Azur Heroes

Chapter 6

I know this is a lot sooner than my usual turn around for story chapters. But I didn't just want to leave this one be. Especially after introducing the new characters. I also wanted to set up the ways to retake the west coast as it is. So on with the show.

(No POV)

"I hope this plan works commander Apgar." Star says while waiting in Botwa base. Apgar hums a bit before defending the plan he and John had put together. "I'm willing to believe some of what he said. If what some of the shipgirls said was true, that the Sirens are just out to test humanity…. Well then the best ones to test in this version of humanity would be the heroes." Star looks down before nodding, noting that it would be a way tell if humans are really capable.

Apgar then goes on to mention that she had gone off on small hunches herself to save lives. Star just chuckles a bit before saying, "true. I guess I'm just….. worried. Before I was sure my power, let alone the backup I had from my brothers in arms, would be enough to fight against most threats. But now, after facing off with this alien enemy and failing to stop the destruction and death. I….. I don't want anyone else to go through what John went through."

"You don't have to worry about me that much Bates. Or the rest of us refugees. Your buddies did get most of them away. Hopefully this gives us a chance to really fight back against these guys." Kotov says on a separate link. He was currently with the rest of the refugees, who were being shipped further inland away from the San Diego Naval Base. Though he was still kept in the loop thanks to the mobile command center he was stationed in.

Star starts pacing after waiting for over an hour and is about ready to head off for the city when she hears an explosion. "Don't do it! Its bait. You'll just end up like… like Cow Lady. I saw some of it after they collapsed a building on me and my family." John says firmly, then with a bit of remorse.

He thinks back on the fact that his family and others had been in a department store when the Sirens attacked. He was back a little way and wasn't in the main blast radius. Unlike the rest of his family. He saw what remained of his parents and siblings after the attack. As well as the cold look of the horned girl with white hair. And a large metal shark like construct behind her.

Right as he was sure he was done, Cow Lady had appeared and stopped the Siren. Even helping John to get away after he had gotten the rubble off of his crushed leg. But the Siren wasn't alone, and the aging heroine ended up losing her life while trying to save his. She succeeded in getting him to safety, but John can't forget the sight of the gaping hole where the woman's stomach and intestines used to be.

With a sigh John continues with, "whoever is leading these Sirens here wants to lure heroes away. They want to draw them into impossible situations. At least that's my take on it." Star's eyes widen again as she remembers that Cow Lady was another hero who had tried to save her family back when All Might did the same. And now that woman was dead from these invaders. "Okay. I'll trust you. And your girls." Star says while waiting at the refugee area.

It doesn't take long before the Sirens appear at Botwa base. And right above the refugee area. Just as John and Apgar anticipated. "Well now. It seems that there is one hero with either a brain or a lot of restraint. I thought for sure any hero left would go right for the explosion we set off. And right into the pack I had waiting for them," the High Rank Siren Omitter says with a mocking tone. This incises Star even more and she is about ready to engage.

But Apgar tells her to stop for a moment. "Types like her love to boast. See if you can get her to tell more of what they are after." Apgar says to Star. While it isn't in her usual repertoire, Star does just that while subtly giving herself a New Order in case things go south. "Okay this may sound odd, but I'm really curious. What do you all even hope to accomplish with all of this? Why are going to such lengths to test what we heroes can do?" Star asks while crossing her arms and glaring up at Omitter.

The Siren snorts before saying, "I suppose it won't matter if I did tell you. Plus, I was impressed at the fact that you managed to defeat some of my clones by yourself. Let's just say the Empress is interested to see if this version of humanity will fair any better than other versions. There have been those who have defeated us. And others who have fallen. But with this world's obsession with those silly worthless and insignificant mutations, she wanted to test just how far your reliance on something so stupid and so unneeded would take you. Early predictions put it at you all lasting about….. well, a year before you were eliminated." Upon hearing that, Star and all the others listening are shocked. Not just at the predictions, but the way they referred to quirks as worthless or unneeded.

This is further exacerbated when Omitter tells that worlds without quirks had fallen much later compared to theirs. "I think one where there were no powers of any kind….. they did fall. But it took over a decade. Comparatively, these quirks make you all far weaker than any other world. Even those where some powers do exist." Omitter says with a cruel smirk. Star tightens her fist and then puts all her strength into leaping up and punching Omitter in the face.

