The dark tunnels underneath the royal castle echoed the footfalls of those who ran journeyed through its veins. The heavy strides of the intruders bounced off the hardened dirt as the distance between them and their target was closing fast. At the same time, Sheffield and Gabriel were following their trail at a much slower pace. If their guests had left any traps to cover them, it would be wise to run headlong into them.

"What is the Royal Navy holding in these tunnels that could be important?" Gabriel could feel how stale the air was down here, being unventilated for god knows how long. The fact that these tunnels were not public knowledge meant something was hidden down here.

Sheffield's answer would be honest and blunt like her attitude. "Priceless artifacts and dangerous secrets. If we are assuming Ash's former friends are here for something, it must be the Mental Cube."

Gabriel cast a side glance at the made, shocked that such weapons of the Sirens still were around. "I thought they were all destroyed during the war."

"They were on paper. Parliament voted to hold onto one for emergencies if the Sirens ever return but we put it far away. Only myself, Belfast, Her Majesty, and the Royal Knights know of these places besides members of Parliament." The maid stopped at a t-junction before quickly taking the leftmost path. Their flashlights illuminated the footprints of those who came before them only minutes ago."

"That should have been something Azur Lane was told about. We all know what kind of power those cubes hold and how corruptive they are." The Admiral was quick to remind Sheffield as the dials on his weapon began to glow brightly this time around. All eight symbols of the factions were reacting to the presence of the said Siren item.

"That was out of our control, Master. While Her Majesty has political sway, Parliament is the true government during peacetime. With war halted, they naturally assumed their mantle and overruled our desire to destroy the forsaken item."

"Politics…It's always politics." Gabriel seethed at the unfathomable reasoning Parliament had to hold a risky device. As the two continue onward, their lights find the disabled lasers with the smell of burnt metal filling the air.

Sheffield kneeled down to inspect the emitters with her flashlight guiding her eye for evidence. "These security measures were just added recently and yet, they failed to stop or even hinder our adversaries. Master, should it come to blows, stay behind me."

Gabriel gave a short nod. "Right, you can take bullets with little to no damage even if they shot your body. I wouldn't say the same for your clothes."

His words earned him a quick slap and a steely cold glare from the maid. "Keep your mind on the situation, Master."


Being ahead of the two pursuers, Wraith and his partner now arrived at the end of the tunnel. A wooden door hardly posed a threat but the reward on the other end was somewhat astonishing. Unlike the tunnels before them, the room looked recently renovated with modern equipment powered by mobile generators. In the center of the room stood the Mental Cube surrounded in an energy field produced by several pylons at the corners of the room.

"Standard security from where we come from. Should only take a second to crack through it, boss." The partner stated, looking over to the pylons to see what commanded them to produce the field.

However, Wraith had other plans. "Nightingale, stay outside and keep anyone away. No explosives and only shoot to incapacitate."

Nightingale looked back at her leader, head cocked to the side in confusion. Surely it would be faster if the two of them worked on this together. Not like she didn't want some form of action anyway. "Alright, but if they get into melee range, I might break a bone or two."

When the female soldier left the room to monitor the tunnels, Wraith turned to the pylons. All were connected by generators so theoretically, turning off the generators would be an easy out. That is, unless there was some form of failsafe. "Spi, run a quick scan of my position. Any traps I need to know of for our package?"

A minute passed before a voice answered him, "Nope, looks pretty straightforward. Just knock out the power and it's all yours. However, you might want to do it fast or someone is about to catch up to you."

Needing no more reason to move forward, Wraith went ahead and began to deactivate the generators. One by one, the pylons fell to slumber, reducing their power to hold the cube in place. Once the last piece fell, the cube dropped to the floor without any reaction. Upon touching the device, Wraith could hear the whispers in his head. Whispers of sweet nothings that promised many things but never fulfilled them.

"Alright, cargo retrieved. Spi, we need evac. Phase three begins now."

"Roger that, commencing phase three."


After that very-deserved slap by Sheffield, Gabriel continued to follow her through the tunnels. For whatever reason, he began to hear some voices echoing throughout the hollow pathways. They had to be close to Wraith's position and that final Mental Cube. What value would it have for a future soldier of another timeline?

"Harper…"

Gabriel whirled around as his heart jumped into his throat. The same voice from his dreams just spoke out to him as if it lurked within the caverns too. The light of his flashlight frantically illuminated behind him to discover who was speaking to him at this moment. An icy wave washed over him as his nerves twitched and his heart doubled its pace. Thoughts of sudden attacks out of any passing corridor flooded his mind as h-

"Is something bothering you, Master?" Sheffield looked back to find the man in a state of temporary panic.

