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.

47. Bellerophon

"…I am not proud of you, in the slightest" Lockwood said to Ronald while he frowned.

"Never asked for it, boss" Ronald answered while he shrugged.

"Your inadequate preparation cost me a lot of manpower, safe haven and asset. You antagonize Azur Lane needlessly while we should be keeping low profile, your last attempt is what really tested my patience" Lockwood said to Ronald while he scowled.

"What're you gonna do? Kill me? You can't, you need me to deal with Blaze" Ronald said to Lockwood while he smirked.

"You're tied to this movement, Mitchell. Your action represents all of us" Lockwood said to Ronald while he scowled.

"Chill it up boss, the public wouldn't know about this. This is all calculated very carefully, you don't have to worry about our image in the slightest" Ronald waved off Lockwood while he smiled sardonically.

"You don't have any intention on following my directions, do you?" Lockwood asked Ronald.

"…Look, I appreciate what you did for me and my team. But I've made it clear, you do your job with the whole revolution thing? And we handle William Blaze. That's all we care about, as long he dies, we'll be in your little revolution. And how we handle it, it's up to us" Ronald said to Lockwood while he grinned menacingly.

"That's not how it works. You're becoming a liability recently, you and your team…I did give you freedom to move as you wish, but not like this…This cannot happen again, or I'm going to do something drastic to stop it" Lockwood warned Ronald while he scowled.

"I don't believe you can, honestly" Ronald said to Lockwood while he folded his arms.

"Watch your tongue, I gave you a second chance, I can take it away so easily…Do you understand?" Lockwood's tone is steely enough that Ronald subconsciously raised his guard.

"…Alright alright, you made your point…So you summoned me here just to lecture me?" Ronald relented before he asked Lockwood.

"No, I do have a work for you" Lockwood said to Ronald.

"Just before our modification? Come on, can't you send someone else?" Ronald asked Lockwood while he frowned.

"I would if I could. I need you and your team to steal a medical device that will be needed for your modification" Lockwood said to Ronald.

"Ha? I thought we don't need to do anything else other than taking the serum?" Ronald said to Lockwood while he cocked his eyebrows.

"And you think that will be completely safe? No, you will need this device. Go get it so the Quetzalcoatl and his team would have easier time in doing the procedure, we need five of you to remain looking human after all" Lockwood said to Ronald.

"That's not what I read, what's going on here? Why there's a change in the procedure?" Ronald asked Lockwood while he frowned.

"The device you're about to recover is a nerve dampener, it will suppress your body's nervous system to the point you'll feel numb to the mutation that the serum will cause. The expected pain threshold is so great that you will need unhealthy dose of painkiller to suppress it, we can't do that while your body mutates in real time. We still don't know what caused William Blaze's mutation to be safe yet highly successful, while we have to make do with what we got. That's why, to avoid potential side effects or disabilities, we will want your body to be free of chemicals or drugs as much as possible. After that, you can use the dampener to completely cut off your pain receptor, should improve your performance in combat later as well" Lockwood explained to Ronald.

"…Hmmm…I see. The details, I need them" Ronald said to Lockwood.

"Go ask our doctor on the med bay, he'll fill you in on it" Lockwood said to Ronald.

Ronald just nodded his head and left the room, he walked away from Lockwood's office while he rubbed his chin. Why do they need this right now? So close to their scheduled surgery? Its suspicious, but what Lockwood said makes sense. He has read the modification plan; it doesn't include painkillers due to how unstable the serum they'll be using and those are the purest form which cannot be produced easily. The lesser ones will be distributed to some chosen people, and it will heavily mutate them to go beyond normal human in their appearance…Still, Ronald couldn't help but wonder, how do they manage to get the knowledge to do this in the first place. It seems, the team that created this serum and the one that mutated William are quite different despite coming up with what basically same mutation procedure. If their team has someone from William's team, they would've received the same mutation as William and that will really even the ground. Unfortunately, they couldn't find the core members who understand the procedure, especially the brain behind the serum itself. No one within Azur Lane know who she is, they only refer to her as Ms. A...Ronald is certain that it's a codename of sort, or it could be her real name but shortened. And no one know where she is, as if she just disappeared when her work was done, like a ghost…

Lockwood read the report from the doctor in charge of the med bay within this submarine, he was explaining about the nerve dampener device. It's still a prototype, developed by an Ironblood scientist before the war to make their infantry a lethal fighter who could keep fighting despite losing their limbs or something. It will really help with the mutation, but there's another reason why Lockwood want this device. This device has to be installed on the nape in order to work effectively, while it cannot be used to mind control someone, Lockwood has other plans for it…Ronald has been quite unhinged lately, he's becoming more of a thorn than an asset that he wants to put a leash so he'll know his place. With little modification, the device could be modified with explosives that could completely sever someone's head if activated. That should give Lockwood control over him when Ronald gained more power from the modification, the only hard part here is to make sure those devices are installed without Ronald and Gemini Squad realizing its true purpose. Lockwood is a quite cunning man however; he already thought a way that shouldn't arouse too much suspicion. His phone ringed, and Lockwood noticed the caller's name as 'Calhoun'

"Yes, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Lockwood asked Calhoun on the phone.

"Just want to inform you that things are proceeding as planned. It won't be easy fooling Berlin's security, but we could take the capital in one swift strike and followed by Hamburg" Calhoun said to Lockwood on the phone.

"Perfect. No window of error here, Calhoun. One mistake and we're toasted" Lockwood warned Calhoun on the phone.

"I understand the risk. I'm a just a bit concerned about supply chain, we would only able to hold the cities for maybe a week without resupply. And we both know that those krauts aren't going to take this lying down" Calhoun said to Lockwood on the phone.

"…We don't need to worry about that, let's just say that there's a lot of…collaborators sympathetic to our cause on the Eastern Europe. While it's not exactly Nazism, they still see Ironblood's political stance quite close to one, those fascist fucks. It's the perfect reason to support our strike, I've received backchannel communication indicating that they are ready to send supplies and freedom fighters to usurp control over their countries" Lockwood informed Calhoun on the radio.

"You've thought this through" Calhoun commented on the phone.

"Of course, I want this to succeed you know? And you don't need to worry about help coming from Iris, they won't do a thing after the beating they received during the war" Lockwood said to Calhoun on the phone.

"I'm aware about that one, their army and navy are a big joke. They could barely secure their territory; I doubt they could send enough to help Ironblood if they ever request assistance" Calhoun said to Lockwood on the phone.

"In fact, I could guarantee that my men will be able to help holding the southern border in case Sardegna tries something stupid. But given what we know about their senate, I doubt they'll help the Ironblood willy nilly. I have to deploy them first though" Lockwood theorized to Calhoun on the phone.

"That's great news. And our people?" Calhoun asked Lockwood on the phone.

"Let's just say, London and Washington D.C. won't have time to mind their neighbors" Lockwood said to Calhoun on the phone while he smiled.

"I'll make sure we succeed; Golden Dawn will mark the start of our revolution" Calhoun remarked to Lockwood on the phone.

"Azur Lane and Crimson Axis are putting their guard up; little did they know that we already grabbed them by the balls, for years…" Lockwood said to Calhoun on the phone while he smirked.

"Ashville also said that the Siren device they reverse engineered from South Africa is ready for use" Calhoun informed Lockwood on the phone.

"Perfect. Everything is going well; I can't wait to begin mhmhmhm…" Lockwood said to Calhoun on the phone before he chuckled sinisterly.

.

The V-22 that carried William and the others touched down in the clearing of a forest, the engine turned off and the occupants disembarked from the aircraft. In front of them, on the rows of trees near a river with waterfall, there's a large wooden cabin with three people in front of it. Two man and one woman, they waved slightly at William, Lena and the ship girls. William couldn't help himself but to smile widely when he saw them, it's really like a long-awaited reunion. All of them knew back then, before they went separate ways, that they might not be able to contact one another so easily due to their assignment and responsibilities. But, given the threat they're facing now, they could meet and fight together once again. Last time they met, they are green rookies, vastly trained but lacking real experience. Now? Each and every one of them are battle hardened veterans, who survived frontline hell with their own ways…The three of them approached William and Lena, they stood before each other while Lena and William removed their helmets.

"…Nice eyepatch, Will" The man with medium blonde hair and red eyes commented while he smiled slightly.

"Thanks. Fashionable, isn't it?" William said to the man while he grinned.

The man is known as John Bastion, a big man that rivaled William in size before his enhancement. Among the Bellerophon graduates, this man is a specialized demolitionist who knows his way around explosives, ranging from firecrackers to nuclear bombs. Anytime the team ever need an explosive or two, John knows just what to use. Despite being a big man with extensive knowledge about blowing stuff up, he is among the kindest and a quiet man one could come across. He prefers not to speak if he couldn't help it, but that doesn't mean he's necessarily so anti-social that he won't join a conversation, he's more like a man of few words. Like William, he hailed from Britain and actually the son of a renowned lumber company. However, instead of preparing himself as the heir of his father's company, John decided to enlist due to his patriotism, for king and country. He was motivated to after he saw his countrymen fighting terrorists and private militaries that's spreading dissent, he wants to make a difference to the world by lessening the amount of suffering caused by such people.

His kindness and quiet nature don't mean he's a pushover in combat, because like with the other graduates, this man could massacre an entire platoon by himself. He likes to rock a light machine gun as his primary weapon and the one trusted by his friends whenever they need someone to operate rocket, grenade or missile launcher. His experience and expertise would ensure him to cause maximum damage, and he does that without ever losing his composure. William was reminded of himself when he first met John, though William have become less quiet compared to John who kept his silence. Despite that though, both are good friends in and out of battlefield. John listened to William when it comes to combating the enemy, William always willing to refer to him whenever he need an informed analysis regarding demolition job. While they haven't really fight in a normal battle until their graduation, William is confident that John could still do his absolute best. Surviving until now means he has faced both human and Sirens, he is truly battle proven.

"What's your new callsign? Cyclops?" The man with shoulder length black hair and topaz eyes asked William while he grinned.

"One eyed knight is a lot more charming, in my opinion" William said to the man while he smiled.

And his name is Liu Graham, a man who hails from Dragon Empery yet migrated to Eagle Union when he's a child. His father was a marine and his mother is a tailor, unfortunately his father lost his life during a military operation which leave his mother a widow and him fatherless. Both moved to Van Coeverden and lived there barely able to pay their bills and daily necessities, Liu worked hard to support his mother by working as a mechanic since high school. But one day, he was scouted by an army recruiter, explaining to him about Bellerophon Program. At first, he refused, but he relented when the man explained the benefit and incentive that he will receive by participating in the program. The money would help them out of poverty, giving his mother a chance to open up tailor shop so she can continue doing what she loves. Liu actually hates the military, they're the reason why he grown up without a father. It is quite ironic that despite hating them, he is among the best soldier a military could have. That's why he always mentioned himself as a warrior, never a soldier. He has some notable trouble in following orders, especially if he doesn't like who's in charge over him. But give him his fellow Bellerophon graduates, and he'll more than willing to follow them into pits of hell.

Regarding his specialty, Liu is a true master when it comes to machinery and metalworks. Not only that, he is the best driver among them, given his familiarity with automotives. But above all, he has learned to be an absolute beast of a gunsmith during his years as Bellerophon cadet. While he doesn't always come up with the greatest idea regarding his specialty, one had to admit that he could make many things possible. He is the only man William know so far that has ever attached a grenade launcher into an M249, who modified a Dragunov with custom twenty rounds magazine while slapping an underbarrel MP9 in case the user has to contend with hostile in close quarter, and who actually created a revolving low profile crossbow that could continuously fire six bolts in rapid succession. He was the constant source of headache for Lena back during her days as team leader, his loud mouth and sass often landed them in hot water with higher ups and other people, but she will always pick him up as a member of her team despite all of that. His skills and accuracy with sniper rifles or DMRs are invaluable, not to mention his capability as field engineer that helped them out of tight spots so many times in the past.

"Yeesh, do you even know that short callsign is absolutely recommended?" The man said to him while he blanched.

"Still, what the hell happened? Not even your last military operation gave you such permanent scar?" The woman with pink hair tied neatly in pig tails and blue eyes asked William.

Ingrid Desmond, some called her literal angel in the battlefield due to her role as a combat medic, especially combined with her calming aura and her top class beauty. While not exactly categorized as the best doctor in the world, she definitely suited very well in handling wounds and battlefield injuries. That, and her beautiful suture skill ensured that wounds would close up well enough that it won't leave a noticeable scar in a glance. Ingrid is the youngest daughter of a certain Eagle Union politician family, she got everything she ever wanted in her life. Beauty, fame, wealth, she always has everything handed out to her. Originally, she is 'that girl' who's basically the prom queen and highly contested by high school jocks. She doesn't have alpha bitch attitude, but she did have some misguided views of the world due to her privileged backgrounds and the crowd she hanged around with. One day though, she was involved in a hostage situation and she caught a stray round during the rescue operation. She was saved from bleeding out by a female medic commando operator who stabilized her condition and eased her until the paramedics arrived to bring her to the hospital, Ingrid watched the woman fought off three terrorists by herself with her shooting and CQC skills before helping her. That incident sparked a massive change within her, Ingrid wants to follow her path, to help save lives either by helping her allies and victims, or prevent others from taking someone's life.

She studied hard, losing the crowd she used to gather with due to focusing on her education. Ingrid doesn't really mind, she gained some new friends after all, those who aren't influenced by her wealth and status. She graduated high school and immediately enlist to be an army trooper, but she was pulled to the side by a recruiter who encouraged her to get in the Bellerophon Program. The incentive is practically useless to her due to her family, but she kept them safe for emergency so she joined Bellerophon Program for other reason than money. During the four years of training, Ingrid was invaluable due to training accidents and unforeseen circumstances. Many recruits were injured or fallen sick during training, she was among the ones who worked hard in stabilizing them or outright saving their lives. After their graduation, Ingrid was stationed at Central HQ for some time before reassigned to Pacific Front to fight the Sakura Empire. She was the one who treated some of William's injuries during his very early days in Task Force Nimbus, her skills ensured his scars are barely noticeable. After the great war ended, Ingrid temporarily relieved from duty as she went to get a master degree on Royal Island while keep training in her spare time. She received a summon while she worked on her thesis, and when she saw the papers? She knew she'll want to join on the hunt.

"Shite happens" William said to Ingrid while he shrugged.

"Sorry Will, I can't help you with that one, no matter how much I want to" Ingrid said to him while she smiled bitterly.

"Nah, it's fine Ingrid. You're a doctor, not a fantasy healer. Besides, this eyepatch becomes a recognizable trait of mine these days" William said to her while he grinned slightly.

"Fufu, I do admit you look more dashing this way" Ingrid complimented him while she smiled.

"Hands off my man, Ingrid~" Lena playfully rebuked her with a hand on her hips.

"Alright alright, you have enough rivals already, if I guess correctly" Ingrid replied while she smiled knowingly.

"…Will, fuck you" Liu said to William in hushed tone.

"…Mate, it's out of my control" William said to Liu in hushed tone.

"Still, fuck you" Liu said to William in hushed tone with emphasis on his middle finger.

"Hah…Still no progress with her?" William and Liu walked to the side before he asked him.

"This job isn't making it exactly easy…But, I did invite her for a picnic yesterday" Liu said to William while he frowned.

"Great going, what did she say?" William asked further.

"…She's not saying no" Liu said to him while he cringed.

"But not yes either" William said to him while he cocked his eyebrows.

