I had been awake for a while now. Hood had fallen asleep at some point and Javelin was still on my lap. I watched the countryside pass by as the train continued on its journey, the sun had already risen and guessing the time we would be arriving soon. So, I decided to let them both rest for now.

Hood was the first to awaken, I hardly noticed her eyes open or head move but the gentle smile she gave was definitely noticeable. "I seemed to of fallen asleep at some part of the night. I was trying to stay awake but yesterday had been a demanding one."

"I wouldn't worry, I don't like to tempt fate but being this far inland there isn't much to worry about."

She looked out the window. "Yes, it certainly looks peaceful."

I looked down at javelin, my hand had subconsciously moved to her head. I had removed the crown that was Usually on it last night to avoid it falling on the floor. I patted her hair softly as I thought about what she had said yesterday.

It was worth a try. "Hey Hood, after London what are your plans?"

"I hadn't thought that far ahead really, why?"

"Well if London ends up being a bust Javelin came up with the idea of making a fleet and escorting merchants, it would be a simple way of making some money."

"Ah, so you wish to command me then."

"I didn't mean it like that. Just that..." Before I could continue, she moved her hand to her mouth and chuckled.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to worry you. I would be delighted to sail with you, I have just one condition though. Nothing too serious and one I think you would be in agreement with."

"What is it?" I was relieved she had said yes, javelin was strong and all but we had cut it close against four sirens, any more and We would have been in hot water. The more ships we could get together the greater our chances would be. I have yet to see her ship but if her rigging was anything to go by Hoods strength would be useful.

"While we protect you from sirens all I ask is you protect us from humans. It is almost certain we will come across more of our kind. I know you are smart enough to understand the more the world learns of us the more dangerous it may become. I'm not asking you to put yourself in the way of danger for us but to just have our backs."

I didn't have to think over the matter long before agreeing. "Ok you have my word. I will do everything in my power to keep you guys safe." She offered her hand to me. When I touched the soft silk of her glove a sharp pain ran up my arm, my mind was suddenly filled with memories of a ship being destroyed, all of them disappearing as instantly as they came leaving only the fear and dread of those that witnessed it. Before Hoods hand had fully grasped mine, they were gone.

I finished the handshake returned my hand. I had obviously witnessed her sinking and I could tell from the look on her face she had experienced something similar. I went to ask her what had just happened but it turned out that Javelin had been awake for some time now.

"You're going to join us!" She sprang up and promptly wrapped her arms around Hood. "It's going to be smooth sailing from here on out"

After getting over the shock Hood used one arm and returned the hug. "I am, however pretending to be asleep and listening in on another person's conversation is very rude."

Javelin went back to sitting beside me. "Oh, sorry I didn't mean to pry, if it's anything I had only just woken up so I didn't hear much."

"It's ok, we weren't discussing anything too serious, just the terms of his command."

Javelin reached over and grabbed her small crown, putting it back on her head she begun to put her hair back in its usual ponytail. "It's good to know I'll be sailing in a fleet again, even if it's just two ships right now. But I promise you hood I will be the best escort you could ask for."

"I have no doubts. From what I know the J-class destroyers had a very modern design, especially compared to my old hull." Hood definitely knew how to flatter people.

Javelin looked at me, then Hood. She seemed to fidget a bit; it was the same as when she was asking me questions at the station. I knew I was in for a difficult question. "So, with hood being with us. when we sail again, who is going to be the flagship?"

That was something I wasn't expecting. Javelin leaned towards me waiting for my answer, even Hood seemed to be interested in the subject as I glanced her moving into a more upright position. I tried to keep my face neutral as I thought of my answer.

Fortunately, my silent prayers were answered as a loud whistle rang out causing a big enough distraction. I pointed out the window as the train began to slow. "That's London, the capital of this nation and once the centre of the largest empire in the world."

Javelin swung around to look, her face almost touching the glass as she looked at the city. Hood looked from her seat. "The empire is no more?"

I was confused at her question before remembering she hasn't been around for over a hundred years. "Yeah, it's old history now so nobody knows much but it's gone now."

I could hear the sadness in her voice. "Yes, that would make sense, we were an empire of naval trade, without the Royal Navy it would be hard to keep it around. I once made a tour of it, While I can't personally remember, I know my crew was moved by its majesty. I do hope the nations are doing well."

"I don't know much, even getting news from Europe is hard enough. Information just seems to be harder to find nowadays."

The room went dark as we entered the train station. We eventually found ourselves standing on a busy platform, both Javelin and Hood looked anxious. "You guys alright? Wouldn't see you two as ones to get nervous in crowds."

They looked at each other. Hood leaned down to Javelin to quietly talk before responding to me. "I had a growing feeling of unease on the train, Javelin also shares this feeling. It could be down to us being so far away from the ocean. we are ships after all.

