[Kancolle Bismarck]

"It's been quite a while since we've been contacted by the Atlantic HQ. What does that senile old motherfucker want now?" The Kommandant of the Pacific HQ asked as he joined Enterprise, Nagato and the others that Akagi had called in to join.

I began, "Herr Kommandant, let me get this out of the way first, I am not the Bismarck native to this world. I am currently trying to find a way to get back to my own world and return her here, but I am not particularly scientifically-minded enough to do it alone. Also, more importantly, I have learned about the… 'seniler alter Mutterficker' you speak of, and I want to do something about him. He's violated the rights and boundaries of many shipgirls here and he needs to pay for it."

The man immediately answered, "I'm in."

"That was fast." I said, surprised.

"Well, it's about damn time someone did something about that asshole. We've actually been working on a way to get you all transferred over to our HQ to have you all under my command. We already have plenty of space for everyone here. That abuser you have for a Commander is one of the only people standing in the way."

"I'm impressed, Kommandant. Perhaps this will be easier than I assumed."

"He may have friends in the higher-ups, but so do I. His friends have more power though, so it's still a pain in the ass to do anything he doesn't like. The paperwork is murder and it's been damn near impossible to prove anything. Any evidence against him never seems to do much."

"The paperwork is why you got us, sir. Glad to help out our friends over there." Enterprise said with a genuine smile. It's good to know at least one of the Kommandants actually cares about his girls. She looked at me and asked, "Hey, Bismarck?"

"What is it, Fräulein?"

"I gotta know… Belfast… is she okay?"

I glanced at George to see if it's okay, and she nodded. I looked back at the hologram of the Union Carrier and sombrely answered, "She's alive, but… she's… broken. The Kommandant here has been taking advantage of her kindness and has forced himself on her an unknown amount of times and she's now prone to emotional outbursts and cannot do her job properly without having episodes over the smallest things."

That made everyone silent and they stared at me in stunned silence. As if the legendary Belfast being in such a state was something they never thought they'd hear.

Enterprise, however, had quite a different reaction. She slowly glared at her Kommandant with glowing yellow eyes and with a tone that scared even Akagi, she requested… no, demanded, "Sir. Send me over there. Now."

"E, we can't rush this!" He was quick to counter, "If we do something so rash, the girls there could suffer even more! Besides, you won't be able to do anything to him thanks to that damn Siren device of his!"

I caught him on that, "Hang on, a Siren device?"

George responded, "Yes, I'd like to know about that as well! If we can show that he's using a Siren device, we-"

"No, you can't." The Pacific Kommandant interrupted. "Sorry, King George, but every time he uses it, it wipes your knowledge if its existence. If anyone tries to expose him for it, he'll just use it again. We've had to tell you personally about it several times. We only remember it as we captured a broken Mirror Sea Generator and it passively negates the effects."

"Bloody hell…" the Royal Kansen muttered.

"Mirror Sea Generator?" I asked, clueless as to what he was talking about.

"Oh, yeah. You don't know about them. Akashi, quickly explain what that is please." The man responded.

"Hai, nya!" A small green-haired Kansen with cat ears and sleeves far too big for her arms took centre stage, "Mirror Sea Generators are machines Sirens use to alter reality within a certain radius, nya! The biggest radius we've seen spanned about 5 nautical miles from the centre, nya!"

"What do you mean altering reality?" I asked the green cat.

"When it is deployed, the Siren in charge of it can change the parameters to whatever they want. They can make a raging storm in the middle of a calm ocean, or vice versa, they can reverse physics so our shots always miss, they could even make copies of ourselves to fight us. That's happened far too often, nya…"

"Anyway," The Pacific Kommandant added, "What's important is that we managed to capture one of these generators, but it was in a broken state. Akashi tried her best but most of it is unsalvageable. The best it can do is negate the effects of other Siren devices for whichever ship is carrying it, or for the whole base when it's plugged in here. We suspect that the machine your Commander is using is another Mirror Sea Generator. A very small, weak one, only capable of affecting his office. He must've programmed it, or asked someone else to, to block Kansen rigging and to wipe your memory of anything that was said when you leave the room."