"Hah…She is quite workaholic and an achievement hunter; I told her everything would be sorted out after you and Lena arrive. Yet she insisted on preparing everything, it's like she never sees me that way, or have time to think about anything else" Liu said to William while he frowned and folded his arms.

"Maybe your timing was just off. Try again, I'll back you up this time. At least you've manned up now, I remember how much of a pussy you are when we were cadets" Oh yeah, everyone knows Liu has a massive crush on Ingrid.

"Well, being attacked both by Ironblood and Sirens maned me up I guess" Liu said to William while he shrugged.

"You have been making a name for yourself out there" John commented as he approached the two dudes.

"A power like this has to be used, it felt wrong to stay idle while possessing it" William said to John while he stared at his armored right hand.

"How does it feel?" John curiously asked the man.

"What do you mean, John?" William returned the question.

"You are mostly unmatched in combat; how does it feel to be even beyond that?" John asked William while he folded his arms.

"…Nothing different, you can rest easy. I am not invincible, and I'm very much aware that one mistake could still cost me my life. And I never want to use this power just so I can be a tyrant or something" William explained to John while he frowned.

"Good to know it didn't get into your head" John said to William while he smiled.

"And so, they're the ship girls? They are cuties, all of them" Liu commented as he gazed at the KANSENs approaching Helena and Ingrid.

"Yep" William simply responded to him.

"Which one you've fucked?" Liu asked William.

"That's classified" William said to Liu.

"Boohoo, what a killjoy!" Liu said to William while he smiled wryly.

"I like to keep that a secret, and keep your hands off them" William warned Liu while he frowned.

"Ayy, getting territorial now bro? Its fine, its fine…I only have eyes for her anyway" Liu assured William as he stared at Ingrid.

"…Well, let's get in and sort ourselves. That long flight is quite exhausting" William said out loud.

Everyone entered the big cabin; they placed their belongings in their respective rooms before everyone gathered on the living room. They seated themselves on the sofa, the wooden chairs, on the floor near the fireplace or standing while leaning on the wall. They introduced themselves and the Bellerophon Graduates catch up for a bit, talking about what they have been up to for the past few years. William told them about what's going on with Task Force Nimbus fiasco on Operation Dradetheus, how the investigation quickly turned into a bloodbath, how the infighting happened and how they massacred their fellow soldiers. They even brought the documents that detailing the events, the interviews and timeline for the event. They matched his words with the documentation, and they found out that the official documents were altered that hid the war crime Azur Lane committed. It's not like they didn't trust William, they just want to know the truth.

"…Okay, let me get this straight. Some cunts committed war crime on Iris, you are tasked to investigate them and they turned it around by having your entire task force trying to kill you for being alleged traitor…All that just because you find the truth and help the Ironblood survivors" Liu summarized to William.

"Pretty much what happened" William said to the man.

"We are operating so close to one another, we're on the same continent and this happened! This is why I never trust those fucks above me!" Liu said out loud while he gritted his teeth.

"Hm, at least they got what they deserve" John commented while he nodded.

"And Carville? What about him? Will what happened to you will repeat with us?" Liu asked William.

"No, if he's planning to betray us, he won't go this far. Lena and I have been working with him for quite some time, he's trustworthy. Someone like him would gain nothing from fucking us over" William said to Liu.

"Calm down Liu, I know you have no trust for them, but you can trust us and our judgement" Lena said to Liu while she frowned.

"…Fine, but as soon as I find something that can link to any backstabbing, I'm not going to forgive any of them. It's enough with Will almost losing his life and you losing your little brother" Liu said to Lena while he frowned.

"Agreed…Shangri-La, are you done compiling the intel we have?" Lena asked the bespectacled woman.

"Yes ma'am. As of the latest information we got, Crimson Cleanser has been sighted all around the world but their prime hotspot seems to be in Europe and Northern Africa. None have discovered additional base ever since the one we found on Libya, intel suggested that they either has very limited amount of available base they could use as a command center, or they are constantly on the move from safehouse to safehouse. That would explain their low profile nature, how their personnel seemingly appear and disappear almost without a trace. However, so many people coordinating would leave a very noticeable trails, no matter how hard they're trying to cover them up. Based on their numbers alongside the support from our rogue army and navy, it would seem they are preparing a direct attack with full force consisted of contemporary military arsenal. Their targets? There's high potential to be major cities on Europe. Berlin, Hamburg, Rome, any major cities of significant importance and populace could be their primary target for such amount of force" Shangri-La explained as she shown her tablet view using the hologram projector.

"And they expect not to get detected? You can't even fart without the government knowing about it these days" Liu said to Shangri-La while he folded his arms.

"Exactly. Intel indicates that Ashville's and Gibson's armadas alongside Calhoun's army are gathering on South Africa for their supposed training exercise, they didn't change course despite we know them going AWOL and finding hard proof of their affiliation with Crimson Cleanser. If their targets are major Europe cities, then why they traveled south to the end of the world? It could be a diversion, or they are preparing something over there before they commence their attack. If we are going to start our hunt, we have to start somewhere. We have three options at the moment, the first is to hit and search for additional information on the armadas and army gathering on South Africa. Second, we go to Europe and sniff out potential signs of incoming attack. Or third, we can comb Northern Africa for further intel that could lead us to our target" Shangri-La explained further.

"Hitting those sons of bitches on the South Africa could massively mitigate their attempts to cause damage" William commented while he rubbed his chin.

"You always want the straightforward route" Lena said to William.

"Hey, the simpler it is the better. That said, open warfare with our rogue forces is not on our priority list. We are here to hunt and murder Ronald Mitchel and his Gemini Squad…That leaves two options here, and both sounds like finding a needle in a haystack which is inside a barn" William said out loud while he frowned.

"Right. But I believe we have more information that should help us decide, continue on Shangri-La" Lena said to Shangri-La.

"Yes. If we look to comb North Africa, we can start with an identified base on Algeria. Recon suggested that the base is a former Iris Libre rally point, it has modern military grade fortifications and enough supplies to sustain a large army. But the best part of all? Despite the base being filled with terrorists, some Azur Lane officers has been spotted within the perimeter. They all dressed in casual clothes, but our recon team managed to identify them. They are members of Major General Lockwood's personally led division before his escape, their presence among Crimson Cleanser only serves as hard proof that they are working together. They could be our entry to further gain information regarding Lockwood's personal hideout and possibly, intel on Ronald Mitchel's current location. If the intel on Libya is true, they are trying to turn him and his fellows into something like Commander William, and they will need a facility for that" Shangri-La explained for everyone.

"Yeah, sounds great, but how do we know those people really know about this whole thing? Lockwood could just keep them in the dark" Ingrid asked Shangri-La.

"Because of this man, he's our best bet at the moment" Shangri-La said to Ingrid as she zoomed in on a picture of a man.

The picture is a Caucasian man with crew cut hairstyle, he looked stern and serious type. His name is Gilbert Briar, Shangri-La explained that this man used to be Antonio Lockwood's second in command. When the investigation revealed his division is still involved with Lockwood while fully knowing about what he's doing, they were considered traitors and disarmed immediately by Iris Army. Some of them however, managed to escape and currently in hiding. His appearance on that base indicates that they're about to make their move soon, they would want to capture Gilbert for interrogation. Seeing him as the former second in command for Lockwood, there's no way he is going to hand over information so easily. But Lena is quite confident in her interrogation skills, she looked forward to give it a go later. William rubbed his chin as he thought over the plan, go to Algeria, heroic entry into the bad guy's base, secure Gilbert, interrogate him and find out everything he knows. But if this is a bust, what then? What else they could count on? They have unrestricted access to any intel about Crimson Cleanser currently known by Azur Lane, they will need backup plans.

"If this fails, then what?" William asked out loud.

"I do have a backup plan in mind, but I'd like to not resort into this if I could, given that our time and resources are limited" Lena said out loud.

"We're all ears" Ingrid said to Lena.

"…If Briar is a bust, we'll do a witch hunt. Given that Lockwood hasn't been caught so far, that mean he is quite good at hiding and that means being paranoid. Only some people would know where he is, but if we find him, we'll also find Ronald…The theory that has been going around in intelligence division is that Lockwood hide in the open waters, possibly using a submarine and they are a real bitch to find. One of the leading ideas is that the rogue submarine that fired SLBM to Celestial Garden is the one which he hides in, it's the perfect guise but revealing themselves like that isn't a smart move" Lena revealed to everyone.

"Except if he's ready to show himself to the world" John said to Lena while he folded his arms.

"Yes, correct! We can assume from this that his preparations are complete, since he's not afraid of getting caught or anything. But hunting for submarine is not going to be easy nor possible for us, though we did enlist the help of Iris and Sardegna navy to comb Mediterranean Sea so we'll leave it to them. Our priority is still Ronald or Lockwood, and if we can't find them, we'll let them come to us with a classic bait…Helena, Sheffield, both of you could serve as our bait in case this don't work out" Lena said to Helena and Sheffield.

"Hold up, we're involving them?" William asked Lena while he scowled.

"I know you want to keep them safe and sound, but they're our best bait for this. I don't like this as well, but we don't have the luxury of choice at the moment" Lena said to William while she frowned.

"Lena, if what we heard is true, this could lead to a complete fuckfest real quick and I mean it literally" William said to the woman while he frowned deeply.

"Commander…It's okay, we want to be useful on your mission as well. We can be the needed bait, and I promise to escape at the first sign of trouble" Helena said to William with serious expression.

"And if they force us into a corner, we won't go with them without resisting until our last breath" Sheffield added as her lips curled downwards slightly.

"Hey, we might be the one who kill them first. I'm itching for some retribution after what they did to me and the others, don't overly worry about it" Hipper commented while she scowled.

"…I hope we doesn't reach that point. Lena, if we're involving them, we can't afford any gap in the plan" William said out loud as he balled his hands.

"Naturally. But that's our last resort, we don't know what they are cooking up other than what we know this far so we'll like more info before making risky decisions…Okay, Shangri-La, show us the schematics and local intel for that base" Lena said to William then Shangri-La.

Shangri-La nodded her head and then shown the base schematics alongside the connected intel, everyone downloaded the files to their phones and started reading while discussing on the plan of action. It's a large base, enough to house an entire regiment. While the area is only bordered by thin metal fencing with barbed wires, the same can't be said for the base main areas. They have deployable metallic cover for their base defenders, watchtowers, anti-infantry machine gun turrets, anti-armor guns and SAM launchers. It is well fortified and not even the Bellerophon Graduates could take them on without a very elaborate and good planning…the observer in the area kept monitoring the people within the base, they confirmed that Gilbert Briar would leave in around three days to an unspecified location after meeting with some other rogue officers. If they nab him now, they could alert Lockwood on what they are trying to do. They could try planting a bug on him, but the risk of being discovered mean they could lose his trail in the wind. It's a hard decision to make, but they eventually agree with the surefire route, kidnapping the man for interrogation.

"Hey Will, come with me for a bit" Liu said to the man.

"Where to?" William asked as he followed Liu.

"Workshop, I'll show you something good" Liu said to William while he grinned.

"…What did you create this time?" William wondered with dread on his tone.

"Ah nothing too cursed, don't worry about it!" Liu replied while he grinned.

Liu and William entered their safehouse's workshop, a large garage like area filled with tools and equipment. Liu pressed a button on the wall which opened several hidden compartments on the floor which extended out weapon racks, it's their workshop and armory in one. From knife to anti-tank launcher, they have everything and enough ammo to be fired nonstop for a day. Liu skimmed toward a specific rack before picking up something from it then tossed it toward William who caught it, the man widened his eye both in astonishment and disgust. In his hands, is an M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle which is his primary weapon during the late stage of the war, but it has underbarrel grenade launcher attached to it. William is by no means a gun nut, he will say that gun modification is an art that can be appreciated well. But what he's holding right now, it feels morally wrong to do.

"Told you, nothing too cursed. Consider it my reunion gift" Liu said to William while he grinned.

"This thing is supposed to be used like a DMR" William commented while he pursed his lips.

"Hey, based on the recording I saw, you're using it like an assault rifle anyway" Liu reasoned while he shrugged.

"…You're right. But still, a grenade launcher…" William said to Liu while he squinted his eye at the attached launcher.

"…I can give you the customized drum magazine for-" Liu said to William.

"No! Not even Call of Duty goes that far!" William said to Liu while he frowned.

"Tarkov did, and people never berate them for it…or was that a different game?" Liu said to him while he folded his arms.

"…Well, I'd say I appreciate your reunion gift, but I got my rail carbine and that thing shred armor like paper" William said to Liu as he handed the M14 back.

"Really? Can I get a look?" Liu placed the weapon back in the rack before he asked William.

"Here, be careful with it" William summoned his carbine and handed it to Liu.

"Hoho…Hmm…Two hundred 9mm rounds, accelerated with the railing on the barrel, the kinetic impact alone would cause so much damage but the penetration ability itself is staggering. It looks a bit weird, especially with this Frankenstein P90 styled magazine. For a carbine, this is almost at rifle size, but has the right weight especially that it fired small cartridge so recoil should be minimum…Can I test fire it?" Liu commented before he asked William.

"Sure" William said to Liu who immediately aimed at their target on a side of the wall with thick bullet trap behind it.

TRATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!

"…Energy whirling with each fire, hologram sight on the gun, minimal recoil which I think is because of Vector styled recoil absorption system. So, in short, this is an overpowered SMG with LMG capacity. If this is our new standard issue weapon in the future, I am not complaining in the slightest…Well, except for the battery issue, this thing must've used a lot of energy" Liu said to William as he handed the weapon back to him.

"It does have internal battery that should have enough power for one thousand rounds, but with armor like mine, it can draw some from the energy capacitor directly. My mum mentioned that my gloves have power connector that can channel energy to power something, I figured Lena has the same feature as well" William briefly explained to Liu.

"High powered rail firearms or plasma weapon, which one do you think is the best?" Liu asked the man before him while he smiled.

"Rail firearms, it could get a job done quicker than a plasma would. The projectile is also a lot faster, making it nearly unstoppable except with the hardiest armor or energy shield. But plasma has a more convenient storage and overall, more damaging than a bullet, however they are hard to maintain and mass produce compared to what we have today" …

…Both Liu and William widened their eyes, because the answer came from non-other than Sheffield who stood to their side with her usual platonic face. She glanced around and noted that the room is full of weapons, she like the fact that they are well maintained and can be freely customized if one got the tools. William noticed how her eyes glimmer in excitement for a split second, he couldn't help himself but crack a smile. Sheffield is a firearm enthusiast, a hobby she like to indulge whenever she's not performing her duty as a maid. It is why Belfast suggested the gun range as a place to bring Sheffield to when they are on Eden, and he would make her the one in charge of their armory on the base if she doesn't have her duty as a maid.

"Mr. Graham, your presence is requested by Ms. Desmond. She waits for you in the kitchen" Sheffield relayed her message to Liu.

"Wonder what she wants, thanks for telling me Sheffield!" Liu answered while he grinned as he semi run to the kitchen.

"…He's like a puppy in love" Sheffield commented as she watched him exited the workshop.

"Heh, he is one, figuratively speaking…See anything you like, Sheffy?" William asked Sheffield while he grinned.

"I prefer handguns, but that M14 looks unique" Sheffield pointed at the M14 that Liu modified.

"Ah yeah, that one was modified by Liu…It is wrong functionally speaking, but it's not impossible. I never thought about slapping one on the gun I used before the war ends" William commented as he grabbed the rifle and handed it to Sheffield.

"…Given that the rifle is used for medium range engagement, a grenade launcher would be quite useful. However, it is weightier and slightly mess with the weapon balance" Sheffield said to William as she inspected the rifle.

