Chapter 10: Taking the Reins

"I had no choice but to tell the Commander about Ritsuka's existence. I deeply apologize, Lady Warspite." The Knight heard the maid's voice in her head.

"No, it's not your fault, Belfast. If her Majesty hadn't mentioned him so openly in the first place, this wouldn't have happened." Warspite sighed.

She respected Elizabeth, as a leader and as a Queen. However, sometimes she wished she was a bit less effusive. Now, in addition to having to think on the way to convince Fujimaru to join them, they also had to protect him from the military. All these while they still were unable to act freely or leave the laboratories.

"…."

Or do they?

Perhaps there was a way to turn these two problems into a solution?

"Wait for a bit, Belfast; I have something to talk with her Majesty." Warspite closed the mental link and approached Elizabeth, who was peacefully drinking her tea on the other side of the table.

She began to whisper to her ear.

"Your Majesty, I thought about something. Maybe we could use this as an opportunity."

"Oh?" Elizabeth quietly left her cup on the table.

"We could offer Ritsuka protection from the military, as long as he decides to join us as a Commander, that way we-"

"But, of course, Warspite, that was my intent all along." Elizabeth puffed out her chest as if she was proud of herself.

"Eh?"

"As expected of my knight, you even thought the same plan as me."

"…" For some reason, Warspite didn't believe she had planned that far ahead.

"Naturally, we should show Ritsuka how this fake government acts; that way, he would see the truth, and came to me, the real Queen!"

"Hmmm…yes, I suppose." Warspite decided to save her comments and just agreed. "Then, should Belfast tell him that?"

"Not yet."

"Not…yet?"

"He has to experience it, the injustice of being unjustly imprisoned." Elizabeth's tone suddenly turned serious. "That's the only way he would understand us."

"…"

Warspite would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about Her Majesty. She also didn't like being incapable of leaving, she shouldn't be imprisoned here; she should be in the frontlines, fighting the enemies of the Royal Navy.

However, the confinement seemed to be affecting Her Majesty differently, even though she retained her cheerfulness for the most part, there were times that she didn't recognize her.

"Ah, and Warspite."

"Y-yes, your Majesty?" She was so deep in those thoughts that her voice surprised her.

"Tell Belfast that if the Commander tries to stop her, she has my permission to remove her." She retook her cup in hand. "There is no need for two Commanders in the same fleet, after all."

"…Yes, your Majesty."

"It's time." Marcia said as she arrived at the room where Ritsuka Fujimaru was being held.

The man in question was sitting on the prison bed, with the same expression of detachment as before. However, this time his eyes were focused on the person that was acting as his guard.

In the same way, Belfast was fiercely looking at him, to the point that the Commander was unsure if she should get between those two.

"Did he try anything?" The Commander approached and asked Belfast in a low tone, as if not to disturb her.

"No, Commander, he had been silent the entire time." Answered the maid, her eyes didn't leave Ritsuka for even a second.

"Good, everything is ready." Marcia put a pair of handcuffs on Belfast's hands. "Put these on him, we are going to move him to a more proper location."

"Understood." The maid finally broke eye contact and went to open the cell.

"This doesn't have to be like this." Marcia finally spoke to the prisoner. "The deal I offered still stands, Fujimaru."

"Give me back my shield, and get me out of this hellhole." He answered in a serious tone. "Then, I may consider your offer."

"You know I can't do that."

"Then, my answer is still the same."

Marcia sighed.

"A shame."The conversation was over. "Hold him tight, Belfast. You have my permission to use force in case he tries anything."

"Yes, Commander."

It was already late at night when the Commander and her prisoner left the police department. An armored truck, accompanied by a couple of police officers, was waiting outside.

"Are you sure you don't want escorts, Commander Haydes?" One of the officers asked Marcia. "We could arrange at least a few patrols to follow you."

"No, it's fine. We'll take care of him from now on." She reassured him. "Thanks for the help, officer."

"Anytime." The man didn't say it, but he was secretly happy that such a criminal was finally leaving his department.

At that moment, that man walked past him. He followed his downcast figure with his eyes; his arms and legs were chained together, and near behind him was the woman of the silver hair.

He didn't exactly know what he had done. Still, it must have been something serious if the military was so desperately trying to catch him while maintaining the most secrecy possible at the same time.

Yes, he knew that they were hiding something. Denying someone the right to a lawyer or even a simple phone call was not a very common practice, and frankly, it didn't sit right with him. However, he also knew that some things were better left alone, as he didn't want to deal with military affairs more than he should.

