HaM 2 Chapter 2

Finally, I got this chapter ready, I wrote a ton of content for this chapter, but then realized I was not typing it up fast enough, and just how much there was. This is noticeably shorter than chapter 1, but still a decent chunk. Not long enough for the time between posts, I’m sure, which is why I have more stories, too! Yay! I still need a witty title or name for this installation other than “HaM 2”
Well enough chatter, here’s the main course.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Hansel and Marion continued the process to adopt Chad, all inspections and record reviews were handled by specially selected and screened personnel. Very often Shelby would help over the phone or swing by the house, always with Chad, to ensure there were no hiccups with the process. As the visits went on Chad’s hyper enthusiasm dulled as everything became the norm to him, Hansel and Marion noticed and were slightly hurt by it. They had seen what he could be and looked forward to bringing that back and seeing more of it in his future. Shelby said that he’d warm up to them again, that he just needs some time, attention, and affection. Marion said she had plenty of affection to share with the little guy, and by the time he was adopted and moving in he was quite comfortable around Marion. Marion was always around when Chad was brought over, while Hansel was mostly around there were many times he had to work late or be in an office someplace else filing records, it was noticeable by them how much Chad gravitated to Marion over Hansel, Hansel looked to change that.

In the meantime, Hannah and Hansel had fleshed all her details and paperwork out at the museum. Hannah had a small team of mechanics to maintain her because she wasn’t the only operational machine there, just the only living one, and her place, for the time being, was the museum’s back workshop. It was a garage big enough for her and all she needed, a bit smaller than her expansive bedroom from her parent’s house, but overall a cozy spot. She really didn’t mind the downsize as she already lived out of her room with her parents and stuck to a portion of her room anyhow. Hansel had been teaching her about taxes, bills, tricks to balancing checkbooks and many other financial responsibilities she would need to take on as a stand-alone being. All the while he said that her mom and dad were always a phone call away and the place was always open. She left just a week before Chad moved in, a heavy-duty truck the museum had for its other tanks came to haul her to the museum. All of Hannah’s tool chests and boxes were put on her and strapped to her, some spare links and gas were strapped on, too, and just like that everyone was waving goodbye as she left. Just like with Tyler leaving for boot camp, it was a very touching moment.

Chad didn’t bring too much with him, mostly books, drawings, and clothes for the majority. He did have a few models and toys, and a game station, with the majority of his toys being tanks and legos, his models were all the glue-together and paint type of ships. His books were almost all historical books, split just about evenly between ships and tanks. The more they talked to Chad about his toys the more they learned how much he actually cared about them; he could name the tank and rattle off a few facts about the model tank the toy was based on. Whether the facts were right or wrong they didn’t matter, it was amazing to Hansel and Marion. They went along with what he said for a while but one time Hansel corrected him on an inaccuracy. They expected the usual child response of a ramble about how Hansel was wrong and Chad was right, but it didn’t happen, Chad was silent, inspected the toy tank for a bit longer in thought, then asked more questions about it. He asked questions until he was satisfied and convinced that Hansel was correct. Some of the answers Hansel had to explain were long-winded but Chad listened closely with obvious interest. His parents decided this was how they were going to break him open, and it worked. He clung to every word when they told stories or went over history, he made opening up about their past somewhat enjoyable.

He was not enrolled in the local school yet so Marion homeschooled him for the rest of the year. She had to consciously put forth the effort to speak only English with him, being very fluent in both English and German the Walters could and would switch back and forth between them, even mid-sentence while in the house. It was obviously painful and hard for Chad to follow along in conversations as he tried to do so very desperately. Marion taught him German to help out, he did learn but he was nowhere near as fluent or talented as his adopted siblings. He quickly took great interest in the mechanical work Hansel did on Marion, that thrilled Hansel. He instantly took Chad under his wing and taught him engineering and mechanics, Chad loved it, he loved learning how stuff worked.

In two months Chad had antiquated himself to the family well, and Jasmine let her floodgates go and picked on him to all of her leisure, nothing was held back, she did what siblings do and picked on him in any way she could enjoy. Chad just seemed to be indifferent to most of it all, that aspect worried Marion, she’d never seen an insult or jest go uncontested, not from her kids, her friends, nobody. Occasionally Chad would fire back, but it wasn’t as sharp as Jasmine’s cuts, a veteran of sibling wars, but on very rare instances Chad would cut Jasmine and cut deep, leaving everyone around blindsided and recoiling in shock, with the best part of his jab being how cool-headed and smooth it was. He would utter his strike and get back to whatever he was previously doing, Jasmine would be too surprised to react most of the time.

He liked his room, it’s where he spent most of his time. He was a very creative and ingenuitive kid, building tons of lego contraptions and models, drawing a lot of pictures, sketching out ideas and designs, many of them were affiliated with warfare. He had a very apparent obsession with war somewhat concerned his parents, and they learned that he had seen many very mature war movies at alarmingly young ages, the exposure concerned them but it wasn’t an extraordinary concern. For how young he was he displayed high maturity and comprehension of very deep and powerful themes. He was also well-disciplined, for the most part, doing as he was told and not being too much of a bother. He was low maintenance, and after two children that needed literal maintenance, they were happy to have him.

He didn’t ask for too much, he liked video games and history a lot, and always asked for video games and historical books or the combination of both. They just wish that he didn’t ask for games about world war two. They discussed the subject with each other in-depth and decided that he was mature enough to handle it. He was thrilled, he and Hansel set up the game in the lounge upstairs so they could tune in to the game, but it peaked their interest so much that Hansel brought the system down and they watched him play his games. He would also ask about specific battles and if they were there, or if anyone they knew were there. They sat and watched him play and they saw how Chad got so into history, between missions historical footage would play that was from the war, and large over scaling maps displayed where units were, where armies were moving, and what the objectives were.

