Hello everyone, here is author speaking with notes before the start of this fic.

1. I don't own Azur Lane or any other franchise used in this Fic, my ownership is limited to the Fic istelf and OC's, unless specified otherwise.

2. - Story is written entierly on a phone by a non-naitive English speaker, so eventual grammar errors and mispeeling are going to eventually happen, but I take it upon myself to make them as unfrequent as possible.

3.1. - Story begins as a direct sequel to Azur Lane the Animation anime series. As a result, many leaps of logic and creative liberties are a case in this fic since I have that much metaphorical 'room' to work with.

3.2 Main one being the main OC, who is technically a Commander but is so detached and changed that I feel I have to label him as OC for accuracy.

4. - This fic won't have any upload frequency. As for now, it's a filler for me to let out mine creativity so I can focus on other things.

5. - If you don't like this fic, than don't read it. I'm not forcing you to keep on doing so. If you like the fic but have an objection/question/will to point out mine mistake/interesting point then write about it in review, but keep in mind that it has to be outside of things covered in other points.

6. - If you want to write/do anything on a basis of this fic, go for it! No need to ask me for permission or anything else.

If you read it all and haven't decided to abandon the Fic after these notes, then I can say that: Enjoy!


"So boring…" Littorio rolled her eyes, looking over her left shoulder into endless, pure blue waters and sky up above. "No Siren in sight. Egh, I'm gonna have a talk with Vincenzo Gioberti about her scouting." She then looked to the right, getting a flash of darkening cloud ahead with what seemed to be a shadow camouflaging itself in the covered waters. "Ah! As always. The Sardegna Empire is correct once again. Some just cannot comprehend it at first, bogged in details." She smirked, turning to face distant threat as the grand total of eighteen guns came in a blue light within an eye blink and directed themselves forward and slightly up for better range. "Now to wait until they come into my trap…"

As she said so, far into the dark cloud, another confident fighter felt good.

"Hm, hm, hmmm." Mildly melted face grunted with satisfaction, extending pairs of quadruple cannons in even square orientation extend from behind its shoulders and move ahead through dark shadow casted from above. "Confident today, huh?" The voice asked, seemingly happy. "Halt!" I suddenly commanded, raising the flat palm of the right hand upward, stopping a plethora of dark, box-like ships from moving as the skimpy purple clothing and razor-like nails flickered a little. "Stand here and cover my back. Hunt is to be begun by the master." It added before slowly walking ahead to the light, letting darkness go off creamy skin with gray discoloration over the whole face and limb joints. Adding psychotic shine over the bright yellow eyes and dust-white hair along with the 2x4 square grid cannons extending above shoulders. "Now… Let's start!"

"Hm?" Littorio noticed the movement coming from the shadows followed by a slow forward walk turned into a dash by an opposing humanoid. "Siren? Going to face me? Braver than the most." She smiled, aiming all the guns at the coming figure as she narrowed her eyes. "Kneel before the Sardegna Empire!" She shouted, taking the first shot. Or rather, full salvo as all shots went close to each other.

"Tight grid, eh?" Opposing figure asked with no intention of hearing the answer. "I think it's time to…" It continued with follow-up to the joke and a sidestep to the left followed by taking aim at the opponent. "Widen the horizons!"

"Dodge?" Littorio was taken by surprise. "Might as well!" She concluded, using the still large distance to move backwards and continue to return fire, now at a much less compressed area.

"I love it when they learn." The opponent didn't let that be, speeding up the sliding across the water and deviating to the right, narrowly dodging one shot in doing so. "And none of my first ones came close… More tests required!" It came to joyous conclusion as the guns fired again, leaving a yellow-ish muzzle flash on the way out of metallic tubes.

"A run to the side? Wouldn't be me." Littorio said to herself, stopping the backwards movement and turning slightly left to take aim at a distant opponent. "For you are mine." She said, firing the next salvo just as enemy shots landed in water short of her.

"Hrn. One closer and we get to have fun." Opposing Siren growled quietly before getting off of the water level and getting into flight at low altitude, dodging next few shots that were closer to her before rushing ahead.

"Flight now? Daring." Littorio commented as she followed the target and aimed the guns straight at flying nuisance. "But you can't dodge forever!" She added, blasting another set of shots into the air.

"Whoa." The target said unamused, going down to the water and resuming the hiver slide as two shots narrowly missed by the streak of hair. "Getting closer and closer I see." It responded, turning slightly left to a stop and quickly sending full eight gun salvo.

