Author's Note:
Here's part 3 of the battle, and a little bit for the fans out there, if you can catch it! And a shout out to another fic that inspired this one! I REALLY wanted to finish this arc with this chapter, but the thing just keeps writing itself and adding more. So I figured to hell with it, you guys have been waiting for a month, so I'll give you this so far and then finish it off next chapter! Besides, this chapter officially hit more than 10,000 words this time! Also, I know that there's going to be parts that will cause people to cringe, you have been warned! Also, more language! Again, constructive criticism is MUCH appreciated! Read and Review!
Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, other human languages, etc
Bold - Jarring events
Corpsman Isabella Guinto was no stranger to carnage, especially by this point. Med-school sort of did away with any of the normal squeamish types when it came to bodies in various states of repair, both living and dead, and the Abyssal war was bringing in all kinds of new horrors each day. Nonetheless, it still shocked her how quickly a group of healthy, fit individuals could be reduced to so many piles of meat and bone in such a short amount of time. Doubly so when said meat and bone was mixed in with broken metal...
As the giant Abyssal opened up with her guns, Guinto had thought it was all over for her and her squad, yet as she dove to cover her squadmates with her own body there was no pain, no sense of agony or even the cold chill of shock that came from getting hit somewhere vital. Instead there was just a strange thunder as explosions echoed with the sounds of armor penetrations, the shrieks of monsters and women as they were torn apart buffeting off the cracked walls of the buildings around them, only to leave broken and burning remains behind. A shark-like monster was holed through with explosions occurring internally, causing gouts of blood and burning oil to spurt out along with flesh and steel, while infantry-scale Abyssals were simply ripped apart. Another cruiser tried to move side-on to the attacker's guns, causing a few to skip off, but the majority still tore into her as well, and eventually she wilted under the barrage, falling to the ground like a puppet without its strings. More and more fire swept through the street, while return fire seemed to merely annoy the large Abyssal, blasts flowing over her body while other shells and bullets simply ricocheted off of her. Shrapnel slivers peppered the area, and underneath her Isabella felt more than heard Dizzy take a set of such slivers into the meat of his calves, while another set caught her in the shoulder and bicep, feeling like burning embers driven beneath her skin.
A sort of light humming noise keened through the air as the guns stopped firing after a few more bursts, each little turret on the armored Abyssal's arms tracking for movement or more amongst the debris of the shattered street... Yet only bits of falling concrete answered. Seemingly satisfied with the carnage she'd wrought, the attacker lowered her arms before looking down at the marines. Stepping towards them, metallic boots crunching the broken pavement and concrete, the creature crouched down to look at the four of them through a silvered faceplate that reflected Isabella's gritted-toothed face back at her.
"Are you alright soldier?" the being asked in slightly accented Filipino.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! came the sound of a sidearm firing into said being's face, the rounds plinking off the reflective visor while its wearer barely flinched. Eventually Isabella's pistol ran dry though, the slide locked in place as the marine gave a sigh of regret.
"I'll take that as a yes," the Abyssal said with a half-amused-half-resigned tone. Ignoring the harmless gun in her face, the woman then looked at the the medic's squadmates. "We need to get you all into cover. They're going to figure out pretty quick that their advance has stalled here, and the artillery will open up again."
Guinto looked up in confusion. "The hell are you talking about?"
"Did they teach you to question the woman saving your ass back in boot camp, or did they teach you to get your squad out of harm's way when you had the chance?" the Abyssal responded sarcastically, reaching to pick up a still-dazed Bautista. Given the situation at hand, Isabella found herself having to swallow the acidic bile that she wanted to retort with, forced to admit that she really wasn't in a position to argue something that was, in essence, counter-productive. Taking Flores and the still-yet unnamed soldier she'd fished out of the artillery zone by the straps of their plate carriers, Guinto began to haul them off towards the JC Lucky 99 shop that she saw down the alleyway. There was a school just across from it, thankfully empty given the hour, but given how it was already a crater that didn't give much comfort for their current situation.
Setting Dizzy against a wall where he continued to cradle his arm, Guinto began to bind his shrapnel-filled legs to keep him from bleeding out. They were oozing fairly steadily, but nothing gushed, so she figured he'd live. She was looking over their last tag-along, a Corporal Reyes, when she noticed the... The medic guessed that she couldn't rightly call it an Abyssal given how it wasn't killing them, so she mentally switched to the term ship-girl... was using a piece of debris to make a pair of splints for Bautista and Flores.
"So, what do we call you then? You got a name?" Guinto asked.
"Leviathan. UNSC CA-684," the woman replied, voice still coming out kind of echoed due to her helmet.
"...Really? Kind of a mouthful, you know?" the medic said, taping a dressing over a series of gashes on Reyes' thigh beneath his BDU's.
"Call me Levi then. How about you?"
"Guinto. That's Dizzy Flores there, and this useless lump apparently goes by Reyes, if he ever wakes up," she said, patting the still unconscious marine on the helmet. "And our ever-so-fearless leader there's Sergeant Bautista."
"Good to meet you all. Things have been rather hectic, and the only one I've been able to raise on the radio was a panicked flight controller for the civilian airport."
"Hectic? That's a word for it... Sarge, you still with us there?" Guinto asked as she looked at their as-yet-silent squad lead.
The man moved his head to give the medic a look. "Yeah I'm here. And thanks by the way. Not to sound unappreciative, but what exactly are you doing here? You're obviously not with those Abyssals, given how you shot the shit out of them, but you don't exactly look like anyone I've ever seen... You one of those Japanese ship-girls? Or the American ones?"
"Neither, though you're right about me not being on the Abyssals' side."
"Then who are you with?" he asked carefully.
"As I said, UNSC, United Nations."
Bautista blinked at that. "Really? Thought all you ship-girls were from World War 2 era or earlier?"
