The two teams headed back to the base along with the town's residents. James stated that it was too early for humanity to start expanding without enough military power to back them up. Mr. Smalls had no other choice but to agree.
Once back, Alec took charge of getting the residents a place to stay while James was (forcibly) sent to the hospital. Akagi and Belfast accompanied him as an extra precaution.
Alec headed to meet with the resistance leaders and give them his report. As he neared the group, he could already tell they were not pleased with what they're seeing.
"Alec," said Whitney, rubbing her forehead "why are the residents of that town coming back here?"
Alec proceeded to repeat what James said and the five leaders sighed in response.
"Of course," said Byron, with a scoff "it seems like he's made it his mission to undermine everything we do."
"I agree with James on this," stated Alec "leaving them out there with no protection is a recipe for disaster."
"We're already training a fresh batch of soldiers to handle the new anti-Siren artillery," objected Lakshmi "had James not jumped the gun like he did, we would have reinforced that town with enough soldiers."
"And how long will it take for them to get ready?" countered Alec "a month? Two? Meanwhile Omega would have reduced the town to ashes, captured the citizens and turned them into her soldiers."
"Strange," mused Ingrid "it sounds like you're siding with James over your own kind."
"James is a human too," said Alec, raising his voice "and from the looks of things he seems to be the only one here that wants to protect our species instead of sending them to the slaughterhouse."
Those last few words caused a few of the nearby people to turn towards the group. Seeing this, both sides immediately took a breath and tried to calm down.
"Alec," said Whitney, trying to keep everyone from boiling over "on one hand we do appreciate that James saved numerous lives. That said, he does not have the right to decide how our species is to overcome this threat."
"Going forward," said Damien "our Alliance will benefit if James were to inform us about what he's doing. That way, we can discuss things amongst ourselves and come to an appropriate course of action."
Alec grit his teeth and stifled his loaded response. He just turned around and decided to walk away instead of making a scene. Right now was when both sides are supposed to come together and present a united front. He had to remind himself that that only happens in movies and not in the real world.
Seeing that he was annoyed, Bryon, Whitney and Ingrid called out to try and stop him but Alec didn't listen. He headed out the door and saw James coming to greet him.
"James," said Alec, "we're turning around and going away, now."
"What? Why?"
"Because there are some assholes that I don't want to look at right now," he replied.
Understanding the content behind the statement, James turned around and was about to turn on his boots till they all heard someone screaming. The group looked to their right and saw a child suddenly start convulsing and spasming on the ground.
"What the hell?" wondered Alec.
To James, it looked like the kid's movement was indicative of someone who had eaten food they're allergic to. That meant his windpipe was closing and he had to open it up or else the child will suffocate.
But, as he neared the child to try and help, something happened that caused everyone's mouth's to suddenly drop.
The child stopped spasming and assumed a crab walk position. Then, the head turned at an impossible angle followed by the eyes shifting color from black to yellow.
"Target identified," it said in a mechanical voice "commence extermination."
In a flash, the child lunged at James with its mouth open and revealing multiple rows of sharp teeth. James, in response drew his sword and knocked it away with the flat.
"JAMES," shouted Alec "what the hell is…?"
"Get everyone out of here, now," barked James, interrupting Alec.
Alec however, still could not understand what happened. How did a Siren hybrid manage to infiltrate the base?
"Recalculating," said the robot as it rose to its feet and turned its left arm into a jagged makeshift sword "shifting to secondary target."
James tried calling out to Alec but the latter didn't listen. The hybrid did not let this opportunity slip as it lunged towards Alec with its sword pointed directly at his face. Before it could attack him, James intervened and kicked it to the side. The hybrid tried to get up, but this time James was the faster one. He landed on the hybrid and rammed his boot into its chest. James took advantage of this opportunity and cut off its head with a swift and merciless strike.
After that, there was an uneasy silence filling the area. James remained rooted in his spot, carefully observing the machine for any signs of life or backup protocols. The last thing he wanted to do was take a breather and get caught off guard.
Alec meanwhile, came to James and looked at the corpse. There was a lot to take in in the span of a few minutes. A hybrid infiltrated the base. It was disguised as a child. James had little difficulty in killing something that looked like a child.
"JAMES," shouted another voice. The two (as well as Byron, Whitney and Ingrid) looked in the direction of the voice and saw Akagi, Belfast and Vestal coming to them.
"I told you not to move and here you are…" but Vestal stopped mid-sentence when she saw her leader's expression.
"Vestal," he said, turning to her "call Akashi, Purin and Buri, now."
Vestal was understandably confused at first, but when she saw the thing James was standing over, she understood. At once, the pair left the island and promptly returned with Akashi, Langley and Marblehead.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Marblehead "we'd better take it to the lab on the island for a further analysis."
"Good, I'll come with you," said James.
"Excuse me," said Damien, interjecting himself into the conversation "James you are once again overstepping your bounds in this alliance."
"What?" he asked, turning around.