But the Siren's barrier stops the hit, and she as well as her forces take aim at Star. They unleash their beams upon the hero, but she manages to catch them in time. "I had a feeling you'd be using lasers. So, I made sure to be ready!" Star shouts before making a new order to reform the caught beams into a spear. Which she uses to take out a clone, but she misses the second.

And then promptly gets shot from behind by the cannons on Omitter's rigging. "Not bad hero." Omitter says before tail smacking Star through a wall with her shark rig. She then orders her copies to start attacking the camp. She floats toward Star again and mocking what she and the rest of the heroes stood for. Star interrupts her though by saying, "don't think it'll be that easy. We heroes, even weak ones like you say our quirks make us, can still inspire others. As well as giving them a bit of hope to try something new."

As she finishes saying this, from the sky a squad of Helldiver bombers dive down and attack the clones gathered. Quickly destroying five in the first pass. Then the Wildcat fighters come in next and clear out the few Siren fighters overhead, and fire some rockets into the crowd of Siren clones.

This shocks Omitter, who then gets sucker punched by Star before being blasted by Northampton and Cleveland. "We got your back Kate!" Cleveland says with a confident smirk. Star smiles back before giving Cleveland a thumbs up. "Hey wait. Where's Laffey? Is she sleeping?!" Star asks before catching another laser to throw back at the Sirens. Both Northampton and Cleveland give nervous laughs before a Siren clone comes flying at them. With a caved in head.

Star's eyes are wide and when she turns back toward the camp, she sees Laffey going to town on the clones. She leaps up at one point, using he cannon to propel herself upward before kicking one clone across the face. She then takes two torpedoes out of her rig and chucks them precisely into the cannons two clones were about to fire. The resulting explosion leaves nothing of the clones, and Laffey isn't done.

The little destroyer uses her spotlight to blind another clone close to the ground before getting up close and kneeing the clone in the stomach. And while it is bent over, Laffey takes aim with her turret and fires at the Siren's face. Which just leaves a headless Siren. Laffey then runs to the water dodging shots and beams from the Sirens. While still having a sleepy look on her face. She fires off a few torpedoes at the Sirens in the bay, while also shooting up into the air to knock down any Siren planes or clones.

When a few more get close to the water, Laffey takes out two more torpedoes and rushes toward the clones. She nimbly dodges their beams before getting close and kneeing one in the face. And then she uses her torpedoes as makeshift bats and bashes around two more clones before turning her turret to engage one more. And then firing off her remaining three torpedoes in her launcher. The long-range fire takes out two clones and a full-sized ship, before she kicks and bashes the first three engaged a few more times. She then shoves one torpedo into a dazed siren's mouth, and the other torpedo up another one's…. well it's somewhere you wouldn't want it to be. And the third she gets behind and snaps it's neck.

Star's jaw is on the ground as well as feeling a bit inadequate. "Where the Hell did that come from?!" "Well, it has to do with her history. She was a fighting ship to her end after all. Even against opponents that she should have been outmatched by." Northampton says before getting up close herself and engaging as many of the clones as she could. She uses her right-hand cannon as a bit of a shield before kicking one Siren across the face. And the blasting it with all of her cannons.

Cleveland meanwhile takes a bit more of an acrobatic approach to the fight and does a spinning flip into the air before shooting at different angles to strike the Sirens on the ground. While also using a special barrage to clear the air for more of Yorktown's fighters and bombers to hit the ships and Sirens gathered. When she gets up close though, she takes more of a boxer's stance and bullet punches a few in the face. It stuns the gathered Sirens enough to let Cleveland lay into them with her guns again.

Star shakes off the shock of the way the shipgirls were fighting and does her best to keep up with them. Even jumping on top of some of the flying Sirens and aircraft to attack or throw them into each other. While the few other soldiers who were in the surrounding region also engaged the Siren ships with whatever ordnance they had. Apgar and John have just been watching the whole matter with a mix of intrigue and excitement. Apgar is happy that Star and the shipgirls appear to be winning. While John is impressed by the way some of them fight. Especially Laffey. "Didn't think that sleepy little bunny had that in her." John says with a chuckle.

