The peacefulness of the island broke with the sound of a roaring explosion. The large window opening up the office to the ocean broke in a single sweep as the Belfast above him got thrown out of it, a powerful shell knocking her through it at a blistering speed.
The Commander in turn could only shield himself with his arms, getting hit by a wall of smoke that had been created from the other Belfast's guns. His ears rang and confusion took him whole, a situation he couldn't explain had entered another in the span of a second. No training had prepared him for this, no experiences either. However, those were the only things he could rely on at the moment, following exactly what they told him to do.
He dropped to the floor, shielding himself with what little remained of his desk, grabbing a small portable radio from one of his pockets. He had been lucky, barely a scratch on him from the shelling. But that didn't mean he had gotten away scot-free, coughing violently as he tried to call for help in it. Smoke had entered his lungs, making any message through it completely incomprehensible, failing to say even a single word.
Smoke covered the entire room, though it quickly dispersed. Escaping to the outside, following the wind of the blast that had created it in the first place. As it cleared, it revealed Belfast standing above him, gazing down with emotionless, void eyes.
Or they at least were, widening ever so slightly as he registered something wrapped around his leg. The whole situation had deteriorated quickly, too quickly for even an experienced person to get their bearing. Unknown factors freezing up the thought process, deriving one of the important seconds that one would consider vital.
It had also left him with a narrow vision, making it impossible to escape or prevent what would happen at that moment. The thing holding his leg pulled without a second's delay, forcefully dragging him out of the now broken window, leaving him falling freely towards the sea beyond.
He flayed wildly, trying to get some sort of controlled descent going. At the same time looking for whatever it was that had grabbed him in the first place. Positioning himself the best he could, he looked down at his ankle, a black tentacle holding on to it tightly. Following it he quickly found its source to a smaller figure further down. Gone was the Belfast who had been beside him before, replaced with a humanoid siren.
Before he knew it closed the distance between them to just a few inches, her face nearly touching his. The smug smile she wore did not escape him, managing to even draw his attention away from the quickly approaching surface of the ocean below. The only focus he needed, ridding himself of the massive disorientation he had previously found himself in. He quickly grabbed onto her right wrist with his left hand, unholstering his 1911 at the same time, aiming it straight at her.
Three shots resounded across the sea, none of them hitting their target. Another black tentacle had shot out and grappled the gun, forcing it to point straight up in the sky, the Commander's hand following it in an awkward, uncomfortable position.
As the collision with the ocean seemed inevitable was a lurch felt, followed by a quick deceleration of their fall, slowing them down to the point where they both floated right above the calm waves. The siren, Observer Alpha, was quick to strike up a conversation, knowing full well how little time they had alone.
"Hello again, Commander. I know it was quite the rude awakening up there, but should violence really be the prevailing answer? I thought you fought for a world free from it, not for the sake of it?"
Her amusement met the fiery determination in the Commander's eyes. The hand holding his pistol shaking from exertion as he tried to move it in vain. The siren only gave it a brief glance, not particularly interested or threatened by it.
"A world free from you, anything further is outside of my jurisdiction."
Her smile widened at his response, the thrill of it all bubbling underneath. She had no time to quip back, however. The sound of another explosion ringing out from above.
Belfast had jumped out of the window, barreling down at tremendous speed fueled by a backward blow against the cliff's wall. The rock where she had aimed her guns reduced to dust, a yellow cloud forming from it. She was flying directly towards them, completing the gigantic fall in barely two seconds.
Several of Observer Alpha's tentacles aimed up in response, joined by their sleek black cannons as the yellow light from their tips grew. Their visage like black spears ready to meet Belfast's advance. The Commander was moved behind the siren's main body, shielding him away from the crash that was about to occur.
With only a few meters left before Belfast made contact fired the siren her weaponry, yellow lasers piercing the air with destructive might. Belfast responded in turn with her own guns blazing, smoke and gunpowder once again filling the air around them.
