Blair House, Washington D.C.
June 10, 1942
4:00 PM
Enterprise-80 lay on the bed in one of the rooms, exhausted from the recent meetings with High Officials, especially the Congress.
"I really hate politics," she said to herself in a muffled voice, covering her head with a pillow.
Talking to a bunch of old men who acted like children all day long was quite tiring, and understandably so. She was so fed up with the politicians' biases that she just let some of the nonsense wash over her. She was only interested in the unbiased situation regarding the battlefront.
Lucas scanned every corner and tight space of the room, looking for any listening devices or bugs planted inside. He looked inside the closet, drawers, mirror, bathroom, and under the bed sheets.
"All clear. All bugs are terminated," Lucas reported, clearing the last of the listening devices in each room.
The Eagle Union might be the counterpart of America, but knowing the U.S. Government as a whole, you weren't safe even in the safe house because it was filled with listening devices and monitors.
Bunker Hill sat on the couch, head in her hands, she, along with Enterprise-80, were all tired of listening to the politicians' blabbering amongst themselves. She let out a small groan and muttered to herself in a tired voice.
"It's easier to just bomb someone into oblivion than to talk to a politician."
Lucas spoke, "Hey. We're Americans, we shoot someone before we even solve a goddamn problem... or don't solve the goddamn problem at all... and make it even worse tenfold."
The two then grunted as the past fuck-ups by the previous administration flooded their minds.
"Let's just hope we don't make the same mistakes back on Earth," Bunker Hill-76 said.
"As long as the politicians keep their paws out of our military operations, yeah... we're all good," Lucas said.
Frigate Belfast came out of the kitchen, carrying a tray with snacks for the rest. She had been in the kitchen preparing snacks ever since they entered the house.
"Why is it you Americans always want to shoot someone?" Frigate Belfast asked, as she placed the tray of snacks on the table.
Lucas grabbed a biscuit as he sat on the couch. Frigate Belfast then asked the two about the spy back in Pearl. All she knew was that the spy was captured, but the rest of the report and capture were blurry and left out.
"By the way... I wanted to ask you this since we left Pearl. Do you know what happened to the spy that was sent by the Sakura Empire?"
The two were about to bite their biscuits, but stopped midway through as Frigate Belfast asked them that question. They both looked at Frigate Belfast, mouths open, as she looked at them in the eye, asking for answers.
~ Le Flashback ~
Honolulu Residence
A man wearing a coat was sweating heavily, tapping the Morse code quickly as if he were being chased by a hound. He checked the code book as he tapped the Morse code frantically.
Then, the window of the room behind him suddenly burst, making him jolt and fall from his chair in surprise. He looked behind, his breathing heavy and his heart rate racing like crazy, and then looked at the figure who burst through the window.
The person he was looking at was a white-haired bunny girl with glowing red eyes, like she was looking at her prey. She was also carrying two pistols, one pointed at him.
He grabbed his pistol and pointed it at her, but before he could pull the trigger, he was shot in the right shoulder. He let go of the pistol, holding his injured right shoulder.
She asked in a cold tone, "Are you the one who sent those signals?" The man remained silent, so she shot him again, grazing his right cheek.
The man crawled back, but he was cornered against the walls, touching his right cheek. She walked toward him slowly, each time she moved closer, she became more and more menacing.
She asked him again, "Who's the one you're sending those signals to?"
The man did not speak, so she shot him in the right thigh with a .50cal. from her Desert Eagle. The man screamed in pain, holding his right leg.
"Who sent you here?" She then asked the man again; this time, she was determined to shoot him.
The man yelled, letting out all of his frustration. "I'm not going to reveal anything to you, Eagle Union scum!"
She then started shooting the man in his left and right legs multiple times. The man screamed in pain as he was shot multiple times in the thighs.
The MPs and Soldiers arrived at the spy's location. What they saw was something else. This scene made them throw up and vomit, as they were horrified at the sight.
The Bunny Girl kept shooting the man's both thighs like crazy. This scene made even the CIA in Guantanamo Bay blush. A creepy smile slowly formed on her face as she saw the man plead and scream as she shot him in the leg multiple times.
