"How's Ru doing?"

"…" A pause. King waited patiently until his friend who was on the other end of the line could answer him. "It's not awake yet if that's what you're asking me King. Our boys managed to get readings on her condition, but there's nothing solid just yet. Give them a little bit more time and they should be able to tell you what's going on." Tae explained. "How are things on your end?"

King sighed tiredly. "Still busy with observations here in Yokosuka. You know, I don't really know what it is I'm observing because if the navy's telling me to get a better clue at what the girls are capable of doing, I think I already get a good idea about it."

It's been four days ever since Ru was captured and there was still no signs of her waking up, of course, this only meant that King had time to monitor the girls in their simulated training exercises. The navy brass had yet to give the girls or the new task force any assignments to be done and King couldn't blame them. With the construction of the base currently ongoing, they had to use Yokosuka as their base since it's the only naval base in Japan which had ship girls stationed it. He asked admiral Yoshikawa as to why there weren't any ship girls stationed at the other naval bases in Japan and his answer was simple. Since the ship girls were still new, the navy was still monitoring them, which explained why the development team was around. And now that the newly formed combined taskforce between the JMSDF and Red Arrow was created, the chances of having the girls stationed in other naval bases got slimmer. Though there were no solid statements just yet.

Back to Ru… the Japanese still did not know that an Abyss-al battleship was in Red Arrow's custody and King didn't have any intention of letting them know either. The tech team back in Osaka told him that they haven't been able to figure out what was wrong with Ru, but one thing was clear, she was shut down with no way of waking up… at least for now. Progress was steady, but slow. The plan was for the team to manually reprogram Ru's processor so that they could wake her up, but that would risk losing valuable intel from Ru since every data or memories she have may or may not be deleted in the process. Regardless of the possible outcome, King still beckoned his men to continue their job.

Now… well, he's getting used to be treated as an outsider by the girls. It's not like he was not an outsider in the first place, he was already one, but now that he got a position—as minimal as it is—in the navy, the girls' opinions and thoughts of him were kind of… nice and somewhat thought wrenching to know. Hey, he's used to be viewed badly, but it didn't help him when these girls were actually robots. It made him feel less of a person and more like an alien, to be honest. Currently on the edge of the pier where he used to stand whenever he was in Yokosuka, he looked at the distant horizon with no particular thought at all. It all came snapping back when he heard Tae from his earpiece again.

"Ah, I also have update from the construction team. They're done with one platform, but nothing too ready just yet. Electronic equipment are going to be transferred there via air and until they're done, that place's just a huge platform in the middle of the ocean. I'll give you another update later. And one more thing, I'm dividing this year's income for everyone's pay and keeping the profit for some additional miscellaneous facilities that you might be interested in for the base."

"Like what?"

"Like an aquarium perhaps? You love those…"

"Oh yeah… well, remind that one to me too. King out." He took out his iPod from his pocket and plugged one of the earphones into his ear. He hummed to the song that was currently playing from his iPod, he made sure to hum as lowly as possible so that no one might saw him in his state. The song was one of his favorites and it became so quickly considering that he found out about it not too long ago from one of his men. It's instant crush by daft punk and he had to say, French people sure knew their music.

The sound of music playing was accompanied by the gentle splashing of waves against the pier, making for a rather mismatched symphony. He gazed out towards the horizon, his eye lost to the far beyond with no signs of returning anytime soon. King never knew that he would reach this far in his life. At first, Red Arrow was just a group of ex-militia soldiers trying to play in the game of power and fame. But now, they're a part of a combined taskforce with the Japanese navy, never thought that'd happen. His position in the taskforce may be jagged and unsure, but he would still have commands over the girls and that's saying something. He never thought that the Japanese would be that trusting, or maybe, it's just him thinking too much.

He was so deep into the music that he didn't notice someone calling out to him. and when he did notice, that someone was already behind him.

"Excuse me, are you King-san, the commander of the mercenaries?" a soft spoken but somewhat stoic female voice asked him in Japanese.

King took out his earphone immediately, paying attention to his caller. The first thing he could say about his caller was how stone faced her face was. Seriously, he'd seen more expression on a rock than her face. Still, she came here with a serious intent, and the most he could do was greet her with the same kind intent she's giving him.

"Yeah, what of it?" he asked a little bit dryly due to his dry lips.

Her expression did not change, as expected. "I'm Shiranui, the second ship of the Kagerou-class destroyers and I'm here to escort you to admiral Yoshikawa's location."

"What for?"

She shook her head. "I do not know, I was merely ordered to take you to him." she answered briefly.

King shrugged; if she didn't know, then he knew no more. "Well, take me to him then."

Shiranui nodded. "Please follow me."

Shiranui lead him through the pier and into the factory area. The place was not as busy as it was a few days ago, but there were still a number of people walking around with most of them being mechanics, why mechanics, he didn't know but one thing's clear, it was not for maintenance for the base. He was taken into the same factory building he was taken to a few days ago by the admiral. Shiranui continued to lead him inside, where several group of mechanics and scientists were present working on something particular. At that moment, he spotted admiral Yoshikawa and doctor Shinjo accompanied by his assistant whose name he had unfortunately forgotten.

"Ah King-san, you're here good." Doctor Shinjo was the first to notice him approaching with Shiranui.

"Good job for fetching him, Shiranui." The admiral said. "You may return now."

The pink haired and stoic faced destroyer saluted the officer before leaving.

"So what am I here for?" King asked either of the two men for an answer. Meanwhile, the assistant was busy scribbling down what seemed to be notes on her notepad.

"You're here because we're going over a few things; things that you'll need to know about the girls." The admiral said. King noticed the word 'you'll' was used, so it might be important. "I have talked with the admiralty board about deploying the girls and using them in land operations and they accepted the idea."

"Alright, cool." King commented.

"But, as standard procedures go, I can't go with them in any land based operations unless it's really necessary." Admiral Yoshikawa said in a bit of disappointed manner. He noticed that King noticed his tone. "Hey, I might be an officer, but there're times when I imagine putting myself there on the frontlines with my soldiers." He coughed. "Anyway, since I can't be there, you'll be in charge of the girls while you're on land, this includes any other operations that will have you deployed together with the girls. But still, I'll be keeping in touch with you."

