"I… I don't understand," said Alec, no longer standing in a field but instead was standing in a room along with the faction leaders of the Azur Sky.
"From what I heard, James' strategies are more than enough to overcome any adversities you've faced."
"There's just a slight hiccup to that," said James.
"'Slight?'" repeated Tirpitz, as she and Friedrich's stared intently at the Commander "can you recall any plan that doesn't involve you running into enemy forces waving your sword around like a man possessed?"
"Even the plan to distract a Siren fleet involved you hopping from ship to ship with the whole fleet bearing down on you," said Akagi.
"And then there's the time he faced a high-ranking Siren alone just to buy us more time," added Queen Elizabeth.
"While you are right that James' plans will always see us through to victory," said Yorktown "the only way for us to achieve that victory is to dangle him in-front of the enemy like he was bait."
"So Alec," said Tirpitz "if you're capable of creating plans that don't involve James needlessly putting himself in danger, then we're all for it."
And there it was. Alec wondered what James' presence would mean for him. At first he thought James would simply use his authority to reign in Rossiya and the rest, but that wasn't the case anymore.
Alec wondered about what his place in the fleet would be and now he had the biggest opportunity presented before him.
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Strangely enough, Alec did not answer them right away, instead asking them for a little while to think about the proposal. This was why Alec was back on the main island.
He felt like something of a paradox right now. On one hand, he wanted to work with the girls, work with James and bring the Siren threat to the end. On the other hand, he'd be the one in charge of every plan and every strategy from here on out. The lives of hundreds were in his hands and one false move could see some of them not coming back.
The last time he made a mistake, his friends were nearly killed and now…
Alec wondered how James did it.
He was so engrossed in his thoughts, he failed to hear the person calling out to him. Rather than give up, the girl calling out to Alec wheeled her chair closer and when she was near enough, she shouted out Alec's name loud enough to snap him out of his daze.
"Huh whut?" he said, shaking his head.
"I've been trying to call you for the past five minutes now," said Alexis "what's got your head in the clouds?"
"Things… no sorry, I mean one thing. Just one big thing," he said "and by the way, what are you doing out and about like this? You're supposed to be in bed resting."
"Are you kidding? There's no way I can sit still in that bed, not with all I've been hearing. More girls like Rossiya and Richelieu, a floating island and some leader from another world. How much of it is true?"
"All of it," replied Alec, "and a whole lot of other stuff I'm don't think I can talk about."
"Why not?"
He was about to answer when he heard Whitney call out to him to get his attention. When she was close enough, she asked him to accompany her to the newly established headquarters the resistance set up.
While the Azur Sky was wiping out Siren installations, the human resistance fully established themselves on the island. There was a headquarters, a hospital, a barracks, cafeteria, farms and apartments to house both the troops and regular people.
In the midst of all this, a number of notable people started making a name for themselves and soon enough, these people and Whitney came together to form the official leaders of the resistance effort.
At least, that's how they perceived themselves as.
While these five people were undeniably helpful in helping humanity get to their feet, ask any of the regular people and the soldiers and they'll all say the only real leaders were Alec and James.
As they neared the headquarters, Alec had a good idea of what they wanted. Whitney took him past the guards, through an ornate hall and into a large room with a round table at the center. There were four people seated at different places around the table with one empty seat, obviously left for Whitney.
"Alec," said a man in his late forties, sporting unruly hair and the start of a beard "good of you to come."
"Oh please let's not fill his head with more air," said a gruff woman with an eye patch and her hair tied up in a ponytail "we shouldn't be beating around the bush and get to the real reason why we called him here."
"Before that," said Whitney, taking her seat "introductions are important."
"Alec, meet Bryon Wells, head of our agricultural division," she said gesturing to the man with the beard.
"The overly enthusiastic lady is Ingrid Hoss, the head of our military division," said Whitney, pointing to the woman with an eye-patch.
"The quiet lady is Lakshmi Varma, the admin in charge of resource allocation" she said, pointing to the other tanned woman with short-black hair.
"And lastly is Damien Philbert, head of our intelligence division," said Whitney, pointing to a red-haired man in his late thirties with his arm crossed and staring daggers at Alec.
"We are the official leaders and faces of the human resistance," said Whitney
"Now that introductions are over, time for the important talk," said Ingrid, taking control of the conversation "Alec: what do you think of this James character?"
And at once, the pieces clicked together inside Alec's head. When that happened, he mentally sighed, cursing how even in such dire situations, human nature never changed.
"James is a capable leader," he replied.
The group of five looked at him in silence, expecting him to continue or elaborate on that statement.