It made some sense. "Right, we'll try to make our time here as quick as possible, the walk to the university isn't that far and hopefully it won't take too long when we get there."

We had begun walking down busy street, Javelin was constantly swinging her head around trying to see everything there was. She had grabbed my hand at some point. At least she wouldn't get lost. "You seem to know this city well, have you spent time here before becoming a sailor?" Hood asked.

"Had to spend a lot of time here when I was young, family stuff. Didn't stay for too long and left as soon as I could, just found everything to constrictive, think that's why I enjoy the openness of the sea so much. I haven't been here in a while so my memory is a little rusty, definitely isn't as many people around now though."

Hood looked around; I didn't know what London would have looked like in her day but I imagined it was probably hard just to find room to breathe. "I'm surprised that there's fewer people around, with the danger posed being near the coastline I would have imagined everyone tried to migrate inland."

"In a part people did, but ever since we lost the seas things haven't gone well. either from the reduction in food or just the general bleakness of everything the population has decreased massively, entire towns now lay abandoned. In London's case though its position makes it safe but with no trade coming through and industry moving away, there's no reasonable justification for living here."

"Ah. My hull meant I couldn't come close but a large section of my crew had come at some point. I can't exactly recall what it looked like, but I'm sure you would have been amazed to see it in its hay day."

It has become common knowledge by now that in a few generations the city would become nothing more than a gathering of old statues and ancient artefacts. "Yea, the city basically lost its relevance when the monarchy disbanded. Isn't much left here now." I commented.

I had made a few extra steps before the hand I was holding pulled against mine, I turned to see what was up only to find both Javelin and Hood had stopped dead in their tracks and were just starring at nothing.

"The monarchy, it's gone?" Hoods voice seemed to crack as she spoke. She blinked; tears could be seen forming on her eyes before she quickly wiped them away.

Javelin had also begun to cry. "How is this possible."

I leaned down and held Javelin in a hug. "Don't worry there not all dead or anything, just no longer hold any title."

Hood had already composed herself but still sounded shocked. "I guess it's to be expected, may I ask as to what happened?"

"It was before I was born, with the nation shrinking in population it became too large of an expense to justify continuing so they decided to renounce their titles and go live out in the countryside."

"Ah." Was all I got in reply.

We had begun walking again, Javelin had lost the spring in her step and just looked down at the pavement, Hood had lost the small smile she usually had.

I knew I needed to lighten the mood; I saw a bench by a fountain. "Could you two just wait here for a moment, don't worry I'll be right back." After they had sat down, I began walking down another street. "I hope it's still there after all this time."

Fortunately, luck was on my side and a short while later I was walking back to the girls with two crepes in hand. "I realised you haven't had any breakfast so I got you these, I didn't know what filling you would like but it's hard to go wrong with strawberries and cream."

Javelins eyes seemed to light up when I passed it to her. Taking a bite, she squealed in delight. Before taking another bite, she gave a "this is the best." Hood had also taken a few bites and gave her approval. It had taken the last of my money but was glad to see them happy again.

While Javelin was lost in her food I sat next to Hood. "Did you not get yourself one?" She asked.

"I did but they can be tricky to carry so I just ate it there." She gave me a look before continuing.

Javelin had already finished eating and was back to looking at everything. "It's still a bit early but if we can get everything done at the university then we can spend some time seeing the sights. I'm interested in seeing the Thames, it should be deep enough for Javelin so I wonder if you would feel better being near it."

"Wouldn't bringing my ship out cause a panic?"

"While it would be interesting to see, I didn't mean to bring your ship out. Just if being near a large body of water would change anything. It might help us if when it comes to finding other ships."

"Ah, I see." Said Javelin, her attention had already been pulled to looking at a group of birds that had landed nearby.

As Soon as Javelin Had looked away Hood moved the hand holding her crepe next to my face. She spoke in a hushed tone. "Have some, and don't think I didn't notice you giving yourself the smaller portion of bread yesterday." She moved it even closer to me signalling there was no point arguing.

I reached up and grabbed the crepe. Taking a bite, the flavours immediately flooded into my mouth, the pancakes soft texture gave me a flood of nostalgia from back when I was younger, the cream brought relief to my dry mouth along with abating the feelings of hunger in my stomach. It had taken a large amount of willpower to stop myself from taking another bite, instead I pushed it away and back to Hood. "Thanks, but please don't overly worry about me, I can look after myself."

"You say that yet even after a single bite you went and made a mess of yourself." She reached with her free hand to wipe away a small amount of cream that had was on the side of my mouth. She leaned closer and spoke in an even quieter tone. "We need to talk about this morning, when we touched, I saw something, and I could tell by your expression so did you."

"Later." I replied. While I couldn't remember anything I had seen, the feeling that had come with them remained.

