10th August, 1941.
Z16 stretches her arms as she leads her 3-Destroyer fleet consisting of herself and two non-Kansen ships, Z4 and Z10. She yawns and tries to read the small text in one of her books she brought in an attempt to not get bored as she demanded a fun commanding officer but didn't get any at all.
She gives up trying to read the small letters as her eyes are getting strained. She still refuses to admit she needs glasses.
Suddenly, she hears a shell get fired from one one the other Destroyers. She sits up and follows the shell and sees a smoke cloud generated by an enemy ship. She gets excited and stands up, readying her guns. She's only just become aware now as she turned off her radio earlier. She switches it back on and hears the radio chatter. She yells out, "We brawlin'!? Hell ja!" She starts firing all her guns in the direction of the deployed smoke.
She sees an explosion in the smoke and she yells out, "Number ein goes to—" she stops as she sees what was in the smoke, a small Northern Parliament Patrol Boat. "Oh, come on! That's it!? I'm soooooo bored!"
She hears on the radio, "Z16! That was a waste of ammunition! Do that again and I will relive you of comma-" she switches it off and laughs to herself, until Z4 gets blasted by a Northern Parliament coastal gun.
"Scheisse! We're too close to land!" She turns her radio back on, "Retreat! Retreat!"
Sovetskaya Rossiya, now back at her own base, gets the report from the Patrol Boat that Iron Blood have gotten their fleets closer. She rubs her chin. "Hmm… They're getting bolder…"
Observer Alpha sits in the interrogation room of Scapa Flow after being caught plotting against Victory, who stares at her unwavering smug grin. The Commander says, "Still won't tell me what you were going to say to Anzeel?"
Alpha remains silent, maintaining the same annoying grin she's been giving her for over 200 years.
"I have been trying to get you to talk for two damn centuries and all you've ever given me is how to make Kansen out of Cubes. Now I learn that you've been giving commands to Anzeel since she got here. Why?"
"I can talk, but I can say nothing." Alpha condescendingly replies.
"That doesn't matter. I don't need you to tell me anything. You can tell Bismarck." Victory returns the cocky smile, making Alpha's turn to a frown.
"Aww, Giving up on me already? Doing the old Good cop, Bad cop routine?" Alpha mocks.
"Not exactly…" Victory replies as she walks out.
As soon as Bismarck enters in her place, she slowly strolls up to the table between her and the Siren, her intimidating aura filling the room. Alpha feels a bit of dread, but doesn't make it obvious. She looks up at her and says, "So, the Commander has to send in her new pet…"
"I'm hardly her pet. I'm assisting her in making sure you huren don't win this War, evolutionsbremse." Bismarck says coldly while glaring down at her.
"Hmm? And here I thought you were in it to save your precious homeland and people from the Nazis? What would you have against us? They're the ones who are rounding up people just because of their beliefs and exterminating them like cockroaches—"
Bismarck suddenly grabs the table, flips it to the side, then grabs the seat of Alpha's chair and flips her onto her back. She walks around and then aims her P38 at her leg.
Alpha's eyes widen and she then screams as Bismarck blows it off. Alpha grits her teeth and hisses, "You know I can't be killed in such a way!"
"The loss of your kneecap would suggest otherwise. Anzeel has created a machine that halts your healing ability. You are no less resistant to damage than a human in here. However, your ability to survive such injuries has not been suppressed. You won't die here, but I guarantee you will definitely feel everything, if George's report on how Roon tore Tester limb from limb is accurate."
Alpha starts feeling genuine fear. Bismarck aims at the other knee. "Now… I am NOT here to discuss the Nazis! Answer the Kommandantin's gottverdammt question, du nervinger Hure! You already know your Siren friends cannot portal you away to safety from here, and the Kommandantin has given me the freedom to to whatever the hell I like to make you talk! Your ally took my arm, and I am more than happy to return the favour!"
In the other room, Anzeel twiddles her thumbs before Victory comes in and sits down opposite her table. "You feeling okay, Doctor?"