"Run as it might, no closer to success." Littorio rolled her eyes as the shots from opponent went all around her, splashing water up and down. "But enough about the worthless. The Sardegna Empire will have the glory of this win!" She pumped herself up, moving forward towards the enemy and aiming her guns before responding to fire with her own.

"Now she attacks." Siren smiled, continuing the move to the right as if it tried to pass around her. "Let's play this game a little longer." It added, while gunshots continued to ring back and forth.


"Da Vinci!"

"Eh?!" Short girl panicked, turning around as the tall, particularly cross on the face figure walked up to her at the beach. "Conte Di Cavour! W-What's the occasion?"
"You've been inventing with our radar system by any chance?" The bigger character asked, looking down on her as if it was to grab her head like a basketball.
"Uhh-Uuuhhhh. Why do you a-"

"Answer my question." Di Cavour interrupted her, leaning forward so much that she locked the sun for the small girl.

"... Mayyy-be?" Da Vinci made a puppy eye face, expecting the worst.

"The radar system isn't working in full." Conte Di Cavour said with a stiff, angry expression. Leaning even further into Da Vinci's face. "And the blank zone is exactly where Littorio was given patrol today."

"..." Da Vinci bought her legs up to the chest and grabbed them with her arms.

"And you know how rarely she thinks to call for help." Di Cavour continued, grabbing her by the right shoulder and turned around to see another girl standing by. "Gorizia, ready to go?"

"Affirmative." Petite blonde answered as she went ahead while her rigging came to be on the back and sides, sporting four batteries of two guns each.

"Alright then, as temporary captain of this task force, I order we go to zone W-7, where our friend is." Di Cavour didn't waste any time, getting her system up as well and moving ahead with Da Vinci's head still glued to her hand by sheer force of annoyance.

"Makes me wish we had one who cared…" Creative submarine said.

"If we perform well, they just might think of us more." Gorizia suggested following right after the two. "Now come on, we have a mission to do."


Boom*

"Even Siren shells know not to touch the Sardegna Empire." Littorio commented with a smile as her fire exchange with opponent was as accurate as earlier. That is, constantly an inch away.

"Who said I need to touch you?" Siren asked, by now casually running in circles on considerable distance.

"Well…" Littorio thought for a moment, sidestepping another few shots. "Maybe you would want to talk about this touching topic for a moment?"

"Excuse me?" Siren asked, stopping right away in a convenient spot between the coming weather darkness and the battleship.

"I mean, if you keep up with someone as glorious as me then you surely have some redeeming quality." Littorio suggested, tilting her head to the right and spreading hands to the sides in a suggestive manner. "Like, who are you?"

"How cordial." Siren smiled. "But as a reward I may grant your wish. My name is Cleaner. For I am the one who cleans areas for us."

"Name checks out." Littorio nodded with a smirk. "Aaand what do you clean here?" She asked, looking to the sides. "The water here is rather clean, even by my standards."

"Not the water itself." Cleaner said, pointing downwards. "First. The leftovers at the bottom. With which your presence interferes to an unignorable degree."

"... Oh."

"And second…"

Fffffvvvvv*

"Hm?" Littorio caught on to the incoming sound.

FffvvVVV*
"The noise you hear is the second." Cleaner stated, aiming her guns ahead. "Better go to the side."

VVVVV*

"This fuckin' thing…" Siren sighed with an unamused look on her face.

VVVVVVV*

Littorio slided to the left at the last moment, narrowly escaping obsidian-black bulky body from ramming into her back. Instead, she got to see it take full salvo to the face.

"Impatient." Cleaner commented, watching the being slide back, bounce twice off of the water before stopping to a straight stand with help of apparent miniature jet engines at the back and backside of limbs.

"Stand back, slugoid." Black body said in a metallic, serious voice as the smoke blast cleared out to reveal muscular, bulky metalica body roughly the side of a light cruiser. "Scraps at the bottom are mine."

"Hmph." Cleaner sniffed, flicking her fingers as from the dark cloud swam out a large fleet of Siren ships. "Dare to."

"Mind if I stand by and watch?" Littorio asked with live interest.

VVFFFVVVRRR* Black body charge ahead with hundred fires at the back, dashing forward before anyone could react and tackling Cleaner in a wild charge.

"... I take it as a yes."

