Outbreak

by war4sure

The Sirens has been defeated, but London was surprised with a retrofit, which requires her to be placed in stasis. But during her stasis, a dangerously infectious virus capable of turning normal humans into a bloodthirsty killing machine sweeps across Great Britain. Awoken from her stasis twenty eight days later, she finds herself facing an enemy more terrifying than the Sirens

5. The Rescue, Part 2

"To save one, four has to go…"

This chapter would probably get me a lot of flak for how many character deaths both in here and implied. But since I already warned all potential readers exactly what to expect, then I assumed that you accepted the fact that your shipfu can and will die, unless her name is on the character list (if you read this on AO3 anyway.)

Also, 14656 words. Not counting the opening and ending note this part alone had more words than my thesis. For comparison, my thesis is 82 pages long but only have 8432 words. This one is just a fraction of that but contains twice the words. Let that sink in.

But enough of this nonsense. It's time for the story.

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Day 28

1401

Marylebone, London, Great Britain Quarantine Zone

"Le Triomphant? What the…?" London was shocked to see the former Iris destroyer running alongside the Infected. Just as what Reinald said, her face is nowhere near what she once remembered her. Her confident smile, her bright blue eyes, all were gone. Replaced by a face covered in blood and full of hate and anger as she pried herself free from the van. London was about turn her face back to the front when she saw another horde enters the junction, and among them were two more familiar faces to her.

"Karlsruhe, Long Island, no…." Running alongside the newly arrived Infected horde were Karlsruhe and Long Island. Like Le Triomphant, they too sport the same facial expressions and appearance. Angry, hateful, and their once colourful clothes now drenched in blood. Even their hairs, especially visible on Karlsruhe as hers are white were now dyed red. The only thing London noticed was Long Island missing her usual blue jacket, though given how she often wears it the piece of clothing might had fallen of her the moment she became an Infected, leaving her only in her shirt which is by now are completely soaked in blood.

But she soon realized that she must get away from them. They're maybe shipgirls like her, but recalling the words from the Iris commander, they weren't themselves anymore. Karlsruhe sprinted forward, smashing through the abandoned vehicles in an attempt to catch London only to crash into Le Triomphant stumbling them both onto the asphalt, which in turn caused several Infected them to stumble upon them. They were however are quick to get up, regain their footing and resumed their chase. Long Island on the other hand, simply vaulted over the obstacles.

With at least three former shipgirls now hot on her heels, London can pretty much feel terror filling her mind. Regular Infected is already a challenge on their own, but Infected shipgirls? It just went beyond simply running away as London saw them with their rigging on. Which means they were decked in shipgirl gears when they became Infected. Which also means it can be only be damaged by another shipgirl, but as her earlier experience says, using her guns on them on land is just impossible. But she won't simply giving up without trying to fight.

First thing she pulled out was the assault rifle she obtained from the church. She blindly fires the weapon on the chasing Infected. Accuracy wasn't an issue if everyone kindly bunched up on her and sure enough a few Infected were killed by the blind fire, yet the remaining Infected were unfazed, for those that got hit by the bullets but didn't die simply continued forward, ignoring their bullet wounds. For the shipgirls, the assault rifle ammo simply bounced off them. London reloads the rifle but decided not to shoot it, for she had another idea. Turning on her communicator, she asked Gayle for help.

"General, I got multiple Infected behind me including three shipgirls. Get me an airstrike!"

"Understood, London. Sending a fighter over to you." Meanwhile in Bembridge, everyone became anxious with the situation at hand. Gayle took a look at the screen and decided on what actions to do. "We need to take out those ISGs first. They're the most dangerous threat to her right now. They're all dangerous, but we need to know who posed the most threat so we can eliminate them first. You guys got a recommendation?" He asked the Azur Lane commanders. All three of them gave a deep thought. It was a painful decision for them as they were once shipgirls under their command and such question are akin to telling someone that a person has to be rescued but to do so they must sacrifice someone they loved. But they also know the three Infected shipgirls had to be eliminate if London were to be rescued. Eventually, Reinald speaks up. His voice's heavy for he knew this will be the last time he will see his favourite destroyer alive, as he was essentially ordering a kill order on her.

"Le Triomphant, sir. She's the fastest of the three. There, the one in front of the horde. She wears a red cape, shouldn't be hard to miss." He pointed his finger at the screen, towards the approximate location of where the former Iris destroyer were. Gayle relayed the information to the fighters.

"We need to take out Le Triomphant. ISG wearing a red cape and she's leading the horde right now. How copy?"

"Solid copy, Bembridge. Thunder Four out." The F-35 followed the road as the pilot tracks his target on his HUD. He had her on sight but he couldn't engage her right now. "Uh…Bembridge, this is Thunder Four, target's too close to VIP. Advise? Over."

Meanwhile, the shipgirls were observing the unfolding situation and were also discussing amongst themselves. "Do normal human weapons worked on them anyway?" Asked Prinz Heinrich. Both Enterprise and Jean Bart shake their heads. "Don't know, but going through some of their specifications I think it might work. We just had to find out." Enterprise replied. To be honest she also wasn't so sure. Granted as they were based on World War Two warships and as such inherited their memories. Most if not all shipgirls, when they were manifested for the first time were amazed at how much technology had progressed since the 1940s. Some had grown attached to it that they had to modify their ship forms in order to satisfy their needs, so a destroyer or a battleship sporting Wi-Fi and modern computers onboard them are common as they find them way easier to use than the archaic targeting and communications system they had. Accuracy increased tenfold after swapping the mechanical computers with more modern ones, and wasn't long before companies like Raytheon and Elbit to begin offering upgrade packages for the Azur Lane factions. Some like Mikasa prefers to stay the old ways but most chose to upgrade theirs.

Jean Bart looks at the screen as London runs away while Le Triomphant is gaining on her. Indeed, she was too close for even a strafing run with only the guns. But her experience handling the Infected, especially Infected shipgirls back when the defence line broke three weeks ago tells her there's a few things London can do, provided she's willing to be ruthless. She walks over to Gayle and asks for the microphone. "General, I wish to speak to London." Her request caught him by surprise, and so does the other commanders and shipgirls.

"Jean, what are trying to…" Her commander asked only for her to cut him off.

"Just give me the damn headset!" Gayle simply handed the headset over to Jean.

"Hey, pirate girl! What are you planning on doing?" asked Griggs. She replied. "Giving her a few tricks on what to do so she doesn't make the same mistakes as we did back then." She then wears the headset before continuing. "The same mistakes that is reason why the Casualty Manifest exists." She then proceeds to contact London.

"London, this is Jean Bart. Can you hear me?"

"Jean Bart? What are you…"?

"That's not important right now. At least I know you can hear me. London, you have any anti-aircraft guns equipped on you?" London hesitates for a while as she checked her current equipment. She then replied. "Yeah, I got a twin 40mm Pom-pom on me."

"Good to know, now summon your rigging and pull that gun out." London was surprised with what the Iris battleship told her. "What!? But if I summon my rigging now…" Before she could her sentence, Jean cuts her off. "If you don't do it now, then you'll die. Le Triompant is coming for you and NATO can't hit her without hitting you as well. If you want to survive then you need to keep her far enough so they can strike her down. Ya got it?"

Heeding her advice London summons her rigging and pulled out her anti-aircraft gun. "Good, now aim for her legs and shoot the fuck out of it! Remember to keep moving while you're at it!" She was surprised at Jean's sudden change in tone. "Shoot her!?" She hesitates causing Jean to yell at her over the radio. "JUST DO IT OR YOU'LL DIE!" Freaking out, she immediately aimed the gun at Le Triomphant's legs and opened fire. Multiple 40mm rounds flies out of the barrel as she squeezes the trigger. She finds it hard to aim as she had to maintain her speed so she did her best to point the gun downwards on her legs hoping one of the shots hits it. Eventually, one of the shots hits her left leg, forcing Le Triomphant into a limp.

"Hey! I got her!" Just then, Jean replied back. "Good, now look around for something you can throw. You're a heavy cruiser, you have enough strength to lift a small truck. Find something. Cars, lamp post, street signs, anything you can lift comfortably and throw it at her!" She turned back forward to find what she could use and luckily in front of her was a taxi blocking her path. "Guess your turn's over." Said London as she grabs the back of the taxi and effortlessly flung the vehicle towards the former Iris destroyer. "Now it's my turn!"

The taxi was sent flying towards the Infected destroyer before hitting her will full force, instantly knocking her back to the ground by several metres. The taxi continued to fly towards the incoming horde, only a few Infected chose to dodge while most continued to charge forward, resulting in many of the Infected to be crushed. "Gotcha!" London returned her face forward as she continued her run while in the sky above, one of the jets saw an opening to begin its attack.

"Thunder Four, attempting to engage ISG." The F-35 swoops down and a burst of 25mm rounds pummelled Le Triomphant, who just get herself up and are just about to resume her chase, forcing her back to the ground. However, the fighter was too fast and as such were unable to fire its missiles or dropping bombs on her as it flew right above. "Bembridge this is Thunder Four, attack run ineffective. Going for another run."

"Negative Thunder Four, we got a drone on the ISG. Proceed with defending the VIP. Over."

