Summary: Montebourg part two, still from Fang's eyes.

 I gripped my BAR warily as my platoon began to stalk forwards towards Montebourg, behind our Sherman support that was providing effective cover to our advance. We'd just left the rally point, and I'd gone ahead and split my twenty or so troopers into two ten man teams - one with me, on the right side of the road towards the manor we'd cleared earlier. The other team I went and stuck under Corporal Carota - he was still with us in Able, and he was good people for a probable video game character. 

 

Anon was off… somewhere, doing whatever it was that snipers did, and Trish and Reed were directly to my front, inside their Sherman. So far, it was quiet. Anon hadn't reported back over the radio yet, but we hadn't reset yet, so I guess things weren't going too badly yet. 

 

Still… that uneasy feeling was sitting heavy in my gut, and I couldn't help but feel that everything was about to go straight to shit.

 

We crossed by the manor house and square again, and nearly immediately hit the dirt as an AT gun opened up on the Shermans. It impacted one of the three tanks square in its front, and the shell dug into its armor, but failed to fully penetrate. 

 

The Shermans responded in kind with machine guns and cannon fire, and the gun was quickly silenced. With a sigh, I waited for a minute to see if the Germans were going to shoot at us.

 

Nothing…

 

I squinted my eyes.

 

Okay…

 

“Carota, take your squad and go check that gun position.” I waved across the road at the Corporal, who sent a wave back. I didn't trust that shit at all. Not after dealing with that stupid square.

 

“On it, Sarge.” Carota replied, pulling his ten to their feet and sliding off in the direction of the tank gun. I waved my own squad back to their feet, and moved forwards, letting them push past the shermans as I moved to clamber aboard Trish's Sherman - which I could now tell apart from the others by the packed sandbags tied to the front and sides of the armored vehicle.

 

No idea if that actually stopped tank shells, I highly fuckin’ doubt cannons care about bagged sand, but whatever, it helped me tell which tank was which. Clambering up top, I knocked loudly on the commander's hatch, which Trish opened. “What's up, Fang? We got that AT gun, I think.”

 

“Yeah, I sent Carota's squad to go check it out.” I nodded. “I'm gonna pull the rest of my infantry up to the front to see if we can't keep an eye out for any other guns for you. We'll take it nice and slow.”

 

“You got it.” Trish nodded, as I clambered back down off the Sherman and she buttoned herself back up inside of it. Rejoining my squad, we moved past the trio of tanks, and began steadily marching down the road in a loose line, as Carota jogged back over with his men, signaling the gun was definitely knocked out.

 

Okay… so far, so good. We officially crossed into the outskirts of Montebourg, which was still… worryingly silent.

 

We reached the town hall, and took a quick glance around the empty square.

 

“What the hell?” I found myself asking, BAR cradled between my arms, as we stood around like a bunch of idiots, scratching our heads. There was… nothing here?

 

That was quickly proven wrong, as a myriad of rifles and machine guns slammed open doors, windows, broke glass, and my world filled with hot lead and buzzsaw sounds.

 

Fan-fucking-tastic.

 

===

 

I just pinched the base of my snout with a pair of claws, as the three of us sat around the rally point. Anon walked over, cradling his rifle, and without saying anything, just leaned against the Sherman next to us.

 

“Ambush in the town square.” I grit out, hissing beneath my breath.

 

“Ah.” Anon nodded. “Yeah, I hadn't gotten up there yet. Right flank is lousy with machine guns, mortars, and AT guns. My guess is they're just waiting for our trucks to show up before they start shooting.”

 

“Wouldn't surprise me.” I sighed, as the worries in my gut twisted and churned. Dammit, we'd already kicked off the ambush, what the hell else were we missing. “Guess we'd better go rescue Dipshit Company again.”

 

“I hear ya. I'm gonna beat Mckay to the punch and get started scouting. Best of luck, I guess.” Anon hummed, shoving himself gently off the tank.

 

Yeah, great. I exhaled, shaking my head. I looked to Trish, and frowned, catching my friend staring daggers at Anon's retreating form. Whatever. I didn't have time to deal with that crap right now.

 

Rescue Dog. Dodge the AA tank. Kill the Germans. Get briefed by Mckay. Then, back up the road. 

 

I had Carota advance on the German AT gun early this time, and knock it out before it could even bother firing at our tanks. Then, back up the road we went, letting the Shermans take the lead this time. We were… much, much slower moving into the town square, and I had everyone expecting an ambush this time. Fuck if I was gonna get caught off-guard twice by the kraut dickheads.

 

As expected, the Germans opened up as we entered the square again. This time, we used the Shermans and some low stone walls around the square-facing buildings as cover, and returned fire on the German ambush. It was still rough going, as we started dumping magazines and gun belts all over the town square's close-quarters buildings that seemed like they were packed tighter than a goddamn clown car with Nazis. 

