The first thing he asked from them was a list of the members of the Royal Maid Squad. With that in hand, it didn't take long for him to outline his pain to Queen Elizabeth and Yat Sen. He also suggested troop placement in order to maximize results. At times, the two voiced their doubts but after hearing his explanation, they were content with the plan.
Now that all three of them were in agreement, Yat Sen left the tent, enacting her part of the plan. After she left, the Royal Maid Squad and the team that accompanied the Commander came inside.
"See," whispered Dido to Sirius "I told you he looks good in black."
"Yes," said Sirius, as the rest of the squat stood around the table "I see what you mean."
"Well Commander," asked Illustrious "what sort of crazy plan have you concocted?"
"As we speak, Yat Sen is gathering the rest of her team. Once she's done that, they'll gather the wounded and head towards my base."
"But Commander," said the maid with purple-braided hair "if we send them back the way you came, they're sure to be attacked."
"Good observation Curlew. They will get attacked, which is why I told Yat Sen to take the longer route, going over multiple islands and hiding themselves."
"Kaga," he said, turning to her "I'd like it if you joined them and helped. When you're back at the base, contact Akagi and inform her we'll be sending some of the injured to her."
"Yes Commander," said Kaga, nodding.
"As for the rest of us, we're going to launch a simultaneous attack here," he said, pointing to the superstructure
"And here," he added, pointing to a large body of water on the island.
"Hmm?" asked the maid with short, ash-colored hair "but that's a lake."
"Not just a lake Sheffield, an elevated lake," he said.
"Team one will consist of Saint Louis, Neptune, Edinburgh, Gloucester, Kent, Suffolk, Newcastle, Curacoa, Curlew, Glasgow, Warspite and Elizabeth."
"That's Queen Elizabeth," countered her majesty.
"You are to attack the superstructure. Stick to long range attacks and keep moving at all times. Your job is to keep the enemy distracted. Do not engage them at any cost."
"The second team consists of Belfast, Wales, Illustrious, Tirpitz, Sirius, Dido and Sheffield. Your job is to head to the base of this lake."
The commander went on to explain that the lake was located on top of a plateau and was conveniently located near the edge of said plateau. The second team's job was to fire a barrage into the middle of the plateau, causing it to break apart and flood the area down below. Because of the lake's elevated position, it would crash into the Siren ships, the superstructure and the unique Siren type, shattering their ranks and destroying the defenses built around the device.
"When the plateau's about to burst, get out of there and alert the second team," he said "you have about twenty to twenty-five seconds to get out of the area."
"By the time the flood's emptied out into the sea, team one will attack the superstructure while team two picks off any Sirens that survived the flood."
"I'm really hoping that damned Observer survives," said Gloucester, cracking her knuckles "just so we can take her down."
"Does everyone understand their positions?" he asked and they all shook their heads.
"Any doubts?" he asked and Belfast raised her hand up.
"Where will you be in the middle of all this Commander?"
"Right, sorry. I forgot to mention that. I'll be the second team."
"Anything else?" he asked and everyone in the room shook their heads.
"The attack will commence at dawn," said Queen Elizabeth "now go rest and prepare for the mission. Dismissed."
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As per Queen Elizabeth's instructions, the team inside dispersed. Outside, the Commander met with Kaga and Yat Sen.
"Sorry Kaga," he said "bringing you all the way back here and then sending you away…"
"It is fine Commander," she said, "what matters to me is helping the fleet."
He nodded then turned to Yat Sen and said "You can trust Kaga to keep you safe at all times."
"I shall," she said "thank you Commander."
"Don't thank me just yet, we still have a fight to win."
After seeing them leave, the Commander met with Tirpitz, who was sitting quietly under a tree and looking at the night sky through the small openings in the forest canopy.
"Hello Commander," she said, addressing him.
"I hope all of this hasn't been too much on you," he said, standing against the tree.
"Not at all," she said "the change in weather is admittedly a lot to take in, but it's growing on me."
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"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Illustrious, worrying for Belfast's safety.
