Author's Notes
Hey, just preparing a draft for this idea which popped up regarding a Fate Apocrypha fanfic where Mordred, in winning the Greater Holy Grail War, gets to time travel to the Fifth Holy Grail War to fight Artoria Saber as her wish is to get to lift the Sword of Appointment, throwing the timeline off the rails in the self-created 'Shattered Crowns' timeline.
Anyone interested in contributing ideas, feel free to PM me.
Zuikaku slid in between Simurgh's legs, ignoring the stinging numbness of her hips as the Beast used its autocannon to lay down cover fire, everyone else evading and diving for cover since their enemy had the advantage of an elevated position due to its height.
Shigure took flight while Tenryuu unleashed a Blade Rush and Tatsuta shot at the Beast with a flurry of God-Killing Spears, but Simurgh simply replied with a quick-fire Hyper Beam that was partially charged to reduce the time in between telegraphing its attack and firing it, Tatsuta and Tenryuu evading while Zuikaku slid to a stop and looked up at Simurgh's lifted mechanical hoof which was about to crush her.
Barrel-rolling out of the way as her entire body left the ground from the earth shuddering and throwing her about two centimeters into the air due to Simurgh's foot missing her shoulder by a hair, her breath and heart both stopped upon realizing how close she was to death while her eyes squeezed shut from the resulting dust cloud.
The mobile foot lifted to lumber away from her and Zuikaku realized that the shaking was now mostly because of her as her trembling arms met the shivering ground, looking up to find Kinugasa running up the side of a fallen tree which was shaped like a ramp with its stump elevating the fractured tree as the fatigued and injured heavy cruiser grunted from the effort of sprinting before long-jumping.
Simurgh then spun around at a shockingly agile speed for its colossal size, Zuikaku covering her head and hugging the ground as the Beast tap-danced around her cowering figure beneath it, praying that she wouldn't get stepped on as she screamed,
"AAHHHH!"
And as she dared to look up after the commotion died down, she saw Simurgh's left steel wing folding as another tree toppled over, hearing one of them shout over the radio,
"Kinugasa!"
Kinugasa didn't get up again in the distance, although the lack of a death notification meant that she was merely knocked out.
Scrambling out of the way as she saw Shigure come up and hover in mid-air beyond Simurgh's reach, her two palm repulsors glowed with the luminosity of the sun as she howled,
"X-BURNER!"
And the resulting pillar of light basically illuminated the entire battlefield brighter than the overhead sun did while blowing back the branches and leaves on any trees which were still standing, and the resulting beam tore into the flesh of the Beast and dealt what was likely a mortal blow as it fell on its back and sent Zuikaku flying again, falling on her face and curling up to avoid danger as her body was tingling from the adrenaline drugging her up and driving her limbs into a frenzy to scramble back onto her feet while climbing over something.
And said 'something' began to get up and move.
Machine-esque whirs and electronic systems were heard powering up as Zuikaku's balance was thrown off and had her clinging onto Simurgh's lower flank for dear life as the earth zipped increasingly and dizzyingly further away from her.
FUCK.
She lost her M24 sniper rifle, what was she going to fight Cynthia with?
Her brash tsundere attitude and the power of friendship?
Hanging on for dear life while wishing that the Beast wouldn't transform into its vehicle mode and turn her into a chunky steel-fuel paste which was stuck its moving and grinding internal mechanisms, she braced herself against Simurgh's near-deafening screech which was muted by her internal ear mufflers while clinging onto the seven-meter tall Beast in hopes that she could do something up here.
Another shudder which shook the Beast to its core came from Tenryuu's Blade Rush driving the evading Simurgh into Shigure's X-Burner, and Zuikaku's left hand slipped to cause her right side to slam into Simurgh just as some moving parts pinched her flesh, and the biting sensation of steel cutting into her flesh had her inhaling through clenched teeth.
She then heard Tatsuta swear perhaps for the first time in Zuikaku's life, uncharacteristically so since the light cruiser was concerned about her well-being as she clung to the side of a Beast created for the sole purpose of annihilating enemies.
"Zuikaku!
GET THE FUCK OFF THAT BEAST!"
"No!
I think I can do something up here!"
The Shokaku-Class carrier, headstrong and willful as she always was, pushed herself on by clinging onto Simurgh's armor and looked up at the mass of moving, whirring and scraping steel standing in between her and Simurgh's head, which Cynthia likely looked out of since her armored cockpit was shielded/obscured by steel plates.
An idea then came into her mind.
A really stupid idea.
But then again, they said she wasn't the most level-headed and smartest of carriers anyway.
Shigure dive-bombed as she slammed herself into Simrugh's head, angling herself so that she wouldn't get seared by a Hyper Beam as she slammed her right knee into Simurgh's face before unloading her remaining flares into Simurgh's optics and then let go before the Beast got a hold of her, another shriek causing Zuikaku to flinch due to its increased volume at a closer range as the Beast clutched its optics and stumbled about drunkenly.
She spotted a sizable hole punched into the Beast's armor courtesy of Shigure, and Zuikaku received another flash of inspiration as she endured the hot metal which slightly cooked her palms and fingers while she slammed her boot into a notch in the armor to propel herself upwards.
Holding her breath as she peeked into the scorched hole which Shigure managed to carve into the Beast, singed wires and smoking motherboards lined its interior as she impulsively thrust her hand in and pulled at whatever her hand could touch, ignoring how the Beast now moved erratically and was flailing about as she threw away whatever was in her hands before reaching in again for more, spotting stalactite-like claws blurring in her peripheral vision as she pulled herself in to hug Simurgh just before its clawed arm swung down in an attempt to swat her from its body.
It tore at her uniform and scraped some skin off of her back, but she endured it by tearing out another fistful of electronics before continuing to climb up and avoid the clawed palm slamming onto its wound where it thought she was, Simurgh then crowing in its form of pain groaning upon exacerbating its own wound before continuing to claw at its own body.
Feeling out her pocket knife sheath and feeling disappointed as she came up empty, she sought to improvise as she scaled the behemoth, two steps forward and one step back as every impact and wild movement either caused her hand or feet to slip, and she only had the use of two hands to support her entire body at one point in time, with legs dangling in mid-air as Zuikaku climbed its left shoulder-blade whilst keeping away from the blisteringly-hot back thrusters.
Don't look down.
Finally getting up to its shoulder, she ducked beneath another claw which reached for her as she got closer to its head and felt rather giddy upon glancing down at the distant, moving ground beneath her before she tore off her uniform top, exposing her blood-soaked bra and showing off some skin to the uncaring world.