"Yeah I understand why you're telling me this but… is there a point to tell me so soon?" King asked with confusion expression through his voice and face. "Do we even have any mission to begin with?"

This time, surprising King, it was doctor Shinjo who spoke. "As a matter of fact, you do." This beckoned both men to look at the elderly doctor. His secretary gave him the walking board that she'd been writing on for a while. "While the girls were still in the middle of the development stage, we have research facilities spread all throughout mainland to produce several prototypes of the guns that will be implemented as the girls' weapons. Unfortunately, with the evacuation of several prefectures due to the abyss-al threat, these facilities have been regarded as lost by the upper brass. Most of the facilities are either ransacked by looters or any other thugs who have managed to get their hands on whatever is inside the facilities, so we're not expecting to find a lot in the first place. However, we managed to locate four of all the factories that are not yet looted but instead taken over by local criminal power."

"Wait, wait. You tellin' me that gangsters took over your old facilities and used them as their own and the police did nothing about that?" There's no containing the amount of incredulity in King's tone.

The admiral and the doctor shuffled uneasily in their places. "There's a good reason for that. Now that more and more people are occupying other prefectures, especially those which didn't belong to the Kansai region, the police are having a hard time keeping up with the increasing amount of people. The war with the abyss made the people insecure of their security, so several criminal organizations from the yakuza took smuggling illegal weapons and distributing them in black markets as a way to get money in the middle of this crisis." Admiral Yoshikawa explained with a sigh, almost ashamed.

"Well I understand the part where the yakuza is distributin' illegals gun, but the problem is, where're they getting' them? I'm familiar with those kinds of works. Either they buy the weapons from abroad or someone from the military's distributin' the guns to them to get some of the money for their own without you knowin'." King explained.

"Are you trying to say that someone from the military's been distributing weapons illegally?"

"I'm not trying to say that someone from the military's been distributin' weapons illegally, I'm saying that someone from the military might be sellin' the guns to mobsters for profit." King retorted without getting overwhelmed by the admiral's glare. "Don't get me wrong here admiral, but it's hard to get weapons from abroad with the abyss-al swimming around the seven seas with their fingers itchy on the trigger."

After hearing the last bit of information, the admiral's glare fell. "You may be right… but we can't come to that conclusion just yet, at least not until we have any evidence of having a rat in the ranks." Admiral Yoshikawa shook his head. "I'm hoping that you're wrong King, the military doesn't need having the people's trust in them lower than what it is already."

King shrugged his shoulders. "Then we repair that trust." His uncaring look transformed to a grin. "I know that you're gonna ask me to form a team of ship girls to seize one of those facilities and take whatever's salvageable, right?"

"You're not exactly wrong… but we are looking to recapture the facilities and possible transfer whatever equipment we could remove to be installed to our future base of operations." The elderly scientist said. "Admiral Yoshikawa will give you the mission details if you are ready to capture the facilities."

"Alright then, tell me your plans."

In one of the mission rooms inside of the base, King, admiral Yoshikawa, vice admiral Tanaka and some of the ship girls who were selected by the combined decision of King and the two naval officers were present to attend mission briefing. All the ship girls present were seated on chairs brought in and arranged by several sailors who were in the room earlier, now they're not here anymore because they were needed to finish their tasks. Admiral Yoshikawa was standing in front with King and vice admiral Tanaka on his sides; King's on the right while the female officer took the left. Behind the three figureheads was a blank white projector screen for use in this briefing, they need it for the reason so that the girls could understand the area of the operations.

"Sorry to call all of you here suddenly, but I'm sure that some of you who participated in the small arms training these past few days already know what's up." Admiral Yoshikawa started, stepping away from the middle to allow the projector's image be projected on the screen. The screen lit up to show a detailed satellite image of a location that the girls were not familiar with, but not in the situation of the three officers, two if you exclude the mercenary.

"As I've said before, I'm assuming that some of you know that we will eventually conduct a land operation. And we will, later." He paused for a while. "The mission will take place here in the mainland, Nagoya prefecture. The mission is to infiltrate and recapture a former military research facility. I say former because the place is now run over by local criminal gangs. The satellite picture you're seeing shows the location of the facility and as you can see, it's too exposed to civilian locations. The reason for that is because the facility was designed to look like a normal storage building to prevent anyone from discovering government activity inside. But now that the place's infested with gangsters, it's become a must for us to eliminate everyone inside and capture the place as our own."

Immediately, King noticed different reactions from the ship girls. Some were surprised when admiral Yoshikawa revealed the conclusion while some were merely acting quiet.

Regardless of what the girls were feeling, the admiral continued. "We will have the assistance of the local law enforcement, purely so that we could capture the base under the guise of police activity." The slide changed, showing several more pictures of the facility that they were going to capture. "We do not know what the gangs have been doing with the equipment inside the facility, I highly doubt that they even know it's one in the first place, but there is a weapon storage area inside that facility so I'm not surprised if you're going to find resistance once you're inside. And on another important note," the admiral turned his head slightly towards the eye patch wearing man in the room. "King-san will be leading you through the mission and you are to follow his orders as if they are my own. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the girls chorused as one.

"Good. King-san, if you please."

King nodded. "Thank you admiral." He then returned his attention to the girls. "Four battleships… four carriers… six destroyers…" he counted to himself. "Alright, here's what we will do: destroyers Kagerou, Shiranui, Wakaba and Murakumo will be usin' assault rifles and on point with me the whole time whenever we're inside that facilities. Battleships Ise and Hyuuga will be with me for support, you'll be using heavy machine guns for more power. Carriers, I'm puttin' you girls outside of the building on nearby rooftops to act as our eyes while we're inside. You'll be given snipers and your main job is to keep me informed of what goes in and out of the facilities when I'm inside and to protect our extraction. I'm also putting battleships Nagato and Mutsu in charge for another important part of my plan. Once me and the girls I ask to be around me enter, you two will sweep in with the special assault team who're on standby and create a diversion on the other side of the facility. It'll be messy so I want destroyers Ayanami and Shikinami to be with the carriers, just in case if they figured out the carriers' positions. Once all hostiles are dead or they're smart enough to surrender, then it's mission accomplished." King finished his explanation. "So before we gear up, any questions?"

A few of them raised their hands.

"You, Kagerou."

