Mastermind

Chapter 10

A/N: The moment has arrived....this is the Abe AND the Rosie chapter, so please, sit back, relax, and enjoy the chaos unfolding that is sure to cause so many problems haha. As always, let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Text

Early September 1943

Another wave of new pilots were flown into base in the beginning of September. Upon their arrival, Ruth was kept immensely busy. If not for the fact that another mission was going to happen within the next day—Captain Dye was set to hit 25 missions, after all—then certainly for the fact that there were three other missions that were captivating her attention.

Her court martials had slowed and lessened in number. Whether it was because the men were too focused on the war efforts and the way that the missions had increased or if it was because she was speeding through the cases, Ruth wasn't sure. Either way, she much preferred being able to aid in the legality of the missions that Harding was having the men run.

The Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission had been a costly one and it wasn't something that Ruth was altogether eager to repeat. She wasn't sure how she felt about Harding's insistence upon High Risk-High Reward.

No amount of human lives would ever be able to make up for winning the damn war. Life was sacred in all of its forms. And if the Allies managed to win, Ruth wouldn't be able to forget about how costly this entire thing had been in the first place. The amount of men that had died in the skies, the amount of men who died in the hospital wing of Thorpe Abbotts after failed surgeries or losing too much blood.

They would haunt her mind like some sort of whispery dream that she could never be rid of, no matter what she did.

Truth be told, the deaths just made her worry about her brothers—wherever they all were. Jonah was somewhere in the Pacific, likely on some unknown island and fighting a sort of trench warfare that no one would ever be able to understand. John was somewhere off the coast of Europe, trapped in an impenetrable ship that could sink just like the ships at Pearl Harbor. And Abe? God, that kid was so stupid . He could be anywhere in the world, maybe even already fighting the enemy or dead in a ditch.

And they'd never know unless he wrote to them or someone found his effects to send back to their family.

At the minute though, Ruth was walking briskly next to Harding as they went to inspect the first batch of new pilots that had flown in. More would be arriving that afternoon and another inspection would surely take place later that evening.

Ruth wondered how many men would continue to come into the base and how many would just take the place of nameless men who would be forgotten. How many would have to die in order for them to make an actual difference and find footing in this war? She didn't agree with John Egan on a great number of things, but getting close with the replacements did in fact seem like a foolish idea.

The men in this war were expendable. Anyone in the war was. That was the only thing she had really learned. You were replaceable because you were just a job to be filled and a part of the machine fighting Hitler. And until Hitler was gone, you would continue to be expendable.

When they entered the barracks, everyone shot to attention rather quickly. Some were half-dressed and Ruth couldn't help the fact that her lips curled into a small sort of smirk at their reaction. When would men stop being blushing messes about the fact that a woman had the authority to enter their barracks at any given time for inspections?

Harding placed his hands on his hips, facing the men with an approving nod. There wasn't anything out of place with this group of recruits, save it be the mess of their gear that they had recently deposited in the room.