Inching closer to Simurgh's beaked, eagle-like head while other ship girls likely caught on to her plan as they laid down covering fire, Zuikaku winced at the fact that enemy sniper rounds were missing her only because she was a small moving target hanging onto a towering Beast of mass destruction, and she jumped forward as she wrapped her army uniform around Simurgh's head and eyes.
Simurgh's cries became confused and wild, movements becoming erratic as the clawed swipes in her direction increased threefold in frequency but was more feral than ever, Zuikaku now engaging in the most lethal version of the Bucking Bronco as she winced at the near-misses while screaming into the radio.
"SHOOT HER!"
Autocannon rounds blazed from the barrel of Simurgh's wrist weapon and went wide due to Zuikaku's uniform top blocking her sights, and flares that were fired in every direction as if she were caught in the midst of an eruption of scorching fireworks singed her exposed skin even when they missed her, phosphorus and other chemical odors clogging up the air and making it hard to breathe as her vision began to fade to white from the luminosity of the blinding flares, tears starting to form as chemicals irritated her eyes.
Even then, she held on as another flare bounced off her upper left arm, the reactive chemical meteor leaving behind a nasty second-degree burn and a howling Zuikaku temporarily losing all sensation in that arm and was now starting to regret her rash decision with a pained,
"Ahhh!"
The ship girls firing on Simurgh caused it to wildly shudder about, Zuikaku losing her balance as her foot slipped and caused her entire side profile to slam into Simurgh and had Zuikaku feel thankful that none of her carrier friends were here to hear her cuss like a sailor, her crotch injury staring to flare up again with period-like agony (she was quite certain blood was flowing down under by now) and she hung onto her uniform with her arm as sharp edges, moving armor and hot steel pinched, pierced and cooked her while she unwittingly rolled about to be mauled and roasted on all sides.
"AAHHH!
HELP!"
Several ship girls from Amazon company were moving up with scavenged rocket launchers, Zuikaku even noticing JSDF soldiers valiantly engaging Abyssals in close combat in order to free up space for their missile batteries, causing Simurgh to revert to its hippogriff form in order to present a smaller target while hugging the ground.
And as Zuikaku regained the feeling in her scorched left arm and managed to swing a leg over the nape of Simurgh's neck to pull herself up and lie down on, an ominous shadow eclipsed her figure.
Her eyes widened as she noted the Beast's wings spreading to blast another current of air around itself and looked back to see Cynthia's heel slamming into her head, the Beast taking off as the world began to swim in Zuikaku's concussed vision even as she hung off the side of Simurgh's elongated neck, with legs dangling while Cynthia raised her heel.
Stomping hard on her left hand, Zuikaku felt several bones within it crack as she seethed,
"Ssss… ahh!"
Releasing her shattered left hand, her right hand felt as if its joints would pop and her flesh tear in half before dropping her since it supported her entire body weight, and she could see her stolen ring caused Cynthia to hold back on stomping down on her right hand due to its perceived sentimental value, a trait hardly seen in rank-and-file Abyssals.
Cynthia instead knelt and leaned down to pry the ring off of Zuikaku's finger with her working hand, Zuikaku getting another bright idea all while noticing the receding ground in her peripheral vision as Simurgh took flight again.
Pushing her aching abdominal muscles to the limit by lifting her lower body in order to plant her boots on Simurgh's throat, she mimicked someone pulling out a tree shoot from the ground as she pried her right hand free of Cynthia's one-handed death grip, forcing Cynthia to do the same to counteract her downwards force with an equivalent upward force, Zuikaku's shortened twin-tails pointing 'up' towards the ground while Simurgh's clawed limbs were occupied with tearing her uniform off of its head.
And then Zuikaku stopped struggling.
Cynthia's upward force flung her into the air as Simurgh was now three meters from the ground, the Shoukaku-Class carrier body-slamming into Simurgh's back as sore muscles and aches in her fatigued body acted up, along with partially healed wounds from the Battle at Kamogawa City Hall and smoke inhalation from the flares taking its toll on her lungs as she was then hit with a coughing fit, rib-cage seizing up while her sides started to hurt.
It then hurt even more as Cynthia viciously kicked her in the side, causing her indescribable agony as she writhed around and coughed out blood due to the broken ribs and injured organs, an exasperated Cynthia remarking while trapping her right forearm underneath her heel.
[Why is it always you Yokosuka ship girls who interfere with our plans the most?]
But another violent shake made her trip as an RPG hit Simurgh, allowing Zuikaku to thrash about and wriggle out of Cynthia's loosened foothold as she heard someone shout over the radio,
"Zuikaku!
You need to get off of Simurgh, we run the chance of hitting you!"
"Got it!"
Fearlessly throwing herself off of Simurgh, a fleeting thought ran through her mind which was mostly running on adrenaline, fear and panic to care about her situation as the ground zipped towards her,
'Oh, crap, I really should have jumped off such that I'd land on my feet.
And seeing how Simurgh is airborne…
Fuu - '
She landed flat on her back after a brutal twelve-meter drop, immediately arching her sprained back as the agonizing impact hit her spine full-force and set fire to every nerve in it along with antagonizing the burns throughout her body, clutching her back as she felt warm arms grab and haul her away from the Beast as her wobbly legs failed her more than once, armed ship girls screaming.
"Get her!
Get her!"
Thrusters were fired as Zuikaku shielded her eyes from the wind which howled from the afterburners ejecting a downwards thrust to lift Simurgh, the Beast slapping away one RPG fired at it before it could detonate a second later, then morphing into its vehicle mode for fast-travel as Tenryuu asked,
"Where's she going?"
"Not far, that's for sure!"
Shigure blasted off to catch up with Simurgh, firing repulsor blasts at it as the fight was a streaking black dot of a destroyer taking on a hulking monster of a Beast who was in vehicle mode, eventually turning back into Beast mode as a thin light beam fired by Shigure hit home.
Zuikaku limped forward while having one arm slung over Tenryuu to witness Simurgh transforming back into its humanoid assault mode while landing beside a Komatsu LAV as the JGSDF occupants fearfully exited the vehicle, Simurgh paying then no mind as the Beast lifted the light armored vehicle clean off the ground with a heave before hurling it into the distance with yet another shriek, beak burning with another Hyper Beam to fire at the landed LAV in order to cause a grenade-like explosion before transforming and taking off again.
And with another sonic boom, the Beast was gone.
