"First order of business, General." Isaac said as he and MacArthur sat in a tent that made up their temporary command center.
"And what might that be, Commander?" MacArthur asked.
"The girls you had in your service. What would you do with them?" Isaac asked.
"I've been using them as mobile artillery since the field guns have long been destroyed. But I feel that since I now have a full fleet of ships with these girls, I could relinquish them to you and just use whomever is needed for any given operation." MacArthur said.
"Be that as it may, I do not expect them to be thrown into an impossible situation. The worst loss I have faced is the loss of one of my Kansen's vessels. I will not tolerate the loss of a Kansen." Isaac said, stone-faced.
"You are waging a war and expecting no casualties!?" MacArthur asked. "That is the very peak of arrogance and foolishness." He added.
"Arrogant, yes. But I do not think myself a fool. I call it optimism." Isaac said.
"Call it whatever you want, Commander. The only way we won this war is by the lives given by our soldiers. You can't win a war without casualties." MacArthur argued.
"I have done so thus far. I would like to keep it going. If you can't say with certainty that you won't use caution and just throw my girls into a situation where death is the only outcome, then I will not permit you to use them. They are ships, yes. But they are women as well. If you want to throw away lives, do it to the men you already command, do not take my forces and spill their blood in pointless battles. This past war was fucking pointless, and look where it got us! The world ended on August 10th. Humanity is no longer the dominant force here." Isaac yelled as he slammed his fist on the wooden table.
"You are questioning my authority, Commander?" MacArthur asked.
"You bet your ass I am. How many men did you lose taking the island chain? Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand?" Isaac yelled.
"The numbers do not matter. The results do. Spare my your ideology." MacArthur spat.
"Ideology?! How is it a bad thing to not want my fleet to die?! They have been at the whim of humanity since before 1939, they have earned the right to survive!" Isaac said, thankful that his helmet was hiding his tears.
MacArthur was about to speak when the radio came to life.
"Shikikan. I have news from my recon." Akagi's voice came through.
"What is it, Akagi?" Isaac asked.
There are several wisdom cubes around the area that I found the General. Most of them situated behind his defensive barriers." Akagi said. Isaac stood slack jawed behind his helmet. He slowly turned his head to look at MacArthur.
"Who?" Isaac spoke in a monotone.
"I don't know. We would have to advance far into enemy territory to retrieve them." Akagi said as she cut the line.
"Who were they?" Isaac repeated his question.
"I don't know all of their names. But I know that there was a girl who called herself Indy. Then there was one named Houston. There was a great piece or artillery, she called herself Prince of Wales. There was one more, but I can't remember her name." MacArthur said.
"Four?! They are much more sturdy than humans! How did you manage to lose that many?!" Isaac demanded.
"The enemy seemed to be gunning for them. But every time they ducked for cover, I would hemorrhage men. So I ordered them to use anything at their disposal to draw enemy fire so that we could pick them off. They went down with a fight. A warriors death." MacArthur spoke.
"You ORDERED them to take enemy fire?!" Isaac yelled, risking a popped blood vessel due to the sheer anger coursing through his body.
"Don't you dare act like you do any different." MacArthur spat.
"I DON'T ORDER MY GIRLS TO DIE!" Isaac roared as the tent flap opened, allowing Odin and Friedrich to enter.
"Is everything okay, Kommandant?" Odin asked.
"No. I'm pretty fucking far from okay. I need time. Keep him here, I'm leaving You and Norfolk in charge of the port." Isaac said as he turned for the flap.
"Where are you going?" Odin asked.
"To clear my head." Isaac said as he stormed out.
Isaac walked to another tent and began rummaging through the crates of supplies.
"Isaac?" Vengeance asked as she walked over to him.
"What?" Isaac growled.
"Heading out?" Vengeance asked.
"Yeah. I need time to clear my head." Isaac said as he grabbed a BAR from one of the crates and slung it over his shoulder.
"I will gather a few girls to go with you. You aren't acting normal, but I know better than to try and stop you." Vengeance said as she walked out.
"Norfolk, get Nimi, Eagle, and Friedrich on the line." Vengeance said.
"What for?" Norfolk asked
"Isaac is not acting right and he is walking off the base as we speak. Since he is the only reason I am here, I would like for him to survive his 'walk'." Vengeance said.
"Understood. I will be with him as well, thanks to you helping put my display on a different frequency." Norfolk said as she got Friedrich, Nimi and Eagle on the radio.
"You three are heading off base. The Commander has been set off for some reason and is refusing to calm down while on post." Norfolk said, earning confirmations from all three.