"I used one like an assault rifle, a grenade launcher would really help…Oh well, I'll bring it back home later, he worked on it for me so the least I could do is to hang it above the fireplace" William said to Sheffield as he received the rifle from her.

"Isn't the gun supposed to be antiques or family rifle?" Sheffield questioned his decision.

"Normally, but the antique I have is an M16A4. Not exactly the standard when it comes to one" William said to Sheffield while he shrugged.

"True…Master, there's something I want to say. I am the only maid who could service you when we're hunting our target, please do exercise some restraint" Sheffield bluntly told William.

"O-Oh, yeah, don't worry…I wouldn't want to overwork you" William said to Sheffield while he smiled.

"Thank you for your consideration. So we don't disturb others, I shall await by the waterfall behind the cabin should you require me tonight" Sheffield said to William.

"Outside huh, alright. Don't worry about being cold, I'm sure my embrace would warm you up~" William grinned as he teased Sheffield.

The woman however only stared at him with flat look before turning around and leaving the workshop, William left stunned for a bit before he cringed and facepalmed. That was corny, he should've known that Sheffield is not the flirty type yet he still gone and done it anyway. The man only shrugged before he walked out as well, not even slightly aware at the fact he missed the subtle blush on Sheffield's cheeks as she turned around from him…William took off his armor, switched to a navy blue hoodie and black jersey before he walked to the living room where he found Helena and Shangri-La seated by the sofa, both watching the TV which is playing some videos from Youtube. Oh yes, they do have internet access and the fact they don't have to share the connection caused its speed to be high at all times. Helena shifted her body on the sofa and patted at the spot beside her, William immediately gets the cue and he sat down beside her. The man watched the video, which turned out to be a livestream, of some blonde V-Tuber with red eyes claiming to be the most serious and cool while grinding for materials on Minecraft. Even from a glance, that claim is bullshit, because she is quite cute but that would just earn anyone the infamous 'get some help' quip.

"Commander, Helena? I'm going to get some snacks; do you want anything?" Shangri-La asked William.

"I'll be fine with anything" William said to Shangri-La.

"Me too" Helena said to Shangri-La.

"Okay" The woman said to them before standing up and walked to the kitchen.

"…Ufufufu" Helena chuckled at the V-Tuber's antics on screen.

"You enjoy watching her?" William asked Helena.

"I do, she's so confident and composed. I kind of want to be more like her" Helena said to William while she smiled.

"You already are, you're not as meek as you are before" William noted as he leaned on the sofa.

"I am?" Helena questioned him as she tilted her head.

"Yeah…I remember how nervous and brooding you are most of the time. But you changed, especially during our fight on New York. You're more confident and decisive, still shy in some parts but that's the Helena we know" William said to Helena while he smiled.

"W-Well, thanks to you, W-William…You believe in me, so I want to prove you right. I want to be more useful, to be more able to do much more" Helena admitted to William.

"And you did. There's a reason why you're chosen to be here, you radar could help us out and you are a skilled gunner" William said to Helena.

"I-I'll definitely do my best, William! I know how important this whole thing to you, so I want to help you with everything I have!" Helena proclaimed with serious face.

"I know, I'm glad to have you by my side" William said to the woman as he patted her head.

"Eheheheh" Helena giggled as she closed her eyes while she smiled…she enjoyed being patted in the head.

"Look at you buttering him up" Shangri-La commented as she sat down and placing several bowls of snacks on the coffee table.

"I-I-It's not like that!" Helena protested at Shangri-La as her cheeks reddened.

"Helena, it's an open secret anyway, no need to get bashful" Shangri-La said to her with half closed eyes.

"Was I that obvious?!" Helena asked Shangri-La as her cheeks reddened further.

"Everyone and their dogs know" Shangri-La confirmed with matter-of-fact tone.

"Hauuuuu…" Helena curled herself on the sofa to stave her embarrassment.

"…I'm missing something here" William said to Shangri-La as he glanced toward her.

"I'm sure Helena will tell you what later~" Shangri-La said to William while she grinned slightly.

The three of them then cozied up and watch the livestream while eating the snacks consisted of doritos, crackers and jelly candies. However, William received a message from unknown number. The message asked him to go to a secluded place before they will call him, saying that there's something important they need to discuss with him. William is immediately put on alert; he doesn't like the direction this is going. The man contemplated on telling his friends about this, but he decided not to so he won't spook whoever is trying to contact him. William excused himself, going out of the cabin, walked sufficient distant away before he checked his phone. He's still within range of the local signal broadcaster on their cabin, he should be able to receive a call. Just as he thought that, the unknown number called him as if they know that William is already at a secluded place. William apprehensively stared at his phone screen before he slid the green prompt to answer the call…

"…Who's this?" William asked the person on the phone.

"A, just call me A" A slightly lazy sounded feminine voice answered him on the phone.

"If you're trying to be mysterious, it doesn't really help" William said to A on the phone.

"I have my reasons...Our time is quite limited, so let's get straight to the point, Commander Blaze. All you need to know right now is that I am involved in the project that turned you into a male KANSEN, I am very much aware of what we are doing is basically unleashing a tantalizing bait for greedy people in charge. I'm sure you already known of the fact that some countries are trying to make more of you, they want super soldiers and they want it badly" A explained to William on the phone.

"Where are you going with this? I know of that already" Yup, the recording he saw when he rescued Serina already told him about it.

"Easy, I want to clear any potential misunderstanding first. Me and my team are not responsible for their independent attempts, we have no affiliation with whoever are trying to do so both on the said country and Crimson Cleanser attempt" A said to William on the radio.

"Hold on…You know which country are trying to do this?" William asked A on the phone as he squinted his eye.

"I'm sure you can already guess, which country on earth that will most likely do this kind of thing and would stop at nothing to gain power" A said to William on the phone.

"Yeah…I think I can already guess…" William said to A on the phone as he scowled.

"Others have tried as well, but they immediately scraped the project the moment they find something they shouldn't meddle with. Only one continue to do so, we all know who they are" A said to William on the phone.

"And that something? What makes the other countries stop their plan?" William asked A on the phone.

"I'll answer that another time, commander" A bluntly dodged the question.

"…Hah…Okay, if you are not involved, how did they manage to perform the procedure? Why do they know how to do it?" William sighed before he asked A on the phone.

"Any scientist who knows about genetic engineering and biology should be able to perform the procedure, it's nothing new in the science community. Everyone wants to create male KANSEN so they can produce even more by having ordinary women or even KANSENs to bear their child, they are sure that their genetics will pass on to their offspring and thus creating superhumans. Quite unfortunate for them that High Commander Carville basically forcefully relocated the ship girls to your base, so they can't be turned into baby factory. Especially that the procedure so far only produced monstrosity…Every human they attempted to transform has turned into inhuman creatures, they are still people biologically speaking, but disfigured enough to be a monster. In order to facilitate their newfound power, their body mutates so it won't cave in from the strength they received" A explained to William on the phone.

"Wait…Then why do I retain my human form?" William wondered as his eye widened.

"It's because of me, commander. I am the reason you didn't turn into a monster…You can feel them, don't you? Constant lust and the feeling of holding a great power?" A asked William on the phone.

William is about to answer that is not true, until he shut his mouth and think his answer over…Lust, he did feel lustful and has been more forward with his desire lately. He used to feel some hesitation when it comes to romancing multiple girls, but there's none of that lately. However, that can be caused by his mindset change after the battle on Furushima, it doesn't necessarily mean the side effect of the transformation. The feeling of holding a great power though, yeah, he can definitely confirm that one. The man has been pondering whether he should have the power he has, it makes him distant, makes him question his humanity. He can sense the fear in his fellow soldiers' eyes as he stood to their side, an unnatural freak cladded in cobalt armor who can wreck Sirens apart with ease. William has to exercise greater restraint since a careless move could cause damage now, like holding someone's hand, or grabbing stuff gently so he won't crush it. It's the first thing he had to learn after his modification, to control his new body.

"…I am a lustful man even before the procedure so I can't say for sure, however I can say that I am holding a great power…I know that no man on earth could compete with me physically and win" William said to A on the phone.

"The monster I mentioned? They are sapient, but they are consumed by their lust and drunk with power. You are one inch away from turning into them, if not for my work" A explained to William on the phone.

"What…the experiment is always destined to fail?" William asked A on the phone as his eye widened.

"Yes, if we rely purely on the serum. Even if they use your genes to forcefully mutate someone, they would still be a monster…You don't turn into one because of me, commander" A revealed to William on the phone.

"…How?" William asked out loud in disbelieve.

"Would you believe me if I say fate intervened directly? That you have been blessed by miracle? Chosen by the divine?" A questioned William on the phone.

"…That doesn't make any sense…" William said to A on the phone.

"Ufufufufufu, true. I was just partly joking; the answer is a bit more complex than that. Unfortunately, our time is up so I will have to go for now. You will definitely face these mutants in the future, commander. You should exercise great caution and kill as many as you could, we can't have these mutants change this world by contaminating humanity's genetic pool with their crudely mutated genes. Believe me, your effort here could actually prevent the emergence of new species that could slowly eradicate humanity. I will reveal more of this when the time is right, commander. Maybe even meeting you face to face…Well then, I bid you good day and good luck on this quest…One more thing, please keep this information between us for now. Don't let anyone found out we talked, not even High Commander Carville" A said to William on the phone before she hanged up.

…The man sat on the grassy field as he stared into the distance, his mind racing a million times faster than usual as it processes the information that he just got…He was handed a revelation that he is fated to be a monster, he is always been one and the only reason he doesn't look like one is because of Ms. A's work. How did she managed to know when every other scientist in the world couldn't figure it out? William remembered Lucas' words on Terranova, that the lead scientist in charge of the program suggested Lucas to put the plan to mutate humanity on hold…Could Ms. A was the lead scientist he mentioned before? The man shut his eye as he anguished something, his children that's being conceived by his lovers. What will they look like? Will they be monsters? Or will they have human appearance like him and the girls? Apprehension sets in and the man shook in uncertainty…Countless what ifs crossed his thoughts, and he find himself losing his grip at the thought of his children being the monster she mentioned…William even started doubting himself, will he become like them once his supposed puberty stopped?

"…Fuck!"

BHUK!

SKRAKAKAK!

BHUUM!

William got up then punched a small tree which fell from the sheer force of his jab, the man looked at the tree and reminded himself that no human could do this. Only he and ship girls equipped with their rigging could, and in normal human eyes, they are indeed monsters that are wearing human skins. Their strength is otherworldly, and the only reason they aren't chained and turned into lab rats is because of this war with the Sirens. In peaceful times, they will immediately be branded as a global threat and will be swiftly neutralized so the people won't worry about them attempting to replace humanity…The KANSENs and him existed in the right time, that's their only shield from being viewed as a threat. So, can William still call himself human? No, he isn't one anymore. But not being a human, doesn't mean he could just easily toss aside his humanity. No, he'll need to keep holding to it at all cost, it's the only anchor he has from acting in survival mode on this situation. He needs to believe that the people won't be so quick to get rid of him, not when he's still useful. But this revelation has seeded something deep within him, to search for a way that so humanity won't fuck him over once the war with the Siren ends.

…Is he and the others just pawns in a game played by the governments and ruling elites? Is he just a piece in a board game which is controlled by Lucas? He is the one who proposed this after all, to turn him into a male KANSEN. Are the ship girls fate the same as him? The file mentioning that their concept appeared at the same time as the appearance of Wisdom Cube on this world, not even the information regarding the truth of Wisdom Cube exists on the documents about the ship girls. Or maybe, not even those who encountered it know exactly what the cubes are, why they appear before humanity and their true potential. Still, there's a lot going on behind the scenes and William found his trust for Lucas slowly diminishing. If he really just using him for power play to consolidate his rule on Azur Lane further, William won't hesitate to make sure he answers for it. The man doesn't appreciate being used, especially for a scheme he doesn't agree with. William knows that the people in charge, the governments, the elite members of society all has their agendas. Bluntly speaking, they want to dominate others and make the world run as they see fit, according to their beliefs.

…So, does saving humanity feels worth it now? Knowing the potential end of this route he's traveling on at the moment? If William saved the world, or Siren ending their experimentation on humanity, life must go on and people will have to find new enemy to unite their hatred or discontent. Ship girls could easily be seen as a weapon of war that they will no longer need running around, they need to be locked up in the 'armory' and stored until they are needed once again. Or, they could be immediately used to fight other humans, the governments and militaries witnessed how effective they are as a weapon during the Great War. Either way, something that has the firepower equivalent of a warship but at the size of human could easily be seen as a terror subject. All it need is one good nasty narrative and the savior could quickly be turned into a martyr, to be disposed of or chained to eternal prison and their humanity renounced…To be treated as less than human beings…to be nothing but a tool…a means to seize more power…The light vanished from William's right eye, it's a real outcome from this war and not even Lucas would be immune from being affected. Even if he doesn't, how many of his followers would believe in his mindset?

Still, William chose to believe in him and the rest of general populace, at least for a while longer. However, the seed has been planted, doubt already settled within his heart. Like it or not, William is now wary for every move they are going to take in the future. As soon as this hunt is over, William will return to ALASUC and immediately prioritize to ensure their survival. He'll get to the bottom of this, he'll ensure on who he could trust and follow into the uncertain future. If there's no one, then he'll be that person…William glanced toward the fallen tree before he walked back to the cabin, his resolve burns stronger than before to get rid of Ronald and end this clusterfuck of a mess with the terrorists. Just before he entered the door, the man regulated his breathing and put on cordial face, he doesn't want the others to catch on with his inner turmoil and ask unnecessary questions.

"Oi, William" The man heard a familiar tone calling him.

"Hipper? What do you need?" William turned around and saw Hipper walking toward him on the corridor.

"I was told by Akashi that your armor needs to be calibrated, where did you put it?" Hipper asked William.

"In my room. I don't think anything's wrong with it" William said to Hipper.

"Right, until something happens in the field because of your amateur guess. Now follow me, I want you to see something" Hipper said to William.

The man shrugged before he followed her, both of them entered William's room and Hipper quickly get to work. She took out her tablet and connected wirelessly to it, that resulted in bunch of codes running across the screen as the tablet read the armor's operating system. The screen then shown TB who asked Hipper on what she would like to calibrate or work on, Hipper immediately listed some things like circuity, servos and rework of his armor HUD. TB affirmed Hipper's request and both of them work together to do what Hipper want to modify, William watched them going back and forth regarding their work as he realized that TB does have a part of herself within his phone. It's some sort of backup, if she is destroyed or compromised, it'll send a signal to a safe backup which will regain her full consciousness and report on what happened to her previous incarnation. It's like having a spare clone which she can inhabit anytime in case of her demise, that way she will never truly die. ALASUC is building a mainframe on the base which can function as TB's primary body and memory storage, it'll be easier for her to fall back to her mainframe in case his phone or armor got destroyed. Not to mention, her clones could work to some capacity as an AI with limited capability.

…Does her clone in his phone recorded or know about the conversation between him and Ms. A? There's a high possibility that it does and William is in dilemma whether he should address it or not, if she didn't know this could prompt her to look at it and if she does know she can possibly leak it. While William has talked about her regarding secrecy, he's still not sure where she stands regarding information sharing. The man decided to stay silent for now, he doesn't see any signs of TB knowing about his conversation and he did tell her to confirm things if it's sensitive and crucial enough to require his input…Five minutes passed before Hipper nodded her head and confirmed the report she got from TB, the woman then turned toward William as she pressed something on the tablet. Suddenly, the armor he put on the floor glowed bright blue continuously for ten seconds before dimming. William has his eye widened in confusion, he stared between Hipper and the armor back and forth with questioning gaze.