What followed was a destructive meeting between the two parts. Power, more than anything, deciding its outcome. Lasers seared into Belfast's hair and clothes. The siren's aiming was sloppy, perhaps from the lack of time to aim. The cannons that were a threat were knocked aside by Belfast's own, shells digging into them and thrusting them aside. Forcing their lasers to go wide, missing their target by just a couple of inches.
Tentacles shot out in response, trying in vain to grapple her. Belfast using them as platforms and jumping pads in a desperate attempt to get behind the siren, to reach the Commander hidden there. Her secondaries worked overtime for that possibility, overworking them to the point of malfunction as their barrels glowed a fiery red. A price that at first seemed well spent, the siren's tentacles crumbling before her, opening up a path to him.
He was in the process of being wrapped up in a cocoon of tentacles, fighting it every step. But that stopped when he saw Belfast's advance, choosing instead to simply hold his hand out towards her.
She reached out in return, trying desperately to reach him in time before the siren could disrupt their reunion. But with her focus solely on the Commander, was the one on the siren lost. Making her unable to guard herself against the next strike, a black tentacle hitting her side, launching her away with great power. Striking her right as she had reached the Commander, their fingertips briefly touching in the storm of black powdered air.
Belfast's flying, though uncontrolled in the beginning, quickly regained balance as she fired her main armament. Using them as a counterweight to the spinning she experienced through the air, stopping it immediately. She soon landed feet first, withering away the last of her momentum with a controlled turn. The end result being a staredown between both parties, a fair distance now between them.
Belfast was the first to move out of the two, simply reaching up with one of her hands to extinguish a small ember embedded in her scorched hair, removing it with a pinch of her fingers. The shipgirl who always bore a dignified aura was now in a much more sorry state. She hadn't been injured, but the state of her clothes filled with soot didn't help her image, compared to her siren counterpart who seemed no worse for wear.
"Please give back the Commander peacefully. His day is already busy as is and this sidelining of the schedule would destroy it completely. I have no patience to deal with adulteresses who try to ruin that."
Alpha's smile never left her face, tentacles twitching slightly of excitement.
"I'm sorry, but if you want him back then force will have to be your means. I have no reason to partake in pleasantries that the Royal Navy wishes to spend their time on right now, even though it is my preferred method. That's why we chose to cooperate with Iron Blood instead, you know? Might makes right is such an easier mindset when getting what one wants, especially when you're dealing with simpletons who desire nothing but it."
Her cannons lowered, their light charging up once again as the siren's whole rigging grew massively from nothing, its form of a black kraken transforming ever more vile and unnatural than before.
An inviting arm stretched out from the siren, urging Belfast closer as its eyes of yellow light bore hidden ecstasy.
"Now then, Belfast. Take back your beloved Commander. Take him back using your own powers gifted to you by the wisdom cubes. Prove to me that humanity can be saved after all."
Her cannons fired, lighting up the ocean surface in yellow once again, beginning the fight anew. Belfast was immediately forced to be on the defensive against the siren's onslaught, unable to respond in turn with her own weaponry. The Commander, whilst protected behind the siren's enormous rigging, could still fall to harm. And If that harm came from a mistake she had done, a stray shell she had fired. Then she would never forgive herself, till the end of time. Her only option was to close the distance between them, a task more easily said than done.
What followed was a grueling battle of attrition for Belfast, every meter closer being met with a fierce resistance that never let up. She had gotten close a few times, though never enough to make a considerable difference. Nor enough to give her the edge she desperately needed. She wasn't as nimble as a destroyer, nor did she possess the firepower of a battleship. She felt lacking in strength, a strength that she now needed.
She wasn't powerless, however. In the moments where her evading would've faltered became her smokescreen a good substitute, escaping into its veil to hide from the siren's powerful attacks. And no cannon could compare to the flexibility her secondaries provided, their use in close combat becoming ever more evident the closer she came to her siren foe.
Belfast knew that this was a game of cat and mouse, noticing early that the island had disappeared over the horizon. She wasn't sure if this was because of the creation of a mirror sea, or if the distance they had traveled had truly been that great. What she did know, however. Was that reinforcements were more than unlikely. Which only meant that in the end, she needed to take on this challenge by herself.
