Brooklyn opened her eyes to the sound of her radar pinging aircraft overhead.
"Nng." She spoke as she moved her achy arms and legs.
"Brook! Brook! Come in!" Ranger's voice was heard.
"Nnn… Ranger?" Brooklyn asked as she looked around, groaning a bit as she forced herself out of bed.
"Brook! Please for the love of everything holy, answer me!" Ranger's voice was heard again.
"Ranger. This is Brooklyn… could you stop yelling? I have a pounding headache." Brooklyn said softly.
"Thank Goodness. I saw you being towed and feared the worst when you didn't answer." Ranger said.
"I'm alright. Tired. In pain. But I'm here." Brooklyn said.
"What happened? You've been out of contact for over 12 hours." Ranger asked.
"I received a distress signal and went to investigate. Saved a few men from the 82nd Airborne, I-25, and Matchless, A Sakura Submarine and Royal Destroyer respectively." Brooklyn said.
"I-25, Matchless and the men have already introduced themselves. I just wanted to know you were okay since they all reported you jumping naked into the fucking Atlantic! What the hell were you thinking?!" Ranger asked.
"They were trapped… and they were going to die. If I couldn't save Benson… I at least wanted to save them." Brooklyn defended her actions.
Ranger was silent.
"You know damn well that was stupid." Ranger said.
"I know. But I got the job done." Brooklyn said.
"Be that as it may, Benson was not an acceptable loss. Nobody under my command is. You are not to do something so reckless again, hear me?" Ranger demanded.
Brooklyn was silent.
"No promises." Brooklyn finally said after an uncomfortable silence.
A soft knock on the door drew Brooklyn's attention.
"It's open." Brooklyn said as she silenced her radio.
"It's Cole. May I come in?" Cole asked.
"Come in." Brooklyn said as the door opened, revealing a shirtless Cole, his chest covered in wrappings to keep pressure on his shoulder.
Brooklyn took a good look without making it obvious.
"Anything I can do for you, Cole?" Brooklyn asked.
"I just wanted to thank you. You blacked out from the cold the moment you brought T onboard. So I didn't get the chance to show you my appreciation for saving not only myself, but my men as well." Cole said.
Brooklyn gave him a soft smile.
"I did what I could. I just wish I could have done more." Brooklyn said.
"What more could you have done? You saved us all." Cole said.
Brooklyn sighed.
"The real reason you were saved… was because I failed another task." Brooklyn said as Cole closed the door behind him, sensing the importance of the story she was about to tell.
"Would it be too much for me to ask about it? Maybe I can help you find comfort." Cole said as he sat in a chair a few feet from Brooklyn's bed.
Brooklyn looked at him, looking for any sign of deceit or malice, but could find none.
"Benson." Brooklyn said.
"The Destroyer? Girl with the bunny hairband?" Cole asked.
"Yeah. That's the one. Sweetest girl you could hope to meet." Brooklyn said.
"She truly is a kind soul. But what does she have to do with your failure?" Cole asked.
"Benson's damage control center was sabotaged just before an attempted mutiny… Siren Cultists snuck aboard during the escape from Boston, and then transferred after Strength's forces took Bermuda… They… stabbed her and cut her up good. She couldn't heal the damage… it got infected. My mission was to get ahead of the fleet and get to Gibraltar to get pieces to repair her damage control center… but at the time, I was unaware that Gibraltar didn't have parts to spare… not that it would have mattered anyway… She died less than 24 hours ago." Brooklyn recounted the events as she knew them.
Cole realized what Brooklyn meant by her statement on saving them.
"Fate truly is a cruel mistress." Cole said softly.
Brooklyn nodded.
"I understand your pain, Brooklyn." Cole said as Brooklyn brought her lightless eyes to meet his gaze.
"I lost many good men on D-day. Boys who had fiance's waiting back home. Some of those boys just got letters saying that they were going to be fathers. And as a Sergeant, some of those boys were under my command. And of my personal squad… T and Joe are all I got left. The others got gunned down during the escape. Tyler… Corporal Tyler Johnson, had a beautiful wife and newborn waiting for him when he got stateside… bastards blew a hole through his chest larger than my fist. He died in my arms when the blood flooded his good remaining lung. He drowned in his own blood, and it was my fault." Cole said as he remembered the scene.
"How could it be your fault? You were all running." Brooklyn asked.
"I fell after a couple rounds pierced my shoulder. Corporal Tyler ran over with T and Joe. He was the one who stayed in the open to pull me into cover when they got him. I could only watch as the man who just saved my life was blown open by a sniper. I even made a promise to him that he'd make it home… now the only thing making it home is a folded flag." Cole spoke, his tone one of self loathing.
Brooklyn saw a tear roll down Cole's face.
"So many men died on those beaches… I didn't think we'd die getting off them." Cole whispered as Brooklyn drew him into a gentle embrace.
"Maybe Tyler and Benson are up there… wherever there is… And they're watching over us." Brooklyn said softly as she felt Cole shudder in her hold.
"Maybe… maybe." Cole said softly.
"Do you need to rest?" Brooklyn asked, desperate to change the subject.
"I could use some sleep. None of us have slept since you blacked out." Cole said as Brooklyn helped him to her bed.
"You can rest here. It's not the best… but it's better than the bunks." Brooklyn said as she turned to leave.
"Brooklyn…" Cole said.
Brooklyn turned to look at him.
"Thank you." Cole said with a soft smile.