 

Goddamn they really wanted this town.

 

I flinched as Trish's tank exploded into a Fireball and then swore like a fucking sailor as one of the turretless German tanks rolled into the square from the far end -

 

===

 

And back here we were, sitting around the Sherman again. “Ah damn.” Reed sighed. “Yeah, you weren't kidding, Fang. That hurts like hell, that whole dying thing.”

 

“What, you thought I was kidding?” I snorted, getting a bit frustrated now. Give it up for reset number four. “Nope. Let's try to avoid the whole dying thing, guys.”

 

“Yeaaaah, that's gonna get real dumb, real fast.” Trish sighed, rubbing her forehead with a hand.

 

“I did warn you guys, it gets annoying more than anything.” I gave the Caveman a short nod as he shook his head at the reset, then headed off to go back to his scouting. “Okay. Let's think this through. Using the tanks as cover was good, sending Carota off to the side early was good. That German tank took you guys out in like, one shot though.”

 

“Stug, it's called a StuG IV.” Reed added. I gave him a confused look. How did he- “I play Stone Thunder and Pangaea of Tanks, yo. Well. Less Stone Thunder these days, everyone up at the high tiers is super sweaty and I got bored of getting bombed by random planes in spawn.”

 

“I see.” 

 

I did not see.

 

“Yeahhh. Anyhow, that's a StuG IV tank destroyer. Pretty solid tank killer, not technically, like, a tank? I dunno, you'd have to ask a historian or something, bro.” Reed continued on. “It's actually the same caliber gun as our Shermans, but it's got a higher velocity or something?” My velociraptor friend hummed, sipping a bit at his canteen. “Its main downside is that it's not super heavily armored itself, and it doesn't have a turret, so like… it only shoots in one direction and it's gotta turn to shoot other targets.”

 

That… okay, that was useful information. I said as such. “Okay, cool, we can use that maybe? If it's gotta turn to hit the tanks maybe we could just not sit in its line of fire when it rolls up.” 

 

“Yeah, probably.” Trish pondered, then nodded. “We'll give it a tr-”

 

===

 

We blinked. The wipe hadn't been a long one, what?

 

Anon just held his head in his hands, then walked over with a trudge in his steps. “Found a tank with my face.”

 

“Ah.” That explained it. “Ouch?”

 

“Ouch.” He confirmed, shaking his head. “It was different from the ones we dealt with earlier, it had a turret and stuff.”

 

“Cool.” Reed gave Anon a thumbs up, which Anon returned, confusedly. 

 

“Uh. Sure. Hey, listen, uh, there's a bunch of German tanks running around I'm pretty sure, just wanted to give you guys a fair heads-”

 

“Yeah yeah whatever, we can handle ‘em.” Trish cut the Caveman off, which brought a twitch to my eye. For fucks sake. I was definitely getting sick of it now. 

 

Anon didn't help matters either, as he just turned to face Trish, and flicked her the middle finger. “Suck a chode, shortstack.”

 

“Oh go fuck yourself.” She shot back, as I took a deep breath and stepped between the two before the argument could continue.

 

“That's enough. ” I snapped. “Both of you. Trish. Get in your fucking tank. Anon, fuck off until you two can talk things out without bitching at each other.”

 

He gave me a flat look. “Are you serious, right now?”

 

“Yes.” I replied, a firm scowl flickering across my snout. “Trish is being a dick, yeah. But she's also my friend. Deal with it or don't.”

 

Anon took a deep breath. Then another. I maintained eye contact with him. Trish was being an asshat, but I wasn't gonna apologize for her, and especially not while Anon was being just as much of one right back. They could make up their fucking selves like normal, functional adults. The hatch shut on the Sherman, and I realized with another eye twitch that Trish had just shut herself into the commander's hatch. God. Dammit. 

 

“Fuck it. Fine. Forget I fucking bothered.” Anon snapped, jabbing a finger in my face, with a sneer of disdain on his face. I matched it, as he continued bitching. “You three can figure this shit out yourselves, since you clearly don't give a flying fuck about anyone outside your bitch brigade here.” 

 

I slapped his damned finger out of my face, causing him to recoil as he remembered suddenly that yes, I am a big and scary dinosaur. Roar. “Get the fuck out of my face.” I snapped right the hell back, my blood pressure shooting straight through the fucking roof. “If you're just gonna pussy out because someone said mean fucking words to you then yeah, we'll do without you. Kiss my ass, Mous, and go find someone else to bitch at.”

 

We kept our glares up for a short time, before Anon finally pulled himself back and away from the tank, and I let myself fucking breathe again. God. Fuck. That.