The sound of gunfire and a screaming man could be heard throughout the neighborhood at 1:20 in the morning. Many of the residents were asleep, so only a few woke up and listened.
Enterprise-80 ordered Laffey-200 to hunt down the spy, dead or alive. She followed the signal that was being detected by her Bunny Ear Antenna.
The code book and decrypting machine were given to Azur Lane after all the Sakuran spy equipment was seized in the hideout.
Also, Ayanami's ship was currently being surveyed and examined by Azur Lane in Pearl. The electronic equipment was being tested and calculated to find a countermeasure against Sakuran Shipgirls.
And now, the Azur Lane Alliance could listen to any Sakura Empire transmission. All the operations that the Empire conducted were intercepted.
~ Le Flashback end ~
Lucas and Bunker Hill-76 were sweating bullets as they both looked at each other, as if deciding who was going to tell Frigate Belfast what actually happened to that spy.
"I ordered Laffey to hunt it down, dead or alive," a voice said.
They both looked in the direction the voice came from. It was Enterprise-80, leaning back against the door beam.
"Is that a little... extreme?" Frigate Belfast said, because she knew Laffey-200 was a bit of a loose cannon. She could potentially have killed that spy without any hesitation.
"Extreme? Our country faces more threats than any country in the world, and you call our response a little extreme," Enterprise-80 replied in a serious tone, making everyone tense a bit.
Frigate Belfast sighed and looked Enterprise-80 in the eye and spoke, "I just don't want us to end up as murderers... in these people's eyes."
Everyone knew what Frigate Belfast was referring to. FF-90 HMS Belfast had her own controversial incident back on Earth.
Frigate Belfast remembered her last deployment in the Mediterranean Sea when her commanding officer accidentally ordered a strike on a residential area, thinking it was a terrorist hideout in Libya. The strike killed many innocent people, especially women and children.
This became a political mess back in Britain and America. America-led operations were called into question after that strike. The whole operation in Libya was so messed up that the Chief of Staff needed to pull the plug.
Enterprise-80 rested her right hand on Frigate Belfast's right shoulder and gave her a reassuring look. "Sorry... we don't want to upset you even more. But sometimes we have to resort to extreme measures."
Frigate Belfast was still looking down, her mood still sad. She wasn't a big fan of extreme measures like the Americans, even though she had her own dark side.
"But worry not, because tonight... tonight we will have to attend a ball... so everyone be prepared," Enterprise-80 addressed them, trying to lighten the gloomy mood that permeated the room.
"Whoa... yeah... baby!" Lucas cheered.
The girls looked at him in silence. He was the only one who cheered out loud. He quickly shut his mouth as he saw them look at him, which made it even more awkward.
"Oops... sorry, my bad..." Lucas said, feeling embarrassed by his loud mouth.
The girls then laughed at each other, like girls do.
Norfolk, Virginia
Lafayette was walking on the pedestrian lane, accompanied by two Manjuu and Spock. He had been tasked by the two to find ice cream because he was the kid in the group. And also, he wouldn't attract too much attention if a random kid walked along with two Flightless Fat Birds and an Eagle.
Who could notice them?
Two men wearing trench coats and fedoras were slowly following him behind, stopping and pretending to be ordinary folks walking in the same direction as him. They were careful not to make a scene, as the place was full of people passing by.
These two were sent to spy on the Modern Kansen, as a leaked document showed that new ships had joined the Azur Lane Alliance and were scheduled to visit mainland Eagle Union. They had been following this kid ever since he left the naval base and ventured out with his two Flightless Fat Birds and an Eagle
"Damn it! Denver and Essex. Finding an ice cream in this place you didn't even know of isn't fun, you know," he muttered in frustration.
He was trying to figure out how he was going to buy 1940s ice cream in 1940s America or Eagle Union without having any idea where he could find a store selling it first.
Spock screeched, as it got bored sitting on one of the Manjuu's heads.
"Yeah, I know. I'm trying to find it," he said to the eagle. He then mumbled, "Damn, did I just talk to a bird? Oh, I forgot... I've been talking to Manjuu."
