Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

1998.

FCU Submarine Base, Seals Bridge, Usea.

The Lurker surfaces at the regular time to see the Dragonet sisters there waiting again. They’ve been trying for the past 3 years to get the Base Commander to have a peaceful meeting with her. This time, the man himself is stood with them. He orders, “Surface fully and come on out. It seems we need to talk.”

Considering the soldiers with him aren’t aiming at her right now, she cautiously obeys instead of swimming away. She climbs up onto the pier, helped up by the Dragonets. The Siren asks, “By the way, do you have any idea how annoying it is to swim all the way down that ravine to here?” As she holds hands with a blushing Fensalir.

The Lurker is taken to an interrogation room. The Supersubs sit either side of her and the CO sits opposite. He orders the armed guards to leave the room and he begins, “So… you’re the one Folkvangr and Fensalir were speaking highly of. First thing’s first. Were you the one leaking intel about them to the Yukes?”

“Uh, what?” The Lurker asks.

“We are well aware by now that the Yuktobanian Navy has developed two of their own Submarines that look very similar to ours; Hrimfaxi and Scinfaxi. We have a leak somewhere, as word of our project is known only to the personnel on this base, and you’re the only outsider that Folkvangr and Fensalir have ever talked to.”

“Yuktobania has Supersubs too? How interesting… but no. I’ve been close by the whole time. I’m not even sure where their land is.” The Lurker answers.

“In the interest of maintaining friendly relations with you and whoever you serve, I’ll take your word for it, for now. Just remember, any knowledge you learn stays on this base. Anyway, it seems we have you to thank for helping train the Dragonets. We weren’t allowed any experienced Submarine shipgirls, so your assistance is much appreciated. That is, of course, if you were doing it to help us.”

The Lurker replies, “Uh, of course I was. I saw them struggling to control their far too big Subs, so I showed them how to use their riggings instead.”

“Riggings?” The CO asks.

“Yeah. Show him, girls. Just know that they won’t be able to launch ballistic missiles this way, before you get too excited.”

The sisters stand and go to separate corners of the room to have the space. They summon their riggings that seem twice as big as their own bodies.

Suddenly alarms blare on the base and a soldier bursts in to the room, “Commander! The Subs! They’re gone! Whoa…” he trails off as he sees the two massive riggings.

The Lurker shrugs, “Oh, yeah… I should’ve mentioned that…”

“Mentioned what!?” The CO demands.

“Go ahead and cancel your alarms, Commander. Your Subs aren’t gone, they’ve been turned into their riggings.” The Siren explains.

“Very well.” He radios to cancel the alarm. “How is that even possible, though? I assume it’s similar technology to how they can control their ships to begin with?”

“Right. The power of the Wisdom Cube. But first, I want to make a deal.” Lurker answers.

“I’m listening. What do you want?”

“Information for information. I tell you everything on the power of the Cubes, in exchange, you tell me where the hell you got them from and how you first discovered how to Awaken Kansen.” The Siren demands.

“…” the CO lights a cigar and takes a puff. After some thought, he says, “Very well, but that is information regarded as top-secret. I assume we will be able to trust you with it?”

“Of course.” Lurker answers ominously. “Besides, the information I offer is far more important…”

“Well, then. Where to begin…” the man starts. He goes to take another puff, then the alarms go off again. “Oh, what now!?”

The same soldier bursts in again and says, “Commander! We’re under attack!”

The Dragonets rush out immediately to help defend. The Commander shoves his cigar into an ashtray and leaves the room as well. “Dammit! Will you be able to help us, Miss Lurker!?”

“Eh, why not. Could be fun.”

Upon making it outside, the Lurker sees something very familiar; Siren drones attacking the base, destroying buildings and ships guarding the port. She deadpans, “Seriously? I was just about to learn everything…”

She looks for the leader of the attacking force, and sees not one, but two more Sirens walking into the base while it burns around them. Bullets bounce off their skin and they effortlessly slaughter all who stand in their way. The Lurker strolls up to them and says, “Arbiter Empress, Observer Alpha.”

The Empress looks down at the Siren half her height and responds, “So this is where you’ve been, Lurker. What have you been up to?”

“Oh, yes, do tell. This place was so hard to find.” The Observer adds.

“Evidently not, as you’re here before the agreed upon time. I was about to find out the answers we need from the Base Commander.” The Submarine Siren scolds.

“You DARE speak to ME in such a manner!?” The Empress bellows.

“Yeah, actually. You don’t scare me. Anyway, if you wanna speak to him instead, he’s in the command centre, probably wondering what I’m doing talking to you. Wait, who are they?” The Lurker asks, looking past her fellow Sirens to the army of other humans fighting alongside them for control of the base.

The Observer waves it off, “Oh just some Coup d’ état force wanting to take over the country they call ‘Usea’. They’re quite resourceful.”

“Miss Lurker? What’s going on?” Fensalir asks from behind her.

“Ugh… Kansen…” the Empress speaks as if she just stepped in excrement. “This won’t take long…” she aims a laser at her.

Instinctively, the Lurker shields the Kansen with herself, shouting, “NO, DON’T!”

“You DARE!?” The Empress again yells.

Facepalming, the Observer explains, “Are you so blinded by insecurity that you can’t see how useful this one can be to us? As well as the one next to her? Analyse their riggings. They are incredibly powerful Kansen, and it seems that our dear Lurker had formed somewhat of a bond with them. This could prove rather beneficial to us and our human friends.”

“Must you call these humans our friends…?” The Empress sighs.

Folkvangr stands in front of her sister to protect her further. “Who are you…? What do you want with us?” She asks as the sounds of combat die down and cheers rise up, indicating the invading force has won.

The Observer approaches the two Supersubs and analyses them up and down. “Hmm… Dragonet-class… how peculiar…”

“H…how so?” Folkvangr asks, trying to stay strong for her sister in front of the three alien-looking monsters.

The Observer explains, “The last time I heard of Submarines named after fish was back home… in our own world. The Eagle Union had quite the habit of doing just that, and now here, in this world, the same has occured… but that’s just your ship class name. Your actual names are far from the names of fish.”

“Wha… what are our names?” Fensalir asks nervously.

“Both your names come from realms in which Norse Goddesses were said to have ruled over.” The Siren Elite answers.

The Empress chuckles, “Really, now? How fitting, considering you lowly subjects will obey us higher beings from now on.” She starts laughing.

Fensalir asks, “Folky… what’s gonna happen to us?”

“It’s okay, Fen… I won’t let harm come to you.” The other Supersub promises.

The Lurker looks at them both and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll stop them going too far. Just do what they say and you’ll be fine.”

The Base Commander is dragged over to them and put on his knees. He looks up at the Lurker and scowls, “I knew I couldn’t trust you…”

“And yet, you were about to tell me state secrets. Kinda stupid, if you ask me.” The Submarine Siren mocks.

The Empress says, “So, this one has loose lips? Take him to the holding cells. We will learn everything he knows.” She orders to the rest of the Coup d’ état forces, “Lock down this base! Nobody in or out! From now on, we are at war with any who stand against us!”

They all salute her and get to work.

A silent pilot works on a plane in a hangar. His new F-16C Fighting Falcon with a red arrow on either side of the fuselage under the canopy, and a red symbol on the vertical stabiliser.

A soldier runs up to him and salutes, “Sir!”

The pilot turns around, hands covered in oil. He casually salutes to not get any on his forehead.

The soldier puts his hand down and reports, “A situation has developed, sir. You’re required in the briefing room, ASAP!”

Excited that he finally got called to action again, the pilot wipes his hands roughly and runs out of the hangar, past another plane of his, much bigger and hidden under a tarp…

Once in the room, he sees only two other pilots in the room, his wingmen, John Herbert and Kei Nagase, fellow mercenaries who have been hired by the Usean Allied Forces, codenames “Slash” and “Edge” respectively. They all share a brief nod as the man takes a seat. This must be serious if all three of them are present.

Their briefing officer and Commander wastes no time as he switches on the screen. He begins, “Welcome, pilots. I am Commander Ulrich Olsen. Callsign ‘Keynote’. A Coup d’ état broke out in the military corps’ general area code NA-P2700. The saw an opportunity during a time when their leaders were away from the country on a diplomatic mission.

It is thought that these Rebels are working alongside beings similar to the still-unknown young woman that was seen aiding the terrorists of A World With No Boundaries three years ago, but these claims are currently just rumours.

After the forces captured the centre of administration, they seized control of important facilities in each district. They are expanding their influence while strengthening their fighting power. Their military capabilities include air and sea forces, including unconfirmed reports of Kansen. It has been confirmed, however, that they possess extra-powerful cruise missiles.

To respond to the Rebel Forces, the military headquarters made a decision to use the Special Tactical Fighter Squadron, ‘Scarface’, which consists of you, my fellow pilots.

We want you to go out on this mission and suppress the Coup d’ état forces immediately. You will receive all-out support from our military corps, full information regarding the rebels, full cooperation through our intelligence division, and military supplies.”

“Living the life of luxury here, huh?” Slash says, earning a chuckle from his flight lead.

Giving the joke a smile himself, Keynote finishes, “The situation is tense and there’s no time to waste. Take on this mission immediately. That is all.”

Scarface Squadron leave the room and go to the hangar. Scarface 1 looks at the plane under the tarp, but shakes his head and goes back to the F-16.

It’s only a small army of Rebels, he thinks.

On a custom console he had installed himself in his cockpit, a hologram shows a 3D map of the battlefield they’ll be flying over for the first mission with a yellow arrow representing him and his wingman.

Siren technology salvaged from Avalon Dam after the incident went out for considerable amounts of money. Being good at his job, the mercenary scooped some up and had this modification made by one Dr. Morgan of a secret aviation research and development facility. It seems he is able to anything with the right amount of money and technology.

While crews get the pilot’s plane ready for sorties, he gets an urgent transmission from the Commander. He begins, “Scarface 1, a new situation has just developed. This is a rush sortie mission, so you’ll have to go up alone. We have received information that an enemy invasion unit is approaching our front base. It’s a small unit with bombers as its main force. Take-off immediately and shoot them down! Your target is the B-52 bomber unit. Good luck!”

Red blips appear on the map and his radar. He flicks off the 3D map as the hangar doors open. He wastes no time taxiing out onto the runway, performing emergency checks and lifting off.

Two Rebel A-4 Skyhawks engage him and are subsequently shot down. Too easy for Scarface 1. With them dealt with, the ace moves onto the B-52s, downing one immediately.

A pilot of one of the bombers radios, “Dammit, they got one of ours! Was it the Allied Forces?”

The voice of the Empress roars, “Grow a pair and carry on with your mission! I don’t care about one little fighter! I want that base neutralised!” Before cutting out.

The Observer asks condescendingly, “Now now, your Evilness, that’s not a very nice way to speak to your subordinates, is it?”

The Empress glares at her.

“Besides…” the smaller Siren shrugs, “Perhaps this pilot may be worth something if he’s the only one here. Let’s watch him.”

“Ugh… fine…” the Empress sighs reluctantly.

As well as B-52s, Scarface 1 sees B-1s mixed in, too. No matter, a bomber’s a bomber. Not even a challenge.

The fighters, however, prove to be more experienced and put up a fight. Even though Scarface 1 is outnumbered, he picks them all off eventually.

Keynote radios, “All Rebel aircraft destroyed. Intel wasn’t kidding. They’ve got some serious fighter power. This war’s just going to get tougher from here on out. We’re counting on you, Phoenix. Alright, return to base.”

“Not even a single bomb was dropped!? Why did we even bother letting these useless humans do the job!?” The Empress yells.

“Because it’s best not to use our mass-produced aircraft too much, Your Maliciousness.” The Onserver rolls her eyes. “We can’t afford to attract too much attention to our existence after Zero’s little campaign.”

“What she did was foolish. Using nuclear warheads… we’re here to find a way back, yet she’s happy to just wait for Azur Lane to come for us. I’d rather have our own means of returning should her plan fail again.” The taller one counters.

“Again?”

“Our plan failed in the Atlantic, did it not? Every time we managed to loop when Azur Lane succeeded in their Operation Siren, but this time?” The Empress explains.

“But that was out if our control. None of us could’ve predicted—“

“SILENCE! Plan the next attack! If that lead pilot keeps going, they could show promise…”

Observer analyses the flight data of Scarface 1 and intercepted transmissions between him and Keynote.

Could it be?

“Hmm…”

“What is it, Observer?” The Empress asks.

“Tell me, Your Highness, do you remember… the Phoenix?”

“Of course. That one ace pilot with a ridiculously-painted plane who Zero wants us to find and test further. Wait… you think that’s him?”

“Yes.” The Observer answers. “This pilot has the same callsign. I believe that we should test this pilot and see if it really is him, and then capture him, just like the Demon Lord.”

“…Very well.” She uses her radio.

A rebel Commander answers, “Yes, Empress?”

“Commence the reconnaissance mission. I want to know every move that pilot makes. We will send fighter escorts to aid you.” The tall Siren orders, much to the Observer’s annoyance, as she had just advised her not to do exactly that.

“Yes, ma’am!” The man replies.

A Siren Elite overlooks Avalon Dam, its missile silos now demolished. It’s been returned to its original primary purpose as a hydro-electric plant.

Her Enforcer, Harmony, reports to her, “Temperence, I have discovered the plans for countermeasures against Ulysses 1994XF04.”

“The meteor? Very well, send me the plans.”

“Understood. Sending.” Harmony obeys.

Temperance looks at the names of the countermeasures the different nations are taking.

“ANTI-ASTEROID LASER”

“ARKBIRD”

“NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENCE”

“STONEHENGE”

“CHANDELIER”

“FORTRESS INTOLERANCE”

“Keep me updated. This is getting interesting...” Temperance orders as she starts reading them.

“Yes, Temperance.” Harmony smiles.

Scarface Squadron responds to an air alert of a rebel recon unit consisting of C-17s and E-767s along with unknown fighter aircraft flying over the Lambert Mountains. Once again, no challenge, but Scarface Squadron had been warned of a possible enemy ace squadron as multiple Allied planes had been shot down in the region, so Nagase and Herbert join Phoenix on this mission.

Soon, they engage the enemy aces in combat. They prove more difficult than the last squadron, but nothing Scarface can’t handle. Soon, they’re the only ones in the airspace.

“Well done, Scarface. This should cut off the enemy’s supply- Damn, spoke too soon. Enemy fighters closing in!” Keystone updates.

“This is Lancer 2 to Lancer 1. Our target is the Allied Forces—“

Cutting him off, the flight lead says “I’ve read the report. We’re going up against some mercenary dogs. They’re nothing more than lowly hacks compared to us. Lancer Squadron, show them just who rules the skies!”

Lancer 2, 3 and 4 reply, “Roger!” In unison.

Scarface look forward and see the reinforcements. Expecting more aces, they see four F-14 Tomcats accompanied by mass-produced Siren fighters, meaning they have to work even harder to defeat them. Unable to tell what planes the Siren aircraft are, they exercise extreme caution, especially when they pull off manoeuvres that would make any pilot black out as they guard Lancer Squadron.

“Lancer Squadron, get ready! CHARGE!”

Lancer and Scarface joust each other, all guns blazing.

Only Lancer 1 survives out of his squadron, they others taken out by the three members of Scarface.

“My entire squadron… defeated!? I’ll make you pay for this outrage!” He suddenly gets a missile alert as Phoenix loops around and starts chasing him. “Behind me!? Can’t catch me!”

When Edge damages him with bullets, he yells, “You think you’ve got me!?”

With the last missile, Phoenix downs Lancer 1 while his wingmen kept the Sirens off of him. It was a good call to have them with him this time.

Lancer 1 gives his final words, “I’m going down!” Right before he crashes into a mountain with no time to eject.

Eventually, when Nagase destroys the last Siren plane, instead of blowing up, the lights on it switch off and its engines power down, gliding down to the ground. Seeing a salvage opportunity, Nagase contacts Ulrich, “Commander, requesting a salvage operation on that last fighter. It could prove useful. The rebels have technology that I believe should have the Usean Allied Forces concerned.”

“Understood, Scarface 3. Sending the request now. All enemy aircraft have been destroyed. Job well done, Scarface Squadron. Those ances and their strange drone escorts came out of nowhere, but you handled them well. Let’s head home.”

“Yes, sir.” Edge and Slash reply as they form up with Phoenix.

Captain Matias Torres stands on the bow of Battleship Tanager. He takes a deep breath of the salty sea air and is joined by the Kansen under his direct command.

He looks up at the muscular goddess towering over him. He smiles and says, “You’re up early.”

“Well, it’s easy to sleep in peacetime. How are you doing today, sir?” Tanager replies in her usual calm and caring tone.

“Fine. Just looking out at the rest of the fleet. Just wondering if it really is ‘Invincible’.” Torres answers.

“Of course it is. Both Geofon and I have been Awoken, and almost everyone else has been, too. It’s just taken years because the Cubes are getting increasingly rare. With Raven, the Destroyers, Frigates and the Subs with us, nothing can stand against us.” She raises her right hand into a fist and flexes her massive bicep in front of herself.

Smiling, Torres says, “I appreciate your optimism, but there’s something I don’t quite understand…”

“What is it?” Tanager looks down at him.

“It’s just… no offence, but I don’t understand why you’re the flagship when we have Geofon in the fleet. You have all the responsibility when she is the most powerful ship here.” The Captain answers.

“Yeah… I thought that too… I asked Geo about it, but she refused to take the flagship position. Said she wasn’t interested.” The Battleship says as she starts to do stretches.

“Fair enough… though… it would be better if we never did have to fight to begin with…”

“Why’s that, sir?”

“…Nevermind… just some thoughts I’ve been having…” Torres answers with a dark tone.

Concerned, Tanager gingerly puts her hand on his shoulder, “…Captain Torres? Do you… want to talk about it?”

“…I…”

Before he can speak more, the Kansen of the Destroyer Herne jumps up to them and salutes, “Captain!”

“What is it?” Torres asks as he returns the salute.

“Sir! A Coup d’ état has broken out! You’ve been requested to assist in fighting them, Sir!”

Tanager palms her fist, “Aw, hell, yeah! Finally, I can—“

Herne interrupts, “Without you, Flagship Tanager.”

“…what?” The Battleship asks.

Torres looks at the Destroyer and guess, “Is it too risky to have the Flagship with us?”

The Destroyer nods as she looks up at him. “Yes, sir. Command wants Miss Tanager to stay here with Miss Geofon and guard the port.”

“Sorry, Miss Tanager. It looks like I’m transferring over to the Herne for now. Seems like these rebels aren’t even worth your time. Look after the fleet while we’re away.”

Saluting, the Battleship responds, “Aye, Captain!” Hiding the disappointment she feels as Torres disembarks her vessel on a boat being pulled by Herne over to her Destroyer. “When am I gonna have a real fight…?”

In a major Yuktobanian military harbour, a team of scientists working on Kansen and warships designs a new Supersubmarine. Having built the Hrimfaxi and the Scinfaxi, this one will even bigger and equipped with a runway to launch planes, AA guns, Siren energy shields and the ability to launch nuclear projectiles through a huge railgun rather than missiles, allowing them to fly faster, be impossible to intercept and invisible to radar. This will be essentially a massive nuclear-equipped submersible Aircraft Carrier, capable of stealth and able to strike at almost any target imaginable.

The two tall Supersubs themselves are also present and assisting in anything they possibly can, fully invested in working on their new little half-sister.

The lead scientist thanks a short Siren who is helping them with the technology of the new vessel. He says, “With your help, Miss Lurker, this ship will be the pride of the Yuktobanian Navy!”

“Yeah, sure. What are you calling it, then?” The Siren asks.

“We’re not dead-set on the name yet, but we decided to just have project name first. Here.” He points to the rough sketches.

Above the designs, the Lurker reads the name.

“Project Alicorn.”

Chapter Text

1998.

Anchorhead Bay.

The Aircraft Carrier Kansen Kinnear walks down her flight deck while her vessel refuels. She inspects the planes and supply crates on her deck and the personnel tending to them. She looks up at the flag she’s flying. The flag of the Usean Coup d’ état.

The Rebels had taken over Anchorhead Bay along with half the entire continent do Usea. Her task force is in charge of protecting the harbour from Allied attack.

Sighing, she gets a picture out of her pocket. A photo of her and her sister from before the continental revolt.

“…why did you have to refuse joining us, Val? We both could’ve been unstoppable…”

Her contemplation is interrupted by the sound of her rider pinging an unknown blip.

“Huh…?”

She gets asked over the radio, “Kinnear! A hostile is approaching you! What’s your status?”

She immediately responds, “Still refuelling. I’m not clear for departure.”

A pilot replies, “Roger that. Don’t worry, there’s only one of ‘em. We can take him out.”

All the same, she starts organising everyone on her deck to get the runway and catapults clear. “Just one plane…?”

Before she can process the bravery or sheer stupidity of a lone pilot taking on an entire military port, she hears distant explosion in the distance. She turns to look and sees a smoke cloud rising up and the very plane in question rapidly approaching her.

The base alarm blares and the radio gets flooded with panicked chatter. She puts her photo away and grabs her binoculars, but then realises there’s still a lot of supply crates on her flight deck so she can’t launch anything, so she gets to work trying to clear it.

“Dammit…”

“KINNEAR, LUANCH YOUR DAMN FIGHTERS!” A Rebel yells.

“Hang on! There’s still shit on my deck!” She shouts back as she kicks one right off her ship. Despite her best efforts, an anti-ship missile launched by the lone fighter explodes on her deck, causing her to stumble. “OW! You fucker!”

A pilot asks “Are you okay, Kinnear!?”

“Yeah… shit.. I just lost one of my catapults!” She looks up and sees the attacking aircraft pull a high-g turn and lock onto her again.

“No… wait…”

Phoenix launches all his remaining armaments on the Carrier, missiles and bullets riddle her flight deck and blow up everything on it. Kinnear herself is torn apart by Phoenix’ M61A1 Gatling gun. Her lifeless, shredded body is slammed against the burning deck by the sheer force of the gun as the bloody mess that used to be her body dissolves into her Cubes, going down with the ship as the bridge and munitions in the hangar and on deck go up in flames.

“Rebel warship destroyed. Good job, Scarface 1. Come on back.” Keynote orders.

The mercenary pilot turns for home, leaving the Coup fleet at Anchorhead Bay as smouldering wrecks. The locals welcome the Allied Forces with open arms when the ground troops come to liberate them.

A Siren, the Observer, appears over the water where the burning Carrier now sits. She fishes the Cubes out of the water and exits through her portal before anyone notices.

2024.

The Complier is let out of her cell under careful supervision of the flagships of Azur Lane.

Enterprise, Bismarck, Queen Elizabeth, Nagato, Richelieu, Vittorio and Sovetsky Soyuz focus their weapons on the small Siren as she summons her own now repaired rigging while stood in front of the Heavy Cruiser Kansen Admiral Graf Spee.

The Fleet Admiral takes a puff of his pipe and gives the order, “Siren Compiler, analyse your equipment and tell us what we need to generate portals to hunt down your former comrades.”

The Complier nods, “Affirmative. Analysing restored memory data… complete. We are missing a vital component to the portal generator.”

“And that is?” The man asks.

Rather bluntly, the Siren answers, “A portal generator.”

“Are you trying to be funny?”

“To be more precise, I do have a portal generator, but it is not active. It requires a power source now that the previous one has been destroyed. The power source was separate from my rigging, and so I cannot repair it. We need a new one.” The Compiler clarifies.

“So what’s this power source? Can we replicate it with with anything we have now?” The Fleet Admiral inquires.

“Nothing short of a nuclear detonation similar to the warhead used on us when my comrades were sent away, which caused an overload of the generator’s systems. However, that option would be too unpredictable. I propose allowing me to fabricate another Black Cube, like the one used to create Orochi.” The Siren answers. “That would allow me to harness its power.”

That answer causes the flagships to adopt even more hostile stances. Graf Spee looks at her and asks, “You’re about to cross a line, Compiler. Be careful what you say.”

The Fleet Admiral looks her dead in the eye and asks, “You’re seriously asking if you could be allowed to make another Black Cube?”

“Your only other option is to use another Trinity warhead. The choice is yours, but I may not survive this time and I cannot be sure of where the portal will send you. If my comrades were here, our combined power would be enough to generate such a complicated portal.” The Siren justifies.

The flagships are about to voice their concerns, but the Fleet Admiral raises his hand to stop them.

“Stand down, all of you.” The man orders. “Keep an eye on her. I need to think about this…” he leaves the room with Enterprise in tow.

Bismarck looks at the Compiler and asks, “You said the combined power of the Sirens would be enough… what about our combined power? Us Schiffsmädchen?”

The Siren replies, “I do not intend to insult your intelligence, but the amount of extremely complicated calculations you’d have to do every nanosecond would literally melt your brains.”

“Oh, would it now?” QE challenges.

The more diplomatic Nagato speaks, “Queen Elizabeth, I hope I can speak for everyone when I say that we’d prefer not to try that…”

Pouting, the microscopic monarch relents, “Fine.”

Enterprise stands with the Fleet Admiral, “Sir, surely you’re not gonna let her make another one if those things, right?”

“After what it did to you, Akagi and Kaga, Enty, I’m extremely reluctant. She could do anything with one of those things, but she did say it’s the safest way to pursue her friends. I don’t see any other way forward, however…” the man replies.

“Sir, no matter what, we can’t allow another Orochi Cube to exist!” The Carrier insists. “It was far too powerful! We—“

“Enterprise, we have a duty to get rid of all the Sirens! Having them in another world doesn’t sit right with me! They could be experimenting on other humans! Or killing them! Or even building their power right now and working on a way to come back!” The Fleet Admiral snaps back.

“And what if Orochi turns on us!? Don’t you remember what happened to Akagi when she helped create her!? Sir, you’re right we have a duty and we’re sworn to fight the Sirens and defend humanity, but that only applies to our own world! If we go after them, we’ll leave our homes undefended! What if the Ashes attack our base our one of our countries? Sir, please, just think about this!” Enterprise argues, not backing down.

“ENTERPRISE, I—“ he grabs her by the arms, but then stops himself. He lets go and backs off. Looking away, he says, “I… I’m sorry… I just… God… we lost so many Kansen to those bitches… just sitting here waiting for them to come back… it just makes their sacrifices seem meaningless…”

Enty stands with him on the balcony looking over the port. She says, “It’s ok, sir. I just want to make sure you think this through. I say we learn as much as we can about the Sirens from the Compiler while she’s working for us.”

Changing the subject, he looks at the Carrier and sees her slightly bloodshot eyes and the bags under them. He asks, “How are you doing? I know the losses from OpSi hit you hard. Have you been sleeping?”

“…I can’t sleep well anymore… Yorktown… Hornet… Belfast… the three Kansen that meant the most to me… they’re…” her eyes start to water.

“I know. I’m sorry, Enterprise. I should’ve had a better plan.” The Fleet Admiral admits, gently pulling her in for a hug, which she doesn’t fight.

“It’s not your fault, sir. I know you did your best. It’s inevitable that something like this could happen… but all three? All at once?” The Carrier tries her best to not cry.

However, the Fleet Admiral says, “It’s just us here, Enterprise. You can let it all out. I won’t tell anyone. It’s alright.”

He’s met with silence, followed by quiet sobs, which quickly lead to a full emotional breakdown. He comforts her as best he can, and there’s a lot of tears to shed.

After a while, Enterprise admits, “I was gonna propose, you know…”

“Huh?”

“Right before Operation Siren began… I bought a ring… off Akashi…” Enterprise shows him.

“For Bel?”

Enty nods. “Yeah… I promised myself as soon as we made it out of the mission, I’d escort her back to the base… tell her to come with me to this very spot… and pop the question… she did so much for me… it’s the only thing I could do to show her how much I appreciated her… how much I loved her…”

“I am so, so sorry, Enterprise.”

“Goddammit, Admiral! I told you it wasn’t your fault!” The Carrier shoots back.

After some silence, Enty softly asks, “…why me, sir?”

“Hmm?”

“Why am I always the one to survive? Why do I have to be the one to see everyone else to go before me?” The Carrier asks while staring at the beautiful oath ring in its box.

“So you can be the one to remember them. As long as you keep them in your heart and mind, they’ll never be truly gone. Remember that, Enterprise.” The man says, Holding her arms more gently this time. He lets go and salutes her, “And when the Sirens come back, you’ll be the one to lead the fight against them. Give them hell, Grey Ghost. For the Fallen.”

She salutes back, “For the Fallen, sir.”

1998.

The Empress sits in an old throne in an ancient Usean castle known as The Keep. She looks at the Observer, mockingly bowing down like some royal subject. She asks, “So… this Phoenix single-handedly took down Kinnear? And liberated Anchorhead?”

“That’s correct, Your Magesty. Intel suggests this very castle is the target for his next mission.”

“Really, now? Well… let’s see how he performs with an entire air wing of our fighters and an army of our AA guns all over this place, then. Go set them up, Observer.”

“Immediately, your Royal Laziness.”

“EX-FUCKING-SCUSE ME!?”

Laughing, the Observer leaves quickly to carry out the order. She always knows how to provoke her.

Spring Sea, south of Usea.

Captain Torres looks out over the waves on the bridge of the Herne. The Kansen herself stood next to him, trying to imitate his professional pose, even scratching her nose when he does and breathing in unison with him.

The man sighs and says, “Herne, I told you that you don’t have to be up here if you’re bored. Trying to copy me can’t be the only thing to keep you entertained.”

“No way, sir! I wanna be a proud sailor like you, so I’m doing my best to follow your example!” She replies happily.

Sighing, Torres looks at her, “Herne, what I’m politely trying to ask is that you stop mimicking me. It’s very irritating.”

“Oh… sorry, sir…” she relaxes her pose and goes closer to the windows. “This sea fog, huh? If we encountered the Rebels in this, we wouldn’t even see them until we crash into them…”

“Well, I won’t claim to not be an expert, Herne, but I’m pretty sure that’s what the radar and sonar are for.”

“Oh yeah, for sure, but I was just trying to make small-talk.” The Kansen shrugs.

“There’s no room for small-talk during a military situation.”

Rolling her eyes, the Destroyer counters, “Oh, come on, sir. I’m a Kansen! My whole existence is a military situation! In fact, I-“

She’s cut off by Torres putting his hand to her mouth, then pointing at something in the fog. Something glowing.

“What’s that?” Herne whispers.

“I have no idea…” the Captain responds.

Suddenly, all the fog dissipates immediately and they’re both staring down the lights of a Siren mass-produced Pawn-class Destroyer with what looks like a portal closing behind it.

“What the hell!? Herne, General Quarters!”

“Already on it, Captain!”

They prepare for a fight, but the mysterious alien ship just remains idle.

“What’s it doing, Herne?”

“It’s just sitting there… menacingly!”

The Pawn then suddenly springs to life as its guns swivel around to point at them.

“Return fire!”

Chapter Text

1998.

Amber Mountains.

“Now entering combat airspace. We’re almost at their frontline base, The Keep. This will most likely be against ground targets. Be careful out there. We’ve had reports of ‘Sirens’ in the area.” Keynote warns.

Nagase asks, “Sirens, sir?”

“Those mysterious pale-skinned women we’ve seen glimpses off since the Belkan War. Apparently that’s what they’re called. They possess equipment similar to Kansen, but they’re far more powerful. Exercise extreme caution. We don’t know where they came from, but they can be incredibly violent.”

“Understood, sir.” Nagase switches to speak to Phoenix, “Lead aircraft, this is Edge. I’ll be your second in this operation.”

Phoenix looks over to her plane and nods to her with a thumbs-up.

“However, if you show any sign of being unfit to uphold your duties…”

Phoenix’ hand returns quickly to his flight controls and he looks forward again as Keynote responds, “Loosen up, Lieutenant Nagase. Now then, Phoenix, show her what you’re capable of.”

After dive bombing old strongholds to make sure they can’t reinforce The Keep, Scarface Squadron then proceeds to the castle itself.

The Keep.

A Rebel soldier reports to the Sirens, “The western stronghold’s collapsed!”

“Yes, we know.” The Empress waves him off. “Prepare the SAM sites.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The soldier leaves.

“You’re very confident today.” The Observer… observes.

“That pilot… clearly he fears nothing, diving nose-first into a stronghold just to put a missile right in the centre of a fort… lets see him do that when a castle has anti-air missiles as a part of its battlements.” The taller Siren replies.

“Such a shame our weapons aren’t as powerful over land.” The Observer teases. “What’s an Empress without land to control?”

“I’m the Empress of the Seas, you insufferable little shit!” She hits her hand on her throne.

Nagase sees trailers of smoke coming from The Keep. Back when it was built, this fort would’ve been nigh-impossible to lay siege to. This time, however, the attackers have fighter jets. Edge warns, “They’re firing anti-aircraft missile above the base. Be careful.”

Phoenix makes a note of the SAMs as he dodges the missiles. As per the previous fortresses, he’s going to have to have a steep angle of attack due to the strong and think solid stone walls of the castle, still providing cover to its inhabitants even centuries later. As Edge deals with the enemy fighters, Phoenix focuses on The Keep.

The Empress demurs, “I hate being on land so much… we can’t even use our own fighters!”

The Observer rolls her eyes, “How many times must I remind you we only have limited amounts of fighter-bomber squadrons? Even if we could use them this far inland, we’d be wasting them on the Phoenix. He’s too good to be shot down by them.”

“We could always get lucky.”

“Luck is for fools, Empress. We cannot rely on such human concepts.” The Observer reminds her.

“Whatever.”

Resembling a seagull fishing, Phoenix takes out target after target, wether it be oil tanks, barracks or air defences. Little by little, The Keep is gradually neutralised.

“I would recommend retreating before being crushed by centuries-old stone, but I know you prefer not to make the most sensible decisions.” The Observer speaks up.

“Shut the fuck up.” The Empress deadpans before opening her portal. They both step through right before their part of the castle collapses.

“The target has been taken out. We have captured The Keep. Phoenix, something tells me you’ve gained Lieutenant Nagase’s trust.” Keynote confirms.

Edge nods, “I’ll admit, your combat skills were quite… admirable, but I’m reserving my final assessment.”

“She’s a tough one, Phoenix.” Olsen jokingly warns.

The two Sirens re-emerge on an oil platform that’s been taken over by the Rebels, who salute them after appearing.

Ignoring them, the Empress asks, “So this thing is their next target?”

The Observer nods, “After any losing the data, this seems to be the host probable. It would greatly hinder the Coup if this facility is taken out or captured.”

“Do they have any intel regarding our forces here?”

“Regarding the importance of this one, I have reserved one of our own drone fighter squads to keep away spy planes. They only know that the Rebels control this place.” The smaller Siren answers.

“Good. Make sure it stays that way, and get more defences up. That pilot is becoming a pain in the ass.” The Empress mutters.

The Observer tilts her head in confusion, “Isn’t the whole point of this campaign to test Phoenix?”

“That doesn’t mean I have to bend over for him and let him have his way!” The Empress yells.

“I had no idea you were into such things, Your Horny-ness.” The smug Siren teases more.

“BY THE CREATOR, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN WE GET BACK!”

2024.

Admiral Graf Spee escorts the Compileraround the Azur Lane HQ. Despite the hopes of the Fleet Admiral, pretty much everyone knows about her presence now, and Spee has had to fend off a few overly emotional Kansen. Luckily, her huge mechanical gauntlets make it easy for her.

The childlike Siren asks, “Miss Spee… they…”

“Hmm?”

“They do not like me, do they?”

“Nein. Es tut mir leid.”

“But why? I followed orders. I never stepped out of line under Observer Zero, and I haven’t done anything against you since you captured me.” The Compiler asks, genuinely oblivious to the obvious.

Spee finds a bench and she has the Siren sit next to her. The Complier finds it awkward at first, considering the heavy device on her ankle that blocks her access to her rigging, but she boosts herself up on the seat, her feet dangling above the ground. She kicks back and forth as she keeps playing with the toy car she had brought with her.

The Iron Blood Cruiser looks at her and says, “You see… when you were following orders… you ended up… hurting… many of our fellow Kansen. Your orders were to prevent us reaching your Atlantic Stronghold, but that included…”

“Sinking you?”

“…Ja. Many of the Schiffsmädchen you and your comrades ended up sinking had sisters here. Those were the ones that tried to grab you earlier. They don’t like you because you took away their sisters… just like mine…”

“Deutschland? I remember her. She stormed ahead of you all and tried to grab me. My automated defences neutralised her.” The Compiler says absent-mindedly.

Spee remains silent for a few seconds. She softly asks, “…did she feel it?”

“It is highly improbable that she did.” She looks up at her, “If you also lost a sister to me, then why do you not feel the same way as the others earlier?”

“…Because she can finally rest. I now finally know what her name means, and as long as I remember that, she can rest.”

“If that brings you comfort, I will not argue.” The Siren says.

“Danke…”

“This place… the stones on the grass… is this what the humans call a cemetery?” The Compiler asks.

“Was?” Spee looks around. She hadn’t realised until now where they are. “Oh. Ja. It is. It’s a lot… more filled now…”

“From the lack of body-sized graves, I assume that this cemetery is for Kansen, meaning there are Wisdom Cubes inside them.” The Siren guesses.

“Ja. Correct. This one is dedicated to Schiffsmädchen. The much bigger one over there is for humans.” Spee responds. She looks down and adds, “My schwester… couldn’t be buried here… her Cubes couldn’t be found…”

The Compiler gets up and approaches a group of Kansen sisters from the Eagle Union who were there before them. Not wanting things to escalate, Spee follows her, “Nein! Compiler!”

Montpelier, Denver, Columbia, Biloxi and Birmingham stand in front of a gravestone in silence.

Monty starts, “…we miss you, sis…”

“Yeah… why’d you have to go in like that?” Denver adds.

Columbia says, “You… you dumbass… always being our big sis… always having to protect us…”

Before anyone else can speak, they hear from behind them, “I am sorry.”

They all turn around to see the Siren that took their fallen sister from them.

“YOU-“ Monty yells, silencing herself out of respect for the dead. She hisses, “What do you think you’re doing here?”

Ignoring the question, the Compiler asks, “I am sorry for taking your sister away. May I see her Cube?”

“You think a simple ‘sorry’ would make things okay between us!?” Denver takes a step forward. “And you have the nerve to ask if you can dig up what’s left of her!?”

Columbia adds, “Maybe we should dig her up! Then put you in her place!”

Graf finally catches up. “I am deeply sorry. Compiler, we must leave them to grieve! Come with me.” She grabs the Siren and tries to pull her away.

But she doesn’t move, as if rooted into the ground like a tree.

“…was…?” The Iron Blood whispers.

“You’d better heed your friend’s advice, Siren.” Birmingham says, summoning her rigging along with her sisters.

The only one not to follow suit, the more level-headed sister of the group, finally chimes in. Biloxi steps in between them and gets down on the Compiler’s eye level. She softly asks, “Why do you want to see my sister’s Wisdom Cube, child?”

The Siren answers, “I would like to see if this program of mine still works now that my rigging is repaired.”

“What does this program do?” Biloxi asks.

“It is my Kansen Revival Protocol, only for emergency use should a Kansen perish in a failed experiment, but is not enough to warrant a complete timeline reset.” The Compiler answers.

The silence of everyone is deafening. Pushing Biloxi aside, Denver grabs the Siren and asks, “You can bring her back!? Tell me you’re not joking!”

Monty adds, “If you are, you’ll be joining her!”

Columbia yells, “She can still live!?”