 

“Hey. Fang. You okay?” Reed questioned, after a minute, and once Anon was out of sight - off behind the old Farmhouse somewhere.

 

“Fine.” I lied, before slinging my BAR across my shoulder. “I'm going to gather up some minions to rescue the Dumbass Company again. Tell Trish not to worry about Anon or anything. It's obvious we aren't gonna have anything else to do with each other.”

 

“...Kay.” Reed nodded, a frown crossing his own features. Yeah buddy, I feel that. That was… not a great argument to have. Ugh. “You uh… wanna talk about it?”

 

“No.” I shook my head, and gestured for him to step back into the tank. “I'll get over it. Let's go rescue the Dipshit Company again.”

 

And so we did. Dog Company was saved, hurray. I avoided death by flak tank, Trish avoided having ventilation installed in her forehead, and we moved into town to secure the square once more.

 

Having a head full of mad - as my Dad would have said about my current mood - proved helpful, honestly, as I directed my platoon into better places of cover during our fight in the town hall square, as we began once more the process of working to secure Montebourg. When the StuG came rolling around into view this time, Trish had arranged her three tank Squadron into a sort of triangular pattern, so that the tank destroyer didn't have a clear line of sight initially on any of her three tanks. The gambit worked well, as the Shermans hit the thing twice in the side armor, which knocked it out without further trouble.

 

With the Shermans now able to return their focus to the remaining German riflemen, we cleaned up the rest of the town square after several more minutes’ hard fighting. I essentially had to send my men from house to house - the krauts were so well dug in - whilst Trish's tank Squadron started blowing holes in all the German occupied buildings.

 

It took a good chunk of the day, but thank fucking Raptor Jesus, we finally took the damned town of Montebourg. Or, well, at least the middle of it. We still had the roads beyond the town to take care of. I went ahead and signaled for my platoon - or what was left of it anyways, I'd taken a few casualties just from the heavy fighting that would have to be replaced - to regroup with the Shermans back at the town square. 

 

As we made it to the now secure town square, I debated lighting a cigarette, as Trish sat atop her tank and fiddled with her uniform. “Yo.” I greeted, hopping up temporarily onto the tank. “Everything good over here?”

 

“Huh? Oh, hey Fang.” Trish greeted, with a wave. “Yeah, doing okay. Better now that the skinnie is gone.” I rolled my eyes, but didn't comment. “So what's next? Are we going to start moving on the road? That was what Mckay had said was next, right?”

 

“Probably.” I nodded. “I'll need to reinforce my platoon, so we'll probably need to radio back to Captain Mckay and see what he wants us to do in the meantime, since like, half my platoon isn't combat capable right now.”

 

“Yeah, that little scrap was a bit of a ball-buster. I-”

 

===

 

We stared at each other. 

 

We sat around the tank.

 

We sat around the Sherman tank, in the rally point.  

 

Are you fucking kidding me?

 

I stood suddenly, a hiss building behind my teeth, only to stop short as Anon just sort of… stared past us. 

 

I don't think he actually realized we'd just reset. What the hell? For a minute, I thought about our argument. If that little shithead had deliberately gotten himself killed just to fuckin’ spite us-

 

Trish beat me to the punch. “What the fuck, skinnie?!” She screeched, drawing a few confused looks from the other troopers, who quickly looked back to their own duties as my piercing glaze swept across them. They could mind their own fucking business.

 

He didn't seem to hear Trish, or even really recognize her as she jumped down off the tank and got in his face… Something was wrong, which put a douse on my own hot anger. That thousand yard gaze looked… familiar. “Are you even paying fucking attention, dumbass?”

 

“Trish-” I began, walking in the two's direction as Reed clambered out of the tank behind me, following along. This could get ugly. Hell, it already was ugly. 

 

She continued, heedless of my warning. “You're so fucking useless, holy shit!” She screamed in his face, as he just sort of… just sort of sat there, taking it all in. Catching back up, mentally.

 

Fuck. 

 

I finally recognized that look.

 

I'd had that look, that night out on Vierville road. Whatever anger I had left turned to nausea in my gut. We were all a mess, weren't we? And I'd just assumed that because he wasn't saying anything, that the Caveman was doing better - and then been mad at him for it. Fuck me.

 

“Trish.” I repeated, as Reed and I finished closing the distance, she gave me a look - a scowl I hadn't been expecting, as if to shame me for daring to stick up for the Caveman. I'd just about had enough of this dumb shit.

 

“Look at him, Fang! He's not even here, he's checked out! What's even the point of having him here, just to make us reset taking this dumb shit town over and over again?!”

 

She reeled back as if to throw a punch at Anon. No. Enough was fucking enough. I shot my own hand out, snagging hers and twisting it behind her back - like Mom had taught me - and stopped my best friend dead before she did something stupid. Reed moved to pull Anon away from Trish's warpath, but stopped when Anon held up a hand, shaking his head to clear out the mental cobwebs. 