Zuikaku's HUD grimly updated her,
'UPDATING COMBINED FLEET SHIP GIRL STATUS
PLEASE WAIT…'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
KAGEROU-CLASS DESTROYER 118
"HATSUKAZE"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
KONGOU-CLASS BATTLESHIP 022
"HIEI"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
AYANAMI-CLASS DESTROYER 068
"AKEBONO"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
FUBUKI-CLASS DESTROYER 014
"MIYUKI"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
AKITSUSHIMA-CLASS SEAPLANE TENDER 250
"AKITSUSHIMA"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
TAKAO-CLASS HEAVY CRUISER 062
"CHOUKAI"
STATUS: DECEASED'
Zuikaku struggled to comprehend the fact that this was likely the single most number of deaths which occurred thus far, the thought that they might have sustained even more at the hands of the J.O.A.N. units if not for Tenryuu, Tatsuta and Shigure engaging and distracting those Beasts in battle filling the back of her mind.
She collapsed despite Tenryuu's valiant attempts to keep her standing, falling to the ground with a sigh as she noticed a dot in the sky soar beyond the range of even her enhanced vision and carrier radar as Shigure likely returned to Aoba and Akashi, Zuikaku still feeling sore all over as she shifted her blurry vision down to the band of metal on her ring finger.
She found this battle to be an emotional and strategic victory on some level as they held their ground against the Abyssals, and what Cynthia valued, she now had possession of it and she likely held some kind of sway over the Abyssal J.O.A.N. unit.
She was then swept up in a flurry of hands tending to her wounds, stabs of pain arising from the first-aid performed on her and the occasional face coming back into focus to look back down at her with the utmost of concern, but somehow, in the midst of the post-battle frenzy as Amazon company scrambled to account for and treat the dead and dying, Zuikaku could only focus on the ring.
Somehow, as she fell unconscious after she endured the worst of the first-aid treatment, she felt the ring resonating within her as if it had always belonged to her and had returned to its rightful owner, or at least close enough as a doppelganger, a voice was being telepathically transmitted directly into her consciousness as if managing to recall a memory once lost to the elements of time.
It was Kaga's voice.
The ring tried to show her something shortly before her fatigued mind blocked it out and faded to black to leave Zuikaku with more questions.
" … multiple fractured bones in your hip, rib cage and left hand along with damage to your spinal column, left temple and internal organs, along with exposure to chemical gases which got into your lungs and eyes.
First, second and third-degree burns on upper torso and arms, and all this for Cynthia's ring?
What."
Akashi lowered her clipboard to glower at Zuikaku as the carrier was wrapped up in bandages like a mummy, Shiranui standing in the ward to watch over Shigure's recovery and wait for Akashi to free up her schedule before talking to her about her first infiltration mission in her adult body, Ma'am Jackie also there to assist her in the mission briefing.
Zuikaku, having a medical breathing mask strapped to her nose and mouth, huffed as she used her thumb to finger the missing ring which was previously on her right hand and was now taken off to be stored and check for possible contamination and infectious properties.
"Cynthia… wants it…
Now, she'll come to… us…"
"Yes, and you've painted a bulls-eye on your back in the process.
Good luck with surviving that."
Zuikaku's headstrong determination faltered upon hearing Ma'am Jackie surmise just what she got herself into, Akashi then adding,
"Besides, who knows if that ring possesses corrupting properties like the One Ring, and although it certainly didn't turn either you or Cynthia invisible, we can't be sure that anyone else wearing it could prove to be physically or mentally hazardous in the long-term."
Shigure attempted to intervene as she laid on her own bed, unable to move a muscle due to the dozens of cracked bones and the after-battle fatigue plaguing her body, which sadly didn't stop her from using her mouth to talk back to Akashi.
"Um, well, Zuikaku-san did her best under those circumstances…"
But Akashi wasn't having any of that, her hard-ass medic side showing itself as her sharp tongue lashed out at the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer without any qualms about her age or current condition.
"You be quiet.
'Akashi-san isn't here now!
Let's go!'
Don't think me not watching over you means that you can take your own life for granted.
You getting the H.A.L.O. suit means that you've jumped in value both as an asset to us, and a target for the Abyssals."
Everyone's gazes turned to the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer, and Shigure similarly spun her head around to look at what everyone was looking at as if oblivious to the fact that she was the intended recipient of that scathing remark, turning back to face everyone with wide, innocent eyes as she uttered,
"Oh."
Ma'am Jackie turned to Akashi as she had her hands folded and was leaning back on a wall, asking about their choice of New Wave ship girls.
"Hey, were all these superpower-wielding ship girls the first choice to be granted, well, superpowers?"
"Yes and no.
Two of them were the first choice simply because they were the most expendable, and another one was just convenient because she was a witness."
Akashi pointedly tilted her head towards Shigure as the destroyer suddenly found the ceiling to be the most interesting thing in the world, Ma'am Jackie lifting an understanding eyebrow as she got off the wall and walked off with a nigh-imperceptible nod in Shiranui's direction, Shiranui getting the message as she gave the hospitalized duo her best wishes.
"Get well soon."
Before leaving with the repair ship as Shiranui and Akashi noted the genuinely apologetic expression on Shigure's downcast face, the three of them getting into an adjacent room as she looked up at the two 'centenarian' ship girls who fought long enough to retire in comfort since every country honored their veteran warships, and fighting in their second war for ten years was a miracle in which the retirement pension could feed even their grandchildren and pay for their living expenses.
And yet, Akashi and Ma'am Jackie kept fighting on since an idle and boring life as a filthy-rich veteran was both an incompatible and undesirable lifestyle, her seniors returning her gaze as Akashi started her briefing.
"Look, you've worked out most of the kinks in your New Wave body, and we think it's time for your first infiltration mission.
Since you're already experienced in these missions back in the Infiltration Fleet, it's reasonable for us to skip the hand-holding with Ma'am Jackie keeping a lookout to smooth things over should the mission go South."
Shiranui nodded, understanding and even appreciating some backup since being a solo operator placed her at too high a risk of being captured or killed, and since Shiranui would be using her adult body in a mission with real-life consequences, until she proved that she could perform just as well alone (which she was in no hurry to prove; she operated in a fleet even in her ship girl days), having backup would be a certainty.
Ma'am Jackie looked towards the repair ship as she asked, already donning her game-face as she did so.
"What's the situation?"
"We can't keep playing defense with the Abyssals constantly gaining the ground we lost.