"I didn't participate in any small arms practice, even if I get Nui-chan to share her memories, I'm not sure if I can shoot as well as the girls who came to practice…" Kagerou, a destroyer class ship girl who had a pair of twin tails as hairstyle, said awkwardly.

"Don't worry, I don't expect you girls to perform so well in the first place, but I'm expectin' you to learn from this mission." King explained. "Next, Nagato."

"You said that we will receive the help of the law enforcement, how will their part play out in all of this?" the tall battleship asked with a serious look that fits her.

"They'll be surrounding the place by the time we get there, so I'll be expecting fighting when the girls and I enter. Once the shooting began, you and Mutsu and the SAT guys will be a diversion attacking from another point. Their attention is divided and from there and on, it's divide and conquer for us." Nagato nodded at his explanation, finding no flaws in it.

"Next, Kaga."

"Sir, I have no problems with being outside of the fight, but why is the fifth cardiv participating in this mission? The girls from the second cardiv are more than capable than they are." Somehow, Kaga managed to say this with a straight face.

"Hey Kaga! Don't diss us just because you're better!" Zuikaku, if King was right, openly showed her disagreement with a pointed finger at the older carrier.

"Once again, you have admitted that I am indeed better than you."

"Why you…"

"Enough, enough." King intervened before Zuikaku's sister, Shoukaku. "Kaga, both of your admirals and I have gone through the planning already. We don't have time to inform carriers Souryuu and Hiryuu about the mission." King said in a voice that is so unlike him. "Zuikaku and Shoukaku, along with both you and Akagi, are taking the firearm training so I want all experienced carriers on the field. If you have any problems with whatever decision me and your commanders have pulled, then we're allowin' you to sit this down."

After hearing King's explanation, Kaga nodded in understanding. "Very well, I shall bear with the current situation that I have to put up with."

"Hey! Don't say it as if we're burdens to the fleet!" Zuikaku's irritated outburst was somehow amusing to watch.

Kaga merely rolled her eyes. "I'm not trying to make it sound as if you're going to be a burden; I know that you will be a burden."

"Enough I said!" King raised his voice, which quieted both bickering carriers. "Seriously, you two act like trainee soldiers who're fightin' over a lunch menu…" Admiral Yoshikawa smiled openly at King's misfortune. "Don't just smile at me ninny, they're your girls, control them."

"But you're doing such a fine job at it, are you sure you don't want to be made an officer of the navy?" If anything, admiral Yoshikawa was laughing inside.

"No." King said with a frown. "I got my own army to worry about and that's not includin' all the shit other countries are throwin' at us…" the eye patch wearing mercenary coughed to his fist. "Basically, the mission will be invade and conquer. Shoot everyone you see, but if they drop their guns, consider on knockin' out their teeth in exchange. So, finally, any questions?"

Unsurprisingly, someone raised a hand.

"Yes, Shoukaku."

Zuikaku turned her head to the side to look at her sister.

"Um… sir, wouldn't it be easier if we were to come and attack the facility with our ship guns instead of regular weapons?" The white haired carrier asked nervously due to her calm and caring nature.

"We considered that." Admiral Yoshikawa answered instead of King. "But the admiralty suggest not to because we do not want to waste any resource for a side op that could be done by human operatives." He then flicked his thumb at the younger man beside him. "Believe it or not, I'd rather have his men storm the place and get it for us."

"Ha ha ha, so funny, much genius, such idea…" King was a little bit too heavy on the sarcasm there. "My boys're busy with the construction already, so I don't need you botherin' them at something they're doin' for the fleet. Besides, it's you who said that this'll be a good idea to see how well the girls are gonna perform on land."

Admiral Yoshikawa shrugged.

"Okay, now that we've wrapped things up, I want all of you to get ready and gear up for combat. Go to the arsenal, Akashi's there to prep you girls up."

"Yes sir!"

It was just about time for the mission and the girls were geared up for combat. King was standing on the helipad in full gear, dressed in his usual ACU type uniform with a load bearing vest over it, the AR-500 ballistic plates were there to provide resistance from bullets. He packed light and by light he meant carrying only one primary and a secondary. He's using a FAMAS G2 which was another variant of the French made assault rifle which featured faster rate of fire, better range and a 30 round STANAG magazine unlike the F1 which used the original 25 round cap mag. The assault rifle was also equipped with several other attachments as well; there's a round foregrip underneath the gun to allow for better handling, stocks have been custom modify to provide comfort while shooting with the implementation of rubber paddings, King won't have to actually feel sore for shooting too long this time. There are no optics, but since he was gearing up for a CQC operation, he doubted that he'll need any. As for his sidearm, he's using a Walther P99. Inside the tactical pouches of his load bearing vest are ammunitions for the two guns he had.

He was accompanied by admiral Yoshikawa and vice admiral Tanaka who were going to see him and the girls off. Speaking of the girls… here they were, approaching.

"Ugh… these vests are uncomfortable when worn over our chest plate…" Zuikaku complained as she patted her uncomfortable vest. She was holding an AR-50 with only one arm due to her carrier strength. "Shoukaku-nee, are you uncomfortable too?"

"Y-Yes… I have to say that wearing this bulletproof vest over our muneate is indeed uncomfortable…" the older sister laughed awkwardly. She too was carrying an AR-50, in fact, all carriers present were armed with AR-50. Akagi and Kaga walked over to the two sisters, carrying their own rifles.

"It's common sense that you'd remove your muneate before wearing the vest, fifth cardiv." Kaga slung the sniper over her shoulder, as she raised her nose in a superior yet somehow managed to retain her stoic demeanor. It also puts a lot of emphasize on her chest. "If you can't even put some thoughts on common sense, how could you perform well on the field?"

Akagi giggled as she leaned in on the conversation. "There's still some time left before the mission starts, why not remove them first?"

"I-I know about that!" Zuikaku stammered bashfully as she looked away from the two senior carriers. "I don't need Kaga to tell me. Hmph!" Shoukaku could only laugh more awkwardly than before.

While the girls from the second cardiv were busy correcting their mistake, the destroyers and battleships were over on their own groups.

"Ugh… why do they have to make such uncomfortable battle attire?" Nagato complained with a slightly irritated look as she tried to loosen the straps on her vest. Mutsu, fortunately for Nagato, was there to help her readjust the straps that were starting to make her uncomfortable.

The battleship with the shorter hair sets aside her LMG for a while on the ground as she helped her sister. "Here let me help you with that, nee-san." She did her job. "There we go, all comfortable?"