As for the man itself, the "terrorist," he hadn't had the chance to speak with him, but he did notice something about him. From a distance, he looked no different from your everyday man, but that impression radically changed when they took him to the cell after the interrogatory.

The man was screaming like a madman, repeating "you don't deserve it, you don't deserve it." over and over again, to the point that he wouldn't look out of place in a mental hospital. But what caught the officer's attention wasn't that. Instead, it was his eyes; those eyes were the ones of someone who had completely lost it.

It was not a mad gaze per se; it was more like a gaze of someone who wasn't seeing the same reality as the rest of people.

Someone who was convinced he was the one in the right.

If he had to be honest, that man unnerved him. He really hoped that he would never have to deal with someone like that again.

The last he saw of the man was him silently getting into the back of the armored truck, his figure disappearing as the doors were closed.

The trip was silent, as no one in the back of the truck dared to speak a single word; you could almost feel the tension in the air.

I was chained to my seat, both my arms and legs were held together with a steel chain. Apart from Belfast, who was sat opposite of me, there were four armed soldiers, two sitting at my sides and two next to Belfast; I wondered what purpose they served there, though. Were they another precaution in case Belfast couldn't stop me? The commander should know that if the maid couldn't, none of them could.

Perhaps it was just to keep appearances.

My eyes went to the aforementioned maid; her expression remained as neutral as usual. Even though she was basically betraying her current commander, she could easily pretend as if nothing had changed.

"…"

She really had a talent for deceiving people, and I knew that first hand. That's why I had to be especially careful around her. I should act as how I was expected me to; as a leader…as a Master.

Not that It would be the first time; I had to deal with a few Servants of dubious loyalty in Chaldea before. I still clearly remembered those times when Mephistopheles showed up in my room at 4 AM, screaming how much his scissors shined in the dark or that other time I was cuddling with Jack, and she suddenly began to describe how warm it must feel to cut me apart and enter inside my abdomen.

So yes, I should have enough experience to maintain the façade long enough to meet that "Queen." After that, I wasn't sure what I would do. Ideally, I would be able to convince her.

Otherwise…it will be the same as with Goetia.

At that precise moment, Belfast suddenly winked at me.

That was the signal. It was time.

I looked around the place and spoke for the first time in a long while.

"I know you are just doing your jobs," I said to the four men. "So, if you don't resist, I promise it's not going to hurt that much."

I didn't wait for an answer and started reciting my aria of reinforcement.

Marcia was deep in thought while she drove the armored truck.

What would she do once they arrive at the safe house? She still hadn't gotten any information from Ritsuka, and it didn't seem he would be cooperating any time soon.

Maybe it was time to finally tell the Admiral about Ritsuka's existence.

Even if she had failed to gather any useful information, she still had the "shield." They couldn't move it to the base, yes, but the fact that it was made with a technology that possibly rivaled those of the Sirens was already something.

They only need just more time to…

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted, as one of the men who were guarding Ritsuka spoke up through the small barred window that connected the driver's seat to the back of the truck.

"Commander! The prisoner is talking in a strange language! Should we-"

Marcia couldn't answer, as she no longer heard her subordinate; because what appeared in front of her took her breath away.

She immediately hit the brakes, and the armored truck stopped in its tracks.

"Commander!? What's wrong!?"

The road was silent. No other vehicle could be heard in the distance. The dim light of the lamps showed a woman standing on the path of the truck. Her distinct black and white maid uniform could have been missed in the darkness of the night. What couldn't possibly be missed was the unsympathetic gaze of her only visible eye; the bright amber iris seemed to shine in the dark.

"She…ffield?" Was the only thing Marcia could mutter before the maid made her move. With inhuman speed, she approached the armored truck, her right fist raised.

And she hit it. With her bare hands, she hit the truck with enough force to crush a military tank.

I finished my aria, and I braced myself for the impact. Not a single second after the glowing green lines appeared on my arms, the armored truck was struck; the force sent the unknowing guards reeling towards the end of the truck.

I would have met the same fate if it wasn't for Belfast. A second before the truck was hit; she was already beside me, her strong arm held me safely on the place.

At that moment, we were close. Our eyes locked at each other, her face a few centimeters away from mine, the quiet sound of her breathing.

Maybe because we were like that, face to face, that I noticed something.

Her heartbeat, I could feel it through her arm…it was more accelerated than I expected. Could it be that she was actually nervous? Knowing her, I thought she could keep that calm demeanor in any kind of situation.