"What was that?" William asked Hipper.

"I overloaded your shield emitter to create constant protective energy barrier, Yuubari only made the system bypassed the time limit before recharging your shield" Hipper said to William.

"Why did you ladies put a timer on anyway?" William asked Hipper further.

"Your armor uses a capacitor for everything that require energy, think of it as a battery or power supply of sorts that harnessed the energy from your Wisdom Cube so it can be used for everything else. Your OS, shielding, jet thrusters, life support and even the energy required to move the exoskeleton all stems from this capacitor. It needs to divide its energy to all of these systems, allocating sufficient amount with each of their use. For example, you can turn off your shielding so you can get additional energy needed for your jet thruster, or you can limit the function of your jet thruster so you can get stronger shielding. The timer we put to delay your shield charging once it's depleted is for the capacitor to load enough energy to fully charge your shield without sacrificing the energy required by other modules, that's why you can't fly when you use the emergency shield charge because the power for your jet thruster is allocated to your shield module" Hipper explained to William while she folded her arms.

"Huh, I see. But why don't you draw the power from the Wisdom Cube directly then?" William asked Hipper.

"Huh?! You're a genuine dummkopf! Do you have any idea how this works?!" Hipper semi yelled at William who shrunk a bit.

"Uh, not exactly" William said to Hipper while he cringed.

"Clearly that's the case! Wisdom Cube alone does not emit energy, it needs to be drawn from it! That means putting a figurative needle to suck the energy out of it and since it contains unimaginable power, we can only draw miniscule amount from it without the extractor get overloaded and blown up! You bypass that and the capacitor? You'll essentially be triggering a catastrophic explosion which will engulf and erase your very existence!" Hipper chided him as she pointed at his face.

"…That sounds bad" William said to Hipper while he cringed harder.

"Understatement of the century! You better listen to my words when it comes to all this! And don't mess things up without consulting me first!" Hipper said to William while she pouted.

"Got it, I won't" William promised to the woman while he smiled wryly.

"Commander? Are you done with Hipper?" Shangri-La asked William as she showed up on the door.

"I think so, do you need me for something?" William asked Shangri-La.

"Yes, please have a look at this. We just received this information straight from Lieutenant Commander Redwood" Shangri-La handed William her tablet.

Nora from Central HQ? William knows her, they talked with one another but their relationship could be described as acquaintance at best. The tablet shown several pictures of objects within a certain facility, ranging from armor pieces to disfigured human inside a tube full of clear liquid. Report indicated that this was taken on a sizeable Crimson Cleanser research facility on Libya, William already knew about this base but this report was created after Azur Lane team finished scouring and analyzing the base's content. The pointers on the preface revealed that they found half completed power armor, research for stun weapons to neutralize KANSENs even with riggings and the disfigured human test subjects as the result of the mutagenic serum they made. William blanched in disgust, these people's lust for power is absolutely sickening and the fact they're trying to use the KANSENs only made his blood boil. He took several seconds to calm himself down, then he handed the tablet back to Shangri-La.

"Send the file to my phone, I'll read it thoroughly later. But this clears the picture even more, we know exactly what we're going to face in the future" William said to Shangri-La.

"…To think they want us this badly, and for nefarious purposes" Shangri-La commented as she uncomfortably rubbed her own left arm.

"…My father once said that the cardinal rule of man is that in every ten men, at least one of them will try to rule over others. He wants to shape the world as he sees fit, to ensure his name will go down in history…This desire doesn't always mean it's a bad thing, but seven deadly sins are constant concepts that follow our everyday lives. Most men aren't strong enough to not cave to their temptations, thus why this kind of thing happens. Why men who lusts for power exist, why they dare enough to act" William said to Shangri-La while he frowned.

"Even you, commander?" Shangri-La asked William while she frowned.

"Even me…Yes, I'm your leader, I have my own way of thinking and what I consider to be the best route to walk down. I'm a human…No, close enough to one and well, I got humanity in me which means I'm not free from the threat of falling to that side" William said truthfully to Shangri-La.

"I guess that's why we're with you sir, we'll make sure you keep walking your path" Shangri-La said to him while she smiled.

"Exactly…Right, we should finish our preparation today so we can immediately leave tomorrow morning" William said out loud as he stood up.

"Um, everything's already prepared, sir. Ms. Desmond already stocked the aircraft and equipment are already packed" Shangri-La said to William.

"…Now I understand why Liu can't make any move…" William muttered to himself.

Things proceed uneventfully for the rest of the day, everyone gathered one more time during night to finalize their plan over dinner. After that, they went to sleep. In the morning, they assembled near the V-22 and that's when William and Lena find out that Ingrid, Liu and John all have their personal powered armor or suit. The three of them agreed to keep quiet to see William and Lena get surprised, and it worked as both of them has their jaws dropped. John is encased like a titan wearing full body dark blue armor, it is classified as medium armor but it's certainly has overall better protection than William's Serpent armor. It doesn't have jet thrusters, but has shield gauntlets that can cast an energy shield field with adjustable strength and size, it really makes him a walking tank. Liu has sleek black power suit; it lacked any glaring features appearance wise and it doesn't even have protective plating, but it has camouflage module installed which allows him to blend with the environment like a lizard. Ingrid's light green power suit is specialized for combat medic, it has extendable grapple claw to drag someone to cover and surgical drone stationed on her back. The three of them also has energy shield module installed, so they're capable of taking some punishment themselves.

"…Any comments?" Ingrid questioned both Lena and William while she grinned.

"You three looked great!" "Science, bitch!" Lena and William answered differently before they looked at each other.

"Hahah! Damn straight! I'm looking forward to see how well we'll work together, especially with suits and armor we equipped!" Liu said out loud as he boarded the V-22.

"Play it right and we're unstoppable" John replied to Liu.

"Yup! Now come on, we got a tight deadline for this one!" Ingrid said out loud before she boarded the V-22.

"…You ladies ready for this?" William asked the ship girls near the rear hatch.

"Definitely!" "Yes!" "No question needed" "Completely ready, master" Hipper, Helena, Shangri-La and Sheffield answered him.

"Good. We're about to fight humans, but still, end them all thoroughly. These radicalized bastards could only learn through pain" William said to them while he smiled…menacingly.

.

Midday, somewhere in Southern Algeria…A large convoy consisted of MRAPs and open top jeeps are approaching their destination, a large base formerly belonged to Iris Libre. The main gate opened wide and the convoy entered the base before slowly parking in the large courtyard, the vehicle occupants immediately disembarked. The men and women on the convoy are consisted of militias, irregulars wearing various equipment and weapons they can get their hands on. Among those people however, there's several Azur Lane Officer who looked around and spoke with the militia's representative. Not too long after, someone came out of the command center and he's the Bellerophon's primary target. Briar shook the officers' hands, they talked with one another for a bit as the militias dispersed and do whatever they want to pass the free time they got instead of taking up guarding position. Unbeknownst to all of them, on top of the sand mounds to the south of the base, there's a sniper and a spotter in position for the last three days. Both of them covered with sand camouflage sheet and they are practically invisible to the naked eye, unless they move erratically or someone scan them with thermals.

"…Wallace, visual on target" The spotter notified the sniper with name Wallace.

"Eyes on it. Five officers in total, including Briar" Wallace said to the spotter.

"Mark em" The spotter told Wallace as he zoomed in with his rangefinder.

"Marking…" Wallace switched to his wrist console.

Few pushes on his console and it reactivated the mini fly shaped drone which was parked on the command center's rooftop, the drone flew down and hovered around leg level between the officers. Wallace controlled the drone to shoot something from its supposed mouth, an adhesive with miniscule signal emitter module which attached to the officer's pants. After marking the five of them, Wallace redirected the fly to hover above them, switching on the built in mic in the process. The man then makes sure that the emitter works as intended and he synced it to Azur Lane Battle Network, where it also synchronized with satellite view which resulted in the officers being highlighted with red squares on screen despite them entering the command center.

"…Fordo" Wallace called the spotter.

"What?" Fordo asked Wallace.

"Target marked, switch on your listening device" Wallace told him as he switched his on.

"Got it" Fordo replied as he did just that.

"…Lockwood is not going to like it, you promised to deliver fifty containers today"

"And fifty crates are what you're going to get, but Azur Lane has their eyes scanning all over earth so delivery would be a bit hard to do. That's why it's thirty now and twenty tomorrow morning, they'll arrive before the weekend, we will still have time"

"We still can't just freely move the timetable as we see fit, this is a global operation and one delay here mean we could as well fuck over the expedition guys. Those containers need to be on that port within three days"

"Please understand, Colonel Briar, things aren't easy especially with Iris and Sardegna patrolling Mediterranean Sea…I have sacrificed some corvettes just to distract them, I don't have any more ships to use as bait"

"Hah…Right, so tell me that the men from Libya pull out safely"

"Unfortunately, they didn't make it. Azur Lane has a special strike force which hunted down our surviving personnel near the border, all we found there are their corpses and burning vehicle husks"

"Goddammit! It's like they are reading our every move!"

"You know exactly why this happen! Azur Lane Intelligence Division do not fuck around! Especially after we lost everyone there and our connection to high command!"

"They know the risk…"

"Colonel, if I may be so blunt. We want to behead Crimson Axis in one fell swoop, why do we leave the Sakura Empire alone?"

"They'll be dealt with soon, because we want those nazis dead first. Once they are dead and the headquarters' finished, Sakura would not survive our next plan…or was that the plan?"

"They are the evil fucks that need to be cleansed, I can't wait for this world to be united under one order"

"Hey hey, I think we have to worry about Azur Lane next. We need to take out both"

"Once we succeed, Azur Lane won't be a factor in equation anymore. Don't you hear? The governments of Eagle and Royals are planning to dissolve them, to return the military back to their home state. Hmph, guess they are downright afraid of further Siren attack and not having enough men to throw at them. There's been talk of that action before but the attack on New York was the perfect catalyst, those people don't want THEIR soldiers to fight for others, they are only interested in their own survival"

"Typical! How can those blind bastards ever get a seat in the government offices?! Then again, this won't happen if those people aren't in charge!"

"Well whatever, when both Azur Lane and Crimson Axis no longer exists, we build our own organization and I don't think the world would be able to resist this offer"

"Haha! Not with a nuke being pointed at their heads!"

"Nah nah, nuke would be the least of their worries"

"Oh?"

"We have something even more deadly?"

"Oh yes, nowadays we can turn an entire civilization back to stone age in the flip of a hand. They just don't want to do it due to their own reliance of technology, modern humans can't even survive for five minutes without internet"

"…Ah! I see where this is going! Those who do not want to join can simply be reduced to cavemen! Ingenious!"

"What about world economy and societal order?"

"Societal order? The best thing about this revolution is that we're going to tear it down and rebuild it over!"

"Hey, who gives a shit about world economy when we got our own? We can produce stuff ourselves, fuck the rest of the world. Look at how it is going for them! The rich got even richer and the poor stays that way! Everything is corporatized! People own nothing and they are told to be happy about it! If we manage to turn around the world order to establish a new one, those rich fucks are the first to go. We'll ensure that the new system would be fair, no monopoly and everyone got fair chance to carve their own path"

"Not to mention making a fresh start, the old order will be irrelevant for us. No more petty wars, no more bullshit. We fight Siren to the last if we have to"

"I agree with all that. We are sitting on the best chance in modern history, we cannot fuck this up…Alright, putting all of that aside for now, we need to make sure the Alboran Sea remain open. I don't want Azur Lane or Crimson Axis interfering with our submarine route"

"My battlegroup already secured it; their cover is still intact. But it won't be long before Azur Lane find out about them, we need to find alternative route quickly"

"…Lockwood just messaged me, we got additional job"

"More? We're already quite busy with this supply chain"

"This is big. You know William Blaze? The ALASUC Commander who's a freaking superhuman? He's able to gain power without turning into a freakshow, the team that modify him has something that prevent that. We are tasked to catch the one responsible and force her to work for us"

"Her?"

"Her real name is locked up tighter than state secret, no one know who she is. It's like she's a ghost"

"Then how do we know she's real?"

"Because we do have something. She is called Ms. A, she has brown hair and wore glasses. Not even Azur Lane Intelligence Division got a profile on her"

"That doesn't narrow it down in the slightest"

"Agreed, we are told to hunt her but where to start?"

"I have an idea"

"Do tell"

"We'll grab one who could possibly know her, Diana Blaze"

"…I think you haven't heard of what happened to the guys who tried this trick on William Blaze's little sister"

"What, what happened to them?"

"…Their outpost turned into a bloodbath straight out of a horror film, it was a massacre. Those people were butchered like animals, that's not some kill a human with conscience can make…William Blaze is a real monster, you do not want to fight him unless with overwhelming numbers and even then, you don't have a guaranteed win"

"Come on, I think you're exaggerating"

"You think? Huh…Well…Look at this…And this…And this! You see these corpses? All butchered, by one man! I can safely say that idea to kidnap his mother? Is an absolute moronic one"

"Holy fucking shit…Savage fuck, these are good people"

"Haze Team, this is Athena. Status report, over" Lena suddenly asked Haze Team on the radio.

"Haze here, targets are converging on the command center. They are talking about a lot of things, what's your ETA?" Fordo asked Lena in return on the radio.

"T-Minus one minute, we're flattening the base and capturing them" Lena stated on the radio.

"Anything we can help with, ma'am?" Fordo asked Lena on the radio.

"Don't worry, just sit back and enjoy the show. Athena out" Lena said to Fordo on the radio.

"…Flaten the base? Think they're bringing in ship girls?" Wallace asked his spotter.

"Definitely. Well, we should just do what she said, enjoy the show" Fordo said to Wallace.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

DUARRRRRRRRRRRR!

BHUMMMMMMM!

DUMMMMMMM!

DHUMMMMMMM!

Exactly a minute later, several squadrons of F7F Tigercats and XSB3C Dive Bombers swooped in from above before unleashing torrents of high explosive bombs directly on the base. The base defenders are caught off guard and the survivors immediately ran for nearby cover, but many are obliterated from salvos of high explosive shelling coming from an Osprey, with ship girls standing on top of it and the side door. Once the shelling and the bombing stopped, two individuals blitzed out of the Osprey's rear hatch while carrying two other individuals. The four of them landed on the courtyard and they immediately lit their weapons up, the shell-shocked militias and soldiers immediately panicked as they either try to shakily return fire or outright hiding. Some of them peeked out to fire their rifles, but their heads exploded as torrents of accelerated 9mm armor piercing rounds blew past their cranium.

"…This is more intense than our training" John commented while he fired his custom M134 Minigun.

"And the fact we're right in our element after years of fighting alone felt a bit scary" Ingrid added as she magdumped her heavily modified FAMAS with drum mag and grenade launcher.

"We're still in sync and that's more than enough. Move out Bellerophons, we got five targets to capture. TB, display the target boxes in accordance with satellite view and the signals on their beacon" Lena said out loud.

"Yes admiral, synchronizing data feed with all Bellerophon members. Updating HUD" TB replied to Lena on the radio.

"Literal AI as our tech wiz, Jonah would've competed with her if he's still here" Ingrid commented while she reloaded her FAMAS.

"He'll brood about her stealing his job, no doubt about it" John responded as he whacked a suicidal militia with his minigun and crushed the militia's head with his armored boot.

"That door looks tough. See if you can break it open, Will" Lena said to William when they see the command center's main door closed shut.

