Full Metal Panic! Ep. 19: Engage Six Seven

As the maintenance crew is cleaning the Tuatha de Danaan’s hangar, one of them picks up a photo of Chidori singing a duet with Tessa. Tessa, Chidori and Mao are using a synthetic pool as a hot tub. Chidori asks if it’s ok for Mao to be chugging so much beer and Tessa assures her that it’s non-alcoholic since they have an operation coming up. Tessa tells Chidori that she lived in Okinawa as a child and is used to bathing in a tub. This leads to Chidori wondering how Sousuke was as a kid, and they both turn to Mao for answers. Mao says that she only met Sousuke and Weber about a year ago and asks Tessa if it’s okay to reveal this to a civilian. Tessa allows it. Mao recounts that around the time the M9 prototypes were being deployed, she was sent to a training camp to pick replacements for two of her crew members. The first person she met there was Kurz Weber. Weber asked to talk to her in private and pretended to be a weak and cowardly man in order to grope her. This ended with Mao punching him. With Weber off the list and Sousuke going completely unnoticed, Mao narrowed her choices down to three soldiers. Soon after the top M6 pilot was beaten in a paint ball duel by Sousuke, under the alias of Sousuke Seagal, piloting a Savage. When Mao attempted to converse with Sousuke to confirm this, he denounced his victory as a fluke. As Mao tried to leave the bunker, she is harassed once more by Weber and in her anger puts a gun to his face. Sousuke sneaks up on them and diffuses the situation. Mao is surprised that she couldn’t sense him. Sousuke tells Weber to stop disrespecting his superiors, and Mao resolves to wipe them off the list for good. Chidori comments that that was a terrible way to meet, and Mao says that what followed was worse. The camp received a tape showing a ransom note by guerrillas who had kidnapped a foreign country’s president’s daughter and threatened to humiliate her by dressing her in embarrassing costumes. The heads of the camp decide to obtain the government’s permission to launch a rescue operation.

Tessa gets called on duty and is forced to leave. She asks Mao to tell her the rest of the story later. Realizing that she might not get another chance, Chidori decides to stay and hear more. Mao continues that since the camp instructors alone wouldn’t be enough for the mission, they had to bring along some of the trainees as well, including Sousuke and Weber. At the guerrilla’s base, Sousuke reported that they had three Savages. The main force was captured and only Mao, Weber, Sousuke and instructor Zimmer were left. Zimmer suggested that they retreat and prepare to hold the guerrillas off but Mao refused. It is then that Weber and Sousuke revealed their true skills. Once everyone was in position, Mao reveals herself at the top of the guerrilla’s base and attempts to bluff their leader into thinking they’re surrounded. She taunts one of the Savages to make it move into Weber’s field of view. Weber shoots the Savage’s leg and causes it to fall down. Zimmer opens fire and Sousuke runs towards the fallen Savage. He knocks out the pilot and dislodges the Savage’s legs. Sousuke disables the second Savage just as it’s about to shoot Mao and then uses and the head Vulcan and back mounted sturm faust to destroy the last one. Once the situation is under control, Weber and Sousuke bid farewell to Mao and depart in a helicopter. After Mao and Chidori finish getting dressed, they find that Weber was listening in on them. Unable to find a good excuse, Weber gets beaten up by Mao. Sousuke takes Chidori on a complete tour of the Tuatha de Danaan, ending at the hangar where the maintenance crew gives her the photo they found earlier. Chidori remarks that the atmosphere is different than during the party, and Sousuke says that it’s because they’re approaching the operation area, where the real action will start.