"BISMARCK!" Roon roared furiously as her main guns opened up on the gargantuan battleship. Bismarck stood on the bow of her ship, her shields flaring under the impact of Roon's shells, but holding strong nonetheless.
"Your guns will do nothing to me, Roon. Especially if you're not bothering to aim." Bismarch said.
"Roon. Remember, we take her alive. The Kaiser wants her alive." Eugen said as she came under fire from Graf Spee. Tirpitz held back and launched torpedoes towards the more sensible heavy cruiser.
"The Kaiser? He's dead..." Bismarck thought to herself as she watched Roon jump from her vessel after setting it on a collision course with her own.
Roon jumped aboard the Bismarck and made her way towards the Ironblood leader.
"You're going to pay for what you did to me!" Roon growled as she launched herself at Bismarck.
"Heinrich." Bismarck said as the aforementioned heavy cruiser stepped in front of Bismarck and caught Roon midair, spining her around and throwing her back using her own momentum.
"Heya Roon. Long time no see." Heinrich said cheerfully.
"You..." Roon said, seemingly stunned that she was thrown with such ease.
"Yup, it's me!" Heinrich said with a smile. Her happy go lucky attitude was seemingly present as she stood off against Roon.
"Heinrich, need I remind you that you are to incapacitate her, not kill her." Bismarck said.
"I know, Lord Bismarck. I just wanted to have fun with her before we got down to business." Heinrich said as she cracked her knuckles at the sight of the now thoroughly enraged heavy cruiser.
"What? Too chicken to fight me head on, Bismarck?!" Roon yelled.
"No. It's just not worth my time to be forced into a contest of strength with a heavy cruiser that doesn't even know what she wants." Bismarck said as Roon launched herself at Bismarck again. Heinrich caught Roon by the hands and forced her back down onto the deck after being forced to step back a bit.
"Oof. You're a bit stronger than I thought." Heinrich said as she seemed to focus further. Roon had forced her to lean back to keep her footing, but now it seemed that she was fighting back the distance inch by inch.
"You may be strong, Frau Roon... but so am I." Henirich said as her rigging shimmered to life. A barracuda made of steel and guns made itself know, releasing a mechanical hiss as it's maw opened and closed.
"Eisen!" Heinrich said happily. The barracuda seemed to swim though the air, circling around Heinrich and Roon, firing the guns on it's back, forcing Roon to split her focus and use her shields if she wanted to survive the onslaught.
"You will die by my hand." Roon growled angrily as her own rigging came to life. A four legged monster that looked like the loch ness monster appeared behind Roon, opening it's maw and grabbing Heinrich's barracuda, ripping it from the fight.
Heinrich growled angrily, pushing harder and harder with each passing second, forcing Roon back on the deck of the Bismarck. Roon dropped down to her knee and allowed momentum to throw Heinrich over her head, in between the battle of their rigging.
"Bismarck~~~" Roon said, her eyes glowing a soft amber as she stood and threw herself at Bismarck. Heinrich closed her eyes to avoid seeing the bloodshed, but the sound of metal hitting deck plating brought her eyes back to the fight.
Bismarck had stabbed her banner into the deck, causing Roon to hit it head first in her rush to get to the Ironblood leader. Roon had just barely recovered when the back of Bismarck's heel slammed into her temple, knocking her sideways into the railing.
"Heinrich, get up and fight. I won't tolerate laying down on the job." Bismarck said as Roon slowly regained her footing.
On the other side of the battle, Tirpitz's torpedoes has struck nothing but shield as Eugen closed into knife fighting distance with Spee.
"Quite the agile Panzerschiff, aren't you?" Eugen asked as her 8 inch guns peppered Spee's shields.
"Frau Eugen. Why are you doing this?" Spee asked as she fired her forward batteries. Her AP shells slammed into Eugen's shields and the one protecting Eugen herself.
"The Kaiser has ordered Roon and I to return Bismarck to the fatherland. We are simply following orders." Eugen said as her guns fired again, most of which slammed into Spee's shields, producing small cracks throughout.
"Spee, fall back. I will crack her shields." Tirpitz said as Spee steamed past Eugen, out of the way of Tirpitz's 15 inch guns.
"Tirpitz! So nice to see you again! I almost forgot you existed since you never left the arctic." Eugen said as Tirpitz scowled. She said nothing as she fired her main batteries at Eugen. The shells pierced the shields and struck Eugen amidships, piercing through the armor plates and exploding within the ship.
"It would be best for you to not forget, that I am every bit as strong as my sister. Learn your place, Eugen." Tirpitz said as Spee has used the chaos to jump from her ship to the Prinz Eugen and was running up the deck.
"You are betraying the Kaiser by interfering with our mission, Tirpitz. The Kaiser has not deemed you necessary to the Fatherland." Eugen said before she finally heard Spee approaching. She turned to face her but was too slow to block Spee's swipe at her legs. The extra reach of her claws ensured that Eugen's rigging could not hurt her as she took Eugen to the ground.
"Unhand me, Graf Spee." Eugen growled as Spee held her head to the deck of her own ship.
"There is a scar? And... it's black?!" Spee asked as she radioed Tirpitz.
"Report." Tirpitz asked.
"Eugen has a black square beneath a scar on her neck. "Spee said.
"It was a gift from the Kaiser. He said that it would bring me more power than before." Eugen said as she kicked out from beneath Spee and threw her off, causing Spee to recoil into the superstructure.