Unphased by the raw emotion being practically fired at her like an artillery bombardment, the Siren nods, “If the program still works, yes. May I attempt it?”

Letting go of her, Graf Spee waits in stunned silence.

Monty turns to the grave of her sister, gently brushing aside the layers of dirt. While a human would need a shovel, she naturally finds it easy to use her hands with her Kansen strength.

Standing up while gingerly holding the Wisdom Cubes, she turns back around and the Compiler says, “We must ask permission from your Fleet Admiral to allow me to use my rigging.” She turns to leave the cemetery for the HQ with the sisters and a now silent Spee in tow.

1998.

Coup d’ état oil facilities.

The Empress observes the many oil platforms that will supply the Rebels, taken from the Usean Allied Forces. The clear skies allows them to maintain vigilant watch for enemy aircraft.

“Hmm…”

“What is it?” The Observer asks.

“It’s quiet… too quiet.”

Right on cue, they see the flash of the first oil platform explode, the hear it along with the shockwave.

“Ugh… now it’s too loud. I preferred it when it was quiet… call everyone to battle stations!” The Empress demands.

“Immediately, oh Great Mistress of Evil.” The smaller Siren mocks before leaving to start organising the defence.

“She’s just asking to be deleted…” the deflated Empress sighs, secretly getting rather used to the teasing. “Let’s see how quickly the Phoenix finishes this mission…”

As if hearing her, the ace in question picks up the pace, strafing the oil platforms, knocking them down like dominoes while Nagase cleans up any stragglers.

“Phoenix, you see the underwater pipeline? Once you’re done with the platforms, follow it to the storage facilities.” Keynote orders.

“CONTACT OPERA HOUSE! THE ALLIED FORCES ARE HERE!” A Rebel soldier yells.

Phoenix finds an island covered in fuel tanks. He gets in close, fires a missile and moves on.

The island no longer has fuel tanks on it.

“Well, there goes half of the fuel already…” the Empress growls.

The Observer returns, “It would see, the Rebels are losing another battle…” she says, cheerful to see her comrade miserable.

“I realise that, Captain Obvious… how the hell are you so calm while we lose more men!? Amused, even!?” The Empress demands.

“Why, Empress… one would think you’re actually starting to care about these Rebels. These… human… Rebels.”

“SILENCE!” She yells as more and more oil platforms are turned into future coral reefs. They run away using their portals again before the one they’re on explodes.

With all storage and production facilities gone, Keynote radios, “The target has been destroyed. Opera House is now ours. Excellent work. Both of you, come on home and let the Allied Forces clean up here.”

Nagase asks, “Keynote, any word on that downed Siren fighter from the mountains yet?”

“Unfortunately, the top brass took it away. I doubt we’ll be hearing about it anytime soon.”

“Damn…”

Spring Sea.

Captain Torres looks over the smouldering wreck of the now beached Siren Pawn. As Herne works on putting out her fires and performing basic repairs on her ship, he took a dinghy over to the defeated Destroyer.

He rummages through the machinery and computers. “So… it was unmanned. Just where the hell did it come from?”

Finding a device about the size of a single door household fridge, he cautiously presses a button and it re-activates, generating an energy shield around the Pawn. The same shield that Herne had just had trouble penetrating. She had to hold out until the shield had to switch off to recharge.

Turning it off again, he mutters, “huh… I wonder…” as he looks out at his Kansen’s Destroyer, the fires reduced to faint plumes of smoke.

“Herne, come in.” He radios.

“What’s up, Captain?”

“How are the repairs going?” Torres asks.

“Ship-shape and ready to get back underway, sir! All patched up and according to my radar, the surrounding area is clear!” Herne answers.

“Didn’t you say on the way here that you have an empty space for a piece of tech?”

“The space about the size of my fridge back in my dorm? I was gonna move the fridge to my ship because I like to bring along snacks, but…” The Destroyer answers.

Interrupting her before she goes on a tangent, Torres says, “Good. Come on over here. I think I’ve found just the thing…”

Chapter Text

1998.

Peyton Channel.

“Ah, to be back on the water again…” Empress says happily.

“It certainly does feel better than a dingy old castle, although we could’ve been on the water at the oil rigs.” The Observer agrees, then counters.

“We had to be on that rig to tell the incompetent Rebels what to do. This time, we’ll stay in the water and that will give our drone fighters a boost, allowing us to initiate an invasion of their base itself to see how Phoenix deals with a full-scale force beating down his front door. I’ve assembled some Rebel air forces together to this point to assist our own fighter force. They’ll be here soon.” The taller Siren explains.

“Ah, yes. The ace squadron. What was their name?”

“Beast squadron. I’m told they are the best among the Coup.”

“Just like the other ones that said the exact same thing and we’re taken down in one battle against Scarface Squadron? And every squadron that went up against Galm Team three years ago?“ The Observer calls out.

“Galm Team had a Kansen helping them, and Beast Squadron won’t make the mistake of underestimating Phoenix and his wingman. Plus, they have the support of our fully operational fighter-bombers.” The Empress justifies.

“Very well…” the Observer shrugs. “I suppose we’ll see how he reacts… hold on… I’m picking up the Rebels. They’re close.

“Ah, yes. Here sooner than I expected. Excellent. “Deploy the drone squadron.”

A full air wing of Siren drones takes to the skies and forms up with the Coup squadron, ready to take the fight to—

“Oh… this is interesting…”

“What now!?” The Empress demands.

“It would appear they knew about the coming attack. Scarface Squadron have appeared and have started intercepting our air units.”

“WHAT!?”

“….and all the Rebel planes are gone. It’s just Beast and our drones left now.”

“OH, FOR THE LOVE OF—“

Keynote updates Phoenix and Edge, “All targets have been destroyed. We were able to deal a major blow to the enemy’s air power. Scarface Squadron, check your aircraft’s status, and then head ba— Bogeys…?”

Five F/A-18E Super Hornets enter the combat airspace. The leader of the squadron gets on the radio, “Listen up. You’re free to engage once we reach the rendezvous point.”

Another member replies, So… business as usual.”

The leader cracks his neck before saying, “Give ‘em hell. They’ll be nothing but burning scrap heaps by the time we’re done with them! ‘Cause that’s how Beast Squadron does it!”

The Empress contacts them, “Bring down Scarface or don’t bother coming back!” She orders.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

A pale and naked Kansen with a shaved head and glossed-over eyes wakes up once again restrained to the table she’s spent so long on, being prodded and poked by curious humans ever since she was captured.

To her right is a board with mountains of notes on how Kansen work pinned to it, all learned from experimentations on her.

And how to make more Cubes artificially.

One on a table nearby is an entire document called “Project Falco Tinnunculus.”

There are even paper copies on the board of deals with defence contractors and militaries, like the Erusean Navy, the Usean Allied Forces, the Yuktobanian shipyard that created the Scinfaxi-class sisters, the Emmerian Navy, the Osean Federation, etc.

Another is the document detailing the deal with the latter of creating a new pair of Cubes for Project Alicorn.

The severely debilitated Kansen struggles to even move her head as she looks over to her left and sees her separated rigging and her Cube in the next room. Outside her body. She remembers years ago when they cut her open and took it out of her. Being sustained by a life support machine, she feels too weak to even raise her arm to feel the cuts in her chest where they took her Cube out.

She’s alone in the operating room as she glares at them, studying her Cube. Shocking it. Prodding it. Trying to find a way to break it open. They’ll never manage it, but that doesn’t mean she can’t feel everything they’re doing to it, like an exposed nerve. She can’t even give them a sign that she’s constantly in unbearable agony, despite the excessive amounts of anaesthetics being pumped into her body constantly.

Adding to the pain is the sight of her rigging completely dismantled, having been taken apart soon after her Cube was taken out and used to summon it.

She never trusted humans, but if she’d known that they were capable of such cruelty, she never would have helped them. The only thing keeping her going is the memory of her sister, and the hope that she’s still alive.

The lead scientist enters her room. She’d already learned his name from his badge. With him is someone she never thought she’d ever feel relief to see, but to see anyone other than a human now gives her a strange sense of comfort, even if that person is a Siren.

The Siren looks her over and asks, “So, this is the Kansen, Morgy?”

Dr. Morgan nods, “That’s right, Puri. The one that every one of the others can trace their origin back to. Well, hypothetically, of course. None of them know about it.”

“So why’d ya strap her down?” Purity asks as she approaches the Kansen and puts her hand in her forehead. “She looks so weak…”

“Purity, know that we do this to secure our future as a company. The ZOE Project needs funding, and the militaries of the world are prepared to pay top dollar for Kansen Cubes. This one here has provided us with the means to make them at will, but the Cubes we’ve made so far don’t seem to be as powerful as that one in there, even now that it’s been out of the body for years.”

“You’ve had her strapped down on this table for years…?”

“It’s easier to not refer to it as a person. It isn’t. That… thing laying there is just a weapon, just like the rest of the Kansen. The property of whoever gives them orders.” Dr. Morgan says in a dark tone.

“…so… what does that make me?” Purity asks as she looks at him.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not human. You know that. Does that mean I’m not a person, either?”

“Puri… come here…” he says as she walks around the table to her. He puts his hands gently on her hips and says, “Come on, it’s looking at us.”

The Kansen watches as Morgan and Purity walk out of the room to talk.

Was that… compassion? For her? From a Siren?

Peyton Channel.

The Empress demands, “Observer! I want more drones up there, NOW!”

With a serious tone for once, she reminds her of their dwindling forces, “Empress, we—“

“I SAID ‘NOW!’!”

With a sigh, she obeys and sends out another squadron to help Beast Squadron surround Scarface.

Keynote warns, “Phoenix, we’ve got Rebel reinforcements.”

“That’s them! The mercenaries!” Beast 1 exclaims as his squadron engages Scarface. “Don’t give ‘em time to react!”

Phoenix and Edge have to dodge with more effort than against any other squadron they’ve faced thus far. These guys are good.

Or at least until Scarface 1 downs one with his gun. “Damn, I’m hit!” The pilot yells.

Beast 1 says, “You should’ve watched what you were doing. Now he’s all mine.” He chases after Phoenix while the rest keep Edge busy.

Phoenix locks onto Beast 1 and launches a missile, but the enemy ace throttles down and performs a post-stall manoeuvre to not only dodge the missile, but get behind Phoenix instead.

Seeing Edge busy with the others and now an enemy ace in his tail, Phoenix smiles. A challenge. He gets a missile lock alert and yanks his flight stick to the side, aileron-rolling out of the way and engaging in a rolling scissor dogfight with Beast 1, who stays glued to his tail.

Phoenix gets a missile fired at him at close range, too close for him to react. The missile detonates but it’s just too far away to cause anything but superficial damage.

Taking this a warning to stop messing about, Phoenix then slams his throttle back, cutting power to his engines and pulling up hard, performing a Cobra.

Taken by surprise, Beast 1 pulls up as well, and the extra power from his engines causes him to suddenly find himself ahead of Phoenix, his plane’s belly and missiles exposed to Scarface 1’s gun.

With a squeeze of the trigger, Phoenix sprays a line of bullets all the way down Beast 1’s Super Hornet, exploding his SP weapons and dealing severe structural damage.

“Dammit!” His plane smokes badly but is still barely flying.

Considering him no longer a threat, Phoenix goes to help Edge, who’s outnumbered.

Keynote radios, “Listen, Phoenix, the Siren craft gave formed a zone in which to entrap you. You need to get yourself and Nagase out of that airspace. You have no chance of counterattacking surrounded like that. Get some distance from the drones and pick off Beast Squadron.”

After Phoenix saves Edge from a couple of Beasts, they both split up again and fly it off the red circle that had appeared on their radars.

“You’re not getting away, sucker!” A pursuing Beast yells.

Another, who is trying to lock onto Nagase, calls out, “Keep still, would ya!?”

Once out of the zone, Edge gets her revenge by climbing suddenly, then performing a split s manoeuvre and getting the Beast in her sights, and then firing a pair of missiles right at his cockpit.

“OH SHI—“

His plane is blown to pieces as Edge moves onto the next, gunning down Siren drones as they attempt to encircle them again.

“Not bad, flame-o. Didn’t think I’d actually lose my entire squad.” Beast 1 yells as her comes back in with his smoking plane. He knows he can’t go back even his plane was able, so he targets both Scarfaces and fires his missiles.

“Ain’t war grand? What do ya say, flame-o?”

Dodging them, Phoenix and Edge fly at him together and return the favour, shredding what’s left of his plane and watching the now wingless front half of the fuselage fall towards the sea.

All they hear is him shouting, “You won’t win the next time! This isn’t over yet! Not by a long shot!” Before seeing him eject.

“All Rebel aircraft destroyed. The mission is a success. That’s another victory for us. Those were some pretty fierce pilots, but you handled them well. You did some good flying out there.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m sure Phoenix appreciates the compliments, too.”

Scarface 1 rolls his eyes and turns for home, having successfully repelled the coming attack before it even started.

Beast 1 parachutes down to the Channel. Just when he’s about to get his boots wet, a portal open under him. Unable to do anything about it, he goes right in.

The portal closes and cuts all the straps connecting to the parachute, making it drop gently into the sea. However, it means that Beast 1 falls the rest of the way into the room he was sent to.

“Agh… dammit…” he grunts as he picks himself up.

“I am very disappointed.” The voice of the Empress booms.

The pilot turns around, “Oh, are you now, your worship? How the hell do you think I feel? I had that damn merc by throat until—“

“UNTIL YOU UNDERESTIMATED HIM! I TOLD YOU TO TAKE THE PHOENIX SERIOUSLY! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TEAM UP AGAINST HIM, NOT SEND YOUR COMRADES AFTER WINGMAN AND TAKE HIM ON YOURSELF!”

Unmoved by her outburst, Beast one pretends to yawn, earning himself a giggle from the Observer. He counters, “Don’t tell me how to lead my own team. Also, I assume sending a five-men squadron and a team of your own dumb drones is you ‘taking him seriously’?”

The smaller Siren gasps, “Oh my, I like this one~”

“BE SILENT!” The taller demands. She looks back at the pilot and says, “Luckily for you, your survival and commitment has earned you another chance to fight Scarface.”

“How magnanimous. Your benevolence knows no bounds.” Beast 1 sarcastically says with a roll of his eyes and overdramatic mocking bow, earning more laughter from the Observer.

The Empress responds, “If you fail the second time, if the Phoenix doesn’t kill you, I will very much enjoy doing it myself!”

Delarus, Usea.

The Tower sits in her massive rigging overlooking the construction of one of the countermeasures to Ulysses. Situated in the middle of the desert and next to an existing air force base, eight rail guns arranged in a circle are currently being rapidly developed with a central radar system right in the middle, the whole network surrounded by a fortified circular wall, defending it from ground assault.

She crosses her leg over the other and sits back, gently brushing the mated hair out of the fur of the little chinchilla she found in the mountains before the Temperance asked her to keep tabs on the weapon being built closest to her location. She has the tiny creature sat in a dust bath on the coldest part of her freezing body, her leg, keeping it nice and cool in the heat stroke-inducing environment.

Perhaps what the Devil said about the little animals was true. They aren’t so bad.

Analysing the weapon further, the Tower mutters, “No air defences… curious… I would’ve thought that would be the first thing they installed at least to protect the construction… there’s a civil war raging on this continent…” the Tower takes notes for the Temperance.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Command Centre.

“Run that by me again… You want me to remove your rigging inhibitor?” The Fleet Admiral asks.

“Affirmative.” The Compiler confirms, “It is necessary to test if my KRP program works. If it does, I plan on helping further by bringing back fallen Kansen. If it does not, feel free to put it back on.”

“Bring them back?” He looks at Graf Spee.

The Iron Blood nods silently.

The man sighs, “Alright… but you’re not doing it unless you’re under watch.” He grabs his phone. He calls a number and says, “Enterprise, gather the flagships and report to the secure bunker.” He puts the phone down and looks at the Siren and the Kansen. “Come with me.”

“You are wise to be cautious.” The Compiler compliments.

At the bunker, the flagships from before once again surround the Siren as she, Graf Spee, the Eagle Union Cruiser sisters and the Fleet Admiral stand in the middle.

The man gets down and unlocks the restraining device on the Complier’s ankle. He orders, “No tricks.” He stands up and stands back. Enterprise instinctively gets in front of him, shielding him with her bow ready.

The Complier slowly summons her rigging to not alert anyone. Keeping her two side guns pointed at the floor, she looks down from her seat at Montpelier, “Please may I have the Cube?”

Hesitantly, she gets close to the jellyfish mech and hands it over. Enterprise grips her bow tighter.

“Thank you.” The Siren politely bows. She closes her eyes and activates her program. She lets go of the Cube and to everyone’s surprise, it starts floating. A thin, tentacle-like appendage emerges from her rigging and connects to the Cube. It injects the program into it and retracts, allowing the Cube to start spinning like one does when being used for the first time, reinvigorated with the same energy.

A massive flash of light engulfs the room, making everyone except the Siren shield their eyes.

Everyone hears the sisters all speak in unison.

“… Cleveland?”

Chapter Text

1998.

Spring Sea, south of Usea.

“This is so cool!” Herne exclaims excitedly as her new addition generates a spherical energy shield around her vessel that allows only air and water through it.

Torres replies, “Yes, it is quite impressive, but remember how we had to fight it, and what that means for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I have to turn it off to fire my weapons. Luckily, though, I think I can supply it with enough power to last longer than it did on that weird ship we got it from.” The Destroyer says.

“Good, just don’t strain yourself. The last thing we need is for you to be too exhausted to fight. Leave the shield off for now. If you detect any unknowns on radar or sonar, switch it on again.” The Captain orders.

“Aww…” Herne says, disappointed. “Aye, sir…” she turns off the shield.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Secure Bunker.

“Cleveland?”

The newly-revived Eagle Union Cruiser looks at her hands and looks up at her sisters. “Sisters?”

They all continue to stare at her.

“Uh… what’s going on?” Cleveland asks.

The Fleet Admiral leaves the room, “I have some serious work to do…”

The Compiler mutters, “It seems I have some glitches present in my program. Commencing scan.”

Cleveland looks at her and gets up quickly, “SIREN!” She stumbles back on her legs that are now far shorter than she’s used to, falling backwards.

Then she realises what’s happened.

She looks like a child.

“What the—!?”

Denver picks her up and coos, “Oh my God, Cleve, you’re so small now! You’re adorable! You’re like a cuddly plushie!”

“Sis… put me down…” Cleveland murmurs, embarrassed. “I’m not that small…”

The flagships all relax their stances, despite the confusion they feel. Enterprise once again followed the Fleet Admiral out, leaving Bismarck to ask, “What the hell happened? What kind of glitch would turn fully mature Schiffsmädchen into children?”

“The process of rebuilding her body had encountered an anomaly. It was likely caused by the same explosion that sent my comrades away. The radiation from the Trinity warhead must have damaged my rigging’s programs as well as its structural integrity. I am currently working on restoring all non-offensive systems. A factory reset may be needed.” The Complier explains.

“Does this mean I’m the biggest sister now?” Columbia asks.

Monty elbows her, “She’s still older than you…”

Cleveland waves her arms and legs around while still suspended, yelling, “DENNY, WILL YOU PUT ME DOWN, PLEASE!?” Trying to escape Denver’s grasp.

Birmingham teases, “Maybe because she’s so small now, we should call her ‘Clevelad’ instead?”

“Not funny…” ‘Clevelad’ pouts.

Biloxi takes her from Denver and sets her down, “Cleve, do you… remember anything? From OpSi?”

Clevelad thinks for a bit and shakes her head, “It gets really fuzzy before we set off… then I don’t really remember anything from the first couple of battles onwards… did we win? Also, why am I so small?”

Not fully understanding empathy, the Complier bluntly informs her, “You were killed and sunk protecting your sisters. Azur Lane secured victory and I have joined you as I have no other orders. You are small because of an unforeseen glitch in my revival program.”

“Oh… um… so what happened to the other Sirens?” Clevelad asks.

Outside the bunker, Enterprise walks with a silent Fleet Admiral, but not towards the Command Centre, like he had implied.

“Uh… sir? Didn’t you say that…”

“That I have a lot of work to do? You came with me to take some of the workload, didn’t you?” The man interrupts.

“Well… yes, sir. I assumed we’d be going to your office.”

“Not all my work is at a desk, Enty. Come on.” He gets his radio and announces on the Azur Lane open channel. “All Kansen with fallen sisters, report to the gathering hall immediately.”

“Are there even enough chairs in there…?” Enterprise mutters.

1998.

Meriton Highlands, Usea.

A squad of E-767s retreat out of Allied territory using the cover of night. Their equipment jams the radar of any enemy that gets close, along with interfering with their missile lock-on capabilities while providing the opposite to their escorts.

They’ve been under constant attacks from the Allied Forces and have lost a good chunk of their power, but they can’t be allowed to escape. The Empress has ordered them to get as many electronic support aircraft as they can to safety immediately to give Phoenix a real challenge later on.

“Yes, yes… they’re passing over those highlands in the north… they’ll be out soon. Finally, something is going to plan… soon, Phoenix will either be dead, or he will be joining the De—“

“Scarface Squadron is attacking them.” The Observer interrupts.

“…”

“…”

“WHAT!?” The Empress rushes over to the screen her comrade is watching. “He’s there already!?”

The Observer coos, “Ooh… even though his HUD and radar are failing him, he’s still shooting them all down so gracefully~” speaking in a way she knows pisses off the Empress.

“I swear, if I didn’t need you here, I would’ve turned your head into a decorative vase by now…”

They watch as the escaping squad is completely shot down. Just when the Empress is about to switch it off, they get an alert.

[WARNING: UNKNOWN AIRCRAFT HAS ENTERED THE AIRSPACE]

Both surprised, they watch in silence.

Keynote radios in, “All electronic warfare aircraft destroyed. Jamming signal has ceased.”

Phoenix is about to turn for home, but gets a green blip on his heads-up-display as well as a red blip on his radar.

Right in front of him.

He stares ahead and his IFF identifies it.

F-14D
ZOE

“We’ve got Rebel reinforcements.” Keynote updates. “A red aircraft? I’ve never seen a paintjob like that before…”

Edge asks, “Does that red aircraft… belong to the Allied Forces?”

Despite being an old Tomcat, the exact second Phoenix locks onto it, it instantly darts away to the right, making him jam his flight stick in the same direction to keep up with it. The F-14D loops around flies right at him, jousting. Phoenix throws his flight stick the other way to evade and it just narrowly misses him, as if trying to scare him.

He looks back over his shoulder and sees the Tomcat moving far faster than it should be able to. It’s already got Scarface 1 in its sights, but has to break off when Nagase threatens it.

Keynote comments, “That aircraft’s flight patterns are something else…”

Losing it again as it just seems to be untouchable, Edge warns, “I’ve never seen anything like it… Careful!”

By now, any enemy ace would’ve opened communications with Phoenix and Edge, but this one is completely silent.

“I don’t see any nationality markings… could it be rogue?” Nagase asks.

The F-14D Tomcat was already a tough aircraft to begin with, but this one seems to be so well-armoured that both Scarface 1 and 2 use all their remaining missiles on it. They all hit, but non seem to do anything.

The plane outmanoeuvres Phoenix and gets fully behind him, proving to be impossible to shake off. Scarface 1’s plane plays the lock-on sound with no break for a full hour as he tries to get away, with Nagase using her gun on the red plane while at the same time trying not to hit her flight lead.

Phoenix felt thrills fighting Beast 1. Against this… thing? He feels something drastically different.

Luckily, the strange aircraft suddenly breaks off, as if the pilot got bored. It flies away out of the airspace faster than their planes.

“What? He’s retreating?” Keynote asks, dumbfounded. “He’s pulling away… why didn’t he take the shot?”

Phoenix lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding in. He looks down at his hands as he gently lets go of his flight stick. They’re shaking.

Was he… scared?

“Just what the hell was that…?” The Empress whispers, impressed. “Who was that pilot?”

“Unknown… it had no markings… and it’s IFF signature ‘ZOE’… that doesn’t appear in any of the records found by Temperance and I…” the Observer answers.

“Whatever that was, we need to keep an eye out for that plane. This ‘ZOE’ needs investigating.” The taller Siren orders.

“I must admit, my curiosity is piqued…” The smaller one confesses as she watches back the footage of the legendary Phoenix, of all pilots, looking like a deer in headlights.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, gathering hall.

All Kansen that had lost their sisters, apart from the Cleveland Crew, file into the building and take seats.

The Fleet Admiral stands with Enterprise, the Compiler and Graf Spee on the stage with the podium.

The same stage that had been previously used for events, date nights, comedy shows and briefings now serves a far more somber purpose.

The man takes the podium and turns on the microphone, testing it by tapping it lightly, also silencing the chattering Kansen. He begins, “Good evening, girls. You may be wondering why I have gathered you here today, and why the Siren we captured is up on stage with full rigging. Don’t worry. If she tries anything, she won’t be leaving this building alive. However, she is here to help us, or at least her words an actions so far have suggested so.”

He looks at the Siren and he nods.

The Compiler nods back and projects her voice around the room through her rigging, “I am the Siren Elite designation Compiler. I have an emergency program that I have changed into a core program that allows me to resurrect sunk Kansen.”

After a solid 5 seconds of awkward silence, the thunderous uproar of shouts and chairs getting kicked over fills the room.

“How fucking DARE you!”

“You killed our sisters, AND NOW YOU MOCK US!?”

“YOU TOOK MY DEAR INDY AWAY!”

“MEINE SCHWESTER IS DEAD! BECAUSE OF YOU! I’LL WRING YOUR NECK!”

“YOU EXPECT ME TO TRUST YOU SIRENS IN BRINGING BACK MY AMAGI AGAIN!? AFTER OROCHI!?”

Despite showing no emotion, Compiler gently grabs Spee’s hand for comfort, squeezing it.

Spee looks back at her deadpan face, but sees her eyes start looking at all the Kansen jeering at her. She squeezes her hand back and says, “Don’t worry, you’ll be okay.”

The Fleet Admiral orders, “THAT’S ENOUGH!” His amplified voice drowning out their outcries, silencing them all again. He takes a deep breath to calm himself, and he continues with a level head, “I understand that you all lost your family members during and especially towards the end of Operation Siren, but Compiler here was left with no guidance, no orders and no friends. The rest of the Sirens were not killed by the Trinity warhead. They were sent to another world. Another world where they could potentially be building their forces back up, destroying an alternate humanity that doesn’t have Kansen or any other defenders helping them. They will find a way back, I know it.”

He looks at the Siren on stage and continues, “Compiler could’ve fought against us ever since her capture, or at least refused to help us. Instead, she leaped on the opportunity to assist, just to have orders to carry out. She has already proven herself worthy of our trust. Enterprise, if you could?”

The Carrier nods, “Aye, sir.” She leaves the room and enters back in with the Clevelands, led by Clevelad herself, leading to dead silence again. Enterprise announces, “Cleveland was sunk in the final stage of Operation Siren. I saw her go under myself. And now, here she is after her Cube was given life again. By Compiler…. Even if… she came back a little… well, little.”

“I’m not little!” Clevelad yells back.

Murmurs start among the assembled Kansen. One speaks up, “If she brings Indy back, will she be even more cute!?”

“How is THAT the first thing you think of!?” Another asks.

The Fleet Admiral gets the room back under control again, “Alright, settle down! I’m sure you all have questions, but we have been given a away to bring our fallen back to us, and we’re gonna need them when the Sirens return, potentially more powerful than we’ve ever seen them, so we’re here to work out who wants their sisters brought back and who wants to let them rest, and then the order in which they’ll be revived.”

Discussions, as well as small arguments, are made for the rest of the day in the hall while the Compiler works on removing the glitches in the program. She works out that using the program more times will help cleanse the damages, then it should start restoring Kansen bodies properly.

1998.

Amber Mountains, Usea.

Scarface Squadron once again find themselves having to defend their base from bomber attack, but this time, the bombers are at the very limits of the altitudes their fighters can handle, meaning one wrong move could cause them to stall. They scan their radars and are ready for anything.

“I must be honest, Empress. You know, because I’m literally programmed to be, but I’m willing to admit that you may have actually had an ingenious idea, for once.” The Observer announces.

“Was that a compliment or an insult!?” The Empress asks.

“I mean, putting guided bomb payloads on spy planes? I have to say, it’s quite outside the box. Phoenix and the other one will struggle at that altitude, as well as the speeds of the U-2 and the SR-71.” The smaller Siren continues, ignoring the question.

“Yes, well… if Phoenix doesn’t pass this test, then we move onto testing this ZOE aircraft, wherever it went. Even if it’s unmanned, it could prove useful to our own drones.” The taller one agrees.

“Phoenix, your targets are straight ahead at high altitude. You’ll be fighting at the limits of your altitude range. Watch out for hostiles.” Keynote informs.

An escorting F-16 gets shot down before the pilot even gets the chance to realise they’re under attack. Phoenix and Edge look up to see the two U-2s and the two SR-71s on course for the Allied base.

Already near their altitude limit, and starting to strain their engines, Scarface Squadron carefully pull up to gain even more height to be on the same level. With limited air entering their intakes, they aren’t going as fast as they need to be.

Edge suggests, “Phoenix, lower altitude to gain speed, and then attempt to intercept!”

He does so and starts gaining in them from below, like a shark. Climbing through the storm clouds into the bright blue sky, Scarface pounces on the first U-2 at the rear of the formation and fire missiles at it, damaging it but not downing it.

“Hostiles! It’s the Allied Forces!” The pilot alerts.

Another reassures him, “Don’t worry. We’ve got the advantage at this altitude.”

Diving back down to deal with the other fighter escorts, Scarface both gain speed again and climb up again for another go, shooting out of of the clouds, unleashing attacks and diving back down just like dolphins.

If the dolphins had missile launchers.

“HOW THE HELL IS HE KEEPING UP!?” The Empress yells.

“It seems he has upgraded to another plane.”

“What is he flying now!?”

“His old F-22A Raptor from years ago. It is quite fast, indeed.” The Observer smiles. “It seems he felt the need to switch back to it in case he encounters that ZOE plane again.”

“Damn it… I didn’t plan this with the most advanced air-dominance fighter humanity has ever made in our own world in mind!” The Empress complains.

“Perhaps you should’ve…” the Observer facepalms “…considering what the Demon Lord fought against at Avalon Dam…”

“How the hell is he able to move like that all the way up here!?” The last pilot asks as Phoenix pushes the limits of his old fighter to keep up. Taking a couple of missiles, his SR-71 starts falling from the sky. “Damn it all!”

Keynote reports, “All targets destroyed. You keep your head, even under rough conditions. I just hope that legendary plane of yours hasn’t been damaged from over-exertion.”

The Empress taps her fingers on her chin, “Hmm… well-played, Phoenix… Observer!”

“Yes, Your Impatience-ness?”

“Send another another bomber squadron out to Anchorhead! I need it back for another plan!”

“And you just assume that Phoenix won’t just prevent that, too?” The Observer counters.

“Don’t question me! Just do it!”

2024.

Compiler’s Atlantic Stronghold, Operation Siren, just before the Azur Lane victory.

The Iron Blood Task Force scouts ahead of the Azur Lane Combined Fleet charging towards the stronghold, steamrolling Sirens all the way there.

Bismarck contacts the ace pilot who has been instrumental in their progress thus far, providing excellent air support and teaching the Carriers how to fly their planes like he can, except they can control entire squadrons at once with his teachings.

“Kriegswolf Eins, we’re approaching the stronghold. Multiple Siren fighters and Pawn-class Destroyers are on intercept course with us. Requesting air support.”

Warwolf 1 responds, “Roger, Commander. Closing in. Be advised, I only have one Trinity warhead, so you’ll have to find me the right opportunity.”

“Understood.” She switches her attention, “Flottenadmiral, we have engaged the Sirens. They were expecting us as you predicted.”

The Fleet Admiral acknowledges, “Damn… I didn’t think we’d actually have surprise on our side. Plan B it is, then. Clear the area and we’ll back you up when we arrive. No heroics.”

“Jawohl!” Bismarck complies, aiming her turrets at the approaching Siren fleet.

Graf Spee and Deutschland pair up and start racking up kills. “HAHAHAHA! JA, COWER BEFORE ME, WEAKLINGS!” The latter yells as she puts holes in the hulls of Pawns.

“Calm yourself, Schwester. We must hold out until reinforcements arrive.” Spee reels her in.

Z23 and her sisters surround the bigger Knight-class Light Cruisers in Compiler’s Vanguard and pound them from all sides, dodging and weaving around enemy shells and aerial bombs dropped by the Queen-class Carriers in the Siren Main force. “Good work, Schwesters! Let’s keep going!”

Bismarck sees suicide boats racing towards her and her fellow Battleships. She yells, “Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau! Busters!”

They acknowledge and focus their AA guns on the explosive boats before they get close, leaving their air defences lacking.

Bismarck looks up an sees torpedo bombers closing in but she has Busters racing at her. “Scheisse…”

Luckily, the bombers are all shot down by none other than Warwolf. Bishop radios, “Sorry to keep you waiting, ladies. Warwolf Squadron, claim back the sky.”

The Carriers of Azur Lane all say their own versions of, “Yes, sir!” In unison as their planes fan out and start keeping all the Siren drones busy.

Together between the Siren drones and the countless planes of the Carriers, the sun is almost blocked out.

Not having to worry about air forces, the Kansen focus on the enemy fleet now that the rest of Azur Lane has caught up.

Deutschland smiles wickedly as she sees humanoid Sirens emerge from the armada. She cracks her knuckles and charges forth before Spee can stop her.

“Schwester! Wait!” Spee begs as she gives chase.

“NEIN! I’ve waited too long for this! HAHAHAHA!” The psychotic Cruiser laughs as she shoots a Peace Breaker in the face with her hand cannon, obliterating her and moving closer to the Compiler, who’s already seen her coming.

The Siren says, “Purifer, a Kansen is rapidly approaching me. Please deal with her.”

The other Siren Elite nods, “Ooh, this’ll be fun!” And moves to intercept.

Bismarck sees Cleveland under heavy fire. She contacts the Kansen who should be watching her back, “Deutschland! What are you doing!? You should be defending the Eagle Union Cruiser!”

“I see the Compiler! I can end this now, Lord Bismarck!” The Iron Blood Cruiser yells.

“NEIN! Get back here now!” The flagship orders. She looks over at Cleveland on her last legs surrounded by Bishop-class Heavy Cruisers. “Scheisse!” She tries to aim at them to help Cleveland, but then they all unleash volleys on her, destroying Cleveland’s rigging and plunging her below the waves.

Almost the entirety of the Eagle Union fleet yells, “CLEVELAND! NO!!!!”

Enterprise sees the Cruiser sinking and she races over, just barely missing the chance to pull her back up, and instead fishes her Cube out of the water. “No…”

The Compiler reports, “Observer Zero, The Kansen draw nearer than before. Operation Siren in this timeline has almost become successful. Preparing to open portals to the next timeline. Preparing current timeline for the archives.”

Bismarck looks back forward and sees her own Cruiser approaching the Stronghold, and the Sirens start opening portals to escape. “Nein… Kriegswolf Eins! Do it now! All Kansen, get away from the blast zone!”

Lt. Colonel Bishop responds, “Roger that! Commencing Trinity Strike!” He pulls his F-22A away from a drone he was pursuing and switches to his singular cruise missile.

Just when Spee is about to catch her sister, the Purifer kicks her in the face and sends her flying off to the side. She then aims her laser and fires a warning shot at her sister’s feet.

“Was…?” Deutschland says as she spins around to find herself staring down the Purifier and her ridiculously powerful laser.

The laser fires and Deutschland dodges it, then fires back, hitting the Siren in the arm, damaging her precise targeting program. “Ow! Fuck you!”

“Screw this! I don’t have time for you!” The Iron Blood says as she darts away.

“What! No! You’re not allowed to do that! Quit messing with me or you’re gonna retreat it!” The Purifer yells as she fires again, just missing the Cruiser. “Dammit!” She reroutes power from her laser to her engines so she can start catching her.

The Compiler notices both Warwolf 1 and Deutschland closing in and she activates an emergency backup program.

When the Iron Blood jumps at her, the Purifier jumps too, grabbing onto her and getting blinded by the Compiler’s emergency portal, which disappears in a flash of light, along with the Kansen and the Siren.

The Compiler emotionlessly says, “Heavy Cruiser Deutschland and program Purifer lost.”

1998.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

The captive Kansen wakes up with a jolt, causing a wave of pain to rush through her body.

She looks around again and instead of being alone like always, she sees the startled Purity sat in the corner watching her. The Siren stands and walks over to her. She gently puts her hand on the Kansen’s forehead. “I know you… but… I just… can’t remember… are you able to speak?”

The Kansen painfully, slowly shakes her head. She can’t even breathe without a machine, let alone speak. She feels like her body is comatose while her mind is still conscious.

“Damn… I’m sorry you have to go through this… I’m trying to talk to Morgan… but I’m not sure what to say to get him to treat you nicer… I… I suppose… I could be here for you. We could be friends if you want.”

Friends?

The Kansen stares at Purity. She could use a friend in this place, perhaps it would make being here less painful, but a Siren? There was a time she’d die before even speaking on good terms with one, but in some strange twist of fate, the one Siren in this hell seems to be her salvation. As much as it pains her, both physically and mentally, she slowly nods. She even manages a small smile.

Purity smiles back. “I’m gonna help you. I can’t get your Cube back into your chest, but I’m gonna see if I can get your strength back up, okay?”

The Kansen nods again. Purity goes to sit at the desk in the room, still within the Kansen’s field of view. She looks at the Siren typing away through the research notes to see if she can help. A single tear rolls down her cheek. She had thought herself incapable of shedding any more, but she’d forgotten about tears of happiness.

And the feeling of hope.

Chapter Text

1998.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

Purity comes back into the room where the Kansen lay holding a syringe containing a blue glow similar to the aura of a Wisdom Cube.

“I’d need access to he machinery in there to put your Cube back in and I’m locked out of everything, but I managed to get a tiny bit of its essence into this. Considering Wisdom Cubes have enough energy to keep a Kansen going pretty much forever, this might help you at least a little bit.” The Siren explains.

The Kansen smiles at her.

“Don’t worry. You have a friend here.” Purity smiles back as she injects the syringe into the Kansen’s veins. The Cube essence starts coursing through her body and she takes a massive gasp of air, and finally lets out a scream in response to all pain she’s been feeling, until it goes away as her Kansen body heals rapidly. The cuts in her chest become faint scars and her black hair even grows back to about shoulder length with the red and white streaks. Her dull eyes shine with life again as her body flops back down on the table and she takes deep breaths. She looks over at Purity and asks with a very raspy voice, “…Of all… people… I’d have expected… to help me… you… you’re the last I’d ever expect…”

“Looks like it worked… at least temporarily.”

“Temporarily?” The Kansen sits up and looks over her now healthy-looking body.

“Yeah…” Purity puts the Kansen’s black uniform on the table next to her. She then hops up and sits on the desk opposite, “Like I said, that’s just a tiny amount of your Cube’s power. It’s gonna wear off, but I’m gonna keep trying to get access to the machines in there.”

The Kansen gets dressed and then looks at the machines in the other room out of curiosity. She suddenly gets flashes of the memory of the humans ripping her Cube out. Her eyes widen, her pupils shrink, she clutches her empty chest and starts breathing heavily.

“Hey, you okay?”