One Manjuu pointed at a store with an ice cream logo in its window. Lafayette looked where the Manjuu was pointing, lit up, and dashed toward the store, followed by the two escort Manjuu.
"Finally, an ice cream shop!" he remarked in delight.
Unbeknownst to him, the store was for shipgirls only. Lafayette opened the door with a little force in excitement, as the hanging bell on the door CLANGED.
This caught the attention of the shipgirls inside the store, especially the adult ones. The Shipgirls stopped their chatting and stared at him. They did not expect a boy with his pet and two flightless bird friends to come in.
"Who's that?" a Shipgirl whispered.
"I don't know," another shipgirl whispered back.
"He doesn't look like he's from here," one shipgirl said.
He was just standing there in the entrance door, frozen, because the shipgirls' attention was on him. Cold sweats were falling from his forehead, as every shipgirl was looking at him intently.
*Insert Key and Peele sweating meme*
'Crap! This is a bar for girls only,' he thought, as his mind raced for a response to this situation.
Then, one of his accompanied Manjuu tugged his shorts and pointed at the ice cream bucket placed on the counter table.
'My mission is to buy ice cream and leave. Seems easy enough... but this is a girls-only place.'
Spock flew toward the counter table and landed on top of the ice cream bucket.
"Hey, what are you---"
Spock screeched.
The Shipgirls inside the bar were confused at the sight of the Eagle. Everyone knew eagles were the representation of their nation and Shipgirl Carriers.
He then walked toward the counter like a robot, avoiding any eye contact with the girls inside the bar. He reached the counter and asked, "How much is the bucket of ice cream... Miss?"
"My, my, I didn't expect a little boy would go inside a 'girls only' bar to buy some ice cream," a woman wearing a Wild West outfit at the counter-table, leaned forward toward the him and smiling.
"Y-Yes. M-Ma'am," Lafayette stuttered, trying his best to make eye contact with the woman's eyes, as all the eyes is onto him.
Spock looked at him in disappointment, shaking its head.
The woman laughed at the kid's embarrassed expression. She then introduced herself. "Sorry about that, little fella, I'm just goofing around with you. By the way, my name is Texas... is that your eagle?" She pointed at Spock.
Lafayette just shook his head, as the Shipgirls behind him sitting at the table giggled, making him more embarrassed. "N-No. M-Miss. Tex-"
He was interrupted by the ringing phone in his pocket.
He quickly grabbed the phone out of his pocket and pressed the 'call' icon, and the phone then barked, making him jolt in surprise.
"Dude! We told you to buy an ice cream in the nearby store. It's been a damn hour! Where are you?"
It was Essex on the phone call, shouting. Lafayette answered in a low voice, "Yes. I have the ice cream. I'm in a bar."
Then a low and cold tone voice replied on the phone. "You better get it." It was Laffey-200.
Her words sent shivers down his spine. He knew Laffey-200 would make his life a living hell if he didn't comply. He replied in a very scared voice, "Y-Yes, Ma'am."
He gave the bill, grabbed the bucket of ice cream, and left the bar, heading to the port.
He was followed by Spock, which flew above him. The two flightless birds managed to catch up with him with their sheer buoyancy.
The Shipgirls and Texas were shocked by the kid's quick acceleration, which rivaled the other shipgirls inside the bar, especially the destroyers.
"H-How did he move so quickly like that?" one of the girls in the room asked.
'His acceleration is comparable to a Destroyer? And that Eagle... it belongs to a carrier,' Texas thought.
"You're quite interesting... little fella..." she mumbled to herself, as she got a little bit of interest in him.
Outside the Bar
The two men who were following him dropped their act and ran toward him, planning to capture him alive for information. But his quick acceleration left them in the dust.
One of the men with a grey fedora exclaimed, "Whoa! He's fast!"
The other one, who had a black fedora, almost tripped over the stacked trash. "Damn right. I almost forgot he's a kansen," he said in disappointment.
"What now?"
The man with the black fedora spoke, "Let's follow him. He's not going anywhere."
The two suspicious men who had been eyeing Lafayette for a while followed him to the Naval Base.