After retreating to the Kimitsukagihara Country Club, we plan to make our counterattack there in order to create some space before sailing over Tokyo Bay towards Kawasaki, Kanagawa to gather our forces before heading for Tokyo.
Part of your mission's objectives is to check if knowledge this location has been compromised and if the Abyssals know of our plans for a counterattack so that we can change them accordingly."
Shiranui clarified, since she wanted to have all the cards on the table.
"So, what do you want me to do?"
In which Ma'am Jackie piped up,
"Simple.
With me on overwatch, you sneak into enemy territory since your stealth suit and custom-made body prevents Abyssals from immediately spotting or detecting you.
From there, you'll planting tracking devices on their trucks and vehicles to see what appears important to them, setting it up for future hit-and-run ambushes and complete your objectives.
I'll provide an extra set of eyes, firepower and a means of exfiltration.
I understand the Abyssals on patrol will be connected via wireless network so that the base will be alerted to one death, so I'll mostly be on reconnaissance."
Ma'am Jackie then cast an aside glance at Akashi as she continued,
"But Akashi said that the main objective was classified and above my pay grade, so here's my exit."
"Do you have a problem with that, Jackie?"
Akashi blithely remarked with no interest in putting up with people questioning her, and Ma'am Jackie was equally nonchalant about being out of the loop as she shrugged and replied like the dutiful soldier that she was.
"Not at all.
Shiranui's the main star, not me, I don't care what you want her to do behind the scenes since I'm just spotting everything through a scope for her.
Besides, if it's that sensitive, it's best if we keep it to the minimum amount of operators needed to be in on the loop in order to carry out the mission.
Basically, one."
Ma'am Jackie coolly walked away as the two centenarians came to an understanding and didn't get in each other's way, Akashi then turning to Shiranui to give her a more in-depth explanation of her secret objectives.
"Look, we're getting a little suspicious of how the Abyssals are homing in on our location so easily, and we suspect that it might be due to our mole leaking information from within.
We need to be sure that wherever the leak is coming from, we need to plug it first before we figure out who's causing it and then weeding her out.
You'll get in and initiate a trace within the Abyssals' means of communicating with the mole in their mobile administrative centers which keep a rough track of their battalions' logistic details, and you'll also be planting trackers on their vehicles so that we can determine where they're refueling, doing maintenance and the like."
"And what about that business with the humans?"
Akashi's expression darkened threefold as she reassured Shiranui about what they were going to do about that piece of information apparently leaked by the mole as well.
"Yes.
Whoever the mole is, she's revealing those dirty secrets about Central and its enigmatic backers for us to uncover, but for now, we'll have to clean up the mess in front of us.
We'll plug up the leak and trace it to find the source and improve our security, and the next time the Abyssals get in touch again, we can probably determine where it's coming from."
"But you don't think it'll be that easy or we'll be that lucky."
"Never."
Akashi confirmed Shiranui's suspicions, since this mole was able to fly under the radar for so long and was the likely the cause of their losses in several large-scale battles, and even if Yokosuka's wins vastly managed to outweigh their losses, Shiranui imagined what the consequences of those losses were.
Buying more time for the Abyssals to reach full operational capacity before waging their world war upon all the nations of earth.
If the mole could do that, all their wins would be for naught as the battlefield meta was changed with the advent of World War 3, and even if they did manage to hold their ground in their last two battles and favorably fought the Abyssals to a standstill, they had to retreat inland with fatigued troops as the war dragged on.
When did it all end?
Shiranui shook those bitter thoughts out of her mind as her sour expression matched Akashi's and she listened to Akashi continue on about what she was to expect.
"We're sending you down to Kameda General Hospital tonight, because delaying this mission any longer means that the waxing moon will become a natural spotlight for the Abyssals to spot you much more easily."
Shiranui nodded, understanding that these circumstances that were beyond the Coordinators' control were factored in to plan out seemingly unreasonable missions which were designed with the best odds of success and the least likelihood of death or capture, and these mission could have them set out as soon as tonight.
"Let me guess, they're holed up there because of the medical supplies and after we retreated to allow them to occupy it?"
"Yes.
Anything we didn't take with us or destroy in our wake, they're using to repair their fallen soldiers and improve their operating capacity.
There'll be enough obstacles and buildings to give you enough routes of approach since there's an adult day care center and a medical training school nearby, but they'll have their most important stuff holed up in the main hospital.
We have blueprints on the location, so getting places will be a cinch."
Akashi shared Shiranui's silent relief at how several things were working to their advantage, and it was easy enough for her first mission in her new body without being too easy for anyone else to do her job, since they didn't possess her expertise.
"How will Ma'am Jackie and I be getting into enemy territory?
A HALO jump?"
"Yes, since we're able to replicate the stealth material that's used to make your stealth suit and lined the parachute with it without significantly increasing its weight.
You two will have to land in the forested hills beyond the rice fields before making your way to the hospital, since it's deep in enemy territory and they'll have radar and AA guns to shoot you down should they detect you directly parachuting into the town.
Even their radar isn't perfectly capable of keeping track of everything with the interference equipment we use to scramble their radar, and according to our best estimates, the range of their ground-based radar vehicles can only extend so far."
"But you're sure that the Abyssals won't be able to see us coming and shoot us down in mid-air?
That is quite the morbid thought."
Akashi then raised her left hand in a crossed-finger gesture, speaking about how mankind's capabilities were enhanced with the passage of time, mankind's tumultuous past consisting of creating new stealth technology to counter detection technology, and creating counters to those counters.
"The upside to the Abyssals ripping off our technology is that we can estimate what they're capable of by seeing what country's vehicles and weapons they're using, and in this case, we know its limitations and can estimate the limits of the Abyssals' upgrades.
Trust me, Admiral Mako does not want you to fail, you're definitely not alone in this.
The JSDF is also on standby to 'bring the rain' should things go South, but then, I don't think it'll come to that, yes?"
Shiranui shook her head, thinking about how other methods of entry weren't as viable.
The Abyssals controlled the ocean, so entry via a submarine was suicidal.
She was a ship girl, so blending into the Abyssal crowd was out of the question.
Best to jump from a high altitude and open her parachute at a low enough altitude to prevent her from going splat on the ground while bringing as little metal objects as possible (steel making up a ship girl's body) to avoid being detected, listening to Akashi continue on.
"We'll help to prepare Ma'am Jackie and your New Wave body after this such that you two won't suffer too much of the possible after effects of a high-altitude jump, so that you'll be ready for anything once you hit the ground…"
Nodding, she assumed that there was nothing else for her as she turned away to walk off and prepare herself for the mission, but swivelled around as Akashi piped up again.