The Kansen collapses onto the table and starts hyperventilating. The corners of her vision darken as everything seems to zoom out. Purity jumps off the desk and grabs her shoulders, looking into her eyes, “Hey! I think you’re having a panic attack! Focus on me! I’m here! It’s alright!”

The Kansen switches her attention to her and stares back, but keeps breathing erratically.

“You need to slow down. Match my breathing.” Purity instructs, using her hand to direct slower breathing.

The Kansen focuses solely on the Siren and gradually makes her breathing slower and slower, briefly forgetting what even set her off.

Eventually, the Kansen seems to calm down. Purity stays with her, not breaking eye contact, and softly smiles. “How do you feel?”

“…scared… I… I never feel scared…”

“Lets take your mind off it… why don’t you tell me about yourself? Don’t worry about anything else, just focus on me.” Purity smiles.

“Uh… sure… my name…”

“Go on.” The Siren encourages.

“My name… is Deutschland…”

In a other part of the research centre, the red F-14D rests. Its entire cockpit replaced by a machine with a learning AI. In a nearby building, Dr. Morgan and another scientist, the leader of the ZOE project, Dr. Schroeder, discuss its encounter with Scarface Squadron. Despite being born Belkan, he has an Osean accent.

Dr. Schroeder starts, “Do you have Archange’s latest flight data?”

“Yeah. It’s stored in the database, ready for transfer.” Morgan answers.

“Good. While that’s uploading, have you seen the footage from its camera while it fought against Phoenix?” Schroeder asks.

“Not yet. What happened?”

The other scientist answers, “See for yourself.” As he accesses the recording of its chase of Scarface 1. Morgan sees the ace pilot trying to get away from its weapons envelope, unable to shake it.

Instead of shooting him down, it scanned his flight data, like a hunter learning how his prey moves.

“This is incredible… it can keep up and outmanoeuvre a legendary ace like that in a Raptor while it’s in control of a Tomcat?” Morgan gasps.

“That’s right. Imagine if we had this AI in the ADFX instead of Pixy? I’m debating wether or not to have it replace Mihaly in the X-02 or put it the newer plane.” Schroeder answers.

“I think we should stick to the drones we have for now. It’s best not to rush into this. Let’s have ZOE fight Phoenix more times in different planes and let it learn from him more as well as Mihaly.” Schroeder suggests.

“Agreed. Let’s transfer ZOE into another plane, then.”

In the massive aircraft hangar, the F-14D sits next to an F/A-18E Super Hornet, a WF-23 Black Widow II, am F-15 S/MTD and a new one, currently in development. All painted the same metallic red with no markings except for the symbol for the ZOE AI, the same one as printed on the wall of the hangar itself, along with the full name.

Zone Of Endless.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, science lab.

Akashi works with the Compiler to work out the glitches in her revival program. She’s had to bring back a few more as the only way to keep testing it.

Amagi-Chan, Clevelad, Lena, Li’l Sandy, Little Cheshire, Little Formidable, Little Illustrious, Little Renown, Zeppy, Taihou-Chan, Shinano-Chan and Friedrich Der Klein sit in a circle outside the lab in the waiting room along with their bigger sisters playing and giggling. Although they all have their past memories and experiences, they can’t help but give in to their more child-like personalities now.

“It should all be fixed now, nya!”

“Thank you, Akashi.” The Compiler replies. “Please bring in the next one.” The Siren politely asks Sheffield.

Not particularly happy about serving the Siren who killed the Head Maid, Sheffield reluctantly carries out the request.

After a few seconds, in walks Enterprise with a few Cubes.

The Compiler scans them, and says, “The Cubes of Hornet, Yorktown and Belfast. Please hand them to me, and I will bring them back.”

Enterprise asks, “…will they be like the others? As kids?” Worried about her beloved Belfast and her sisters becoming children.

“The kinks are all ironed out now, nya! It should be fine from now on, nya!” Akashi assures her.

Hearing it from a fellow Kansen, even if she’s a Sakura Kansen, makes Enterprise more confident. She hands the Siren the Cubes and stands back, watching as the Cubes all start spinning and glowing.

Akashi puts her sunglasses on again as a flash of light engulfs the room. She’s able to look past the blinding light and see the. Uses form into female forms.

“It’s working, nya! They’re forming properly, nya!” She excitedly waves her oversized sleeves up and down.

After the light dies down, Enterprise removes her hand from her eyes and looks upon the three revived Kansen.

“What the… Enty, that you?” Hornet asks.

“Enterprise, what happened?”

“Miss? Are you alright?”

Enterprise can’t contain herself anymore. She falls to her knees staring at them and starts crying.

Concerned, Belfast approaches and asks again, “…Miss Enterprise?”

Enterprise suddenly hugs Bel around her waist. Not fighting it, the Head Maid smiles and pets her head.

Hornet and Yorktown both kneel another side of their sister and hug her back.

The three of them hear the Carrier break down crying, like she’s held it in for a long time. They comfort her. Telling her it’s alright, even if they don’t know what happened.

Akashi gets on the phone to the Fleet Admiral’s desk, “Shikikan! The program’s working properly, nya! Miss Enterprise has her sisters back, nya!”

She hears no response apart from the phone being dropped in a rush and the sound of a chair falling over followed by sprinting footsteps.

1998.

Anchorhead Bay, Usea.

The wreckage of the Kinnear is finally out of the harbour and now in dry dock for salvage. The rest of the destroyed Coup fleet has been towed away.

A lot of steel is being torn away from the lifeless Carrier in a search for the Cubes of the Kansen of the ship, the workers unaware that they’ve already been taken by the Sirens. Their search, however, is halted by air raid alarms. They drop what they’re doing and run for cover. They can see bombers approaching.

Many civilians rush to get to safety, but the sudden panic causes traffic jams and crashes. Utter chaos.

Luckily, the B-52s start falling from the sky as Scarface Squadron starts intercepting them, earning sheets from the civilians.

Keynote radios, “Some of their aircraft seem to be equipped with stealth capabilities.”

Moving onto the next bomber squadron, Phoenix destroys a landing ship attempting to drop soldiers on the beach to kill civilians before turning his attention to the B-2A Spirit stealth bombers.

Eventually, naturally, the bombers are all shot down along with all escorts. Keynote orders Scarface Squadron back to base.

Chopinburg Rainforest, Usea.

“Observer, report. Is Anchorhead back under control, yet?” The Empress demands.

“About that…”

“You did send the bombers, didn’t you?” The Empress asks in a terrifyingly calm tone.

“Well, of course I did… but…”

“…Phoenix?”

“…Phoenix.”

“HE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!” The tall Siren rages.

The Observer rolls her eyes, “This is one of the many reasons Zero never puts you in charge, Empress…”

“Whatever! Just give the order to get those supplies dropped here! Using portals will attract unwanted attention. The Rebels need them.” The Empress orders.

“The cargo planes are taking off as we speak, Your Incompetency.” The Observer bows, fully aware of the death glare she’s getting after saying that.

After getting a new briefing to shoot down those exact planes, Phoenix had to take off on his own as Nagase’s plane had developed a fault. He takes off in a rush and enters the AO.

Unfortunately, the crates have already been dropped, but they have yet to reach the ground. Hanging on parachutes, Scarface 1 decides instead to not let any reach the Rebels in the rainforest down below…

“Here it comes… this should bolster defences in this region…” The Empress smiles as she looks up to see the crate deciding slowly, only for it then to get riddled with bullets and explode, and then Phoenix’s F-22A flying overhead followed by the deafening sound of his twin jet engines.

The burning remains fall through the trees, but fail to set fire to the damp leaves. The Observer looks at her taller comrade to see her about to lose her mind once again. She rolls her eyes and portals them both away.

Up in the air, Phoenix adds to his new list of cargo crate kills. Surely no other ace has shot down so many crates suspended from parachutes in rapid succession until now. At least he gets to shoot down a C-17 every five or so crates.

With none of the other cargo planes close Scarface 1 turns his attention to the ground targets. Multiple vehicles used by the Rebel Forces. Having dealt with them, Keynote orders, “The transporter to the East has begun dropping cargo. Head there now.”

More crates, how exciting.

Phoenix repeats the process, making sure the only supplies that reach the ground are their remains.

At least the rookie escorts and the fact he can’t lock onto the crates are making it a little more interesting.

As the crew of the last C-17 pushes their final crate out, they look straight ahead from the cargo bay and see Phoenix closing in.

“Oh shit…” one of them says.

A missile flies right into the inside of the plane and detonates, blowing it out of the sky.

Phoenix turns his plane and heads home, bored but thankful he didn’t have to face that ZOE plane again while being alone…

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

“…and that is how I was eventually only sunk by a bomb designed to punch through the armoured deck of a Battleship.” Deutschland more confidently finishes.

“You have an incredible service history, Lützow.” Purity smiles, her head resting on her hand while propped up on the desk.

“My name is Deutschland!” The Cruiser insists.

“Not officially, but if that’s what you wanna be called, then okay.” She softly says. “What happened to Prinz Eugen after you were…” Purify gets up to catch her as she starts getting weak again. “Deutschland?”

“I think… that injection… is wearing off…” The Iron Blood whispers.

“Hold on, I’ll get another one!” Purity sits her gently on the chair and runs to the Cube room.

Feeling dopey and weak again, Deutschland sees Graf Spee sat opposite her behind the desk. “…Schwester…?”

The visage of Spee smiles and says, “I miss you, Deutschland… please come home…”

“But how…?” She whispers. “I don’t even know how I got here… or where I am…”

Before the hallucination can answer, Purity comes back and injects her. Now returning to normal, Spee vanishes and the Siren sits back down in her place. “There we go, you okay now?”

Shaking her head to get her vision to clear up, she says, “Ja… danke…”

“Who were you talking to?” Purity asks. Not with hostility, but concern.

“I… saw meine Schwester… Admiral Graf Spee…”

“I bet she misses you… I wanna help you get back, but I can’t remember where either of us came from… Morgan said I hit my head really hard on a rock before he found me. See?” She brushes some of her platinum hair back revealing a nasty scar on the side of her head.

“I remember where… and I remember you back then.” Deutschland replies.

“Oh, really? Where did we come from? What was I like? Were we friends?”

Hesitant to risk the Siren remembering who she really is, the Cruiser nods, “Ja. We were allies. You helped us fight a war. One that threatened the survival of humanity.”

“But… if we were allies, why did you say I’m the last person you expected to help you?” Purity asks.

“We… didn’t exactly always get along…” wanting to change the subject, and gather information, Deutschland asks, “What about that Morgan? The human in charge of experimenting on my Cube? Tell me about him.”

Purity gives a sad smile, “Oh… Morgan? Yeah… we were… we were pretty close a couple years ago… but now… now he’s more into his work than me… I enjoyed having fun with him… he… gave me lessons in human reproduction when I became curious… and gave me a few demonstrations… hehe…” she chuckles, but then gets sad again, “He started to lose interest in a serious relationship with me after I told him I can’t get pregnant…”

“Oh… I’m sorry…” Never expecting to see a Siren blush and then get depressed in the same breath, the Cruiser gets her back on track, “But… what meant was… what kind of man is he? What does he actually do here?”

Peeking up again, “Oh, he’s the assistant of Dr. Schroeder, the chief scientist of the ZOE Program. Morgan’s job is to try and find some way to combine the project with his research into your Cube, while also funding ZOE by creating Cubes based on yours and selling them to clients around the world. As for what kind of guy he is… well… that’s complicated…”

“I see…” Deutschland says. “Do you think that perhaps he only used you? Merely pretended to be into you to study you? And then to bed you? He probably would’ve done the same to you as he did myself if you were a Kansen.”

Stunned by the revelation, Purity asks, “…he… used me…?”

Just when Deutschland is about to comfort her, they are interrupted by Morgan himself entering the room, “Purity, what the hell are you doing!?”

As if by instinct, Deutschland snaps. She leaps at the scientist and pins him to the floor by his neck.

“ICH WERDE DICH TÖTEN!”

Chapter Text

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Eagle Union dorms.

Enterprise sits with Belfast on the sofa, telling her all she’s missed since she was sunk, and how the Sirens were all sent away apart from the one who bright her back. She holds her hands and tries to keep it together.

“It’s not healthy to keep everything in, Miss Enterprise. You can let it all out again if you feel the need to.” The Head Maid softly says.

“Godammit, Bel… why do you have to do that with me?” Enterprise asks.

“Hmm?” Belfast responds.

“The whole ‘Miss’ thing… I’ve told you so many times you don’t need to be so professional with me. We’ve been through so much…” the Carrier falls silent for a moment, “Hang on… Bel, I want you to be honest with me, okay?”

“Of course, Miss Enterprise.” Bel replies.

“All these years… have you only looked after me because you were ordered to?”

“Well…” for once, Belfast starts to look nervous, but hides it again, “Yes. That was the only reason at first… but recently…” the facade drops again.

“Recently?”

“…It’s not professional of me to say, but since you have stated I need not worry about that, then I hope you forgive my selfishness if I admit that… I have grown… quite attached to you, Enterprise.” Belfast finally admits.

Enty smiles and says, “Bel, forget being professional, and just tell me straight. Do you have feelings for me?”

The Light Cruiser quietly nods, seeming ashamed of herself.

“Then… I hope you’ll be the one to forgive me if I’m going too far with this…” she reaches into her pocket.

“Enterprise?” Belfast asks in confusion, then she gasps when she sees the small box.

“Bel… when I saw you go under the waves… I thought I lost this chance forever. I hope you understand if I feel I can’t let it pass me by again. I was gonna do this when we won the battle, but I stood alone afterwards…” the Carrier says with a shaky voice. She opens the box, revealing the beautiful silver oath ring with a blue sapphire that matches Belfast’s eyes. “Ever since your first day with me, getting me out of my rations phase and caring for me before, during and after I want to be with you properly, Bel. Not just as my Maid, but as my partner. Do you want the same?”

For seemingly the first time ever, Belfast is at a loss for words. Instead, she cries tears of joy and hugs her suddenly it makes Enterprise fall back and the Maid lays on top of her as they finally let out their feelings for each other.

1998.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research centre.

“DEUTSCHLAND! STOP!” Purity pleads as the Kansen puts pressure on Dr. Morgan’s throat, making him grab her hands but he’s unable to fight her shipgirl strength. The Siren grabs her but even she can’t seem to overpower Deutschland in her blood-rage.

Just when Morgan starts blacking out, the grip on his neck becomes incredibly weak as the second injection of Wisdom Cube energy starts running thin in the Kansen’s blood. She gets drowsy and she falls onto Purity as the Siren pulls her off Morgan.

“Ugh…” Morgan clears his throat and takes deep breaths as he stands. He looks down and sees the weak Kansen still staring daggers at him, held by the Siren. “Purity.”

“Yes… sir?” She looks up at him, fearful.

“Kill this fucking thing. Or you’re going with it.”

“What!?” Purity stares at him with wide eyes.

“We have all we need from it. I only kept it alive to appease you. Now it’s too dangerous. Kill it, or I’ll do it myself, and you’ll be next on that table.” Morgan threatens before leaving, massaging his neck.

Purity softly and quietly starts to cry, “He… really doesn’t love me… I’m just another freak to him…”

The Siren starts to spiral until Deutschland raises her hand and puts it on Purity’s. She weakly whispers, “Purif— Purity… I’m sorry… but we must leave this place… I’ll be there for you… but first… you need to get my Cube back in my body… We can leave together…”

The Siren looks down at her, smiles and picks her up. She lays her on the table and says, “I need to find out how to access the machines. I’ll give you another injection, and then I’ll be back, okay?”

“Nein…”

“Huh?”

“Just… put it on top of my chest… I’ll handle the rest…”

“But don’t you need something to focus on? To have something you’re willing to fight for in this world?” The Siren asks.

“I do.” She grabs Purity’s wrist, “I have… you… my friend…”

The Siren smiles and runs into the other room to get the Cube.

Mount Lambert.

An Allied Forces C-5 carrying a rescued VIP comes under fire from Rebel Forces. The VIP in question had been captured by the Coup and the subsequently rescued by special forces. Luckily, Scarface Squadron has responded to their distress call and forms up with the transport.

“So, you must be Phoenix. Do you copy?”

Nagase answers for him, “He does. He doesn’t say much.”

Acknowledging the response, the pilot continues, “This is transporter Dryman. We’re currently escorting a government VIP, but our celebrity has got some pretty determined… ‘groupies’, if you will. We’re counting on you to escort us to the safe zone.”

An enemy F-14D appears along with an entire squadron of interceptors. Unnerving Phoenix at first, but once he sees it’s not the ZOE aircraft, he throttles forward to protect Dryman.

“Retreating target spotted. Move in to attack.” The Tomcat pilot orders.

Keynote warns, “Incoming Rebel aircraft. Stay sharp, Phoenix.”

“Are there any of those drones around, sir?”

“Negative. Just Tomcats and Harriers.” Keynote responds.

“Escorts? Pathetic. Shoot them down.” A very misinformed Rebel pilot radios.

After shooting down the first F-14D, Phoenix gets addressed by Keynote, “Good job, Phoenix. Don’t let them near the transporter.”

An enemy Harrier pilot orders, “Don’t let them out of our airspace alive.”

Seeing additional red blips appear on his radar, Dryman yells, “Damn, more of them!” He sees Scarface Squadron dancing around the enemies and picking them off before they can get Dryman into their weapons envelopes. He radios Phoenix, “You’re as good as I heard! I’ll fly this thing with everything I’ve got!” He calls out to his comrades and the VIP on his plane, “We’ve got a Phoenix watching our backs!”

An enemy pilot reminds the rest, “That hostage may have learned vital military intel on our forces! Take them down at all costs!”

A more sadistic Rebel pilot yells out at Dryman, “Run while you still can!”

Another squadron engages the transport and Dryman yells out, “Damn, they’re laying on the heat! I’ll make sure our special guest here covers the bill! We’re halfway to the safe zone! Keep going!”

Scarface Squadron continues to dominate the airspace and protect the transport.

As the last Harrier is shot down, Keynote delivers an update, “More reinforcements! Four hostiles spotted in front of Dryman!”

Phoenix looks ahead of the transport and sees a squadron of four F-15 Strike Eagles bearing down on it. He and Nagase loop around to intercept them.

“Who the hell is that firebird!?” On of the F-15 pilots demands.

“Must be their ace pilot! I’ll put him in his place!” An overly confident member claims as he changes his target to Phoenix, right before he’s shot down by the firebird himself.

The remaining three remain focused on Dryman as Scarface Squadron chase them down.

Edge yells out, “Phoenix! Move!”

Scarface 1 rolls out of the way as Scarface 2 unleashes 3 of her four XMA4s, downing all the remaining F-15s before they can start their attack on Dryman, earning an approving thumbs-up from her flight lead after forming back up with him.

“All Rebel aircraft destroyed.” Keynote confirms, “No other threats detected in the vicinity.”

“We owe you our lives, Scarface. You’re both just as good as I’ve heard.” Dryman radios, “I’ll tell the men about you once we get back to base, let ‘em know we got a Phoenix on our side. Certainly gives us an… Edge, huh? Hehe… Now to get our celebrity home safely. Thanks, Scarface Squadron!”

Usean Allied Forces airbase.

Once Scarface Squadron had landed, Keynote informs, “The government VIP has informed us that the Rebels are planning a large-scale attack. Numerous warships with Kansen have started gathering at a base in the Spring Sea…”

Skully Islands Archipelago, Spring Sea.

Arquette, holding a picture of her sister Kinnear, takes a deep breath. She tastes the sea air and it calms her. Mourning, it seems, won’t be easy, but she just focuses on her mission for now. She only hopes that her other, still Allied sister can see why the Rebels are the side to be on and join her soon. She stands on her Carrier’s bridge alongside many of her fellow Kansen, overlooking the former Allied Forces 2nd Fleet, having switched sides when the Coup d’ état began.

Behind them a portal opens and put step the Observer and the Empress, who the Kansen all immediately kneel to. Arquette speaks on behalf of them all, “Arbiter! I have gathered the Fleet here, awaiting your command!”

The Empress smiles, “Ah, good to see some people know how to show the proper respect. Observer.” She looks at her counterpart, who just rolls her eyes.

The smaller Siren mutters, “I can’t stand bootlickers…” she dismissively moves to the edge of the flight deck to check on the fleet itself.

The taller ignores her and orders, “Rise, Kansen, Arquette, where is your ace squadron?”

“Calling them up to deck now, Arbiter.” The Carrier responds. In a matter of minutes, the ace pilots run onto the flight deck and line up with salutes.

The Empress looks them all over. “Ah, here you are. USEA Unified Navy, Second Fleet Carrier Air Wing, Cocoon Squadron. Quite a mouthful, human naming conventions are so annoyingly complicated. Now, then. I’m sure you have all heard of Scarface Squadron, correct?”

They all nod.

“Good. Then you should know what to expect. I have had enough of failures due to their interference. I will not stand for any more incompetent fighter pilots. You’d better impress me by shooting them both down. If not, you may as well just crash yourself into the ocean or let yourself by his next target. You will never set foot back on this flight deck or the lane itself unless Phoenix and Edge are dead. The same goes for you Kansen. Does everyone udnerstand?” The Empress asks.

After a series of mild acknowledgements, the Siren arms her rigging and bellows, “I SAID DOES EVERYONE UNDERSTAND!?”

She revives a unified, “YES, EMPRESS!” from everyone present.

“Good! Now you pilots get your asses in the air for a CAP and all Kansen return to your vessels!” The Empress orders. “They’re coming here… I’m sure of it…”

As it will soon turn out, she couldn’t be more correct.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

Admiral Hipper had noticed something strange about Yorktown and Hornet since they were resurrected. Their clothes were different and something about them seemed off.

Then she realises from analysing their data. She calls Akashi over.

“What is it, nya?” The green kitty asks.

“Some of the Schiffsmädchen we brought back… it appears the Compiler have them some upgrades, too…”

“What do you meown (mean), nya?” Akashi asks further.

Hipper shows her the screen, “Yorktown and Hornet… their combat data doesn’t match up with Enrterprise anymore… they match up with…”

“Essex-san, nya?”

“Ja. They’re both now Essex-classes. Akashi, can you bring in Herr Oberstleutnant Bishop?” Hipper requests.

“Hai!” Akashi runs out to go get him, despite having a radio to call him.

Sighing, and assuming Akashi will probably just try and charge the man for running to get him or something, Hipper analyses the other revived Kansen to see if her developing theory holds water.

1998.

Spring Sea, south of Usea.

Herne reports, “Sir, my radar’s picking up a huge fleet at the Skully Islands… it’s the Usean Second Fleet!”

Captain Torres looks at her, “The fleet that defected!? What the hell are they all doing there?”

“No idea, sir. It looks like they’re planning an attack or something. What should we do?”

“I knew I should’ve brought at least Tanager and Geofon with us… it would take too long for them to get here and we can’t do much against a Carrier Task Force, even with our new tech. For now, engage the stealth device we got from that black Destroyer and stay off their radar. For now, we watch them.” Torres replies.

“Yes, sir!” Herne salutes.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

The Fleet Admiral and Lieutenant Colonel Bishop both enter the lab with a dejected Akashi, disappointed at them refusing to pay her a “messenger’s fee.”

“You have something to report, Admiral Hipper?” The higher-ranking officer asks.

“Ja. I need to ask Oberstleutnant Bishop something important.” The Cruiser responds.

Bishop steps forth and responds, “What is it, Miss?”

Blushing a little from the respect he’s showing her, she asks, “In your world… what happened to Yorktown?”

“Well, luckily for you, I’m a bit of a history nut.” Warwolf 1 chuckles. He continues, “At the Battle of Midway, the USS Yorktown was heavily damaged by the IJN Hiryuu, then she was finished off by the Japanese Submarine I-168.”

“I see… what about Hornet?”

“Hornet survived Midway, but she was bested in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. It was quite a mess, from what I read up on.” Bishop answers. “It wasn’t the US Navy’s greatest moment, that’s for sure.”

“So what happened to them afterwards? Their names, I mean? Were there any other ships named after them?” Hipper further asks.

“As a matter fact, yeah. The USS Essex had a helluva lot of sisters. The newer Hornet and Yorktown were built as the same class soon after their Yorktown-classes had sunk.” The man replies.

“Interesting… so that’s why…” Hipper mutters.

“What’s the point of this alternate history session, Admiral Hipper?” The Fleet Admiral asks, growing impatient.

Sounding rather annoyed, Hipper swiftly answers, “The point is, Herr Kommandant, is that we may have finally had a breakthrough on the Mark II Rigging Project…”

Chapter Text

1998.

Skully Islands Archipelago, Spring Sea.

“So, it’s the Scarface Squad’s little birdy.” The flight lead of Cocoon Squadron mockingly announces as she sees the two mercenary aces enter the airspace. “Just hope he’s worth the trip. And boys, behave yourselves.”

In unison, her four wingmen all respond, “Roger, my Lady.”

Chuckling, Cocoon 1 adds, “That’s what I like to hear.”

The five Rafale M jet fighters move to intercept Phoenix and Edge.

As Scarface Squadron fly to the battle, Keynote says wistfully, “Skully Islands…” remembering the conflict that took place there just 3 years prior, often overshadowed by the Belkan War in the same year. Phoenix doesn’t mind his actions being ignored in favour of the Demon Lord. He’s not one for fame and glory.

Just the money.

Nagase joins Keynote in looking upon the evening sun starting to disappear below the horizon, making silhouettes of the distant islands and the Rebel Fleet. She sighs, “Just look at that sunset… stunning…”

“Heads up, Phoenix. It’s not every day you get to see Lt. Nagase’s feminine side.” Keynote teases.

Blushing, Edge stutters, “Uh, hey! I wasn’t— Phoenix, we’re entering combat airspace!”

The Kansen of the Kinnear-class Aircraft Carrier Arquette watches her radar as her first two Frigates get blown up by Scarface Squadron. No Kansen on those ones, but she still can’t help but feel sorry for the humans aboard them. She yells out, “Fire all weapons! Annihilate the Allied Forces! Failure is not an option!”

Her fellow Kansen acknowledge and head out into formation, activating their Aegis systems and sea-to-air missiles. One Cruiser Kansen radios, “He’s coming for me!”

“Get a lock on them and fire! Shoot them out of the sky!” Arquette orders.

Cocoon questions, “So is that the little birdy I’ve heard so much about? Let’s introduce ourselves, boys.”

Watching the battle, the Observer quips, “Ooh, that Carrier Kansen and Cocoon 1 both remind me of you, dear Empress.”

Confused, the Empress looks down at her, “Wha…? How so? They’re totally different.”

“Yes, but the Kansen has your headstrong attitude and anger issues, while the pilot has your overconfidence and she’s underestimating Phoenix.” She explains.

“…just keep taking notes…” the taller Siren grumbles.

Keynote sees Cocoon Squadron approaching Scarface on the tactical map. “Phoenix, Edge, Rebel fighters coming your way. Careful.”

Cocoon 1 radios, “Come on, little birdy. Care to dance? I’m starting to get jealous of those warships.”

Accepting the invitation, Phoenix goes after her while Edge keeps the others off him.

“We Navy pilots can’t lose against measly land pilots.” Cocoon 1 boasts. “Don’t get sloppy now.”

Phoenix lines up a missile and fires, hitting her plane but dealing insignificant damage. The Rebel ace grunts, “Oh, it bites!”

One of her wingmen calls out, “Are you alright, my Lady!?”

“I’ve been better…” she rubs her arm from when she hit it hard as the missile violently rocked her plane. She thinks that perhaps the little birdy has sharper talons than she had anticipated. She orders. “Cocoon Squad, fall back and regroup.”

Herne spies on the battle with Captain Torres and begs, “Come on, sir! Lemme get involved! I can do the amazing shot again! The one that got you promoted from Gunnery Officer to Captain!”

“That lucky shot of yours was in the middle of a storm at night, Herne. Also, if you give away our position to an entire Carrier Task Force we will most certainly be killed. When this battle is over, we’re going back to Comberth.” Torres shoots her down. “We need to see how that machine actually works. Its shields and cloaking tech will be invaluable to the Aegir Fleet.”

“Okay…”

“LAUNCH FIGHTERS, NOW!” Arquette yells as she summons more planes as fast as she can. She’s just lost the Cruiser Kansen from earlier and the rest are in peril now that their ace squadron flew away. “HOW COULD MEASLY FIGHTERS GET THE BEST OF OUR FLEET!?”

Another Kansen replies, “Arquette… it’s the Phoenix!”

“IGNORE THE RUMOURS! JUST TAKE THEM DOWN!” The angry Carrier demands. “THEY KILLED MY SISTER!”

“Huh… shit, I guess she is like me…” the Empress concedes.

“Oh? And here I thought I’d have angry outbursts in stereo today.” The Observer quips, surprised at the calmness of her usually very irritated colleague.

“That’s because this time I wanted Phoenix to appear. Granted, he managed to cut off a lot of supplies meant for this test, and it was supposed to be in Anchorhead, but this time we can properly study him.”

“I see. So you do remember the real mission, after all…” the smaller Siren smiles.

Arquette finds herself staring down Phoenix as he targets her ship. She fires everything she has at him in vengeance for Kinnear, even summoning planes to fly right at him like some kind of reverse kamikaze attack, which he narrowly evades.

Thrown off-guard by the unorthodox use of multi-million dollar aircraft, Phoenix pulls up and flies back around with that bizarre defence in mind. Now he knows for sure he’s dealing with a Kansen.

A potentially insane one.

“COME BACK, YOU FLYING CHICKEN!” The Carrier screams.

Scarface 1 loops back and performs a barrel roll to avoid the incoming reverse kamikazes and launches his entire secondary payload, which he’s been saving especially for the Carrier. He passes over the vessel as the anti-ship missiles make contact, blowing up the flattop and throwing the Kansen off the flight deck.

“Kinnear… I’m sorry…” she whispers as her body turns to Cubes that land into the water. Her ship snaps in half and sinks in a V shape as Scarface Squadron work on finishing off the remaining Kansen and human-crewed warships.

“I’m… the only one left…?” The last Kansen watches in horror as the rest of the fleet sinks. The two planes head towards her. She drops her rigging and drops to her knees. “No…”

Before her ship can be targeted, she jumps off it and turns it to rigging before running away as fast as her rigging will go.

Having the retreating Kansen in his sights, Phoenix notices she isn’t firing back at him and he feels like he’d regret killing a Kansen who clearly doesn’t want to fight anymore. He disengages and lets her leave the battlefield.

“The enemy fleet has been destroyed. The Allied Forces now have control of the Spring Sea, but there’s still a Rebel presence. Scarface Squadron, you have new orders. Wipe out all Rebel presence in the area.” Keynote orders.

Now on their way back, Herne sits at the table in her bridge, feeling down because she couldn’t be awesome again. Ever since she made that incredible artillery shot and sunk a Rebel ship almost 20 miles away in the middle of a stormy night months ago, it’s all she’s talked about with the rest of the Aegir Fleet.

Torres sits opposite her and asks, “You never got credit for that shot, did you?”

“It was your order, sir. You deserve all the credit.” The Destroyer downplays herself.

“Is that why you wanted to do it again?” He asks. “So you can feel like it was your call this time?”

She shrugs, “…maybe…”

The Captain sighs, “Herne… look, if you ever get a chance in the future, and it safe fir you to do so, you can attempt it again, I promise.”

“Really?” She perks up.

“Yes, but again, only if you can get away with it like last time.” Torres reminds her.

She smiles, “Thank you, sir.” She salutes casually and he returns it.

“What are you writing, anyway?”

“Oh, just the story of my latest secret adventure with the Captain into enemy territory. It feels like I’m in a spy movie… well, if the spies could control warships, anyway.” Herne explains.

“Herne. You do know what ‘secret’ means, yes?” Torres asks seriously.

“Um…” she realises what she’s doing, “Oh… aww…” she picks up her stack of papers detailing every minute thing they’ve done on this scouting mission, including the Pawn-class and the equipment they salvaged. “I’ll just… go throw this overboard…”

Torres puts his hand to his eyes in sheer disbelief as the Kansen goes out into deck and throws the notepad over the edge.

Unknown to her, however, the notepad does not even touch the water. It falls through a small portal.

On the other end of said portal, a Siren catches it and begins reading it.

“Hmm… so that’s how they did it…” The Hermit smiles as she continues watching them…

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

“You requested my presence, human?” The Compiler asks after having been escorted by Spee.

“Yes, we want to know why Hornet and Yorktown have riggings of ships that weren’t built in this world.” The Fleet Admiral answers.

Lt. Colonel Bishop adds. “And how they took the forms of ships from my world.”

The Compiler looks at the screen Hipper shows her that reads:

[YORKTOWN CV-10] [CLASS UNKNOWN]
[HORNET CV-12] [CLASS UNKNOWN]

Hipper informs, “According to Herr Kommandant, CV-10 and CV-12 were cancelled when Sirens destroyed their hulls during their construction, yet we see their IDs right here, and Frau Yorktown and Frau Hornet possess them.”

The Compiler looks at Bishop and asks, “Yorktown and Horner were finished as Essex-classes in your world, correct?”

“Yeah, that’s right. They were far enough away from the Japanese to be safe from attacks, and we don’t have any Sirens back home, so they couldn’t have destroyed them, either.” Warwolf 1 answers.

The Siren announces, “I hypothesise that, once again, your Trinity Warhead is to blame, Lt. Colonel William Bishop.”

“… what?” Bishop whispers, stunned that his involvement seems far more pivotal than anyone ever could’ve anticipated.

1998.

The Tester puts a hand to her head as she stumbles towards a fountain and sits down on it, having just woken up from being forcefully sent here through the emergency portal.

“What… happened? Zero? Observer?” She looks around and sees she’s in the middle of a human city. The portal that had sent her here had attracted a large crowd, gawking and gasping at her golden eyes, pale skin, black metallic horns and rather revealing attire.

“Ugh… of all places… it had to be among these animals…” she sees red banners adorning the streets and law enforcement surrounding her with weapons drawn. They seem very militarised. “One of those countries, huh…? I’m a long way from the water… I can’t summon my rigging… can’t portal away, either…” she feels too weak to do much of anything.

“Stay right where you are!” A man with a high ranking orders. She looks up at him and sees his uniform. She doesn’t recognise it or his insignias, but the way he speaks and commands the other soldier implies he’s important. “Put your hands where we can see them!”

The Tester raises her hands up, assuming they understand she won’t fight. She responds, “I mean no harm. I need help.”

The man in charge looks at his men and orders, “Hold your fire, but keep your weapons trained on her.” He holsters his pistol and cautiously approaches the Siren, who slowly lowers her arms. He stands before her and introduces himself, “Colonel Gustav Dvornik. I’m going to have to place you under arrest for disturbing the peace and for whatever that was you just did.”

“Huh?” The Tester takes a step back. “Hang on… I don’t even know where I am! What country is this!?”

“This is the Federal Republic of Estovakia, ma’am. Please around and put your hands behind your back.” The man orders.

Not wanting to start a fight she may not win, she complies, but asks, “Estovakia? Since when was that a country?”

Thinking this strange woman may be intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics, the Commander asks, “What is your name, ma’am?”

“My designation is ‘The Tester, Siren Elite’, and if you don’t take these shackles off me, you will regret it.” Teh Siren threatens.

Having his suspicions confirmed in his mind, Gustav says, “Alright, ma’am. You’re coming with us.” pulls her along by her arm to a Belkan-made Police APC and puts her in the back.

“Release me, human!” The Tester demands before the armoured doors shut.

“Get her to the station and in a cell. She’s hopped up on something and I want to know what.” Gustav orders. As the APC drives away, he opens the door of his car and gazes up at the sky.

“What is it, Colonel?” A subordinate asks. “With respect, sir, you look like you haven’t slept in days.”

“I haven’t. That meteor keeps me up at night, as I’m sure it does all of you, Corporal Voychek.” They both enter the car and he continues, “That damned rock has been predicted to split in two upon hitting the atmosphere. One will land on Usea, and the other here. Osea claims their Stonehenge is too far in development to be modified to protect us. I just hope that our… ‘Chandelier’… will bring it down…”

“I have faith, Colonel.” Voychek assures him. “Estovakia will be the saviours of Anea.”

“At this point, we need as much faith as we can get, Corporal…”

Chapter Text

Skully Islands Archipelago, Spring Sea.

“We’ve got a hefty trophy here, boys. Don’t slip up now.” The voice of Cocoon 1 sounds over the radio. The Usean Allied Forces may now control the Spring Sea again, but the ace squadron won’t back down without a fight with Phoenix.

One of her wingmen responds, “Roger. We’ll defend our Queen to the death.”

“Cocoon Squadron, head out!” The woman orders.

Scarface Squadron have been hunting them in the area to fully secure the Allied Forces liberation of the Usean southern coast and the Spring Sea and now they’re finally staring down the enemy aces again. Phoenix and Edge both fire their missiles and roll out of the way of Cocoon’s own, but they fail to score any hits as well. The two mercenaries observe their cluster formation and know they’d have to wait for an opening to hit Cocoon 1.

Getting closer, Phoenix attempts to break their formation by forcing them to take evasive manoeuvres, but they’re too well-trained. They all turn with perfect synchronisation, as if they were all collectively one aircraft.

If they were an air-show team, they’d be world-famous.

Phoenix finally manages to get a good shot and is about to press the button to fire a missile at the flight lead, until Keynote interrupts.

“There’s another hostile. It’s that red fighter again!”

Phoenix suddenly freezes, missing his chance to hit Cocoon 1, allowing her to leave his field of view. He snaps his attention to the red plane, now completely ignoring Cocoon Squadron.

Cocoon 1 sees it too, taking her own attention away from Phoenix. She asks, “Who’s the red avenger? He with the Allied Forces?”

Her wingman answers, “Negative. He has the same ID code as us.”

“I don’t need any more interruptions…” Cocoon 1 hisses. “Move in for the kill.”

Phoenix snaps out of his trance as he looks in his cockpit mirror and sees the ZOE there again, stalking him.

Only this time, it isn’t a Tomcat.

“The red aircraft is a Super Hornet, now!?” Scarface 2 questions. The horror of the thought of there being more than one ZOE makes Scarface 1 start to lose it.

“Get some distance, boys.” The Rebel ace orders. She sees the possibility of the ZOE messing with Phoenix so much that it scares him, so she decides to order another retreat to come back at him when he’s been shaken. She looks at the ZOE and says, “Perfect timing, pretty boy.” She then issues the order, “Cocoon Squad, fall back and regroup.”

“Roger that.” One wingman responds.

Scarface 1 continues to stare at the ZOE chasing him again.

“Phoenix!” He hears Scarface 2 yell, “The ace squadron is falling back! Come on, we’ll get this red guy together!” He sees his wingman put a few bullets in it and force it to disengage him. He smiles, thankful for his guardian angel. He starts to relax and then pulls his plane around to help her out.

Keynote asks “Is that red aircraft’s pilot the same as before? Its moves are even sharper than last time.”

Experiencing it first-hand, Phoenix knows he isn’t kidding. He could just barely keep out of the modified F-14D’s weapons envelope, but with this new F/A-18E, he’s just lucky Nagase is here as she won’t allow it to get that far this time. She knows how much it seemed to traumatise Phoenix and she worries for him. She hopes he won’t panic and lock up, but she’s prepared for the event.

Even so, the new plane gives the ZOE more speed and agility than before.

At the cost of its armour.

Edge distracts the red fighter and Phoenix manages to pull his plane around and lets off a missile. It scores a direct hit on the cockpit of the Super Hornet, forcing it to flee and maximum thrust.