"I think the Mental Cube might be playing with my head." He quickly shook off his previous fear, steadying his nerves. "Let's get this done."

The maid proceeded forward with the clacking of her heels echoing down the corridor which didn't make Gabriel's earlier fright feel much better. It would not be till a few minutes of breathing in the stale air before their destination was reached. Sheffield's gaze hardened with her pistols aiming behind them as her light revealed an old wooden door being partially open. Wraith had been here already.

"We're already too late…" Gabriel muttered with the evidence as clear as day. A sudden noise would draw his attention before the brightest beam of light blinded him. His eyes flared in pain to the sudden amount of light forcing him to move backward and using his hand to shield from the attack.

"Master, get behind me!" A few cracks echoed through the tunnels before the clanging of metal followed. While he could not see, Gabriel could tell the sounds were nearby. What he could guess was that Sheffield was shielding him from bullets or whatever was attacking them. The clanging had to come from her rigging absorbing the rounds.

This continued for about a minute until the bullets refused to continue their barrage and were replaced with someone sprinting down the tunnels. At the same time, the temporary blindness faded allowing Gabriel to see. "Agh...That light was too damn bright."

"I believe that was the intent," Sheffield pointed out. "However, they could have easily shot you while they had the element of surprise. Why they gave us a warning ahead of time does not make any form of sense."

"I don't know but we can't let Wraith getaway." Gabriel got right back up and ran after the sound of the retreating attacker. Sheffield followed closely muttering under her breath some not so subtle criticisms of the man.

What didn't help was that their target had a head start in escaping. Every step that the Admiral was making seemed to be doubled by their perpetrator as the distance began to widen considerably. The heavy footfalls were dwindling and judging by the speed, it wouldn't be long until the attacker was out of the tunnels.

"Master, follow me, I know a shortcut to cut them off." Thankfully, Sheffield knew her craft well. The maid took a sharp right on the next intersection while picking up the pace.

Before Gabriel knew it, Sheffield outpaced him and was able to cut off the potential exit of their attacker. With both pistols ready and a searchlight blaring its powerful light in front of the person. What was notable was her half-body armor coverage focused on vital areas. The light that had flashed Gabriel before was coming from two emitters placed on the side of the helmet with the weapon firmly in the person's hands.

"Surrender and I won't have to put a bullet in you." Sheffield's threat was only met with a scoff from the opponent.

Once they got to speak, it was clear that it was a female as the armor did not really give much of an idea. "Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you. I will say that castle of yours is really nice but a bit too glamorous for my taste."

"What are you intending to do with the Mental Cube?" Gabriel questioned, the main concern of theirs needing to be addressed. Who knew what kind of plans Wraith and his crew could have for everyone.

"Honestly," the female soldier began to answer, "I have no idea what the endgame of the boss is. I just know that we're intending to take the fight to the Sirens and while we're chatting, he already got away."

Sheffield took a step closer with fingers ready to pull the trigger if need be. "Then you are alone and will be questioned by the Royal Navy for your crimes."

"Yeah…I don't think so." The soldier suddenly began firing her weapon forcing Gabriel to take cover while Sheffield went on the offense. What could be described as a ludicrous action, the maid began running on the wall while firing her pistols in rapid succession.

The soldier retreated back into one of the other tunnels instead of taking on an opponent she was hopeless to defeat. What could standard arms do to a humanized warship that was far superior in every way compared to average human beings? But, as Gabriel watched Sheffield gave chase, he thought that wasn't the plan at all. Wraith was male, as far as Ash described him, so that meant this soldier was someone else.

"It's a distraction." The words left Gabriel's lips like a cold breath as the realization set in. Without a second more to waste, he pushed the exit door to find himself in some sort of bell tower. Wait, a bell tower in London only meant that he was at Big Ben of all places. Why was there a hidden entrance to underground tunnels in Big Ben?

Peering out one of the glass windows, he saw someone sprinting away while the chaos of the Leviathan had taken everyone's attention. He couldn't let Wraith get away and waiting for the Royal Navy to his location was only giving his enemy more time to escape.

So Gabriel began making his way out of the tower and after Wraith.


Meanwhile, the Royal Navy had returned to the palace to find everything mostly in order beside Elizabeth's throne being moved out of place and a secret stairway opened up.

"What?! You're meaning to say that this Wraith is after something specific underneath the castle?" Queen Elizabeth bellowed as she found the thought of someone knowing about the closely guarded secret completely unfathomable.

