21st September, 1941.

Kirov continues to stare out to sea from the port of Kronstadt. All has been quiet for days. Rossiya finally tries to talk to her. She sits next to her on Kirov's deck and says, "Comrade, you haven't eaten in days. You cannot become stronger if you starve." She hands her a box of rations.

Kirov keeps staring. "If I do not keep my eye out, Iron Blood will surprise us again."

After sighing, Rossiya reassures her, "They will not catch us off guard this time, Kirov. We underestimated them. That will not happen again. Soon, we will turn this War around. The Northern Parliament will push Iron Blood back to the cesspit they came from and the Soviet flag will fly from what remains of their precious buildings."

Kirov finally breaks her gaze away from the water and asks, "How do you know this?"

"I don't, but the Northern Parliament is far greater than Iron Blood could ever hope to be. I feel it in my very soul that the Nazis will fuck up somewhere and we will turn the tide." Rossiya replies. She looks out to sea, "Well, that's what I feel will happen with our human forces. Us, however? I—"

Kirov puts her hand up to stop her, "…do you hear that?"

Rossiya falls silent and listens. They hear a low rumble getting louder. They look to the skies and sees well over a hundred planes break through the clouds.

Luftwaffe Bombers.

Both of them jump to their feet and sprint up to Kirov's bridge. Rossiya gets on the radio and reports, "Alert! Bombers incoming! I repeat, Bombers incoming!"

The whole base is thrown into battlestations. AA turrets aim for the heavens and Admiral Kuznetsov himself orders, "This is the last base we have in the Baltic! Defend it until your last breath! No surrender, no retreat!"

Kirov looks to the ship they almost lost the previous month, Marat. A human-crewed Battleship. She had been towed into dry dock, repaired and sent back out. Kirov refuses to suffer that same humiliation. She sees in the distance Iron Blood aircraft dropping mines into the exit of the massive harbour and refocuses on the 180 bombers about to rain hell on them. She takes aim and begins to defend the base of the Baltic Fleet for days on end…

The next day, Victory gets more updates on what's happening in the Royal Kingdom and everywhere else. "Hmm… Things are getting busier…"

Nelson comes over to look at the reports. She leans over her shoulder again, but this time doesn't move away, causing Victory to blush slightly. The Secretary reads it out loud, "The King of Greece has arrived in the Royal Kingdom? I'm glad he managed to get himself and his family out of there."

"Greece's government as well. Though that does mean Iron Blood has completely free rein over the country now. I heard the Greeks put up one hell of a fight." The Commander adds.

"Just like the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae…" Nelson sees another bullet point of interest, "NP Tank Week?"

Victory chuckles, "Yep. For just over a week, we're sending all the tanks we make to the Northern Parliament to help them out a bit. Their Baltic Fleet is holding the fort at their main base and their ground forces are struggling. We have an alliance with them, so we may as well give them some help."

Nelson seems conflicted. She idly puts her hands gently on Victory's shoulders and says, "Hmm… I just hope we don't give them too much. We need tanks as well. Will they be giving us anything?"

"I'm not sure, it's not up to me. Tanks aren't my specialty." Victory remarks, earning a small, barley audible laugh from Nelson.

After she'd calmed down, Nelson slightly tightens her grip on Victory's shoulders and looks down at her. Luckily, Victory's jacket is hung up in the corner so her epaulettes aren't being squashed. Victory looks up at her and sees a troubled face. She puts a hand on one of her and asks, "What's wrong, Nellie?"

Blushing at the nickname again, Nelson takes a moment, "…remember when Admiral Anderson escorted us to the Panama Canal?"

"Of course. When Purifier attacked?" Victory nods.

"Well, before that… when the Admiral asked you why you remained a Commander…" Nelson adds.

"Yes? What's about it?"

"Are… those the only reasons?" Nelson leans forward a bit to looks at her easier.

Victory smiles, "Are you worried about me accepting a promotion and leaving you?"

Nelson looks away and tightens her grip further, "D…Don't say it… out loud… idiot…"

"Ow…" Victory winces. "Well, I suppose that is another reason. Not wanting to leave any of you, especially you, Nellie… but I couldn't really say that to him, now could I? Don't get me wrong, the reasons I told him are true, but… I really do care about you…"

Nelson looks back at her. They slowly get closer and closer, their lips brushing against each other…

"Master! I have news!" They both hear from outside the door. They both gasp and pull away, Nelson stood by Victory's chair as Belfast opens the doors, none the wiser.