I looked out to the surrounding city, the day had started to begin in earnest, people walking around barely paying attention to each other, just wanting to get through another day of work before returning home again. They all looked tired, not from lack of sleep but tired from the bleakness of everything. There was no great drive anymore everything was just to ensure our continued survival. A country frozen in time for over a century, this was all there was in life for most. I thought back to when I was younger. "Did I also look this bleak back then?"

The decision to become a sailor was mostly on a whim, a mixture of youthful rebellion and curiosity had led me to the Endurance. However, I soon found myself withdrawn, focusing heavily on my work I didn't have much time for socialising, along with crew rotations being what there were only a few people I could get to properly know, and all they ever talked about was what they were going to do when they reached port. Which mostly consisted of drinking, women and pub brawls.

Then there was these two, both of them sat next to me. In the last few days my life had changed dramatically. I had read of how in the past singular events had seemingly changed the course of history. From the fall of Rome to the invention of the steam engine. These girls could return the oceans to us, bringing not just this country but the entire species back from the brink.

And I had found myself in the middle of it, had it been random chance or some kind of fate? All I did know was it was equal parts exciting and terrifying.

The sound of bells rigging out signalled the change in the hour and brought me out of my thoughts, I looked at the bright smile on Javelins face as she looked around to find the source of the noise. Just seeing it made the world seem a little brighter.

"Right, that's enough sitting around, time to get on with what we came here for."

"How much further do we need to go?" Asked Javelin.

"Not long now, we're probably looking at around twenty minutes if we keep a good pace. Also Javelin when we get there can you not mention that Hoods a ship like you, we don't know how much we can trust these people. It will probably be fine but It doesn't hurt to be careful."

We continued walking, eventually the amount of people around began to thin, we turned a corner to see a large open area with a grand building in the centre. It was completely different from the soot covered brick buildings we had just been passing, it was in pristine condition, with polished stone walls and crystal-clear windows, several statues littered the grounds each atop ornate marble plinths.

"You can tell just by looking at the place the people inside are going to be difficult." I commented as we began walking towards the main entrance.

"If I may, the people in here are likely the sort to view people on their social status, if you refer to yourself as being in a high position they should listen. Make it clear that Javelin has placed herself in your care."

"What about you? You said not to mention that you are also a ship, not many people get called Hood nowadays. There's even a possibility that records of both of you are in this building."

"Just say that I am a benefactor of your old ship. Besides, they won't paying me much attention when Javelin is introduced. All we need to do is visually confirm the safety and condition of the cubes they possess and hopefully create an understanding that Javelin wishes to remain with you."

"Yeah." We had arrived at the doorway to the building. We looked at two large wooden doors, easily double my height and surrounded by a marble archway, dozens of ornate patterns and carvings each designed to portray the immense wealth and power held within.

Walking on polished floor our shoes echoed through the large reception. People In expensive suits walked around, barely any spared us a glance. I looked down at myself, my clothes were old and had oil marks all over, it was clear I didn't fit in.

"Can I help you?" A woman behind a desk called out.

"Yeah, we were looking to talk to someone regarding a blue cube. My ship was tasked with transporting it along with a scientist called Martin Walsh."

She gave me a weird look before flipping through a few papers, the look on her face changed before she stood up. "Please wait here a moment." She turned and went into a room behind the desk.

A while later a door across the room opened. A middle-aged man quickly made his way towards us. "So, tell me how you can be a member of a ship's crew that went missing days ago, and that the port it was destined to arrive at was completely destroyed."

"I'm the only survivor, we were attacked by sirens after getting lost in fog, I had only made it ashore yesterday, and arrived in London this morning."

The annoyed look on his face didn't change. "You also speak of things you shouldn't have any knowledge of, do you have anything to prove this."

I rummaged through the pockets in my coat before finding what I was looking for. I brought out the water damaged notebook. "I have this, it's the notebook of Martin Walsh." I handed it to him. "I also know the cube he was transporting wasn't to only one, two were sent ahead of my ship and were probably destroyed in Liverpool. Four were lost a few weeks ago leaving the two you have here and the one in Inverness."

He looked though the tattered pages, reading what small notes were still readable. "This was definitely his. So, who exactly are you then?"

I remembered what Hood had told me. "James Dawson, I was the first mate of the endurance." It was a lie but I felt that being a first mate would sound better than a mechanic.

"And these two women, who are they?"

I pointed over to Hood, using the first name to come to mind. "This is Miss Elizabeth, her estate was a sponsor to the Endurance, she lives in London and is here to finalise everything and write the final report regarding the ships fate."

Hood cave a small bow, I moved my hand a pointed towards Javelin. "And this is… well she's the reason why we're here, it's to do with the cubes, but I think we should go somewhere more private before further discussion."

He looked over Javelin, probably trying to find out what I meant. Eventually he offered a hand. "Robert Cutter. come, there is a room we can talk in nearby."

