6th July, 1941.
Sheffield and Bismarck reach the port of Blohm & Voss Shipyard. The Cruiser has the Battleship go in front of her where she can see her. Bismarck decides to just go along with it to not give her any more reason to not trust her. Plus, she knows the layout of the port like the back of her hand. George's reinforcement fleet set off some time after they did. Bismarck skates along the water alongside the maid. She wasn't used to it at first, but she got the hang of it quickly.
"Miss Sheffield… I…" Bismarck tries.
Sheffield glares at her, "What is it, Kraut? You're quickly becoming a pest."
Bismarck calms herself, "The guilt I feel for what I did to you and Hood is too much to ignore. If there is anything reasonable I can do to make amends for it, I will. I prefer to not have any hostilities with my comrades."
Sheffield responds, "…Fine. I'll think of something. Now, where would Dr. Fritz be?"
Bismarck looks to where she last saw Tirpitz. The Battleship is still there. "He may still be in the lab on my schwester's ship."
"You said she has no Kansen?" Sheffield inquires.
"Ja. When I left, they still could not Awaken her. However, I cannot say wether she has while I've not been here. Be on your guard. Herr Fritz' lab should be the room meant to be Tirpitz' mess hall." Bismarck says.
"Alright. On your go." Sheffield says as she hides behind a corner.
Bismarck nods and takes a deep breath. She steels herself and starts walking towards a group of Kansen.
Admiral Hipper does a double-take and sees their former flagship walking up to them as if nothing had happened. "L…Lord Bismarck!?" She yells out, grabbing everyone's attention. Sheffield sees the guards of the Tirpitz abandon their posts to investigate the sudden activity.
"Very sloppy, Gerries…" the maid mutters as she makes her way up to the Battleship. She uses the key and the doors open. She enters the superstructure and finds the stairs to go down.
"Hmm… the Cubes seem to be losing their power recently… I could've sworn this used to be easier… perhaps they're running out of Schiffsmädchen forms…" Sheffield hears a man muttering to himself while writing on a blackboard.
She takes cover next to an ajar door to the room the voice is coming from. She peeks in and sees a man in a white lab coat. "That could be Dr. Fritz…" she opens the door end enters. She checks the room for hostiles and sees she's alone with him. She says, "Guten abend, Herr Doktor."
The man hears her and turns around. "…who are you?" He speaks German, of course, but Sheffield understands it well.
The maid tries to appear as non-threatening as she can. "I am a Schiffsmädchen of Azur Lane. I am here to take you and as many Iron Bloods with us as I can. Before you raise an alarm, I recommend you listen to my reasoning."
As he hasn't felt threatened yet, and because she's a Royal Kansen which intrigues him, Fritz decides to hear her out, unaware that someone else is listening in.
After telling him everything, she seems to have convinced him. "Alright… your offer does sound good, though I assume if I don't come willingly then you'll just drag me back…"
Sheffield nods.
Fritz adds,"In that case, please allow me to grab my secret file."
Cautious, Sheffield responds, "A file?"
Fritz nods, "Ja. The data contained within it is very dangerous in the wrong hands. If what you say is true, then the Nazis must not keep it."
Sheffield rolls her eyes, "Very well, Doctor. Just be qui-" She suddenly feels a hand grab her by the shoulder…
"What are you doing here?" A menacing voice says. It sounds like Hood's voice, but with a thick German accent.
Having learned her lesson, Sheffield grabs the hand and proceeds to judo toss the Kansen over her shoulder. She aims her gun at the surprised and floored Kansen's face. "You stay right there!"
"You wouldn't dare fire that in here…" the Kansen stands up and faces her. "Judging by your ridiculous outfit and your triple-barrelled turret, you're a member of the Royal Maid Corps…"
Sheffield aims both pistols and hisses, "Don't test me. Stay back."
Bismarck stands on a raised platform on the docks. She addresses the Iron Bloods gathered around, "My friends! The Nazis have lied to us! They are NOT the great leaders and saviours of humanity that they claim to be!"