William only nodded his head as he charged forward while firing his carbine one handed at the militias around, he arrived on the front door before he gave it a kick. The door bended as it's made of iron, not strong enough to tank William's raw strength especially multiplied by his armor. The man grunted before he kicked it for the second time, effectively causing the door to break open and he is immediately greeted with a hail of gunfire from the guards which lighted up his shield. The man scoffed at the familiar welcome, he summoned Siren Slayer and whirled the blade toward the guards. It flew so fast that only those who got quick reaction managed to duck and avoided from being beheaded by the blade that's stuck on the concrete wall. There are only two survivors among the guards, one is quickly approaching his death due to William dashing toward him as he reached for his neck and crushed it with his bare fist. The other one is a woman who cowered in fear, she threw her weapon down and raised her hands up in surrender. However, the man is not interested to heed her words as William just grabbed his broadsword before severing her completely into two with a downright diagonal slash, the woman fell to the floor, twitching in shock before dying from massive blood loss.

"Entrance secured" William said out loud on the radio as he swung his blade to clean it by splattering the blood to the floor.

"Don't wait on our account Will, go and let loose already" Lena said to him on the radio.

"Better be quick Lena, I can't guarantee I won't kill one of them" William said to her on the radio as he sprinted to the hallway and fired his carbine.

"Don't, we have to adhere to our morals as proper human being~" Lena sarcastically said to him on the radio.

"You're saying that in the middle of committing a genocide?" Liu commented on the radio.

"Genocide? Oh please, I call this spring cleaning" Lena answered in an unnerving calm tone on the radio.

"Ruthless as ever" John said to Lena on the radio.

"Why thank you John" Lena said to him on the radio.

"Alert, targets are dispersing in three separate vectors" TB warned to everyone on the radio.

"…Alright, John, get the south one. Ingrid, you're with me to the east. Will, make sure Briar doesn't escape. Liu, take aim and paralyze the other one" Lena immediately commanded on the radio.

"Roger" "Free amputation coming up!" "Got it, I'm right behind you" "I'll make sure he regrets his life choices" John, Liu, Ingrid and William responded to Lena on the radio.

John rushed to the south side, he immediately faced with dozens of armed militias and guards. The man silently activated the shield module on his gauntlet and he jogged forward as he fired his minigun, the bullet hose tore through the lightly armored or unarmored personnel before him and their return fire does almost nothing. The reason being his wrist shield, instead of absorbing the kinetic impact of the bullets, it deflects them instead which caused it to lose minimum amount of power and durability. Couple that with his relentless machine gun fire and durable body shielding, he is a walking juggernaut who massacred the opposition before him with ease. A jeep accelerated as the driver trying to make a last-ditch charge at John, the man noticed the approaching vehicle and he casually grabbed an RPG-7 on his large backpack module with his left hand, then John fired the launcher one handed, the projectile launched toward the car and blew it up spectacularly. The man stored his gatling gun before sprinting forward as he spotted one of the HVTs, he doesn't have jet thrusters so John has to make do with his enhanced speed. The target boarded a jeep with some guards, but the car couldn't accelerate despite the driver stepping on the pedal. It's because John is holding the jeep's rear side, the man quickly pulled an MP7 which he used to shoot the occupants except for the HVT.

"P-P-Please! I surrender!" The man raised his hands up with a terrorized face.

Without uttering a single word, John grabbed the HVT by the neck and slammed him to the dusty ground. He deployed his wrist shield due to him being assaulted by another group of militias while he used his right hand to cuff the HVT, once he's confident that the HVT is secured, John reloaded his minigun with a massive drum mag summoned from his Wisdom Cube and started firing at the militia group who quickly scatter for cover. The man did not let go of the trigger until the opposition before him died from the bullet storm, the survivors immediately fled the area without a second thought after seeing the carnage before them. John glanced down at the HVT and he grabbed him by the collar before shouldering the man with ease, then he started walking out of the base toward their rendezvous point.

"Ingrid!" Lena called her name.

"On it!" Ingrid responded.

Ingrid thrown an M72 LAW launcher at Lena who caught it and fly upwards with her jet thrusters roaring and wings spread wide, she aimed down and fired straight at an entrenched guard position. The rocket propelled grenade launched and blasted the defensive position, killing some of the guards and injuring the rest of them. Ingrid then sprinted toward them while she's firing dual Vector SMGs, she blew past the survivors and sprayed them with burning hot .45 ACP bullets. In front of them, a small part of the convoy is getting ready to leave and they're waiting for two of the HVTs who took a detour while being escorted by some militias. Ingrid hid behind the buildings as the jeeps and MRAPs lit up their M2 Browning heavy machine guns, however they didn't account for Lena who flew above them while taking out her longsword. The blade glowed blue before she swiped it and unleashed pure lightning upon the vehicles. The lightning strike blown the vehicles and fried anyone on board, rendering the entire vehicle group inoperable. The HVTs are shocked beyond belief, a force of hundreds or thousands of people alongside their arsenals, almost entirely gone in under five minutes.

The militias around them suggested that they grab the MRAP closest to the gate, but before they could move, they are gunned down by Ingrid who sprinted toward them with Vectors in each hand. The HVTs took out their personal sidearm and retaliated alongside the other remaining militias, Ingrid's energy shielding foiled their move as she managed to get close before switching to her FAMAS. The medic swung her rifle toward one militia before unleashing several bursts of 5.56mm bullets toward the others in very close range. Naturally, that caused the others to run away from her, but that is a doomed plan because of Lena swooping down and sliced two of the militias open with one blade swipe. Realizing the futility of their situation, the HVTs and the surviving militias thrown their weapons down and raised their hands up in surrender, they simply cannot win against these people. Lena stared at them with unimpressed eyes behind her visor before she grabbed her GPM Carbine and executed the surviving militias without hesitation, an act that caused the HVTs to widened their eyes. The survivors' corpses fell onto the ground, each of their heads were blown open gruesomely from highly accelerated 9mm projectiles.

"Y-You executed surrendering soldiers?! You broke the laws of war! This is a literal war crime!" One of the HVTs said out loud as she pointed Lena accusingly.

"Yeah, I clearly did huh" Lena said to the woman HVT while she shrugged.

"W-What?! How can you feel no remorse?! They are still people!" The woman HVT said to Lena as her eyes widened.

"People? Don't make me laugh. I consider you traitorous fucks a sub human at best, human rights are too glamorous for any of you terror-mongering shitbags" Lena scoffed at the HVT coldly.

"You won't get away with this!" The HVT said to Lena while she gritted her teeth.

"Fufufu! Believe me, I will" Lena said to the HVT after she sinisterly giggled in amusement.

"Alright, on your knees" Ingrid kicked the other HVT down before cuffing him.

"Ouch! I can do that myself! No need to kick me down!" The man complained as he writhed on the ground.

Liu whistled as he watched Lena and Ingrid performed from the V-22, seeing Ingrid in action like that really gave him a blast from the past. But he can't put his eyes on them for too long, he got a job to do himself. Given that he fights better from range, Liu was ordered by Lena as their overwatch in charge of handling any of possible escape attempt. So he sat on the side entrance for the V-22, legs hanging off while holding an NTW-20 Sniper Rifle, the closest real life equivalent to a Halo sniper rifle and it weighted thirty kilograms. Chambered with 20mm cartridge, the rifle is built to kill anything from an ant to an armored vehicle or even a freaking plane. The one Liu hold is a custom one with extended quad magazine that could fit ten rounds instead of the usual standard issue magazine that could only holds three, it even got the newly developed prototype digital scope that has camera screen so the shooter doesn't have to peer through the scope.

BOOOM!

"Strike one" Liu commented as a 20mm round wrecked a jeep engine.

BOOOM!

"Strike two" Another jeep has its engine destroyed.

"Looks like they are bailing out" John said out loud on the radio as the convoy moving out of the base with whoever managed to get onboard.

"Girls, the rest of the convoy's rolling out. Can you take care of them?" Liu said out loud on the radio.

"Got it!" Hipper responded on the radio.

BOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOM!

The ship girls lit up their secondary guns, bombarding the convoy with firepower greater than an AC-130 gunship. High explosive shells rained upon the vehicles and totally obliterated them, leaving nothing except burning husks and torn corpses everywhere on the dirt. Liu whistled in amazement, this is his second time witnessing their firepower and boy those girls are built for combat. In a sense, William is in control of firepower equal to an army or a fleet, no wonder some of those people up top are basically losing their shit. They don't know the man, Liu would trust him with that much power, he knows William could wisely use them. Liu surveyed the area below them, looks like there's no survivor from that attack just now. Fortunately, the HVT he's in charge of is still outside and he's making a run for the desert. He's full-on sprinting with terrified look on his face, the man didn't expect to get rolled by a small but elite assault team with KANSEN firepower backing them. Liu scoffed as he lined up his reticle and fired near the HVT, however, the man chose that moment to step where the bullet will land…which resulted in his left leg being torn off from the sheer power of 20mm bullet impact. He was thrown to the side and laid in shock, before he screamed from the pain and horror of his dismembered leg.

"…Uhhh…Ingrid, we have a problem" Liu notified her on the radio while he cringed.

"Hah…Is he dead?" Ingrid sighed before she asked Liu on the radio.

"Nah, his left shin is a bloody paste though. Think you can help him?" Liu asked Ingrid on the radio.

"On my way, I'll see what I can do. I thought you're not serious about the amputation part" Ingrid said to Liu on the radio.

"Well, I meant that as a warning shot. Guess fate isn't so kind to him because he chose that particular moment to step where he stepped" Liu said to Ingrid on the radio.

"Only you who'll pick a literal cannon for HVT pick up mission, what's wrong with the lesser caliber one?" Ingrid asked the man on the radio.

"Hey, we have vehicles in play" Liu said to Ingrid on the radio.

"That's what the ship girls are here for, dummy" Ingrid responded on the radio.

"You know me, I'm have a bit hard on for initiative" Liu retorted to Ingrid on the radio.

"We rule this out as accident, pray that the guy will make out" Ingrid told the man on the radio.

"Crossing my fingers…" Liu commented before he shot a fleeing MRAP right on the engine.

"Alright. Cover me, Liu. Don't take your eyes off of me, I don't want to get harassed by bullets when I'm stabilizing him" Ingrid said to Liu on the radio.

"Roger that…I can never do that when you're around anyway" Liu said to Ingrid on the radio before muttering the last part to himself.

"John, you secure?" Lena asked him on the radio.

"At the RV ma'am, waiting on you" John replied to Lena on the radio.

"Copy, making my way there now" Lena said to John on the radio.

"How's Will? Anyone heard from him? Hello? Will, you good?" Liu asked out loud on the radio.

"Don't worry about me, just do your part" William responded on the radio.

"Well, I'm sorry for caring, don't want that handsome face to get mangled more than it already is" Liu scoffed on the radio.

"He just lost his left eye, I'd say he's still quite a catch, maybe even more tantalizing" Ingrid responded on the radio.

"Oh, tell me about it~" Lena responded on the radio.

"Bah! This is why I never want to go to the beach with him! How can I ever compete with a hot stud killing machine?!" Liu complained on the radio.

"Maybe start with taking your life more seriously and fix some of your attitude" Ingrid advised him on the radio.

"…Wait, did you just say that?!" Liu asked Ingrid on the radio in disbelieve, is that a hint?!

"In all seriousness though, Will, status report" Lena asked him on the radio.

"Pursuing, heavy resistance along the way" William responded on the radio.

"You need backup?" Lena asked William on the radio.

BOOM!

"No, just give me five minutes" William responded on the radio.

William choked a militia and used him as a human shield to protect himself from a close-range shotgun blast, he then threw the dying militia upfront and launched a full powered lariat at both of them which snapped their neck bones. He's in a corridor with few militias firing AKs toward him as the rest escaping from the building, including Briar. William used his broadsword to block the rifle rounds as he sprinted forward with his GPM Revolver in his right hand, then he started blasting at the militias he passed by shooting them in the chest. The Semi Armor Penetration High Explosive round ensured that the bullet entered their chest cavity before exploding, massively damaging or outright destroying their organs in the process. Briar turned around from the exit and toward the stairwell as the exit was clogged by mass of terrified people who's trying to escape, William has no time to deal with them so he ignored the blockade and chase Briar upstairs.

"Target is moving to the rooftop, commander" TB notified William.

"Expected resistance?" William asked TB.

"Satellite view detected six armed hostiles alongside the target" TB said to William.

"Child's play" William commented as he approached the entrance to the rooftop.

BRANK!

CRANK!

The man rammed through the door and took it with him, then he threw the door like an oversized frisbee toward the remaining militias. The door hit two of them, causing severe damage to their lightly armored body and the remaining four to be shocked. William didn't even waste a second as he lunged toward the closest militia, stole his AKM and kicked the man back so hard he slammed against a ventilation exhaust, then he fired the rifle toward the remaining three militias, the 7.62mm bullets were hosed at their chest, neck or head. William then dropped the weapon before he noticed that Briar continued his escape through second rooftop access, the man sighed hard before he kept pursuing him. Fortunately, his speed is peerless and within seconds, he caught up to Briar. The man is on the way out of the command center's main entrance, but before he could step a foot outside, William shot his leg with his grappling hook, and then he zapped the man with the new feature his hooks have. Briar shook heavily from the high voltage electricity as he fell to the ground, occasionally spasming from the electric shock.

"…This whole ordeal would be over quicker if you just surrender" William commented as he cuffed Briar.

"…Gh…You're wasting your time; I don't know anything…" Briar said to William while he gritted his teeth.

"We'll decide that after a nice little chat" William responded as he grabbed Briar's collar and stood him up.

"You won't get anywhere with me!" Briar said to William while he scowled.

"Yeah, but I bet my girlfriend will" William said to Briar as he forced him to walk.

"Will, we're on the RV. You done yet?" Lena asked him on the radio.

"Coming out now, target secured" William responded to Lena on the radio.

"Perfect, I like it when things go according to plan. Liu, how's our surroundings?" Lena said out loud before she asked him.

"Burning husks and dead men, I rate it A for absolutely dead. Thermals shows no hostile left inside the base; we can start our exfil" Liu said to Lena on the radio.

"Understood. Manjuus, start your approach" Lena said out loud on the radio.

"Chirp chirp!" The Manjuu responded on the radio.

"Haze Team, great work. You want to come with us? We can give you a ride home" Lena asked Haze Team on the radio.

"Don't worry ma'am, we got our own pickup. Thanks for the fireworks show, I haven't been that entertained in a long time" Wallace responded on the radio.

"Roger that, stay safe on your way home" Lena said to Wallace on the radio.

"Ditto on that, Haze Team out" Wallace responded on the radio.

…The V-22 landed, took in the HVTs alongside the Bellerophons and then took off for their Africa hideout. The aircraft traveled for several hours before landing on a jungle area, there's a compound near a small lake, completely isolated from civilization. The Osprey opened its rear hatch and the HVTs came out while being escorted by the Bellerophons, Liu opened the entrance to the basement area and they shoved the HVTs inside, one of them is thrown by John because the man lost his left leg. It's late afternoon, they are tired and need to unwind so they head inside and opened the stored rations for their quick dinner. They eat mostly in silence, but they did occasionally recount on the fight before. They agreed that Bellerophons are so synced with one another that despite several years of absence doesn't hinder them from doing their part, they really are what the program is intended to create…After eating dinner, Liu and John set up the interrogation room which is soundproofed and Lena prepared her tools then herself for the interrogation session. The first one to be brought in is the woman HVT, Lena would like to have a chat with her as fellow women.

"Hey, not so rough!" The woman complained as John pushed her inside the room.

