"Yuudachi! Behind you!" Shigure suddenly screamed, her face white as a sheet. Confused at what her sister ship was shouting about, Yuudachi turned around with her rigging drawn, but she gasped upon seeing what Shigure was shouting about. All three of the Sakura Empire destroyers screamed out as they realised the submarine had released several crew members after them, wearing kansen rigging.
Three male sailers emerged from the sub, one of them appeared to be a light cruiser, one a heavy cruiser, and one was a battleship. The light cruiser sailer had drawn a combat knife, and with a yell he charged towards Yuudachi, still surprised by their presence, the wolf-like destroyer barely managed to dodge in time, yelping as the knife glanced her shoulder.
"Ow! H-How does a conventional knife hurt a kansen?!" Yuudachi demanded, holding the cut on her shoulder as she glided backwards from the attackers. Shigure gasped as remembered how this was possible.
"Guys! They're Water pounders!" She exclaimed. "Lady Nagato briefed us on them remember? When that Nico guy attacked Akagi!" Shigure then pointed to the men's rigging. "All their gear has been modified into kansen rigging! That's how they can hurt us!"
"Oh god!" Yukikaze yelled, but got into a fighting stance with the other two destroyers. The battleship solider readied what looked like navy guns styled like triple barrelled anti-tank missile launchers, pointing them at the girls.
"Taking aim! FIRING!" The moment he shouted, his guns roared into life with a flaming salvo, all three Sakura destroyers scattered away from the impact point, screaming as pillars of white water erupted around them.
"Eat this boat bitches!" The heavy cruiser man yelled, holding his rigging like a light machine gun, he unleashed a barrage of shells upon the girls, laughing madly as he did. Yukikaze yelped as the spray of bullets raked across the water near her, with a growl she started firing her own guns, she hit the heavy cruiser soldier in his leg, with a scream of pain and frustration, he fell onto his knee, still firing gun.
"Dent is hit! I got you man!" The light cruiser yelled, chasing Yukikaze away from Dent.
"Private Verner! Keep your eyes on the enemy! I'm not wiping your ass for you!" The battleship soldier ordered, firing another barrage at Shigure and Yuudachi. The younger soldier backed off and returned his attention to the kansen.
"Copy Sarge, re-engaging!" Verner drew his knife again and made a taunting gesture at Yukikaze, who growled again while extending claws from her fingers.
"Witness the power of Yukikaze the Great!" The wolf-like girl shouted, the two of them lunged for each other, with the destroyer managing to shove the man backwards, but before she could fire her guns, he dodged sideways and fired his own cannons. Yukikaze yelped as she was blown backwards, falling flat on her backside. Before the man could attack again, an explosion rocked his rigging, sending him cartwheeling across the water before landing flat on his front.
"Yukikaze, you OK?" Yuudachi called to her, she was missing a torpedo from her rack. "Get out of there!" She yelled again, firing another torpedo at Verner. Yukikaze bolted upright and ran back to Yuudachi to support her.
Dent growled as he recovered, getting to his feet and charging at the ship girls with his own combat knife drawn. Holding it in his off hand as he fired his machine gun at them with the other. Shigure screamed as she charged the soldier from his right side, before he could process what she was doing, she tackled him, knocking the machine gun out of his hand, were it not attached to his rigging the gun would have been thrown several feet. Both of them grunted as they struggled to control the knife between them, trying to wrestle the other away.
"Get...the fuck...off me boat bitch!" Dent grunted out as he attempted to wrangle the knife towards Shigure.
"Who... are you?! Why are you... attacking... Azur lane?" Shigure struggled to say, while she was trying to control the knife, Yuudachi leapt onto Dent's back, screaming in fury as she started wrecking his rigging. The soldier gasped seeing what she was doing.
"Stop! You'll kill us all if you-" Dent didn't get to finish. In her rage state, Yuudachi had damaged the rigging's power supply, all three of them screamed as yellow electricity arced between them all. Yuudachi and Shigure were thrown clear of the man as he spastically jerked around from the electric shocks. The sergeant went white in the face seeing what was happening to Dent.
