"Vengeance?" Arizona asked as she and Bremerton walked onto the bridge of the Vengeance.
"Hmm? Oh, the battle angel and the one eyed cruiser." Vengeance said in a neutral tone.
"Battle angel?" Arizona asked with a slight blush.
"Heh... yeah." Bremerton replied in response to her apt nickname from the former siren battleship.
"Vengeance... that isn't a very nice thing to say." Arizona said softly as she rubbed Bremerton's shoulders.
"Oh don't get your barrels bent out of shape. Just busy is all. I'm not one for interruptions when I have been given a task." Vengeance said.
"A task?" Arizona asked as Bremerton looked at Arizona, her good eye looking at her with a silent message, a desire to be alone.
Arizona nodded and allowed Bremerton to walk off the bridge and down to the main deck where she rested her elbows on the rail and looked into the blue water of the port.
"What's wrong with her?" Vengeance asked.
"You called her a one eyed cruiser. Aside from the horrible insensibility, you have stoked her feelings of uselessness to boot." Arizona said sternly as she put an upset hand on her hip.
"She really took offense to that?" Vengeance asked, seeming to be genuinely confused.
"Yes. I don't know how you sirens work, but maybe a small dose of sensibility and awareness would do you well." Arizona said as she walked closer to Vengeance.
"Ah... I guess I should go and apologize..." Vengeance said as she sat up from her desk and gave Arizona a view of a blueprint.
"I'm assuming that is the task?" Arizona asked as she pointed to the blueprint on the desk.
"Isaac tasked me with fixing the cyclops, so that's what I'm doing." Vengeance said.
"Bremerton." Arizona said, her voice now holding a decent amount of anger.
"Bremerton?" Vengeance asked.
"That's her name. Use it, or your next nickname will earn you a slap." Arizona said.
"I see... so humor doesn't work either." Vengeance said.
"It's not funny. Especially if you knew that a cyclops was said to be a one eyed monster." Arizona said.
"I did not know that. Well, then yes, I am here toiling to fix Bremerton and her missing eye. This is something I was working on while the other Sirens were busy picking their plunders during the invasion." Vengeance said.
"An eye?" Arizona asked after taking a quick look at the blueprint.
"Ocular implant to be more precise." Vengeance said.
"I see, and what will it do?" Arizona asked.
"Well, aside from giving her full sight again, instant range finding, the ability to see heat signatures, and enhanced ability to control her weapons." Vengeance said.
"Huh... kinda makes me jealous." Arizona said as she looked over it.
"You want one, Battle angel? Once this one is implanted in her, we'll see if it works as intended." Vengeance said.
"You're going to test it on her?!" Arizona asked.
"I was... but I can tell by the tone of your voice that it would not be the best course of action." Vengeance said as she scratched her chin.
"Oh, I have a test subject in mind!" Vengeance said as she looked at Arizona.
"Who?" Arizona asked skeptically.
"I can use Observer Zero as m test subject. After all, Isaac has given her to me to do as I please... so long as I don't kill her." Vengeance said, causing Arizona to shudder.
"While I can't tell you what to and not to do, I would hope you'd at least give her something for the pain she'll feel..." Arizona said.
"She ordered my friend to die on Isaac's island. We were led into a trap that she knew about. So no, she will feel everything." Vengeance said as she looked out from her bridge to see Bremerton sulking over the edge of her vessel.
"I will do every possible test I can on Zero before bringing a single blade near that cruiser's face. I owe it to Isaac, and to this fleet. You all took me in rather than gunning me down back in Fiji. You all had every reason to kill me, and yet you didn't." Vengeance said.
"I wasn't here for that, but I assume it was due to the orders given by Isaac that you were spared." Arizona reasoned.
"I assure you it was. That Ironblood Behemoth... you call her Friedrich, she looked ready to murder me on the spot." Vengeance spoke.
"Well... do you blame us? You invaded the Earth and enslaved Humanity." Arizona said as she leaned on the steering column in behind her.
"You do have a point. Either way, I need that cru... Bremerton to understand that this procedure will be safe and have next to no risk involved. Because if I sense any risk or danger, I will not go through with it." Vengeance assured Arizona.
"And?" Arizona pushed.
"Bremerton will be put under for the surgery. She won't feel a thing." Vengeance promised.
"I don't necessarily like it... especially since we have used wisdom cubes to repair limbs and even bring back the dead." Arizona said.
"Yes. I understand your unwillingness to go this route. But this route will be better in the long run." Vengeance said.
"How? Is us not having our own bodies repaired a good thing?" Arizona asked.
Vengeance sighed.
"To be honest... you girls stand no chance. Even if Isaac manages to find the most powerful among you, Empress is almost completely unmatched... aside from what we did to Enterprise." Vengeance said.
"What?" Arizona asked, her tone one of shock.