I thought for a moment and asked, "But what about Kanmusu rigging? I come from an alternate world with different technology. I might be able to get around it."

"That's an interesting theory, but what if you're wrong and then you're alone with him?" The man asked.

"All Kanmusu have been trained in melee combat in the event we get up close and personal with Abyssals. From what I've seen, this Kommandant is a slob who doesn't do anything. I very much doubt he'd be capable of fighting me. He uses threats and blackmail to get what he wants from the girls here." I responded.

George nodded, "Exactly right. That bastard never works for anything. Azur Lane is full of corruption. Your girls are very lucky you're not one of them, sir."

"Well, I do my best." The Pacific Kommandant humbly replied. "Bismarck, let's talk about this covert operation of yours, just in case confronting him yourself doesn't work."

We then began discussing our unofficial backup plan. Ending the conversation with Enterprise, Nagato and the Kommandant of the Pacific HQ, Shoukaku asked me with a devious smile, "So… is our Akagi anything like yours?"

Remembering her quip about perfection being consistent across worlds, I smiled and replied, "Apart from her red colour scheme and hair and skin colour, they couldn't be more different."

The Carrier started laughing, seemingly very much relishing in the thought of Akagi not being perfect. So they have somewhat of a rivalry in this world. Perhaps like the Zuikaku and Kaga of my world?

Anyway, I then began thinking about how these Sirens can just manipulate reality with those Mirror Seas. Just how powerful are these creatures?

Could the Abyssals also be capable of such power?

If the Sirens win here, could they find my world?

The Kanmusu can barely fight the Abyssals… we'd be utterly powerless against the Sirens…

Mein Gott… The Kommandant here is one problem, but what could I even do against these monsters?

[Azur Lane Bismarck.]

I left my temporary accommodation the next day, feeling somewhat better for a change. Like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders. This Admiral… he offered me help and only an apology to Ark Royal in return. If we had him back home…

Nein. These girls need him here. I could never forgive myself if I swapped him with our Kommandant. They don't deserve someone as awful as him.

Speaking of Ark, I was on the way to the cafeteria of the so-called Naval District to find her. This place was a lot like the Azur Lane Pacific HQ, open spaces with vendors, cafes and parks. You wouldn't even think it was a Naval base at first glance. It seems the designers prioritised the human sides of the shipgirls over the warships.

I eventually managed to track Ark Royal down. I asked around and I suppose my sheer presence and the memory of what I did intimidated a lot of them. That made me feel worse again. I thought that perhaps saying sorry and spending the day with Ark would repair relations.

"Ark Royal." I announced when I was in earshot.

The shipgirl froze in terror and then looked over her shoulder at me. All the girls around us fell silent as they expected a fight between us.

"Um… yes… Miss Bismarck?" The redhead responded nervously.

"I am sorry."

"…I beg your pardon?" She asked with wide eyes.

"You triggered a memory of mine that I am not proud of. It filled me with anger at myself and I directed it towards you. For that, I am truly sorry. I am very glad I did not hurt you." I tried. Apologies aren't my strong suit. I'm the leader of Iron Blood. It's part of my job to not create situations I'd be sorry for.

I'd already failed at that in a big way long before this incident.

"Well, in that case, I accept your apology." Ark smiled. "And… I myself am sorry for triggering your memory. I was not aware you weren't our Bismarck, and that's how I usually talk to her."

"Please don't apologise. It's not your fault." I pleaded. I didn't want yet another person thinking they're in the wrong for my own actions and inability to control my emotions.

"Now I won't have that. Come on, let's have some tea." Ark insisted as she pit her hand on my back and gently guided me over to the table she's sharing with her fellow Royal Navy shipgirls. Much like the American and German ships here, there aren't as many members as the Japanese faction. Why this was the case wasn't very clear.

"Ah, Ark. you're back… with her." The one named Valiant said with some hostility towards the end.

Before anyone could escalate, Ark responded, "There's no need for hostilities, girls. We've made up. She's apologised to me. Please welcome her as one of us."

"She… apologised?" The one with a small crown on her head asked with surprise. She added, "Well, in that case, welcome to the base, Lady Bismarck. Please, have a seat."

