Commander Blaze, a front line commander story

by Dasmara

Meet William Blaze, a veteran who royally screwed his last mission and was thrown into prison. But when The Sirens invaded, Azur Lane High Command need him once more and so he is reinstated. His new job? Command the beautiful ship girls and give The Sirens big F you in the face. Join them as William balanced his daily life between dealing with the girl's antics and killing Sirens.

16. Now it's personal

…It's been few days since then and things were as normal as ever, no words have arrived from Central Headquarters, and William could take it easy. But that was subverted by the amount of paperwork that caused William to mutter 'bloody hell' at the Burj Khalifa level paperwork stack on his desk when he entered the office yesterday, Hood also apologized to him regarding the mess she caused when she was drunk so she helped him out with the paperwork by taking majority of them. Even with his personal secretary, the job took an entire day, and safe to say William went to bed too tired to move a muscle yet relieved. Tomorrow would be his day off and he planned on relaxing as much as he could, that day is today, and he already initiated it by not setting up an alarm…But there's one alarm he couldn't shut off and forget yesterday, that alarm was in the form of a busty white haired maid who just entered his room.

"Master, it's time to wake up." Belfast said to William while she smiled.

William felt like being an ass this morning, so he did what everyone does when they are woken up without consent, he pulled his blanket to cover his face while he grumbled in annoyance. Belfast smiled while she tried to shake William up, but he wouldn't respond and that caused a tick mark to surface on Belfast's left cheek because she's honestly annoyed. She had enough with this nonsense because she still had a lot of things to do today. So, Belfast grabbed on the blanket before she yanked it, and that resulted with William getting thrown to the cold hard floor, she is comically able to pull the sheets hard enough to cause the giant wrapped in it to fall out of bed. William groaned as he felt his forehead throbbed in pain and looked toward Belfast who smiled smugly at him, she felt quite satisfied, to be honest.

"I do hope that wakes you up, master~" Belfast said to William while she smiled smugly.

"…Yeah…that wakes me up alright…Isn't today my day off or something!?" William asked Belfast while he rubbed his forehead.

"That is not an excuse to sleep until noon, master." Belfast said to William with closed eyes.

"Hah…I just want to relax, Belfast." William sighed in annoyance while he frowned as he rose from the floor.

"Even though it's your day off, it would be wise if you spend it outside. You've been inside your office too much these days and perhaps, outdoor activity might be refreshing for you." Belfast suggested while she smiled softly.

"Outdoor activity huh…What do you suggest?" William asked Belfast as he started to do some stretches.

"There's plenty you can do around here, master. Surely you have something in mind?" Belfast asked William while she smiled.

"…Fishing." William said to Belfast with a deadpan stare.

…Dressed in his white t-shirt, short green cargo pants, flip flops, wearing straw hat, and that's how William found himself on the docks trying to put the bait onto the hook under the morning sunshine, believe it or not he rarely fishes, and that caused him to be this awkward when he had to handle the preparation. The base was currently enjoying the clear morning, and the ship girls were out doing their usual activity, most of them were currently in the canteen enjoying their breakfast and despite Belfast's suggestion, William choose to go out with a box of tuna sandwiches, French fries, and several baked breads to serve as his breakfast complimented with a large bottle of water. If Belfast put him up to do some outdoor activity, then he's damn well going to do it without reservation, William concentrated as he stared at the wiggling worm on his left hand and the fish hook on his right.

"Come on you bloody worm, work with me. You are to perform your duty to the fullest as a BAIT!" William muttered out loud as he finally succeeded putting the bait on the hook.

Finally, the bait is set and William takes a stance before he throws the hook as far away as possible. If he's not wrong there's a reef formation just under the docks so you could be damn sure there's a lot of fish to bite his bait, and now William sat on the edge of the dock on top of a small chair, he opened the lunch box he has and took out a sandwich because he better fills his belly for this patience game…While he waited, he didn't realize that the ship girls were done with their breakfast, and some of them headed for the dock area. Enterprise walked alongside Hornet while they talked, and Enterprise stopped when she saw the familiar figure seated on the docks. Hornet also noticed and both sisters decided to stop by and greeted their commander who seemed to be staying still for a reason…

"Commander? What are you doing?" Enterprise asked William when she's close enough.

"Ah, morning to you Enterprise, Hornet." William answered as he looked back at them with a small smile.

"You're fishing huh?" Hornet said as she stared at the fishing equipment.

"An hour ago, Belfast kicked me out of my bedroom and told me to do something outside. She might use that reason just to clean my room without hindrance." William said with a half closed eye and a small frown.

"Hahahaha, sounds like Belfast alright." Enterprise laughed then commented on the all too familiar events.

"So…catch anything yet?" Hornet asked William.

"Check that bucket." William simply said to Hornet.

"Would you…Wait, it's empty. You've been here a while and still got nothing?" Hornet commented while she stared at William's back.

"Basically. So, any tips?" William asked the two ladies.

"I heard that big fish occasionally would pass near the reefs looking for their prey, I suggest you get one small or medium sized fish then use that fish as your next bait if you want to catch something big." Enterprise said to William while she smiled a bit.

"…Yeah, good idea." William commented as he felt a tug on his rod.

…That was real right? That was fish and not submarine girls, right? William waited a bit more and he felt the tug get stronger, the man immediately yanked the rod and then reeled the fishing line quickly with a smile on his face. Enterprise smiled widely while Hornet grinned that William finally caught something, he reeled the line as fast as he could and then yanked it for the last time to see one medium sized fish flapped around with hook stabbed on its mouth region. Not too shabby for a first catch of the day, but the day is still long and so William aimed for more…or bigger.

"Yes!" William exclaimed as he saw the fish.

"Wow! Nice catch there, commander!" Hornet commented as he patted William in the back.

"That was quite big." Enterprise commented as she looked at the fish.

"Yeah it is." William said out loud while he smiled.

William brought the fish on top of the dock, he pulled out a knife and severed the fish head in one stroke. He meticulously opened the fish guts, took out it's inner organs then chopped the fish into several parts…You're wondering how did he do this without any problems? First of all, his mother taught him how to do some simple dishes in case he lives alone, so he does know how to work a fish. Second, biology class taught him a bit about the dissection of living creatures. Three, he's not a chef, but his knife wielding skills were sharpened and tested all the way back during basic training, so his work with it is precise and efficient…William then put the fish parts into the hook, he then set it nicely as a bait for the bigger fish.

"Right…let's try this." William said out loud then threw the hook back to the seas.

"…Your knife work is impressive, commander" Hornet commented out loud.

"Thanks…It's due to muscle memory." William responded while he smiled a bit.

"You've been using knives for a long time huh." Enterprise also commented out loud.

"Knives, machetes, swords, batons, sticks, and even crowbars…Don't expect me to fight you ladies and come out on top though, compared to you ladies my techniques are pretty clunky and sloppy." William said to Enterprise as he smiled wryly at the two of them.

"Even though you could hold your own against Zuikaku?" Enterprise asked William with cocked eyebrows.

"If it's a serious fight I would've died easily." William answered while he cringed at the thought.

"Is that so…Oh we've got to go for now commander, catch you later." Enterprise said to William after she checked her wristwatch then dragged Hornet away who also said her short good bye.

"Sure." William answered as he returned to his current activity…

…Some time passed after that as William took out a cigar and lit it up…Now that William thought about it? Were there any fish that's big enough to eat other fish but safe for consumption? His fishing rod was built to withstand a medium sized shark, but is there even a big fish with that size? Oceans were vast and his knowledge on marine biology was quite limited, William just prayed in his head that he'll-

BZTTTTT!

His fishing rod suddenly jerked downwards and the lines were rapidly being pulled, William had to quickly grab on the rod and yank it back while he reeled back the fishing line. That's when he realized that this catch is in the heavyweight class because it took almost everything he had to prevent himself from being pulled along into the water, and he's by no means light! Endurance battle? He's definitely going to lose because he has no one to switch up to, he tried to reeled the fish before he heard something snapped…William looked at his fishing rod and noticed it's very light despite it being fine, he reeled the lines back in and he noticed that the lines had snapped.

"…Son of a bitch." William cussed while he scowled and stared at the snapped line with murderous intent.

"My, having fun fishing?" Someone said from William's back.

"I think he just lost his catch." Another one said from William's back.

"…Hey there Prinz, Hood." William greeted the two of them without looking back.

"Awww, why the long face? That wasn't the only fish in the sea, you know~?" Prinz asked William while she smiled smugly.

"I know…But you can't help but feel dejected when you're that close to catching it." William said to Prinz as he set up his new fish hook.

"How long have you been here, milord?" Hood asked William while she smiled.

"What time is it?" William asked Hood back.

"Eleven o'clock." Hood said to William.

…Actually, both Hood and Prinz knew how long William had been on the dock to try and get some fish for a while, both passed Enterprise and Hornet when they returned to the dorms after all. Hood was on her way to meet with him, and she only found Belfast and Prinz talking in front of his room, no they're not talking about that secret because they talked about his current whereabouts. Belfast said that he went fishing, Enterprise and Hornet told them where exactly and the two of them also took their time to look at him as he battled with the fish.

"That means I've been here for three hours…Well, another hour shouldn't hurt. Did you two need me for something?" William asked them both.

"Actually, yes. Mrs. Lena just contacted me, she said that she sent an agent here in order to get you classified information without running the risk of being intercepted…and the fact you're a 'bastard' for not bringing your phone outside." Hood said to William with a wry smile on her face.

"Ouch, thank Belfast for that…But, good old standard Intel exchange huh? When will they be here?" William asked Hood after he cringed for a bit.

"Tonight…at the West Best Casino." Hood simply answered William.

"Casino? Could they make it more classical? Heh…" William said out loud then he snorted in amusement.

"Milord, I strongly suggest you not to go alone." Hood said to William with a serious expression on her face.

"…I know, you don't want me to go by myself because someone might kill me…So, who wants to go then?" William asked Hood and Prinz after he threw the fish hook back to the sea.

"I say that but…Casinos aren't really my kind of place." Hood said to William while she looked to the left side and subtly held her left wrist in discomfort.

"Figured as much from you and the other royal ladies, Hood." William said to Hood with a half closed eye.

"I would love to, but sorry that I can't accompany you tonight, kommandant, I actually have homework to do tonight." Prinz said to William while she smiled wryly.

"Homework?" William cocked his eyebrows in confusion.

Prinz then showed him what she currently carried, a stack of papers, a book with decent thickness, and what appears to be a skill book that Shiranui sells in her shop…Prinz actually studying and not lazing around in his office as usual? That's new to William, but he's pleased that she did try to learn and put some effort into it, so he gave her a pass. If the two ladies in front of him can't accompany him, that means he could freely pick anyone to go with him, right?

"…Then it's up to me to pick someone to accompany me?" William asked Hood while he smiled a bit.

"Yes, that will be the case. Unfortunately, the secretaries are all currently busy, milord, so I think it would be best to get someone else who is free tonight…Here's the schedule." Hood said to William as she showed him her phone.

"Hmmm…Casino…gambling…luck…I think I know who to bring, please notify St. Louis that she has a date with me tonight." William said to Hood after he checked on the list, St. Louis would be his best bet in this situation.

"Ah, I expected as much. You're trying to win big tonight huh?" Prinz asked William while she smirked.

"In more ways than one." William said to Prinz with a confident smile.

"Huh?! Does that mean-" Hood said out loud with widened eyes.

"I'm sure that's not what kommandant is insinuating, Hood…But do pray tell, what do you mean by that?" Prinz asked William as she tapped her lips…Hood looked to the side while cursing her 'impure' thoughts.

"Hood, you said that Crimson Cleanser has sleeper cells on this island, right?" William then asked Hood.

"…But that was based on the Intel given by Commander Johnson, and that alone is still unproven even now." Hood said to William with serious expression.

"It's a good time to test it out, if what I assumed happened so far is correct then tonight would be the proving ground." William said as he returned his gaze to the sea.

"For what?" Hood asked William with cocked eyebrows.

"To see if there are any moles within the Azur Lane Intelligence Division." William said to Hood while he frowned.

