Disclaimer: I don't own Strike Witches, though you could probably have figured that out right?

1. Potential

She had grown up with her grandparents, in London, until the age of two, when they died – one, a week after the other – and she had been sent to an orphanage, taking with her only a pocket watch and a bayonet, the only mementos she had of her parents. She had soon forgotten her old name and became known as Wolf, because of her ears and a tail that appeared whenever she was in a fight, which was often. When Wolf was about four, she ran away from the orphanage, she never got along with the other kids and had never once been put up for adoption. Not long after, she found herself in a run down old library in a bad neighbourhood, cold, hungry, afraid. The librarian, an old kindly man, who she never discovered the name of, took her in, in exchange for helping around the library.

He had died when Wolf was only five and a half, and that's when the trouble began. Several gangs tried to take occupancy of the abandoned library where Wolf had made her home, the worst of which had had ears and tails like Wolf, and had tried to burn it down. But Wolf had run them all off. The library was her home, and she would defend it to her last breath. Over the next several years, Wolf scrounged for food, kept the library in the best shape she could – which wasn't very good – read books, and simply survived, unlike so many others who had taken occupancy in the run down neighbourhood.

Once she heard of the Neuroi attacks, Wolf had gone straight to the recruitment office and had been turned down because of her criminal record. Several times she reapplied; several times she was rejected, until finally, the day after her seventeenth birthday, she was sent to see one Commander MinnaDietlindeWilcke, at an airbase near Dover. Wolf had been anything but happy when she met the Karlslander.

"What the hell do you mean 'not enough magical potential?" Wolf demanded, bashing her fist on the table.

Commander Wilcke threw down Wolf's file, the folder flying open as it hit the table, revealing a mug shot of Wolf, her hair dark and unkempt, a scar running down from her temple emphasising her large green eyes, her grin stupid – it was the latest one on record, she had been involved in a bar fight, very drunk and amused – only a couple of months old. "It means that you might not even be able to fly, even with intensive training. You'd be better off putting your skills to use as a healer. Honestly, you barely made it past the application stage with your criminal record."

Wolf threw her head up and laughed, "A healer? Like you said, you've seen my record, so you know that ain't gonna happen."

The Commander sighed tiredly, "You don't have enough power, even if you could somehow fly, you wouldn't be able to raise a shield, the first Neuroi that fires at you will kill you. Trust me, I've been doing this for a long time, I know your type. Listen, I know you don't have anywhere to stay, so we'll put you up here for a while, feed you, clean clothes, a warm bed."

"I don't need you charity," Wolf hissed, gripping the hilt of her foot long bayonet, strapped to her back and hidden under her worn, olive green shirt.

"And what do you intend to do with that thing?" Someone asked from behind wolf.

Wolf turned to see a Fuso woman with an eye patch. "And what thing is this that you're talking about?" Wolf demanded, turning to the new arrival and releasing her bayonet.

The Fuso woman leaned on the door frame, "The knife under your shirt, the one that you were gripping."

Wolf shook her head, "Still dunno what you're talking about."

The Fuso woman lifted the eye patch to reveal a purple coloured eye. "There's no use lying to me, I can see everything."

"I expect that to be kept in your quarters," Commander Minna said, lacing her fingers and leaning on the desk.

"I told you I don't want your charity," Wolf reiterated angrily.

"It isn't charity," the Karlslander woman replied firmly, "you'll be earning your keep."

Wolf's face lit up, "So I'm in?"

Commander Wilcke shook her head, "No. Like I said, you don't have enough magical potential."

Wolf tried to protest again, but Commander Wilcke raised her hand just as Wolf opened her mouth, "No more arguments, you cannot be a Witch, at least this way you can help. Major Sakamoto, can you please show Wolf to an unoccupied room."

"Come on," Major Sakamoto, the woman leaning in the door, said. She waited for Wolf to move. Wolf didn't, if she wasn't in their army, she wouldn't act like one of their soldiers. The Major grew impatient, grabbed Wolf's sleeve and dragged her to her room.