"Impotent." Cleaner commented unfazed, managing to get away from the tackle, leaping to the side and firing one quad gun into the back.

"Hnn!" Mysterious entity snarled, leaping up and using both momentum with a blast wave to leap far ahead into the incoming fleet that clearly wasn't prepared for fast entry.

"Shoot him!" Cleaner shouted, running back to her fleet just as the closest ship got a point-blank explosion to the front.

"Thanks for the boost, stupid!" Black body laughed, rushing into the fleet and just firing wherever, basically having guaranteed hit each time. "Hahahahaha! Can't touch me now!"

"What kind of ship is this joyously violent? Hmm…" Littorio though, tapping her chin with an index finger.

"You absolute-!" Cleaner growled with annoyance, chasing into the mess composed of lower Siren ships trying to get themselves together and respond among constant explosions and fired all around. "Spread out!"
BOOM*

"Hah?" Cleaner stopped, seeing a whole circus of explosions throw pieces of Siren ships up and down with red-orange splashes. Painting a picture worthy of a catastrophic movie.

"Shallow depth charges."

CLING*

She turned around, bracing her in a X-pattern as a pair of black, sharpened batons clashed with her arms.

"How smart." Cleaner made a smug face before dashing backwards and firing all eight guns at the armor.

"My own destroyers taught me that." Black suit said, visibly ignorant of being shot at with no visible result.

"You sure take a lot." Siren remarked from observation as her guns reloaded and few minor ships came to her sides from the mess behind her. "Wonder how lo-!"

Cling*

"More." Black suit said, bouncing off of melee clashed with her and onto the nearest Siren ship, jabbing a second baton into it. "More than you can dish out."

"Really?!" Cleaner asked, turning her guns after the maniac just to see him leap over her with back boost as the stabbed ship got set on fire from a deep wound.


Boom*

"This is more and more interesting." Littorio said to herself, having a Great time seeing Sirens be outplayed by… Something. Like, who could have an idea that charging into the whole Siren fleet was a good idea? Even better, who could be capable of making such a daunting concept actually work?
There was only one answer she had.

Commander has graced her with his presence.

Still didn't explain why he got himself an armored suit and was jumping from Siren Queen ship to another like an assassin, stabbing them with extendable wrist blades that clearly were far too long to fit in the suit.

Needless to worry about it, however. Because the spectacle was decent.

"Littorio!"

"Oh, Gorizia." She turned to the right, seeing three fellows run up to her across the sea. "You brought help? You shouldn't have."

"That was my idea." Conte Di Cavour said, coming up along with Leonardo Da Vinci by the side. "Any idea who this loud suit is?"

"Break me if you can!"

"Nnnot sure, but…" Littorio hesitated, looking back and seeing black suit fly high above a mix of fighting and not-intact Siren ships, now sending small calibers fire from wrist, arms, ankles and few other guns extended to his sides and above head very much like a rigging if not for multitude of thin arms carrying the guns. "I think it might be Commander."

"You don't say!" Da Vincis' eyes ignite with a shining spark.

"He sure puts work behind actions." Di Cavour nodded, looking down as a blown out piece of Siren ship landed just before them, heavily curved and melted across the whole surface. "Any idea why one would do anything outside the office?"

"He said something about scraps at the bottom of the sea here…" Littorio explained, taking a pause as the whole gathering spread out to dodge stray shots from the mess in the distance.

"I break yooouuuu…"

"He really wants whatever there is."

"I can go and search for what exactly!" Da Vinci suggested.

"Not when they are still fighting." Gorizia grabbed her by the shoulder, using the other hand to fire a shot at another far-flying Siren ship piece, ripping it into four shreds that fell freely down.

"In that case we wait for the situation to develop, be vigilant everybody." Di Cavour concluded as the whole gathering set the eyes back on the fight.


"You're not a typical foe around here." Cleaner stated, jumping backwards as black suit emerged from the water, sending two shots into the air as if it frantically tried to shoot her.

"Neither are you." It said, leaping up onto the surface in a squat and grabbing an armor plate from the destroyer Siren ship. "So what about it?" The question came just as he swung around, blocking a few shots at the cost of plate no longer existing in his hand.

"Annoying…" Cleaner rolled her eyes before sidestepping a return shot and aiming her own guns for a salvo. "But I'll make sure you go down eventually."

"... Down? Good idea."