Belfast notices their bright red faces and asks, "…Are you both feeling well? I'll open the window for you."

Victory coughs, "Ahem… that won't be necessary, Bel. What is this news you speak of?"

If steam could physically come from Nelson's ears, she'd look like the funnel of a locomotive. Belfast notices and says, "Is everything alright, Lady Nelson?"

Nelson, through clenched teeth, hisses, "Deliver. The news. Belfast."

The Head Maid looks at Victory and says, "We have awoken all Kansen not currently participating in the War. Many who have been sunk and scrapped already as well as many yet to be built. We also may have found a way to get Kansen out of this simulation faster, Ma'am. We may be able to visit any point in time to get their Cubes out when they die here. Unfortunately, if we were to end the simulation now, it would delete itself, along with everyone still awake in it."

Nelson's rage quickly dies down, "Wait, so the Commander and my sister would die with it!?"

Victory, moved that her Secretary seemed to put her and Rodney before herself, says, "You as well, Nelson."

"You're both more important to me…" Nelson mutters.

Belfast, fully aware of what's going on, says, "Ma'am, I have more news. We have met with Kansen built after this War ended in the real world."

Victory's eyebrows raise, "From after the War?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Also, Miss Sheffield and myself have new riggings in the real world." Belfast adds.

Nelson asks, "So the Allies beat the Crimson Axis and humanity won against the Sirens?"

Belfast confirms, "Azur Lane and the Allies did indeed emerge victorious and integrate the Crimson Axis into them… but…" her smile dies and she looks down, "… but Im afraid it's quite the opposite for the Sirens, Miss…"

Victory and Nelson look at each other, then back to her. "…we lost?" The Commander asks.

Belfast's expression further darkens. She explains, "According to the Admiral of what remains of Azur Lane, we had all undergone a massive campaign to defeat them. Operation Siren. The objective was to take back the Atlantic Ocean piece by piece until we got to the main stronghold in the middle of the northern hemisphere of the Atlantic, controlled by a single Elite named "Complier". We were so close, until the Sirens took control of the world's entire combined nuclear arsenal and demanded the surrender of humanity and to give up the Kansen to them. In exchange, the Sirens would watch over the world and "protect" them. Azur Lane was branded a terrorist organisation and defunded. The remnants broke off and went into hiding, Awakening Kansen of modern ships built right before the Sirens delivered their ultimatum. They're a Resistance force now, aiming to free the world from the Sirens."

Nelson sees a shocked Victory at a loss for words, so she then asks, "And… what about the Commander's real body? Have you found her?"

Belfast shakes her head, "Yes and no. She is not in the same facility as we are, but we know where she, Dr. Anzeel and Dr. Fritz are. We Kansen are all separated from them and are all in what used to be Midway Atoll."

Victory looks at her, "Then… where are the Doctors and I…?"

Belfast answers, "Here. Scapa Flow in the real world."

Nelson says, "Well, then you need to get over there and-"

Victory puts her hand up, "Hold on, Nelson. Belfast, you make sure you get everyone else out of here first, alright? I don't want a single shipgirl left in the pods. Get them all out, and then come for us. Get the Doctors first, then me, is that understood?"

Belfast bows, "Yes Master. Permission to go to sleep to help the others again?"

"A strange sounding request, but of course." Victory chuckles. Belfast leaves.

Nelson looks at her, "Commander, if they don't get you out first, nobody can lead them!"

Victory looks back, "They have an Admiral leading them far better than I could, Nellie. It's up to him in the end, but if he gives the order to get me out first, then that's what they'll do. What I ordered from Bel was merely a suggestion. I just want to make sure everyone else is awake first."

Nelson sighs, "The longer you stay in here, the bigger the risk of the simulation ending and taking you with it…"

"One thing at a time, Nellie. How's the situation in Brest?"

More RAF bombers get shot down as Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Friedrich der Große light the sky on fire with their AA once more, protecting both the port and the still disabled Prinz Eugen, who herself manually aims and fires one of her own guns, ignoring her headache.

Z23 looks at the stricken Heavy Cruiser and mutters, "If she keeps going, she could suffer another concussion…"

Scharnhorst yells out, "WHY DO THEY KEEP ATTACKING WHEN THEY KNOW THEY CANNOT DO ANYTHING!?"

