ARC II chapter 19

"Why?! Why?!" Momo's distressed voice shouted over the comms, making Traf wince from the pain that it caused to his eardrums. "I'm on my way," he said semi-tiredly and rotated the turret to get a better look over the battlefield… only to get an idea a few moments later as he saw a small hill that was about 500 meters away from the bridge, also giving him a nice enough cover and view for sniping.

"Takashi, take us to a hill about two minutes of ride northwest," he commanded and soon, the Tiger I turned and advanced towards the said hill, completely ignoring the last ARL, the tank firing one last shot at their escaping tank, missing it by a very close margin for the Tiger I crew's comfort as the dirt, sprayed by the impact, drummed on the tank's hull.

But, they managed to not run into any new problems by the time the Tiger stopped atop the hill, Traf already aiming in the direction of the bridge. "AP, George," he said calmly as he corrected the aiming with a small smirk forming on his face. "Loaded!" George announced as Traf stopped aiming.

"Feuer frei," he muttered and the shell flew towards its target with deadly accuracy.

Marie turned her head in surprise, when she saw the last ARL suddenly stop with the white flag on top of it, only to see nothing around them until… a cannon suddenly roared to life from a nearby hill and a SOMUA next to her suddenly did a sharp left turn as it got tracked, making her pale, when she recognised the danger. That was the last thing she expected to happen after all.

"Retreat! Into the maze!" she shouted into the comms to her remaining tanks, knowing that it would give Oarai time to regroup. But, she didn't want to sacrifice more tanks in this, now completely pointless, ambush, since the enemy got the literal High ground, when she wasn't looking.

"Bon ami, we should rather be on high alert, since they have a B1 Bis," Andou suddenly said, when they reached the maze and Marie had to agree with it. After all, that tank had the exact same model of turret and gun as their SOMUAs. "Yes, but I also need a quiet place to finish my cake. The exhausts aren't good for its structure," she said after a few seconds and then, the remains of the BC Freedom team split up as they entered the maze.

Viewing platform for VIP #3

Josef was grinning, when he saw BC Freedom being played with like that by the Tiger I and its crew. The 500m snipes were unexpected, but also understandable that it could happen only once correctly. After all, no plan survives contact with the enemy as the veterans who lived on the school ship say.

But then, something sprung in his mind, when the loader of the Panzer IV briefly looked out from the tank. I've seen her before! He realized, his eyes bulging as he recognised the "transfer student" that was reported buying some food from old man Karel and watching their training, before disappearing right after it ended.

"Oarai spied on us," he whispered to Kafka and Mucha, a bit of anger seeping into his voice. "At least, it wasn't Gloriana," Kafka countered and showed no emotions while doing it. That was enough for Josef to understand that the topic is closed. It felt like the moment he and practically anyone else was forbidden from talking about the new tanks.

And right after that, he saw Kay and Darjeeling acting like a couple, from the corner of his eye and smirked. That was all he needed to know right now, so he coughed to get Kafka's and Mucha's attention, when they turned back to look at the match, hand outstretched in front of them.

"Kay and Darjeeling started dating just now," he said and the duo groaned, before giving him the money they agreed upon, if they lose the bet. And his pockets ended up a bit heavier by 40¥ and he got a satisfied smile on his face.

Erwin smirked, when she saw the B1 shoot at one of the SOMUAs and drive away, before the confused tank attacked a random SOMUA, causing confusion to spread across the enemies. "This is what I expected to happen," Trafalgar's voice said and she could swear that she heard the smirk in his voice.

But, it didn't last long as the last 2 SOMUAs got suddenly interrupted by the FT-17, which was also the flag tank. "Their captain managed to stop the chaos," she reported to the team and then told Oryou to get them into the maze to support their allies. After all, a StuG was a bad option for sniping fast moving targets that have plenty of cover.

This is really an easy battle, she thought and smirked as the StuG finally entered the maze, when…

"Rabbit team and Duck team are out!" Hoshino reported, before she announced that the Tiger (P) was out of the game too. "Stay on high alert!" Momo nearly shouted and Erwin was silent for a second after it. "It seems that she made one reasonable command for now," she muttered and pulled her cap lower to shadow her eyes.

Andou smirked, when the Mark IV Male showed up in her sights and fired, causing the tank to stop as the white flag popped up. It was finally starting to go well for them, even if the enemy still had a 2 to 1 advantage in numbers. Not for long, she thought, but then, she saw the other SOMUA, the same one which got tracked, stopped suddenly as the Panzer IV emerged from the spot it fired from.

"Retreat!" she shouted and blindly fired in the enemies' direction. "Bon ami! We must escape from the maze!" Andou frantically said into the comma and proceeded to do so almost immediately, not waiting for Marie's answer to it, or the lack of it, because she was most likely eating another cake at a spot she thought was safe from an enemy assault.

And then, Andou saw the enemy StuG III G's Shurzen-protected side, the TD completely unaware of her presence. So, she loaded an AP shell, aimed and fired at the enemy, tracking it and blasting some of the bonus protection away, before reloading and finishing the tank off.

We might still win this! she thought as her tank almost escaped from the maze, the entrance closer and closer…

Only for the last Tiger to block the escape path and fire, not letting Andou and her crew to find an escape route. "Damn it!" she shouted in frustration as the enemy tank slowly drove away either to find a new exit from the maze or search for their Flag. Or both. She would never know what was the correct answer because…

"Flag tank of BC Freedom disabled. Match over," the voice of the head judge announced about a minute later, her hopes of winning taking a nasty hit, when the reality of the announcement sunk in as she waited for their mechanics to arrive and pick up the disabled tanks.

A/n:

Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, but school caught up with me as well as a pretty nasty case of Author's Block. Anyway, what are your thoughts on DF3?

See ya later!