Chapter 27

The first rays of daylight began to creep in the facility.

The security guard nodded off, his eyes half-open after yet another all nighter of no eventualities, no coffee and shit pay. He stifled a yawn, missing the shadow sliding beneath the water's surface.

The submarine moved carefully and silently along the riverbed, mere metres from the surface with uncanny accuracy, carefully steering up to rest between two lifeless cruisers.

I felt the cold sea air rush into the ship when I opened the top hatch. Ice cold water dripped down my face; I gauged our position with a quick look to each side before ducking my head back down. "Excellent work, 556. We're right between them." I whispered, meaning every single word.

All the ship's lights were out to prevent us being spotted, and we had also moved completely silently, using only her sonar. Achieving the infiltration was nothing short of incredible. I was just able to see the submarine nod and give a thumbs up with the facility's ambient light.

"Child's play." The Iron Blood submarine grinned. "But you better get a move on, I can already feel the tide starting to go out. Won't be able to stay below the waterline for much longer."

"Aye." I chanced another look outside, spotting what I was hoping to find: A ladder on the dock that could get us up onto land. I turned my head back down into the ship. "You girls ready?"

With a group of whispered confirmations, I fully climbed out of the hatch and onto the small amount of weather deck the submarine had. Behind me, the girls came out one by one. The ones with riggings aside from Warspite climbed down onto the water's surface, having summoned them beforehand to prevent the light from giving us away. Warspite hadn't done so because she was too big for the small hatch, while Cleveland understandably didn't have hers

I looked back down to the blue-haired Sub once those two girls had climbed up and crouched beside me. "Take your ship and wait just offshore for any signal. Stay partially surfaced so you can receive radio signals but dive down if you need to avoid detection."

I saw the shadow of the girl shift and suspected she was saluting. "Ja. But are you sure you don't want me to help you?"

"If there is a Siren involved she will probably try to use her drone ships to scour the land and block off any kind of escape. You can help by ensuring we still have a route out of here if that happens." I smiled nervously. "Just keep an ear on the radio for any change of plans."

With another confirmation from her, I carefully closed the hatch, nodded to Warspite and climbed down the ship into the waiting arms of Javelin and Z23, who carried me over to the ladder. Either girl was more than capable of holding my weight but they would need to work together to prevent me from getting wet due to their shorter heights. Warspite and then Cleveland were carried the short distance by Zuikaku.

I peeked once more from the top of the ladder to make sure the area was clear before finishing my climb. I quickly dashed over to a stack of old cargo crates that had been left laying around beside one of the inert Cruisers. I turned my eyes towards the ladder.

A mane of lilac hair followed by emerald eyes peeked over the edge, quickly scanning the surroundings just like I had before climbing up and making their way over to me. The process repeated four more times, and I was rather amazed at how the usually loud and pronounced sandals Zuikaku wore barely made a sound as she sprinted over.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, with a deep breath I calmed myself and tried to focus on the task at hand. It helped looking at the girls, noticing that I wasn't the only nervous one. Javelin and Z23 also squeezed my hand and shoulder reassuringly.

"There aren't many guards walking around." Zuikaku spoke quietly as she looked over the crates, one hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

Warspite summoned her rigging behind the cover of the ship and the crates. My breath caught in my throat as the light shone out from the action, and a pregnant pause followed. Fortunately there didn't seem to be any alarm following the act, allowing me to release a breath as heavy as the silence. Warspite also looked around, having to stand on her tiptoes to see.

"Why bother keeping an eye on the inside if you believe your external walls are covered?" She asked.

We all pondered for a moment, but Z23 answered. "They probably don't have enough manpower to watch everywhere."

"That would be most fortunate, but it also feels unlikely." Zuikaku deadpanned, followed by an emphatic "Mhm" from Cleveland, a sentiment I was inclined to agree with. However, we couldn't afford to back down now.

We took another glance, looking for and finding the building we presumed where the generators were housed in. I knelt back down into our spotty cover and looked at Javelin and Z23. "Are you two still up for this? Most of the way over is covered but there is a point where you'll be completely exposed."

Z23 nodded. "The open area is about fifty metres wide. With our pace it should only take about seven seconds. The probability of us being seen is nominal."

"Trust in our speed, Commander." Javelin nodded, confidently pumping her homonymous weapon.

