Chapter 13

"Want some?"

Minneapolis held out her pack of gum at Bismarck's uncle. As he politely shook his head, his gaze still tried it's damned hardest to look at any part of the room where she wasn't in view; the small guest room they were in didn't help.

Heh, what an old-fashioned guy, reminds me of Hood actually…

Though brief, she did meet Hood of the Royal Navy during an exercise in the Atlantic during the Azur Lane-Crimson Axis War. The 'elegant lady' as she had called herself, nearly fainted upon seeing her attire. Once back at the Royal Navy base in Portsmouth, she spent her time being chased around by a bunch of maids with 'costume alterations'. They never found her, but it proved to be great exercise regardless.

"Alright, your loss buddy."

She placed another stick in her mouth, before realizing that she needed to get a new supply of them soon. In the month and a bit more since coming to this strange, parallel world, they had managed to burn through a lot of their supplies. Even the few small-scale resupplies were barely enough to sustain them regardless. Kansen didn't need fuel strictly speaking, but it was still good to eat food to replenish them. When travelling across long distances, the three of them took turns sailing, with only one Kansen's actual ship active at any given point to save on fatigue and fuel.

"So, what's your story?" They were left alone while Bismarck and Perseus hashed something out with the diplomat or something, so she might as well kill time.

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard me, what's your story? How did ya get here? Who are you? Yadadada. I'm bored, so we've got loads of time to kill."
She decided to lie down on the (sofa?) incredibly ornate couch she was lazing on. As he looked at her for a brief second again, he quickly looked away. Wow, he really was like Hood! Maybe even worse probably.

"W-Well, I'm Steve Rogers, or Captain America-"

"PFFFT-sorry. Please continue." You expected her to not laugh at that? Yes, she knew he was Captain America, but it sounded very similar to Reno's antics, her 'superhero' persona in particular. Hearing him say it seriously was too much for her to handle.

"Right…wait, have you never heard of me before?"

"You being Steve or that Captain…what was it again? America? What even is America?"

Steve had a gobsmacked look on his face as he stared intently at Minneapolis. Where was hus prude attitude now?

"You're named after Minneapolis. A city in the United States of America."

What was he talking about? Yeah, she was named after a city, but 'United States of America' was a foreign-sounding name to her. Was it the Eagle Union equivalent of this mirror world?

"...I am Minneapolis, Eagle Union Ship. Or EUS Minneapolis if you wanna be formal like that. Friends and my sister just call me Minnie though, not that you can, just saying that right now."

Steve brought his hand to his face as he massaged his temple. "Wait, Bismarck mentioned this. So, in your world, the United States is…the Eagle Union. And that makes you from the Eagle Union, and not American…"

She shot him a finger gun with her left arm. "You got that right."

"Uhuh. In that case, I welcome you to New York-"

"Been here before. I know it as NY Port."

As she had more time to take a good look around her, the area that surrounded the ship didn't look like anything too impressive. Compared to the NY Port of her world, it was a lot less shiny, and with much fewer port facilities. Overall, New York City ranked worse than NY Port, for now that was.

"Right, you were born in the 1930s, similar to Bian-Bismarck?"

She thought about it for a second, if she remembered correctly, she was actually 'born' a few years younger than she was, thus making her technically the senior.

"Yeah, roughly, I think I'm actually older than her though."

He had a very curious expression on his face as he brought his fist up to cover his mouth.

"...you don't look a day over sixteen though…" How cute, he thought he was being quiet with his mumbling, unfortunately, Kansen had enhanced senses.

"Eh, it's not like Kansen age the same way humans do. But they can be pretty out of the times if they were around long enough. There's this Sakura Empire battleship called Mikasa-"

"What's this about Mikasa-senpai?"

At this moment, Hanazuki came back in carrying a tray of tea and other assorted snacks like biscuits. She had been gone for a while, it was about time she showed up!

"Took you a long time! Did you get lost finding the kitchen or something?"

She nodded. "This place is too big, and I can't read the Ironblood language either, so it took me a good while before some flashing lights guided me back here…" Her ears slightly drooped down as she gave her answer. She always did wonder how some Kansen seemed to gain other appendages, like Hammann for example, how did she gain cat ears in the first place? No one else in Eagle Union had something similar, and neither did her sisters. At some point, she joked to Quincy that they were probably clip-on ears or something.

"Anyways, as I was saying, Kansen can be 'old', but not in the sense that humans are familiar with I guess. They can't ever truly die from natural causes. But we can sometimes get sick for some reason, which usually stems from issues of our riggings or our actual ship body though." She had a nasty cold a couple of months back, and that was due to poor maintenance of her engines apparently, Vestal had whacked her head over it, hard.

"Huh…I never really thought of that. But Bianka grew up, so how is she any different-"

"C'mon, don't go! Last offer! Sixty-five percent of all sales profits as royalties to you, just stay in the Avengers! If I go any higher, Pepper will quite literally wring my neck, we make a much better team together! Think of the merchand-team cohesiveness in the eyes of public if you just go ahead and form your own thing!"

A loud shout came from the hallway just outside of the room they were in, it appeared to come from the man in red and gold armour. Bismarck's voice was then heard next, and she had the usual no-nonsense tone to it.

"I will remove you from my ship if you do not cease your attempts, Herr Stark. My decision is final and the ambassador has been notified. Do not make me throw you out by force."