"Better."

Over with Ise and Hyuuga, the two sisters were not as busy as the Nagato-class as they were comfortable with their fittings. However, that didn't mean that everything's fine.

"Hmm… I'm not used to fighting with such a compact weapon." Ise muttered out as she inspected her Minimi. "It's not as heavy as our ship guns, in fact it's way lighter but strange… humans consider this as a heavy weapon, why's that?"

"It's probably because they are less compact and convenient for humans." Hyuuga answered in her straightforward and informative tone. "The ammunitions used are way larger than the guns we used during practice, meaning that it's of a different caliber. I can already see us ripping through walls with these."

"Uhm… this is different from the guns we used during practices…" Ayanami said out while inspecting her gun. She, along with the other destroyers, were given FN F200s.

"I don't care, as long as we're able to work with it… hn." Shikinami said confidently.

Wakaba was silently standing staring and doing nothing in particular, it seemed that she was waiting for instructions.

"Ne, Nui-chan, have you ever used this gun before during practice?" Kagerou asked her ship sister who she thought might be knowledgeable to use the weapon that was assigned to them. "It looks fancy that's for sure, but from what I can tell, it's not really the same as the ones that the other girls were using, right?"

Shiranui nodded. "Yes, though there should be no problem using this." She raised her gun to inspect the magazine. "Instead of the ones that we used before, the magazine for this gun is at the back. It'll be easier to reach because of the shorter distance it gives when reaching for it."

"Eh… how are your shooting, Nui-chan?"

"So-so." The pink haired destroyer shrugged.

Murakumo joined in on the rest of the destroyers, sporting her own FN F2000. "Don't you feel awkward wearing these vests… they're so… baggy."

Both Kagerou and Shiranui averted their eyes from each other and on to the white haired destroyer's chest… or what little bits they could find from it. In unison, they sighed. Kagerou, for some reason that was unknown to Murakumo, gave the Fubuki-class destroyer a sympathizing look as well as a hand on the shoulder. "You'll get there… eventually." She felt sad too, for some reason.

Murakumo merely blinked with a confused expression on her face.

"Oi, oi, all of you there gather here and listen up." The girls did as they were ordered too. King waited until the girls settle down, standing in their groups. "We're gonna fly all the way to Nagano and once we reach our AO, the op will begin immediately. Carriers, you'll be dropped on the building you'll be on along the way and those who're going to be with me, follow my instructions."

"Yes sir!" all of them chorused as one.

"Good, now, we're waiting until our ride gets here." He clipped his FAMAS to the buckle he had attached on the straps of his vest so that he can use his hands freely. He took out his iPod from one of the many pockets available and proceeded to listen in to his songs.

"Playing Daft Punk - Instant Crush"

Again, he didn't care whatever things that people had to say about his music.

Not long later, an Osprey which bore the emblem of Red Arrow descended. King and the girls quickly got into the aircraft but not without admiral Yoshikawa's words. "King, take care of the girls." He gave the eye patch wearing young man an almost intimidating look.

King grinned. "Leave it all to me, dad." He snickered as the ramp rises up to close the cabin shut. "Alright girls, while we're getting there, relax yourselves and review the mission details from your database."

"Sir, do we really have to…" Wakaba was reluctant to complete her question, because she knew the weight that it carried. "Kill those people there?"

King, remembering that the girls were not meant to kill humans but protect them, was instantly rid of his bright side. "I won't lie to you; you'll really have to fight those guys. But if they're surrenderin', give them a chance, but if they waste it, shoot them." The young man's voice turned hard. "I know that you girls weren't meant to kill humans or people in general but… isn't it the same as it used to be when you're still warships?" King asked.

"We… it's… it's complicated, sir." Ayanami muttered lowly, her sister sitting closely next to her. "Our warship memories were all injected to us as a part of our database, meaning that they aren't really our memory, but instead those created by the developers in order to supply us with past knowledge." Her bangs loomed over her eyes, covering them. "…And now that we're given a human body, it feels much different."

"It's as if it's easier to kill in this body rather than our old warship hull." Nagato continued as she flexed her arms to the side, along with her fingers as if she was loosening them up. "You must understand that we are not used to this human body just yet, sir. But if it is about killing, in the end of the day, killing is killing."

King was only silent. He could only observe everyone's gloomy mood as his song was playing in his ears. Just how far did the developers go with the creation of these girls? How much effort did they put in making them, exactly? Because, seriously speaking, he's feeling like he's in a bus full of teenage girls who're about to have their first kill for whatever reason. It's not a feeling he's used to, but it's something he's familiar with. It reminded him of his early years as a child soldier in the Militaristic Revolution Party where he used to ride in convoy trucks to battle with other kids who're about his age. They all knew that they'll die and that survival meant luck and skill. King had both luck and skill, but these girls were not sure about that. In fact, they're worried about killing.

It's kind of ironic, now that he thought about it. Back then, he was worried that he'd get killed while fighting. While these girls, they're worried about killing and not getting killed. Ironic and, dare he say, sad.

"Well, that just leaves one option ain't it?" King suddenly stood on his feet, catching the attention of the girls. "As for the duration of the mission, I'm orderin' you girls to shoot any hostiles you see, and I want you to shoot them dead. If they surrender, knock them out, and if they try to run, shoot their legs so they couldn't."

"That's! That's… cruel!" Zuikaku shouted out without any restraint or concern about her position. She viewed King heatedly with a ferocious glare. "We're not you who's used to kill people! We're meant to kill those Abyss-als, not people!"

"What's the difference?" King questioned without a slight waver on his tone. "Thugs… freaks… Abyss-als… as long as they're enemies, then your main – our main priority is to neutralize'em without second thoughts." King clicked his tongue as a way to show his irritation. "Everything you do will always be for the mission's success, remember that. Forget morals when fighting with idiots who still stayed behind after the cops told them to leave. They practically asked for it and here we are, flying over to them, to answer their call."

"There are times where you girls have to be what you really are, machines." King's tone was cold. "You work without questioning, follow without wondering and act with no hesitation. If I can be a machine, then so . can . you." He placed emphasize on the last three words.

"Kuh…!" Zuikaku, knowing that King was right, slowly returned to her seat with fists clenched. Her sister, Shoukaku, gripped her shoulder to let her know that she was there.