…It's more than likely, no, William is absolutely sure that the Intelligence Division was compromised already, but he needed direct proof before he could pass it from a theory into a real fact. William only trusted Lena and Lucas when it concerned information nowadays, and he would double check every piece of intel he got, this was far worse than even the situation back on Operation Dradetheus, at least back then he knew his foes, and he knew he couldn't rely on anyone as not even High Command would be much of a help, and their decision would come far too late. William felt another tug on his rod and he excitedly yanked the rod upwards, the line started to get reeled again as he excitedly battled another big fish.

"Oh, another bite!" William said out loud while he grinned and stood up from his seat.

"I think that fish is quite big." Hood commented when she saw how the fishing rod was bent.

"Agreed! I'm not letting you off this time you wanker! Bloody hell, this one is even stronger than the previous one!" William commented as he struggled to reel the lines.

"Hee, maybe we'll get some fish for lunch today." Prinz commented while she smirked a bit.

"Prinz! Hold this for me!" William suddenly held the fishing rod to Prinz.

"Eh? Kyaa!" Prinz unconsciously held the rod, and she was being pulled toward the sea.

"Prinz!" Hood said out loud as she grabbed Prinz's waist to help her.

Prinz didn't expect for the fish to be that strong as she could almost get pulled by it in surprise were it not for Hood holding her in place, how can something this big ever get close to their docks?! But Prinz didn't take too long being surprised as a few seconds later she started to battle it out with the fish, despite her natural strength as a ship girl it looks like this fish could match her easily…or that's simply because she lacked muscle training and endurance. Prinz noted that William was lying prone on the docks while he observed the waters for any signs of the fish, Prinz couldn't help herself to ask in exasperation.

"Kommandant, what are you doing?!" Prinz asked William while she furrowed her brows and gritted her teeth in her effort.

"I'm going to make sure it's not going to escape…Come on, show yourself…Reel the line Prinz!" William said to Prinz.

'Well, he better compensates me for this!' Prinz thought that as she started to reel the fishing line while Hood helped her steady the rod from behind, Prinz grunted as she slowly pulled the fishing rod further from the edge of the dock. William kept his vigilant right eye on the surface of the water when he detected something big in his vision, he grinned viciously as he pulled out a USP handgun from his back hidden just beneath his t-shirt.

"Aha!" William said out loud as he aimed at the big object.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Prinz widened her eyes as she felt the struggle died down on the fishing rod she held, Hood's mouth went wide open at the unexpected action William took because she honestly thought he's going to dive in and wrestle the fish…William sat up as he wiped his brows from his own sweat, he stared at the dead fish before he looked back and stared at two ladies with mixed reactions.

"…Do not make me do this again, ever!" Prinz commented while she rubbed her aching left wrist.

"…Milord, that was overkill." Hood said to William with a deadpan stare and a low tone.

"Just in case it tries to escape…Well, I think we'll have fish for lunch." William said to Hood while he grinned wryly.

…And so, William dragged the fish over his shoulder as he walked toward the canteen and entered it through the back door. Needless to say, Shoukaku, who was the one in charge for today's canteen duty, went wide eyed with a flagsberated smile when William dropped the fish in the kitchen with the biggest smile she ever saw on his face, normally a fish this big would be quite the hassle to work on, but since he's being cute with that smile Shoukaku called in few favors with the other girls, and thus that's how they managed to turn the fish into an actual lunch under two hours. The news travelled fast and the canteen was swarmed by ship girls as soon as lunch time rolled in…Enterprise and Hornet returned from their morning patrol, and they headed for the canteen after reporting back to Hood, that's when they were surprised with everyone having fish for lunch, and the fact they could still see some part of the fish being cooked on the kitchen.

"…What kind of fish did you cook back there?" Enterprise asked Shoukaku with cocked eyebrows.

"No idea since Shikikan-sama was the one who caught it. We have enough! Don't be shy, Enterprise-san, eat as much as you want!" Shoukaku said to Enterprise as she happily put a large slab of fish meat on Enterprise's tray complimented with a huge pile of rice and side dishes.

"Oh…Okay, but um isn't this too much?" Enterprise smiled anxiously while she asked Shoukaku.

"Nonsense! This much should be fine for you who just returned from your patrols, don't be modest!" Shoukaku said to Enterprise while she smirked a bit…she felt being playful today for some reason…

Enterprise nodded her head, she briefly stared at the large portion on top of her lunch tray before she walked away to find a seat…Man, Shoukaku and Nevada were no different whenever they gave the meal portions to her as she always got this much whenever she returned from a sortie, commissions, or patrols. Thanks to William's little trick, however, she managed to eat more than she used to. She should probably measure her weight soon because she felt she already gained several kilos ever since that fateful day…Enterprise kept walking until she saw William in the corner of the canteen who sat with his phone on right hand, a burning cigar in his left hand, and a cup of coffee on his table.

"Commander, to think you'll catch a large fish like that. Congratulations." Enterprise said to William while she smiled then sat in front of him.

"Yeah, thanks Enterprise. Go on, enjoy, the fish was delicious." William said to Enterprise as he smiled a bit.

"…Hmm, it is delicious." Enterprise commented after she got a taste of the meal.

"Shoukaku said she'll make a Sakura Empire style dish today, apparently the fish could last us until tomorrow." William said to Enterprise as he leaned on his seat.

"No wonder everyone from the Sakura Empire dorm showed up, I think we know what to expect for tomorrow's meal huh?" Enterprise asked out loud then she continued to eat.

"Yeah…The news of me catching something that big spread quickly too, the Juustagram notifications were insane…Oh yeah, I just remembered something. Did Shoukaku take out the bullets?" William asked out loud while he rubbed his chin.

CLAK!

Both William's and Enterprise's eyes widened when they heard those sounds but for different reasons, Enterprise took out her tongue and noted that she just bit on a .45 caliber Armor Piercing Bullet. Enterprise spit out the bullet and inspected it, she then glared in disbelief at William who facepalmed then sighed at Shoukaku's carelessness or trolling habits. Enterprise remembered that William went to the docks with fishing gear and not his firearms!

"Bullets?! In a fish?!" Enterprise asked William with a disbelieving tone.

"Guess she's not, that little troll...Erm, I can explain, you see I was a bit desperate, so I emptied the magazine at the big fish to kill it." William explained to Enterprise as he started to sweat a bit.

"…Wha?" Enterprise let out a sound of confusion.

"Ouch! Kami! Who put a bullet in my lunch?!" Takao shouted as she rubbed her left cheek after spitting the bullet out of her mouth.

"Yeouch! My bloody teeth!" Nelson shouted in fury after she spit the bullet out of her mouth.

"Gah! What the fuck?!" Hornet shouted after she took out the bullet from her mouth.

"Shoukaku! What's the meaning of this!?" Hipper shouted as she stormed inside the kitchen.

"…That wasn't very wise of you, sir. This is dangerous especially if swallowed you know?" Enterprise said in a disapproving tone to William with half closed eyes while she folded her arms.

"…I admit, you're right, but you have to admit that it's not completely my fault here." William said to Enterprise while he looked to the right while he sweated nervously.

…Things calmed down after Shoukaku explained that they missed several bullets, and William had to apologize then urged them to eat the fish carefully, Enterprise returned to eating, and she did so while she carefully inspected her fish for any signs of stray bullets. After she found none, she resumed eating normally while William sipped on his coffee while he contemplated on that decision of his to use handguns being dumb as fuck…He should've called Javelin, borrow her javelin, or he could call Eldridge to paralyze the fish with her electric powers. He might not be the smartest man alive, but at least he shouldn't be this dumb either…

"Getting off topic here, Hood has asked us the Eagle Union to support you for tonight's mission sir." Enterprise said to William who widened his eyes when Enterprise managed to finish her portion.

"Oh, so she did…Well for starters, I can't bring all of you inside the casino." William said to Enterprise while he frowned a bit.

"Don't worry about that, we'll stand guard outside…Not exactly fond of that kind of place either." Enterprise said to William while she shrugged lightly.

"Good…So, who do you bring?" William asked Enterprise as he sipped on his coffee.

"Hood said that St. Louis will be accompanying you personally. On the outside you will have Cleveland, Baltimore, Hornet, Arizona, and me" Enterprise said to William as she drank her water.

"A little too prepared in my opinion, we don't expect any Sirens to attack, right?" William asked Enterprise while he smiled wryly.

"The thing with Sirens is, we can never know." Enterprise responded while she smiled somberly a bit.

This is not officially a military operation, it's simply a retrieval mission that he and St. Louis could do by themselves. But as few people on the base knew, Hood is quite a worrywart on occasion, so she wanted William to have reinforcements ready nearby. If that's the case then the safest option for them are the rooftops, from there they could engage any hostile without revealing themselves to the public. There's a reason why their identities remain undisclosed to the general public even though revealing them would bolster the morale in the fight against the Sirens, but William didn't know why, and he did think that keeping them secret is the best decision for now…

"I guess so, the place is on the beach area too…Alright, I guess we're set. I do hope I could enjoy my day off some more, but I should rest up before the mission tonight. Enterprise, there's one more thing I should tell you…Unless I specifically ordered you or the others, do not barge inside the building even if a firefight erupts." William said to Enterprise with a serious expression.

"Why is that sir?" Enterprise asked as she leaned forward on her seat.

"Your identities are a military secret after all. But if they're outside, they're free game." William said to Enterprise.

"Got it commander. Let's do our best then, shall we?" Enterprise asked William while she smiled.

"For sure." William returned the smile with his own.

.

"And don't forget your napkin." Hood said to William as she tidied up his blazer.

"Hehe, you're starting to sound like my mum." William chuckled as he looked at Hood who was so close to him.

"That means I'm doing my job well, since I can't come with you personally, I should at least help you prepare for the mission." Hood said as to William she tidied the crook of his shirt.

"But I didn't expect you to have a blazer ready so quickly." William commented as he looked at his black blazer.

"Courtesy of Belfast, she's really prepared for any situation." Hood commented while she turned William around.

"Speaking of her, is she also busy?" William asked as he turned around.

"Like I said this morning, all of the secretaries are currently handling their duty, so we're pretty busy." Hood said to William while she tidied his backside.

"…Everything went well?" William asked Hood while he stared at the white walls of his bedroom.

"Why yes, the base doesn't lack any supplies and everything is functioning as it's supposed to be." Hood said as she turned William around to face her.

"Just…don't overwork yourselves, I don't want that incident with you to happen again." William said to Hood while he smiled somberly.

"Calling it an incident is a bit much." Hood said to William with a soft tone while she looked at him straight in his right eye.

"It is to me…" William said to Hood while he nodded his head slightly.

…Hood smiled softly as she tiptoed and planted her lips on her commander's own, lightly yet long enough for the man to widen his eye in surprise, William found himself caught off guard as he did not expect Hood to do this. Hood pulled back after a bit, she made sure that William was well dressed. Hood set him up in a semi-formal devil may care style with a top unbuttoned white shirt, unbuttoned black blazer, black pants, and black shoes. She put on hair gel on him and combed his hair neatly in a laid back style, Hood even personally put on William's trademark left eye patch…Come to think of it, she never asked him why he wore that all the time?

"…For good luck. Now, go out there and be careful. Don't be reckless and return home safely." Hood said to William while she smiled softly.

"I think I should hit the slot machine; I could win the jackpot from that kiss alone." William said to Hood while he smirked confidently.

"Now don't misuse that blessing I just bestowed upon you!" Hood pouted at William's words cutely.

"Hahahaha…I'll be going now." William said to Hood while he smiled.

"Take care." Hood nodded her head while she smiled.

Just like before William walked past Hood but not before he planted a soft grateful kiss on her right cheek, the said woman of course went rigid in shock with widened eyes, reddening cheeks, and she could only stare in speechlessness as William went off his own room with victorious smile on his face…He had heard that tonight is the night where those rich and famous would come to that casino in order to gamble their fortunes away, they'll be dressed for the occasion, so he better blend in with the crowd. He walked outside the administrative building and found someone already waiting for him at the front door, she turned around and smiled at him…That someone was St. Louis, who wore a strapless blue dress that matched her hair color and tied in a high ponytail for the occasion, she carried a purple purse with her which had ropes, and she slung it on her left shoulder like a bag, St. Louis also wore purple heels, and she walked forward toward William sensuously as William could very well notice her figure swaying around in smooth movements. When St. Louis was close enough, William could pick up her scent…she smelled so nice, but he couldn't stand here and admire this view in front of him forever as they got a job to do.

"…Louis, you looked magnificent." William complimented her while he smiled.

