When he got Roon back to the Island, he stayed with the girl for a little longer. Then, the Commander had Illustrious take care of her while he went back to his work. For what felt like an eternity, he was shuttling people from the mainland to the island. He'd fly across the ruins, spot some movement or hear one of the girls request for additional hands and go help.
By the time morning finally came, he was near exhaustion. He looked at the many injured and wounded, those who lost loved ones and family, and then he saw Akagi.
While everyone was busy tending to the injured, Akagi, Kaga and Hornet were working hard to make breakfast. With the sun up and the majority understandably hungry, they set up a small station and were handing out meals to everyone who lined up.
He could see the tiredness in her eyes as she poured some soup and offered a few kind words to a sobbing woman. Then, for a moment, she looked up and their eyes met.
The two gazed at each other's tired and weary faces. They both looked ready to fall asleep at a moment's notice.
Yet, that momentary interaction gave the couple the strength they needed. And so, they continued their work.
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Over the next three weeks, the Azur Sky's attention shifted from the war to doing damage control. With all the survivors on the island, many of the girls spent the day clearing the rubble while others helped rebuilding. That they could move large pieces of debris without much effort certainly helped speed things up.
And while everything on the surface remained calm and quiet, underneath, things were nearly at a boiling point. By now, word reach both the fleet and the Resistance that Byron orchestrated the attack and that Alexis, Blake and Marie had a hand in the carnage.
What many did not know was that Alexis overcame the programming and risked her life to hold the enemy back.
This news caused many of the people to voice their displeasure at the Commander's decision. Aside from this, the faction leaders in the fleet were equally divided over Alexis getting treatment. Half the group felt that because she overcame the brainwashing, she deserved a second chance. The other half wanted to hold her accountable for the damage she did when under the Siren's song.
And James?
He was busy helping with repair work, helping at the hospital and helping serve food to the survivors. The two or three free hours he had in the day was spent on getting some food in his stomach and resting. At times he wished he could be with Akagi, even for a minute. Then, he was reminded there was work to do and continued.
Akagi meanwhile was completely devoted to helping with the repairs and she too had barely any time to rest. At times wanted to see how James was doing and make sure he was okay. Then, she remembered the work was not yet over and continued.
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Back in the hospital, Alec woke up slowly and groggily. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and was immediately reminded of Alexis. He turned around and saw Alexis lying next to him in another bed. The myriad of machines hooked into her body hummed rhythmically and all indicated she was stable.
Though he did not want to see her in such a terrible state, he was at least glad she was alive. Alec took a moment to silently thank James for saving her. Of course, he also planned to do it when he could.
Alec now made his way off the bed and went to Alexis. Standing over the bed, he gently brushed her hair back and smiled a little when he saw her body slowly rise and fall. He had come dangerously close to losing her. Were it not for James' timely arrival, Alec would mostly likely be standing over Alexis' grave rather than her bed.
As he was about to leave, he saw Alexis stir a little and then open her eyes.
"Alec?" she asked, still sounding weak "where are we? What-what happened?"
"Were in the Azur Sky's hospital," he replied, taking her hand in his "James saved us."
"Wait, we… have to speak to him," she said trying to get up but Alec held her by the shoulders.
"What do you mean?" he asked and with a grave look, Alexis responded.
"It isn't over. Byron isn't the only traitor."
Alec felt his blood run cold and there was a terrible lump forming in his throat. He remembered the brief conversation he had with James god knows how long ago about the possibility of there being more than one. Now, Alexis confirmed their suspicions.
"Wait hold on a second," he said and limped to the door "let me get someone else who can help."
He came outside and saw Curacao and Curlew standing on either side of the door. When they saw him, they wondered why he was out instead of resting. They tried voicing their concerns, but Alec dismissed that and asked them to come inside.
Here, the sisters were also surprised to see Alexis was awake. But before they could inform Vestal about these new developments, Alec stopped them.
