1998.

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

Purity comes back into the room where the Kansen lay holding a syringe containing a blue glow similar to the aura of a Wisdom Cube.

"I'd need access to he machinery in there to put your Cube back in and I'm locked out of everything, but I managed to get a tiny bit of its essence into this. Considering Wisdom Cubes have enough energy to keep a Kansen going pretty much forever, this might help you at least a little bit." The Siren explains.

The Kansen smiles at her.

"Don't worry. You have a friend here." Purity smiles back as she injects the syringe into the Kansen's veins. The Cube essence starts coursing through her body and she takes a massive gasp of air, and finally lets out a scream in response to all pain she's been feeling, until it goes away as her Kansen body heals rapidly. The cuts in her chest become faint scars and her black hair even grows back to about shoulder length with the red and white streaks. Her dull eyes shine with life again as her body flops back down on the table and she takes deep breaths. She looks over at Purity and asks with a very raspy voice, "…Of all… people… I'd have expected… to help me… you… you're the last I'd ever expect…"

"Looks like it worked… at least temporarily."

"Temporarily?" The Kansen sits up and looks over her now healthy-looking body.

"Yeah…" Purity puts the Kansen's black uniform on the table next to her. She then hops up and sits on the desk opposite, "Like I said, that's just a tiny amount of your Cube's power. It's gonna wear off, but I'm gonna keep trying to get access to the machines in there."

The Kansen gets dressed and then looks at the machines in the other room out of curiosity. She suddenly gets flashes of the memory of the humans ripping her Cube out. Her eyes widen, her pupils shrink, she clutches her empty chest and starts breathing heavily.

"Hey, you okay?"

The Kansen collapses onto the table and starts hyperventilating. The corners of her vision darken as everything seems to zoom out. Purity jumps off the desk and grabs her shoulders, looking into her eyes, "Hey! I think you're having a panic attack! Focus on me! I'm here! It's alright!"

The Kansen switches her attention to her and stares back, but keeps breathing erratically.

"You need to slow down. Match my breathing." Purity instructs, using her hand to direct slower breathing.

The Kansen focuses solely on the Siren and gradually makes her breathing slower and slower, briefly forgetting what even set her off.

Eventually, the Kansen seems to calm down. Purity stays with her, not breaking eye contact, and softly smiles. "How do you feel?"

"…scared… I… I never feel scared…"

"Lets take your mind off it… why don't you tell me about yourself? Don't worry about anything else, just focus on me." Purity smiles.

"Uh… sure… my name…"

"Go on." The Siren encourages.

"My name… is Deutschland…"

In a other part of the research centre, the red F-14D rests. Its entire cockpit replaced by a machine with a learning AI. In a nearby building, Dr. Morgan and another scientist, the leader of the ZOE project, Dr. Schroeder, discuss its encounter with Scarface Squadron. Despite being born Belkan, he has an Osean accent.

Dr. Schroeder starts, "Do you have Archange's latest flight data?"

"Yeah. It's stored in the database, ready for transfer." Morgan answers.

"Good. While that's uploading, have you seen the footage from its camera while it fought against Phoenix?" Schroeder asks.

"Not yet. What happened?"

The other scientist answers, "See for yourself." As he accesses the recording of its chase of Scarface 1. Morgan sees the ace pilot trying to get away from its weapons envelope, unable to shake it.

Instead of shooting him down, it scanned his flight data, like a hunter learning how his prey moves.

"This is incredible… it can keep up and outmanoeuvre a legendary ace like that in a Raptor while it's in control of a Tomcat?" Morgan gasps.

"That's right. Imagine if we had this AI in the ADFX instead of Pixy? I'm debating wether or not to have it replace Mihaly in the X-02 or put it the newer plane." Schroeder answers.

"I think we should stick to the drones we have for now. It's best not to rush into this. Let's have ZOE fight Phoenix more times in different planes and let it learn from him more as well as Mihaly." Schroeder suggests.

"Agreed. Let's transfer ZOE into another plane, then."

In the massive aircraft hangar, the F-14D sits next to an F/A-18E Super Hornet, a WF-23 Black Widow II, am F-15 S/MTD and a new one, currently in development. All painted the same metallic red with no markings except for the symbol for the ZOE AI, the same one as printed on the wall of the hangar itself, along with the full name.

Zone Of Endless.

2024.

Azur Lane HQ, science lab.

Akashi works with the Compiler to work out the glitches in her revival program. She's had to bring back a few more as the only way to keep testing it.

