Chapter 10: [Wehrmacht]
"The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."
—Barack Obama
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Underneath the calm waves that surrounded the island of Iwo Jima resided the base's underwater docking area, intended to house the flagship of the Blue Steel fleet, the I-401 submarine. Yet as of now, it was not only working as a warehouse for the intended warship but also two other ships as well. One was a maroon-coloured heavy cruiser Takao, and the other was a much more infamous battleship, Bismarck. Yet the hull of the larger legendary warship was not yet built completely. Silver whirlwinds of nanomaterial surrounding the uncompleted vessel, working at their fastest to finish building the ship before it was too late. This whole process was being overseen by a man clad in a dark and imposing black uniform, his glowing red eyes pierced the darkness of his own clothes and created the image of nothing short of resembling Satan himself.
"Schlachtschiff completion: 39%," robotically muttered Bismarck as red data rings surrounded his mental model, almost all of his processing power was diverted into rebuilding his vessel as quickly as possible.
He kept one eye open towards the live feed of the cameras located all around the Iwo Jima. They showed the image of three new Mental Models making their appearance on the Iwo Jima's beach where Takao and Iona greeted them. One was a gothic woman dressed in a dark purple dress that was a tad bit too long, she was being accompanied by a much more cheerful girl who couldn't standstill.
Kongou and Maya have arrived on Iwo Jima.
The third figure grasped Bismarck's full attention, a man clad in a similar uniform as the one Bismarck used to wear, but without as many decorations. His white hair with a resemblance of light blue was partially covered by his hat which had an Iron Cross on it. A man Bismarck knew all too well, after all, it was his own brother. The one and only...
Tirpitz
He looked a little different than what Bismarck had remembered, there was a lot bluer on him in the form of small details than he remembered. Nevertheless, he wished he wouldn't have to see Tirpitz this way, he wasn't angry or happy that his brother was still alive, but his presence wasn't exactly welcome now. Bismarck would have to fight his brother again soon, but this time without the help of his flagship equipment. It was going to be a hard battle, without a doubt. And for the first time in his life, a shred of doubt passed through his mind...
...This might just be his last battle...
No. He promised Makie he'll see her again, even if the cost of doing so is sinking Tirpitz. He's done it once, and he will do it again, no matter how much it pains him.
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"You've arrived faster than we expected, Kongou," Iona, who was once again dressed in an orange one-piece swimsuit was the first one to greet the fast battleship Kongou along with her entourage.
"Maya wanted to come to this island without the delay," stoically replied Kongou, taking a glance at Maya who was drawing pictures in the sand with a stick, "You excel at predicting the future. You must what know what my next move will be."
"Yes, most likely," and then without warning, Kongou's mental model exploded with purple-coloured gravitons with enough force to push Takao back.
Iona held her ground though and with the help of her wave-force armour managed to block a downward strike from a massive purple blade that Kongou had materialized. It was a strange sword, large and shaped like an elongated snowflake of sorts. Maya just continued to draw Kongou's portrait in the sand, ignoring the two mental models fighting just beside her. However, before Takao could join the fray, massive rectangular-shaped swords numbering six in total slammed into both Iona's and Kongou's wave-force armour with enough force to create a shockwave.
Kongou's own sword dematerialized in favour of bolstering up her defences while Iona did her best to reinforce her own Klein-field to withstand the surprise attack. Once the two stopped fighting between each other the swords disappeared in flashes of light blue energy.
"Guten Tag, Frauleins," monotonously greeted the newest arrival, Tirpitz, as he regarded everyone present on the beach with a cold stare.
"Fast battleship Tirpitz, why did you attack me?" Kongou shot a death glare at the melancholic male mental model, but he just looked at her with the same dead look as he did with Iona.
"I am here to gather information, then I will proceed with the termination of all Fleet of Fog defectors and Chihaya Gunzou," it was chilling to hear someone talk about murder and destruction with so little care and no emotion, it was almost as if Tirpitz was pitying them, "Your reckless conflict will endanger the information that I seek..."
"I cannot allow that."
Kongou chose to remain silent, Tirpitz very well could have just said that he will terminate her if she acts on impulse again. Fighting a Bismarck-class warship is suicide for any ship that isn't a super battleship. In a 1v1 battle, there are almost no equals to their strength. The reason why he was here was stated to be to gather information. But on what? Why do the ships that come into contact with Chihaya Gunzou and I-401 defect? He risks malfunctioning as well if his approach is this straightforward, doesn't he know that? Or perhaps... does he not care?
"Welcome to Iwo Jima," everyone's attention was suddenly averted to the side, where one smiling Chihaya Gunzou stood, "Flagship of the Kriegsmarine, Tirpitz, flagship of the First Oriental Fleet, Kongou, we welcome you ashore to our Blue Steel's home port."
"Hmph, just call me Kongou," huffed the female flagship of Fog as she scoffed, but Gunzou's smile didn't waver despite the blonde's brash tone.
Tirpitz regarded the human with an indifferent look, unlike Kongou who was brash and very open with her ideals, Tirpitz remained secretive, using the excuse of gathering information to gain intel. He just hoped that this trip wasn't going to be a fruitless endeavour.
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"Schlachtschiff completion: 69%," robotically noted Bismarck as the second out of four main batteries was locked into place, completed and fully operational.
He's kept a watchful eye on the new arrivals, making sure to closely monitor their every move. Seeing Tirpitz alive and... he didn't know if his mental condition was exactly "well", judging by the dead look of his brother. He was always an overly serious and by the book kind of person, a model to the rest of the Kriegsmarine. Bismarck also remembers how overly nosy Tirpitz was, but he knew that his brother meant well, or at least was interested in what he does. It was no secret that Tirpitz viewed Bismarck as someone to look up to and admire, many others have when he was still the flagship. Moving past his nostalgia trip, Bismarck refocused on reforming his vessel. He did see the human crew of I-401 pass him and board the vessel, looks like plan B is on standby...
