Commander's office.
Walking back from the Yamato sisters' room, the Commander realised he felt MUCH better than he had felt in recent days. His body felt lighter and his mind was quieter than it normally would be. All three fox women were awake before the Commander left, Musashi had cooked pancakes for them all and they all enjoyed some light conversation over breakfast.
The Commander had noticed Kaga was much happier too, she had opened up a little more about feeling vulnerable without Akagi around, but Musashi had helped her gain some confidence in herself last night, with Kaga blushing as Musashi revealed how intimate it was, causing him to blush too.
Shinano had appreciated the Commander waiting for her to wake up, and agreed with Musashi that he didn't need to worry about disrespecting kansen who wanted to...horizontal monster mash him. Just to let it happen and enjoy it, that was how to truly respect them and himself. Musashi had then jokingly asked if she could 'have a turn' with him, then chuckled before saying she could wait for another time.
When it was time for him to leave, all three women had hugged him, Kaga even worked up the courage to kiss him, which impressed the Yamato sisters and himself. While she had tried to claim it was just 'instinct' the Commander had kissed her back, letting her know it was OK to love him, just like Akagi.
He smiled as he thought back to that moment, unfortunately the smile faded as he saw his office door ajar again. He facepalmed as he walked around the corner.
"Taihou! I told you not-" The Commander cut himself off as he made it into the room. He couldn't see anyone inside, confused he walked in, looking around. "Hello? Why is my door open?" He called around, no reply.
He pulled out a small radio and held it to his head. "Der Grosse, did you leave my office door open?" He asked into the radio.
"Nien Kommandant, is something wrong?" FDG's voice came from the radio. "Something isn't right here, probably nothing, but get over here just in case." The Commander ordered before putting the radio away. He pulled a concealed glock 17 from under his jacket cautiously and walked further into the room.
He heard something from behind his desk and pointed his gun at it. "Hands where I can see them! Come out slowly!" The officer ordered. As he said that two hands were thrust up from behind the desk. The Commander looked on in confusion as a woman in a black jacket over a red crop top slowly rose up from behind the desk. A black mini skirt covered only the top of her thighs as black stockings rose up to her knees from red high heels. Despite being held at gunpoint, she had a smug look in her blue eyes and whipped her blonde hair back out of her tanned face.
"Relax, I'm just the new secretory honey~ I'm Laura, Laura Tate." She told the Commander in a Transatlantic accent. The man sighed in irritation and lowered the gun while rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Just... don't go in the office without me miss Tate; I could have shot you." He warned her. He then realised something and asked: "How did you get in here anyway? The door was locked." He added as he put the gun away. Laura walked around the desk and glanced around the room.
"I was just too curious to wait, its such a lavish office this isn't it?" The woman told him, ignoring his question. The Commander walked behind his desk to check for damage, some of the drawers have been rummaged through.
"What were you doing back here?" He asked as he sorted the drawers out.
"Oh sorry about that, I just wanted to sort some papers out while I waited for you, maybe see what you had planned for the day." She answered. The Commander was about to say something else when she spoke up again. "I noticed from these documents and timetables that outside of drills, training and patrols, you seem to give the kansen a lot of free time, shouldn't they be doing more?" Laura added, from her tone the Commander could tell she meant it as a rhetorical question, but furrowed his brow in annoyance.
"This base is their home, the kansen should get to treat it like one." The Commander retorted. Laura just rolled her eyes and gave a smile like a teacher about to correct a student. She sat down on the front of the desk, crossing her legs.
"As true as that is, they're still a fighting force correct? And a fighting force should be focused on fighting an enemy force, I don't see why you have so many leisure facilities on this island for one thing, surely you could swap them out for more pragmatic ones? More barracks, bunkers, an airbase, even expanding your docks?" She suggested.
"My base is fine as is, I have dozens of aircraft carriers for god's sake; Why would I ever need an airbase?" The Commander pointed out.