"Corporal! Shut down your suit! Its gonna blow!" He ordered frantically. Dent couldn't hear him over the electricity and cannon fire from Verner and the ship girls. Not that it would have mattered since he couldn't control his body. With a sudden howl of pain towards the sky, Dent's suit shot a towering fountain of yellow flames into the air, much like a Roman candle.
"Move it! GO!" Shigure screamed to the other kansen, backing away as they watched the horrifying scene play out.
"Get out of here Sarge! I can't...AHHHHH!" Before he could finish, Dent vanished inside a white fireball, for a split second, there was silence, before a thunderous shock-wave washed over the entire area from where Dent was standing. Thinking quickly, Shigure manifested her hull and brought the other two girls behind it for shelter, unfortunately it wasn't quite enough to save them, the hull capsized from the force of the shock-wave, and all three girls were knocked out by the blast.
Some time later...
Shigure opened her eyes, looking around she realised she was in a med bay with Shoukaku and Akashi looking over her with concerned looks. She also saw Yukikaze and Yuudachi on their own beds, still unconscious.
"W-what happened?" She weakly asked, groaning a little from dull aches across her body.
"You're in my hull's med bay, We found you guys next to your upside-down hull, you were hurt bad by that explosion, Zuikaku says she saw it from the base." Shoukaku explained.
"Your hull took the brunt of the blast nya, Yuudachi and Yukikaze are fine, you're the one we were most worried about nya." Akashi added. Shigure groaned as she tried to sit up, only to be met with pain in her limbs and Shoukaku gently pushing her back down.
"Those...weird men with rigging...where are they?" Shigure asked, grunting as she struggled with the pain.
"Zuikaku and Musashi are securing the submarine, those three men were the only ones with water pounder suits, looked like two of them were killed in the blast, we can't find the last one though." Shoukaku explained to her. "You focus on getting better, you don't need to act tough you silly girl." She lightly scolded her with a wink. Shigure laughed a little.
"I really am blessed by the Goddess of Luck! But...I'm glad she gave some to my friends too." She admitted, blushing a tinge of red in embarrassment. Shoukaku smiled down at her as Akashi adjusted some of the equipment.
Meanwhile
In another med bay on board Akagi's hull, Cleveland was laying in a bed. Still covered in cybernetic armour, but with her eye closed. Akagi was sat beside her, looking down at the wisdom cube in her hands with a worried expression. She had no idea how to fix this, she had tried just pushing the cube into Cleveland's chest, but nothing happened. Akagi knew she was no repair ship, and had resigned herself to just waiting for Vestal to take a look at her.
Fortunately it seemed she had escaped the Crimson Cube, she messaged the others and gave them her location, as well as telling them about Cleveland. As for Akagi herself, she was greatly troubled by what the Crimson Cube had shown her. Was it herself as the Cube's puppet? Or was it the Cube itself speaking through her? Why did it want her to join it? Why not just assimilate her like Cleveland? Akagi had no way to process all of this by herself, but more importantly she needed to get Cleveland help.
Her ears twitched as she sensed her allies drawing near. Akagi put the wisdom cube on the table next to Cleveland and went outside to greet her friends. Enterprise, Warspite and Atago all jumped up onto her flight deck. Looking around she saw Bismarck's hull alongside her own.
"Prinz Eugen is too injured to fight, Bismarck and the submarines are watching her until we get back to base." Atago explained.
"You freed Cleveland from the Crimson Cube? How?" Enterprise asked, speed walking for the med bay.
"Well...not exactly." Akagi told her as she followed. "All I did was get back her wisdom cube, I don't know how to get it back inside her." She explained. The four of them entered the med bay and everyone, besides Akagi, gasped at seeing Cleveland's current condition. Enterprise had gone white in her shock.
"Is...is she..." Enterprise started to ask.