He led us to a large room down a hallway, it was obviously designed as some form of study or reading room, a large bookcase filled one wall. Around the room was several leather chairs with small coffee tables for people to sit at and read, in the centre was a few large sofas surrounding a low table, he gestured for us to sit on them.

"Would you like something to drink? Tea, brandy even." He looked over to Javelin. "We probably have some juice if you want.

"I will take a tea please." She quickly replied, I could hear the annoyance in her voice.

"Yeah, tea for me as well." Hood also gave the same order.

He rang a small bell and a young woman promptly walked in, he told her what we wanted before requesting a brandy for himself.

He gathered some paper from the table and began writing. "Start from the beginning, right from when your ship left port."

I began to recount what had happened, I left out a few details, mostly my conversation with the captain about my promotion and the nightmare I had just before the siren attack. Just as I was getting to the siren ships the woman returned carrying a tray with a large pot of tea and a bottle of brandy. I went to pour myself a cup only for Hood to do so instead. Somehow, she knew how I had my tea, only adding a small amount of milk. she passed me my cup before making Javelins.

"So you had just arrived on your bridge." He asked after taking a swig of his own drink.

"Yeah, I began to check over everything..." I started to recount the attack, as I continued, I found myself beginning to sweat, my finger tapped against my knee, the memory was difficult to go through. When I had finished, I took a large drink of tea and tried to calm myself.

He looked over what he had written, adding a few notes. "The sirens attacking not one but two ships carrying cubes along with destroying a port where a ship with them was docked. it shows signs of some form of coordination. you found yourself on some driftwood with the cube. What then, did you eventually drift ashore or were you picked up by another ship? I also see you don't have the cube with you, did something else happen?"

I ran my fingers through my hair, now for the part I had been dreading. I took another sip to clear my throat. "Not exactly, I was exhausted from escaping the ship and the cold of the ocean was making it hard to stay afloat. Eventually I passed out, I don't know how long for exactly, but from the brightness of the sun I would guess around an hour had passed when I finally came round. I had found myself on the deck of a ship. As for the cube well, this is going to be the hardest part to believe, but the cube had somehow become the ship I woke up on."

He looked at me, it was hard to tell if he thought I was lying or just crazy. He wrote something down. "Right, so you woke up on a ship that had manifested itself from the cube, then you seemingly were able to return to land. What sort of ship was it, and where is it now?"

"Well for the first part, it had become a destroyer from the old navy. Probably around three hundred feet long, the deck was crammed with weapons and the bridge had equipment far more modern and pristine then anything I have ever worked on, in fact the entire ship was in perfect condition as if it had just rolled of the slipway." I cleared my throat. "As for how I got back to land and where the ship is now, well there's no good way for me to explain this but she's right here next to me."

I gestured towards Javelin. "This is HMS Javelin; she is the ship the cube created."

She put her hand out. "J-class destroyer Javelin, nice to meet you."

He didn't respond, his eyes moving from her back to me. After a few moments of silence, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That's definitely the craziest thing I've ever heard. Look you don't need to make up some ridiculous story, if you lost the cube then that's fine. Now that three ships have been destroyed carrying cubes it's obvious, we are the ones to have put them in harm's way. I'm willing to compensate you and your fellow crew mates' families for the damages. So please don't waste my time."

"Yeah, I had a feeling it might be a hard sell." I looked over to Javelin. "Would you mind?"

She gave a nod. "Yep, sure thing." She stood and walked away from the table until she had enough room. "Just give me a sec, I've only done this once before." Closing her eyes and concentrating hard, her hands occasionally trying to grab something invisible.

A few moments passed without any change; Mr Cutter went to say something but was cut off by Javelin. "Got it!" Reaching out in front of her and grabbing. However, this time a light shone out from her hand before forming into her javelin, the rest of her rigging soon followed before she finally gave her javelin a twirl and turned to face us with a bright smile on her face. In the confined space I noticed the smell as if electricity had sparked or lightning had just struck.

He immediately stood up. "By the lord, this is fascinating." He took a walk around her, inspecting every inch before kneeling down and looking at her face before turning to me. "This is what became of the cube? Apart from the hair it looks practically human. I had always seen them as nothing but an energy source, but this is something else. The ship really became this?"

Some of his words had concerned me, but I passed them off as him just being objective. "Well, the cube became her and the ship, she was able to fully control the ship. The rigging you see her with is what became of the ship when we made land."

Standing back up he put his hands on his hips. "Martin had always said there was more to them. Crazy old bugger, we all thought he had just spent too much time alone. Guess he showed us all up in the end. Tell me, do those weapons work?"

"More than work, both as the ship and the rigging her shells can punch straight through siren shields, shortly after waking up on her deck we were attacked by the same sirens that destroyed the Endurance, she easily took care of them while only taking minor damage herself." Javelin was beaming from my praise.