The woman's helmet turned towards him, tilting a bit. "Hadn't heard that... Good to know though. You met any others?" she asked, only to get interrupted by the sound of an incoming shell as it blew up a block or so away. The flash still lit up the area, and Leviathan braced herself against the wall, using the bulk from her armored back to shield the others from the storefront. As the explosions kept on going, she turned back to Bautista, raising her voice to be heard over the din. "AS I WAS SAYING, YOU MET ANY OTHER SHIPS AROUND HERE?"
"NO, NOT PERSONALLY! THERE WERE A BUNCH ON THE COAST, BUT THAT'S WHERE ALL THIS SHIT STARTED! DIDN'T YOU SEE 'EM THERE?" Angelo replied.
"MAYBE... COULDN'T TELL YOU IF I DID! TOO BUSY SHOOTING AT THE ONES SHELLING THE SHORELINE!" Levi replied.
"THERE ANY REINFORCEMENTS COMING THEN?" Dizzy called out as he grabbed his weapon with his good hand, bracing it against his shoulder with the tip in the general direction of the shop's windows and door.
"IF YOUR COMMAND IS ON THE BALL AT ALL THERE SHOULD BE! WE GOTTA SHUT DOWN THAT ARTILLERY THOUGH BEFORE IT GETS FURTHER INTO THE CITY!" Levi said. "SERGEANT!"
"WHAT?" Bautista asked.
"NOT YOU! YOU!"
"HUH?"
"OOO!"
Bautista only now seemed to notice the little green figure that was hovering around the ship-girl's leg, seemingly identical to the one that he'd seen get squashed, with an extra set of chevrons on his tiny little sleeve. Behind him was yet another, though this one was packing something that looked like a set of pipes on a shoulder-mount... A rocket launcher?
"STAY HERE WITH THESE GUYS! I'LL BE BACK BEFORE LONG!" Leviathan said, which made the miniature marines salute her with another cry of "OOOO-RAH!" before the black-clad woman made for the door.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU WANT TO GET BLOWN UP OR SOMETHING?" Dizzy shouted.
"THIS IS NOTHING! I'LL BE BACK SOON! IF BACKUP COMES, TELL THEM TO HEAD TO THAT ISLAND!" Levi responded, before ducking out of the shop.
Which left just the four, no, six of them to wait out the bombardment. Looking down at his feet, Bautista watched the two leprechaun-like soldiers take up positions where they could, the sergeant tucking in behind a couple bags of flour nearby and the one with the tube-launcher climbing up on top of the cashier's desk.
"So... Since we're stuck here, you want to tell me where you came from?" Bautista said to the tiny sergeant.
"Ooo!" it replied, which surprised the human by actually making some sort of sense. That or the one it jerked a miniature thumb towards the departed shipgirl was just that obvious.
"With her? She just dropped you off?"
"Ooo oo!" it replied, shaking its head. "Rah rah oo!"
"Warthog? What the hell's a warthog?"
"Oo!"
"The jeep thing?" Bautista said with a raised brow. "Why the hell would you call it a warthog? Why not call it a..."
"OORAHRAHRAHRAHOOO-OOO-OOORAHOORAHRAHOO...!" The fairy-dwarf thing suddenly started shouting what were no doubt expletives and curses at him, causing the marine to stare at the leprechaun soldier incredulously as the cursing turned to muttered grumbles and growls which seemed to only make the tiny figure resemble a little ball of hate and teeth than a soldier. Obviously this was not the first time it had been asked that, and Sergeant Bautista made a mental note to NEVER ask that question again... or to let anyone else for that matter...
Leviathan made her way through the streets back towards the bridge that the marines she'd rescued had been defending, detonations still going on around her, though her armor shrugged off the majority of it. Splinters still ricocheted off of her, and a rather close one rocked her on her feet, but the heavy cruiser managed to bull her way through it. The wreck of her warthog was noone to be seen, likely further destroyed by a shell, and Leviathan was tempted to sigh. At least most of her troopers were alive... A few elsewhere in the city were registering some wounds, including that rocket-trooper she'd left behind according to the medical transponder. 'Little shit probably thought he was too tough to tell me, hehe,' she thought, turning the corner to spot the bridge itself.
Taking a moment to scan the area, she spotted two crippled Abyssals that must have survived her earlier attack on them trying to crawl off, and two quick bursts of her turrets later gave them a tungsten-fueled mercy. With that out of the way, Leviathan then scanned the bridge proper. "Okay, a couple of braces, suspension style bridge... This should be easy," she thought to herself, taking out the shoulder-mounted cannon she'd used prior. "Alright my lovelies, fly for me, hmm?"
A small boom later and a pair of Pelicans materialized from the shell that was launched, each little aircraft making their way to the far and middle sides of the bridge with demolition teams on board. Knowing that they'd do their job well, Leviathan then stepped out to make her way across the near side of the bridge towards the Isla de Convalencia...
...And promptly ate a shell that had been aimed straight at her, rocking her head sideways and causing her to stumble back. Shaking the ringing noise from her head, she looked up to see a shark-like destroyer poking its snout out a window of the island, nearly hidden by all the trees covering it in the pre-dawn twilight. Leviathan felt her anger come to the fore again, and retaliated with a quick burst of fire from her turrets that lit up the area. This time her aim was off however, and the Abyssal was able to duck back into cover for a moment, literally coughing up a wall of smoke in the way to try and blind her sensors. It was something that the buildings around it did far better job at, but no doubt the thing's instincts were first based on its watery home and not on land.
"Grrrrrrr... Just you wait you little piece of shit, I'm coming for you..." she growled out to herself, and mentally pinged her radio to get her Pelicans' attention. "Once you guys are done setting charges I want eyes on that island. Relay visuals on any hostiles, but stay low and disengage if targeted."