"It's the only explanation as to why he is here. What is down there that would make someone want to attack the port?" Ash only responded with her gaze focused on the staircase to the tunnels below.

The Queen grimaced, a feature that neither of the two fallen kansen would ignore. "Well, there are some priceless artifacts that we prefer not to have in the museums. Other than that, there is…"

"A Mental Cube?" Ash finished the sentence before the Queen could try to dodge. Down the stairway, the sound of gunfire could be faintly heard followed by clanging metal.

Queen Elizabeth was flabbergasted at first but her composure quickly reasserted itself, "Yes, yes we do have one. If that is what they are after then we must pursue them this instant."

"I believe one of your maids is already locked in combat. Ember, with me." The fallen carrier rushed out of the palace with her heavy cruiser compatriot following right behind her.

Elizabeth let out an annoyed sigh with how today had gone. Taking Ash's words to heart though, she turned to Belfast. "If Sheffield is engaged in combat, please assist her and capture whoever is down there."

"Of course, Your Highness." The head maid bowed before descending down the stairway and entered the tunnels to do her duty.


He began to curse the absurd amount of stairs he had to contend to before he found the ground level and broke out in a sprint. Judging the direction Wraith was running towards, it looked to be towards the port. The sound of his shoes tapping against the concrete sidewalk thundered in his ears while his breathing exponentially increased to give fuel for the lungs.

"Wraith!" the Admiral called out with what spare breath he could. A thought coming to him to pull his weapon out and fire at his foe. Although, Gabriel had doubts that he could hit a human-sized target at over three hundred yards with a revolver. He was not a soldier.

Fate had intervened once more to slap him when he felt something slam against his right shoulder and sent him on his back. Pain flared like a wildfire all over Gabriel's arm as he found himself unable to move it without feeling the need to scream.

"So you're the Commander the Siren's are so interested in? For someone of your value, you fell to one of the oldest tricks in the book." Gabriel could finally hear what Wraith sounded like compared to his subordinate. The deep baritone voice slightly muffled by his helmet as he peered down at the wounded Admiral. Had he gone for the other arm, at least Gabriel could reasonably grab his weapon and fire it but he chose the shooting arm.

"What is your plan with that Mental Cube?" The pain forced the Admiral to grimace with the fresh wound sending shockwaves through his body.

"Knowledge." Wraith simply explained, looking towards the castle to confirm if anyone had heard his gun ran out. "I don't really have time to explain but I'll keep it short. Do you really think that the Siren's would simply back off like they do now?"

Gabriel could only shake his head to confirm that unusual disappearance of the Sirens. He had assumed they were simply lying in wait, but why allow humanity to prepare themselves for the next war so liberally? If they really wanted to win, they could have easily just kept the pressure up or attacked when humanity began to get comfortable.

"Good, at least I can be assured you think the same way. They're planning something with this version of reality and I am going to put an end to it." Wraith continued to explain as he revealed the cube from his beneath his cloak. "With this, I will understand what they are up to. Until then, have a nice night, Admiral Harper."

Wraith turned his back and began to resume his retreat to the port with Gabriel struggling to stand with his wound spiking pain through him. The only thoughts that were going through his mind were, "I can't let him get away with that cube."

He reached his revolver with his left hand, fumbling to cock the weapon with his weaker side. The hammer was hovering over one of the dials when Gabriel took aim, shoulder flaring so bad with pain that his aim was wavering. When the trigger was pulled and the hammer slammed into the bullet, what could be described as a roar rang out from the muzzle. Following it was the brightest flames he could have seen before the torrent flashed towards Wraith.

Except, the future soldier seemed to have noticed in an instant as he swiftly hurled his body out of the way of the oncoming streak of flame. A glancing blow hit his shoulder armor that began to disintegrate under the intense hit but far away from hitting the actual shoulder. He raised his rifle to fire at his opponent and pulled the trigger. A brief flash occurred as the bullet spiraled its way towards Gabriel...only to be suddenly deflected.

As if fate would have it, Ember and Ash had arrived just in time to confront their former ally. The soldier lowered his weapon to gaze at the two women guarding the Admiral with mild amusement. "Took you long enough to show up."

Ash summoned her rigging and had a golden arrow ready to fire at the human with a gaze of hardened anger. "Admiral, you should get that shoulder checked out."

"Yeah...I know. Hurts like hell," Gabriel muttered under his breath. Taking a look, a small splotch of blood had formed where the wound was located. The surrounding fabric of his shirt was dyed in the crimson color with more spreading near the exit wound.

