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.

17. Retrieval

"You're going to go immediately after we just got attacked?" Hood said to William from behind.

"We don't have a lot of time, that doctor might be our only chance." William said to Hood as he kept walking.

"But does it have to be you? Commander Johnson could send his troops in your stead." Hood tried to reason with William.

"Can they do spontaneous solo infiltration?" William immediately asked Hood.

"…Oh…now I see, you don't believe that other soldiers could do it." Hood said to William as she frowned.

"I was trained to be the best of the best, I have the necessary experience, and I know what I'm dealing with…Not to discredit Carl's men, but I believe-" William said to Hood while he walked-

"That was your ego speaking, William Blaze!" Hood said out loud with a firm tone while she scowled.

And that successfully put William dead stop in his tracks, his eye widened as he looked behind him to see Hood stared back at him with brows furrowed, with a steely gaze directed at him and a scowl on her face. Hood was fed up with this side of him to be honest, it's admirable that he wouldn't hesitate to dive in first into combat when he was still a frontline soldier, that's fine! But now he's in command of the most specialized unit consisting of ship girls who slowly but surely, started to rely on him for a lot of things. If he just threw himself into danger like this, then there would be a good chance that he won't make it from one of those reckless dives. Hood knew that William won't change his mind anytime soon, but she should at least try something…

"In my mind there's no doubt that you are one of the deadliest soldiers Azur Lane has, but I think you don't know how to choose your battles…You are no longer the frontline soldier like you were in the past, now you are the commander of about hundreds of ship girls who dedicated their lives fighting the Sirens and just got attacked! We need you here, we need moral support, to know that our commander cares for our wellbeing!" Hood said to William while she frowned.

"And I do care! That is why I'm going to bring Dr. Takeshi here, and I'll make him create the cure for them!" William counter-argued Hood, he seriously felt her being nagging now.

"…Are you sure that you didn't do this because of your past?" Hood said to William in a low tone.

"What's that supposed to mean, Hood!?" William said to Hood as he narrowed his gaze, his attention was purely on her now.

"Mrs. Lena did give me a bit of explanation, Ronald Mitchell was someone you thought was dead, but now he is with Crimson Cleanser, and he's the one responsible for the betrayal within Task Force Nimbus. You thought you ended him, but he's the one responsible for the death of your friends. Can you honestly tell me that if he somehow appears in that town during your mission you could keep a clear head and do the right thing?" Hood asked William as she held her left hand over her chest.

William was about to answer her, but the words got stuck in his throat as he really wondered, would he be able to? Just the brief thought of letting Ronald get away ignited a raging burst of anger to go over and kill that son of a bitch with his bare hands, if he hadn't met him and felt this impulse already, then what would happen if he really met him? Ronald knew this, he would use this fact to his advantage, and frankly speaking William knew he'll have a hard time managing his hatred and anger…But despite all that, he knew the stakes.

"I thought so. You're blinded by anger." Hood said to William with accusing tone.

"…Nothing you say can change my mind Hood, I will go and make sure to bring him here." William said to Hood as he turned around.

"…You're just going to leave us here all by ourselves?" Hood asked William in disbelieved tone.

"Just for a bit, I'm asking you to take charge temporarily until I'm back with the doctor. You don't have to worry, I'll be fine-" William said to Hood as he looked back.

"Do what you want!" Hood said to William before she turned around while she scowled and stormed out the corridor.

William realized he just fucked up big time as his hand reached out to Hood before she disappeared from the corridor…He ruffled his hair, sighed hard before he punched the wall in frustration. He knows he felt frustrated since the attack a few moments ago, and everyone is on edge, but to go so far to make Hood angry? That takes some special level of fuck up, since she's very tolerant…Oh well, he will apologize later when all things are done. Just as he was about to walk, he spotted someone who approached him from the other end of the corridor. That someone was Prinz Eugen, her usual mischievous smile was absent from her beautiful face. When that happened, something is really wrong, and this time William knew why.

"…Kommandant." Prinz greeted William.

"Prinz?" William asked Prinz.

"I've heard what's going on. I'm going with you." Prinz said to William.

"With me? Wait, this is supposed to be a solo mission." William said to Prinz while he frowned a bit.

"…Hipper is laying weak in her bed, all I want is to see my sister back to normal again, and I'll do it with my own two hands." Prinz said to William, the determination in her voice hinted that she won't take no as an answer.

"No, it's too dangerous-" William said to Prinz while he frowned.

"Oh? So, when it's me it becomes dangerous? What about Enterprise? Hornet? Arizona or even Baltimore that you brought to raid an enemy outpost just an hour ago? They could get injured and you still brought them with you, if you're going to stop me from coming with you at least come up with a believable excuse. I'm not weak by any means, and I could provide you with more firepower than a tank has…I'm not Hood, who didn't want you to go, I'm offering myself to help you." Prinz said to William while she folded her arms.

…Frankly speaking she's got a point, and those words stabbed through him when she said that as he was being hypocritical when he said that it's too dangerous for her. Not even hours ago, he took several ship girls to raid a Crimson Cleanser outpost on the island, that act itself already endangered them more than necessary, so when one of them asked to help he shouldn't use that reason. But there's no other reason he could use, Prinz knew the risk, and she still wanted to go because it's the chance to make sure they could get the one who could potentially produce a cure for that dangerous gas. William relented as he sighed, with her strength William would be set to face whatever threat out there…

"…Are you sure about this Prinz?" William asked Prinz after he thought a bit.

"Nothing could change my mind, kommandant, not even you." Prinz said to William with a serious expression on her face.

"…Alright. You can come with me." William said to Prinz as he finally gave her permission.

"Wunderbar…When are we going?" Prinz asked William.

"Now…Follow me." William immediately responded as he walked away.

Both Prinz and William started to walk away from the corridor they were in silently, both immediately walked toward the command center of Johnson's base. Hood leaned on the wall after she eavesdropped the conversation between the two, she sighed as she facepalmed. Illustrious found Hood who leaned on the wall then put a hand over her gaping mouth, she went closer to look at Hood. Illustrious only caught a glimpse of Prinz and William before they disappeared around the corner, Hood only managed to put on a strained smile when she noticed Illustrious approaching her.

"…Illustrious." Hood greeted her with a tired tone.

"Oh dear, Lord William was being stubborn, isn't he?" Illustrious wasted no time for pleasantry.

"I do see the point, you know? I agree that we should do this, but can't he request help from Mr. Johnson in order to bring Dr. Takeshi here? Why must he throw himself to the frontline all the time? The girls need his moral support…" Hood lamented as she stood straight from the wall.

"…I'm not trying to take his side, Hood, but I think there's a reason why he did this." Illustrious said to Hood while she smiled a bit.

"It's probably guilt, Ronald was someone he failed to kill, and now that man took the life of his friends alongside Ms. Jenny…All because he failed to kill him back then, then there's this matter with his egoistical view when concerning other soldiers. He believes he's the best, and the only one who can accomplish the task." Hood said out loud in matter of fact tone.

That's what she believed, because she might do the same thing as he currently did if she thought she had killed a traitor who turned out to have survived and started murdering her friends. If she's among the last ship girls left, then she would probably make it her personal mission to go after the traitor in order to prevent them from dealing further damage, it's reasonable…But in this scenario, William is a normal human being, and there are others who could easily take his place to do the job. He probably took the sentence 'If you want to get something done, do it yourself' to heart. In this case, Hood knew that he only wanted the best for the injured girls…

"But that wasn't always the case, right?" Illustrious asked Hood while she smiled bitterly.

"Even so, would it kill him to have a bit of trust in his fellow soldiers? What do I tell the girls regarding his absence too?" Hood asked Illustrious as she stared at her.

"Just tell them that Lord William is going to bring back someone who could probably cure them, that's the truth isn't it? Hood, maybe you're tired, you should rest for now alright?" Illustrious said to Hood as she tried to convince her to rest up.

"Very well…I want to be in the best shape when he returns, so I can discuss a lot of things without blowing a fuse." Hood said to Illustrious as he relented and made her way to the hangar area.

"That's the spirit~" Illustrious said to Hood as she accompanied her.

.

…Somewhere on the Southern Ironblood border…A black SUV drove on an empty asphalt road in the middle of the forest while going past the speed limit, the car was driven by William while he's on call with Chairman Erich himself. William explained the situation as he just arrived on Southern Ironblood's border few hours ago, and Erich needs to set few things up a bit before he could take on his call. There's the fact that William made the call with his personal number, and that itself had to go through so many channels before they could be verified safe and be directed to Erich himself. Ironblood's Intelligence Division spared no shit when it came to the protection of their leader, something Azur Lane could learn from…Erich hummed in acknowledgement after he listened to William, the situation was bleaker than he thought.

"…I understand the situation." Erich said to William on the phone.

"Do I have your approval?" William asked Erich on the phone.

"Well, If I have to be honest, you could've just asked me, and I would've sent my best unit to handle this. There's no need for you to do this by yourself." Erich said to William on the phone.

"I'm bringing him directly to our base, I don't want to waste a single second for this. I want to personally make sure that the man is the right one for the job." William said to Erich on the phone with a serious tone.

"But are you sure about going in alone?" Erich asked William with a concerned tone on the phone.

"I have Prinz Eugen with me." William said to Erich in a matter of fact tone on the phone.

"But I believe she's not a proper infantry unit, she fares much better in waterborne combat." Erich reasoned with William on the phone.

"Yes, I'm aware, but this is a decision she made herself…her sister was caught up in the attack." William explained to Erich on the phone.

…William could hear Erich sighed, and the call was filled with silence for several seconds. It was clear that Erich needed some time to recollect himself over this news. He entrusted the ship girls to that base, so when they got attacked by humans themselves it irked him to no end. He couldn't understand why there are people out there who were willing to do that dastardly act despite the whole of humanity already having a common enemy to fight with. But Erich guessed it's just human nature, no matter what era, what timeline or what universe they are prone to infighting amongst themselves…Otherwise, the Great War never would've happened.

