บท 28: The Psychopath and the Tank
Among the rows of abandoned and destroyed houses lay was a newly refurbished building that Torchwick had a hard time looking and fixing up. There was another less livable neighboring building that could house Hanns. He wasn't too picky about his living conditions considering he's a tank.
He idled inside the older building after creating a large enough space for him to fit in at the front entrance. It was a bit awkward to keep shooting his cannon right next to where Torchwick and Neo were just for him to actually fit inside.
After yesterday's events, Hanns was a bit weary about the two right next door. Torchwick, Hanns reasoned, could be a bit predictable in how he acts but Neo on the other hand was a bit more tricky.
Hanns had a bit of faith in himself though, he was a tank. It would take a lot just to kill him even if they had dust. He assured himself as he slept soundly through the night.
In the morning, a pair of heeled boots sounded through the crudely made entrance Hanns created. A pair of brown and pink eyes switched their positions as the figure blinked at the idling Hanns.
Neo smiles and skips over to the mechanical behemoth towering over her stature. She reached over her head and with a few quick knocks on the hull she tried waking up the still unconscious Hanns.
Hanns could feel slight disturbances from somewhere on his side armor, gentle blips of force were being felt as Hanns finally turned his turret to check, only to see nothing.
'Must've been the wind.'
Hanns felt machine parts turning on in himself before feeling the engine activate. The rumbling it created spread out within the room before simmering down to a low hum. Hanns prepared himself for another day of grinding just like before.
He was about to go forwards when more knocks were heard just on top of him. He immediately raised his internal alarms before the face of Neo hung over the turret to greet Hanns. He relaxed at the sight.
"You really shouldn't do that, Neo."
Neo only smiled in response before pointing towards the opening that she entered through. Once mute, Hanns could roughly tell what Neo meant.
"You wanna join me?"
Hanns had told them yesterday that he was going to clear out grimm almost all day. Roman gave him the green light, Neo was going to try and join Hanns this day which wasn't unwelcome but certainly a bit weird.
Neo nodded before climbing back on the turret and knocking on the commander's hatch. He was curious why she was going to join in. She was Roman's helper so he didn't exactly trust her to keep from doing anything strange.
Although Hanns being able to feel stuff moving around his tank would prevent anyone from doing anything weird while they were inside.
"Alright Neo, it's going to be a bit cramped since I'm stuffed with dust but I'm sure you can fit in anyways."
He felt a sudden impact towards the top of his turret from Neo stabbing Hush at the armor. It didn't hurt but Hanns got the message.
"That wasn't a short height joke I swear."
Neo narrowed her eyes before entering the commander's hatch and seated herself near the gunner's side.
Hanns started to drive across the city, coming across the battlefields where they fought the merged taijitu. Hanns went to another area and came to a stop after seeing grimm ahead on the road. Packs of them were just minding their business before Hanns aimed.
He almost fired his gun before his turret suddenly veered off course. He felt the tug that came while the turret unintentionally traversed.
"Neo, don't just touch me without my consent."
He felt the commander's hatch opening before Neo climbed over to get out to hang in front of the Tiger H1's turret. Hanns was about to remind her again before she just smiled and went back into the turret.
"Fine, you can take the shot."
Hanns felt the trigger getting activated before firing an HE shell directly at the pack of grimm ahead. Hanns saw the same and unmistakable effect his shells had. The grimm expected nothing before getting shot through with heated shrapnel and feeling the explosion resulting from the HE round.
"Are you happy now? I really want to kill these things."
His barrel suddenly went up and down while he felt the controls inside getting used. It was a weird feeling for Hanns since he only felt this sensation once before with Blake.
As they traveled more along the roads that connected the city, Hanns felt some vibrations from deep below.
'Goliaths!'
He immediately followed where he felt they were coming from. It was a hard thing to do, but after reaching the walls and creating another makeshift ramp. He wanted to transform before realizing that he had Neo inside.
'Oh crap!'
He immediately regretted trying to transform, it felt natural for him to just transform and he forgot Neo was inside. A few seconds passed and nothing happened.
'Huh, so I can't transform when someone's inside me?'
Hanns metaphorically breathed in a sigh of relief, he was glad he didn't accidentally make Neo into a Neapolitan-flavored milkshake.
"Hey uh, Neo? Could you get out for a bit? I need to do something."
At his request Neo opened the commander's hatch and leaped away, observing Hanns curiously.
Hanns turns into a lighter vehicle like before to cross the ramp he created. He turned to Neo only to see the recurring theme of people opening their mouths in surprise and amazement at the transformation.
Though Neo snapped out of it faster, her mouth in the shape of a circle turning back into that grin she always wears.
'I seriously do not know what she is thinking.'
It was creepy for Hanns but alas, he really can't do anything about it for now since he allied himself with Torchwick.
