Azur Lane: Savior

'This is awkward, really awkward...' The Commander glanced at both of the ship as they took a step.

"Hey, you." Takao called out to him.

"Y-yeah?"

"Just stand aside and help us identify its weakness." she prepared as she drawing her katana from its sheath. "And don't get in our way."

Disappearing from where she was standing, the META heavy cruiser ship immediately took her sword out as she slashed the air with her power. The air looked like it was ripped apart but it only put scratch on the White Tower before it repaired again. The air shook as the structure immediately goes into a defending mechanism. It spawned a new mass-produced Siren ship that seems to be corroded with a black miasma. 

Thunderous roar struck as a cloud appear above the White Tower. With the water became more unstable, Greynar quick-witted thinking saved him from flipping his command ship upside down. He directly used the water as a surfing wave which somehow it worked in a weird way. Enterprise, meanwhile shot her bow to the White Tower and dodged the attack from several mass-production ship then threw the arrow above them and converted the arrow into a cluster bomb that manage to cover the entire area around the tower. 

Checking the progress as Takao continued to slash the surface of the tower, the Commander then used his S.A.V.I.O.R vision to identify the weakness of the White Tower. He remember the last time when they manage to win against one of White Tower was due to the other timeline Commander, but now it's just him all alone. He needed to find a soft spot so the Ashes could crush it easily. 

'Alright, let's see where is that thing.' Getting the hang of the battlefield, his eyes turned a bit bluish rather than the usual red. In an instant he manage to find a soft spot for them to laucnh a direct attack. 'Got it!'

"Enterprise! Use your plane to destroy the upper layer of the structure!" He asked the carrier.

Glancing at what he was pointing to, Enterprise manage to locate what he meant, she controlled her plane as Takao jumped into it. The Corsair attacked the spot and Takao slashed the surface. As it reveal, inside the upper layer was a dense mass of black smoke. What seemed to be an energy cube rotating in the middle immediately getting crushed by Takao's gun. The White Tower immediately crumpled, but it was not the end of it.

"You're kidding right? That shit got a second phase!?" His eyes opened wide as the mouth opened in 'o' position.

"That's not the end of it yet," Takao got off from the plane. "Enterprise, this thing isn't a normal White Tower." she brandished her big sword to the White Tower. "It seemed to have just started."

"Yeah, this is part of X that we're dealing with." Enterprise softly sighed, "I'm trying to find her but i can't get any clue about her whereabouts to settle the conflict."

"Don't be distracted," Takao put her big sword at the back of her shoulder. "It's coming." she crouched down as a black tendril shot right at them. 

"Takao, i got you covered, this thing have fast reaction to my arrow, now go." Enterprise shot her arrow once again to the black smoke in front of them. 

The something that was once a White Tower, immediately gradually taken form as a black fog with two red eyes could be seen. A metal steel that clanking with the air roared as it slithered to Takao. It clashed its teeth with the Takao's big sword. She slashed it in many stance but the insane reaction speed manage to dodge everything. Enterprise's plane went above the black smoke but as it drop a bomb, a tendril shot from below, exploding the bomb. The creature took another form again, this time it was a fox with two bright red eyes and with six massive tail. 

The black creature rose to the air, floating on the dense black smoke surrounding it. As it tried to bite Takao, the dog girl took a step behind and kicked its mouth to close it. Takao run around the fox with a speed incomparable than before then slashed the body apart. It slashed the body, it still didn't killed the black fox as it tried summon a black tornado around the body. Takao slashed the air to the creature and cancelled the still-forming black tornado. Takao jumped back to Enterprise's location as the black fox thrasing around.

"My estimation for this thing is Threat Level: II. Enterprise, what should we do with it?" She glanced at her Ashen friend.

"Aim for the throat, we'll see what it will do." Enterprise launched again her arrow to the creature, this time she draw her bow with a different stance.

"Fine, we'll get this thing done." Takao parried an attack and rushed again. "Let's see on your neck!" 

Enterprise assisted her with air support but this time she used her bow to aim directly at the two bright eyes. The arrow shot from her bow with a speed exceeding the sound of speed. It pierced the creature eyes and exploded. Takao rushed to the neck of the fox and appeard above it. 

"This is the end, die." she ended the creature's throat.

'This is... The power of the Ashes...' Greynar who was being spectactor managed to take a small grasp of their power. 'No wonder that they're dangerous, but...'

As Takao unsheathed her sword, she walk up to Greynar. She huffed as she left him to the direction of bermuda sea. He met with Enterprise's eyes, the girl gave him a silent stare as she also disappeared, following Takao to somewhere.

Greynar, being exhausted popped on his own seat. "Damn... That was dangerous as fuck, i don't want to meet them again, but i felt like something is missing..." 