"He?" Siren asked, seeing the black suit suddenly go down into the water at a breakneck speed just as he stood. "Not happening." She added, swiftly driving right in after him.

BOOM*

Right as she did so, large explosion erupted, sending her flying straight into the air amongst an expanding tide of blue and orange-red.

"More depth charges? Really?" Cleaner groaned with annoyance, getting herself together and coming to a stable hover above the exploded area. Her subordinate ships were not as lucky, getting washed out by hydrological impact and flooded at best, broken and pulled down under physical pressure at worst.

"Really!" Black suit called out with enthusiasm, now present on the sea level with a sizable turret full of sand and algae carried in his arms. "And really, that's all I'm here for."

"Just a piece of ordinary armament?" Cleaner asked with a dubious face.

"Yea." Black suit confirmed. "I saw something else down there. And I know this beauty here doesn't match the rest." He added with a small info dump.

"Hmm, your suggestion?" Siren asked, slowly going down with an intrigued face.

"I have what I wanted. And it isn't the same as what you want." Black suit explained. "So if you allow, I won't bother you here and take what I got."

"... Sure." Siren nodded, crossing her arms. "But the mess you caused will keep me here longer."

"Not my problem." Suit responded, turning around to leave. "I'm done for here."


"Seems like it got something in his arms." Littorio said as the Sardegna group watched unidentified object holding a naval turret slide towards them over the sea. "He will have to answer for reckless sea scavenging though. Shame."

"Not that he would." Di Cavour added. "You saw the battle. This Alpha Siren scored direct hits on him and he wasn't even damaged."

"Still, we can't just have be disrespected by non-Siren piracy in our waters." Gorizia stated, moving her arms as if she wanted to cock-up a shotgun.

Chk-chk*

"Eh?"

"What happened?" Da Vinci asked, as the whole group looked at Gorizia with mixed expressions.

"I… I think I am out of ammo."

"YOU DIDN'T BROUGHT ANY?!" Di Cavour metaphorically erupted with anger.

"There was nothing in the storage!" Gorizia backed away, placing her hand forward as if to push her away.

"Yet you went ahead for a mission with us!" Di Cavour pressed on towards her. "How could you… Be so, so not combat ready and tell me you are..."

"Excuse my rudeness…" Distinct tone made the whole gathering look back at the black suit who now casually stood in front of them. "I hope you let me get free from here without trouble."

"..."

"… Oh shoot, my voice modulator is broken." Black suit scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, so about that…"

"You seem to be a mysterious one." Littorio slided to the right side of the suit. "Interesting."

"Not sure if it answers my question." Suit responded with constant tone switching between angry demon in a metallic echo chamber, dehydrated nerd and electronic whispers with few in-betweens for full scale.

"You are against Sirens, so that's good…" Da Vinci said. "Captain, can we please, pleeease be nice to him?"

"... I guess." Di Cavour sighed. "But we need one more for a return trip back to base. Join us for a convoy and we'll let you go."

"Fine by me."


"So…"

"Hm?"

"Why do you come here and get these things from the bottom of the sea?" Da Vinci asked, sliding up to the black suit as the whole squad changed into a hourglass formation, the aforementioned duo at the front, Gorizia in middle and Conte Di Cavour with Littorio at the rear. "It's dangerous to go alone there. Especially unprepared."

"A… A-A certain project of mine." Black suit stated, taking some small mechanical piece into the fingers and tweaking something with it. At least, as much as thick fingers of the suit allow it to.

"Ooohhh, that's a fancy piece." Submarine girl commented, leaning ahead to take a closer look. "What's this?"

"The regulator for my voice modulator." Suit stated. "Seems like water got into it and literally washed out the calibration. Thus the tone swings earlier."

"May I have it?"

"... I have spares back at my place so… Eeeh whatev'." Suit shrugged his arms before handing the small device over.

"Thank you, mister… er…"

"Oh right, I never presented myself." Black suit realized. "I… Don't really have a name and I don't want to share my real one. You know, Secret identity and stuffs."

"... Want us to pick a name for you?" Littorio asked from behind.

"I-I think I have an idea. Thank you." Suit responded, partially ignoring the suggestion. "One of my older colleagues told me I can use her name if I were to impersonate her. So…"

"... So?" Whole group of four got a bit closer out of pure interest.

"You can call me… Wicher."

"... That's… A proud name." Littorio commented, before her eyes sparked a star-like shine. "Charming~."

