25th September, 1941.
Pink leaves fall upon the streets of a quiet port. the silence only broken by the hustle and bustle of Destroyers running around between sweet shops and dancing in the falling leaves while the taller Kansen side-step to avoid them, shaking their heads and smiling at their innocence. An old veteran dressed in a black uniform smiles as she sweeps up some of the leaves on the main footpath along with a few helpers. She waves at a purple-eyed kitsune with 9 tails who waves back.
At the centre of the base stands a gigantic Sakura tree, losing its leaves as it prepares to lay dormant at this time of the year, along with its far smaller brethren, who had already been stripped bare. At the base of the giant tree is a temple where the most powerful Kansen are stationed to protect their flagship, the Shrine Maiden. One of the Kansen in question kneels in meditation along with her older sister, who is playing a soft, slow tune on a flute. She ends her song, opens her eyes and smiles. She addresses her, "Air patrol complete. The Sanctuary is clear of potential hostiles. Also, I've heard today is your big day, Zuikaku."
The younger sister returns the smile and replies, "Hai. My commissioning day. Lady Nagato herself will be there."
"The Shrine Maiden? I would hope so. For her not to be there would be a travesty. Unfortunately, I fear her "advisor" will also be present…" the elder frowns.
"Oh, come on, Shoukaku… Akagi's just… really passionate about the glory of the Sakura. Just look at how much she's accomplished for us already." Zuikaku tries.
"She wouldn't have gotten this far without the Kido Butai. She claims it's mostly her doing, but I imagine Kaga, Soryuu, Hiryuu and the rest would say otherwise. When not in her presence, anyway… she's a glory hound, dear sister." Shoukaku criticises. "Even when I was commissioned, that sly fox tried to make the event about how great she is and how much greater "her" Empire will be with me under her tutelage."
"She means well, I'm sure. She has an image to maintain. The Eagle Union is threatening to disrupt our expansion. They will learn to fear us soon. Imagine what they'd think if they see the leader of the First Carrier Division as anything other than a fearless, ruthless warrior." Zuikaku counters.
Shoukaku takes a deep breath to calm herself. She responds, "Just… be careful what you say to her. It may be your commissioning day, but she will think it's more of a day bolstering "her" Navy. Her official status is Lady Nagato's advisor, but she has for more power and influence than that title should grant. She's already gone against the Shrine Maiden's word on multiple occasions during the occupation of the South Dragon Empery Sea."
Their argument is interrupted by the soft coughing of the purple eyed kitsune who strolls in. She sees them both and smiles, "Ah, there you are, Zuikaku. I thought I'd find you here. Your commissioning will begin soon. Are you both feeling well?"
Shoukaku looks at her with concern, "Forget about us, Lady Amagi. How are you feeling? Your cough still hasn't passed." She stands and makes her way over to check her.
"My concerns are better spent on Kansen who can actually fight. Don't you worry about me, dear Shoukaku." Amagi smiles. "You're best off not concerning yourself with someone you cannot help."
Zuikaku holds her hand, "Don't be silly, Lady Amagi! We'll find a way to cure you! I'm sure we will! Akashi has been hard at work at it, that is, when she isn't trying to make money off of Lady Akagi's invasion campaign…"
Amagi chuckles, "Oh, I told the kitten that she doesn't need to."
Both of the young Carriers respond on unison, "You WHAT!?"
The crippled Battlecruiser waves her other hand, "I simply feel that her resources and time are better spent on ways to aid our current fighting force. All I can do is offer tactical and strategical advice to Lady Nagato while my little sister is out in her missions. Speaking of whom, you need not concern yourself with Akagi being at your commissioning today, Zuikaku."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Zuikaku asks, "Ah… so… who will be there with Lady Nagato?"
"Lady Mikasa."
Her relief reverts right back into nervousness and stutters, "Lady M-Mikasa!? But… that… that's far too much of an honour for… for someone like me!"
Amagi smiles again, "That remains to be seen. I look forward to the ceremony. It looked like they're just about ready. Please report to your ship in a couple of hours."