"...Fine. Just remember, all you need to do is get in there and switch off the power and get back to us. No detours, no distractions. Go in and out like we planned. Just-" I wanted to say more but couldn't find the right words. Instead, I just pulled them into a tight hug. "Please, be safe."

The two girls returned the hug for a second before pulling back. Javelin's smile might as well have revealed our position with how sunny it was. "Don't worry, we will be. And we'll be back before you know it."

I let them go with a nod. I took yet another quick look to ensure the coast was clear, and with a heavy heart, gave the signal. The two Destroyers both began to run across the open dockyard and into the shadow of a building, where they gauged their new field of view and slowly made their way over and into the building following the thick cables on the ground. I kept my eyes on them at all times, not even wanting to blink. I let a breath go once they opened the door and stepped inside, disappearing from view. I turned back round to face the other girls.

"You really are one for hugging aren't you?" Warspite noted with a coy smile while leaning against her sword.

I wilfully ignored her comment and looked at the two ships tied to the docks. Both had strange pillars beside them on the docks parallel with their bow and stern, a metal cage connected the pillars and went over the ship, the entire structure hummed, filling me with an unpleasant sensation that made my teeth ache. Wires ran from the pillars and went into large transformers that connected to the facility's main power supply.

I knew from where we were that the ship next to us was Cleveland's. "Why didn't they move the ships further away?" I asked the ship's owner.

"They can't get them to work." She replied. "From the moment they took our ships from us they went dead. Nothing from a gear lever to a light switch will work, and any fire they light in the boiler promptly dies out even if it has enough fuel."

"Guess that proves they are more than just normal ships, even without you girls."

"Could be that you're somehow blocking them." Warspite interjected. "You said you can still feel the ship somewhat. so some form of connection likely still exists. After all, whenever James is on my ship I could completely lock him out if I wanted."

"Mmm, possibly." I wondered. "We can muse on the nature of the ships some other time, though."

Warspite nodded then twitched slightly, her violet eyes narrowing. "Huh?" She put a hand to her ear. "What do you mean destroyed?" She noticed my confused look. "It's Javelin. She's saying the generators are down. Like... Someone put a… sword through them?"

A plethora of confused eyes met each other.

"Then where is the power coming from?" Zukaku pondered. "Did we miss anything?"

"There wasn't anywhere else that I could see being used for power generation. Maybe they're taking it from the main grid." I scrambled over the mental images I had of the area, trying to think of a building that the power may be coming from.

My eyes followed the spider web of overhead lines and cables that littered the ground, focusing on the main line that jumped from building to building, eventually leading to the largest building around. It was an older building–probably the original command building, but it was littered with modern extensions. Several plastic coverings and adhoc repairs showed it had been repaired recently. It was not too far from where we were and would only take a short sprint to reach it. "Cleveland, do you know what that building was used for?"

She paused. "I think so, yeah, I'm pretty sure that's where they kept us and did all the experiments. We never really left it."

I pondered her reply for a moment. If we could get in the building somehow then maybe we could knock out the power or even find her sister

"Commander." Warspite pulled me back to the present. She was looking at the pillars by the ship, idly shifting the weight of her sword between her small hands. "While this place is not so heavily guarded, if we try anything we would be surrounded in minutes, but a suitable distraction would cause enough chaos to give us enough time to do what we came here for." Her rigging twitched to give a hint of her plan.

Our eyes met, even with the low light I could see in those bright purple eyes exactly what she was suggesting.

I took a deep breath, the world around me seemed to shrink as I felt the weight of the decision bear down upon me.

Summoning my courage, I nodded. "You really aren't one for subtle are you? There should be enough coal leftover in the bunker. Have Z23 and Javelin make their way back and tell Elizabeth and Hood to come in and wait with U-556 once they're done."

"Aye!" Warspite agreed with vigour, her eyes locking onto the old power plant. "Javelin, Z23, return to us post haste. Your Majesty, Hood, load high explosives with impact fuses and set elevation by three degrees up, and two degrees clockwise; once two salvos are completed, meet up with U-556 and prepare to give further support. Hold for the command to fire." She paused momentarily, I assumed she was hearing the confirmations from the girls.

The Battleship turned to Zuikaku "'Think you can do some damage?" She nodded towards the Montpelier and the Pillars keeping it from its owner.

"Hai." She responded with a keen smile. Her right hand reached for the pommel on her sword, while she held the sheath with the left. She spread her legs apart, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

"Commander." Warspite spoke to me with a determined tone. "We are ready and awaiting your order."