Nagase gasps, “No pilot could’ve survived that…”

Keynote interrupts, “The red fighter is retreating. Forget him, Phoenix. Focus on the mission.”

Scarface 1 watches the ZOE go, until he gets a transmission, “Did you miss us, birdy? This time, I’ll stick around until you’re a charred blot on the ground…”

Then a missile alert sounds.

He instinctively pulls his flight stick to the side, just barely dodging the projectile. Having overcome his fear of the ZOE, Phoenix is back in his element. He flies straight towards their formation.

“You’re just gonna walk into our trap? What an adorable idiot…” Cocoon 1 condescends.

What Cocoon fails to realise is that Scarface is not trapped in their formation.

They’re trapped in the sky with Scarface.

“We lost Bruno.” Cocoon 1 announces as she sees his plane explode, “Damn it. I’m gonna miss him.

“I’m hit! I can’t eject…” another says as he loses the back end of his aircraft.

“I see… we won’t forget you.” His flight leader responds. “Boys, take him down for Rodrigo.”

Edge yells out, “Gotcha!”

She is followed by another Cocoon screaming out in terror as his plane becomes unresponsive.

One of Cocoon 1’s two remaining wingmen announces, “My lady, we’ve lost Kaio!”

She glares at Phoenix and responds, “That good-for-nothing pigeon!” She gets some distance from Scarface and sees the wreck of the Arquette. She remembers the intimidating-looking girl in charge of controlling it and how friendly she was to them. Enraged now that she’s lost her, their Carrier and her wingmen, she yells out, “You’ve sunk our ship! You’ll pay for that with your life!” She flies right back towards Scarface with her last two teammates.

Seeing a potentially peaceful resolution, Cocoon 2 asks, “My lady, why don’t you ask him to join our squadron?”

Having calmed herself, Cocoon 1 replies, “Not a bad idea… if he manages to take you both out too, I’ll consider it.”

Right on cue, Cocoon 3 yells, “My lady! Let the battle be yours!” Right before his now smoking Rafale crashes into the sea.

“3, no!” Cocoon 2 shouts, but is cut off when his own aircraft is blown to pieces by Nagase.

“Ha ha… and then there was one… Pretty impressive work.” Cocoon 1 compliments Phoenix. “Looks like I’m the only partner you’ve got left, so let’s dance, birdy!”

Nagase backs off, knowing Phoenix needs this to fully recover from the ZOE reappearing, but she stands by in case he needs help. Her flight leader chases after Cocoon 1, who both fly in a scissor manoeuvre, trying to get behind each other, letting off bullets as if they were in propellor-driven fighters as neither are in front of the other long enough for a reliable missile lock.

Landing a few bullets on one of Cocoon’s afterburners, disabling it, the female ace grunts, “Mm… You’re pretty good…” she knows she’ll be destroyed this way, so she suddenly breaks off, but Phoenix saw it coming. He falls in right behind her and locks on, finally letting off his last missile.

It hits her other engine, rendering her aircraft powerless. She lets go of her flight stick and grabs her ejection handles. Smiling, she radios, “Well done, boys. Not bad at all.”

Her plane explodes, but neither Scarface 1 or 2 could tell if she managed to deploy her parachute.

Before they can confirm the kill, Keynote reports, “No enemy presence detected in immediate airspace. That was a tough battle, but you handled it well. Return to base.”

Edge flies alongside her flight leader and looks at him. She smiles and says, “Phoenix, those were some impressive moves. With your skills, we might just win this war.”

“Hehehehe…” The Observer giggles, having watched the whole thing. “Yes, Miss Nagase… I wholeheartedly agree…”

Gründer Industries, ZOE hangar.

The ZOE Super Hornet makes a rough landing at the airstrip. Crews race out to save the AI stored in the cockpit as it got hit by a missile. Having successfully recovered it and brought it back to the hangar, another team brings in the battered plane itself.

Dr. Schroeder has the AI upload all its new data on Scarface Squadron to the system. While he’s analysing it, Dr. Morgan enters the room, muttering something under is breath in anger. Sighing, the other scientist asks, “What is it now? Did the Kansen finally die on you?”

“No… but I’m starting to wish it had. I think Purity has befriended it.” Dr. Morgan begrudgingly answers.

“Hm… those two truly are… interesting creatures, aren’t they?”

“Not after that… thing tried to kill me.” Dr. Morgan retorts.

Dr. Schroeder finely pulls his attention away from ZOE’s data, “It what? Wasn’t it tied down and powerless?”

“Let’s just say that Purity decided she was suddenly smart enough to do her own little experiment. That girl…” Morgan grunts.

“What actually happened between you two? You used to be so close. It was adorable, really.” Schroeder asks.

“… we just… started seeing things differently, that’s all. She’s more compassionate than I and it hinders scientific study. It just irritated me whenever she questioned me and objected to things we’ve had to do, so I started to leave her out of projects, especially the study of that Kansen. We couldn’t afford to risk losing the funding for ZOE. Our artificial Cubes sell for almost as much as the value of the ships they’re for.” Morgan explains.

“Are you ever going to restore her memories?”

“…No. they’re still right here.” He holds up his experimental petabyte flash drive. “We’ve seen what she’s seen. That other world… those other Kansen, far more powerful than anything we’ve seen, and she is even more powerful than they are. She could destroy this base if she found out. We were extremely lucky they were both knocked out upon arriving in our world. Cutting through her scalp to retrieve her memory chip wasn’t easy, either. It was like cutting through several layers of steel armour, but if it was the thickness of skin and bone.” He sighs and pockets the flash drive again. “If Purity continues to disobey us, I may have to terminate her…”

Gründer Industries, Top-Secret research lab.

Purity herself brings out Deutchsland’s Cube and gently rests it on the Kansen’s chest. She grabs her hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll be here if you need me.”

Deutschland nods, “Danke.” She starts absorbing it back into her body. With a flash of light, she gets all her strength back properly. After a while of heavy breathing, she gets up and stretches. “Ah… that feels so much better. Now, we get the hell out of here, and blow this Gott-forsaken place to kingdom come.”

Purity nods, “Yeah, but now that I helped you get something of yours, I need your help getting back something of mine.”

“What do you need?” The Kansen asks.

“My memories. I don’t know how to get them back, but I think we could figure out a way to restore them from the other labs. Come on, I wanna know who I am.” The Siren answers.

“NEIN!” The Cruiser objects.

Purity stops and looks at her, “Wha… what?”

At first, Deutschland instinctively wanted to object to helping a Siren, especially now that she’s lied to her and fears what she’ll do when she remembers, but she did help her first and she’d still be suffering like she had been for years.

“Umm… just… had another flashback...” the Cruiser lies, “My apologies. Let’s go, then.”

Purity smiles, “It’s okay, friend. If you feel like you’re about to have another panic attack, you let me know, okay?” She hugs Deutschland, who nervously nods, and then skips merrily out of the room.

“…Schiesse…” the Kansen mutters before following.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

Essex, Yorktown, Enterprise and Hornet enter and salute, “Y’all wanted to see us, sir?” Hornet asks.

The Fleet Admiral salutes back, “At ease, girls. We have some heavy news for the three of you. Enterprise, you may want to sit down.”

“Huh? Um… okay…” Enterprise complies.

“Girls… simply put, something very strange has happened. Admiral Hipper, I’ll let you explain.” The man steps aside.

“Hmph. Only because you don’t fully understand, dummkopf…” the Cruiser mutters. She stands where he was in front of the Carriers. “Not so ‘simply put’, three of you were, obviously, all created as the Yorktown-class, ja?”

All Carriers except Essex nod.

Hipper continues, “As it turns out, two of you are no longer Yorktown-classes.”

The looks of shock take over their faces and Enterprise sits up. She and Essex both ask, “What?”

The Iron Blood carries on, “Frau Yorktown and Frau Hornet have been upgraded to Type II Rigging through Compiler’s program and the cross-universe interference from Herr Bishop’s Trinity Warhead. Frau Enterprise, your sisters are now Frau Essex’s.”

Silence engulfs the room. Only the tapping from Akashi typing on her keyboard on the other side of the room can be heard.

Yorktown and Hornet both look down at Enterprise, who looks like she just had her heart torn out. The sitting Carrier stares at Hipper and, with her voice just above a whisper, asks, “…they’re… not my…?”

Hipper shakes her head, “Nein. I am sorry, Frau Enterprise, but telling you without coating it in sugar was ultimately the best way.”

Enterprise’s former sisters both gently out their hands on her shoulders and kneel down to her level either side of her, taking her hands into theirs. She looks at Yorktown, “Did you know…?”

“No, dear sister, we did not.” Yorktown replies with a sad smile.

Hornet adds, “It’s a shock to us too, big sis.”

Lt. Colonel Bishop himself offers, “If I may, I could try to explain why they’ve changed classes?”

Hipper huffs, “Hmph. Fine, but only because you’re polite.” She turns away, letting him speak.

Warwolf 1 looks at the confused Carriers and begins, “You see… in my world’s history…”

1998.

Estovakian Police Station, interrogation room.

The Tester sits impatiently tapping her cuffed hands on the cold metal table. Corporal Voychek and his comrades become unnerved when she seems to look right at them, but they know that nobody can see through the mirrored side, surely.

Finally, the Colonel who arrested her enters the room and sits opposite her with a cup of coffee and a folder.

“We need to talk.” He starts, slamming the folder down on the table.

The Tester just glares silently into his soul. She asks, “Do I have the right to remain silent here?”

“No. You do not. This is Estovakia, not Emmeria or Osea. You will answer my questions or your punishment will be severe.” Gustav warns before taking a sip.

“Those three names mean nothing to me. I am in the wrong universe.” The Siren retorts.

“About that, you were raging about being ‘in the wrong universe’ ever since we arrested you. Explain.” The Colonel orders.

“I’m not your subordinate. You can go fuck yourself.” The Tester hisses.

“Excuse me?” The man asks back, his mug stopped halfway to his face.

“You’re not getting shit from me. Stop trying. Let me go, and you’ll never have to see me again.”

“You’re not going anywhere. We have several armed men in and around this facility.” Gustav threatens, putting his coffee down in front of him.

“Yeah? How many?” She probes.

“Nice try, but I’m asking the questions.” He shoots her down.

“Are they armed to to the teeth like the six guys in that room, equipped with assault rifles, semi-automatic pistols, grenades and ballistic knives?” She looks at the mirror again, “Oh, the one with the light machine gun just got nervous…”

Gustav looks at the mirror as well, wondering how she can seemingly see through it, “How did you…?”

“That one is aiming at my head now. It won’t do him any good. That glass is bulletproof, even against several rounds of 7.62x39mm, though I am naturally curious at how determined he is. Even if he manages ti break through it, my skin is tougher than the hull of a Battleship.”

“Wha…!?”

“I say let’s test him. His heart rate has spiked.” The Tester jokes. “Humans become so much more interesting when they’re terrified.”

“How the hell are you doing that!?” Gustav demands.

The Siren looks back at him. “You’re terrified, as well. Your heartbeat is at 165 bpm. If you don’t calm yourself, you could take a few days off your embarrassingly short lifespan. Now, you gonna let me out of here?”

“J…just because you somehow have… X-ray vision…”

“Hmm… seems you need a more… practical demonstration…” The Tester ominously says with an unnerving grin.

“What do you mea—“

He’s cut off by the Siren effortlessly breaking the chain between her handcuffs, grabbing his hair and smashing his head into his cup of coffee, getting shards of the shattering mug in his face and burning his skin with the scolding water as well as denting the table. The Colonel screams, holding his steaming face as he falls onto the floor.

Before his men in the observation room can act, the Tester stands, rips the table off the floor and yells, “LOOKS LIKE THE TABLE HAS TURNED! HAHAHAHA!!!!” Before throwing the thing with enough force to smash right through the window, crushing the two of them and making the rest shield themselves from the shards of glass flying at them.

The Siren jumps through the hole and grabs Corporal Voychek, using him as a human shield and grabbing his holstered sidearm.

“Let him go!” The others yell, aiming their rifles at her. “You don’t even need him if you’re that tough!”

“True, I don’t need him, but are you gonna risk his life to see if I’m bluffing?” The Siren taunts.

“Just let him go!”

The light machine gunner warns, “If I have to shoot through him for the safety of the people, I will!”

She gives them a devious smile and calculates the best angles and timing to take them all out in a nanosecond, then executing it perfectly, emptying the pistol’s magazine in a couple of seconds, dropping all the soldiers dead.

Voychek mutters, “You… you’re a monster…”

“Oh no, sweetie… I was created to kill the monsters.” Before he can question what that means, she pushes him down and kicks him in the head, knocking him out.

By the time Colonel Gustav gets back up, stumbling and holding his burned skin and bleeding nose, he looks ahead to see his prisoner, holding him at gunpoint. He raises his arms and pleads, “Alright, alright! We… we can let you go! Just don’t kill any more of my men!”

“… silly human. I don’t want to escape, I’m having way too much fun!” The Siren smiles, before flipping the gun around, holding it by the slide and pistol-whipping the man, making him stagger to the side. She uses his momentum and grabs him, swinging him around until he’s thrown into the chair she was sat on. He regains his balance just before he’s kicked in the chest, falling backwards on the chair. He looks up and gets a painful amount of pressure put on his ribcage by the Tester’s foot. She points the pistol at him, smiles and mockingly quips, “We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

1998.

Estovakian Police Station, interrogation room.

Corporal Voychek grunts as he picks himself up, nursing his concussed head. He stumbles trying to balance himself. The soldier looks around and sees a blood trail leading out of the room. All his comrades are dead and the Siren and the Colonel are no longer present. He stands up muttering, “Maybe I should just join the Air Force… then I can get away from shit like this…”

He grabs a rifle from one of his fallen comrades and follows the blood to the motor pool, only to find nobody else there, but a vehicle missing.

“Damn it! Where did they go!?”

Estovakian Research Facilities.

Having driven to their destination, the Tester walks with Colonel Gustav, both pretending to be together or she will kill him. Using his clearance, he’s let in and he’s forced to show her the Chandelier project.

“You’re building a massive railgun that launches projectiles the size of freight trains faster than the speed of sound?” The Siren asks.

Reluctant to explain, the Colonel answers, “…Yes.”

“What for?” The Tester asks casually as she digs the barrel of the pistol further under his ribcage.

Wincing, he continues, “It is purpose-built to shoot down an incoming meteor, Ulysses 1994XF04. If it isn’t destroyed, it could doom us all. Osea have developed their own weapon to counter it but they’re unable to help us with ours so we’re behind schedule.”

“How… does it turn?” The Tester questions, not seeing any pivot points for the colossal cannon. Unlike Stonehenge, Chandelier seems unable to point in any other direction than straight forward.

“It is being built upon an iceberg in the Razgriz Strait up here, just off our northern coast.” The man points at the location on a map of the world. The landmasses are all different, but some coastlines and islands seem similar to landmasses in the world the Tester came from, as if somebody cut them out and put them in different places and drew new lines to connect them. Gustav continues, “The iceberg carries the weapon, tugboats tow and turn the ice, and that is used to adjust the trajectory. Its location close to the North Pole ensures the iceberg will not melt or drift out of the Strait.”

“Hmm… at least some of you humans aren’t as stupid as you act.” The Tester responds, impressed. Not having to worry about turning the cannon means a bigger, more powerful gun can be built. Much more powerful than Stonehenge, but it won’t be able to defend itself with even a fraction of the ability the Osean weapon can. Even with the borderline-excessive amounts of AA and SAM sites, Chandelier is very vulnerable.

The Tester’s attention, however, is drawn to another plan code-named “Moby Dick.” She points to it, “What’s that?”

Gustav grunts and explains, “That is the weapon we are planning to use to protect Chandelier. The Aigion-class Heavy Command Cruiser, itself guarded by two heavily-armed smaller ships and another two support ships providing it and the squadrons based on its runway with electronic aid. It is a Belkan design. We partnered with them.”

“Is that being built right now, too?”

“…yes, it is.” The man replies.

“Take me to see it.”

“You have to be joking…” the man looks at her.

“Do I look like a fucking joke to you?” The Siren demans and presses the gun barrel painfully even further under his ribs.

“Okay, okay… I’ll… I’ll get us a visit…” Gustav relents.

“That’s a good, obedient human...” The Tester sadistically whispers in his ear. “I’m actually starting to consider keeping you.”

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

Morgan and Schroeder take a break and talk while walking the base. They casual conversation is interrupted by an explosion. They look at where it came from and it’s the Kansen research lab.

“Oh no…” Morgan grunts, “Purity, what did you do?”

Schroeder says, “We need to get to the bunker. Come.”

The base alarms ring out and armed units go to try and secure the two women who walk out of the smoke cloud.

Morgan stops as his attention is caught by the smoking barrels of Deutschland’s rigging. An oblivious Schroeder manages to get to safety while Morgan is frozen.

The angry Kansen looks around and sees the man who violated and butchered her. “YOU! I’M GOING TO GUT YOU!” She aims her turrets at him.

Not wanting to see how well his body takes the firepower of an old Pocket Battleship, Morgan finds the feeling in his legs and takes off running…

…and bumps right into Purity.

“Where do you think you’re going, ‘honey’?” The Siren asks in a dark tone.

“Puri! Please, help me!” He begs.

“Nah.” She shrugs. “You used me. Took my memories. And then you told me to kill that poor girl.”

“Puri! Please! I… I’ll give you them back! They’re all on this!” He pleads and holds up the flash drive while Deutschland approaches.

“They… they are?” Purity asks as she takes the storage device.

“He’s lying, Purifier! Don’t trust him!” The Kansen yells, letting loose a fatal Freudian slip.

The Siren looks at her and repeats, “…’Purifier’?”

“Was?”

“You called me ‘Purifier’…”

Morgan looks between them and starts slinking away.

Deutschland tries to recover, “Uh… I mean…”

“You know what I really am, don’t you?” Purity asks her with a look of betrayal in her eyes.

The Kansen takes a step back, “Purity, bitte… don’t download what’s on that… you’re better person without it…”

Her voice shaky, Purity retorts, “…you lied to me… how can I trust anything you say now…?” She shoves the flash drive into to scar on her head, cutting through it and transferring everything back into her mind, making her golden eyes start glowing yellow and summoning her rigging.

“NEIN!”

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Eagle Union section.

Enterprise had asked to be alone for a while, despite Yorktown and Hornet’s most desperate attempts to comfort her. She sits alone against a tree overlooking the gigantic harbour of the HQ, holding warships from all over the world, all controlled by Kansen. She looks at her own, CV-6, flanked on both sides by her former sisters, now Essex-classes with angled flight decks. She flicks her hand and her ship starts leaving to go be on its own like herself.

“I’m the only one of my class…” she mutters. “Why am I always the only one to make it…?”

“Because you’re the strongest of us.”

Enterpise looks up and to the side to see her wife looking down at her with compassion. She says, “Not anymore. What are you doing here?”

“Am I ever in need of a reason to check on one I love so dearly?” The Head Maid smiles. “May I sit with you?”

“…yeah, of course you can…” the Carrier nods. “We’re oathed now, Bel. You don’t have to keep up the maid act with me.”

“Ah, and here I thought you were quite into my little act, Enty.” Belfast teases as she sits next to her. “At least when we’re alone and in bed~”

Blushing and looking back down at the ships, Enterprise sees a modern Type-26 Frigate docking itself next to her Carrier. She smiles and says, “You can be worse than Prinz Eugen, you know that?”

Chuckling, Belfast asks, “Whatever do you mean, Enterprise?”

“You know what I mean. You’re always several steps ahead. You always have been, I can’t help but wonder how you do it.” The Carrier answers.

“Yes, I do pride myself on always being prepared as Her Majesty’s Head Maid.” The Cruiser replies.

“Then how did you get sunk during Operation Siren?” Enterprise looks at her again. “I’ve done so much, and you always have a backup for everything, but I still couldn’t prevent you dying. I watched you go under. I’ve never seen you look so scared. So… lifeless. I stared into your eyes and all I could feel was guilt, and you blaming me. The same exact thing I felt when I saw my sisters die. And now they’re back and not even my sisters anymore… and…”

“…yes?” Belfast softly asks, gently pulling her into a hug.

“If they’re no longer who I know them as… then… what about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just look at your ship down there. It’s not the Town-class anymore. Are you even the same Kansen I love so much?” Enterprise asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

Gently caressing her lover’s arm, Belfast replies, “Of course I am, Enterprise. Your sisters are, too. Just because we have new ships doesn’t make us different people. Miss Yorktown and Miss Hornet are only Miss Essex’s sisters in ship class. They still see you as their real sister. I do remember when I sunk. I wasn’t blaming you. I was saving you.”

“You…” she looks up at her, “You… saved me?”

“Yes. It was the only way. I had to make sure you got to the end, considering you had Lt. Colonel Bishop on board. You hadn’t noticed a full volley of torpedoes targeted at your ship and you wouldn’t have been able to move in time. I did what had to be done. I summoned my ship, took the hit and put up that smokescreen for you. I was terrified because I thought I would never know if my sacrifice worked… and because I feared what would happen to you if I wasn’t around. It doesn’t make it your fault, and you didn’t fail to protect me, I merely succeeded in protecting you, just like I swore to do so to both you and Her Majesty.” Belfast explains.

After a few seconds of silence, Enterprise finally returns the embrace. “You… won’t leave me now that I’m alone again?”

“Don’t be silly, Enterprise. That’s no reason to leave you, and you are not alone. You never have been, and you never will be.”

“That’s right, sis.”

“We’ll always be here for you, dear sister.”

Enterprise looks the other way and sees her sisters, still fully accepting her. They approach and join in on the hug.

After a while, the Compiler appears with Graf Spee. The Siren states, “Enterprise.”

Slowly, the Carrier stands up and looks at her. “What?” She asks, with more hostility than she intended.

Her tone makes the normally emotionless Siren hesitate, but Spee encourages her like a supportive big sister. She looks at Enterprise and offers, “I have been able to fabricate an update for your rigging based off Warwolf’s description of your modern ship in his world. Would you like me to update it for you?”

The Carrier gets a hopeful look. “I… I have a new ship, too!?”

The Siren nods, “Affirmative. Gerald R. Ford-class USS Enterprise. Designation CVN-80.”

After a round of confusion among the assembled Kansen, Belfast asks. “If I may, what does the ‘N’ stand for in that designation?”

The Compiler simply answers, “Nuclear.”

1998.

Seals Bridge Ravine.

Fensalir sits in her bridge, scanning the skies with her radar. The Lurker ordered her back to the base she and her sister were built at for a refuelling while her older sister is with the Siren on a different mission.

She already misses Folkvanger deeply and this is the first time she’s been separated from her, but she knows she’ll see her again soon. Right now she only has the company of several ballistic missiles ready to fire.

Suddenly she gets a ping on her radar.

“Hm?” The young Supersub hums.

She sees it’s an Allied Forces patrol helicopter, scouting out the area.

“Um… should I do something? It’s just a small helicopter…” Fensalir asks nobody. “Maybe we can be friends…?”

When it flies away, she sits back down and sighs, “I guess not…”

“Fen, you okay?” Folkvangr manages to contact her.

“Folky! Are you coming home too?”

“I’m afraid not, sister. I’m contacting to warn you that you may be in trouble soon. You need to get back to base as fast as you can, okay?” The elder instructs.

“Okay! Don’t worry, big sister! Nothing can bring us down!” Fensalir naively chirps. “There was an enemy helicopter in the area just now but I scared it off!”

“Yeah…” Folkvangr sighs. “… wait, WHAT!?”

The Lurker looks at her, “You okay?”

Folkvangr yells, “We need to go back! Now!” the two Submarines start heading back, just hoping they can get there in time…

Allied Forces Airbase, Usea.

Keynote briefing Phoenix in his plane as he is taxiing as this mission is urgent. They can’t afford to wait for Edge or Slash to join him so he wastes no time with the briefing. The hologram appears in his cockpit and Keynote begins, “We have reports of Allied ships being attacked by an unknown enemy in the waters near Seals Bridge Ravine. Patrol helicopters were able to get a visual on the threat in the vicinity.”

Phoenix’s hologram shows the right ravine with a massive ship highlighted deep within it.

“It turns out to be the advanced Submarine that the Allied Forces HQ has been desperately searching for since the rebellion first began. A nuclear-powered Dragonet-class Sub, Fensalir. It has advanced ballistic missile firing capabilities as well as a Kansen, and so must be destroyed at all costs. It is believed the Submarine will dock at a secret refuelling station deep in the Seals Bridge Ravine. You must destroy the Fensalir before she reaches the dock.”

As Phoenix gets up in the air, Keynote concludes the briefing, “The enemy air radar network has been set up outside of the ravine, so you must stay within it. You’re a legendary ace, Phoenix, but not even you will last long
against that many SAMs. It’s quite a miracle the scout helicopter made it back. The ravine will also get narrow at parts, so it’ll require precise handling. Good luck, Scarface 1.” His voice cuts out and the hologram switches off. Phoenix cracks his knuckles and neck and pushes his throttle forward.

Some time later, Scarface 1 enters the ravine and gets another reminder to not gain altitude from Keynote. Winding around the tight canyon, Phoenix pushes his airframe to the limit to reach the target as fast as he can.

Fensalir has been alerted to the Phoenix himself hunting her down. Terrified to the point of crying, she rushes to her base. The ravine walls either side of her may prevent torpedo attacks, but not missiles. The shallow water prevents her submerging, too.

“Gotta get away! Gotta get away!”

Having his plane rolled 90°, Scarface 1 moves around the rock walls like a snake chasing a mouse around a maze. His instincts serve him well as he chooses the correct paths to take towards the Submarine.

“Sister! Sister! Please help me!” Fensalir begs on the radio as the enemy blip on her radar gets closer.

“Just hang on, Fen! I’m coming!” Folkvangr tries to comfort her, knowing she’s unable to do anything. She looks at the Lurker and yells “Can’t you make a portal there!?”

The Siren counters, “I can’t make one big enough for the whole thing in that enclosed space!”

“Then make a small one just for her Kansen!”

“I’m trying! It’s difficult!”

Phoenix finally has the Supersub in his sights. He releases his anti-ship payload…

“Folky! Help—“ Fensalir’s radio transmission is reduced to static right after an explosion.

“Fen!? Fensalir!? SISTER!?” Folkvangr yells. “No…” she looks at the Siren again, but there’s only a small portal where she was. Before Folkvanger can follow her through it, she comes back with the Cubes of her younger sister.

“I’m sorry. I was too late.” The Lurker solemnly says, actually feeling sad herself, even if she can’t fully understand why. She hands the Cubes over to Folkvangr, who takes them gently.

“Fen…”

“Enemy Dragonet-class Submarine has been destroyed. Good work, Phoenix. Return to base.” Keynote orders. Phoenix performs a manoeuvre to turn around without crashing and escapes the ravine the same way he came in.

The Empress is contacted by the Lurker. “Speak.”

The Siren Sub reports, “Fensalir has been destroyed, Your Highness.”

“WHAT!? By whom!?”

“Guess.”

“Rrrghh… THAT DAMN PHOENIX!!” The Empress shrieks, shaking her fists in the air.

The Observer stares at her with a deadpan expression. She asks, “Really?”

The Lurker then asks, “Uh… what should I do with Folkvangr?”

“… put her on standby for now.” The Empress orders after thinking. “If the Allied Forces manage to take Saint Ark, then she’ll be our backup plan—“ she interrupted by an alert.

The Observer looks at it, “Ooh, one of our squadrons has been alerted to an Allied squadron over Schofields Plataeu.”

“Is it Scarface!?” The Empress demands.

“No, this looks like a rookie squad on a training mission.”

“Well, then. I could use some cheering up.” The Empress smiles as she starts watching from one of their drones.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ.

Enterprise prepares for her rigging upgrade. The Compiler gently attaches one of her tendrils to the Carrier’s chest to interject with her Cube.

“Initiating upgraded hull data upload. This will feel very strange as you will be skipping CVN-65 in favour of the more powerful CVN-80 hull.”

“Just do it quick, then.” Enterprise responds. Yorktown and Hornet hold her hands while Belfast hugs her from behind, while Spee and the Essex sisters all prepare in case the Siren tries anything.

The Compiler warns, “It will also hurt. Do not worry. It will not last long.” She begins and Enterprise tenses up and grunts as if she’s just been tased. Yorktown and Hornet actually struggle to keep her still. Her ship starts to glow in the harbour, attracting the attention of pretty much everyone on base, including the Fleet Admiral.

After the process is finished, the Siren releases her and says “Process complete.”

Essex looks back at the CVN-80, and although it’s taken on a new shape, it starts to disintegrate. “Oh crap…”

“Well… that was more painful than I…” Enterprise trails off as she collapses, unconscious.

“ENTERPRISE!?”

Chapter Text

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Hospital.

“What happened!?” Vestal asks as a spasming Enterprise is rushed into the hospital on a stretcher.

“She had her rigging upgraded but then shen started having a seizure and hasn’t stopped!” Belfast immediately answers, panicked.

“Get her in here, quick!” The repair ship orders. Once she’s in the operating room with Enterprise, she orders everyone out except the Compiler and Graf Spee. The rest watch with nervousness in the observation room.

Belfast gently puts her ringed hand on the glass and whispers, “Please be okay, Enty…”

Vestal manages to get Enterprise under control with medicines and an oxygen mask. The Carrier finally passes out as her muscles relax and stop contracting. Her bpm slows down to a relaxed state.

Everyone except the Siren breathes a sigh of relief, until Vestal looks at her and calmly asks, “What did you do to her?”

The Compiler has never felt genuine fear before, but she’s willing to bet that what she feels now as she looks back at the dark aura around the otherwise innocent-looking Vestal is a good example of it. The Siren struggles to form an explanation, “I… I offered an upgrade to a new rigging based on… on Warwolf 1’s explanation of her ship in his world…”

“And you just forged data on righing that doesn’t exist and expected it to work on a Kansen that already has rigging!?” Vestal explodes, “Or were you just running another fucking experiment on one of us, Siren!?”

“Negative… I… I… I wanted…” the Compiler reveals something about the Sirens nobody had ever expected.

They can cry.

“I’m… sorry… I… wanted to help… I just wanted to help…” she runs out of the building crying with Spee chasing after her.

Taken aback, Vestal stares at the door she ran through with wide eyes. “Was she just… crying?”

“Well, that was terrifying. If I could never go through that again, that’d be great…”

Vestal and everyone else look at Enterprise, now sitting up and smiling at the repair ship. Her clothes have been updated. Now hoe black coat has more medals and gold stripes on the sleeves, her hat has gold wreaths on the brim and on her face rest a pair of cool aviators.

Vestal gasps, “Enterprise? How… how are you feeling?” As the rest of the girls walk in to see her.

Taking off the sunglasses, she replies, “I’m fine, Vestal. I was just overcome by the amount of new power coursing through me. I think I got it under control now. Don’t blame the Siren. She didn’t expect me to react like that. Hell, I sure didn’t want to spaz out like that.” The Carrier stands up without even so much as a stumble.

“Sorry, Enty… I just… it’s hard to trust any of them, especially as half of us were sunk and then something like this happens…”

She gets up and hugs the repair ship, “It’s okay, Ves.”

“You feelin’ okay, sis?” Hornet asks. “Ya gave us a helluva scare just now.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, Hornet. In fact… I’ve never felt better. I feel like… everything I’ve been worried about recently has been lifted. I have a new ship, amazing sisters, an incredible repair ship, and the best wife I could ever ask for.” She pulls a blushing Belfast close.

Yorktown smiles, “I’m so happy to you feeling better, little sister. I was so worried about your self-doubt.”

“We all were.” Belfast adds.

“Thanks, girls. Sorry for scaring you. Come on, we have to go find Compiler and let her know we’re not angry at her.” She puts the sunglasses back on with one swift motion, making Belfast swoon.

Back at the overlook where Enterprise collapsed, they find the Siren they’re still crying with Spee cuddling her, trying to give some comfort.

Enterprise feels some level of guilt reacting the way she did, even if she couldn’t help it. She starts, “Compiler?”

The Siren looks up at her and says, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

The Carrier kneels down in front of her and softly says, “Hey, it’s alright. You did good. I can protect my friends even more, now. Thank you. It’s just unfortunate I didn’t have this new form during OpSi.” Enterprise comforts her and pats her head. She ruffles her hair and says, “Keep working on that little program of yours, okay? Maybe make it slower so it’s not so overwhelming, or put Kansen to sleep or something first next time.”

“Next… time?” The Compiler asks.

“Well, yeah. I guarantee the Fleet Admiral will want every Kansen with an available upgrade… well, upgraded after this. Speaking of which, we should go talk to him about this.” When she sees the Siren look worried, she says, “Don’t worry. I got your back.” She gently takes the Siren by the hand and walks with her to the Fleet Admiral’s office.

1998.

Schofields Plateau.

Pennant Squadron, an Allied rookie squad on a training exercise, is under attack by experienced Rebels. Luckily, Scarface Squadron arrives just in time to save them.

On Phoenix’ behalf, Keynote reaches out to the rookies, “Allied fighters, do you copy? This is Scarface Squadron 37-18.”

A rookie calls out, “Reinforcements! Thank God! This is Pennant 12-11! We were spotted by Rebel aircraft during a training mission! Help us out here!”

One of the Rebels remarks, “Looks like someone called for back-up. Nothing we can’t handle. Take ‘em out.”

Feeling a lot better after defeating the ZOE and Cocoon Squadron in the same battle, Phoenix is right back in his comfort zone. One by one, the Rebel ambushers bite the dust.

After having been saved, a rookie expresses gratitude, “Thanks, Scarface Squadron! You saved my life, but our Commander and his crew are still stranded to the northwest! You gotta go save them! Hurry!”

After getting within range of the Commander, they hear him beating himself up, “Can’t believe they got us in the middle of training! How could I have been so stupid!? Scarface! Get as many of our men home as possible!”

Keynote gladly reports, “The first aircraft you saved has made it back.” He switches to speak to the Commander, “Pennant 1, can you hear me? This is Scarface Squadron.”

The flight leader responds, “You guys must be the rescue team! Couldn’t be more glad to see you!”

As Nagase takes out another two, a different Rebel ace reports, “We have a suspected reconnaissance team invading our airspace. Don’t let them get away!”

After a while of vicious dogfighting, Scarface and Pennant emerge victorious.

“No more enemy presence detected. All Rebel aircraft destroyed. Pennant Squadron is safe. Good job, Scarface.”

Pennant 1 adds, “Thanks, Scarface Squadron. If it hadn’t been for you…”

Keynote assures, “No need to thank us. We’ll escort you to base. Bring it home, Phoenix.”

“I can’t believe they sent the Scarface Squadron to come get us! I’m letting all the guys know about it when I get back!” One of the rookies exclaims excitedly.

Unknown to them, Phoenix thinks he sees something in the corner of his eye…

“Would you knuckleheads learn to keep your mouths shut?” Pennant 1 retorts.

Phoenix’ eyes widen and that familiar feeling sets in again.

“AAAHHH!” The rookie yells out as his plane is suddenly obliterated.

A red YF-23 Black Widow II flies by without an IFF signature.

It’s the ZOE.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

“Hehehehe…. HAHAHAHAHA!” The Purifer laughs maniacally as she remembers everything from her world, who she is and what her purpose is.

“Purity! Snap put of it!” Deutschland tries to calm her.

“MY NAME IS PURIFIER, AND I’M GONNA CARVE IT INTO YOUR CORPSE!” The broken Siren charges forward at her, her rigging peppering the ground around the Kansen in plasma.

“Sheiße!” Deutschland rolls out of the way as the Purifer charges past her like an enraged bull. “What is wrong with her? Even she’s not usually this unhinged…” her train of thought is interrupted by the Siren circling around and kicking her in the face, sending her flying through the doors of the ZOE aircraft hangar and into the red Tomcat, bending the airframe behind repair.

“Ugh…” Deutschland shakes her head and stumbles getting back up. “So… that’s how she wants to do this…” she snarls and cracks her knuckles. “If I can’t talk her down…”

The Purifer walks menacingly into the room and the Kansen yells, “THEN I’LL MAKE YOU SUBMIT!” She fires all weapons of her rigging at her, staggering the Siren. When the Purifier looks back at bend again, she’s sent flying even further away by the remains of the Tomcat after the Kansen threw it at her. Deutschland runs after her before she loses sight of her. “I’m going to enjoy mopping you up…”

Seeing the Purifier fly across the runway, Morgan mutters, “So… the modifications I made to her system makes her even more crazy and violent… I can only hope they make her obey my orders now…” he runs over to the Siren and shakes her back awake.

“Puri? Can you hear me?” He asks.

She looks at him.

“I order you to stop messing around and just kill that fucking thing!” He points to the rapidly approaching Kansen.

The Purifer stands up and glares at him, “You… you used me!” She grabs him by the neck.

Morgan struggles, “Puri… I saved you… I protected you… I…”

“And that gives you power over me, human filth?” She hisses.

“Puri… I…”

“MY NAME IS PURIFIER! WHEN I’M DONE WITH HER, I’M GONNA RIP YOUR HEART OUT, JUST LIKE YOU DID TO ME!” She throws the man at the Kansen, who catches him. She puts him down on the ground to his surprise and keeps sprinting towards the Siren.

Morgan tries to get up to run again, but his leg has been broken. He winces as he tries to put pressure on it and begins limping away.

“YOU LIED TO ME, BITCH! I TRUSTED YOU, AND YOU LIED TO ME!” The Purifier fires her cannons at Deutschland, who ducks and weaves during her sprint towards her. Eventually they engage in hand-to-hand, both attempting to use their riggings to gain the upper l

Not being as experienced in melee combat, the Purifier quickly finds herself on the back foot against the Iron Blood Pocket Battleship. Having trained with the Iron Blood for years fighting the Sirens, Deutschland gains the advantage and stuns the Purifier, grabs the memory stick in her head, puts her other hand on the Siren’s shoulder and tries to pull the storage device out.

The memory stick detaches from the Siren’s body, along with her entire head.

“Was…?”

The Purifier’s head looks at her and says, “OH, YOU FUCKER!” Right before her body punches Deutschland in the face, but the Kansen keeps hold of the Siren’s head as she tries to bite her.

The Kansen gets some distance from the body as the Purifier can’t control it properly while her head is separated.

Deutschland prepares to tear the storage device from the head and the Siren yells, “DON’T YOU DARE!”

She finally dislodges the stick and yanks it out, followed by a bit of Siren blood.

The Kansen sees the Siren’s body collapse as her head looks her in the eye and mutters, “…D…Deutschland… I… I’m so sorry…”

Deutschland looks sadly back at her, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. “… Es tut mir leid, Purity… You’re a good girl underneath all those verdammt memories… Im going to make this right…” she pockets the memory stick and walks over to the Siren’s body.

Purity feels immense guilt and whimpers, “I hurt you when we’re supposed to be friends… can you forgive me?”

“It’s not your fault, friend. It’s mine for keeping the truth from you. Don’t worry about it…” She sees in the corner of her eye Morgan trying to get to a car. “We’re going to put this right, and he’s going to help, wether he wants to or not…” she makes her way over to him.

Schofields Plateau.

After a few moments of Keynote scanning the red plane, the YF-23’s IFF finally reappears so Scarface can lock onto it.

“Enemy reinforcements!?” Keynote exclaims, “Head’s up, Phoenix. We’ve still got reinforcements! Damn, it’s that red fighter again! He’s even faster than before. Can’t be the same pilot…”

Just when Phoenix thought he finally bested this damn thing, it’s back in an even better plane. One that can easily match his F-22A Raptor. He shakes his head and focuses on it. He has to protect the rookies.

