Chapter 16

Statecraft was something Bismarck familiarized herself with. The inner workings of Ironblood were backed up by a strong bureaucracy that enabled everything from ammunition to new facilities to be built. That often required meeting with other branches of government such as the finance ministers and even the environmental ministry. But, like her namesake, she was best suited towards dealing with the other factions in her world. Many in Ironblood lands looked up to her namesake as a source and beacon of its might and prowess in diplomatic affairs, even if they ignored that he was a man with no basis and a ruthless ambition for power. That part of history was something Bismarck wished to avoid for herself, but alas, she met her end during her last stand against the Royal Navy, but now, past sins did not matter in this world, all that was left were new beginnings.

"Come on! At least tell me what Minneapolis said, I've never seen Ross that pissed before."

"If she doesn't want to say, I won't force her to."

"Spoil the fun for me, will ya?"

With the man called Ross humiliated, Tony and Steve watched him leave while fuming clearly for all to see. On an elevator up to Stark Tower, Bismarck was taking the three other Kansen with her to sightsee New York City before they left. With many famous attractions closed, they had to settle for seeing the city from the damaged, but still standing tower. Walking out of the elevator, Bismarck saw that much of the rubble and damage had already been cleared away, but the damage still remained regardless.

"Damn, it must have been one hell of a battle, huh?" Minneapolis commented as she got to the large glass windows overlooking Manhattan. Rescue operations had ended by now, and all she could see were salvage operators clearing out everything from debris to alien craft.

"Indeed. It's a shame you three weren't here, the battle could have resolved itself much quicker otherwise."

Having just Perseus here, for example, meant that the skies could be completely locked down with her fighters. Sadly, she arrived too late to do anything, thus relegating that idea to a 'what if'.

"We saw the battle on board Belfast through a television in her canteen, she suggested we come to your aid immediately after it ended." Hanazuki helpfully added from the side. Now that she thought about it, Perseus did mention meeting her before coming here. Well, another thing to do once they went to Europe, they had to take stock of everyone still around anyways. Bolstering their forces was something the Azur Lane of this world sorely needed-

"What the-hey! It's me!"

Turning around, the voice belonged to Doctor Banner if she remembered correctly. That was not directed at her, however, as his stare was instead at Perseus, who returned one to him just the same. Blinking rapidly, Perseus spoke first.

"Doctor Banner? You're here?! I thought you remained in Calcutta?"

"You know him?"

Bismarck immediately turned to Minneapolis, who nodded in affirmation. "Yep, we met him in Calcutta after Perseus crashed into an orphanage's roof-"

"Hmm?" An intense glare from the Royal Navy carrier quickly shut Minneapolis's mouth, and she returned to greet him.

"Woah, woah, woah, you three know Bruce? Small world, but I gotta hear this story. Why didn't you mention that you knew them?"

"I didn't, well, Bismarck I didn't know, the other three I knew pretty well a month ago in Calcutta. Then Romanoff came to recruit me for the Avengers and…"

Tony raised a hand up at him, prompting him to stop. "Hold that thought, JARVIS! I need a drink and popcorn, this story I wanna hear in its entirety…"

Bismarck raised an eyebrow at Hanazuki and Minneapolis. "What did you three get up to before finding Belfast? You said you appeared in the Indian Ocean, that is a long way to London by my estimates, how did you even get there?"

The heavy cruiser scratched her head as she awkwardly began talking. "Well…it's a long story…"

Night had befallen the city, and Bismarck could truly see that it lived up to its name. The streets were practically still lit up completely even this late into the night. Under request from SHIELD, they had stowed their vessels back into themselves so that the police patrol could instead be diverted to other more pressing needs. With their hulls no longer physically present, however, they needed a place to sleep, and that was when Tony immediately stepped in. As annoying as that man was, he knew how to make someone feel welcome in true Eagle Uni-American fashion when it came down to it. Or it was another last-ditch attempt to get her to remain in the Avengers.

"Can't sleep?"

Speak of the devil and he will show.