"By the way.
What do you make of this symbol?"
Shiranui looked down at Akashi taking out a piece of paper and showing Shiranui the symbol of a sun, and upon closer inspection, it looked to be a lotus flower unfurling its petals to give off the appearance of a sun with its top profile.
"What's so significant about this symbol?"
Akashi studied her face, looking satisfied with Shiranui's genuinely confused yet deadpan expression as she looked down at the enigmatic symbol along with Shiranui.
"I'm not exactly sure.
On the day of the hydrogen bomb detonation, I've seen in on Yuubari as a tattoo, and Amagi, whose 3rd Fleet met Sakawa, suspects that she might have also seen this tattoo on Sakawa's collarbone as it peeked out from under her uniform.
And now, the ring which Zuikaku stole from Cynthia's gloved hand has this same symbol on it, and I can't help but wonder if it means anything in particular."
Shiranui shrugged, giving her own interpretation about what it might mean.
"Perhaps it's to mark the J.O.A.N. units, like a tattoo of identification."
"Then why didn't the 2nd Fleet see this symbol on Amatsukaze, whose armored clothes covers slightly more than what a micro-bikini could?"
"I don't know.
Would you have seen the symbol on the inside of Cynthia's ring if you were to observe her from the outside?
And besides, this isn't an immediate priority, so…"
Akashi raised an eyebrow as she saw Shiranui's point in considering every angle for as long as possible and not dismiss anything out of hand without enough information.
From what Shiranui could tell, it was just a symbol, and it could mean a thousand things, none of which were relevant to her mission at hand.
Another thought went out to her sisters, wondering if they were doing alright and wishing them well in her mind before shutting them out to focus on the mission she was given.
She wasn't exactly the sentimental or the emotional type, but even she found that all the fighting and killing at such an intensity without extended periods of rest wore even her down, no matter how strong a front she tried to put up in front of others.
The HALO jump from the Kawasaki C-1 transport plane on the twilight of the 24th of May went off without a hitch, although it was definitely something she never wanted to experience again, much less in the dead of night in enemy airspace as she had torn off the breathing apparatus which was used to supply her oxygen at elevated heights upon landing in the middle of a bald spot in the forest caused by the war.
Since Ma'am Jackie was a trained paratrooper, she had no problems with the plane jump and landing as Shiranui trekked towards the city of Kamogawa, or at least what was left of it after the ship girls and Abyssals destroyed the entire town as part of collateral damage in World War 3, ruffling her jet-black hair and ponytail which was dyed black to not make her stick out like a sore thumb in the dark before raising the face veil to cover her pale skin.
"Shiranui, do you read me?"
"Yes."
The Fairy-designed sub-dermal implants were working like a charm as she heard Ma'am Jackie's voice in her ear as they split up after landing, the insertion procedure being done on her unconscious New Wave body and meant that she didn't have to feel the brunt of the aftereffects before getting onto the plane for the HALO jump.
Checking her HUD and watching it flicker to life in her eyes, she was told that because of how her body was made to be more human than machine, she wouldn't be identified as a hunk of bionic steel known as a ship girl and whose heat and infrared signature would almost entirely be shielded by her stealth suit.
She then heard Akashi's voice speak up from their base of operations,
"And can you read me?"
"Yes, Ma'am.
Just asking, but if this radio implant emits radio waves, doesn't that mean the Abyssals might be able to detect the radio signals being emitted and home in on our locations?"
"Yes.
But not only will we be keeping communication to a minimum, but the fact that we have the element of surprise on our side and heavy encryption means that they won't see us coming, and even if they did, we have ample time to cut off communications to prevent that from happening."
Shiranui lifted in eyebrow as she accepted Ma'am Jackie's explanation and eventually came within view of the Sotobo Line, a railway which ran through Kamogawa and was blown up before the start of World War 3 in order to slow the Abyssals down.
Her bionic eyes were capable of rivaling (though not completely matching) the zoom capabilities of carriers as she observed the steel tracks stretching into the town while several sections were torn out from the ground or were dynamited to kingdom come, Abyssal forces now working hard to repair the damage.
"Ma'am Jackie…"
"Call me Jackie."
" … should we try and sabotage a few of those repair vehicles?
They seem to be making headway in their repair attempts, and their eventual success would mean trouble for us."
Silence was heard on the other end as Shiranui zoomed in to observe the humanoid Abyssals, using their opposable thumbs, operate repair tools while bestial Abyssal destroyers drove the vehicles which moved resources and tools around, and Shiranui heard Ma'am Jackie finally speak up.
"Later.
Blowing up their generators and combat vehicles would do more harm, especially if we need a distraction or stop them from getting into their vehicles to chase you."
Grunting in agreement, Shiranui crouched as she kept a low profile while creeping through a destroyed house near the forest, a destroyed wall causing part of the second floor to collapse on the first as she stepped over destroyed floorboards which were angled to allow her to reach the second floor, crawling over various tables and beds which slid down the angled second floor to roll out through the building's non-existent first floor wall.
Peeking over the shards of jagged glass lining the window frame, she saw that the town of Kamogawa was transformed into a shell of its former self as loader vehicles were clearing the debris cluttering the road while extinguished fires belched out smoke which was illuminated by spotlights that were jacked up to heavily-protected generators, several Abyssals walking about with metal detectors to check for mines or explosives while other armed Abyssals patrolled the grounds.
The good thing about Abyssals was that they were machines; they ran like clockwork and made their pathings (mostly) predictable.
The bad thing was that their inhumanely robotic personas didn't care much for hunger (save for resource depletion), sleep deprivation, boredom or reasonable amounts of fatigue which could be shrugged off.
From here, she could see that the bridge which was blown up to collapse it on the railway wasn't a viable approach towards the hospital on the other side of the closely-guarded railway and was thus closer to the ocean, memorizing a few of the Abyssals' patrol routes while asking.
"Jackie, do you see any way across this damned railway track?
There has to be areas where the security isn't as tight."
"Agreed, the security isn't as tight around the small bridge near the abandoned shrine.
I can't see where you are, can you locate it?"
Keeping track of the spotlights so that she wouldn't be spotted, she peeked out another window and shifted her gaze to minimize movement as she looked at the buildings lined up alongside the railway, spotting one small bridge being partially illuminated by a spotlight.
"Yes.
Heading there now."