"Roger that Bembridge." Jim launched the last Hellfire missile from his drone, the crosshair fixated on Le Triomphant. The destroyer herself had taken some damage from the strafing run; her rigging was damaged beyond recognition not to mention some of the rounds managed to score direct hits on her causing major injuries. Perhaps the most significant injury was to her left leg, the 40mm round from London's anti-aircraft gun almost blew her left foot, which is now dangling only by a tendon. Despite in immense pain, she ignored it all, for the Rage Virus had made her so. She still attempted to move forward, until the Hellfire missile struck her. Le Triomphant disappears under a massive fireball, the explosion also killed several nearby Infected. The force of the explosion also sends Karlsruhe and Long Island flying from the shockwave caused not just from the missile but also from the remaining ammunition in Le Triomphant's rigging exploding. Long Island was sent flying into a storefront while Karlsruhe crashes into the side of a truck with enough force to knock the vehicle on its side. Yet Karlsruhe stands back up and resumed her chase, Long Island also re-joined her and other Infected as they determined to catch London no matter what happens to them.

Back in Bembridge, there were a makeshift celebration happening after Le Triomphant were successfully taken down as various shouts of congratulations reverb around the room.

"Whooo! Takedown!"

"Can't believe she blew up like that!"

"That's one god damn precision strike there Jim!" While the NATO officers celebrates their successful engagement, the same wasn't for the Azur Lane commanders nor the shipgirls. While NATO considers an Infected shipgirl as just another hostile that needs to be eliminated, to Azur Lane a shipgirl is still a shipgirl, Infected or not. Reinald could only stare at the screen as he tries to process what he had just witnessed. His favourite destroyer, gone under a Hellfire strike. He then felt a hand touching his shoulder, and looked back to see Winfried.

"Hey, you good?"

"Yes, just…trying to working on believing what I just saw." He said, then Griggs offered him a pack of tissue.

"Don't fight it man, we know how it feels. That was your most prized shipgirl after all."

"I know." Reinald wipes his face with one of tissue before continuing. "Just…kind of hard to accept it like that. Le Triomphant…she used to be a good girl you know. A bit mischievous but when it comes to combat, she puts even heavy cruisers to shame."

Meanwhile, Jean continues to monitor London's movements on the screens. Eventually Gayle gave her a light tap on her shoulders. "Jean Bart, I appreciate your help but I would like to have the headset back." She raised her left arm in return. "In the moment General, I need to say something to London." Taking a short breath, she continued. "London, you still with me?"

"Yes."

"Listen. Down there, you do not hesitate. Anything me or the General says, you do it without asking further questions. These Infected are not like the Sirens. Sirens would sometime toys with us but the Infected will go straight for you. They will kill you or turn you into one of them. If you hesitate, you die. Should you have to make a decision, you do it fast. Ya got it?"

"Alright, alright, I get it."

"One more thing, don't let the Infected box you. Always ensure there's an escape path, if there's none, you make one."

"Make one? How?"

"You see how Karlsruhe simply ran through rows of abandoned vehicles like nothing? If she could do that as a light cruiser, then so do you, and you're a heavy cruiser, even better. You equip you rig, build up speed and smash through everything in your way. If you're surrounded by the Infected, look for the path with the least Infected and ram them out of the way. Alternatively, grab something and use them to clear a path. If all else fails, you pull a Kool Aid and smash your way through walls, or you point your back towards where you want to go and fire your main guns. Use the absurd recoil to your advantage. You want to survive; you have to do whatever it takes. The Infected forced us shipgirls to think out of the box." Only then another transmission comes in which signals Jean Bart that she had to return the controls back to Gayle.

"Bembridge, this is Helix 1-1, we have visual on the VIP. Proceeding to assist. How copy? Over."

"That's what I can say now London. Keep what I said in mind, if it helped me escape the city, so do you. Good luck." She then took off the headset and hands it back over to Gayle. "Thanks for giving me time with her General." As Gayle took the headset, he replied back. "Don't worry, at least you gave her a pointer. How you know that?"

"That's because I was down there General, I saw for myself with my own eyes what those Infected could do to us." She dryly replied.

---

Having left Portland Place Road, London now finds herself running down Regent Street. Following what Jean Bart told her, she alternates between firing the 40mm gun, assault rifle and occasionally whatever she could grab and throw back at the pursuing horde. As long as she could keep the horde away from her far enough so the fighters and drones could engage them safely without endangering her. So far, she did hear explosions in the distance as the other fighters attempts to thin down the incoming horde by attacking them before they could reach Regent Street. As she closes in on Conduit Street intersection, she caught the sound of a whirring noise coming from her right. Looking at the direction of the noise, she caught sight of six Apache attack helicopters entering the fray.

"Bembridge, this is Helix 1-1, we have visual on the VIP. Proceeding to assist. How copy? Over."

"Solid copy Helix 1-1. You are to engage all Infected within a hundred-meter radius of the VIP. Be advised, we have visual of two ISG bearing down on her, recommend you take them out immediately. Bembridge out." The gunner of Helix 1-1 took a second to assess the situation on the street below.

Their VIP had just crossed the intersection, behind her was probably hundreds if not thousands of Infected, including two Infected shipgirls chasing after her. He then made his decision.

"Helix 1-5 and 6, you go and provide cover for the VIP. Helix 1-3 and 4, trim as many Infected as you can. Helix 1-2, you're with me. We take out the ISGs. How copy?"

"Solid copy One - One" The six Apaches split up to begin their assigned duty. Two of them continued down the road towards London while the other two opened fire on the Infected below. The two remaining helicopters began to single out the Infected shipgirls. "Uh…Helix 1-1? We got two ISGs running down there, which one we need to take out first?"

"Hold on." The gunner again looked down on the streets, this time focusing on Karlsruhe and Long Island. It wasn't hard to find them even in the sea of Infected as both of them had their rigging which made them stands out, not to mention the weight of their rigging made them slower than most Infected. He eventually decided on a target. "We need to take out the one with carrier-like rigging. She's currently fast enough to catch up with the VIP. We take the other one later, this one had to go now."

"Roger that, Helix 1-1." The two helicopters chased down their target, Long Island, who were now making her way to front of the horde. "I see her. Engaging ISG." Immediately, showers of 30mm autocannon shells peppered the former Eagle Union light carrier, followed by multiple barrages of 70mm Hydra missiles. The 30mm shells initially slowed her down before repeated hits eventually pinned her down. If that wasn't enough, the follow up rocket attack wrecked her real good, as the resulting explosions blown both of her legs. But even then, Long Island managed to survive the attack, barely. Despite taking such horrible damage, she still tried to crawl forward, her mind fixated only on London.

"Wow, didn't know they can actually survive all that." Said the pilot of Helix 1-2. "Most of our target normally destroyed or dead by now, but this one…I don't know what else to say."

"Yeah man, best we just end her right here, right now. Uhh…This is One – Two to One – One, permission to give the ISG a coup de grace?"

"She's all yours One – Two, take her out."

"Roger that." The Apaches were loaded with a new type of missile. Introduced in 2019 and only seeing widespread use in the 2020s were the AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile. Created to replace several types of air to ground missile used by the US Armed Forces, among them were the Hellfire missile. The reason why the Reaper drones continued to be armed with the older missile was due to the Air Force weren't interested in the new missile, instead opting for an upgraded version of the Hellfire.

"JAGM out." Helix 1-2 fired the missile towards Long Island and seconds later, the light carrier was instantly obliterated by the resulting explosion, which also killed nearby Infected as well. "ISG is down, I repeat, ISG is down. Proceeding to second target. Over." The two helicopters now focused on the only remaining Infected shipgirl left, Karlsruhe. However, instead of giving chase, the gunner of Helix 1-1 simply locked on to her before launching a single JAGM. Moments later, there were an explosion in the middle of the street. Both helicopters flew over to the site of explosion to check whether their target has been destroyed or not. The result was predictable.

"This is Helix 1-1, ISG is down. I repeat, all ISG has been neutralized."

"Understood Helix 1-1, now focus on keeping the VIP safe." Then one of the helicopters radioed in. "This is Helix 1-3, there's too many Infected down here for all of us to handle. We need to hit them with something big." Hearing this, Gayle contacted the fighters. "This is Bembridge to all fighters still capable of ground attack, we have request to bomb the entire street. Any units capable of the action please respond." There was a short silence before four replies came in.

"Dragon Three, on it."

"Dragon Eight, still capable of ground strike."

"Thunder Four here, also capable."

"Thunder Six, ditto. Where we should begin the attack run?" Gayle then checked the map, taking note of London's position to determine where to begin the attack run. He then come up with a location "This is Bembridge, recommend attack run to commence on Glasshouse Street and Vigo Street intersection, coordinate 51°30'37.4"N 0°08'17.7"W. Start the attack from south to north. How copy?"

"Glasshouse Street and Vigo Street intersection, coordinate 51°30'37.4"N 0°08'17.7"W, solid copy Bembridge. Moving to target zone." He was met with similar response from the other fighters, and then he immediately contacted London.

"London, this is Gayle. I just ordered an airstrike just north of your position. You have approximately less than forty-five seconds to get pass Glasshouse Street and Vigo Street intersection because everything below that intersection will be bombed."