"You won't catch me unprepared again, Spee." Eugen said as her rigging aimed at her and fired. Spee used her massive armored greaves to deflect the shots away before taking cover behind one of her main turrets.
"Eugen. That black cube is controlling you. This isn't you!" Spee said as she peeked around the corner of the turret, only to be forced to hide again when Eugen fired at her.
"Nobody is controlling me. I am simply following orders from the Kaiser." Eugen said as she began to hunt down Spee.
Back on the Bismarck, Heinrich had finally managed to immobilize Roon after Bismarck blew away her rigging with her main battery.
"You think destroying my rigging can stop me, Bismarck?! You underestimate me!" Roon roared as she tried and failed to break Heinrich's hold on her.
"Give up, Roon~ Lord Bismarck told me not to kill you, but if you keep struggling, you might hurt yourself." Heinrich as she tightened her hold on Roon's neck. Roon looked ready to tap out when her ship finally collided with the Bismarck's shields, causing Heinrich to lose her grip, allowing Roon to kick her away and retreat back to her ship. The moment she returned to her ship, her rigging seemed to slowly piece itself back together.
"Disgusting." Bismarck mumbled under her breath. As if on cue, the sound of engines filled the sky as Fulmars streaked through the air, dropping 100 pound bombs over both Eugen and Roon, destroying what remained of their shields.
"To think I would have to repeat this horrible tragedy. Such a sad state of affairs." An angelic voice spoke.
"Illustrious." Bismarck said as she turned to look at the Royal carrier.
"Bismarck. Ironblood." Illustrious said with a small curtsey.
"Shit." Roon growled as she looked over at the Prinz Eugen. She saw Spee slowly moving around one of the turrets and turned her guns, firing on her own ally to attempt to hit Spee. This action proved to be very detrimental to Eugen, as one of the shells pierced the shell elevator and ricocheted down into the powder storage before detonating. A scream from Eugen pierced the air as her forward turret was blasted from it's holding, rocking the ship violently as the front began to sink.
"Spee, get her off that boat and onto your ship. Remove that black cube that you saw, we shall have to see what to do from there." Bismarck said as she turned her attention back to Roon.
Spee grabbed Eugen, who had fallen into the fetal position due to the extreme pain of her ship being blown out from under her.
"Sorry, Eugen. I hope you can forgive me later." Spee said as she used her claw to cut into Eugen's neck, exposing a pitch black wisdom cube that had attached inself to her spine. Spee cringed as she saw the cube seem to pulse, causing Eugen to cry out in pain.
"Tirpitz! I can't remove it. Not with these. I need your hands." Spee said as Tirpitz leapt from her ship and skated over to the Graf Spee to assist.
"Roon!" Bismarck roared, her cool demeanor now gone due to the injury and sinking of her good friend. Without a second of hesitation, Bismarck aimed up all 6 of her 15 inch guns and fired at Roon, point blank. The shells piercing the deck in several locations, ricocheting downwards, punching holes all the way down into the magazines and out through the bottom of Roon's ship.
"Oh? I finally broke that cold façade of yours~~~" Roon said as she was tackled to the deck by Heinrich. Heinrich sat up and began landing punches on Roon's head and face, each hit causing the deck to creak as she put all of her strength into each blow. The flurry of punches only ceased when Bismarck grabbed her fist, forcing her to stop.
"Heinrich... stand down." Bismarck said as Heinrich looked down at a battered and unconscious Roon, whose head was now sitting in an indent in the deck.
"Oops..." Heinrich said with a ditsy smile.
"If it weren't for Strasser's guidance, you'd be just as much a handful as Roon." Bismarck said as she looked at the wrecks of the Prinz Eugen and the Roon before kneeling down and cutting into the scar on Roon's neck, revealing another black wisdom cube.
"Extract it and put it in a sealed container. You and Tirpitz will be heading to the Pacific to meet up with the one who commanded Nimi. I want you to take it with you for him to research." Bismarck said.
"Lord Bismarck, with all due respect, if anyone should stay here, it should be Spee and Tirpitz. You saw Tirpitz during the fight, you cannot deny that she was forced to hold back due to the possibility of friendly fire. Spee has become more reclusive since you sank back in the Denmark Strait. Plus they will have the backup of Illustrious and the Royal Navy. You and I should head to the Pacific." Heinrich said, her ditsy demeanor now buried beneath the serious tone she had taken in Bismarck's absence.
"You make a fine point. I have to say, you are more observant than I have given you credit for." Bismarck said.
"So what shall we do?" Henrich asked as she slowly pulled the cube from Roon's neck.
"Well... We need to honor a fallen sister before any final judgements are made." Bismarck said as she and Heinrich carried Roon back to the Bismarck.
Another scream pierced the sky as Tirpitz ripped the black cube from Eugen's neck.
"Sorry, sister. But it had to be done." Tirpitz said as she placed the black cube in her coat pocket.
Elizabeth and Warspite looked at each other.
"Well... I guess those girls had it covered. Although, Illustrious seemed to make a grand appearance, as always." Elizabeth said as they turned to the Carrier clad in white.
"Your Majesty, surely you jest. I only did what I knew had to be done. Helping our allies is the sign of a better relationship." Illustrious said.
"So it is." Warspite said.
"Your majesty, it may be the magnetic interference affecting my instruments, but I am tracking a small fleet approaching from the south." Illustrious said
"Ah, the Commoners fleet. Zara, please head out immediately to receive them. Guide them through the same way we got here." Elizabeth said.
"Understood." Zara said as she took off running towards her cruiser.