Nagase shakes her head in disbelief. How is this guy back again? “Scarface 1! Keep your cool. Let’s do this just like last time!”

He nods and they attempt to do the same as before, only the ZOE doesn’t do the same thing.

It mimics Scarface 1 perfectly.

“Those moves are unrivalled… it’s like another Phoenix…” Nagase gasps.

Now less frightened of it and more annoyed that it’s copying him, the real Phoenix gains the motivation to engage in a brutal dogfight, risking blacking out several times just to get a good lock on it, but it’s extremely difficult when your opponent does the exact same thing as you do.

After all, there’s only one Phoenix.

Luckily, it does also mean the ZOE is struggling to keep up with him, too.

“Time to get serious, Phoenix. There’s no room for error. Stay on him as much as you can and make every hit count! This is a test of patience. Don’t lose him. This could mean victory or defeat!”

Phoenix sees an opening. He pulls in right behind the ZOE, but immediately realises it’s a trick when the red plane slams on its airbrakes and rolls to counter the manoeuvre, getting behind Phoenix.

One of his own moves.

Phoenix decides two can play at that game and does the same thing.

Both of them keep doing this like a game of reverse leapfrog if one of the rules is the first to backstab the other wins.

Nagase makes sure Pennant Squadron makes it back before coming back to help. Meanwhile, Phoenix tries something different. He pulls up instead of rolling. This throws off the ZOE and it leaves itself exposed trying to process the sudden change in tactics.

Phoenix has the ZOE in his sights again. He pulls the trigger on his guns and riddles the armour plating of the YF-23, causing it to start trailing smoke again, but it’s still in the fight. It loops around back behind Scarface 1 again, who reverses so he’s behind it once more, ready fire his gun again.

And that’s when the ZOE pulls the exact manoeuvre Phoenix just did. Not expecting it to pick up his technique so quickly on the fly, he now finds himself in its sights.

The bullets never come, however, as it takes a direct missile hit and is knocked off course.

“I got him, but he’s still going!” Edge announces, “Finish him off, Phoenix!”

Scarface 1 gladly carries out the finishing blow as he lines up on the ZOE with its crippled control surfaces and launches everything he has left.

Upon making contact, the ZOE finally, finally gets taken down and explodes mid-air.

Feeling an immense amount of relief wash over him, Phoenix slumps back in his flight seat and lets out the breath he wasn’t aware he was holding.

“Enemy aircraft destroyed! You managed to take down that red SOB. Pennant Squadron has safely reached Allied airspace. It’s time we head home, too.”

Edge forms up with her flight lead. “Hey, Phoenix. How you holding up?” She looks at him in his cockpit.

He looks back and gives her a thumbs-up.

She chuckles and they make their way back.

Having jettisoned from the red plane, the ZOE AI pod parachutes down to the ground.

Then it falls through a Siren portal.

Estovakian research lab.

Corporal Voychek tracks down where Tester took Colonel Gustav, but the two of them are nowhere to be seen. He sees they have both the files on Chandelier and the Heavy Command Cruiser open and deduces that they must’ve gone to see one of them, but which one?

“Dammit… one of these is on the northern coast and the other on the southern…” he looks between them, trying to think of which the Siren would be more interested in.

“…surely she’d more intrigued by Chandelier… it can take cruise missiles and launch them at Mach speed…” he then looks at the other, “But Aigaion can dominate the airspace of any battlefield with the Nimbus…” he hits the console and goes to the military HQ. “Dammit… I’m going to need a lot of help on this one…”

Chapter Text

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

The Fleet Admiral is called to the lab and finds Enterprise there, looking slightly taller than she was before and with a new rigging. Instead of her WW2 flight deck, she now has the armoured deck of a Ford-class Carrier as well as a new compound bow.

“Enterprise? What happened? Has the Type II Rigging Project had a breakthrough?” The man asks.

“Compiler managed to upgrade my rigging by two ship classes. According to Lt. Colonel Bishop, I’m now one of the largest Carriers ever made.” Enterprise explains.

Bishop counters, “On the contrary.”

“Huh?” Enterprise looks at him.

The ace adds, “You are now THE biggest Carrier in this world, being the only one.” He looks at the Fleet Admiral while gesturing to the Kansen, “The Gerald R. Ford-class. Powered by a nuclear reactor, Enterprise will be able to carry on for years without having to refuel. If we can do something similar, then the oil cost of missions will drop significantly and we have a Siren of all people to thank.” He then gestures to the Compiler, who has since calmed down and seemed to have returned to an emotionless state.

“I see… so she’s now the most powerful ship in the fleet again?” The Fleet Admiral asks.

“Affirmative…” The Siren nods.

“Are you alright, little one?” The man asks.

“…”

Graf Spee comes to her rescue, “There was a little misunderstanding during the process, Herr Kommandant. She’ll be okay.”

“I see. Alright, then. Lt. Colonel, how effective is the Ford-class in your world?”

Bishop answers, “Well, if I remember rightly, USS Enterprise CVN-80 herself isn’t finished yet, but her sister, Gerald R. Ford herself, is the largest Aircraft Carrier ever built in our world, and indeed is the biggest warship ever constructed, period. She dwarves even the Yamato. She’s capable of holding well over 4,000 aircraft including her air wings. She’s powered by two nuclear reactors and a top speed of 35 knots, a little slower than CVN-65 because of the extra weight, but she’s no slouch. Nuclear power means she’s able to run for about 25 years straight before refuelling.”

The gasps of all the Kansen fill the room. Enterprise herself slowly takes her sunglasses off and whispers, “Holy shit… that’s… quite a step up from my old hull…”

“By the way, sir, if I may ask something from one of the Kansen?” Bishop requests.

“Go ahead.” The Fleet Admiral gestures.

“Belfast.”

“Oh? Yes, sir?” The Maid asks.

“Have you seen your rigging as well? You should’ve been given a new ship, too.”

“Oh, indeed I have, sir. It is quite strange belong a smaller ship, but my weaponry is unlike anything I’ve ever used before.” Belfast curtsies.

“The power of the Type 26 Frigate. Yourself and Glasgow have been upgraded due to your unfortunate demises in Operation Siren and then your revivals, but the rest of the ships who had become the Type-26 in my own world had survived the battle, so they need upgrading to this hull, too, sir.” Bishop turns back to the Fleet Admiral.

“Which of the other girls have this new Frigate hull upgrade?” The older man asks.

Bishop thinks for a moment, “Let’s see… um… ah, yes.” He walks over to the board on the wall and writes them down so he doesn’t accidentally repeat himself.

Birmingham
Sheffield
Newcastle
Edinburgh
London
Hunter

“I believe that’s all the confirmed ones. The rest of them either don’t have Kansen forms in this world or they aren’t named yet in mine.” The ace pilot/historian adds.

The Fleet Admiral looks at the list and orders, “It seems we’re lucky you’re so knowledgable of your world’s Navies, despite being in the Air Force.”

“What can I say, sir? A guy has interests.” The pilot shrugs.

“Indeed. Belfast, round up these listed Kansen as well as Glasgow and bring them here.” The Fleet Admiral orders.

“Immediately, Master.” The Head Maid bows and leaves the room.

1998.

Spring Sea, near the Payton Channel.

The Allied Forces 4th Fleet steams towards a Rebel fortress and are preparing to break through the Payton Channel. On the deck of the flagship Carrier, Scarface Squadron ready their planes for take-off.

Nagase is approached by a taller woman who gently pokes her shoulder. She spins around and looks up at her, “Oh, Miss Valley. What can I do for you?”

“I’d like to know little about you two. You and Phoenix. I’ve heard a lot about him from this war and the last. Is he the real deal?” The Kansen of the Kinnear-class Carrier, White Valley, inquires.

“Yep, he’s the real Phoenix, although he’s unfortunately removed the firebird paint from his Raptor. I can attest to his combat prowess. He’s unstoppable. Don’t you worry, Miss Valley, we’ll get your Fleet through the Channel. We’ll undoubtedly not get through without a scratch, but we’ll do it.”

“…could I speak with him?” the Carrier asks.

Nagase looks over at her squadron leader, doing some pre-flight checks, “He’s… not really good at talking…”

“He’s shy?”

“He’s mute. Gets kinda annoying when I ask what’s wrong or if he needs help, but I can’t argue that he’s the best ace pilot I’ve ever seen.” Nagase assures.

“Mute, huh?” She mutters, “Reminds me of Cipher…”

“Hm?” Edge asks.

“Oh? Just some other pilot I’ve heard about from a fellow Carrier friend of mine. Apparently her ace pilot didn’t talk much either, but I don’t think he was fully mute.” White Valley clarifies. She looks ahead of the Fleet and sees land. “Looks like we’re getting close. I’ll leave you to it. I’ll contact you from my bridge.” The Carrier grins and begins to leave.

“Wait...” Nagase calls out.

“What is it?” The Kansen asks.

“Um… about your… sisters…” Nagase nervously starts.

“What about them?” Valley replies in a darker tone, her eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry it came to this… they wouldn’t surrender. I’m deeply sorry.” The pilot announces sadly.

“They made their choice. They stopped being my sisters when they turned their backs on everyone they swore to protect. On everything they stood for.” The Carrier coldly responds. She turns around again and adds, “But… thank you… for at least showing that you care.” She gives Nagase a little smile before turning again and walking away, letting the pilot get back to her checks.

A little while later, the mission begins. Scarface Squadron and the 4th Fleet will make up the first wave of an attack on the Rebel fortress, but they must first brute force their way through the Channel as going around will give the Coup d’ état more time to mount a stronger defence. Phoenix and Edge take off and maintain a Combat Air Patrol, keeping a lookout for enemy air units.

Valley enters the bride where her Captain stands observing the distant landscape where their target lay. He nods at her and picks up the radio, “This is the Captain of the Allied Forces 4th Fleet flagship White Valley. I haven’t met either of you two yet, but you must be Scarface Squadron. We’re trusting you to escort us through the Payton Channel.”

Keynote chimes in, “‘We’re trusting you’? Since when have you gone so soft, Liam?”

Liam smiles at White Valley, making her looks away and blush. He responds, “Olsen? Is that you? Who’d have guessed you’d be running an ace squadron?”

“Yeah. Look, let’s save the chitchat for later. We’ve got company.” Keynote replies upon seeing the tremendous amount of enemy forces assembling to slow the 4th Fleet, which is just the White Valley and two human-crewed Frigates. He addresses Scarface 1, “That’s quite the welcome party, but don’t forget, Phoenix. The success of this mission lies in ensuring the Fleet’s safety.”

A sailor on one of the Frigates interrupts, “Tell those Rebel scum that Scarface Squadron is here. That ought to scare them!”

Valley chuckles, making Captain Liam look up at her with a smile. The Carrier says, “At least morale is high, considering our tiny little Task Force.” As she summons her own planes ready for takeoff. Although she’s smiling, he can see the distant look in her eyes.

Liam gently takes her hand in his and asks, “Are you sure you’re feeling alright, dear?”

Her smile vanishes as she sighs, “Yeah… I’ll grieve my sisters when the war’s over, sir.”

“If you need to let it all out after this mission, I’ll be here for you. Don’t ever bottle things like this up, understand? It’ll do more damage over time.” The Commander says.

“…yes, sir. Engaging hostile air units.”

Having sunk two Kinnear-class Carriers and their Kansen, Scarface Squadron finally has the full support of the power of one of them against the massive Rebel force. Falling into formation with Phoenix and Edge, Valley’s remote-controlled aircraft act as whole squadrons of wingmen for both of them.

Which is good thing, considering the Rebels have just as many Siren drone craft flying with their own human fighters.

St. Ark.

The Sirens controlling the drones watch from the main Rebel Stronghold.

“This is going to be a tough one for those two, even with Kansen support…” the Observer says.

“It better be. I want to finally test Phoenix properly. The data we managed to collect from this ‘ZOE’ AI has been very tedious to work with. How goes the transfer of the data to the drones?”

“Unfortunately, the transfer of Phoenix’s flight data is incomplete. The AI pod had already sent most of I ts data to its home base, leaving behind only the remnants of the data. That coupled with the damage the pod itself sustained corrupted what was left. It seems we’re not so lucky after all. The drones we have in play will be more than a match for the average ace now, but against Scarface Squadron and that Kansen? I don’t have much confidence. We will need to seek out where the red aircraft came from and then find the AI for our own drones.”

“It’s never simple, is it…?” The Empress grunts. “Since when were humans so much more adept at us at programming drone AI…? Well, at least battles like this show us what Phoenix can do against a massive force and we can collect our own data on him. Zero’s plan for the best aces in this world better be worth it. Keeping the Demon Lord and his plane in suspension is already using up a considerable amount of our power… we can only take the very best. That ‘Nagase’ girl of his will have to be ignored for now.” The Empress replies.

“Such a shame. That apology of hers to that poor Kansen felt so sad…” the Observer quips.

“Just keep the spy drone over that fleet. If White Valley so much as sneezes, I want to know about it.”

“Of course, Your Nosy-ness.”

Payton Channel.

Commander Liam reports, “Rebel warships are blocking the channel exit! They may have Kansen! Phoenix, you need to sink them before they endanger our Fleet!”

Luckily, Phoenix is already on the case. Taking aim at a non-Kansen Cruiser, he unleashes hellfire upon it, overpowering the ship’s CIWS and putting holes in the hull, setting the example as to what he’s about to do to the other Rebel ships, who are all now focusing on him instead of the Allied Fleet, who themselves are busy fighting off Siren drones, one of which lands a missile hit on one of the Frigates.

The sailor from before yells, “Damn it, we just took a direct hit!”

Captain Liam orders, “Damage report! Put a firefighter on standby!”

Phoenix returns from his boat massacre to help Nagase hold off the Rebel and Siren fighters. As he also takes out tanks on the ground whenever he can, the Captain reports, “We’re halfway through the channel! The ravine ends just ahead! Keep going, Scarface Squadron! The channel exit is in sight! Keep covering us until we’re out!”

White Valley adds, “Phoenix, I see two Cruisers blocking the exit. I wish not to see them anymore.” Her wish is swiftly granted as the two ships are sent to the bottom. “Thanks, hun.” She smiles.

Liam puts his arm around her waist, “We’re almost through, then the real assault begins.”

“I know. I’m ready.” The Kansen replies.

“You’re sure?”

“Well, if I’m not, then we’re fucked, aren’t we?” Valley looks at him.

“I guess so.” The man chuckles.

As the last remaining aircraft are taken out, Keynote confirms, “All enemy threats have been removed from the immediate airspace. Now our fleet should be safe. Mission is a success.”

Captain Liam adds, “Thanks, Scarface Squadron. We owe you our lives. And one more thing, Olsen. How’s your wife doing?”

“Sophie’s doing fine. She said she’d like to see you too sometime.”

“Great. I have a message for her; Tell her I’ll come give her husband a pounding if he starts acting up.” Liam jokes, making Valley laugh out loud.

Hearing the Kansen in the background, Keynote lets out an annoyed grunt.

“How romantic.” Edge teases.

“…you got it, Captain.” Keynote finally relents.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

Morgan is kicked into the room with Deutschland carrying Purity’s head and body behind him. He tries to get up but then the Kansen steps on him, pinning him to the floor. She glares at him and yells, “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER MEMORIES!?”

Struggling to breathe and his hands on Deutschland’s ankle in a failing attempt to ease the pressure off his chest, he rasps, “I… I altered them so that she’d obey my command…”

“So why did she go batshit insane!?” The Kansen demands with Purity’s pouting head staring down at him too.

“You tell me! You both come from the same place and you’re showing a good example of craziness yourself right now!”

“DON’T MAKE ME STOMP ON YOUR—“

“Deutschland! No!” Purity pleads. “We need him, remember!?”

Sighing, the Kansen puts Purity down on the table and grabs Morgan, and throws him into a chair. “Now, you will help fix her, or I will FUCKING CASTRATE YOU, DU VERDAMMTES ARSCHLOCH!”

“Okay! Okay! Calm down!” Morgan begs. “Just let me take a look at her and I’ll see what I can do!”

“Fine.” She equips hand-cannon and aims it at him. “Move your ass!”

“Alright!” Morgan stands up and walks over to Purity while the Siren glares up at him, still pouting. He picks up her head and she resist the urge to try and bite him as he puts it back on her shoulders, making sure to reconnect everything properly, or at least as well as he can. Luckily, the restored power to her body allows it to start mending the neck by itself.

Purity sits up and stretches, “Aahh… that’s better…” she cracks her neck tinted sides and then suddenly grabs Morgan by his lab coat, “Now fix my memories!”

The memory stick is shoved into his hand by Deutschland and he sighs, “Right, then…” he turns towards the computer and starts undoing the tampering to Purity’s memories.

“I’m sorry…” the Siren mutters.

“Was?” Deutschland asks, not taking her eyes off the scientist.

“From what I saw in those memories… I understand why you lied… and… I’m sorry for all I did to you before…” the Siren admits.

“You are?” Deutschland finally looks at her, surprised, and sees what seems like genuine remorse on Purity’s face.

“Yeah… I just wanna fit in… and Azur Lane branded me an enemy by default, so I had to stay with the other Sirens…” she looks at the ground while nervously rubbing her left elbow with her right.

The Kansen sighs and gently holds the Siren’s hand. She says, “Purity… you’re probably the most violent and crazy Siren we’ve ever fought. We assumed that’s just how you are, but this time spent with you here has shown me who you really are. A good, helpful and thoughtful person. Whatever the Sirens programmed into you, I can see that wasn’t your true self. This is.”

Purity smiles, but sees the Kansen’s own turn to a frown.

“However, what you did to so many of us… I don’t know of all of the Kansen back home can forgive you… but if I’m there with you, I can try and help persuade them, show them that you are sorry and that at least some Sirens can be allies. It’s clear none of what you did was anything you really wanted. You were just forced to obey the other Sirens or have your mind reset or deleted or whatever… I’ll be willing to help you become a better person, and you can be accepted by us soon enough. Again, it would take time for a lot of Kansen to forgive you, and some may never do, but eventually, you could be one of us… I… I guess…” Deutschland trails off at the end, rather surprised at herself. Everything she’s been through since she got here seems to have changed her. Humbled her, even.

“Wait, there’s more of you?” Morgan asks the Siren.

“SILENCE, LOWLY ANIMAL!” Deutschland yells, hitting him on the back of the head but not hard enough to knock him out, making Purity laugh.

Perhaps she hasn’t changed too much, after all.

Chapter Text

1998.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

Morgan finishes undoing the changes to Purifier’s memories and, under Deutschland’s close watch, properly uploads the data back into the Siren’s memory core.

“It’s done.” The man says.

“Gut.” The Kansen replies, before knocking him out again. She looks at Purity and she asks, “How do you feel?”

The Siren stands up, paces around stretching and flexing her arms and fingers, “Ahh… I feel so much better…”

“…Purity?”

She looks back at the nervous Kansen, “Oh, don’t worry, friend. I’m just… processing everything I forgot about… there’s a lot of data… it’s not like how you’d remember something as your brain is based of how a human’s works. Mine, however, we Sirens can remember things with pixel-perfect accuracy. Therefore, it takes a while to remember everything I’ve experienced and not deleted. Just bear with me…” she sits down and puts a hand on her head, as of to help the process.

“Does your head hurt?” Deutschland asks.

“A little… the part of my core processor that handles data is getting really warm trying to do this… I’ve had to limit the download speed so it doesn’t overheat…” she taps her foot as of impatient. “It all tried to force its way into my head earlier. It felt like my head was on fire… it drove me a little crazy…”

The Kansen says, “Don’t overwork yourself. I’d rather you do it safely than burn out your own brain… heh…”

Purity looks up at her and asks, “What’s so funny?”

“What I just said… it’s like I’m talking to the Flottenadmiral… he always overworks… never takes on a Secretary…der Dummkopf…”

“Why not? Seems a lotta work being in charge of so many.” Purity inquires.

“He always says he doesn’t want to trouble us with all the work he has to do. Seriously, what an idiot.” Deutschland shakes her head.

Purity gets a devious smile, “You like him, don’t you?”

“WAS!?” Deustchland snaps, “D…d…” she looks away, blushing, closing her eyes and crossing her arms, “Don’t be ridiculous… as if I’d develop feelings for mein Haustier!”

“Your… what…?”

Before the Kansen can explain, they hear someone outside with a megaphone shouting.

“ATTENTION! THIS IS THE NORTH OSEAN POLICE FORCE! SURRENDER DR. MORGAN IMMEDIATELY AND THEN COME ON OUT WITH YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEADS!”

“Scheiße…” the Kansen grunts. “Purity, how much longer do you think this will take?”

“I can put a pause on it and continue later.” The Siren offers.

“You’ll need to. We have to get out of here. I’m not killing any humans today.” Deutschland replies. “No matter how much they disgust me…”

“There’s a back exit, but they’ve probably got that covered too… hold on, lemme just pause… oops…”

“Was?”

“Just activated something, but it wasn’t the pause function…” Purity says, embarrassed.

“Then what was it?”

“I dunno… must not be important… there we go, paused. Now let’s work on a plan.” The Siren says.

“Well first, we need to get sleeping beauty over there back on his feet…”

St. Ark.

“Ooh… what this?” The Observer coos as an alert sounds on their rigging.

“What does it look like?” The Empress sarcastically quips, “It seems that Purifier has finally sent out a location beacon. She’s in a part of what this world used to call ‘Belka’.”

“Oh! The country that nuked itself during Zero’s little war? How quaint. I do wonder, though, why Purifier took so long to activate it…”

“Who cares? Maybe she just got brought here, if your little theory about all of us getting here at different times is true. Perhaps she was unconscious and was captured. Maybe she’s just so much of a stupid airhead that it didn’t even occur to her until now or it might’ve even been accidental.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” The Observer replies, activating a portal close to the location of Purity’s tracker.

“What about Turntable?” The Empress asks.

“I put Explorer in charge of it.” The Observer assures her. She then stands next to the portal, smirks and says, “Women and impatient children first, my dear~” she gestures mockingly politely.

“Just fucking get your ass in there…” the Empress grunts as she pushes the laughing Siren through it.

1998.

Rocky Island.

On an island just off the southeastern coast of Usea lay a major geothermal power plant occupied by the Rebels. It supplies power to the defences protecting St. Ark, so naturally it has to go. The Explorer walks with the high-ranking Rebel officer inspecting the facility and they make sure the Rebels are working it properly.

“You. Human. You’re the lead engineer?” The Siren demands.

“Y…yes, ma’am!” The man responds. He’s now being forced to do his job rather than paid for it as the Rebels didn’t have anyone as knowledgeable of the plant as him. “Everything is working at maximum efficiency, ma’am!”

“Good. Keep it up.” She looks at the officer, “Don’t push them too hard… just hard enough to remind them of their place. Maybe break their children’s legs if they talk back.” To which the officer nods.

“Please, ma’am! I beg you! I’m working as hard as I can!” The technician begs. “Please don’t hurt my son and daughter!”

“Well work harder!” The Explorer demands as she backhands him back towards his computer, “Or you’ll be going home to a pair of paraplegics!”

The Siren storms away with the officer in tow. He feels his struck jaw and spits out a tooth. Getting back to work, he gets an alert on the plant’s radar, showing an unknown vessel and two extremely small radar cross-sections approaching them.

“What the…?”

Coming to provide air support for a special ops team who will allow access to the centre of the plant from the inside, Scarface Squadron arrives in their F-22As and get their landing ship, Petral Coost, on the radar.

Keynote starts the mission, “You see that Allied vessel ahead? That’s the landing ship. Make sure they get to the plant.”

The squad leader on the ship radios, “Good to see you, Scarface Squadron. Here’s to a smooth mission.”

Keynote adds, “Seize command of the airspace until they’ve got that plant’s barrier open.”

Phoenix and Edge get right on it, downing Rebel aircraft and destroying AA guns and SAM sites.

Getting the target building in sight, the squad leader reports, “I see it. That’s the geothermal power plant, Turntable.”

Another soldier replies, “So that’s Turntable… sure is massive…”

The Skipper reports, “Petral Coost, en route to target.”

Seeing the one landing ship escorted by two fighters, a Rebel yells, “Hold off that landing ship!”

Another, less confident Rebel replies, “Careful, they’re getting excited down there. Is it true the Firebird is on its way?”

Getting closer to the land Turntable sits upon, the squad leader asks, “Target now in sight. You guys ready?”

His men all yell, “Sir, yes, sir!” In unison.

As they watch Phoenix take out all the defences they would’ve had to push through in one bombing run, their morale shoots through the ceiling as they all cheer.

“We’re almost there. Get ready to go ashore!” The leader orders.

Edge outmanoeuvres a few MiGs who made the mistake of thinking they could take her on.

The second the landing ship hits the sand, the Skipper announces, “This is Petral Coost. We’ve reached Turntable! Deploying ground units!”

Keynote updates the mission, “Alright, Scarface Squadron, Cover those men. They’re working on opening that barrier, so make sure to provide them cover in the meantime.”

The lead engineer of the base gasps, “We’re saved…” he risks his own life by disabling many of the defences for the spec ops team and sounds the evacuation alarm, making all the other forced labourers leave as fast as they can, overwhelming the lone Siren there, who’s more focused on the Allied attack. She notices them fleeing the facility unmolested as her soldiers are busy fighting the invading force.

“Oh, you slippery little shits!”

Phoenix sees just how colossal the plant is. Much larger than any he’s ever seen, but thankfully still dwarfed by Avalon Dam. So big that it itself has its own AA defences, which he starts making quick work of while his wingman keeps enemy fighters off him. Upon taking out the tanks preventing the ground team advancing, they start blasting their way into the huge facility.

“Hostiles destroyed.” Keynote updates, “Ground troops are making their way to the barrier.”

“Hurry up and get that barrier open!” The squad leader orders. He notices the defences are going down. Someone on the inside must be helping them.

“Come on… come on…” the lead engineer encourages quietly.

The Explorer yells, “Don’t let them get any further!”

A few minutes later, he orders, “Alright, we’ve reached the barrier. Now work on getting it open!” He looks up at Scarface Squadron, “We’re counting on you for cover, aces!”

Getting serious, Keynote orders, “Listen up, Phoenix. That barrier won’t be open for long. Failure is not an option. We need to destroy that plant.”

The squad leader sees Scarface 1 dodging and weaving around missiles and gunning down his attackers like some kind of superhero. He can’t believe his eyes. Surely the average man would’ve blacked out by now. With that in mind, he demands, “Isn’t that thing open yet!? I don’t know how much more Phoenix can take!”

“Almost got it!” A teammate answers. “There! The barrier is open!”

“Phoenix!.” Keynote updates, “I’ve uploaded an entry point to your radar. You’ve got 90 seconds to pull this off, stay focused!”

Scarface 1 sees the opening in the facility. Edge covers him as he lines up his shot and hovers his fingers over the button to launch his secondary armaments.

The Siren looks at the open barrier, shocked, “What!?”

The officer with her orders on the radio, “Close that barrier! What’s going on down there!?”

“Someone’s hacked into the system!” A Rebel soldier responds, “It won’t close!”

“Dammit! The core’s left wide open!” The officer yells.

“Wait a minute…” the Explorer mutters before going to look for the lead engineer.

Phoenix starts his attack run. He flies right into a long tunnel leading to the core of the power plant to the utter amazement of both the remaining Rebels and the Allies. Nothing like this had been pulled off since Avalon Dam.

Similar to that battle, Phoenix destroys the core reactor and flies out the other end before he’s engulfed in the blast.

“Geothermal power plant Turntable has been destroyed. Good job, Scarface Squadron.”

While the Rebel soldiers left standing surrender, the Explorer catches the lead engineer. “YOU!”

The man legs it away from her as fast as he can put he runs into a portal then sends him back to her. He’s grabbed by the throat and lifted off his feet.

“You little insect! I will personally take you to your home so you can personally say goodbye to your family, right before I-“

“LET GO OF HIM!” The squad leader of the spec ops team orders.

The Explorer looks at him and scoffs, “You really think that you can harm me!?”

“Well, probably not. But she can.” The squad leader points behind the Siren.

The Explorer’s wrist gets grabbed and broken with little effort, she screams as she’s forced to let go of the lead engineer, who starts fleeing. Looking behind her, she sees a Kansen she’s never seen before. She gasps, “What…? Who…?”

Without speaking, the Kansen punches her in the face to daze her, then grabs her hair, pulls her down and brings her knee up to the Siren’s face, knocking her out.

“Much appreciated, ma’am. We’ll take it from here.” The squad leader says, to which the Kansen nods before silently walking away.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

Sheffield inspects her new rigging and firearms granted by her upgrade given by the Compiler.

“Hmm… these seem rather… adequate.”

Edinburgh gasps, “That’s the highest compliment you’ve ever made, Sheffy.”

“Yes, sister. Please keep it to yourself or I’ll have to silence you.” The emotionless maid warns.

“Wha…? Sheffy!”

The Fleet Admiral is impressed by the Type II Riggings. So much so that he thinks of something new. “Compiler.”

“Yes, sir?” The Siren looks up at him.

“Are you able to create Type II Riggings for Kansen that don’t have new ships in Lt. Colonel Bishop’s timeline?” The senior officer asks.

“It would be dangerous, but affirmative. It would be best if the Kansen herself thinks of what their new rigging will be, then I have a basis to work with.” The Compiler answers. “It also would require a Kansen with immense willpower, or the subject may be killed in the process.”

“Hmm…” the Fleet Admiral acknowledges. Looking to Bishop, he orders, “Keep trying to remember which girls have new ships in your world and call them here for upgrades. I’ll be back soon.”

“Yes, sir.” Bishop nods.

The Fleet Admiral leaves the building.

“No pressure… only if I get the wrong girl, she could die…” Bishop whispers.

“Don’t worry, nya!” Akashi appears as if by magic. “I have anyalysed the data from your world based of the residue from you and your plane, nya! From that I can see exactly which Kansen have new ships in your timeline and made a machine that scans them and tells you if they’re suitable or not, nya!” The green cat holds the device proudly.

“Oh, thank God…” Bishop breathes a sigh of relief, but then it gets pulled away from him when he tries to grab it.

When Akashi stands there expectantly and silent with the device behind her back, the ace pilot sighs, “…How much do you want for it…?”

The Fleet Admiral stands near the massive golden anchor fountain in the middle of the base. He thinks for a moment, “A Kansen with immense willpower…”. He starts walking towards the Iron Blood building…

1998.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

The North Osean Police SWAT Team breach into the lab where Deutschland and Purity were hiding. They couldn’t wake up Morgan so they had to drag him through the portal they had just escaped through.

“Wait!” One of the SWAT officers yells right before the portal closes. “…what the hell was that…?” He mutters.

Behind him, another portal opens up, making him and the other team members aim their weapons at it.

Out of the portal charges the Observer, pinning everyone to the wall with her tentacles and causing them to drop their guns as they struggle against the black appendages.

The Empress emerges from the portal and smiles, “Ah, what do we have here?”

“Looks like some humans who had some false sense of security from their pathetic armour.” The Observer answers mockingly.

“Kill them all.” The Empress orders coldly.

“N…no! Wait!” One of the men pleads.

“Except that one.”

The Observer obeys and crushes the rest, leaving the one man alive. She wraps him in her tentacles and holds him in front of the taller Siren.

The Empress glares at him, “You will tell us what this place is and where our comrade went, or I’m feeding you to my rigging. Slowly.” She threatens as her mechanical shark snaps its jaws at him.

Chapter Text

1998.

Comona Islands.

“So… this is a Mass Driver…” the Harmony mutters as she is checking out another one of the superweapons designed to shoot down the meteor still hurtling towards the planet while her superior, the Temperance, studies Stonehenge. This weapon is referred to as the “anti-asteroid laser” but it has not yet been launched. She had assumed she’d have to hide herself from the Rebels after they took over, but they had accepted her as an authority figure. After learning that they are working with another two Sirens, she nodded and asked to study the massive ramp-like rail that launches vehicles into space.

“It seems a lot more convenient than wasting so much on rocket fuel…” the Siren Enforcer coos, until she remembers why she’s here. “May I see the satellite weapon?”

“Of course, ma’am. This way. There’s actually more than one, scattered in hangars around the islands. This is just one. We’re getting it ready to send into orbit. When it’s up there, we can turn it around and point it at the planet. With this, we’ll be able to target anything in Usea, even the base where that damned Scarface Squadron is stationed. We can knock those aces out of the war once and for all.”

“How interesting…” the Harmony replies as she records and notes as much as possible for the Temperance. “It’s amazing…”

“Yes, the Usean government spent so much on this damn thing instead of using the funds to help the people!” The man snaps.

Remaining scarily calm, the Harmony looks at him and deadpans, “I was going to say it’s amazing how stupid humans can be. This weapon was designed to aid Stonehenge by disintegrating the smaller pieces of Ulysses 1994XF04 that the rail gun network misses. By doing this, you’ll doom a lot of the Usean people when the meteor enters the atmosphere and shatters.”

Defeated, the Rebel is at a loss for words. As his jaw moves up and down as he tries to think of a rebuttal, the Harmony approaches the laser weapon. “Hmm…rather impressive technology, for humans.”

A scientist in charge of maintaining the weapon replies, “Apparantly, the team that made them got the technology from a formerly Belkan base three years ago. It came from research on the laser that Solo-Wing Pixy had mounted on his plane.”

“Oh. Well, that explains it. Where is this base, may I ask?” The soft-speaking Siren asks with a smile.

It’s in what used to be Belka. The country is a lot smaller now and the base is now North Osean territory. The exact location is top-secret, however. I’m sorry, but I don’t know where it is.”

“The general location is enough. I’ll find it. Thank you. Please, tell me more about this weapon.” Now she’s more curious as to what they’ve done with the data on the Purifier’s laser weapon rather than what the weapon before her is intended for.

Before the scientist can reply, however, air raid sirens start blaring and a voice comes over the tannoy, “Allied air forces incoming! All units, protect the satellite weapons with your lives!”

“Ooh… perhaps I can see this ‘Firebird’ that has Empress so worked up~” the Harmony excitedly says.

“Is this all some big experiment to you people!?” The soldier from before yells.

“Yes. Yes it is.” The Siren replies as she opens a hangar to observe the battle from a safe distance. “Now, let’s see you in action, little Phoenix~” she giggles.

Just as she starts a new recording, the hangar she was just in explodes as two F-22A Raptors fly over it and start destroying more hangars until they destroy all the laser weapons.

“Brute force, hmm? They don’t know which buildings contain the four satellite weapons, so just get rid of them all. Mercenaries really are interesting~” the Siren mutters.

“Satellite weapon destroyed.” Keynote reports, “But there are 3 still left, Phoenix. Find the next hangar complex.”

Scarface Squadron moves onto the next island.

The Harmony sits back on her rigging, “If only I had some of that ‘popcorn’ the humans speak of…” she sees another satellite weapon blow up.

Keynote updates, “Satellite weapon destroyed. Two more remaining.”

Nagase adds, “Excellent work, Phoenix. With you on our side, I feel like anything is possible. I’m proud to be a member of Scarface Squadron!”

“I think you have a good point there, Miss ‘Edge’…” Harmony whispers, having hacked into their communications. They can’t hear her, however. “Hmm… it seems the last weapon is on that shuttle over there… would be a shame for Empress if someone told them about it, hehehehe…”

Having reached the Mass Driver, Phoenix finds the third laser weapon and destroys it while Nagase destroys the SAMs and AA guns around the complex.

“Satellite weapon destroyed. 1 left… wait…” Keynote pauses, “We have an emergency transmission.”

“Oh?” The Harmony rhetorically asks. “Who could that be from, I wonder~?”

She gets startled a little when Keynote yells, “Phoenix! Get to the shuttle launch pad immediately! The last satellite weapon has already been loaded into the shuttle! We can’t let it launch into space!”

Having been discovered trying to launch, one of the Rebels orders, “Skip launch sequence from 26 through 52! Hurry the launch!”

Listening to the panicked radio chatter, the Harmony sits on the edge of her seat. “This is like those silly movies Omitter kept trying to show me…” She mutters to herself.

Phoenix puts a few rounds into the shuttle housing the last satellite weapon, destroying both and wiping out all the Rebels scrambling to get it launched.

“Wow…” the Harmony gasps as she watches the explosion, amplified by the burning rocket fuel. She makes sure to save this part of the recording for herself.

“The shuttle and satellite weapon have been destroyed! Now we don’t have to worry about overhead attacks. Well done, Phoenix.” Keynote congratulates.

“Hmm… well, I’d better tell Temperance the anti-asteroid laser is gone. At least I have the data we needed from it…” the Siren shrugs, opening a portal.

“Spoke too soon. Looks like we got enemy reinforcements. Can’t relax just yet, Phoenix!”

“Ooh… I get to see the ‘Firebird’ in a dogfight as well as an anti-ground attack? How delightful!” The Harmony closes the portal an sits on her rigging again.

A squadron of two F/A-18E Super Hornets and five F-15S/MTD Eagles enter the battlefield. Phoenix recognises their camouflage and markings. He smiles as he gets to have a challenge again, his confidence still reinvigorated from downing the ZOE.

“Target in sight! It’s Scarface, alright!” Beast 1 confirms.

“Got a visual of a phoenix on the tail. It’s him!” Beast 2 adds.

Beast 1 orders, “Let’s make sure there isn’t a third time! Take him down! I WANNA SEE HIM BLEED!”

As the two Squadrons engage each other once again, Beast 1 taunts, “Hello again, chumps! I hope you’re ready for some more!”

After Phoenix cracks his neck, he instantly takes down one of the enemy aces, making the borderline insane Beast 1 call out, “Nice going, flame-o! I’ve been looking forward to the next chance to fight with a demon like you! You and me are gonna duke it out for a while!” As another of his wingmen falls to Edge.

The Harmony coos, “Oh, my. This one has history with Phoenix, hmm?”

“The Beast Squadron?” Nagase calls out. “What are they still doing alive?”

As the Beasts perform their special manoeuvres like last time, the leader barks, “I’ll do whatever it takes to crush that demon! I always prefer to win!” As he flicks a switch…

Scarface Squadron’s radar, consoles and HUDs become static. Thankfully, their radios still work. Keynote informs, “It’s a jamming signal!”

Mockingly, Beast 1 laughs, “Haha! Sorry, flame-o!”

Nagase grunts, “This jamming won’t make things any easier!”

The Harmony takes even more notes on Phoenix as he switches over to guns and takes out another Beast. “Hmm… even when his lock-on is disabled, the Firebird is a force to be reckoned with…” the jamming device is no match for her equipment, of course.

The jammer wreaks havoc on Scarface Squadron’s targeting systems, but not their engines or control surfaces. The two aces manage to keep outmanoeuvring Beast Squadron, peppering them with bullets and letting off a missile whenever their systems have a rare moment of functionality.

At the very least, they’re angering Beast 1 to no end.

“This fight’s making my blood boil!”

After Nagase manages to down one of the two F/A-18s, the jamming becomes less severe.

Keynote reports, “The jamming level’s dropped significantly. That must’ve been one of the aircraft. There should be another electronic warfare craft among them.”

Beast 1 yells, “This so much more thrilling when there’s no damn annoying Siren drones with us!”

Realising finally that these are the pilots who previously failed to take down Scarface and lived, the Harmomy chuckles, “Oh, Empress… always throwing drones at a problem expecting it to go away~”

Realising there’s only one other Super Hornet among the Eagles, Phoenix takes it down, getting rid of the annoying jamming entirely.