"I'm fine," she said, not minding the fact that all twelve members of the Royal Maid Squad were hugging her tightly "it has been a long time and I am happy to see them."
"This is a really good day," said Suffolk "now that our leader Belfast is here, we're sure to win."
"And after that," said Kent "you can come back home."
"Yes that would be nice," added Dido.
"Unfortunately, girls I don't plan on coming back to the Royal Navy," said Belfast.
"I've found my place as the Commander's official maid," she added.
This was then followed by the rest of the Squad trying to convince Belfast to come back to the Royal Navy, while Wales and Illustrious watched quietly and chuckled at the sight.
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When day came, the teams set off to complete their part of the mission. Team one took their positions around the Siren device and waited for the order.
"All forces," declared Queen Elizabeth, "attack the Sirens."
With that, the attack began as Team one fired a stead barrage on the Siren ships, destroying many of the ships that were patrolling the area. This was followed by an alarm blaring, followed by many more Siren ships emerging around the superstructure, ready to defend it.
Warspite, Saint Louis and Neptune were on the front line. The continually fired at the Siren ships, while taking out any ship that came too close, with their melee weapons. Edinburgh, Gloucester, Kent, Suffokl, Newcastle, Curacao, Curlew and Glasgow strafed from left to right, attacking their targets in a quick burst of fire. At the rear was Queen Elizabeth, who bombarded the enemy with her long-range cannons.
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Enroute to their destination, Team two heard the sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance and knew that the attack had commenced.
"We're taking too long to get there," called out Tirpitz.
"It's because of me," said the Commander "you guys are purposely lowering your speed so that I can keep up with you."
"Thank you, but now isn't the time for consideration," he added "go. Now."
Considering the urgency of the mission, the team nodded, increasing their speed and putting some distance between them and him. As much as he tried to run faster, his training could not completely cover the difference in power.
Team two reached their location, but were hit with an immediate problem.
"Commander," said Belfast.
"Hold your hand up to the plateau," he said, as if knowing what they were calling him for.
"Now point your index finger to the top of the plateau and point your finger to the bottom," he continued "do you see that part where your thumb touches?"
"Yes Commander,"
"That's the target," he said.
Still keeping her index finger and thumb in the same positions, Belfast formed her weapons and fired at the location. Her artillery blew out a small portion of the plateau.
"There," she said, pointing to the small hole on the side of the plateau "That's where we strike."
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"Commander," shouted Queen Elizabeth.
"What's wrong?"
"We've been hitting the Sirens for some time now," she continued while Warspite cut through a Siren ship with her sword.
"Yet I haven't seen anything from that Observer Zero."
"I wouldn't say that's a bad thing," he said.
"That very much is a bad thing," shouted Dido "If she's not around the device then she must be somewhere else."
"Which is why it's not a bad thing," repeated the Commander.
"How is that not a bad thing?" shouted Queen Elizabeth.
"Because the Commander found her," interjected Belfast.
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Observer Zero observed the Commander for a moment, then let out a condescending chuckle.
"You're not at all what I expected," she said "I thought you'd be more… terrifying."
"I haven't had my morning coffee yet, that might be why."
"Hmm this is odd," she said, tilting her head "aren't you normally accompanied by a gaggle of loyal idiots?"
"Oh those guys? Nah I ditched them. Being a commander is a real pain in my ass, so I decided to ditch the whole thing and become a pirate. I plan to fight on the high seas, steal treasures, sail the grand line and find one piece."
"Hey," he said, as if struck by an idea "you can be my navigator."
At this, Observer Zero shot one of her tentacles at him. He swiftly moved to the side, avoiding the attack.
"Fine, fine, not my navigator: you can be my first mate but anything else and I might look bad."
The Siren fired again at him and he dodged by rolling to his left side. The Commander then got back to his feet and drew his sword.
"So much for diplomacy," he said and attacked the Siren head on.