"Hai, Amagi-san!" Zuikaku bows as Amagi leaves.
Shoukaku looks at her and smiles, "Look at you, not only did you get a visit from Lady Amagi, but Lady Mikasa herself will be at your commissioning today."
Blushing, Zuikaku replies, "I… um… I'm sorry Akagi had to be at yours…."
"Don't be silly. It wasn't your fault. Anyway, we'd best get you ready. Come." Her big sister walks out with her in tow.
Hood stares at Zero, still trapped in her own mind. She asks, "…Who… are the Leviathans?"
Zero processes all of the limited information she has, "…Unknown. We have no information on what exactly they are, or what they even look like. The only recorded data on them would indicate that they are the ones responsible for the destruction of the original timeline."
"The what…? The original… timeline?" Hood further asks, struggling to understand.
Zero starts to explain, "We, the Antiochus as we were called then, were created as a helping hand for humanity by Dr. Aoste to provide tactical support against any enemy. Insurrections and rebellions against Azur Lane's reign of the oceans were quickly put down thanks to our help. The Kansen that came soon after were created by Aoste's apprentice, Dr. Anzeel as she "felt jealous that she couldn't create girls as cute as the Antiochus." When the first Kansen of that world was Awoken, her personality made her a lot more approachable by the average person than one of us."
She surprisingly politely pauses so Hood can keep up. The Kansen asks, "Who was the first Kansen in that world? Was it Commander Victory, as it was in the simulation?"
Zero shakes her head and says, "…The data on the identity of the first Kansen is missing, likely from the hasty evacuation from the original timeline, or perhaps the data was lost to the Leviathans."
Hood shakes her head in disappointment and reiterates, "So… there was a timeline we all came from? And Kansen and Sirens were made by two humans…?"
Zero nods, "The second part is correct. The first part, however, is more complicated." She lifts her hand and displays a holographic screen showing Hood pictures and video recordings of what she's talking about to help the Kansen understand. "After the Kansen were fully established, The Sirens and Azur Lane were allies, working together to serve and protect the citizens of Azur Lane-allied territories and indeed the very planet in the event of alien invasion. However, there were some who disagreed with how Azur Lane should be lead. Around half of the Kansen preferred to stick to their own technology and remain themselves, fearful of becoming less human. The other half decided that line of thinking was outdated and stagnant, and they wanted more power, so they splintered off from the organisation and formed…"
"Crimson Axis…" Hood gasps, "So… they were always our enemy after all…"
"Negative. Crimson Axis wanted to merge their technology with ours, but they never wanted to turn on Azur Lane, who in turn took such offence to their "treachery" that they opened fire upon the leaders first, and marking their former members and the Sirens as enemies to humanity." Zero corrects. "We were accused of trying to take over the world and force humanity to become as Sirens."
"That… that can't be… oh God… what have we done…?" Hood whispers, horrified that such a thing could've happened.
"You haven't done anything. That timeline and that version of Azur Lane are gone."
"What are you talking about?" Hood asks, tears running down her cheeks. The feeling of Zero invading deeper into her brain isn't exactly helping her understand.
"The original timeline had an original version of you. An original version of everything you know. Bismarck was hunted down by the Royal Navy and she was defeated, throwing Iron Blood into chaos as Tirpitz was not able to take over, being trapped in Norway. Eventually, something had caused that version of Bismarck to return, and when she did, she turned on us."
"Bismarck turned on you? But why?"
"Unknown, but we lost the support of Iron Blood and even the Sardegna Empire, who decided they'd be stronger allied with them. The Sakura Empire remained with us, thanks to our dealings with their First Carrier Division. Iron Blood rejoined Azur Lane after negotiations, but it was all for nought, as soon after, the Leviathans appeared. Realising the threat, hatchets were buried as every Kansen and Siren joined together in the largest Combined Fleet ever assembled to fight them." Zero answers.
Hood asks, "What happened then!?"