As he's watching though, he has a bad feeling growing in the back of his mind. He then asks the driver of the mobile command center to take him to just inside of the city of San Diego. While the soldiers are confused, they go along with it since they were told to follow John's orders. 'I hope I'm just being paranoid.' John thinks to himself as they head into the town.

Yorktown meanwhile had been waiting closer to Los Angeles when the Sirens first arrived. She launched her first wave of fighters and bombers after the explosion Star had been tempted to investigate, under John's orders. It took her about half an hour to reach the main battlefield. And the shipgirls as well as the soldiers and Star were starting to feel exhausted. But now that she was much closer, she could use something special to help her comrades.

"Now then. I think it's time for some vengeance." Yorktown says with a smile. She sneaks up behind a few clones, and quickly sucker punches and kicks the two down to the water. She then launches a wave of bombers at the two below her before jumping onto one of the aircraft she had launched earlier. She then rides the plane into the main battlefield, before launching more planes to engage the enemies. When Star and Cleveland had been knocked back again by the original Omitter, Yorktown came out of nowhere and kamikazed the plane she was riding on into the Siren.

Once Omitter was reeling from the hit, Yorktown spun around and back kicked the Siren across the face. Before drop kicking the top of her head. Right into Star, who unleashes the strongest punch she can again. But unlike before where the Siren's barrier stopped her, Star connected cleanly to Omitter's face. Seemingly breaking the Siren's nose.

"DAMNIT! I wasn't expecting this! You shipgirls weren't supposed to be here!" Omitter says while wiping the blood from her face. Meanwhile, Laffey, Northampton, and the sailors and soldiers manage to clean up the rest of the clones and ships Omitter had gathered. The high ranked Siren looks around in panic and annoyance at her plans being derailed. Let alone the fact that there were no civilians at the base at all.

Her rigging picks her up again as she looks over all the gathered enemies in one place. She grits her teeth before saying, "I was only going to use this if some heroes showed up there. But I can still leave some lasting damage!" Omitter then shows a detonate command with her rigging and then presses the holographic button. Right as it does a countdown of about five seconds is shown.

A wicked smile grows on Omitter's face as the countdown goes down. All of the human side's eyes are wide with worry now, as they have no idea where the possible bomb the Omitter placed was. But just as the countdown reaches zero, the explosion doesn't happen in the city. Instead, a large explosion that would have taken out at least 5 city blocks is seen out at sea.

"Okay. Glad I went with a large boost before doing that." John says while laying on the sidewalk in the city. When his group reached the city, he told the men to check for abnormal frequencies. "Anything that could be receiving or transmitting a signal." John orders before asking for a crutch. When sensors pick up something odd, John tells the men to head for the source. When they arrived, they found the initial blast site. As well as a large device sitting in the crater.

One of the soldiers commented, "if that isn't a bomb, I'll pay out $1,000 to the next guy who walks into the barracks." While most of his comrades and John give him a flat look, they do agree with the man. They think about calling in the bomb squad to disarm the weapon as they get a closer look at the device. But as they are inspecting it, the device suddenly lights up. Sensing trouble, John orders the men to get away. He then leaps forward, grabbing the device and activating his quirk: maximize.

'I'll have to go 100 times most likely!' John thinks to himself while he balances on his one leg before spinning and chucking the bomb out to the ocean. He of course falls down afterwards, but he succeeded in stopping the destruction of part of San Diego. "What the Hell man? What the heck kind of quirk do you have? How come you're not a hero?" a few of the soldiers asks as they help John get up again.

Once he has his crutch back and is walking back to the mobile command center he answers a few of the questions. "My quirk is….. well I just call it maximize. I can amp my strength and physical abilities to certain levels. What I did there was max my strength 100 times what it naturally is. I can probably go higher but I've never really tried. Didn't want to. And yes it does affect my durability, but I didn't think I'd need it active when I got crushed under the rubble." John explains first. He then goes on to tell them that he never wanted to be a hero or anything like that. He just enjoyed his life on the farm back home. He'd be up for adventures for a period of time. "But I don't like the idea of having to fight idiots who think their quirks mean that they can do whatever they want. Or that they have to make some flashy spectacle that other idiots can be the audience for."

