15th July, 1941.
Complete silence and tension fills the air in the port of Brest. Admiral Ciliax's fleet on one side and a mysterious new Superbattleship on the other side staring them down. The ship appears human-made and resembles Bismarck's, as if it was just hers scaled up.
Finally, the voice of Ciliax books over the base intercom, "Unidentified warship! You have the swastika on your deck! This is an Iron Blood port! Disengage your turrets!"
Tester appears behind Ciliax and whispers, "Send Scharnhorst".
Ciliax calls out, "Heavy Cruiser Scharnhorst will come to greet you!" Tester vanishes.
After a full ten seconds, the four huge red-topped double-barrelled 16-inch gun turrets returned to their idle positions. Scharnhorst and the other Kansen breathe a sigh of relief, until they hear something coming from the speakers of the new ship.
"What is that song?" Eugen asks.
"Lili Marlene…" Gneisenau says.
"Why is it playing that?" Scharnhorst asks.
Z23 says, "Forget the song, we must go and greet our new ally!"
Scharnhorst nods. "Eugen, stay here. Sister, Z23, Let's go."
Eugen nods as the other three head over to Z23's ship and use it to approach the new behemoth. They thought Bismarck and Tirpitz had colossal ships.
As if to welcome them inside, a ladder appears so that the three Kansen can climb aboard. The song continues on repeat. They get on board and head to the bridge.
The new Kansen watched their approach and says, "My, how brave of them to come on a tiny ship like that…" she hears the door open behind her. She takes a sip of her wine as they stand in the room. She smiles at them with genuine compassion. She holds a conductor's baton in her other hand that she's controlling the music with, her long, sleek black hair covers most of the right side of her face, and her exposed left eye gives off an ominous golden glow. She has what look to be crimson mechanical devil horns protruding from the side of her head that match her gauntlets and she towers over the sisters. Z23 has never felt so physically small. She says, "Wilkommen to mien humble abode, mien children~"
Z23 blushes and says, "Danke, Mama—I mean… Mama… I mean… um…" she turns bright red and Gneisenau can practically see smoke coming out of the flustered Destroyer's ears.
Gneisenau stands in front of Z23 to help hide her embarrassment. Scharnhorst looks at the new shipgirl and demands, "Who the hell do you think you are, calling us children?"
The newcomer chuckles and approaches, looking down at them. "It is my duty to fight with you, and protect you, as if you were my children. Please don't take it as an insult. Take it as a comfort." She bows before them, "Friedrich Der Große, reporting for duty. Are either of you the Kommandierender Offizier, my children? The adorable small one, perhaps?"
Gneisenau, relieved that she really is here as an ally and not looking to usurp power, feels Z23 hide herself even more and let put a cute squeak. She then smiles and answers, "Nein. None of us are. If you come with us, I will take you to the Admiral."
"Very well. Lead the way." FDG smiles, making her baton disappear and the music stops. Z23 leaves immediately to get away from the embarrassment and readies her ship to get back to dry land.
Upon disembarking the Destroyer, Friedrich sees Admiral Ciliax waiting for her with Prinz Eugen stood next to him. She approaches with her warm smile. "My dear child, Friedrich Der Große, ready to receive your orders~"
Ciliax clears his throat and says, "Well… ja. Very good, Fräulein Friedrich. May you explain how you got here?"
FDG looks confused, "Was I not built and Awoken here?"
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau look at each other. Eugen suggests, "Admiral, she was not conscious until her Awakening, so she wouldn't know."
"Hmm… very well. You may join this fleet, Frau Friedrich, but be aware that I'm keeping an eye on you." Ciliax warns.
"You are very wise to be weary of a newcomer, Herr Admiral~" FDG smiles.
"Ja. Well. I must get back to my work." Ciliax says.
"Allow me to assist, my child. It would pain me to see you overworked~" FDG offers.
The Admiral sighs, "Gneisenau, would you like a break from Secretary duty?"
Gneisenau says, "I would be most grateful, Herr Admiral."
"Very well then. Follow me, Frau Friedrich." He says to FDG, who gladly follows.
Scharnhorst says, "I'll go too, just in case…" she goes after them.
"Eureka!" Dr. Anzeel exclaims. "Dr. Fritz! It's working!"
The two of them have implemented a special slot onto the Royal Navy Kansen Awakening machine. Now it will accept Quick Finishers.
Bismarck stands with her arms crossed. "I assume you have a big wardrobe for your Kansen to chose outfits from when they Awaken?"
Dr. Anzeel looks at her, "No? Every Kansen we've Awoken has been dressed when they step out."
Bismarck looks at Fritz. "Herr Doktor? You didn't tell her?"
Fritz, having forgotten about one little detail, rubs the back of his head and says, "Oh… ja… um… using Quick Finishers… kind of skip the process of… creating the clothes…"
Anzeel goes wide-eyed, "…They Awaken naked…?"
Fritz nods.
Anzeel looks at Bismarck and asks, "Does that mean he's seen you…?"
Bismarck blushes a little, "…ja."