"Say what?" Gayle repeats what he said, but in a simpler term. "I ordered an airstrike on the street you were on right now, and you have to get past Glasshouse Street and Vigo Street intersection in the next forty-five seconds or you'll be caught in the bombing. How copy?"

"Understood General." London immediately disengages her rigging to sped up as she races towards the intersection before the fighters arrive. She is eventually contacted by one of the fighters to help her gauge how much time is left. "London this is Dragon Three, we are thirty seconds away from weapons release." London can already see the fighters on the horizon, an alarm bell already ringing in her head as the countdown becomes lower.

"Twenty seconds to weapons release." By now, her helicopter escorts had cleared the streets to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. "This is Helix 1-1 to all Helix callsigns within Regent Street, get away right now! Bombing run is imminent!"

"Ten seconds to weapons release." As the countdown gets closer to zero it's even more anxious especially to those in Bembridge. The commanders and other officers grit their teeth as they could only watch the events unfolding upon them.

"Come on girl, you can do it!"

"Faster lady, you got ten seconds left!"

"Oh man, I can see this getting ugly fast!"

London by now are only less than a hundred feet away from the intersection, however there was one problem. The intersection was blocked by a double decker bus. She however, has no time to find an alternative as she can already hear the roaring noise of the jet engines from the incoming fighters. However, taking what Jean Bart had told her, she summons her rigging and aimed towards the front end of the bus, determined to ram that part as it would more efficient than hitting the middle or the rear end. As she about to hit the vehicle, she put both her hands to shield her face.

"Here goes nothing!" London rams the bus at full force, pushing the front away from her as the vehicle slides to the right opening the path for her. She was almost stopped by her actions but she disengages her rigging and continued her run, just as the fighters arrives.

"Guns! Guns! Guns!" Gunfire erupts as the four fighters unleashed their autocannons strafing the street below, before being followed by a barrage of missile strikes. The attacks alone took out scores of Infected on the streets but to effectively "plug" Regent Street to stop them from following London for a while, that's where the bombs are for.

"Bombs away." Multiple AASM and Mk77 bombs fell onto Regent Street. The resulting explosions wipes out any surviving Infected while the fireballs from the Mk77 incinerates any that survives the bombs or missed them, as well as creating a firewall preventing the Infected from continuing further down the road, forcing them to turn back and look for an alternative path to their target. In Bembridge, there was another impromptu celebration going on after the destruction of the horde on Regent Street.

But for the Azur Lane commanders and shipgirls, they weren't very sure what to do. On one hand, they were sad that they just witnessed the violent end of several of their former shipgirls. On the other hand, at least they knew London will be safe as long as air support stays with her.

"Well, at least normal weapons worked against them." Enterprise spoke up after a brief silence. "Yeah, but that means it also worked against us as well. Might wanna take some mental note not to cross NATO unless blown to bits with no chance to fight back is your death wish." Said Prinz Heinrich with a fearful tone in her voice. Ever since the end of the Siren War, short of handling rogue Siren holdouts and patrols the shipgirls are essentially freeloading. Thanks to reverse engineering captured Siren technologies, normal human navies had been slowly capable of engaging small Siren fleet on their own without the need of the shipgirls, the reason why they were still needed was in case they encountered larger Siren fleet or as the Italians discovered only three weeks before the Rage Virus outbreak, a previously unknown Mirror Sea showing up only 100 nautical miles outside Venice, prompting an emergency deployment of Iris and Iron Blood forces to the area as the Italian Azur Lane faction, the Sardegna partied too hard the night before leaving only a handful of their shipgirls capable of engaging them.

The incident, known later to the public as Daedelian Hymn, is pretty much a wakeup call for all Azur Lane factions worldwide to remain vigilant and be prepared for any future Siren incursions. As such, all Azur Lane factions ramped up patrols for a few weeks before it was declared safe. But Prinz Heinrich has been hearing rumours of their faction are to dismantled and to be integrated to the Deutsche Marine. So far, her commander assured her and fellow Iron Bloods that it was only a rumour, although he does mention that there were talks for joint naval exercises between European and American Azur Lane factions and NATO navies.

But the Rage Virus outbreak pretty throws that plan to fruition too prematurely. While this was the not first time both alliances ended up working together, it was the first time NATO was in charge instead of them. This operation highlighted how different the two alliances operate. Yet the whole containment wasn't supposed to be an Azur Lane operation as they were established for the sole purpose to fight Sirens, but due to the British Minister of Defence decision to deploy Azur Lane's Royal Navy to fight the Infected, it ended up dragging the other factions in it.

But what puzzles Prinz Heinrich the most was how quiet the Royal Navy was early in the outbreak. The only means of communication at the time was from the British MoD which kept telling them that they were busy fighting the Infected north of London and were winning, which convinced Iris, Iron Blood, Eagle Union and Sardegna to send reinforcements to help them yet they weren't able to contact any of them directly. It was only on the morning of Day 7 did the Royal shipgirls showed up in person near the Park Royal – Tottenham defensive line checkpoints. Their appearance shocked everyone as instead of victorious as they were told, they were instead exhausted, depressed and demoralized. It was from them did they realized that they have been lied to by the British MoD as the Royal Navy and the British Armed Forces has been suffering losses after losses for the past six days and was practically retreating, with the Royal Navy at that point had loss half of their shipgirls to the Infected.

The retreating Royal Navy shipgirls warned them of what the Infected could do to them as well as why they were in danger. The reaction was mixed, some factions like the Iron Blood took the warning seriously, as Winfried immediately orders all Iron Blood shipgirls to immediately retreat as soon as he learns of the dangers of how vulnerable a shipgirl is on land and that shipgirls can become Infected. Others didn't heed to their warning thinking that the Royal Navy was hysterical, only to learn the truth the hard way only minutes later. For others however, the warning came too late. It was later determined that the British MoD was responsible for the mishandling of the situation which leads to Azur Lane's biggest loss in its history, yet she knows a few shipgirls who decided to blame it on the Royal Navy for their losses, this becoming a few reasons why currently the Royal Navy were holing up in Belfast instead of together with them. Any further investigation couldn't be done as most of the British MoD personnel involved were either killed or infected after the breach as the Infected overrun their headquarters before they had a chance to evacuate.

Prinz Heinrich's train of thought was broken when one of the commanders spoke up. "Well, good thing too. At least we can let NATO handle them instead of us. Don't think any of my shipgirls had the heart to takedown their former comrades, especially sister ships." Said Winfried.

"Well, I know a few in my fleet that unfortunately had to endure what you just said. It just fucked up man, one moment you were together and then suddenly you have to take your sister ship down because she got Infected. Reminds me, I need some psychiatrist because a few of my girls can't get over it yet." Griggs replied. Then Reinald spoke up. "The Iris loses five shipgirls. Sounds little to you but given our fleet size it was a significant loss. One light cruiser and four destroyers either killed or Infected. We're only capable of maintaining two fleets now, any more loses cannot be tolerated by us. Besides, I don't think any of them wants to step foot in London for the time being."

Indeed, none of the shipgirls wanted to go back to the city, or rather anywhere within Great Britain right now. While Enterprise weren't much affected as at the time, she was with Griggs back when NATO and Azur Lane were coordinating their efforts in London City Airport before both forces had to retreat onboard USS George H. W. Bush where all operations in Great Britain were coordinated there until NATO acquired Bembridge after the fall of the British Government. For Prinz Heinrich and Jean Bart however, they were in the city and just surviving London itself was a feat of its own.

Nope! Nope! Nope! Not planning to be anywhere in London right now! Just no!" Prinz Heinrich straight out having a fit upon hearing any idea of them having to go back to London prompting her commander to calm her down. "Easy, Heinrich. Nobody is going to London unless I said yes, and only if there's good reason for it." She calmed down after that. "Promise?" She asked.

"Yes, promised" He replied back and Heinrich went back to her normal self. Enterprise then asked her a question. "I just wanted to know, what happened to you back then?" Heinrich's face soured as some unpleasant memories resurfaced, but nevertheless she answered. "When the commander ordered a retreat to Thames, I immediately went south with a few of the shipgirls. Initially we tried to follow the Royal girls, but they were too fast and I got separated from my group and eventually I got lost." She paused for a while before continuing. "Normally I can just check the map on my phone if I want to, except there's no time for that when the Infected spots you and started chasing you down like London was right now!"

"Damn girl, that's tough." Replied one of the officers listening. "So how you get out?"

"Well, luckily Eisen was there to chomp those ugly bastards and clear a path so I can run away from them but eventually there just too many Infected to handle. So happened I managed to run into Wichita and Z23 and then we found ourselves an apartment complex. We went to the top-most floor, barricaded all stairs and doorways leading up there and basically waited there until the next day when Z23 managed to made contact with a NATO combat search and rescue team. That's how we got out."

"Uh…Who is Eisen? And what happened to him?" Asked another officer. "First, Eisen is a she. She's my mechanical companion like most high-ranking Iron Blood shipgirls has. She's fine, she's mechanical by nature so she can't get Infected. Of course, she was too large and heavy to fit in the helicopter so I had her to go to the Thames and get to the sea on her own. I reunited with her again after I landed somewhere safe" Her answer elicits a few "Oohs" from the officers. Then Jean Bart speaks up. "Hmmph! That's cute. Mine's far worse than yours did."