"You also look dashing, commander, or should I call you…William, for tonight?" St. Louis asked coyly while she took in the view in front of her.

"I don't mind. Shall we?" William offered his right hand to her.

St. Louis wordlessly took on his offer as they walked together to the vehicle depot with arms linked, they got into one of the SUVs and drove toward the West Best Casino on the western part of the island. The drive was filled with occasional comments and chatter on the scenery or the situation on the road accompanied by soft music coming from the radio, at least that's what happened until William radioed Enterprise through the device in his left ear.

"Enterprise, report in." William said to Enterprise on the radio.

"Enterprise here, all clear so far Commander." Enterprise reported to William on the radio.

"See anyone suspicious?" William asked Enterprise on the radio.

"I've been constantly looking at the entrance, no one caught my eyes so far." Enterprise said to William on the radio.

"Understood, keep me posted. We're five minutes out." William said to Enterprise on the radio.

"Roger that." Enterprise said to William on the radio.

…Enterprise and the others went ahead to scout the area; they've been at it since dusk and so far, nothing abnormal has happened. William noted that the sky was clear with a full moon shining bright in the dark sky with stars, not sure what to make of the weather as he's not the one who believes in superstitions (In his defense, he hasn't seen what a few of Sakura Empire ship girls could do such as Shiranui and Kasumi)…St. Louis noticed that William looked awfully calm, and the silence was a bit unbearable to her so she decided to speak to him.

"…Do you know who our contact is tonight, William?" St. Louis suddenly asked William from beside him.

"Yeah, Lena once again sent her best infiltrator. That means we're going to meet with Jenny." William said to St. Louis while staring at the road.

"Oh, that girl, it's been a while since we heard of her." St. Louis noted as she looked ahead, it surely has been a while.

"Yeah, being her means that she's constantly busy. Someone with a brilliant mind and good at infiltration, she must be highly valued by Lena." William thought out loud while he smiled a bit.

"…You want me to escort you tonight, any particular reason?" St. Louis asked William as she changed the topic a bit.

"You're the one known as Lucky Lou; I'm going to need some of that luck tonight. And, I want to be there escorted with a beautiful woman who can stay calm and charming." William replied while he smiled confidently.

"…You're quite sly aren't you, William?" St. Louis said to William while she smiled meaningfully.

"Ho, what makes you say that?" William asked St. Louis as he cocked his eyebrows while he drove.

"I think we both know what." St. Louis cryptically said to William while she smiled.

William chose to set the thought aside as he pulled over in front of the casino which looked like it was already busy with their patrons for the night. William got out of the car and escorted St. Louis out and they walked to the entrance with arms linked once more. One of the attendees approached them from the entrance, William then threw the car keys at him while he made damn sure that his aura screamed 'pompous bastard'.

"It's no Lamborghini but don't you dare scratch the paint." William said to the attendee in an arrogant tone as he walked past him.

"Y-Yes sir." The attendee said to William in slightly nervous tone.

"There's no need to be that harsh is there?" St. Louis subtly asked him as they entered the casino.

"Acting snobby should help us to look convincing." William simply replied while he looked around.

"I'd say you did too well on that one, that man looked terrified of you commander." Enterprise commented on the radio with an amused tone.

"Thanks for the praise." William said to Enterprise on radio with little smirk on his face.

Blend into the crowd, a mantra held at the highest order for any infiltrator in a busy area filled with people. If he had to admit, William's not the best when it comes to this since he's a giant, and he's very noticeable even among the crowds so he had to resort into other means to remain incognito like coordinating with his dress or even refrain from walking into what the infiltrator called 'hot zones'. William and St. Louis walked toward the large counter to trade chips, the employee behind the table smiled professionally.

"Welcome to the West Best Casino, the most famed establishment in the Northern Pacific. How may I help you tonight?" The employee asked William while he smiled.

"I need chips, feeling lucky tonight. Would this do?" William pulled a thick fold of cash from his pocket…It's not his own money, maybe a little indulgence won't hurt.

"Very well…Here's the chips, do enjoy your night sir, madam. I'd recommend that poker table if you're looking for some challenge, we got a special guest on the table." …Ah, Jenny must've paid him some good money…William took the chips with him.

"Thanks for the heads up, let's see if we could empty their pockets." William smirked confidently as he led St. Louis away from the counter.

"Best of luck to you." The employee smiled professionally while he subtly waved.

"…Why do I get the feeling that this isn't your first time going into a casino, William?" St. Louis stared at William with a narrowed gaze and smug smile on her face.

"Spot on eh? I've gone a few times in the past, all work related." William said to St. Louis while he looked at her.

"You don't gamble?" St. Louis asked William with cocked eyebrows.

"Well…Not in a casino, just some poker between friends occasionally." William said while he smiled a bit at the memory…

"I see, up for a game sometime on the base?" St. Louis asked as she sneakily linked their arms together.

"You can play poker?" William asked St. Louis back without minding his left arm squeezed by a fleshy mountain of happiness…

"Of course, we could even play…strip poker~" St. Louis said to William with a low and sensual tone.

"…Not to brag, but you'll end up bare naked pretty quick with how you usually dress." William said to St. Louis while cocked his eyebrows as he smirked.

"Ufufufufu, we could test that theory later~. I'll give you a handicap~" St. Louis said to William with a coy smile.

"Sheesh, I thought you already had a wife?" Someone suddenly said from behind them as they walked.

"Night to you too Jenny…Lou, you're on. Put on a show. But if any man tries to mess with you, call me." William said to St. Louis as he handed the chips to her.

"Will do~" St. Louis said to William while she approached the poker table.

William noticed that Jenny is currently behind him and they went to the nearby bar, William sat and followed by Jenny shortly after as William looked at his contact for the first time tonight through a side glance because he shouldn't compromise her by looking straight to her face. Jenny sat beside William right now, she had long light brown hair, and her face looked a bit different complimented with green eyes, she did some makeover for tonight's occasion it seems. The bartender came and asked what the two of them wanted for the drinks, William ordered Scotch while Jenny ordered a Martini…

"…So, are you currently cheating?" Jenny asked William while she stared ahead at the bottles on the bar rack.

"Can we stop with the cheating accusation?" William asked back with a half closed eye as he checked his wristwatch, 20:34 PM, one minute…

"No way! That blonde wife of yours would be pissed if she knew you're fooling around with smoking hot chick like her!" Jenny said to William while she grinned mischievously.

"She and I are not even married yet to begin with." William said in low tone…Hood and him being married? That's-.

"Wait…yet?" Jenny didn't miss that slip up as she glanced to her left side with the biggest smirk she wore tonight.

"Ahem! What's the word, sergeant?" William fake coughed as he steered the conversation away from the topic.

"Oh, right…We got good news and bad news." Jenny said to William and looked as her Martini arrived.

"…Good news first." William said as he looked at his wristwatch, 20:35 PM…Right on schedule.

"We now know what 'Marry' is, that was a codename for an experiment from the Osaka Lab, and that was a codename for a deadly airborne agent. It's a new type of gas that could cause breathing problems in small doses and is lethal if inhaled too much, that's how it'll kill you because you need more air, so you breathe deeper and you will inhale the gas more…The gas works fast and is odorless so you could pump it into a building ventilation system, and everyone inside would be paralyzed or die in just under a minute…The place then would also be contaminated for hours too so it's pretty effective, luckily the gas has green color, so it's pretty easy to identify." Jenny explained she sipped on her Martini.

…William's Scotch arrived and he gulped it down in one go, the bartender shrugged as she refilled his glass. William did fear that Marry is a weapon and it seems that hunch was right, an airborne agent that's basically a poison gas which is in the possession of terrorists? This is getting worse, if that's the good news then William dreaded the bad news…He mentally prepared himself to hear the bad one, Central Headquarters didn't notify him regarding the next step they will take, despite Lucas promising to tell him.

"Sheesh, Sakura Empire needs to tone it down…At least we know what we're facing now, so the bad news?" William asked Jenny then sipped his Scotch.

"…We executed an operation yesterday in Copenhagen to capture Marry from Crimson Cleanser. Despite the chance of success being quite high, we still failed…Crimson Cleanser managed to escape with Marry." Jenny said to William with a somber tone, and she finished her Martini.

"…How is that possible?" William's face hardened when he heard the news.

"Someone must've leaked the Intel sir; we came as stealthy as we could…We lost a lot of good men yesterday." Jenny said to William while she looked down to the floor.

"Dammit…Any trace on where Marry would be carried to?" William asked Jenny before he downed the rest of his Scotch.

"Unknown so far, our infiltrators within Crimson Cleanser are currently searching for some info on the whereabouts of Marry. They without a doubt will weaponize it." Jenny said to William in somber tone.

…So, there's a mission to capture Marry in Copenhagen, the info most likely came from the Intel gained when Headquarters was under attack. The mission failed, they failed to prevent Marry from being grabbed by Crimson Cleanser...The situation looked grim right now, although it's not exactly his job to mind the grand strategy or plotting their next move against them, it still concerned him when he didn't participate directly or was left in the dark. There are multiple theories on why this happened, but he has no time for lengthy chat right now.

"Anyway, here's the complete archive that Admiral Lena wants to deliver to you." Jenny slid a flash drive on top of the bar which William swiftly caught.

"What's inside? Does it include data on Marry?" William asked Lena as he inspected the small flash drive.

"I don't know, it's specifically your eyes only sir." Jenny said to William.

"Got it…Thanks a lot for doing this Jenny." William said to Jenny while he nodded his head.

"No problem sir, just doing my job." Jenny said to William while she smiled a bit.

…It would seem Lena refused to talk directly with William over the phone for this one and run the risk of the call plus the file to be intercepted, she opted to send Jenny to deliver this package to himself over speaking on the phone. Hold the fuck up…Wait a minute…she still contacted Hood and by extension him this morning, she's the one who told him by phone the rendezvous place, the time, who will be coming, and even the purpose of the agent's mission…William then understood, Lena set up a fucking trap for Crimson Cleanser…Goddamn this is risky as fuck!

"Huh, looks like that girlfriend of yours won big." Jenny commented when they heard some awed sounds coming from behind them.

"Seems so." William said offhandedly as he finished his scotch.

"Yeah, I think that man was getting too close to her though." Jenny noted while she smiled amusedly.

"Well then, time to show them some good old Royal Navy dominance." William said to Jenny as he left the money on the desk.

Jenny stayed seated as she ordered another glass of martini while William stood up and headed for the poker table. Currently there's a man who's been getting too close to St. Louis on her left side…He dressed like William did while he pretended to give her some tips on how to play, even though St. Louis won't be needing any of that. William walked calmly and approached St. Louis from her right side then planted a soft kiss on her right cheek. St. Louis went rigid, and she almost lost the grip to her cards in shock, but she quickly adapted to the situation because honestly the man on her left side is quite relentless…

"…I left you for a bit, and you won big huh?" William said to St. Louis in an overly affectionate tone.

"Why of course, I told you I'm a pro at this~" St. Louis said to William while she smiled cutely.

"Your girlfriend?" The man beside St. Louis asked William.

"My wife." William confidently responded with a smile on his face.

"Ah I see, I didn't know since she wasn't wearing her ring." The man said as he rubbed the back of his neck a bit.

"Currently being repaired, there was a little incident this noon." William said to the man as he watched St. Louis play her hands.

"…Would you look at that, she's one hell of a gambler." The man said after St. Louis won again with the crowd cheering in awe.

"Oh yes, you're lucky that she's not your opponent." William said to the man while he patted St. Louis' right shoulder as a congratulatory gesture.

"I thought so too…Good chat, I'll be on my way now." The man said to William as he smiled then turned around.

"Won big eh?" William said to the man while he smiled.

"I wish." The man replied while he smiled wryly as he left the table.

Yeah, fuck off! William thought before he reverted from his imperial British persona back to William Blaze as he watched St. Louis play again…Man, being able to change his demeanor and persona quickly like that took years of experience coupled with training. But still, he had never been the type that's good at lying, so in the few experiences where he was captured William opted to stay silent…At least, until his imprisonment where lying through his teeth had become daily occurrences. It is as people said, you experience enough of the world, and you might be left with nothing to experience more…This darker side of him, his cunning, meticulous, merciless, and liar persona was something he didn't want to get too attached to. He preferred the real William Blaze, the one who's friendly, a bit awkward at times, and a bumbling daft when faced with lots of women. Though thanks to his daily interaction with the ship girls, he's now used to the idea of being surrounded by ladies…

"You are a natural liar, William~" St. Louis said to William in low tone while she grinned.

