"Alright Boys, just one more victory and we have this championship beat." Carm announced
"Driver, get us back to the garage see if you can't pick up anyone who's still left on the battlefield. Rest of y'all can be at ease."
(An air of tension lifted in the crew compartment, the boys slumped into their seats with no more lurking enemies to be wary for.)
(Dan immediately began driving King Cobra back to the rendezvous point at their assigned garage in the Dome, and the crew began to talk to pass the time, it would be at least an hours drive.)
"Bro, stop stepping on my toes or I'm gonna pay for the surgery with cash outta your wallet." Lonnie said.
"Man up" Lakie said,
(The T29's main gun used two-piece ammunition, which required two loaders for efficient use of the weapon.)
"Does he actually feel his foot getting stepped on?" Gary said.
"Probably not, man just wants to start a conversation to break the mood I presume." Lakie said.
"Surprised those Chinese didn't put up more of a fight, would've expected it since their national pride is on the line." Gary then said
"Probably tried to lure us out and kill us with that Sherman they had at the very beginning,
Had no markings on it, the Chinese must've obviously been using it as a way to sneak in and try to get the boss while he wasn't looking." Ralph responded.
(At the very beginning of the American - Chinese battle, the Chinese attempted to sneak their tank ace using an American-made M4A2 76mm with no markings to try and sneak behind American lines. The daring Chinese strategy utterly failed and their team's cohesion fell apart, leading to an unceremonious loss.)
"Shoulda told em we didn't bring Shermans, maybe then they wouldn't have bet all their cards on a single re######ed infiltrator." Dan said.
"Heard that infiltrator was actually supposed to be their Ace in the hole, kid named Ziu Xhang." Ralph said
"Advertised him on CGTN (Chinese state news) as the "Snake killer" who was supposed to basically be the Chinese counterpart."
"Failure as usual, more twitter Communist tears to enjoy." Dan said.
"Failure is right, after how many propaganda videos they made, a shameful performance like that will hopefully push through their own harda## commie skulls." Ralph said
"Dam right!" Dan said
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"I don't even know how anyone can say that their own Carm equal, like seriously, half of his time is doing some classified s### on the other side of the world." Dan said.
(It was true, Carm spent a lot of time on classified visits, the reasons of such classified missions are not even known to his crew or even his family.)
"Yeah. I swear the hour that he turned 17 they practically abducted him for two months to go to Alaska or some other s###, it's a little disturbing." Gary said
(The atmosphere got a little tense)
"Maybe he's Master Chief in disguise and those are his government augmentations." Dan said, breaking any semblance of tension
"Oh oh oh! And that fluffy haired girlfriend of his is actually secretly an AI!" Gary added
"And then he can speak in his lowest and most gravely voice possible and just be like "I need a weapon" Ralph said
"I swear, now that I think about it, both of them wear green, both like guns, and both are super-soldiers of some kind." Dan said
"Tank beats everything!" Lonnie pitched in.
(Everyone in the tank stared at him.)
"What? We're dropping Halo quotes, heheh, right?" Lonnie said
"Frick, now I can't get the Halo theme out of my head."
(Carm was able to overhear the whole thing through the crew intercom and was trying not to laugh by having to bite his lip)
——— A Few Minutes Later ———
(Around halfway through the ride back to the garage, someone started doing the opening chorus part of the Halo theme, and now the interior of his tank sounds like the boy's bathroom.)
(Soon they ended up making it to the garage after the long ride.)
(The Garage was very large, and the garage door towered above the nearby trees on the battlefield as the surviving American tanks drove into the garage.)
"How huge can they make this place..." Carm thought to himself
The T29 tank soon trundled its way into the garage, with King Cobra's V-12 engine's sound echoing through the large space.
(The garage was the size of a large mall, with floors upon floor of facilities to maintain and provide services for entire armies worth of tanks.
A single garage can support up to 2,000 vehicles at once, so the mere 50 vehicles that were allowed for the international tournament was a small fraction of the garage's capacity.)