Ash turned her attention back to Wraith. "Drop the cube or Ember and I will have to kill you."

"Ah, threats coming from traitors." Wraith retorted, "You don't get to have the moral high ground when you worked for the enemy. I bet your Commander must be rolling in his grave right about now."

"Don't you mention him!" What could be described as fury engulfed Ash's eyes when she let the arrow fly. Normally, it would have materialized a corsair but it traveled the distance without pause. That is until it suddenly dissipated when something struck the arrow mid-flight and a crack echoed from a distance.

The next shot followed up but it was cut down by Ember's blade in one quick swipe. Then, the roar of engines could be heard from a distance as something was approaching very quickly. That object being some sort of transport aircraft that had gone undetected and it began to fire its munitions at the trio. A mounted gun on the nose spun at a thousand rounds per second, forcing the kansen to shield Gabriel from the oncoming rounds.

The hail of gunfire allowed Wraith to board the vessel once it got close enough before taking off as soon as it came. The floor around the trio had been shredded with dirt and concrete littering the area in broken shards and shattered tiles. Ash and Ember's rigging was sparking after receiving so much punishment as several holes littered all over. Nothing got through the armor plating but penetrated enough for the bullets to lodge themselves inside.

"So that was him?" Gabriel muttered, shoulder still bleeding but his attention was focused on the direction of the retreating aircraft. "He had one way of leaving a memento."

Ember began to examine his wound before replying, "You seem to have left him one as well. Ready yourself." In an instant, the power went through her fingertips pressed against the wound with searing heat forcing it to cauterize. Of course, the sudden move was met with an unhappy Gabriel who had to restrain his voice but groaned at the pain. At least he wasn't bleeding.

"How did you do that?" Ash questioned, the smell of burnt metal invading her nostrils alongside pieces of plate on the floor. Could Gabriel have possibly…? No, it must have been luck or the weapon had to have done it on its own.

Her question made the Admiral recall the prior moment when the revolver fired off some sort of fire out of the muzzle. He had never used flamethrowers before and the weapon was clearly not one in secret. After all, Akashi analyzed it and found nothing too special about it besides how unique it was, and the ammunition it used. Then, could it have been the ammo..or the symbols?

"I simply shot with one of the symbols glowing. I have no clue what just happened,"


Back at the tunnels, gunfire and loud footsteps echoed off its walls as Sheffield continued her chase after the female soldier. So far, she had been hard to catch by changing her trail constantly or attempting to blind the light cruiser with a flash of light. Down and down each corridor they went through for possible miles on end.

BOOM!

Nightingale was sent hurling from an explosion catching her off guard. Her body crashed into an ancient wooden door causing the aged wood to shatter and open up into an unused pipeline leading out to sea. Had one of Sheffield's landed squarely on her back, it wouldn't matter if the armor held up as the shockwave would destroy her organs. Grabbing her rifle, she got back up and ran towards the edge to find nothing but a vast ocean.

"I'm afraid you will not be escaping. Please surrender or I will not miss my next shot," the not so subtle threat from Sheffield was reinforced as her rigging materialized. She had her full turrets ready to fire and was ready to turn Nightingale into a paste if need be.

Nightingale looked back at the vast sea ahead of her then turned her attention back to the light cruiser. There was no escape besides taking a leap of faith and diving into the water with the possibility of being hounded by submarine kansen. That is if the Royal Navy even had any to give chase.

A voice behind her would squander any potential escape via the ocean. "Under the direct authority of Her Majesty, you are to be captured alive and interrogated." Belfast had somehow gotten ahead of both and blocked off the sea with her weapons at the ready. If Sheffield was a nuisance to get rid of, Belfast would be impossible to throw off. That is if….

"Sorry girlies, they don't call me Nightingale for no reason." The soldier touched the side of her helmet. A second passed before a low whine was audible enough for the Town-class light cruisers until it began to sharply go multiple octaves. They had to cover their ears as the sound was beginning to cause migraine-inducing pain.

To make matters worse, a missile came out of nowhere and exploded near the head maid but with such a low explosive yield that it was almost nothing. Instead, a dark smoke enveloped the surrounding area with visibility being extinguished. The noise stopped and was replaced with the sound of rockets firing off.

"Sheffield, are you alright?" Belfast inquired, still blinded by the void of smoke covering the area but at least able to get her bearings.