Also, it might have been just my imagination, but I could swear her arm was trembling a little.

We stayed like that for a maybe a minute, until she moved her gaze towards the fallen guards. Two of them, the ones that were closer to the end side, were unconscious, the others appeared to just be stunned and were starting to regain their sense.

We didn't let them.

I quickly broke the chains that were holding my arms, and with a swift move, I shot a gandr toward one of the guards. The black energy sphere hit him on the forehead, knocking him out cold. The other one didn't fare any better; as soon as I moved my hand to also shoot at him, Belfast had already deal with him.

"Good work." I said to the maid, as I broke the chains on my feet.

"I should be able to do this much, Master." She answered as if it was the most natural thing while extending her hand toward me.

I chuckled at the gesture.

"I would be a bit disappointed if you couldn't." I took her hand and stood up. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

"As you wish." She said, and with a powerful hit, she broke the truck door. We jumped outside the vehicle to find Sheffield, carrying a human body like it was a suitcase.

"Former Commander Marcia Haydes." She immediately threw her unconscious body beside our feet. "What shall we do with her, Master?" She said that last word with a slight tone of annoyance.

"You know, you don't have to call me that if you don't want, Sheffield."

"What shall we do with her, pathetic excuse of a vertebrate life form?"

"...yeah, I prefer Master." I kneeled down beside Marcia and checked her pulse; she appeared to be a bit hurt, but her life didn't seem to be at risk. "Break her phone, and any kind of communication item, like with the rest of them." I ordered.

Sheffield being Sheffield, however, gave me her classic disapproving look.

"What? If you want something to say, just say it." I stood up.

"She is one of the enemy leaders. Losing her would throw the rest of them into disarray."

"And?" I gave Sheffield a fierce look. "What do you propose, Sheffield?"

"I am sure you know what I am talking about, pest." Sheffield looked back at me, defiant.

"Master, Sheffield, we don't have time for this now." Before a fight could start, Belfast interceded. "People will surely arrive soon."

"Right." I continued talking to Sheffield. "I obviously know what you are talking about, Sheffield. And we'll do just that."

"Eh?" Belfast seemed to be surprised by my decision, a sudden look of worry appeared on her face.

I didn't miss that.

"We'll take her hostage; she could serve as a good bargain chip in case things go south." I turned to the other maid. "Belfast, can you carry her?"

"Ah…yes, Master." Belfast seemed to remember that she was the head maid, and went back to serious mode.

"You don't have the guts to kill her." Sheffield whispered on my ear while the other maid approached Marcia's fallen body.

"Neither do you." I whispered back. "Or do you think I believe that was your strongest hit? If you wanted to kill her, you could have easily crushed her to death just now."

Sheffield immediately lowered her head.

"I am just a lowly maid; I have to follow my Master's orders." She raised it again to look at me directly in the eyes. "Even if that's Master is you, pest."

"Is that so…?" I did tell her through Belfast to not kill anyone if she could help it. It seems she was following my orders. "That obedience it's not quite like you, Sheffield."

"I said it before, and I repeat it now." She spoke seriously. "I will follow your orders, no matter how wrong I believe they are."

"…"

I sighed.

That's a dangerous mindset, but one that benefited me.

"I am not asking for much; just don't kill anyone, alright?"

"Don't worry; the only one I want to kill right now is you, my dear Master."

"…good to know that we get along so well." I patted her in the back as if we were the best friends ever. "But as Belfast said, we don't have time for time this. Let's continue once we aren't on the road full of knocked-out soldiers, shall we?."

I walked towards the unconscious soldiers and started looking for any kind of communication device.

After getting rid of their mobiles and breaking their guns, we were ready to leave the place.

"Are you sure you don't need help, Master? Sheffield should be able to carry you with ease." Belfast asked, with Marcia on top of her shoulder.

"Trust me, I'll be fine by myself." I prepared to reinforce my legs. "Also, I have the impression Sheffield may "accidentally" drop me at some point."

"I would never such a thing, Master." She said that, but she was smiling.

Wait, she was smiling?

I looked at her, surprised for a couple of seconds until that smile of hers disappeared.

"What?"

"Nothing." I tried to ignore that and focused on my reinforcement. I closed my eyes and began to feel the od going through my entire body. While focusing on my legs, my magic circuits activated.

I opened my eyes to see the glowing green lines going from my hips to my feet.

"I still don't understand how you do that." Commented Sheffield, as she approached to see more closely.

However, I quickly stepped back, with a powerful stride thanks to the reinforcement.