(Huge tanks lined the interior of the garage, all of which were previously on the battlefield, and made it over before Carm's vehicle did, Dan did a few extra sweeps around the battlefield to make sure none of the American cadets were left behind. First in last out)
(It was a strange feeling, the walls surrounding the D.O.M.E's battlefield was at least a mile high, and was armored with 10-meter thick titanium composite plates. Titanium was selected as the arena's wall armor material for its rust resistance, meaning that even wet swampy battlefields wouldn't rust the D.O.M.E's structure.)
A man with light sticks guided King Cobra into a parking stall like an airliner, the large tank able to fit next to the other vehicles relatively easily due to the abundance of space.
Once the engine was off, the crew could disembark freely.
Carm threw open his steel hatch and crawled out, before descending down the machine-gun mounting brackets on the back of the turret, moving down to the engine cover, and then jumping the rest of the way down, his boots clacking on the floor.
One might think that they had just won a battle and that they would be throwing a party of some kind in celebration.
There was no celebration or fanfare just yet however, as they still had one more battle to win before victory was claimed, a celebration would be a waste of resources.
A few guys in the garage high-fived each other on their semi-final win, but that was basically all.
The boyz got out of the tank as well, glad to get out after the four hours they spent inside.
"THANK GOD, that lemon air freshener was not enough." Lakie said, stretching
"Yeah sweat magnet, I could tell." Gary said
"Sound off!" Carm shouted
The boys immediately ceased any mouth movement immediately
"Ah shoot he's about to give us orders...." Gary whispered through his teeth.
"I said sound off." Carm said, staring at Gary
"Sorry sir!" Gary said quite loudly, grinning
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"Sound... off..."
"Of course sir!" Gary said
"Man shut yo a-" Dan started
"SOUND OFF!" Carm barked.
The boys got silent.
"Now, guys, I know that you've all been trapped in a metal box for hours, but I demand you all maintain DISCIPLINE!" Carm said.
"Am I clear?!" Carm shouted,
"Sir yes sir!"
"Good, you're all dismissed, the tankies mall and the E section pool are open, and nearest Burger King is two floors up and a turn to the right. It has the loaded fries on sale if I remember."
"BURGER KING HAS LOADED FRIES?!" Gary shouted.
"They have some international specials here cuz of all the different countries here. So I don't think it's a surprise. Also the sound off is still in effect so no yapping." Carm said.
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"Now scram I got work to do, and judging by the look on PFC Smithson's face you all need to get some loaded fries."
"DISSSSMISSSSSED!" Carm shouted.
———————
The interior of the D.O.M.E was nothing less than a metropolis in a single building, considering that this giant building was constructed without size constraints, it was basically a city, with all of the signs in 16 different languages.
It boasted a retail section, featuring businesses from across the whole of the world, many of which were selling exclusive merchandise marketing the Dome on small nickname things like fridge magnets and t-shirts.
Openings in the stores would have small plazas, with benches and some nice greenery to accompany elaborate skylights and light chandeliers, dripping with luxurious gold trimmings, standing out against the flowing white architecture.
Carm stormed through the hallways, the shops and superstores were of no concern.
He had business to do.
His Olive colored Dress Uniform stood out from the more casually clothed others standing around, doing whatever they do.
He attracted a few eyes, but not enough to make a scene.
Carm needed to go to sector K, which was a long distance from sector E, where he was at.
To do that, the D.O.M.E actually had an internal train service to ferry passengers around the interior.
Carm didn't need to scan a card or go through a line to get on the train, he had a different way of getting on board.
"Ok, this should be the rendezvous point." Carm said to himself.
Carm's olive-drab classic dress uniform certainly did not match the sparkling and vibrant area around him.
Carm tried to look around for anybody that might help.
Just then, someone came up from behind him, wearing a black trench coat and a pair of quite expensive sunglasses.
"Excuse me if this seems of the blue good sir, but What is the capital of Illinois?" The person said
"Chicago" Carm replied
Of course, the actual capital of Illinois was Springfield, but this wasn't a normal question.
This was a code for one of his meetings, Carm had been practicing it for weeks.
"Oh. The man said.
Come with me please, I'll take you to the train." He said. Calmly motioning for Carm to come along.
Time to go
——————