"Sure you are, Jean." Replied Griggs. By now, everyone had heard of her story. There are many harrowing stories of soldiers, civilians and shipgirls trying to escape London following the breach. Jean's story was one of them, but what that makes it stand out is just how brutal it goes. It wasn't too brutal, but it exemplifies exactly how the Infected should be treated. Especially when she beaten two Infected shipgirls to death one after another with only her hands. She was reluctant to tell the story, but accounts from surviving soldiers and other shipgirl present at the time such as Dunkerque pretty much gave the story a legendary status.

As the celebration died down, Gayle continued to monitor London as she made her way towards Piccadilly. The bombings did their work, for by the time the Infected managed to return to Regent Street, London was substantially further away from them. Combined with a dozen attack helicopters guarding her all that's left was to get London to the Thames River where she could be then airlifted out to safety.

"London, you're about to reach Piccadilly. Once you get there, continue north down Coventry Street and then turn right into Haymarket. Got it?"

"Got it General." As London arrives in Piccadilly, she could tell that there were attempts to fortify the junction judging from the large numbers of military and police vehicles left abandoned in the area, not to mention some of the roads leading to the intersection were blocked using whatever the defenders could cobble together at the time, most notably police barriers, stacks of concrete blocks and even buses and trucks parked in a way so that it could block entire width of a road. Above her was another six attack helicopters and one transport helicopter, which London reckons was her ticket out of the city.

"What happened here?" She asked and the general replied. "When the Infected breached the defensive line we erected between Park Royal and Tottenham twenty one days ago, that's when we all realized containment is no longer possible. But that doesn't mean they can't be slowed down, so wherever possible we try to slow them by fortifying certain areas such as this one. At least we could buy time for civilians to escape. It works for as long as we have more bullets than the Infected do, but as you can see, the Infected always had the numbers." London understood what he said, and she said nothing until she turned right into Haymarket, frankly she can't further down Coventry as the intersection were blocked by rows of buses anyway.

Winfried however, are uncertain why Gayle would want London to head for the Thames instead of picking her up in Piccadilly and as such he asked him. "Pardon me general, but why wouldn't you try pick her up there? I think I see enough room for the helicopter to land and pick her up." Gayle promptly answered. "Not enough space for that, commander. And the Infected are also back on the road so there's no time to for it either. And if you think to just tell her to get inside a building and get to the roof. One, we don't know if the roof is accessible to her. And two, we don't know if there was any Infected in the building and if it does happen there's no way to support her." He was then contacted by London again.

"General, I'm going down Haymarket Street. Where next?"

"Just keep forward until you reached the intersection. There, you turn left. You should be able to see Trafalgar Square from there. Your destination is just past that square. You're almost there London." Hearing the news was a welcomed one to London. Just a few hundred metres left and she'll be out of this literal hell on earth. With this much air support with her, all she had to do is to get to the Thames River and she will be safe. Meanwhile, Gayle checked with his drone operators in case there were any more surprises coming her way.

"Jim? Stiles? Any more Infected hordes other than the one behind London right now?"

"Hold on sir" Stiles scans the area around Trafalgar Square for any possible horde, and he did. "Sir, there's a horde coming in north of Trafalgar, but not as big as the one earlier. From their size I estimate about three hundred Infected. But they were still far enough that if London can double time it, she can get pass Trafalgar before they do." He replied.

"Good to know. Thanks captain." Gayle then relayed the information to the aerial units in London. "This is Bembridge to all callsigns in London. Be advised, drones spotted another horde coming in north of Trafalgar, be prepared to engage once VIP enters the area."

"Roger that Bembridge." He then warned London of the new incoming horde. "London, there's another Infected horde coming your way, but if you make it to Trafalgar first, you'll be out of here before they even reach you." London was about to reply when she detected another signal just like before. "Uh, general? I'm detecting another signal."

"London, did you say you detected another signal?"

"Yeah, I can't tell from which direction but I can tell that the signals big. Like the kind only battleships normally transmit. And it's getting stronger!" Upon receiving the information from London, Gayle turned his attention to the Azur Lane commanders. "Gentlemen, do you remember if you had any battleships deployed in London that you have lost?"

"Battleships? General, what happened?" Asked Reinald.

"London just told me that she detected a large signal, which can only originate from battleships. The signal coincides with the incoming horde north of Trafalgar Square, which means only one thing." He then contacted all fighters and helicopters. "This is Bembridge to all callsigns in London. Be advised, VIP detected a possible battleship-type ISG among the incoming horde. Be alert and prepare to engage ISG on sight."

"Understood Bembridge, Helix 1-1 out."

"This is Thunder Three, requesting permission to RTB to rearm."

"Dragon Two here, negative. Returning to carrier to rearm. Resuming mission after rearming."

"Bembridge, this is Thunder One. We're back in business." Most of the fighter jets had returned to the base or carrier to rearm although another six F-35 arrives to replace those heading back including the first two jets that assisted London earlier. Meanwhile, the Azur Lane commanders started discussing among themselves.

"The general asked if we have battleships that were lost during the outbreak. Do you have any? I remember only one of mine got infected." Said Winfried.

"I don't. The Iris only loses are from the vanguards." Replied Reinald. Then Griggs spoke up. "Hell, I lost like four battleships down there. I think that's most battleships out of everyone here. Even the Royal Navy only lost two despite they have the biggest casualties overall." He was later corrected by Enterprise. "Commander, the other one's a battlecruiser."

At the same time, London arrived at Trafalgar Square. The condition there was not so different than Piccadilly Circus. The former tourist spot is now heavily fortified, with a makeshift helipad, tents where civilians would be housed while awaiting evacuation, plenty of machine gun emplacements, as well as abandoned civilian, police and military vehicles littered the area. Without a doubt in her mind, this place was used as an evacuation site, if not to hold civilians while they were evacuated via the nearby railway station or the piers. Meanwhile, one of the helicopters headed towards the incoming horde to try and intercept them.

"Helix 2-4, attempting to intercept Infected horde at Leicester Square." Back in Bembridge, Gayle issued an order to one of his officers. "Daniel, I want you to crosscheck all the battleships, battlecruisers and monitors deployed by the Azur Lane against the Casualty Manifest, but only those listed as Infected. I wanted to know how many of them that is probably still running around down there."

"Understood General." The officer immediately got to work. In the meantime, amongst the helicopters currently with London, the crews began discussing with what they were about to deal with. "Uh, Helix 2-6 here, anyone got idea how tough the battleships might be?"

"Don't know Two-Six, our previous encounter was with lightly armored targets. But expect heavy resistance because if what I heard is true, then battleships are total SOB to deal with."

"Too true One-Two, I heard that four years ago when the Sirens decided to attack New York City after like three years since Azur Lane was created, and Alabama got a direct hit from Siren laser beam and she survives that shit."

"And the point is?"

"The point is, if she survives a fucking laser beam to the face and managed to clap that Siren afterwards, then I think we seriously need something heavier, something more specific to anti-ship stuff, like an anti-ship missile or something."

"Hold on, let me contact Bembridge and see if they can get us something in case we can't handle the ISG. Bembridge this is Helix 1-1, do you copy? Over"

"Helix 1-1, we read you. Status update?"

"One of our gunners thinks our weapons are ineffective against battleship-type ISG, so we need some kind of contingency in case that happens. Might want something anti-ship down here. Copy? Over."

"Solid copy Helix 1-1. Standby for update. Continue with assigned mission until further update. Bembridge out." Receiving this information, Gayle began looking for contingency plans. "Do we have any anti-ship missiles in the airbase right now?" He asked an Air Force officer.

"Negative sir, we don't have any anti-ship missile in stock right now. But we can try loading the fighters with GBU-24s. That thing might have enough explosive to take out battleships." Just then, a transmission came from Charles de Gaulle.

"Bembridge, this is de Gaulle. We have Exocets onboard. We can rearm a few fighters with it."

"Understood de Gaulle. Send it." Just then, another transmission came in.

"Bembridge, this is Condor One. We're still in London airspace and we both have a total of eight Exocets with us. We are ready to engage if needed. How copy?"

"Solid copy Condor One. Helix 1-1 this is Bembridge. There are two Rafales, callsign Condor with a total of eight anti-ship missiles nearby. If your armament is ineffective against the ISG, they got your back. Copy? Over."

"Solid copy Bembridge, Helix 1-1 out."

---

Leicester Square

1419

Meanwhile, Helix 2-4 patrolled the area surrounding the square waiting to ambush the incoming Infected horde. It wasn't long before the gunner spots a few Infected emerging from the alleyway. "This is Helix 2-4, engaging Infected at Leicester Square!" Immediately gunfire and rockets flew out of the gunship as they attempted to trim down the horde before they could reach Trafalgar Square. As they were taking down the Infected, one shipgirl came bursting out from a nearby building as she ran into the attack helicopter line of sight, and the gunner immediately notify his squadron of his discovery.

"This is Helix 2-4; we have visual on ISG heading towards Trafalgar Square! Attempting to engage!" The helicopter fired its gun towards the shipgirl, only to see the 30mm rounds simply bouncing off her. "Try the rockets!" Said its pilot, and the gunner began peppering the shipgirl with 70mm rockets. The weapon slightly slowed her down, but it didn't stop her from continuing her run. "Hold on, locking target for the JAGM." However, before he could do so the shipgirl simply smashes into a building in front of the square, with several Infected following her.