"This discovery will change everything, the value this brings to the scientific community is invaluable." A smirk formed on his face. "Those yanks think there ahead of us, just wait until they see this!"

Now the hard part. I thought. "About that, Javelin..." I was unable to finish as he completely ignored me and turned to Javelin.

"Tell me, how were you able to manifest from the cube? Nothing we have done has even come close to this."

Javelin rocked side to side for a bit before answering. "I don't know really; I wasn't fully myself before. All I remember was something calling for me then a surge of power. This body awoke on my bridge after my hull was formed. He was asleep on my deck at the time."

He scratched his chin. "Definitely has a basic intelligence, the accent is a curiosity though it suggests a lifetime of development yet you have only been around a few days." He walked over to his notes. "You said you were holding the cube before passing out, anything else?"

I tried to recall the memory. "Nothing much, at that point I was exhausted, I remember my legs cramping and sinking before I started to drown, all I remember after was seeing a bright light." Looking back, it was strange, even if Javelin had surfaced under me, I should have drowned, maybe the jolt had kicked most of the water out of my lungs.

He went through his notes some more, adding a few more points. "Martin had written about certain people's affinity with the cubes, it might be possible…" he turned and began to quickly head for the door, "just wait here a moment."

I tried to call out as he went for the door. "About the delivery, I wanted to talk about..." Once again I was cut off

"Ah yes the payment, how could I forget." He turned to the woman standing next to the door, she had stood there after serving our drinks. "I want you to find out how much Mr Walsh paid for the delivery and double it, make it quick now." She promptly nodded before leaving, he followed shortly after.

"That's not what I…" he had already gone. "Meant." I sighed, picking up the tea I had a proper drink of it, the taste was far better than the usual old leaves I'd been able to barter for at ports, this was the good quality I occasionally had whenever my family sent me some. "Good tea though."

"Quite." Hood finally spoke. She took a sip herself, holding the saucer close to the cup as she drank. "The leaf used was definitely grown out in the orient. Not to mention the skills shown in the brewing, only a little brutish when cutting the leaves and maybe a bit rushed when straining. Apart from that it's practically perfect."

I was trying to figure out how she had figured out all of that as she put the mug down. She continued. "However, tea is not our priority right now, I'm sure you noticed the way he spoke of Javelin, it calls for concern."

"I realised. Not to mention he wouldn't really let me speak. Don't know how well he's going to take the news."

Javelin walked back over, her rigging slowly fading away. "What do you mean? Apart from being a little weird and thinking I was a child he seemed nice enough."

"It was the way he referred to you Javelin, almost if you were not human."

"Well, I'm not, I'm a ship."

I leaned back, looking at the ceiling. "I know Javelin. It's just complicated, don't worry about it. Just be wary if someone doesn't see you as a fellow human, they might treat you poorly"

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem, the only human I want to be around is you." Her reply genuinely made me feel warm inside.

"But it may not be up to me." I failed to reply.

Almost no time passed before the door opened and Robert returned, now carrying a large box along with a few measuring instruments. "Right just need to get a few measures, stuff like height, heart rate and all that, it shouldn't take too long and then we can try the cubes, could you stand up please.

I proceeded to unconformably be examined, everything from my shoe size to my eye colour was taken, thankfully the presence of Javelin and Hood had spared me from having to remove my clothes. At some point the woman returned and placed a rather full brown envelope on the table. Javelin watched on with interest while Hood just merely enjoyed her tea.

"Well apart from a high blood pressure and heart rate which can be understandable giving your experiences these last few days, barring further blood tests I would say you're a perfectly healthy normal adult male. I did however notice some serious bruising on your chest along with a nasty cut on your arm, may I inquire to how you received them?"

"The one on my chest is from hitting a bulkhead when the Endurance was hit, the hand is from a broken bit of Javelins deck when we were fighting the sirens."

"Right, you mentioned your second encounter. You said the ship took damage, was any injury done to the body?" He asked while moving over to the box.

"She wasn't hurt directly I don't think, but when the Javelin took hits, they seemingly translated over to a few cuts and bruises but nothing too serious."

He stopped and looked at Javelin for a few seconds. "I don't see any injuries, under the clothing perhaps?"

"Not really, they were mostly on her arms and legs. Just when I went to clean them shortly after the battle they had mostly healed, come the morning there wasn't even a scratch. Stranger even was the ship also had mostly repaired itself."

He wrote some notes down. "A high metabolism perhaps? For all we know it might have an entirely different digestive tract. Questions that can be left for later."

He opened the box, a soft blue light begun to shine out of it. Removing the lid, he put on two thick gloves and proceeded to take out two cubes, both looked exactly like how Javelins did. However I noticed I didn't have the same strange draw to them that I did before.

He moved over to me. "The gloves are just to remove any unnecessary variables; don't worry they are quite safe to handle."

I took one in each hand, the familiar warmth returned.