I looked at the surrounding area, a lump forming in my throat. Soon this place would be a maelstrom of fire and destruction, something that seemed to follow us wherever we went. But then I looked at Cleveland and remembered my promise to her. "And you have it. Proceed."

Warspite nodded with a solemnity that betrayed her youthful features. "Roger. Your Majesty, fire when ready."

We all turned our heads towards the ocean in anticipation of the coming shells. A few seconds later a rumbling like thunder resounded in the distance.

"It will be about twenty seconds before they hit." Warspite guessed. "Zuikaku, after they do, destroy those pillars and I'll destroy these ones. Cleveland, get your rigging and contact your sister once she has hers. Depending on her situation we'll either turn tail and get out of here or go and meet with her."

A growing whistle made itself known to all as the girls gave their confirmations when I spotted Javelin and Z23 running over to us from the edge of my sight.

"May we be forgiven." I whispered to myself just before the shells hit, praying there wasn't anyone near the bunker.

The whistle grew to its loudest point, and then it was followed with a loud boom. The entire area was fully illuminated by a raging inferno as the shells impacted against the coal bunker, followed by a hard-hitting shockwave and a wave of hot air. Even with our distance from the impact I spotted small bits of burnt debris landing right next to me. A loud ringing filled my ears for a moment, disorienting me, but I powered on against it.

"Now!" Warspite yelled as her rigging fired at the support pillars, while Zuikaku drew her sword from its sheath with dazzling speed. Hot red flames erupted from within the sheath's throat, also coating the length of her blade, and shot like a wave into the air, quickly growing in size. Soon enough a plane's engine roared to life as it materialised from within the flames. It only had a second of flight before smashing into the pillar.

A pulse radiated from the stricken ships as the devices that constrained them were destroyed, rocking the waters and even the ground. I felt goosebumps crawl over my skin as the ship closest to me was instantly bathed in an ethereal blue light.

The light swirled and flowed momentarily into the sky before coalescing around Cleveland. A loud metallic crack was heard as the light shifted and took the shape of her rigging. Two miniaturised replicas of her hull appeared at her sides and split in the middle, with two of her main guns occupying the left side while two secondaries' adorned the right, joined by a pair of beams that clasped together at her back. I noticed that there was even a small crane that hung just above the main guns on the left half of her rigging, and a copy of her ship's mast rose behind her back while the platforms of her shoes heightened, adopting small metallic fins on the heels. The new heels had a similar design to a warship's underside. And to finish off, two bright red armour panels clasped to her shoulders as her cape billowed in the wind. Even her small anchor brooch seemed to shine with its own light now.

The cruiser rolled her shoulders with a joyful look on her face. "Man, talk about finally being able to move a stiff muscle after a long time."

Another set of explosions rang out as the second salvo hit. Alarms and shouting were coming from all sides now.

The two destroyers finally got back over to us, panting after sprinting the final distance as quickly as their small frames would allow.

"Something isn't right." Warspite said as she looked at the other cruiser still sitting in the water. The pillars containing the ship were now a flaming wreck and the wire mesh nothing more than an inert lump of metal, however there wasn't any sign of activation. "The entire base is awake and alert. Cleveland, please tell me your sister isn't a heavy sleeper."

"No." She replied, the joy at having her rigging back slowly being replaced with worry. "Something must still be stopping her."

"Where would she currently be held?" Z23 said as she crouched around a box, one hand ready on the handle of her rigging, she constantly scanned the surroundings. "We need to move, the moment they notice a ship is gone they will know the explosions are a feint."

"Th-that building." She pointed to the large building opposite the docks, we had been talking about a moment ago.

"Then that's where we're going." I decided "And if she isn't there. Then we check the next building, until we find her."

Warspite stepped out into the open. "I will take the lead. Zuikaku, keep close to James and ensure no harm comes to him, the rest of you spread out as you see fit. We will make a run for that door over there." She rested her sword and pointed towards a metal door on the building with her finger. "We go quickly to minimise being seen; we don't want to get tied down dealing with security."

With affirmatives from everyone, Warspite looked to me for the final say. With my own nod, Zuikaku stood next to me and we moved out of the relative cover of the containers.

We had barely taken five steps when we were spotted. I felt a chill run down my spine as I saw the gun in the man's arms. He yelled a word of warning but upon fully seeing our group and the sheer amount of weaponry surrounding the girls either fear or surprise got the better of him.

