"Get him on the table, quickly." Alice said as she set about removing the plates of armor that encased Isaac. When she got to the back, she had to pull away as the heat nearly burned her hand.
"No wonder why he's burned so badly! This thing is still hot enough to nearly burn!" Alice said as Friedrich looked in.
"Shall I assist, my child?" Friedrich asked.
"Please. I can't remove his body suit without taking off the back plate." Alice said as Friedrich walked into the Medical bay and worked slowly and methodically, almost peeling the plate away from the suit.
"Oh that can't bode well." Alice said as she and Friedrich looked at the bodysuit underneath the plate. The suit underneath showed signs of melting under the extreme heat.
"Tell the bulins to make another bodysuit. I have to cut this one to make sure it doesn't rip off whatever skin he has left on his back." Alice said as she held out her hand. One of the other nurses handed her sheers to begin cutting away the material.
"My child, steady your hands please." Friedrich said as she noticed Alice shaking.
"This is the worse I have ever had to treat in my 6 years of life as a nurse." Alice said as she looked over at a line of needles filled with a clear substance.
"I have to inject the burned area with antibiotics. By the looks of the liquid coming through the suit... it may have been too hot to become infected. But we have to treat him preemptively." Alice said.
"Do what your training dictates, my child." Friedrich said as Norfolk appeared in the Med bay.
"His vitals are stable. If you're going to expose skin... now would be the time." Norfolk said as Alice nodded, cutting through the body suit and revealing the skin underneath.
"Where... ah. I must have fallen asleep again." Isaac said as he looked around, seeing only blackness.
"I wonder if I'll see Nimi in here. I saw 13 the last time." Isaac said as he sat down, the infinite darkness expanding around him.
"Oh you'll see her. In hell." A familiar voice said as Isaac whipped his head around. His eyes focused just in time to see Oceana crush Nimi's throat.
"NO!" Isaac yelled as he stood and ran forward. He kept running forward, but not managing to get any closer as the image disappeared.
"You failed to save her. Even insects have more success than you. You can't even do what is asked of you. She told you to take the shot. And I'll let you in on a secret... it wouldn't have worked anyway. Your puny bullets could not even scratch me. Anything you could have done in that moment would not have mattered. She would have died regardless." Oceana's voice echoed as Isaac fell to his knees, holding his ears.
"NO! NO! NO! This is just a bad dream. I'm going to wake up next to Nimi, and she'll look at me and touch my face and tell me that everything is okay." Isaac said.
"Ha! HAHAHA! You know how to make me laugh, insect. Get it through your tiny insect mind. I KILLED HER!" Oceana's voice said as he laugh echoed throughout.
"NO! NO! NO!" Isaac yelled, the anger building at a record pace.
"Kill... Kill... Kill..." Isaac grumbled as Alice worked on his back.
"Uh... that is not normal." Alice said as she looked at the empty needle used to completely knock Isaac out.
"What is wrong, my child?" Friedrich asked as Eldridge, Bremerton, Eagle, and Odin looked in.
"He's talking... I gave him more than enough to counteract the severity of the burns and injuries. He should be sleeping like a baby." Alice said.
"I...Will...Kill...YOU!" Isaac yelled as his body began to shake, slowly beginning to move his arms towards the edges of the table.
"Hold him down!" Alice yelled as Friedrich took ahold of Isaac's arms and held him down, struggling slightly to keep him still.
"This is bad!" Norfolk said as she touched one of the tv screens inside the med bay. She showed everyone an image of a brain.
"It's a brain." Alice said.
"It's HIS brain! Look!" Norfolk said as she pointed to a part of the brain glowing red.
"That... oh no." Alice said.
"What?" Friedrich said.
"He is seeing something in there. And it is firing his flight or fight response like nothing else." Alice said.
"His body is producing a nearly toxic amount of Adrenaline based on what he is seeing. You need to restrain him now and get him under control!" Norfolk yelled.
"I may need extra hands..." Friedrich said as everyone could see her hands being forced up from the table by Isaac's arms.
"Mein Gott... This is absolutely insane." Odin said as she and Eagle pitched in, holding Isaac down using their body weight.
"No wonder he was able to bring Nimi back... If this is what adrenaline can do to him..." Odin said as she looked at him with eyes full of pain.
"You couldn't save her. And it will happen again and again and again." Oceana said as she stood over Isaac now.
"You bitch... you had better hope I don't find you... I swear to god..." Isaac ground out, his teeth nearly cracking under the pressure.
"What will you do? You couldn't kill me before. What makes you think you could kill me this time?" Oceana asked.
"I will do to you what you did to her. I will stand over your body as you lay there in pain, your rigging blown to bits. I will hoist you up over my head and I will break you. I will feel your bones break." Isaac growled as he threw a punch, only for Oceana to disappear in a cloud of blue dust.
"If you even survive what I did to you, much less that worthless destroyer." Oceana's voice spoke.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Isaac roared angrily as the blackness of the abyss erupted into an ocean of roaring flames.
"I"LL KILL YOU! I"LL KILL YOUR ALLIES! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" Isaac roared louder than before as a finger touched his shoulder.
"Finally... I was able to break through to you..." Another familiar voice said as the sea of flames went out immediately.
"Let us calm down." Shinano said softly as she drew him into her breasts.
"I'll kill them..." Isaac said softly as he fell to his knees, let down softly by Shinano. Isaac began to cry.
"She's really gone..." Isaac said as his tears flowed freely.
"Hmm." Shinano said softly as she held something in front of her for Isaac to see.
"That... that's her ring... I'd know it anywhere." Isaac said softly.