"We need to inform Vestal," said Curlew, shaking her hand free of Alec's grasp with a single tug.
"Not yet," said Alec "we have bigger fish to fry."
The sisters looked at him with puzzled expressions, but decided not to argue. A quick glance at the couple told Curacao and Curlew that they were okay enough to speak. For now, they would listen before notifying Vestal.
With a nod from Alec, Alexis began to elaborate on what she told him. She told the three listening about their meeting with the leaders and what they did. Though it was a short retelling, the implications behind the story were heavy.
As Curacao went to speak to Vestal and inform her on Alexis' state, Curlew was about to leave to tell her Master.
"Wait," said Alec and when she stopped to turn, the maid was visibly and understandably frustrated.
"Why?" she asked, struggling to contain her annoyance "this is something that requires the Master's attention."
"No, he's got enough on his plate already," said Alec.
"How would…"
"With everything that's happened I'm guessing James is on the ground doing whatever he can to help with the recovery process. Considering how little the Resistance leaders had done to help, the majority of the people will be relying on him. Add to that the increasing burden of having to provide food and shelter for two species and anyone can see that James has enough on his plate."
Curlew could only sigh in defeat. When she stopped to think about it, Alec was right. On a regular day, her Master had plenty to deal with and this was a time of crisis. There were more people relying on him now than before. It wasn't just him either; as many of the girls in the fleet were also working tirelessly to help the Resistance.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" she asked, finally "do you want us to sit and wait for them to make a move?"
"The opposite," said Alec "I need you to find Curtis and bring him here. Those bastards sowed the wind, now its time they reaped the whirlwind."
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A little over an hour later and the operations on the island came to a sudden halt thanks to the actions of a particular individual.
Whitney and her cohorts remained largely under the radar during the incident. Even after that, they did little to stand out and kept their heads mostly in the sand. As they did this to save their own skin, the survivors who came to the island naturally gravitated towards James.
This manifested when the group declared that it was time to take charge only to be met with apathy from almost every human. It wasn't long before they got word that Byron was brutally executed by James during the attack and that he, Blake and Marie were not given proper burial rites like the others. Instead, all three were tossed into a ditch and that was all.
With that in mind, Whitney led the group as they shoved and pushed their way past others. They found James and Whitney greeted him with a slap to the cheek.
In that moment, everyone around stopped what they were doing.
This was not the first time he'd been slapped. James remembered many times in his childhood of being slapped and beaten by his so called 'father.' Hence, the slap did not really affect him as much as Whitney had intended. This was good because it gave James the time he needed to subtly tell the girls around him not to react.
He knew that Saint Louis, Belfast, Taihou and Roon in particular would not let such disrespect slide. He was also glad that Akagi didn't see this as he didn't want to imagine how she'd react to him getting slapped out of nowhere.
"How dare you?" hissed Whitney and reminded James of her presence "how dare you take matters into your own hands like this?"
"I'm sorry, what exactly are you referring to?" asked James, who looked at her with a kind of bored expression.
"You know exactly what I mean," she countered, and jabbed a finger against his chest "you took the law into your own hands. You denied a man his day in court and executed him without due process."
"Who gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies?" she asked, pointing an accusatory finger at him.
"Byron attacked members of MY fleet," said James, trying to contain his calmness "he had the fleet strategist on his knees and then shot him for good measure."
"He lost any right to a trial the moment he made himself a threat to my fleet."
Whitney could see how everyone around them were murmuring words of disapproval. They all knew that James was in the right and that what he did was justified. She could also feel their growing animosity towards her and felt that she had no ground left to stand on.
But her emotions caused her to say something that she instantly regretted.
"You've got a lot of nerve turning your sword on the people you call allies," she said, and saw James smile.