"Is that what I looked like?" Javelin asked, she was standing on her tip toes trying to see.

I moved my arms a little lower. "Yeah, you were a bit brighter though, but that might have been because it was dark."

Robert had already begun to write notes. "Apart from a difference in luminescence anything else, no feelings or surge of power?"

I focused. It felt as if the weight of the world had begun to rest on my shoulders, but the cubes seemed to tell me that I could carry this weight no matter what. My thoughts turned to Javelin and Hood, the desire to protect them grew along with my resolve to find as many of their kind and keep them safe.

I looked over to the man standing in front of me. Almost instantly it became apparent that the cubes in my hand wanted to get as far away from this building as possible.

"So?" He asked.

"Surprisingly noting, maybe it's not ready or something." Instead of giving them back I walked over and put them back in their box, I don't know why but they felt as if they should remain together, like they were two halves of a whole.

"Dam, well if we were able to get one to activate it's only a matter of time before we can get them too as well. This might finally get the lab in Inverness to share their studies with us. All we ever get is the reports but none of the raw data."

Even though I was no longer holding the cubes the resolve they had given me remained. Taking a deep breath, I turned to face him. "Look I've been trying to say this for a while now but you keep cutting me off, I'm sorry to say this but Javelin wishes to stay with me."

He looked at me with a confused look on his face, Javelin moved to stand next to me. "It's true, I made him my captain." She took my hand in hers.

The silence continued, the tension in the room felt so intense you could cut it with a knife. To my surprise he gave a small laugh before speaking. "Oh, that's good. Look I don't know what's gone on between you, but its feelings are nothing but superficial. Let me explain, when some animals are born their instincts make them trust the first being they see. It's a survival thing and nothing more. Give it a few weeks and she'll probably forget about you."

"I don't care. I respect her wishes, especially after seeing how you refer to her as nothing more than just an object to study."

The smile disappeared, he paced around the room. "Do you even have the mental capability to comprehend what you have here!?" I could hear the growing anger in his voice.

I tightened the grip on her hand. "Yes, I have a friend. And I'm not going to turn my back on her."

He looked furious, he continued to pace back and forth, several times he went to start speaking only to stop and continue walking. Eventually he stopped. Taking a deep breath and straightening out his shirt.

"Okay." He spoke, moving over to the table he poured himself a full glass of brandy before drinking it down in one gulp. "I am a man of science; I can understand your position and I am willing to respect that. You can freely leave this establishment. All I ask is for you to allow me to take a few measurements of miss Javelin. You have my word no harm will befall you or her. The information I have gathered today has already been a breakthrough in our understanding of the cubes, we will be more than capable of building off that."

I sighed; the last few days had made me think there was danger around every corner. He was right to an extent. "Fine, but make it quick. Just so you know her rigging isn't just for show, you try anything and she's able to bring this entire building down." I would make sure to punch him in the face first.

"You have my thanks, it will be nothing more than what we did earlier, just a few extra checks on her vitals, I will just go and grab a few instruments." With that he left.

"Javelin I meant what I said, if anything goes wrong use your rigging and get out of here don't worry about me." She nervously nodded.

"Do you trust him?" Hood asked looking up from a book she had found. I had almost forgotten she was in the room.

"Not at all. But he's right about the importance of this. I'm not ignorant to the suffering people have been though and how powerless we have been able to stop it. But with you girls we can finally learn how to fight back, knowledge is power after all; however, I will not allow it to come by treating you girls like test subjects." Hood nodded before continuing her book. I was surprised to see her so calm in this situation.

When Robert returned, he began to take measurements of Javelin, ensuring to ask both mine and her permission to do so. He was right in saying it was the same as what he had done with me earlier. I still stood nearby ready to act but his angry mood from earlier had been replaced by his inquisitive side.

"Right almost done now, just want to take your pulse and then you can be on your way. Would you mind tilting your head slightly." Javelin moved her head over. He moved some of her hair aside before placing two fingers on her pulse point.

By the time I realised what he was doing it was too late. He had hidden a syringe in his pocket. Seizing the moment, he quickly grabbed it and injected its contents into her neck.

"You bastard!" I immediately Kicked him away from her. "What the fuck did you do!" I felt my blood begin to boil. Only stopping myself from continuing to hit him as Javelin began to stumble from the drug's effects.

"James I… feel all woozy." She was trying her hardest to keep her balance. She lifted her hand to her head trying to concentrate. I saw the outline of her rigging begin to form before fading away. "My rigging… I can't." She stumbled again. I quickly picked her up, holding her close to me as I could.

She tried to say something, her words had become slurred. "It's ok Javelin, don't try to speak. I've got you."

Robert got himself up from the floor, holding his now broken nose. "I'm surprised she's still awake, there's enough in there to take down an elephant. Guess I was right about her metabolism."

"You can shut the fuck up. The only reason I'm not beating you into the floor right now is because of her!"

