"Enterprise, no!"

However, Cleveland's shout, which traveled at the speed of sound, was slower than the bullet that left Enterprise's Glock, which moved at least twice that speed. The red fox's head snapped back as if she had been slapped and she seemed to hover in the air for a moment before crumpling to the ground.

"Got her."

"Why did you have to-"

Cleveland was interrupted by the roar of flames, accompanied by an enormous increase in temperature. The sheer heat of the blue fire caused the air around them to expand so rapidly the five were bodily thrown back by a howling wind, then yanked back to their feet by the returning blast as the rushing ball of flame sucked air back in greedily. Cleveland swallowed and her ears popped as the devouring fire sent the air pressure of the room through the floor.

Denver crouched in the middle of the corridor, unmoving, staring as the tsunami of heat barrelled down towards her.

The cruiser pushed Denver to the side, before leapt out of the way herself yelling as she felt a tongue of flame lick greedily at the back of her leg. She crashed to the floor as the fireball sped past. Her hand came up to probe the wound and came away wet.

Cleveland struggled to her feet, her burnt leg refusing to listen to her brain. Meanwhile, Enterprise had already gotten up, aiming her gun down the curved corridor and squeezing off rapid, aimed shots. A second fireball came rushing down, and this time Cleveland's injuries prevented her from getting away in time. Her mind temporarily blanked white with pain as the fire caught her burnt leg, the physical force exuded by the expanding hot air fortunately throwing her to the ground before it could do any more damage. The hot, sharp pain in her limb was now replaced by a low, whining tingle and the roasting smell of flesh assaulted Cleveland's nose. My flesh, she thought.

"Sister, are you-"

Columbia ran up to Cleveland.

"I think… I think I've been burnt."

Columbia took one look at Cleveland's leg and her face turned pale.

"Is it that bad?" Cleveland turned to regard her own injury.

Her entire calf was blackened and charred, pieces of carbonised flesh flaking away and creating a visible indentation. Calcined tendons lay desiccated and useless in the wound like dead snakes. Through the mess of scorched muscle and nerves she could make out the yellowish white of bone.

Cleveland felt bile rise up in her throat. "Shit. Looks like I won't be useful for a long time."

Before her eyes, the smoky remains of the wound began to crumble and flake off as blood vessels visibly regrew, snaking their way through the wound to link up with each other, exposed in the dim light of the facility. With blood circulation reestablished and the unsalvageable parts of the wound expelled, the enhanced body of the KAN-SEN began repairing itself, gobbets of flesh slowly forming on the newly regenerated veins and arteries and expanding into muscle or fat, steadily growing back into her leg.

While her calf slowly healed, Cleveland dragged herself and hopped back down the corridor, taking care not to move her injured leg too much. The savage blasts of fire had stopped.

Cleveland slowly maneuvered herself around the inner wall of the corridor, hugging the wall for cover as the Sakura girls came into view. Enterprise had somehow gotten to them while avoiding the fireballs and was now holding a brown-haired girl in a chokehold. Her gun was jammed into the girl's mouth. The brown-haired girl's companion, a white-haired carrier, was holding a flaming blue paper cross between her fingers, the wrist cocked backwards, ready to throw at a moment's notice.

"Shhh." Cleveland clapped a hand over Denver's mouth. "Don't say anything," she whispered. "But I wasn't-"

"Don't say anything."

The four sisters watched in silence as Enterprise furrowed her brow and barked out something in a foreign language. Is that Sakuran?

By the reaction of the two girls, she had not spoken the language very well. The brown-haired girl rolled her eyes, somehow managing to look derisive when she had a gun jammed up her throat. Meanwhile the white fox scoffed and replied, her voice far more fluent and lilting than Enterprise's halting attempt.

When Enterprise frowned, the fox sighed and repeated in English: "Come… help… companion-friends."

"See, they were here to help their friends too, Enterprise, you shouldn't have-"

"You don't know that, Columbia. You don't know that. These guys lie as naturally as they breathe."