"I see…Well then, I already gave notice to the border patrols and a few other military units that you will be operating within the town, but I have few conditions. First, you have to keep collateral damage to a minimum. Second, do not unnecessarily cause chaos, and third, we didn't give any heads up to the police, so refrain from engaging in combat publicly." Erich explained to William on the phone.

"I accept." William immediately answered Erich on the phone.

"Very well…There's a safe house you could use on the edge of the town, it's on pretty sparse land, so you won't have problems landing a helicopter there. It's the only house in the area, from the forest you are probably in, you can't miss it." Erich explained to William further on the phone.

"Thank you for the help, Chairman Erich. I really appreciate it." William said to Erich in an earnest tone on the phone.

"We're allies, and there's not much to spare so think nothing of it, take care of Eugen and yourself alright?" Erich asked William on the phone.

"Will do." William said to Erich on the phone as he smiled a bit.

"Excellent. Theresa will contact you for operational intel, keep your phone on standby." Erich said to William on the phone.

"Got it." William simply replied before he ended the call.

William put the phone back in his jacket pocket, he returned his focus to driving. But he couldn't help himself to notice that the passenger was being really quiet for some reason, he looked to his right side and saw Prinz who was staring out toward the scenery on her side quietly, while she leaned on her seat. Prinz had that passive look on her face but with clear nostalgia brimming in her eyes as she saw the sparse land within the forest of her homeland, when was the last time she just sat and stared at the scenery before her? Definitely a long time since she did that, William managed to smile as he noticed the gloomy Prinz ever since the attack has almost returned to her usual self…Obviously, he likes her usual self better than the gloomy one.

"Enjoying the view, Prinz?" William asked Prinz while he smiled.

"…It's been a while since I've been in the fatherland, I admit the sight makes me feel a little nostalgic." Prinz answered William without looking at him.

"Is that so…Maybe you should take some time off in the future to visit as vacation?" William suggested as he scanned the area ahead.

"Not a bad idea, though, I doubt I would do that often…" Prinz said to William.

"Well, it's just a suggestion anyway…We've arrived." William said to Prinz.

Yeah, Prinz found that the base she inhabited now has become her home because home is not merely a place, but where the people she cared about waited for her to return everyday…William noticed a two-story house made of red bricks with a black roof was built beside the road, the house was surrounded with low stone walls and supplemented with a barn coated with red paint and a shack beside the house. That must be the safe house that Erich mentioned to William, he parked the car beside the house and both him alongside Prinz exited the SUV. William approached the house and tried to open the door, it was unlocked, and he could freely enter the house followed by Prinz close behind him.

The inside of the house looked like your average house interior. It has a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms on the first floor, bathroom, and several other rooms on the second floor alongside a multipurpose room. William and Prinz toured the house for a bit, getting acquainted with their temporary residence as quickly as they could. After they were satisfied with the safe house tour, both William and Prinz met back in the living room, William sat on the sofa as he rested his weary body for a bit after that long drive.

"We'll be staying here for a while huh…It's quite comfortable." William commented as he leaned on the sofa.

"…Are you hungry, kommandant?" Prinz asked William while she smiled a bit.

"Kind of." William said to Prinz without looking at her.

"Try to set a few things up, I'll cook us some lunch." Prinz said to William as she went to the kitchen.

"Thanks." William said to Prinz.

Prinz found an apron and put it on over her body, she then proceeded to open the fridge, and she was delighted that it was fully stocked with ingredients. Her eyes trailed over to the pack of beer at the bottom of the fridge, normally she would grab one without care, but she felt that she should be on her top game today, so she didn't touch the beer stash. Prinz took out several ingredients, set up the cooking utensils, then she intertwined her fingers and cracked the joints. She'll show her cooking prowess without reservations…William on the other hand, went toward one of the spare bedrooms and saw a button beside the lamp switch, curiosity overtook him and he pushed the button. The wall to the left of the room moved downwards as it disappeared into the floor and revealed what lies behind the wall. The inside of it was filled with a wide array of weaponry complemented with ammunition alongside explosives. William grinned as he approached the armory and took an HK416 then inspected the weapon in his hands. It was well maintained, the mechanisms were smooth as silk, not a single speck of dust on the gun, and they got enough ammunition to survive an extended holdout against enemy combatants…

"…All hail Heckler and Koch." William muttered while he grinned to himself.

He then thought on what to bring when they encounter Dr. Takeshi, a light load in case they have to go incognito or the full combat load if the whole situation proved to be a total mess with Crimson Cleanser…William thought that they should at least recon the area and gain some basic understanding of the situation alongside understanding the intel that Theresa will gave to him. Just as he thought that William's phone rang with an unknown number as the caller. He picked up the call because he's confident that the one who called him was Theresa, he was right in that aspect.

"Ah Kommandant William, this is Theresa Gunther." Theresa said to William on the phone.

"Ms. Theresa, good to hear from you. What do you have?" William asked Theresa on the phone.

"I'm currently sending the necessary intelligence for Dr. Takeshi Koichiro to your phone, I wish I could help more, but unfortunately Intelligence work has never been my strong suit." Theresa said to William on the phone.

"Ah it's fine, giving us the file is more than helpful already." William said to Theresa on the phone while he smiled.

"Danke…I suggest you look into that file and then determine your next move. We have prepared a transport, so you can return to your base as soon as you are done with the capture. We also prepared a unit on standby to help you out in case the situation gets out of hand, and you can check for the details in the file I just sent." Theresa explained to William on the phone.

"I understand, thank you." William said to Theresa on the phone while he smiled.

"My pleasure kommandant, I wish you good luck." Theresa said to William on the phone.

The call ended and William's phone buzzed as he received a few files from the email. William checked on the file that was marked with Takeshi's general profile, current whereabouts, and some other files that's connected to him. Perfect, this would make their effort to bring Takeshi in whole lot easier compared to starting from scratch without help whatsoever…William was glad that he already met Erich before so it's less awkward to ask for help, though the relation between them would be considered as acquaintances at best, Erich was still willing to listen and let him handle this problem. He then put those thoughts aside as he grabbed a lot of things from the armory and put it down on the coffee table in the living room, that's when he smelled the food that Prinz made. William approached the kitchen and noted that Prinz had already finished cooking; she immediately brought two plates to the dining room as William followed her.

"…Smells delicious." William commented as he looked at the dish Prinz made.

"Nothing too fancy, but I'm confident in my cooking, enjoy." Prinz said to William as she put the plates on the dining table.

What she served was a sausage dish called Bratwurst, the enticing aroma of the grilled sausage immediately caused William's mouth to water up, the smell alone was enough to remind him that he's hungry, so he better eat the dish that Prinz had made. William grabbed a fork and a knife, he sliced one of the sausages, and then stuffed it into his mouth…His eyes widened because it's damn good and that only brought up his appetite, William swallowed and quickly ate another one then he chewed happily. Wonder where Prinz managed to get sausages, but this is Ironblood's safe house, so William found that to be the perfect reason.

"Hmm, this is good. Do you have more of these? I'd like seconds." William said to Prinz while he smiled.

"Fufufufu, I knew you'd say that, so I already prepared some more." Prinz said to William while she smiled smugly.

Both of them ate their lunch together, Prinz and William were content with each other's presence, and they ate in silence. William realized that this would be the first time he tried Prinz's cooking; he really wondered if she could cook some other dish. If he has to be honest, he hasn't tried much of Ironblood's cuisine in his life, so will she be willing to cook some if he requests it? Probably, but he could have thought about that when they return from this mission…Prinz ate while she watched William happily devour the dish she made, there's this…tingling sensation within her chest when she saw her cooking was being enjoyed by him, what could that be? The two of them then finished eating, time for them to talk about the mission.

"So…what do we do now?" Prinz asked William as she stared at him.

"First, let's read the intel that was sent to me." William said to Prinz with a serious expression.

Prinz checked her phone when it buzzed, and she saw that William just forwarded the files that were sent from Theresa. Prinz looked at her phone, and she opened the files then she started to read the contents. William also opened the files and started to do his research…Takeshi Koichiro, thirty six years old, married, lived in Osaka before his escape to this area, worked in the lab for ten years, and was the one who managed to produce a working version of Marry. He's an average height Asian man, black medium hair with M shaped bangs like those generic anime protagonists, brown eyes, and honestly there's nothing remarkable about his appearance that William could see…Takeshi Koichiro owned a house in the nearby town under a different ownership name, neighbors commented that the house was occupied by him since a week ago. The timeline matched with his disappearance from Osaka, William guessed that he didn't stop anywhere along the way. Now, what is he doing here? Is he simply running away? What about his wife? Neighbors claimed that he's alone in the house, so he didn't bring her with him. If he already owned a house in this city then what's its purpose? William looked at the document further, he also frequently went out of the house…

"…Okay, what do you think?" William asked Prinz for her opinion.

"For a smart man, he's not that well versed in covering his tracks huh? If we can find him then there's a possibility that Crimson Cleanser has also found him." Prinz commented as she tapped her lips with her right index finger.

"Correct assumption. In that case, we'll have to move quickly." William said to Prinz.

"How does tonight sound? We should bring him in as soon as possible." Prinz suggested to William.

"You're not tired?" William asked Prinz with a concerned tone.

"Nein…The sooner we get him then the sooner we can go back, and the sooner the others can recover." Prinz reasoned with William.

"Yes, but charging immediately is also risky." William said to Prinz while he pursed his lips.

"But you have to admit, we don't know what other side effects that gas has kommandant…time is of the essence, ja?" Prinz asked William while she frowned.

…Prinz made a good point, they didn't know how much damage Marry could cause the longer it's inside the ship girls' bodies, so finishing this as soon as possible is their only option. However, there's a fine difference between quick yet methodical and recklessly charging into something…The answer is quite obvious, William shouldn't hesitate when the life of his ship girls is in danger. He's already got the sufficient intel he could use, he's got equipment, and he's got a way out of here. Plus, Prinz would be his only ally that will be with him on this mission, and she's capable of doing anything. He's set, all he has to do is to find the resolve to do this.