Amagi-Chan, Clevelad, Lena, Li'l Sandy, Little Cheshire, Little Formidable, Little Illustrious, Little Renown, Zeppy, Taihou-Chan, Shinano-Chan and Friedrich Der Klein sit in a circle outside the lab in the waiting room along with their bigger sisters playing and giggling. Although they all have their past memories and experiences, they can't help but give in to their more child-like personalities now.

"It should all be fixed now, nya!"

"Thank you, Akashi." The Compiler replies. "Please bring in the next one." The Siren politely asks Sheffield.

Not particularly happy about serving the Siren who killed the Head Maid, Sheffield reluctantly carries out the request.

After a few seconds, in walks Enterprise with a few Cubes.

The Compiler scans them, and says, "The Cubes of Hornet, Yorktown and Belfast. Please hand them to me, and I will bring them back."

Enterprise asks, "…will they be like the others? As kids?" Worried about her beloved Belfast and her sisters becoming children.

"The kinks are all ironed out now, nya! It should be fine from now on, nya!" Akashi assures her.

Hearing it from a fellow Kansen, even if she's a Sakura Kansen, makes Enterprise more confident. She hands the Siren the Cubes and stands back, watching as the Cubes all start spinning and glowing.

Akashi puts her sunglasses on again as a flash of light engulfs the room. She's able to look past the blinding light and see the. Uses form into female forms.

"It's working, nya! They're forming properly, nya!" She excitedly waves her oversized sleeves up and down.

After the light dies down, Enterprise removes her hand from her eyes and looks upon the three revived Kansen.

"What the… Enty, that you?" Hornet asks.

"Enterprise, what happened?"

"Miss? Are you alright?"

Enterprise can't contain herself anymore. She falls to her knees staring at them and starts crying.

Concerned, Belfast approaches and asks again, "…Miss Enterprise?"

Enterprise suddenly hugs Bel around her waist. Not fighting it, the Head Maid smiles and pets her head.

Hornet and Yorktown both kneel another side of their sister and hug her back.

The three of them hear the Carrier break down crying, like she's held it in for a long time. They comfort her. Telling her it's alright, even if they don't know what happened.

Akashi gets on the phone to the Fleet Admiral's desk, "Shikikan! The program's working properly, nya! Miss Enterprise has her sisters back, nya!"

She hears no response apart from the phone being dropped in a rush and the sound of a chair falling over followed by sprinting footsteps.

1998.

Anchorhead Bay, Usea.

The wreckage of the Kinnear is finally out of the harbour and now in dry dock for salvage. The rest of the destroyed Coup fleet has been towed away.

A lot of steel is being torn away from the lifeless Carrier in a search for the Cubes of the Kansen of the ship, the workers unaware that they've already been taken by the Sirens. Their search, however, is halted by air raid alarms. They drop what they're doing and run for cover. They can see bombers approaching.

Many civilians rush to get to safety, but the sudden panic causes traffic jams and crashes. Utter chaos.

Luckily, the B-52s start falling from the sky as Scarface Squadron starts intercepting them, earning sheets from the civilians.

Keynote radios, "Some of their aircraft seem to be equipped with stealth capabilities."

Moving onto the next bomber squadron, Phoenix destroys a landing ship attempting to drop soldiers on the beach to kill civilians before turning his attention to the B-2A Spirit stealth bombers.

Eventually, naturally, the bombers are all shot down along with all escorts. Keynote orders Scarface Squadron back to base.

Chopinburg Rainforest, Usea.

"Observer, report. Is Anchorhead back under control, yet?" The Empress demands.

"About that…"

"You did send the bombers, didn't you?" The Empress asks in a terrifyingly calm tone.

"Well, of course I did… but…"

"…Phoenix?"

"…Phoenix."

"HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!" The tall Siren rages.

The Observer rolls her eyes, "This is one of the many reasons Zero never puts you in charge, Empress…"

"Whatever! Just give the order to get those supplies dropped here! Using portals will attract unwanted attention. The Rebels need them." The Empress orders.

"The cargo planes are taking off as we speak, Your Incompetency." The Observer bows, fully aware of the death glare she's getting after saying that.

After getting a new briefing to shoot down those exact planes, Phoenix had to take off on his own as Nagase's plane had developed a fault. He takes off in a rush and enters the AO.

Unfortunately, the crates have already been dropped, but they have yet to reach the ground. Hanging on parachutes, Scarface 1 decides instead to not let any reach the Rebels in the rainforest down below…

"Here it comes… this should bolster defences in this region…" The Empress smiles as she looks up to see the crate deciding slowly, only for it then to get riddled with bullets and explode, and then Phoenix's F-22A flying overhead followed by the deafening sound of his twin jet engines.