The peacefulness of the island had broken with the sound of a roaring explosion, pausing every shipgirls' day with an icy shill. From the classrooms to the research facility, every dorm where nations resided, grew silent worry. A worry that turned into rage and panic as they discovered its source.
One particular shipgirl could be seen running down a hallway. Light blue hair swinging wildly as she panted heavily, out of breath. Turning a corner she met the one she was searching for. A certain white haired Carrier donning a navy cap, running with her sistership. Both on their way outside seeking the answer to the sound they had just heard.
"Enterprise!"
The shipgirl shouted the best she could. The lack of air from running diminishing its power. It was more than enough to reach its target however, Enterprise quickly stopping to look towards her caller.
"Helena? What's going on? Any report about the Commander?"
She took a moment to gather her breath and with a heavy heart began to speak.
"My SG picked up a siren presence in the Commander's personal office. I… I fear they have taken him."
A thick fog laid over the ocean, miles long in all directions. Protecting a small center that now barred the scars of war. No longer was the chase ongoing, a brutal close-quarters fight taking its place.
Belfast had fared quite well, great actually, to the Commander's surprise. He never doubted anyone under his command. However, the moves that Belfast performed were way above what she was usually capable of. In fact, he had never seen a shipgirl fight the way she did at the moment. The way she carried herself, still gracious in the face of superior firepower and danger. It truly was something amazing to see.
The battle had developed into one at close range, their larger weaponry becoming more of a burden than a blessing. Their weight and bulkiness limiting the actions that would otherwise be easy for the two girls to make, at mercy from the inertia they created. Belfast was the one least affected by it, her armaments far smaller than Observers, still able to utilize them on a level considered satisfactory. Observer had most likely come to the same conclusion, barely using her cannons at all. Her rigging's tentacles doing most of the work against the shipgirl.
One couldn't describe their actions as merely striking, their use more akin to a fully blown slamming. All their strength and weight consolidated into powerful blows that even made the wind shudder, let alone the massive waves that were created when one struck the ocean surface.
Belfast did not have the power to take them head on. Needing to choose between either dodging them completely or redirecting their path, her main armaments used shields when absolutely necessary. The riveted steel held strong against the heavy slams of the black tentacles, though they never left unscathed.
His own actions were also extremely limited, unable to do anything substantial. His voice could not be heard over the sounds of the unfolding battle, making any orders or strategies he devised useless. Raw physical power wasn't anything else he could rely on, his own being nowhere close to challenging the siren's. His weapon, swept away by the waves a long time ago, was unable to help him in this moment of desperation. Though if he was truthful to himself, questioned how useful it would actually be.
This didn't mean that he was completely powerless, however. It wouldn't be the first time he had made the most out of a dire situation, hopefully not his last either. For whatever reason, seemed both Belfast and Observer to be on equal footing, perhaps slightly in favor of Observer. Most combat experiences had been towards mass produced class ships. Whilst encounters with the both named Tester and Purifier, as well as other humanoid sirens, were a lot rarer, and harder.
Observer herself had yet to be recorded in joining the fray, content to only watch from afar. Hence, her name. Was it that she was not suited for combat, or were there other factors at play? Either way, would Belfast only need a slight push in her direction to turn the tables against the siren, perhaps only a seconds worth of time. Something he could most certainly create if he played his cards right.
The tentacle grip holding him in place was neither strangling nor uncomfortable. In fact, he would say it was rather loose compared to what he thought it would be. This didn't mean he had free movement to do what he wanted. But enough to at least wiggle himself to a more favorable position. Something he had begun several minutes before and which now bore fruit, his right arm managing to break free.
Searching his chest he soon found his target; a golden medal shaped like a star. Pulling it out he held it in his hand, taking a deep breath as he prepared himself mentally for what he was about to do. Only a single thought ran through his head, hope the most prevalent in it.
"Well… I'll either go out like a hero or an idiot."
Things had been going well, exceeding the preset goals within the open combat test. The wisdom cube had developed quickly within the new parameters set up in this timeline. Early results indicate that the risk of mass timeline corruption had been worth it. Not that she cared about it, but it would serve as good lip service in the future.