Her orders given and acknowledged by the fairy pilots, 'And just WHY does that seem a natural way to term the navy ones and NOT the marines or Helljumpers?' she wondered, Leviathan began sprinting across the bridge, asphalt and concrete crumbling beneath her boots as she booked it. No doubt that destroyer was already alerting its buddies that they were going to have company, or it was if it had any brains at all, so that meant that she had a limited amount of time before they rolled out a welcome wagon.
Tenryuu cursed as another chunk of building was turned into powder and scrap above her, causing her to shield herself with her sword-arm while her guns were reloading. Using them here was a bit overkill, but it was still better than letting yourself get caught unprepared by a 5 inch shell or larger in such tight quarters. It was harder to tell at a glance whether an Abyssal was ship-based or infantry-based, and better to use the overwhelming firepower of her cannons on the trash than to use less and find oneself wanting when up against something tougher. The girls were in actually better shape than she was, being able to take better advantage of cover due to their smaller size, and were putting out one hell of a wall of lead.
"Akatsuki! Hibiki! Hit those ones on the corner! See if you can flank them when we push up!" she called out.
"Hai!" the purple-haired destroyer answered for the both of them as they took off, Hibiki giving some cover-fire for as they passed blasted out parts of the block.
If there was one thing that all of DesDiv6 could agree on right now, it was that city-fighting sucked! With capital letters even! And no doubt if she were any less a lady-to-be, Akatsuki would have even admitted that there were some spherical attachments to add to that statement! The environment was way too cluttered, cramped, and filled with the sorts of smells one would find in cramped bunks if they weren't cleaned more than once day! Then again, the bodies kept any complaints from crossing the little destroyer's lips. People who'd been caught by surprise by the bombardment, or just didn't want to leave, all littered the ground in ways that no doubt was going to give her nightmares for years after this! It was soooo much better at sea. At least there if you died and got sunk, you didn't wind up on display for everyone to see...
Another Abyssal rocket slammed into the wall across from Hibiki, and the Russiophile was rocked back with a cry of surprise as it detonated. As the sign for Perfecto Street (and whose idea was it to name it THAT of all things?!) flew into a gutter, Akatsuki returned fire with her primary turret, the weapon bucking in her hand as the shell blew up the corner that the enemy was hiding behind. "Hibiki-chan, are you okay?" she asked.
"Ah... Hai. I'm fine," the white-haired girl replied, shaking off the shock of the close call. "Let's keep moving."
Passing by a restaurant called 'Eat-and-Save', the duo sprinted down the street until they came to the end of the block, seeing Ikazuchi and Inazuma on the other side of the bombed-out church that faced the street. Seeing the community hall that was built into the retaining wall across from them, the four destroyers linked back up with one another at its doors just as Tenryuu, Tone, and Chikuma came around the corner from where they'd gone a block down.
Sidling in next to them, Tenryuu peered through the slatted blinds of one window into the darkened building. Seeing nothing moving inside, she nodded to the girls, and Inazuma quietly pushed the door open to slip inside, her sister right behind.
"Mooouuuu... We should have just kicked it in and rushed!" Ikazuchi complained.
"Shhh! You don't want to give away our position!" Akatsuki said in a harsh whisper.
"What if they heard you, nanodesu?"
"She's right. Don't give yourself away too quickly, okay?" Their squad leader bonked the excitable little brunette on the head as she passed, sword still ready as she scanned the rooms with her one good eye. Once they got to the back though, they saw a train yard, the cars having toppled in some places while others were sitting silently on the tracks. Overhead, the occasional aircraft zipped through the skies nearby, and somewhere the sounds of a rotored aircraft, likely a helicopter, passed above the empty yard. Or at least mostly empty...
"I count 12 infantry types in front of that warehouse," Tone said, still holding the patched hole in her middle while panning her eyes around.
"Just 12? That seems kind of light..." Ikazuchi claimed.
"There's another two groups of 10 behind those cars there. Still, it HAS been fairly light, so far," her sister replied. "Maybe they pushed on faster than we thought? It would explain why we're mostly seeing boarding parties now, nanodesu."
"Ehhhhh... I don't know, it could be, but that doesn't seem right, you know?" Tenryuu replied as she also looked out the back. "Can't just make a charge like that without support coming up the rear, and we haven't seen anything yet coming up behind us, right?"
Chikuma, still in a bit of shock over what happened off the piers but making an admirable effort to keep focused now, responded next. "Maybe.. Maybe they were expecting to encircle their targets here, then move south towards the government areas and their other forces? Didn't the Germans do the same once?"
"A Blitzkrieg? Nah, even they had support coming up behind to handle the mess afterwards... Though until the Americans get here and further secure the coast, we'll have to..."
"YEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"BANZAI MOTHER-FUCKERS!"
"GERONIMO!"
"IIIIIINCOMIIIIIIING!"
Looking up, Tenryuu and the girls saw four forms drop down directly on top of the group nearest the warehouse, and immediately they began tearing into the Abyssal forces there like a pack of rabid wolves on a carcass! The light cruiser saw one infantry-type lose its finned head as a ship-girl half his height swung a baseball bat and sent the aquatic horror's skull flying. The other group of Abyssals began to open fire, both on the newcomers and on their own comrades, when Tenryuu cursed.
"Alright, that's it... CHARGE!" she said, and with only a single step back rammed her shoulder into the wall of the building, sending concrete and rebar flying as she started sprinting, DesDiv6 and the cruisers right behind her. A shell from her cannons sent one train car flying as it landed on three of the Abyssals, and the Destroyer-type that had been hidden behind it gave a roar of surprise as it was roused to action. Turning, it fired its mouth-cannon at the incoming girls, causing Inazuma to shriek as it clipped the rigging on her hip, smashing through a piece of superstructure but thankfully hitting nothing on the 'girl' part of the ship-girl. In retaliation, Ikazuchi let out a warcry of her own and sent three shells at the Abyssal ship.