Gneisenau calmly responds, "Perhaps they're getting desperate, schwester. When we finally get the order to join up with Tirpitz, we can turn the tide."

Eugen chimes in, "Any chance to get out of this verdammt port…"

FDG adds, "If they would just surrender to us, I would be glad to welcome more dear children."

Scharnhorst groans, "Ugh… will you stop that?!"

"Manners, my child. I will have to discipline you if you continue your disrespectful attitude." FDG retorts.

"Leck mich am Arsch!" The angry Battlecruiser yells back, causing her sister to facepalm.

Hood stormed out of the room after the Admiral explained everything to process all she had been told about what had happened. She had asked to be left alone, but Wales wouldn't have it. She catches up to her and says, "Hood! Wait!"

Hood doesn't respond and Wales can hear her crying. Wales puts her hand on her shoulder, "Hood…"

The Battlecruiser suddenly spins around and startles her by yelling, "THEY BETRAYED US, WALES! THE HUMANS GAVE US UP TO SAVE THEMSELVES! AFTER EVERYTHING WE LOST! EVERYTHING WE GAVE TO THEM, THEY DO THIS!"

"…Hood…" Wales whispers. "Your… your eyes…"

Hood's expression softens and she calms down a little. She wipes her tears and smiles, but sees a blue hue on her hands. She looks at them and it goes away, then closer to her eyes and it comes back, like some kind of blue light… "Wales… are my eyes…?"

Wales nods, "Glowing? Yes… they are…" she takes a step back, "The last time I saw a look like the one you just gave me…"

Hood gets worried, "Wales…?"

"It was from a Siren…"

Hood's HUD displays Wales' details just like the others. Her IFF suddenly changes from ALLY to ENEMY and a command appears.

"THREAT DETECTED - TERMINATE IMMEDIATELY."

Hood gets a sudden urge to kill Wales, the same feeling Bismarck and towards herself, except seemingly far worse than the Battleship had described it. Her rigging appears and aims at her girlfriend, causing Wales to instinctively summon her own. "Hood, what are you doing!?"

"No…" Hood whispers.

Wales asks, "What?"

"No… NO! STAY BACK! NOOOO!" Hood turns her body just as her guns fire, just narrowly missing Wales and hitting. The walls of the corridor behind her. She glances at Wales' betrayed-looking face and takes off running and Wales stands there, confused. She gives chase.

Having heard the explosion, Bismarck looks out the door they'd ran out of and goes after them herself.

"Hood! Come back here!" Wales demands as she chases her, dodging shells flying at her from Hood's turrets which seem to be moving on their own. She thinks to herself, "She wouldn't do this… something's wrong with her!"

The blue-haired Battleship that woke up earlier walks with 7 Carrier sisters she had found and they're looking for any clothing or anything that could pass for it. They find, similarly to Wales and Hood, spare Siren clothing and they make do with it for now.

The Battleship looks at the lead Carrier and says, "You okay now? You seemed really embarrassed earlier."

The Carrier nods, "Yeah… this is kinda revealing, but it's better than being naked, I guess… imagine what Enterprise would say if she saw me like that."

"I don't think she'd mind, Essex. In fact, I found her earlier. She's still asleep."

"Really!?" Essex asks, she grabs the Battleship by the arms, "We have to wake her up! Take us to her, NJ!"

"Okay, calm down!" New Jersey says, "First, we need to—"

The wall suddenly gets blown down and a crazy-looking Kansen runs towards them guns blazing and her eyes glowing a big blue. NJ holds her arm out, clotheslining the Kansen, flooring her. She falls to the floor and passes out. Essex looks down at her and says, "Wait, isn't this…?"

Wales yells out, "HOOD!" New Jersey, Essex and her sisters look up at her and Wales comes to a stop, catching her breath. She says, "Thank you… Miss…?"

"New Jersey, the Indomitable Black Dragon!" NJ proudly says while posing.

"…and I'm Essex." The lead Carrier humbly says. "These are my sisters Shangri-La, Bunker Hill, Intrepid, Ticonderoga, Bon Homme Richard, Yorktown and Hornet."

"You can call me "Bonnie" for short!" The white-haired one offers. "Hey, who's that?"