"Danke."

"Thank you, Lady Warspite." Ark added. "Lady Valiant, could you pass the teapot for our new friend? Or do you prefer coffee, Lady Bismarck?"

I froze as I heard the faint, pained screams of the Warspite I knew as if she was just outside.

"Bismarck…? Why are you staring at me?" Their Warspite asked.

The screams became clearer.

Ark gently shook me and I snapped out of it. I looked at her after turning white as a sheet. She asked, "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I looked back at Warspite, who looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry…. I didn't mean to…" I looked down and tried not to spiral again. This time it wasn't the usual memories of my past, but what that animal did to Warspite in my world… now that I've spoken about the former, it seemed the void it was now being filled by everything else I had previously repressed.

"I just…" I closed my eyes and took a deep slow breath to calm myself. "I… we had a Warspite in our world, as well."

This Warspite looked surprised. She responded, "Oh? You said 'had'? What happened to her? Did she go down fighting the good fight?" She asked, smiling sadly with the others.

The screams got louder, as if they were coming from the alternate Warspite right in front of me.

Then, for just a second, she turned into the Kansen I knew. The panicked look on her face… pleading for help as bloody tears ran down her cheeks, reaching out to grab hold of something to pull herself to safety, only to see her forearm was already missing…

"… Excuse me." I answered as I stood up quickly and left, to their confusion, slamming the doors open and damn near ripping them from their hinges.

What the hell was that? I thought things would be easier after speaking to the Admiral! I've never had an episode like that!

I haven't had a flashback like that that wasn't of Hood! Now that I've spoken about her, has Warspite taken her place!? I never even sank her!

No… that flashback… wasn't of her losing to me… it was…

I instinctively wanted a beer to calm myself, but remembered Hood got me to not be so reliant on it. I promised her I'd try so I shook my head to dispel the idea. I don't know why she bothered. Alcohol don't affect Kansen as much as it does humans.

Leaning on a railing overlooking the port, I tried clearing my mind and calming myself like how she taught me. I must admit it did help a little bit. That is, until the Warspite native to this world joined me. She softly asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Nein. I am not, Frau Warspite." I answered, trying not to look at her again. "I have not felt alright in almost a century."

"Want to talk about it?" She tried.

"Nein." I quickly shot her down to not drag yet another person into my problems.

Seeing she wouldn't get anywhere, she changed her line of questioning and asked, "It's peaceful here, isn't it? In this world, I mean? The Abyssals don't even bother trying to attack the mainlands."

I sighed and nodded. "It is. I'm not used to it. I'm so used to constant Siren attacks both at the Atlantic HQ and against civilian shipping out at sea, even beach assaults to gain ground territory. Thankfully, the tank girls, plane girls and gun girls can handle the coasts. For us shipgirls, though, It's constant fighting and dying. Sortie after sortie… barely having a break. Being put into fleets consisting of sheer firepower without any thought of strategy or to optimise our abilities. We're just thrown at the Sirens and our Kommandant just hopes we win the battles. If we don't…"

"…then what?" The tall version of the Royal Battleship asked.

"Then sometimes getting sunk is the preferable option."

Warspite looked behind us to make sure we were alone. When she got confirmation, she looked back up at me and softly asked, "I'm dead in your world, aren't I? Is that why you can't look at me?"

I shrugged, "It's… complicated. I've never met you in my world, so I don't know for sure. The Kansen of the warship you got your power from, HMS Warspite, however… she is dead. I'm sorry. I remembered what happened to her… it was rather traumatic for everyone."

"I see… if I may ask, how did she die?" Warspite asked.

The memory of that incident flashed in my mind again, but in full detail. Just like the other haunting moments. I remembered the betrayed, terrified look in her eyes as she was scrapped by the Kommandant. Her Battleship losing its soul and becoming a lifeless husk, ready to be towed away and broken down for the metal. The guttural shrieks she made when-

"Lady Bismarck? If it's too painful, you don't have to-"

"NEIN!" I hit the metal railing so hard I bent it. If I were a human my hand would've surely broken. I took a breath and regained my composure as well as drying the newly formed tear from my cheek. "Sorry… it's alright." I finally looked at her with very little emotion and just told her straight, "We had previously captured a Siren machine called a 'scrapper'. It… breaks down anything that is put into it. Throw a gun in, gun parts and bullets get spat out. Put in a car, the same happens. The scrapper itself is about the size of a small house, taking up an entire room beneath the base, kept hidden from the world."