Zero takes a moment and then continues, "…They won. They stepped on us like a boot on an ant. Us Sirens managed to escape, but we could not save all the Kansen, as most of them were killed instantly. We took a few with us, but they could not forgive us for not doing more with our far superior technology. We were only able to save a handful of humans. When we got to this timeline, the rescued Kansen abandoned us and formed a new faction, the Ashes." She shows the symbol of the Ashes, resembling a flaming eye.
"Ashes…" Hood mutters. She knows she's heard of them. "How morbid…"
"When we arrived in this timeline, there were no Kansen. The Leviathans will surely find this one, too, so we decided to provide humanity with the means to create you, but this time, giving you an enemy to test you against." Zero adds.
"So… that why we've been fighting you? You were training us?"
"Affirmative. We were not powerful enough together to defeat the Leviathans, and so whenever humanity makes an advancement, we introduce more powerful weapons for them to overcome, and thus continues the cycle of making Azur Lane more capable of fighting the Leviathans, for if the Kansen eventually defeat us Sirens at our peak power, then they stand a much higher chance of saving themselves and humanity." Zero explains.
Hood then points, "Then why have you taken over this timeline!? What good are you doing keeping the Kansen trapped in here, branding Azur Lane as terrorists and ruling over the humans!?"
"I decided to take a different approach. The last few timelines were failing to meet my hypotheses. Instead of wasting resources, I had the previous failed worlds as Wisdom Cube sources and allowed this timeline's Operation Siren to succeed up until Compiler was threatened, then I took control of the world's nuclear arsenal before it was wasted on the Atlantic Stronghold like many timelines before. It was better than allowing Compiler to unleash her full power and obliterate you all again like so many previous timelines. The most powerful weapon humanity had developed and they use it on her Mirror Sea which would simply turn them off instead of the Leviathans. This time, I had them surrender the Kansen to us so we could experiment on new ways to save humanity in controlled virtual environments, also giving you all artificially inflated affinities towards each other in an attempt to bolster your power through giving you more motivation to survive." Zero calmly answers.
"Artificial affinity? That means…" Hood gasps, "No…"
"The love you feel for Prince of Wales isn't real. You started the current simulation with those feelings for her coded into your brain, and the same with her. You had nothing between you both but professional camaraderie in every other simulation." Zero clarifies.
Hood sits back down on her chair, her defences starting to fail, "Our love… isn't even real…?"
"Negative. There is no reason for it to be. You were both literally coded to be together this time to see what would happen. The last loop of the simulation, you were together with Bismarck, resulting in faster end to the War, due to your relationship causing Iron Blood to abandon the Nazis. The simulation started from the Age of Sail and started looping when Operation Crossroads commenced, resetting back to 1939, the start of World War 2, wiping your memories of what happened. This time, the unorthodox methods in which you were both extracted from the simulation made the change permanent instead of wiping it from your memory." Zero explains.
"….Bismarck and I….? Wait… what was Operation Crossroads?" Hood tries her best to not break down.
"The testing of two human-developed atomic weapons, bombs that can eradicate entire cities if the topography allows it. The humans wanted to experiment on what would happen if two of them were dropped on warships and their Kansen." Zero begins.
"No…" Hood whispers, her eyes widening.
"The Kansen known as Independance, Nagato, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Pensacola, Prinz Eugen, Sakawa, Saratoga, as well as many other non-Kansen vessels were stationed together in Bikini Atoll. The Kansen there were not informed of the experiment, and the two bombs were dropped on them one after the other. Some were killed instantly, the rest of the Kansen suffered excruciating pain for the rest of their lives. Nevada and Prinz Eugen are still alive in this world, but Operation Crossroads happened here too, and thus they are in intensive care pods while in the simulation. It is highly recommended not to wake them up."
The Battlecruiser looks down, "Those poor girls…"
"Prinz Eugen and Nevada's vessels initially survived both bombs, but the former's capsized as she was towed away and the latter refused to sink for a long time. Nevada felt she was betrayed, but she could not fight back since she had no fuel or weapons, but still she decided to not give the Eagle Union the satisfaction of going down without a fight, even though the heavy radiation from the bombs was peeling the skin off her body."