"I'll tell you one day, but not now." I turned back. "Let's go!"

Not waiting for an answer, I sprinted for a bit and jumped, my jump easily reaching a couple of meters in the air, and landed on the rooftop of a small building. Not a single second after I landed, the maids were already there too.

"You are not as fast as you think, my dear Master." Said Sheffield, and continued her way jumping between buildings.

"Well, isn't she competitive?" I said to the other maid.

"She isn't usually like this; I think she only likes to compete with you, Master."

"Hah, that's a not fair competition by any means." As I said that, I began to follow Sheffield, with Belfast close behind.

"Understood, I'll tell her Majesty immediately." Warspite cut the mental link. "Your Majesty, Belfast and Sheffield had successfully released Ritsuka from their captors."

"Excellent." Elizabeth took her scepter with her and began to walk away from her room. "Come with me, Warspite."

"Ah…yes." She started to walk behind her. "Where are we going, Your Majesty? It's time to finally leave this place?"

"Not yet, my friend. In fact, we are doing the opposite."

"Eh?"

"The new commander will arrive soon, so it's time to prepare this base for his arrival." She started looking around the place as she walked. "It's so dark and gloomy, a far cry of what a proper Royal Navy base should be like, but maybe with a bit of paint here and there…"

"Hey." A soldier approached the two shipgirls, not a minute after they had left the room. "The Commander ordered not letting you roam around the base, return to your room."

"Don't bother her Maje-" Warspite once again wanted to serve her role as the Queen's personal knight, but Elizabeth walked towards the man.

"Perfect Timing." Elizabeth completely ignored what the man had said. "We need to find someone, a soldier that normally has rounds around here. I didn't get his name last time, but he has brown hair and should be around this tall." Elizabeth raised her arm and made a gesture of his approximate height.

"Johnson? He asked to be reassigned yesterday…wait, why am I telling you this? I said that you must return to your room now." The man's voice turned serious.

"So his name is Johnson, huh? And where could he be?"

"I said that you must-" The man tried to grab the shipgirl by the shoulder.

"Stop right there!"

But his hand was stopped by a mysterious force.

"Do you think you can lay your hand on the Queen as you please!?" Elizabeth shouted in a commanding tone and hit her scepter on the floor. "Know your place!"

The man seemed to have frozen in time, his arm still extended as if he was trying to grab her, but his expression showing deep fright.

Elizabeth smiled.

"Let's go Warspite, we'll find Johnson by ourselves." Elizabeth walked away, followed by a confused Warspite.

"I am sorry, you Majesty, but I have to ask…what is going on?"

"No need to worry, my knight." She reassured her. "Everything will become clear once we find Johnson."

"I say it now, don't try it. You will fail miserably."

"Come on, Richard, don't you have at least some faith in me?"

"Not in the slightest." Reaffirmed the soldier, while he took a look around the apartment, trying his best to ignore his colleague's antics. "I saw like ten people trying to lift it at the same time, and it didn't even budge, you are just losing your time, dude."

"That only means they weren't the chosen one." The other soldier commented with strange enthusiasm.

"What?" Richard could only stare at him.

"It's the same as with Excalibur, only the one capable of ruling Britain could remove it from the stone." The man crouched beside the shield. "Don't you think it's the same here, but with a shield instead of a sword?"

"…wait, that's the sword in the stone, not Excalibur."

"Same thing, you know what I mean." The other soldier put his hands around it. "I wonder, will I be worthy or not?"

The other man released an exasperated sigh; he only hoped no one would know that they were messing with what the Commander described as "an important piece of unknown technology."

Although, pretty much everyone, including the Commander herself, had tried to lift it, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to let one more person made a fool of himself. If anything happened, he only had to shift the blame on him, after all.

The soldier firmly held the shield with both hands and tried to lift it. He didn't put too much force at first, but once he realized the shield wasn't moving, he decided to put all his strength on the task.

However, as Richard had said, it was useless; the shield remained motionless on the floor.

"Arrrgh." The man stepped back, his arms hurt. "It's like it's glued to the floor!"

"Told you so." Richard wasn't surprised. "That thing must weight a ton. I have no idea how that guy supposedly wields it."

"Huh, maybe there is a hidden button to make it lighter or something." The man started touching around the shield again.

"A button? Hah." He laughed. "And where did that "chosen" crap go to?"

"Come on, it was a joke. No way things like magic swords or shields exist."

"They do, though." A new voice resounded in the room, one that they haven't heard before.