I saw the barrel pointed towards me flash and instinctively closed my eyes, bracing for the worst. I had never been shot before, and for a brief moment, I wondered how much it would hurt. But no pain ever came. The boom of the gunshot was instantly followed by a ringing metallic sound. I dared open my eyes after too long, finding Zuikaku in front of me, her blade glistening against the early sun, and a small point of its edge burning hot red.

"Drop it." The carrier spoke with a clear yet stern tone. She levelled the blade and pointed it towards the man.

Seemingly taking slightly longer than me to comprehend what had happened I heard a fearful yelp come from the man along with the clatter of his firearm hitting the ground. His arms shot straight up to show his compliance. From the look of sheer terror and shock on the man's face, I figured the guards of this place only had a limited idea of what the girls were capable of.

"Leave this place." Zuikaku ordered, and without a moment's hesitation the man turned tail and ran. With the apparent danger gone she sheathed the sword and turned back to us. "We should continue quickly. He will undoubtedly report our presence."

"Then why let him go?" I asked her as we began to move, still slightly shocked at the ordeal. The idea of normal or rational becoming more and more like foreign concepts the more I spent around these women.

"Seemed like something you would want me to do, Shikikan."

I only hummed as Warspite increased her pace, making me slightly increase mine. Was that something I would want? I didn't know what I would have said had Zuikaku asked me

The door grew closer but Warspite showed no intention of slowing down. Without missing a step, she brought up her foot and kicked the door, which I expected to swing open on its hinges, not to be brought down alongside the entire frame and the masonry. Concrete and metal folded inward and crumbled at the sheer amount of force the small girl put into her kick.

"Could have checked to see if it was unlocked." I spoke incredulously as she ushered us in, coughing slightly as the cloud of dust created by the destruction burned my lungs.

"Eh, couldn't be bothered. This way was far simpler." She made a slight glance towards Zuikaku, one that I almost didn't notice. Was she jealous?

I was stopped from wondering as I noticed one of our group had yet to enter the building. Cleveland stood at the edge of what remained of the doorframe, her foot inches away from the change from outsides concrete and the laminated flooring. Her face told me all I needed to know.

"Here." I offered my hand to her. "Don't worry we'll be out of here shortly."

After some internal battle she took a deep breath and then my hand before stepping into the building. "Thanks." She said coldly, tracing her thumb along my hand before letting go and composing herself once again. "I'll be fine."

Guided by Cleveland, we quickly made our way through the building. The sterile white lights and white walls made my eyes sting as they adjusted from the darkness of dawn.

A door to my left opened as I passed it, leaving both me and the man who had opened it surprised. I swung my hand with enough force as I could muster and my fist contacted his jaw without even thinking, only for pain to shoot up my arm as he fell back into the room he had come from, falling to the floor unconscious.

"Nice swing. Where'd you learn to punch like that?" I heard Warspite comment as I tried to shake the pain away from my fingers, from the redness of my knuckles I knew it would bruise.

"You tend to learn when you go to pubs filled with sailors from all kinds of different ships." I deadpanned gracelessly. "Have moved many more passed out too. Give me a hand."

"I would love to see that." Warspite chuckled, taking him by the legs while I did the shoulders, and together we moved the unconscious man further into the room and closed the door.

"I'd rather not." I grunted, finally depositing him in a corner. "We need to keep moving. Cleveland, How far now?"

My words seemed to stun the cruiser as she looked down an adjacent hallway "Huh? Oh, we were held in a room just at the end of this corridor. But..." She trailed off, her gaze going back to the other hallway.

"You can feel something, can't you?" I knew the girl's senses were far superior to that of a normal human, so for Cleveland's attention to be drawn away while the others didn't seem affected meant it probably had something to do with her sister.

"It's strange. It's like I can feel something's down there, but I've never been that way before, so how would I know?" Her tomboyish voice cracked slightly.

"Then that is where your sister will be." Warspite affirmed sternly. She changed the grip on her blade to a single-handed one and placed the other hand on the metal plate that covered her chest. "It may sound ridiculous but I believe I can feel whenever Elizabeth is nearby. While we may only share ship class and were even constructed at different shipyards, but the human concept of fraternity binds us, as I'm sure it does with you. If your heart tells you to go that way, then that is where she will be."

I noticed the other girl's expressions change slightly; I could tell they were thinking of their own sister ships. The possibility of them being somewhere out in the world, unknowing of their health or what danger may avail them.