Brooklyn's heart melted a bit seeing his smile.
Her face turned red as she took a step towards the bed.
"Well… you needed help. I was only doing my job." Brooklyn said, trying to reign in her newly formed curiosity.
"You saved my life. I don't think that there is any way I can repay you." Cole said as Brooklyn sat on the bed.
"Let me have this then." Brooklyn said as she laid a small kiss on his cheek. The moment she pulled away, the slight red on her cheeks turned beet red as she realized what she had done.
"Brooklyn?" Cole asked.
"I'm sorry!" Brooklyn said as she took a step back, only for a lightning quick grab from Cole kept her within reach.
"It's alright. I don't mind it… it's… nice to have a normal interaction after all these years of war." Cole said with a smile.
"But… your family… you have one, don't you? I did that without thinking." Brooklyn asked, suddenly feeling slightly guilty.
"Widower. My wife died in a car accident before the war. We had a child… but he and my parents died when Japan firebombed the Oregon coast. They had a peaceful cabin in the forest. That one plane dropped a single incendiary bomb, intending to set a massive fire to the Oregon forests… but he only hit my parent's home. Of course, this was right after our massive win at Midway… so the government kept it from the public, citing that it would drop the morale of the people. The only reason I know about it… is the letter sent from my commanding officer, stating that three unidentifiable bodies were found amidst the cinders of a burned out cabin in the woods of Oregon. They had been burned in a 'house fire.'" Cole said.
Brooklyn's face went pale as any thoughts of romance in that moment were crushed, replaced by an overwhelming guilt.
"I'm… so sorry." Brooklyn said as tears welled in her eyes.
"For what? I avenged my family by bringing the war to an end along with my brothers and sisters in arms." Cole said, doing his best to remain stoic after seeing Brooklyn's tears.
"I made you recount even more terrible things. I may have saved you, but I have only brought more pain." Brooklyn said as tears flowed freely from her eyes.
"Brooklyn. It's okay. I can't change the past. But I can look to the future, and make choices that my family would be proud of." Cole said as he gently grasped Brooklyn's hand.
Brooklyn's tears ran dry as she sniffled softly. It was a simple gesture on Cole's part, but Brooklyn understood it.
"I understand, Cole." Brooklyn said as she held his hand a while longer.
"And that's what happened that day." Wilhelm explained to the two Bismarck class battleships.
Wilhelm had spent the past two hours explaining the circumstances surrounding his 'death' to the sisters as Tirpitz had requested.
"So… why didn't you try to contact us? It's one thing for command not to tell us, but you?" Bismarck asked.
"I was under orders to continue the tests in secrecy. Up until that point, the allies had spies in Vinnytsia, and knew everything about our prototype and about me. They decided to allow the allies to believe our tests had failed and that I had died in order to drive them off. That of course meant that I couldn't contact anyone, including you both and Graf Zeppelin. After my accident, all of my tests were conducted on a mock aircraft carrier, made from a concrete slab about the same size as Graf Zeppelin's flight deck. I was only allowed to speak to one person during my tests, and if I heard any other voice, I was to maintain radio silence. It was all a cover." Wilhelm explained.
Bismarck and Tirpitz looked at each other with skeptical looks.
"And that's the only reason you couldn't?" Tirpitz pushed.
"Of course. My luck only can carry me so far. So doing something to purposely piss off two of the fatherland's most powerful vessels would not be in my best interest." Wilhelm said.
"I see." Bismarck said as she laid her hand on Wilhelm's left hand. Tirpitz saw this and immediately took up his right.
"I'm just happy that you have finally come home. I missed you terribly, you know." Bismarck said.
"Right. What she said." Tirpitz chimed in.
Wilhelm smiled again, causing a happy sigh to leave both battleships.
"It's good to be back among friends." Wilhelm said as he looked at both girls.
"So, what is this bet I heard about a while ago?" Wilhelm asked.
Both battleships froze.
"You… heard us?" Bismarck asked sheepishly as her and Tirpitz's cheeks turned bright red.
"Not at all, but your reaction tells me that my intuition survived the crash." Wilhelm said with a smug look.
Tirpitz's color drained from her face as she realized that they just outed themselves.
"I think you're still a little groggy from the Morphine, maybe you should rest." Tirpitz tried, only to be shut down by Wilhelm's gaze.
"I think I'm doing just fine, Tirpitz. Now, please enlighten me on this bet." Wilhelm said as Arizona peeked her head in the door.
"Just checking in. The Commander wants to see you when you're able to move again, Wilhelm. Also, the bet is to see which one of these two fine ladies can get your affection first." Arizona blurted out before disappearing down the corridor, narrowly dodging a shot from both battleships' riggings.
"Is that so?" Wilhelm asked, seemingly surprised by the news.
Tirpitz and Bismarck looked back at him and nodded slowly.
He smiled once more.
"Looks like I win then." Wilhelm said as they both looked at him.
"How do you figure?" Tirpitz asked.
"Because… I like both of you equally. So nobody had it first, because I started liking both of you at the same time." Wilhelm said with a small chuckle, which only added to the embarrassment of the two battleships who sat on either side of his bed.
Hi everyone. I realize that the firebombing portion of this chapter is not canonical to history. I used a bit of artistic expression to create a small event to help elaborate on backstory. I apologize for that but rest assured it won't happen often. Thank you all for your continued support of this story.
Thunder aka TitanslayrOG