Both men immediately looked at the source of the voice, and they found a man by the door. He appeared to be in his late twenties, he had short black hair, and his face was a bit of obscured by a 3-days beard, his navy blue eyes fiercely gazed at them.

There was a minute of silence before any of them could respond.

"W-who…who are you!? How did you get past the-" Richard tried to approach the man, but he immediately stopped upon seeing what was behind him.

The door of the apartment was wide open, revealing the bodies of the men guarding the place, they laid on the floor motionless.

"You bastard!" Richard tried to take his gun, but before he realized, the man was just centimeters in front of him.

"I can't let you do that." Was all he said before hitting him on the chest with the palm of his arm.

He was sent flying towards one of the walls, the air in his lungs leaving his body in mere seconds.

"Richard!" shouted the other man, as he drew his pistol and pointed towards the man. "Freeze, now!"

"Sheffield."

"…!?" The man suddenly fell a presence behind him, but it was only for a moment, he couldn't react as someone dressed in a maid uniform had hit him from behind, knocking him instantly.

Richard observed the situation with helplessness. Who was that man? How could he take on a trained soldier with just one punch? And most importantly…why was the missing prototype with him, and why did it seem to follow his orders?

The strange man walked toward the shield, and he couldn't believe what happened next.

He reached out to the shield, and with a single hand, he lifted it.

"I am back, sorry for leaving you here, Mashu." The man talked with the shield as if it were a living being."I promise it won't happen again."

Then, his gaze turned toward him and slowly approached.

Richard tried to get away, but his chest hurt like hell. Were his ribs broken?

"Believe me; I don't like any of this." The man said, with a tone of resignation. "But life isn't fair for anyone, not me, not you."

After saying that, he hit Richard with the side of the shield.

And everything turned black.

After some time, Elizabeth found the person she was looking for. Johnson was doing his rounds in a different part of the base, one that was actually quite far from the Queen's quarters.

Upon seeing the two shipgirls, an expression of nervousness appeared on his face.

"W-what are you two doing here…?" He stuttered like he was afraid of them.

Elizabeth smiled.

"Fear not, oh cherished citizen! Because I, the Queen, know what disturbs your dreams!" Elizabeth started to approach the man.

"Don't get close!" The man stepped back until he was stopped by a wall.

"Since that day, the day we talked, you have been feeling unwell, am I right?"

"I said don't get close!" He took his gun and pointed it towards Elizabeth.

"Your Majesty!" Warspite was ready to take her sword, but her Queen stopped her with a gesture of her hand.

"You feel, deep inside you, that something is terribly wrong." She continued approaching him. "But no matter how much you try, you can't pinpoint the reason."

The man shot at Elizabeth. However, his hands were shaking so much that he missed.

"I can tell you, I can tell you what torments you."

Elizabeth was so close to him; that he wouldn't have failed if he had fired again. But he couldn't, he no longer could pull the trigger.

The pistol fell off his hands, and he too, fell on his knees, feeling weakened.

Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder, at that position; she was taller than him despite her small height.

"You realized the truth. You are the first one in this base to finally be able to see the truth."

The man raised his head and looked up towards Elizabeth.

"Search in your heart, you know what the truth I am speaking of is."

"I..I…" He doubted at first but finally reached an answer. "I don't know...why I took me so long to understand."

The man lowered his head until his forehead was touching the cold floor.

"You…you are the true monarch of this country…you are…my Queen….our Queen."

"I am!" Elizabeth shouted with pride. "And I won't rest until every person in this country recognizes as such! Will you help me in my quest to reclaim the throne!?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Johnson shouted, his voice full of loyalty.

"That's what I wanted to hear! You can raise your head, soldier Johnson, we have a lot to do in this base!" He turned around and walked toward Warspite. "Did you see that, Warspite? My charisma finally went through him! With this, we'll be able to return to the position we have been robbed, we'll stand as the leaders of this country once again!"

Having said that, she walked away, followed by the now loyal Johnson.

Warspite was stunned.

She was sure that wasn't how charisma worked.

END OF CHAPTER 10

AN: Chapter 10 is here.

I know, this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. I wanted to post it like a week ago, but things got busy and when I finally had it finished, my proofreader was full of college assignments so he couldn't make it in time until yesterday.

Anyway, I like to think that this chapter was a bit more action-packed than the previous one, hopefully, you all get the feeling that things are finally happening and plot is moving. This chapter also had a lot of different POVs, so I hope it's not too convoluted.

So, that's it, see you all in the next chapter.