"The attack happened on our island that makes it an issue for the human resistance," said Damien, taking a step forward "you can't just waltz in here and take over things whenever you want."
"Tell me," said Langley, adjusting her glasses "are any of your doctor's familiar with Siren technology?"
Damien was confused by the question.
"What about body modification?" asked Marblehead.
"You can beat your chest as much as you want," said James "in the meantime, we're going to figure out what happened here."
Damien began to seethe at the arrogance on display while James and the girls headed back to the island.
"Well don't just stand there damn it," he barked to Alec "follow them and report back to us."
Alec repressed the urge to say something and followed after the group. He quickly caught up with James and together, they headed back to the research facility.
Alec had only been here a few times but it still surprised him how this place was vastly different from the rest of the base. The technology on display, the room design and the various devices all laid about were a sight to behold.
As Alec and James were headed to the main lab, they saw a black-haired girl come out from one of the rooms.
"Hey Ark," said James, greeting her with a smile "so, how do you feel after the retrofit?"
"Like a whole new me," replied Ark Royal, puffing her chest out in pride "with this new power, I can devote even more of myself to protecting those little girls."
"I'll be counting on you Ark," said James with a chuckle "well, see you later."
Ark Royal nodded and headed back out. When she left, Alec asked "did something happen to her?"
"We recently found out Ark met the requirements for a retrofit," James replied "so I talked to her about it and asked if she wanted the upgrade. She happily agreed to the procedure and now she's stronger than before."
"Retrofit… hey, didn't Pamiat also qualify for that?"
"Yep, and she's got significantly stronger as a result," replied James "from what the girls tell me, the Retrofit procedure is like pushing past your limits and reaching a new level of strength."
"San Diego for example," continued James "she was strong before but after the Retrofit, she could give Friedrich a run for her money."
They went through a door and found the body was in a sealed room. Akashi, Purin, Buri, Marblehead and Langley were in another room and examined the body through remote controlled robotic arms.
"I didn't know you had such awesome tech here," said Alec.
"Neither did I," said James as the two met with the rest of the eggheads.
"Alright ladies, what's the word?" he asked.
"Comnyander," said Akashi "next time you want us to examine something try not to destroy it completely.
"That aside," said Marblehead "whoever did this is a real piece of work."
"Marblehead means that this was done by a lunatic," elaborated Langley.
"I mean that's no surprise," said James "only a lunatic would turn a child into a hybrid."
"Our initial scans indicate that this child was very much alive when he was converted," stated Purin "marks on the hand suggest signs of struggle."
"Rope burn," said Alec "most likely the child was tied to a table to keep from moving during the procedure."
"What can you tell me about the technology?"
"That's where it gets weird Comnyander," said Akashi.
"Define weird."
"Observe," she said and had a robot hand tear out a piece of metal with bits of flesh sticking to it. Alec became unnerved by the scene and stifled the urge to vomit.
"You don't have to be here if you don't want to," said James, noticing his unwell expression.
Alec shook his head and indicated he wanted to remain here.
"The technology itself looks like it was meant to emulate how the Siren Hybrids looks and operate," said Akashi "however, the execution leaves much to be desired. Whoever did this is a genius at technology but terrible at engineering."
"Also," said Marblehead "we noticed something that you might be interested in."
She provided the information to James who then decided to hold a meeting with the other faction leaders.
On their way to the meeting room, Alec and James saw Damien and Ingrid marching to them. The former looked like he just ran a marathon.
"Well," said Damien "let's get started on the investigation."
"There's no need for that," said James, brushing him off "I'm presenting my findings to the others and we'll decide what to do there."
"Then we're coming," interjected Ingrid "after all, this happened on our base."
Alec found their sudden interest strange. For a while now, the human resistance leaders were fine with watching things unfold from a distance and pretending like they had a role to play in everything. Now though, they seemed actively concerned with what's going on. This interest is most likely due to how the hybrid attacked when they were around.
"Fine," said James "but you're to observe and nothing else. If I want your opinion, I'll ask. Till then, say nothing."
The two nodded and the group headed to the meeting room. Once inside, they met with the group of Tirpitz, Friedrich, Eugen, Queen Elizabeth, Warspite, Yat Sen, Richelieu, Yorktown, Enterprise, Rossiya, Akagi, Kaga and Saint Louis.
Everyone sat at the round table while Ingrid and Damien stood near the wall.
"Here's what we know," said James, typing in a few keys that resulted in a holographic display of the hybrid to emerge.
"Just one hour ago, the human resistance base came under attack by a lone Hybrid," began James. It caught everyone off guard and nearly dispatched Alec. However, a quick reaction resulted in the Hybrid being dispatched."
"After taking it to the research lab, Akashi and the others un-earthed several essential clues."
"Firstly," he continued "the design may seem similar to a Siren Hybrid, but it lacks the elegance and sophistication as the ones we fought."
"Secondly, there is no trace of Siren technology used here."