"Kansen aircraft carriers Commander." Laura corrected harshly. "The Admiralty feel you've relied on those ship girls for too long, you need more...trustworthy allies to help you keep them in line, that's the whole reason Commodore Nico is here, to give you security." She told him, trying to sound reassuring. She then swung her legs over the desk so she was facing him. "Besides you know more than anyone how strong they are, doesn't it terrify you that they could snap you in half like a twig?" she added.
It was the Commander's turn to roll his eyes in annoyance and he folded his arms. "I trust the kansen implicitly, far more than the man who annoyed and fought with me in Command school." The Commander replied.
"Oh come on, recruits haze and fight each other all the time, it must have been just a bit of fun!" Laura giggled before frowning more seriously. "Those ship girls on the other hand could turn you into a bloody smear on the ground without breaking a sweat, why anyone would willingly work alongside something like that is beyond me."
"Because they're the reason you and I can even have this conversation." The Commander argued back. "Would you rather the Sirens have just slaughtered us all? Because that's exactly what would have happened without the kansen." he added, he was about to walk off when Laura held up her leg, to stop him, the Commander looked back at her with a raised eyebrow as she then leaned in closer to him with half-lidded eyes.
"Commander~ I'm sorry for making you angry, is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable with me~?" She asked in a suggestive tone, the young woman looked down at his crotch while licking her lips. The Commander chuckled before roughly shoving Laura back over the desk, making her scream briefly as she fell off.
"Yeah nice try slag, but sexual harassment isn't tolerated here." The Commander told her. Laura picked herself up, scowling at the officer.
"You...bastard! No man does that to me!" She yelled. Just before she could do anything else, FDG walked into the room.
"Commander...do you require assistance?" she asked calmly, staring out Laura, who glared back at her.
"Take her to the holding cells, she just tried to sexually assault me." The Commander told FDG. Laura went wide eyed in fear and tried to barge past the German battleship to escape. However FDG might as well have been an oak tree since she didn't move at all. The kansen then placed Laura over her shoulder, chuckling as the blonde woman screamed in rage and uselessly pounded her back.
"You can't do this! Nico won't let you!" She shouted as FDG calmly carried her away. Leaving the Commander to properly start his day.
The repair yard.
Captain Varennes was eagerly awaiting for the Lennon to be relaunched, Nagato had told him this wouldn't have taken more than a day, from the damage she could sense to the Lennon. As he waited outside to be let in, the door opened. Out stepped a small, green haired cat girl with golden eyes.
"Hello there nya!" She called to the Captain while waving, her jacket covering up her hands as it seemed slightly too big for her. "She's ready for you nya!" the cat girl added as the Captain came up to her.
"Really? Wow you weren't kidding about this not taking that long huh Akashi?" The Captain chuckled as they walked inside the dry-dock.
"There wasn't much to do nya, just a couple hull breaches on the keel and a few smaller dents, nothing a little TLC couldn't handle nya~" Akashi meowed.
Suddenly the two of them heard a loud crash from deeper inside the repair yard, and a sound, like that of a kansen's rigging manifesting, could be heard from the Lennon's docking pen. Akashi stopped and yowled at the noise while Varennes gasped.
"What...what was that?" The captain asked, afraid of the answer.
"I uh...may have left a crate of mental cubes open nya...I think the Manjuus have accidentally dropped some of them on your ship nya ha ha." Akashi stated sheepishly as she poked her index fingers against each other nervously.
"What the hell does that mean?!" Varennes demanded, getting freaked out by what Akashi had said. They heard a girl scream from the docking pen and Manjuus could be seen running out of the entry way in fright. Not waiting for anything else to happen, Varennes ran inside with Akashi reluctantly following.
The sight the greeted them was a young girl, around Cleveland's age, looking around the Lennon's deck, a frightened look on her lightly tanned face. She had long brown hair in a pony tail that reached her waist. Her eyes were light green and her figure was very toned for someone her size. Her clothes consisted of a grey jacket, along with a black t-shirt underneath and black shorts with grey and red boots.
She was standing against the base of the Lennon's bridge, her head and eyes darting around agitatedly, like she was expecting to be attacked at any moment.