Anger had caused her aim to be off though, and though the shells bracketed the I-class destroyer, it was able to skitter on stubby, grub-like legs as it strafed sideways like some demented crab, firing at them and kicking up dirt and stone. Finally though, Hibiki managed to land a shot into its port side while Chikuma blasted its aft off with an HE round, and the creature cried out like a wounded animal, only for Tenryuu to finally close the range and pierce the creature's skull with her katana.
Looking over at the newcomers, the former IJN cruiser saw one of them with long brown hair down to her chest, with a white shirt and naval cap in the American style. A trio of turrets hung from her hips and two torpedo mounts were strapped to her thighs where dark shorts peeked out from a blue skirt. High-topped black socks and brown shoes ended the ensemble, though the latter now had blue-green fluids staining them and the knuckles of her fists as she stove in the ribs of another Abyssal. The last enemy soldier within the group they'd landed on died at the hands of a raven-haired girl dressed in the same style of outfit before the brunette looked up with a grin. "Hey there! Heard you needed a hand!"
The Japanese flagship just grinned in return. "We'd have had 'em ourselves, but you managed to get the 'drop' on them first I suppose. Name's Tenryuu, JMSDF. You?"
"DD557, USS Johnston!" the American said with a grin, before jerking a thumb back behind her. "The raven's Heerman, and the blonde's our lead for this op, Hoel!"
The two other shipgirls each gave a devilish grin and a salute, Heerman sporting a busted tooth from the looks of it, while their blue eyes glittered with joy and bloodlust that was mirrored in Johnston's green ones. Tenryuu couldn't help but grin in return, though she noticed that the fourth one was still wreaking havoc amongst the remaining infantry-types, all while cursing like... well like the sailor she was dressed as. "And her?" Tenryuu asked.
"Ah, that's Sammy."
"Sammy?"
"Yeah, Sammy B. Roberts! HEY SAMMY!" Johnston called out, cupping her hands around her mouth.
"WHAT?!"
"QUIT PICKIN' ON THE WEAKLINGS AND GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OVER HERE A MINUTE!"
"GIMME A SECOND!" Snapping the neck of one last Abyssal before letting the corpse fall to the ground. A pair of five inch shells later finished off the remainder, and the girl skipped her way over to the group, red braided pigtails waving in the air as they seemed to keep her hat up against gravity's wishes. "Alright, who do we got here? Backup?"
"YOU'RE the backup shrimp! Or did you not get the transmission beforehand? You all came with Maryland and Houston, right?" Tone replied.
"HA! Only time THIS ship plays second fiddle in a fight is when the first one's already dead! What the fuck made you think otherwise bitch?"
Akatsuki had already been askance at the sheer language the Americans had been using, but this was too much. "A Lady should watch her language!"
"HA! Whatcha going to do about it? Cry to momma?" Sammy said with a shit-eating grin.
"ENOUGH! This isn't why we're here!" Tenryuu said as she stepped in. "So, what made you decide to go air-express here?"
Hoel chuckled. "The Admiral figured that using a chopper would make it easier for us to get inland quick, with most of the shoreline already secured. That and speed was a priority for the response. Maryland, Houston and the others are still getting into the port though to secure the area."
"Heh, good to know! Alright then, we've all got a job to do then, no matter who's in charge," she said, looking pointed at where Sammy and Ikazuchi were squaring off with one another. "Besides, there's an easy way to settle this little debacle!"
"Yeah? What's that?" Hoel asked, crossing her arms curiously.
"We've already killed over a hundred Abyssals in this fight so far," the cruiser said with a smirk. "If you can't catch up before the fight's over, you pay for the ice cream! If you do, it's on us!"
This got ALL of the destroyers' eyes to widen, before grins broke out eagerly. "YOU GOT A FUCKING DEAL!" was the Americans' response.
The rage that had been building within Leviathan this whole night found itself suddenly solidifying into a cold, hard slab within her, the edge of which bit deep into her psyche as she looked at the gore around her feet. It was obvious that the Abyssals had been more concerned with speed as opposed to thoroughness, given the direction that the blood and viscera were spread in, painting a corridor leading to the hall and stairwell beyond, but that didn't make it any less gruesome to look at. Looking down, Leviathan saw the form of an old man, probably in his 80's at the time with the remains of an oxygen mask around his face, beaten and torn apart with the dead body of a nurse less than a third his age beneath him, her head removed from the stump of the neck along with both of her legs, one at the thigh, the other just past the knee. Likely these people hadn't been able to evacuate soon enough, and by the time the staff was ready to transport them it had been too late. It made her clench her fists and teeth together, the material of her gloves and skin creaking as she did so, while the coppery-yet-acidic taste of her blood filled her mouth. Body parts were strewn everywhere as other patients and hospital staff were laid in various states of carnage, covered only by the dust that fell from the cracked ceiling as Abyssals fired at the shoreline from above.
The bridge was already burning behind her as her Pelicans made recon runs around the island, buzzing building tops to get a closer look, only to be forced away by anti-aircraft fire and small arms. Most of the enemy here seemed to be destroyer-types, but there were two others similar to the one Leviathan had fought in the alley while another humanoid type seemed to be directing the bombardment forces. While she had been right in that the destroyer she'd fired on before had alerted others of its kind, the dumb, beast-like Abyssals had apparently thought that a small force could handle it themselves, and didn't bother informing the others. This meant that when she killed them, the spaceship-girl essentially had free reign to sneak around... Which had led her to the scene she'd come across.
As another volley was fired from the guns above her, Leviathan made a promise to herself, and began marching towards the abused staircase beyond the slaughterhouse in order to fulfill it. She didn't know if everyone was dead like this, or if there were other survivors, which made using her guns too much of a risk. Not that that would stop her... In fact, getting up close and personal was starting to feel like just what the doctor ordered... A bloody grin was started to paint itself across Levi's face when she heard something rattle in the room, and immediately her arm came up to point in its direction. Looking around, her sensors and radar showed no returns that she could detect, but SOMETHING had set off her warning senses.