"Something I picked up during my time undercover, pretty handy most of the time." William replied to St. Louis in low tone while he smiled.

"Got what you came for?" St. Louis asked William.

"Yeah, but let's stay for a bit. Bailing out now would be too suspicious…Hmm?" William said to St. Louis before he noticed a red dot on St. Louis' back…red laser dot?!

BANG!

The instant William noticed the laser dot he immediately grabbed St. Louis with him and pulled her toward him as he heard the gunshot sound, the entire casino immediately went down in chaos as people hurriedly took cover or exited the establishment. William grabbed Louis as he carelessly rammed anyone who stood in their way, he carried St. Louis as he slid on top of the bar counter and hid there with her. The bartender chose to bail out before she was hit in the head by a bullet, the bartender immediately fell to the floor lifelessly with blood rapidly spurting out of the hole in her head. William narrowed his gaze and gritted his teeth in frustration, they were pinned down by sniper fire! Where's Jenny? William didn't see her during the chaos-

BANG!

"…Lou, are you alright?!" William asked St. Louis who he embraced.

"Y-Yes! It stings but I'm okay!" St. Louis said to William while she gritted her teeth.

BANG!

The bottle on the rack above them exploded as the bullet went through it, looks like that guy who shot them tried to probe St. Louis and him for a reaction. William thought of inspecting the situation from his cover, but he figured that the sniper had a lock on their position, revealing his head would be a one way ticket for him to receive a bullet through the head as a prize. The gunfire stopped and William checked on St. Louis for any injuries, she got a bullet graze on her left arm…Tch, not even ship girls are safe when they don't have their riggings…

"Commander! We heard gunshots! Are you and Louis alright?!" Enterprise contacted William on the radio.

"Yeah, we're fine at the moment! Go hunt for that sniper!" William said to Enterprise on the radio.

BANG!

"We see the muzzle flash! Got it sir!" Enterprise said to William.

"Lou, don't summon your rigging. I know it's dangerous to do that, but you need to stay hidden." William noted to St. Louis.

"Got it." St. Louis said to William while she nodded her head.

William resolved himself as he reached for inside his blazer and took out a snub nosed Colt Python Revolver, he pulled the hammer back, and he slowly raised himself from cover. The sounds of shouting, screaming, and howling in panic were getting farther and fainter as the civilians bolted out of the place…Despite that though, he still heard footsteps, and it's steady as if someone walked slowly…He's got a bad feeling about it, William finally could see from his cover only to find several men wearing balaclavas over their faces while dressed in casual clothing carrying firearms in their hands. One of them spotted William, the said man widened his eyes as he chose to shoot or duck…well, it's obvious what William chose in this situation.

"There he is!" The man shouted as he raised his weapon.

BRATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!

Bullets harassed both William and St. Louis on their cover which started to get filled with holes, keep this up, and they'll be as good as dead but fighting alone would be their eventual doom. William reached for the other side of his blazer and took out a USP.45, he released the safety, checked the slide, and then offered it to St. Louis who stared at the handgun on his left hand.

"This is for you." William said to St. Louis.

"…You came prepared." St. Louis commented as she took the USP.

"I knew this was going to happen somewhat, Crimson Cleanser fell for the trap…Know how to fire a gun?" William asked St. Louis.

"I hail from Eagle Union, of course I know how." St. Louis responded while she smiled smugly.

"Brilliant, follow my lead." William said to St. Louis as he grinned viciously.

That makes things easier…William pointed the other side to St. Louis, and she immediately understood what he meant, both of them emerged from cover while firing their guns. St. Louis hurriedly approached one man who she shot twice, she used him as a cover before she shot another one who was exposed on her front left side. St. Louis side stepped to the right, and she grabbed the hand of the armed man who's about to shoot her. She twisted the arm before she used her leg to trip him to the floor. She then quickly discharged another shot from her handgun; she may not be that good with CQC, but she could at least take them down with her superior physical strength…William dashed out while he fired once toward the closest armed man, he quickly noted that there's another four in his vicinity, so he quickly grabbed an Uzi that the guy he just shot wields. After he grabbed the Uzi, William quickly laid down spraying fire over the next two armed men in front of him, before he could finish the third one, he ran out of bullets in the Uzi so he threw the gun at the man. The throw was a miss but that was on purpose, because when the man dodged William swiftly closed in with speed that betrayed his size.

He unleashed two shots directly in the man's abdomen before he kicked him off toward the last armed man, the last man only carried a revolver, but he managed to unleash a shot that hit William straight in the gut. Undeterred despite having just got shot, William quickly raised his revolver and fired back at the armed man straight in the head. After confirming everyone who's looking to kill them were dead, William checked on St. Louis who nodded her head to confirm that she's alright. William rubbed on the spot he was hit, fortunately the bullet was small caliber, so the Kevlar vest could easily do its job…it still hurts though, perhaps it's going to bruise later? Both William and St. Louis started to move when William spotted someone who was bleeding out on the floor, he widened his eye when he noticed that he knew that person.

"Jenny!" William shouted as he approached Jenny.

"Gahk! Oh…hey there…sir…sniper…got me." Jenny said to William with blood spilling out of her mouth.

"Shite, hold on Jenny. I'm getting you out of here!" William said to Jenny as he tried to lift her up.

"…I don't…think that's possible." Jenny answered as she looked downwards.

William followed her gaze, he saw the place where the bullet penetrated her, and he widened his right eye…that place was directly in her liver, as much as he wanted to comfort himself from the cold harsh truth, it slapped him because Jenny doesn't have a lot of time right now. Even if he did successfully carry her outside, there's no telling how many firefights he could get through…It's a lost cause either way. Even when he thought all that, William still raised Jenny from the floor but Jenny shook her head sideways, instead William placed her down gently on top of the poker table…He looked down and noticed the large pool of blood on the place she's on before, she didn't have much time…

"S-Sir?" Jenny asked William as her right hand reached for her necklace.

"Yeah?" William asked Jenny and dread washed over him when he noticed how pale she was.

"…Tell my mom…Tell her that…I'm sorry…I'm sorry for…not being there for…Gahk!" Jenny tried to say something with tears spilling out of her eyes before she coughed blood again.

"Jenny? Jenny! Goddammit! Hold on!" William said to Jenny while he frowned deeply as he shook her body.

Jenny tried to smile as her eyes slowly rolled up a bit and the hand that grabbed her necklace fell above her chest, William checked her pulse and then he gritted his teeth because Jenny had died in his arms. She's got a brilliant mind, and there's so much potential in her yet she had to die tonight…William knew that their line of work means they could lose their life at any time, he knew that but that doesn't make it any easier when he had to witness his allies dying. Jenny agreed to this mission, she surely knew that she would be bait…she came here knowing the risk…William grabbed her right hand, he opened her palm to see a small necklace with an unknown symbol which he took, and stuffed inside his blazer pocket. William pursed his lips in grief, he reached out and closed Jenny's opened eyes then put her hands on her chest…He touched it then lowered his head, he'll make sure she'll be buried within Azur Lane Heroes' Cemetery in the future.

"…William? Is she…" St. Louis asked William with widened eyes as she covered her mouth.

"…She's dead…Enterprise, tell me you have that sniper!" William said briefly then contacted Enterprise on the radio.

"In a moment sir!" Enterprise replied on the radio.

"Hah…Lou, we have to get out of here. Cleveland!" William said to Cleveland on the radio.

"Aye commander?" Cleveland asked William on the radio.

"Meet us in the backyard." William said to Cleveland on the radio.

"Roger that!" Cleveland said to William on the radio.

St. Louis followed William as they made their way to the rear side of the casino, both of them had their guns pointed forward in case they have to encounter any other armed men that seek to kill them…Fortunately they didn't, and they managed to safely make it outside of the building, the parking lot was strangely empty except for the cars that were abandoned because their drivers valued their own safety more. William looked up and saw Cleveland dropped down from the roof of the casino building, she already equipped her rigging too. William nodded his head as a form of short greeting, he then took out the flash drive that Jenny gave him and handed it to St. Louis.

"Lou, take this back to the base, and have Akashi analyze the contents immediately. Cleve, make sure she makes it back safely." William said to the both of them.

"What about you?" Cleveland asked William.

"I'll catch up later, go!" William said to Cleveland.

"Good luck commander!" Cleveland said as she turned around.

"Stay safe commander." St. Louis said to William as she summoned her rigging.

"Thanks, both of you." William said to the both of them while he smiled softly.

After witnessing the two ship girls departing to the beach and heading straight for the base, William heard police sirens in the distance…Slow fucks, it took them that long to respond to an attack on this island? William heard footsteps from inside the building, and he hid behind a bush wall near the parking lot. Two armed men came out with panicked faces…Perfect, William thought as he sprung out and fired his revolver straight in the forehead of one the armed men that caused him to fall down lifelessly. The other one was too surprised to do anything right, he tried to shoot William with a Skorpion SMG which was grabbed by the giant who took out the magazine, pulled the bolt which ejected the bullet, and threw the gun aside…The fight or flight response prompted the man to pull out a pocket knife and lunged at William, he grabbed the attacker's right hand that carried the knife, started to spin while he carried the man with him, and gained sufficient momentum before he threw the man to the wall near the entrance. The pocket knife fell from his hand, and William launched an unrestrained left hook at the man, he launched another right hook, then left, then right, he kept doing that until the man lost several teeth, his nose broken with blood spewing out, swollen eyes that will surely bruise later, and that's when William choked the man to hold him in place by the wall with his left hand.

"…I'm bloody pissed today mate, you better cooperate!" William said to the man as he choked him harshly.

"P-P-Please man…no…no more." The man begged as he struggled against William's left arm.

"Tell me, where's your safe house!?" William asked the man in a deep growling tone.

"They'll kill me…please man…just…spare me." The man begged as he started to cry.

"I'm going to kill you too if you won't speak! Don't do this mate, do the right thing! Where. Is. Your. Safe house?" William asked the man as he tightened his grip.

The man finally relented and William let go of him, the man was kneeling on the ground, and he did his best to breathe normally again. Reluctantly, the man told William the location of a Crimson Cleanser outpost on the island which was on the other side of the island. William nodded his head, he knew the place that the man mentioned because frankly speaking he passed the area twice in the past…William emotionlessly pulled out his revolver and shot the man in the back of his head, he scoffed as he reloaded his weapon before he walked away…These…bastards took Jenny's life tonight, there would be no mercy for them…

"Enterprise, do you copy?" William asked Enterprise on the radio.

"I copy. The sniper, he got away sir." Enterprise reported with a dejected tone on the radio.

"How's that possible?" William calmly asked Enterprise on the radio.

"We got a lock on him, but he blended into the fleeing crowd. We can't risk a public chase…" Enterprise said to William on the radio.

"…Dammit, alright, we have a situation." William said to Enterprise on the radio.

"Yes sir, what's the plan?" Enterprise asked William on the radio.

"It was clear with the fact that Crimson Cleanser possessed a base of operation on this island, we're going to raid it." William said to Enterprise on the radio as he started to run away from the casino.

"Raid it? What are we looking for?" Enterprise asked William on the radio.

"Any intel we could get our hands on. I'll brief you on the way, meet me at the location that I will send momentarily." William said to Enterprise on the radio before he broke into a sprint.

"Roger! Alright ladies, you heard him, let's move!" Enterprise said to William then to the other ship girls on the radio.

.

…Hood looked at her wristwatch, it's been an hour since William took off from the base, and now she sat in his office while she watched the TV while waiting for his return. Accompanied by a cup of warm herbal tea to soothe tiredness, she made herself comfortable as she leaned on the sofa. The TV played a documentary show regarding the wild animal's behavior in the savannah, she's really taken in by the meerkats staring at the camera that's recording them. Hood then heard knocking on the door, and she said that the door's unlocked, two people came through, and it's St. Louis who is still in her dress with Cleveland. At her appearance, Hood cocked her eyebrows because where's William? Why did St. Louis and Cleveland return without him?

"Ms. Louis? Ms. Cleveland? Where's Lord William?" Hood asked both of them.

"He will catch up, he said, I'm pretty sure he's not finished mopping up the rest of those terrorists." St. Louis said to Hood with a concerned tone.