“Damn, I’m hit! AAAAAHHHH-” the second jammer pilot yells out as his plane explodes.

“All electronic warfare aircraft destroyed. The jamming signal has ceased.” Keynote confirms.

Now able to reliably use his lock-on targeting now, Phoenix switches back to his offensive flying style. Seeing this, Beast 1 grunts, “Damn. You’re good, flame-o.”

Another, now nervous Beast asks, “Hey, Sergei! We’ll be okay, right?”

Their flight lead snaps, “Don’t ask me! It’s up to you wether you win or go home in a body bag! Idiots, every one of them! This is what you get with hired help!”

The Harmony deadpans, “You could just disengage and go home. The battle here’s already won. It’s not that serious…”

Keynote encourages, “Now with the jamming out of the way, we’ve got the upper hand. How’s our chance! Cut down their numbers!”

The Harmony gets a call from her superior. She accepts it immediately and asks, “Temperance? How can I help you, my dear?”

“Harmony, what’s happening there? You were supposed to report back by now.”

“See for yourself, honey.” The Harmony smiles as she pulls up her camera recording the battle. “That Scarface Squadron we’ve heard about from Empress and Observer are putting on a show for me.”

“Are they aware of your presence?” The Temperance asks.

“They are not. You’re sweet for worrying about me, though~” the lesser Siren teases.

“Just report back to me when they’re done.” The Temperance swiftly hangs up.

“I haven’t seen her cheeks that red before, hehehehe…” the Harmony giggles.

As Beast 1’s final wingman is shot down without even so much as a single scratch on either Phoenix or Edge, the enemy ace exclaims, “How did you take out my entire squadron!? This makes it just you and me, amigo! I should’ve done this from the get-go!”

Phoenix is caught off-guard as Beast 1 suddenly outmanoeuvres him and gets on his tail, blazing right bast Edge and damaging her plane’s belly with his machine gun.

“Dammit!” Nagase tells as she has to disengage for now.

Phoenix isn’t about to take that and pulls back his throttle and flight stick, pulling a Cobra right as Beast 1 launches all of his missiles in one go in a fit of rage. Scarface 1’s counter-manoeuvre ensures not single one hit him.

“Bastard!” Beast 1 yells. “Where’d he go!?”

Scarface 1 manages to damage Beast 1’s engines so he can’t gain enough speed to pull his own Cobra or other evasion moves and also allowing for a good missile lock. The second he hears the ping, Phoenix lets off his last two missiles, both scoring critical hits on the enemy F-15.

Having lost the use of his control surfaces, Beast 1 growls, “Next chance I get… I’m cutting out your damn windpipe…” as Phoenix flies alongside his smoking plane.

Scarface 1 looks at the state of Beast 1’s plane. He’s a no ale to eject. She shakes his head and pulls away as the F-15 explodes along with the ace.

“The last Beast Squadron aircraft has been destroyed. Good work, Scarface Squadron.” Keynote praises yet again.

Phoenix pulls up alongside his wingman as she nurses her plane home. She smiles at him, thankful that even though he can’t physically do anything to help, he’s staying with her. She finally reveals something she’s been keeping a secret to him, “Phoenix, listen…”

Scarface 1 looks at her in her cockpit from his while she continues, “I’m originally from the far east, where the Rebellion first began. Without the Allied Forces there to help, the take a heavy beating every day. I’ve vowed to become stronger so that I can put an end to that. I needed to become tougher, but you have a strength that far exceeds my own. Here’s to more missions together.”

Phoenix nods to her and gives a thumbs up, to which she smiles again.

“Hmm… how incredible this little display was. I see why Empress gets so worked up about challenging that ace.” The Harmony thinks. “Oh, well. Time to message her about what happened to her new satellite weapons and get back to dear Tempy~” she opens a portal, sends the message and leaves.

Heavy Command Cruiser build site, Fuscum Sea.

“So this is the Aigaion?” The Tester asks.

“Affirmative.” Gustav confirms. “It will take off from the water and remain in the air for its entire service. Six planes will keep it fully fuelled so it need not land. The Nimbus cruise missiles will blot out the sky with explosions, destroying any and all enemy planes in the airspace. The runway in the middle allows it to serve as a flying Aircraft Carrier.

“Show me it.”

“It’s still under construction. I—“

“Did I stutter!?” The Tester jams a knife against his neck.

“Alright, alright…” Gustav shakes his head and approaches the giant airship.

After showing his clearance, Gustav takes the Siren to the enormous bridge. Upon entering, the Tester observes the multiple levels of consoles, each directly controlling one of the many engines that will power the craft.

A man who was already in the bridge sees the man and the Siren. “General Gustav? What are you doing here, sir?”

“This… young lady… has requested to see the Aigaion, Riedel. You will show her anything she requests.” Gustav orders.

Lorenz Riedel, an ace and Belkan War Veteran, had acquired the blueprints for the Aigaion from Belka when he fled to Estovakia. He could foresee the inevitable collapse of the Estovakian government and pushed for the Aigaion and its escorts to be constructed to quell any uprisings as well as being an effective deterrent against Emmeria, and even Osea and Yuktobania. The Heavy Command Cruiser has only just begun construction, with only the bridge, runway, engine mounts and skeleton built so far, but when it gets in the air, it will surely dominate any airspace.

Riedel suspiciously glances at the Siren and then back to Gustav, “A civilian, sir? Are you sure that’s wise? This project is supposed to be a secret.”

“Do not question orders, Feniks. Or should I say, Gault 7?”

Flinching at the name, he says, “…yes, sir…” he looks at the Tester, who wears a false smile pretending to be a friendly civilian. She had had to cover herself with some normal human clothes rather than stay in her revealing Siren attire. Riedel approaches her, taken aback by her yellow eyes. He offers his hand, “A pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” He gently takes her hand and lifts it to his face and kisses it. “My name is Lorenz Riedel. May I have yours?”

Surprised and flustered by his confidence, the Siren completely forgets the fake name she had spent the entire trip here thinking of. She accidentally answers, “My… designation… is ‘The Tester’…”

“Your… designation?” Feniks questions.

The General clears his throat, “Um… yes, I gave her a designation to protect her identity. Her name is not to be spoken.”

“Ah. I see. A strange choice. The Tester? Very well, then. Follow me, my dear. There’s not much to see right now, but I’m sure you will find it very interesting.”

“Um… thank you…” The Tester goes with him perhaps more eagerly than she intended to. She became so focused on Riedel that she forgot about Gustav, who is now sneaking away from her…

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, shared faction park.

The Compiler takes a break from bringing back sunk Kansen and upgrading the others. She climbs up onto a bench and Graf Spee sits with her. The Iron Blood Cruiser offers her a sandwich she had brought from the cafeteria. “Here…”

The Compiler takes the sandwich and looks at her. “Danke.” The Siren says.

“Hm?” Spee looks at her friend.

“What’s wrong?” The Compiler asks in the language of Iron Blood after taking a small bite.

“You’re speaking my language.”

The Siren nods, “I assumed you’d feel more comfortable if I do. I can switch back to the Royal language if you’d prefer?”

“Nein… I’m just surprised…”

“There’s something bothering you. What is it?” The Compiler asks before nibbling on the sandwich some more.

Spee takes a deep breath and finally speaks up on what’s been internally torturing her for so long. “My schwester, Deutschland. Why haven’t you brought her back yet? I’ve been waiting but you’ve brought every other sunk Iron Blood back except her.”

The Siren looks at her in confusion, “I cannot bring back Deutschland.”

“Why not!?” Spee raises her voice, startling the Siren, making her drop her sandwich.

The Siren looks at the lost snack, seemingly unbothered, and back up at the Kansen, “Because she did not sink.”

“…was?” Spee then drops her own in shock.

“Deutschland is still alive. Or at least she was until my comrades were sent to the other world.” The Compiler explains.

“She got sent with them!?” Spee asks in a time of voice not many have heard from her, “She’s alone with them!?”

“If she survived the process of being sent there, then yes. It’s possible.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner!?”

“Nobody asked me until now.” The Siren shrugs unhelpfully.

“We have to go speak to the Flottenadmiral and Bismarck immediately!” Spee grabs the Compiler by the hand and pulls her along while the she stares back at her fallen lunch, reaching out to it in vein.

1998.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

Dr. Schroeder is being forced to show the Empress and the Observer all the data on the ZOE Project and other experimental aircraft. “The ZOE is an advanced AI capable of observing and replicating the flight data of any pilot is fights. Currently it has the data of Scarface 1.”

“The flight data of Phoenix?” The Empress asks in a surprised tone. “So that thing can fly a plane as well as he can?”

“Well, it’s supposed to be able to, but since it was shot down last time, it could only send an incomplete copy of the data before— hey, where did you get that!?” Dr. Schroeder exclaims as the Observer pulls out the AI pod from her rigging.

“I have my ways~” the smaller Siren says as she connects it back to the main machine that houses the full AI.

The scientist types in a console and starts transferring the data.

“I want a full copy of all that data for our own drones.” The Empress demands.

Hesitantly, Dr. Schroeder mutters, “Y… yes, ma’am…”

“Hmm… finally. A human who know how to show respect. I like this one.” The tall Siren quips.

“Oh? Empress, we have an update from Harmony. Check your messages.” The Observer informs her as she reads it.

The Empress nods and reads it herself. Her smile slowly vanishes and is replaced by an angry scowl as she gets to the end.

“OH, FOR FUCK’S SAKE!”

Razgriz Straits, off the coast of North Estovakia.

A Siren watches the construction of a huge rail gun sitting on an iceberg, the Chandelier. The Harmony glides out of a portal and hovers next to her. “Hello Temperance, dear.”

The Temperance smiles, “Hello, Harmony. I received the data ahead of your arrival. It seems the humans here have wasted one of the few chances they have to reduce the amount casualties from Ulysses.”

“Yes, they are quite silly, aren’t they? And look what they’re doing here. Putting a gun that big on an iceberg… I wonder what they’ll do if climate change hits? They can’t exactly move it down south either or it will sink as the ice will melt~” the Harmony agrees. She looks at her superior, “So… learn anything else about this Chandelier?”

“Only that it’s so open to attack, they’ve had to put countless AA defences all around the exposed cooling units and as well as deploy a considerable amount of the Estovakian Navy. I’ve even seen several Kansen down there, being swapped out constantly until they get shipgirls who don’t mind how cold it is here. In hindsight, I really should’ve sent Tower here instead. She’s the cold one.”

“Ah, speaking of our lovely Tower, has she reported anything?”

“Apart from the ‘adorable little rodent’ she adopted, she says that Stonehenge seems to be far more efficient than this monstrosity. Apparently the rail gun network can be used to shoot down ANYTHING, not just meteors, including aircraft. Part of me feels sorry for the humans here. Their technology has run rampant if they’re able to do things like this. Imagine the things the humans on our own universe have that the humans here don’t because of their hyper-advanced militaries and ridiculous projects like this.” The Temperance crosses her arms. “On the other hand, a part of me is quite fearful of them.”

“Hmm~? Why is that, darling?”

“That ‘V2’ they created three years ago… it’s nothing like the V2 that our own humans created back home. This one was several times more powerful than even the missile fired by the Orochi. That was the peak of our technology back then. They were seemingly even able to create laser weaponry on par with, if not greater than, our own…”

“Hmm… but is that not a good thing, considering Dreamweaver’s plan?”

“The Dreamweaver… her plan is flawed in many ways… but if we are to even stand a chance of humanity surviving the Leviathans… we do in fact need whatever we get get from this world before finding a way back. Combining our might with the humans and the Kansen just won’t be enough, no matter how much we test them.”

“Indeed. Dreamweaver’s plan has merit, but then will even that be enough? We still need to figure out how to return, after all. And what if the Leviathans exist in this universe? For all we know, that meteor could actually be one of them~” the Harmony theorises.

“If it was, we’d already be dead…”

Chapter Text

1998.

Heavy Command Cruiser build site, Fuscum Sea.

The Tester is guided around what little of the Aigaion has been built thus far and is shown everything. She asks the man giving her the tour, “What is this thing even for? I’ve heard you’re building a giant cannon, too.”

Riedel answers, “The Chandelier is being built to give us at least a fighting chance at shooting down an incoming meteor the size of a mountain. The Osean Federation refused to give us the technology they used for their own weapon, Stonehenge, so we are making our own. The Aigaion is being constructed to ensure that if the Chandelier is not enough to protect us, we are protected by the Heavy Command Cruiser from an invasion should we be weakened.”

“I see that trust between nations is non-existent in this world, as well.” The Tester sarcastically remarks.

“This world… as well?” Riedel asks.

Deflecting the question, the Siren asks back, “Do you have the plans for this thing? I may be able to help build it.”

“How so?” Riedel questions as he guides her over to the table with the Belkan blueprints on it.

“You’ll see.” The Tester replies as she scans every little detail she can see. “Rather primitive. I can make some improvements here and there…”

“Primitive? This is the bleeding edge of Belkan and Estovakian technology!”

“That is so sad…” The Siren deadpans as she presents the palm of her right hand in front of him and closes her eyes.

Riedel looks at her hand in confusion until it starts glowing. He takes a step back and sees something form on her hand, and his eyes widen as he recognises it. “Is… is that…!?”

“This is a Wisdom Cube, which now holds all the data on this ship. It will help complete the Aigaion and then potentially give it a Kansen.” The Siren explains. “It will be an interesting test if wether or not Kansen can even be created in another world.”

“But… that’s already been done.”

“Huh?”

“Kansen already exist here… and… if you’re able to create the Cubes needed, that makes you a Siren!” Riedel gasps.

The Tester glares at him. “How do you know what I am!?” She summons her manta-ray rigging. “Speak!”

Stumbling backwards, the man holds up his hands and explains, “I… I was in the Belkan War! Halfway through, our leadership was taken over by a Siren!”

“What did she look like!?”

“Her rigging looked like a jellyfish! The Siren herself was short and always looked tired!”

“What was her name!?”

“They… they called her ‘Zero’!”

Tester stops and her rigging disengages. “… Dreamweaver…? She’s here? Are the others here, too…?” She falls to her knees in relief.

Cautiously, Riedel approaches her, “Are… are you alright, Miss Tester?”

“I thought I was alone… I… I thought I was stranded…”

“Couldn’t you contact the others?” Feniks asks.

“No… They would’ve needed to use a new radio frequency that I don’t know… and I can’t open portals to them, either. My rigging isn’t equipped with a portal generator…” the Tester answers. “Only the Arbiters have them…”

The pilot helps her up and says, “I’m glad I can at least give you good news, then. But what about this Cube? You say you’re going to make a Kansen for the Aigaion?”

“Yes, that is, if it will even accept a Kansen form when it’s built. Not all ships do, as I’m sure you humans have found out. Where is the main power source?”

“This way.” Feniks leads her there.

The Tester chuckles to herself quietly. It’s funny. She came here to see a superweapon, yet she can’t seem to take her eyes off of the ace guiding her…

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Fleet Admiral’s Office.

“SHE’S WHAT!?” The Fleet Admiral bellows.

Unnerved somewhat, the Compiler had her hand squeezed by Graf Spee. She plucks up her courage and explains, “Kansen Deutschland is still alive. It is theorised she was sent to the other world in my place.”

The Fleet Admiral slowly sits back down, just imagining the hell the poor Pocket Battleship may be going through right now. He grabs his phone and calls someone.

Spee hears the voice of her flagship answer, “Ja, Flottenadmiral?”

“Bismarck. Report to my office ASAP. It’s urgent.”

“Jawohl.” Bismarck hangs up.

The man puts the phone down and returns his attention to the Kansen and Siren stood at his desk. He gestures to the chairs, “Take a seat, the pair of you.”

Hesitantly, they both obey.

“Explain to me how exactly Deutschland was sent in your place, Compiler.”

The Siren answers, “The theory is that when Deutschland disobeyed Bismarck’s direct orders and charged towards me, Purifier grabbed hold of her and forced her into the portal made for herself by accident. The combined portals can only handle one user before collapsing afterwards in an emergency situation, meaning my own portal collapsed as its power was diverted to sending both Purifier and Deutschland through theirs, and then the Trinity Warhead exploded, causing the portal generators to malfunction and send them away to the other world instead of back through time.”

“I see… there’s still the mystery of how Warwolf 1 even got here with that thing, as well…” the Fleet Admiral nods.

“Indeed, that is a question I myself have been struggling to answer.” The Compiler agrees.

Before they get lost in thought, Bismarck enters the room and plants her flagpole on the ground. “You called for me, Flottenadmiral?” She asks with a fist to her chest in a salute.

“At ease, Bismarck.” The Fleet Admiral says. “We have some news for you. About Deutschland.”

“Deutschland? Has she been revived finally?” Bismarck asks, hopeful they can finally tell the Heavy Cruiser what her name means.

Some Sakura Destroyer girls playing outside outside get startled, drop their candy and run away crying when they hear the voice of the Iron Blood flagship yell from inside the building.

“SIE IST WAS!?”

1998.

St. Ark.

A portal opens within a building in the main Rebel Stronghold. The soldiers there expect the Empress and the Observer to step out so they line up ready to salute.

They’re surprised when Deutschland and Purity fall through it instead.

“What the hell!?” One of the soldiers exclaims as they all aim their weapons at them, but then stand down when they see Purity is a Siren herself. “Ma’am! Please forgive us! Did the Empress send you in her stead?”

Purity looks at the soldiers seemingly willing to obey her and looks at her Kansen friend, who shrugs. “Um… yeaaahhh… she did.”

“Ma’am, the Stronghold and surrounding territories are secure. What are your orders?” Another soldier asks.

Deutschland, feeling her old self reawakening, butts in, “You are to address us both as ‘Mistress’, lowly animals! Bow down before us!”

As they reluctantly do, Purity hisses, “What are you doing!?”

“I never get to do this! Just let me have my moment!” The Kansen hisses back.

Purity rolls her eyes. “Rise, everyone. I want you all on patrol… wherever we are. Leave us!”

“Uh… yes, Mistress…” the soldier acknowledges confusingly as he rallies his men and they all leave.

When they’re alone, Deutschland pouts in disappointment. Purity looks at her and asks, “What was all that about? You got a domination fetish or something?”

“Was? Oh, n-nein… n-nothing…” The Kansen looks away, blushing as she shrinks in embarrassment.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“…nein…”

“You sure?”

“…ja…”

“Seriously though, where are we?” Purity asks, changing the subject.

“I have no idea… um, Purity… what is the progress of your memory download?” Deutschland hesitantly asks.

“Oh, it’s done now. Thanks for reminding me. Gonna access it now.”

“Wait!” The Kansen puts her hand up, but she’s too late.

“Hopefully I’ll find us a way to… get us… back to…” Purity trails off as she accesses her memories.

“…Purity…?” The Kansen gets ready to summon her rigging.

After a long silence, Purity starts to cry. She looks at her friend and says, “I… I’m a monster… aren’t I?”

“Was?” Deutschland whispers, shocked.

“I’ve made you and your fellow Kansen suffer for so long… I laughed when your peers sank… I took pleasure in torturing humans and Kansen… by the Creator, what have I done…?” She crouches down and grabs her hair, now trying to block out all the horrendous things she’s done.

Deutschland silently kneels next to her and slowly embraces her in a comforting hug. The Siren lets it all out and hugs her back tightly.

“I’m a monster! I’m a murderer!”

Deutschland just keeps hugging her and letting her get it out. “It’s okay…”

“No, it’s not! I’ve done so much horrible shit to you girls! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, meine friend. Just let it out…”

Purity yells, “I’M A SIREN! WE WERE CREATED TO AID HUMANITY! WHY DO WE PUT THEM THROUGH SUCH TORMENT!?”

“…”

“…”

“…was?” Deutschland asks.

“Huh…?” Purity looks at her, tears still running down her cheeks.

“Sirens were created to… what?”

Rebel-occcupied ballistic missile base, watchtower, Faith Park Gorge, Usea.

“This test should get us more data on Phoenix…” The Empress mutters.

The Observer yawns, “The Rebels’ plan this time is rather boring. Ballistic missile strikes on major cities? Just what is their goal, exactly?”

“Does it matter? We’re only aiding the Rebels until they’re of no use to us. I doubt Scarface Squadron will let a single missile escape the airspace, anywa—“

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

The radar warns them of incoming Allied fighters.

“Ooh, speak of the devil~” the Observer coos.

“Well, then. Send the order to launch the missiles. Let’s see how he fares here…”

The Observer nods and obeys with no cocky quip, much to the Empress’ surprise.

“We are approaching combat airspace.” Keynote announces as Scarface Squadron look upon the massive gorge and its missile silo, lit up by the beginning of an otherwise beautiful sunset. “Your targets are the underground missile silo exhaust ducts. It’ll be hard navigating the terrain, but make sure you hit them dead-on.”

An enemy squadron of AV-8 Harriers joins in to make Scarface’s job a little less easy on top of the ridiculous angles they’ll have to fly at to hit the exhaust ducts.

“We’ve reached the destination airspace! Allied Forces confirmed!” The flight leader reports.

“Hey, it’s that Firebird insignia!” Another pilot yells.

On overly confident squad mate proclaims, “Doesn’t matter! I’ll take him down!”

A ground officer in charge of AA defences near the ventilation duct orders, “Fire when he’s close to the duct! Take out that glorified turkey!”

Listening in, the Observer giggles, “Oh, humans… they really don’t know when they’re completely fucked, do they?”

The Empress chuckles, “Hehe… no, they really don’t…”

When the smaller Siren looks up at her with a surprised expression, the Empress looks way with a red face and mutters, “I mean… shut up, Observer…”

After Phoenix lets loose a missile which collapses the first missile silo’s exhaust duct, the team in charge of the next one see the dreaded ace approach.

A few m8nites later, four of the five are destroyed, rendering the silos too dangerous to use. Phoenix lines up the last shot, lets loose his last missile and this time the missile flies into the vent, all the way to the missile itself, blowing it up and destroying the silo in its entirety.

“How disappointing…” the Empress mutters. “I’d hoped at least one of these missiles could’ve launched…”

“Aaand there goes the last one. What was this meant to test, again?” The Observer asks.

“A test on how Phoenix would react under the pressure of major civilian populations getting destroyed if he fails. Evidently, from all the data on him so far, it seems he is more scared of a superior ace taking him down than the lives of the masses in danger. Interesting…” the taller Siren notes. “Is it pride as the best ace in the skies, or the fear of death, I wonder?”

“You’ve gotten calmer recently, Empress. Are you alright?” The Observer asks with genuine care.

“…Honestly Observer, I…I’ve no idea what you’re t-talking about…” the Empress turns away a little red in the cheeks again. “L-let’s get back to St. Ark and prepare for a full-scale Allied assault…”

Hatties Desert, Usea.

The Tower pets her chinchilla by giving its head a light scratch as she continues to take notes on Stonehenge. The eight rail guns of the Spaceguard Turret Network, the weapon’s official name, turn all the way around one at a time as if calibrating and testing range of motion. The Siren looks at the structure in the middle. It seems that the eight turrets are controlled or at least guided by it.

“Hmm… it must be automated if it has to make precise shots at chunks of space rock…” the Tower guesses and notes down. She hears an alarm blare from the gigantic ring around the guns acting as some sort of defensive wall against ground invasion. She looks over at the runway close to Stonehenge as drones begin taking off. Flying out and different distances and heights, eight drones start flying right at the super-weapon.

“Ah, they must be testing its AA capability.” She says to her little fuzzy friend as if it could understand her. “Let’s see how—“

Before she can finish her sentence, all eight rail guns fire and completely vapourise the drones all at the same time with shells travelling faster than sound, leaving white trails and multiple vapour cones in their wake.

The Tower leans forward and her expression is one of amazement.

And fear. There’s no way even her shields could stand up to one of those.

She looks to her chinchilla, who stares back up at her while nibbling a snack. She whispers, “Just what sort of technology are the humans in this world capable of, Dusty?”

Dusty simply tilts his head in confusion, for he does not know.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

“Bismarck! Stop!” The Fleet Admiral orders.

The Iron Blood Battleship spins around after having stormed from the office all the way here and shouts, “Herr Flottenadmiral! I cannot just wait idly while Deutschland may be suffering unthinkable horrors alone with those monsters! I’m going to help find a way there and get her back myself!”

“I understand that!” The man yells back. “You think I like sitting here while the Sirens do God-knows-what to anyone where they are now in preparation for their return!? I haven’t been able to sleep since I found out they weren’t killed! They could come back at us at any second now that we know they can time travel as well! How many goddamn times must we have been so close to winning, onto for them to reset and try again without us knowing!?”

Bismarck glares at him as he calms himself. He continues with a more subdued voice, “Look, Bismarck, I’m fully on board with getting Deutschland back. I’ll have everyone shift from shoring up our defences to finding a way to get to whatever world that poor girl was taken to. We WILL find her, Bismarck. We WILL get her back. Even if I have to die to do it, I will find her. I give you my word.”

“And if you do not?” Bismarck asks.

“If we can’t find her, then I’ll resign. I swore an oath to never abandon any shipgirl. Ever since OpSi, I had searched high and low for any, ANY way to bring back the girls we lost! We had to rely on a Siren, of all people!” He slowly approaches the Battleship, “Have faith in Akashi, Bismarck. She’s never failed us. She’s scammed us, sure, but never failed. She’ll find a way. I’ll assign every shipgirl with even the tiniest amount of scientific knowledge to help crack how to get us there. I’ll send Compiler here now that she’s brought back everyone she could.”

“She’d better reveal everything she knows.” Bismarck warns. “Or I’ll get it out of her by other means.”

“I understand, Bismarck.”

Bismarck takes a moment and sighs, “My… apologies, Flottenadmiral. I must take better care in controlling my emotions.”

“It’s okay. I understand why you feel this way. There’s nobody more important to you than the Iron Blood girls, is there?”

“Ja. Well… almost nobody…” she mutters as her cheeks turn slightly red. Before the Fleet Admiral can ask who she’s talking about, she turns back around and walks into the lab more calmly than before. She herself will help find a way to open a portal safely to the other world.

“Who was she referring to…?” He whispers. He starts walking back to his office to speak to Compiler, but almost walks right into a Royal Navy Kansen. “Oh, sorry, Hood. I didn’t see you there.”

“You must remain more vigilant than that, sir. Who knows who could sneak up on you?” Hood’s smile becomes a worried frown, “Is Lady Bismarck alright? I heard the commotion and saw the Sakura Destroyers running past.”

“Yes. She’s fine. We found out that Deutschland is still alive. It’s highly likely she’s trapped with the Sirens in… wherever they went to.”

“Good lord…” Hood gasps with her hands over her mouth. “We must help her, sir!”

“We will. I’m sending everyone who could help to the labs. I’d appreciate your help with that.” The Fleet Admiral requests, “They’ll listen to you.”

“Of course, sir.” Hood curtsies. “I’ll get as many as I can on board. Lady Deutschland may be a rather… vulgar one, and an Iron Blood, but the Royal Navy looks after their allies.” She smiles and walks away towards the Royal section of the base.

“Alright… now for the Siren…”

Chapter Text

1998.

Snider’s Top, just south of St. Ark, Usea.

Coming out of a portal, the Observer asks, “Oh? I thought we were going to the stronghold again, Empress?”

“Not yet. The Allied Forces are coming and I want to stall Scarface Squadron so we can better prepare for them.” The Empress answers. She clicks her fingers and portals open in the water. Rebel warships from St. Ark appear in the water. “I’ve made Kansen for these ships. They should be able to slow them down.”

“Hmm… good idea.” The Observer smiles.

“What?” The Empress asks, “No stupid joke? No sarcasm?”

“Hm?” The smaller Siren looks up at her, “Would you prefer I did?”

“… no.” The taller Siren looks away. “Let’s just bolster defences here and then leave. Did you convince that Allied Squadron to defect?”

“Of course, Empress. The Erusian aces are on the way here as we speak. They should be more of a match for Phoenix and Edge than Beast were.”

“Good. Huh?” The Empress checks her long-range radar. “Damn it… they’re already here…” she looks back at the Observer, “We need to leave now, and reinforce the Stronghold.”

“I’ll stay and keep you updated on the battle.” The Observer states.

The Empress turns to her, “You… want to stay here? You don’t want to come? You’re not an Arbiter so you can’t make your own portals, remember?”

The Observer floats up and gently caresses her superior’s blushing cheek. She smiles and teases, “Oh, Empress, I’m sure you can manage without me for a bit. Don’t worry, they won’t detect me. I’ll be fine. Just go. I’ll warn you if any new tricks the Firebird pulls.”

Finding herself very red in the face and smiling, the Empress turns away and crosses her arms, “Well… d-damn right you w-will be fine, idiot! You… you b-better be…” She opens her portal and goes through it.

The Observer chuckles and looks down at her Siren Pawns they’d brought to help out the Rebel Kansen.

Checking her radar, she says, “Ah, here they come now…” she cloaks herself from visual sight as well as radar.

Upon entering the mission airspace, Scarface get the standard mission start speech from Keynote, “The Rebel Forces are building their last line of defence in this area. They’ll put up a fierce fight, but we will not, cannot, retreat from it. Once we win this battle, we’ll head to the enemy’s stronghold, St. Ark. We’re counting on you, Scarface Squadron.”

Phoenix nods and immediately targets the nearest warship, a Frigate. The speed at which all its weapons fire implies it has a Kansen, so he takes extra care. He knows a Kansen gas full control over a ship and their reaction time applies to the whole vessel.

Edge sees Rebel fighters closing in and she makes sure none of them get close to her squadron leader.

He gets in low, skimming the water and lets off a missile at top speed. He pulls up over the ship as the missile hits it and blows it up, killing the Kansen on board. He then switches to the nearby Destroyer who had fired her own missiles at him. Having dealt with her, he then notices the Siren Pawn ships. Not having seen them before, Phoenix realises they resemble the deigns of the drones he’s been occasionally fighting. All he knows is that they’re firing at him, so they need to be sunk.

The mercenary ace dives down at one of the Pawns and fires a missile, but it explodes on a forcefield generated by the ship. Raising his eyebrows at this new challenge, he saw the forcefield seemed to focus its power on his missile. He uses the experimental machine in his cockpit that he had been using for the holographic briefings to send an order to Nagase.

Edge, upon seeing the attack order, sees the Pawn in question and moves to carry it out. “Get ready, Phoenix!” She calls out.

Scarface 1 nods and moves to an attack angle as 2 starts unleashing hell on the Pawn’s forcefield. With the domed shield focused on her attacks, it leaves the rest of it weakened, just enough for Phoenix’s attacks to break through. The Pawn is sunk.

“Clever~” The Observer mutters. “I’d better let Empress know they can sink our Pawns at the cost of a lot of ammunition… hold on…” She gets serious and asks, “How are they not running out of ammunition…? Did they even resupply from taking out the ballistic missiles?”

She keeps watching in confusion as Scarface Squadron continue their mission in impeded by their ammo, which should’ve been depleted many times over by now.

Keynote, in his AWACS, looks over at the shorter girl next to him and nods, “It seems like your machine is helping out a lot.”

The girl smiles back, “After having used it to help Ustio 3 years ago, I thought I might as well keep helping the right people.”

“What actually is it?”

“A little module on their planes from a Mirror Sea Generator. It alters reality in a way that doesn’t endanger anything. All it’s doing is supplying Scarface Squadron with the missiles they have in reserve at base. It’s not infinite, unfortunately.”

“Well, it’s still a helluva lot better than them having to leave the airspace for a while and letting the enemy regroup. Good work. You’ll be paid handsomely for this.” Keynote assures. “Though I must say, many would say that none of your kind are to be trusted. What made you want to help us?”

“A… a certain Carrier made me see the value in genuine trust and friendship…”

“The other Sirens are that bad, huh?” He switches the radio back on and turns his attention back to the battle, “Phoenix! Look out for the anti-aircraft missiles!”

“Don’t let them reach St. Ark!” A Rebel Kansen yells out from her AEGIS Cruiser as her CIWS and anti-air missiles all fire at the ace coming straight for her. She just barely manages to ask, “What is this guy…!?” Before her ship explodes from missiles after her AA defences get overwhelmed.

“He’s tough!” A Rebel exclaims, “He reminds me of the Demon of the North!”

“…Demon of the North?” The Observer asks. She’s heard of the Demon Lord, obviously. This one sounds different, however. “Interesting…” her attention is drawn beck to the battle as the last warship explodes, along with its Kansen. Her scream fills the radio before cutting out.

“Their first wave has been crushed.” Keynote confirms.

“Ah, time for the next, then~” the Observer snaps her fingers again, ordering more forces to approach. “Let’s see what these special aircraft can do~”

“Their second wave is approaching. This could be their main force.” Keynote updates, “What’s with that massive aircraft? Could that be an XB-10!? They must’ve seized it right after production. Just perfect.

Aircraft the Rebels have obtained called the XB-10, heavy bombers developed as a mix between human and Siren tech sometime after the Belkan War, fly past the Observer and engage Scarface Squadron. They aim their Siren plasma guns at the aces and let loose glowing hellfire. Despite having Siren technology, however, these are still manned.

Phoenix and Edge see those strange new aircraft and are a little confused, but at the end of the day, they’re still just targets.

And they soon go down like any others.

As the last burning XB-10 hits the water, Keynote announces, “All enemy threats have been eliminated. Well done.”

The Observer checks her long-range radar, “Don’t speak too soon, dear~” she chuckles.

“Once we return to base, we’ll head to the Rebel stronghold, St. Ar—“ The same signals appear on Keynote’s radar and he adds, “Hold up, enemy reinforcements!”

A black Su-57 Felon flanked by three grey camo Su-47 Berkuts enter the airspace, playing a mental game of Chess.

“Bishop to F5.”

“Knight, C2.”

“Heh. I guess that’s checkmate. That’s your third win in a row, sir. No-one can match you.”

“Let’s see how long my next opponent lasts.” The leader replies. “We’re the ones who will bring down the Firebird.”

The Observer shakes her head, “I may never understand Chess…”

Albireo Squadron breaks formation and chases after Scarface.

Albireo 1 allows his wingmen to feint an attack, and then pull away from Phoenix and Edge, revealing the missile he had fired. Scarface 1 just manages to evade the attack however, and he mutters, “I guess it would be too easy if it went down with my first shot. Nice to meet you, Phoenix. It’s an honour to be fighting you.”

With an opponent far more calm and collected than Beast, Phoenix knows this ace won’t be as easy. Despite this, he smiles. He does like a good challenge.

As long as it isn’t the soulless ZOE.

“Albireo flight, let’s get this game started.”

With the Felon disappearing from radar, Scarface Squadron exercises caution while fighting the very visible Berkuts.

Nagase knows that these three need to be dealt with as fast as possible so they can both focus on the enemy flight lead. She takes aim on one of the Su-47s and successfully downs him.

The pilot yells, “I’ve been hit! Sorry to let you down, Captain…”

Realising the real threat Scarface Squadron poses now that one of his wingmen was bested so quickly, Albireo asks, “Now then, Phoenix. What should my first move be? How about… the Knight.”

Upon hearing the phrase, the two remaining Berkuts split up and move around for a pincer manoeuvre with the Felon still nowhere to be seen.

“Try escaping this, Firebird. I could tell from your moves that you’re quite young for an ace pilot, but this is also when experience and skill become one. This will be fun.” Albireo 1 taunts.

“Another overconfident lot…” the Observer mutters as another Berkut gets downed, letting out a pained scream.

“So you’re able to best my minions. I’d expect nothing less from you. You’re putting up quite the fight, my friend. Then let’s see how you handle the Bisho—“

Before his last wingman can enact the special manoeuvre, Edge takes him out. He manages to say, “This is it for me, Edgar…” before having to eject.

“…I guess that leaves only me, but this is meant to be. Now I’ll avenge their defeat with your deaths.” Albireo 1 announces to Scarface Squadron. He switches off the blocker on his aircraft that hides his IFF signature and readies his weapons.

Scarface push the limits of their F-22As in a vicious dogfight. Edgar’s calmness allows him to remain focused unlike Beast. However, because he is human and not an AI, he can’t unnerve Phoenix with manoeuvres that would make himself black out like the ZOE, allowing Scarface 1 to keep his head in the game. Edge helps in making sure Albireo 1 doesn’t stay on her flight lead’s tail too long.

After taking a missile but suffering only minimal damage, the Felon pilot praises, “Not bad, Firebird. It’s been a while since I’ve really felt the heat like this.” His disappears from IFF and radar again before vanishing from view with a Cobra.

Having lost him, Scarface Squadron look all around, rolling their planes to look below, too.

“Where’d he go!?” Edge demands.

Right before a missile hits her from behind. “Dammit! Phoenix! I need help!”

Scarface 1 spins around and sees the IFF reappear. He takes on Albireo 1 again, saving Nagase.

Putting a few bullets into the enemy ace’s air intakes, Phoenix spins around and shades him down. Launching the last of his missiles, the Su-57 can finally take no more and starts dropping out of the sky.

“Those were some impressive moves…” Albireo compliments. He sees his plane is no longer responsive and he adds, “Checkmate, hm? Well, I had fun…” he looks to his side to see Phoenix saluting him in respect. He smiles, salutes back, and ejects right before his plane plummets towards the water.

Seeing the parachute, Phoenix puts in the request for search and rescue.

The Observer calls the Empress on video. She says, “All our forces here including the Erusian aces are gone. I’m ready to come ba—“

The Empress yells “LOOK OUT!”

“Huh?” The Observer looks behind her and sees the smouldering wreck of Albireo’s plane hurtling towards her. Before she can react, it smashes right into her, dragging her down with it.

St. Ark.

“OBSERVER! OBSERVER, NO!” The Empress frantically opens a portal back there, but a Rebel soldier grabs her wrist.

“Ma’am! We need you here to protect our stronghold—“

“DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME!” She flicks her wrist, sending the soldier through a wall. She goes through the portal to the Observer’s last known location.

“What the hell was that…? I thought they hate each other…?” The soldier asks.

Another replies, “Heh… Sirens… we’ll probably never understand them. Come on. The Allies will be attacking this place soon. We should get the Submarine out of here.” He grabs a radio and asks, “Lurker? Come in.”

“Go ahead, human.” The Sub Siren responds.

“Folkvangr will be a massive target when the Allies arrive. I suggest you flee with her.”

“Hmm… how considerate. Do me a favour and flee yourself, human. I like you.” The Lurker teases before cutting communications.

The soldier looks at his buddy, who gives him a funny look. “…what did she mean by that…?”

Comberth Harbour, Usea.

Herne returns finally to her home port where the rest of the Aegir Fleet remains anchored. Tanager and Geofon see the Destroyer enter the bay and get up from the table they were sat at in the local café. As they make their way their ships to welcome back Herne and Torres, Geofon remarks, “They’re back far later than I was expecting. I was about to start looking for them myself.”

“You and I both. Something must’ve happened. I just hope it’s good news.” Tanager replies.

Upon docking, Herne skips to shore with Torres walking casually behind. The Destroyer yells, “Hey, T.G.!” As the Battleship and Carrier walk hand-in-hand to meet them. They separate their hands and both salute Torres.

“Captain!” They both say in unison. Herne hugs them both.

Torres salutes back, “At ease, girls. We have some interesting things to show you. Come aboard.” He says, happy to see the two powerful Kansen have gotten closer since he’s been gone. They weren’t speaking much before he departed, so soon after he went, he had sent the order for them to take some time off until he got back or if they had to sortie. It seems to have done some good.