"This is Helix 2-4, ISG had entered a building. Attempting to follow."

"Negative Two-Four. Get back to formation."

"Affirmative One-One, but I'll keep my eyes out for the ISG." As the helicopter flew back towards Trafalgar Square, the pilot saw the shipgirl smashing through yet another building before entering the building in front of it with the Infected in tow. "Uh...Two-Four here, ISG just went inside the National Gallery."

"Understood Two-Four, now get your ass here ASAP." Meanwhile, in Bembridge, Daniel finally came up with a list of names. "Sir, just did what you asked. I crosschecked all the battleships, battlecruisers, and monitors on the list, filtered out those that were KIA and got a few names"

"Good job, Daniel. Now let's see who we are dealing with right now." Before he started listing out the names, he turned his attention to the Azur Lane commanders. "Uhh…I'm about to list some names here, you guys cool with that?"

"I'm good, it is sad y'all, but I got past that." Said Griggs.

"I'm…I'm fine. Go ahead." Winfried seconded.

"Luckily we don't have a backline lost down there." Reinald interjected. Seeing that everyone is okay with it, Daniel proceeds to list down the names. "Alright, here we go. List of battleships, battlecruisers, and monitors that were confirmed Infected: Pennsylvania, Maryland…"

At the same time, the helicopter squadron comes up with a plan. "Alright. New plan. Two-One stays with the VIP. Two-Two, Two-Three and Two-Four, take out as many Infected as you can. The rest are to engage the ISG. Everyone copy?"

"South Dakota, Scharnhorst…"

"London, you're out of Trafalgar yet? How close are the signal?"

"About to enter Northumberland Avenue, why?"

"One of the helicopters has confirmed there's a shipgirl coming after you. Currently she's inside the National Gallery."

"National Gallery?" London turned her face towards the building, she can already see eight helicopters on it, ready to engage the moment she emerges from the building. And it doesn't take long before a loud crash was heard, prompting the helicopters to begin the assault. "ISG on the left side! Engage, engage!" London felt it was a good time to leave.

"Sir, you have any idea who that shipgirl is?"

"We're listing out some names, but right now we don't have clear visual on her yet. Currently the helicopters are engaging her." She doesn't have to ask about that as explosions rocked the area. "You best to leave now, all that noise about to attract a whole lot more attention!" She immediately made a bee line towards to river, not wanting to deal with any more Infected.

"This is Bembridge to Big Bird, you're in position yet?"

"This is Big Bird, we're holding over the Thames River just by the pier, but we won't land unless VIP is close, can't risk ourselves out here." Back in Trafalgar Square, the battle still continues as rocket barrages hit her, slowing her down but it didn't stop her as she smashes her way through the obstacles towards Northumberland Avenue. "30mm just dinged off her, rockets do minimal damage, we need to stop her now!"

"Target locked, firing JAGM." Three helicopters fired their JAGM towards the battleship, engulfing her in a massive explosion that effectively wipes out the other Infected with her. London was already halfway down the road when this happened, causing her to stop and turned around to see what happened. "What in the world?" She summons her rigging and places her hand on a nearby car, ready to throw at whoever that decided to appear out of the fire and smoke.

"Hood…" Before Daniel calls out the final name, she reveals herself to London as she emerges from the fire and smoke.

"Unbelievable, she just took three JAGM and still standing! Bembridge, this is Helix 1-1, attack ineffective. Target is still mobile."

"Duke of York!?" At this point, seeing another shipgirl that became an Infected slowly becomes a norm to her, but this time, it's a Royal Navy shipgirl just like her. Duke of York's appearance are no different to the other Infected London had encountered. Blood covered face and clothing, and in case of Duke, part of her hair and clothing were burned due to earlier attacks on her by the helicopters. Her rigging also has visible damages such as missing barrels on her gun turrets, scratches, dents and blood stains all over it. Without thinking twice, she immediately throws a car at her former shipgirl in arms. As soon she does so, she disengages her rigging and proceeds to run all the way to the pier.

Said vehicle hits Duke, stopping her momentarily. She gives out a snarl before resuming her pursuit. London manages to reach the pier before her and contacted Gayle. "Sir, I'm at the pier. What now? Duke of York's chasing me!"

"Calm down London. For now, just get into the river. Be advised, there's another horde coming on your left." She turned left and just as the general said, there was an incoming horde. They're still far away, but she knows they can cover the distance within minutes. She summons her rigging once again, but then she turned around to face Duke of York. "Load armour piercing rounds" She mentally commanded and the sounds of guns being reloaded reverbs around her ears. In Bembridge, everyone took notice of what's happening.

"What the hell she's doing right now?" Asked Reinald, after seeing London turning around with her rigging out. "Like hell I know." Enterprise herself was wondering what the Royal cruiser was thinking as she saw through the monitor that she pulled out her anchors and proceeds to embed them to the wall behind her. Gayle then contacted her. "London, what are you doing? You need to get into the river now! The Infected is closing in and Duke of York is definitely going to kill or infect you!" She simply replied.

"Blowing something up." As she aimed her guns towards Duke of York, she tried not to look at her face. Duke of York was once one of Royal Navy's most powerful battleship. During Azur Lane's early days, she alongside Victorious, Chapayev, Sovetskaya Belorussiya, Tirpitz and Graf Zeppelin are instrumental in securing the Arctic Circle and managed to destroy several Siren strongholds there, the successful opening of the Arctic Ocean between Norway and Canada allowed the safe transportation of the Wisdom Cubes from the captured Siren facility in Norway to United States where they were able to manifest their own shipgirls afterwards.

But looking at her now, London herself were scared. Not just the furious expressions of her face but also her glowing red eyes. She knew Duke do wear contact lens occasionally turning her blue eyes into blood red but there was difference between artificial blood red and actual blood red, and contact lens doesn't make one's eyes glow. And she definitely doesn't want Duke anywhere close to her either. If before she was just a vampire, this time just a bite from her would spell the end for her. While a helicopter handled the approaching horde, London carefully aimed her guns at Duke's weak spots. While she rarely sortied together with Duke, London did have a few naval exercises with her sister Howe and Prince of Wales, and as such she knows very well the weak spots of a King George V-class battleships. And that's where she's aiming for.

"London, do you know exactly what would happen if you fire your guns on land?"

"I know General, but this time there's a river behind me. If I got blown backwards, I go straight into the Thames, not some random objects or walls."

"She's right, General." Griggs added. "Most of our shipgirls made their escape out of London through the Thames. It's the only body of water in the city large enough for them to use their weapons normally." They then looked at the screen as London waited for Duke to get closer to her. Gayle contacted her again.

"London, she's getting closer."

"I know." Duke of York kept getting closer to her every second. Eventually, with only a hundred feet left between her and London, she opened fire. The recoil sent London flying backwards but the last thing she saw as she somersaulted into the Thames was all her shots scoring a hit on Duke of York. She then tugs her anchors which stops her mid-fall, the force almost dislodges them from the walls but thankfully it stayed in place long enough for her to slowly descent until her feet was close enough to the water surface, where she then let go of the chains allowing her to float. She immediately went to the middle of the river, away from the banks where the Infected begins to congregate.

"This is Helix 2-4, ISG is immobilized. VIP did a good deal of damage on her." The commanders and the shipgirls find this move impressive.

"That's some fine anchor play right their girl." Said Winfried.

"I don't know we can use our anchors like that." Enterprise herself was surprised considering all the time shipgirls had existed none of them even used their anchors. Some had their anchors ready to be used on their rigging but most had to summon their own anchors, which is probably why they were rarely used.

"Whoa…maybe I should try it next time!" Prinz Heinrich were excited over knowing that there was a use for anchors in combat and already in her mind she could think of what she can do with it. Gayle was then contacted by London as she had reached her goal.

"Sir, I'm on the Thames right now. What am I supposed to do here?"

"Hang on, we're sending a chopper to pick you up." He then contacted the transport helicopter. "Big Bird, this is Bembridge, you are cleared to pick up the VIP."

"Roger that Bembridge, Big Bird on the way." London looked up to see the twin-bladed helicopter slowly descending towards the river surface. She thought that this nightmare is over.

It didn't, for one of the attack helicopters around her spotted Duke of York standing back up. The pilot immediately contacted the transport helicopter. "This is Helix 2-2 to Big Bird! Abort mission! Abort mission! ISG is still mobile! I repeat, ISG is still mobile!"

"Roger that Two-Two, aborting." London was puzzled at why did the helicopter suddenly ascended, but then she was contacted by one of her escorting helicopters. "London, this is Helix 2-2. You need to get away from there! Duke of York is still…OH SHIT! LONDON GET AWAY FROM THERE NOW!" London looked back at where she descended earlier and she saw several Infected being thrown into the air before she saw Duke of York smashing through the wall and jumped down into the river. Several Infected ended up falling into the river with her, only to drown as they couldn't swim. Duke of York however, was afloat. London was horrified at this sight.