Carefully stepping forward, Leviathan panned her arm, and the turrets attached to it, around in a search pattern, all while keeping her ears open. It was faint, but once she was halfway into the side room she realized another sound against the background of the booming cannons... Looking against the wall where a bookshelf was, a sliding door to a medium-sized space was partially open. From the looks of it, the door was also loose, and probably what made the rattling noise from before. But what caught Levi's attention was the sound of someone crying...
Slowly kneeling down, her turrets still panning just in case, the cruiser bent a knee and then slowly slid aside the cupboard door to reveal a young boy with tanned skin and wide brown eyes hiding underneath black hair. For a second, the boy looked ready to scream, until Leviathan clamped a hand over his mouth. "Shhhhhhh..." she said, raising her other hand up to her helmet-covered lips. "You don't want the Abyssals to hear you." After waiting a moment to see if he would calm down or not, she slowly pulled her hand away from the boy's face. "It's okay... It's okay..." Leviathan said to him reassuredly, before reaching up for her helmet's edge. With a hiss, the helmet came off with a hiss, and Leviathan put it down gently while looking into the boy's eyes with her own golden ones, dark blue bangs swaying gently as the rest were tucked up into a ponytail. "Hey, what's your name?" she asked quietly, though the boy still looked scared out of his mind.
"M-Mar-Mark Anthony..." he said.
"Ah, nice to meet you then Mark. You got a last name?" Leviathan asked, only to be surprised when he shook his head. "No?"
Mark shook his head again, still huddled in the cabinet. "We... Some of us don't have any... Not until we get adopted..."
This caused Leviathan's breath to hitch a bit, before sighing. "Ah, well... as I said, it's nice to meet you. You can call me Levi, okay?" The boy's wide-eyed look was all the sign she needed to know that he was starting to calm down... But she didn't have much time. "Listen, I have to go... I'm going to make sure those monsters don't threaten anyone else any more, okay? But I need you to do something for me, okay?"
The look the boy gave her was accompanied by silence, but she knew he was listening. "I need you to be brave now, and quiet... Stay hidden until I come back, then I'll take you someplace safe, okay?"
Mark looked a little anxious as he replied. "But.. But they're..."
"I know, I know... Don't worry about me though, okay? Us big kids gotta be able to stay strong after all, hmmm? And trust me, I'm the biggest around... So I gotta make sure that everyone else stays safe." She reached out and brushed the hairs from Mark's brow. "Now, I'll be back soon, just sit tight..." she said, before moving to close the door.
"What about the others?"
That caused Levi to halt a moment as well. "I'm sure they'll be just fine," she said. "Now, be a good boy, okay? Be strong..."
Mark nodded at that, and Leviathan gave an answering nod in reply before closing the door with a dull click. Taking a moment to breath, she reached for her helmet and put it on again before walking back towards the stairs again.
"Should we assume there are other survivors then?" Hephaestus spoke up in her helmet's comms.
"Yes... If they prioritized getting into position, then it's likely anyone in another shelter or even a basement might still be alive. We'll have to do this the hard way..."
Hephaestus grumbled. "I don't think we were quite designed with close quarters in mind..."
"A problem we'll truly have to address later... For now though, we'll improvise."
As the three cruisers and eight destroyers fought their way further into the city, Tenryuu again grinned at the sight of eight seemingly little girls thoroughly trashed the monstrous forces they were up against while she and the Tone sisters provided the heavier support-fire. Pulling her sword out of the guts of an Abyssal infantryman that had gotten too close, its face surprisingly human despite the soulless black orbs of its eyes and the pallid blue-grey of its flesh, Tenryuu watched as Inazuma used a torpedo as a makeshift stick-bomb, the explosive weapon cooking off as its mechanisms overheated due to being used outside of the water. Sammy was firing her two 5 inch guns like a cowboy's pistols, all while screaming obscenities at the Abyssals' mothers and the foul deeds of Davy Jones who likely fathered them.
"You seem to be taking this pretty well... Where the hell'd you pick up this kind of fighting skill anyhow?" Hoel asked as she looked at the normally shy Inazuma.
"Weren't your crew also trained in boarding operations and counter-boarding?" Ikazuchi asked as she brushed off a bit of debris.
Hoel blinked. "Yes, but how does that factor in...?"
She pointed at the broken streets and alleyways. "Corridors, bulkheads, hatchways, torn through by shellfire... It's not much different!" Ikazuchi said with a grin, one that was matched by Tenryuu.
"Heh, well put squirt! Oi! Laffy Taffies! We're pushing up!"
Tenryuu merely grinned as her words caused a virtual deluge of curses and insults from 3 out of the 4 american destroyers as they all rushed forward, led by Sammy B herself with a warcry that would make a barbarian proud.
"I know it's too early for a true analysis Parker-san, but what do you feel comfortable telling us so far?"
Chief Warrant Officer James Parker watched the screen through flinty eyes, pupils tracking over the images that had been recorded so far, as well as those printed images that Nagato had been looking through from previous observations.
The satellites hadn't managed to get many good views of the area where the Ju-class had descended into after crossing the river, the smoke from the bombardment and residual cloud cover had blocked it, but they knew that she had stepped in when a group of Abyssals had targeted the marine force in the area. While many of the positions there had been abandoned after that assault smashed them, the Ju-class had stopped the enemy from pursuing just as the clouds had swept over.
...And then when the cloud cover had receded, she was heading over the bridge towards Isla de Convalesca. And while a lot of their forces had managed to regroup, there were a number of marines unaccounted for.
"Well, she's definitely not listening to whoever's commanding the enemy op. That and whoever designed her didn't do so with any of this in mind..."
"The same could be said for any ship-girl as well," the raven-haired battleship said, causing the Intelligence analyst to nod in return.