It was in that moment, she felt a chill run down her. The politician in her recognized that smile all too well. It was the sort of expression one had when they set out a trap and the prey happily walked into it without question. She also felt that this wasn't the first time she saw that dark smile. She remembered that this was the same smile James had a few other times when he spoke to them, when he…
"You know, with everything that's been happening; I've had a lot of time to think," he began "given all that's happened, I've come to a worrying conclusion."
She braced herself for the next sentence while the onlookers watched with equal interest.
"Byron is too stupid to have come up with this plan himself," he said
Whitney, Damian, Lakshmi and Ingrid all felt the ground beneath them shatter. Yet Whitney, kept herself from losing balance. She realized that if she betrayed even the tiniest bit of herself, James would catch on to it.
'This is what he does best,' she thought 'lays out a trap and waits for his prey. But I won't fall for it. Once you know about the trick, it's easy to avoid it.'
"What makes you think that?" she asked "Byron is a high-ranking member. He had access to plenty of resources."
"True," said James, nodding "but as I said before, he's too stupid to have done this himself."
"Anyone who's interacted with Byron knows that he's all smoke and no fire. Talk and that's about it. For this plan to have worked required subterfuge, planning, and forward thinking. Byron did not possess any of those qualities."
"And since when did you become a detective?" she asked, trying to derail this train.
"I'm no detective," said James, shrugging "a detective would have solved the case by now and we'd be dealing with the traitors. I'm not smart enough to figure out the culprit, no, I'm simply looking at things from a different perspective. When you do that, a lot of things don't line up."
"Such as?"
"Several things like Byron single-handedly taking down the Resistance's defense systems without anyone knowing. Or that Byron somehow managed to turn Alexis, Blake and Marie to his side. And then there's the fact that Byron assembled such a large group of humans without any of us knowing."
"All this leads me to believe that there was someone else or more than one other collaborator," he continued "and I intend on finding them after settling things here."
"Aren't you worried that by declaring your intent, you're going to scare them away?" asked Whitney.
"Not at all," said James in the most calmest yet most chilling tone imaginable "It doesn't matter where they run, I will find them. And when I do, they will learn the danger of making me their enemy."
He let those words hang in the air and carefully gauged the crowd. James had indeed hoped he'd get a reaction, but his attention was not on the crowd. No, it was on the four that started this.
He watched them carefully. His training with the girls helped him reach the point he could notice even the smallest reactions on a human's body. He looked for any signs that indicated their guilt.
Unfortunately though, he found nothing.
"Well I wish you good luck in your effort James," said Whitney, turning around.
James said something, but she did not hear it. She and the others needed to get out of here quickly.
When they were away from the gathering of people, Whitney finally let herself breath. In doing so, she could feel her knees shake and her balance waver.
This experience was completely different to facing down her peers in hotly contested debates. She felt sure that if she said one wrong word, James would end her then and there. She had to move, consequences be damned.
"We need to get rid of any evidence," she declared and the others remained silent.
"It also means that we'll have to destroy those devices," she added and the trio looked at her worriedly.
"If we do that, we lose our only link to Omega," countered Lakshmi.
"Screw Omega and Gamma," she hissed "we had a perfect plan in place and they ruined it with their meddling. From now on, we look after ourselves."
As they made their way to their makeshift command room, they were inadvertently moving from one trap into another.
She opened the doors to her room and saw there was someone else inside waiting for them.
Alec and he was sitting in the chair that Byron usually sat in.
There was a momentary confusion and bewilderment running through the group. Why was Alec here when he was supposed to be resting?
The four were so busy looking at Alec that none of them saw the three projectiles sailing through the room and hitting the intended target.
It was only when three of the four hit the ground and scream in pain did the realization set it. Whitney spun around and tried to reach the door only to have it slam shut in her face. She turned around and to see Alec and saw a horrific sight.
She ignored the screams of her comrades as she caught sight of a trio of glowing green eyes standing behind Alec. The eyes were in the shape of a triangle and it gave off this supernatural glow that made Whitney's face turn pale.