An alarm then rang out, a different one from the one that had originally started when the shells hit. "Reflections on siblings will have to wait, we must move. Cleveland, it's your call which way we go."

"This way." She turned and made way down the hallway, towards where she had felt the strange feeling.

Warspite had to force open a door again, this time reserving her strength and only pushing it off its hinges and not resorting to destroying the entire frame. One by one we all filtered into the wide room.

I felt goosebumps on the back of my neck upon stepping through the periphery. There was a static charge that blanketed the room, the source of which made my stomach knot in shock.

She had a pure white cape draped over one shoulder like Cleveland, with similar yet slightly different clothing, the main one being the shorts instead of a skirt and having long black tights with her name embodied along the side. Long ashen hair ran down the length of her back, a contrast to the cherry blond hair Cleveland had. It was the machine she was connected to that gave us pause

I heard Cleveland give a terrified yelp as my mind caught up with the sight. The stricken girl was suspended between two pillars, their design like that of the type that had contained the ships outside but a massively scaled down version. Metal clasps shackled her wrists, neck and midriff, with heavy duty wires running between them and the pillars. The image of Z23's cube came rushing back to me.

"Monty!" Cleveland cried.

The panicked cruiser rushed to her sister's side. The lights flickered when Cleveland tore the wires apart, which then burst with a large arc of electricity that zapped her, burning her hand and scorching her cape, but she did not falter, tearing away the wires and clamps like they were nothing but paper. I could see Montpelier's hazy, half-lidded eyes through the strobe.

I found myself stopped by an arm, Z23's to be precise. At some point I had taken a step forward. The German destroyer shook her head. "Your heart would stop in an instant with that much electricity."

I gulped down, sobering up at the reality.

"Moreover, why was this room abandoned?" Zuikaku said, having walked deeper into the room already, her eyes glued to the machinery.

Cleveland finally wrenched her sister free of the machine, and Montpelier's body fell limply upon her arms. The lights in the room sparked before going out, encroaching us in complete darkness only broken by a faint, deep red glow from the fires outside as they bled in through a window in the roof.

Montpelier stirred slightly as Cleveland carefully laid her down on her lap. The rest of us made our way over to them, I sighed in relief as I spotted the slight rise and fall of the ashen haired girl's chest.

Apart from some light bruising on where the clasps had held her I couldn't see any form of serious injury on her, but as I stood closer I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand as the air felt unbearably heavy. Montpelier's eyes were devoid of light.

Cleveland held her sister's head in one hand and her arm in the other. She sat upright as she noticed her eyes begin to twitch. "Monty, Monty! It's me. I came back just as I said I would. You're all safe now."

"Ugh, Cleve…? Is that you?" Her voice was low and weak. Montpelier's deep red eyes looked up at her sister, but I could tell she couldn't really see her.

"Yes, yes, it's me! We're here to get you out of here." Cleveland cried tearfully.

"Others…" Montpelier's head shifted slightly as she turned to her surroundings, looking at us. "You found all these people just to come get me…? You really are the coolest sister…"

Cleveland's tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. She embraced her sister's head and tightly held her against her bosom. "Don't, Monty… You're the coolest one. You'll be okay…"

"I'm sorry for being such a burden, I wish I could have been stronger." Montpelier relaxed, and began glowing with a soft blue light.

"Monty! What's happening?" Cleveland cried in panic, and the knot in my stomach twisted so much it threatened to knock me down as I began to see through the stricken cruiser.

"I'm glad I got to see you again, Cleve. If you find our sisters, please tell them I said hi." A weak smile formed on Montpelier's face, taking in her sisters' crying eyes.

"MONTY NO!"

The glow intensified as Montpelier rested her head back. She softly closed her eyes. She became more and more transparent until the glow faded.

All that remained was a solitary blue cube on Cleveland's hands.

The room began to swim. The darkness swallowed me. The silence was overbearing. The floor beneath me felt like a ship in rough seas. The air was heavy, and my lungs screamed for it. I felt nauseous.

It was unbearable. It was unbearable to hear Cleveland's sobbing. It was unbearable to hear her tears drip against the floor. Each droplet seemed to echo all around me.

Cleveland screamed in anguish.

My legs failed, and I stumbled back some uneven steps.