"You're under attack?! Hah…despite I told him not to do something reckless…I'm glad the both of you were alright." Hood said to both of them while she massaged her left temple.

"Thanks, but putting that aside for now, he did give me a task. Is Akashi available?" St. Louis asked Hood.

"She should be." Hood said to St. Louis.

"Commander wants her to decrypt this drive's content, it is important that we know what's inside." St. Louis said to Hood as she showed her the drive that William gave her.

"Isn't that the drive that Mrs. Lena gave to him?" Hood asked St. Louis as she stared at the flash drive.

"Yes, but I think because of security reasons we should only open it on this base." St. Louis said to Hood.

"…Ms. Akashi? You're needed in the Commander's office, immediately." Hood immediately pulled out her phone and contacted Akashi.

…Akashi walked groggily toward the administrative building while she rubbed her eyes open, she then entered the building asking why she was called when she's about to take a deep sleep after working her ass off with William's armor design. Akashi entered William's office to find Hood already seated in William's office chair with a holographic scene lit on top of the desk with an 'access denied' screen, St. Louis was at Hood's left side as she watched Hood try various methods to crack the lock for the flash drive before she sighed in annoyance. Cleveland rubbed the back of her head while she smiled wryly at Hood's attempts, she then noticed that the door was opened, and Akashi walked towards them.

"…What's going on nya? I was about to sleep." Akashi asked the three of them.

"Lord William wished that you would decrypt this flash drive and open the contents." Hood said to Akashi while she furrowed her eyebrows.

Akashi wasted no time as she walked toward the terminal, Hood relinquished the seat to Akashi who quickly analyzed the screen. The screen was created by an encryption typically used by Azur Lane armed forces but this one was quite different than the standard one she saw in the past, this one seemingly doesn't have the standard lock…Akashi opened the BIOS panel and ran some schematics, she widened her eyes at what she saw.

"Nya? Someone who put this up is paranoid nya." Akashi commented while she read the diagnosis.

"What makes you say that?" Cleveland asked curiously to Akashi.

"This decryption is military grade complimented with a failsafe to blow this device if we open it forcefully, the contents can't be accessed if that happens nya." Akashi explained as she confirmed the diagnostic.

"Can you do it?" Hood asked Akashi while she watched from behind.

"Can I? Pfft, piece of cake nya…There, done!" Akashi typed several things and the file was opened.

"S-S-She typed so fast!" Cleveland commented as she was taken aback.

"I was baffled by what I saw…" Hood hummed to herself at witnessing Akashi's technical prowess.

"Quick, what's the content?" St. Louis asked Akashi.

The contents of the flash drive that was encrypted so heavily turned out to be a collection of files with numbers beside it, the number indicates the priority of the file, and Akashi opened the first one that she quickly read through. Akashi had mixed feelings when she finished reading the summary for the first file, and she looked at Hood who hadn't got the proper look yet, but seeing Akashi's face once was enough proof to her that whatever is in that file it's something that's going to affect them…heavily.

"…Errr, Hood-sama? You may want to call our faction representatives nya." Akashi said to Hood in a nervous tone.

"Why? What's inside that flash drive?" Hood curiously asked Akashi.

"Check out the summary nya." Akashi said as she stood up from the seat.

"Trident Initiative? Hmm…oh my…Yes, I should call them here…" Hood said out loud after she read what's in the file.

"Hood, should I call the commander regarding this?" St. Louis asked Hood.

"…No, he should focus on doing whatever he's doing right now. Before we speak about this to him, we need a consensus amongst ourselves first." Hood said to St. Louis with a serious tone.

"I understand. Since Enterprise is outside at the moment, Brooklyn would be Eagle Union's representative." St. Louis said to Hood then she exited the room.

"Ah, then I'll get Queen Elizabeth for you." Cleveland said to Hood as she ran outside the room.

"I should probably get Nagato-sama, nya?" Akashi asked Hood.

"Yes, I'll stay here and read all of this so better get moving ladies." Hood said to Akashi while she smiled a bit.

Everyone exited William's office, except for Hood who turned off the TV then return to the terminal and looked properly on what's inside. There are various files, but she looked at the first one that caught her attention the most, Trident Initiative? What is that? She read past the summary into the technical parts, and each paragraph she read caused Hood to get mixed feelings…She pulled out her phone and contacted someone, it's Bismarck that she phoned directly.

"…This is quite unexpected." Hood muttered in a low tone.

"…Hood? It's late, what do you want?" Bismarck asked Hood with a lethargic and sleepy tone on the phone.

"Bismarck, you better head for the Commander's office immediately…we have a situation that needs to be discussed." Hood said to Bismarck on the phone with serious tone.

"What happened to him!?" Bismarck immediately went full awake and asked Hood on the phone with a concerned tone.

"Not him specifically, this involved all of us." Hood said to Bismarck on the phone as she further read the document.

"…I'm on my way." Bismarck said to Hood as she hung up the call.

.

"Everyone understand?" William asked out loud.

William's currently driving the SUV he brought earlier with St. Louis down the street, way past the speed limit with sparse traffic, he just explained the overall plan to raid the building that's now designated as a Crimson Cleanser outpost. Enterprise rode shotgun beside him while Hornet, Arizona, and Baltimore rode in the passenger seats. Hornet cocked her eyebrows regarding the plan she just heard, Enterprise kept her eyes on the road, Baltimore rubbed her chin in wonder, and Arizona nodded her head in affirmation.

"I have a question." Hornet said to William.

"What is it, Hornet?" William asked Hornet.

"My rigging isn't exactly fit for close quarters; can I stay outside as overwatch?" Hornet asked William.

"Yeah sure. Arizona, looks like Hornet will go with you. Take care of anyone who tries to escape and any possible reinforcements to the area, we'll show them just how good you ship girls are on land as you are on seas." William said to them both.

"Understood commander." Arizona said to William.

Looks like the ship girls understood the plan, it's time for William to lead them into charge. Despite their roles as warships, it would seem they're quite capable when they have to face enemies on land. The girls could fight too and furthermore, their unorthodox gear could prove very beneficial here…William spotted the targeted building, it's a mansion on the edge of the island. This place was used as a meeting place by Crimson Cleanser as well their operations center on this island, they managed to elude suspicion, since it was located in the mansion complex owned by the rich. William accelerated as they're getting closer to their target, William didn't have any intentions to step on the brake pedal.

"Um, that's the front gate." Hornet commented to William.

"Yeah." William simply replied to Hornet.

"Uh…Why aren't ya slowing down?" Hornet asked again, this time she started to sweat in nervousness.

"Stealth is out of the window from the start for this situation." William said to Hornet as he grinned viciously in the process.

"Oh boy…" Hornet said out loud then gulped.

"Handles, now." William simply commanded the girls.

The girls grabbed on the handles on their side while Hornet grabbed the two chairs in front of her. William switched the car lights on and turned it into beam mode and noted that there's two guards behind the gate. William stepped on the pedal and the car accelerated to over eighty kilometers an hour before it rammed the front gate of the mansion open, the gate crushed one guard while the other got slammed by the SUV and flew good five meters away from his original position. William pulled the handbrake and stepped on the brake pedal while moving the car to the left side, a guard came out from the side entrance, and William extended his right hand out armed with a revolver and shot the guard. Now that the area was temporarily cleared, everyone exited the car.

"Go to that high ground! Baltimore, Enterprise, on me!" William ordered the girls.

"Yes sir!" "Got it!" Baltimore and Enterprise responded.

The ship girls deployed their riggings then Hornet and Arizona immediately went to the high ground behind the mansion while William, Enterprise, and Baltimore moved to the left side entrance. William checked on the door which was locked, he then heard some shuffling and footsteps behind the door and he scoffed…they're preparing to ambush them? Well, too bad, he's got an aircraft carrier and a cruiser ready to wreck these guys' night.

"Door's locked…Enterprise, use your bow. F4F Wildcat, rocket barrage." William said to Enterprise as he moved away from the door.

"That's very specific, I see you did your homework." Enterprise commented while she smiled.

Enterprise summoned her bow, she fired toward the sky, and her arrow transformed into an F4F Wildcat fighter. The fighter flew to gain altitude before it swooped down toward the left side entrance and used its machine guns and fired off its rockets, the machine guns weakened the wall's structure before the rockets punched through and blew anything and anyone inside that room…William, Baltimore, and Enterprise emerged from behind the SUV they used to get there, they went inside and noted that one man looked back at them with a shell shocked face while the bodies of his comrades were scattered around…literally.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" The man shouted at William.

BANG!

William didn't spare him second glance after he fired off his revolver, they walked carefully into the mansion, and now they have to get to the operation room. Where is it? William walked into a hallway when he spotted pile of desks stuck at each other with several armed men behind them, they fired their weapons, and William pushed himself backwards to avoid the bullet barrage…The man breathed rapidly because he was genuinely surprised, he also noted that there's no way his revolver would be enough to beat them all.

"Another barricade ahead. Baltimore, you're up." William said to Baltimore while he nodded his head.

"On it!" Baltimore said to William.

Baltimore appeared when the armed men were reloading their weapons, she smirked as she unleashed two shots from her cannons. The shells hit the barricade and engulfed them in a big explosion, the barricade shattered and the men behind them were gone…William moved first and managed to see the charred remains of the armed men, he grimaced and told the girls to move to the other way and thus they did. He didn't want Baltimore to see this scene of carnage, honestly. William saw a fallen AK74 on the floor, so he grabbed it and checked the ammo in the magazine. Fully loaded, nice. William then caught up with Enterprise and Baltimore, he took point in searching for the operation room.

"You equipped HE shells?" William slowly asked Baltimore.

"Yeah, should I use AP?" Baltimore asked William with a low tone.

"Try to do so, we don't want to burn this building down yet." William said to Baltimore.

"If you say so sir." Baltimore said to William while she nodded her head.

William raised his left fist and the ship girls stopped moving, he hugged the wall as he heard footsteps approaching their location…Looks like these men were on the hunt, William didn't want to take chances with just one assault rifle, but then he heard something behind them shift. Enterprise readied her bow and an arrow ready to fire, she stared at him as if asking for permission to engage…William relented and nodded his head, it might be a good time to see how good she is in close quarters.

"…Leave one alive Enterprise." William said to Enterprise in low tone.

"Okay." Enterprise responded as she smiled and nodded her head.

Enterprise dashed forward and caught the enemy group by surprise, Enterprise quickly noted that there's around six of them, so she quickly drew her bowstrings and unleashed one arrow toward the farthest guy that penetrated straight through his head. The five others immediately raised their weapons, but the closest guy to Enterprise received a nasty right hook that threw him toward the wall, the wooden wall was crushed, and the man laid motionless while stuck on it. Enterprise used the momentum of her right hook to jump and sent a flying right kick that hit the other guy beside the previous man, the kick hit the guy in the neck and it snapped his collarbone in an instant. While that happened, she produced two arrows, she drew the bowstrings and unleashed the next shot while she was still in the air, and those two arrows pinned two men to the wooden wall after the arrows penetrated their hearts directly. The last man was so terrified he dropped his weapon and raised his hands up while Enterprise aimed her bow towards him, William came out and tapped Enterprise's left shoulder as a sign of appreciation and commendation…She really did a good job.

"Operation center, where is it?" William didn't beat around the bush and immediately asked the question.

"Just…go straight, turn left, and go in the first door on the left..." The guy said to William with a meek tone.

"Thanks." William replied to the guy as he nodded his head.

"You're welcome?" The guy was caught off guard with the gratitude for answering that question.

BANG!

William walked ahead after he shot the man in the head with his newly acquired AK74, he followed the directions given by the man he interrogated before, and he slowly moved toward sets of corridors to avoid getting ambushed again because he had enough for one night. While he moved, Enterprise was directly behind him with her bow ready to be drawn in case another case like that happened again while Baltimore secured their rear with her cannons.

BOOM!

"Battleship cannons." William commented in a low tone.

"Must be Arizona dealing with the stragglers." Enterprise said to William in low tone.

"Commander, I spotted a helicopter heading toward here. Don't know what model it is, but I guess it's a transport type, I'll bring it down." Hornet reported on the radio.

"No, wait until they land or start to unload their cargo, then you bring it down hard." William said to Hornet on the radio.

"Aye aye~!" Hornet responded on the radio.