"Oh, bollocks." Duke of York lets out a snarl before she charges at her. However, London noticed that instead of gliding on the surface like a normal shipgirl would do, Duke simply chose to run towards her, which makes her comparably slower. Sensing an opportunity, London simply glides to the right, and as she predicted, Duke had difficulty trying to change direction, having to slow down before turning on her legs.

"She can float, but can't glide huh? Thank God she can't use her rigging." She thought in her mind. In Bembridge, everyone that were watching on the screen also came to the same conclusion. "Alright, I have good news and bad news. Which one y'all wanna hear first?" Asked Griggs.

"The bad one." Basically, the response he got from almost everyone in the room. "A'ight, bad news, Infected shipgirls can float on water. At least the ones with their rigging equipped when they got Infected in the first place. Good news, they can't use them. So, them Infected shipgirls or ISG as y'all been calling them right now, are no more advanced than simply being immune to small arms. Good thing your choppers can clap them, except for this bitch right here." Explained Griggs as he pointed his finger at Duke of York on the screen.

"Whoa…yeah, that's a good explanation." Said one of the officers in the room. Gayle, who looked at the screen with a concerned look on his face sighed before turning to the commanders. "Yes, that means she's the only Infected capable of crossing oceans." His words catch Jean Bart's attention. "What'dya saying right now General?"

"Think, Rage Virus is extremely infectious. Only one bite or simply getting into contact with Infected blood is all it takes to infect someone. We're lucky this is Great Britain. Even if the whole island's gone the Infected can't go anywhere else and the only land connection to Europe is sealed off. But now Duke of York is on the Thames, which leads to the English Channel. Even if she could only walk instead of gliding around like all of you, she still can cross it. And if she ever reaches mainland Europe…" Gayle doesn't have to finish his speech for Reinald, Winfried, Jean Bart and Prinz Heinrich's horrified faces are enough to tell him that they get it.

"Dear God, if Rage Virus makes it to mainland…" Jean muttered. And Winfried replied. "There's nothing to stop it from infecting half the world population."

"Not really, there's at least two countries the Infected had to go through, Turkey and Russia. Turkey would at least will sacrifice their European part. Russia on the other hand, if what they said back when we had to start evacuating Great Britain is true then…"

"They won't hesitate to turn everything between the Baltic and the Black Sea to glass, even if it means nuking Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine to oblivion." One of the officers finished the statement. "Which is why we have to take her out right here, right now." Said Gayle as he contacted the two French fighter jets. "This is Bembridge to Condor One, how copy?"

"This is Condor One, we read you."

"ISG is now on the Thames together with the VIP. You are authorized to strike the ISG with anti-ship missiles. How copy? Over."

"Solid copy Bembridge. Be advised, the weapon need some space to function since it was made to skim on water surface. We identified a location on the Thames that is straight enough for that. Tell the VIP to lure her to the area between Millennium Bridge and the Tower Bridge. Copy?"

"Copy that Condor One. Relaying information to VIP now. Bembridge out." Gayle then switched back to London. "London, I just ordered an airstrike on Duke of York. But the weapon they were going to use needs a long straight stretch of water to function, so they asked you to lure her to the area between Millennium Bridge and the Tower Bridge. It's just upstream from where you are. It should be easy for you; you have mobility advantage over her. Copy?"

"Understood sir, but…" Gayle cuts her off before she could ask the question. "I know, we will get you out of there but first we need to take out Duke of York. She's currently the only Infected that can cross bodies of water, so she's able to spread the virus to the rest of the world if she were to be left alive. Like it or not London, Duke of York has to go. Contact me once she passed Millennium Bridge." She does see the general's point. The way she sees it, becoming an Infected is more of a curse. One's death is delayed but they couldn't control their actions anymore for their minds were clouded by an unending rage. From what she's been observing about the Infected, they only had two things in their mind, kill, or infect. And they will do this regardless of what happens to them, as severed limbs or immolation doesn't stop them from chasing her down until they died of their injuries or when they were killed either by her or from NATO airstrikes.

She then turned her attention back to Duke of York. By her appearance alone, London felt that taking her down were justified. Not just she was an Infected, her rigging was severely damaged with her left turret gone, probably from her shots earlier. Her injuries were also beyond what any normal shipgirl should endure, her right arm was severed and she has difficulty trying to stand up straight, and when she does, she has a noticeable gait to the left. Yet she kept on trying to reach her, ignoring her injuries. She then contacted Gayle again.

"Understood sir, heading over there now." London then slowly sailed towards the aforementioned landmark on the Thames, keeping a distance between her while at the same time slow enough to allow Duke of York to follow her. As she sailed down the middle of the Thames, she went past the Elizabeth Tower. The clocktower showed the time was twenty minutes past nine, but of course without anyone maintaining it the tower eventually went out of order. As she continued to sail down the river, she went past other landmarks along the Thames, each of them was now lifeless just like the rest of the city. She occasionally glanced back to see if Duke of York still follows her, which she does. She also noticed that the Infected are gathering on both sides of the river, seemingly attracted by the helicopter noises. The only thing stopping them from trying to reach her was their inability to swim.

"Please God, don't send another Infected shipgirl at me at this time." London silently prayed hoping there's no more Infected shipgirl that decided to show herself. Thankfully she doesn't detect any signals other than Duke of York's. As Millennium Bridge comes into view, she felt like she was bringing Duke for an execution. Granted, she would like to put down Duke herself but as she was meant to undergo a weapons test after the retrofit, she was only loaded with enough shells for it, and she had expended all her shells for the main guns. She still had a few shells for the secondaries but she doubted if it even worked, and her anti-aircraft guns are out of the question. As soon as she saw Duke of York went past the bridge, she contacted Gayle.

"Sir, Duke of York had passed Millennium Bridge."

"Understood, airstrike on the way."

[BGM: John Murphy – In the House, In a Heartbeat]

"This is Bembridge to Condor One, come in Condor One."

"Bembridge, this is Condor One. We read you. Any update?"

"ISG has entered the designated kill zone. You are cleared for the airstrike. How copy? Over"

"Solid copy Bembridge, Condor One out." He then contacted his wingmen to prepare for the strike.

"Told you my hunch was right that we're going to need these Exocets."

"Well, you win Captain. Now where we're going to start?"

"We turn back toward Rotherhithe, and make sure we're parallel to the river. The missiles might work if we launch it over there."

"Roger that captain." The two Rafales made a turn back towards Rotherhithe and descended by few hundred feet. They then begin to arm the Exocets. Both fighters carried a total of eight Exocets, four on each jet. They each decided to arm two of them.

"Exocet's armed, aligning towards target." The pilots begin to aim for Duke of York. The Exocet were radar guided and as such they only had to make sure they pointed the missile towards the direction of the target. Meanwhile on the Thames, London went past another landmark, the HMS Belfast Museum. She can see the Infected massing on the deck of the light cruiser, while it wasn't her Belfast it hurts to see them standing on the museum ship's deck like that.

Back to the jets, they were fast approaching Rotherhithe as they aligned their flight path to stay centre to the river.

"Captain, I could see those shipgirls by the museum ship. Which one was it?"

"The one behind her, she's the ISG. Get ready, we're about to reach weapons release point."

"Roger that." Down below, London can see from the distance two fighter jets rapidly approaching towards her. Moments later, she saw both jets firing two missiles each. As soon as the missiles reach the Thames it began to skim above the river surface at blistering speed. She could see the four missiles streaking towards her, it may be small, but the wake it made on the water surface is enough to tell her it's position. Yet she continued to sailed forward until she went past the Tower Bridge before stopping.

"What the hell is she's doing?" Reinald noticed that London had stopped moving right between Duke of York and rapidly approaching missile. Gayle immediately contacted her. "London? What are you doing? The missile's coming and you're in the way! Get out of there!" However, she ignored him and simply stand there, looking at the incoming missile. Duke of York were also inching closer to her.

"London?" The missiles are now halfway between where it started skimming and London, and Duke of York has now only less then thirty feet away from her. To everyone looking at her from Bembridge, either she would be killed by the missiles first, or Duke of York will infect her, which either way would lead to the same outcome.

"Damn girl! She's suicidal or something!?" Yelled Griggs, the other two commanders also sharing the same thoughts. Even the shipgirls were terrified. "Oh, I can't watch this!" Prinz Heinrich covered her face and turned around, not wanting to see the outcome. Similarly, Enterprise pulled her hat down to cover her eyes. Only Jean Bart continued to watch the monitor, to her, seeing another shipgirl dying in front of her is nothing new by now. Afterall, she was forced to kill two of her fellow Iris after they became Infected with her own hands and they just witnessed three shipgirls blown to pieces by NATO war machine earlier.

"LONDON!" With both missiles and Duke of York closing in on her, London suddenly made a 180 turn to face Duke of York before disengaging her rigging. Without her rigging, she loses the ability to float on water and sinks into the Thames River. Just as she's about to slip under the murky water below, she waves her hand as she gave Duke of York a final goodbye.

"Goodbye, Duke." London disappears under the Thames just as the missiles flew through where she was just a moment ago and impacted Duke of York. The resulting explosion rocked the Tower Bridge, the force being so powerful it severely damages the lift bridge, causing it to collapse plunging vehicles and unfortunate Infected standing on it into the murky waters of the Thames.