"What Ingrid means," said Damien "in the short time he's been here, James has accomplished what we've only dreamed of. He not only repelled a significant Siren fleet but also took down a large portion of the enemy's theatre."
"It's not like James went about doing it on his own," said Alec "he had a whole fleet backing him up."
"We'll get to that," said Damien "we need to know everything you know about James."
"Why?"
"So that we can get a good understanding of his character and decide whether or not to trust him," replied Byron.
"Rather than hearing my input, wouldn't it be better if you meet with him yourselves and get an honest opinion?"
"We are trying to Alec, but the problem is James doesn't seem that interested in speaking to us," said Whitney "you're the only one he's spoken to at great length."
"I still stand by what I said just now," countered Alec, folding his hands "its better if you meet James and judge his character based on what you see instead of what I say."
Hearing this, Ingrid sighed and cast a weary look to Whitney saying "Whitney, you said he would be more helpful."
"Alec, please try to see things from our perspective here. James open a portal from another world, has a floating island equipped with a defense system and is backed by an entire fleet of those super-human girls. We just want to know if he's our friend or if he'll be the next Omega."
'If James and Omega worked together, there's not a damn thing any of you could do to stop them,' thought Alec, but decided not to voice it.
Seeing as they were not willing to let the subject go, Alec relented and said "James is on our side. Right now, he's focused on getting his fleet used to Earth but once that's done he will no doubt want to meet and speak with all of you. Hell, I'll make sure that it happens."
When it looked like Ingrid was about to say something, they all heard some commotion coming from the door. Everyone turned to the door and saw it burst open followed by James walking in with two guards trying to stop him.
"Good, that nice girl was right about you being here," said James upon seeing Alec.
"Just the person we want to meet," said Byron "Commander Harper…"
"No time," interrupted James "Alec, Bearn, Shangri-La and Marblehead's intel came through. We're heading out right away and I need someone to watch the base."
"But.. but…"
"Now you listen here you," barked Damien, banging his hands on the table "who gives you the right to…"
But James did not listen to Damien for long enough. Before the man could finish his rant, he grabbed Alec and headed out the door.
While the group at the table continued shouting, their voices fell on deaf ears as by now, James and Alec were already out the door and heading to the island. Before they left, James stopped to thank Alexis then took off with Alec in tow.
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In another part of the world, the door to a locked room opened. Through it, emerged Omega, looking visibly annoyed. Before here were her two leaders, Alpha and Gamma.
"There better be a good reason why you pulled me away from the project," she said, glaring at the pair. In response, they both got to one knee and lowered their heads.
"We are sorry for disturbing you my Queen," said Alpha "but there has been a development in the infiltration."
"The Crucible leaders insisted on meeting to inform you of their progress," added Gamma.
"Insisted?" she repeated, her voice growing more agitated "since when were their needs more important than mine?"
"I am truly sorry Lady Omega," said Gamma "but we believed it vital you know what they do. It could, it could help with the war effort."
As much as Omega wanted to reprimand them, she realized she'd only be wasting more time at this point. She already halted progress on her main work, so she may as well get on with the meeting.
"The next time they ever dare insist on something," said Omega, cracking her knuckles, "I'll make them suffer a fate worse than Cassius did."
Hearing this, the two Sirens winced. Neither of them wanted to recall what Omega did to Cassius' body after recovering the corpse.
Pushing that thought aside, the pair immediately rose to their feet as they followed Omega from her research lab to the meeting room. Once there, they watched as she waved her hand out, causing the technology occupying the base to come to life. Soon enough, she saw five holograms emerge around the table, their faces obscured for various reasons.
"Apologies Lady Omega," said one of the holograms, with a distorted voice "but we felt it necessary to inform you of our recent accomplishment."
"Very well then, go ahead."
"The Commander has returned to our island and recently took Alec on a tour of their base," said one of the five.
"We believe that it won't be long before he opens access and allows more humans to come and go from the headquarters."
"With that many people it will be easy for one of us to strike an important facility or better yet, strike directly at James himself."
On hearing this, Omega let out a low chuckle, a response that honestly confused everyone.
"So you're telling me that you called me away from my work to say that there's now a chance that you could infiltrate his island or assassinate James?" she asked, and the group remained silent.
"If there was a way to assassinate James, I would have tried it already," she shouted.
"Do you fools even realize the level of protection he has on that base?" continued Omega "and as for James, he's got six dogs that'll tear apart anyone that even looks at him funny. That's not to mention that damned fox woman, the dragon and the other high-ranking members of his fleet."