They arrived at the room that the guy mentioned, and William could hear people getting busy inside, either they were eliminating evidence, preparing defenses, or evacuation? He couldn't say. One thing he knew for sure was that they would be severely outnumbered if they breach now, but William's got an idea…He wasn't sure this was going to work, but an experiment is an experiment in the end. He instructed Baltimore to fire two AP shells on the diagonal top side of the door and another two on diagonal down, then blow the middle with HE shells…Deep inside her mind Baltimore found her commander to be a skilled and frightening tactician on occasions, nevertheless she did what he told her and she hoped for the best.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOM!

The four AP shells created holes that weakened the walls around the door before the HE shells blew up the door alongside the weakened wall, the explosions caused debris to fly everywhere and the majority of it hit many of the room's occupants. Those that survived were either shell shocked or scrambling for their downed weapons, that's when William went in gun blazing, and Enterprise fired off her arrows at those that still stand. In less than ten seconds they have cleared the operation center's room, a bit of collateral damage was involved, but hey, it gets the job done.

"I'd say we did pretty well without training." Baltimore noted while she smiled.

"I agree, should we start going out with you on your combat missions, commander?" Enterprise asked William while she smiled a bit.

"…That remains to be seen, you ladies got enough on your plate already with the Sirens." William commented as he discarded his empty AK74.

…Now that William thought about it, he should not use that method when the room inside was filled with intel or high valued individuals because the room is a mess now! William looked around to see if there's anything they could use to get any intel on Crimson Cleanser's actions on this island; he saw an intact holographic terminal on the right side of the room still untouched, despite the debris flying around. He approached the terminal and he operated it; William smiled when he noted that the terminal wasn't password locked.

"Now, let's see what you guys got." William commented as he began typing.

"…You're quite tech savvy huh, commander?" Enterprise asked William out loud.

"Back then, I'm what society called a geek in a sense. I did mess around with computers a lot back in the day, so I picked up a thing or two…Hmmm, the firewalls aren't too shabby, but they did leave a backdoor open…Ho? Oh, bloody hell, Enterprise, get me a flash drive or any data storage device." William said out loud before he asked Enterprise in dreaded tone.

"Alright, Baltimore help me out." Enterprise said to Baltimore.

Anyone wondered what William just found on the terminal? Nothing new but disturbing nonetheless, William found the fact that this island is a base to launch a direct attack with cruise missiles. But how did they manage to get their hands on one? Yeah, that connection with the traitors within the Azur Lane. If Crimson Cleanser already managed to obtain a cruise missile, William feared that they're going for the ultimate prize…the nukes. Since he currently couldn't contact Lena, he'll need to get this Intel across without alerting the suspected Intelligence Division.

"Here." Enterprise threw him a spare flash drive.

"Thanks…File is transferring, this will take a while." William said out loud.

BOOM!

"The helicopter that Hornet mentioned is a troop transport commander!" Arizona reported on the radio.

"Whose troops!?" William asked Arizona on the radio.

"…They don't wear uniforms so I'm not sure." Arizona said to William on the radio.

"Don't worry, if they don't, and it's friendly fire it would be their fault." William assured Arizona on the radio.

"Yes…are you done yet?" Arizona asked William on the radio.

"In a moment, I'm currently extracting data from this computer…" William said to Arizona on the radio.

"Sir?" Baltimore said to William out loud.

"What?" William asked back as he looked at Baltimore.

Baltimore and Enterprise stared at the schematics placed on the wall, their eyes were widened when they saw what schematic it was. William saw the schematics too, he's taken aback for a bit before he slowly approached the schematic on the wall…He knew it, he was quite familiar with it, and that thing being here made him come to a grim conclusion.

"…Oh my god, this is the layout of our base…Something like this is only accessible by those within Azur Lane High Command Council, no one knew the passcode for the archive…not even me, it is more than confirmed that there's a traitor within HQ now, and possibly has influence within the Intelligence Division. They're planning to attack us directly." William said out loud to Baltimore and Enterprise.

"They highlighted the two dormitory areas!" Baltimore said to William as she pointed two red circles on the schematic.

"…That's Sakura Empire's and Ironblood's dormitory!" Enterprise said out loud.

So Crimson Cleanser did plan to strike their base, they've tried to assassinate William before but that attempt was a failure, so they resorted to attacking the ship girls. To be frank that decision was moronic as fuck, but it looks like they knew the fact that William cared about the ship girls under his command…He noticed that there's a faint blue glow in the edge of his vision, and he took out his revolver and aimed it to the side, there's a holographic projection there and that projection was the projection of Ronald who's currently with Crimson Cleanser…

"Ah, long time no see William, how predictable are you? Easily. I know within the moment we move on this island you will immediately strike our operations center, it's what you taught us after all." Ronald said to William while he shrugged in exasperation.

"Ronald…Why did you involve the ship girls?" William demanded an answer with his gun pointed at him.

"Why? That's simple isn't it? That would be the fuel needed for the war." Ronald answered without much care in his tone.

"You'll sacrifice those who can fight the Sirens directly just so you can restart the war with Crimson Axis?! HAVE YOU GONE MENTAL!?" William was so confused and angry that he still kept his weapon aimed toward a hologram.

"No no no no! You don't see the point, did you?! It is clear that the Sirens want us to kill each other! That's why they left us alone back then, the data spoke loud and clearly!" Ronald insisted as he answered with half closed eyes.

"You mental fuck! The Sirens are manipulative bastards who don't hesitate to kill all of us if they want to! Don't get fooled by their schemes!" William said to Ronald while he growled.

"Ah, you're a hard man to reason to, huh? Oh well, we can always talk with our fist." Ronald said to William while he smirked.

"You're a mere hologram Ronald, you don't have the courage to face me directly." William scoffed at the thought of Ronald engaging him in close quarters, he won't stand a chance.

"That's the difference between you and me William, you fight with your muscles, and I fight with my slightly deformed brain." Ronald said to William while he smiled sardonically.

"You had a contact inside headquarters, someone within the High Command Council." William stated as he finally lowered his revolver.

"…I suppose that filth spoke huh?" Ronald stared at William while he rubbed his chin.

"I don't need intel from HQ for that, you laid out the evidence here." William said to Ronald while he scowled.

"Hehehehehe, I suppose that's also true…The thing is, I still outsmarted you. You surely know by now that we have Marry in our hands, and we planned to use it…What's the delivery system for that?" Ronald chuckled then asked William while he smirked.

"Missile…" William muttered as he remembered the cruise missile in Crimson Cleanser possession.

"HA! See!? This is what the troops complained about back then! You're smart! But you lack insight! Did you really think we'll waste money on a missile strike? Ridiculous, you need to get back to the academy and take Insurgency 101 buddy!" Ronald said to William while he grinned in malicious amusement.

…He's got a point; an insurgent and terrorist movement won't spend their funding over one missile and then use it for an attack like that. If they're going to strike with a missile the target should be even more valuable and larger than a military base, but if they're not going to use a missile then what will they use? William quickly racked his brain for answer but the combination of anger, confusion, and urge to murder really caused him to unable think critically…

"Still haven't figured it out yet? Fine, here's the hint…we are living in the digital era bitch, you should have known by now. But I guess you won't live to see it huh? I'm quite merciful so I'll end it here, so long you fuck!" Ronald said while he grinned maliciously as he pulled a detonator from his back and pressed it.

PIIIPPP!

DUAAAAARRRRR!

Large explosions engulfed the entire mansion and set it on fire. Out of that large explosions came three figures that flew out from the ground floor into the grassy backyard. Enterprise caught her breath as she stared at the burning mansion, Baltimore kneeled after she had to smashed through a large window, and William had his entire body sore from the shockwave of the explosion despite being protected by two ship girls from the explosions…Nevertheless the three made it through without any fatal injuries, William stood up and stared toward the burning mansion with pure hatred, anger, and vengeance swirled inside him.

"…I'm really going to murder that wank stain when I meet him, and this time I'll make sure he won't come back to life!" William vowed out loud as he tightened his grips and gritted his teeth.

"…You knew him sir?" Enterprise dared to ask William about Ronald.

"…He used to be one of us within Task Force Nimbus, before he turned traitor and I shot him. But he survived somehow, and this is what he became…Alert the base, we got an incoming attack!" William said to Enterprise as he managed to compose himself.

"Got it." Enterprise said out loud as she radioed for their base.

"Arizona, Hornet, great job on overwatch. Rendezvous on me." William said to the two ship girls on the radio.

"Aye sir!" Okay commander!" Hornet and Arizona replied on the radio as they moved to his position.

"…Sir, I think the attack has already begun." Enterprise said to William with horror on her face.

"What?!" William said out loud as he looked at Enterprise.

"Radio transmission isn't functioning; we can't reach our base!" Enterprise said to William with dread in her tone.

"We need to get to the military base next door! We'll borrow their gas masks, and then we're going to our base!" William said out loud as he quickly racked his brain again for a solution.

"Gas masks?! Does the attack involve poison gas?!" Baltimore asked William out loud.

"Yeah, so stop dawdling and move!" William said to Baltimore as he started to move from his position.

"We'll go through the sea, it'll be faster!" Baltimore suggested to William.

Arizona and Hornet caught up with them before the group jumped down toward the sea from the backyard of the mansion, Enterprise shouldered William with her as each of them started to cruise their way to the military base that Commander Johnson was in charge of. Along the way William couldn't help himself from worrying the other ship girls on the base, he thought long and hard on the method to evacuate the base without getting too close and when the radio was down…That's when he remembered something, a technique he almost forgot when it comes to signaling without radios.

"…Wait, Baltimore, do you know morse code?" William asked Baltimore out loud.

"Yeah of course I know, but I don't know how to use it without the equipment!" Baltimore said to William while she frowned.

"Use your cannons and fire above our base with HE shells from a distance of one kilometer away, that way they can see the shells and hear the sound. Fire repeatedly, empty your munitions if you have to." William said to Baltimore with a serious tone.

"…That could work! What's the message?!" Baltimore widened her eyes then asked when she thought this might work.

"Poison gas. Incoming. Escape to the seas. Rendezvous. Nearby base." William said to Baltimore.

"Got it sir!" Baltimore said to William as she diverted her route back to their base.

"…That was quite smart." Arizona commented while she smiled.

"We're in luck that we got ship grade cannons with us, if that didn't work…" William said to Arizona as he trailed his words.

"No, it would. Especially with the fact that Helena is on the base, her SG radar should detect Baltimore and no one would miss the sound of cannon being shot on our base…They'll get the message, they have to…" Enterprise said to William beside him, she looked forward with a worried gaze on her face.

"They'll be fine sis; Foxhound might even detect the trace of poison in the air." Hornet said to Enterprise to lighten the mood.

"Even though it's odorless?" William asked Hornet with cocked eyebrows.

"Hey, she has a great sense of smell. It's a possibility." Hornet said to William while she shrugged.

…They kept their pace all the way to Johnson's base, the ship girls disengaged and started running on land followed by William as they made their way to the dock entrance. One marine guard was patrolling with his M16A4 and a cigar in his lips, he noticed something that moved toward his peripheral vision and in instinct he activated his flashlight attached to his rifle and disengaged the safety. He saw William alongside three ship girls sprinting toward him, and he cocked his eyes in wonder.

"Eh?! Freeze! Who are you?!" The marine asked out loud towards them.

"Commander William Blaze from the base next door, we're under imminent attack by poison gas with no clear delivery system! Currently, the entire base is evacuating to this place, alert Commander Johnson, pronto!" William said out loud as few other marines approached them.

"S-Sir!" The marines saluted before he sprinted while he radioed toward the command center.

"This way sir, ma'ams! We'll be on the lookout for more ship girls heading towards here." Another marine said to them.

"No…we'll stay here, I want to make sure everyone makes it." William said to them as he looked back toward the direction of his base.

"…Roger that sir. I can relate to that feeling." The marine said to William while he smiled a bit.

William, Arizona, Enterprise, and Hornet looked toward the direction of their base as they waited for anyone to approach, all the while they hoped that the girls would get the message. They could clearly make out the bright orange shells that Baltimore fired above their base as some sort of improvised morse code, William reached for his pocket to make sure Jenny's necklace was still there…After around ten minutes of waiting they could see something on the dark horizon that few marines also noticed, and they fired a spotlight beam toward the approaching subjects. William could see Z23, Javelin, Laffey, and Ayanami heading towards them, seeing the ship girls really did get the message released some tension from their shoulders.