"That's true, but this is different. Even previous experiments by the enemy, or at least the ones we've seen, all were put into environments that played to their strengths. Given how this one's acting, she's trying to compensate for the fight, but it's not her primary means of engagement."
"She's holding back you mean?"
Parker nodded again. "Possibly. Those missiles you showed me could level this city, whether that was her goal or if she were just using it on the Abyssals alone, but she's refraining from them now. It could be ammunition stocks getting low, or it could simply be that she's being careful and opting for a different method. Either could be the case, but I'm betting on the former for the most part."
Nagato spared the man a glance. "Oh? You believe she'll be needing a resupply soon?"
"Noone can fight indefinitely, and she's been waging a one-ship battle all night. And not in the same form of engagement as at sea either. If she can fly, she'll have been burning through fuel stores faster than if she were floating. We've seen that no matter how much spooky bullshit the Abyssals have, they do seem to have a limit on how much they can cheat. We've seen supply ships amongst them on numerous occasions when they do a big operation, and we know that they do have some kind of logistics chain, even if they can bypass the normal requirements on other occasions..."
"So likely her going to this level is due to necessity, rather than choice?"
The man kneaded his forehead, sitting back in his chair as he thought and watched as the Isla's artillery fire started to slacken. "Likely... But like you said, it's too early to tell. I'll need to get my full team on this."
Nagato nodded at that. "Understood. I'll have the materials sent to you as soon as possible." Watching the screens again, the Japanese battleship watched with a stony countenance, even as DesDiv6's markers moved in unison to Taffy 3's further inland.
"So what were you thinking?" Parker asked after a moment. "Did you want to send anyone to do a close-up inspection then? Or a Contact?"
"I've already rerouted a plane carrying troops to take them there, yes..." Nagato replied. "Hopefully we'll have some answers then."
Unbeknownst to the two playing the guessing game, they were partially correct. Leviathan's ammunition stores were at just under 11% for her point defence cannons, and while her Archer pods were still closer to 60% capacity she couldn't use them now, to say nothing of her MAC gun. Her ground teams were starting to get low as well, and as soon as she finished with this group, the cruiser was going to send her Pelicans out to resupply them. For the moment though, they'd have to wait.
The masked He-class Abyssal in her hands gurgled as it breathed its last, its core a shattered and bleeding mess as Leviathan kept one hand around its throat and the other buried in its guts, tearing out viscera and sludge that felt far too oily to the cruiser's fingers. The rest of the artillery Abyssals were in a similar state, broken more by hand than by cannon, return fire from their guns having been slow to reset themselves for the most part and target something that close, though a destroyer-type had gotten off one shot that ricocheted off her breastplate and collar to go up into the air before exploding. Their command ship had hesitated to fire, possibly due to the chance of hitting the ammunition stores of its friends, which had given Leviathan the chance to close the distance, while others had opened up with smaller caliber weapons that did nothing to Leviathan's two-meter-thick-equivalent armor.
With one of the enemy teams now bleeding out into the ground, Levi turned to her map. There were still three more sites to take down, and with one of them moving their targeting past the palace towards an oil field, that made stopping it a priority. Moving swiftly, the ship-girl ran through corridors and walkways towards the next site, hearing another muzzle belch as a shell was sent into the city's belly. Hitching up against a corner, Leviathan ducked her head out just long enough to get an image that locked itself on her HUD before getting back into cover as a single volley passed through where her head had been and blasting a side-building apart.
"Hmmmm, looks like they're ready for me this time," she said, thinking for a moment. Sure, she COULD just walk in and shrug off what they threw at her, but noone ever took stupid risks if they could help it. Tapping her side for a second, her fingers unconsciously went to the oblong objects held there, and she only realized it after having grabbed one of them and pulled it off. Levi looked down at the drop pod in her hand. It didn't have a whole lot of heft, just enough to let you know it was there and meant business, but overall was rather comfortable. Within the pod however ('Or was it pods, plural? It had the feel of it...') came a cacophony of eager little voices, all demanding to be thrown at the enemy.
"You guys want to give it a try, huh?" she said, looking down at the pod in her hand. Getting a rather enthusiastic affirmative over her comms, Leviathan grinned. "Alright then, let's see what you can do..."
The Light Cruiser knew that the Traitor was there, every strut in her body telling her that as surely as the oil coursing in her veins. The Tsu-class' oversized hands were pointed up at the clearing's entrance in a manner very similar to what the Traitor had used, her four turrets waiting for the excuse to fire again and make the human-loving bitch pay. Behind her, three destroyers were still firing up into the air, while two more and several of the land-based proxies were watching both the entrance and side passages that led to the park-like spot that they'd set up on.
As they waited, something smacked against the side of one of the I-class' hulls with a metallic 'Clunk!' Looking down, a black pod of some sort had stuck to it like a remora, unwilling to let go. The Cruiser thought to remove the pod, but before she could do so it seemed to explode! At first it was just smoke and a bit of shrapnel, but as the Abyssal turned back to its subordinate she saw it thrashing about in pain, roaring out as it rolled about on its back. Moving closer to it as the destroyer went still, she saw its hide crack and then break apart to reveal something inside. A small humanoid figure, similar to the fairies that their counterparts used, stood in the crater of the I-class' belly, dressed in black plated armor and helmet with a silver-blue visor. In fingerless-gloved hands, it held against its shoulder a strange, almost rectangular device that opened up to reveal a red light that was glowing brighter...
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" shouted the ODST gremlin, as it fired the mini Spartan Laser directly into the cruiser's face just as its brothers all popped out of the Abyssal's corpse.