Noticing that he'd made the atmosphere even more uncomfortable, King sighed. "Look here, just… follow orders. Don't question me when I make decisions in the field, do that on the base." He swept a hand through his hair, almost reaching the short ponytail he had growing. "By the end of the day, you'll learn why we have to kill our feelings in order to work properly." King mentioned. "And don't tell me I didn't tell ya."

The girls only kept silent.

"Alright, everyone read me?" King received three different replies from each girl who he'd chosen to lean. Nagato and Mutsu were currently with the SAT team on the other side of the facility, ready to burst inside the moment he and his girls who were with him enter. Nagato was the one who responded on that side. Kaga and the rest of the carriers, including Shikinami and Ayanami, were already stationed on a rooftop a block away from their current location. Kaga responded earlier. And finally, his own girls who're with him.

Unsurprisingly, they didn't see any hostiles outside of the facilities. The reason for that was because the police got the whole block locked down, so that logically left the thugs to hole themselves inside of the facilities. Currently, King and the girls he asked to be with him were in position behind the facility, exactly right where the backdoor was at. Meanwhile, a heavily armed SAT team was joined by Mutsu and Nagato who will barge in at the same time as them right at the front door. He won't guarantee it but it seemed that the shooting will be heavier on their side. SAT would normally breach their way in through windows but the problem is, there weren't any. Why? He didn't know, ask the government.

"Carriers have clear sights on the building, sir." Kaga whispered through her communications device.

"The Special Assault Team is ready sir, we'll deal with the ones on our side and will proceed with the plan." Nagato said in a confident tone.

"Alright, good. What about you girls, ready?" King took a moment to look at the girls who're with him. The destroyers were still uneasy, but Ise and Hyuuga were ready. Regardless, the mission is a go. King gripped the foregrip attachment of his rifle harder, his muscles were getting tense. "Hyuuga, Ise, kick the door down on my go." The two battleships reposition themselves beside the door.

"Go!" with the combined strength of two battleships, the door was easily launched off from its hinges. "Everyone in! Guns up and fire at will!" King's team swooped in the building starting in with him and his destroyer escorts first, Hyuuga and Ise hanged back for a while to guard their rear just as planned. King heard explosions going off on the other side of the building, it looked like the SAT started already. And he was right. Gunshots, he's hearing them from deeper in the building.

As the team entered, they made quick work of the hallways, they haven't encounter any hostiles yet. "Thank god these guys are dumb enough to concentrate all their numbers on the front…"

"Sir, I'm getting activities deeper in the building." Kagerou informed King, her FN F2000 close to her sights. "A lot of them sir, about thirty more."

"Can you confirm that they're not focusing attention at their flank?"

"Confirmed." Kagerou informed once again. "They're too busy dealing with the unit who breached through the front door, their flank is open."

King grinned. "Looks like this might turn out easier than I expected." He might as well say that they got the situation at hand since this was going along smoothly. "Alright, let's hurry and help the others, move it, move it!"

Not long later, King's team reached the location of the shooting. He hadn't order his squad to shoot just yet, but that's about to change in just a moment. "Ise, Hyuuga, make sure that no one comes from behind! Destroyers, open fire!" from the balcony that overlooks the main lobby of the facility, where most of the thugs were at dealing with the SAT forces who're coming in from the front, King's destroyers open fires with their firearms.

"What the- they got backups!"

"FUCK!"

"We're getting' murdered here goddamit!"

Murakumo, Wakaba, Shiranui and Kagerou let their bullets soar into the people down below. More of the thugs started to drop dead due to being bombarded with countless bullets by the destroyers, their blood spilled onto the floor. "Keep it up girls! Don't let them get to cover!" King too joined in, as he fired his rifle in burst. Slowly but effectively, the thugs down below managed to find cover from whatever things they could find. Shelves, tables and broken down large metal signs, everyone was fighting over position.

"This doesn't feel right…" Murakumo muttered lowly. "They can't even fight properly." She saw one of the thugs kicking their friend away just so that he could get behind cover, which cost the other guy's life as well as his due to King's marksmanship.

"That just makes it easier for us to get this place cleaned." King responded to Murakumo's statement. "Team, let's get down there and box'em in! The others will do the same from their side." King vaulted over the balcony's railing and into the floor below him. Apparently, the facility went down underground. They weren't kidding when the government was making this a secret facility. He didn't even bother trying to find cover with how bad the thugs were managing themselves. He basically stood there, opened fire and joined in by his girls who proceeded to do the same.

"King, we're almost at your position, how're things on your side?" Nagato, who King reckoned was sweeping the other hallway with the SAT, asked through comms.

"Easy peasy." King said nonchalantly. "But don't let your guard down! They might have reinforcements hiding in some places of the facility!" King told her with his voice raised.

Kagerou and Shiranui hopped down to join him on finishing the rest of the thugs. Kagerou, having finished her clip, slapped another fresh magazine into her gun. "Nui-chan, hostiles to the right hallway, they're coming in!"

The pink haired destroyer responded by switching her focus to the location mentioned by her older sister. Three men using assault rifles came barging in, and they all end up dead in no more than ten seconds due to Shiranui. "Hmph, foolish."

"Nice shooting there Shiranui!" King hollers in glee. "Let's push through and regroup with Nagato and the SAT team!" the young man began to move, running from cover to cover while constantly shooting at the same time. "Ise, Hyuuga, ditch that door and regroup with us!" King ordered the two battleships, seeing as there's no need to pay the backdoor any mind at the moment.

As the fighting went on, the location changed from an open lobby to a hallway full of rooms. Murakumo rushed towards the hall, taking quick aim and fire before taking cover inside of the room. She peeked out to get several more shots. One of the thugs dropped dead when a bullet pierces right through his throat, giving him a slow and agonizing death. The way the man gurgled and choked in his own blood was unnerving for Murakumo, but she dismissed it quickly.

"Sir, Nagato-san is just up ahead!" Shiranui informed the team and King specifically in the middle of shooting.

"Copy that!" King replied. "Nagato, we're just in front of you, check your fire! Check your fire!"

"Team, unit 01 is just ahead of us, check your fire before you shoot!"