Backtracking out of the house while minimizing the amount of glass she stepped on and making sure that the Abyssals on patrol were sticking to their routes like the obedient machines that they were, she double-timed it to the bridge as she whipped out her FN Five-seveN to use its attachment, a directional jammer which could be pointed at a machine to disable it for a short period of time, doing just that as the streetlamp in her sights flickered before temporarily dying out.
This little toy was made just for her?
Nice.
Looking left and right to check for oncoming vehicles, she crossed the road and ran along a collapsed chalet building three stories high which had chest-high barricades along the pavement running parallel to the pavement she was on.
She ran up to the bridge without much fuss because many of the Abyssals were concentrated on the other side of the railway, hurrying down the stairs and stealthily jogging across the abandoned shrine which was inexplicably untouched by the war as it wordlessly spectated her progress, crouch-running on the path leading to the bridge.
An Abyssal on it was illuminated by the moon, although the good news was that the train track beneath it was poorly lit, crouch-walking towards it as she contacted Ma'am Jackie.
"I'm approaching the bridge.
Can you see me?"
" … Affirmative.
The Abyssal on the bridge won't see you, but shimmy along the side of the bridge away from her just to be safe."
Good suggestion.
She exposed herself to the moonlight before jumping onto the side of the bridge, arm muscles flexing as she supported her body with her lean arms while an oblivious Tsu-Class cruiser carrying a SUB-2000 semi-automatic carbine faced away from her.
Damn, this was so much easier with her adult body, muscular without being overly ripped in order to preserve mobility and litheness, hitting the dirt ground shortly before she blitzed through the roads leading through the rice fields to hit the parking lot, since she was a sitting duck out here.
Exhaling in relief upon hitting the car park since cars populated it in an obstacle course to buy time for their retreat several weeks ago, she leaned on the roof of an overturned Camry as several lights which were supposed to illuminate the car park were blown out, slipping into a Wo-Class carrier's blind spot while getting a heads-up from the light cruiser.
"Watch out, you're coming up on a blockade.
Three Abyssals on it, hold up until I say so.
… Go."
Sidling up to a Prius, she trusted in Jackie's words as she waited for the signal like a horse waiting at the gate, breaking out into a creeping strut to see that Ma'am Jackie was right on the nose, sneaking by three Abyssals swivelling around to move about in predetermined paths away from her.
She needed to get used to this new terrain, damn it.
Blockades and cover weren't a thing on the seas where it was a flat terrain all around, and the fact that she might have been screwed if not for Ma'am Jackie had her taking this lesson to heart as she snuck through the dozens of insignificant buildings which stood between her and the first important building, the Kame-whatever Training School, speaking up to ask mission control.
"I'm coming up on the training school.
You still watching my back?"
"Yes."
"Anything you need at the Training School, Akashi?"
Silence reigned as she slipped into an alley to witness the grey-white-beige cluster of buildings looming above most civilian houses in the area, which meant that there were likely spotters and snipers on the roof and was where a second pair of eyes was of more help than radar alone, an answer being spoken into her ear courtesy of Akashi.
"They should have auxiliary computer terminals connected to a server in this area to take care of less important stuff, our guess being the repair times of the injured and dead, reconstruction efforts like the railway, local patrol routes and radio chatter."
"I'm assuming the main terminal's in the General Hospital ahead.
What'll I find there?"
Slipping into what remained of a completely crushed house as something huge, likely a tank, smashed through the walls with brute force to leave it unrecognizable from what it might have once looked like, she got into a prone position and crawled underneath a table to hide from a Ta-Class's field of vision as her answer came over the radio.
"The main terminal keeps track of ammunition, battalion and supply movements and their strength, but tapping into the auxiliary terminal will give us a good idea of the security level to expect and prepare for later, reducing the odds of detection.
Since it's along your journey to the general hospital and it's also something you can blow up with the C-4 you're carrying…"
"Well, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.
Jackie, how many snipers on the roof?"
"Ten.
Five on the main building's roof while the others are scattered on the nearby roofs."
They were packing serious heat, and she responded with the appropriate caution by sneaking into the few bushes which hid her figure, and her stealth suit hid her signature from patrols to make her nigh-invisible.
Being updated of the snipers' locations on her HUD's map, she was also streamed a live feed of what Ma'am Jackie saw through the scope as a Wo-Class's helmet was in its sights, its usual headdress once used for storing planes now miniaturized into a helmet with the twin-eyes-exhaust vents only there for cosmetic effect.
She was in the Wo-Class's field of vision, and moving away into a demolished building allowed her to see that their security didn't let up even when they had supposedly complete control over the area, devoid of hubris or complacency as two other Ri-Class cruisers were being watched by a Wo-Class in the carpark.
A detour through the foliage was safer, footsteps making no sound as she used the transformed terrain which was a collapsed house, the rubble forming a slope for her to cross the road before slipping into and trekking across the trees and shrubbery while lying prone so that the snipers wouldn't spot her creeping figure.
"Go, now."
Once she got into an area which she was fairly confident she could bypass security to enter and Ma'am Jackie gave her the signal to go ahead, she patted herself down to avoid having leaves and dirt cling to her stealth suit and the bottom of her boots before moving out, making sure she wasn't heard as she slipped behind a Ne-Class heavy cruiser who was close enough for Shiranui to hold her breath to leave no room for error.
After all, was it paranoid of her to suspect that the Ne-Class cruiser's hearing wasn't powerful enough to hear her breathing, or even her heartbeat when she was close enough to reach out and touch the Abyssal?
Pulling away from the heavy cruiser, she felt a chill run down her spine as she got away from the Ne-Class and looked up to find the barrel of a sniper rifle peeking over the side, a quick peek underneath the door with another device that was the snake cam, a camera on a wire tip, giving her the all-clear before she gently twisted the doorknob to enter the hospital.
Her heartbeat was elevated as she released a held breath upon entering the remains of the medical building, collapsed columns and walls littering the doorways as the Abyssals had done well to clean up the mess.
Dust, debris, rubble and blood were all wiped away, but not completely removed as the ground was smeared in the coppery grime when they all mixed together, this building uncomfortably lit up from within and had to be plunged into darkness as she jammed the lights brightening the interior of the two-story hall.
"I'm in.
Where do you think is the best bet to find a terminal to access the server?"
"Try the chief physician's office, it's connected to the hospital's servers which they wiped and rewired for their own purposes along with accessing the hospital's facilities.
Uploading it to your HUD now."
Slipping into a locker room as an Abyssal Tsu-Class cruiser moved up to investigate the lights going off, Shiranui using the snake cam to spot when the Tsu-Class passed by her before slipping out and behind the distracted light cruiser.