"I can't believe that I took time away from Antiochus to listen to this drivel. You all promised me that you would prove more useful than that gung-ho fool Cassius, yet you've failed to back up that claim."
"Do not waste my time again or else you will no longer have a place in my kingdom," said Omega and ended the meeting.
"And as for you two," she added, turning to Alpha and Gamma who balked under her gaze "I tasked you with the retrieval of the remaining Black Boxes."
"Yes Lady Omega," said Alpha "once this meeting concluded, I planned to go there and oversee the retrieval myself."
"And I would help provide additional assistance from here," added Gamma.
"I don't need to remind you how important the Black Boxes are to my project Alpha. If anything were to happen to them, rest assured you will suffer a fate far worse than what I did to Cassius' corpse."
Not wanting to say anything else, Omega immediately went back to her research lab to continue her project. Meanwhile, Alpha quickly teleported out of the room and hurried to meet with the retrieval fleet.
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In another location, in a place that seemed untouched from the going's on of the world, a lone figure walked through the hallways. The figure stared at the many shelves that made up this seemingly endless room and sighed.
"Once again," she said, looking to one of the shelves and taking out a book "the wheels of fate have started to turn."
"Once again," she said, open the book and scanning through the pages "the players are assembled and the curtain raises."
"Once again," she said, reaching the last page and saw the unnerving picture at the end "we move ever closer to our doom."
"How many times have I read this story?" she asked, to no one in particular "it always starts the same: conflict, death, resolve and victory."
"Yet in the end," she said, putting the book back in its shelf along with the others "the story always ends the same way."
"Countless times I have hoped that something will change, that it will get better, but it never does. In the end, all roads lead to that same end, to that terrible end."
The woman lowered her head, no doubt weighing her words carefully before coming with a response.
"I know you can hear me, oh great deity. I can no longer remain a bystander to this tragedy. It is time to change this story's conclusion, by force if necessary."
When she finished her sentence, she was immediately assailed by a sudden and powerful wind that ripped through the inside of the room.
"DO not try and stop me," she barked "even at the cost of my divinity, I will change the outcome. I will protect him."
The winds grew intense, yet she did not stop. The girl extended her left hand out and in response, a tear in reality opened through which she immediately leapt through.
Now no longer bound in that divine realm, the ethereal form she grew accustomed to disappeared, to be replaced by her original form.
She had flowing silver hair, soft blue eyes, slightly pale skin and wore clothes that were a mixture of western and eastern influence. Add to that was the appearance of nine silver tails and her form was complete.
"Yes, this is what I used to look like," she said "before I took an oath to become your protector."
"Nagato, I am sorry for forsaking my duty, but my intervention is necessary."
She turned around and looked at the beautiful Sakura tree. The mighty sakura tree that stood in the center of her home. Every member of her faction prayed to this tree. They prayed that it would keep them safe, they held elaborate ceremonies every year to give thanks to this tree.
For years she stood guard and protected this tree. But now, that was all behind her.
Using the last of her divine powers, she formed an ethereal sword and used it to slice through the fabric of space. When she stepped through, she found that she was in the ruins of some city.
It didn't take long for her to notice the familiar sight of guns firing in the distance. Wasting little time, she covered a huge distance in a single leap. Soon enough, she spotted the floating ebony ships firing down on what looked like a group of humans.
But she knew that they were not humans. It didn't take long for her to recognize one of the combatants, who was standing on her customized glider and firing at the enemy.
With a single wave of her hand, the woman conjured a multitude of blue butterflies that quickly flew towards the floating ships. The ships tried to shoot the ghostly insects, but there were simply too many of them to target.
That allowed the butterflies to rain down fire and brimstone on the ships, downing half a dozen in a single strike. To the few that remained, she quickly leapt onto one of them and used the floating orbs on her back to punch holes in the hull in a matter of seconds. She turned to attack the last two ships, but found they were already retreating.
"You," called out a voice, causing her to stop her attack. She turned around and saw the pale-skinned, yellow-eyed, scantily dressed girl come towards her.
"You are the one who reached out to the hero," she said, addressing the girl "Purifier."
"How do you know my… wait a second, I thought that he couldn't send any help."
"I am not here on his orders, I am acting independently," she responded.
"Well fine with me. Our resistance needs all the help we can get," said Purifier "so, what's your name?"
"I am the dreamwalker's butterfly, the guardian of the Sakura Tree, IJN Shinano," she replied "and with your help, we will awaken the slumbering dragon our enemy captured."
(AN: Yep, Im trying something risky here and I hope it pays off)