The three Kansen follow him as he boards the Herne again and are lead to the Siren technology they had salvaged from the Pawn they defeated.

“What… is this, sir?” Tanager asks, looking at the fridge-sized machine.

As Herne works on disconnecting it to carry to the labs, Torres explains, “It’s a shield generator. When it is active, it forms a sort of barrier that surrounds whatever it’s drawing power from. We could potentially be able to replicate it and install copies in all of your ships.”

“Making us the Invincible Fleet in not just firepower?” Geofon asks.

“Damn right.” Torres smiles. “I swore an oath to make the Aegir Fleet the pride of the Erusian Navy, and this technology is a god-send. However, the ship we got it from was unlike any I’ve ever seen. There’s bound to be more like them out there. It was a tough fight and I fear it was only one of their weaker units, whoever they are.”

“Could it be those Siren things the Usean Rebels are partnered with?” Tanager suggests.

“It seems highly likely, but it was alone. I don’t like it. I’ve had a strange feeling since we disabled that thing. Triple the security of the harbour. I want constant patrols, both sea and air, understand?” The Captain orders.

The two Kansen salute again, “Yes, sir!” The both respond as Herne carries the shield generator off of her ship.

Torres looks out the Destroyer’s bridge window. He mutters, “Call me paranoid… but I just can’t shake this feeling…”

His suspicions are not unfounded, as at the entrance to the harbour, a Siren holding Herne’s discarded diary and notes snickers as she reads through them and watches the Aegir Fleet.

“Hehehehe… oh… this will be so much fun…”

Chapter Text

1998.

Snider’s Top

The Empress races out of her portal and searches for her smaller comrade. “OBSERVER! WHERE ARE YOU!?” She scans for her and find her several miles underwater. She dives down under.

A few minutes later, the Empress emerges again with the Observer’s severely damaged body in her arms. She takes her to the nearest bit of land and looks down at her.

“…Observer?”

The smaller Siren isn’t moving or showing any signs of activity.

“No!” She summons her Megalodon rigging and puts her hand on her friend’s chest, close to her Black Cube. She starts channeling energy from it into the Observer’s body, repairing her but she doesn’t seem to be regaining consciousness.

“Come on!” The Empress yells. This has never been done before and she can’t just revive her normally in this world.

After a few minutes of trying to restore power to the smaller Siren, the Empress screams, “NO! WAKE UP! WHY!?” Her rage breaks down into sorrow and she starts to cry. “Please… Observer… please wake up…”

Observer remains motionless.

“Please… I…. can’t…”

“You can’t go on without me?”

“Yes… and… and I…”

“You have feelings for me?”

“Yes… I never wanted to admit it… but— Wait a minute…”

The Empress looks at her again. The Observer looks back with a smug face. “I knew it.”

“HUH!? YOU LITTLE—“

The Observer puts a finger on the Empress’ lips, silencing her. She teases, “The cat is out of the bag now, my love~”

The Empress’ angry glare turns slowly into a caring smile. The two of them start to chuckle a bit, then break down into laughter, “So… what now?” She asks after they settle down.

“Well… as much as I’d love to further explore the surprisingly human emotions we’re both feeling, I imagine St. Ark needs some help.” The Observer answers.

Remembering what’s about to happen, the taller Siren opens a portal. “Oh, shit! Come on, we’re going to that test base!”

“Whatever for, your Beautifulness?” The Observer teases.

“Oh, just shut up and get in there!” The Empress yells back with a chuckle, making the smaller Siren giggle.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

Dr. Schroeder looks at the opening Siren portal with utter dread. He takes a deep breath and prepares for the verbal onslaught from the Empress.

To his surprise, both Sirens emerge smiling and calm. To his even bigger surprise, the Empress herself looks at him and kindly requests, “Doctor, is the AI ready for a sortie?”

“Um… y… yes, ma’am. The F-15S/MTD is ready and the AI pod has been inserted into the cockpit module.”

“Is it running off of Phoenix’s data?” The Observer asks.

“Yes, ma’am. All ready to go.” The man replies. “The control surfaces have been made more efficient and the airframe has been reinforced. It may be able to take down Phoenix this time.”

“Just his defeat will be enough. We don’t want him dead, after all.” The Empress reasons.

“May I ask why, ma’am?” Dr. Schroeder questions.

“That is something you don’t need to know, human.” The Empress answers in a dark tone.

“Empress, be nice~” The Observer teases.

“Hmmf.” The taller one pouts and backs off like a trained dog.

Looking between the two of them, the man thinks, “What is going on between these two…?” He clears his throat and says. “The plane is ready for a sortie. Shall I send it to St. Ark? The news says the Allied Forces are closing in.”

“Just send it up. Dear Empress here will open a portal for it and send it right there immediately.” The Observer requests. “Also, put another copy of the AI in that other plane down there. I’ve not seen that one before…”

“The experimental aircraft, ma’am?”

“Yes. Is it ready to fly?” The Observer asks.

“It is, ma’am. We’ll prep it for sortie, too.” The Doctor replies.

“Send the F-15 to St. Ark and have the other plane on standby for now.”

“Understood.” He types in the command for the red plane to start taxiing out of the hangar.

“How is your human pilot, by the way?” The smaller Siren asks as the red Eagle silently rolls onto the runway.

After giving the F-15S/MTD the command to take off, Dr. Schroeder looks at her. The Empress is looking out the window, ready to summon the portal. He answers, “Mihaly? He’s fine. Taking some time off for now. I think he’s getting bored since he can’t actively serve anymore.”

“Perhaps he should train a new pilot?” The Observer suggests, secretly planning on making another ace for them to test and capture in the future. “Imagine what a younger ace with Mr. X’s actual skills could do, rather than drones with his mere data.”

“Hmm… it would give him something interesting to do, at least… and I suppose we can’t just keep gathering data on Mihaly forever…”

The engines on the red Eagle ignite, shooting it down the runway. It takes off and flies into the portal that the Empress opens…

St. Ark (A few minutes earlier).

Soon after the Lurker had left the stronghold with Folkvangr, the Rebels find themselves without any Siren support with the Allied Forces on the way.

“Goddammit!” The most senior officer hits both his hands on a console, “Where the HELL have the Observer and the Empress gone!? We need them here! St. Ark is our final line of defence before Fortress Intolerance!”

“Sir! Scarface Squadron has been spotted! They’re closing in!” A soldier informs.

“Get all AA defences to start firing! Get all our aircraft up! Throw everything we’ve got at them!” The Officer orders as his skin turns white. He turns to the nervous Siren stood with the Kansen who is offering advice to her.

“Purifer! What else should we do!?”

“Umm…” Purity mutters. Deutschland whispers in her ear and then she repeats, “Get any and all civilians out of St. Ark immediately!”

“But… aren’t we using them as deterrences? The Empress had them placed around the high-value targets and air defences so Scarface Squadron wouldn’t destroy them!” The Officer argues.

Deutschland charges forth and grabs him, “Are you challenging your superior, you lowly animal!? Obey her and get those Gottverdammt innocents to safety!”

“Ah… yes, ma’am!” The Officer runs out.

The Kansen looks to Purity, who says, “Thanks, friend…”

“These Narren can’t be allowed to win. It’s obvious the Allied Forces are the ones we should help…. ugh… that felt strange to say… anyway, we should do whatever we can to sabotage these Rebels.”

Purity nods, “You got it. Let’s do it! The other Sirens are leading humanity to destruction! I wanna actually help the humans from now on!”

“St. Ark is now in sight.” Keynote reports. “There will be defence lines before we reach their command centre. It should prove to be a fierce battle. Good luck. Scarface Squadron.”

Upon seeing the city of St. Ark, turned into a gigantic Siren Stronghold similar to Avalon Dam, Phoenix and Edge nod to each other and start taking out the defences for the rest of the Allied Forces to retake the area. Lesser pilots would have turned around and the sight of what the Rebels and the Sirens have done to the city.

Nagase speaks, “This fight will decide what tomorrow will bring for millions of people. It’s almost overwhelming. Sorry, I shouldn’t get emotional at a moment like this, but I’m ready, Phoenix. Let’s win back tomorrow!”

Scarface Squadron gain a lot of ground very quickly, paving the way for Allied ground forces. Thanks to Purity and Deutschland, the targets they destroy are not endangering the civilians.

“Here come the Allied Forces!” A Rebel yells. He sees just two F-22As and adds, “Do they honestly expect to break through our defences with that firepower!?”

The Officer orders, “Keep them away from HQ at all costs!”

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

“The first prototype is complete, nya!” The green cat says excitedly. “Anzio-san! Switch it on, nya!”

A Cruiser Kansen by the name of Anzio nods at Lt. Colonel Bishop, who nods back, and throws the switch on a big frame, which generates a portal similar to one produced by a Siren.

The Fleet Commander, Warwolf 1 and the flagships all stare at it in awe. The Compiler scans it and says, “I had copied the exact details for the world they were sent to that were generated when my machinery malfunctioned. However, it seems unstable. It will only be able to send one Kansen before collapsing.”

The Fleet Admiral immediately objects, “I’m not risking condemning another of my girls in that world. Akashi, work on this more—“

Bismarck herself objects back, “Flottenadmiral, We don’t have time for this! Kleine Katze!”

“Nya?” Akashi looks up at her.

“I assume you have a return generator, ja?”

“Hai! Here, nya!” Akashi hand shed a small device with a button on it. “It’s single use as it will use all its power to make a portal powerful enough for two, so only use it to return back with Deutschland-san, nya!”

“Now hold on a minute!” The Fleet Admiral tries, but is stopped by Hood, who walks up to Bismarck.

The Royal Battlecruiser whispers so only the Iron Blood Battleship can hear her, “Are you sure about this, Biscuit?”

Blushing from being called that, Bismarck nods, “Ja. One of my Schiffsmädchen is stuck in there. It’s my responsibility to bring her back.” She looks up at Hood, who is just slightly taller than herself, “Don’t worry, meine Schönste. I’ll be back as soon as I find her.”

Akashi announces, “I managed to track Deutschland-san’s Cube signature in the other world so your destination will be very close to her, nya!”

Bismarck responds, “Sehr gut.” She turns around and salutes the Fleet Admiral. She then kneels in front of Graf Spee. She takes her hat off and looks her in the eyes, “Do not worry, Spee. I will complete the mission. I will bring her back to you. By my honour as flagship.”

“Danke schön, Lord Bismarck…” Spee responds with hope in her eyes.

Bismarck smiles, stand and spins around, making her cape twirl and walks towards the portal. She gives Hood a secret wink before stopping in front of it. She takes a deep breath and then cautiously passes through. As soon as she’s out of everyone’s view, the portal collapses.

After some silence, everyone looks to Compiler. She takes a moment and confirms, “Detecting a weak signal. Battleship Bismarck survived the transfer. She is still alive in the other world.”

Everyone cheers and Hood releases the breath she didn’t realise she was holding.

“Please be okay, Schwester…” Spee whispers.

The Fleet Admiral looks to Akashi, “Keep working on it. We need a reliable generator and anything could happen in there.”

“Hai!” The cat salutes, making her oversized sleeve cover her face in an adorable fashion, making the Fleet Admiral chuckle and pet her green cat ears.

Out of earshot, Anzio pulls Bishop aside. She asks, “Warwolf… after this is all over… could that machine…?”

“Yes, I sure hope so…” he nods, “God knows what’s happened in D.C. since we got here…”

1998.

St. Ark.

As Scarface Squadron brute force their way through the Rebel defences, a portal opens and spits out a plane Phoenix had hoped never to see again.

“It’s that red aircraft again!” Keynote’s update sends a chill down Scarface 1’s spine. He looks straight ahead and sees the flash of light from the portal collapsing and his IFF reading a new hostile.

F-15S/MTD
ZOE

This time, however, instead of letting it get to him, he focuses all his attention on it as Nagase continues to hit the Rebels. She keeps an eye on him just in case.

When Phoenix tries to get a lock on the ZOE, his HUD acts up and detects several more fake signals around the red plane. Frustrated with targeting hostile signatures that aren’t there, he switches to guns and gets in closer. The ZOE once again uses his own moves against him, and the upgrades added make the normally outclassed F-15S/MTD just as agile as Phoenix’ F-22A.

Whenever Scarface 1 gets the rare opportunity to get a proper lock when the ZOE’s electronic countermeasure system shuts off to recharge, he lets off a missile and manages to hit the soulless aircraft, but do little damage against the armour plating.

Phoenix remains calm and remembers that this thing can’t possible be flown by a human. The cockpit doesn’t have a canopy and the moves it pulls would make even himself black out. It has to be a machine. An AI.

Unlike humans, AI are predictable.

He allows himself to be locked onto by the ZOE and lets it chase him like it did in their first encounter back when it was piloting the Tomcat. He sees it visibly unable to process why he’s doing this and then fires all its missiles.

Cracking a smile, Phoenix braces himself and yanks back and to the left on his flight stick as hard and as suddenly as he can, forcing his Raptor into a barrel roll and dropping behind the ZOE before it can process what just happened. The ace pilot then gets another lock and fires one right into the engines of the red plane, crippling it. Nagase follows up with a mother quick strike before it can counterattack, bowing off its back end.

Just to make sure, Phoenix blasts it with another round of missiles and bullets as he chases the burning wreck.

Deutschland and Purity watch the dogfight between the F-22A and the red F-15S/MTD.

The Iron Blood notices the strange looking cockpit on the latter plane, “Isn’t that…?”

“Yep, that’s the ZOE drone. One of ‘em, anyway. Remember when I threw you into one of them? I guess humans have managed to create them here.” Purity answers. She sighs, “Humans wasting so much time and money on finding new ways to kill each other… is this really what it always has to come to…?”

“It’s human nature. As long as there are humans, there always be conflict. It’s what we Kansen were created for and it’ll never end. As soon as one war ends, there’ll be another dictator or religious group who will start the next soon enough. There’s always new technology. New weapons. If the Siren War ever truly ends, they’ll be something else to fight.

“Yeah… even us, huh? Just weapons created by humans to kill other humans…”

“…Was?”

“Huh?”

“Did you just say… ‘even us’? Do you mean Sirens were also—“

“HOLY SHIT, LOOK OUT!” Purity screams upon seeing the burning wreck of the red Eagle in a collision course with the building they’re stood in. Followed by the hail of bullets and missiles coming from the pursuing Raptor.

“GET DOWN!” Deutschland yells.

The command building of St. Ark falls in on itself as Scarface 1 flies over it, performing a victorious aileron roll in celebration. The mission is a success.

“ZOE aircraft destroyed, along with the Command Centre. This should put an end to this war once and for all. Well done, Scarface Squadron.” Keynote praises.

Phoenix and Edge form up again and turn to leave the airspace so the Allied Forces can mop up any resistance and reclaim St. Ark.

Heavy Command Cruiser build site, Fuscum Sea.

“Here is the central power core, the heart of the Aigaion, I suppose you could say.” Feniks informs with a gesture.

“Excellent… stand back. And shield your eyes.” The Tester approaches with a couple of Wisdom Cubes. One with the data of the Aigaion and The other with the will of the people of Estovakia. She rests them both on a console that controls the power core.

The entire Heavy Command Cruiser starts go glow a brilliant blue light, engulfing the entire site for a second. When the light dies down, the entire ship is now fully built.

Rubbing his strained eyes, Riedel then sees another girl stood before him along with the Siren.

The new girl stands up and looks around, “Um… wha…?”

The Tester questions, “Do you understand us? What’s your name?”

The Kansen sees her, adopts an Estovakian salute and responds, “Yes, ma’am! P-1112 Aigaion, reporting for duty!”

Riedel looks at the now complete ship and the very confused workers outside and mutters, “Incredible… you’re amazing, Tester!”

The Siren blushes a little and brushes it off, “It’s jus5 another Kansen awakening. It’s not that great.” She looks at the new girl, “Aigaion, get ready take off. We will begin training immediately.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The Kansen produces her rigging while still stood in the bridge. The miniature versions of her wings makes her look like a mechanical angel with the shrunk-down engines acting as a jetpack.

With a jolt that makes Reidel fall into the arms of a very red Tester, the Heavy Command Cruiser begins take off procedures, never to touch the ground or water again.

St. Ark.

Deutschland wakes up pinned to the floor, trapped under a huge pile of rubble from the collapsed Command Centre. Even with her Kansen strength, she can’t seem to lift it. That coupled with her new injuries causes her great pain in trying. If she were a human, she’d definitely be dead.

“Verdammt…” she hisses. “Get off me, lowly rubble!” She yells before coughing from all the dust around her in the confided space. “Purity? Puri! Can you hear me!? I’m here!” She tries to call out, her voice trailing off into fear as she starts to realise her situation. “Mein Gott…” she whispers. She tries to lift the rubble again, but the agony is too much. She can’t even summon her rigging.

Feeling herself running out of air, she rests her head on the ground beneath her. “Spee… Schwester… es… es tut mir leid… Ich…”

Her whimpering is interrupted when the rubble above her begins to shift.

“Was…? Is someone there!? Here! I’m here!” She yells out before coughing again. The piece of wall above her gets lifted up and tossed aside.

Deutschland sees who has rescued her. A tall, blonde-haired woman with piercing blue eyes, clad in black.

“Found you.” The woman says with a soft smile.

“…Lord Bismarck…?”

Chapter Text

1998.

St. Ark.

As the portal closes behind her, Bismarck looks around and finds herself in what looks like a huge fortress full of Siren plasma cannons shooting up into the sky. This place looks like it used to be a city. She looks up to see what the AA guns and SAMs are shooting at.

“Is that… Herr Bishop’s plane…? Nein… the markings are different…” The Battleship murmurs. She sees the other plane trying to take it down. “A red plane…? Never seen one like that before… no markings at all? What the hell is going on here?” She looks around again and sees the biggest building in the area. “Might as well start looking for her in there…” Bismarck starts making her way over. Looking up at the main tower window, she sees her friend.

“Deutschland! Mein Gott, is that Purifer with her!? She’s not strong enough for that Siren!” She runs to the building.

“FREEZE!” She hears from on of the two guards in front of the main door after getting close. “I said freeze!”

Bismarck glares into his soul. “Junge. You do not want to do that.”

“Oh, yeah!? Back away and I won’t put a few rounds into you! What is that ridiculous outfit, anyway!?” The soldier demands.

“Open the door or I will get rid of it.” Bismarck calmly demands as she summons her rigging. “Along with you.”

Upon seeing the four double-gun Battleship turrets, the guard drops his gun and gasps, “A Kansen!? Fuck this!” He rushes to open to door for her and runs off with his friend.

“Danke.” Bismarck mutters as she puts the guns away and proceeds inside. “So there are other Schiffsmädchen in this world, too?”

Making her way up, she steps out of the lift and sees the Siren and the Kansen… talking?

Before she can get their attention, she hears the Purifier yell, “HOLY SHIT, LOOK OUT!” As she pushes away Deutschland just as the red plane hits the building along with the missiles and bullets of the other plane chasing it.

“Schiesse…” Bismarck loses her footing and falls down with the building and the other two women.

Some time later, the Battleship wakes up and effortlessly pushes aside the rubble around her. Her rigging helps her in escaping from the massive debris pile. Looking around, she sees the astonished faces of soldiers, but with a different uniform than the guard who tried to stop her earlier.

“Holy shit, is that a Kansen?”

“Is she a friendly?”

One of them approaches, “Ma’am, are you with the Rebels?”

“Rebels? Nein. Who are you?”

“We’re the Usean Allied Forces, ma’am. We’re here to get back St. Ark and search for any survivors. If we may be so bold, could I request you help us find any others here?” The soldier answers.

Bismarck decides to trust them. For now. They aren’t aiming weapons at her, after all. She nods, “Very well. A friend of mine is here somewhere, but be careful. A very dangerous sociopath is here, too.”

“Understood. Be on alert, men! Let’s find these people!” The soldiers put away their weapons and assist the local civilians in rescuing trapped Rebel soldiers from the rubble.

Bismarck can’t see any trace of Deutschland anywhere. Instead of panicking, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She uses her rangefinders and hydrophones to listen closely to the remains of the building.

She hears a very faint but familiar voice yell, “Verdammt… Get off me, lowly rubble!”

She immediately darts over to the closest place she can get to and starts to lift the rocks and broken concrete. Getting to a particularly large piece, she has her rigging sharks bite down on it as well as grabbing it with her hands and she uses her combined strength to lift it and throw it away. She looks back at her fellow Iron Blood shielding her eyes from the sun and she smiles, “Found you.”

“…Lord Bismarck…?”

The Battleship offers her hand, which the Cruiser immediately accepts. Once stood, she embraces Bismarck in a tight hug, as if she’d vanish if she let go.

Surprised, the taller Kansen returns the hug. “Your Schwester has missed you so much, Deutschland…”

“I miss her too… she’s safe?” The Cruiser sobs.

“Ja. She’s safe.” She gets a serious face and breaks the hug, looking at her, “What were you doing talking to that Siren?”

Deutschland’s eyes widen. She gasps, “Mein Gott, Puri!” She trims around and starts searching the rubble frantically, “Puri! Where are you!?”

“‘Puri’!?” Bismarck shouts, startling her, “KMS Deutschland, what the hell have you been doing!?”

Shrinking in front of her flagship, the Cruiser stutters, “I… um… we…”

“We become friends!” A voice yells back from above. Bismarck looks up to see Purity sat on her floating rigging.

Bismarck summons hers and gets her portal generator ready. “Deutschland! To me!” She pulls her close and stands between the Siren and the Cruiser. “I’ll portal us back!”

The smaller Iron Blood begs, “Lord Bismarck! Wait!”

Click.

Click.

Click click.

“What the hell!?” Bismarck looks down at the device.

It’s broken.

“Schiesse! It must have been destroyed under the rubble!”

“Um…” Purity says, “Was something supposed to happen… or…?”

Bismarck looks up at her again. Her cannons aren’t aimed at her or charging up. Without looking away, she asks, “Deutschland, just what is going on?”

Deutschland looks up at Purity, who smiles and winks at her, filling her with confidence. She stands in front of the Battleship and answers, “Purity has decided to change sides. She’s seen how the Sirens really are. She’d rather take orders from Herr Flottenadmiral, Lord Bismarck.”

“Was?” The Battleship looks down at the Cruiser. Purity lands back on the ground and stands with her. Bismarck asks, “And I’m just supposed to believe this change of heart for someone like you, Purifier? After all you’ve done?”

With both of them facing one of the last Kansen they’d wanted to try and explain themselves to, Purifer stands up for herself, “You can believe what you want, Bismarck, but I know what I want, and what I want is to help the first person I’ve ever actually considered a real friend!” She instinctively holds Deutschland’s hand, making the Cruiser blush. “She doesn’t threaten me to harm people and she genuinely cares for my well-being!”

“…Very well. I don’t trust you, Purifier. I’m offering only one chance since Deutschland pits her faith in you. If you step out of line, I will not hesitate to crush you. Come. We need to try and repair this thing.”

“Lord Bismarck, is that a portal generator?” Deutschland asks.

“Ja. I was supposed to use it to send us back, but has been damaged.”

“With respect, Lord Bismarck, I think we should stay and help out here-“ she’s cut off by Bismarck suddenly turning to face her.

“With respect?” The Battleship snaps, “Since when have you had respect for anyone besides your Schwester, Deutschland?”

Purity defends her, “Ever since she’d had to spend three years strapped to a table with her Cube torn out of her chest by an evil scientist! I had to throw away the beautiful new life I’d started here to save her because the person I thought loved me was just using me as much as her! I’d imagine enduring a hell like that would change pretty much anybody!” She yells.

Complete silence befalls the three of them as Bismarck’s expression turns from shock to unbridled fury, “…Is this true, Deutschland?”

The Cruiser looks at the ground with a pained expression, as if the mere memory of her ordeal makes her feel it all again. “Ja, Lord Bismarck. For three years I was tortured while my Cube was experimented on. As it turns out, at least almost every Kansen in this world had their Cube copied from mine. I suppose that means they’re somewhat related to me. Then Purity saw the state I was being kept in.” She looks and smiles at the Siren, “She saved me.”

“Hmm… well that would explain why there are Kansen here… who is this scientist?” The flagship inquires.

“Dr. Morgan. He was at the Gründer facility in North Osea the last time we saw him. We had to portal over here.”

“Open a portal back there. I wish to speak to this ‘Morgan’ myself.” Bismarck orders Purity.

“Wait, Lord Bismarck, please. I really think we should help the Usean Allied Forces here. They’re close to winning this war.” The smaller Kansen pleads.

“This is not our war, Deutschland.” After looking at them both wanting to help these people. She sighs, “Fine. We will assist them, but I will be dealing with that… ‘Arzt’… soon enough.”

“Hehe…” Purity giggles.

“What exactly is so funny?” Bismarck demands.

“You called him an ‘arse’… hehe…”

Rolling her eyes, Bismarck turns away with a sigh to go find the senior officer of the Allied Forces.

The two friends look at each other and Deutschland pulls her hand away while muttering, “Dummkopf…”, making Purity confused.

“Huh? What did I say?”

North Point, off the northern coast of Usea.

The Empress and the Observer retreat to the real final base of the Rebels, Fortress Intolerance. They see the Lurker walking with Folkvangr to her Submarine to support her in delaying the Allied attack on this final base.

“Ooh? What’s happening here, I wonder?~” The Observer asks.

“Lurker is to assist the Kansen in an attack on St. Ark. The entire bulk of the Allied Forces are there now so a missile strike should wipe at least most of them out unless Phoenix stops her.” The Empress explains. “She’s been retrofitted with advanced armour, AA defences and Lurker is going to help her out. If Phoenix succeeds, we’ll Prepare this base to capture him.”

The Lurker silently looks at the other Sirens, nodding and following the Supersub as it leaves the dock.

The Empress demands, “Lurker has left, now where is Strength?”

“Present, Arbiter: The Empress III.” The emotionless voice of Strength is heard as the unusually dark-skinned Arbiter stands before them, her huge blue gauntlets by her sides. “Fortress Intolerance is at full power and functionality. Status update has been sent to Arbiter: Temperance XIV.” She bows to the more powerful Siren and adds, “Arbiter: Strength VIII, Awaiting further orders.”

“Ah, good girl.” The Empress praises. “Get the defences ready. Phoenix’s stasis chamber awaits, right next to the Demon Lord…”

“Well, if that Supersub doesn’t kill him first~” the Observer reminds her.

“Understood, Arbiter: The Empress III.” The Strength turns to her light-skinned Enforcer stood next to her, “Enforcer VIII: Determination, ready the secondary defences.” She orders as she opens a short range portal to ready all the primary defences. The Determination flies over to do her new job.

“Phoenix is going to destroy Folkvangr and maybe even poor Lurker, you know.” The Observer criticises.

The Empress shrugs, “Folkvangr is just an inferior Kansen, just like the rest of them. If Lurker doesn’t make it back, it’s her own fault for being as weak as her.”

“How cruel… I find that so attractive~”

Caught off-guard, Empress gets worried someone heard that and snaps back, “D-do you need correction!?” Making the Observer fall off her rigging laughing.

Waters near the east coast of St. Ark.

Folkvangr surfaces to see the clear night sky and the full moon illuminating the calm sea, casting an ambient blue hue on everything outside her Submarine.

The Lurker contacts her, “Why did you surface so early? You’ve been detected.”

“I don’t care. They’re in range of the warhead. Beginning launch procedure.” Folkvangr hisses.

“You’ve changed.” The Siren Sub claims.

“Losing your little sister tends to do that. Why are you so nonchalant about it? She had feelings for you, you know.” The Kansen spits, “Do you even care?”

Feigning interest and rolling her eyes, the Lurker pretends to be offended, “Of course I care! I liked her, too! Let’s just get this done and we can avenge her!”

“Hmmf. Whatever. Just get that machine ready.”

St. Ark.

After Bismarck, Deutschland and Purity had introduced themselves to the Allied Forces, the three of them hear alarms blare and everyone rush to a makeshift briefing building made out of an old, half-destroyed school.

The Supersub’s detection had alerted the Allied Forces and Keynote briefs Phoenix on his own for an emergency sortie while Nagase’s plane is still getting repaired and refuelled from their last fight. Bismarck walks into the old classroom to see the Folkvangr for herself. She listens in on the current situation and realises it sounds familiar, “Nein… it can’t be….”

The Battleship was not present when Azur Lane and another faction in her world, the Crimson Axis, joined forces to defeat the Sirens’ biggest weapon, Orochi, but she got the details from her most trusted advisor, Prinz Eugen. It was a supermassive warship like Folkvangr that could launch missiles capable of untold levels of destruction. The missile itself required Enterprise flying as fast as she could after it, and even then she had to pull off a one in a million shot to take it down. This one, from what the man known as Olsen is saying, seems to be even more difficult to take down as it can move like an advanced fighter once launched.

That fight in her world cemented the bond between the two major Kansen factions, uniting them into one Azur Lane, but now here she is, facing a similar situation, and this lone pilot being briefed looks as if it’s just another Monday for him.

“Just who is this man of no words?” Bismarck thinks to herself, “This mere human who can stare down death like this and smile?”

Keynote finishes up the briefing, “Phoenix, destroy the Folkvangr!”

Bismarck interrupts, “Herr Olsen!”

“Yes… Bismarck, was it?” Keynote replies.

“Ja. Does that Submarine have a Kansen?”

“From our reports had gathered on her sunk sister ship, it’s highly likely.” The man responds.

“Then I am requesting permission to aid this pilot in his mission.” Phoenix looks at her as she continues, “I mean no offence, but perhaps I may be able to talk down the Kansen in control of the warship. If it does not have one, or if she doesn’t not want to talk, Herr Phoenix can destroy it.”

“Hmm… very well, but we must act fast. Folkvangr is already preparing to launch. Both of you, go!”

Deutschland and Purity watch as Bismarck summons her ship and has it set off at full pelt towards the incoming Sub. They looks at each other, nod and go with her. Deutschland summons her own Cruiser and Purity hops aboard.

The Allied Forces stare in amazement at the silhouettes of the gigantic Battleship and Cruiser sailing with it armed with turrets almost as enormous.

Waters near the east coast of St. Ark.

Folkvangr gets two big contacts on her radar. Warships. She mutters, “A Battleship and a Crusier…? That’s it…?”

She then gets hailed on her radio. She allows it through and hears a woman’s voice with an accent similar to Belkan, but just off. The voice asks, “Rebel Submarine Folkvangr. This is Battleship Bismarck of the Iron a blood Division of Azur Lane on behalf of the Usean Alloed Forces. I am giving you one warning, and one warning only. Stand down or be obliterated.”

Not believing her ears, Folkvangr climbs up and out of her vessel to see the enormous warship threatening her. It’s turned full broadside with all guns aimed at her, along with a smaller Cruiser doing the same. Just from looking, she can see her armour can’t stand up to guns that big.

Her shields, however, are a different story…

She responds, “Battleship Bismarck. I do not care who you are or who you represent. That ‘Azur Lane’ of yours doesn’t exist here. You hold no power. Go ahead and destroy me! My sister is dead! Nothing else matters to me!” She starts launching the missile.

“SCHEISSE! Phoenix! She’s going ahead with it!” Bismarck yells.

The legendary ace, who had been flying out of radar range, turns his F-22A right towards the Supersubmarine.

“Purifier! Overload her shields!” The Battleship orders, “Deutschland, Phoenix, fire the moment her shield goes down!”

“Gotcha!”

“Jawohl!”

Purity fires everything she has to degrade Folkvangr’s new energy shields. She thinks, “The energy reading on that shield… that’s not coming from her… wait… Lurker…?” When the shield goes down, Bismarck and Deutschland fire full salvos at the Sub as Phoenix passes over the Battleship while firing missiles, all causing massive damage to Folkvangr’s armour, but her hull remains untouched.

The energy shield appears as quick as it went away.

Purity contacts the taller Kansen, “Hey, Bis! Lurker’s here!”

Ignoring the borderline disrespectful abbreviation of her name, Bismarck responds, “The Lurker is here!? Find her immediately! She may be the one generating that shield!” She switches people to talk to, “Herr Keynote! How much longer is left on that missile!?”

Keynote responds, “It would’ve been ready in a few minutes, but the shield seems to be interfering with its systems. Keep hitting it and it will slow down. We detected another signal giving off a similar signature to your floating friend. We’re just barely tracking it behind the Folkvangr.”

“Understood! Phoenix, find her! Girls, keep hitting that verdammt shield!”

Scarface 1, trying to process what’s even happening right now, flies around behind Folkvangr, dodging her AA defences. She’s definitely far tougher than Fensalir was. He sees a faint IFF in the water being distorted by something. Assuming that’s what’s generating the shield, he gets closer and fires missiles at the humanoid shape staring up at him.

“Oh, fuck!” The Lurker shrieks as she gets hit by the missiles. She was so concentrated on the shield that she didn’t see Scarface 1 himself closing in on her until she got the missile alert. Getting thrown far away from Folkvangr, the shield fails and the Sub can now focus fully on the missile at the cost of being vulnerable now.

“Shit! No!” Folkvangr shouts. “You won’t stop me!”

The two Kansen, Purity and the ace all focus fire on the sub but can’t seem to target the missile directly.

As Phoenix gets the final hit in, the Sub starts to explode.

Right after the missile had successfully launched.

Keynote updates, “Phoenix! We’ve got an emergency!”

Lurker sees the missile launch and giggles maniacally, “Well done, ‘Folky.’ You and your annoying sister have proven yourselves useful, after all…” she submerges and starts making her way back at top speed.

Keynote continues, “The Rebel Submarine has launched the ballistic missile! It’s aimed for St. Ark!”

Bismarck adds, “Herr Phoenix! You’re the only one who can catch it! Don’t let it hit the city!”

Phoenix jams his throttle as far forward as it can go, feeling it dig into the palm of his hand.

Purity had scanned the missile and sent the IFF information to everyone. Keynote informs, “Phoenix, you won’t be able to get a lock on the missile. You need to use your machine gun!”

Never having thought he’d be dogfighting a ballistic missile, Phoenix starts to wonder if this thing is related to the ZOE. He grits his teeth and keeps an eye on his ammo counter.

Bismarck jumps off the deck of her ship and skates along the water to the sinking Submarine. Upon entering the bridge, she finds the unconscious Kansen about as big as another certain Sub she knows very well.

She picks up the girl and gets her out before she goes down with her ship. Jumping back onto her Battleship, Bismarck lays Folkvangr down on a bed in the brig.

Phoenix manages to get the far faster target to slow down by making it evade his bullets by footing side to side instead of straight forward and he gets some good angles, riddling the missile more and more, damaging the rocket engine to the point it slows down further.

Seeing only his green HUD and the glow of the missile’s booster against the night sky, Scarface 1 blocks out everything to focus, ignoring the fact that if he plummets into the water, he may never be found if he even survives hitting it at this speed. Luckily the moonlight makes the surface visible.

Phoenix sees the coastline appear on his radar. The missile is near.

His ammo counter is dangerously low.

Closing in, he sees the missile about to turn. He leads the target and lets off a final burst, emptying his machine gun. To his relief, he finally ruptures the SLBM enough to have it explode, the wreckage falling into the water. Flying over and then carrying on back to St. Ark at a fuel-preserving pace, Phoenix hears Keynote update everyone.

“Ballistic missile destroyed! Phoenix, you held up well under such immense pressure, and thanks to our new friends, the Folkvangr has been destroyed also.” Thinking that with St. Ark recaptured and both Dragonets gone means the war is already pretty much as good as won, Keynote allows himself another compliment for Scarface 1.

“Phoenix, you’re a downright hero.”

Bismarck joins in and warns, “Herr Phoenix. I’ve heard all kinds of stories from the Allied Forces about all you’ve accomplished thus far. Some call you a pen unstoppable monster. Others call you a hero. Pride of a nation. I was regarded in a similar manner back home. A long time ago. I let the feeling consume me. I thought I was untouchable. I was incorrect. It is not wrong to be proud of all you have done, but take my advice. Do not let it get the better of you…”

The Chandelier, Razgriz Straits.

“What an interesting specimen…” the Harmony muses as she examines Corporal Voychek after capturing him there.

The Temperance, while still gathering data on the superweapon, responds, “What’s so interesting about him? We already have enough knowledge of humans.”

“The fact that this one raced all the way here from this nation’s capital city after Tester, who isn’t here. And his mind… so easy to read. He’s always wanted to be a fighter pilot, but Estovakia needed more military police. Perhaps I can help him along with that. The Dreamweaver needs more pilots for her plan, after all~”

“Harmony.” The Temperance admonishes, “Directly altering anything about a human’s life goes against our ultimate mission. It defies the Creator’s will.”

“Ah, but these are not our humans, are they, dear?” Harmony justifies.

“…Very well. Have your experiment. Just leave me out of it.”

“Of course, beloved. Thank you kindly.” With no further response from her superior, she starts ensuring Voychek becomes a great ace. “This one’s willpower should come in handy… hehe~. Now let’s see who the best squadron of this nation is…”

She sees the emblem. It features the Grim Reaper.

“…Hmm the 9th Tactical Fighter Squadron… Strigon Team…”

Chapter Text

1998.

St. Ark.

Bismarck visits her brig again to see Folkvangr. Expecting her to still be asleep, she’s sat on the bed, leaning forward and looking at the floor.

“You’re awake earlier than I expected.” The Battleship remarks. “How do you feel?”

“Cut the shit. You want intel, don’t you?” The Submarine hisses as she glares at her.

Remaining stone-faced, Bismarck doesn’t back down, “How do you feel? Do you need anything?”

Folkvangr leans back and crosses her arms, “What I want, you can’t give me.”

“Your sister, yes?” Bismarck guesses, using full English in case she doesn’t understand her.

“Don’t you speak of her.” Folkvangr threatens, her eyes starting to glow.

Bismarck’s eyes glow back, brighter, “This is my ship. I will talk about whatever the damn hell I want, and you will stop with your attitude. Be gracious in your defeat.”

“You think you scare me? I welcome death. If I can’t bring her back, then I’ll join her in whatever afterlife Kansen have.” The Sub spits.

“There isn’t one. I’ve checked.” The Battleship counters.

“You… what?” Folkvangr looks at her in surprise. “You…”

“I died, yes. I was full of rage, also. I gave it to he darkness, like you have. I paid dearly for it. I was killed. Sunk. There is nothing that awaits us in death. Nothing but a black, silent emptiness. A void you float in until someone brings you back.” Bismarck explains. “Do you see what I’m saying?”

Folkvangr’s pupils shrink, “You… you mean…?”

“I have knowledge of technology that can revive a Kansen from her Cube. I studied it extensively and I may be able to replicate it via Purifier’s rigging.” The Battleship elaborates.

“The Sirens… Lurker… could’ve brought her back… at any time…?”

“Yes. They could have. They never even hinted at their ability to to that, did they?”

“No… they… they didn’t… I thought Lurker…” The Sub starts to tear up.

“The Sirens here are not to be trusted, except Compiler and perhaps Purifier. I’ve given her another chance, and if she can do this, I may consider putting some level of trust in her. Now where is your sister’s Cube?” Bismarck asks.

Folkvangr’s renewed hope dies down as she frowns, “They’ve got it…”

“Where? Where did they take it?”

“They took it to the only place the Rebels have left. It’s where the rest of their top officers have run off to.

Fortress Intolerance.”

“How defended is this fortress?” Bismarck asks, unaffected by the name.