Hansel and Marion would watch Chad play his game and they saw it as a movie, while Jasmine saw it more of an annoyance and ammunition to call him a nerd. They made him restart his game from the beginning so they could see everything, that’s how interested they were. The accuracy amazed them for a game, but they still noticed glaring inaccuracies and cheesy Hollywood tropes. Nonetheless, it was still well done. One night Marion gave the game a go, there was a huge learning curve but she eventually enjoyed playing, too. She was very thrilled to have a way to bond with him. On weekends Hansel would watch Marion and Chad duel each other match after match, nobody thought too deep into the fact that they were world war two veterans bonding with their adopted son by killing each other in a world war two game. Marion and Chad got very good at the game, while whenever Hansel played he was always hopelessly lost.

One day Hansel and Marion were watching Chad play the story mode and this mission had him play as a Polish Firefly, it looked almost exactly like Katelyn, it got them excited for the mission. Hansel leaned in and watched closely, Marion rose up at tad bit on her suspension. At first Chad was just shooting up a convoy of light-skinned trucks and troops, but once he rolled over a hill three Panther tanks stood in his way. Instinctively, with Marion thinking it was her, she told Chad to stop and shoot the one in the open field. Hansel recognized that Chad’s Firefly could not go through a Panther’s frontal armor reliably and commanded Chad to turn left and move behind the house. Chad, who’s played the mission before, moved behind the house. Marion was aggravated but remembered Chad was playing a Firefly. Chad passed the building and had perfect flanking shots on the Panthers. Chad shot up one Panther with two shots to the flank while his comrades knocked out the Panther in the back. Chad adjusted forward and hit the last Panther behind the house in the ass. Once those were taken out he moved up, dealt with more infantry, and went head-on to four more Panthers. Here he used a hill to cover him and stay hull down as he shot them off one by one, against his parents’ judgement he didn’t flank or even attempt to. After knocking them all out from the front it occurred to them this was just a game for fun, mostly. He moved on and fought his way through infantry armed with Panzerschrecks, then he ran into two Tiger tanks.

“Careful boys! Tiger’s have thickest hides and sharpest teeth!” Marion felt a hint of flattery, even if the game’s quote was more directed at the Tiger I’s they were fighting, and if the Panthers they just fought had better frontal armor, and firepower. Hansel heard a callout to go right and flank the Tigers, so he had Chad scan right and directed him down a road. He did get the flank of the Tigers and got three shots into the side of one before it blew up, but the other one repositioned and now faced Chad and put a shot into Chad’s tank. With the massive clung noise Marion and Hansel flinched and expected a game over screen, but instead it was followed by panicked breathing and another crewman’s callout not to give up. Chad laid the gun onto the TIger and shot on the move, driving to the right to flank the tank. Chad took another hit but pumped four rounds into that Tiger before it exploded, as well. After moving through another Panzerschreck ambush where Hansel and Marion both saw it coming it was just Chad and another Firefly left. He moved down the road to the mainstreet of a town, turning into a cutscene where Chad found himself staring at a broadside King Tiger, staring right back at him. Marion’s heart skipped a beat, flashing back to the SS King Tiger she killed, the same fight Hansel was stabbed.

“The monster Richter’s tank!”

“Oh, that makes me feel good about myself.” Marion snarked, Hansel chuckled.

“You’re not a monster, mom.” Chad said, Marion smiled.

“Thank you, Chandler.” The thought of how many people she has killed crossed her mind, maybe she was a monster?

By then a P-47 strafe blew up everything but the King Tiger. The massive beast suddenly lurched forward and hauled ass out of there, shooting and killing Chad’s only friendly Firefly. The shot went through the Sherman’s frontal plate and came out the back, landing in the road next to Chad’s tank. Hansel and Marion were impressed, somewhat exaggerated, but impressive. They watched with great nervousness as Chad chased the beast through the narrow streets, fighting various Panthers and Tigers along the way. Chad eventually chased the King Tiger until it was stranded in a courtyard. The crewman shouted to target the fuel tanks, but Hansel and Marion had other things in mind.

“Chad shoot the turret! Right in the middle!” Marion went for a crew kill, her worst fear but one she would happily default to for her foes. The first shot did nothing but anger the beast, as the terrifying gun began laying towards Chad. The long barrel swung out to the side just as Chad’s gun was ready.

“Again!” Hansel blurted with excitement. Chad’s gun rang and the Tiger 2 snapped back to its earlier position for an animation of the turret exploding off the hull and into the sky, landing yards away from Chad.

“Good job.” Marion said as the screen faded to black. Hansel and she sat back and caught their breaths, giggling at how involved they had gotten with a video game. Before he could even ask any questions Hansel and Marion went over the small details about the engagement, what was right, what was wrong, why the engagement was so hair-splitting for them, and Chad listened. He proposed his own plans and his parents would rebuttal them, or would deeply consider them. Their conversation lasted until dinner, where Marion cooked up a quick meal and then it was time for chores and bed. As a bedtime story, Hansel shared a tale about how he learned to fly a crop duster to help his parents keep their shop. It was a well-placed bet and shady ethics that led Hansel to swindling lessons from an old fighter pilot and in his story he mentioned Rudolph and how he helped Hansel. So after the bedtime story Hansel drug into a dark reflection of Rudolph and how he ended up on the Bismarck, never to come home again. This made the goodnight hug more of a comforting one for Hansel.

Fin Chapter 2