Belfast shut the door behind her and returned to the group.
"As I expected," she said, taking her place once again "our master is going to do exactly what he said he wouldn't do."
"I don't understand," said Dido "if master was always going to help that mother, why did he try to deny it in the first place?"
"Perhaps he's had some bad experiences during his time here and would rather not interact with other humans if he could help it," suggested Belfast "all I know is that he may act one way, but he will never betray my expectations."
"Wow Miss Belfast," said Gloucester "I'm amazed at how well you know our master."
"Yes," said Sirius "I shall also try my hardest to reach your level."
"There's no need to rush dear," said Belfast "I was there with him at the start of this. Right when the Coalition was in its infancy. When I heard his voice calling out for help, I could immediately tell what kind of person he was. It was because of that that I came back to the physical world once again."
There was another question that the others had but did not want to bring up. It was with regards to the relationship the pair shared. At a glance, it looked like James and Belfast shared an unorthodox master-servant relationship. However, dig a little beneath that and you can see that Belfast was in love with her master.
Of course, no one ever brought it up for fear of making things awkward. And now that he was married there was even less reason to bring it up.
"Come along now," said Belfast, quickly changing the subject "if what we saw is anything to go by, then we need to be bright and ready by tomorrow."
Nodding in agreement, the girls all laid their heads on the pillow and quickly went back to sleep.
00000000000000000000000000
Back at the base, Akagi found Enterprise in the training grounds. As Yorktown said before, Enterprise was once again in the midst of a training battle against the Essex sisters. Typically, a four versus one fight favors the side with more numbers, but Enterprise was not your average aircraft carrier.
As Akagi came closer, she noticed how the sisters were struggling to stand while Enterprise remained composed and ready.
"Now," shouted Essex and fired a few crossbow bolts at Enterprise, which turned into fighter planes. Meanwhile, Shangri La and Intrepid added their planes into the mix while Bunker Hill sent a few bombers to provide assistance.
Enterprise immediately leapt back and fired a barrage of arrows from her bow. Rather than transform them into planes, she kept them as arrows, making it easy for her to blast apart the immediate attack.
Enterprise then ran towards the planes and at the last second leapt high into the air. Just as the planes were trying to turn up and catch her, she rained down a hail of arrows and decimated the planes.
The sisters watched in horror as Enterprise gently landed on the ground followed by her pushing her hair back for added flourish.
"That's it," said Essex, clenching her teeth "you leave me with no other choice but to use my secret weapon."
Enterprise as well as the remaining sisters wondered what weapon Essex was referring to. They saw her reach into her jacket and take something out.
"Take this, LEMON barrage," shouted Essex as she flung a whole tree's worth of lemons at Enterprise.
"Ugh keep that stuff away from me," cried Enterprise, moving away.
"Hahaha, I did it," declared Essex "on this day I, the namesake of my sisters finally managed to…"
Her words were cut off thanks to the three swift shots to her head, courtesy of the remaining sisters.
"Had I known she'd try something like this, I would have cut her off early on," said Intrepid, glaring at her dazed sister.
"Sorry Enterprise," said Bunker Hill, with a bow "you know how competitive Essex can get, especially when it comes to beating you in a match."
"Well no harm no foul in the end," said Enterprise, in an effort to salvage the situation "I just hope she doesn't try that again."
"Oh don't worry about that Enterprise," said Shangri La, adjusting her glasses while Intrepid and Bunker Hill grabbed Essex's arms. "We shall educate our sister on the finer points of battle etiquette."
"But I won, I won dang it," cried Essex while her sisters dragged her away.
As Enterprise watched the group leave the area, she noticed Akagi. Immediately, the Grey Ghost spun around and proceeded to march away in the opposite direction.
"Oh no you don't," shouted Akagi, as she ran forward and grabbed Enterprise by the shoulder.
"It's about time you and I talked," she said, turning Enterprise around.
"Um… but," said Enterprise looking nervous.