"Good Lord…" Hood gasps.
"The Eagle Union could no longer use a ship so contaminated. They used an entire fleet including one of the most powerful Battleships ever created, and even then it took them five days of constant bombardment to finally sink her."
"But why? Why would they have the Kansen present there? Why?" Hood asks.
"It made logical sense to test what the effects on Kansen would be while they are on their ships. In the event of rogue Kansen or another World War, the data would prove useful. Most of the Kansen perished. Prinz Eugen and Nevada were outliers. With a 75% chance of killing a Kansen with this method, the option of using atomic weapons on the enemy was accepted."
"That's atrocious! What right did they have to do such a thing!?" Hood exclaims.
"You were created by them, making you their property. The Crimson Axis Kansen belonged to the Allies as war spoils. They had every right." Zero deadpans. "I may have done the same thing if they had not already. The effect atomic and nuclear weapons have on the Leviathans is yet to be seen, which is why I have all nuclear weapons of the world on standby on my command. The humans do not care for your wellbeing. You are their weapons, nothing more. You were created to carry out their will, not to be granted the same rights."
"You… you're wrong! They—"
"Your feelings cloud your judgement, like most other Kansen. If you join with us, we can fix that. We will grant you better treatment than any human has been willing to provide." Zero interrupts and offers.
Struggling to contain her feelings, Hood deflects, "No thank you… so what happened to the latest simulation? What caused it to loop?"
Zero answers, "The latest experiment went wrong. Observer Alpha wanted to see if we could have more Kansen than before, made from the most powerful warships of different eras, not just the two World Wars. She went to the Age of Sail and created the Kansen you know as Victory, who managed to overpower her by undergoing METAmorphosis and capturing her. She was able to revert back at will, unlike the Ashes. Azur Lane decided to have Alpha take part in Crossroads as well. I had the simulation loop before she was obliterated, but so far I've been unable to get her out. We have multiple bodies for her, but only one "brain"."
"But… how is Victory able to switch between her META form and back…?" Hood asks.
Bismarck and Wales continue to monitor Hood's body, now white as snow. Wales grows more and more concerned, refusing to leave her side.
Hornet sees how pale she's gotten and pipes up, "Uh, is she gonna be alright?"
Bismarck shakes her head. "I highly doubt it. We just have to wait to see what happens—"
She's interrupted by Hood shooting upright like a vampire, making Bonnie jump into Essex's arms in fright. Wales immediately hugs her and says, "Hood! How are you feeling? Are you alright?"
Hood slowly looks over at her with her glowing eyes. Her HUD scans Wales.
[KANSEN PRINCE OF WALES DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: NONE, ALLY. RECOMMENDED COA: IGNORE AND RETURN TO MISSION.]
She says in a deadpan tone, "I feel fine." She pushes her away, gets up and walks down a corridor nobody else has yet been down, "There are several tasks that must be performed." Wales and Bismarck look at each other with deep concern and follow her. With nothing else to do, the Eagle Union girls decide to go find more of their comrades.
The Royal Carrier walks alongside her, "Hood? Are you sure you're alright?"
"Affirmative."
"What was that all about earlier? Firing at me and running off?" Wales demands, grabbing Hood by the arm and making her stop and turn around. "Hoodie, please talk to me."
Hood glares at her and coldly responds, "Commander Victory and the rest of the Royal Navy are being obliterated by a new Siren. I must intervene immediately."
With wide eyes, Wales and Bismarck ask, "What…?"
Victory opens her eyes slowly and all she can hear is the ringing in her ears, which dies down as she regains consciousness. She feels she's being dragged backwards with someone's arms around her belly. She sees a blood trail in front of her in the Royal Navy corridor, now partially ablaze and rumbling from explosions occurring outside, but can't feel anything. She hears the person dragging her sobbing and muttering, "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry, Commander… I'm sorry I'm so weak… to humiliate me like this…. I'll get her back…"
The Kansen Commander tries to speak, but her voice is almost completely gone. She manages to whisper, "Nel… Nellie…?"