The burning remains fall through the trees, but fail to set fire to the damp leaves. The Observer looks at her taller comrade to see her about to lose her mind once again. She rolls her eyes and portals them both away.

Up in the air, Phoenix adds to his new list of cargo crate kills. Surely no other ace has shot down so many crates suspended from parachutes in rapid succession until now. At least he gets to shoot down a C-17 every five or so crates.

With none of the other cargo planes close Scarface 1 turns his attention to the ground targets. Multiple vehicles used by the Rebel Forces. Having dealt with them, Keynote orders, "The transporter to the East has begun dropping cargo. Head there now."

More crates, how exciting.

Phoenix repeats the process, making sure the only supplies that reach the ground are their remains.

At least the rookie escorts and the fact he can't lock onto the crates are making it a little more interesting.

As the crew of the last C-17 pushes their final crate out, they look straight ahead from the cargo bay and see Phoenix closing in.

"Oh shit…" one of them says.

A missile flies right into the inside of the plane and detonates, blowing it out of the sky.

Phoenix turns his plane and heads home, bored but thankful he didn't have to face that ZOE plane again while being alone…

Top-Secret Gründer Industries research lab.

"…and that is how I was eventually only sunk by a bomb designed to punch through the armoured deck of a Battleship." Deutschland more confidently finishes.

"You have an incredible service history, Lützow." Purity smiles, her head resting on her hand while propped up on the desk.

"My name is Deutschland!" The Cruiser insists.

"Not officially, but if that's what you wanna be called, then okay." She softly says. "What happened to Prinz Eugen after you were…" Purify gets up to catch her as she starts getting weak again. "Deutschland?"

"I think… that injection… is wearing off…" The Iron Blood whispers.

"Hold on, I'll get another one!" Purity sits her gently on the chair and runs to the Cube room.

Feeling dopey and weak again, Deutschland sees Graf Spee sat opposite her behind the desk. "…Schwester…?"

The visage of Spee smiles and says, "I miss you, Deutschland… please come home…"

"But how…?" She whispers. "I don't even know how I got here… or where I am…"

Before the hallucination can answer, Purity comes back and injects her. Now returning to normal, Spee vanishes and the Siren sits back down in her place. "There we go, you okay now?"

Shaking her head to get her vision to clear up, she says, "Ja… danke…"

"Who were you talking to?" Purity asks. Not with hostility, but concern.

"I… saw meine Schwester… Admiral Graf Spee…"

"I bet she misses you… I wanna help you get back, but I can't remember where either of us came from… Morgan said I hit my head really hard on a rock before he found me. See?" She brushes some of her platinum hair back revealing a nasty scar on the side of her head.

"I remember where… and I remember you back then." Deutschland replies.

"Oh, really? Where did we come from? What was I like? Were we friends?"

Hesitant to risk the Siren remembering who she really is, the Cruiser nods, "Ja. We were allies. You helped us fight a war. One that threatened the survival of humanity."

"But… if we were allies, why did you say I'm the last person you expected to help you?" Purity asks.

"We… didn't exactly always get along…" wanting to change the subject, and gather information, Deutschland asks, "What about that Morgan? The human in charge of experimenting on my Cube? Tell me about him."

Purity gives a sad smile, "Oh… Morgan? Yeah… we were… we were pretty close a couple years ago… but now… now he's more into his work than me… I enjoyed having fun with him… he… gave me lessons in human reproduction when I became curious… and gave me a few demonstrations… hehe…" she chuckles, but then gets sad again, "He started to lose interest in a serious relationship with me after I told him I can't get pregnant…"

"Oh… I'm sorry…" Never expecting to see a Siren blush and then get depressed in the same breath, the Cruiser gets her back on track, "But… what meant was… what kind of man is he? What does he actually do here?"

Peeking up again, "Oh, he's the assistant of Dr. Schroeder, the chief scientist of the ZOE Program. Morgan's job is to try and find some way to combine the project with his research into your Cube, while also funding ZOE by creating Cubes based on yours and selling them to clients around the world. As for what kind of guy he is… well… that's complicated…"

"I see…" Deutschland says. "Do you think that perhaps he only used you? Merely pretended to be into you to study you? And then to bed you? He probably would've done the same to you as he did myself if you were a Kansen."

Stunned by the revelation, Purity asks, "…he… used me…?"

Just when Deutschland is about to comfort her, they are interrupted by Morgan himself entering the room, "Purity, what the hell are you doing!?"

As if by instinct, Deutschland snaps. She leaps at the scientist and pins him to the floor by his neck.

"ICH WERDE DICH TÖTEN!"