"No, she's alive I know that." Akagi reassured her. "But she's not responded to anything, its like...no ones home." She added.
"With no wisdom cube she isn't really in there." Warspite told them. "Remember the wisdom cube IS her, Vestal might have a way to fix this, but for now all we can do is keep her safe." She explained.
Noticing Enterprise's crestfallen face, Atago spoke up. "I uh...I'll go keep watch, you coming Warspite?" She asked, already pulling on the British ship's arm.
"H-hey I can walk! Stop doing that!" She complained as she was dragged away by the wolf-like cruiser. Akagi was about to leave herself when Enterprise stopped her.
"Wait...I don't want to be alone right now, please stay?" She asked her, her eyes on the verge of releasing a torrent of tears. Akagi was surprised Enterprise was allowing herself to be this vulnerable with her, but she flashed a small smile and sat with her next to the bed.
"You're worried about her aren't you Grey ghost?" Akagi told her, now using her nickname jokingly. Enterprise didn't look up from Cleveland, her muscles tensing as she attempted to hold in her feelings. "Its OK to be worried, I've learned recently its better to be honest with your feelings instead of bottling them up, you'll be OK if you-" Akagi was cut off when Enterprise held her hand up to stop her.
"I know that, I just...can't." The American carrier answered, choking up a little. "Cleveland only got like this because I couldn't save her, as the only other Eagle Union ship in Task Force Alpha, its my job to keep her safe! I should have been there with her! I wasn't needed with you!" She suddenly blurted out. Akagi held up her hands defensively, getting worried Enterprise may get physical in her current state.
"Take it easy, we're still inside the psionic field, you're not thinking clearly." Akagi tried to tell her. Enterprise glared back at her, seething at that comment, but realising the kitsune was right, she took a deep breath to relax.
"Sorry...I...I guess I'm still upset about that, I shouldn't be angry at you, its not your fault I wasn't there." Enterprise admitted.
"Even if you had been there, you couldn't have done anything, hell the Cube might have gone for you instead." Akagi pointed out.
"That is a fair point I guess..." Enterprise trailed off, feeling depressed as she looked over Cleveland. Akagi sighed and stood up, turning to leave Enterprise alone. But before she could leave the American woman spoke up again. "How did you get her wisdom cube back anyway?" She asked her. Akagi looked offside for a moment, thinking back to the encounter with 'Alt-kagi', it sent an icky shiver through her body just thinking about it. But she decided Enterprise deserved to know, so she sat back down to discuss it.
"The Crimson Cube...almost had me." Akagi answered. Enterprise stood up in shock hearing her say that.
"W-what!? You mean-" "I'm OK now, but...it showed me some things...horrible things." Akagi muttered, grimacing as she remembered Alt-kagi's words and actions. "I had to fight hard to get away, but in the process I must have damaged the cube enough for it to release her wisdom cube." She mused.
"How did you even get close enough without ending up like Cleveland?" Enterprise asked her. Akagi was silent for a moment as she thought of how to respond.
"Well...Cleveland caught me." Akagi admitted sheepishly. "Then she showed me some kind of vision..." She went on to explain the dead Sirens, and meeting...herself. Akagi also mentioned how she felt about the Cube wanting her for something. Enterprise listened intently, getting more concerned as Akagi kept speaking.
"This 'other Akagi', you reckon that was just the cube talking through her, or was the Cube just pulling parts of your memories and personality together to create this...alternate version of you. To convince you that's your best form?" Enterprise wondered.
"I have no idea." Akagi laid back, sighing in exasperation. "Why me? What would it want with me?" She groaned, holding her forehead.
"You're a powerful kansen, maybe it thought it could use you better if you joined it voluntarily, Cleveland was a pretty sloppy fighter under its control." Enterprise suggested. "How did you break free?" She asked. Akagi gave her a sideways glance, and coldly replied.
"I had to tear out her heart."
Enterprise's eyes almost popped out at that statement. "Jesus..."
