Ryan and his men were already shooting at a group of Sirens as Indomitable, Anson and Sheffield got outside. Sheffield almost immediately got into the action by kicking a Siren down and shooting them in the head. Indomitable drew out her Sten and opened fire, using her rigging to give air support, Formidable was doing the same nearby, using her shields to protect the soldiers beside her.

"Where the hell did they come from?!" Anson called out as she revealed her rigging and sent a few salvos towards the attacking Sirens.

"One of the two we picked up from a previous location, Private Alf was a blasted Siren in disguise. Shot Robbie and then revealed itself fully and began to shoot at us. Then that portal appeared and more have emerged from it" Ryan answered between his own return shots against the attackers.

"Well we know how to deal with the portals. How many explosives or grenades do you have?" Anson replied as she fired another salvo towards the group of Sirens.

"We've got some still. Where do you need them"

"Right at the base of that portal. If we hit it enough it will collapse on itself, preventing any Sirens coming through. At least that's the aim" Anson replied. "First we need to regroup and form a perimeter. Prevent the Sirens from getting to Resource, Revenge and Agincourt."

"Got it" Ryan replied as he signalled to his men and they, along with the shipgirls present, began to fall back into a defensive position and they held it.

Inside the building, Revenge could hear the gunfire and Siren's fighting. She had to get out of her bed and join the fight. Throwing the bedsheets off of her, she swung her legs out and moved to stand up. However she lost her balance almost immediately and had to grasp for the bedside to help her stay upright. She held herself there for a few moments more, allowing her legs to readjust. Once she was ready, she began to move herself out of the room she was in and head towards the battle, however the battle would almost instantly find her as upon opening the door, a siren stood in her path.

"There you are!" It hissed before it began to shoot at her.

Revenge threw up her shields as her rigging came to life and her secondaries lit the Siren up, taking it out. But not before she realised two more were now behind her, having smashed through one of the windows behind her. "I'm not giving in again!" Revenge yelled as she turned around and fired one of her turrets at them, blasting them away.

"Revenge? Where are you?!" Sovereign called from the hallway to her right.

"I'm here, Sovereign" Revenge called back as her little sister ran over, her sword in hand and rigging deployed.

"Are you alright?" Sovereign asked.

"I'll be fine. Where are the others?" Revenge replied.

"Most of them are outside. Manchester is with Resource and Agincourt. Anson is organising the defences" Sovereign answered before they moved down the hallway to support Resource and Manchester.

The defence outside was holding, the ships were able to defend the soldiers as they fought to take back their ground and destroy the portal. Sirens once again littered the ground as they were harassed from multiple directions and angles. The carrier's aircraft strafing them with MG fire and bombs whilst the shipgirls and soldiers using their weapons to hit them from nearby as the Sirens tried to advance forward, only losing more and more as fast.

Since he had been inside with the others, Hector was separated from the main defence group and was in cover behind a low wall, poking out every now and then to support the others, especially Sheffield as she was darting all over the place, dodging all incoming fire as she expertly dealt with them using her weapons.

Nearby, Norfolk felt that something wasn't right and looked towards where Hector was. He was still safe behind his cover, but something felt wrong. Looking to the right of where he was, she could see a figure that stood out amongst the swarm of Sirens. And she could tell it was looking towards him, without a moment's thought she disengaged from her original target and ran out into the open towards Hector, cutting down a Siren with her sword as she ran. Hector continued to shoot towards the enemy before him but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a Siren that stood out from the rest. Their appearance was different and he could almost feel it's gaze on him. He readjusted his pose and then looked back up and froze, seeing the multitude of weapons aimed at him.

The Siren grinned menacingly and fired it's weapons at him, intent on ending his life.

However, Norfolk jumped out in front, her shield projected before her. The blast hit her shield at full force and Norfolk strained to keep it up, but she held firm. Not giving up her defence. The Siren growled at this and the blast emitting from it's weapons intensified tenfold and suddenly Norfolk's shields gave out and she was hit at full force by the blast. She cried out in pain before the blast threw her backwards, past Hector and into one of the pillars. She hit it with such speed that part of it cracked and fell onto her after she hit the ground.

"NORFOLK!" Hector yelled, seeing the dust settle around where the Heavy Cruiser was thrown like she had been a toy.

"Oh dear, hurt them did I?" the Explorer Siren mocked, chuckling at the sight she had created. "Still. You'll still die as planned" she continued as the weapons were again aimed at Hector, who now only stared in fury at what they had done. He held his revolver flat and firm towards them. If he were to die here, he'd be taking this Siren with him.