Norfolk Naval Base
Lafayette reached the port, as heavily armed Manjuu let him pass through the barricade they set up to keep unwanted visitors out. Without wasting any time, he ran toward the Amphibious Assault Ship, carrying a bucket of ice cream.
Spock landed on the railing, watching the kid run inside the ship.
The two men who were following stopped at one of the buildings and hid at the corner, seeing how tight the security around the harbor was, with Heavily Armed Manjuu roaming around the perimeter of the modern warship, along with UGVs armed with .50cals., MK19 grenade launchers, and FGM-146 Javelins in case there were armored threats.
The man with the grey fedora spoke, "That's quite heavily armed for a Manjuu, and what are those mechanical tanks that follow them?"
"I think staying away from them will be a wise choice... they're more capable than our Manjuu in the mainland," the man with the black fedora said.
Wise choice indeed for these two, because these Manjuu were ordered to shoot any intruders onboard. After the shit-show in Pearl, Enterprise-80 had now tightened the security of their ships.
Port Manjuu (Azur Lane Manjuu) were scared of interacting with their big and Heavily Armed Manjuu counterparts. They kept their distance, especially from the mechanical monstrosities that were the UGVs with their Weapon Load-Outs.
LHA-12 USS Essex
Inside the amphibious assault ship, Laffey-200, Essex, and Denver-856 were waiting for him at the ship's mess hall. Laffey-200 was holding a spoon, staring at him intensely, making him freeze in fear.
Essex-12 asked, "So, you finally got the ice cream... why did it take you so long?"
Lafayette slowly walked toward them and placed the bucket of ice cream on the table and responded, "I was trying to find a nearby store and I didn't find one. So... I kept searching, and found this sort of girls-only Café/Bar and bought this ice cream."
This caught Laffey-200's attention when she heard the word "bar." Her bunny ear antenna perked up, and she grabbed him by his shirt's collar.
"Where?" she asked, one word that carried more weight.
"Umm... right... in... the... umm..."
Laffey-200 dragged him, as Lafayette screamed for help as he was dragged across the decks of the ship and outside at the port, and to that bar.
"Wait. Laffey, don't drag me like this..." he pleaded, but all of his pleading fell deaf on her ears.
Every citizen or pedestrian could see a Bunny Girl dragging a kid across the street, as the kid pleaded for her to stop. They all just watched, thinking the kid was being scolded by his sister.
"Everyone is looking at us... please listen..."
The two men in trench coats with fedoras, who had been following Lafayette, followed them without being noticed by them. They did the same trick of stopping and pretending to be ordinary folks walking in the same direction as them.
The man with the grey fedora spoke, "I have a bad feeling about this woman."
"What do you mean by that?" the man with the black fedora asked, without breaking his gaze at the bunny.
"I sensed this kind of feeling back in our homeland... like a certain shipgirl... we knew of," he said, with a hint of concern.
"Nonsense... all Azur Lane shipgirls do not match the level of craziness of Iron Blood Shipgirls."
"I don't know about that... I'm having this kind of feeling with this one," he said, as he felt some chills run through his skin.
The man with the black fedora shrugged. "Whatever, just do what I say... ja."
"Ja."
Unbeknownst to these two, Laffey's bunny ear antenna was listening to their conversation, as she noticed the two were following them from the port. She just needed to wait for the right moment to 'confront' these two without any hindrance from the locals.
Laffey-200 shifted her attention as they reached the bar where Lafayette bought the ice cream. She stopped at the entrance and looked up, seeing the name "Texas' Saloon."
"Is this it?" she asked the worn-out Lafayette.
"Ye-Yes..." he said, gasping for air.
Without ado, she kicked the door open, scaring everyone inside. The shipgirls inside jolted in their seats and almost spilled their drinks in surprise.
Texas shouted in surprise, as she almost dropped a glass. "Who the hell kicks the door of my bar... oh."
She entered, dragging Lafayette inside, as the shipgirls saw this. A Bunny Girl was dragging this worn-out kid along the floor.
"The hell happened to him?" Texas mumbled.
The Shipgirls thought this bunny girl was one of the Benson-Class Destroyers because she looked similar in appearance to Laffey-459 to them, but her body was more mature.
Laffey-200 sat in one of the chairs at the counter table, and she only said one word. "Booze."