Steve sighed, as he slowly got up and put on his funny-looking helmet, a stylized 'A' emblazoned on its front. "I better go stop Tony before he makes her really snap."

As he left the room, Minneapolis was left alone with Hanazuki now, it appeared that whatever talk they had turned out differently than what was expected. She took a peek out of the small window showing the city outside, and an idea formed on her head.

"Hey, Hanazuki." She gave her most serene smile at her, hoping that the Sakura Destroyer will see her way of things.

"...I am almost afraid to ask, but what do you want Minneapolis?"

She thumbed towards the window behind her. "There's a whole city outside there waiting to be explored, you don't want to spend all your time cooped up in here right? When's the last time we could actually go into a city without a disguise? It'll be fun, promise!"

The last major city there were in was London, this world's Londinium, the capital of the Royal Navy. Though they had to do it under disguise, this time, they could enjoy the city and its sights as themselves, even if was right after a major battle. What's a bit of rubble against the city's major attractions anyways?

How was the WSC founded in the first place? For such a powerful group, with near-extra judicial powers, there had to be some sort of history to them. The answer as most modern institutions today have, laid in the backdrop of the Cold War. With tensions ever running high, its initial conception was simply a council made up of the most powerful nations in the world that were against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. Like its successor, the council that came before the WSC fulfilled a very similar role, but was much more skewed towards U.S. interests due to it being dominated by them alone. At one point, three out of four council members were American.

That all changed after the Soviet Union dissolved, and suddenly, just like NATO, the council that came before needed to find a new reason for its existence.

"I believe this issue is a concern for not only SHIELD but also the continued stability of the world. Wouldn't you agree, director?" Jakuna Singh, the councilman from India asked.

"But then again, this issue wouldn't have happened in the first place without your Avengers initiative. So, what do you propose we do about this?"

Looking at his holographic form, Fury almost wanted to scoff at him but he knew that would only antagonize the council against him even more. Pacing slowly back to his desk, he was prepared for such a question being asked and took out a folder from his drawer.

"And Councilman Singh, what do you suggest we do about attempts to recruit 'enhanced' individuals for a government team in India? Would you say that is also a cause for concern? If Pakistan got wind of this, wouldn't they also do the same?"

His look instantly soured as Fury kept reading about the Indian government's attempts so far. The other WSC members looked at him skeptically. "I wouldn't worry about it just yet, there still hasn't been a single nominee or person that fits the job description."

"I…am not privy to those details in my government." Of course, he'd say that.

"Enough, may we get back on track, gentlemen?" Pamela Hawley, the United Kingdom's representative cut in with an unamused tone.

"Yes…indeed. What will we do about the new 'Azur Lane' organization then? If I am not mistaken, the United Kingdom has a representative in it, perhaps you may want to enlighten this council on what should be done about it?" It seemed that he had mastered the tone of diplomatic passive aggressiveness. A skill that any diplomat worth their salt should know very well.

Fury felt a grin begin to form on his face for a split second before fighting it back down. "SHIELD has no quarrel with them, and in fact, we hope to have a good, cooperative relationship with them in the future. At this time, we have no reason to suspect them for any malicious intent."

So, Bismarck was still not on the Avengers roster, at least not officially. 'Azur Lane' was also not announced to the public yet whatsoever, he just had his sources, good ones at that in the EU.

"It is not that we suspect it for malicious purposes, but rather the idea that it represents." Hawley spoke succinctly, eager to quash any doubts in Fury's mind, but he knew better.

"The world is changing once more, nearly two years ago now, Thor touched down in New Mexico, Banner had his rampage in Harlem, and Stark had his little exhibition at his expo. What was once thought to be relegated to the imaginations of children, is now once more at the forefront of everyday people. That, unfortunately, resulted in a certain amount of… anxiety for nations around the world. The Avengers are dangerous, Director Fury, but not for the reasons you think they are."

Fury knew what she was saying.

"And, pray tell Councilwoman, how do you expect SHIELD to reign them in?"

The Avengers were one thing, but the new existence of Azur Lane, sent a message, a wrong kind of message. Instead of signalling to the world that there was one team, for defending all, it simply encouraged the creation of localized responses instead. The Indian report was only one such report of dozens, Russia, China, Japan and even the U.S. were looking into any such 'enhanced' individuals that they could bring towards making their 'own' heroes.

"That, is your duty, Director." Fury wanted to scowl at her, great, more work for him then.

"I don't care about how you do it, but they need to be reigned in, lest more copycats spring up everywhere. There are things that every nation has concealed for themselves, and I would like to see them buried, for lack of a better term."

He knew some of them, and on that point, he could agree with her. The last thing he'd like to see is something like the Red Room's remnants being used for…

"I assume it will be left to my discretion? Unlike New York?"

Yes, he was still very mad about being bypassed completely. That night after the battle, he kept a gun underneath his pillow while still on the helicarrier.

"It will. Now, I believe the next item on our next agenda is the remnants of Project PEGASUS…"

He mentally sighed, here they were again, on another rodeo chasing after a 'wonder weapon' that could deal with all of Earth's threats. Bracing himself, he prepared new arguments to fend off new programs like it, or worse, ones that had Bismarck and her new 'friends' as a focus.

AN:

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