"Yes, I'm sure you would." He took a handkerchief from his pocket, wiping away the blood from his nose. "You seem to be one who acts on raw emotion rather than thinking. Now place the subject on the floor and I will uphold my word and allow you to freely leave this building, please don't make me ask again."

"I'm taking her with me, there's nothing you can do to stop me." Something in the back of my head was warning me, he was being too calm about this. I needed to leave quickly.

"Yeah, I thought you might say that. Security!" The door swung open as four men entered the room, each carrying a handgun. They lined up on each side of him before pointing their guns at me.

"Why the fuck is there armed security at a university?"

He stepped forward. I matched by taking a few backwards. "Look you've been through a lot these past few days, just hand her over and go continue your life. You fail to understand the significance of what you hold in your hands, she is the greatest scientific discovery this century if not since the invention of fire."

He cleared his throat. "I am willing to give you ten times the amount we originally paid for the cubes delivery. This is both my final offer and last warning, so I want you to think hard about this, for what you do now, the consequences will solely be yours."

My throat felt dry, my heartbeat was drumming in my ears. The walls seemed to close in around me, I just wanted to run as fast as I could away from here yet my legs were frozen in place.

Javelin moved in my arms, she looked at me with half open eyes. Trying her hardest to remain awake, she smiled at me.

I smiled back. looking into her eyes I felt my strength return. Taking a deep breath, I held her as tightly as I could without hurting her. Looking at the man standing in front of me I made sure my words came out calmly and clear as possible. "Javelin is my ship. Nobody is going to take her away from me, not you or anybody else. I would rather die than give her to you." I felt Javelins arms wrap round me.

Martin just rolled his eyes. "Well, I can't say I didn't try to be generous, you only have yourself to blame for this."

I brought Javelin as close to me as I could, the warmth of her body being the only comfort, I could find.

He went to give the order to either shoot or detain me, but was stopped by the sound of a throat being cleared. "Terribly sorry, it would have been a sin to let such good tea go to waste." Hood spoke putting the cup down and closing her book.

"Hood." Was all I was able to manage, a wave of relief came over me threatening to make my legs buckle. "I'd completely forgotten."

She stood up. "It's quite alright, to be seen but not heard is a skill a lady must have." Straightening out her dress she walked to stand in the middle of the room. "Ones true character comes out when their back is against the wall, and your actions have made me proud to be under your command."

"I'm sorry but what is this, I don't know who you think you are miss, but this doesn't concern you." Robert had grown inpatient.

Hood gave me a wink before turning to face him. "Terribly sorry but we weren't properly introduced." She brought a hand to her chest before swinging it down to her side. The room was filled with a blinding light as her rigging formed. I had to blink a few times to remove the afterimage. Every barrel levelled itself directly aimed at Robert. "I am HMS Hood, battlecruiser of the Royal Navy. I too was born from the cubes."

"What… I" Robert was lost for words, Hoods imposing rigging almost double his size was baring down on him. The men at his side taken aback by the spectacle.

"You have threatened my commander, Drugged miss Javelin, view my kin as nothing more than subjects to be studied. And yet it is you who speaks of consequence? You bring shame upon this country." She looked at me over her shoulder. "Your orders commander?"

"We're leaving." I looked over to the table. "And we're taking those cubes with us." The situation was still tense, but with hood at my side I felt a little better.

Robert finally found his words, unfortunately he had seemingly gone mad. "Enough of this nonsense! Both of you will be remaining here. Men, detain that woman, and deal with him." The guards gathered their confidence and began slowly moving towards her.

"Commander, things are about to get messy please gather the cubes for me. I will deal with these ruffians."

I went to ask what she meant only to see all four of her turrets point downward. Deafening explosions rang out as she fired, the room quickly begun to fill with smoke, with barely any visibility I used the soft blue glow of the cubes to find the table. Gunshots rang out followed by blue flashes.

Shoving the cubes in a pocket I looked around trying to find the door. The smoke was burning my lungs. A hand reached out and grabbed me on the collar, one of the guards went to attack me only for Hood to appear and throw him away with relative ease.

"We need to get out of here, help me get to the door."

She just smiled. "There will be no need for a door, follow me." One of the turrets on her rigging pointed towards the wall. A single barrel fired; the shell blew a large hole in the wall. "Quickly now." She spoke before moving to let me go first.

Even with the added Weight of Javelin, I ran faster than I ever had before in my life. The clear air of outside a welcome relief to my lungs, but I didn't stop. Running across the courtyard and down busy streets, only looking back once to ensure Hood was following. Her rigging disappearing as soon as we were out of sight of the university.

I only stopped running when my legs threatened to fail me. Exhausted I went down an alleyway before sitting down, I checked over Javelin while catching my breath. Hood looked as if she hadn't even broken a sweat.