"It's high time the two of us had a talk," said Akagi "you've been avoiding both of us and I kept quiet about it because of how fast things were moving."
"I'm sorry," said Enterprise, turning around.
Akagi led Enterprise to a big tree with plenty of shade. The pair sat under the tree and remained silent for a while. Both were wondering who would speak first and were waiting for the other to take the initiative.
Seeing as that wasn't going to happen, Akagi went first "I didn't know you were against the two of us getting married."
"No, no it's not that," said Enterprise, quickly standing up "it's just came as a real shock to me. And I didn't know how to confront those feelings or who to talk to about it. Everyone else were so happy for you I just thought that if I said anything, they might think I was being petty."
"Are you… are you made at me?" asked Akagi.
"No, nothing like that. In fact, it's the opposite. In the time since we've known each other you've always acted like you had a chip on your shoulder. But now, you're calmer, composed… it almost reminds me of your older sister."
"Thanks for that but it'll be years before I can carry myself like how Amagi does," chuckled Akagi.
"On one hand, I see the two of you, the way you look at each other and I happy. But on the other hand…"
"You wish it were you instead of me?"
Enterprise remained silent at the question.
"You're not the only one who felt that way Enterprise. Belfast, Wales, Illustrious, Yorktown, Roon, Friedrick, Eugen and Cleveland all felt that way about James too."
"How did they get over it?"
"They're all came to terms with it and are moving forward in their own way. Of course, for that to happen they all had some demand or the other that I had to agree with."
"That's right," said Enterprise with a chuckle "from attending morning tea with Wales and Illustrious to spoon feeding Roon her favourite pudding…"
"You know you're also allowed to make a demand Enterprise," she said, turning to her "and I'll try my best to make it happen."
Enterprise looked at the sky for a moment, no doubt contemplating her decision.
"I want you to make a promise to me Akagi," she said.
"Promise you what?"
"Promise me that you'll protect him," was the reply.
"Were in an unfamiliar world with a handful of allies against an overwhelming force. Omega may have underestimated him last time around but this time she'll be coming at him with everything she's got."
"I just… I just don't want a repeat of that incident ever again."
Akagi knew what she was referring to. It was one of those memories she tried to suppress but it refused to stay down. The end of the second war where all their power was rendered useless and it fell on James to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Akagi understood Enterprise's sentiment. It wasn't just her that was worried about James, in fact, everyone on the fleet were scared an incident like that would happen again. That he would one day leave for a mission and never come back.
She understood the weight of that request and knew that if she made this promise, she wasn't just making it to Enterprise but to everyone else in the fleet.
Which was why she looked directly at her former rival and said "whatever it takes."
0000000000000000000000
James quietly made his way to the medicine room. He slowly turned the door handle and went inside. The light coming in from the windows illuminated the room enough that he didn't need to slowly creep through the area.
It didn't take him long to find the required medicine and he deposited it in his pocket. As he turned around he saw the lights come on and saw a man dressed in a lab coat standing at the entrance.
Wasting no time, he darted forward, grabbed the doctor with his left hand and took out his sword with his right hand. The man had barely any time to gasp for air before James slammed him against the wall and pointed the sword at his head.
"Wait, wait, wait, please you don't have to do this," said the doctor.
"You saw me steal supplies and are going to report me to the head," said James "you need to disappear."
"I know this must be hard to believe but I know who you're stealing the medicine for," said the doctor, sounding desperate. "Please, just put me down."
"And how do I know you're not lying?"
"If I were lying and did sell you out, you could just kill me," suggested the doctor "not like anyone can hold you accountable."
"Hmm, you make a good point there," said James, finally letting go and sheathing his sword.
The doctor fell to the floor, gasping for air. Soon, he got up and asked "how did you manage to move that fast?"
"I'm used to fighting enemies that move faster than me," replied James "compared to them, every human moves in slow motion."
The doctor tried his best to ignore that back-handed statement as he adjusted his coat.
"One thing I want to know," said James "you sound like you wanted to help that family. Why don't you do that?"