Then, to make the situation worse, she now saw several trio of red eyes appearing around the room. Her mind raced as she stepped back. She ignored the cries of her comrades and focused on these specters.
All she could think of was that Alec somehow made an unholy pact with some supernatural entity and was granted dominion over these dark and wicked forces. She had to escape, that's all that mattered to her. She had to find a way to escape.
"Not bad," said Alec, finally speaking "take them away."
Alec saw the green eyes come forward and her legs remained planted. She was too scared to move yet she knew it would be over if she didn't. Whitney remained completely still as the specter came over and revealed its identity.
She saw the green eyes vanish and in their place were a pair of regular eyes. Now she saw the specters for what they really were. Soldiers. They were soldiers dressed in full tactical gear, carrying assault rifles and wearing on special nocturnal goggles.
The one with the green-eyed goggles took off his mask to reveal it was none other than Curtis. The man looked at Whitney with a mixture of disgust and abject hatred.
"What about her?" he asked in a cold voice. Whitney could see the man's finger motioning to the gun's trigger.
"I have use for her," said Alec.
Whitney was still silent in her fear as she saw the other soldiers come and drag Lakshmi, Damian and Ingrid away.
"She's the reason many of my friends are dead," said Curtis, now raising the rifle and pointing it at her.
"Remember what I told you Curtis," said Alec, shifting his gaze from Whitney to him "kill her now and you'll end her suffering. She doesn't get the easy way out. None of them do."
In that moment, Whitney imagined all kinds of horrible fates in store for her. She turned and started banging on the door again, begging and shouting for help but no one came. When she found that it was a waste, she turned and expected Curtis to shoot her for causing them trouble. Instead, to her horror, she found the man lower his gun and look at Alec.
"Make sure they suffer," he said with a finality in his tone that chilled Whitney to the bone.
Alec said nothing. Instead, he simply nodded with a smile to Curtis. The latter then left the room and now, only Alec and Whitney were all that remained.
"Sit down," said Alec, yet Whitney remained frozen in her spot. Alec waited, reached into his something at the back of his pants and pulled out a pistol. He placed the weapon on the table then looked at her.
"I won't repeat myself," he said, his tone sounding wary.
At once, Whitney scrambled to the seat and got in before Alec could pull the trigger.
"Effective immediately, you are now my puppet," he said and Whitney remained silent "you've lost your right to any form of thought. You will do what I say, when I say or else…"
Alec then came forward with a dark expression.
"I leak information about your dealings with Gamma to the whole world," he said "if that happens, can you imagine the hell James will bring down on your head?"
Now she saw Alec fish out a sheet of papers and put it on the table.
"Tomorrow, you're going to call a conference," he said as she took the papers and started reading them in silence.
"You're going to follow this script, to the letter. No deviations."
He noticed how Whitney's eyes widened as she read and was slightly amused at how fast she read.
"This…" said Whitney, finally breaking her silence "this is career suicide. If I go out and say this then…"
"You seem to think that you have some form of agency here," said Alec "you don't. As stated before, you're a puppet. You do whatever I tell you to. And if you try anything, I cut your strings and watch you tumble."
Whitney shuddered at that last sentence. She did not want to imagine what Alec had in mind by 'cutting her strings.'
"Alright," she said, understanding her situation and not wanting to take a chance.
"Good," said Alec and he continued to outline her work come tomorrow.
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After that little incident with Whitney, James returned to his work. Nothing much else happened and by the time it was over, he was tired. He was too tired to climb the stairs and go to his room so he fell asleep lying against one of the buildings. It wasn't that comfortable but he was used to it.
A little later in the night, James slowly opened his eyes and felt something on his shoulder. He turned to see Akagi next to him, her eyes shut tight. Smiling to her, he wrapped her fingers around his before drifting back to sleep.
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Come morning and James could hear a voice calling out to him. He groaned a little and opened his eyes. Before him was Belfast, looking worried.