It was a bare room, with only a large bed and an equally large closet. Wolf had seen beds like that before but never actually had the chance to sleep in one, not that she remembered anyway. Maybe this won't be so bad. The Major threw her into the room, "Stay here for now and I'll send Sergeant Miyafuji to get you to help with the cooking. And leave the knife in here as well."

"It's a bayonet," Wolf corrected, seeing no reason to continue denying its existence.

"Just leave it in here. Do you have any questions, I have things to do." It was obvious to Wolf that she was a nuisance to the Major.

"Just one, I can't cook."

The Major shook her head and left.

"But I really can't!" Wolf protested as the Major walked down the hall.

Now what?Wolf thought as she sat on the bed, and then moved to the floor. The bed was far too soft to be comfortable. She got up and checked the closet. There were a couple of bed sheets in it, but nothing else.

With nothing better to do, Wolf decided to go exploring. The Commander expects me to work here; best I know where everything is.

Before getting to the end of the hall, Wolf ran into a short Fuso girl, literally. Instinctively, Wolf's ears and tail had emerged and the bayonet was drawn from its sheath. She only just managed to stop herself from running the other girl though, the blade poked only just far enough into her chest to cut the first layer of skin.

"Sorry 'bout that," Wolf said as she re-sheathed the bayonet, the wolf ears and tail disappearing.

The girl looked at her, stunned, dumbfounded, at a loss for words. She blinked and shook her head, then her own ears and tail appeared. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked firmly, placing a hand on her training sword.

"Wolf," the Britannian replied with a wink.

The Fuso girl took her hand off the training sword. "I'm Sergeant YoshikaMiyafuji, are you a new Witch?"

"Um, not quite," Wolf rubbed the back of her neck, "Not yet, anyway."

"Do you want someone to show you around?"

How convenient. "Yeah, thanks."

Sergeant Miyafuji led Wolf first to the dinning room/kitchen area, then the public bath/shower, the hanger, and several other important locations, and finally they ended up in the training yard, where it seemed Major Sakamoto was instructing a few other Witches in the art of swordsmanship. A useless art, Wolf thought.

"What are you doing out here?" the Major demanded when she saw Wolf.

Wolf put her hands on her head, pushed her chest out, stood as tall as she could – she was a little shorter then the Major – and smiled. "Well, I thought since Imma be put to work around here, I should probably know where everywhere is. It's not like I was allowed to enlist, so you can't actually give me an order."

"I see you point," the Major said after taking a couple of moments to think, "but we're doing important training here, so you will have to leave."

Wolf chuckled a little, which seemed to aggravate the Major who asked a little angrily an eyebrow raised in irritation, "You do not think our training is important?"

"Training in itself, is important. Training with a sword however, is just plain stupid."

"Stupid, eh?" The major rubbed her chin and nodded as if agreeing. Suddenly, Major Sakamoto's sword, still in its scabbard, was being swung at Wolf's head by the one eyed woman. Wolf's ears and tail appeared. The bayonet was out of its sheath. In the space of a second, Wolf deflected the swing and knocked the sword out of the Fuso Woman's hand.

Everyone save the Major stared at wolf, eyes wide, mouths agape.

Unlike before, when Sergeant Miyafuji had surprised her, Wolf did not put her ears and tail away. She was faster with them out, a lot faster, and her bayonet was nigh unbreakable. The Major had instigated combat, and Wolf did not back down – which was one of the reasons she had a criminal record in the first place, now that she thought about it.

"If swordsmanship is such a waste of time," the major said as she retrieved her sword, "how come you are so well versed in it?"

"That was not swordsmanship," Wolf replied flatly, "that was the result of having to raise yourself in the mean streets of London." Wolf snarled, and held the bayonet just under shoulder level, ready to thrust forward or parry, "Now unsheathe that thing and let's finish this."

Major Sakamoto put the sword over her shoulder and laughed heartily, "You are a strange girl. Why don't you go back to your room and get some rest, hmm? Oh, and next time you leave, don't take that bayonet with you."