My mind began to betray me. The thought of that cube being Javelin, or Warspite, or Z23, any of the other girls filled me with terror. That one by one they would share the same fate as Cleveland's sister.

That they would leave me alone, and it would be my fault.

A loud switching noise rang out, but what brought me back to reality was the pulling on my neck. The lights in the room suddenly lit up with an intense light that made my eyes sting, but the click of a gun and the cool sensation of metal pressing on the side of my head overtook that.

"Seems the theory proves correct. Without synchronisation to the ship, the human body eventually runs out of energy. This complicates things." An intellectual voice spoke right next to me, with a breath that stunk of cheap coffee.

All other eyes turned to see the newcomer, with a yelp of fear escaping Cleveland's lips as she scrambled back, clutching the cube against her chest protectively.

"You… You bastard!" Warspite roared with fury.

I turned as much as I could, finding the source of Cleveland's fear. A middle-aged man with short dark hair and an impassive expression stood behind me. I could see the long sleeves and feel the unwashed, rough cotton of a dirty lab coat wrapped around my neck.

A fresh scar only recently stitched went up along one side of his face stopping just before his incredibly tired looking eyes. He didn't even deign to look at me properly. "My name is Steven Holt; you must be this James I have been hearing about."

He must have noticed my confusion, for he kept talking casually. "Don't look so surprised, news of you is spreading like wildfire around the port, I had a feeling we would be meeting soon."

Warspite took a step forward, levelling her sword towards the man. "Let James go, and I will make your death painless." Her words were laced with venom.

"You will pay for what you've done!" Z23 growled with the same intent.

He didn't seem bothered. I could see there was even a slight smile on his face. "Come now, let's not do anything too rash, we wouldn't want anyone getting injured now would we? Your kind is practically impervious to any forms of small arms fire when you have your rigging. Your friend here, however, isn't so durable." I shivered involuntarily when I felt the barrel of the handgun dig deeper into my skull.

Though Warspite kept a ferocious snarl, I could see the fear beginning to settle in, as it did on the rest of the girls. None of them caved, but their distress was insurmountable, Javelin being the most evident followed by Z23. Zuikaku had her hand on her blade and she was ready to draw, but it was trembling. My legs threatened to turn to jelly as all manner of thoughts ran through my head, I had faced mortal danger before but this was something else entirely.

"Now, let's do away with those riggings shall we? And don't even think of trying anything, A human body goes tense upon death and my thumb is firmly on the trigger."

There was a moment of hesitation, Warspite's eyes quickly darting between us, as in response Steven dug the gun deeper into my skull. She unequivocally relented, her rigging slowly fading, the other girls followed suit. Javelin finally broke then, letting tears stream down her face.

"Please don't do this…" She pleaded, supported by Z23 who also was on the verge of tears. She was ignored.

I felt Steven relax slightly, he stopped pushing the barrel into me but kept it close. "Very good, once my colleagues deal with the fire we can get everything sorted and get back to work."

"You just killed one of our kind, and all you can think of is getting back on schedule!?" Zuikaku snarled.

"W-what-what did you do to Monty?" Cleveland croaked, clutching the cube even harder against her to keep it safe.

"After your little breakout attempt, most of this facility's power generators were destroyed so we decided to move forward with one of our experiments." The scientist answered calmly. "That machine you haphazardly tore apart takes the latent energy your bodies produce and converts it into usable electricity. Sadly, the process is still… not nominal."

This bastard had the gall to only care about the machines and not what it had done to her sister.

"You did that to her just because you lost a few generators? Just to keep the lights on in this place!?" I unconsciously growled, my grip on his wrist tightening.

"Ah, steady now." He reaffirmed his own grip. "I had assumed you to be a smart one. It wasn't just to keep the power on at this place, that would be a tremendous waste of resources. No, that single machine was keeping up with the energy demands of the entire East Coast's power grid."

Everyone stood shocked at what he had said, I was unable to even comprehend the sheer amount of power he was talking about.

"But alas, one thing we have discovered is while they can exert those levels of power without a connection to the ship it will eventually give. As you can imagine there's reasons why that would be difficult." He said with a sigh.

"Whatever it is the Sirens promised or told you they can't be trusted. You need to stop this insanity." Z23 said, trying and failing to keep her anger in check.

"Sirens?" He looked confused at her accusation. "The Sirens are the enemy. Everything I do is to try and stop them. It would be a cold day in hell before I even entertain the idea of working with them."