Cleveland saw the white fox's tails quiver as she bristled at this slight. Meanwhile, the other fox, a brown-furred one dressed in red, was getting back up to her feet slowly behind Enterprise, rubbing her forehead where the bullet had caught her.

The white fox looked ready to rip Enterprise a new one until she saw her sister. Immediately she dropped her paper cross, which burned to ash on the ground, and brushed past Enterprise, the carrier quickly relaxing when she realised she wasn't trying to attack her but immediately stiffening as she saw the newcomer. The white fox seized the red one by the shoulders, and the two exchanged words in rapid, low Sakuran.

Are they sisters?

The brown-haired girl squirmed in Enterprise's grip and the carrier gave her a rough shake. Turning to the two, Enterprise said something again in her halting, broken Sakuran.

The white fox's eyes widened and she raised her hand, covered in blue flames. However, her companion rested a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back and shooting her a warning glare. Even through the language barrier, Cleveland understood what that meant. Stand down.

Turning to Enterprise, the red fox opened her mouth. "Grey Ghost… it is good, meeting you, here."

Enterprise sneered. "Come to save your friends, huh? Doesn't seem like a very Sakura thing to do."

"I assume, you know, who I am." The red fox spoke in precise but halting English.

"How could I not, Akagi?" Enterprise spat the word out like poison. "How could I not know you after all you did?"

So that's the aircraft carrier Akagi?

"Then, you would be… aware, that I, would never betray, my countrymen."

"But you allied with the Sirens."

This remark from Enterprise, casually tossed out, seemed to kindle something in Akagi. The carrier's nine tails flared with reddish sparks as the low hum of her flames began thrumming through the air. When she spoke, it was low and dangerous. "And what, would be, the other choice? You? You, have brutalised, us, Eagle. It was, in no small part, your doings, that led, us to be a Siren's, pawn."

Enterprise spat back. "You're just trying to find excuses. All the Sakura are concerned about is strength. If you wanted something, you would throw everyone into the gutter to get it! That's why I don't believe you when you say you're here to save your friends? We Eagles may not have the best history, but at least we don't hurt our own-"

"Have you, forgotten, what you did, to Amagi?"

Enterprise opened her mouth to continue with her tirade, then stopped. "That-that was different! You were dangerous-"

"We, fought on, the side of, the Eagles and Royals, in the first, Great War. Yet you, deemed us enemies. Brutalised us. Weakened us. You would not, accept the fact, that such a great nation, could come from, the East. You gave us, no choice, but to become, the slaves of, the Sirens, to survive."

"I-"

"I still remember, Amagi. When we, cut off, her medicine. I remember, when she grew sicker, and sicker, every day, until she finally, left. It was, because of, you, Eagle. You signed, her death warrant, and treated her, like an object."

"But-"

"Were you, not the one, who accused us, of covering up, our mistakes?"

Enterprise fell silent.

"All we, want to do, is find our, companions. We would be, immensely grateful, if you could, help us. Consider that, we have our rigging, and you, do not."

Enterprise's eyes flicked from Akagi to her white-haired companion.

"Also, do unhand, Zuikaku there."

The carrier released her, and the brown-haired girl (so her name is Zuikaku) dropped to the ground, gagging as the invasive metallic object left her throat.

"No harm, will befall you, if you promise, the same, to us."

Enterprise sighed. "Fine." She holstered the gun.

Akagi's eyes flickered to Cleveland, and the cruiser felt her entire body shiver with chills as the eyes of the Sakura's carrier ace raked over her. "She, is hurt."

"Yes, your friend there very kindly decided to start hurling fireballs."

"I hope, you will accept, Kaga's apology."

Akagi turned to Kaga and spoke, a heated exchange firing between them. After a while, Kaga sighed and walked over to Cleveland, bowing deeply and muttering, "I...am sorry. For wounding… you."

"Enterprise, do you, know how, to read this?"

The carrier walked over to the placard on the door that the Sakura girls were standing outside when they encountered them. "It says, "Nagato."" And there's more below…"

"What, does it, say? I apologise, I can speak the language, but not, read. And Zuikaku, is not, too fluent, either."