Observer Zero fired at him with the cannons on her side but he leapt up and dodged. In the air, he threw his sword at her but she dodged it by moving to her left. The Commander hit the ground near Observer, grabbed her foot before she got too far away and threw her into a few trees.
"I take back my first impressions of you," she said, getting to her feet. She then attacked with a barrage of tentacles that randomly hit the area around the Commander. Although he dodged some of them, one of the tentacles came too close and he could not avoid it. This sent him staggering back, allowing another tentacle to grab him and hoist him up.
Observer wasted no time in ramming him into the ground three times then flinging him into one of the trees as well. She waited for a few minutes and saw him getting back to his feet.
"You could have hit me when I'm down," he said, shaking off some dust on his body.
"Now that would be a filthy thing to do. One such as I would never resort to something as dirty as that," said Observer Zero, with a condescending smile.
"That's nice."
"And I do what you alive so I can learn everything about your fleet."
"I take back what I said."
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"We have to get back there and help him," said Dido turning around and heading to the Commander's location.
"No," called out Belfast.
"What?" she asked
"You have a job to do Dido"
"But he's…."
"The Commander is doing his job so that we can do ours," barked Belfast.
Dido saw the expression on Belfast's face. It was the same as Wales, Illustrious and Tirpitz. Facing a Siren, especially a unique type like Observer Zero was not something you could do alone. They wanted to help, but the plan hinged on the second team causing the flood. The Commander was facing the Siren alone in order to buy the team the time they needed.
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Observer Zero chuckled as she saw the Commander rise to his feet for the seventh time.
"Your resilience is commendable otherworlder but you realize this is a losing battle. You can never hope to overcome the almighty power of the Siren race."
"I'm still going to try though," he said, breaking into a run and coming directly at her. Observer Zero attacked with tentacles and cannons but he ducked and weaved through the barrage of attacks. When he was close though, he suddenly leapt to the side, catching her by surprise. This caused Observer a momentary lapse of judgement which the Commander capitalized on by landing a thin cut on the side of her.
"You," she said, looking at the wound "how dare you."
"Hmm?"
"HOW DARE YOU," she screamed and fired a barrage of bullets with twice the ferocity.
"You got a mouth on you," he mused, avoiding the barrage. Observer let out a fierce roar as she continually attacked the Commander with her tentacles. Try as he might, he could not dodge them all and one managed to hit him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.
"Don't you dare die on me," she said, grabbing him by the neck and slowly strangling him "there are still many more ways I want to hurt you."
He twirled his sword and cut off the tentacle holding him then darted to the Siren. She fired at him but he nimbly strafed from left to right, avoiding the attacks. When he was close, he landed another cut on Observer then leapt back.
"I dare say, red looks good on you," he said, with a smug smile.
"I swear I'll suck the marrow out of your bones when this is over," she shouted and attacked him again and again.
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After a steady barrage of fire from Tirpitz and Wales, further backed by Sirius, Dido, Belfast, Illustrious and Sheffield, the team noticed a stream of water emerging from the target area.
Sirius was about to fire again but Belfast stopped her. The team watched the stream get larger, till another stream burst out. Then there were three streams.
"This is Belfast to Team one and Commander. The mission is a success."
The streams grew larger and larger till the side of the plateau burst open and the flood came down.
"I repeat," said Belfast getting out of the immediate area "the mission was a success."
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"This has been a very pleasant event," he said, struggling to break free "but I really should get going."
"I'm going to enjoy breaking you," said Observer Zero, administering a powerful electric shock to the Commander.
"Quick question," he said, looking in the direction Team Two went, "can you swim?"
Observer Zero had no time to answer as she saw a large body of water, dirt, trees and plenty of debris barreling towards the two of them. She tried to take to the skies, but the water was faster, enveloping the pair of them in seconds.
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"Does anyone have eyes on the Commander?" asked Belfast.
"He must still be with Observer Zero," suggested Illustrious "but if that's the case, the two of them…"
"I have to go save him," declared Belfast, staring at the water speeding down to the Siren device.