Tony, in his pyjamas, walked out onto the balcony where Bismarck was taking in the sights of Manhattan's skyline before she had to leave soon. She nodded, and he nodded back at her.

The two remained silent, simply looking at the still somewhat busy streets below. However, she did notice a few things about him that seemed off. Sweat on his brows, twitchy hands, and most importantly, she recognized the expression he held right now. It was one she often had growing up in this world. Sighing internally, she didn't want him to make the same mistakes as she did, bottling it up and making herself miserable for nearly two decades.

"Those are not good dreams, Herr Stark."

"Huh?" He answered a bit too quickly and jumped a bit at her answer, confirming her suspicions.

"You dream of the battle, no?"

"How-pfft. No…what makes you think that?"

"I can see right through you, do not lie to me." Bismarck channelled a bit of her prior personality here to get through to him. Tony was a person who avoided doing things he didn't want to, even if it was needed. The problem people like that was when they kept their problems boiling, all the way until it exploded like a steam engine unable to release its pressure.

"Damn. How did you know?"

At least he's admitting it.

"...I too, experienced what you have. Do you know of my history?"

He hesitantly nodded. "Then you will know of my demise. It is true both in this world, and my own."

Growing up alone in the orphanage, she experienced many nightmares firsthand, mostly about sinking into the depths of the Atlantic over and over again. That sensation of slowly sinking, oil and other debris slowly dropping down with her as the sun became dimmer and dimmer stayed with her even when reborn. Unfortunately, she has had to deal with it alone, as none would ever believe her, an orphaned child, having nightmares of Bismarck's demise in this world. Tony was not a soldier, he was a scientist that found himself fighting battles meant for battle-hardened veterans, and it seemed that the invasion finally broke him.

"The sensation of waking up suddenly at night in sweats, finding yourself suffocating in the great void between life and death…then reliving it over and over again in dreams you cannot control. That, I know very well."

Tony did not speak, and so she continued.

"We Kansen, whether it was a blessing or a curse, have been given the same emotions as any other human. You are a very intelligent man, Herr Stark, but may I perhaps offer you some wisdom?"

"S-Sure."

"Do not fight it alone, with all that talk about being a team, choosing to keep it to yourself is foolishness of the highest order." Tony remained impassive at her words, his expression was something that she couldn't exactly decipher. Bismarck slowly walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder when she got right beside him.

"After all, what are we fellow Avengers for? Come find me if you need to talk, or if I am not available, Steve is also adept at these matters. He has his own problems to face, I believe the two of you will get along fine."

She left, leaving Tony alone on the balcony, overlooking the somewhat clear summer night sky. It was still New York City, and light pollution was bound to be intense. From the shadows, Bismarck watched as Tony chuckled to himself a bit, before retiring back to his room. Satisfied, she too decided to retire for the night, a potential issue was addressed, and Steve had someone to talk to after she went back to Europe. All in all, a good, quiet night.

AN:

For SB readers:

Here we are, the fic onto this site as promised. I won't go into a long-winded explanation about why I decided to move, but it basically boiled down to SB not being a dedicated site to post fiction. The forum aspect of it was fun at first, but then I noticed things that there were some peculiarities that made it odd to me in that format. Pretty much the only reason I even started posting my works on SB was that my first fic was a Worm one. With my pivot away from fics of that fandom, I realised that there were some parts of SB I really disagreed with over the course of posting my fics there. There was also the culture of SB being something that is…pretty unique to that site that I don't really find anywhere else. Due to that, I found myself beginning to write my stories in a way that I didn't want to at first but was slowly eased into it through the comments I got. I first noticed it during Crimson Abyss and the latest fic I posted was the 'last straw' that made me genuinely pissed. Then I realized 'Why the hell am I wasting time with this shit? My last year of Uni is literally three months away!'.

And so, to avoid spiking my blood pressure, I decided to instead pivot to this site. Sure, I get fewer responses overall, but that doesn't matter to me as much anymore. Thank you to all who have come from SB, now, onto a bright new future, eh?

Be civil in the reviews.