The remaining thugs, about ten of them, were boxed in in the middle of the hall, but they were persistent. Wakaba, who've been standing next to King the whole time acting as an escort, spotted two thugs trying to flank their position by going through one of the rooms. She abandoned her position next to King, relocating herself inside the room where the thugs entered. As soon as she entered, she spotted the two thugs and caught them by surprise. Several sprays from her FN F2000 was all that it take for the two fools to die, Wakaba could only stare before she returned to her position. At least they died quick.

"King I see you! Check fire on us too!" Nagato's voice bled through King's earpiece in static.

Slapping another fresh mag into his FAMAS, the eye patch wearing man resumed firing after taking cover. "Roger that!" he fired his gun, and while firing, he could see Nagato and Mutsu along with the escort of SAT operatives from where he was at. He reduced the amount of bullets he's letting out, just so that no one from the other team will get fired in mistake. Ise and Hyuuga's heavy machine guns were doing a good job of keeping the thugs pinned down in their position; he reckoned that they're helpless. But if they won't surrender, they'll have to continue firing.

"W-W-W-W-Wait! Wait-wait!" one of them tried to stand, his face morphing into fear and panic as he lugged his gun away to the side. "I give up, I surrender! Don't shoot!" the rest surviving thugs realized that it was futile to put up a fight with the kind of firepower being thrown at them, so they surrendered too.

King raised a fist in the air, telling his girls to hold fire. Nagato did the same for her team. Still with his weapon raised, King stepped forward. "Then put yourself on the ground, all of you. Now!"

And they did just that.

"Shiranui, Kagerou, Murakumo; make sure that these idiots don't try anything funny and tie'em up with those chain links I saw in one of the rooms. Wakaba, Ise, Hyuuga; check out our six and make sure that no surprise is comin' our way." King instructed his girls to move. He made his way to the other team, the SAT squad leader was given order to clear and make sure that hostiles are dealt with. So, they began to help the destroyers to tie up the thugs who're on the ground.

"King, sir," King was joined by Nagato. "All hostiles in the western side of the building are neutralized, all that's left is to check upstairs and downstairs."

"Right. Alright everyone listen up!" King spoke out. "We're gonna resume our mission to clear this place out, chances are, there still might be resistance upstairs and downstairs."

"But how sure are we?" Mutsu asked, lifting her Minimi close to her. "We encountered a lot of them here, isn't this the last of them?"

King kneeled down in front one of the thugs who've surrendered. "How about we ask one of our friends here for that…" the man, seeing King was focusing at him, flinched. "How many guys are there in this building?"

"There're forty of us!" the man screamed out with tears on the corner of his eyes, he lowered his head as if desperately pleading to not be shot. "We asked some of ta' boys ta' stay put upstairs! Some're downstairs too! Please, don't hurt me!"

"Chill down ya' fuck twat, you're under arrest now, not in the middle of an execution." King slapped the man behind the back harshly, causing him to squeal in fear and surprise. King stood back to his feet. "You heard the man, we're checkin' the rest of the places. SAT, I reckon that your job here is done?"

One of the SAT operatives, the captain, nodded. "Yes sir, we're done here boys." He said to his men. "We'll be taking these punks in."

"You do that." King sighed tiredly as he wiped a sweat from his forehead. But sadly, there's no time to rest yet. "Alright, let's split up. Wakaba, Murakumo, Ise, Hyuuga; you go downstairs and clear it. Mutsu, Nagato, with me; we're goin' upstairs."

The entire team split up just as King instructed them to. Wakaba and Murakumo, both being destroyers escort, were advancing in front of the two battleships to act as spotters. They descended to the lower levels of the facility through the hallway where the fighting before happened, as they descended down the flight of stairs, Murakumo and Wakaba could already pick up hostiles signature swarming towards their position.

"Contacts just ahead of us, ready your guns!" Murakumo warned the rest, her own gun raised. The shooting soon happened when they reached the bottom floor, now, the fighting was taking place in a large storage area where there were countless wooden crates, metal ones and cardboard boxes scattered and placed all over the area. "Take cover!"

"Destroyers, spot the hostiles and leave the shooting to us, your weapons won't be able to pierce through these boxes!" Ise ordered as she steadied her sights on one of the thugs who just ducked into cover. As expected, her machine gun's power allowed her to shoot through the wooden box the guy was using to hide himself.

Hyuuga wordlessly focused her fire to a group who was trying to pin their position. She allowed several 5.56x45mm bullets to hit her, it hurts, but nothing when compared to taking damage from ship guns. The sight of Hyuuga tanking several bullets caused a bit of surprise and fear on the enemy's side, however fear was quickly replaced by fiercer determination to shoot the battleship. Hyuuga sprinted forward, blindly firing her machine gun, she got several shots left before she needed to change to a fresh mag. With most of the fire being concentrated on Hyuuga, the thugs neglected Ise who then proceeded to pick them off one at a time, scoring headshots.

"Ise-san, contacts to the left." Wakaba informed quickly as she shifted her sights to the left. A sea of more armed thugs came rushing in with automatic weapons. "Let me deal with them!"

"I'll leave it to you!" Ise shouted from her spot as she cleared her own area from the presence of hostiles. "Hyuuga, let's finish them up quick!"

"On it." Hyuuga muttered as she reloaded her weapon as quickly as she could.

"Wakaba, there's still some left!" Murakumo shouted as she aimed down the sights to shoot a thug dead. "I'm almost out of ammo, just how many are they?!"

"Estimating to be only five left, let's make this quick, Murakumo-san." Wakaba said before resuming her action of shooting. The FN F2000 fired a spray of bullets to hit three hostiles, rendering them crippled. Wakaba did not spare them another second as she fired for the kill.

Soon later, everything came to a quiet halt. Murakumo, having slapped another mag into her gun, looked around. "We clear?"

"Not detecting anything." Wakaba informed. "We're clear."

"Good." Ise sighed. "I'll go inform King-san. Sir, all enemy hostiles eliminated on the lower levels."

"Ah, 'zatso?" a voice bled through the other end of the line. "We're done up here too. The bastards thought that it's a good idea to hide and try'na ambush us inside of a storage unit up here…" one could taste the disappointment in his tone. "We'll regroup downside in the lobby. Carriers, you've been quiet all this time, anythin' to report?"

"—No, it's because you're the one who needs to calm down!"

"I will not follow through your insubordination any longer, stand down fifth cardiv."