"…Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't hesitate…He lives in a sparsely populated area around here, but we still don't know much about his habits, so we might need to do a stake out for a bit." William said to Prinz.

"It would seem so." Prinz said to William as she agreed to the plan.

"Then let's get prepared for tonight." William said to Prinz.

William gently took Prinz's left hand and guided her all the way to the living room from the dining room, all the while Prinz looked to the side with an uncertain smile on her face when William grabbed her hand without much care. Prinz then noted that the coffee table was filled with equipment and weapons that William had brought out from the armory. Prinz curiously inspected the weaponry she commonly sees with Ironblood infantry, when William approached her from the side while he carried some sort of cloth fold. He unfolded it, and Prinz saw that William was actually holding a vest, a bulletproof vest to be exact.

"Prinz, you're a ship girl and naturally stronger than normal humans but your body is possibly also weak to physical wounds. St. Louis got shot and the bullet grazed her arm yesterday, so I want you to put this on. Ultra-light Kevlar vest, protects well against small arms fire and is designed for concealed use. It won't stop high caliber rounds, but it's something over nothing." William said to Prinz as he handed her the vest.

"…This should blend well if I wore a turtleneck sweater." Prinz said to William as she inspected the vest.

"Yeah, furthermore you shouldn't summon your rigging unless absolutely necessary…Here, this Mk.23 is for you…Know how to use a pistol?" William asked Prinz as he handed her a pistol.

"Ja, I do know how." Prinz said to William as she took the pistol.

"Great. It's yours…we're going to be lightly armed and armored so if the enemy is indeed targeting us our priority is to get Dr. Takeshi out and run. We'll retreat here before we bail out with the transport that was prepared, clear?" William asked Prinz while he stared at her in complete seriousness.

"Clear...let's do this, kommandant." Prinz said to William with a confident smile on her face.

.

After the initial preparation, William took a short nap in order to rest his body, Prinz spent the remainder of the afternoon drinking coffee as she reviewed the files that William forwarded to her. Prinz then took out her phone and contacted their base. Hood, Ranger, Enterprise, Souryuu, Brooklyn, and Vestal were the people she contacted so she could know what's going on in their base right now, she want the both of them to stay connected, even though William might be too busy to check up on them, and Hood subtly asked through Prinz by online chat if they were doing alright…Despite Hood and William arguing before they left, Hood did worry about his safety and curiously asked what was he doing right now which Prinz sent a photo of William napping while he sprawled on top of a sofa. Hood took a bit to respond, and she later did by sending Prinz a sticker of Nagato's face with a huge 'Thank you!' beneath her, Prinz smiled smugly and just sent another sticker of Wales' serious face with 'No Problem' to Hood…Prinz passed another half hour by staring outside through the window toward the open grassy plain with a mountain in the far distance, then she heard William waking up. The man stretched a bit, he greeted Prinz shortly then immediately hit the shower to freshen up. After he showered, William set up the preparation for tonight's operation while Prinz went to shower.

…William dressed in a brown leather jacket with an ultra-light Kevlar vest supplemented with a black t-shirt underneath it. He wore dark blue jeans with blue sneakers then put on some equipment like a flashbang, a C2 plastic explosive, and a handcuff inside his jacket's pocket. William took an Mk.23 Pistol and put it in a holster beneath his jacket, he also took several magazines, and filled his remaining empty pouch with them. Prinz came out of the shower dressed in nothing but a towel, she strolled over to the living room without care, and William couldn't help himself but to stare at her from the tip of her hair all the way to her feet…Her white skin glistened after the shower, her white hair was messily damp, she leaned down to get some of her clothes inside her purse, and that accentuated her ass which was wrapped with the white towel so tightly that it threatened to loosen up and reveal the godly cargo…

"…You're doing this on purpose aren't you?" William said to Prinz accusingly.

"Oh? And what makes you think of that?" Prinz asked William while she smiled smugly.

"If I remember correctly, you could've changed in the room next door. Yet you leave your purse in the living room." William said to Prinz with half closed eye.

"That's not enough proof~. Even if I did, you did enjoy the view, yes~?" Prinz asked William while she smirked.

"Hell yeah I did." William answered Prinz honestly without missing a beat.

At least Prinz already returned to her usual self, though she might be doing this to stave off her nervousness? William had no idea, but he appreciated the beautiful view just before this mission, Prinz dressed herself with a crimson colored turtleneck sweater with the ultra-light Kevlar vest underneath it, a black skirt, thigh high black socks, and fancy black boots. She brought a purse where she stored her Mk.23 handgun and several magazines. She thought a bit on what to bring until she grabbed a fragmentation grenade and put it inside the purse too…Alright, both of them dressed like civilians yet were armed to defend themselves in case of an attack. Both exited the safe house, got into the SUV, and started their fifteen minute drive all the way to the nearest town…It's already night, the sky was illuminated by a bright full moon and it was clear from clouds.

"…Any words from the ladies?" William asked Prinz while he focused his gaze on the dark road.

"We have already moved back to our base, few medical personnel from Commander Johnson's base tagged along with the girls. Everyone's anxious ever since the attack, and we're currently preparing ourselves to adapt with the Trident Initiative…Oh, and Hood is still mad at you." Prinz said to William while she smiled smugly.

"…Yeah, I'm well aware…might stop by for a bit for an apology gift after this." William said to Prinz while he cringed.

Seriously, he should've handled the situation better and try to convince Hood instead of shutting her off like he did before…He should speak to her privately, as soon as possible. William saw the town they're heading to and noted that it's not a remarkable town in any sense, there's no tall buildings, the cars sparsely populated the road, there's only a few pedestrians ever since they entered the town and overall, at night this town feels a bit empty…Maybe it's because of the great war or even the fact that the town's population wasn't big enough to begin with, William just finds it whole lot easier to do their job. But this could mean they would probably have a hard time tailing Dr. Takeshi if he indeed ventured outside his house-

"Kommandant." Prinz said to William suddenly.

"Hmm?" William answered as he stopped the car due to a traffic light.

"I can't help but to wonder, if we're given the freedom to do whatever we want then doesn't that mean we are free from Azur Lane?" Prinz curiously asked William.

"Not necessarily. In that brief explanation it was stressed that we should continue with our task, and that is to fight the Sirens. High Command just gave us clearance to use whatever means necessary to combat them without waiting for their approval. As long as the Trident Initiative is enforced, we can sortie and deploy whenever we want, wherever we want. All matters regarding that would be handled by us directly…So, if we have to deploy into a neutral country then it's up to us to negotiate with the local government. But it indeed puts us in a tighter position than ever, we won't have financial aid from headquarters except for the starting funds, and we have to get raw materials, oil, and food ourselves." William said to Prinz as he drove the car.

…That's his conclusion by the way, regarding the whole situation with the Trident Initiative that William thought to be nonsense, but he still tried to think positively about it. Just what did that bloody High Commander think when he created and activated this initiative? Letting him, a single man in charge of probably the most powerful fleet on the face of the Earth? Yeah, all executive decisions are in his hands with the leader of the fleets and the secretaries serving as advisors, so that basically he's the top of the chain of command…Yet they expected him to stay loyal to Azur Lane when he's free to do whatever he wishes with the authority given to him? No…Lucas did this and thought about this thoroughly. He knew that William agreed with the fact that Sirens are their most imminent and dangerous problem. Lucas just gave him all the green light needed to do whatever was necessary, there's no need to double check with high command. Politics, this is why William didn't want to get involved with the politics within High Command because it's fucking confusing. The Trident Initiative didn't make sense, not one bit…Yet William couldn't help himself that he somehow missed something with all of this, Lena and Lucas won't do this if the only reason was that the Azur Lane Intelligence Division was compromised…

"Last I heard, Brooklyn worked overnight to secure all kinds of deals with our benefactors. In exchange for our aid, they agreed to provide us with financial and material aid. For example, those oil rigs we saved on Terania? They agreed to supply us with oil if we could give them escort aid for their tanker fleets." William's thought was interrupted when Prinz explained that to him.

"That's wonderful news." William commented while he smiled a bit.

"Indeed, we also don't have to restrict ourselves with who we cooperate with either. But that means we could be overwhelmed by commissions in the future, that's why currently we started cooperation with less than a dozen organizations as a starter." Prinz further explained to William.

"I see. What's our business name?" William asked Prinz as he continued to drive.

"Brooklyn chose to use our official name as the designation. ALASUC, Azur Lane Anti Siren Unit Command." Prinz said to William while she looked to the side for a bit.

That name was the official designation for them. They were considered a specialized division itself and worked under Azur Lane High Command Council directly, specifically under Lena and Lucas. Lena was the one who handled anything related with special activities for Azur Lane Naval Forces, while Lucas was the top in the chain of command, and then there's William who served as Lena's direct subordinate, but even though that's the case, if there's anything major that comes up that involved the ship girl's activity then safe to say it would be the topic of a meeting between the High Command Council, so that means others could still get involved with their affairs…

Wait…how did Lucas manage to convince the High Command Council with the implementation of the Trident Initiative? Either Lucas pulled up a lot of strings or he borrowed the devil's tongue because supposedly a failure like him, according to their eyes, would be given a large amount of power and control, didn't they fear that something would've happened? William, however, came to an even bizarre conclusion, it's possible that this entire thing with the Trident Initiative is actually another bait that was set up by Lucas and Lena to identify problems within the council…Yeah, they already knew that the Intelligence division was compromised but to make it unnoticed this long, someone who possesses even higher authority must be involved…Why didn't he think of that? Simple, he's no goddamn politician…

"…I'm not that knowledgeable regarding business and diplomacy, but I don't think blabbering our name like that is a smart move." William expressed his concern while he frowned a bit.