Apart from looking half asleep there wasn't a scratch on her. I moved her against a wall and stood up. The adrenaline in my system had begun to wear off replaced by the reality of the situation.

"The fucking bastard." Was all I was able to get out. I was angrier than I had ever been in my life. I Paced back and forth trying to think what to do next. A grim realisation hit me. "Fuck, I gave him my name. The police will be on us soon. What gives him the right to think he can..."

I was cut off by Hood placing her hands on my shoulders. "Now isn't the time to lose yourself. Deep breath in, now hold… and out. Once more, and in" she repeated her instructions a few more times, I followed along finding myself calmer with every breath until eventually my heart rate slowed and went back to normal.

She corrected my collar. "There, it is always best to have a calm head when making decisions."

I was still angry but was able to think clearly. I checked on the cubes in my pocket, something in my head told me they were finally happy to be out of that place. "We need to get out of London. If we head east, we can reach the ocean quickly, then we're going straight north and retrieving the cube there before they can do anything to it." I went through my pockets trying to find the envelope I had been given. In the chaos I had forgotten to grab it "Dam, getting a train is going to be difficult."

Hood reached into her dress. "Would this be of any assistance?" She pulled out the brown envelope and handed it to me.

"When did you grab that?"

"I spotted it after putting a hole in the wall, I figured it would serve a better use being in our possession so I took it."

"What would I do without you." I looked inside, roughly counting the notes inside. If half of this was how much they had paid just to cross the Irish Sea it was no wonder the captain set off early. "Oh, captain you greedy old bugger." I laughed.

I took roughly a third out and handed it to Hood. "Here, if we get separated for any reason use this to keep yourself safe."

Javelin moved to stand up, the effects of the drug beginning to wear off. She kept a hand against the wall to balance herself. "See, everything is already starting to turn for the better." Her words were still slurred but definitely improving.

She went to step only to stumble, I quickly put my arm out to help her balance. "Careful now, you took something that would have put a normal human out for days."

"I'm fine, just a bit dizzy that's all. Guess we won't be seeing the sights anymore."

"I'm afraid not, we need to get out of here sharp. The police will be looking for us and they'll start blocking off all exits to the city."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Hood spoke. "Mr cutter will definitely try to track us down but I believe he will do so without involving the authorities. He will want to our existence as secret as possible"

"Makes sense, we should still get a move on though." From where we were it wouldn't take long to get a train, I looked up at the sun, despite everything that had happened it probably around noon. "We should be able to get out of the city quite quickly, it's only a quick walk down the river to the train station."

Javelin jumped at the mention of the river. "We can see the Thames?"

I gave her a pat on the head, happy to see her joyful mood back. "We can but not for long, who knows, being near water might help you feel better."

I offered her my hand; despite a few stumbles she was able to walk. When we re-joined the busy streets, I found myself constantly scanning the crowds. Hood leaned in. "Don't worry so much, if anything happens, I'm here." while her presence was reassuring, I couldn't help but feel nervous.

"Is that it? Wow it's so big." Javelin spoke as she ran ahead, we had just reached the river. "I could easily sail down there." She leaned against an old metal railing watching a boat make its way down the Thames.

"Careful, those bolts are more rust than anything and that water is very cold." We were on an old street that ran parallel to the river, it would take us longer to reach the station but it was less used than the main streets. "How are you feeling now?"

She gave the railing a shake watching as parts of it came loose. "Wow you're right. Yeah, I can tell being here is good. It may not be the ocean but it's definitely nice being around. I know it might cause a panic but are you sure we can't just use my ship to get out?"

"We could, but the sight of a destroyer suddenly making its way down would create too many problems. I know it sucks but the train is our best option." I turned my gaze to Hood. "How are you doing, is being near this making you feel better?"

She put her hand to her chin. "Yes, I believe so, while it may be too narrow for my ship to make its way down, the water has definitely got a soothing quality to it."

"Well, it's straight on from here so we can stay close for a while. Once we get to the station, I'll find us some lunch." We began to walk again.

"So how has rest of continent faired all this time?" Hood asked. We had been walking for a while, and Hood had been keeping a conversation going, she was curious as to how the world had changed in her absence. A familiar old bridge we were about to walk under told me it wouldn't be long until we reached the train.

I scratched the back of my head. "I haven't really looked into it for a while, from what I know every country is just keeping to themselves, most of them don't bother with naval trade so haven't been overly effected by the sirens."

She nodded. "That's good news. the armistice was signed only a few months before my launch, the arrival of the sirens being the only reason for ending the war. You mentioning that they haven't been active for a while made me worry it might of all kicked off again."

I stopped, confused at what she had said. "Wait. What do you mean, what war?"

Hood turned equally confused at my question. She went to speak only to be cut off by the sound of metal breaking followed by screaming, before even Hood or Javelin could react, I had started moving.

thank you for reading. I hope you look forward to the next chapter