say, however, that it's also filler serving exactly it's purpose- namely, I'm still trying to work out how exactly to handle the bit of Jaunedice where they're in the forest. I didn't want this to just die of not-updating, so here's something, which certainly is one of the chapters of all time. And before you ask- yes, I was already planning on trying to shuffle most of the Germans away, but having them just wander off-screen with CRDL felt too cheap.