"Thank goodness…" Enterprise said out loud while she smiled in relief.

"Commander! We got the message!" Javelin said to William.

"Where are the rest, Javelin?!" William asked Javelin as he looked around.

"They're still evacuating! We're regrouping before we head here, the secretaries, and the fleet representatives are still in the administrative building!" Javelin explained to William as she stopped in front of him.

"Dammit! Commander, I'm going to help them!" Enterprise said to William as she jumped down to the sea surface and accelerated to their base.

"W-Wait, Enterprise! Fuck! Hornet, make sure your sister doesn't get into trouble!" William cussed then said to Hornet.

"Good idea!" Hornet nodded her head as she followed Enterprise.

"The whole base has been alerted, kommandant, I'm sure everyone will get the notice. Some of the destroyers stayed behind a bit to make sure no one got left out." Z23 explained to William while she looked back to their base.

"I see, good work ladies." William managed to smile a bit after what he went through tonight.

Great! That technique works! It's good to hear that the ship girls noticed the message and are currently heading to this base, he doesn't want to take chances for the ship girls to be exposed to Marry because he doesn't know what kind of gas Marry is yet…He heard some commotion behind him and saw Johnson ran toward him accompanied by two lieutenants close behind him, Johnson managed to get a glimpse on William and few of the ship girls who were alright for now.

"William! The hell is going on? Your base got attacked by poison gas?!" Johnson asked William as he was catching his breath.

"Yeah, we still don't know the delivery system and communications went down. I need your help Carl!" William said to Johnson as he put his right hand over Johnson's left shoulder.

"You'll get it. Men, I want hangar seven and eight to be cleared out! Turn that into temporary shelters! Prepare all of our gas masks in easily accessed areas and hallways! Alert the medics and secure the entire base! Move it!" Johnson was quick to spew out orders to his lieutenants.

The lieutenants saluted him then bailed out to two different directions, guess they knew their own part to play. Johnson was kind enough to clear out two hangars, so the ship girls could take temporary shelter from the potentially ongoing attack, William owed him one for this…Johnson huffed a bit after he made sure that the order was received, he saw that the planes in the hangar were brought out to make living space, many of the marines brought sleeping bags and other necessities to the hangar by foot or by car. Good, with this the ship girls could stay for a bit, and hopefully comfortable enough with the rudimentary shelter.

"Is Crimson Cleanser the one who did this?" Johnson asked William who then stared toward the sea while he rubbed his chin.

"You're goddamn right." William simply said to Johnson.

"I see…I'll be in the command center, once you get your ship girls organized, we can talk there to plan our next move." Johnson said to William

"Got it…Hey, thanks Carl." William said to Johnson as he smiled sincerely.

"Anytime man, you got my back I got yours." Johnson said to William while he smiled then walked away.

One group after another then started to come to the docks and William personally greeted them, but apparently there were other ship girls who approached the base through the second dock area a bit further from the one William was on. He noticed that the fleet representatives as well as his secretaries were the last group to arrive because they've been busy making sure the base was empty. William allowed himself to smile widely and his shoulders sagged in relief, it looks like none of them showed symptoms of being sick too, so it's safe to say majority of the girls made it out without inhaling the gas.

"Good to see you ladies make it!" William said to everyone in the last group.

"Milord, there's something we need to talk about." Hood said to William.

"Not now, we could talk later. Did anyone pass out or fall ill along the way here?" William asked Hood and the others.

"None that we see, master." Belfast said to William.

"…Still, I want you to do headcount and run full absence on the ladies, make sure everyone is here, and then we'll talk." William ordered to the secretaries.

"As you ordered milord! Let's move everyone!" Hood said out loud and everyone moved out from the docks.

"Bismarck, a moment…" William caught up with Bismarck and walked alongside her.

"Kommandant?" Bismarck asked William as she walked alongside him.

"Was there any kind of anomaly before you heard the signal from Baltimore?" William asked Bismarck.

"We found out that the radio was jammed on all frequencies, other than that there's nothing abnormal." Bismarck said to William without missing a beat.

"Any missiles in the air?" William immediately asked Bismarck again.

"Radar shows nothing." Bismarck said to William while she furrowed her eyebrows.

"...What is something that was heavily used during the digital era? Something inconspicuous, easily attainable, and so simple that even untrained terrorists could use?" William asked out loud while he looked toward the ground as he walked.

…What indeed, William thought long and hard on what could a terrorist possibly use as a weapon of terror that could also be used as a delivery system for Marry? To deliver something like that to their military base they could send a package filled with them, but that's too obvious. The only remaining choice is by air, but so far radar haven't detected anything, and they purposely cut off their communication probably with jammers…Wait, the girls managed to evacuate their base, and so far, he hasn't heard any of them exposed to Marry, looks like their base wasn't hit yet…what if William thought wrong regarding the attack from the start? What if that intel that was in the safe house was actually bait?

"Hey, what is that?" One marine asked out loud.

"Birds?" Another marine asked out loud.

"What kind of bird flies at night? It certainly wasn't an owl, and they don't usually fly in swarms like that." The other marine said while he scoffed.

"…Oh fuck! EVERYONE! SHOOT THOSE THINGS DOWN!" William came to realize, and he shouted his order as loud as he could.

"What?!" A marine beside him said out loud.

"DO AS I SAY MARINE!" William shouted to the marine as he pulled out his own revolver.

"I don't get it but OPEN FIRE!" The marine shouted as he and the other marines started to fire on the flying objects.

The answer for that question was drones! Ronald mentioned the digital era before, and this era was marked with heavy use of drones and the internet! Those things they saw in the sky were drones that were being remote controlled and possibly weaponized with Marry! Marines all over the base started firing at the drones, and several ship girls who were outside immediately lit up their AA guns. It didn't take long for the drones to get destroyed and fall down, but that will prove to be their biggest mistake tonight…As soon as the drones hit the ground, they exploded and released a thick veil of green smoke which surely is Marry and the other drones that flew above them dropped a grenade that exploded into more thick green smoke, William widened his eyes in combination of horror and shock…they really did it…

"POISON GAS! GET A GAS MASK NOW!" William shouted as loud as he could.

"Attention everyone! We're under attack by poison gas! Get your gas mask and help the others, pronto!" The base PA system blared to life.

People scrambled to nearby building or tried their best getting out of the clouds, William took a deep breath and pushed Bismarck forward to run toward the hangar in front of them. Everyone did so, but the marines started to slow down the longer they're on the gas cloud, one by one they fell to their knees on the ground. Worst part was the fact that there were several ship girls who were trapped due to how thick the gas clouds were. Kongou felt herself finding it harder to breathe, and she felt her lungs screamed for oxygen. She looked in front of her and saw a marine who went wide eyed as he spasmed on the ground, he thrashed around trying to breathe…

"I-Is this…" Kongou muttered as she crawled and tried to move.

"Kongou!" William shouted out loud.

"…S-Shikikan?" Kongou looked up and saw William run from her left side.

"Stay with me! Hold your breath!" William said to Kongou.

There's no way she could do that, but she really couldn't move her body now since she felt so weak, William scooped up Kongou in bridal carry style, and he sprinted toward the hangar. When he was cleared of the gas cloud William took deep breaths as he ran forward, Kongou could now breathe some fresh air in albeit she felt weak and sleepy. William managed to put Kongou on a spare bed, the hangar was filled with ship girls who made it in time. William checked on Kongou's face which was pale, and her eyes closed as she tried to breathe normally, a medic arrived at their location when she saw William brought Kongou with him.

"Achk!" A marine fell down in front of the hangar as he was unable to move.

"…I…can't breathe…" Kongou muttered as her hands gripped on William's shirt.

"Hey! She needs help, now!" William said to the medic who nodded her head.

"Got it! Take these gas masks, there are others outside who need our help!" The medic said to William as she handed him three gas masks.

"Thanks! Hang in there Kongou, she'll take care of you." William said to Kongou as he stood up.

William quickly equipped a gas mask on his face, he noticed that several other ship girls each wore gas masks and had few masks in their hands as they charged the green clouds of poison. William steeled himself as he also went in and searched for anyone still left in the gas cloud, he saw several marines laid on the ground unmoving…looks like it's too late for them. William walked forward and saw a blonde with twintails coughing on the ground, William widened his eyes as he ran toward her.

"Hipper!" William shouted at Hipper to get her attention.

"K-Kommandant…Nein…Go back! Guhuk!" Hipper said to William so he won't get closer.

Fuck that! William picked Hipper up and put on the gas mask on her, despite that he was too late because Hipper had inhaled too much gas as she lost her strength. William desperately shook her awake, that worked as Hipper opened her eyes a bit, and she did try to breathe in. William carried Hipper on his back, and he steadily walked to find others that's still alive. He dearly hoped that no more of the ship girls were trapped inside these gas clouds of death.

"Breathe Hipper, try to breathe!" William said out loud to Hipper who weakly nodded her head.

"Carabiniere! Carabiniere, here, try to breathe!" That voice beside him came from Cleveland.

Cleveland went inside the gas cloud and found Carabiniere laid weakly on the ground, Cleveland quickly put a gas mask on her face, and she immediately ran toward the hangar bay with Carabiniere on her back. William walked ahead and saw Zuikaku helping Formidable walk with both fortunately having their gas masks equipped, he walked ahead to see Fletcher was being carried bridal style by Wales, and next to her was Belfast who helped Furutaka walk. William then almost bumped into Haruna who's equipping a gas mask to Leander before carrying her away, not further from there Langley escorted Glowworm away from the clouds.

"Kisaragi-chan?!" Shoukaku shouted as she kneeled beside Kisaragi.

The small destroyer wasn't moving, and Shoukaku worked quickly by putting a gas mask on her then jumped off with the little girl, William gritted his teeth in frustration when he saw the little Kisaragi wasn't moving…he knew that these girls were warships, but they're still children too for fuck sake! William managed to clear off the poison clouds, he brought down Hipper beside Kongou who was given an oxygen mask and had her clothes loosened up. William started to feel dizzy and his breathing was getting shallow, after he put Hipper down, he sat on the ground as he tried to regulate his breathing…even with a gas mask it's still possible for him to get affected huh? Vestal looked around, and she noticed that William sat on the floor with ragged breathing, she immediately took a small oxygen tank with the breathing mask and went to his position immediately.

.

…Around half an hour later the situation had toned down a bit, the hangar was dedicated for the ship girls and the necessary medical personnel, so the marines evacuated to the command center or the barracks…Despite that, the situation wasn't good in the slightest according to William, who still had oxygen mask strapped on his face, his shirt was opened as Vestal did a brief check on him to make sure he's alright…Vestal nodded her head and sighed in relief as she took off the mask from William's face, William put on his shirt back as Vestal cleared mask and the empty oxygen tank to the side.

"…You're good to go, I think you only briefly inhaled the gas. Your vitals were normal, but if you feel weird or sick, let me know immediately." Vestal said to William as she smiled tiredly.

"Thank you…How…How bad is it?" William asked Vestal with an unsure tone.

Mutsuki along her sisters cried and looked worriedly while they crowded the place Kisaragi was being treated, she hasn't opened her eyes since the gas attack, and currently the medics struggled to keep her condition stable…Hipper laid weakly on the bed with Prinz holding on to and caressing her sister's right hand as she accompanied her, Prinz had the most hollow look on her face with her eyes hidden by the shadow casted over her eyes…Kongou sweated profusely with the oxygen mask over her pale beautiful face, and Hiei alongside Haruna and Kirishima tried their best to make their eldest sister comfortable, they wiped her sweat away and make sure to fan her to keep her cool…Fletcher was in the same state as Kisaragi and her weeping little sisters had to be kept from going too close to her at the moment by the medics who worked hard to stabilize her vitals.

William looked to the other side and saw that Carabiniere laid down while Zara accompanied her, she squirmed in her bed as Zara tried her best to take care of Carabiniere by wiping her sweat…Belfast sat with an oxygen mask on her face while she was being comforted by Edinburgh, apparently she suffered the same fate as he was for staying too long inside the gas cloud…Takao and Atago moved in and out of the hangar bay while carrying additional medical supplies, they've been at it ever since fifteen minutes ago…George V helped one of the nurses to treat Saratoga who sat on the bed she's on, she asked Saratoga if she needed anything else and was answered with Saratoga assuring her that she's currently fine…Shoukaku and Zuikaku sat and leaned on each other as they rested after that mad dash inside the gas cloud, both of them had oxygen masks strapped on their faces…

"…Where to start with this? Most of us ship girls managed to get out from the gas clouds without much problem, despite that we still got around seventeen ship girls who fell to the effect of the gas. Most of them are bed ridden but few those like Fletcher, Kisaragi, Hipper, Carabiniere, and Kongou need intensive monitoring and treatment…" Vestal briefly explained to William.