"Z-Z-Zuikaku! Kaga-senpai! P-Please stop fighting!"

"Ara, ara… King-dono, sir, it seemed that something has happened while you were away."

The sound of Kaga and Zuikaku arguing was heard throughout the entire communications line with Shoukaku's desperate attempt to calm them both down. Akagi didn't seem like she's being any help and every ship girls who're inside the facility pitied the destroyers who're stuck with the carriers on the roof.

One could hear King slapping himself right on the face. "Well, I guess this is what happens when you leave a ship girl with no jobs…" probably a mistake to bring carriers out here, since the fighting was done inside and not outside of the building. But he could never be too careful. "Carriers, stop your ridiculous fight and get ready to regroup outside of the facility. Team, we're changin' our meeting point."

Twenty minutes later, King and the girls who went inside the building were outside of the facility waiting for the four carriers and two destroyers escort who're with them to arrive. King was hitting his iPod as he was left with nothing to do. Police were already inside the building, bagging the bodies and doing cleanups. He reported back to base earlier and they'll send a team of mechanics and scientist to salvage whatever equipment they could.

Wakaba was standing on the edge of a pavement trying to detect the carriers' group presence. Not long later, she was greeted with a result. "They're here." Everyone turned their heads toward the road where the carriers and the two destroyer escorts who're placed with them arriving with each carrying their own guns.

As expected, they didn't look cheerful at all. Both Kaga and Zuikaku were walking faraway from each other, both of them being on each end of the row. Akagi was smiling despite how things seemed to be going on and Shoukaku was dejected beyond scale. Ayanami and Shikinami were walking together with uneasy and awkward expressions on their face. It seemed that being on the roof with two arguing carriers made it awkward for them.

"Took ya' long enough…" King pulled out one of his earpiece so that he could listen to the girls' reason. "Now, tell me, why the fuck were the two of ya' arguing like a bunch of kiddies?"

Shoukaku was about to answer in their behalf but a glare from King shut her down.

Kaga turned her face towards the eye patch wearing man. "The fifth cardiv, that one in particular, was blabbing about how nice it would actually participate in an actual fight and not stuck on watch duty. And I, being a responsible and obedient senior, told her to shut her mouth and direct her complain elsewhere."

"Well it was more than that!" Zuikaku butted in, finding her place in the conversation. "Kaga began talking about how ridiculous me and Shoukaku-nee being there was like. So I told her that 'I doubt that your old eyes could even see a meter away' and she told me to get hit by a torpedo and sink!" she raised her arms exaggeratedly. "We're on land! We can't sink here!"

"And let me guess, the rest of the argument is about how possible it is for an aircraft carrier to get sunk while on land?" King asked without batting an eye.

The four carriers and two destroyers nodded at the same time.

King facepalmed.

"Haah…" he sighed disappointedly. Not at the girls, but at himself. "I suppose it's my mistake…"

"S-Sir, it's not yours, it's Kaga's!" Zuikaku protested.

"It is the fifth cardiv's mistake." It's almost funny to see how similar the two were despite them always fighting.

"Look." King raised his hand. "It's my mistake. Bringing you girls here was my mistake." Instantly, all got quiet. "Now don't get that the wrong way because after seeing what just happened, there wasn't a need for sniper watch in this mission. I should've at least assigned different roles for you girls. Still, what's done is done. I don't want you two to fight like kids in the middle of future missions; if you wanna fight, then fight the bad guys." King muttered. "I called a bird to pick us up, in the meantime, we could hang back and talk."

"Talk…sir?" Shoukaku asked, unsure of what King was trying to say.

"Yes, talk." King set himself down on a curb, tuning the volumes of his music down a little bit. "you carriers didn't get any action, so I'm directing my statement to the ones who're inside. Tell me something; how did it felt like to be in that kind of fight?"

Unsurprisingly, Nagato spoke first, having settled her machine gun down, she stood in a relaxed manner. "It was not as different as I thought it would be, sir. While moving on water is much faster than on land, shooting was fairly easier since we were using small arms weaponry instead of our ship weapons."

King nodded. "Alright, what about you, Wakaba, Murakumo, Ise, Hyuuga, Mutsu, Shiranui, Kagerou?"

Wakaba spoke first. "It was an exhilarating experience. One that I do not mind experiencing again." She said simply before shutting up.

King briefly glanced at her. "I see. You, Murakumo?"

The white haired destroyer flicked a lock of hair off from her face and to the side. "I felt disgust when I saw several of them sacrificing their friends' lives just so that they could live. I'm glad I killed them." For once, the usually cold and quiet destroyer really meant her words.

"Well… I don't think that I got anything to say other than it was a good start for us to get some field experience for future missions." Ise told the rest. "But, I think I'm going to need some time to get used to shooting people… er… yeah."

Hyuuga remained silent, but a faraway look was present on her face.

"Ah… well, it's all fast paced and quick. More brutal than the fights we had at sea that's for sure." Kagerou commented. "Isn't that right, Nui-chan?"

The pink haired destroyer silently agreed with a nod.

"Hmm… I don't have anything to say but if there's anything… why do those people have to die." Everyone perked up at the question that Mutsu brought up. "It would be good if they surrendered so that we could arrest them, right? So, why do we have to kill all of them?"

"First of all, with the kind of greeting we got, did it look like they're lookin' to talk?" At this question, Mutsu looked away, embarrassed. "Secondly, we did manage to arrest some of them. Look, the police're doing their job right now." King gestured towards the group of armed officers escorting the thugs to put them into arrest. "And as for what happened to those we killed, it'd be easier to say that we're doin' the Supreme Court their job."

"The supreme court… what did they have to do with all of this?" Zuikaku asked, honestly confused.

King shrugged. "Let's see it like this; when criminals got arrested, they're trialed, right? Then comes the punishment. These guys, they're members of the yakuza, organized crime syndicates who're exploiting all the money that the people are makin'. Though that fact may be found true in most politicians these days, what matters's that we got them. With the kind of charges they had, a death sentence would be the most possible and suitable punishment. Those guys we arrested, they're just gonna be put on death row, they're waitin' in line to be injected with deathly toxins that will eventually send them to hell. See the difference?"

"No…" Ayanami muttered weakly at the revelation.

"That's the point."