Some lights were broken and gave her shadows to work with as she looked up at a security camera which overlooked the entrance to the stairwell.
Jamming it would raise their suspicions concerning a possible intruder, gauging the extruded platform's height leading to the second floor before launching herself off of the opposite wall, slapping her hands on the edge and pulling herself up as footsteps made their way in her direction.
"Hup."
Lifting herself over the edge, the Tsu-Class was thankfully oblivious to her presence as she saw a light funnel shine at her previous position, hearing the Abyssal utter,
[Hmm?]
And her footsteps changed direction to move towards the stairwell in order to investigate the shadow, but Shiranui was already on her way through the building's corridors.
The chief physician's office was on the floor above her, and another pair of footsteps coming her way had her getting into an adjacent room to climb out the window and access it via another route.
Climbing out the window which Shiranui made sure was on the side of the building where the moon wasn't shining, she scaled the building's side at a hurried pace for fear of a sniper or a sharp-eyed Abyssal spotting her out here.
The damage to the building was significant but not crippling, and she tested the strength of every patch of concrete she laid her hands on as she mentally consulted the blueprints, the office being another two corners away from her at the closest available window, but the hospital's cameras watching that route like a hawk dampened her enthusiasm by several notches.
"Any idea on how the hell I'm getting inside the chief physician's office?
The path's blocked off by several security cameras."
"Well, funny you should ask.
A mortar shell caused part of the roof on the opposite side of the building to cave in, and the security cameras there should be taken out.
There're lifts on both sides of the building, get up to the roof, find the elevator's access hatch and get down to the destroyed area via the elevator shaft."
Climbing up to the elevated platform lining the roof's edge, she waited restlessly for Ma'am Jackie's go-ahead to hop onto the roof since her stealth suit didn't turn her invisible, and anyone looking up could easily spot her out here as she listened to her own elevated heartbeat, an irregular rhythm of clomping Abyssal heels and the relatively deafening chirping of crickets in the night.
"You're clear.
Be careful, another Abyssal just got up to the roof."
"Like that's going to stop me."
Vaulting over the short wall to plant her feet on the roof, she froze as a Wo-Class carrier barely turned around before walking away from her, Shiranui being rightfully on edge as the moon clearly illuminated her figure, and her stealth suit didn't include the ability to turn invisible.
Luckily, with her skills, she didn't need such a cheap power.
Sneaking around the figures as her HUD's radar identified the Abyssal signatures as enemies but not the other way around thanks to her stealth suit's capabilities (which was a bit of a cheat), she rounded the corner of a rumbling radiator which provided enough noise to conceal her footsteps, tensely sliding herself between two Wo-Class carriers who carried AWP sniper rifles, the deadly hunk of assembled metal gleaming in the moonlight as Shiranui heard another warning.
"The Ne-Class is approaching the corner before you!
Think fast!"
Shiranui hugged the side of the radiator as fast as she could without making a sound, the beams of moonlight barely illuminating the tip of her nose as she froze all movement, halting her breath and even attempting to will her heart to stop beating, all for the sake of not getting detected as the Ne-Class cruiser ambled up while holding an AK-12 assault rifle.
The world stopped.
Not the Ne-Class cruiser, though, since Shiranui's signature was well cloaked to the point where her appearance on the peripheral of the Ne-Class's field of vision didn't even alert the Abyssal to anything unusual, the Abyssal swiveling about thirty degrees to the left and right of her before looking ahead and continuing on.
Jesus.
Too close for comfort, having to sneak past six people even when on a spacious roof.
"Careful, wait for my go before getting out of the corner you're in, take the first left before going for the access hatch.
… Go."
She slipped behind a Wo-Class who walked from one edge to another as her predetermined patrol route while noting the spacious hole which was punched into the roof, following Ma'am Jackie's instructions by rounding the corner to find that it was a straight path to the access hatch with another Wo-Class facing away from her, likely using her enhanced vision to scout the area instead of looking behind her and inadvertently spotting Shiranui.
The hatch was unsurprisingly locked, and Shiranui thankfully had the tool for that as the Fairies used their technological expertise to craft a skeleton key which unlocked simple locks like these without any kind of encryption, opening the hatch gently and slipping in as she understood that the hatch would have to be left unlocked and would likely arouse some suspicion later during the night.
And thank god she had the magic touch acquired during training to learn how to open doors at the appropriate speed so that it wouldn't make any noise.
Closing the hatch behind her to buy herself some time since nothing would appear out of the ordinary at first glance, she slid down the ladder before her legs hit an I-beam to allow her to look down and survey the elevator shaft.
The smoldering elevator cab had already burnt out with its singed steel warping from the drop at the bottom of the shaft, along with several counterweights crushing it after a drop while a loosened pulley system holding the wires as they dangled limply from the ceiling, and Shiranui started the climb down the maintenance ladders towards the elevator door on the third floor, all while warning lights unfailingly illuminated her figure on occasion.
Using her superhuman strength to pull the ajar doors apart for her to slip through once she made sure the coast was clear, she slid the doors closed in order not to arouse immediate suspicion, noting the moonlight illuminating the rubble lining the corridor even before she turned the corner to witness the very same hole punched into the roof, caving in to grant her a splendid view of the half moon and an Abyssal on the roof, the latter walking away while debris popped and cracked beneath her boots.
This hallway to the chief physician's office was no longer watched by surveillance cameras due to the mortar shell causing the hole and knocking down the cameras on the walls, slipping into a corner to wait for two Ri-Class cruisers to pass her by while toting FN F2000 bullpup assault rifles which could pump intruders full of lead, eventually slipping out in order to approach the ceiling light-illuminated main hall.
Not anymore, as Shiranui jammed it with her Five-seveN's jammer before advancing, and a cursory check beneath the illuminated door slit helped her to see that the office was populated by movable computer servers connected to the training school's computer systems.
And at the helm was a Ta-Class battleship, sitting in the chief physician's chair and was tapping away on a laptop.
God damn it.
She never expected her job to be easy, but this was just unfair.
"Jackie, there seems to be a snag.
I can't get in without the Ta-Class sitting at the door facing me, and taking her out isn't an option.
Any ideas?"
"I have one."
Shiranui felt too exposed while standing in the main hall in spite of the temporarily-induced darkness of the jammed light source which could flicker back to life at any moment, so she skulked into a lecture room and hid herself in between an opened door and the pitch-black corner which it covered to make herself truly invisible, curling up to make herself neither seen nor heard as she listened to Aoba's voice over the radio.