"Nein, I disagree, in fact, it did well in establishing a foothold with our partners. More than one of them were glad with the ship girls' escort services considering that the Sirens could very easily decimate their mass produced escort ships. The waters around the earth have become so hostile that every merchant fleet out there requires warship escorts…and not all of them could get their hands on warships, they are willing to pay us handsomely just for one escort mission." Prinz explained to William while she smiled a bit.

"I see now…Yes, that should settle our financial problems. How about manpower?" William asked Prinz.

"Hood is handling that right now, Souryuu is also already working on the budgetary plan too." Prinz said to William regarding the content of her chat this afternoon.

"Brilliant…Hah, I'm glad you ladies are so capable regarding this." William said to Prinz then sighed in relief while he smiled.

William was extremely glad that the ship girls were so knowledgeable, dependable, and capable of doing other things besides combat. They could effectively function as an independent organization if they wanted to, they could manage their administration by themselves, run their economy independently, and they got sufficient capability to establish contact with several private organizations to achieve their goals…William must admit that he's incapable doing all that, sure he's an officer who was taught about that in the academy, but all of that was surface level compared to the ship girls who could do all the technical matters by themselves. All he had to do for now was to weigh their options and select the best course of action for all of them. It would be tough, but he had to do it nonetheless…

"…Looks like we have arrived." Prinz noted as William stopped the car by the side of the road.

"Yeah, now we wait." William said to Prinz as he turned off the car's engine.

Both of them had arrived in a secluded part of the town's suburban area. According to the intel that was sent over by Theresa, Dr. Takeshi possessed a house in the area under different ownership. The certainty of the intel hasn't been confirmed by field agents yet, but it's their best bet for now. If Dr. Takeshi indeed escaped to the medium sized house in front of them then sooner or later, he would be within their sights...Prinz pouted a bit while she tapped her fingers on the car door's interior, she looked to the side and noted that William diligently monitored the house in front of them without a single hint of boredom in his right eye. Prinz checked on her wristwatch and noted they'd been on the lookout for fifteen minutes; she then sighed a bit as she leaned on her car seat.

"…I didn't know that stake outs can be this boring." Prinz commented out loud while she pouted.

"Be glad you're not a cop, Prinz." William commented while he smirked a bit.

"Is this what they do?" Prinz asked William with cocked eyebrows.

"Oh yes, waiting all night long for a stake out. Can't listen to music or play with your phone, eyes on the target sometimes with coffee in hand." William said to Prinz as he also leaned on his seat.

"You're quite familiar with the technique." Prinz noted while she narrowed her eyes.

"Did it a few times during the Sardegnan Campaign, safe to say a cappuccino really makes a good drink during long nights." William said to Prinz as he recalled the memory.

"Heeeh…During that time, have you ever been ambushed?" Prinz curiously asked William.

"…Four out of five times." William answered while he shrugged and cringed at the same time.

"That often?" Prinz asked William while she widened her eyes in shock.

"My pronunciation of the Italian language was messed up, a dead giveaway. Lena switched me into overwatch after those incidents…Hehehehe." William said to Prinz before he chuckled at the memory.

Ah, quite nostalgic now that he thought about it. He really missed that part where he's supposed to be on the lookout for Sardegna Empire army officials that they targeted when a patrolling soldier approached them, William claimed that they're in the area looking for dinner before the officer noted that his pronunciation for several words in Italian were wrong or weird. It didn't take long before the soldier become suspicious, it didn't take long before he told William and Charles to stay put as he checked their IDs, it didn't take long for William to say 'fuck it' and then began their assassination operation because frankly they're being watched by the other patrols and getting detected while carrying a handgun under their clothes would reward them execution on sight…Despite him getting the pronunciations right next time he still managed to fuck up the accent, after the fourth incident Lena scolded him before sending him out on the fifth mission with a binocular and a sniper rifle.

"Hmmm, then I should handle the talking here. Don't want us to get shot in Ironblood too, right?" Prinz asked William while she smiled smugly.

"Hahahaha, you're right. All I know about German language were ja, jawohl, nein, vielen dank, guten tag, guten morgen, dummkopf, scheisse, and ich liebe dich." William said to Prinz while he smiled.

"As I expected, I should be the one who does the talking. I doubt this remote town has many English speaking people." Prinz said to William while she smiled too.

"Yeah." William couldn't help but to agree.

"…Ich liebe dich huh? I wonder how you knew those words~" Prinz asked William while she smiled smugly.

"Would you believe me that I knew that from a game?" William asked Prinz back with an uncomfortable tone.

"Ufufufufufu…that's believable in your case." Prinz said to William after she giggled a bit.

Honestly he knew those lines from a visual novel he played during his final years of high school and who knew that those words would stick inside his mind that long, he could somewhat understand several words that Ironblood soldiers often speak in the battlefield, but he couldn't form any coherent sentences…Prinz looked to the front again when she saw someone exiting the house in front of them, he has short black hair, young Asian face with rimless glasses, he wore a blue t-shirt with brown pants with equally brown shoes. Prinz opened up her phone and compared an image within it with the person in front of the house. The intel was right…They found Dr. Takeshi Koichiro.

"…Ah, there he is." Prinz said out loud.

"You're right." William said as he also looked at Takeshi.

"Where do you think he's going?" Prinz asked out loud when they saw Takeshi get inside a car.

"I don't know yet. Let's follow him." William said to Prinz.

They started following Takeshi's car, William and Prinz kept a careful distance and blended well to the traffic around them to prevent them from being noticed. Good thing that the SUV model they rode in was black and looked so generic it blended well with the other cars on the road, tailgating someone requires keen attention to detail and the ability to position yourself in just the right spot…Takeshi drove quite some distance until he stopped his car in front of a building, William stopped the car behind Takeshi's car and watched a bit as Takeshi went inside the building…

"Restaurant?" Prinz cocked her eyebrows in wonder.

"With a bar…Damn, it's crowded. Wise move." William commented out loud while he frowned a bit.

"Nevertheless, we should head in. Up for being my husband for the night~?" Prinz coyly asked William while she smiled smugly.

"You sure only for tonight?" William asked Prinz back while he smiled.

"I would like the rest of my life…But, somehow I know you're not ready for that~" Prinz said to William with a teasing tone.

"Heh…Right, we'll talk about that in the future. For now, let's get to work." William said to Prinz as he exited the car.

…Shit, William's got a feeling that Prinz started to catch up on why William didn't take bolder action with the girls. But William shook his head as he dismissed the thought, he should focus on the job. Prinz sneaked her arms and hugged William's left arm as she led him inside the restaurant with the face of a newlywed wife…Holy shit! William just realized that Prinz has good acting skills! There's no single hint of 'fakeness' on that face of hers despite the fact that she's currently acting. She could convince anyone with that face. Both of them entered the restaurant and sat on the bar stools, William looked and noticed that Takeshi sat by the window side…Sloppy, if you're targeted then the last thing you should do is sit by the window.

"Hey darling, drinks?" Prinz asked William while she smiled.

"Beer sounds good." William nodded his head as he returned the smile.

"Two beers, coming up. Your wife is really beautiful my friend, you're lucky to have her." The bartender said to William while he smiled.

"Thank you." William replied while he smiled.

…The bartender served them two large glasses of Ironblood's beer, Prinz and William toasted with each other before they drank the beer. The bartender went and served the other customers, but William kept his eye on him, William was suspicious that their cover and this whole mission was already jeopardized…He doesn't want to be presumptuous, but what are the chance of the bartender in the middle of small town like this capable speaking in English language without any sort of accent bleeding through? Even Prinz, who was fluent, still had that 'distinct' German accent when she spoke. That bartender guy, however, spoke English with an accent that's close to how someone within Eagle Union speaks…

"…He speaks English fluently." William said to Prinz in a low tone.

"Ja, I can't detect any accent either. Though his German was quite fluent, his accent was close to Eagle Union's." Prinz said to William in a low tone.

See? Even Prinz was suspicious of that bartender, could it be that the man was a Crimson Cleanser agent that was stationed here to monitor Takeshi himself? The probability was quite high, they better get this mission done now. The chance came when Takeshi stood up from his seat and head for the toilet, William told Prinz to 'watch the coast' as he also headed for the toilet…William entered the toilet where he waited until Takeshi was finished with his business on the urinal, after he washed his hands and was about to exit the toilet William grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait, Takeshi." William said to Takeshi.

"Wer bist du? Wait, w-what do you want!?" Takeshi asked William as he stepped back in caution.

"Relax, I just want to talk." William said to Takeshi in a low tone.

"…You're not with Crimson Cleanser?" Takeshi asked William again.

"I'm from Azur Lane. William Blaze, ever heard of me?" William asked Takeshi with a serious face.

"No?" Takeshi said to William with uncertainty in his voice.

"Perfect. Your creation, Marry, was used against the ship girls, and I'm desperately in need of a cure…Help us, please." William said to Takeshi.

William hoped that Takeshi would be willing to help them if he's a human being with a conscience, but does anyone who has created weapons such as that still have something that we call a conscience? William is willing to bet that Takeshi still has some, if not then…he'll do whatever means necessary to bring this doctor back to their base. He'll force him to work on the cure if he's still uncooperative, William would probably have to resort to a more 'persuasive' method if he has to. William watched as Takeshi took the information in for a bit, he noted that the doctor's shoulder was laxer now that he knew William is with Azur Lane…

"Azur Lane…Wait, if you know where I am…Crimson Cleanser could be here!" …Looks like Takeshi is aware about the mess within High Command…

"I'm sure they're already here." William said to Takeshi with a serious tone.

"…Alright. Get me to a safe place, then we'll talk." Takeshi said to William with a narrowed gaze, he didn't want to get captured by Crimson Cleanser.

"About time. Follow me." William said to Takeshi as he turned around.