"Liebling?" Nimi's voice spoke softly. Isaac dried his eyes and looked at the ring, finding that it was gone and replaced by a pair of legs that he had seen every day for the past month.
"Nimi... my love... I'm sorry." Isaac spoke softly.
"Sorry for what?" Nimi asked softly as she knelt down.
"I let you die. My failure killed you." Isaac said softly.
"You didn't kill me. This isn't your fault." Nimi said as she caressed his face. The moment her hand touched him, the blackness of the void began to glow, bringing forth a field of flowers. Isaac shivered as the scent of flowers mixed with a soft frost enveloped him entirely.
"This is my home. I will always have a place here. So long as you do not forget me." Nimi said softly as she shimmered out of existence, leaving behind her ring and the field of flowers.
"The fields of northern Germany. A place of calm and serenity." Shinano said as she stroked Isaac's hair.
"He's stabilizing." Norfolk said as she watched the previously red portions of Isaac's brain began to fade to green.
"What the hell was that?!" Bremerton asked as the girls lifted themselves from Isaac's body.
"He fought through the painkillers and anesthetic. Something triggered his memory... his fight or flight response was in overdrive." Norfolk said.
"Wait. That's odd." Norfolk said.
"What is?" Friedrich and Alice asked simultaneously.
"Two things actually. Instead of his adrenaline and anger management portions of the brain firing... he's... happy? Calm... as if someone else is managing him from the inside." Norfolk said.
"We'll chalk it up to the concussion. What is the other thing?" Alice asked.
"He is actively keeping his hand closed. It's not a reflex. His mind is telling his body to keep his hand closed." Norfolk said.
Friedrich gently coaxed his hand open to find a ring. Looking at it, she noticed Z23/ Nimi engraved on the inside of the band.
"Hmm. It appears to be a ring with Nimi's name on it." Friedrich said as she removed her own ring, seeing her name engraved on the inside.
"It IS her ring..." Friedrich said softly as she compared the two.
"I need Vengeance." Friedrich said.
"Why?" Odin asked.
"Her ring... it's blue." Friedrich said.
"So?" Odin said.
"I saw it right after he gave it to her... it wasn't blue. It looked just like Friedrichs." Eagle said as she examined the ring herself.
"Vengeance. I need you to report to the medical bay immediately." Odin said.
Several minutes passed before Vengeance walked into the room.
"Where did you get that?" Vengeance asked as she snatched the ring from Friedrich.
"Isaac had it clamped tightly in his hand. I only just coaxed it out." Friedrich said.
"This is what I needed." Vengeance said as she looked at Odin.
Odin nodded.
"Do what you must. We may have myself in command, but for us to succeed, we need him." Odin said.
"Do not allow anyone to move her. Not even an inch. Keep her ship anchored as best you can." Vengeance said as she walked hurriedly out of the room.
"You have met with difficulty, Isaac Garner." Shinano said as her hands graced his face and hair.
"Oceana... I would do anything to be awake right now and out searching for her." Isaac said.
"You have the power... but none of the restraint. For one to be effective, you must have the other. You may be surprised at what happens when you take it all one step at a time." Shinano said.
"I have been stripped of power. I have been deemed incompetent." Isaac said.
"No. That is only one way to look at it. Do you think yourself incompetent?" Shinano asked.
"No. But I know what I wanted would have hurt a lot more people." Isaac said.
"It would have. On that we can agree." Shinano said as she tugged his ear.
"What should I do?" Isaac asked.
"You have very powerful friends. Keep moving forward. Survive. You will be rewarded." Shinano said as she showed Isaac the ring again.
"What?" Isaac asked as he looked at the ring.
"Does it look the same as the one you gave her?" Shinano asked.
"Now that you say that... It's blue. I never gave her a blue pearl." Isaac said.
"Then focus. Do your duty." Shinano said softly.
"I..." Isaac said softly before Shinano put a finger over his lips.
"You talk too much, and think too little. I am getting annoyed with your lack of thinking. So... I guess I must come to you. Miss Gangut gave me the boost of energy needed to finish repairs of my vessel." Shinano said as she looked down at Isaac.
"But you said you couldn't leave due to the fog." Isaac said.
"The Sirens have broken through. Lady Nagato has retreated further into hiding. If I stay any longer... I will risk being killed. Besides... I've been watching you since the beginning. I would not mind the kind of affection you give your fleet. Especially that battleship." Shinano said slowly.
"Hopefully I will be in command by the time you get here." Isaac said.
"I have a very good feeling that you will be, Isaac Garner." Shinano said, her hands clasping under his chin.
"Now, Isaac. It is time to wake up." Shinano said as the field of flowers disappeared.
"What about the head injury?" Friedrich asked.
"I see no traumatic injuries. No bleeding. Just a nasty bump." Alice said as Norfolk shut down the TV.
"Shi...na...no..." Isaac said softly as everyone looked at him.
"Well... he can speak at least." Alice said as she looked at him. They had wrapped his torso in several layers of dry sterile bandages after injecting the antibiotics. Friedrich had managed to pop Isaac's leg back into socket while the nurses splinted and casted his hand, ensuring that the bones would heal.
"Friedrich... I am tasking you with ensuring his safety and confinement. When he is healed enough, call for me and I will evaluate him to see if he is fit for command." Odin said as she herded the other girls out.
"I will ensure that he remains here, Kommandant." Friedrich said as Belfast came into the Medical bay.
"I have come to assist. Please go and rest in the bed over there, Friedrich. I can keep watch." Belfast said as she stood by the entrance, unmoving as her eyes scanned the room.