"Empress forced Enterprise to undergo a retrofit when she was captured upon our arrival. Her hull was changed from the ground up and given technology from a different time. She was the reason that almost everyone was reverted back to the cubes used to make up their bodies." Vengeance said.
"And why give Enterprise power?" Arizona asked.
"We experiment. We wanted to see what would happen." Vengeance explained simply.
"I see..." Arizona said as she looked out at the USS Enterprise.
"So back on topic, why are we not using wisdom cubes to repair Bremerton's eye." Arizona asked.
"If I can find ways to augment my technology into your bodies, you girls might stand a chance against the forces that have conquered the Americas. This will be the first test. If this ocular implant works out, then I can look into other fields of study that can improve performance. Of course, anyone who manages to remain uninjured, they have then proven their strength, and thus need no upgrade. But those who are injured, like Bremerton, we might need to give a little bit of a push." Vengeance said.
"Well... the reasoning is there. I just don't like it." Arizona spoke.
"Just... give me a chance. If Isaac sees fit to have me fix her, then I think the least that can be done is give me a chance." Vengeance said as Bremerton picked herself up off the rail and walked back towards the bridge.
"She's coming." Vengeance said as she and Arizona turned to the door to await Bremerton.
"Can you at least apologize?" Arizona asked.
"Will it make you trust me?" Vengeance asked.
"No. But it will improve my image of you a tiny bit." Arizona said as Bremerton walked onto the bridge.
"I'm feeling a bit better now. I don't know what came over me." Bremerton said as she forced a smile.
"Bremerton. I am sorry for the name I called you earlier. It was insensitive and wrong of me to call you by my description." Vengeance said as Arizona looked at her.
Arizona turned to Bremerton and sighed.
"That's the best you're gonna get I'm afraid." Arizona said as Bremerton looked at Vengeance.
"We have been talking about the solution to your missing eye. And Vengeance has assured me that the surgery involved with this solution will be completely safe and practically risk free." Arizona said as Bremerton looked at the blueprint on the desk.
"That's going inside my head?" Bremerton asked.
"Not yet. But once it has been tested on my willing participant, it will." Vengeance said as Bremerton looked to Arizona.
Bremerton nodded before turning to Arizona.
"We need to inform Isaac. Eldridge and Omaha have come into radio range and are on final approach." Bremerton said.
"Understood. Vengeance, we will speak more later, but if Bremerton accepts this, then I shall not impede you further." Arizona said as she and Bremerton made their way off the Vengeance and over towards the Missouri.
Isaac, Shinano and Penny all walked aboard the Missouri. Isaac saw MacArthur and Nimitz dressed in their decorated uniforms and knew what was coming.
"Admiral." Nimitz spoke.
"Admiral. General." Isaac replied.
"Admiral." MacArthur said.
"We all know why we are here. And although this does not get any easier, it is a task that must be undertaken." Nimitz said as Isaac felt someone directly behind him. He turned to see Belfast, Eagle and Warspite all piled behind him.
"No. No it does not, Admiral." Isaac replied as he saw the pained faces of the Royals in his fleet.
"Right this way." Nimitz said as they all advanced through a path of white clad sailors towards the stern of the Missouri.
"We... are gathered here today to pay homage to those who lost their lives in the second battle for Australia." Isaac said in as strong a voice as he could. He looked over the sailors gathered before him, as well as the three Royals who stood by his side.
"This attack, that was executed so heinously, has claimed the lives of three of our own. And while we must all be thankful that three was all we lost, those three... will not be coming back. Sons, brothers, fathers, and friends will not be coming home. And that fact is enough to sober any celebration that we could gather from this battle." Isaac declared as everyone looked at two caskets draped in an American flag and a third draped in a Union Jack.
"Seaman Witmer, Seaman Scotts. Two sailors of the Missouri killed in the line of duty. Fought honorably and valiantly until the bitter end, both being pulled from their battlestations after the chaos had died down, only to be found dead with their hands firmly on the trigger. We honor them now with a moment of silence." Isaac said as every sailor present bowed their heads.
Several seconds later, Nimitz called out orders to seven decorated sailors.
"Present arms!"
"Aim!"
"Fire"
Seven rifles fired into the setting sun.
"Fire."
Seven more shots.
"Fire."
"Seaman Witmer and Seaman Scotts have returned to Quarters. Rest Easy men. We'll pick up the guard from here." Isaac spoke sternly as he stepped aside for Warspite.
"Yesterday, October 25th, 1945... Battleship Warspite... myself... was sunk during the second battle of Australia. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth... my sister, gave her life, and everything she had ever dreamed of... to save my life and bring me back from the brink of death. We now commend my sister to the depths of the great blue sea. May her rest be eternal and peaceful. May her glory live on... in everyone present. Long Live the Queen." Warspite said as her own 15" guns turned out to sea and fired 21 shots in sequence.
Isaac stepped forward to speak once more.
"Battleship Queen Elizabeth has returned to Quarters. Goodbye... my friend. I'll pick up where you left off... Long Live the Queen."