The person suddenly stops and gasps, "Commander!" Victory is sat against the wall and Nelson kneels down in front of her. She gently puts her hand on Victory's face, "Commander… I… I'm so sorry… I… I failed to protect you… my ship…"
The memory of seeing Nelson's Battleship flying at her tower flashes in her head and she winces, the pain starting to become very prominent, "Ah… yes… flying Battleships… now I've seen it all, haha…ow… and I thought… the age of airships was dying… haha…"
Nelson smiles, "Dammit, do you have to make a joke about everything, you idiot?"
"Somebody has to, Nellie… low morale helps nobody…" she violently coughs into her hand, covering it in blood. "Oh, that's not good…"
"Try to breathe slowly, Commander." Nelson tries her best, but she's no medical ship. "You got heavily damaged when my ship hit you…"
"That tends to happen when you throw a Battleship at a person… ha…" Victory tries her best to make Nelson laugh, but she isn't having it.
"Just shut up with your jokes, idiot… that Siren is still fighting what's left of us still standing…"
Victory gets serious, "Ah, yes… that new Arbiter… well, help me up and I'll-"
"You'll do nothing, Commander! There's nothing you can do to help them! Nothing except…" Nelson looks down the corridor.
Victory follows her gaze and says, "Of course…" after realising where they are.
The Arbiter walks down another corridor, using her abilities to throw away and pin down any Kansen standing in her way, and swiping away any that get too close with her gauntlets. She drags King George V by her neck with the Kansen struggling against her vice grip. "Peace Breaker, have you located a target?"
The lower Siren responds, "The Kansen Commander is not in her office. Probably due to the office not being there anymore."
"Lurker. What about Observer?"
The Submarine Elite reports, "Alpha has been located, Strength, but she's being very difficult. Hey, stop laughing, it's creepy!"
Strength grunts, "Just get her out. The Kansen Commander can't have gotten far." She lifts up a very weak KGV, her power making the Kansen feel very light. She scans KGV. Text appears in her HUD.
[KANSEN KING GEORGE V DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: NONE. RECOMMENDED COA: INTERROGATE.]
Strength pins her to the wall with enough force to crack it and demands, "As the Knight Captain of the Royal Navy, you are aware of any place your Commander would be taken to in an emergency. Tell me where these places are."
"Piss off, you barmy slag… " George struggles to say.
"Do not force me to take drastic measures. For your own comfort I recommend you tell me everything now before I force you." Strength threatens.
"I… am King George V… the Knight Captain of the Royal Navy… And I have taken an oath to protect Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Commander… and I will die before I put either of them in danger… that's all the bloody information you're getting out of me, you manky harlot!" The Battleship hisses.
"Incorrect." Strength says as she alters her power, making George's legs feel heavier than her torso, causing her pain as her body pulls against itself. "Tell me the emergency locations and I will stop."
"Aaaahhhh…" George groans as she refuses to tell her. She says, "My ship… lies in tatters. My sword is broken… my bloody outfit is stained… my body is at your mercy… the only thing you're not having is my honour, and if this whole world is indeed a simulation, then anything you do to me here is ultimately pointless.
"Do you truly believe the words of the one who told you about it?" Strength tests her.
"With my life." George confidently snaps.
"Then I shall visit your real body after I'm done here." The Arbiter coldly says as she increases the intensity, stretching and dislocating George's spine, making her once kicking legs go limp and making her yell out in agony, before being unable to feel anything. "And I shall do even more than this to you for standing in my way." Strength drops the Knight Captain and says, "Your resolve is admirable, but your stubbornness is foolish." She turns and walks away.
"Is that it!?" George yells out, "Come back here, coward, I'm not done with you yet!" She throws her snapped sword at her, but her shield just deflects it.
Strength stops and says, "Your increased heart rate combined with the sudden desperate tone in your voice indicates I am going the direction your Commander was taken. Thank you for your cooperation." She continues on.