"Miss Belfast, are you crazy?" shouted Dido, coming forward to try and stop her, but it was too late. The maid had plunged into the water, intent on returning with her master.
In her first life, she was the head of the Royal Maid Squad. Many depended on her and looked up to her. She did her duties diligently which earned her the respect and admiration of her peers. However there were times when the weight of her position tended to get the better of her. She sometimes spent too long making a decision about something for fear of making a mistake and losing her standing.
Then she died.
Her second life came about when she heard the voice of a person calling out in the darkness. He was strong, competent and honest. Belfast took up her role as his official maid and helped him a little with his day-to-day activities.
During this time, she felt at ease serving him and tending to him. Belfast felt as if she could make mistakes and he would not punish or look down on her for it. As a result, she unknowingly opened up to him in her own way, doting on him in a manner that only those closest to her would see it as a sign of affection.
As time passed and he grew stronger, Belfast saw how others began looking up to him and developing a sense of admiration towards him. Initially she was content with standing behind and watching him grow. She felt that that was her duty. Yet as time passed, her feeling changed. Belfast was no longer content with simply standing behind and watching. She wanted to stand alongside him and help him face any dangers or threats head on.
This was the reason why she was incredibly hurt when he shouted at her. Though it was her job to suss out his motives, being yelled at by someone she had grown to like hurt her emotionally.
She swam through the dirt filled waters with incredible speed, but could not find him. Getting tense and desperate, she was about to go up and take in some air, when she spotted the familiar glint of his sword. Seeing this, Belfast darted to the sword and came upon him, still in the clutches of Observer Zero.
Belfast was terrified to see his eyes were closed and his body was not moving. She quickly blasted off the tentacle attached to him, grabbed the Commander and swam to shore.
"Come on, come on," she said, putting him on the ground and gently pressing his chest. She put her ear close to his nose but saw that he was silent.
"No, no, no," she said, desperately pressing his chest to try and get a reaction "not like this. You can't die like this Commander."
"The world still needs you," she said, hoping her voice would reach him like his voice did "I need you."
Try as she might, nothing happened. Seeing as she had no other choice left, she opened his mouth and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation or as the kids call it 'mouth to mouth.'
Once, twice, thrice. Still nothing. Belfast tried one more time, praying that he would recover. Belfast suddenly saw him cough up water a few times and was instantly relieved.
"Thank goodness," she said, hugging him "I thought that…."
"Thanks for saving me back there Belfast," he said, in-between breaths "that damn Siren was wayyy too clingy for me."
"Now is not the time for jokes master."
"By the way…" he said and paused for a moment "why do my lips taste like strawberry?"
"Maybe…. maybe there was something in the water," she said and quickly turned around, not wanting him to see how red her face was.
Just then the two of them noticed the rest of Team Two coming towards them. As they neared, there was a sudden barrage of cannon fire that halted their advance.
Both groups looked in the direction of the attack and saw Observer Zero floating in the air, looking furious. There were a number of cuts and bruises on her body and her left cannon was badly damaged.
"You'll pay for this," she said, seething with anger "you'll all pay for this."
"By the time I'm through with you, you'll be begging for my forgiveness."
"Lady you need to learn to read the room," said the Commander
"For example, you talk as if you're the one in control of things, when in fact…."
But he did not finish his sentence. He didn't need to as the time he bought allowed Warspite to come up behind her and cut off one of her cannons. Observer Zero spun around and tried to attack but Warspite was already on the ground along with the rest of Team one.
"Let's finish this damn thing off," shouted Belfast as she, the rest of Team two and Team one pelted Observer Zero with a hail of cannon fire and explosions. The teams continued their assault, firing as much as they could at her, till they came to a halt.
Now, everyone looked at the cloud of smoke in the air, wondering how much damage they had done.
"Damn you," said Observer, emerging through the smoke, badly hurt and wounded, yet still alive.
"How?" asked Queen Elizabeth, looking visibly shocked and with good reason.
"You think that this is over?" she said, blood dripping out of her mouth "this isn't over. Not by a long shot."