Anzeel, terrified of what will happen to her now she's an accessory to Alpha's plans, quickly nods her head.
"Hey, it's alright. I just need you to tell me what happened." Victory tries to calm her down. "How did she get to you?"
Anzeel, increasingly hesitant to answer, says, "You… wouldn't believe me if I told you… Commander…"
Wales' unconscious, naked body gets carried to a makeshift bed made from a cleared science table, a medical curtain cut out of its metal frame as a cover, and a pillow provided by the thighs of the Kansen who got her out of the pod.
The Kansen gently strokes Wales's hair as she sleeps, "Please wake up soon, Wales… I'll wait until you do…"
Wales thinks she hears something and opens her eyes, expecting to see her room on her ship. She was sleeping for the night before returning home with Churchill, but she looks up an sees…
"…Hood…?"
Hood smiles while saying, "Hello, my love. Sleep well?"
"… Is this just another dream…?" Wales asks, expecting disappointment. "Are you going to scold me more on how I failed?" She starts to cry.
Hood's heart aches as she hears that. "No! No… you're not dreaming, Wales… I'm here…" she pulls her close and embraces her.
"I… I've missed you so much, Hoodie!" Wales cries out loud.
"Me too, Wales…" Hood can't help but shed tears of her own…
Wales hears a loud siren and is suddenly in her own bed again. She gets up and says, "So… it was just another bloody dream…" she gets her outfit on and runs to her bridge.
"Wales? Wales!" Hood says, panicking as she tries to shake her back to consciousness after passing out again.
"Miss Wales, it seems we have a pack of U-Boats on our backside." Churchill says while stood on her bridge.
"Sir, I can't do much against them. I don't have torpedoes or depth charges!"
"I'm well aware, Miss Wales. That is the reason why I want you to take any and all evasive manoeuvres until we're there!" Churchill orders.
"Yes, sir! You may want to take a seat. This will be rough!" Not willing to lose the Prime Minister himself, Wales sits in her Captain's chair and grabs the small wheel and throttle in her armrests, determined to keep him safe, pushing aside what just happened earlier for now…
"What the hell are they doing this far North, anyway?"
Victory looks at Anzeel after she just dropped an info bomb on her. "…You're certain?"
Anzeel nods. "I don't expect you to believe me, but it's true…"
George scoffs, "Nothing you just said makes any sense, Doctor!"
Victory looks up at her, "She's right, George. I've known this for over a century."
"Wait, what?" George looks at her as if she'd grown a second head. "You believe this ridiculous twaddle?"
"Yes. Look, George… I've wanted to tell all of you for years, but I've never know how to tell you until now. If there's any time I want you to trust me, it's now. Please, whether you believe it or not, every word of what Dr. Anzeel has said is true."
Anzeel, happy that Victory took her side, smiles, "George, please listen to us. I did what she said because she said she could erase me out of this world, but now I know she's cut off from her base from here. I won't be helping her any more, I promise."
Alpha shrieks as her other kneecap is shot. Bismarck stares at her emotionlessly. The Battleship hisses, "Answer. The fucking. Question."
Alpha yells, "Your Commander already knows! Just ask her!"
"I don't believe you." She aims at Alpha's hand. "Convince me."
"How do you think she even came to be!? That she just came from a Cube just because!? Who do you think made that Cube!? It was me! I created her! That's how she knows about me! About the others! AND ABOUT HOW THIS WORLD ISN'T REAL!"
Bismarck's expression falters just for one moment, "What the hell are you talking about!?"
Alpha continues, covered by her own yellow blood, "THIS WORLD IS MY OWN SIMULATION! NONE OF IT IS REAL! EVERYTHING IS ARTIFICIAL!"
"You… you're lying! That's not possible!"
"DON'T YOU EVEN TRY TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT'S POSSIBLE! I HAVE BEEN TRAPPED IN MY OWN WORLD FOR OVER 200 YEARS! HAHAHAHAHA!" Her ranting turns into maniacal laughter. Bismarck puts their chair back on its legs and steps back.
"I… I don't believe it… how?" Bismarck tries to understand.