At once, the sleep in his eyes vanished and he sprang to the ground. He forgot that he was sitting next to Akagi and so by standing up, she slid to the ground with a sudden thud.
"Belfast, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Master, Whitney is doing a press conference and request that you be present," she said.
James nodded and turned to see Akagi standing up awake and ready.
"What's…"
"No time," he said, "can you handle the base while I'm away?"
Akagi took a few minutes to let the question sink and then nodded. With that confirmation James turned to Belfast again.
"Where?"
"Back in the ruins of the Resistance Headquarters," she replied and saw James take off.
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He reached the location and saw several people already there. He also saw Whitney standing on a podium. Between her were two soldiers, holding an assault rifle. She saw him land and began her speech.
"Over the last few days, the Azur Sky and the Resistance has been working together to uncover the identity of the person or persons who participated in the attack on the Resistance's base. Initially, it was believed that Byron was single-handedly the cause of this disaster."
"However, I recently received evidence that that was not the case," she said and was met with several murmurs from the crowd.
"It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that the other members of the Resistance also played a role in the attack as well," she said and nearly everyone in the crowd gasped.
"These were people who were supposed to help protect us against the Sirens, guide our race through these tumultuous times, and pillars of support," she continued.
While the rest of the crowd listened to her speech, James focused on one particular word.
"'Were'". Past tense.
"Yet they abandoned us and sided with the enemy. Such a cruel act deserves an equally cruel response."
As she said that, she clapped her hands. It was only now that everyone turned their attention to the giant tarps that were behind her. They were covering something tall and wide.
The crowd watched as the two soldiers standing next to Whitney turned around and went to the tarp. They looked at her and she nodded. The two soldiers took down the tarps and everyone in the audience looked in stunned silence.
James had recalled seeing many atrocities in his life. Growing up, he saw several terrible things that stayed with him forever. When he was in the navy, he saw things that were burned into his memory. Piles of corpses being burned to get rid of the smell, dogs fighting over a severed hand, a mother cradling a baby's head, a man getting his throat cut and having his tongue yanked out, etc.
There are sights, moments and actions that stay in your mind long afterwards. What James saw was one of them.
Lakshmi, Damian, and Ingrid were all staked from ass to mouth. Their arms were tied up against a horizontal beam while the stake they were on pointed out of their mouths.
Some who saw this vomited while others looked away. James took this opportunity to come forward and get a better look. There were a few things that caught his attention. First was that the bodies were not that badly decayed and second was what looked like bullet holes in their knees.
James now stood at the front of the crowd and Whitney locked eyes with him.
"The people you see here today are a new breed of traitors. They did not betray their king, their country or their government. No, they betrayed their entire species," said Whitney, after seeing the message had the intended effect.
"Let this serve as a reminder to everyone that to turn your back on your people will be met with swift and brutal consequences."
"Now that we have fully and definitely settled the issue of our traitors, I call on Commander James Harper to come to the podium."
That was when the crowd immediately shifted from the staked bodies to James. He calmly ascended the stairs and went to the podium to meet her. Whiten they turned around and looked at him face-to-face.
"Commander," she said "I hope that with this, we can move forward and work together to defeat the Sirens."
Following this, she stretched out her hand and James did the same. They shook and the people who watched applauded. However, Whitney could feel no warmth coming from that hand, only a coldness that betrayed the kind look he gave her.
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Alec heard a knock on the door and greeted the man who came inside. It was James. Alexis was doing physical therapy outside so now was the ideal time for them to talk.
Alec was not surprised by this and was actually expecting to see him sooner or later. James said nothing and quietly went over to the empty bed in the hospital room.
"So Whitney held a press conference today," he began "she said some interesting things."
Alec said nothing and simply nodded.
"Even went so far as to beg for my forgiveness," he added and Alec nodded again.