"I know but... she didn't bleed...and somehow I knew she wouldn't...she looked so...wrong." Akagi told her, shuddering as she flashed back to the vision. Enterprise sighed and stood up.
"We need to get back and report all this to the Commander, this is-" Enterprise was cut off by a massive bang and the whole ship violently shaking. Both carriers were knocked to the floor, dazed and confused by the noise.
"The hell?! We've been torpedoed!" Akagi screamed, bolting to her feet and dashing out the door. Enterprise quickly followed. On the flight deck they looked around for the attacker. Warspite and Atago were already watching different sides of the hull for whatever hit them.
"My hull isn't breached, anybody see where it came from?" Akagi asked, looking with Atago.
"Nothing, its most likely a submarine." Atago replied, her hand on her forehead as she looked around. Another loud explosion, this time it came from Bismarck's direction. The four of them looked over at the German battleship to see it rocking a little in the water, a pillar of water erupting from its port side, feeling her radio activate, Akagi held a paper plane in front of her as Bismarck's voice could be heard from it.
"I'm OK, just hit my armour belt, Parzival insists its the 'monster' that attacked her and I-13, sounds like some kind of new submarine." Bismarck stated calmly.
"I'm launching ASW planes, Enterprise can you help?" Akagi asked her.
"Of course, lets find this thing!" Enterprise drew her bow, while Akagi manifested several bombers equipped with depth charges on her flight deck. Bismarck launched a sea plane from her aircraft catapult to help, as did Warspite.
"What the hell...I've found it, Akagi its 200 meters off your port bow!" Bismarck announced. "Its huge! I don't even need sonar to see it...mein gott...are those tentacles?!" Just as Bismarck said this, a huge metal plated, black appendage shot out of the water towards her seaplane, swotting it out of the sky. Bismarck grunted in frustration as her plane went down.
Taking her chance, Warspite ordered her own plane to drop its depth charges, unfortunately another tentacle smashed the plane before it got close enough.
"Bollocks!" She groaned, jumping into the water with her rigging activated. Akagi's planes flew higher into the air, attempting to fly out of the reach of the tentacles, as she dropped the payloads from her planes, two deep red laser beams, laced with bright red electricity, raked across the sky, blasting away the planes.
"What the hell?!" Akagi yelled, looking around for the source of the lasers. As everyone watched for the new attacker, they all a mechanical groan from high above them. The kansen looked upwards, and that's when they all saw her: Purifier
The siren swooped down and blasted her lasers down onto Akagi's flight deck. The kansen dived out of the way of the beams and with a grunt of effort, Warspite swung her sword towards Purifier, the swing generated a wave of energy that literally cut through the air towards the siren. Purifier easily dodged the wave and entered a spiralled descent towards the ship, almost demonically flopping her body around as she moved.
The kansen were all freaked by this and Enterprise readied her bow to fire at her. Without stopping her spiral, Purifier fired steel cables from the top of her arms, they wrapped around a surprised Enterprise's chest and mid section, she screamed as she was yanked off Akagi's deck and into the air.
"Whoa! Enterprise!" Akagi yelled, watching the American carrier get yanked into the air. Purifier then did a front flip and slammed Enterprise back down into the sea, smashing her beneath the waves. Akagi floated over to where she was thrown as the other kansen engaged Purifier. The kitsune found her friend laying face down in the water and managed to get Enterprise to her feet.
"Ow..." she groaned, holding her left arm. "I...I can't move my arm...I think she broke it." Enterprise coughed out.
"Damn it, get on board Bismarck's hull, I'll hold her off." Akagi told her as she turned to face Purifier with Warspite and Atago, her hull transforming into wisdom cubes and reforming as her flaming runway. Enterprise headed towards Bismarck, having over heard Akagi, had already jumped into the water to assist her along with Albacore and U-556.
But before the three of them could get close enough, a humanoid form burst out from under the water's surface and tackled Enterprise. U-556 screamed as she recognised the figure.
"I-13!"