"Then why?" Warspite followed through gritted teeth. "We want nothing more than to see them sink, why all this?"

"Because how many of you are there in your little group? Could you go up against the untold numbers of Siren ships and humanoids that we even know of? You may be resilient but you are not indestructible." Steven said matter-of-factly. "Eventually you would die and the secrets your bodies hold would go with you. However…"

He gestured to the broken machine. "If we were to even understand a fraction of what you are, we could pull humanity back from the brink."

To the surprise of no one, nobody's expression changed. He shook his head and sighed, like he was a teacher faced with a class that just couldn't comprehend what he was saying. "Your guns, while looking perfectly normal, are somehow able to pierce Siren shielding like it's nothing. You saw the defences lining New York, they are just the prototypes of what we have been able to produce. And it's not just weapons and power we could learn from you, your ability to heal has the potential to save countless lives."

"Think of it like this." His tone was calm, as if by rationalising his point would alleviate him of what he has done. It was disturbing. "You seem overly willing to fight the Sirens-and I commend you for it, but your numbers are limited."

"Think if we could travel in time and go back to the age of the Napoleonic wars. If we were to just give Napoleon a crate of modern guns and equipment, while some battles may have played out differently, eventually the ammunition would run out and the equipment would break. And history would play out practically the same. However…" he nodded to himself. "If we were to teach them how to produce them, then we would probably all be speaking French right now."

He continued spitting spiel, seemingly relishing in the chance to finally justify his actions.

Time was running out. As soon as he had some assistance to keep me as a hostage the girls would lose their ships and I didn't want to even think about what he was planning on doing with them. I would not-I could not let that happen. The girls wouldn't act as long as I was in danger.

I struggled a bit more, but Steven had a surprising amount of strength, but at the last moment, I felt something hard move in my breast pocket. I remembered the old revolver Warspite had given me. I froze as I understood the implication

I had said I didn't want to end lives where possible.

But then I saw Javelin's terrified face, and Cleveland holding onto Monty's cube for dear life. I had to make a choice.

Or maybe, the universe had already made it for me.

I found myself looking at Warspite instinctively, the one person I've probably shared the most with so far, the one who probably understood me best among these girls. I found myself staring at her eyes. She somehow knew what I was planning, because those beautiful violet eyes of hers swirled with an agony I hadn't seen yet.

Because she understood just then, for she was on the cusp of tears. She slowly shook her head, her eyes filled with worry, impotence, desperation, and a plea not to do it.

I looked over to the other girls. Z23 was beginning to lose hope, unable to think of a way out of this situation. Javelin whimpered, a fresh wave of sobs breaking past the pitiful attempt she made to stifle them. Zuikaku had an incredulous look on her face. Cleveland still clung onto Montpelier's cube, her eyes screwed shut like this was nothing more than a nightmare she just needed to wake up from.

It was as if I was rocked on my feet. I felt a fresh wave of chills run through me, but there really was no other way.

Steven continued rambling and ranting. And with my ears ringing and heart pounding louder than it ever had in my life, I slowly, very slowly reached for my breast pocket, praying that he wouldn't notice. I felt the cold metal of the handle on my fingertips. I let out a steady breath.

"Do you see what I'm trying to say here?" Steven said. "Sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to save the group. I know my soul is damned for what I have done, but so be it, Humans have suffered for far too long and I will do everything I can to put-"

He never got to finish his sentence; a loud bang filled the room as the scientist's body jolted in shock. Time stood still for an instant, then Steven made a half whimper-half hiccup noise. Our eyes met, and he looked incredulously at me. His grasp quickly weakened, and I was able to shove myself off him.

Steven struggled to breathe; he looked at his now blood-stained hands, mouth open aghast at the growing red patch staining his shirt and lab coat. He let go of his handgun and covered his wound with both hands. He tried to say something but all that came out of his mouth was a dribble of blood as his strength finally faded. He fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

There was a moment of silence, everyone's eyes focused on the body now unceremoniously laying on the ground, but one by one I felt their gaze turn to me and to the gun held in my shaking hand, smoke still coming from the barrel.

(A/N) First of all, i'm sorry for taking so long getting the chapter out. was a bit difficult working on it when I was on the other side of the planet for two weeks, but i'm back now and have already started working on the next.

I hope this chapter was enjoyable to read, it took a lot of rewriting to get it to a point I was happy with and I now think it's one of the best so far. please let me know what you think and hope you look forward to the next.