Cleveland hobbled over, her burn now not much more than a mass of angry red flesh. The placard that bore the name was the size of a DIN A4 sheet, the measurement system invented by the Ironbloods and adopted by the entire world. Below the word "Nagato", printed in thick bold, were several lines of text which Enterprise read aloud, her voice getting softer and more horrified with every word.

"Subject has been involved in Test Azrael and Baruch, but was unable to be tested in test Cabiel and Dumah due to extensive damage to its corpus...the combined radioactive effect of the two detonations have seems to have inihibited its regenerative abilities, as it is now unable to regenerate amputated extremities even after the Wisdom Cube suppressant has been removed. This is in direct contrast to [REDACTED], who has developed nearly unsurpassed regenerative abilities. The effects of the two detonations seem to have rendered the subject… incapable of operating at previous parameters, and it now possesses a level of strength and control over bodily functions comparable to that of a malnourished child. Subject is scheduled for termination during Test Ezekiel. Note: all feeding should be accomplished by IV drip, as the subject is unable to swallow food and will regurgitate anything orally ingested within the hour, due to a combination of muscle atrophy in the throat and degeneration of the stomach lining. If the subject's vocalisations become too… distressing, it is permissible to seek for a change in assignment. Due to contamination, subject's wounds are not to be treated beyond basic first aid, and all personnel must don radiation protection when entering the holding zone..."

A shocked and mute silence fell like a pall over the Eagle girls, while Akagi turned to her companions and began to translate. After the red carrier had finished speaking, the brown-haired girl (Zuikaku, her name is-) slammed her hand against the wall and snarled something in Sakuran.

No wonder. If something like that had happened to Independence, I would have-

Zuikaku began slashing at the door imprisoning Nagato with her sword, the blade throwing up sparks as it scraped against the awakened steel door. A few strokes, combined with her prodigious strength, caused the door to cave in with a groan. Cleveland, standing next to the doorway, stepped back as a wave of hot air rushed out.

She poked her head through the door and immediately felt sick.

The room in which Nagato was held was dark, hot and humid, and stank of a combination of urine, feces and dried, putrefying blood. The girl herself lay in a stained gown that appeared to have been white at some point, now spattered with yellow and dark, gory red, with a tube that led into the wall leading into her arm. A bandage ran around her head, covering both her eyes, and her hands were similarly wrapped. With a chill Cleveland realised she couldn't make out any fingers. She wasn't moving.

Behind her, Cleveland heard Denver throw up onto the ground, whimpering.

The three Sakura girls immediately ran over to Nagato, Zuikaku scooping the little battleship up into her arms. Nagato's body flopped limply over the ground, as Zuikaku cradled her head, speaking tearfully in Sakuran, while Akagi and Kaga stood next to each other, watching with a mixture of sorrow, rage and disgust on their faces.

Zuikaku's repeated calls seemed to wake Nagato, as the fox stirred weakly and inclined her blind face towards Zuikaku. Her cracked lips parted and a thin, barely audible rasp issued from her throat. Zuikaku nodded and stood up, two thin trails of wetness visible on her cheeks.

Akagi strode over to Zuikaku and gently brushed several loose strands of hair from Nagato's face. The battleship seemed to react to this, nuzzling Akagi's hand almost imperceptibly.

Cleveland turned to face Enterprise and found that the carrier's face was nearly as white as her hair. Her entire body was trembling as she stared at the former leader of the Sakura, now reduced to no more than a shell of a little girl.

She could almost hear Enterprise's unspoken question. Will the rest...will Sara look like that too?

Akagi's eyes flashed from Nagato to Cleveland. "There are others. We will need, to take them, as well. Yours, and the Ironblood's."

Cleveland felt relief flood through her entire body. So they aren't just going to take their own and leave.

The small party of KAN-SEN worked their way around the floor, Zuikaku having handed Nagato to Kaga and knocking each door down with her sword. Most of the rooms were empty, and Cleveland felt her heart sinking more and more with each bare, dark room they found.

When they got to Saratoga's room, they found that it, too, was empty.