When John explains that measure to his thinking, a few of the soldiers do see his point. Especially at the fact that he'd be having to fight various idiots every single day most likely. "I think I get what you mean man. Plus, you don't seem to enjoy the city life that much. You're just a….. well you're a good old boy from the farm. I'm not to dissimilar, since I'm from a farm in Nebraska. Name's Chester or Chet," the now named Chet says to John before holding out his hand to shake. John takes it with a bit of a smile. He then tells the men to head back to base.

Upon seeing her bomb threat thwarted, Omitter is even more livid. But now she has more issues with the fact that all of her enemies are still nearby and now she has no distraction to pull their attention. "Well now. What do you think Yorktown? Should we let Star and the soldiers finish this one? Or do we turn her over to Laffey?" Cleveland says with a smirk. Laffey meanwhile had been napping slightly while standing. But upon hearing Cleveland mention her, she wakes up with a little yawn. And then pulls out two of her torpedoes and swings them around like bats.

"Well, I have to say that was more impressive that I thought it would be. Especially that wildcard in the city. Seems we'll have to reevaluate some of our plans," is heard above the base. Once again, Tester appears to help her failed sister. Upon seeing her, the Shipgirls quickly fire on her with the soldiers following suit. But her barrier protects her for the most part, and she fires back with a beam barrage. Star catches the few shot her way and sends them back at the Siren, but it distracts the rest to give Omitter more time to recover.

The beaten Siren then flips off the whole group before disappearing into the portal. While Tester titters at her colleague's attitude. "Oh, before I go. Consider this a special reward for that broken hero. Or whatever he calls himself. He was more interesting than I believed." Tester says before summoning a pair of wisdom cube in her hands. She then drops them before warping away. With that done, the battle with the Sirens in the US comes out with a standing victory.

When John and his crew make it back to base, they are greeted with celebrating and cheers. With his fleet of girls happily reporting the defeat of the Siren invasion. But the cheers start anew when Chet and a few of the others reveal that John had been the one who chucked the bomb out into the ocean. While most of the soldiers and Star are amazed at what John had done, his fleet quickly comes up and checks him over. With Yorktown hugging him tightly. "That was reckless! What if you didn't have a power to stop it? What if you didn't find it and it went off with you in the blast radius? What if…" "I know. But I did have something to do about it. And if I didn't do it, they would have made it seem like our victory had a price to pay. I didn't feel like letting them have that." John says with a slightly confident look in his eyes. One that makes Yorktown blush.

Upon seeing this, some of the soldiers are quick to wolf whistle at the interactions of the two. But the cough of Commander Apgar brings back the attention to the battle. "Well done all of you. We've managed to win a major victory this day. Thanks to all of our soldiers here, Star and Stripes, and of course the shipgirls Yorktown, Laffey, Cleveland, and Northampton. Let alone the summoning, command, and apparently power of Commander John Kotov." Apgar says, and the soldiers cheer again. He does bring it down a bit to say that they still have work to do. And more battles ahead.

With that, the soldiers head back to clean up after the battle. While Northampton and Laffey go out to collect shards to help build a new set of cubes. Though Apgar isn't sure about trusting the cubes that Tester dropped. "I don't think we have to worry about as much as we may think. You said Omitter called her Tester, right? My guess: she's just wanting to see what kind of havoc she can build up for later battles, including giving her enemies a leg up." John says with a grimace.

Star nods before noting that Tester seemed intrigued by her when she caught the beams and threw them back. "So, she most likely gets a kick out of watching battles unfold." Star says with a grimace of her own. Apgar just sighs because he know John will probably use the cubes no matter what he says. When Northampton and Laffey return, they have enough shards to make three more cubes. "Now it's just up to your luck commander." Northampton says with a nod.

John returns the gesture and takes up a cube. Yorktown though stops him to mention the pattern for ship types. "You might want to try for a heavier ship. No offense Northampton, but we could use some battleship muscle." Yorktown says and two agree. Not Laffey though, she's sleeping off to the side. John just hums before taking a second cube and gripping them tight.

