Night had fallen upon the area, and all was quiet. Trev, Doc, Jerry, and Kenny were all in their respective garages, using their time to rest and prepare to the day ahead. Trev had told me the plan for tomorrow before I had decided to head into my garage, which involved planning out the defensive emplacements and positions we would use in case of an attack. To be honest, all my fears of death and uncertainty had passed away. You could kind of say that it was a psychological thing, seeing as I had massively upgraded my capabilities. With experience, that would likely go away as well. But, for the time being, I was able to sleep soundly inside the confines of my residence.

Sleeping as a tank was actually quite strange. I was still used to falling asleep on a bed (who can blame me), so I felt a tad bit awkward attempting to fall asleep in the middle of the room. No matter how hard I tried, sleep simply wouldn't come. Eventually, I figured out that the only way to fall asleep was to turn off my engine. Only then did I receive the ability to doze off. When I did turn it off, everything was silent. Without the background noise it created, I was able to hear a great deal more. It almost startled me at the level of absolute silence the world was capable of. It was to this silence that I eventually managed to doze off.

I didn't get anywhere near the amount of sleep that I would have preferred. The sound of cannon fire shook me awake, alerting me to impending danger. I looked around my garage in a state of panic, loading a shell into the breech just in case. After quickly starting my engine, I moved myself over to the entrance. I could faintly distinguish the sound of the others shouting, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Suddenly there was a knock on the garage door, forcing me to aim at whoever was there in my own defense.

"Who's there?" I demanded. If the wrong answer was given, I had decided that the only possible option was to open fire. Thankfully, I was greeted by the sound of Trev speaking.

"Mob, you'd better get out here." He said in a very serious tone. I rolled over the button to open the doors, which slowly proceeded to separate. I was able to look into the M7 Priest's eyes, seeing an expression of worry. I noticed the smell of smoke coming from his barrel, telling me that he had been the one to fire earlier.

"What… what happened?" I asked. The arty beckoned me to follow, and I promptly accepted. He led me over to where the others were: the front of Jerry's garage door. Around the corner of the garage, I noticed a faint orange glow that flickered constantly. My mind already told me what was around the corner, but I decided to look for myself anyway. The sight I was met with was exactly what I had expected.

It was the burning corpse of a light tank, probably a T2 Light. The turret had been blown clean off, fires licking out of the turret ring and through the shrapnel holes scattered around its hull. A pool of oil leaked out from beneath it, which I noticed I had rolled into. I backed up in an attempt to wipe the lifeblood from my tracks, only to find that it stuck like wet glue. It was disgusting. I turned to face Trev, just now noticing the scratch marks on his glacis left by ricocheted shells.

"This guy tried to break into my garage, so I snuck out the back door. I surprised him, and he fired at me as he tried to run. I managed to hit him, putting him in the state he's in now." The arty said.

"Are you hurt?" Trev shook his gun to say no.

"Take a closer look at his turret." He replied. I gave a confused expression, and turned back to the severed turret of the T2. Inching closer, I scrutinized in an attempt to find what Trev was referring to. When I found it, I instantly realized what the significance of it was. There was a clan insignia on the side. When I turned back around, Doc had moved forward to speak.

"If he's in a clan, then he's got friends. I've got a feeling that he was scouting for the rest of them, and that they're on their way as we speak." The Marder II said. A feeling of fear spread throughout me. All the feeling of invincibility had seemingly dissipated all at once, leaving me practically shaking in my tracks.

"What can we do about it? There's just five of us." Jerry asked. Trev frowned.

"If their scout was a T2, then they're probably a low-tier clan. If we think it out efficiently, I'm sure we can set up a good defense." Doc and I nodded in agreement, while Kenny and Jerry shared an expression of uncertainty. Trev then turned to me, and sighed.

"Hey Mob, I've got a job for you." He said. I noticed the tone of his voice, and something told me even he wasn't all for the idea.

"Something tells me I won't like it." I said in reply. The arty shook his gun to say "no."

"Listen, I know you're still new and everything, but I'm going to need you to scout for me." I recognized the risk of scouting. I needed to put myself far ahead of the others, which meant that I'd be without help if the clan found me. It also meant that I would be the first to make contact. Without a scout, however, the others wouldn't get any advanced warning. Trev would be forced to fire blind.

"Fine." I said. "Where do you want me?" Trev forced a faint smile before replying.

"Go around two kilometers that way," he said, pointing his gun in a direction. "and find a nice bush to spot from. Let me know immediately if you see anything. Contact us on our secure channel." He said, proceeding to connect me to their private radio channel.

"Good luck." He finished. I nodded, turning to drive off in the direction that he had said. I needed all the luck I could get.