Hipper yells, "The Royal Navy sank you, Lord Bismarck! The Nazis told us that they walked onto your deck and cut your throat! We were told their Schiffsmädchen are insane!"
Bismarck gets a flash to the imagery of insane Royal Kansen that Zero made her dream of. The Sirens must be influencing the Nazi Party's view of Azur Lane as well. "Such claims are false! I have seen it myself! The Nazis are the ones who would enslave and exterminate those of so-called "impure" blood, not the Allies!"
The Iron Bloods chat amongst themselves. They've noticed that their leaders have been acting rather suspicious.
Bismarck sees that she almost has them. She secretly activates one of her new skills, the one that was unlocked by the yellow book. Its influence manages to make Bismarck's speech work a lot better as it makes the rest a lot more confident about going with her and even makes Leipzig feel like she could take on the entire world. Graf Zeppelin actually considers going along with it. The Destroyers and U-Boats gather around her, hanging on every word.
"Iron Blood is diseased, rotten to the core by these false saviours! It's time to pull it up by the roots and start again! Join me, my schwesters, and we will join forces with our fellow Kansen in the Royal Navy, strip the monsters of our power, and take the fight to the real enemy!" Bismarck offers.
The smaller ships cheer as they'll follow her lead anywhere, but Graf Zeppelin steps forward, "And who, exactly, are the real enemy?"
Bismarck answers, "There are two sides of the War; the Azur Alliance and the Crimson Axis. There is also, however, a third party unknown to humanity. The Sirens! They got into my head and had me think the Royals are the insane murderers the Nazis would have us believe, but after being saved from my burning ship and given the chance to make amends, I now know better!"
Graf Zeppelin retorts, "And these Sirens, what is their goal?"
Bismarck says, "It may be to either take over the world, or destroy it by making humanity fight until there is nothing left!"
Graf scowls, "Destroying the world is MY destiny! How DARE they try and take it from me! I will go with you, Lord Bismarck!"
A little concerned about her reasoning, Bismarck nods and accepts her. "Anyone else who wishes to come with me, step forward!"
She gets an overwhelming sense of relief when every other Kansen steps forward and gives her a new salute, consisting of balling their right hands into fists and holding them over their hearts. They never practiced doing it, it was pure instinct. Bismarck returns it, deciding it looks far better than the Nazi salute. but then sees two that don't seem so sure.
"Admiral Hipper? What is wrong?" Bismarck says after stepping off the raised platform and approaching her.
Hipper looks up at her, "I want to go with you… but…"
"You want to make sure Eugen is safe?" Bismarck guesses.
Embarrassed for proving she actually cares for her little sister, she nods and says, "It… it's not like I love her dearly and care about that dummkopf's safety or anything… but Frau Scharnhorst might not believe you, and I've heard that Eugen is under her command in Brest…"
Bismarck puts her hand on Hipper's shoulder, "Admiral Hipper. I swear to you that I will not stop trying to get every one of our comrades with us, especially your schwester. Also, Blücher is alive and well and living happily at Scapa Flow, alongside Graf Spee."
Hipper looks up at her. "Blücher!? I will come as well!" She salutes.
"Danke, Admiral Hipper." Bismarck smiles, making sure to use Hipper's preferred name.
Deutschland suddenly speaks up, "Wait, my schwester is there, too!?"
Bismarck nods, "She is."
Suddenly, they hear a loud noise come from the Tirpitz. Sheffield comes flying out from the ship and lands on her feet with her guns crossed over her chest. She stands and aims them at the Kansen she's been fighting. Bismarck runs over to help. "Sheffield! What happened!?"
Sheffield focuses her aim. "Your sister is awake."
Bismarck looks back toward the ship to see a Kansen who looked almost identical to her, with platinum hair and her almost identical clothes are white, with an added cape to cover her shoulders and chest. Bismarck stands up and in front of Sheffield to shield her. "….Tirpitz…?"
Tirpitz stops dead and her eyes widen. "…Bismarck…?"
"So, they finally woke you up?" Bismarck asks.