"Oh, do be gentle John, don't treat a lady like that" Helmetless Lena said to John while she smiled wryly.

"Shouldn't be my enemy in the first place" John commented before he left the room while closing the door.

"Sit down Astrid, we have a lot to talk about" Lena said to the female HVT while she smiled as she poured tea to two cups on the table between them.

"…I have nothing to say to you" Astrid said to Lena as she sat down.

"Really, nothing? What did your son ever do to deserve a mother like you" Lena asked Astrid while she smirked.

"What's this? Pfft, trying to threaten me with my son? You won't crack me with cheap threats like that, you must've read about him on my dossier" Astrid scoffed at Lena.

"Right, and you went to great lengths to hide him, I can respect your dedication to protect your child…You see, I can understand you for I have been through the same thing, Astrid. I had a little brother; he was a bright young man and excel in both combat and academics. Heck, he was a valedictorian of his batch, just like me…He fought directly alongside us, and he died to a traitor named Ronald Mitchel. Ever heard of him? I bet you have, someone of his caliber must've been quite famous within the organization you affiliated with. Just like your son, he's worth the world for me, I am willing to let entire earth burn if it means him coming back to life. I bet you feel the same way for your son, Astrid" Lena told Astrid before she sipped her tea.

"…Where are you going with this? If you lay a single finger on him-" Astrid snarled as she scowled.

"Not me, but my colleague can. Right now, he's on Knox County and one signal from me will ensure your son will be taken somewhere else. Your ex-husband won't even know he disappear until it is too late" Lena said to Astrid while she smirked as she held her cup of tea like an aristocrat lady.

"How could you do this, admiral? You claim to fight for peace yet your methods are exactly like a terrorist!" Astrid said to Lena while she scowled.

"Oh? We're the terrorist? I don't see myself bombing so carelessly that you killed civilians, I don't see me spreading terror needlessly around the world to make a statement. You see, even the force of good has to kill in order to restore peace. The world isn't black and white, and in this one? Good guys have to do what needs to be done, even if means fighting from the shadow, with terrible tactics and strategy that dirty our hands. When the enemy are perfectly willing to use every tactic in the book, we should respond equally with no holds barred. Si vis pacem parabellum, you must be prepared for war if you wish for peace…I am willing to go to war, to ensure peace return to this world, or at least to the people I care about. If it means being hypocrite in order to defeat my enemies, so be it. I understand the anguish of losing important family members, which is why I chose your son as our insurance…" Lena explained to Astrid before she sipped her tea.

When Lena identified their targets, Astrid immediately caught her attention. She's a Major before her thirties, divorced with a single child which is in her custody but had to leave him with her ex-husband due to her duty. She is the only one with strong familial connection among the HVTs, the others are single or old enough that their family has grown so big. Astrid is the only one with small family and she seemed to love her son very much, always dedicating a day off consistently in a week for him. Intelligence report indicates that Astrid might have join Crimson Cleanser out of necessity or coercion, she doesn't seem to have the twisted views of the other members nor hatred for Crimson Axis. She also doesn't participate or planning any operation, so what does she do within the organization? Lena believes that Astrid supplies them with information, because to be honest, Astrid seems like the pencil pusher type instead of frontline warrior commander like her. Regardless, it's an angle of approach that Lena could take advantage of, and she'll use Astrid as a base for judgement on any info Briar will cough up.

"…Hah…It's no use huh…No matter what I say, my son is going to be taken away from me…" Astrid sighed, her shoulder sagged and she frowned deeply.

"I am a woman of my word, Astrid. Tell me everything you know, and I'll decide whether you are redeemable. You cooperate with me and I'll make sure your son won't be touched or harmed" Lena said to Astrid before she sipped her tea.

"…If that's how it is…then fine…okay…I trust you, admiral…What do you want to know?" Astrid asked Lena while she frowned.

"Like I said, everything…Well, let's talk about this over a tea. Yours are going cold, you know?" Lena said to Astrid while she smiled, seems she succeed in convincing her.

Lena glad that she bullshits her way through method was working so well, they do have information about her son but they don't have any agents on stand by for the task. If Astrid going to be more stubborn about it, they will have TB create a fake photo of her son being held hostage and she will emulate his words using the recorded call between Astrid and him as the basis, with her supervision so it will sound more convincing. She doesn't have to rely on that to make Astrid crack, guess she wasn't exactly trained as a soldier…Astrid and Lena talked about a lot of things, and Astrid spilled a lot of information that they are dying to know. As Lena suspected, Astrid is forced by her commanding officer, one of the HVTs to work with Crimson Cleanser. She is in charge of intel and information, she's the one who supply the info that Iris fleet was moving toward Celestial Garden. She doesn't know anything regarding Serina, that was the work of her CO, one of the HVTs, who arranged for Ronald's infiltration through Exeter…Lena marked him, Africa is vast enough to hide the body of one man…

Astrid told Lena everything she knew, regarding force deployment and what they are doing on North Africa. To sum it up, North Africa is their hotspot, many of their facilities and gather points are located on this region. Astrid revealed that Lockwood has a grand plan, his ultimate move that he dubbed as the 'Golden Dawn'. However, he is quite tightlipped about the details of the plan, only some of the most important Crimson Cleanser members know about the whole plan and Astrid do not know who they are. The primary value of Golden Dawn is that the world shall be united under one banner and Crimson Cleanser are the revolutionist that will bring that idea to reality, that way there will be no more petty wars between humans, they could focus entirely on the Sirens. Lena immediately found this idea to be nonsense, how could Lockwood talk about unity when the original idea is about restarting the war with Crimson Axis? They don't want peace between them, they want to wipe the Crimson Axis completely for various reasons, how could that be described as unity? Or, maybe the unity he meant is about Azur Lane being the sole surviving alliance in this world and thus they can start annexing the neutral countries under their banner as some sort of superstate entity…

When she put it like that, it makes a LOT of senses. They get noble cause, reason to cause mayhem and Lockwood could jerk off his hate boner for Crimson Axis, everybody except the rest of the world wins…Then, the reason why they are trying to hijack Azur Lane nuclear stockpile is because they need a nuclear war to happen. There's no way Crimson Axis won't retaliate despite how much the two alliances are trying to keep working with one another, there will be an ocean of blood amidst the nuclear fire and fallout. So the question remains, where does Ronald and Gemini Squad fit in all of this? Astrid straight up told Lena that he is likely the primary candidate for the best mutagen that Crimson Cleanser could produce, he will also likely to receive the power armor that Crimson Cleanser are currently building…Right, and all of those money comes from a legitimate nation, backing up these terrorists so the war would restart. The last piece of intel Astrid could share is Lockwood's mobile base, ALS Aegon, a large submarine equipped with torpedoes, SLBM and a hangar for one large sized helicopter.

"…You really help us a lot with this one" Lena said to Astrid.

"Then you will not touch my son" Astrid said to Lena in matter-of-fact tone.

"I won't. The same won't be said to you, however. You are working for Crimson Cleanser and no amount of pardon could help you out with that, your reputation is tarnished forever. Your son will grow up knowing his mom is a terrorist, your family and friends would all think so as well…Your fate is set in stone, Astrid" Lena said to Astrid while she frowned.

"…I-I know…I can't continue my life as who I am…This is the end for me…" Astrid said to Lena as she resigned to her fate, tears could be seen rolling down her cheeks.

"…You are a traitor with no backbone, I honestly hate you so much…However, killing you is a kind of disproportionate retribution, it's not like you truly believe in Crimson Cleanser ideals and do so much damage yourself personally. Normally, I execute traitors. But I'll make an exception for you, I'm going to let Azur Lane Military Court determine your sentence" Lena told Astrid as she stood up from her seat.

"…You…Why do you spare me?" Astrid asked her interrogator with widened eyes.

"…I know what it's like to grow up without a mother, I don't want your son to experience that…In my eyes, you are still redeemable. But you have to earn your freedom after this, atone for your mistake, for not being strong enough to fight against those terror mongering assholes" Lena said to Astrid.

"…I will, I promise you that…I am not going to repeat this mistake in the future" Astrid declared to Lena with serious face.

"See that you don't, or I will personally remind you" Lena said to Astrid while she folded her arms.

Lena called John who brought Astrid out and put her in a cell block they've constructed, the team didn't put them there straight away so it'll be easier to move them to the interrogation room, that and separating them so they couldn't conspire to match their stories. How about those in the basement? William was watching over them before Liu switched with him, the man's dislike for the military really shines and none of them could act under his hateful and watchful eyes…One by one, everyone was brought to the interrogation room and Lena interrogate them thoroughly for information. There's some variation to their stories, but the core remains the same. Golden Dawn, North Africa, Ronald Mitchell, Antonio Lockwood and the technology alongside the mutation plan they got. Then, the time comes for the main event, interrogating Gilbert Briar. For this one, every Bellerophon are present inside the room. John brought the man in, but instead of sitting him down, he slammed Briar against the wall before connecting his cuff to a special chain which is hanging from the ceiling. Liu then rolled the chain and caused him to hang in the air by his hands, the man groaned before letting out a groan as John smacked his gut with a baton.

"…Not cooperating will earn you a strike, being cheeky will earn you a strike. Your body will break slowly and painfully, you better cooperate instead of being stubborn" John explained to Briar as he tapped the baton to his palm.

"Hah…Hah…Don't think that-"

SMACK!

"URGH!"

"You're in luck it's not him who's doing this, you'll be a corpse in no time at all" John said to Briar as he threw his thumb towards William who's leaning on the wall with folded arms.

"…Then what are you waiting for, kill me already" Briar challenged them while he scowled.

"We'll see how long that bravado will last, we have all the time in the world here" Lena said out loud while she seated and sipped on her tea.

"…Want to play darts? I think his stomach could be a perfect targeting board" Liu offered as he brought out six throwing darts from his pocket.

"Pass, but do show off your throwing skill" Lena said to Liu.

"All of you are psychopaths! Do you enjoy making people suffer?!" Briar asked them out loud.

"Not in particular, we're humans with morals too you know~? But we do have to get information out of you, and we don't see you as a human which really helps with the guilt" Lena said to Briar.

"I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight, just to let you know" Liu said to Briar before he threw the dart.

STAB!

"GUUH!" Briar groaned loudly as the dart landed on his stomach.

"Think I hit his kidney?" Liu asked Ingrid.

"The needle is not long enough; you'll have better luck with a throwing knife" Ingrid answered Liu.

"He'll get away too easily if it's a knife" Liu said to Ingrid before he threw another dart.

STAB!

"NGGH!"

STAB!

"AGGGH!"

"I still got three more before I have to pull those darts and do it all over again, you know? Ready to talk yet?" Liu asked Briar.

"…Fuck off! I won't talk if you-" Briar snarled while he scowled.

"Hah. You troublesome fuckers always chose the hard way" Lena said out loud as she took out her Five Seven handgun.

PSIU!

"NGUHHHH!" Briar gritted his teeth as a 5.7mm bullet nested inside his right foot.

"Want to talk yet?" Lena asked Briar.

"Never! I'd rather die than telling any of you shit!" Briar declared out loud.

"…Welp, I'll have you know that death doesn't come easy in my hands. Ingrid, torniquet his right leg" Lena said to Ingrid.

Ingrid wordlessly applied the torniquet just below Briar's right knee, she made sure it's tight enough before she and John stay clear from Briar. Lena finished her tea before she unloaded the entire Five Seven magazine, which is filled with twenty rounds, to Briar's right leg. The bullets really maimed his right leg, filling them with holes, tearing his flesh off and breaking his shin. Briar screamed from the pain and agony; his right leg earned an amputate certificate because the only way to save it is by cutting it off. Lena coldly just reloaded his pistol with a fresh magazine, as if readying it to shoot some more and probably Briar's left leg. None of them except the victim are surprised by Lena's ruthlessness, she does not mess around when it comes to her work. She's a good woman, but broken enough that she is capable of cruelty when needed to. William is glad that he forbids the ship girls from attending the interrogation, they might be hardened with the war against the Sirens, but this must be pushing it for them.

"…Ready to talk? Or do I have to give your left leg the same courtesy? Because after your left leg, it'll be your arm, then your eyes. If you still won't talk, your precious testicles might be next. If you survive all of that, we're going to skin you alive and I'll give your exposed flesh lemonade and salt to marinate it…Believe me when I say that you'll still have enough blood to remain conscious and feel everything…" Lena asked Briar without any hints of remorse.

"Gh…Gh…You bitch!" Briar spat out venomously.

"Oh I am a cold bitch alright, that all you have to say?" Lena responded before she racked her Five Seven extra hard for emphasis.

"…What do you want…from me?" Briar asked Lena while he gritted his teeth.

"…Everything you know" Lena said to Briar.

"You're…going to kill me…once my usefulness is up…" Briar said to her while he frowned.

"That depends. Impress me and I won't, because honestly, you're more useful alive than dead, Briar" Lena said to him as she sat down on the chair.

"…You…should know that…If Lockwood finds out…that I've been captured, he won't let me live…" Briar said to Lena.

"Here's the deal. You're on our custody until Lockwood is dealt with, and then we'll let the military court decide your sentence. Deal?" Lena offered to Briar while she smiled.

"…Hah…I…do not know what Anton is planning…I know that he intends to do that world revolution and everything…But, I know deep down, it's just so he can kill the people within Crimson Axis…" Briar finally willing to talk to them.

"Lockwood is a bigot, no surprise given his track record. But why go so far to do this? To gather people around the world, act like terrorist and trying to restart the war which we could end without prolonging it needlessly? We know you are sponsored by a government" Lena asked Briar as she emptied the pot of tea to her cup.

"…Admiral…I am Royals descendant that hails from Eagle, are you aware of what's going on back there? What the people opinions are?" Briar asked Lena while he frowned.

"I got a feeling you're about to tell me" Lena said to Briar before she sipped her tea.

"…There has been a saying, that the people from Crimson Axis are worse than the Sirens…That they are lusting for power and will backstab us when this war with the Siren ends…Those…'Nazis' will repeat what their predecessor did on World War Two. A lot of people said that they are evil and we should squash them when we have the chance…On Union, on Royals, on Iris, a lot of people with Ironblood and Sakura ties are subtly prosecuted and the media did not report them. There's this worldwide paranoia, that these people are going to attack and conquer every one of us…" Briar said to Lena while he frowned.

"That paranoia has resulted in the people aligned with Azur Lane to turn into what they are trying to fight against. They've become the racist, the bigots and the aggressors…Want to know what I think? All of that are just projection, they are projecting themselves to the 'enemy' so they can feel self-righteous…I don't mean to say that Crimson Axis never did anything wrong, hell they got a lot of fuck up shit behind their own doors. But I haven't heard any of them trying to restart the war with Azur Lane, they know that we got bigger fish to fry and it will take the entire planet if we wish to stand a chance" Liu gave his cent on the matter.

"And these people you're talking about, hold a vast quantity of seats on the government. I've been letting Lucas handle the political side, so I don't know what's exactly going on over there. But, when we think about it, it makes sense. These people can't outright declare war with Crimson Axis without being seen as mad men, that's why they need a reason to go to war with them. Namely, creating a terrorist group hell bent on hating the next door's alliance so much that they'll do whatever it takes to provoke a war between the two. That way, they can keep their hands clean and shift the blame on an organization…Smart, it was sick, but smart" Lena further added.

"Now I know why they want ship girls and soldiers alongside military assets recalled. They want them ready for war, and without external proxy like Azur Lane so they can be freer in their strategy and everything…The picture is starting to clear up" Ingrid commented while she stared at Briar.