"How much of this way you?" asked James, now looking straight at the other man.
Alec simply smiled and said "I did need Curtis' help to shoot and keep them from running."
"Staking?" asked James "wasn't that going too far?"
"Trust me," said Alec "I had a LOT of other things in mind which were decidedly too gruesome. I settled for staking as it was the least wicked thing to do."
"Doesn't staking typically involve the stake going from ass to chest?"
"Yes, and it was very difficult to get it through the mouth while they were still alive," replied Alec.
James looked at him with surprise, genuinely taken aback by the response.
"Also, I find it hard to believe that Whitney was the only innocent one there," said James.
"She isn't," said Alec "all five of them were working with Omega behind our backs."
"So why is she alive?"
"Think about it," replied Alec "if I went ahead and killed her, I'd have to be the one to make that statement. In that event, people are going to suspect that this is less of a move to serve everyone's interest and more of a power grab."
"Isn't it the same now?" asked James and Alec smiled. That smile told James exactly what Alec was thinking.
"Now, people are going to think she made a power grab under the guise of protecting everyone," said Alec "it might only be a few people right now, but that number will grow over time. I'll make sure of that. And while she leads the people, I'll make sure she doesn't act out."
"I see. So now she has to deal with the growing doubts and suspicions from the people. And what will you be doing in the meantime?"
"I'll be making sure that you have everything you need to go after Omega," said Alec.
Now it was time for James to remain silent.
"I've thought long and hard about this and came to a conclusion," said Alec "The Azur Sky is spending too much time dealing with our issues instead of focusing on the main threat. You're dealing with the symptoms and not the cause."
"James," he said, getting off the bed and standing in-front of James.
"Enough of helping with the reconstruction and taking care of the smaller issues. I want you to commit everything to defeating Omega and ending this war."
As James began to think of what to do next, he couldn't help but admire Alec's tactics. Whether he knew it or not, Alec had effectively created a new shadow Government with him at the helm.
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Omega's back was turned to Gamma when she entered. She could tell by how silent the footsteps were that Gamma's move failed.
"Lady Omega," said Gamma, getting to one knee and lowering her head "I am here to inform you that we've taken out thirty percent of the population gathered at the Resistance headquarters."
"I see," said Omega, tending to the six chambers before her "and what about the Azur Sky? What's the damage there?"
At that question, Gamma remained silent. In fact, Omega could feel her look away.
"I believe I asked you a question," said Omega "when someone asks you something, it is only fair to respond."
"Zero," said Gamma, after another lengthy silence "the Azur Sky suffered zero losses in the attack."
Hearing this made Omega sigh. She turned around and saw Gamma with her head still lowered. She mused that her subject now expected some form of punishment. Any ordinary day she would do exactly that, punish her subordinates for their incompetence. But today, it was different.
"This shouldn't really come as a surprise," said Omega and Gamma raised her head up in shock.
"Wh-what do you mean my lady?"
"The humans struck a deal with us to provide information on James and the fleet. When that failed, they shifted focus to assassinating him. When that failed, they shifted focus on trying to thin the numbers through those special humans. What were their names again?"
"Valkyries, my Lady."
Omega scoffed at the name and continued "either way, the fact that they couldn't do anything to James proved that it was a waste to ally with them in the first place. Do they have any information that can be used against us?"
"No, my Lady," replied Gamma, furiously shaking her head "I made sure of that."
"Very well then," said Omega "raise your head Gamma for while this plan did not succeed, there was one good thing that came out of it."
Gamma turned and saw Omega facing the large chambers. She heard a six followed by a smoke coming from these six metal cases. Her eyes widened as she saw what came out.
"I had the time I needed to complete my project," said Omega, now coming towards the culmination of her work.
She looked down at the six naked creatures who lay on the floor and smiled the kind of smile a mother gave to her children.
"Welcome to the world, my beautiful Antiochs."
AN: Time to say hi to our other heroes