Anzeel says, "Alright, then. In the grand scheme of things, I'd say that's an acceptable trade-off to potentially be able to resurrect dead Kansen, right?"
Bismarck says, "I suppose."
"Miss Bismarck." She hears behind her. She turns around and sees Sheffield. The maid says, "Follow me, please."
Assuming Sheffield has thought of something Bismarck can do to make amends with her, the Battleship follows her out of the lab. They both remain silent until they get to the base gym, which is currently empty, apart from Edinburgh who will be operating the bell. Bismarck gets thrown a duffel bag. Sheffield says, "Take a shower, put that on and join me in the ring." As she grabs her own bag and goes to another changing room to do the same.
Bismarck looks inside and sees a sports bra, tank top and shorts. Going along with it for now, she goes and gets changed.
Sheffield wears the same kind of kit and wraps cloths around her knuckles. She sees Bismarck wearing her kit entering the ring and doing the same with her hands. The maid stands up and says to her, "We will spar for 3 2-minute matches. Whoever wins 2 first will win the match. If I win, you will face the punishment I have planned for you. If you win, I will perform my duties as your personal maid, by order of Her Majesty."
Bismarck asks, "You would defy a direct order from your Queen if you win?"
Sheffield shrugs, "She also agreed to this once I explained what will happen if you lose."
Bismarck asks, "Are you sure you want to take on a Battleship in hand-to-hand combat again?"
Sheffield narrows her eyes, "You don't have a glass table or a flagpole this time."
They both take fighting stances, and Edinburgh rings the bell.
Before Bismarck can even react, Sheffield runs at her and flips her over her shoulder. The next thing she knows, Bismarck is on the floor staring at the ceiling. "Was…?"
Sheffield allows her to stand up. She says, "You can react faster than that." Bismarck gets to her feet and turns to face her.
"You're stronger this time." Bismarck says.
"I underestimated you last time. Never again." Sheffield replies, before going in again. This time, Bismarck anticipates her movement, and raises her left arm to block Sheffield's right hook and deflects a jab to the gut before grabbing the maid's right wrist and pulling her towards her. She pushes her left hand on Sheffield's face while kicking the smaller woman's feet out from below her, dropping her to the floor.
"It seems I underestimated you, as well." Bismarck says as she steps back, allowing Sheffield to stand. Bismarck pauses when Sheffield rotates her right arm as it still aches slightly. "Is your right arm still hurting? We shouldn't be doing this if-"
Sheffield interrupts, "A nuisance so small will not hinder me." She dashes at her again. Expecting the same thing to happen, Bismarck once again prepares to block a punch, but this time, Sheffield jabs her in the gut, this time connecting, and makes Bismarck lean forward in pain. She then performs a backwards somersault, sending a kick right to Bismarck's chin, making the Battleship stumble back. The maid lands on her feet and immediately charges at her, storming shoulder-first into the Battleship's stomach, sending her back onto the floor.
Bismarck shakes her head to regain her focus. "Impressive…" she sits up and spits blood and wipes it from her chin, breathing heavily to recover from being winded. She gets back on her feet and dashes back at her, swinging her right fist towards her. Sheffield steps a little to the right, hooks her left arm around Bismarck's right, locking it in place so Bismarck can't retract it. The maid then puts her left leg behind Bismarck's and kicks her feet forwards while hitting her chest backwards with her right hand, putting her on the floor again.
Standing back up again, Bismarck thinks about how she should be doing this. As a Battleship, she is naturally several times stronger than Sheffield as she is a Light Cruiser, her smaller and more agile body may be physically weaker, but she's still a Kansen and still far stronger than the worlds strongest human, plus she is faster and is using that speed to her advantage. Bismarck thinks back learning chess from U-556, and how she explained that you must think ahead, predict every move your opponent could make, and come up with counters to every one.
"Come on, then." Sheffield says wile beckoning her. Instead of charging at her, Bismarck slowly approaches with her guard up, studying Sheffield's stance and every move she could make from it. She could never have expected what she does…
Sheffield sees Bismarck's defences are up in front of her, but her back is very open. She suddenly rushes towards her, avoids a leg sweep from the Battleship by jumping over her head, grabbing her left shoulder, and using her as an anchor point to pivot her smaller body around to kick her in the back, staggering her forward and returning the leg sweep from behind, tripping her up. The Battleship hits the floor once again and takes a moment to catch her breath. The bell rings and Sheffield walks over to help her up.
"Where was all of this in Hamburg?" Bismarck asks as a she stands with a black eye forming on her face from the somersault kick that Sheffield had delivered earlier.
"I made the mistake of assuming you would be easy to fight, considering you had only recently been Awoken. I allowed you to gain the advantage and press it. I will not be doing that again." Sheffield explains. "Edinburgh, the score?"
Her sister holds up a scoreboard showing the amount of times the two of them have been floored. Sheffield won that round easily. Bismarck says, "Just so we're clear… what exactly is this punishment if I lose?"
Sheffield casually answers, "If you lose, you'll be trained as a waitress in our cafe."
Bismarck stares at her. "Wait… What!?"