"A-are w-we sure th-that it's s-safe?" William D. Porter asked as she looked out a side window in the transport's hull along with the heavy cruiser Louisville. The little destroyer was visibly shaking in her boots, brown braid almost vibrating as she nervously clenched at her hand-mounted turret. The Dixie-cup hat on her head was tilted a little off-center, and the freckled girl still had a band-aid on her nose from where she'd bumped into the door on the way into the plane back in Yokosuka, all of which only served to make the little American that much more adorable to the others around her. Louisville wasn't much different, aside from looking older and a brighter blue jacket, though her hair was kept in a ponytail instead of a braid, and her turrets were paired on a secondary hull at her hip while a saber rode the other side next to her float-plane.
"It's perfectly safe! Don't worry about it!" an orange-clad light cruiser replied. Sendai had volunteered for this operation, though given the night-time operations that wasn't much of a surprise. Despite having lost both of her sisters earlier in the war, the lone cruiser had kept up a good spirit in order to push on. Many were worried that the devastation of losing her sister ship-girls would have crippled her, but the Sendai class was tougher than most gave her credit for. As it was though, Sendai HAD been showing herself to be more willing to throw herself at the Abyssals lately. "We'll have the enemy running in no time at all! Right Musashi-sama?"
The battleship in question nodded as she looked out onto the still-burning city through another port-hole, the firelight glinting off her glasses while she stood with arms crossed over her bandage-covered breasts. Nagato had figured, most likely rightly, that in the tight confines of a city, a battleship's armor and firepower would allow for a superior survivability chance, and since she hadn't been sortied for any other operations yet, it was felt that having one of the mightiest of the fleet on hand if things went wrong was just prudent precautions. Especially now that this new factor was in place. Looking over to her right, Musashi noted the other battleship that had come along, Scharnhorst, was doing some final checks on his rigging. More often looked at as a battlecruiser rather than a battleship, the Kriegsmarine ship was still a good addition to the group, and in a way helped to further round out the feeling of an International expedition. The fact that he and his brother Gneisnau had come back as two of the handful of ship-boys that had come forth didn't change the professionalism that he'd shown either, something that given Musashi's interactions with Harder had a meant a LOT more. All they needed now was one of the British ship-girls and they'd be set for a full representation.
"The enemy has a head start, but resistance was much stiffer than they were apparently expecting," Musashi replied. "The coast is back under local control, so now it is up to us to flush them out from the streets themselves. I expect you all to perform well... Not that you don't already, but now we'll be having an unknown to account for as well as this being unfamiliar territory for us."
"Ah... Y-you think she'll be s-scary like the others?" Willie asked.
"It matters not," Scharnhorst replied as he stood up. "We've been tasked to investigate their purpose here, and to determine what threat she poses to the Allied Fleets and the war against the Abyssals. We will prevail in it."
Musashi nodded. "Indeed. Whatever she does, we shall be ready for."
A light began to flicker in the back of the cabin, and Musashi walked over to hit the intercom button. "Is there a problem?"
"Negative! We're approaching the drop point now! Last call for prep, we'll be ready in 5 minutes!" the pilot called from the cockpit.
"Affirmative! We await the green light!" she said, before turning to the others. "Alright! Strap up! Prepare for battle!"
Willie began strapping herself to Scharnhorst's rigging, additional straps set up in a parachutist's buddy system while Sendai did the same with Louisville. Musashi would be jumping on her own, but would be carrying a pack of extra equipment that her scout planes would be using to record their interaction with the target just in case. As each ship-girl (and boy) double checked each others' rig, testing straps and making sure that their equipment didn't interfere with one another on the way down, the small fleet then gathered at the back hatch, just as the light flickered on to warn them that the pilot was beginning to open it.
The city hung beneath them as daylight began to creep over the horizon, and Musashi took a moment to appreciate the symbolism that they would be arriving with the rising sun. It was a good feeling, to come as rescuer and not invader or enemy, and one that the battleship relished. Looking over at the jumper's light, it kept itself a solid red for a good, long moment... and then finally pulsed green. "GREEN LIGHT FOR JUMP! GO! GO! GO!" the pilot called out, and with a running start the five leapt out the back of the plane and descended into the warzone that was once Manila...
Leviathan finished collecting her Helljumpers as the last Abyssal artillery team lay in pieces, a couple of new scratches on her armor while her gremlins came out with only one casualty, who himself was merely cursing due to the shattered arm and leg he had. Nothing a good rest in her medbay wouldn't fix, but that didn't wipe the proud little smile from creeping onto Levi's face as she hugged the little devils to her hull. "Atta boys... You did good out here. Now, back to barracks. I'll have more work for you later," the cruiser said, before standing up. With them stowed away, Levi called in her Pelicans to refuel and resupply, before sending them out to reconnect with her marines. Speaking of which...
"Sergeant, could you put Bautista on the line please?" she radioed to the one marine.
"Ooo!" came the reply, before the sound of someone trying to fumble with a helmet mic came across.
"Ah, hello? Bautista here, over!" came a rather loud version of the marine's voice, which Leviathan tuned down in her own comms set.
"Reading you loud and clear Bautista, this is Leviathan. Everything alright on your end? Over."
"Ah, roger that Leviathan," the man said, fiddling with the tiny helmet in his palm, the fairy-thing that had given it to him frowning up at him in the process. "Reyes has finally woken up, though he's still out of it somewhat. You dealt with those artillery yet? Over."
"Affirmative Bautista. These guys won't be bothering anyone else again. I've located one survivor here as well, and there might be more. I'm going to see about collecting them all and escorting them back to safety, but the only route off the island is currently rubble. Is there a corridor clear there that I can bring them through? Have you made contact with your command yet? Over."
"Roger that Leviathan. Reinforcements are on the way, but if you've got survivors there I can see about calling in an airlift for them, over."
"That would be appreciated Bautista. I'll radio you once I've got them all rounded up. Sergeant, stick with Bautista's team until reinforcements arrive, then call for Pelican extraction. Leviathan out," she said, listening for the gremlin's confirmation before closing the channel. As Leviathan made her way back towards the first buildings, she let a true smile spread across her lips. "Today's looking up after all. Guess there is a silver lining to things," she said.
