Chapter Seven: Lending A Hand
König awoke with a groan, his head throbbing from his current hangover. He threw his legs over the side of his bed and held his head in his hands. "Note to self, never go drink for drink with the Hipper sisters again." The hybrid battleship mumbled to himself as he propped himself onto his feet. He wasn't too sure how he got back to his room, but he supposed it wasn't that important. After all, it's not like he'd be able to remember anyway. He couldn't remember just how much booze he consumed the night before. All he could remember was everything leading up to and the first half of the party. Everything went blank around the time Eugen somehow. Goaded him into chugging an entire two-liter bottle of Jägermeister in a single go. He made another mental note to cut out drinking for a while. He had no desire to start competing with Laffey to be the alcoholic of the port.
König grumbled as he began to get ready for the day, wondering why he did these things to himself. Granted, considering the wildness his existence had become since those few months ago. He wondered if whatever higher powers existed just enjoyed screwing with him. That was an interesting train of thought. König, god's personal chew toy. Feeling somewhat better after a nice shower and dressing for the day. He made his way to the common area of the dorms, noticing that it was devoid of all other life. Not too surprising considering last night's activities. After indulging in the holy nectar that was coffee and a light breakfast. Considerably improving his mood for the moment anyways. Left the dorms and made his way to the Commander's office.
He made his way to the office and stopped in front of the secretary's desk. The woman had blond hair, red eyes, and a colonial-style British uniform, that was tailored with a more female touch in mind. The woman was so engrossed in her work she didn't notice him until he gave a polite cough to grab her attention. Looking up, her eyes suddenly widened as she realized she had been unknowingly ignoring him.
"Apologies, I didn't see you there." She stated with a noticeable Welsh accent to her speech. "I'm King George V-class battleship, Prince of Wales. You must be König I've heard so much about, a pleasure to meet you. Commander Maruyama mentioned you'd be arriving at some point. I'll go and see if she's available at the moment." Wales stated as she made her way into Maruyama's office, a moment later he was signaled to come in.
König walked into the office and stopped in front of the desk, standing at attention. Maruyama waited until Wales had left and closed the door before finally addressing him. Judging by the expression on her face, she was still rather annoyed with him.
"Good to see you're up and about just fine König." Maruyama spoke with a curt tone. "No ill consequences from last night it seems. Surprising considering the little celebration at the Ironblood dorms."
"Only the consequences of trying to outdrink the Hipper sisters, Kommandantin." Came the battleship's simple reply.
"How sad for you," Maruyama replied, sarcasm dripping in her tone. "Now then let's discuss your punishment. I have a little assignment that will last the entire week of port restriction. You're familiar with the base clubhouse that has an upstairs and downstairs?" The hybrid gave a simple nod of his head and she continued. "Then you know that while the downstairs is a general bar for everyone on base to share. The upstairs is a bit more specialized as it's controlled in rotations of six months intervals. By a single faction here on base, who are free to model it however they like. While we tend to let the manjuu handle many of these sorts of things around base. For this task, the respective factions are charged with handling it themselves. The new rotation is set to begin, and you'll be assisting with the construction efforts. You'll report as stated by the construction supervisor until its completion. Any questions?"
"Well yes, I'm wo-"
"Good, get out of my office." The Eagle Union officer cut in abruptly. Getting the hint he shouldn't try anything to push his luck. König promptly spun on his heel and left the office. Once he shut the door behind him, he let out a deep sigh. "Yep, she's still pretty pissed with me. I can't really hold it against her, anyone on her side of things would be." He muttered out loud.
"True enough," Wales chimed in as she worked at her desk. "Your stunt has become the big gossip around the port."
"Already? It hasn't even been a full day since it all happened."
"News travels very fast around here once it gets out." The blond retorted "By the way, Lady Hood would like to get together with you for tea sometime."
The Ironblood couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in mild surprise at that. "My schedule is busy for a while, but I wouldn't mind it once possible. Though I must wonder, why exactly?"
"Lady Hood wishes to be able to more properly thank you herself and get to know you better. I shall inform her of your reply."
With all that apparently settled the hybrid made his way outside of the Commander's building. Though he only managed to get a few steps before his attention was drawn suddenly.
"Yo! Hold Up!" An excited voice called out suddenly and König looked to see just who it was.
The kansen looked like a woman to be either in her late teens or early twenties. She wore an outfit with boots, different-styled leggings, and a one-piece top. That was sleeveless and stretched down a few inches past the waist as some kind of skort. Everything was colored in a combination of black, white, and magenta. She also wore a baggy navy blue bomber jacket that was almost completely unzipped. She also wore black cut-off gloves with studs and her nails were painted black. Her hair was a silver-gray color that framed her face with a couple bangs that crisscrossed over the middle. Just above her magenta-colored eyes. On the right side was a magenta-colored stripe of hair. Her hair was also fashioned to look like a horn on each side via black ribbons. That stretched back into knee-length strips of hair. Finally and arguably most concerningly, she also was carrying a baseball bat.