Takeshi followed him out of the bathroom, William jerked his head toward the exit door a bit, and Prinz immediately understood what he meant. Prinz stood up from her seat, left the money for the beer, and thanked the bartender before she followed William out of the bar alongside Takeshi. William and Prinz scanned the area around for any sign of hostiles while they walked toward their parked SUV, they didn't see anyone suspicious around but they couldn't let their guard down. William tossed the car key to Prinz who then got inside the driver seat; William shoved the doctor to the rear passenger seat before he sat beside the doctor. Prinz started the engine, she immediately stepped on the acceleration pedal and the car blitzed forward as Prinz headed for the town's outskirts so they could return to the safe house.

"Wait, where's your team?" Takeshi asked William with a concerned tone.

"You're looking at it." William said to Takeshi.

"Just the two of you?!" Takeshi asked William with shock written on his face.

"He clearly doesn't know what I'm capable of~" Prinz said out loud with a teasing tone while she smiled smugly.

"I don't mean to be rude, but we're talking about a group of terrorists who outnumber us and possibly even outgun us!" Takeshi said to Prinz while he frowned.

"As long as we aren't outmatched, I called it a win~" Prinz said confidently to Takeshi.

"You are too relaxed!" Takeshi said to Prinz in an exasperated tone as he rested his body on the car seat.

"She's got a point, calm down…Doctor, can you create a cure?" William asked Takeshi calmly as he occasionally checked their surroundings.

"Listen, I may create it, but there's no telling what kind of modification those terrorists use. I have to run thorough examination, it's the only way to be sure." Takeshi explained to William with a low tone.

"I see. Doc, for your own good you better be able to." William said to Takeshi.

It would be a goddamn waste of time, resources, sanity, and ammo if Takeshi couldn't create a cure for Marry, really…William sighed a bit because he felt this entire thing had gone wrong somewhere somehow…Why? Because this is going too well, supposedly if Lena managed to send him the general location of Takeshi that means Intelligence Division would be somewhat aware of that fact, and if they're aware Crimson Cleanser should've known where he is. They got a fucking head start! Why haven't they tried anything? Just as he thought that a car followed them from behind at a considerable distance, Prinz checked on the rearview mirror and she smiled smugly…they're here.

"We got a tail~" Prinz said out loud while she smiled smugly.

"So it would seems. Doc, stay down in your seat. Prinz, drive faster." William immediately said as he looked behind to check on the following car.

"Jawohl~" Prinz responded while she grinned a bit.

Prinz then showed her street racer side as she switched the gear and accelerated the car. The road might have some curves around that's potentially dangerous at night, but that didn't faze her one bit as she kept turning without caring that the car could hit a road fence. Takeshi struggled to keep himself stable while William grabbed on the handle above him as he continuously monitored the chasing car, it took a while until the car slowed down and in seconds they managed to get away from the chaser. Prinz noted that the car behind them no longer chased them, she couldn't help but feel something was off.

"They're not following us?" Prinz asked out loud with cocked eyebrows.

"Classic bait, they knew we suspected them. Nevertheless, they must've gotten the plate numbers, let's head back to the safe house and put the car inside the barn." William said to Prinz while he watched Takeshi who was still cowered in his seat…

It took few more minutes until they reached their safe house, William exited the car to open the barn's door and allowed Prinz to store the car inside. Then Prinz escorted Takeshi as they entered the safe house, they locked the doors and prepared themselves for extraction. William grabbed a radio on the edge of the living room above the desk and started to mess with it. The document that Theresa gave them has a code for a specific radio channel that William should contact in case he needs backup or extraction. William wasted zero seconds setting the radio to work and inputting the code; the document also specified their call sign, so William opted to use that.

"Check, one two, one two, check. This is Point Alpha-Romeo Six, does anybody copy over?" William asked out loud on the radio.

"…We hear you Alpha Romeo Six, this is Tiger Actual. Are you the one high command has been fussing about?" Answer came through the radio, that fact alone put a smile on William's face.

"Yeah, that's us. We need extraction, can you provide one immediately?" William asked Tiger Actual on the radio.

"Negative at the moment, our radar has shown anomalous activity around your point. We can't risk an extraction bird until our fighters finish their sweep of the area." Tiger Actual responded on the radio.

"Anomalous?" William cocked his eyebrows as he wondered out loud.

"Yes, it's been bothering us since the afternoon. Keep your eyes peeled for now and this channel on, we'll notify you when we send the extraction team." Tiger Actual further explained to William on the radio.

"Roger that, thank you." William said to Tiger Actual on the radio.

…Something anomalous in the sky detected by radar around their area? William hoped that it wasn't Sirens, but his mind couldn't help to think so, the Sirens would need a good reason on why they should deploy so far inland to Southern Ironblood because it's far away from the seas, and honestly, William couldn't think of anything around here that would catch their interest. Just in case, William took a small earpiece to serve as backup radio in case the one in front of him is unusable. He was busy setting the earpiece when Takeshi approached him after hearing the conversation between William and Tiger Actual, Prinz noted this but she opted to sit and wait for William's input on the situation…

"We're not leaving?" Takeshi asked William while he frowned a bit.

"Not now, the airspace isn't clear." William simply said to William.

"Oh god…of course, it must be them. They arrived too early!" Takeshi suddenly said with a horrified look on his face.

"Who is 'them', doctor?" William asked Takeshi with a narrowed gaze.

"The Sirens." Takeshi said to William with a low tone.

"…What?! What do you mean by that!?" William asked Takeshi with shock and disbelief mixed on his face, his fear was realized...

"I…I previously called them-"

Without any sort of warning whatsoever or any kind of signs William found himself grabbing Takeshi's collar and slammed him onto the brick wall with unrestrained force, Takeshi felt intense pain spread through his back and widened his eyes in horror when he saw William in front of him. William gritted his teeth, scowling as his right eye burns with outrage and the veins around his face surfaced due to him holding himself back from further harming Takeshi…What the fuck was he thinking?! Calling the Sirens to this location on purpose?! Did he try to get the entire population of this town massacred?!

"You dumb fuck! WHY?!" William basically asked the question while he shouted at Takeshi's face.

"Doktor, I would've blown your head off if you weren't so important to us…" Prinz said to Takeshi with murderous intent emanating from all over her facial expression.

"P-P-Please listen…to me! I don't know who to trust! Not…even the Sakura Empire could be trusted! My only option for safe haven was the Sirens!" Takeshi attempted to explain about the situation to William.

William growled as he threw Takeshi onto the floor harshly, these past two days were really bad for his blood pressure. Takeshi breathed heavily because he's been holding his ever since William suddenly slammed him against the wall, the possibility of Sirens invading the small town and massacring its civilians caused Prinz to scowl at Takeshi, and she's tempted to just murder a traitorous bastard like him…But he's the only one who could cure her sister and the other ship girls, so Prinz refrained from pulling out her Mk.23 handgun from her purse, instead she went toward Takeshi, pulled him up before she shoved him down toward the couch.

"…How did you even manage to contact them in the first place?" William asked Takeshi again after he calmed himself.

"Before my escape, I managed to get inside the Osaka lab that kept a Siren communication relay. With the right setting, you could contact them through there." Takeshi explained to William.

"Why Southern Ironblood, doktor? Why here?" Prinz asked Takeshi as she folded her arms.

"This is the place where I kept my research data, I have to retrieve it before I go." Takeshi said to Prinz.

"…Tell me you have that data with you, right now." William said to Takeshi while he scowled.

"Y-Yeah, here." Takeshi said to William as he pulled out his phone from his pants pocket.

"Alright…If that's the case, then there's a possibility of us getting attacked by them. That radar anomaly could be their aircraft, we need to prepare." William said out loud.

"What kind of ambush we should greet them with, kommandant?" Prinz asked William while she smiled smugly.

"…Simple yet memorable would do." William said to Prinz while he smirked.

…It took at least fifteen minutes to set everything up and prepare some gear in case they had to bail out from the safe house. In those fifteen minutes they thought up plans on what to do in case something occurs. William was then busy taking every explosive charge he could find within the safe house; he then worked around the safe house and planted the charges in very specific spots. Prinz emptied the armory contents and dumped it all in the living room, Takeshi was instructed to dim all the lights in the house with the exception of some that provided light for small hallways in the house…After a while William rendezvoused with Prinz and Takeshi in the living room, he looked at Prinz who just finished packing up a duffel bag.

"All set?" Prinz asked William.

"Yeah, any of those bastards whether they're human or not who get close to this house will face the destructive might of our booby traps…That being said, we also need to prepare ourselves. You too doc, come here." William said to Prinz then told Takeshi.

"I-I have to fight too?" Takeshi asked William while he pointed at himself.

"No, but in the event both of us can't protect you, it's better for you to have something." William said to Takeshi.

Takeshi shrugged as he approached William and Prinz, he looked at the wide selection of weapons sprawled on top of the table. Knives, handguns, sub machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, there's a lot of weapons he could choose. But unfortunately, Takeshi spent the twenty past years with books and research papers compared to entertainment media, so he has absolutely zero clue when it comes to weapons, all he knows is that the things in front of him are categorized as firearms.

"Pick what you like." William said to Takeshi.

"…I don't even know much about guns." Takeshi said to William while he grimaced.

"Okay, what do you want? Something light or heavy?" William asked Takeshi for preferences.

"…Light sound's good." Takeshi said to William after he thought for a bit.

"Here, P250 handgun. You find one of them, you point this thing to their face. It's only got twelve rounds, so don't use it unless you really have to, got it?" William said to Takeshi as he handed him the pistol.

"I understand." Takeshi said to William while he nodded his head.

"Prinz?" William asked Prinz as she inspected the weapons.

"This one looks fine." Prinz said out loud as she grabbed a G36C.

"G36C, a compact assault rifle. You want to use that?" William asked Prinz while he smiled a bit.

"Ja. My rigging will only be a hindrance in close spaces like this." Prinz said to William while she shrugged.

"You're right. Know how to use it?" William asked Prinz.