"Liebling?" Nimi asked as she pulled back the flap of the supply tent.
"Nimi?" Isaac asked as he turned to see all three of his lovers standing before him.
"What is going on?" Isaac asked.
"We've been tasked with your safety until you calm down from whatever has angered you." Eagle said as she stood with her hand on her hip.
"I see. I'm sorry to burden you three." Isaac said as he hung his head.
"Let us walk out to the barricade at least. Your mind seemed free while we were out there earlier." Friedrich said.
"Right. Let's go then." Isaac said as the four of them walked off towards the barricade.
"What happened in here that has managed to piss off the Kommandant?" Odin asked as she stared down MacArthur.
"He got mad that a few of you girls died during the fighting that was going on when you found us." MacArthur said.
"How did they die if you had so many men return?" Odin asked.
"The enemy focused them down. Baltimore and the girls i brought here were part of my unit, so they weren't at the very front, but the others were on the front line." MacArthur said.
"It doesn't feel like that is all. Akagi radioed me with some weird findings before she reported here. She noticed only a few bodies that were scattered along the line. But every kansen that was on the front fell in battle. What happened there?" Odin asked.
"I ordered them to take the heat off my men so we could pick off the enemy. I only lost a handful of men thanks to those girls." MacArthur said as Odin produced her rigging.
"You ordered them to die." Odin deadpanned. "No wonder the Kommandant is so angry. I can feel myself wanting to blow you to pieces as well." Odin added as she stood by the entrance flap.
"I did what I had to." MacArthur said.
"Yeah. I'm sure you did." Odin spat.
"And what would you have done then? If you're some brilliant mastermind, what would you had done differently?" MacArthur yelled.
"Ordered a retreat. Just because I am a Kansen does not mean that I feel I am invincible. I am sturdy, but every bullet, every bomb, every shell, and every torpedo hurts like you wouldn't believe. My ship is connected to me. Everything she feels, I feel. The ice cold water, the tickling sensation of gliding through a school of fish, and every single attack brought upon her, is felt by the Kansens. You ordering them to become bullet sponges... they went through pain many times more than what it would take to kill you, and they didn't even get the satisfaction of knowing that there was someone like the Kommandant out here, looking to scoop them into his arms, and give them their freedom. To give them a fulfilling purpose. On the other hand, the only thing you gave them was the shovel to dig their graves. You disgust me." Odin spoke, every word dripping with a venom that ate away at MacArthur's staunch stubbornness, leaving him speechless and ashamed of the choice he had made.
"If I had known that he had done such things, I would have ordered Akagi to let him die." Isaac ground out, his teeth still clenched in a blood boiling rage.
"And if he does again, I will end him, my dear husband." Friedrich spoke.
"All I want is to fight my way out there and bring them home." Isaac said as the four of them walked towards the barricade.
"Nothing to report. It's been quiet." One of the officers said.
"Good. Glad to hear that they haven't been giving you trouble." Isaac said as he climbed the barricade and jumped to the other side.
"Liebling, come back over here." Nimi said in an exasperated tone.
"I'm going for a walk. After all, I have to clear my conscious." Isaac said as he walked down the street, not caring to look to his sides as he walked towards the building at the end of the street. He held his rifle at his hip as he kicked in the door, nearly breaking the hinges as he made his way inside. The three girls ran from the barricade and ran towards the building, making sure that the alleys were clear as they made their way to him.
"Commander, you are being far too reckless again. Did you forgot that the last time this happened that you took a bullet to the head?" Eagle asked.
"I am making sure we didn't kill anyone who was not meant to be killed. It is a very rational thing to do, especially since we need the trust of the normal people here to make capturing this place easier." Isaac said as they made their way up the stairs, counting the flights until they reached the seventh floor. Broken walls and collapsed doors signified the zone of impact.
"I have to say, Friedrich, those guns of yours sure know how to level a place." Isaac said as he began digging through the rubble, his anxiety slowly dissipating as he found nothing inside any of the surrounding rooms.
"Well at least nobody got hurt outside the target room." Isaac said as they made their way to the middle room which strangely had it's door still intact. Isaac reached for the door handle until Nimi stopped him.
"Liebling. I do not think this is wise. It is highly unlikely, from the sounds of it, that Friedrich's shells would distinguish between the target and collateral damage. This door should not be here." Nimi said.
"Right you are, destroyer." A voice came from behind them as several Explorers appeared, and another Siren that Isaac had never seen before.
"Shit! We've been had." Isaac said as the new Siren looked at him.