The atmosphere within the group got silent, the only sounds going on were the ones happening on the backgrounds. The police still got the block on lockdown, meaning that there were no pedestrians around, leaving the whole road to themselves with the few exceptions of several cars and other law enforcement vehicles laying around.

"But… but… that's just…" Zuikaku was struggling to find the right word to fit what she'd just heard.

"Not right? Cruel? Wong?" King offered her some selection of words. "Not when they're goin' against the law. Because in a country, not only here in Japan, people who go against the law get punished." King said. "Though I'm sure that not all of the guys there were all bad people, I'm sure that they have circumstances to be in the place where they're in. But what can we do? Criminals get punished, bastards get killed."

"Why people die…?" King asked in a bitter tone, one that was low and personal. "It's because people're stupid, that's why."

At exactly 1600 hours, a Red Arrow Osprey arrived to pick King and his team of ship girls up and back to Yokosuka. They arrived at base at the next hour, and admiral Yoshikawa greeted them upon arrival, possibly for debriefing. Standing outside on the helipad of the base, King and his team stood in attention in the admiral's presence.

"Good, you're back." The admiral took his time to analyze the returnees before him. "I take it that the mission went according to plan?"

"It did, we just had a little bit of discussion in the end, nothing really important to be put into report." King said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm more surprised at how shitty the design and structure of the facility is rather than the number of thugs infested in that hell hole. Seriously, they could at least put some windows over there… sheesh…"

A snort of amusement came from the admiral. "They didn't really pay much attention on designs and structure, as long as that facility's big enough to store equipments and other valuable hardware, then that's enough." Admiral Yoshikawa shook his head openly. "Really, I swear that people are getting desperate with this whole Abyss-al incident happening…"

"Speaking of which, did you manage to figure out who supplied those thugs with weapons?"

At that, the admiral's expression darkened. "No, not yet. But I'm still hoping that you're wrong though, if it's really an inside job, then we'll have a bigger mess to clean and we haven't even have a solid organization yet."

King flexed his arms sideways before stretching them. "Well why don't we worry about that later and focus on maintaining our future headquarters now? In a few more days, I reckon that my boys will be done with the main constructions." He turned back to look at the girls. "You hear that girls, you'll be experiencing what it feels like to live on an ocean platform!"

"I'm not really excited to hear that…" Shikinami muttered.

"Don't be so down just yet, ya might just be surprised at what my boys got for us there. Sure, it's far from mainland but at least we'll be able to respond to threats faster in the open sea." King explained. "Besides, living on an ocean platform is nice. Sure, the birds may get tad too poopy for your taste but the winds and sunset's better there. Oh and chances are, we'll have an aquarium there!"

The sight of King acting gleefully unnerved several of them.

"Ah but we're still working on to build the facilities acceptable. Don't want anythin' to malfunction when they're started workin'." King says. "So you don't have to worry about moving anytime soon. For now, this base is more than enough for us to conduct assignments."

Admiral Yoshikawa nodded. "If that is all then you are all dismissed."

"Oh, and don't forget to place the guns and gears in the osprey before you leave." King told the girls who were just about to leave.

Admiral Yoshikawa approached King. "Tell me what really happened back there." He spoke in a low voice to avoid the girls from hearing him.

"The girls didn't take the idea of shooting people that well. So, I basically gave them the order to shoot anyone that's a threat." King replied in an equally low voice. "I did what I had to do; if we're doin' this to prepare the girls for future occasions, then they might as well get a taste of the fruit now than later."

"I see." The older man muttered. "Just how messy did things went?"

"If you count at least sixty-seventy armed yakuza with military grade weapons firing at ya' with all they got, then I'll go ahead and say very messy. Things went messy, but thankfully, nothing went wrong either." King answered with a small snort at the end.

"What's so funny?" admiral Yoshikawa asked.

"I'll tell you what's funny. The fact that these girls who're built with the task to defend their country with all their power having to kill their own countrymen." The younger man muttered softly. "Can't say I'm new to that idea, but let's just say that I'm not exactly fond of it either?"

"Oh really, how so?" The admiral was pushing on, part of him wanted to hear more.

"If you can say killing more than three hundred Russian when you're supposed to fight for Russia something different from what the girls did, then pigs can fly." He shook his head while crossing his arms at the same time, his eyes drifting away somewhere. "Things were hard back then, even as a kid. I told the girls that if I could act like a machine and follow orders, then so can they. After all, they're the machines, if we're speaking literally and factually, right?"

As the warm evening breeze swept past them, the admiral still didn't answer.

"I guess." The officer shrugged. "I'm not personally involved with the development of these girls, but I believe that Shinjo-sensei and his team wanted to make these girls act as human as possible."

"How 'human'?"

"…Probably even more human than we are."

King couldn't help but not doubt the admiral's conclusion.

King's Osprey landed safely at the helipad of the temporary headquarters of Red Arrow private militia in Osaka. The ramp lowered itself automatically and before it was even fully opened, King could already see the line of mercenaries present to greet him dressed in their non-combat uniform. They all formed two lines, facing each other while leaving a way for him to walk in the middle. And the moment he hopped off the Osprey to enter the base, they all saluted him.

"At ease." He said to his men for them to be at ease. From the distance, King could already see the grey wearing figure that was his friend Tae waiting to greet him near the front entrance of the base. He walked towards the man, knowing that he had something to say to him. As usual, his partially blind partner was accompanied with his personal guards dressed in black and berets.

"King, you went into an op with the Japs." That wasn't even a question.

"Yeah, that's why I asked for those guns I have in the osprey." King nudged his head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just confirming." Tae coughed. "On to pressing matters… our boys managed to get a read on Ru's current condition while you're away. It's true that she'd placed herself into a deep sleep like state where it's impossible for us to get her back up and conscious for interrogation. But, we could still monitor her brain—processor activities to get a better understanding of the abyss-al and maybe, figure a way to wake her up."

"Well that's almost a good news." King sighed. "Anything else to report?"

"Our expenses are increasing King, meaning that we'll have to reduce the number of men we send out to the fields. I recommend you to start and group our guys into squads based on their specialties. I've done some for you while you were away, but you're free to change them from your computer. I also sent you the rosters to your email, check it."

"Yeah, I'll do that later."

King walked inside the building and into his office. Once inside, he closed the door and plopped down the chair with his legs on the table. He stretched his body, feeling the effect of the day starting to kick into him. He'll do things later, after a short nap.