"Yes, I am alright." The smoke soon dissipated to allow Sheffield to look where Nightingale stood. She furrowed her brows as the human was not there and it did not look like she had tried diving into the ocean.

Before either could wonder where their target had escaped to, a voice called out from above. "Better next time, maids." Sure enough, Nightingale had apparently been equipped with some sort of jetpack system and was currently flying away from the duo. As she flew away, an unknown aircraft flew next to her before a side panel opened up and allowed the soldier in.

Sheffield had one of her turrets aimed towards the ship but Belfast stopped her before she could pull the trigger. "No need, I already took care of the necessities."

Both maids watched the aircraft quickly get smaller as the distance between them increased before it practically went invisible.


"Ow! Watch the arm."

"Apologies, Admiral. This shouldn't take much longer but I need to see how bad the damage is."

Shortly after his first encounter with Wraith, Gabriel had gone back to the palace to receive some medical aid. Ember's impromptu quick fix saved him from blood loss but it did not stop the fact he could barely move his arm without severe pain awaiting him. Luckily, Eagle was more than willing to aid him in that as she somehow had medical training to treat regular humans like him. How did she learn that? Must have been all the downtime since the Sirens hardly showed around.

A couple of snaps alerted them that the x rays were taken to see the structural integrity of the shoulder. As far as Gabriel knew, his had to be at least broken based on the fact he could barely move it. "You mind telling me how bad it is?"

"Mm, terrible. Whatever struck you went straight through your shoulder blade and has caused a few fractures." The carrier's tone was stiff and direct to the point. Just hearing the news already made Gabriel grumble and his heart to sink a bit. No using his right arm for however long it took to fully heal.

The worst part was what were the girls going to think once he got back to port? They would probably worry about his well being and treat him like he was at death's door. Add the fact that kansen like Roon and Akagi would not only be extremely protective of him but probably go on a quest of vengeance. "Just tell me how long will it take before I can freely use my arm."

"Six weeks at the minimum with closer to three months or more for a full heal. I'm recommending you postpone any activities and take pain killers for the six weeks."

"Cesare is going to be pissed." The Admiral didn't want to think about the Italian battleship's plan for the banquet being voided. Then again, it was all his fault for chasing down somebody who was very dangerous, in Ash's assessment. Now, because of his mistake, he was going to be basically reduced to bed rest and no use of his right arm. Hopefully, someone like Vestal might be able to do something about it.

At least Eagle had more to say so he wouldn't be stuck thinking too long on this. "You have some company waiting to see you."

Just like she said, the door to the medical ward opened with Hood, Unicorn, Queen Elizabeth, and Sheffield entering. Briefly, Gabriel could tell there were others outside the door but they must be there to be sure no more surprises would await them. What a hell of a way to make this trip interesting.

"We heard what happened, are you alright?" Hood was the first to ask, seeing the blood-stained shirt hanging onto Gabriel's chest. Her voice was soaked with worry, the very thing that Gabriel did not want to hear. "Had we not deployed the entire Royal Navy to eng-"

The battlecruiser would be interrupted by Sheffield bowing her head low. "Forgive me, Master. Had I not chased after one of our foes, you would have not been injured. You may punish this maid as you wish."

"It's alright," Gabriel kept himself from grumbling as the pain shot back up again. "I was being stupid for even chasing after Wraith in the first place. I don't think any of us realized what they were up to before it was too late. There is no need for an apology."

"Nonsense!" Queen Elizabeth, despite her petite form, was the loudest one in the room. "We had failed to keep you safe so an apology is in order. Let me be the first to apologize for an obvious mistake I should have seen."

Oh no, Gabriel could not even argue with Her Majesty on the unnecessary apologies being given to him. None of them could even predict what Wraith had planned from the get-go. Now he had got away with the Mental Cube in hand and dealt a serious blow to his pride. However, that would never happen again so long as Gabriel was breathing.

Thank goodness Unicorn was there to stop him from thinking any further as she hugged the injured Admiral tightly. "Unicorn will make sure nobody hurts Papa again. U-chan will help too." The unicorn doll seemingly nodded with the escort carrier's words as Gabriel felt his heart lighten up. He smiled and patted her on the head but he still could not help but think about Wraith's words…

"They're planning something with this version of reality and I am going to put an end to it."

What are the Sirens planning?


Hey everyone, FF has kind of gone a bit derpy lately hasn't it? Here is your part two and the next chapter will be going back to your scheduled program. More light-hearted shenanigans with our colorful cast of ships and their officer but this will not be the end of Wraith and his crew.

I hope you all liked it. Stay tuned for the next chapter