"Tremble, insect. Oceana has come to seal your fate." The new Siren said as Isaac took a moment to study her rigging.
"A nautilus shell?" Isaac thought as he quickly found himself and the girls coming under fire.
"Back up! Back up!" Isaac said as the four of them walked backwards into the destroyed room. Isaac and Nimi were the only ones able to fire back for fear of collapsing the building with them inside.
"Give it up. Insect. You can no longer win, now that I am here." Oceana said as she pushed past the Explorers towards the room.
"Friedrich, the wall. We need to get out of here." Isaac said.
"But you can't fall seven stories." Friedrich said.
"Did I stutter? Fucking do it!" Isaac yelled as Friedrich summoned her rigging, blowing a massive hole in the wall before putting her rigging behind Isaac.
"Get on. I can make the jump, my rigging will protect you." Friedrich said as Eagle made her own jump from the building.
"Nimi come on!" Isaac said as he got on Friedrich's rigging. Friedrich jumped, her rigging following closely behind. Isaac looked up at the hole and saw Nimi jump out. Isaac's heart dropped as he saw Oceana grab Nimi's arm as she fell, pulling her back into the room against her will.
"NIMI!" Isaac yelled as he aimed his rifle upwards, only to see that Oceana, Nimi, and the Explorers were already gone.
"No!" Isaac yelled as he jumped off Friedrich's rigging and ran back towards the entrance, tuning out the sound of a rapidly approaching crowd outside the building.
"NO! NO! NO!" Isaac yelled as he ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time, forcing his body past its limits to make it back up to the seventh floor, only to find it empty.
"What the hell? Where did they go? NIMI!" Isaac yelled, only to be left with no reply. He turned to the door they had not opened due to Nimi's observation. Isaac's anger flared again as he kicked in the door, leveling his rifle at the inside and finding the room completely empty, as if it had never been hit. Isaac walked further inside, his anger reaching a boiling point.
"Where are you, Nimi? They couldn't have gotten far." Isaac said as a sudden chill forced him to turn around.
"You're right again." Oceana said, her arm holding an incapacitated Nimi. Isaac's stomach turned as he saw that her rigging was still active, but had been forcefully torn apart, leaving only the metal arms protruding from her back.
"Let her go, you siren whore!" Isaac said as he leveled his rifle at her head.
Oceana grabbed Nimi by her neck, using her as a shield to block Isaac's rifle.
"You dirty bitch. You god damned whore. Only you would use a human shield." Isaac ground out.
"Your rifle could kill me, but you'd have to kill her first. Tell me, insect? Could you do that? Or does your feeble mind still treasure her over your vengeance? I wonder." Oceana said as the wall around her fell, revealing a firing line of Explorer class Sirens.
"Your friends outside are being swarmed, and this one is only mere moments from death. Tell me, knowing even that, would you still cling to hope?" Oceana asked as her grip on Nimi's throat tightened.
"Lie...bling..." Nimi spoke softly, opening her eyes, allowing Isaac to see her bloodshot eyes.
"Nimi..." Isaac said softly.
"Take... the... shot" She said softly, struggling to breathe against the crushing weight of Oceana's hand.
"I can't! It'll kill you!" Isaac said as he looked at the scene in front of him, trying to find any way to kill the Siren holding Nimi hostage.
"Ich... Liebe... Dich." Nimi said as tears fell from her eyes. She brought her hands up and attempted one final struggle, only finding that Oceana was far too strong to affect.
"Time's up." Oceana said as a meaty crack filled the room. Isaac's eyes went wide as he watched Nimi's arms go limp and the life leave her eyes. Oceana tossed her aside, her body falling to the ground in a heap, only confirming what Isaac refused to believe.
"Ni...mi...?" Isaac asked as his hands slipped, allowing his rifle to clatter to the floor.
Oceana held her hand up, preventing the Explorers from firing on him as Isaac made his way over to Nimi's body, gently moving her into his arms. Isaac prayed to every god in the known universe as fast as he could, hoping that she would open her eyes as he held her head in the proper place, holding her against him.
"Feel despair, insect. This is only the beginning of your torment." Oceana said as she lowered her arm. The Explorers opened fire. Isaac managed to turn his back as the blasts of plasma threw him through the wall and out of the seven story building. He managed to turn his back to the ground before impacting the pavement, his impact softened only by the bodies surrounding the building and the padding of his suit.