"What is this place?! Why am I here?!" She yelled out, a mix of anger and fear over her voice.
"Its OK!" Varennes called to her from the dockside. The girl clocked the captain waving at her, with Akashi hiding behind him. "No one is going to hurt you! You're safe here!" He added. The mystery girl tightly closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Y-you could be lying to me! Who are you anyway?" She retorted.
"I'm Captain Varennes, of that ship you're standing on, whats your name?" He called over. The girls mood instantly shifted from anxious, to shocked and then to the verge of tears.
"V-Varennes? My captain?!" She then bolted over the catwalk and before Varennes could do anything she glomped him. "My captaaaaaain!" She yelled again before bursting into tears. Confused Varennes just gently stroked her head as she cried. Akashi just stepped back, a little scared of this newcomer.
"Whoa there...whats the matter?" He asked her gently, through choked sobs the girl replied.
"I...I didn't... m-mean to get stuck... on... that reef! I...I couldn't avoid it...I'm so sorry!" She cried out, hugging him tighter.
"Stuck...reef...wait a minute..." Varennes put two and two together and looked down at the girl in disbelief. "Lennon? Is your name Lennon?" He asked the girl. She looked up at him with tear stained eyes and nodded.
"USS... Arleigh Burke class... destroyer... Lennon." She sniffled out. She smiled a little as she kept speaking. "Its...its good to finally meet you captain!"
U.S.S Dominatus.
Akagi groaned as she regained consciousness, her vision obscured a little by a lamp above her, she went to shield her eyes but found she couldn't move her arm. She looked down and saw metal restraints over her wrists and ankles. She tried moving her tails, but found they were pulled taught and wrapped up with steel cables. She even tried summoning her runway, but was suddenly electrocuted for trying, making her scream.
"What the hell are these things made of?!" Akagi thought as she kept struggling on the table.
"Well 'Akagi', it seems you've been holding out on me." She heard Nico say. Akagi then felt the table vibrate for a moment as she was angled upwards, leaving her somewhat upright and facing a smug looking Commodore. He was holding some documents in his hand as walked around the table, Akagi hissed watching him strut around her.
"Ever since I heard your name, I kept wondering why it sounded familiar, I asked my uncle for your file and oh my god the stuff in here...you're pretty much the biggest bitch of all the ship-bitches aren't you?" Nico taunted.
"What...are you talking about?" Akagi grunted, still wriggling in the restraints.
"You're the one who caused the Red axis incident in the first place! Wow this is so good!" Nico pointed out, almost giddy as he read the document. "You betrayed not just Azur lane, but your own people too?! Jesus I knew you girls were unhinged but holy fuck!" He added. "I don't know what your Commander sees in you fox because holy shit you're insane."
"You...don't know a thing about me...I've changed since then." Akagi retorted, giving a short scream as she kept pulling on the restraints and cables holding her down.
"Don't bother trying to break out, those restraints you're wearing are pure titanium, even if you were ten times stronger you couldn't get out." Nico told her with a chuckle. "Now I'm laying all this stuff about you out here, because I want to make something clear: What you did with that super Siren ship Orochi, is the whole fucking reason the Admiralty are scared shitless of your kind." The Commodore explained.
Nico then walked up to the table, his smirking face inches from Akagi's own as she kept wriggling and struggling. "Well, that's the real reason I'm out here fox, 'Water pounder' is humanity's Orochi, only instead destroying the world like you, we'll be saving it from you and those like you." He told her darkly, before yanking one of her ears, making her yelp from the force. "You're an abomination, a freak of science, humanity's biggest mistake since Chernobyl; you're just plain wrong and shouldn't exist."
He then threw Akagi's head back as he walked away, making her scowl out of pain. "Also the irony isn't lost on me, that you're about to help create the very thing that will keep your kind on mankind's leash." Nico then gestured to the wet-suit that Akagi had seen earlier.