Folkvangr explains, “…I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a meteor the size of a small country hurtling its way here. If it hits, it’ll likely wipe out all life on this rock. The humans have built numerous super-weapons in order to destroy it. Fortress Intolerance is one of them. It has cannons capable of launching projectiles high into the sky to destroy fragments of the thing once it breaks apart in the atmosphere. Imagine them being pointed at you. You’d be obliterated instantly. In addition to that, it’s full of ballistic missile silos.”

“I see.” Bismarck nods, “Danke. Where is this place?”

“Give me a map and I’ll show you.” The Submarine replies.

Some time later, Bismarck talks to Keystone and he calls in Phoenix and Edge for a briefing.

Fortress Intolerance.

Two portals open and the Empress and the Observer both come through one. Out of the other, a red plane flies. It starts patrolling around. It’s the only ‘body’ the ZOE has left.

The smaller Siren asks, “You said you spoke to that human about that thing?”

“Yes. He calls it the ADF-01 Falken. It’s an unmanned version of the plane that ‘Pixy’ pilot flew over Avalon Dam. It has upgraded mobility and stability at the cost of some of its armour. The more angular shape provides improved stealth capability and a speed unachievable by most other aircraft.” The Empress explains.

“Hmm… I don’t see the laser.”

“The entire front of the plane opens up to reveal that. Having it inside helps it maintain its shape and aerodynamics. Bolting it to the top hindered the Morgan too much and caused drag.” The taller Siren replies. She looks over at the Observer to see that she’s looking back at her and has been the entire time, leaning in her rigging and supporting her head with a seductive face. The Empress blushes and looks away.

“I love listening to you nerd out over aircraft, my love~” The smaller one teases.

The Empress grabs her and kisses her. After she pulls away, she asks, “Will you shut the fuck up now?”

“I might need some more persuasion~ hehehehe~” she giggles.

Before they can go any further, however, the see the ZOE suddenly change course and fly towards the direction of St. Ark.

“Ooh~ it looks like Scarface Squadron is here~” the Observer announces.

“Damn…” The Empress sighs, disappointed. “Oh, well. Time for Phoenix’s last challenge, I suppose. Prepare the capture device. He either dies here or he joins the Demon Lord.”

Another portal opens on the water close to the fortress and out step Bismarck, Deutschland and Purity.

“Our objective is to find Fensalir’s Cube and bring it back. Leave the fortress itself to Scarface Squadron. They can handle it. Understood?”

“Jawohl!” The Cruiser salutes.

“Roger that!” The Siren gives a thumbs-up.

“Fortress Intolerance…” Keynote starts, “I thought it’d been demolished ages ago…”

“I can’t believe they’d threaten people with  a ballistic missile.” Edge adds, “We have to stop them!”

“The Rebels are planning a terror attacking using an ICBM. We cannot allow this ruthless behaviour to continue! This is our final battle. Everything rests on you!”

After detecting ZOE on an intercept course, Keynote updates, “Here comes that red aircraft!”

Phoenix looks ahead and sees the IFF signature, and freezes a little.

ADF-01

ZOE

He head heard of an aircraft with a similar name. The one that almost took down the legendary Galm 1. He shakes his head. It’s just the AI again. He can do this. He’s done it multiple times at this point.

Before he can snap out of it, the Falken as already behind both him and Edge. Jolting his flight stick to the side, he manoeuvres behind the ZOE…

… but it’s gone.

“Huh!? Where did—?” Nagase asks, looking around, before a laser just grazed the top of her aircraft from the left. She manages to dive before it cuts her airframe in half. “Damn it!”

Phoenix, now angry, gives chase, not letting the advanced fighter out of his sight. Keynote adds, “Just what is that red aircraft? There’s nothing on it in our databases. There’s no way the Rebels could’ve developed it on their own. Who the hell is behind it!?”

Scarface 1 doesn’t care. It nearly killed his friend. All he knows is that it has to be destroyed once and for all. He gets behind the red plane and sees it’s using the false targeting boxes again. Grunting, Phoenix switches to his gun and waits agin for it to mess up. This time, however, ZOE had learnt and its missile racks spin around to face backwards.

Seeing this, Phoenix disengages as the missiles fire backwards. As he gets some distance and pops flares, he sees a bright light and rolls away, just narrowly missing the laser that will instantly vaporise him if it gets a solid hit.

“Phoenix!” Nagase calls out, “When he fires his laser, his electronic warfare capability drops and the false targets vanish! I’ll get his attention with the laser, then you hit him!”

Nodding, Phoenix allows his wingman to hit ZOE, making it switch target priority. When it does. It opens up to reveal the laser weapon, disabling the multi-target countermeasure and allowing Phoenix to put a couple of missiles up its backside.

Upon hitting it, ZOE slips off of radar and IFF for a moment.

Keynote reports, “Target hit! We see smoke coming from the aircraft. He’s taking serious damage. Way to go, Phoenix.”

Seeing the fight isn’t over yet, Phoenix sees ZOE come back and it switches up its attack patterns. It starts to copy him again, chasing after Nagase.

Getting behind it again, he notices the ZOE point missile backwards again. He gains altitude so that if they fire, they’ll miss. Knowing this, ZOE points its nose down, disengaging Nagase to get a good angle. Firing, the missiles detonate, dealing insignificant damage to Scarface 1 and leaving itself open to Scarface 2, who had spun around and fires missiles at the cockpit, causing a lot more damage.

“Hit! Finish him off, Phoenix!” Edge encourages.

Getting the final ZOE in his sight, Scarface 1 fires both his missiles and guns, tearing the ADF-01 to shreds and severing the pod from the plane, destroying it for good.

But not before it uploaded all its data to the main AI back home.

“Unidentified aircraft down! Well done! I doubt anyone else could’ve fought it like you just did!” Keynote praises. As Phoenix takes a breath, he continues, “Good, now with the guard dog out of the picture, it’s time to destroy the fortress.”

Scarface Squadron form up again and proceed the the final base. Taken aback by the sheer size and the enormous guns, they hear Keynote give them more details, “First, take out the power plants around the base. Destroy all targets.”

Siren drones and Rebel aircraft join the fight. One of them yells, “Incoming enemy aircraft! It’s the Phoenix!”

“That firebird’s not getting out of this place alive!” Another proclaims.

Scarface 1 destroys the first power plant. The Sirens in the fortress feel a drop of power. “Hmm… clever~” The Observer coos.

The Empress demands, “Strength! Determination! Get those fucking defences firing!”

“Understood, Arbiter: The Empr—“ Strength replies before she’s cut off by the Empress switching off the radio.

“Why the hell does she talk like that?” The tall Siren asks.

“She’s not one for emotion, I suppose. She doesn’t know what she’s missing.” The Observer shrugs.

They feel another drop on power as the second and last power plant is destroyed.

“Well, shit. It seems our captive pilot may have company, after all.” The Empress mutters.

“Power plants destroyed. Good, now attack the fortress!” Keynote orders.

Scarface Squadron turn towards Fortress Intolerance, making all the Siren AA defences to starts firing. Even the main guns of the fortress itself start taking aim.

“The ICBM is being held deep within the fortress and out of our reach. You must first focus your attack on the fortress itself and establish air dominance!” Keynote orders.

After effortlessly dispatching the enemy fighters both human and Siren, Scarface engages the air defences and the fortress itself. Now too close to be endangered by the colossal cannons that would put the biggest Battleships to shame, they take out every last SAM site and AA gun in addition to causing mass fires inside the facility.

“Look, Phoenix!” Keynote calls out as the front of the fortress opens up, “They’ve opened the front shutter to air put the smoke! Enter the fortress through there and destroy the ICBM! It’s going to be tough, but you can handle it! This mission decided it all, Phoenix. We’re all counting on you!”

“He’s falling for it. Prepare the capture portal.” The Empress orders upon seeing the ace line up with the front of the fortress.

“Yes, ma’am~” the Observer obeys with a hint of sass.

Phoenix braces himself and enters the narrow space. Any climb or loss of altitude will kill him. Remaining level, he targets the ICBM and sees the way out in the form of the open silo. He’ll need to go at top speed to not get caught up in it all. Pushing his throttle forward, he selects his secondary weapons and fires. Before he can react, he sees a portal open right in front of him…

Explosions shoot out of the missile silo. Nagase watches for her flight lead and friend to fly out.

He never does. Did he not make it?

“Phoenix!? PHOENIX!?” Edge wails, “NO!!”

Keynote sombrely reports, “Fortress Intolerance has been neutralised. ICBM destroyed. Scarface 1… lost…”

“No…” Nagase hits her flight controls. She forms up with the AWACS. “Keynote…”

“I know, Lt. Nagase… looks like he didn’t make it out… but he saved us. He brought us victory. He’ll be remembered for generations. Come on, let’s go home and start his legend.”

“…yes, sir…”

St. Ark.

After having infiltrated Fortress Intolerance, and captured the Lurker, Bismarck and her two comrades step back through their portal and the Battleship throws down the unconscious Sub and holds up the Cube. She orders, “Deutschland, take this Siren to my brig and bring Frau Folkvangr here.”

“Jawohl, Lord Bismarck.” She starts running to Bismarck’s ship with the Lurker over her shoulder.

“And you…” She looks at Purity, “You want me to trust you, ja?”

“Yeah! I wanna help!” The Siren looks up at her with hopeful eyes.

“Then analyse this program the Complier used to bring back my Kansen on our world.”

“Huh? What for?”

Bismarck answers, “You’re going to revive Frau Fensalir.”

???

Phoenix opens his eyes after a flash of light. He finds himself still in his F-22A. The open ocean below him a blood red and the sky around him filled with crimson clouds with a bright red horizon on all sides, as if every direction has a sunset.

His readouts display infinity symbols on all of his armaments and fuel.

He tries his radio, but gets no response. He sees his radar and sees one single contact appear directly in front of him. Looking ahead, his blood run cold and his skin turns pale, even more so than when he first faced off with ZOE, when he reads the IFF signature.

F-15C

Cipher

He’s in Hell, and he’s about to meet the Demon Lord.

2024.

Anzio is woken up by her dorm-mate, Bishop, sitting up suddenly with a yell. She asks, “You okay, sir?”

He looks over at the stunningly attractive Kansen in the bed on the other side of the room and says, “Yeah…. Sorry. It was that damn nightmare again…”

“The one about Akula”

“No no… I got over that one… I meant… the new one…”

“New one?” Anzio walks over and sits on his bed, “Tell me about it. I didn’t know you had another memory haunting you.”

Blushing a little because of the beautiful, busty woman wearing nothing but a small loose tank top and short shorts sitting so close, he starts, “You weren’t a Kansen at the time, but you know when I told you that you came form the same world I did?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s probably time you knew the full story… at least if only to get it off my chest…” Warwolf 1 begins…

Chapter Text

2016.

Washington D.C, United States of America.

“More contacts! Low and hot!” Viper 7 announces as missiles, jets and bullets fill the sky over the White House.

The AWACS, Magic, replies, “Roger that, Viper 7. You are cleared to engage.”

“There’s a lot of these guys…” the pilot observes.

Voices lost in the sea of radio chatter fill the comms.

“We’re under heavy attack! Requesting immediate support!”

“This is Saber 5. Saber 6 is down. We need search and rescue stat!”

“We’re hit!”

“Magic, this is Jericho 1! We’re targeting hostile aircraft from the ground! Have our friendlies stay clear of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge!”

“This is Jericho 2. We’ve deployed along the riverbank and are engaging hostiles!”

“Jericho 1, Jericho 2, we copy. Our air units will continue to engage.” Magic replies. “Everyone’s aware of the situation. Do what you have to do.”

“Warwolf 1 to Viper Squadron.” Bishop calls out, “Viper?”

“This is Viper. That you, Colonel Bishop?” Viper 7 replies. “This is Charlie Wen. Good to have you here. We’re clear to engage anything and everything.”

Bishop looks at the battlefield, filled with both Russian aircraft and land vehicles as well as strange black drones outmanoeuvring the less experienced NATO and USAF pilots. One by one, he gets on their tails like glue and doesn’t back off until the enemy aircraft is shredded. His unorthodox approach throws off even the unmanned black drones.

“This is fire control on board the USS Anzio.” Another voice chimes in to the relentless radio chatter from a US Navy Ticonderoga-class Cruiser. “Defense squadrons be advised, we are engaging enemy aircraft at close range.”

Warwolf 4 and 3 grunt, “Damn!” “Not good!” Respectively upon seeing the overwhelming forces descending on the Anzio.

Su-35s along with the black drones target the Cruiser but themselves are pounced on by the three Warwolves.

Warwolf 1 targets one Sukhoi diving right at the ship and destroys it.

“Lights out.” He states before seeing the plane is still falling towards the vessel. Bishop looks back at the explosion caused by the plane slamming into the Anzio and yells, “SHIT!” A piece of metal from the ship flies at him and lodges itself into his F-22A.

As the ship gets pummelled by kamikaze strikes from the drones seemingly copying the Sukhoi, the radio operator reports, “This is the Anzio! We’re taking heavy damage!”

Viper 7 adds, “They’re crashing into the ship! Warwolf 1?”

Bishop asks, “What’s your situation, Anzio?”

“All defensive systems are offline! Our guns have been hit and the targeting radar is down!”

“Not good…” Bishop mutters as he takes down another Sukhoi. He sees the drones following it seem to become less formidable once the human-piloted plane is gone.

“3, bandit at six o’ clock!” Warwolf 4 calls out.

“Woah!” Warwolf 3 dodges a missile from behind.

“I got your back.” 4 assures as he destroys the drone coming for 3.

“Sorry!” 3 replies. He owes 4 a beer for that one, he thinks.

“Locked on target! Fox 2!” Warwolf 1 announces as he downs another Su-35.

An overwhelmed SAM operator yells, “INCOMING TARGET! LOCK AND FIRE! LOCK AND FIRE!”

“Don’t let ‘em get away!” Another voice orders.

Saber 5 reports, “He’s past us. Viper 7, bandit is headed in your direction.”

“Viper 7, Roger!” Charlie acknowledges.

“On his tail!” Yet more voices are heard, “You’re not getting away!”

“Fox two! You’re going down!”

Magic reports, “Warwolf, hostiles approaching! Weapons radar active!”

“Affirmative!” Bishop replies.

Viper 7 reports, “Magic, be advised. I’m out of missiles.”

“Roger that.”

“Holy crap! One of the Flankers just pancaked into the SAM battery!” Warwolf 4 exclaims.

Observing the Anzio, Viper 7 updates, “The ship is taking a beating!”

Warwolf 3 sees their ally in serious danger. He yells, “Viper 7! Turn off!”

Charlie looks ahead instead of his side and sees an enemy plane flying straight at him!

“Wha!? SHIIII—“

“One of those Sukhois went straight into Viper 7!” Warwolf 3 reports with utter disbelief in his voice.

Looking around, Bishop doesn’t see the one pilot he’s here for. “Magic, do you have a read on Markov?”

“Negative, Warwolf. He’s believed to still be carrying Trinity and flying north, but there’s been no contact with his aircraft. D.C. is assumed to be his prime target.”

“Roger that.” Bishop nods.

Warwolf 3 updates, “Another Rebel just flew into the Anzio! They’re insane! The drones fallowing him just did it too!”

“This is Anzio! We’ve been hit again! The bridge is on fire!”

“We have multiple casualties.” Warwolf 4 adds.

The radio chatter livens up when someone shouts, “What the hell is going on!? OUR MEN WERE CAUGHT IN THAT EXPLOSION!”

Bishop only manages to mutter, “…Shit…” as yet another Sukhoi with drones flies at the Anzio.

“It’s no good, Lt. Colonel! You won’t make it!” Magic warns.

“DAMN!” Bishop grunts as he’s too late. Another huge explosion engulfs the Anzio, followed swiftly by the smaller hits of the drones.

“Again!?” Warwolf 4 exclaims.

“Mayday! Mayday! This is the USS Anzio broadcasting on all channels! The acting Commander has given the order to abandon ship! Mayday! Mayday! The Anzio is abandoning ship!”

“Damn it!” Warwolf 3 yells.

Although they lost the Anzio, those were the last of the enemy planes for now. Warwolf 1 reports, “Magic, be advised. All enemy units down. Sky is clear.”

Magic responds, “All allies stand by. Stand by.”

After a few seconds, Magic updates the mission, “Magic to all squadrons! Bandits en route up the Potomac!”

Seeing bombers approaching, Warwolf 1 flies towards them. “Damn! Not good!”

“Targets identified as Tupolev Tu-160 Bombers!” Magic confirms. “All fighters, be advised. Intelligence says to keep the bombers south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Otherwise their weapons may reach the White House area.”

“Acknowledged, Magic. The bridge is our marker.” Warwolf 1 replies as he engages the bombers while his two wingmen keep the additional strange black drones off him.

“Multiple contacts inbound!”

“Jericho 1, this is Warwolf 1. We’re heading towards your location right now.”

“Warwolf! They’re coming right up the Potomac! They’re moving like bats out of hell! We’re having trouble targeting them!”

After splashing a couple more bombers, Warwolf is joined by his wingmen now that the drones are down.

“This is Jericho 1 to any available American aircraft! Missile batteries have taken enemy fire! We have multiple contacts! We can’t get them all!”

“Roger that.” Bishop replies. “Warwolves, let’s go!”

“Copy that!”

“Copy!”

With the third bomber downed, the AWACS calls out, “Magic to Coast Guard 6595. Please respond.”

“This is Coast Guard 6595,” the woman on the other end replies, “We’re en route to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge. There are multiple injuries.”

“Roger that, Coast Guard 6595. Please proceed along the western side of the river as long as possible. We have several enemy contacts heading that direction.”

“We copy. Will do, Magic.” Coast Guard 6595 responds.

“Target down!” Warwolf 1 announces as he downs another bomber.

“Nice kill!” Jericho 1 praises. “That’s the fourth one!”

A fifth appears and Warwolf get on it immediately.

“Bombers have fired missiles!” Magic warns.

“Firing!” Jericho 2 speaks.

Jericho 1 confirms, “Missile launched!”

The bomber’s missile is shot down by Jericho as the bomber itself is downed by Warwolf.

“Missile intercepted! We got it!” Jericho 2 cheers.

“Good hit, Jericho.” Bishop praises. “Alright!”

“Nice!” Warwolf 3 agrees.

“Radar clear.” Magic reports, “Stand by. Final bomber on approach. Warwolf, go get it.”

“Roger. Guts! Let’s—“ Bishop falls silent, thinking of Warwolf 2. He’d sacrificed his plane to save him. He saw a chute, but doesn’t know for sure if Guts is okay.

“Lt. Colonel?” Warwolf 3 asks.

“Hostile bomber is on final attack approach. Intercept ASAP.” Magic orders.

“Damn… let’s do this!” Bishop gets his head back into gear and moves to intercept the final bomber.

This one puts up a fight. Riddled with bullets, the bomber just keeps going.

“Damn! Come on!” Bishop yells.

“They’ll keep coming no matter how damaged they are! Shoot them down immediately!” Magic informs.

“Gotcha!” Bishop cheers as the bomber finally starts dropping.

“THAT PLANE’S GONNA HIT US! RETREAT! RETREAT!”

“…shit.” Bishop mutters as the burning Tu-160 crashes into the bridge Jericho are stationed on, wiping one of them out.

“Command! Be advised! Jericho 1 has taken a direct hit!” A voice reports. “Magic and all units! All SAM defences are down! All defences have been wiped out!”

Warwolf 1 looks away from the carnage to see the plane he’s been searching for.

A Su-57 Felon with a shark mouth on the nose.

And the Trinity under its left wing.

“Markov!” Bishop exclaims as he shifts all his attention to the enemy ace.

“Warwolf! Single bandit low, along the river!” Magic reports.

“It’s him. Akula.” Bishop responds.

“Lt. Colonel, there are no SAM defences between you and the Capitol!”

“Understood. Moving to intercept.”

Akula races towards the Capitol with Warwolf 1 hot on his tail, trying to get a lock.

For some reason, Bishop’s targeting systems seem to be failing as he can’t maintain a lock despite Markov flying relatively straight.

“What the hell…?”

“There you are, Warwolf.” Akula taunts, “I was worried that you would hurt yourself before the final act.”

“I’m coming for you, Markov.” Bishop responds.

Akula slows his plane, as if inviting Warwolf 1 to take him down, then pulls a post-stall manoeuvre, flipping his plane to get behind Bishop, who responds in kind and does it himself.

“Acquiring bandit! Tally Akula.” Warwolf 3 reports. “He’s got Trinity hanging off his wing!”

“Why isn’t he firing it?” Warwolf 4 asks.

3 answers, “The tail of the missile is damaged. We must’ve chipped it in Miami. He can’t fire at range.”

4 realises, “He gonna try and take it in close and drop it!”

As their intense dogfight carries on, Warwolf 1 hears more radio chatter but can’t respond.

“This is Coast Guard 6595. Woodrow Wilson Bridge is close to collapse. Switching to rescue operations.”

“6595, understood. Jericho 2, this is Magic, what’s your status?”

“This is Jericho 2. We have heavy damage. We’re working to get back online!”

“Roger, Jericho 2. We’re moving fighters into your sector.”

“Roger that.”

Markov flips around again and damages Bishop’s engines. The way he moved didn’t seem possible.

“Saber 5, move south towards the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Patrol in that area.”

“Roger.”

As Bishop struggles to keep up and can’t land any hits, Akula further taunts, “Your skills are no match for mine.” Markov launches a standard missile, but it curves around and hits Bishop’s plane.

That’s not possible, either.

Magic orders, “Lt. Colonel! Stop Markov from getting to position and releasing his payload!”

No matter how many bullets he hits into Markov’s plane, it just keeps going, as if immune.

Something is seriously wrong.

Bishop gets an immense feeling of dread.

He can’t win.

But that isn’t going to stop him trying.

“I’m not letting you get away, Markov!” Bishop yells as he stays on him.

“You are as arrogant as the rest of your countrymen, Bishop.” Markov responds.

A flash engulfs both of them and then Akula is the only other signal on Bishop’s radar. He sees nobody else, but he can still hear the radio. Bishop hears a female voice laughing, but not on the radio.

But in his head.

“I have you now.” The voice says.

“Warwolf 1! You’re off the scope!” Magic yells.

“Lt. Colonel!” His wingmen call out.

“Markov and Warwolf 1 are lost from radar! Does anyone have a visual!?”

“You’d best hurry, Lt. Colonel.” Markov taunts.

Taunting back, Bishop responds, “What’s going on, Markov? Can’t fire the missile?”

“I’m going to take you first, Warwolf!”

“So get me!”

“Die!” Markov yells as he pulls another post-stall and puts a missile right into Bishop’s engines again.

“Damn!”

Magic yells out, “Goddammit! Does ANYONE have eyes on Warwolf 1 or Akula!?”

“This is Blade 1, I don’t see them anywhere.”

“Keep looking for them! We can’t—“

“Let’s get rid of distractions, shall we?” The female voice asks rhetorically.

The radio signal gets cut and Bishop can now only speak to Akula, who is now in front again and almost makes Bishop crash into the Capitol Building.

“What the hell is going on here!? Where is everyone!?” Bishop finally asks.

“Hahahaha! You’re a fool, Lt. Colonel!”

“What are you talking about!?”

“It matters not. You’ll soon be dead anyway!” Markov yells as he spins around, defying the laws of physics again and fires his machine gun, forcing Bishop to disengage.

“Dammit! How is he doing that!?”

He hears more maniacal laughter from Markov as he is the one being chased now.

“Hm… how disappointing.” The mysterious voice says. “Let’s just get this over with, then.”

Bishop blinks, and now he can hear the radio again. Markov isn’t behind him.

Magic contacts him, “Warwolf 1!? Thank God! Markov is attempting a run on the White House!”

“WHAT!?” Bishop looks around and sees the Felon. He spins around, but his damaged engines are seriously hindering his speed.

He can still make it.

“0 miles to the White House!” Magic adds.

“No…”

Warwolf 4 urges, “Sir, we don’t have time!”

“No!”

Bishop’s F-22A manages a final spurt of power from the engines. Markov sees him approach and attempts another post-stall.

But this time Biship was planning on it.

“Bishop!”

“Markov!”

Warwolf 1 unloads a round of bullets through Markov’s canopy, killing him and cutting the cockpit off the fuselage.

“He’s down!”  Bishop reports before catching his breath.

“That’s more like it, but you’re still not done.” The female voice taunts.

Then he sees something in the corner if his eye. He looks.

Trinity is now flying on its own to the White House, Markov fired it before trying to outmanoeuvre him.

“NO!” Bishop chases after it, launching everything he has left. “I have it! I have it!”

Flying past the Washington Monument, Trinity is about to explode, then—

“Ooh, I like you a lot. Such determination~”

Another flash of light engulfs him.

2024.

Skies over Oahu.

Warwolf 1 is now in a different sky. A quiet, cloudless sky.

“What…? Magic? Warwolf 3? 4? Is anyone there?” He tries the radio, but no response. He times it to any frequency he can. “If anyone can hear me, please respond!”

“Damn it!” He yells as he sits back in his seat. He looks to his left. Nothing. He looks to his right. An F4U Corsair.

He looks forward again. Nothing.

Wait…

“Huh!?” He looks to the right again. There is an F4U Corsair flying next to him. He can’t make out if there’s a pilot, but he sees it roll left and right repeatedly.

Despite his damaged control surfaces, he copies the action and the Corsair flies away.

Out of curiosity, and he’s not sure what else to do, he follows, easily keeping up with it even with damaged engines.

Soon, an island appears from over the horizon. As he gets close, he can’t believe what he sees. Pearl Harbour. Its port and the seemingly new section extending out into the open ocean are full of every kind of pre-1946 warship he could think of. His inner historian goes crazy, but his serious side wonders how he’s seeing the HMS Queen Elizabeth, Richelieu and USS Enterprise docked near the Bismarck, Jean Bart, and Nagato next to Ford Island.

“What the hell is happening right now…?” He asks as the Corsair vanishes in a flash of blue light on the deck of the Enterprise and the arresting cable is reset.

“I can’t land this on there, I’ve no hook…” he checks his fuel. Depleted. “I’ll have to land on Ford Island.” He mutters as he feels the beaten and battered Raptor rapidly lose power.

Slamming down on the runway, the front landing gear collapses and his plane skids to a halt. The sheer size of the F-22A dwarfs the old propeller-driven planes around it.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Bishop forces his way out of the cockpit and falls to his knees next to his plane. Taking his helmet off and throwing it to the ground, he finally breathes properly.

He looks up and sees several women of wildly varying heights and attire walking towards him, lead by a man in a naval uniform.

As he tries to stand to greet them, his adrenaline wears too thin and he falls forward, passing out.

The man runs to check his pulse. He sees he’s alright, just in serious need of rest. Looking at the damn-near destroyed plane, he sees something red under one of its wings.

Unlike the plane, the warhead is in perfect condition. On the side, it has its name written on it.

“Trinity.”

Watching from afar, a pale-skinned woman sitting on a floating machine announces with a robotic voice, “Ace pilot from World 1-19-19-1-21-12-20/8-15-18-9-26-15-14 has been transferred to World 1-26-21-18/12-1-14-5. Commencing experiment…”

Azur Lane HQ, hospital.

Bishop slowly opens his eyes. His minor injuries have been patched up and he looks around. He’s in a medical room. Sitting up, he sees the woman who he saw on the deck of the Carrier he collapsed on.

“Um… hello?”

The platinum-haired woman narrows her purple eyes. She’d been watching him for a while. Shoe gets her radio and says into it, “He’s awake.”

When Bishop attempts to stand, he sees his wrist is handcuffed to the bed frame.

“Don’t. Move.” The woman warns.

“Excuse me?” The pilot retorts.

Another, shorter woman enters the room and approaches him. “Ah, you’re awake. Are you alright? Can you understand me?” She asks more friendly than her colleague.

“Uh… yeah… where… where am I? Who are you two?”

“Don’t tell him too much.” The tall one warns.

“Oh, hush, Enty. I don’t believe this man came to harm us.” She turns back to him and answers, “My name is Vestal. I’m a repair ship here at the Azur Lane HQ and this is the Aircraft Carrier Enterprise. If you’re able to tell me, may I ask your name, rank and affiliation?”

“I… wait… you’re… who?”

“We’ll explain later. First, we need to know who you are.” Enterprise says.

The ace nods, “I’m Lt. Colonel William Bishop. Warwolf Squadron, Task Force 108, United States Air Force and NATO.”

“United States?” Vestal asks. “NATO?”

He looks at her. “Yeah. You know, the United States of America?”

Vestal stares at him blankly.

“NATO? The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation?” Bishop tries.

Vestal replies, “Nope, never heard of them. Are they new organisations?”

“Are you serious?” Bishop asks. “The US has been around for over 200 years. NATO was founded after World War 2!”

“Settle down.” Enterprise warns again.

Becoming very curious, Vestal sits down and asks, “Would you mind answering more questions?”

“If it gets me back to D.C., then sure.”

“D.C.? Like in the Eagle Union?” The nurse asks.

“No, in America!”

The three of them stare at each other as they all realise.

Bishop asks, “You two call America the Eagle Union?”

Vestal nods, “It hasn’t been called that since the Civil War, when the Eagle Union defeated the American Confederacy…”

“Then… what’s here in place of NATO? Where I’m from, it’s an alliance between nations to ensure if any member nation is attacked, the others will help them.” Bishop asks.

“Ah, that sounds like Azur Lane here, so you’re in good hands. For goodness sake, Enty, will you relax? This human is a friend.”

“I see…” Enterprise lessens up and smiles at Bishop. “My apologies, but you must understand that I’m in charge of security here. Can’t take any risks with the Sirens around, you know?” She unlocks the handcuffs and extends her hand.

“The Sirens? Like the greek monsters?” The pilots shakes her hand.

Vestal and Enterprise look at each other and back to him.

The tall one says, “You really need to speak with the Captain.”

Eventually, he is taken to the Captain’s office. The man in charge is discussing an upcoming mission named, “Operation Siren” with another bunch of women of various heights and questionable “uniforms”.

He sends them out and gestures to the chair in front of his desk.

Bishop sits and respectfully waits to be spoken to.

The Captain says, “So… Lt. Colonel William Bishop. Where’d you come from?” The Captain asks.

“…” Bishop sighs, “It’s a long story…”

“Alright, then. You can start with what that big red warhead on your plane is.”

Bishop leans forward, “The what!?”

Azur Lane HQ, Akashi’s lab.

Bishop’s plane is carried into the lab so the green cat can study it. She disconnects Trinity from it and sees an irregular piece of metal stuck in the jet. She removes it and upon touching it, she can feel it’s the metal of a warship.

“Nya!?” Akashi forgets about Trinity for a moment and runs to grab an unused Wisdom Cube with no current data. “Maybe the memories contained within this metal can give the Cube the data it needs, nya!”

The cat’s theory is proven right when the Cube and the metal start to glow and take the form of a woman.

The machine they were in opens and out steps a new Kansen. She looks around and sees the excited green cat girl waving her massive sleeves up and down in celebration. She adopts a salute and says, “USS Anzio, reporting for duty! Are you… my Commander?”

“Nyo! I’m not, but I’ll take you to him, nya! As soon as we get you some clothes, nya!” She grabs Anzio’s hand and pulls her along into the clothing section of her shop.

“Uh… is this a shop…?” Anzio asks, looking around.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, Bishop’s dorm.

Anzio stares at Warwolf 1 after he’s done telling his story. She asks, “You… saved me…?”

“Well, I suppose, but I didn’t even know I did until I met you. That piece of your armour got stuck in my plane’s fuselage and the green cat discovered it. You owe her, not me.”

“I’ve already repaid Akashi, she said so herself after she charged me for my clothes.” Anzio insists, “You, however, intentional or not, you gave me a chance at life. I owe you my entire existence as a Kansen…” she says as her voice becomes a whisper and gets closer to him. “…as well as… my body…”

Bishop becomes nervous with the supermodel looking Kansen now laying on top of him. “Uh… Anzio… I…”

“Oh? What’s this? Is the big, bad Warwolf scared~?” She teases. “You certainly feel excited~”

“Y… you’re turning red yourself, you know!” Bishop counters.

“Yeah, but I’m not pretending I’m not~” she whispers as her lips get closer to his. “I owe you so much… and I’m… curious to what else this body can do…”

He can feel her soft breath as their lips brush against each other. Anzio closes the distance and they start to kiss.

Bishop can’t help but let his hands explore Anzio’s perfect body, easily able to slip under her loose top.

Still lip-locked, Anzio makes a cute little noise as her chest area is pleasured. She breaks the kiss and leans back, sat on top of him.

“A… Anzio?” Bishop stutters, worried he’d gone too far.

“That feels great…” she takes the tank top off and throws it to her own bed. She looks down at the amazed ace pilot, brings his hands up to her chest and asks, “Please… do it more~”

1998.

St. Ark.

Folkvangr stands before Bismarck in handcuffs, her arm held tightly by Deutschland. Bismarck asks Purity, “Is your program ready, Siren?”

“Yeah. I can do it, but this isn’t my specialty. It’ll probably take so much power it’ll make me pass out. Lemme just sit down.” They walk over to a bench and she takes a seat. “Okay…” she pulls out Fensalir’s Cube, making Folkvangr gasp.

The Sub looks up at Bismarck, who nods back, indicating that she’s keeping her promise. Looking back at Purity, she sees the Siren concentrating hard. She closes her eyes and the Cube starts hovering between them all.

Purity grunts and everyone is engulfed in a flash of blue light.

“…Folky…?”

“…Fen…?”

Folkvangr feels her handcuffs get taken off by Deutschland and she runs to her sister, holding her tightly in an embrace. “FEN!”

“Folky!” The younger one wails, “I missed you!”

Bismarck signals Deutschland to leave. The Cruiser picks up the now unconscious Purity and Carries her away. As the Battleship herself turns to leave them alone, Folkvangr calls out to her, “Hey…”

The flagship turns around, “Ja?”

“I’m… sorry for how I’ve acted… and I’m eternally grateful…” she sniffs and wipes her tears, “But I have to ask… why bother with me?”

Bismarck gives her a rare smile and answers, “Because I have a younger sister, too. I sank before we even met. A sisterly bond is extremely important to a Kansen. I wouldn’t want to rob any shipgirl of that.”

“But… we were enemies…?”

The Battleship’s smile becomes bigger, “A certain Battlecruiser showed me the value in forgiveness. She was once my biggest enemy, but one heartfelt chat and some effort later, we became…” she turns red and finishes, “…we became close, and that lead to the alliance between our factions, thus making us all so much stronger. If you see any, and I mean ANY opportunity to become allies rather than enemies, you take it. We may be weapons of war, but we were created to fight the Sirens. Fighting each other only makes things worse.”

Folkvangr nods and says, “Understood… thank you…”

As Bismarck follows Deutschland, Fensalir asks, “Folky? Where’s the Lurker of the lake? Is she okay?”

Sighing, Folkvangr says, “Come with me… I need to talk to you about her…”

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

Dr. Morgan finally wakes up from the beating he took. Looking around, he gets up out of his hospital bed and walks to his lab, which in ruins.

“Dammit… Purifier… you and your little freak friend will pay for this…”

Dr. Schroeder continues work on the ZOE AI. He still has a pilot to get data from, after all. Picking up the radio, he requests, “Mihaly, please report to the lab.”

???

“Ooh, how delightful! Our little collection is already growing!” The Observer applauds as she and some other Sirens watch Phoenix and Cipher in the Mirror Sea they’ve created.

The Empress says nothing, but looks down at her new girlfriend with a genuine smile.

“Such feelings are anomalous in your particular personality programming, Empress.” A familiar, monotone voice sounds.

The two Sirens turn around to look at Observer Zero, laid on her rigging cuddling her weird plushie. The Empress counters. “And jealousy is anomalous in yours, Dreamweaver. We’ve got another ace for you. Explain to me again how they’ll be used against the Leviathans?”

“They won’t.”

“Then why the hell have I been pulling my hair out trying to capture that fucking fire pheasant!?”

“The pilots are to be broken, bent to our will and brought back to our world to defeat the Azur Lane Carriers until they become good enough to defeat them. They are but to help with the real project.” The Dreamweaver explains.

“Real project? Oh, do tell, Dreamweaver.” The Observer requests.

Right on cue, portals open and out step the Sirens Observer Zero had sent out to study the Ulysses countermeasures.

“Temperance, Tower, Strength and their Enforcer units have gathered data on multiple superweapons that could turn the tide if they were created and enhanced in our world.”

“We still don’t know how to get back, Dreamweaver! We should be focusing on that!” The Empress bellows.

“You will do well to remember your place, Arbiter.” Observer Zero lazily warns, as if she isn’t being yelled at. She turns over to be more comfy with her strange plushie and adds, “I am still running possibilities of how to return. This world has not yet revealed to us the technology necessary to allow us to fabricate a means of going back. For now, it would be illogical to squander the opportunity to study the advanced military technology here.”

“Speaking of which, Dreamweaver, I have something here you may find rather interesting~” The Observer offers.

Observer Zero looks down at her with a slight look of curiosity, “What is it?”

“A potentially major upgrade to our own aerial drones. This copy of flight data on dear Phoenix out there could easily by uploaded into them, as well as a fighter plane AI seemingly even more advanced than our own.”

“Please give it to me. I shall analyse it and upload the data.” Observer Zero takes the data and turns to the other Arbiters, “Please report the statuses of the super-weapons.” She requests.

The Temperance goes first, “The Chandelier is nearing completion, but it may not be complete by the time Ulysses 1994XF04 hits this planet. The Usean Anti-Asteroid Laser satellite weapons have all been destroyed, however.”

The Tower pets her little fluffy friend and adds, “Stonehenge is fully built and all tests have been successful. I believe it is worth studying the weapon system in further detail.”

The Strength finishes, “Fortress Intolerance has been rendered inoperable due to the damage caused by the detonation of the ICBM in its silo.”

Observer looks at another two Sirens, she asks the first, “What about the Invincible Fleet?”

The Hermit reports, “It is going well. They took the bait and have retrieved the technology from one of my Pawns. I expect we’ll be able to have an unbeatable Kansen fleet under our thumb soon. However, their human Captain, Mattias Torres, will need to be watched carefully.”

The other Siren, the Lovers, adds, “The Heavy Command Cruiser has been rushed to completion via Wisdom Cube technology. I have positively identified Tester at the site.”

The other Sirens fall silent. The Observer, having known the mentioned Siren Elite the most, repeats, “Tester?”

The Lovers nods, “Indeed. Shall I make contact with her? She seems very busy falling for some human and creating a Kansen for the Aigaion. It’s funny. From my observations, she seems… happy.”

Dreamweaver cuts the conversation short. “Such emotions are irrelevant and illogical for her. Have Purifier, Omitter and Compiler been found?”

“Negative.” All the other Sirens say in unison.

The Empress adds, “We almost found Purifier, but we were too late. Her status is unknown.”

“Devil?”

The Tower shakes her head, “Unknown.”

“Fortress?”

The Observer shrugs, “Nope.”

“Death?”

The Empress answers, “Haven’t found her yet.”

“And what about… the one who shall not be named and her two Enforcers?” Observer Zero asks.

“Still missing.” The Observer answers. The mere mention of that one stills sends shivers down her spine after what she did in the Antarctic Azur Lane facility.

“Very well. Continue operations. We must find, test and capture more ace pilots and keep studying these weapons.” Observer Zero orders.

“Affirmative, Dreamweaver!” The Sirens acknowledge.