"Commander?!" Eagle yelled as she and Friedrich both limped over to him, their bodies were covered in cuts and blood, indicating that they had in fact been overwhelmed. They both looked forward as MacArthur's men ran forward and provided them a protective bubble as several men helped Friedrich and Eagle back to the barricade. Isaac stood under his own power, the adrenaline still white hot in his veins as he slowly made his way back, stepping over the bodies of men and women who had considered Azur Lane their enemy. Isaac could not utter a single word as Norfolk's voice came through his helmet. The severity was amplified as every able bodied Kansen had gathered by the barricade with their rigging drawn, waiting for the slightest twitch from the enemy side to turn the town into a bombing range. The mood soon changed from tense to shock and depression as everyone looked at Isaac, who carried Nimi's body in his arms, blood dripping through his suit.
Nobody dared say a word as Isaac slowly continued his trek after being helped back over the barrier. Soon enough all of Hashirama's men and the kansens had formed a path, raising their arms in various salutes as they felt the gravity of what had occurred. The procession did not stop there. As Isaac turned the corner into the port, he saw the entire crew of the Iowa and the men that made up MacArthur's forces all stood at attention, holding their rifles by their side. Isaac reached the middle of the port before his adrenaline finally exhausted, and dropped him to his knees. His cries of agony filled the port as he hugged the body of his lover that lied in his arms, devoid of life. Friedrich and Eagle both stood behind him, doing their best and failing to keep their tears hidden. MacArthur and Odin came out of the tent at the sound of Isaac's screams, only to be immediately confronted with the reason why those screams existed.
"Oh no..." Odin said as she covered her mouth with her hands, forgetting her anger towards MacArthur and turning to focus on the dreadful sight ahead.
Norfolk looked out from the deck of her ship, realizing the reason that Isaac had not responded to her calls. Vengeance joined her, and for the second time, the feeling of sadness invaded her mind.
Isaac continued to cry out in pain as he refused to let Nimi's body touch the ground. He forced himself to his feet and began moving, the pain from his fall forcing him to limp as he made his way to the darkened destroyer hull that sat in port.
"Commander..." Norfolk said as her image appeared on his wrist. Isaac ignored her and kept moving forward through the pain.
"Commander please... don't do this to yourself." Norfolk said, the sadness in her voice was nearly palpable.
"I... failed..." Isaac said softly as he walked up the gangway to the Z23. Isaac felt the cold embrace of the ship, no longer brimming with the warmth it once did. The memories of his days on this vessel flooded back as he made his way below deck towards the Captain's Quarters.
"Commander. You're torturing yourself. Please, don't do this." Norfolk said softly as Isaac stopped and adjusted his hold on Nimi, allowing him to smash his gauntlet against the steel bulkhead, causing the image of Norfolk to disappear and the broken Gauntlet to fall to the floor.
"We're back, Nimi. Back home. Nobody can hurt you here. Nobody... No...body..." Isaac said as his tears began to consume his voice, turning his vocalizations into nothing more than incoherent babble. He used his back to open the door to the Captain's quarters and walked inside. The bright room he had once known had turned grey and lifeless as he approached the bed. With all the tenderness of a Father tucking in his daughter, Isaac placed Nimi's body on the bed, crossing her arms over her stomach so her ring could be seen glistening in what little light was left. The very sight tore into Isaac's psyche and forced him to his knees as he finally allowed the full force of his despair to come to a head. His cries filled the halls of the ship as he mourned his loss, all the while hoping that she would wake up and caress his cheek, telling him it was okay.
Outside in the port, the sounds of usual commotion had fallen silent as everyone stared at the Z23, knowing that the being within no longer had the capacity to think properly in that moment.
"What happened?" Odin asked.
He was concerned over collateral damage. We checked the entire stretch of road leading up to that building... but when we were investigating the damage, we were ambushed. He ordered us to jump to safety. But the moment we hit the ground he ran back inside like he had the devil on his heels... Friedrich and I were immediately surrounded . The next time we saw Isaac... she was..." Eagle found herself unable to continue as she broke down crying. Friedrich nodded before wiping a tear from her own eye, unable to cope with losing one of her beloved children.
"Her body is still here. She hasn't disappeared." Odin said, as Eagle and Friedrich shook their heads, followed by Vengeance coming up to them.
"Her cubes suffered too much damage, the reason she hasn't disappeared... is because her cubes have been obliterated. Her data has nowhere to go. She's gone." Vengeance said.
Odin and the others all glanced back at the Z23, knowing that this was the first real loss that Isaac had been dealt.
"Will he be okay?" Vengeance asked
"I don't think he will. This... this could be the thing that breaks him." Odin said as she too began to cry.