"Not a chance!" Anson yelled as she brought her sword down, cutting through the Siren's rigging. Causing part of it to explode.

The siren screamed in pain, turning it's attention to the Battleship. The other weapons it had left opened up on Anson, who was only just able to pull up her shield to protect herself. "You will not obstruct me from my task!" The siren spat.

"And you won't stop me from performing mine" Hector replied as she realised he was now right next to her as all of her support was now dead thanks to Sheffield, who was also standing nearby. Before she could turn to attack him, he shot her in the chest and the Siren froze, just staring in disbelief at him before it's legs gave way and it hit the floor, dead. Once the adrenaline had worn off, Hector turned back to where Norfolk was and hurried over. "Call Resource!" he called out and the call was made, the repair ship quickly arriving with Sovereign in tow.

"Help me get this pillar off of her. It's trapping her" Resource said as she tried to lift up the broken pillar section. Formidable and Indomitable were quick to join her and together with Hector they removed the pillar so that she could get a good look at the injured Heavy Cruiser. As she got a full view of Norfolk's injuries, she swore internally. The other three women and Hector looked over and closed their eyes, ashamed at what they saw.

Norfolk was in a bad way. Her outfit was badly torn and burned from the Siren's attack. Some blood was falling down her head from the side of her head. There were also two burns on her torso. One on her left shoulder and the other by her stomach. The pillar had also left it's mark on her, the lower section of her right leg had been crushed and her left hand had been severely damaged, blood emerging from both areas but Resource was quick to bandage the hand up and tightly wrapped up her leg so she could remove the destroyed lower leg later. As Hector and Resource waited on Sovereign grabbing a stretcher from inside, the other ships began to mop up as the sirens began to wain in numbers. 20 minutes passed and all the sirens were gone, their portal destroyed and the land was quiet once again.

However, the need to leave was on everyone's mind. So a clean-up was organised where they quickly loaded their supplies into the truck and Norfolk was loaded on top of them, Resource remaining by her side as Agincourt was loaded on alongside the injured cruiser. Revenge was helped up by her little sister and sat beside the repair ship. "Sovereign. Destroy that other cube. I think we both know what they can do" Resource commented after Revenge was helped up.

"I'll be back shortly then" the battleship replied as she headed inside to destroy the undamaged cube, confident that it was the reason the attacks kept coming. She returned not long afterwards, carrying some of the other supplies they were taking with them. Afterwards, some of the ships gathered around the truck as Resource checked Norfolk over again.

"Is she going to be alright?" Suffolk asked, worried for her sibling.

"She's in a bad way. But I've stabilised her. I'll need access to a full medical room in order to operate on her fully" Resource replied. "Agincourt in the meantime will make a full recovery. I have removed all shards of the cube from her neck. I'll be waking her up once we reach a medical facility"

"Then we'll head back to where we came from" Ryan said as he walked over with Anson beside him. "There was a hospital and a defendable location nearby. We'll head back there and make base there. Till we find a more permanent solution to our current problem"

"Since we have loaded these supplies onto the truck. Some of you will have to walk. Or hitch a lift on the other vehicles" Anson added. "Take it in turns please. But Resource must remain with her patients. Unicorn and Indomitable I'd like you to accompany them"

"We can do that" Indomitable replied as she looked to Unicorn who nodded.

"But first. Did any of you see Hector after what happened to Norfolk?" Anson asked, concerned for her husband.

"He's over by the steps" Bulldog commented, pointing towards where he was. Anson nodded in thanks to the destroyer and headed over to where he was.

She found him with his head in his hands, staring down at the floor. "Hector.." she asked.

"I should have been paying attention. Norfolk wouldn't be on that stretcher if I wasn't paying attention"

"Flying Is very different to being a ground soldier, dear" Anson replied.

"But I still need to keep my eyes open and my head on a swivel to keep an eye out for any incoming targets" Hector replied before he began to cry. Anson enveloped him in a hug.

It took a bit of time for Anson to be able to get Hector to follow her to the truck, they got in the driving cab and once the driver was happy they were ready to move, he leaned out of the cab and waved to the lead vehicle and they departed the HQ. Anson watched the battle damaged building become smaller and smaller in the mirror until they disappeared into the trees. It would take some time to get to their destination, but they were safe from the Sirens for now.