"Whoa, damn!"

"So, she purposely stand there just to make sure Duke can't dodge the missiles huh? That was effective. Reckless, but effective." Winfried was the first of the Azur Lane to speak up. "Is it over yet?" Prinz Heinrich was still facing away, thinking it haven't over, prompting her commander to reply back.

"Yes, Prinz, it's over. You can open your eyes now." Hearing her commander, she turned back to face the monitor to see a plume of smoke rising up and a destroyed bridge on the screen. "What the hell happened?" She asked. Similarly, Enterprise too was confused upon seeing the sights on the screen.

"London, uh…She decided to stand in front of Duke of York in order to keep her from seeing the incoming missile until the last moment, then she turned around and disengages her rigging and went under the water while Duke explodes. That's what my eyes saw." Said Jean Bart.

"Yeah, doing some suicidal moves like that. If she was an Eagle I'm gonna give her an earful for doing shit like that. And then a medal." Said Griggs. Gayle however, contacted one of the helicopters to check the area.

"This is Bembridge, I want someone to go over and check if kill is confirmed."

"Hold on, heading over there now. Helix 2-4 out." The helicopter flew over to the bridge and hover around as the gunner checked the area using every sensor he had. Seeing no traces of the battleship left, he declared that Duke of York was successfully destroyed. "Bembridge, this Helix 2-4, ISG is down. I repeat, ISG is confirmed KIA."

"Oh yes, baby! We got her!"

"Whoooo!"

"Think infecting some shipgirls would scared us stiff, huh? Well, look who's the bitch now?" There was again some sort of celebration in the command room as NATO officers cheered over the successful takedown of what was probably the toughest Infected shipgirl they had encountered for the last three weeks ago. For the Azur Lane commanders and shipgirls however, they were thankful that at least Duke of York were taken before things got out of hand and London was safe from the Infected, but then someone noticed something's wrong.

"Wait a minute, where's London?" Asked Reinald, who realized that the Royal heavy cruiser had gone missing since the explosion. The celebrations immediately stopped as everyone realized that they celebrated victory a bit too early. Even without being asked, the helicopter flew over and hovered over where London were last seen, both the pilot and the gunner looked around for any tell-tale signs of the cruiser.

For almost half a minute, everyone was anxious. "Don't fucking tell me she's drowned." Said Winfried, which prompted Jean to reply. "A shipgirl, drowned? That had to be a joke, is it? I never heard a shipgirl drowned before." Reinald simply glared at her for making such statement. Normally he would consider a punishment for her for disrespecting a fellow commander but given the situation he decided to let it slide, instead he just gave her a warning.

"Jean, don't say something like that to a fellow commander. I let you off the hook this time but I won't be easy on you if this happen again."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." She replied back. Knowing her personality, he just leaves her be. Forty-five seconds after the explosions, London finally resurfaced further down the river. Taking a deep breath after almost a minute underwater, she looked around to see the aftermath of her actions. She was glad that she's finally out of reach of the Infected. Seeing that the helicopter is looking for her, she waves her hand trying to get its attention.

"Hey! Over here! She soon waves both hands, even taking off her hat and waving it as high as she could. Luckily for her, the pilot was looking at her direction and spotted her. "Look there!" he piloted the helicopter closer to her before announcing their discovery.

"Bembridge, this is Helix 2-4. VIP is safe. I repeat, VIP is safe. How copy? Over."

"YES! YES, WE DID IT! WE DID IT EVERYONE!" Yelled Jim. Everyone celebrated over their success, even the commanders and shipgirls as for the first time in twenty-eight days since the outbreak did there's good news worth celebrating.

"Dayum, that's one lucky girl there." Prinz Heinrich exclaimed.

"Hey, getting out of the of the city right now is considered a miracle. Might wanna get her something for tonight." Jean Bart replied.

"Yeah, girl. Gotta get that poor girl some beer for all that trouble she went through." Griggs seconded her idea.

"Hopefully some actual beer and not those cheap water you Americans called beer." Winfried replied causing Griggs to rebuke. "Oh, you Germans and your superiority complex. Eighty plus years and y'all can't let it go away completely. You want a round three or something?"

"I tasted American beer before, I rather drink sewage than that abomination you called beer!"

"Hey! Don't talk things like that to my commander! Our beer wasn't that bad! You're drinking the wrong one!" Enterprise joined the argument. "Oh, arguing about beer now? I want to join too!" Giggled Prinz Heinrich. Soon it devolves into an argument as American and German military officers took part as well. Reinald, Jean Bart and several French Army officers simply sat in the side lines as they watched the scene unfolds before them.

"Luckily we all drink wine instead." Said one the French officers.

"Amen." Basically, what everyone that were French replied, except Jean Bart. "No thanks, I prefer rum."

"Point taken." Reinald replied back. While the cacophony of arguments about beer resounded throughout the command room, Gayle concentrates his mind on getting London out. He quickly issued an order to evacuate her. "Good job Helix 2-4. Big Bird, you are cleared to extract the VIP."

"Roger that Bembridge, Big Bird on the way." The transport flew over towards London. As it approaches her, the pilot contacted the attack helicopter to move out of their way.

"Thanks for the assist Helix 2-4, now make way for the Big Bird."

"Hold on." The attack helicopter moves out of the way, and London watched as the helicopter landed not far from her. The rear door opened and she could see six soldiers clad in protective gears inside. "Miss London, get in here!" One of the soldiers called out to her. She wasted no time swimming towards the helicopter. Upon reaching the door, she tried to climb aboard, several soldiers assisted in pulling her out of the river.

"Don't worry London, you're safe now. Just sit down. We're getting you out."

"Okay." She sat down on one of the seats in the helicopter and door closes.

"Bembridge, this is Big Bird. VIP is onboard and secured. Returning back to base now. How copy? Over."

"Affirmative Big Bird, you are cleared to RTB. Bembridge out." The helicopter slowly lifts off the river and upon reaching altitude, turned southwest and begin flying back towards Bembridge Base.

"Good job, everyone. You are all cleared to RTB. Mission is a success." Gayle congratulated all the units that participated in the impromptu rescue mission. He was met with various "Rogers". Then he was contacted by the French fighter jets.

"Thank you for your appreciation General, we're returning to our carrier now. Condor One out." Gayle takes a deep breath, finally relaxing after almost an hour of intense game of cat and mouse between his forces and the Infected. He then remembers one important thing. He called out his comms officer.

"Lara?"

"Yes sir?"

"Get a DECON unit in the airbase within thirty minutes."

"Right away sir." She immediately went to work. Gayle pulled out his phone as he rushed out of the room. "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, I need to make a call to someone." He went out of the room within a moment's notice. While Griggs, Winfried, Enterprise, Prinz Heinrich and the American and German officers are still debating about their country's beer quality, Reinald and Jean Bart had a more concerned look in their face. They now had another problem to face, and saving London is only the tip of the iceberg.

"Out of the frying pan, isn't it?" Asked Jean Bart.

"Yes, totally. Hopefully this one can be resolved peacefully." He replied.

"With the way everyone's looking at the Royal Navy now? Yeah, hopefully."

"Amen."

---

1444

Holywood Naval Base, Belfast, Northern Ireland

It was rainy afternoon in the capital of Northern Ireland. The naval base was constructed to house both the regular Royal Navy, as well as Azur Lane's Royal Navy throughout the Siren War. Parts of the town were abandoned due to repeated Siren attacks during the early stages of the Siren War, which is later appropriated by the British Government to house Royal Navy shipgirls shortly after the creation of Azur Lane itself. The base was closed not long after Siren War ended, and was supposed to be demolished and its land returned for civilian use. But thanks to the Rage Virus outbreak which decimates mainland Great Britain, it was hastily reopened, now housing both of them together.

Inside the AL Royal Navy commander's room, lying on the sofa was a blond woman whose hair is left unkept and were only wearing an unbuttoned shirt and her underwear. Her life was thrown upside down after the outbreak, and she haven't been able to accept the reality. Surrounding her was bottles of liquor littering the floor. Despite the remaining Royal Maid's efforts to keep the room clean, it would become messy in mere hours. At least one of the maids had hanged her jacket and skirt in case she decided to wear it again. She was cuddling a pillow, tears flowing from her eyes as she had been crying over and over for the past four days. She then heard a knock on the door as someone asked her permission to enter.

"George? Are you okay? Can I enter?" King George V were silent for a moment, before wiping her eyes and finally answered. "Yes, Ark. Come in, the doors not locked." The doorknob turned and the door opened revealing Ark Royal holding a food container in her left hand. George was still lying on the sofa, not wanting to make eye contact with the carrier. Ark Royal could only sigh as this is her behaviour now. Nonetheless, she had other reasons to come here other than keeping her company.

"Hey George, you hungry? Littorio, Aquila and a few Sardegna ships stopped by half an hour ago, and cooked some pasta for us. Want some?" She gestured the container in her hand. "It's rigatoni by the way." George simply replied back to her.

"Just put it on the table, I eat it later." Ark Royal again sighs at her behaviour, but she just followed her orders and places the food container and the cutleries on the table before taking a chair and sat close to her before she speaks to her again.

"Look, George. I understand you, the last few days been hard not just for you but also everyone else here."

"So?"