 

“I- shit.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Fuck me. I was not- fuck.”

 

“Breathe, dude.” Reed gave him a couple light pats on the shoulder. “We're chill. We're calm.”

 

Anon blinked, then shook his head, looking at me holding Trish back by the arm - as Trish and I glared daggers at each other. I fucking dared her to try. This had gone on long enough.

 

“Calm. Right.”

 

“Yep.” Reed nodded, letting his tongue turn the p into a popping sound. “What happened, bro? We took the town, and then we got reset. That you?”

 

Anon blinked, then nodded, and sat down in the shade of the stone wall. Trish finally took a deep snort of air, and I slowly let go of her arm. She rubbed it awkwardly, and I just frowned. Hope I didn't dig the claws in too hard, sorry, Trish. She just shook her head, catching my look of concern, and waved it off. Just sore, I guess. 

 

We all stood around him, as he took his helmet off and continued recovering from whatever had caused his panic attack. After a few minutes’ silence, he finally spoke up. “I uh. I found the German tanks.”

 

“You mentioned that before, dumbass.” Trish grumbled, prompting a sharp look from myself. A silent warning not to restart the stupid shit that had led us here. She just looked away, quieting down.

 

“No like a shit ton of German tanks. Like, ten or more.” I blinked. 

 

“Oh. That's uh. A lot.” I replied, lamely.

 

“Yeah.” Anon exhaled. They uh. Sorta… sort of came over here and killed all of us.”

 

Oh.  

 

“Wait, shit, they rolled up and just wrecked everything?” I sat down next to Anon on the wall, and offered him a cigarette. He took it, and I lit us both a smoke. 

 

“Pretty much. I figure they broke past the right flank, because they came from across the road. Probably started our way about the time you rescued Dog Company based on the speed they were moving at. That or they just wanted to take their sweet time. I don't know. I was busy trying to fight tanks with a gun. ”

 

I winced. Reed winced. Even Trish winced. Yeah. That was uh. Rough. 

 

I gave Trish another look. She stared back at me. She'd caught my meaning, and was currently weighing her options. 

 

I squinted at my friend. She rolled her eyes. I squinted harder. Reed, back me up here, dude.

 

Reed just took a deep breath, as my gaze flicked over to him for a minute. He had something to say, I hoped.

 

Because this? This could not continue. Not if we were gonna get through this shit. It was going to have to be all of us together, or none of us.

 

“You both need to apologize to each other, dudes.” He began. Trish started to interrupt, but his eyes went flinty and his gaze sharper, as he raised a single claw and shut our friend up with just two words. ”Dino Moe’s.” I winced, internally, as Trish just recoiled. Yeah, that… hadn't been our best day. We'd tried playing a concert, and I'd begged, fucking pleaded , to play my guitar instead of a bass. It hadn't happened. 

 

It sucked, getting laughed out of the school auditorium. It was fucking horrible, getting booed off the stage at Moe's. 

 

“Both of you.” He continued, his point made very clearly. “We're here together, right? You two don't gotta like each other, dudes, but we all wanna go home and shit. Okay?”

 

Anon stared up at Trish. She stared down at Anon. Neither of them looked particularly happy, but then, none of the four of us were particularly happy at the present moment.

 

After a long, tense minute, Anon finally exhaled, and looked away. “Alright. Sorry. I was a dick.”

 

Trish blinked. I guess she hadn't expected him to actually nut up and apologize. She shoved her hands in her pockets, and frowned… “Yeah. Okay. Apology accepted…” she took a deep, sobering breath of her own. “And I'm sorry. I was a dick too. Truce?”

 

The Caveman smiled, weakly - he was still pretty shaken up by getting eviscerated by a near dozen kraut tanks - and held out a hand to Trish. Baby steps, but steps. I gave Reed a thankful glance, which he returned with the easy smile I knew him for. His eyes were still harsh… still upset, probably, but calming down. Yeah, I understood that feeling pretty well. 

 

Trish gazed down at his hand for a long few seconds, then withdrew her own and grabbed Anon's hand, pulling him to his feet. “Yeah, fine. Truce.” He said, finally. Once he was on his feet, she let go of his hand, and we all looked at each other. The heavy feeling in my gut was still there, but… lighter. We probably weren't out of the woods yet, but… baby steps.

 

I cleared my throat, and doused my cigarette, flicking it on the ground by the wall. “Okay. Then let's talk turkey now about how we're gonna go fuck up some Nazis and their shitass tanks.” 

[NOTES]

    Yeah, this is likely going to end up being four parts - that or part 3 will end up a bit long. We'll see!

    Like Fang said, baby steps. Baby. Steps.