"…Any effective treatment yet?" William asked Vestal in a low tone.

"Right now, all we can do is to ease the damage and stabilize their condition, the medics and I still have no idea how to…cure them." Vestal said to William with a dejected tone.

"…I believe in you Vestal." William said to Vestal.

"And thus, I shall do my best, commander…" Vestal managed to crack a small smile then walked away.

…They fooled him, they fooled him to think that his base was attacked while in truth they waited until he evacuated the ship girls to this base before they unleashed Marry upon them. They played him like a damn fiddle! William looked down on the ground, and honestly, he felt like he's the greatest failure tonight, if he had been more prepared, if he could participate in that mission in Copenhagen that High Command didn't tell him about, if he could just undo time…Seventeen ship girls were affected by this gas, some of them are in critical condition right now, fighting for their lives…This attack served as a wakeup call for him, not even ship girls were invincible as conventional methods could still kill them because they're just more resilient than your average human being…Someone approached William, he's Commander Johnson who sat beside William with deep frown and dejected look on his face…

"…Carl." William greeted him.

"…William…what a fucked up night this was." Johnson said to William in a dejected tone.

"…Yeah…" William answered while he nodded his head.

"…I…lost some good men out there." Johnson said to William as he also looked down to the ground.

"…I'm sorry to hear that." William said to Johnson as he put his left hand on Johnson's right shoulder.

"Mhm…Your personal secretary wants to talk to you, William. She, alongside a few others, are in the command center building in briefing room two. I suggest you head there when you're ready…We can mourn later; we need to consolidate and assess the situation first." Johnson said to William, despite what happened he tried to remain focused on what to do…

"…You're right…Stay strong Carl." William said to Johnson while he smiled a bit.

"You too buddy, we both need to be." Johnson said to William.

With a pat in the back, William raised himself from the bed, started to walk toward the command center building and managed to catch a glimpse of the carnage around…The gas cloud was still on the place where they've been dropped and the winds couldn't even make the gas go away, several people with HAZMAT suits were working inside the gas cloud to study its properties and figure how to neutralize the gas…William walked forward as he looked at the marines and personnel who sat on the floor along the corridor, they're still recovering from the attack, and some were being carried inside body bags…William sighed as he entered the room that Johnson mentioned, the occupants immediately went alert and stared at the door. There's Hood, Illustrious, Enterprise, Brooklyn, Queen Elizabeth, Warspite, Bismarck, Tirpitz, Nagato, Souryuu, Mikasa, and Akashi, all of whom witnessed William enter the room before he shut the door from the inside.

"…Lord William." Hood said in a soft tone to William, she frowned when she saw how dejected William looked.

"…What a dreadful night." William said out loud in a dejected tone.

"Agreed." Illustrious said to William while she frowned.

"…I heard you got something to talk with me, is this about the one you wanted to say before…this happened?" William asked Hood.

"Yes…Shall I explain it now?" Hood asked William back.

"…Sure." William said to Hood while he nodded his head.

"Following the situation that happened recently, High Commander Lucas has decided to activate the Trident Initiative. This initiative was formed for us and should be used when Azur Lane Central Headquarters is compromised, in order to avoid any misuse or mismanagement of ship girl resources, the entire base alongside the occupants is given full authority to act independent for a temporary duration while following their original mission…to fight and defend humanity against the Sirens. The other ship girls who haven't joined us will be put on standby, they will see limited deployment only during emergencies." Hood began her explanation to William.

"…I see." William said to Hood as he sat in one of the empty chairs.

"There's to be zero contact between us and High Command until the signal 'Blue Sky' is given directly by High Commander Lucas. During the activation period of the Trident Initiative, all executive decisions would fall to the commander on active duty in charge of the base with the fleet representatives as direct consultants. Since contact between us would be nonexistent, High Command have given us the permission to access a ghost account in a private bank with necessary funds to keep us operational long enough to secure other means to get resources…Daily necessities, food, fuel, ammunition, weapons, raw materials, we need to get it by ourselves during the duration of this initiative." Hood continued her explanation to William.

"…How about the Manjuus?" William asked Hood as he looked at her.

"The Manjuus on the base will continue to be there to help us out with manual labor, but during the activation of the Trident Initiative we would have to order them manually if we want to get something done. They will continue to work on the projects that are already in progress, but we need to instruct them if we need them to handle something else…That's the general outline of the contents of the flash drive, you could read it thoroughly if you wish to." Hood said to William as she put a flash drive on the table in front of him.

…William picked up the flash drive that Jenny gave to him just not long ago, he remembered how this day went down…He started this day thinking he could have fun on his day off, then there's this pickup quest, the ambush, and now the attack. No matter how experienced you are, this many things happened for one day was enough to cause William to loathe today more than his two year of imprisonment, at least back then it was himself who was targeted. Ronald wants to use this as the basis to restart the war with Crimson Axis…No, there's more to it than that because William's got a feeling Ronald did this to antagonize him personally-

"…Commander, your orders?" Enterprise asked William while she folded her arms.

"…Right now, I just want the ladies to survive and be cured." William said out loud with a frown on his face.

"So say we all, but we don't know where to start or how to make the cure." Queen Elizabeth said to William while she frowned.

"Perhaps, but we do have to lead your majesty. Admiral Lena also composed an archive within this flash drive…The origins of Marry trace back all the way to an experiment lab in Osaka, Sakura Empire. Osaka lab claimed that Marry was a refined product of their failed chemical weapons prototype, and they have no clue on how it managed to work. However, they have a lead on the one who's responsible for the invention of the gas…Dr. Takeshi Koichiro, he was last seen few weeks ago before he went off the radar." Hood explained to everyone inside the room.

"…Any clues regarding him that we could use?" Nagato asked Hood while she stared at her.

"Security logs and footage showed that he's travelling west toward a remote Ironblood town, that's where we might need to begin our search in my opinion." Hood said to Nagato with serious expression.

"…Good enough…Crimson Cleanser fucked everything up and even tried to kill the ship girls under my command? Now it's personal." William said out loud as he stood up from his seat.

Now that they got some intel that they could use, William preferred not to waste any more time, who knows what other side effect that Marry has, so their safe bet would be to find this Takeshi Koichiro, who managed to create Marry itself. If he managed to create something as deadly as that gas then surely, he knows how to create an antidote. It is settled with the fact that the first thing he will do tonight is to gather the necessary intel he could, then he will fly straight toward Ironblood's territory. Time is of the essence, he couldn't afford to waste a single minute…That being said he would need some confirmation with Chairman Erich, Lucas didn't say anything if William wanted to contact Erich himself.

"Bismarck, do you have a secure communication channel to Chairman Erich?" William asked Bismarck.

"…Ja, I have it." Bismarck confirmed that she did have his number on her phone.

"Then tell him that I'll move in on Ironblood's small town and notify him that we should talk privately, time is of the essence." William said to Bismarck then headed for the exit.

"Jawohl…kommandant." Bismarck said to William slowly as she watched him exited the room.

…Everyone in the briefing room came to the same conclusion, it looks like William won't sit still, and he will go after Dr. Takeshi himself. Even though the girls were relieved that there's a solution for their current problem, William's recklessness proved to be exasperating to them all right now, they still need their commander here in order to provide moral support, and as well some direction that surely will be needed…Sensing the tension in the room, Hood frowned as she walked quickly to follow William outside. Seeing some arguments would blow between the two, Enterprise nodded her head as she followed along with Illustrious…

.

On top of a hill overlooking the small island that was connected with a bridge where Johnson's military base stood, a man who wore black trench coat with a dark grey shirt, black pants, and black shoes held his M40A3 sniper rifle on his shoulder as he looked at the military base that has green clouds covering the runway in front of the hangars. Someone appeared behind the man, he tapped on the shoulder, and the man looked back.

"Ronald, sir, we expended all of our drones and delivered all of the package." The man reported to Ronald.

"Excellent, good work." Ronald simply responded monotonously.

"…May I ask something sir?" The man asked Ronald.

"Sure." Ronald simply responded as he continued to watch the base.

"Why William Blaze sir?" The man asked Ronald.

"Here's the thing, that guy basically murdered me once and my brothers, so of course I did all of this for revenge. But unlike those half assed revenge plots you see in a movie, I'd like to make mine to have…a personal touch. The man known as William Blaze or Nimbus Knight, he has temper problems on occasion, and he's easy to bait if you know him well enough…He will die, I swear to god that he will die in the most painful way possible." Ronald said to the man while he grinned maliciously.

"How could we do that then? That man wrecked through our troops, our base, and our defenses easily before." The man said to Ronald in wonder.

"…You just have to trust me young man, I planned this for months already…He will go to Ironblood next, where that little doctor is cowering in fear…He might try to get the cure for the ship girls affected by Marry, and that's where we take him down." Ronald said to the man while he smiled maliciously.

"You could leave assassination mission to me, sir." The man said eagerly to Ronald.

"I will decide when he dies, and I alone shall be the executor for that fuck! But, you've did well so far, I might consider the possibility of you bringing him to me" Ronald said as he stared at the man, his eyes full of hatred.

Oh he can't wait to have face to face chat with William himself before he could bring down that giant for good! Ronald felt his phone vibrate, he looked at the caller ID and noticed the name that he did not anticipate at all because the caller ID is Helena McAllen. Ronald cocked his eyebrows in amusement and confusion, Lena managed to traced his position and zeroed in on him due to the phone call he makes. Ronald decided to answer the call, just to rub it in to her face that he won this skirmish tonight.

"Hey there admiral, you know I never expected you to call!" Ronald answered the call while he grinned.

"You killed Jenny." Lena said to Ronald on the phone with an emotionless tone.

"Hmm? Jenny who? Ah! That girl who met up with William huh? I just gave her a bullet to the liver, that's all. Bet she died within a minute or two since her frame was so small." Ronald answered in taunting manners on the phone.

"Jenny was someone I'll trust my life without a single doubt, and you killed her, personally I presume…I'll have you know Ronald, you managed to piss me off so much that I never knew I could get this angry before so I respect you for that, because you're the first one to do so…You got my little brother killed, you killed Michael, Charles, and Yuri, you caused William to be thrown into jail, and now you sow so much chaos that you forced our hands to do something we didn't like…You crossed every checklist I have for 'shit bag I want dead and sent to the deepest chasm of hell'…" Lena said in a cold tone on the phone, each word was laced with hatred and malice.

"Hoho, what a compliment! Are you going to kill me? I prefer it if you do it personally." Ronald asked Lena in a cheerful tone on the phone while he grinned.

"Believe me, I will. You better watch yourself out there, I'll be there when you least expect it…your head is mine." Lena declared to Ronald on the phone with emotionless tone.

"I'll be waiting dear~" Ronald said to Lena on phone while he grinned

Lena immediately ended the call and Ronald chuckled before he laughed out loud, ah man that was very fulfilling for him to be honest! He managed to piss the last two members of Task Force Nimbus, so much they're gunning for his head directly! The situation couldn't be any more favorable to him, perhaps he could take them both out at once or at least within a short amount of time? He takes out Lena, and William will surely blindly hunt him, he kills William and Lena will surely do the same…Ronald grinned at the prospect of what he could do on the Ironblood territory soon. He better gets there first, he'll make sure to give William a proper welcoming party…He then walked away as he threw his phone down the hill, the next few days might be the perfect time where he could easily kill William Blaze.

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Updated: 03-11-2021 (Beta Readed by Culture-Hunt3r)

BOOM! 20k words! Enjoy dear readers! Bwahahahaha! As a result, this one came out longer than expected eh? But glad I managed to do so, let me know your thoughts on this chapter. Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites. I wouldn't have made it this far without the support from you guys, so I really appreciate it! Time to grind those hot Russian ships, but don't worry the next chapter is already in progress …Oh yeah, almost forgot, I think it's time already so there might be a chance the combat would be more brutal in the future. Consider that an advance warning eh?

See you next time dear readers!

- Dasmara