"You know his motive then…Why this organization was created in the first place. And with their funding, we are able to create power armor, and mutagen to make super soldier…So far, they are not what we can consider a full success…But they produce results, and people said that they are good enough" Briar said out loud.

"If you're trying to cause another big war, you don't produce enough sparks. The bombings, the attacks, they're not that effective" Lena said to Briar.

"…Because they aren't…They just meant to be a validation, to let the world know we exist…The spark, will come soon, in the form of Golden Dawn" Briar said to Lena.

"We know that Golden Dawn is what will trigger the war if successfully executed. What do you know of it? The details?" Lena asked Briar before she sipped her tea.

"…Anton…Didn't tell me any details…It's just that it will make the Great War a child's play in scale" Briar said to Lena while he frowned.

"Nukes" John chimed in.

"Nukes…bioweapon…chemicals" Briar confessed to them.

"We know about the nukes and chemicals, but bioweapon?" Lena asked Briar.

"He must mean the mutants, the failed ones" Ingrid told Lena.

"How could they be considered bioweapons? Ah, right, they are biological weapons in a sense, in visible scale instead of microscopic" Lena said out loud.

"…These mutants, we dubbed them 'Argos'…Body of an ogre, but mentality of a goblin. They are strong and durable…The serum allowed them to gain harder body and ridiculous strength, not to mention, their lust for battle…and women. We have to keep them in separate sections, they are almost uncontrollable" Briar explained to them regarding the mutants.

William perked his head as he listened to Briar explaining about the Argos further, turns out A was right. Argos are basically the failed attempt to create him, they do gain their strength and endurance as a plus, but physics and biology still have to get involved in which it caused their bodies to mutate to facilitate their strength. The ship girls and him are an anomaly to say the least, for they can maintain their human form but with the strength close enough to break physics. Biologically and physically speaking, that shouldn't be possible, but there they are. Argos are the results of what will happen when they try to force it, unlocking human's true strength and endurance but at the cost of altering their physical body. But what makes them dangerous are their thirst for battle and women. Briar doesn't know the mumbo jumbo, but their scientist cannot explain what makes them this violent and the best conclusion they could come up with is that something in their brain has been altered during their mutation.

What matters to them is strength, they often brawled at each other to determine who fits to lead their group. The strongest has the right to rule over others, anyone who disagree are free to challenge them in a fight. The lust for women though, is basically the byproduct of that brain alteration. These Argos almost could not contain themselves whenever a woman is around them, sex is all they care about. But hold up, aren't there any Argos women around? Yes, but they are infertile and would naturally die out. The male one lust for human women, with their basic instinct on haywire, the need for breed is stronger than ever. There's been several incidents before they forced to lock the Argos behind electric fences or using sedatives, female personnel found raped or gangraped by them and they have been prohibited from being near one ever since. Still, that doesn't stop Crimson Cleanser from using their kidnapped victims for experimentation. Most of them survived the ordeal considering how they treated them like fuck toys, and it's been confirmed that they are able to conceive Argos in their wombs. The fetuses are still developing, but they grew at faster rate compared to human fetus. The experimented women are expected to give birth in a MONTH, compared to nine.

Ingrid and Lena are beyond disgusted, both forced Briar to give up the experiment locations and he willingly gave it to them. William looked down on the floor as he took in the information he just heard and what he knew from A, the stories matched and the threat is very real. If these Argos are to be let loose on remote populace, they could easily build up an army. The Crimson Cleanser scientists basically created a combination of an orc and a goblin, and they can really wreck a small town and even a city if they are not exterminated soon enough. They need to know how to kill them and fast, whatever it takes to eradicate them. Their skin is solid enough to stop pistol caliber rounds, rifle sized rounds are necessary in order to wound them and cannons would make short work of them. They can also be dispatched using extremely sharp melee weapons, but going to melee range against them is practically suicide unless you know exactly what you are doing…In a sense, this thing is equally or even worse than Siren Brawlers.

"We can't let them roam free; we have to exterminate every single one of them…They are playing god by messing around with genetics, we have to end this before things going out of control" William said out loud.

"What about you, commander? You don't turn like them, what makes you so special? How can you remain human while possessing monstrous strength?" Briar asked William while he frowned deeply.

"I honestly don't know. But one thing for sure, I will put an end to this nonsense. Argos, Crimson Cleanser, Lockwood, Ronald, all of them" William firmly said to Briar with serious face behind his helmet.

"…Ronald…He is a maniac; he and his team are undergoing the procedure and this serum supposed to be the best one we have…Who knows what kind of monstrosity he will become" Briar said to William while he frowned.

"Doesn't matter, if he breathes, he can die" William replied to Briar.

"…Anything else we should know of, like Ronald's location, maybe?" Liu asked Briar while he twirled the darts in his hand.

"Anton is paranoid regarding his plan, for a good reason…He want this to succeed, and the less people know about it, the better" Briar responded to Liu.

"I take it you don't know then" Lena concluded from his sentence.

"No…But I might have a lead…There's a facility on Nairobi, some sort of research facility under the guise of soft drink company office. We used it as research place for the failed serum, if he is to be modified, he should be there. They got the necessary equipment" Briar revealed to Lena.

"Why there specifically?" Ingrid asked Briar.

"Because, you blew up our Libyan base?" Briar responded while he scowled.

"Nairobi huh, do we have dealing with Kenya's authorities?" Liu asked out loud.

"Not as far as I remember. We might want to contact them after this, getting intercepted near the border is not going to be fun" Ingrid answered Liu while she shrugged.

"Hmm, you know a lot more than I thought" Lena said to Briar.

"…But that's all I know, locations and some tidbit stuff…I was kept in the dark about everything else…Not even Anton trust me…and I've been by his side for a long time" Briar said to Lena while he frowned.

"It is what it is, if you want your audacious plan to succeed, secrecy is what matter the most…You know Briar, I have your record and the testament from your other friends who we also capture today. They said that you're in charge about a lot of things like cargo delivery, intel supply, planning for several high risk operation and coordinating personnel. One particular intel caught my interest, you're the one who supplied the intel regarding our attempt to intercept Ronald on Denmark…Why didn't you say anything about that, hmm?" Lena asked Briar as she finished her cup of tea.

"Because you already know everything about it, right? You know from the others, and my involvement with Crimson Cleanser is as middle management at best" Briar responded while he frowned.

"True enough, I suppose. You supplying that intel really intrigues me and William the most…I would want to question your further, but I think we're done for today" Lena said out loud.

"Ah, finally! It's ten at night! I wanna sleep already" Liu said out loud as he stretched.

"Now we have enough intel to know where to go next, should we head there immediately?" Ingrid asked Lena.

"No time to waste, we'll go immediately tomorrow morning" Lena said to Ingrid.

"Guess our R&R would have to wait; I'm thinking on spending couple of weeks on vacation after this" Liu said out loud.

"Hard agree, no way I could continue my thesis after something like this" Ingrid chimed in.

"You know Ingrid, maybe we can explore South East Asia together? Lots of beautiful scenery and good food to sample" Liu proposed to Ingrid while he grinned.

"How obvious can you be…" John commented under his breath.

"That sounds fun! We should definitely do that, all of us!" Ingrid said to Liu while she smiled widely.

"Oof…" William muttered while he cringed behind his helmet.

"…Well…that sounds…great…" Liu responded while he smiled painfully.

"Let's ask Lucas to use Eden, I want to go back there after this" Lena said to William.

"Yeah, maybe I should bring the girls too. But I kind of worry about our base defense…" William said to Lena while he took out his GPM Revolver.

"…Uh…Can you please help me? M-My leg…" Briar asked the Bellerophons.

"Don't worry. You won't be needing it where you're going" Lena waved him off without hesitation.

"Wha-"

BANG!

Briar's head exploded spectacularly and blood alongside skull fragments and brain matter splattered to the wall behind him. William's revolver barrel is smoking slightly as he just unleashed a shot straight toward Briar's forehead, the man stored his revolver before walking out of the room and leaving the others to handle the mess. Why did he do it? Based on the testaments and the target profile, Briar was the one who leaked about their operators trying to find Marry on Copenhagen, he had access to the plan from his contact within Intelligence Division and shared them with Ronald. That's how Gemini Squad managed to escape and killed the operators on the area of operation, he is the reason High Command has to be so secretive about their move which resulted in Lena sending Jenny to Azure Island. Indirectly, Briar is the very reason why Jenny was killed. William was pissed about it, but avenging Jenny can only be done completely by killing Ronald since he's the one responsible, she can do whatever to him in the afterlife or something…

William head upstairs and saw a room with an open door, he peeked inside and saw the ship girls gathering inside. Shangri-La is writing something on her tablet, Hipper is playing a game on her phone, Helena looked at the night sky from behind the window and Sheffield polishing her weapon with a cleaning kit. William smiled as he entered the room, the girls immediately greeted him but no one asked about the interrogation. They could already have an inkling to what happened inside the interrogation room, judging from how tired he looks and his slightly slouched posture. William might not notice it, but the ship girls certainly did…the man explained what they will have to next, and they'll be leaving tomorrow morning so he recommend everyone to get some sleep. As the ship girls went to bed, the Bellerophons grabbed some shovels to dig a big hole and they marched the HVTs except for Astrid. Then under the cover of the night, the three of them has their throat slitted open and thrown to the hole. They were buried while they were dying, unable to voice their fear and pain except for gurgling noise.

A Puma Helicopter landed near their safehouse by dawn, Astrid is then handed over to the GIGN operators who immediately took her inside the helicopter and leave after exchanging brief words with the Bellerophons. After having breakfast, they proceed to board their V-22. Along the way though, Sheffield couldn't help but notice, there's a fresh-looking patch of dirt near their parked Osprey, as if someone's covering a big hole…Sheffield chose to stay quiet about her suspicion and theory regarding the HVTs and boarded the Osprey…They took off and swiftly head straight for Nairobi, on Kenya's northern border, two F-5E Tiger II fighters approached and escorted them to the military base near Nairobi. The Osprey landed and everyone disembarked, they are greeted by several escorts and a tall black skinned man wearing officer uniform. He approached them and extended his right hand toward Lena.

"Madam McAllen, welcome to Kenya. My name is Omenda" Omenda said to Lena while he smiled and shook hands with her.

"Good to meet you, Mr. Omenda. I assume you have been briefed by Azur Lane representative earlier in the morning?" Lena asked Omenda as she let his hand go.

"Yes, I have. I did not expect someone of your caliber and friends will visit us, Kenya has been relatively peaceful as of lately. But the information we received is quite disturbing, we have done what we could to secure the building, madam. There is some resistance from their security, but our infantry managed to subdue them" Omenda told Lena regarding the situation.

"Excellent work, are there any further developments before we arrived? How about the people we included as high-profile targets?" Lena asked Omenda.

"Unfortunately, they have not been sighted. We have looked everywhere, but there are no signs of them around the area. We are still looking through the logs and security camera's recording, I believe we will soon be informed regarding the results" Omenda said to Lena while he smiled.

"Appreciated, but we'd like to go there ourselves, to personally investigate the site" Lena said to Omenda while she smiled behind her helmet.

"Of course, we have provided a ground transportation for you. My men will escort you there, though judging from how you look, I don't think it's really necessary hehehehe" Omenda chuckled as his guests look like they could take on an entire army by themselves.

"It's the thought that counts…Alright, let's saddle up" Lena said to Omenda then to her team.

"Anyone got a feeling that we might be too late? Just me?" Liu asked out loud.

"No, you're right. I think we missed them, not sure about the margin though" William responded to Liu.

The group boarded a military truck and they head straight for the building, Helena looked around as they passed by the desert and the city. Honestly, Helena hasn't travelled much and despite the circumstances, she is still going around the world. Next time, maybe she could do it in a more peaceful context, her eyes glanced toward the man in front of her as she thought about short vacation with him. Azure Island is dandy and all, but nothing beats going around half the world to enjoy its nature, civilization and culture. William noticed Helena staring at him and he tilted his head slightly as if to ask what's wrong, Helena just smiled and shook her head lightly before she returned her gaze to the road behind them…After riding for a while, they arrived at the designated place, a twenty-story building which is being guarded and monitored by soldiers. They get off the truck, spoke with local commander and entered the building. Based on the local commander's information, the weird stuff they found is on sixteenth floor and that's where they are going.

Unlike the office layout on every other floor, the sixteenth floor looked more like a lab. They split into three groups and explored the floor, there are several people combing through records and files from the military alongside them as the group conduct their own investigation. William, Lena and Shangri-La walked toward a section filled with vats, the three of them walked and inspected each one. There're droplets of liquid within them, so they must be in use recently. Shangri-La found a terminal on the end of the section, she approached it and started messing with the keyboard. The screen shown that the terminal is password protected, however, Shangri-La connected her tablet to the terminal and it was bypassed almost instantly. TB announced that she has control of the system and Shangri-La told her to extract every last bit of data for compiling, they need to know what exactly is going on here.

"…Vats, typical" William commented.

"Come on, it won't be evil organization without a human experimentation or two" Lena responded while she nudged William's left side.

"Just saying, the people that operated me don't require one…Though, I kind of blacked out during the operation" William said to Lena as he closed on one of the vats.

"Blacked out? They didn't give you anesthesia, right?" Lena asked William.

"No, it's from the sheer pain…My body mutates in real time, I can feel everything" William said to Lena as he touched the vat.

"They didn't give you painkillers?! I can't imagine how painful it must've felt" Lena said to William while she grimaced.

"Imagine your body being stretched and remodeled at the same time, you felt pain and strain so great your brain had to trick you into passing out so you won't suffer…It's like…my body and soul were reworked, changing me to the core…" William said to Lena while he frowned as he reminisced his experience.

"…You never talked about this before…" Lena noted to William while she frowned slightly.

"…It's not something I like to discuss, not until I can talk with the one who's in charge of the operation" William said to Lena while he closed his eye.

"And do you know them?" Lena asked William.

"No, not yet" William half lied to her.

"Perhaps they could solve this mess, if they can successfully create you" Lena said to William.

"Commander, admiral, I found it" Shangri-La said out loud.

"Let's see what we got" Lena and William approached the terminal.

"He was indeed here, alongside the Gemini Squad. They were modified within these tubes yesterday and left the facilities around nine hours ago, it appears…they succeed" Shangri-La said to William and Lena while she frowned.

The bespectacled woman played the CCTV footage, they could see the Gemini Squad arriving on this section. After lengthy talks and preparations, they entered the vats and their bodies are connected by various small hoses and an oxygen mask since the vats are filled with some kind of liquid. Shangri-La speed forward in x4 and they could see that the terrorists within the vats spasmed and twitched as their body slowly grew in size, the growth was more significant compared to William as they have more muscle than him, they were like body builders when it comes to muscle thickness and mass. They are still recognizable as a human, but something about their posture makes them seems…alien. Maybe it's due to their slightly oversized thighs and biceps, it makes them humanoid looking at best instead of actual humans…William scowled as he watched Ronald demonstrated his new power by lifting up a scientist with his bare hands, they talked about something and the scientist nodded his head frantically before Ronald dropped him. They talked to one another for a bit before a group of people appeared before them, the people then escorted Gemini Squad out of the section.

"…They really did it" Lena commented while she scowled.

"TB, pull any data referencing Argos' appearance and crossmatch them with this footage" William said to TB.

"Running searching algorithm and shaping 3D model of Gemini Squad members…" TB said to William before she displayed her findings through his armor's hologram projector.