Texas flinched and asked in confusion, looking at her. "What?"
"I want booze," she repeated, with slight annoyance.
The Shipgirls listening spat out what they were drinking, and the others made some noises. The record player scratched and stopped, as the shipgirls screamed in surprise.
"EH!!!!!!"
"Is she nuts?!" one Shipgirl shouted.
"Sorry, Laffey, we don't serve minors here," Texas told her, but Laffey-200 was not Laffey-459.
Laffey-200 was staring at Texas, like she was about to kill someone. Lafayette slowly regained his exhausted strength and saw this, got up, and tried to persuade Texas to give her what she wanted.
"Miss Texas, please give her what she wants, you don't want to anger her," Lafayette said, trying to persuade her.
"Sorry, kid, we really don't serve alcohol to minors, and it's against the law. Why not order a cola instead, I'm sure Laffey loves it?"
"She is not the Laffey you knew. She's one of the Modern Kansen, and her name designation is USS Laffey DDG-200."
This shocked everyone even more. Texas just sighed in defeat and gave up.
"Fine... just wait, I'll get you some," she said, heading to the basement cellar.
Every Shipgirl inside the store was surrounding them and bombarding them with questions about the modern warships.
".....This is getting annoying..." Laffey-200 drew out her Desert Eagle, as she tried to fire a warning shot. Lafayette saw what she was about to do and grabbed her hand holding the pistol.
"Please... don't fire your weapons he---- ahhh..."
USS Laffey DDG-200 had more horsepower than him. So, he was overpowered when she suddenly raised her right hand, he went along with it and got thrown.
Lafayette flew several meters in the air, as he grabbed her hand and got overpowered by her, as he fell and crashed on the floor, ass first.
"Ouch...."
Laffey-200 fired at the ceiling of Texas' Saloon, and told them to "Back off."
This caused the shipgirls to back off a bit, scared of being shot by this psychotic Bunny Girl.
"Whoa. She's so scary!" one of the shipgirls exclaimed.
"She just fired a weapon inside Texas' property," the other Shipgirl said.
Texas had a rule in her property: No shooting guns. No fighting. Do not destroy any of her property. Laffey-200 broke two of the rules by putting a hole in the ceiling with her gun.
Texas was looking at the hole in the ceiling, where Laffey-200 fired. She had just returned from the basement cellar to grab some booze.
"Great. A hole in the ceiling of my store. Who the hell fires their weapon inside my store?!!!!!!"
Everyone pointed at the bunny girl at the counter table.
Lafayette regained his balance after being overpowered by Laffey-200. He then rushed to the commotion to stop the impending bar fight, or worse, gunfight.
Texas was about to pull out her Double-Barrel Shotgun hidden under the counter table, but Lafayette intervened.
"Please calm down, Miss Texas. It's just a misunderstanding, I'll pay for the hole in the ceiling at your store. Please, we don't want to escalate this kind of misunderstanding any further," he said, trying to stop the two from fighting.
Texas just gave in to the kid's pleading. She knew escalating this any further would only result in more damage to her property. "Fine... just don't let her shoot at my ceiling, again... if she gets drunk, okay..."
"Thank you, Miss Texas," Lafayette thanked her for not escalating this any further.
Laffey-200 cheered up in a typical Laffey noise. "Yey..."
Texas thought, as she placed a bottle of alcohol on the counter table. 'I wonder who's more psychotic, her... or Roon?'
Norfolk Naval Base USNS William McLean T-AKE Cargo Ship
William was in the workshop of his ship, looking at the scratch blueprint of the plasma cannon and the US Navy HELIOS laser blueprint. The two weapon systems had the same design principles.
The Plasma Cannon of an Elite Siren provided him with the answer of how the US Navy HELIOS Laser Weapon System could be improved and become a real laser and work efficiently, without sucking too much electrical energy onboard the ship.
"Finally, it's finished. All I need now is target practice," he said, mimicking the voice of Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
He then ordered one of the Manjuu to place a metal plate used in tanks at the middle helideck for weapons demonstration.