"You gotta be König, you look hella cool, but let me introduce myself! New Orleans-class heavy cruiser, CA-38 San Francisco of the Eagle Union! You can just call me 'Frisco' for short though if you want." The now-identified San Francisco stated.
Having been blindsided by the suddenness of the situation it took a moment for him to form a response. "Yes, I'm König, a hybrid battleship of the Ironblood. How can I help you, San Francisco?" He finally managed after a few moments of awkward silence.
"Why yes there is actually." She began with a smile on her face and a pep in her step as she approached. Her bat rested on a shoulder as she did this until she was just a few feet away. "I got put in charge of the remodeling project and was told you." She spoke as she then pointed the bat right at him. "Have been assigned to be my little helper for the whole thing."
"So I have," König mused while he kept his attention on the bat in his face.
Catching on to that the heavy cruiser moved it away with a smirk. "Don't worry about Lucielle, I ain't gonna clobber your head in with her. That's reserved for the sirens. I just like to carry her around with me most of the time. Anyway, follow me and we'll get to it." San Francisco turned on her heel and headed off, König made his way up and followed right beside her.
"So what are we exactly tearing down and then replacing with what?" The battleship mused in curiosity.
"The Sardinia girls had it last and made it into some sort of chapel themed after the ones in their homeland. They've cleaned it out of the important stuff, so just a general tear-down on our end. As for what we're going to be building in its place. Well, I'm gonna keep that a secret and see if you can figure it out along the way." The Eagle Union ship finished with a playful smile.
König just shrugged his shoulders and just kept following along. As they approached the building, he noticed a large construction dumpster. Positioned so they could throw stuff from the upper level directly into it. Taking an outside stairway that led directly to the upper level. Walking inside he noticed there were already various tools for starting the tear-down. As well as a couple manjuu birds.
"Right then," Frisco began with some pep. "While we do have a couple manjuu to help with this. This's mostly just me and you knocking this out so let's get to it!"
With that said, they began tearing things up. Now König had never done something like construction before in his life. Not that he was against doing such work, he just never really had to. At his old home, if such things needed to get done, his dad hired professionals to do it. So this was something of a learning experience for him. Honestly, he found some enjoyment from the work. Though there was one hang-up about it all. This stuff was very labor intensive, which meant things got hot and sweaty fast. Which was not helped at all by the port's natural environment. Keep in mind Azur Lane was located on a tropical island, in the middle of the Pacific, and it was the peak of summer. Case in point, the port tended to be on the warmer side of things for most of the year. Currently, it was damn near unbearable.
While König would admit his day-to-day outfit may not be the warm climate-friendly style. He generally had no issue with it but add in the construction work and well that changed. It wasn't long before he had shed off his jacket and mask for the sake of breathability. San Francisco was in the same situation as she not long into it, she also took off her bomber jacket. The two found themselves having to take water breaks rather regularly. Bless the hearts of those manjuu birds they always seemed to know when they needed to hydrate. As they always had water prepped and ready for them when the time came.
The next few days seemed to fly by pretty quickly as they tore down and began rebuilding. Working together side by side like this, gave König and San Francisco time to know each other pretty well, and quickly. Frisco was definitely the fun-loving type though not in the same kind of way. That Eugen was. They quickly found that both shared a taste for the same kind of music. They both loved many of the same bands and even introduced one another to new ones. Frisco introduced him to a band called Sum 41. He introduced her to Rammstein.
It was around this time he started to see what they were building starting to take shape. What drew his eyes mostly was the bar taking shape and a stage with a pole on it…. "Are we building a damn strip club?" He suddenly blurted out as the realization hit him.
"Bunny bar actually." Frisco simply answered.
"What the hell is the difference?"
The heavy cruiser opened her mouth to reply but stopped when she realized she had no argument. "Ok fine, maybe there isn't after all."
The hybrid simply shook his head. So, they were replacing the chapel with a bunny bar. Well, if there was a god, he just got all the ammo he could want against König for a short time.
A few more days had passed, and the place was nearing completion. The heat had also hit its highest point in a while. Both he and Frisco were feeling the heat more than ever. König had stripped down to where he only wearing his pants and boots, leaving his upper body fully exposed. He couldn't say for certain, but he could have sworn. That Frisco had been eyeing him up on occasion while he was working.
"Beg pardon for the intrusion." A voice suddenly called out.
König raised an eyebrow at the sudden voice, he recognized it. Turning around, his thoughts were right. When he saw none other than Hood in all her elegance at the doorway. He noticed a slight blush come across the British battlecruiser's face. Then he remembered he was shirtless and quickly went to put it back on.
"How can I help you, Lady Hood?" The hybrid mused after putting his shirt back on.
"Prince of Wales informed you earlier this week about a desire to join you for tea," Hood stated politely. "I understand you're serving out a punishment for certain actions. I had originally desired to wait but with the heat the way it is today. I thought I could perhaps use tea time as an excuse to give you some reprieve at least for a short time. Miss Belfast was kind enough to prepare some iced tea for the occasion. It seemed more appropriate all things considered. After all, I'd hate to be discourteous when trying to thank you for your rescue of my patrol. Of course, if San Francisco wishes to join in as well that would be fine."