TB shown the 3D model render between an Argos and Ronald, safe to say they looked different. Argos is truly a giant, they stood at three meters tall and with a body of pure muscle. But their muscles are deformed, everything is so oversized they looked like they'll have a hard time to move. They are also bald, apparently the mutation caused them losing their hair despite the amount of testosterone pumping in their system. William is no biologist, but he's pretty sure that is not how it works with hormones. Their skin also paled, making their almost albino white skin their common characteristic and all of them are pale white no matter what race the human they used to be. DNA profiling shown that they are…compatible with humans, but their chromosome formation is anomalous that it is theorized that further children would only consist of male Argos thus them requiring human female in order to propagate…These scientists are really combining goblins and orcs to make something worse, William has a feeling that Argos are the reason why almost every nations who researched the gene mod has stopped doing them. They know the danger of unleashing a new species like this, especially if their primary prey are humans.

They eat meat, some could eat vegetables and fruits but they prefer meat-based food. It might have correlation with their body's daily calorie requirement, they need to eat a lot in order to sated their hunger and energy requirement. Not only that, they are basically horny overtime, they don't care about rules, norms or common sense, if they spot a woman, they'll try to capture her and use her as their sexual outlet. Then, their concept of society reverts to tribal stage, where a leader is selected based on their strength and how physical power is the way to get ahead. They lose their ability to form complex sentences, relying mostly on short sentences or even grunts and growls. They did show some form of intelligence, like opening doors, using tools, operating simple machinery and even shown some kind of craftmanship to create huts or crude makeshift weapon. All of them has these common traits, no matter how they act or personalities as a human before the modification…William grimaced harder as…the symptoms really fit him. William was told on Terranova that he need to eat more, his sex drive is on overcharge and there could be a change in his personalities…The difference between him and Argos is that he is still who he is, and his body only grew larger instead of deforming like them. It would seem, Ronald and Gemini Squad are somewhere in the middle since they are disfigured yet retain their original appearances…

"…Will? You hear me?" Lena asked William as she tapped his shoulder.

"Sorry, what?" William broke off from his internal thought and asked Lena.

"You okay?" Lena asked him in concerned tone.

"I'm fine, just lost a bit in thought. What were you saying?" William reassured Lena.

"I was saying that they used the only pure serum they have for Ronald and the four others, it's what they can produce before the team in charge was killed when Nora stormed their Libyan Research Base. Look at the records, they are trying to make more, but the process is arduous and require insight that the dead team has. So far, it's been a dead end" Lena said to William as she pointed at the data on the terminal.

"None of them tried to understand and copy them when it's still in liquid form?" William asked Lena while he cocked his eyebrows.

"Well, we don't know about that, if you look closely to the recording though, Ronald handed the team here the needed serum…Maybe even among them, the serum's composition and location was a well-guarded secret despite its reputation" Lena said to William.

"…Still, we're too late, the bastard and the other bastards got their enhancement…The fight will not be easy, I don't know what tricks they have up their sleeves" William said to Lena while he frowned.

"We can do this, Will. They're not the only ones who have been preparing themselves" Lena said to William as she tapped his left shoulder.

"Yeah…Any records on their departure destination or anything, TB?" William said to Lena before he asked TB.

"Unknown commander, targets boarded a UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter with no discernable identification marking which headed east" TB said to William.

"East, to the sea…How about satellite footage or recordings?" William asked TB while he frowned.

"…There was no satellite in position during the time period" TB said to William.

"Motherfucker…Another dead end" William cussed as he walked from the terminal to regulate his breathing, he needs to calm down.

"…TB, are there any radar signature records on Kenya's eastern area?" Lena asked TB.

"Infiltrating state archive recording…There are several contacts detected at the expected time, however, there are no UH-60 signature detected. What the radar detected are most likely to be fixed wing aircraft, judging from their speed" TB said to Lena.

"They must be flying low, close enough to terrain…Dammit, I hate to admit it, but they are smart enough to be paranoid like that" Lena commented while she gritted her teeth.

"I hope the others find something…" William said out loud.

"Commander, I think I found a clue!" Shangri-La said to William.

"Let's hear it" William immediately turned his head towards her.

"There's an email from someone, codenamed Quetzalcoatl. They ordered the lab to prepare for more modification using the standard serum, it would seem they are preparing to use this place as Argos spawning ground. They also ordered the scientists working in this lab to set up some kind of machine dubbed as Gate, any idea what that means?" Shangri-La said to William as she shown him the email on her tablet.

"When a thing is named gate, I think its function is as accessway or something. But why set it inside this building? Wait a fucking second, they…they're not talking about portals or something, right?" William asked out loud as his eye widened in realization.

"Not even our best and brightest have managed to reverse engineer the one on the north pole, I doubt they have something like that but…At this point, I'm not ruling anything out" Lena said to William while she folded her arms.

"We'll check that supposed gate later…This person, Quetzalcoatl, what a peculiar codename. What does it mean?" William wondered to himself.

"In Aztec culture, he is a god of life, wisdom and light" Shangri-La answered him.

"Some ego huh…This person could be the head scientist among the Crimson Cleanser, or one who has this idea in the first place…I noticed he's using gmail, can we trace it?" William asked Shangri-La.

"It will take some time with TB, but I believe we can bypass security and identify the location and the device used to send this email" Shangri-La said to William while she smiled.

"Good, you saved us the effort and time, Shangri-La. Thank you" William said to Shangri-La while he smiled.

"Don't mention it, I'm a part of this team and I intend to do my absolute best with my part" Shangri-La replied while she smiled widely.

.

"Oh you're back, and looking quite different as well" Lockwood commented while he smiled.

In front of him, there's five giants adorned in powered battle armor. Gemini Squad has been fully equipped and ready for combat, a week after they received their modification. They have to learn and adjust their body so they can act normally, like holding stuff without breaking them or exercising minimum amount of force. Then, once they can handle themselves without causing accidents, they are immediately outfitted with the armor their engineers have worked on for a while. Like the other powered armor being employed by the military, this one is powered with Wisdom Cube and their specific armor is build to tank hits while providing mobility boost. It's an armor built to counter William's attacks directly, Ronald and the others saw him in action and they concluded that they will most likely engage him in melee range. Thus, each Gemini Squad members are outfitted with large blade to counter William's Siren Slayer and they even have energy shielding so they can last under gunfire.

"We're more than ready for him, but I heard we have to set up the playing field first" Ronald said to Lockwood.

"Of course. You help us with this one and you'll get a playground to brawl with William Blaze, you have my word on that" Lockwood said to Ronald while he smiled.

"You better be" A member of Gemini Squad, Jackson, said to Lockwood.

"It's quite a shame that you don't want to continue working with us after he dies though, we could use your help" Lockwood said to them while he smiled wryly.

"Nah sir, we don't have any more purpose other than making sure he dies. We'll figure out what life we want after this, or even no life at all" Another member of Gemini Squad, Anderson, said to Lockwood while she folded her arms.

"You considered suicide huh?" Oliver, the other member of Gemini Squad, questioned Anderson.

"I did, however that's something I'll decide after this" Anderson said to Oliver.

"Is everything ready, general? I don't think it'll be this soon" Smith asked Lockwood who nodded his head.

"Oh everything is in order, this should be quick and painless" Lockwood said to Smith while he smirked.

"This attack has been planned for years, right? What if this fails?" Oliver asked Lockwood.

"Don't worry, it doesn't even need to succeed. Once we do this, the world will not be able to ignore it, no matter how ignorant the people chose to be. Every media in this world, shall know about this" Lockwood assured Oliver while he smiled.

"General, we are ready. Comms channels are open, everyone is waiting for our signal" One operator said to Lockwood who stood in front of large screen within their submarine command center.

"Excellent…Comrades. Compatriots. Brothers and sisters. My loyal friends. The time has come for this momentous occasion, the very purpose why our organization exist. For far too long, we have let fascism to breed once more on Europe. For far too long, we let Sakura return to their imperial ways despite the advancement we make for them in the past. For far too long, we have pretended that the third world war is not a reenactment of the second. Humanity, does not learn from history! They are ignorant! Greed focused! They are conformist who will not change their ways unless we force them to! Today, shall mark the start of that change…A new era is upon the world, a new dawn for humanity, the beginning of our golden age! They do not understand our purpose, they might resent us for it. But in the end, they will thank us for doing this…All units, it is time to lit the world on fire once again! But from its ashes, humanity will arise anew and ready to for a brighter future than we have now! So let us commence the last revolution humanity ever needs! I want every one of us to slaughter any Crimson Axis affiliated person alive, wipe the evilness out from this world! Bring forth, the Golden Dawn!" Lockwood gave his speech in front of his commanders.

…Deep within Eagle Union and Royals, chaos ensued as they are confused on their nuclear missiles being armed one by one. It's an anomaly that bypassed all of their systems and protocols, something that should be impossible to happen. Yet here they are, every nuclear missile warming up and igniting their booster. Those who don't know are scrambling to do whatever it takes to stop them from launching, those who do know, pretended to be as confused as they are yet deep down ensuring that the launch will succeed. With horror that a nuclear war is about to start, the missiles are launched upwards and flew high into the sky as everyone frantically warned the people on the targeted nations and areas. Thousands of Eagle Union and Royals missiles, not Azur Lanes, flew toward their target based on their programing. Crimson Cleanser does not need to calibrate their targeting system, they already did it for them and all they have to do is to wrestle control from the militaries. It took years of deep infiltration and undercover movement, but they have succeeded in their duty.

The City of Berlin, it is business as usual for Ironblood citizens. All of a sudden, massive portal appeared on the sky above them. People are concerned as they thought the Sirens has decided to invade them, like New York City. However, what came out of them are recognizable human vehicles. Hundreds of fighter jets, transports and bombers poured through the portal above Berlin…and they swiftly bombed the area around the city, causing massive damage while inciting panic upon the citizens who thought the Azur Lane has started a military aggression unannounced. But then, thousands of people, dressed in their ordinary clothes, suddenly took out their weapons and started gunning down Ironblood citizens and police officers. Things are made worse with Azur Lane dressed soldiers dropping from the sky alongside their tanks and other vehicles, when they landed, they immediately caused mayhem toward the people who don't wear special armbands that are worn by their undercover soldiers. Order quickly fell, public facilities are being ransacked, people are gunned down on the streets, alleys and within buildings. There are no prisoners, the invaders are here to kill every last one of them, and the suddenness of the invasion caused the Ironblood army to be underprepared in responding them.

In the shore of Hamburg, another portal opened and a massive fleet of corvettes, destroyers, cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers appeared from them. Aircraft are launched from the carriers and immediately dropping bombs toward Ironblood's local defensive emplacements, the battleships fired their mighty guns and rained shells upon the buildings and streets, instantaneously killing anyone caught within the explosion radius or being hit by their armor penetrating shells. The cruisers, destroyers and corvettes launched their missiles which destroyed the moored Ironblood fleet and wreak havoc upon their port. The landing ships let loose of their hovercrafts which carried tanks, APCs, artilleries and soldiers for a seaborne invasion. They landed on the beach or flat surface near the city and immediately opened fire to anyone who stands in their way. Citizens who are running are immediately gunned down by disembarking units and some are strafed by the fighters buzzing above them, the local defense force put up a fight, but they are outmatched due to how rapid the enemy forces are advancing into the city. And among them, there are Argos, being let loose upon the populace by airdrop. They laughed maniacally as they started killing and raping, unleashing terror upon those who happened to be there where they dropped.

Rome, Capital of Sardegna, is in relative peace until hundreds of missiles are approaching from the sea at low altitude. The city's defensive emplacement has time to properly respond, the autocannons and AAs worked hard to shoot any missile crossing their sensors. But the missile did not explode like a normal one, when they explode, they released a big cloud of green gas which fell to the ground level due to their weight. Sardinians who are caught within the gas immediately coughed frantically as their lungs fails to take on any oxygen needed for their body, it only made them inhaled the gas even more and causing them to be dying in agony as they writhed on the ground. Men and women, adult and children, no one is spared from the green clouds of death that descend upon them. Almost everyone in the entire city inhaled the gas, and their bodies fell to the ground to writhe in their breathless struggle before finally passing on. The chemical warfare units immediately descended upon the site, one soldier crouched down and saw a young woman cradling her baby in the middle of the gas cloud, unmoving despite sitting in slouched position…as both has died from inhaling too much gas. The man let out a loud curse as he punched the ground in anger, he loudly wonders on who could have been so cruel to do this to ordinary people? What have they done to deserve the entire city, their capital, a place rich with history and culture, to swiftly turn into a ghost city clouded in green mist?

The Sakura Emperor trembled as the man before him prostate himself as he delivered the news, that thousands of nuclear missile are swiftly approaching their home. The man is immediately reminded upon their history, and he couldn't help himself to tremble in anger. Were two atomic bombs not enough for those savages? Have the they come to finish the entire Sakura people? It is an ultimate insult to the Sakura Empire, the middle aged emperor immediately ordered the whole country to evacuate into their shelter and to activate their missile interceptor, both the contemporary one, and the other one which is a technology they kept secret even to their Crimson Axis peers. As the emperor, his family, and everyone else evacuated to their bunker, something is moving high up in their atmosphere. Their satellites, holding at least four sleek objects are activated as they unleashed the objects to the atmosphere to intercept the missiles flying in the atmosphere. They are drones, prototype of space fighters with powerful engine and equipped for missile interception. Still, there's only several dozens of them, while there are thousands of missile approaching their home. Will those drones make it on time? Or will the entire Sakura islands bath in nuclear fire? The drones ran their calculations within their core programming, the chance is above fifty percent. However, they are programmed to do their job to their utmost, no matter how impossible it sounds.

"Let their hate flow, the old wounds fester and give them reason to take up arms…The people will rage and demand their country to go to war, and thus the first phase of our plan is commenced. This shall be the last fight between humans that will happen in history, for in the future, we are going to give everything we got to fight the Sirens" Lockwood said out loud to his brethren.

---

…Um, disclaimer? This is fictional work so anything happened here is fiction? Okay, yeah, I think you guys already understand that, can never be too careful, people on the internet get riled up at the slightest shit these days…fucking outrage culture. Anyway, Crimson Cleanser made their move…and it caused a massive damage, if you thought they're just going to use nukes, well you thought wrong hahahaha…But yeah, so much death and destruction. Do Lockwood really commit this atrocity because he really believes in higher cause or he's simply a man with a cesspool of hate for Crimson Axis? The battleground is set, the enemy swell in power to counter William and the Bellerophons. Will this cause another world war? Or will the politicians manage to put the fire down before it could explode in a big fiery fuckfest that will plunge the world back before the Siren invaded…except this time they will also get Sirens to deal with? Find out next chapter, which is still not known when to be released! Real life responsibility and my time management is kind of fucked in the butt so I'm really sorry!

We finally met William and Lena's batchmates! What do you think of those three? And who is this mysterious lead scientist that contact Will? Still, I have to say that I think this arc will be slightly shorter than I intend to because focusing on the ship girls is the highlight for everyone who's looking to read Azur Lane fanfic, right? So I'll make sure its in compact form enough to make it short and sweet instead of the candy like in long long man commercial. Anyway, thanks for your follow, favorite, review and patience dear readers! I think I uploaded so sparsely that people kind of forgot that this story exists hahaha! But hey, we got more Royal Navy waifus! I wish you all luck in your pulls! So far, they have great rooster and I like everyone but Implacable, Scylla and Argus really are solid waifus…especially the skins, but I'm a broke F2P bastard so I'll have to pass. I'll be counting on those fanarts. Also, I…kind of smell slight Yandereism from Scylla based on her lines; she just hid it really well. Or was it possessiveness? I don't know, can't really differentiate the two lately.

Okay that's all, see you next time! Buh-bye!

- Dasmara