"Hehehe… you Kansen… so small-minded… you never understand in any world… in any timeline… this one? Just an experiment on what would happen in World War 2 if the Kansen existed during it, rather than in the usual re-enactments… hehe…" Alpha rambles, "At least, that's what my so-called "allies" have done with it… all I wanted to do originally was to see what would happen if… hehe…. if the HMS Victory had a Kansen… hehehehe…"
"This world… and everyone in it… is all false? We are not the only ones?" Bismarck asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Oh… you are… in the real world… here, you're just a digital copy… with no memories of your original lives… isn't that hilarious? Hehehe… every time you all go through an experiment… wether you're sunk or not… we just wipe your memories… and put you back into another… hehehe…. But with the Kansen Commander… and me being stuck here… maybe the cycle will be broken… hehehehe… Victory… she's always known… and kept it from all of you… hehehehe… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Without a word, Bismarck leaves the room as Alpha's giggling turns into historical laughter as what's left of her mind shatters.
2 days later, Jean Bart stands at attention, acting as security alongside her fellow former Iris Orthodoxy Kansen as the President of the Vichya Dominion announced changes to their government, including the eradication of all political parties. Her ship only had one turret installed before she had to surrender it to Iron Blood so she has to make herself useful another way until they finish it for her. The Iris Orthodoxy at the time had no Awakening machine so they used the risky original method of dropping a couble of Wisdom Cubes onto the deck of their ships. After Richelieu was Awoken, she prayed for every new ship to have a successful Awakening, and funnily enough, the success rate shot up afterwards. Jean Bart just chalks it up to coincidence, having abandoned her faith, as after all, what kind of caring God would allow such an evil like the Nazis to rise up and do so much?
The President announces changes such as the banning of political parties and basically having people look at him as an almighty ruler.
In response to the concerning changes being announced, Jean Bart looks down and wonders if this is truly what is right for them. Perhaps her sister was right to stay loyal to the Allies? No, surely not after what the Royal Navy did to them before the split in 1940. The attack on Mers-el-Kébir led to the start of the fracture which spawned Iris Libre and the Vichya Dominion. Her bond with her sister became very strained as they had very different ways to deal with it and the faction was split apart as the two halves couldn't agree on how to handle it either.
Just as the Iris Orthodoxy lost to Iron Blood and then split, Richelieu retreated with her half of the faction to Dakar, leaving Jean Bart with hers under the influence of the Nazis. She couldn't possibly forgive her sister for that, but maybe she should've made more of an effort to escape too? Is living under this increasing tyranny really the way to go? Surely, there must be another option…
Her thoughts are interrupted by the President nudging her and saying, "Your speech, Jean Bart? About the future of Vichya's Kansen?"
"…oui…" Jean Bart says as she goes up to the podium for her turn…
Wales makes her way back to the Royal Kingdom with Churchill, having escaped the Wolfpack and hoping her words stuck with Northampton. She has a very bad feeling about the Sakura Empire. She smelled the smoke coming from Churchill's cigar all the way back. After a bit of small talk, they make it back. They dock in Portsmouth and Churchill says his goodbyes to her before getting in a car that was waiting for him. Wales decides to have a look around as she hasn't been here for a while. She goes into a small store and sees packs of cigarettes. She remembers how Churchill seems to be all calm and collected as he smokes. Is it because of that? Maybe these smaller ones could help her whenever she remembers what happened? She has panic attacks less frequently now, but they still happen… and with this new, torturous dream, feeling so real, laying naked in Hood's arms…
"…Just in case…" she buys a few packs and a lighter before leaving the store. She visits the dock where her Commander's ship once sat when Azur Lane HQ was originally in Portsmouth before setting off again back to Scapa Flow. She'll have to keep her purchase a secret. She decides she might as well test how effective they are. She takes one out and lights it. She inhales it and instantly feels a bit better as she exhales it. Her tougher Kansen lungs prevent her from coughing from using them for the first time. "Hood always told me that it's uncouth to use these… but surely she would understand if it's to help me, right?"