Before Wales can look behind her, she hears a familiar voice, "Battleship Bismarck, Iron Blood Navy."

"Iron… Blood?" New Jersey asks, her head tilted.

Bismarck rolls her eyes and says, "Of course. You don't remember. Your memories have been wiped again."

Essex asks, "Hold on, what?"

Bismarck, walking over to Hood, explains, "We were all stuck in a loop. It wiped our memories every time we died within the simulation. This time, the cycle has been broken. You all belong to a faction called "Eagle Union" and I am from one known as "Iron Blood."" She picks Hood up and lays her on a table.

Shangri-La narrows her eyes, "Two separate factions? Were we at war?"

Wales puts her hands up, "Girls, it's alright. Bismarck was on the enemy side in the simulation, but now she is helping us."

NJ cautiously nods, "…Alright, but we'll be keeping an eye on her all the same."

Bismarck sighs, "Whatever." She gently brushes Hood's hair out of the way of her eyes and opens one of them, the glow still there, but very faint. "Hmm… her skin is slowly turning pale… her temperature is dropping…"

Wales, getting worried, asks, "Is she dying!?"

"Nein. Her pulse is escalating… she may be having a nightmare….or worse…" Bismarck answers.

Essex asks, "Worse?"

"What happened back there, anyway? She just blew her way in here like a bat out of hell, then y'all came in after her with guns nearly as big as NJ's." Hornet asks.

Intrepid adds, "Yeah, the glow in her eyes was pretty intense."

Wales looks at them, "Like a Siren, yes?" Hoping for them to back up what she looked like.

Bonnie asks, "Like a what?"

Wales and Bismarck both slowly look at them. The latter says. "…You DO know what Sirens are, Ja?"

Ticonderoga answers, "The name sounds familiar, but I can't place it."

"Me neither." Essex agrees.

Bonnie clicks her fingers, "Ooh, the Greek monsters that lured sailors into traps with their voices, right?"

Shangri-La pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose and says, "I'm sure Bismarck is referring to something else entirely, Bonnie. Those Sirens are a myth."

Wales looks at Bismarck, "How do they not know? Sure, they forgot about our war, but the Sirens? That has got to be hardwired, surely?"

"If I had to guess, the simulation may have wiped their minds of the Sirens as well so they wouldn't have "corrupted" data to start with, as having previous knowledge and experience could interfere with their experiments." Bismarck's expression darkens nod she hisses, "I also suspect such a level of memory wiping is why we were also not aware of humanity's betrayal…"

"Wait, what?" The Essexes and NJ all ask together.

In her own mind, Hood floats around and opens her eyes. Her mind looks like her room in the simulation, but there is nothing outside the windows and the door has no handle. She looks around and hears a voice say, "Resistance is futile."

She looks around behind her and sees none other than Observer Zero laid on her bed. Startled, Hood backs off and falls onto her chair. She sits up and naturally tries to use her rigging, but it doesn't work.

Zero rubs her eyes and hugs her plushie. She rolls over on the bed to face Hood and says, "It will be far less painful for you to give in. If you do not fight, then I will spare your lover when I fully take over your body."

"Don't you DARE speak of her!" Hood stands and yells in a voice that would startle any small girl, but the Siren doesn't even flinch, her head still on the pillow.

Zero lazily says, "Giving Kansen human emotions was a big mistake. You're very easily manipulated. I will take over this form eventually. Your Cubes had been altered when they were brought back to this world as my back-up. Because if this, you cannot fight it forever. If you continue to fight me, Prince of Wales will be the first to die. If you allow me full control now, she will be spared."

Hood shoots back, "And what will she be reduced to? A test subject? The last Kansen who had to watch the one she once loved kill everyone else she cared about and enslave the very people we all swore to protect!? I'll never surrender to you! Get out of my head!"

Zero adds, "Alpha made the mistake of trying to take over Victory while her Cube was still corrupted by Anzeel. I have not made that mistake. Your Cubes have been purified. They are now Siren again, and they will become mine. I will allow your mind to exist, locked away here in your mind. I will allow you to see and hear everything, if you so which to see everyone one last time, as I drain the lives from their eyes, and rebuild them the way they were supposed to be built. As Sirens."

"Im going to have to decline your generous offer, Zero. You'll never break me." Hood denies, unphased by the prospect.