"Listen, our programmers infected any computer systems we left behind with hastily crafted viruses so that the Abyssals would have to tread lightly when they access our systems, but as you might think, we didn't have too much time to craft one strong enough to disable them for long."
"But we've bought them enough time with our battles over the weeks for them to craft something stronger, yes?"
"Yep.
Find a nearby computer terminal to upload the virus, we'll take care of the rest from here."
Shiranui made her way to the terminal in an adjacent room, booting it up as she fished around for the thumb-drive which was in one of the dozens of pockets which stored first-aid supplies, C-4 and ammo, amongst many others which had her confounded for a second before pulling out the item to slot into the terminal's port for the device to work its magic.
"Won't they find out that I've accessed their system from this terminal and suspect that there's an intruder?"
"Don't worry about that.
Our programmers will make it look like a glitch before the entire system crashes on them, and since the hospital's systems are intertwined with the Abyssals' systems, we can disrupt their systems and shut them out of ours to force them to restart everything.
The kind that needs them to get out of the room and play with the circuit breaker panel."
"Nice."
The computer screen before her then emitted some kind of mechanical screech which caught her by surprise as she flinched from the jump-scare, the screen illuminating part of the room by erratically tearing while shifting into squarish technicolor hues and the words devolved into incomprehensible hieroglyphs, hearing the Ta-Class battleship next door slam the door shut as she grumbled while strutting down the corridor,
[… fucking virus, fucking shit…]
Pulling the thumb-drive out to remove the evidence, she slipped into the chief physician's office to sit herself in the rolling office chair while inserting the server interface for mission control to do what they did best, the computer servers around her all flashing some kind of hazard sign or red lights to indicate being tampered with, and Shiranui hid herself behind the desk which stood in between her and the exit as she watched for any approaching Abyssals.
Finally, with Aoba uttering in your ear,
"Alright, we're in.
Remove the server interface and get onto your main objective."
She did just that while jamming the lights in the main hall, surreptitiously sneaking towards a window which seemed like a good place to get down quickly, and she listened to the Aoba-Class cruiser provide updates regarding their progress on hacking into the Abyssals' servers.
"Well, good news and the not-so-good news.
The good news is that since this is the auxiliary computer terminal, what we managed to get a peek of are the Abyssals' patrol routes and possibly a way to tamper with their routine attempts to account for all Abyssals such that you can kill an isolated Abyssal guard and we can cover it up when the prowlers check in over the radio.
Just make sure they don't find the body, because there's no way we can cover that up from over here.
And some of their patrol routes are laid out so that they'd run into each other at specific intervals, in which an absence would trigger an area-wide alarm for a missing unit and a possible intruder.
Don't worry, we'll help you identify those whom you can safely kill."
"And the not-so-good news?"
"Even for an auxiliary computer terminal, it's going to take a while to crack this one.
And we run the risk of our mission being blown if the Abyssals detect our our attempts to sift through and tamper with their data…"
"Just do it.
It can't get any worse than this."
Crawling through the urban hellscape while evading the pale alien invaders prowling the streets and clearing the occasional house, she saw that the map in her mind showed that there was an adult day care center to the General Hospital's North.
"Akashi, Jackie, anything in this day care center I should take note of?
The auxiliary terminal must've told you things…"
"Nope, that day center's where they dispose of their corpses.
Whatever medical supplies in there must've been cleared before then, so there's absolutely nothing of worth in there.
I've always despised those kinds of buildings, always stuffed with the dying and mostly tainted with the stench of an incurable disease called senescence, the kind that I can't empathize with or cure despite all my medical knowledge."
She idly remarked while sidling up to a corner in a crouched position,
"Don't say that, you're a repair ship and should see the bright side of things.
I'm confident that I can find some adult diapers inside that'll snugly fit you and Ma'am Jackie."
A no doubt fuming Sendai-Class light cruiser then reminded her of what was in her hands and was pointed in Shiranui's general direction.
"Do know that I have a loaded sniper rifle trained on you right now.
Do not antagonize me."
"I'm a repair ship, Jackie, so if you're planning to put a bullet through her head, I can help you cover up the evidence during the autopsy.
Just what I needed, two mouthy little brats…"
Shiranui didn't think of herself as an emotive ship girl, but she was doing her best to hold back a smile at how even veterans had their own sore points which Shiranui managed to get a jab in and witnessed a side to them which few managed to discern, due to their aloof demeanor and detachment from others after having been through so much.
"So, what exactly did you find on those servers?"
"Well, not too much, but enough that we can work with for now.
But you wanna know something?
Woxanne's here, and she's in the mobile communication terminal inside the General Hospital to both take note of the logistic details and also to access confidential material."
Shiranui paused while in the midst of lifting a window pane to climb into the building, her expression crumpling in consternation to consider this new piece of information as Akashi personally spoke to her regarding this new piece of information.
"We'll get back to you on what to do with Woxanne.
As of now, continue with identifying the leak, mining the transportation vehicles, computer servers, generators and even the repair vehicles if you can make it."
She entered the window of a nearby house in order to enter a bedroom shortly before her radar picked up an enemy presence in the house and caused her heart rate to shoot up out of paranoia.
Hearing the pair of footsteps closing in on her position, she had no choice but to run up the wall to her side, propelling herself into the opposite wall to slap her arms on the corridor and pushed out to firmly anchor herself before touching the ceiling with her back to form an arch above the Ri-Class cruiser who passed beneath her.
There was no need to worry about sweat dripping down her forehead because of her face veil, but the fact that the Ri-Class's hair passed about four centimeters beneath her bulletproof vest and equipment as she anxiously fretted over being discovered was certainly not beneficial to her psychological health in the long run.
Dropping to the floor once the Abyssal had rounded the next corner, Shiranui crept out of the house's window to peek around the corner, witnessing the Kameda General Hospital and its two main buildings which were about ten stories high and were a prime target because of their high profiles, shells and missiles carving their pound of concrete flesh from the twin buildings without ever causing them to collapse.
The once well-tended but now cratered garden that was in almost every governmental hospital in order to facilitate a pleasant environment for a faster recovery was utterly wrecked as trees were reduced to stumps while the plants had been trampled on by steel heels and tracks, the many shorter buildings in the area allowing for the hospital to function now outfitted with rudimentary missile launchers, aerial reconnaissance systems and several dozen spotlights pointed up into the skies and at the sides of the towering twin buildings to seek out and eliminate intruders like Shiranui.
She was in.