One of the Manjuu plugged the laser weapon into the ship's generators. The Manjuu tasked to plug it into the Ship Generator got fried and almost turned into "fried chicken." He used 20% of the plasma cannon design to refine the design of the HELIOS Laser Weapon System.
"This is where the fun begins. Hahahahaha."
The laser weapon fired at the metal plate and it melted within seconds. The live fire demonstration was a success. He then laughed like a madman, as the light from the laser created a shadow behind him. The Manjuu behind him thought he had gone nuts, again.
He then turned around and saw a bunch of Manjuu staring at him with concern on their faces. "What? I'm not that completely crazy."
The Manjuu had faces of doubt, not buying any of his words after hearing Dr. Victor Frankenstein's voice. Then a gunshot was heard, and all of their attention was focused in that direction.
"She's on the loose, again," William muttered, both hands on his hips, looking at the direction.
USS Essex LHA-12
A single gunshot could be heard throughout Norfolk. Many of the Eagle Union citizens and pedestrians looked in the direction of the said gunshot.
Heavily Armed Manjuu were now on high alert after that shot. UGVs were on standby for any attacks. The Dockyard Workers and Harbor Manjuu were now scared as they heard the cocking sound of M4 rifles from the Heavily Armed Manjuu.
Denver-856 and Essex-12 were on the flight deck when they heard the gunshot near Naval Base Norfolk.
"Did she just shoot someone?" Denver-856 asked in disbelief.
"I don't know... let me call Lafayette to confirm if she just shot someone," Essex said, as she frantically called the kid on the phone.
Maya rushed to their direction, katana at the ready, this time she was not wearing her Yukata and Fluffy Line Flip Flops, instead her JMSDF uniform.
"Enemy attack?" she asked.
"No, just a bunny on the loose," Denver-856 replied.
"Wait, what?"
Then it dawned on her who they were referring to. "OH... No..."
"Yeah..."
"We got a crazy bunny on the loose," Denver-856 said jokingly.
"Alright. I've confirmed with Lafayette no one was hurt, only a bullet hole in the ceiling. Let's just turn around and not report this to Miss Enterprise. If word got out... it will be a hell of paperwork. Thus everyone agrees to it?" Essex said.
The two agreed to let it sweep under the rug. Because everyone in the military knew how time-extensive this kind of report was.
"Good. That settles then... let's just keep this...under the rug," she said, trying to get hold of the situation.
As they conversed, one Meowfficer from USS Laffey DDG-200 walked towards them, holding out a report paper. Essex-12 took the report paper and read its content, smiling after reading it.
"So, it is an Enigma machine then..." she said to herself.
She then faced the Meowfficer and gave an order. "Order the Manjuu to prepare an MQ-9B Mojave drone... we have a new target."
MQ-9B Mojave is based on the MQ-9 Reaper. MQ-9B is focused on STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) on any naval vessel. MQ-9B's first flight on a naval vessel was on a Queen Elizabeth-class carrier, RO9 HMS Prince of Wales, on November 15, 2023.
The Meowfficer saluted and headed to the ship's bridge to inform the Flight Deck Crew/Manjuu about the deployment of a drone.
Manjuu grabbed the pushback tugs as it towed the MQ-9B Mojave onto the deck. Fuel personnel/Manjuu attached a hose to pump fuel into the drone. A few minutes passed, they quickly pulled the hose and closed the fuel cap. Ordnance crew/Manjuu armed the drone with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.
The propeller at the back of the drone spun and slowly gained momentum. Shooter/Manjuu pointed finger-guns at the bow of the flight deck. The MQ-9B Mojave flew off the flight deck and headed towards the Enigma signal they'd detected.
F-35B Lightning IIs flew, following the MQ-9B to its destination. The F-35B's onboard electronics and radar would guide the drone to their hunt for the Enigma operators.
Eagle Union citizens looked up, and others looked out the windows of their homes as they heard a peculiar noise above. They saw two different aircraft flying above the town. One plane was angular in shape and colored grey, with fire on its back. The other looked like a traditional aircraft, but without any canopy and the propeller on the back instead of the front.
Many were amazed, shocked, and had a mix of reactions. Others brought out their cameras and started taking pictures of the two peculiar aircraft heading west.