Warspite began to understand as her face started taking on an expression of sheer horror.

"The Warspite I knew died screaming as her body was torn apart slowly, bit by bit after being fed to the scrapper she felt full, agonising pain for 8 hours straight until she was unable to remain conscious. The Kommandant sees us as nothing more than disposable weapons, and has drilled that into our heads from day one. Warspite was made an example of and we were forced to watch her slow, gruesome death after her sister Queen Elizabeth had the nerve to stand up to him when he was assigned to the position."

Warspite stared at me jaw-dropped with wide eyes.

I added, "When I mention he threatens to scrap us, I mean it literally. He can't even be bothered killing us before throwing us in the scrapper to extract our Wisdom Cubes and parts for rigging upgrades, which he never uses on us anyway. We've lost many Kansen this way. We've lost even more to letting Sirens sink them to spare themselves the fate of living under his oppression. I myself have lost many Iron Bloods to that verdammt machine… or the fear of it…"

"Have you… talked about this to our Admiral…?" The Royal asked.

"Nein… I told him only about Hood. It's made it a little easier. I can talk about some things now without completely breaking down, but it's still very painful… the sooner I'm back there and your Bismarck is safe here, the better. She has no idea what she's getting herself into if she confronts him."

"Hood? You have a Hood?"

"Oh, ja." I unknowingly smiled when I thought of her as she is now. "After our incident, she forgave me and has been giving me a second chance. It meant so much to me, to know that she somehow still sees value in being close to me. I just wish I could tell her how I feel…"

"You… fancy her?"

I caught myself subconsciously nodding, then I shook my head and git rid of my smile, "Was? Nein. Don't be ridiculous. The idea she could possibly have feelings for someone as horrible as me is completely unrealistic."

Very convincing, Bismarck…

"Well, if you say so, but your heavy blushing would suggest otherwise." After she had stopped giggling, Warspite changed back to the topic of my other self, "You know, you should give our Bismarck a little more credit. She may not be used to people like him, but she's not one to rush into these kinds of situations. She collects as much intel as she can and creates backup plans for almost everything. She's not very scientific, but she's smarter than she lets on."

"Is that so? That's good, then. I just hope he hasn't already done anything to her…"

[Kancolle Bismarck]

I made my way to the Kommandant's office. Before getting to the door, I could hear the man yelling at someone, but it was too muffled to make out anything. I approached it to defend whoever was being yelled at, but then Belfast walked out, her bloodshot eyes darkened and hidden behind her now messy hair. She closed the doors and saw me.

The Maid walked up to me slowly, limping slightly. She whispered, "Are you going in there?"

"Ja. I want to see what kind of person he is for myself and-"

"Don't." She interrupted.

"Was?"

Belfast stared me in the eyes and hissed, "Don't. Whatever you're planning on doing to him, it won't work. Nothing ever works…"

"Frau Belfast, I have to try. I cannot stand seeing people being treated like this. I must try and make things right here, and I must see first-hand how bad he is. Go see George, she'll help you rest."

The maid grabbed my outfit and pulled me closer. She whispered, "Then don't say I didn't warn you." Before letting me go and slowly shambling down the corridor.

"Poor girl…" I muttered. I steeled myself. I knocked on the door and heard him call out, "Enter."

Taking a deep breath, I opened them and went in.

"Bismarck? Ah, have you finally got the report ready?"

"Report, sir?" I asked, confused.

"The report on the anomaly I sent you out there to investigate. Don't tell me you've bloody forgotten. That would be very unfortunate."

"Ah, of course. The anomaly. It was just a freak weather phenomenon, sir. A large squall." I bluffed. Luckily, he seemed to accept it.

"Very well. Disappointing. Why are you still here, then?" He asked with an edge to his voice. Clearly he didn't want to speak to me.

