ARC II chapter 9

Traf looked around their starting point, just to be sure that no one was waiting to shoot their tanks from behind right as the battle started and was glad that he found no traces of the tanks owned by Raven's Nest being hidden nearby.

"Found anything?" George asked and he shook his head at that. "Nothing. But, there's a chance of a sudden change. Do you remember the original time for this farce to play out?" Traf responded and George nodded. "Yes. It was just set to happen three days after the parts for our Tiger were supposed to arrive."

Just reminding him that was painful. The Tiger I E was practically his last link with his parents and seeing it devastated by someone, who cared only about ruling everything was almost too much for his self-control. And he knew that he got carried over the edge by his subordinates not wanting to send even one single tank away to make the battle fair at least in numbers.

"At least Shimada wants us to have a bit fairer match," he muttered as he slid into his placeholder tank, closing the hatch behind himself.

Alice looked at the tanks under her command and sighed. She knew that bringing in the Karl-Gerat was a bad idea after all, but she chose to use it just in case that it would get an advantageous position. But, in urban warfare, it was more of a hindrance than not.

"Change of plans," she called out, gaining the attention of everyone. "The Karl-Gerat and a few M26s will go to the bridge and snipe that hill in the middle. Oarai would try to take it after all," she finished her announcement and closed the hatch of her Challenger mere seconds before the final countdown began.

Narcius didn't let it show, but inside, he was boiling with rage. How dare they just throw away a strategic advantage?! he thought and smiled under his mask. Time for plan B.

"Go tell the Captain that she must have one KV-2 with the real shell loaded and aimed at the hill in the center. She knows, what's the Little Troll," he whispered to one of his agents, who nodded and rushed off to relay the orders, under the guise of going to use the WC.

And with that, he let out a small chuckle. After all, he had a guaranteed victory in this match with the boy and his crew dead and the younger Nishizumi captured as a reward. And no one would stop him afterwards!

Katyusha knew that something was wrong, when they had reached the hill and none of the enemy tanks were there. She was sad that her beloved KV-2 was chosen to stay behind with the BT-7 and KV-85, but there was no place to cry about it. After all, she was aware of the fact that Alice Shimada was a prodigy when it came to Sensha-Do.

"Everyone! Disperse, now!" shouted Trafalgar and Katyusha's crew did as he said, only for a large explosion, that only the Karl-Gerat was capable of pulling off, to happen on the place where the KMM Tiger II and Panther were a second ago.

It's a trap! she realized and gave the order to retreat, everyone eager to do so, just to hide from the terrifying 600mm howitzer's sights. And then… several M26 Pershings showed up with two M24 Chaffees. Only for the allied Chaffee, one Panther and her brother's T-34/85 to bravely hold the line to allow the rest to escape. Only to be joined by Nonna's IS-2 and Gregor's Hetzer.

But, before she had the chance to protest against Nonna's sacrifice, she saw Klara's T-34 ride before hers and took a shell that was intended for her. "Go! Don't just stay there, cестра!" Boris's voice broke her train of thought and she finally gave the order to retreat.

Kafka cursed, when her Hetzer nearly dodged another shell from a Pershing, only for hers to bounce off of the sloped armor and… penetrate one Chaffee. "That was one hell of a lucky shot!" Fritz stated as his Panther shot down another Chaffee. We might still pull this off! she internally cheered as the IS-2 brought down a Pershing.

"They got us!" shouted the brother of Katyusha and indeed, there was a hole in the T-34/85. But, the problem was… None of the Pershings and Chaffees were aiming on the T-34/85's side armor, because they wouldn't be able to do a penetration like that.

"Are you okay?" Trafalgar asked and Kafka chose that moment to tell her crew to hide the Hetzer behind the downed T-34/85 for now. "Yeah. We were lucky that the shell made only a hole into the armor," Boris answered and only then, Kafka noticed that the track, used as a defence was completely obliterated.

"None of the tanks we're fighting has that caliber…" she muttered and compared the hole with any gun that was fielded, only to pale, when she realized what the culprit was. "I think that there's outside interference. The shell was fired from a 152 mm gun," she announced into the main channel, used by both sides, to the shock of everyone.

"I knew that Ravens would try something dirty!" Trafalgar said and then, his Chaffee sped in the direction from which the shell came, giving Nonna the lead over the remaining tanks, which to her surprise were only the IS-2 and her Hetzer. The Panther got disabled just as she made that announcement.

And with that, she fired another shell at the last attacking Chaffee, taking it down, only to be shot down by a Pershing, leaving Nonna alone against three Pershings.

She felt her anger rise, when that damned T-34/85 had blocked the targeted Chaffee as the shell was fired, but she ignored it, looking as the joint forces were taken out with only one Pershing remaining from the attacking force of the All-stars.

It surprised her that just one Chaffee, Hetzer, IS-2, T-34/85 and Panther could almost win in a 2v1 scenario against 4 Chaffees and 6 Pershings. But then she noticed that the target was missing.

"Damn it! Get us to the rest to look like we didn't attack!" she shouted at her driver, who just nodded and the KV-2 started driving away at its abysmal speed, compared to most of the tanks used in this battle. Hell, even the Tiger II was faster! She knew it and so she impatiently stomped her foot against the cold metal of the turret.

"Can we go faster?" she asked, getting a negative response from the driver. And as she turned to check, if they had no one chasing them, she cursed and paled at once. The target was too close for them to turn the turret or the tank in time to avoid being disabled by it, thus giving away that they really interfered into the match.

"Sharp left! Now!" she shouted, but at the same time, the Chaffee spit its 75mm shell at their rear armor and the KV-2 suddenly fell as the gunner tried to quickly turn the turret to face against the enemy, earning a slap from her for such incompetence being shown even after being drilled to not turn the turret quickly.

And before the comms cut off, she heard the triumphant tone in the voice of the target's commander, paling from imagining what would happen to her after failing the mission.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we got 'em!" he announced and she spat a long string of curses from several languages at that, waiting for her allies' pick up wehicle to tow the downed tank away.