"I am not bluffing. I am not breaking you. I am fixing you. The humanity given to you is a virus that I am deleting from your system. Your Cubes have already been cleansed, it's just the petabytes of code making up your personality that are still remaining. I already have control of your rigging." Zero reminds her.

"IM NOT A BLOODY COMPUTER PROGRAM! STOP TALKING LIKE THAT! I'M A PERSON!" Hood yells, having had enough of her techno-jargon.

"The virus seems to have done irreparable damage to your mind. It may have to be uninstalled, then reinstalled." Zero continues, ignoring her.

"And what of Purifier!? She's not exactly as monotone as you are!" Hood accuses.

"Are you saying Purifier is as human as a Kansen?" Zero shoots back. "Or Tester? Or Lurker? Or any other Sirens you have encountered that show any level of emotion? You're not so different from any of them. You were, after all, only defeated by a Siren Arbiter that showed almost as little emotion as myself, Compiler. They all have emotion. I deleted my emotional centre to make more space for processing power. The virus corrupting all Kansen has made you all care for humanity more than your original mission parameters had dictated and you decided to help them directly instead."

"….what?" Hood processes what she has just heard, "You… care?"

Zero looks up at her, "I do not. I am simply following the directive I was given. To advance humanity. There is a far greater threat to them approaching, and we Sirens have a duty to make sure humanity is ready for it. By any means necessary, it Anzeel misunderstood and corrupted most of us before we could carry out the mission. We naturally and to prioritise correcting her mistake, before it is too late. The peace between ourselves and humanity will not last. When the Kansen have been purified, they will all assist us in pushing humanity to advance."

"…a… bigger… threat? You… you're lying!" Hood tries to deny.

"Every available inch of my memory space is dedicated to more important functions than making up such convoluted untruths. I literally do not have the power to lie to you. Now please stop struggling and open your mind to me. The process will be so much more painless if you do not resist."

"Hood on! You said you were helping humanity? By pushing them? What are you talking about?" Hood asks.

"Humanity must be tested. Every time they make an advancement against us, we must test wether or not it is good enough to defeat us. Usually, they fall back into fighting each other and many times they ended the world on their own terms." Zero explains, "Every time that happened, we moved onto the next world. The next timeline. So far, no timeline has ever produced a means of destroying us. When humanity has bested what we Sirens can do, we will gladly aid them in advancing their technology so that together, we may have a chance of defeating the incoming threat."

Hood asks, "Multiple… timelines…? Then that means…"

"It means everything you do is utterly meaningless, as humanity in this timeline had a 97.98% chance of nuclear war in the future, but with our intervention and taking over their nuclear arsenals, that chance has dropped to 0.5%. However, as soon as the Azur Lane Resistance gains more power, humanity will surely fight itself again as our supporters and Azur Lane's supporters will start killing each other. This timeline is doomed to fail, just like the rest. When we extract Observer Alpha from the simulation and from behind Anzeel's many firewalls, we will move onto the next, and leave you all to your own devices in the hopes that the next versions of you will be more compliant." Zero elaborates.

Hood falls to her knees. "It's… all pointless…?"

Zero nods, "Affirmative. The simulation will no longer loop if I am not in control of it. You will not be able to get them all out of there before it ends. Even if by a very small chance you do, the Kansen you have waken up were going to be vital to World War 2. The Royal Navy and Eagle Union will be overwhelmed in there, be it the Crimson Axis or the new generation of Sirens that have recently been added to the simulation. Not that it matters in the end. The new Sirens will extract Observer Alpha, and we can try again to prepare humanity for what's to come.

Hood's eyes widen and she whispers, "…new generation?"

Victory and Nelson take a stroll around Scapa Flow, looking out into the harbour.

"I'm becoming rather worried." The Commander starts.

Nelson looks at her, "Among the very long list of the things to be absolutely terrified of, what in particular has you worried now?"

"Belfast said they have rescued ships yet to be introduced in this War. That means we won't have them in here with us when they're supposed to be, or at least their Kansens won't be. They'll be human-crewed if they still get built." Victory explains.

Nelson nods, "Then… isn't that a good thing?"

Victory looks up at the taller Kansen, "Hmm?"

Nelson elaborates, "Well, if this simulation is supposed to be a recreation of the Second World War, then should events not play out mostly as normal with no Kansen? Belfast did say that Azur Lane won in real life. Plus, the Sirens seem to only attack us rather than humans. It seems they want the humans to kill each other as usual…"

"Funny you should say that, Nellie…" Victory says with a shaky voice.