"Not everyone here has the kind of freedom that you do Commander," said the doctor "I keep my head down and in return, the mayor sees it fit to reward me for being obedient."
"So, the mayor is ruling this town like a feudal lord."
"At least those guys threw a party now and then to keep the people entertained. All Smalls does is hoard the supplies while everyone struggles to make ends meet."
"Why not rebel? There's more of you than them."
"True, but Smalls has more bullets."
"Before I go, aren't you concerned that the Mayor might notice a bottle of missing medicine?"
"As if," replied the doctor with a scoff "I'm the one in charge of inventory here. Bottles go missing all the time."
"Oh, and by the way," added the doctor just as James opened the door "thank you, for coming out all this way to help."
"Everyone here knows that it's objectively smarter to go after the Siren leaders, but…"
James remained silent and walked out the door. He used the cover of the night to leave the school premises and complete his objective. Once completed, he headed back to his room where he found the girls sound asleep.
He was relieved to know that he didn't wake them up and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep
0000000000000000000000
Come next day, the group woke up early and started their day before the rest of the town did. James took this opportunity to scan the area once again to confirm the data the girls collected yesterday. Meanwhile, Belfast rested control from the school's cooks and took the opportunity to make breakfast.
When he heard what the head maid had done, James apologized but the cooks laughed it off. Judging from the content looks on everyone's faces, the chefs were happy to give Belfast free reign over the kitchen.
As the other girls settled in for the morning meals, James noticed a trio of men coming to him. He instantly recognized the red-head and the lemming but there was a man in the middle who was unfamiliar.
When the trio neared, James inadvertently narrowed his gaze at the two morons he countered last night. The man in the middle noticed this and lowered his head.
"I thought as much," said the man before whacking the two on the back of their heads. The force of his strikes caused them to fall to their knees and clutch their heads in pain.
"Last night Hard and Lambert here said they were going out for a stroll. When they returned, they looked like they got their asses handed to them. I recalled how they were eyeing some members of your team and wanted to confirm things with you before making too many assumptions."
"And when you saw my expression change, you had all the answers you needed," suggested James and the man nodded.
"Astute," he added, complimenting the man's quick thinking.
"Rest assured that my boys and I will see these two receive their just desserts for causing you and your team trouble."
On hearing this, the two immediately grew pale with fear.
"Rest assured that my team and I will do everything in our power to make your stay here a comfortable one," he added.
The man then grabbed the two, turned around and shouted "Listen up gents, these two are in need of some 'disciplinary action.'"
James decided not to stick around and see what that entailed. Instead, he headed to the school. On the way, he saw Dido and Sirius standing outside a familiar house, talking to the boy from yesterday.
"I'm sorry young man but it wasn't us," said Sirius nervously.
"Yes, we were asleep last night, we couldn't have done anything," added Dido.
"But someone brought medicine over to our house last night," said the boy "if it wasn't you then who else?"
As if on queue, James came to the group and the two girls told him what happened.
"Well, looks like you have a friend somewhere," commented James.
"I wish I could thank them," said the boy.
"I'm pretty sure they'll be happy knowing your mom's healthy. You take care of yourself too, got it?"
The boy nodded and James said "come on you two, we've got to give our report now."
Dido and Sirius followed a little bit behind James, not wanting him to see their grinning faces.
"Should we keep playing ignorant about the whole thing?" asked Dido
"No other choice," replied Sirius, "if we say anything, master will simply deny it."
As the pair headed to the school where the rest of the team waited, they couldn't help but recall Belfast's claims last night.
'He's behaving just like she predicted,' thought the pair as they entered.
Inside, he met with the rest of the girls and headed to the principal's office. He recalled how his friend Kazu mentioned how scared he was of going to the principal's office when he was young. Yet, James never felt any nervousness at all. But that was mostly due to how he never went to school in the first place.
The group waited outside as James opened the door and headed inside. It came as no surprise to him to see the Mayor munching down on more food while the emaciated man who served him stared with hungry eyes.