"The point is, we need you back George. You and Eli are the only form of leadership we had left. The idiots in the MoD that ordered our commander to send us to fight those bloody Infected are all dead, the commander…" Ark stopped for a while as she realized she's threading on thin ice by mentioning him near King George V. She herself turned her face towards Ark forcing her to change subject fast.

"Sorry, shouldn't said that." She apologizes, but George didn't mind. "Don't worry Ark, I understand. Just give me another week. Is Eli okay with me right now?" She replied.

"She's fine. Her Majesty understand your problems right now." Ark replied, then she quickly followed up. "But she's under pressure from increased workload right now. Warspite, Rodney, and Glorious are doing their best to offload her work but yes, we need you back George. The faster you can get back on your feet, the better. This Rage Virus shit took too many tolls on us."

King George V went silent for a moment. Ark Royal looked around the room before sighing again. "Besides, you need to cut down your drinking habit George. We're lucky that Guinness been giving us free drinks but don't you think it's going to affect the child you're carrying right now?" King George V was visibly shocked for a moment, before rubbing her left hand on her stomach. Ark Royal was right, it's been almost a month now and she should abstain from any consumption of alcohol.

"Yeah, yeah. I consider it." She replied quietly. Ark Royal was about to leave when she remembered another reason why she meets her. "Oh, one more thing George…" She pulls out a phone from her pocket and handed it over to King George V. "Next time you wanted to sulk how about you bring your phone along so at least we can contact you if something happened. Besides, the NATO general been trying to call you."

"General Gayle?" George unlocked her phone and checked the notifications. There were several unread messages, mostly condolences sent from the other commanders and shipgirls that were aware of their loses but most importantly were two missed call notifications. Then Ark Royal spokes up. "He's been calling you twice this past ten minutes, must be something more important than just a simple welfare check. He's probably going to call again." She was right as moments after she said that, the phone rings. She quickly answered the call.

"Hello? Gayle?"

"Ah! George! I've been calling you twice but you didn't pick up. You're busy?"

"No, Sir. I was into something and I don't bring my phone with me, until Ark Royal handed it over. What happened? You called me twice so I assumed you have important news for me."

"I do, but first let me ask you this. Are you good? Is the rest of the Royal Navy good?"

She was unsure what and how to answer his question. Nonetheless, she proceeds to answer him anyway. "I…I'm fine. Just…just this past few days were a bit too hard on me. Harland's death is just too sudden for me to accept right now." She replied, her voice shaking as she tried to stop herself from crying again.

"I understand George. No one here had a slight idea that thought he would do that. I'm sorry for your loss. Anyway, what about the Royal Navy? Are they still good?"

"Yeah, we're good. Most had moved on but a few still refused. Some were depressed because they're the only member of their class that survived the outbreak. Some, like Unicorn still refused to accept the truth. Right now, we had to get Formidable to dress up as Illustrious just so she won't throw another fit. We also had to learn to do things on our own now, because the Royal Maids are stretched thin. Belfast and some of the maid that went with her to Manchester are still missing after the city was overrun, and many died back in London. What maids we had left are overworked right now, and Hermione is doing her best trying to lead everyone. But some Sardegna ships visited us just a while ago, they brought us some food."

"I see, you can thank commander Eloisa for that. She raised her fleet well. About Belfast and the other missing cruisers, we're still looking for her. We've sent drones and patrol flights to search the area up to sixty-mile radius of Manchester. We let you know if we found them. Speaking of which, that's why I called you."

"What?" She was surprised by the general's words. Her voice and facial expression also change, which Ark Royal noticed. "George? What happened? What did he say?" She immediately raised her hand with her palm outwards prompting Ark to stop talking.

"As you know, in the Casualty Manifest there were six of cruisers from the Royal Navy that were listed in there as missing. Well, just about an hour ago, we managed to rescue one of them. She's with us right now, but we can make an arrangement for her to be sent to Belfast if you wanted."

"No, no, no, she can stay there in Bembridge for as long as she wants. We haven't prepared the base yet. She can come over if she wants it though. Just one question general, who is she?" Gayle replied with only word. "London."

His words reverberate in her mind. Ark Royal became more and more concerned. "George, are you okay?"

"Thanks, General. Any other news?"

"No, but I will contact you as soon as I have one."

"Understood, thanks again general." Then the phone call ends. King George V then sat on the couch, her hands shaking as she takes a deep breath to calm herself. Ark Royal quickly sat next to her. "George, what is going on? What did the general tell you?" Then for the first time in four days ago did she saw George smiled.

"It's London." She replied.

"Who?"

"London. Three days before the outbreak, the commander sent her to the Kilburn centre for a retrofit. The day she was supposed to be released was the day we were sent to fight the Infected. Apparently in all that chaos, everyone forgot her yet somehow, she managed to get out. She ended up encountering the Infected but NATO managed to save her from them.

Ark Royal was initially confused, but then it clicked. "London? You mean that London? Perseus kept saying that we forgot someone when we had to flee from the mainland, and he was saying that she managed to escape stasis, and encountered those bloody Infected and they managed to get her out before things got ugly?"

"Yes." Ark Royal herself takes a deep breath before she finally said something. "Thank god there's another one of us that were still alive and uninfected. Finally, finally! Some good fucking news for once!"

"Yeah, after almost entire month of hell." King George V replied as she properly wears her shirt again before putting on her skirt and jacket back and readjust her hair to a more presentable state. "You want me to tell the news to the others?"

"Yes, go ahead Ark. Tell the news, especially to Shropshire."

"Why her specifically?"

"Because I want her to know that she's not the last ship of her class anymore."

"Got it, George!" Ark Royal rushed out of the room but then pokes her head back in. "Oh, and George?"

"Yes?"

"Nice to see you back again." Ark Royal then rushed down the hallway, leaving King George V alone in the room. She looked outside window and watches the rain falling down on the Northern Ireland capital. The rain slowly subsides as sunlight begin to shine through the clouds as if it symbolising something. She took out her phone again before opening the gallery to see one particular photo stored in it.

The photo of her and commander Harland Simonds on a better day.

"Commander…" She took a long look at the photo before she steps out of the room.

---

Because British ships getting blown up by anti-ship missiles are a thing post World War 2.

Anyway, this is part two of "rescue London" arc. Frankly, I could make it shorter, but turns out what I imagined and what I write are two different things altogether, requiring some creative writing to link it together.

So, as you can see in this chapter, NATO was the dominant force in this story. Can't run away from it. NATO was a big player in 28 Days Later franchise as they're responsible for maintaining the quarantine and later reopening of London in 28 Weeks Later. To be honest, this fic was more of 28 Days Later with Azur Lane thrown into it. Further explanation about NATO and Azur Lane will be explored in a dedicated codex chapter for it, so hold your questions about them if you had any. The basic thing you need to know was NATO handles human stuff, Azur Lane handles Siren stuff. Both got thrown together to fight the Infected, and after seeing how horrible Azur Lane was against the Infected NATO just took over everything and now the four currently featured factions ended up becoming their own personal PMC.

The first few chapters were more or less a carbon copy of 28 Days Later opening, but starting from this chapter it will go on its own. Since FanFiction defines a crossover as having an element or character of one franchise into another, only four things from 28 Days Later will be featured: The Rage Virus and the Infected itself, one of the scientists that created the virus (will appear later down the story) and NATO. Everyone else apart from the shipgirls are purely OC, though a few characters were named after actual 28 Days Later characters such as Jim and Stiles, they were not related at all.

Also, you might ask if I purposely made the shipgirls weak just so I can have NATO blow them up. No. As you can see, while they can engage light and medium armoured targets like destroyers, light cruisers and light aircraft carriers without much difficulty, against heavily armoured target they need to bring much heavier weapons such as cruise missiles or anti-ship missiles. Even medium armoured shipgirls can resist a few hits from 30mm guns and 70mm rockets though air-to-ground missiles like Hellfire and JAGM have enough firepower to take them down. But of course, it depends on the shipgirl as there are a few medium armoured shipgirls that can tank one or two hits from an air-to-ground missiles before going down. They will appear later when time comes to clear London of all Infected so they can begin clean-up operations and subsequent repopulation of the city.

About the shipgirls themselves, as explained in part one they weren't trained for land combat nor their equipment were designed for it. For now, they can either throw whatever random things that they can lift (with their rigging equipped), smash through obstacles (also with rigging equipped), or use their anti-aircraft guns against the Infected. Remember, early during the outbreak only a few shipgirls figured this out amidst the chaos, which is why a lot ended up dead or Infected. But don't worry, as the story progressed the shipgirls does receive training and most importantly, equipment's more suitable for land operations so just hang tight.

Speaking of Infected shipgirls, not all Infected shipgirls are still alive by the time the main story of Outbreak took place. Only a small number of them actually survived until Day 28 and since this chapter saw four of them blowing up, that leaves a handful of them which eventually will be eliminated in about three weeks' time. As explained in Chapter 3 FAQ, Infected shipgirls couldn't use their rigging, but passive abilities such as armour, increased mass and floating on water are still available to them, though they can only run or walk on water surface instead of gliding like a normal shipgirl would. But even with this limitation they can still cross bodies of water which made them a high value target.

That's what I can say for now, see you in the next canon chapter.