Then, they noticed a teleportation circle opening up and slowly coming to envelop her.
"You'll rue the day you made an enemy of me," she said "when I return I'll torture you in ways you can't even begin to imagine. I'll peel the skin off your body, I'll make you scream loud enough the whole world will hear you, I'll make you suffer while your friends watch in horror."
As the circle had transferred much of her body, she didn't notice how someone was not listening to her threats and was instead planning what to do next. This was why she was suddenly shocked when she saw the Commander run towards her, while the others looked on in horror.
She thought that he was going to follow her back to her world and try to kill her. It was a foolish move as he may kill her, but her Siren sisters would avenge her death in the most brutal way imaginable.
This was the second time she underestimated him and it would be her last.
As he drew closer, the teleportation circle around Observer had almost closed, with only a small portion open. The Commander reached into the Siren world, grabbed Observer by her neck and yank her back head first into their world.
Observer paused for a moment, her head in one world and her body in another. She wondered why he would do that. Then she saw the hellacious smile on his face and the two shadows near her and realized what happened.
Just a few minutes back during her monologue, the Commander wordlessly communicated to Warspite and Saint Louis to follow his lead. Although the pair did not understand what he was doing, their doubts were quelled when they saw him prevent Observer Zero's escape. One stood on his left, the other stood on his right. They both arched their weapons back and with the speed and ferocity that only they were capable of, they brought their weapons down on the Siren's head.
The teleportation circle had closed now. Saint Louis and Warspite still had their weapons embedded into the ground, evidence of the amount of strength they put into the attack. The rest of the group looked on in shock as their minds tried to comprehend what just happened.
"Did he just…" asked Sheffield
The question was answered when the Commander turned around, holding the twitching head of Observer Zero.
"Saint Louis, Warspite," he said, looking to either of them "damn fine work."
The pair could only smile sheepishly at the compliment.
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"That was pretty hardcore," said Tirpitz to the others "even by Iron Blood standards, it's pretty hardcore to hold someone's head, after you've cut it off."
"I expect nothing less for my Lord," declared Saint Louis, puffing out her chest "he seized the moment and turned a potential loss into a victory for us."
"I don't know about all of you," said Neptune, putting her feet in the water "but I plan on resting for three days after this."
"Is it always like this?" asked Glasgow to Wales "hectic, fast-paced and frantic?"
"Indeed it is," said Wales, "but you get used to it."
"Well done Commander," said Queen Elizabeth patting him on the back "you really came through for us, especially at that last moment."
"Thanks Elizabeth….."
"That's Queen Elizabeth."
"But this was a team effort. Everyone pulled their weight."
"True," she said, looking to the sky "although I will repeat this in a more formal manner alongside Yat Sen, let it be clear that you have my aid in the war. The Royal Navy will help you eliminate the Siren threat once and for all."
"Thank you. I appreciate the help."
"It is good that you came as quickly as you did," she added "when we saw the increase in Siren activity, I thought for sure that Dido might not reach your island on time."
"Wait…" he said, pausing "what did you just say?"
"Dido might not reach you in time? well you saw how long it takes to travel from there to here. We were concerned….."
"No not that," he said, interrupting her "the part before that."
"The increase in Siren activity?"
"Yes, when did that happen?"
"Hmmm. I'm not quite sure."
"Think Queen Elizabeth, think."
"I remember when it picked up," said Warspite "it happened about three weeks ago, give or take a few days in between."
Both Queen Elizabeth and Warspite saw the color drain from the Commander's face. He said nothing, then turned and headed towards Belfast.
"Belfast," he said, in a low tone so that no one else besides her would hear him "we need to get back to the island, quickly."
Belfast turned around and was about to ask why, but when she saw the fear in his eyes and the sweat on his forehead, she knew it was something bad.
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Alice adjusted her clothes and gave herself one last look in the mirror.
"Today's the day," she said, smiling at her reflection and was about to head out the door but stopped.
"Oh silly me," she said, playfully and changed the color of her eyes from yellow to black before leaving.