'And now how do i explain this to the fleet...' Looking at the destruction it caused, he sighed. 'Let's use it then... Command Savior-`

※ ※ ※

With the information being altered secretly, no one knew what happened on White Tower. Everyone awake from their sleep, not knowing what happened before, Greynar altered their memories so they think they thwarted the Siren ambush on NY Harbor, along with how his escort fleet manage to deal with the rest of the Siren. The Commander rested on his dishelved room, it was an exhausting day. Due to the attack, Saratoga took command for all repairment on the Harbor. 

A knock appeared on his room. Glancing at the door he told the person to come in. "Excuse me, Commander." 

The auburn-haired girl went inside, as she immediately jumped on his hug. "Commander, are you okay? Nothing was hurt, right?" she was worried when she heard NY Harbor almost fall to the Sirens fleet after waking up on the outer section of NY Harbor.

He shook his head. "No, i didn't got hurt, where have you been by the way? The comms got jammed so i can't reach you directly."

She tried to recall again, that something grabbed her and then she went blank. "I, don't have any clue. Something grabbed me when i was clearing out the enemy on the location." 

"And?" he feels it was not the full picture of what happened.

The carrier shook her head. "I don't know, when i woke up, i was under a tree on the outskirt."

"I see..." He muttered silently. "Observer..."

She tilted her head. "What's that Commander?" 

"Nah, i only thought about something." he decided to not pry it any further and changed the topic. "Anyway have Enterprise arrived?" 

"She hasn't yet to arrive but it should be here tonight." she answered.

"Right, i will see what the NY Command could say about this incident." He stood up and kissed her on the forehead. "Try to help people as much as you can." 

"Alrighty~" She left the room as soon he said it.

He sighed, opening the closed curtain, he looked at all of the broken vessel on the waters on the distance. "I should be asking you something, how did you even convince them to work with you."

Something appeared behind him as he speaks, the petite Siren appeared again before him. "It was a trade secret between us, and as the ANTI-X managing this test site, i am the one who control what's allowed and what's not."

"And tell me something that boggles me, what happened actually with Volga." He changed his question, deciding it was probably a secret that couldn't be said to him.

"Oh it was pure out of curiosity and also being wary towards a specific subject." She chuckles.

He raised his brow, "Wary? What are you being wary for towards her?"

"I don't want to discuss this, but if you insist so." Observer fixed herself and looked at him with a serious expression. "Her data isn't anywhere around our ANTI-X system." the Siren said.

"What do you mean about that? Is it because of her existence popped out from my hand? Then what about Albacore? Is she too, a variable?" he asked the question, with a bit of huff on his tone.

"The submarine Albacore, isn't a variable because she has always been born through the cubes, but that Northern Parliament carrier. It was not similar to what our data is." The Siren stopped talking, checking his reaction then continued. "If you remember from what i said, S.A.V.I.O.R is a device, born out of countless of timeline transgression." 

"Yes, you clearly said that when telling me." He nodded slowly.

"But the data that contained within her, isn't anywhere from the timeline that we have seen. A variable that almost as if the data came from different reality from us." she idly played with her rubik cube that came out of nowhere.

"By what you said, she is an existence similar to me?" He muttered, it was unbelievable for him.

"It's almost correct by what you say but also wrong." she continued. "I placed a monitor on the KANSEN, but there's no single behavior that indicates her a variable."

The first sentence she said threw him off. "So you placed a monitor on my girls?" He squinted at her.

"No offense, i'm here to prioritize your safety as my priority experiment." she held her arms up.

He relaxed as he took a seat. "So, this is something not from other timeline? Antiochus system calls it test site place isn't it?" 

"Correct, and we have data from others, although Observers can't interact with each other, Zero could share any information to any of us." she explained.

"Then what do i have to do? Act different towards her or spying on her? I also encountered something when she was sleeping." The Commander muttered.

"Do tell me, i might try to look this into further." 

"She..." He glanced at the door briefly, before correcting himself. "Do you know about Kronshtadt, the Large Cruiser."

"The rescue of Kronshtadt team with her companions, yes i remember that incident. It recorded on my database." 

"Look..." Fixing his stance, the Commander sighed. "She may have an alternate memory of Kronshtadt turning META and couldn't be saved." 

The Siren was silent, she immediately took her leave. "I will investigate this matter, so by then, please just follow the script as what we have planned."

"Wha- Wait—!" He tried to call her, but she was gone already.

Sighing at the Siren, he muttered in his mind. 'Should i be thankful that she gave me some information, or should i be cautious of what she's trying to do.' he closed his eyes. 'The enemy of the Siren... It's still unknown to me, what is actually X?'