"You see this? That...is a water pounder, well the mark two version specifically." He stated. "The older mark one versions used in the first Siren war were unstable yes, but we found out why: The mental cubes used in the suit's power plant would degrade overtime, when used for too long, the cubes destabilize and damage the rigging." Nico explained.
He then patted the back of the suit's exoskeleton. "But now we have something that will keep that from happening, something I think you're quite familiar with fox, want to see it?" Without waiting for her answer, Nico plucked something from the back of the suit. Something Akagi lost all colour in her face seeing, the one thing she never wanted to see again.
A Black mental cube. Its multicoloured centre and dark aura struck Akagi's soul, she became even more frantic in the restraints, shaking her head rapidly on the verge of panic.
"No...no you can't! You can't NO!" Akagi screamed seeing the cube. The Commodore just chuckled darkly watching Akagi squirm. He held out the black cube towards her, grinning evilly.
"Wow you're really scared of this thing aren't you?" He jested. "Well too bad since we still need one more thing to finish the project: the base code from an activated kansen, we've already programmed the suit with a rigging to make, but its from a ship that was never built, which means we can't activate it, that's where you come in fox."
Nico then stalked closer to Akagi, holding the black box out in front of him. The kitsune struggled harder, clearly frightened of the box, she whimpered and sobbed watching it get closer.
"No...please...keep that...thing away from me..." She pleaded desperately, looking away from the box as Nico brought it closer. He smirked down at the fox woman as he held the cube above her chest.
"Why are you so scared? You used something just like this to build your Orochi didn't you?" Nico teased. "You're quite pathetic actually, the big bad Red castle reduced to tears by a small black box? I almost feel sorry for you..." Akagi was still looking away as he taunted her, sobbing as she was forced to remember all the pain and suffering she caused, just to fuel the Orochi black box. She hated herself for going along with Observer Alpha's deal, betraying her homeland, Azur lane and all of humanity, just because some Siren told her she could see Amagi again.
"Well fun's over, lets get on with this." Nico then declared and shoved the cube onto Akagi's chest, the moment it made contact Akagi screamed in agony, where the box and her skin made contact was a border of red light, that started to glow with greater intensity as the process went on.
"Scream all you want miss Nine tails, your Commander can't hear you now." Nico laughed as he held down the cube to Akagi's chest. Black electricity arced from the box as Akagi writhed underneath, screaming and crying from the pain, both physical and emotional. A searing heat from the black box seemed to reach into her body, spreading out from her chest to the tips of her fingers and toes. Akagi howled as the torturous feeling ripped through her.
Finally the box finished god knows what it was doing to her and returned to its dormant state. Akagi panted, relieved it was over, but still sniffling from the painful memories this little box brought up. Nico pulled it away satisfied.
"There we go, hey professor! This should be what you need to get this thing working!" Nico called to Cameron, as he placed the black cube back into the suit's power plant.
"Right away sir, integrating the base code now." The professor replied from a console. After a few minutes of typing the professor looked up at the suit, white strip lights glowed in an ominous brightness as the Water pounder suit powered up.
"Yes...its working sir, wait what are you doing?!" The professor suddenly demanded. Nico had already opened up the suit and was stepping into it. "Sir we haven't tested it yet! We don't know what it will do!" Cameron exclaimed.
"No time like the present egghead; lets see what this bad boy can do!" Nico laughed as he finished putting the suit on. "Lets head outside to do this properly." He suggested before glancing at Akagi, who was still crying on the table. "Don't worry fox, once I've shown your Commander who Azur lane truly belongs to, I'll come back for you." He smirked before stomping out of the lab, the exoskeleton of the suit clomping on the metal floor as he walked out.
Akagi was left trapped on the table, as Cameron set the device back to its original, horizontal position. She didn't know what Nico's suit was capable of, but she didn't care. All she could think about was how horrible she felt, not from how painful the cube had been, but that she had made it possible for Nico to finish it. Despite her desire to change for the better, she had doomed Azur lane once again. While Nico was doing the dirty work, it was only possible because of her, that single fact broke her, making her cry silently.