The light flashes from the cubes and when they fuse together into a new ship, the girl is quite a bit different from the ones summoned before. What stands out first are the three large triple barreled turrets beside and behind the girl. She is tall with a dark tan, silver white hair, and red eyes once again. Under her eyes though are pair of black lines, akin to warpaint or eyeblack for athletes. She is wearing a black bikini top, with a white tube top that has the letters 'ALBM' on it. Around her hips are tight black shorts, while her stomach has more of the black lines on it. On her legs, she is wearing tight black stockings with tennis shoes under that. Around her shoulders is a white, black, and teal jacket that appears very tattered from various battles. And in her hands is a massive weapon that looks akin to a reaper's scythe.

When she speaks up, she is very calm compared to what John was expecting. 'Given her sporty appearance, let alone being a battleship, I thought I'd be dealing with another Cleveland.' John thinks while the girl introduces herself. "I'm Alabama, fourth ship of the South Dakota-class, also known as Lucky A." Alabama says with a monotone expression. Most of the humans gathered are a bit intimidated by the girl though. Especially after getting a good look at the scythe, she was carrying. John though just nods before welcoming the girl.

"Okay this time I'm going for a little more airpower. We were known for that back in the day after all." John says while taking two cubes again. He concentrates again and when the cubes are done with the light show, Northampton and Yorktown are shocked at who was summoned.

The girl this time had blonde hair tied up in two pig tails. Atop her head was a black and yellow cowboy hat. Draped from her shoulders is a large black coat with yellow lines, while her breasts are covered by a black bikini top. For pants she has tight black jean shorts, and she has black knee length boots on her feet. She has a confident smile and mischievous light in her green eyes. Just like Yorktown, she has a runway on her right side. But unlike what had seemed like standard aircraft on Yorktown's rig, she had huge B-52 bombers on the runway.

"Yo! I'm Hornet! Ah... I don't want to impose, but don't call me Big Wasp and we'll be fine~ My sisters are both legendary, but just wait and see what I can do!" Hornet says with a big smile. And then suddenly both Northampton and Yorktown jump on her with big hugs. John and Star both chuckle, with Star especially happy. "Kinda reminds me of my sister." Star says. Cleveland pats Star on the back saying she knows it well to. "I'm a big sister as well. So I know what it means to care for and worry about your younger siblings," the lead ship of the Cleveland class says.

"Well maybe I'll summon one of your sisters this next time. Cause I've only got one cube left." John says while grabbing the last cube. The ship that comes out though is not a Cleveland class. The ship that appears is a red head with blue teal eyes. She's a bit shorter than Cleveland and is wearing a black shirt under a white and red shirt and blue skirt for clothing. On her legs are black garter belt stockings and loafers for her shoes. Her rigging meanwhile is much smaller compared to the last two but seems to be gunslinger focused. Both sides have three twin barreled turrets, and they seem to be controlled from pistol like protrusions from the gear.

Her general attitude just seems extra happy and is expressed with, "Hello~! I'm San Diego, the cruiser who earned the most stars in World War 2! Hehe, that's it for my introduction! I'm just too good!" San Diego says with a little wink. "Well that seems very convenient. We just saved San Diego, and now we have…. The spirt of San Diego in both ship and maybe city form." Star says with a little laugh. Apgar though sees all of this as a very good omen going forward.

"Commander Kotov. We'll get you set up with more of a proper commission with the military. As well as getting you a new leg." Apgar tells John before saluting the man. Star's buddies from her unit then catch up and say that they'll be celebrating tonight. "And all the girls are invited to! Though maybe we shouldn't have ones like Laffey…" Right as one of the guys is saying that, Laffey swipes the bottle he had behind himself and downs the whole thing. "Not bad. Could go for something stronger." Laffey says with another yawn. This just gets everyone laughing and ready to celebrate the first big victory for the US in the Siren War.

Hope you guys like this new set up. Also, to the guest and the others who like this story, please give some of my other stories a read. Especially Justice Across Space and Time. I've been working on that one and Heroes to Hunters for a very long time. That aside, anybody have a suggestion for a secondary fleet on the west coast. I've been thinking on adding Bataan as one of the ships, as well as maybe the combo of Washington and South Dakota. Though if anyone has some other suggestions, I'll look them over and maybe add them to the fleets. Please review!