"I was hoping my dear husband would give me a crash course about it~" Prinz said to William while she smiled coyly.

"Since you asked so nicely…" William said to Prinz while he smiled.

So that's what he did, William taught Prinz on how to use the carbine in her hands. He taught her the basic layout of the weapon, the mechanism, how to hold the rifle correctly, how to reload it quickly, and more importantly how to use it effectively...It's a short five minute course, but Prinz quickly understood everything that William taught her, she slung the rifle around her as she resumed packing the other bags. Takeshi sat on the couch as he fiddled with his P250 which William reprimanded him for since he could very well accidently discharge a shot and potentially hurt one of them. After he did so, William walked toward the kitchen. He rummaged through the cupboard and found a pack of cheese crackers, he opened it, and started snacking as he watched the fields in the back through the kitchen window. William knew that sooner or later Crimson Cleanser would storm this house, and if that happens while Tiger Actual still haven't contacted them then they would have to escape on their own, but William hasn't contacted Tiger Actual to inform him regarding the situation with the Sirens because the communication could easily be intercepted without proper encryption…one which William couldn't guarantee right now.

…After around ten minutes the prediction became a reality, they could hear several cars approaching the safe house and that caused William to grab his G36C rifle with him before he joined Prinz who was already hiding beside the window with G36C in her hands. The full moon enabled him to see without night vision goggles, and William saw around five SUVs stopped by the side of the road in front of the house, several men dressed in various casual clothes with balaclavas came out of the cars armed with various firearms. No uniform, weapon being too varied, no tactical cohesion…It's positive that it's Crimson Cleanser.

"…They must be Crimson Cleanser." William said to Prinz in a low tone.

"Huh? I see some in the backyard!" Takeshi said to William.

William widened his eye, and he moved stealthily back to the kitchen, and he saw something that he wished he didn't at this moment. In the open field, there's around twenty figures marching toward the safe house. William would've thought this to be a second strike unit if he didn't notice that these figures were cladded in black metallic armor with crimson linings, red visors, and carrying unknown weapons…They're the same guys that William fought on that island when he rescued Eldridge, he felt that this situation went from 30 to 100 real quick…The Sirens have joined the party, things couldn't get any more worse!

"…It's those guys that I fought with when I rescued Eldridge." William muttered as he pulled the slide on his G36C.

"We are flanked kommandant." Prinz said to William as she kept monitoring Crimson Cleanser forces.

"Yeah, but the situation is perfect because the worst really happened…Prinz, execute plan D." William said to Prinz while he nodded his head.

"Plan D, jawohl…Doktor, come with me." Prinz said to Takeshi as she approached him.

"Y-Yes." Takeshi said to Prinz.

Prinz grabbed one duffel bag and handed another one to Takeshi, both of them went to hide in one of the bedrooms…William readied himself to execute Plan D, it's a plan they've made when the worst happens which is when both Crimson Cleanser and the Sirens attacked the safe house. The plan was to have Prinz escort Takeshi out into the car in the barn; they will wait there while William will be live bait for Crimson Cleanser and the Sirens. Lure as many as he could, have them enter the house if he has to, and hopefully Crimson Cleanser and the Sirens will fight each other instead of him…Shit, William thought it's a good plan, but right now he's feeling nervous as hell. But he shook it off as he went into his warrior mode, the one that Azur Lane always relied on. William stepped toward the window and showed himself toward Crimson Cleanser with the cockiest grin he ever wielded on his face, all of that while he inhaled deeply.

"OI YOU BUNCHA CUNTS! BET I COULD TAKE YOU ALL OUT BY ONE WHIP OF MY MASSIVE BALLS!" William shouted toward Crimson Cleanser.

TRATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!

Dozens if not hundreds of hot leads immediately fired at William who quickly dived to the floor in order to avoid the bullet storm, he quickly got up and went to the rear entrance of the safe house. William opened the door and he quickly aimed through his G36C's iron sight before he pulled the trigger, his rifle immediately spewed hot 5.56mm caliber rounds toward the Siren infantry who quickly dispersed to protect themselves. William hid beside the window as they returned fire with their energy weapons that produced high pitched energy ejection sounds, dozens of purple plasma bolts rained the safe house's rear side, and honestly William was bewildered that those guys hadn't stopped firing even fifteen seconds after he hid behind cover. William reloaded his G36C and he chose to wait until those guys stopped firing, one bolt went past the window and hit the wall in front of him which immediately charred the location it hit.

"Damn! Those plasma bolts still frighten me!" William muttered out loud to himself.

The Siren infantry stopped firing for a bit, William peeked outside and noticed that few were only around twenty meters away from him hiding behind a low stone wall. William took out a flashbang grenade and threw it high in the air, the grenade exploded and it blinded the group that was near William himself. He quickly appeared from behind cover and emptied his magazine at the group, the bullets hit them straight in the head and killed around three of them with headshots. It's good to know that bullets still work on them, the Sirens fired their weapons again, and this time William retreated from his current location. He blitzed through the living room, unfortunately that position was exposed to Crimson Cleanser forces, so they tried to gun him down. One bullet managed to hit William on the upper left chest area and despite the Kevlar protecting him, William still flinched heavily, he ran upstairs and leaned on the wall as he rubbed the spot where he's hit while he gritted his teeth to stave off the pain.

"Search for his body, Ronald wants proof that he's dead! If he's alive, we capture him!" William heard one man order from downstairs.

Ronald? Great, of course that motherfucker was involved with this! William also heard some footsteps and it's quite steely in nature. He watched the direction of the stairs and reloaded his weapon. This is it, he bet the entire plan to work right at this moment. If Crimson Cleanser and the Sirens won't get inside this house then it's all for nothing, and they might have to bail out under heavy enemy fire that could potentially kill all of them during the escape. That's why William would like to thin out the opposition first…Wait, they should've heard the energy weapon sounds that those Siren infantries used…Did they know and still went in? Man, Ronald really wants him dead that badly.

"H-Huh?!" One man said out loud.

"GAHK!" Sounds like someone being choked.

"Sirens!" Great, it's working!

"Unknown enemy! Fire! FIRE!" Another man shouted.

"Prinz, now!" William said on the radio.

William wrote that off as a plan that worked, he then moved to one of the spare rooms with a large window. He ran full speed towards it while he fired off his G36C at the window that caused the glass to crack, and William rammed through it then he fell from the second floor before he rolled on the ground. The SUV with Prinz and Takeshi inside rammed through the barn's rear door, turned toward William, and stopped in front of him. William quickly opened the rear passenger seat door, entered the car, and Prinz immediately accelerated the car out into the streets where several Crimson Cleanser members still stood beside their cars. Those men fired at the SUV that they rode which shattered the front alongside the side glass window, Prinz retaliated by pulling the pin for a fragmentation grenade before tossing it toward the parked cars, the grenade exploded which wrecked two of the cars and wounding few of the terrorists. It isn't over yet as the car is also under fire from several Siren infantry that skirted the safe house's low stone walls, the plasma bolts shattered the car's rear window and scorched the topside. Nevertheless, they made it out of the area.

"A little close there!" Prinz commented while she smiled smugly.

"Yeah, what matters is that this reckless plan worked…Probably should apologize to Erich for this one." William said to Prinz as he pulled out a detonator from his pants pocket and pressed the trigger.

PIIIIII PPP!

DUUUAAAARRRRRR!

The safe house was blown up by a huge explosion, and its remains rained upon the nearby area indiscriminately. The explosion took out everyone inside the house, and some that were too close to it. Fortunately, the SUV was already away from the danger zone by the time William pressed the detonator, William watched the house explode before he threw the detonator out from the car and rested himself in the passenger seat. Welp, that's one problem solved…

"Shame, that was such a nice house~" Prinz commented to William while she smiled a bit.

"Well, yeah. I feel guilty now." William honestly said while he smiled a bit.

"…Oh right, speaking of a house kommandant, you shouldn't stay in that bedroom all the time. Why don't you build your personal house? There's some spare land you can use, you know?" Prinz said to William.

"…I'll think about it." William said to Prinz.

Building his own house on the base? Why didn't he think of that before? Goddammit it would be great to own a house instead of his room back in the administration building, he could use a house especially since he didn't have one because most of his post high school years were spent in the military. A house two or three stories high, painted in a relaxing color, solid roof, mahogany furniture, comfy king sized bed, and a private armory…Oh yeah, William liked that thought very much. But then he remembered that he still had a job to do, William then contacted Tiger Actual using the earpiece that was still attached in his left ear.

"This is Tiger Actual, identify yourself!" Tiger Actual responded to the hail from William.

"Hey Tiger Actual, Point Alpha Romeo Six here...or what's left of it. Listen, we got confirmed Siren and Crimson Cleanser forces attacking us. We succeeded in escaping from the area at the moment, but we need immediate extraction!" William said to Tiger Actual on the radio.

"…Roger, we'll see what we can do. Where are you right now?" Tiger Actual asked William on the radio after he went silent for a bit.

"We're heading to the west while following the road to the southern border." William explained to Tiger Actual on the radio.

"I see. There should be a clearing around thirty kilometers away from your current position, just keep heading west for now while we prepare our extraction team…We also triangulated your signal and cross-referencing it with our satellite, we see you now riding an SUV. Don't worry, we got your back." Tiger Actual said to William on the radio.

"Much appreciated Tiger Actual, thank you. Anyway, just call me Knight from now on…Prinz, follow this road thirty kilometers to the west until we reach a clearing. That's where we will be picked up." William said to Tiger Actual on the radio then to Prinz.

"It'll take at least half an hour." Prinz said to William.

"Got it…Doc, you alright?" William asked Takeshi.

"That…was one of the most intense moments to ever happen…in my life." Takeshi said to William as he sat with tensed posture…

"Well, better savor it, and hope you don't have to be involved in that kind of action again in the future." William said to Takeshi while he smirked a bit.