Bismarck sits on a bench overlooking Scapa Dock, thinking about what Alpha told her. She wasn't lying, but how can she believe such a thing? She doesn't even notice a small blue-haired girl happily sit herself down next to her until she says, "Guten Morgen, Lord Bismarck!"
Having been startled, Bismarck finds herself reaching for her gun before stopping herself. "Oh… Guten Morgen, Parzival… I'm sorry…"
"It's okay. It's good to be as alert as you!" The Sub happily answers as she kicks her feet back and forth under the bench.
"…Parzival… I need to tell you something… but… I don't know how to tell you it…" Bismarck looks down, finding herself at a loss for words, which doesn't happen to her very often.
"Is it about this world being fake and we're all being tested?" U-556 asks, surprising Bismarck, "How did-"
"I told her, Bismarck." Victory says from her other side. "I told everyone. I'm so sorry for keeping it from all of you, but now you see why I'm so desperate to find a way to get one up on them. There has to be a way to escape this simulation. Come with me."
Bismarck and her tiny bodyguard go with her to talk more about it just as Wales docks at Scapa Flow. she hides the rest of the packs after seeing she's already gone through almost two of them. She disembarks and hears on the radio that Churchill and Roosevelt have officially announced the agreement they signed, and the news had also called it the "Atlantic Charter."
A few days later, Sovetskaya Rossiya gets the news of a joint message of assistance to the Northern Parliament from both the Eagle Union and Britain.
"We realize fully how vitally important to the defeat of Hitlerism is the brave and steadfast resistance of the Northern Parliament and we feel therefore that we must not in any circumstances fail to act quickly and immediately in this matter on planning the program for the future allocation of our joint resources."
"Hmm… so the Eagle Union are considering joining in after all…" Rossiya says.
Belorussiya smiles, "It's about time."
Soyuz interjects, "Don't get too excited. It will probably take an attack on their own soil to make them fully participate…"
Suddenly, the doors of their office were shoved open by a smaller ship, Avrora. She rushes towards the three of them, puts her hands on her knees and gasps for air. She then stands up strait and with a very serious voice, says, "Komandir! The Iron Blood have taken Mykolaiv port! They massacred everyone! Even the civilians!"
The three of them look at her before collectively saying, "Yebat…"
At that moment, Rossiya gets a call. "Komandir Rossiya." After a while, she puts the phone down. She looks at the others, "…Stalin has just issued Order No. 270… fight to the last…"
Belorussiya says, "It's that bad now, I suppose…"
Victory sits in her still half-destroyed office while Nelson has a break from filling out forms to have it all fixed. The Manjuus work hard to retire what they can. Roon sits in front of her as she listens to her Commander regale her with the stories behind all the antiques in the room. Well, the things that weren't too damaged, anyway. None of it is actually real as they're part of the simulation, but she's going to make it her mission to recover as many real ones as she can once they've escaped the simulation.
Roon hangs on every word as Victory goes on about how she and Horatio Nelson blockaded Traflagar, pursued Observer Alpha and the Battle of Trafalgar when she lost him. The last subject makes her naturally look a little upset, as it always does. She doesn't know if she could ever talk about it with a smile. Roon looks concerned and suddenly gets up, walks around the desk and then climbs onto Victory's lap, puts her hands on her Commander's shoulders and looks down at her.
"Um… Roon? What are you—?" She's interrupted by Roon suddenly kissing her.
When she's released, Victory breathes and says, "Roon… what was… what was that for!?"
Roon smiles and says, "If you're feeling lonely, Kommandantin, I'll always be here for you~"
"Roon, I don't… you… you can't just-" Victory tries to explain she sees that the door has been open the whole time. They both look and see Nelson frozen in place.
After a solid ten seconds of extremely awkward silence, Roon smugly smiles at Nelson, who just slams the door shut, prompting Victory to pick up Roon, sit her down and say, "Roon, stay here!" She darts out of the room to try and explain herself to her Secretary. The Iron Blood Kansen pouts in disappointment, wondering what she did wrong…