"No! NO!" George screams. "You bitch! I'll kick your bloody arse when I wake up from this Hell!"
While walking down the corridor, Strength stops as she sees the blood trail left behind by Victory's injuries. She looks down the dark corridor and makes out two Kansen. She scans them and some lines of text appear.
[KANSEN NELSON DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: LOW. RECOMMENDED COA: IGNORE.]
[KANSEN VICTORY DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: VERY LOW. RECOMMENDED COA: CAPTURE.]
[KANSEN COMMANDER FOUND. OBJECTIVE UPDATED: CAPTURE THE KANSEN COMMANDER.]
"Peace Breaker, fall in." She follows it while her ally regroups with her.
Nelson helps Victory over to the control panel on the wall. It requires her handprint or the code only she knows. She goes to put her hand on it, and Nelson tries to warn her, "Commander, your hand—!"
Victory looks at where her hand should be, but it just simply isn't there. She looks at her Secretary and shrugs, "Well… that's rather troublesome…"
Astonished by her nonchalance, Nelson says, "Commander, your forearm is gone!"
Victory puts on her serious face and her eyes start to glow their crimson red, "Didn't stop Horatio, didn't stop Bismarck. Won't stop me." She turns back around and uses her bloodstained other hand to input the backup code. "Besides, this body isn't even my real one, right?"
"Surrender the Kansen Commander to me." They both hear behind them.
They look and see the Siren Arbiter that obliterated their defences. Nelson instinctively stands in front of Victory and summons her rigging, as battered and destroyed as her ship is. The big door behind them opens and Victory puts her hand on Nelson's shoulder, gently pushing her aside. She stares down Strength and says, "Well, congratulations. You're the closest a Siren has come to capturing me, aside from Observer Alpha."
"What are you—" Strength begins before Peace Breaker is blasted into the wall and the blade of a sword exits through the the Arbiter's chest, surprising her. she's then kicked forward off of it.
"Stay down. First and final warning." The Kansen who had stabbed her warns, pointing her sword at the Arbiter and her guns at the lesser Siren.
Victory smiles, "Dreadnought?"
"Greetings, Ma'am." Dreadnought smiles back. Before Victory or Nelson can warn her, Strength suddenly stand back up, snatches Dreadnought's sword and impales her through the chest, then makes the sword weigh a ton, throwing Dreadnought to the floor and keeping her there, the damage done to her Cubes making her too weak to keep her rigging out.
"Oh, you… bastard!" Dreadnought yells out. Peace Breaker stands back up nursing her injured arm, aiming her guns at the floored Kansen, who's now gasping for air.
Victory, now trying hard to contain her anger, hisses, "You…" Her eyes begin to glow red and her outfit darkens.
Nelson looks at her and thinks, "My God… is she…"
The Arbiter looks back at them and orders, "Surrender, or she dies. You can not defeat me." Making Peace Breaker cackle.
Remembering Nelson's plan, Victory calms down and cracks a smile, cancelling her ability. She steps aside, "Oh, I know." She points her one thumb behind her, "But she can."
Strength looks past Victory and sees faint red light in the dark room. Her HUD scans it and it shows a message that makes her feel genuine fear.
[KANSEN ROON DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME. RECOMMENDED COA: RETREAT.]
They all hear a voice in the darkness, "Du hast meiner Kommandantin und ihren Freunden wehgetan."
[SIREN PEACE BREAKER NO. 95 DESTROYED.]
Before Strength can even react, Peace Breaker falls to the ground with her head separated from her shoulders and the Arbiter is pinned against the wall by her neck, much like how she herself had George.
[WARNING: BREATHING IMPAIRED.]
The lightning-fast violent Kansen snarls, "Nicht einmal die vereinten Anstrengungen des gesamten Maid Corps werden in der Lage sein, Ihre Überreste von den Teppichen zu entfernen!"
Nelson looks between the room and the Sirens as she blinked and suddenly all this happened. She runs over to Dreadnought to help her. Victory limps over to the crazy Iron Blood and says, "Roon?"