Stomping her way back towards the first hospice area, she started down the stairs towards the side room where Mark-Anthony had been. She was about to call out, rounding the corner as she did, when the image in front of her caused Leviathan to freeze. The cupboard was a shattered mess, and blood stained the broken wood and papers. Unwillingly, the cruiser's eyes followed the trail of life fluid towards a doorway, where she beheld the wounded form of an I-class destroyer. Its jaws were slick and red, and a bit of bone showed where it got caught in its teeth. Seemingly aware of its visitor, the black-shelled creature turned one burning blue eye towards her, animalistic intelligence seeing another predator having entered its domain, and it growled warningly at her.
Leviathan shook as she saw all this, yet any thoughts that might have otherwise formed were drowned out by the sheer RAGE that was threatening to boil forth from her... And after a mere second's hesitation the cruiser let the chains holding it back shatter! A roar of pure HATE and ANGER poured forth from her throat, lips curled back to reveal the fangs that replaced her molars and canines as she lunged at the destroyer, hands curled into claws while the jaws of her MAC gun opened wide to attack as well...
Moving from building to building, Willie kept her gun pointed in front of her as she listened for anything moving around. It was quiet, and while she and Scharnhorst were both moving quietly, the ship-girl had wondered if maybe it'd been a mistake for her to come. She KNEW she wasn't the most skilled of the fleet, even if she were one of the first of the American ship-girls to come back. Oh, she wasn't quite as pessimistic as she'd been in the first couple of months... or year really, but the little destroyer was still quite aware that she was the clumsiest. Gulping as she moved down another sidewalk, Willie saw Sendai practically stalking the alleys like the ninja everyone said she resembled. Willie had never seen it herself though really, weren't ninjas supposed to dress in black after all? But she did have to admit that the light cruiser had a talent for sneaking around.
Scharnhorst also had worries, but his were more mission-oriented. He'd seen a few dead Abyssals by now, looking like they'd been beaten and torn apart as well as shot up, but no sign of who did it. Holding his primary Anton turret in his hands like a rifle, the ship-boy moved forward to cover Willie. Musashi and Louisville were nearby, he knew, but with the buildings blocking his line of sight the Kriegsmariner was feeling claustrophobic...
Suddenly, a loud shrieking roar could be heard, overlapped quickly by a second deeper roar that only lasted for a few heartbeats before stuttering to a halt. The shrieking continued however, as both Willie and Scharnhorst looked at each other before bolting towards the source of it. Sendai was also following it, moving swiftly yet cautiously through the alleys with her sword in one hand and turret-arm up and ready in the other. Before they got to the source of the cries however, it decided to make is presence known in another way, as a wall burst from within to reveal two black-clad figures wrestling with one another, eldritch blue light coming from one of them as both broadcast their rage and hate for one another at full volume into the other's face.
As the dust cleared, the larger of the two overtook the smaller, wounded one and started smashing it into the ground, pinning the destroyer's oversized, shark-like jaws with its hands while its... Tail from the looks of it... darted in and out like a scorpion's tail, ripping into the soft, bleeding underbelly like an animal. Taking a step back while keeping his weapons aimed at the Ju-class, Scharnhorst finally spotted Louisville coming out across the yard from him and grabbing at her saber, her two turrets already locking onto the giant Abyssal brawl. A shared glance between the four visible ship-people communicated the need to wait and see what was happening, but even then all of them felt their fingers tightening on triggers as the Ju-class let out another roar. With one last punch to the destroyer's carapace, the armor cracked and buckled to crush whatever passed for its brain, causing the I-class' stubby legs to twitch and then freeze from where they'd been trying to push back its attacker, then finally go limp. Not done yet, the Ju-class grabbed the lower jaw of the beast and heaved upwards, holding the rest of the thing's body down with an armored knee until the appendage tore off in a bloody spray of greenish-black fluids. Tossing the jaw away, nearly hitting Scharnhorst in the process, the larger Abyssal began to pound at the thing's corpse, crushing and mutilating it even further in a violent rage.
As Musashi finally entered the clearing as well, it was to this sight that the normally haughty battleship felt herself tense up nervously, taking in the full form of their target as it heaved from its exertions. Panting breathing came out like growls from beneath a maw-shaped helmet, visor glittering between black fangs while the serpent-like tail pulled back on cable-like muscles, or perhaps actual cables, to rest again against its owner's back like a stowed rifle. As the Abyssal caught its breath, it finally noticed that it was surrounded, and turned its head to look straight at her. For a moment, the battleship thought that it would begin hostilities again, but instead it seemed to freeze.
"Mu... Musashi? Is that... you?" it said, its voice coming out still ragged, but instead of aggression it sounded confused. Abruptly the silvery coloring of the Ju-class' helmet faded away, becoming as clear as glass and allowing the battleship to actually see the face of the... woman underneath the armor. Pale skin glinted, and yet it was her eyes that caught Musashi's attention. Abyssals usually had blue or green-colored eyes that glowed with that eldritch light of St. Elmo's fire, but there were exceptions. The ones that survived multiple engagements or had better equipment than their fellows tended to have a reddish glow to them, and were more aggressive, and some had hints of purple that seemed to indicate ones that had special abilities or the like. Yellow ones though... Those were reserved solely for what were presumed to be flagships, the commanders of the various Abyssal squadrons and fleets, the ones that actually showed the intelligence befitting something more than animals. Seeing that coloration on this Ju-class was already sending warning sirens throughout her mind, yet Musashi was struck by how the Abyssal seemed to be... recognizing her from somewhere. For a moment, they all stood still as they stared at one another, the other ship-girls and boy confused and unsure of what they were supposed to do now, while Musashi and Leviathan were both just flat confused...
And it was at that point that Willie tried to take a nervous step back, only to trip on a piece of concrete and fall back on her ass... and her gun fired off a shell that exploded directly against Leviathan's faceplate...