In this test alone was the need to reevaluate and change the limiters to stay on even footing needed several times. The emotional distraught the Cube felt was surely forcing its evolution, the affinity between it and the Key creating the purest form of metamorphosis.
Its movements were more refined, reaction times becoming ever faster as the guns it carried fired with a ferocity never seen before. This Wisdom Cube was a great example of how the changes made in this timeline had affected their development. They still had a long way to grow, but with the pace they were evolving at made that seem almost irrelevant.
Alpha smiled as the shipgirl dodged another one of her tentacles, ducking under it as she used one of her main gunnery placement to divert it beyond. The other fired upwards, cutting it off completely as it fell lifelessly towards the sea.
The siren was now open to attack, or at least she seemed to be. A ruse to drag the shipgirl closer for another set of tests to be performed. Time was of no constraint and the Cube showed no signs of extreme exhaustion either, making the decision to continue gathering as much data as possible quite easy to make. However, as she prepared to meet the shipgirl head on once again, filled her vision with… Red?
Zero seconds had passed. Confusion took the place of the previous prideful satisfaction she had felt, uncalculated anomalies destroying it completely. She heightened her neural processes, effectively slowing down time to a crawl. Her eyes had become useless, at least for the moment. Switching from the normal visual light that humans possessed to x-ray vision, overlaying it with thermal and heat, regaining her vision almost immediately. She also made use of the hundreds of eyes her rigging possessed, scanning the area around them.
Nearly half a second had passed. She could feel it slowly running down her face, spots of it staining every inch of her features. Lightly licking her lips, the answer of its origin quickly became apparent. Her stained eyes widened. It was blood, more specifically; the Commander's.
How could this be? She was sure to hold him lightly, making sure no harm came his way. Looking over she saw him, his still defiant eyes on his whitening face meeting her blood covered own. Between his clenched lips rested a star medal flecked with blood. His right arm dangling to his side, a deep wound running along its length, blood running freely from it. Her heightened brain functions made it seem so slow, its flow more like thick magma than blood itself. However, she knew that its damage was substantial, and given enough time, fatal as well.
One second had passed. It felt like the world disappeared around them, replaced with nothing but worry and desperation. He had done it again, acting like a fool trying to play the hero. A single memory flashed by her, bringing nothing but nausea. How was it that he always repeated the same mistake? Like a broken clock, never going beyond where it first had stopped.
One and a half second had passed. She began to move in closer to the Commander, trying to inspect his wound. There wasn't a large distance between them, his place in her rigging making it possible to close their distance in barely a second. She needed to administer basic aid fast. He couldn't die, it would ruin everything, perhaps separating them forever. A time much more realistic to her, than any human.
2 seconds had passed. She had nearly reached him, she was so close. But a powerful shell struck her, knocking her flying away, shredding several tentacles, her kraken rigging taking severe damage. Early damage assessment gave conflicting information. The shell, though destructive as a battleship, was one of a smaller caliber. Had the rest of the Wisdom Cubes already managed to traverse her mirror sea? Impossible. Either way was her current equipment only meant for light cruiser engagement, specifically chosen for today's tests. Any combat situation against other ship classes would be extremely detrimental.
But again, the only one here was Belfast, now holding the Commander in her arms. Was she the culprit all along? Everything indicated it. This complicated things and… she would need time to process it. Her original road map had been destroyed by a single shell. Could this be a product of the Key being in mortal danger? Extreme emotions coupled with their strong bond was the theorized source of their power, it was the pillar stone of this entire experiment to begin with. However, that it would develop this fast and to such a degree was unthinkable.
She couldn't help but chuckle, a heavy blush evident on her face. The pleasure of advancing one step further becoming too much for the small siren, drowning out even the worry she had felt before, leaving only acceptance.
Perhaps this was for the best? She wouldn't be the one to save him, but she never was. She would at least make sure that he would survive, rearranging things little by little behind the scenes.
Sinking into the water below, she hugged herself. Thinking about the future that she so desired coming closer, getting lost in the fantasies she produced.
"This truly is too perfect, isn't it?"