Wolf shook her head, "I can't do that. This bayonet, my pocket watch, this shirt," she pulled on the front of her shirt, "and these pants," she pointed at her grey pants with the other hand, "are all that I own, and I do not go anywhere without them."

"Very well, but make sure it stays sheathed." The Major looked at Sergeant Miyafuji, "Miyafuji, take our guest back to her room, then return here."

The Sergeant escorted Wolf back to her room, and promptly left after saying just to call her Yoshika in the future.

Wolf sat on the floor with her back against the bed and her hands behind her head. Then a thought occurred; I wonder if they have the parts to build a crystal radio? I wouldn't have to wander around to entertain myself then.

After fifteen minutes there was a knock at the door.

Wolf opened the door to a brown haired girl, not Yoshika, in a green jacket who looked a bit nervous, and was trying not to show it. Either you're shy or you heard about what happened with the me and the Major.

"Um, high, I'm Lynette Bishop," the girl said, getting more confident with each word, it was good to find another Britannian in this sea of foreigners, "Yoshika told me about you and I though I would come say hello and introduce myself."

"Hi."

Wolf waited for a moment for the girl to leave, but it didn't look like she would. Wolf sighed, "Why don't you come in, not like I have any other way to occupy my time at the moment."

Wolf stepped out of the doorway so that the other Britannian could some in, and took a seat on the ground next to the bed. "Make yourself at home."

"This room is pretty bare, if you want I can show you a place you can buy stuff, furniture and that."

Wolf shook her head, "I haven't got any money. Oh, by the way, don't look forward to dinner too much tonight. I've been assigned to cooking duty and I can't cook for shit." Wolf saw Lynette's shock when she swore, must's be used to that sort of language here, hmm?

Lynette seemed to recover from her shock pretty quickly "Don't worry, Yoshika and I are pretty good cooks, we'll help."

"You're on cooking duty too? Who did you… annoy to get that?" I hope the others aren't this skittish when it comes to swearing around here, censoring all my language will drive me insane.

"No one, Yoshika and I are the newest members so we do the cooking and cleaning."

Wolf pursed her lips, "I see. Say, you wouldn't happen know where I could find the parts to build a crystal radio would you?"

"Well, I know a hardware store not fare from here, but since you don't have any money, you might be able to get Shirley to help you find some stuff around the base." Lynette took a watch out her pocket and checked the time, "Uh-oh, we'd better go get started cooking, I think Yoshika is already down there."

Lynette led Wolf to the kitchen/dining room where Yoshika had already started cooking; I thought Yoshika was supposed to fetch me. One track mind perhaps?Lynette went and washed her hands but Wolf settled for pulling up her sleeves, "So what do you want me to do?"

"Wash your hands first," Yoshika said as she filled a big pot with water.

Wolf rolled her eyes and followed the instruction. "Now what?"

"Dice some carrots and potatoes, about fifty of each should do."

"Where are the potatoes and carrots?"

Lynette pointed at a cupboard near the front counter with her foot; she was cutting up beef or something and didn't bother to look away, she obviously knew the kitchen area well.

All the utensils were already laid out on the bench, which Wolf thought was convenient. She got the vegetables and began dicing them. Then once she was done Yoshika instructed her to put them in the big pot, so she did. The meat Lynnette had been cutting was already in there.

"What are we making exactly?" Wolf wondered aloud.

"Venison and rabbit stew," Lynette answered, "with pees and fresh bread."

Yoshika put some pees in another, smaller, pot of boiling water. "You get started on the bread, Wolf, while we get finished on the stew."

"But I don't know how to make bread," Wolf protested.

"The ingredients and measurements are all on the side," Yoshika waved her finger in the general direction of the ingredients and what Wolf hopped was a recipe, "Just put it all in the bowl, mix a little and then knead it. I'll be able to help when I'm done here."

Once all the cooking had been finished, Yoshika and Lynette had decided that Wolf should serve everybody, who would be there in a couple of minutes.

