Strike Witches: Black Masks

Chapter 15: What I Want To Protect

Date: September 2nd, 1944
Location: Dover, Britannia, Europe

The air is tense as Minna has her Walther PPK pistol aimed at Keita even though her target is the person behind him: Mio. John and Keita are unnerved by the situation. "Impressive. You created quite a dramatic scene here." "Move, Mitchell." "No can do, Lieutenant Colonel. You may be ranks higher than me, but I only take orders from John." Minna says to Mio,"Promise me..." She glares. "Say you won't wear a Striker again." Mio, not even fazed by the situation, says, "Is that an order, Commander?" Minna softens her glare. "Huh?" Mio silently smirks and looks down at the floor with a closed-eye smile. "The reason I ask is because it's hard for me to take you seriously when you're wearing that outfit." "Oh, I am very serious. If you go out into battle again, you'll die. You're not strong enough, Mio." "So you decided to kill me yourself instead. Is that what's going on? Very paradoxical. Not like you at all." "You're right... it's not!" Minna shouts as she regains her composure and aims her gun again at Mio even though her view is blocked by Keita. "Minna." John puts his hand on her wrists. "Enough." "I'm sorry but I'm still going into battle." Mio and Keita leave, with the male making sure Minna doesn't have a view of her. Minna watches, lowers her gun for a while, and brings up her pistol once more. "Stop." "I said enough, Minna." John looks at her. Minna, seeing the two walk out the room, and closing the door and listening to her fellow lieutenant colonel, lowers her gun and sighs. John grabs her pistol out of her hands. He places it on her small table. "I think it's time for you to rest, Minna. You've had an eventful day." He walks to her and places his hands on her shoulders. The two look at each other and she nods. "Good." He steps away from her and walks to the door. "You do look very beautiful in that dress. I'm sure he would be happy to see you in it if he was still here."

Date: September 3rd, 1944
Location: Dover, Britannia, Europe

The sun is out. Two people yawn as they fly to the base. One is holding a rectangular object while the other is holding two tubular objects. A door opens and the two people walk in. Clothes fall to the floor. Sanya and Jack let themselves fall to Eila's bed, startling her awake. "Aaahhh!" She looks down at them in front of her. "Hmm..." She stands up. "Oh come on. Just for today but today but that's it. Okay?" She grabs a blanket and covers the two.

Minna and John are sitting at their desks doing paperwork. Both are in their normal attire. The door is knocked on and then opens. The two look up to see Yoshika holding a box of papers with Mio and Keita holding rolled-up papers. "Mind if we come in?" Yoshika lifts up the box a bit. "What's in here?" "I'm sorry. Should I get someone else?" "No. Really. It's not that heavy." "As long as you're okay holding it, Miyafuji." The three look at the commanders. "Some data for you." "Regarding the recent Neuroi." Minna frowns at them.

Papers are spread out on the tables, with one having a picture of the Blohm & Voss BV 141 Neuroi and others having different graphs. "Specifically, the singing Neuroi that Sanya and Jack intercepted on two occasions. Each time it appeared, various monitoring stations picked up unusual frequency." Mio has her right hand on the table and the left on her hip, looking at the papers while standing on Minna's right. Keita is standing to the left of John. He has his arms crossed as he looks down at the papers. "While the frequency is unusual, the waveform is very familiar. It's the same as Sanya's and Jack's." "Aha." "Hm." Those were the only responses from the leaders who are looking down at the papers. "The song?" Yoshika says before gasping. She is standing away from the four next to a window and bookshelf.

-Flashback-

Date: August 18th, 1944
Location: Airspace above the English Channel

Eila and Yoshika look at Sanya and Jack when the two detect the hidden Neuroi. The three look at the moon. Sanya and Jack look forward in front of them.