"Ah, James," said Smalls "finished with your report? What did you find out?"
"You were right to call us," James replied "my team found tracks consistent with hybrid's footsteps around the edges of the town. It looks like they're getting ready for an attack."
"And when do you expect this will happen?" asked Smalls
"Today," was the reply and the Mayor became pale.
"Why do you think it will be today?"
"Our analysis of the area indicates that scouts have been coming here for the past four days. Today though, we found nothing which can only mean one thing. They have the information they need and are ready to attack."
"Th-then we have to do something," said Smalls, becoming agitated "we have to… we have…"
"You need to sound an alert and inform everyone about what's happening. Get them into the bunkers as fast as possible."
"Of course we will," said Smalls, struggling to get out of his chair "you there, go to the broadcast room and inform them right away."
"I need to gather my thing," he said, scrambling towards the door "how long do we have?"
"Hard to say but the sooner you move, the more lives we can save," replied James.
After he said his peace, the announcement was made and the town was in an uproar. The group went outside and saw people rushing towards the shelters. Small's men tried to bring some order to the mess, but panic overcame any logic or reasoning.
"They keep this up and people are going to get hurt," said Belfast, looking at the mess.
"Curacao, Curlew, Glasgow, New Castle," called James "stay here and keep an eye on the horizon."
"The rest of us are going to help with the people," he said. Nodding in agreement the four girls remained in their place while the rest set off to provide whatever assistance they could.
Sheffield, Kent and Suffolk went through the houses to make sure they were empty, Belfast, Sirius, and Dido helped the elderly and sick, Gloucester and Edinburgh carried the children and James took to the sky to try and streamline the move.
He managed to meet up with the head of Small's armed forces and together the pair were able to bring some order to the process. The man thanked James for the assist and just as James was about to leave, a soldier came to them and said there was a problem.
The two exchanged concerned looks and followed the solider. They headed to the bunker where the rest of the maids were waiting for him. Soon enough, James saw the problem the soldier referred to.
"GOD DAMN IT get the hell off of me," hissed Smalls as he tried to shove an emaciated man off his leg.
"Please, there's not enough room for all of us in that cave," begged the man "at least let my wife and son go with you."
"You think I'd let you and your filthy family come anywhere near me?" barked Smalls and struck the man on the head. The force sent him tumbling to the ground while his wife and son came to help him.
"You filth need to learn your place in this world," said Smalls, adjusting his clothes "the old world is gone and in the world we live in, it pays to have friends in high places."
"Blame yourself for not having the right connections," sneered Smalls "guards, I want you to drag this man and his family to the second bunker. And if they resist, shoot them."
"NO please," begged the father, who was on the verge of tears.
It was clear that the soldiers did not want to follow through with the order. But they had their orders and slowly came towards the family.
"Let it be said that I tried my best not to get involved," muttered James to himself before taking a step forward.
"You two," he said to the soldiers "help the man and his family get to the first bunker. In fact, everyone from the second bunker is to leave their belongings and head to the first bunker."
"WHAT?" barked Smalls, "you have no right or authority to decide that."
"And who's going to stop me? YOU? Your connections?"
James turned his attention to Smalls gave him an ominous smile "the way I see it, I get rid of you and there won't be anyone to report me afterwards."
Smalls grew pale at the thought and took a step back "You… you wouldn't dare. My men will kill you if you lay a finger on me."
"Oh I won't hurt you at all," continued James "instead, I'll just use you as my meat shield for the upcoming fight."
"A nice big, plump thing like you is sure to block a barrage or two," he added.
Small's legs grew weak and he fell to his knees at the idea of that happening.
"Please, please don't kill me, I'll do anything… just please don't kill me."
In response, James said "now you how those people must feel."
With that said, he turned around and looked at the head of the armed forces.
"I'm leaving these people in your care," he said and walked towards the maids
"Yes sir," said the man, saluting him in reflex.
With that settled, the group now focused their attention on the fight ahead.