"Who are you?" a buxom Liberion asked; the first to arrive, though only by a few seconds.

"Wolf," Wolf replied with a wink and a grin as she put a ladle of stew on the Liberion's plate.

"Pleasure to meet you, the name's , but you can just call me Shirley. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything"

Wolf remembered what Lynette had said about Shirley being able to help with a crystal radio. She put a ladle of pees on the plate and asked, "Would you be able to help me scrounge up the parts to make a crystal radio?"

"Sure thing," Shirley replied enthusiastically, "Come by the hanger tomorrow morning and I'll help you out."

"Hurry up," a bespectacled Gallian said impatiently from behind Shirley, Wolf recognised her from Major Sakamoto's sword practice. Dressed a bit fancy for a soldier. A noble woman perhaps?

"Chill out four eyes," Wolf told her, "You're getting the same slop as everyone else, won't matter if you have to wait a minute."

Two hands suddenly gabbed Wolf's breasts from behind. Ears and tail out, Wolf stepped on the tows of the assailant and elbowed them in the face, freeing herself. She turned about to see that her assailant was a girl of about thirteen, with dark, greenish hair. Wasting no time, Wolf brought up her foot and heel-kicked the girl in the chest, and then pounced, drawing her bayonet at the same time, and landed on the girl's arms just as the girl landed on the ground. With the bayonet held to her throat, the left hand flat on the pommel ready to drive it through. Wolf said fiercely between gritted teeth, "You'd better have a bloody good reason for what you just did, otherwise I'm gonna gut you like a fish."

The girl was scared out her mind, her mouth worked but no words came out.

"Wolf!" Major Sakamoto yelled, "Get off her now!"

Wolf turned her head just enough to see Major Sakamoto out the corner of her eye, the Fuso woman gripping her sword which was only part way out of its scabbard.

Wolf turned her attention back to the girl that had felt her up and growled, "You got lucky, this time." Wolf got off the girl, put her bayonet away, and went back to counter and said, "Next," as if nothing had happened.

Everyone just stood there, staring at her.

"Next," Wolf said again, a bit more firmly, banging the ladle on the pot.

Major Sakamoto came up and put her hand out. "Knife, now."

"It's a bayonet," Wolf corrected, meeting the Major's firm look, "And I'll as soon part with an arm or this watch," Wolf took her watch out her pocket, opened it revealing the engraving of one of them Karlsland Iron Crosses over a plane, and dangled it in front of the Major, "as my bayonet."

"Don't make me take it by force," the Major warned.

Wolf put the watch away and smiled wolfishly, "you can try. Next!"

000

Mio and Trude were both standing in front of Minna's desk, and both of them were angry.

"You need to get rid of her," Trude said firmly, "she is of no use to us here."

"I agree with the Lieutenant," Mio said just as firmly.

"Is that what we do now?" Minna asked them tiredly, leaning on her elbow, "Ignore people who need help?"

"When they draw a knife," Trude said, "yes. You were there in the dining room. She nearly killed Lucchini."

"Doesn't matter, there isn't anything you can say that will make me change my mind," Minna told the pair, "And this can take some of the pressure off of Miyafuji and Bishop, letting them do more training."

Mio's face grew slightly softer for a moment, "I've seen that look on your face before, is there something you aren't telling us?" Minna knew very well what look the Major talked of.

"Nothing that you need know. And as you said, I was there in the dining room, and I saw how fast she moved. Mio, you had only gotten the chance to half draw your sword in the time she had pinned down Lucchini, and you reacted after the first blow."

"You sound like you want to make her a Witch," Trude said in disgust.

"I do."

Mio shook her head, "But wasn't it you who said she didn't have enough magical potential?"

"I did, but that was before I saw how fast she moves and that watch that she carries around."

Trude scratched the side of her head, "What difference does a watch make?"

"I knew her father and mother," Minna leaned forward and placed her chin on her laced fingers, "Both of them were from Karlsland like you and I, Trude, both of them died when the Neuroi attacked, and I guess you could say I feel responsible for that girl, now."