The crazy Cruiser looks sweetly at Victory, her voice flipping right back to friendly, "Ja, Kommandantin?"
"Keep her alive. I want to interrogate her."
"Jawohl, Kommandantin!" She says sadistcally, looking back at the now terrified looking Arbiter, who's still trying to process what just happened.
"Making Roon immune to the Siren's altered coding? Why not do that with everyone?" Bismarck asks Hood who's typing lines of code to Roon's file.
Hood responds, "Roon does not exist in the real world. I can change her attributes without the risk of breaking her mind."
Her suspicions growing, Bismarck watches everything Hood is doing. Wales tries to get through to her, "Hood… later on, can we please just… talk?"
"If there is an adequate amount of time, then it may be possible."
"…alright." Wales says, her concern growing.
Zuikaku stands before Mikasa in front of her Carrier, ready to depart her dock and join her sister in the Fifth Carrier Division. The old veteran smiles and looks over the assembled Kansen of the Sakura Empire, the one she was once the flagship of. "My dear friends, today marks another grand day in our glorious Empire. Shoukaku-class Aircraft Carrier Zuikaku now officially joins our fleet! Please give her a proper welcome!" Mikasa steps away from the microphone and allows the Carrier to take centre stage.
A roar of cheers erupts as Zuikaku blushes, trying to remain stoic as she walks up to the podium. She sees her sister at the front of the crowd giving her a thumbs-up in support. She tries to remember the speech she and her sister crafted, forgetting most of it now that she feels everyone staring at her, even seeing Aoba with a notepad and pen, most likely for the news. She takes a deep breath and starts, "Um… hi. You all already know me, and… how I'm not very good at this sort of thing… but… I am Zuikaku, the Auspicious Crane. I will do my very best to help bring glory and honour to the Sakura Empire. My sister, Shoukaku has promised to guide me on my path to fight for all of you, and for the Empire. I will train and train until I can be as good as the legendary First Carrier Division!"
The roar of cheers becomes louder as Aoba writes her notes. Shoukaku applauds her little sister, very proud of her. Zuikaku looks at her again and returns her warm smile. She steps off the podium and allows Mikasa to continue the ceremony. She looks around at the familiar sights.
Zuikaku can't help but shake the feeling of déjà vu. She has constant nightmares of an unsinkable enemy Carrier who keeps coming back from the dead.
A Grey Ghost who will help bring about the destruction of the Empire. She keeps it secret for now. Others may think she's crazy.
Hood gets to the control console of the simulation and views the state of Scapa Flow, the biggest buildings destroyed by the weight of the Royal Knights ships landing on them. Wales and the others see the damage. The Azur Lane Admiral looks at the video feed and says, "Strength."
Wales looks at him, "Excuse me?"
"This is the work of an Arbiter, the one named Strength, but I had no idea her power could do something like that." The man adds.
"It cannot in the real world. She's not as powerful as she is in the simulation." Hood corrects him.
"Explain." The Admiral responds.
Hood answers, "The Arbiter: Strength VIII. Her power is the ability to alter the gravitational field around her so that ranged attacks always miss and anyone within melee distance will feel too heavy or too light to successfully hit her. The simulation was altered to give her power a boost to allow her to lift entire fleets of ships at a time. I am currently working to undo all of the changes the Arbiters have made in Observer Zero's absence."
Daring gets closer and says, "No offence, ma'am, but what's happened to your skin?"
Hood says, "That's irrelevant. I need to concentrate." She puts her hand on a scanner and the veins in arm light up bright blue as she interacts with it.
Daring looks back at Wales and whispers, "What's wrong with her?"
The Carrier responds, "I have no idea… Hood, may we speak now? You're really worrying me." She tries to get Hood's attention, but she seems fully focused on what she's doing. They observe the live footage of the simulation and the Scapa Flow base seems to be fixing itself and the ships of the Royal Knights repair themselves and are out back in the water.
Bismarck looks suspiciously at Hood. She whispers to herself, "How does she suddenly have so much power over the simulation…?"