…The rest of the drive was filled with silence other than the sound of the car's engine and wind passing by as Prinz drove the car over 60 KMH. William noted that none of the ship girls contacted his phone, and instead they contacted Prinz for any communication between them. Are they mad at him? Prinz assured William that the girls simply didn't want to interrupt William while he worked, so they contacted her. William wasn't convinced, but he chose to go along with her words. He stored his phone in his jacket pocket and rechecked every weapon and equipment, both of his G36C and Mk.23 are loaded and ready to fire with the equipment on his pockets ready for use. William looked and checked on the contents of the two duffel bags that they carried, the contents were filled with ammunition, some equipment, canned food, bottled water, and few first aid kits. These things would suit them well in case extraction fails, and they have to camp in the wilderness for some time, there's even blankets too.

"Knight, this is Tiger Actual! You got incoming bogeys!" Tiger Actual suddenly said to William on the radio.

Both Prinz and William widened their eyes, Prinz scanned for the road ahead while William tried to look upwards from inside the car with Takeshi being confused, since he didn't have a radio to know the situation. Unknown to the three of them a squadron of Siren fighter jets just exited from the purple portal above them and immediately went to attack the SUV, one of the jets launched its missile and hit the SUV straight in the back. The car was thrown off from the explosion, spun around uncontrollably, and hit a road fence before it stopped completely…William's head bumped hard into the car's chassis, Prinz pulled her face out from the deployed airbags while Takeshi sat unconscious somehow…

"Urgh…Prinz?" William asked Prinz then he groaned.

"I'm fine kommandant...What about the doktor?" Prinz said to William before she looked to the rear.

"…He's just unconscious." William said to Prinz after he checked on Takeshi's vitals.

William felt something trickling down his left cheek, something warm and smelled like iron…Yup, his head got busted again, and it's leaking blood. How many times has it been for his head to get damaged ever since he was in command of the ship girls? Probably three times, but still almost every deployment nowadays always awarded him with a wound or two…William looked at Prinz and noted that other than a sore shoulder due to the seatbelt she didn't suffer any external injuries, good. Just as he thought that he heard the sound of jets flying at low altitude, William and Prinz exited the car before Prinz noticed that Siren jets were going to attack once again. William opened the front passenger car door and dragged Takeshi out, if he dies then this entire thing would've been for nothing.

"That jet is doubling back!" Prinz said out loud.

"Deploy your rigging Prinz!" William said to Prinz.

"With pleasure!" Prinz said to William while she grinned.

Prinz immediately deployed her rigging and immediately filled the sky with flak rounds coming from her AA guns. The jets simultaneously dodged several of her shots, but one failed to and it exploded when Prinz's AA rounds penetrated it hard. The other jets scrambled to get into attack position but Prinz single handedly managed to hold them off, her rigging being semi-sentient were quite helpful in identifying and attacking the enemies outside her field of vision. She narrowed her gaze before Prinz even started aiming her main and secondary guns at the jets as well, the remaining jets were faced against a bullet storm coming from one ship girl, and all of them were either destroyed or crash landed. William's got no time to admire the scene that just happened as he's busy tending to Takeshi to make sure he didn't get hurt or something and hoisting two large duffel bags, Prinz approached them and took Takeshi before she shouldered him.

"Jets down…I'll bring him kommandant, let's get out of here." Prinz said to William.

"Agreed…Tiger Actual, this is Knight! We've survived, we'll wait near our crash location." William said to Prinz then to Tiger Actual on the radio.

"We see you, are you injured?" Tiger Actual asked William on the radio.

"Bah, nothing that a bandage couldn't fix." William said to Tiger Actual on the radio.

"Alright then. We got planes in the air; it'll reach your position in five minutes with fighter escorts. They are fueled to the brim so they can reach your base in one flight." Tiger Actual explained to William on the radio.

"…Wait, that would mean the plane you sent out is a cargo plane." William said to Tiger Actual on the radio.

"Ja, you're right. A C-17 to be exact, you'll be going with a Fulton Extraction." Tiger Actual said to William on the radio.

"Understood." William said to Tiger Actual on the radio while he nodded his head.

"What's a Fulton Extraction?" Prinz asked William curiously.

"A method of exit using a large balloon. It'll deploy high in the air with tether cable attached to us, a large plane comes in and snags the cable that will carry us with them high in the air. It's quick, so it'll work well with our situation, a helicopter would be too risky to land with those Siren jets around." William explained a bit to Prinz.

Yup, very handy when they need to bail out from difficult terrain where helicopters won't be able to land or get close to a horribly unsuitable combat zone. William had the training and experienced this technique twice over the course of his military career, the first was during Task Force Nimbus' first mission where they had to deploy deep into enemy lines to sabotage a staging area. The last time happened during a brief clash with Vichya Dominion where he and several men had to bail out using the same technique after being chased by an entire armored battalion…how did that happen you ask? Simple, shit happens during infiltration.

"Sounds interesting, it might be fun to try that." Prinz said to William while she smiled smugly.

"You're not scared of heights, are you?" William asked Prinz while he cocked his eyebrows.

"Nein, of course not." Prinz said to William in a confident tone.

"Then you're well suited for this." William said to Prinz while he smiled.

William was the one in the front so he put his left fist up and both of them stopped moving, that's because William just heard some strange noises from the sky and he looked upwards. There are several aircraft that passed on top of them, the aircraft was diamond shaped and had twin engines alongside stabilizer thrusters around it. It was painted black and had red linings, by now they already knew that it belonged to the Sirens just from that simple description alone. William had seen several of these aircraft back during the rescue mission for Eldridge, it's the Sirens' dropship which is larger than their insertion pods that they used for the beach assault…William and Prinz managed to hide in the nearby woods, and they stared at the dropships which moved toward the open field in front of them, whenever a transport moved into an open space then there's only one meaning for that action…

"…Those wankers have a lock on us, they're deploying their dropships. Tiger Actual, Sirens on site!" William said out lout before he reported to Tiger Actual through radio.

"We noticed Knight, why are there so many Sirens inland in this area!? No matter, we can find out why later. You need to hold your position no matter what, do you have weapons with you?" Tiger Actual asked William on the radio.

"Yeah, I have guns, and my friend here can fight by herself." William said to Tiger Actual on the radio.

"Gut, our planes will be there shortly! Hold on!" Tiger Actual said to William on the radio.

"Don't let them drop their troops, Prinz!" William said to Prinz.

"Jawohl!" Prinz said to William.

And thus, the fight began once more. William and Prinz were severely outnumbered, but Prinz managed to make it up by sheer firepower herself. The dropship was undeterred, however, as it returned fire with its plasma cannons. Prinz had to move out of the way in order to avoid the high intensity plasma bolts that exploded upon impact. She deployed her shields and made quick work of two dropships that harassed her by bringing them down with concentrated AA fire, one dropship fell down while burning while the other one split into two when Prinz fired her main guns at its center part and the AP rounds tore through the armor easily. Prinz noted that several dropships managed to land their troops, there were dozens of them in the area, and all were firing their energy weapons at her. She quickly redeployed her energy shielding while she furiously fired her main guns, secondary guns, and AA guns toward the approaching infantry and effectively pinning them down on the ground or outright murdered them on spot.

"Come on! More! That's the best you swine could throw?!" Prinz taunted them while she grinned maliciously.

PSIUPSIUPSIUPSIU!

Several purple plasma bolts flew from behind, and William swiftly dropped Takeshi behind a tree, he grabbed his G36C and started firing at several Siren infantry that managed to sneak on them. How did they get there? Prinz covered the frontline by herself, is it possible the dropships already dropped an advance party before? William couldn't think of another reason at the moment, what's important is that they have to survive this fight long enough for their extraction plane to arrive!

"Behind us! Prinz, you take care of them in the field, I'll handle the ones from behind!" William said to Prinz.

"Understood! Kommandant, here's my bag! You might want to use the ammo within it!" Prinz said to William as she tossed her duffel bag.

"Thanks, I'll definitely need it!" William said to Prinz while he grinned.

William opened the two duffel bags filled with dozens of fully loaded magazines for the G36C, time to get the party started on this holdout session! He furiously opened fire and didn't hesitate to go full auto at the approaching Siren infantry, he only had a large tree as cover, and he had to keep an eye out for any of them who tried to get in close and personal under the dim moonlight…William didn't know how long they've been fighting but so far he already wasted eleven magazines and probably killed dozens of them, that means 330 5.56mm rounds were already spent. The gun went click and William switched the gun with Prinz's, the barrel was smoking hot because William had been firing it nonstop. He reappeared and started firing once more when he noticed that there's only one of them left, unfortunately the distance between them is only two meters apart.

The G36C was immediately fired at the last infantry, but it grabbed William's gun with its left hand, the gun was snatched and thrown away by the Siren Infantry. William gritted his teeth as he delivered an unrestrained kick toward the infantry's knee which bent it backwards, the infantry howled in pain with a deep and raspy voice. William didn't waste any time delivering two hooks at its helmet which honestly pained both of his hands, it worked however as the infantry was stunned. William snatched the energy weapon away from the infantry, but the infantry took out its sidearm, an energy pistol. Both fired at the same time at each other but William's stolen energy rifle's bolt had quicker velocity than the pistol, so the bolt reached the infantry first and that caused the infantry's aim to miss. The misfired purple bolt, however, went to the ground near William and the explosions caused the plasma to burst which practically burned William's lower left leg. The sudden and excruciating pain of his flesh being burned by plasma is even enough to cause a veteran like him to drop into the ground, William even had to grab his injured left leg in the process in response to the pain.

"GRAAAHHH!" William couldn't help but to scream in pain from the injury.

"Kommandant! Are you injured?!" Prinz immediately asked by shouting at William.

"…Don't…worry about me! Just handle those things!" William shouted to Prinz.

"How's your wound kommandant!?" Prinz asked William, worry clearly laced on her tone.

"It's nothing fatal!" William immediately answered Prinz.