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Iona, Takao, Gunzou, Kongou, Maya, Tirpitz and now even Hyuuga were all seated around a coffee table, drinking tea and cosplaying the British people, except Tirpitz, he was drinking coffee. He certainly looks like he needs it...
"Chihaya Gunzou, why have you called me here?" Kongou's question intrigued Tirpitz as well, he too had the very same sentence on the tip of his tongue and would've said it were it not for the blonde taking initiative.
"Because I wanted to speak with you, both of you," Tirpitz didn't visibly react to this explanation and just sipped his coffee while Kongou scoffed for just about the billionth time today, "But you may not believe."
"Do you really mean that?" honestly it was surprising even Tripitz now at how reserved Kongou was and the amount of hatred the female mental model could send at someone with a single glare, still it paled in comparison to the fear that he could instil.
This time Iona added her own opinion into the conversation, "Gunzou always means what he says. Humans value face-to-face conversation."
"Meaningless sentimentalism," and there goes Kongou's deflection, coming in a Dark Souls speedrunner.
"Still, there are things you can't communicate over long distances," chimed in Takao as she took a sip of her tea.
"Chihaya Gunzou, I-401, there is only one thing I wish to communicate," Tirpitz stopped drinking his coffee, not because of Kongo, but because there was nothing left in his cup, "I have determined that I will eradicate all of you. I only responded to this invitation so that I could tell you directly."
That wasn't an answer the Blue Steel fleet was hoping for, not by a long shot. Hyuuga refilled Tirpitz's cup with a fresh batch of coffee that the male mental model proceeded to drink immediately without even bothering to add in any sugar.
"Even though, I still wish to speak with you," Gunzou's persistence was admirable, the man probably didn't even know what the definition of "give up" means, "We are the ones at a disadvantage with this meeting while you have nothing to lose. We have been entrusted with a certain weapon by the Japanese government It is a weapon based on scientific principles unlike any other capable of defeating even the Fog."
"The vibration warhead torpedo, we are aware of its existence," for the first time since their meeting started has Tirpitz spoken up, yet he still only seemed to pay attention to his cup of coffee.
"In any case, we have been entrusted to deliver it to the United States so that it can be massed produced and used against the Fog," sometimes it is truly a spectacle to see Gunzou's boldness in person, he just revealed their plan to the enemy.
"To boldly state your plan in the presence of your adversary, either you're courageous or stupid," Takao obviously didn't take kindly to Tirpitz insulting Gunzou, but she had no choice but to calm herself or she'd put everyone at risk.
"Of course, you'd never let that happen, would you? So I wanted to ask you, no, all of you, why?" Tirpitz stopped sipping his coffee once he processed the question that came from Gunzou's mouth, "If humanity is heading towards extinction, then I'd like to know why it is that we cannot live on the face of this planet?"
"...No reason," Tirpitz's tone was still the cold, emotionless void that they have heard a few times now, but there was a hint of annoyance in his tone of voice, "Our actions are dictated by the Admirality Code."
"I have heard of that name from Iona, but I don't have a clear sense of what it is," it honestly didn't surprise anyone a human had trouble fathoming the true extent of the Admirality Code's complexness.
"If I had to put it into human terms, it is our prime directive, governing over our actions and behaviour," explained Hyuuga, tilting her head to the side and putting her index finger to her lips.
"And yet there are those that defied it, like you," Kongou's cold tone grasped their attention, "The Admirality Code is clear with what we have to do, blockade the seas and halt all maritime commerce. Why, then, have you defied our directive? No... how were you able to defy it?"
Tirpitz's eyes narrowed slightly, the image of a burning red Iron Cross flashed in his mind for a moment before he pushed those thoughts to the side once Kongou continued, "Chihaya Gunzou, I-401, this all started with you. The mental models of Fog that have come into contact with you change..."
"Why?"
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"Schlachtschiff completion: 94%" the large majority of Bismarck's vessel has now been constructed, only smaller arms like secondary weapons and anti-aircraft guns were missing now.
A strange emotion found its way into his emulator... was he... feeling anxious? Worry was not an emotion he was used to feeling, at all. Why was he even anxious? Did he believe that Tirpitz would sink? That Makie would never see him again? What a peculiar emotion. It provided a strange sense of coldness in his body, despite the temperature of the room being at stable 25 degrees celsius. Yet...
He smiled.
Not voluntarily, no, the predatory grin that found its way onto his face was not an action that Bismarck did out of his own volition. It was a reflex of sorts, a strange phenomenon that hasn't happened before. It was odd, it helped him focus back on rebuilding his hull and push the ice-cold feeling of anxiety back. Was this... what that British admiral woman felt all that time ago? She was terrified, he could tell that much. But she smiled... this... was this a humane response to anxiety? Smiling... how peculiar.
"...What are those four doing?" the question was immediately blurted out when he saw the live feed of Makie on the beach who was, once again, bullying Haruna, but this time she wasn't alone.
Surprisingly, accompanying her were Maya and... Tirpitz. The three of them were throwing Haruna's coat around like it was a game of hot potato, and the blonde just played along, standing up when she had her coat and falling back down onto her knees when they took it. Bismarck's eyebrow twitched, at least the two mental models that were still aligned with Fog didn't look like they would hurt Makie. Although seeing all of them hanging out together did make him feel a little sad. Was he feeling jealous? No, no, no! Sigh, no matter what he felt he knew he had one mission and one mission only now...
...
...
...
"I will protect you, Makie."
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