"Bismarck, this spy was caught trying to fill Herr Fritz' head with lies! We must get rid of her!" Tirpitz suddenly yells.
"Tirpitz, I know you just woke up, but please, listen to me!" Bismarck pleads.
Their argument is interrupted by human guards running up with the commanding officer of the base demanding, "What the hell is going on!? Frau Bismarck, you survived!? Why did you not report directly to command!? The Führer must know of this!"
Bismarck squares up to him. "What the Führer must do is surrender this War. He has already taken too many lives!"
"Wha… what is this talk!? You will be tried for treason of the highest order if you continue!" He draws his P38 and the guards with him aim their MP-40s at Bismarck. The other Kansen start seeing it for themselves how backwards the officers are. "The punishment will be a summary execution! Reconsider your decision here!"
Bismarck stands her ground and, to everyone's shock, she summons her rigging. Tirpitz and the others all look at the machinery that apparently is hanging off her back. The gnashing maws growling as the turrets on top of them aim at the humans, who start to back off.
"I have already decided, evolutionsbremse!" Bismarck hisses, making a few Kansen laugh, angering the officer to no end, but he wouldn't dare even try to go up against those guns, especially now that his guards have already ran away. Bismarck says, "Go and tell your beloved Führer that his time is coming to an end if he doesn't stop this madness. It will have consequences no man understands."
The officer scowls and shoots her. Everyone watches as her head recoils to the side, then she looks back at him with a superficial cut along her cheek, which thanks to her rigging, heals immediately. She tilts her head to the side and shoots a single AA round back at him, leaving a huge hole in his chest, dropping him immediately. His men run off screaming. Tirpitz backs up in caution as Bismarck walks over and picks up the pistol, bullets and holster. Perhaps she'll need it someday.
Dr. Fritz yells out, "Frau Bismarck!? Mein Gott! You're alive!" As he finally catches up, file in hand.
"Guten tag, Doktor." Bismarck makes her rigging vanish. Suddenly, the base alarm starts blaring. "Schiesse… Those cowards must have triggered the alarm…"
Sheffield looks at her. She says, "We must go now, Bismarck."
The Battleship nods on agreement. She turns to her girls, "Iron Blood! We are no longer fighting for the Nazis! Doktor Fritz must make it back to Scapa Flow unscathed! Get to your ships and move out!" The others start running except her sister.
Tirpitz yells out, "TRAITOR!"
Bismarck approaches and puts her hand on her shoulder. "Schwester. Please, come with us. You have no idea what the Nazis have been doing. They have taken so many lives in their so-called "purification". We can do so much better by turning on them. For your own safety and for the good of humanity, please, come with me. They're likely to punish you in some way when they find out what I did here."
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Tirpitz swats Bismarck's hand. "You claim to be my schwester? I don't even know you! All I knew of you was your name and your undying loyalty! They said you were killed! I mourned the schwester I never knew! Whoever you are, you're NOT her!"
Bismarck tries to argue but is cut off by a squad of Wehrmacht soldiers taking positions and opening fire on Bismarck with panzerfausts, forcing them to separate. The soldiers take in Tirpitz, who turns her back on her as Bismarck reluctantly retreats while using the AA guns on her rigging to cover herself and her comrades. "…schwester…"
Tirpitz watches as her fleet in Hamburg all leave her. "Traitors… every one of them… If Bismarck has lost her way, then it is up to me to lead the rest…" She decided not to pursue them on her own ship as she knows it wouldn't end well.
George sits in her Captain's chair on her bridge waiting for confirmation of success or failure. As soon as she hears Bismarck on the radio, she tunes it to get rid of the static. "Bismarck? I read you. Please repeat."
"I said we have Doktor Fritz, but the base knows we're here. We are coming to you." Bismarck responds.
George looks ahead and sees an entire fleet approaching. "Bismarck, please tell me that fleet is friendly."
"It is, don't worry. They want to come with us. They're leaving the Crimson Axis." Bismarck reassures her, confirmed by the coastal batteries taking potshots at the Iron Blood ships.
George smiles, "Well done, Bismarck. Let's go home."