Frisco was quick to wave a hand in dismissal at the notion. "Don't worry, sounds like I would be the third wheel to it, I'm good."
König felt her answer was a bit off for her but decided not to press it. "If you say Frisco." He replied before putting his attention back on Hood. I'll follow your lead, Lady Hood."
Hood gave a small smile before leaving with the hybrid behind her. She led him to a table with chairs on the outside patio. He noticed a small cooler that had the image of the union jack on it. Taking seats across from one another, Hood grabbed two chilled glasses. Along with a chilled drink container and proceeded to pour the iced tea.
König took a drink and was rather surprised by the flavor. "This's very good speaking as someone with little experience with tea of any kind."
"It's a Tropicana iced tea blend, it is rather lovely, isn't it? Miss Belfast chose it." Hood replied drinking some of her own tea. The two enjoyed some silence as they comfortably drank their tea. Ultimately, Hood broke the silence between them. "Thank you, König, for what you did that day." Hood suddenly started. "While we may have been able to come out of that. It would have been in considerably worse condition. Admittedly, as the one in charge of that sortie, I should've been more alert."
"Don't blame yourself for what happened Lady Hood." The hybrid battleship simply replied. Hood looked almost surprised by his answer. "From what we know the siren fleet showed up out of nowhere. No amount of alertness would have changed that. The sirens have always been tricky like that."
Hood paused and simply looked at König as if she was trying to find words. Finally, she settled on sighing a little and sipping her tea. "A fair point." That was all she said after a moment. The two once more slipped into silence for a few minutes.
"You are a most interesting man, König." Hood simply stated.
"How so?" König replied, not entirely sure what she meant by that rather vague statement.
Hood laughed lightly as if he had simply stated the most obvious thing in the world. "You're the first and only male kansen for starters. You haven't been at the port that long. Yet you've done more to shake things up than arguably anyone else has. Not to mention you've shown yourself to be a caring man of strong convictions. If your methods perhaps need a little work. You've shown yourself to already be a rather admirable person. I have the feeling that will only grow further in due time."
"I know I've done a fair bit in a short time, but I wouldn't say I've done anything all that great." He retorted back at Hood.
"While being humble about oneself is nice. Don't be too dismissive of what you've accomplished." The battlecruiser replied before thinking to herself. "Plus, considering what her majesty clued me in on surrounding your heritage. You have a much greater role to play in due time. I wonder how you'll react once you learn the importance of your blood?"
The two would continue for a while simply sipping tea and having friendly small talk with one another. Soon enough though they had to move on with their days. "Thank you for the pleasant time, König, good day to you." She finished with a charming smile and curtsey before leaving.
The battleship kansen simply stood there and watched her walk off before a cough caught his attention. He turned to see San Francisco and she seemed a little annoyed. "Come on, we a got a job to finish." She said as she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back.
König couldn't help but wonder what her deal suddenly was?
Another few days passed and the two had at last finished the job. The two admired their work. The battleship had gone back to wearing the entirety of his usual attire. With all the hard work, at last, being done. Nice shiny tile flooring and a fully stocked bar. Plenty of tables and chairs, and proper lighting for the ambiance. Finally the dancing stage with the pole on it. The last bit of work went rather smoothly. Frisco's attitude also went back to its previous self not long after Hood left. He still didn't quite understand what exactly Frisco's deal had been, not that important he figured.
"Job well done Frisco; we work pretty well together." König mused. Sure, they may have pissed off God by turning a chapel into a bunny bar. The place came out looking great at least.
"Absolutely and your punishment is officially over with, I think?" The heavy cruiser replied.
"Certainly."
Both kansen whipped around to see Maruyama seemingly looking over the place.
"Good job both of you, the place looks fantastic." The Eagle Union officer mused as she approached the two. Her attitude had seemingly toned down a bit from the last time the hybrid had seen her. "Now then König, while I had considered furthering your punishment. Certain things have come up and you're needed for them."
"What precisely Kommandantin?" König wondered curiously.
"You know that project you proposed to me? It was green-lit by high command, give me a list of names for a team. I'll give the order and you'll all leave tomorrow morning." Maruyama answered with a grin.
The hybrid battleship smirked behind his mask. "I have a list of names in mind."
The next morning König was at the docks by his hull. His team for the mission assembled. The team would comprise himself, Roon, Avrora, Mikasa, U-96, U-556, U-101, San Francisco, and Hood.
"Good morning to you all. You're all here because I specifically asked you to be here with me on this mission. As for the exact nature of our mission. I can't reveal it just yet even though I'm sure you all have certain questions." König stated as he addressed them.
"Why do me and the other subs have special underwater scanning equipment?" U-556 questioned.
"Where are we going exactly? The Commander was rather tight-lipped about it." Mikasa asked.
"Everything will be revealed in due time I assure you. Though I can at least tell you where will be going. We're off to the waters of Drøbak Sound in search of something particular."