"It's not about self-esteem, really." Wicher commented. "She just wanted the name to not be forgotten, so here I am."

"There is a deeper meaning to this?" Conte Di Cavour asked.

"Well…" Wicher sighed, reaching for his back and taking the obtained earlier naval turret into his hand. "Now that I look at it… I think it's better to share my plans."

"Go on then." Gorizia nodded with visible impatience.

"You all, shipgirls. You are amazing." Wicher began to explain. "You are far above typical human beings, being made in their shape but with a plethora of war armaments and experiences to stand against the threats of the high seas." He paused, looking down at the gun in his hands. "But… You alone are not enough against Sirens. How can humanity expect you to be enough for the clean-up if we ourselves won't move to aid where it matters the most is beyond me."

"Humans already do a lot, don't call them lazy." Conte Di Cavour stated. "They make us, provide home and supplies…"

"Supplies?" Wicher asked, looking behind with specific attention to Gorizia. "Do artillery shells count?"

"I'll have a talk with Bolzano once we return." Conte Di Cavour said. "She's the one running our paperwork nowadays."

"Back to my ideological rambling then…" Wicher got back to his speech. "My idea is, as you could see earlier with Sirens, that we kinda have to move forward if we are to win and ensure safety. At least partially. Bringing old warships to life is really neat, but it does have the unfortunate consequence of placing us on a back seat while Sirens are drunk navigating events at sea."

"Pfff, us backwards?" Littorio sniffed with a signature look of superiority. "Foolish of you to disregard the Sardegna Empire."

"I know, foolish." Wicher turned around to face them all directly. "Which is why I want to be an ally of you."

"Me specifically?" Littorio smiled, tilting her head to the side. "How dedicated of you."

"One of Sardegna, still a Sardegna." Wicher explained. "I mean come on, you saw what I can do in battle."

"... It's too early for an alliance." Di Cavour responded unconvinced. "We barely just met you and you kinda sound like a lunatic."

"But can we be friendly to each other?" Da Vinci asked from the side. "He seems to be nice."

"I guess…" Do Cavour rolled her eyes before looking back at Wicher. "Non-aggression pact?"

"Non-aggression pact." Wicher repeated. "Once we encounter eachother few more times we can think what goes next."

"Good, I'll put a notice for all of us that flying obsidian mecha is not a new Alpha Siren."

"Cool."

"You won't put it in your group?" Da Vinci asked, slightly confused.

"I'm a lone wolf." Wicher responded. "The thing I'm wearing? Made py pulling all left favors to many people because of how dumb it was for everyone but me. Not that I blame them for it or anything."

"Favors, huh?" Littorio asked. "Wouldn't that scale of favors as you call them make you a Comma-"

"Don't." Wicher turned around and nearly placed a finger gun to her throat. "... Call me that."

"..."

"No, seriously. I am not that. And to be clear." He turned left so everyone could face him from the front. "I don't want to be that."

"... Sure." Gorizia said, being first to go through this paralyzing turn of mood.

"That being said, it seems our chat took too long. And I see your base in sight so…" Wicher continued, tilting his head slightly to the left and noticing the sticking out shape of a spiky tower at the horizon. "Gotta blast!" He added in hurry, igniting all the mini jet engines at the back and zooming vertically so fast a foot-tall formed behind him and went into high seas.

"... Littorio." Di Cavour turned to the left. "Did you mean to say Commander to him?"

"I wanted to say Commatose." Littorio responded with drag on 'm'. "I see why he could mistake the term."

"Especially since he interrupted you." Gorizia added. "But why does he dislike that title?"

"Exactly!" Da Vinci followed up. "Being called a Commander is like the best thing ever!"

"That I do not know." Di Cavour shaked her head in disapproval. "But I have a gut feeling that disdain and him rushing into combat similar to what we do is related."

"Well, I'm sure we will find the answer eventually." Littorio concluded. "Now, however, we need to go back in. Wanna share a drink after a day?"

"Yes!"

"Not you, Vinci." Di Cavour quickly stepped in with a sad groan as a response. "Gorizia?"

"..."

"Gorizia?"

"Eh?"

"Are you alright?"

"I-I got lost in thought." Gorizia corrected herself as she followed after the rest. "You were asking?"

"Want to join me and Littorio for a drink?" Di Cavour asked again.

"I guess I can. Where and when?"

"We set the details later, just wondering about your interest."