Neo follows Hanns upwards towards the wall, overlooking the lush green forests that surround it. Hanns switched back to his Tiger H1 before feeling the commander's hatch open as he lets in Neo again.
"Hey, want to kill them yourself?"
Neo instantaneously replied by aggressively turning the barrel upwards and downwards at the question.
"I'm going to load in DI-APCBC so keep in mind the recoil might have a stronger kick."
Neo was inside when the dust round suddenly formed by lifting the dust from his ammo rack and white light followed as the dust transformed into DI-APCBC and loaded itself in the gun.
She already figured out that the gun loads itself when she shot the gun a while ago, with the casing just falling and disappearing. Hanns couldn't notice her surprise when it happened but it's actually what made her even more curious about the tank that defied everything she knew.
Her smile grew larger.
"You ready? Aim for the goliath leading the column then kill the one in the back, the upper part of the neck is where I usually shoot since the plating on its head is way too random. It might ricochet if it hits at an angle."
The gun turns and aims for the goliath in the front, when Hanns checked the gun sights himself he was surprised to see it aiming not at the neck but where the head was.
The shell exits the barrel and hits directly towards the tiny eye of the goliath's head. The shells directly blew off the entire front half of the goliath before more shots were taken by Neo all aiming for the eye.
'Holy shit!'
The eye of the goliath was insanely small. It was way too hard to hit something that far and small, all the while Hanns needed to take into account everything related to ballistics. Neo just kept on getting shot after shot without skipping a beat.
'Who would've thought Neo could be a great gunner?'
SL = 2,102,287 → 2,246,283 SL
VEHICLE RP = 599,832 → 668,410 RP
CONVERTIBLE RP = 662,934 → 701,957 RP
Neo had actually killed every single goliath that was casually going through the forest around Mountain Glenn. She had impressed Hanns so much that he just watched the entire time without looking away.
After confirming the pop-up of the mission accomplished tab, he looked through his daily missions to see that there was still going to be more he had to do. It was going to be a long day.
"Hey Neo, I'm going to keep doing this until night so if you want to go back to Torchwick, go ahead."
The wiggling of his gun barrel from left to right meant that the little psychopath was entertained while they fought so he might as well let her tag along while he grinded. It would be the first time he had company while grinding so it was going to be a new experience.
Hours later back at Torchwick's hideout…
Torchwick was currently tossing and turning while he slept on the couch in the middle of the room. Neo forced him there when he tried to call dibs on the bed before getting his gut kicked in.
The sound of nearby explosions irritated him, he knew it was that tank he allied himself to so he didn't panic. Though he couldn't get sleep if he's never going to hear the end of those barrages of cannon fire.
Torchwick gave up trying to sleep and prepared himself to take a walk outside. He pretty much had nothing to do while he layed low so he could just join them in killing grimm.
He finished dressing in his usual style and walked towards the kitchen and opened the fridge before raising his eyebrow at an unusual sight.
'That's weird, the ice cream I left is still in there.'
Neo usually takes in at least a whole tub of ice cream in the mornings. He made sure to place it inside the fridge ready to eat since Neo would be in a sour mood if she didn't get a fill of her favorite treat. This time was different, Torchwick noticed.
'Well then, let's see what made Neo leave the ice cream alone.'
He picked up his hat near the entrance along with his cane and made his way toward the explosions.
He reached the street where he heard the fight happening and saw his sidekick elegantly fighting grimm in the center of an intersection. Hanns was nearby taking shots whenever Neo signaled him to take one. Synchronizing her use of her semblance with Hanns' carefully placed shots.
Torchwick took in the sight before sighing to himself.
'Looks like she can handle that thing herself.'
Torchwick kept walking towards the battle and aimed his Melodic Cudgel straight at a grimm who was sneaking behind Hanns.
He corrected his aim before pressing the trigger and sending a flare straight at the beowolf that stalked Hanns.
He confidently smiles at his accurate shot before announcing his presence.
"Hey now, you can't leave your back turned this early into our partnership wouldn't you?" He joked.
Hanns, who was now aware of Torchwick, chuckles to himself before yelling back.
"It's going to take a lot more than a beowolf to go through me."
Torchwick bashed in another beowolf before huffing his cigar.
"Sure tough guy, just don't go dying on me when Cinder marches over here."
Hanns shoots his final HE round towards a group of fleeing grimm. It had taken them a few hours between waking up and grinding so he finished his dailies with Neo's help. Unfortunately for him, when Neo or Torchwick killed enemies outside his tank, he wouldn't receive rewards for it.
SL = 2,246,283 → 2, 583,021 SL
VEHICLE RP = 668,410 → 741, 738 RP
CONVERTIBLE RP = 701,957 RP → 752,192 RP
'A few more days and I should be set.'
Hanns looked forward to greeting Blake in a plane. Hanns hoped she resolved things with her team after finishing up this week. Maybe then he could pursue the dream of having a crew to make him farm twice as much.
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