"So, we're looking at a copycat?" asked Queen Elizabeth. While everyone was focused on the presentation, Damien swallowed hard at the question.
"All the evidence points to that," replied to James "it would also explain something else."
"What's that?" asked Alec.
"The choice of weapon," replied James "so far, the Hybrids we've faced are all adults that Omega converted into her soldiers. She doesn't strike me as the type to suddenly start drafting children into her war machine."
"You can't just make bold assumptions like that," barked Damien and making his presence known "for all we know your progress in the war could have forced Omega to resort to desperate methods."
"So what are you saying?" asked Tirpitz, turning around and stared daggers at Damien "that James is at fault for doing a good job? Or that he's to blame for Omega suddenly drafting children?"
"No, no, that's not it at all," said Damien, immediately stepping back "all I'm saying right now is that we shouldn't make too many assumptions."
"He does make a point there," said Richelieu "we've no idea of Omega's fleet size or what she's up to at this moment."
"That's why I never put too much thought into that second argument," said James "moving on, further analysis into the Hybrid indicated that it sent a signal to an external location just before it went offline."
"The satellites floating over our free space tracked the signal to a location in the west," continued James "on further analysis, we found that it was sent to this place."
The screen shifted to an image of a dilapidated hospital.
"All things considered," said James "it would be wise of us to send a team there and investigate the signal. I believe we may even find out more about this experiment here as well."
"Oh no," said Akagi, immediately getting up "absolutely not. We are not sending you to a place that looks like it belongs in a horror movie."
"Truth be told Commander," said Yorktown "you're supposed to be resting after that last mission. Vestal explicitly said your arm needs time to fully set."
"Then who exactly do we send?" asked James "a place like this requires a careful approach, meaning we can't go in guns blazing here. We need a specialist team with an experienced leader at the head."
"Ask Alec," said Akagi and the latter started sweating.
"I go there, I'll be the first one to die," said Alec.
"So its better to send someone else who barely had any time to recover from his last mission?" asked Yat Sen.
"Why not blast the place from a distance?" asked Ingrid.
"What?" asked Rossiya.
"James here's got battleships and aircraft carriers here. Why not have them target the place from a distance and bombard the ever-living hell out of it?"
"Because we don't know the extent of this experiment or the one in charge of it. The only way we know is by going there and finding out."
"And I personally want to find the bastard responsible for this," said James, his expression growing dark.
The girls saw his expression and understood. Given Alec's apprehension at going into a 'horror movie setting' James was the only candidate available.
"Very well then," said Saint Louis "I recommend Roon coming with you."
"I agree," said Friedrich "her hand-to-hand skills are perfect for this close-quarters scenario."
"Friedrich's right," said Yorktown "going into a small place like this severely limits our combat capabilities. We need girls who, like James, excel in hand-to-hand combat."
"Then I recommend Cleveland and Monteplier," said Enterprise.
"Takao," said Akagi.
"London and Ark Royal," said Queen Elizabeth "post retrofit, their rigging functions similar to the guns Sheffield and San Diego have."
"Alright here's our mission," said James "we go in, find the source and gather up the information. After that, the battleship and carrier division blow the place to kingdom come."
"I still think it would be smarter for you to destroy the place rather than put yourself at risk," stated Ingrid.
"Thank you for that and your suggestion is noted," said James, sarcastically.
"Is there anyone else you want to recommend for the mission?" he asked and the girls remained silent.
"Well then, meeting adjourned. Assemble the team by the docks and I'll head to the infirmary."
The group nodded and left. As Alec got up from his chair, he noticed how Damien and Ingrid hurriedly left the room before the rest. He didn't think too much of it and right now, he had greater concerns. With the meeting over, he headed to the comms room where California, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Arizona were busy doing their work.
Alec then told them about the upcoming mission and how he needed all the information he could get on the building. The girls nodded and started their work.
Meanwhile, James prepared himself for the inevitable tongue lashing he would receive when he met with Vestal. On the way, he noted how irritated Akagi was at Alec's cowardice.
"I don't like it one bit," she commented.
"It is what it is sweetie," he said calmly.
"And how can you be so calm about this?" she asked.
"Because this isn't the first time I've gone out on a mission at less than one hundred percent," he replied "don't worry Akagi, I'll come back."
Akagi nodded but her expression indicated she was not happy with it. James gently held her hand with his right hand. Akagi in response, slightly tightened her grip as her expression softened a little. This was one of the few ways the couple showed their love to each other.
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"Did you try and suggest the nuclear option?" asked Lakshmi to Damien, back at their headquarters.
"I did and he dismissed it outright," replied Damien.
"Damn it," said Whitney, biting her lip. "Is there anyone we can send to accompany this team?"
"The men from Mr. Smalls' group are combat ready but they're still getting used to the new ammo," replied Ingrid.
"Damn it," said Byron, banging his fist on the table "at this rate, James is going to find out about our involvement with that bastard Glass."
"And if he does," said Ingrid "he'll be coming for us next."