"Sir, I have heard concerning things about what you've been doing to the Destroyers."

"And?" He shot back.

I remained composed but added thin layer of venom to my tone, "Well, surely the things I've learned could only have been done by the lowest scum of the world, the proverbial shit on the bottom of the shoe. Someone who preys on children and picks them out to enjoy like drinks at a bar. Of course, you're surely not one of those people, sir? Unless the accusations are true?"

"Bismarck, You'd better rephrase that in a way that's more clear…" He warned.

I put my hands on the table and leaned in, "You fuck young girls, Kommandant?"

He got in my face and yelled, "Now you listen here! They are not young girls! They're weapons! Equipment for me to use as I see fit! They have no say! They have no human rights! To see you freaks acting human fucking disgusts me! When we beat these aliens, what happens then!? You'll just be the next enemy of humanity! You mustn't be allowed any free will! Once this war is over, I'll have you all either scrapped or sold off to some friends of mine overseas so you won't be any threat to us, then I'll have that other Commander killed and the same happen to his girls!"

I stepped back and let tears leak from my eyes, "Even… U-556… and Nimi…?"

"They'll be the first to go while you watch and beg on your knees for me not to. It's where you belong, anyway."

"Why… are you telling me this? What if I warn everyone?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"When you leave this room, you won't even remember this talk." He smiled menacingly. "Of course, this little argument will cost you."

"Cost me what…?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

"Get under that desk or I'll have your precious U-556 scrapped or sold off." He smirked.

He was met with stunned silence as I glared at him. I walked towards him and smiled, "How about… I do something… more interesting~?"

"Oh?"

"Turn around and close your eyes~" As I put my hands on my outfit, ready to take it off.

"Alright then." He sighed as he did. Funny how gullible some people are when they're horny.

I slowly walked up to him, then quickly grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar and belt, deployed my rigging to help lift him up, then flung him over my head and face-first into his mahogany desk, cracking it.

He was out cold. I made sure not to kill him. As much as I wanted to, it had to be done properly. I had self-defence on my side and it was better to just incapacitate him for now.

"Danke, you piece of shit. I got what I needed. Goodbye." I turned to leave and took out my phone to call Tirpitz. When she answered, I ordered, "Get U-556 to safety immediately. He may be coming for her soon. Tell all shipgirls to defend themselves and for the Sakurans and Eagles to begin the mission. We're doing this now!"

"Got it, schwester." She replied before she hung up. Either she sees me as another sister, or she forgot for a moment I'm not her. Whatever the reason, I smiled to myself as I looked down at my rigging, took a sound recorder out of it and stopped the recording.

The rigging blocker, it seems, only blacks Kansen rigging, not mine. Danke Gott that gamble paid off.

When I left, I had indeed forgotten what was said in that room, but that did not matter this time as I played it back to hear it again.

This whole verdammt world is going to hear this.

The Pacific forces will be here soon.

[Azur Lane Bismarck]

Alarms suddenly started blaring all over the Naval District. An Abyssal assault is incoming. Looking out to sea, I could see that it was an entire invasion force.

The Admiral clenched his fist and muttered, "I've never seen an attack of this scale from them… what could pissed them off so badly?"

The Commander's office became dead silent as we all looked over at the little girl playing with a toy Messerschmitt.

I answered, "We have their child."

"Good Lord…" the man whispered. He grabbed the receiver for the intercoms all over the base and ordered, "Everyone! We can not afford to lose Northern Princess to them! Reinforce all defences! We've never been closer to victory over the Abyssals than we have been recently! All ships! Deploy!"

I picked up the confused Princess. She looked up at me and asked, "Is Mama here?"

"She might be. Do you think you can tell her to stop her attack?" I tried.

She very helpfully shrugged, "I dunno."

"Want to try anyway?" I asked, frustrated.

Excited to see her mother, Princess nodded immediately with an adorable smile.

"Then let's go."

The Admiral looked at me, "I hope you know what you're doing, Bismarck."

I looked back, "So do I."

Out of all the horrible decisions I've made, I prayed this wasn't one of them…