With these quiet words to herself, she relinquished her hold of the mirror sea and disappeared down into the depth of the sea, leaving the Commander and Belfast alone, victorious.
Belfast was quick to apply a makeshift tourniquet from the Commander's clothes, her own too damaged and dirty to be of any use. She had let her rigging go, summoning her own ship in its original form. The both of them resting on top of its wooden deck.
"You should be glad that this treatment appears satisfactory for now. If it hadn't, then I would've had to cauterize it. And the only thing 'suitable' for that are my nearly melted gun barrels."
The Commander let his head rest backwards, staring up into the sky. Mental and physical exhaustion settling in as the adrenaline and blood slowly left his system, leaving only the tired husk of a human behind.
"Please don't. Screaming my lungs out is the last thing I need to do at this moment. Just get us back to the island so a real doctor can look at me… And you for that matter. How are you feeling, you're not hurt are you?"
She shook her head lightly in response, busy trying to make radio contact with the rest of the fleet as the mirror sea disappeared. The Commander glanced towards the shipgirl but didn't comment further. He found it hard to meet her gaze for some reason. The intensity of it, never letting go, on him at all times. He didn't know if it was a byproduct of his blood loss, but he swore he could feel chills every time their eyes met.
As she finished delivering their coordinates and course, she looked down upon him, inspecting his arm once more.
"Why did you decide to do something so foolish, Master? I can't save someone who decides to sacrifice themselves."
The Commander smiled at her question. A weak one, barely having the power to even do that. His whitened skin pronouncing his tired eyes and their bags even more.
"What else could I have done? We humans can't fight sirens like you can, Belfast… We can claw, scratch and bite, hoping that an opportunity to come victorious presents itself. But the truth remains, we can't beat them by the power we possess alone. There are only two ways to defeat an enemy stronger than yourself, do you know what those are?"
The Commander stayed silent for a few seconds, waiting for an answer that never came. He thought it was because she didn't know the answer. The truth however, was that she despised it. Thinking it as only a destructive belief that he had decided to be the truth, one that this battle had sadly proven right.
"The first is to outsmart it. The second, to sacrifice something. I could only do the latter today… I'm sorry if I made you worry unnecessarily."
Belfast stared down at the Commander, her glare hiding hidden fury within.
"I have every reason to worry, Master… Now more than ever."
The pair fell into silence as they waited, the Commander happily taking the opportunity to rest as much as he could. A rest that didn't last too long as the sound of the new f4u graced their ears, two quickly flying overhead.
With some help from Belfast, rose the Commander up to gaze out over the horizon. Belfast nudged him gently to garner his attention, summoning a pair of binoculars with a shining blue light in the palm of her hand. She had found the incoming shipgirls a lot quicker with the help of her onboard radar, its advantage over the Commander's bare eyes more than apparent.
With a pointed finger as guide gazed the Commander through them to the northeast, where the forms of ships had begun taking shape. Their numbers were staggering, taking up the entire horizon. He lowered his binoculars, not believing his eyes, asking an open question, more to himself than anyone else.
"This seems a bit overboard, doesn't it?"
A question Belfast answered, clinging to him just a bit tighter.
"For you, my Master? No."
Author's notes:
Chapter four released!
This one was quite the challenge to write, though it's also the one I'm most proud of at the moment. The editing basically transformed into a major rewrite after a couple of days. Combined with the difficulty I had writing the upcoming chapter six made this take just a bit longer than the previous ones, sorry about that!
This was the first time I had ever written combat. I dipped my toes in it in chapter one, but this time I really dove headfirst! Hopefully you can all see the picture I wanted to paint in your imagination, seeing what I saw when I was writing.
The next chapter will probably take around as long as this one, the seventh being much of the same as the sixth. I've realized that I have major problems writing one scene for an extended period of time, which both the sixth is, and the seventh will be.
I struggle to not repeat phrases or descriptions at the moment, feeling like there's just so much to write about before it becomes dull. But don't worry, I'll never release something I'm not personally happy with. Quality first!
With that, I want to thank everyone for reading and I wish you all a continued good day!
-Ben