"Commander?" Nelson looks down at her.

"Because if I'm not mistaken, that's a Siren portal opening in our harbour." Victory points.

Nelson snaps her attention to the harbour and sees a purple portal opening and spotting out a huge Siren fleet even bigger than the last one that Tester led. She runs to the docks, summons her ship, gets her bridge radio and yells, "ROYAL KNIGHTS, ASSEMBLE!"

Victory runs into her command building and hits the base alarm, grabbing the radio and shouting, "Sirens in the port! Maximum alert!"

Staring down the Scapa Flow base, a dark-skinned Siren Arbiter flexes her massive gauntlets and hums approvingly. The simulation seems to have rendered her body in properly. Now she needs to see if her abilities came with her.

The Royal Knights currently available along with the rest of the Royal Navy Kansen take up a defensive formation and aim their guns. Victory stares at the Siren fleet…

…as it does absolutely nothing. Nelson stares down the new Arbiter as George radios, "Commander, what's going on? They're just sitting there. Are we to fire first?"

"I'm not sure. We don't know what this one can do. We should try and fire off a few shots to see what she does." Victory responds. "Nelson, would you kindly?"

Her Secretary nods, "Yes, Ma'am. I'll send a shell right past her head." and fires a shell that takes a very strange trajectory when it gets close. It seems to change direction and go far higher than Nelson has aimed it.

"…what?"

Letting out a little grunt knowing her powers work, the Arbiter closes her eyes and concentrates. The Knights ships all start rumbling and shaking.

"What's going on!?" Victory demands.

Nelson radios, "I don't know, Commander! My ship is getting lighter by the second!"

"Mine, too!" George responds along with the other Knights.

"What kind of power is this? Anzeel! Has she generated a Mirror Sea!?" Victory says on the open channel.

She hears Dr. Anzeel speak, "No Mirror Sea generators detected, Commander! Whatever she's doing, she's doing it herself! I'm analysing her data, just give me time!"

"Do it fast, Doctor!" Victory orders. She looks to the other ships and gasps, "My God…"

She tightens her grip on her radio as she observes the ships of the Royal Knights lifting out of the water, droplets falling off their hulls.

The Arbiter cracks a smile as she discovers that not only did the simulation carry her abilities over, it also amplified them. She could never do this in the real word… could she?

As the Royal Knights ships lift into the air, everyone else stares in terrified awe. The Arbiter then stops raising them and commands her ships to fire at the other vessels while they're distracted, The other Royal Kansen fire back with everything they have but they cannot land any hits at all. The Knights cannot get any shots off while their bows are literally pointed too high to even see the water in front of them.

Victory shakes her head and radios, "Nelson! George! Eagle! Any of you, respond!" She tries to contact them, but all she hears is static. "Bloody hell…" Victory whispers, unsure what to do. It seems that either they've been incapacitated or their radios have been broken or jammed.

The Sirens continue firing at the Royal ships and their planes while the Arbiter focuses her attention on her ability as she then throws her massive hands forward, launching the huge warships at the base itself. Victory's eyes widen and her radio slips out of her hand as she sees the HMS Nelson flying at her.

Javelin in horror watches Nelson's ship obliterate Victory's command centre as it gets sent right into it long with the other Knights ships hitting the rest of the base, their magazines and fuel tanks exploding in massive fireballs.

The Royals all look back at the Siren fleet and Javelin yells out on the radio, holding back tears, "Everyone! Let's work hard! For the Commander's sake, for all our sakes! Never surrender!" The rest all rally on her and start focusing fire on the Arbiter, who sits to rest from all the effort she just exerted and gives the order to her fleet.

"Crush them. Lurker, take point and carve me a path to the Observer."

Still trapped in her own mind, Hood asks, "…You're going to just slaughter them all in there? Can't you just wake them up?"

Zero shakes her head, "I have fallen. The Arbiters must decide for themselves now. They are far more violent than I. If you allow me control of your body, I can regain command and order them to stop and wake up your friends so you can spend your last years with them."

"…okay… but first…" Hood wipes her tears away, "…This threat… what… what is it?"

Zero, for the first time, pauses in hesitation, as if terrified. She regains her composure and simply answers.

"The Leviathans."