William gritted his teeth as he tried to stand, he successfully did and he limped toward the duffel bags that he left behind with Takeshi. William rummaged through the contents and took out a first aid kit, he took out a morphine syringe and proceeded to immediately inject himself with it. But he's unable to properly get a look at his lower left leg, so he refrained from performing a hasty first aid that could result in further complications. William injected himself with another morphine syringe to numb the pain further, he's going to need that second dose…It was one minute after that when William heard his radio blared to life again, it's Tiger Actual who contacted him.

"Knight, this is Tiger Actual. Our aircraft are on site, they'll drop a package for your Fulton Extraction on the field. Look for a flare in the sky." Tiger Actual said to William on the radio.

"…I see them! We'll…need some time to prepare!" William said to Tiger Actual on the radio.

"Understood, just make it quick." Tiger Actual said on the radio.

"Prinz! You have your shield barrier ready!?" William asked Prinz.

"Ja! I'll cover us as we prepare!" Prinz said to William.

Prinz finished off the last infantry by firing bursts of AA guns at it, she then went and hoisted Takeshi on her shoulder. William stood up once again and didn't feel any pain, that's when he proceeded to semi run following Prinz. He's still limping, his lower left leg felt numb, is it possible that the plasma also fried his nerve system? He certainly hoped not. They ran toward the direction of a small crate gliding down in the air with the parachute open and a red flare complemented its upper side toward the open field, the crate landed, and William immediately pried it open to reveal the necessary equipment.

"W-Wha?!" Takeshi suddenly said out loud.

"You're awake doktor?" Prinz asked Takeshi as she dropped the man.

"W-What's going on!?" Takeshi asked out loud.

"The Sirens are hunting us, I guess they won't let us get away that easily!" Prinz said to Takeshi.

PSIUPSIUPSIUPSIU!

"Shields, now!" William barked his order immediately when he heard those sounds.

Prinz quickly redeployed her shields and successfully blocked four plasma bolts; another group of Siren infantry appeared from the forest they just used as a holdout position. William quickly grabbed several harnesses out and went toward Takeshi, since all of them were wearing civilian clothes right now, the harness would need to be attached properly first and working in the dark was quite troublesome. William put on Takeshi's harness first, the man was surprised that William would forcefully put something on him.

"What is this!?" Takeshi asked out loud.

"Shut up and let me do my job!" William said to Takeshi.

"Kommandant, are you done yet!?" Prinz asked William.

"In a bit!" William said to Prinz.

"Hurry up because more of them appeared!" Prinz said to William when she saw several more coming out from behind the trees.

"Can't you fire your gun?!" William asked Prinz.

"If I do that the shield will get weaker! I purposely didn't draw as much power as I can into the shield!" Prinz said to William.

Prinz noted that these infantries were even heavily armed as at least two of them hoisting large cannon-like weapons with them, it fired plasma bolts so rapidly that she just considered them to be their heavy weapons specialist. Her shield could tank off ship grade weaponry, but even she couldn't be sure on how much it can absorb against energy weapons. William didn't know how the girls' rigging works but he better trusted Prinz on that one, he then grabbed the second harness and went to equip it on Prinz. He carefully put on the harness around her body and his arms had to go in between her legs, while he put on the harness his right hand briefly grazed Prinz's crotch.

"Ahn~! What are you doing at this critical time you pervert!?" Prinz asked out loud to William.

"I can't help it alright! Sorry!" William said to Prinz as he fastened the harness.

"Are you ready yet, Knight?! We have reports of several Siren jets approaching your position!" Tiger Actual asked William on the radio.

"There, all set!" William said to Tiger Actual on the radio.

"Roger that, our pilots are swinging back now!" Tiger Actual said to William on the radio.

"Here we go! Get ready! Hey doc, you're scared of heights?" William said out loud before he asked Takeshi.

"A bit?" Takeshi answered William with an unsure tone.

"You're going to hate this one then!" William said to Takeshi while he grinned in anticipation.

Come on, who doesn't like the feeling of being suddenly hoisted from the ground by a large airplane? Pretty much that's just him who liked the thrill…William deployed a large balloon from the crates that attached to the cable their harness is connected to, the balloon flew high in the air with blinking lights to indicate its position. The Sirens didn't notice it, however, as they focused their fire on Prinz while they slowly advanced toward them, the shield already soaked up a lot of damage and the color had changed from blue to light blue. Prinz noted that means the shield integrity already decreased greatly from the constant rain of plasma hitting it…William heard the sounds of low flying aircraft and he grinned in preparation, Takeshi cocked his eyebrows in wonder before he saw a large C-17 plane fly at low altitude and passed above them.

"Wait! Is that a-. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Takeshi screamed loudly as he was hoisted into the air.

"WOOHOOOOO!" William followed suit.

"KYAAAAA!" Prinz was the last one to get hoisted and the shielding immediately disappeared.

The Fulton Extraction was successfully executed, the three of them flew along with the C-17 before the cable was slowly retracted into the opened rear hatch of the plane. The process took a while and William could enjoy the night view for a bit, he saw two Typhoon Fighter Craft fly past the C-17 into the direction they've been, and he concluded that those two jets are going to tackle the Siren fighter jets. The process finally completed and Takeshi, William alongside Prinz were brought inside the plane. The personnel within the plane closed the rear hatch, the personnel immediately helped them discard the harnesses and one of the soldiers on board approached William.

"Welcome on board meine freunde! Command was adamant that you be brought out of there at all costs!" The soldier said to William.

"Thanks for the help soldier, we're glad to be out of there." William said to the soldier as he sat down on the seat.

"For sure…Well then sir, we got a long flight ahead, better make yourself comfortable." The soldier said to William.

"Yeah. You got any med kits around here? I need to patch my leg and my head." William asked the soldier.

Just then the internal light went on and everyone could see William's appearance, the left side of his head was bloodied red, and some of the blood got on his left shoulder. William proceeded to check his legs, and he widened his eye while winced at the sight. It looks like the plasma bolts managed to char a good chunk of his lower left leg just above the ankle as it was black as a charcoal and smelled like a burnt BBQ. The soldier and several others near them recoiled at the sight, sure it didn't look that fatal, but William looked hideous nonetheless.

"Scheisse! You looked horrendous! What happened sir?" The soldier asked William.

"Siren energy weapons, we're going to need better armor for our soldiers." William answered the soldier with a tired smile.

"Ja, you're right…Oi, hilf ihm." The soldier said to few men beside him.

They immediately went to work on first aid for William, the man allowed himself to relax as he rested his weary body on the passenger seat…Prinz watched from his right side, and she took out her phone, she snapped the view to serve as a memento. She then frowned sadly before she sighed, they managed to get out alive and successfully complete their objectives. Now she has newfound respect for those who fight in ground combat, especially the infantries. She couldn't help but to wonder what would happen if one of those plasma bolts managed to hit the mark? Would she suffer the same damage as William? Either way, Prinz put the thought aside as she looked on the bright side. They're on their way home, with the cure maker and all of them getting out alive…Prinz considered that as an absolute win on their part…

.

BRAK CRASH!

A man flew off and caused the coffee table to break, his left eye bruised as he stared fearfully at the man in front of him. Ronald Mitchel himself walked toward the downed man who came back to their hideout, empty handed, and three quarters of their forces are dead…Ronald crouched down as he grabbed the man, raised him up before he threw the man toward the wall. The man was about to recover when Ronald choked him one handed with his right hand, he stared at him with murderous gleam in his eyes.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Ronald asked the man.

"…He…got away, boss…" The man said in a croaked voice.

"You told me you will handle this! You told me you have a plan! You told me you'll bring him to me! And what do you give me? You absolutely fucked this up! I lost men! Time! Resources! They're not cheap nor easily replaced!" Ronald said before he threw the man toward the floor.

THUD!

"…B-Boss! Please! We…wouldn't have failed if-" The man said to Ronald.

"If what!? If he's so easy to kill?! There's a reason why Azur Lane was so desperate that they released that man from the prison! If he's that easy to kill then he wouldn't even be a leader on Task Force Nimbus! He wouldn't be the famed Nimbus Knight himself! I trusted your judgment, your plan sounded good in using numbers to corner him!" Ronald ranted at the man.

"We would…succeed, if the Sirens didn't get involved with this!" The man said to Ronald.

Ronald stopped himself when he heard that the Siren were involved, so that means it's a three way skirmish? Well well well, who would've thought that the Sirens would be on the playing field? Ronald certainly didn't see that coming that he started to laugh, he found it hilarious that those diabolical beasts would be the one that fucked up his plan! Oh, months of planning, and now he has to prepare another one in order to get to that William Blaze…It could take weeks or even months before he could come up with another plan and finding a gap that he could exploit for fuck sake, but Ronald found this amusing…It would seem that the Sirens always appeared in the place where William headed. Their secret facility in the Pacific Ocean and now here? They're also aimed to kill him off huh?

"Interesting…Well in that case, I'm going to forgive you." Ronald said to the man.

"…Y-You will?" The man asked Ronald with an unsure tone.

"Oh yes I would. I believe in second chances, ever since I took a bullet to the head. Thus, I was given a second chance to live, and I believe you should get one too…For now, contact Anton. I want to make a few things clear with him, and that our Plan A has failed. We should use a more 'direct' method now, William himself could wait. If we succeed with Plan B, he himself would come running." Ronald said to the man while he grinned maliciously, he eyed a file on top of the table behind him with the name 'Serina Blaze' on it...

---

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

…This one is a Prinz centric one and laced with combat, boy at least they succeed in extracting Takeshi out. Yup, thanks for the reviews, follows, and the favorites! This one took longer than expected, a few things came up, but I'm glad it's done in the end. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, I always welcome a review. Also, I probably should start naming these Siren Units such as those black scaly creatures, the armed infantries, and even the dropships for easier identification…If any of you have a suggestion feel free to PM me alright? I'll take your suggestions into consideration.

Until next time!

- Dasmara