To say this was the most uncomfortable that Pacific had ever been was the fucking understatement of her long and storied life. Pacific ever so carefully moved her way through the internals of the Brisbane, her form and it's design clearly not meant to ever interact in such an intimate way under any sort of circumstance. She ducked her way through the next hatch as she looked up to Celebes and Captain Roberts.

Both wore matching looks of amusement at what they were watching.

Pacific's glare hardened at Celebes, who's fleeting expression of amusement hardened into her normal one. Pacific's gaze switched to Captain Roberts, who met her gaze head on.

"Your kind and mine are at war. I'm allowed to take some satisfaction in your discomfort." He told her. "Also to note, if it wasn't already obvious. Watch your heads. I hesitate to think at whatever damage Brisbane may suffer because you couldn't help but attempting to concuss yourself."

The crew thus far had given their Captain and his apparent and rather one-sided guests a wide berth. Anytime any of them would come across them, they would immediately divert and retrace their steps, or duck into any compartment that was not in their path.

Captain Roberts hadn't noticed Celebes keeping track of which ways any female sailors they'd come across had gone.

"That's not to say you took no satisfaction in watching Indian be pummeled as she was." The Queen commented dryly.

"Figured that the obvious one." Was his response.

So it was.

"Speaking of Indian however." Came the tone of a man that was most convinced that his death was coming any moment. "Given her existence and yours, I can only assume that their are others that match your status. Or position with your forces, no?" He asked as they continued on.

Neither Pacific or Celebes bothered to answer him, the Queen following behind him as Celebes took a moment or two to look within each compartment they came across. She'd been amongst the various wrecks that they'd made this far within this war of course, but it was different to be amongst one that was not yet a wreck.

The Captain paused.

"Without confirmation then, I assume at the very least that there must be an Atlantic Queen." The Captain suggested.

"There is." Pacific told him. "She's the one we've accredited with the killing blow of New Jersey."

Captain Roberts nodded at that, filing that information away. Not that it did any good, given likely he wasn't going to survive this encounter. Under them however, the Brisbane began to once again move, towards the location that he'd given Harper earlier.

"Good to know. Not that it really does us any good. If their brawl with New Jersey is anything to go by, you all can take a hit or two. Not only that, but it wouldn't exactly be the easiest thing to actually have a chance at her with how Surface-hesitant you and yours in particular tend to be." The Captain said, only glancing over his shoulder for a moment. Pacific shrugged as she watched the man begin to ascend, rather rapidly, a set of stairs. After he was up, before he could apparently stop one of the sailors above them, they came flying down the stairs. Only for them to realize what exactly they were headed for. Something went wrong in that moment, sending the sailor crashing forwards. Both Celebes and Pacific stepped out of his way, allowing the man to crash into the floor with a thud.

Turning their attention back to the stairway that now stood before them, Celebes took on the task of ascending it first after the man, the cramped space and little room to move clearly making it an effort on the Empresses part.

Captain Roberts did not offer his hand, both firmly behind his back as he watched the monster ascend the ladder.

"Not the most graceful of creatures are we?" The Captain commented.

Celebes snapped her gaze to him in a way that promised violence at the earliest opportunity as her blue haze flared.

"It is not my fault that humans see it fit to build everything in close, cramped, confined spaces. Huddled together like the vermin you are." The Empress spat. The Captain watched her a moment.

"If we find ourselves as vermin, then that would make you and yours some kind of fish, no?"

Celebes's entire body bristled with a cold rage.

Their attention was diverted from one another as Pacific made her way up the ladder, substantially easier than Celebes had attempted. Immediately, Celebes found her Queen's gaze as she finally stepped up to their level.

"I ask that I be allowed to kill this man."

Pacific's eyes befell the two a moment, her gaze traveling over Celebes for a time before it shifted back to the Captain. She watched him a moment before looking back to Celebes.

"No."

"My Queen-"

"Celebes." Was her cool tone.

Celebes's argument died where it stood.

Captain Roberts watched the interaction between the two a moment, Celebes no longer meeting her Queen's eyes before his gaze found Pacific's face again. Whatever curiosity found itself within his mind, he didn't voice. Or didn't attempt to voice. Pacific was calm at the moment, yes. But he'd also just seen her smash another of her kind into the Brisbane's deck for a single word.

He wondered if it had been a name or something along those lines.

Not that it would leave his lips. He may not be dead yet, but that didn't mean he wanted to accelerate that process either.

Pacific's gaze turned back on Roberts.

"Captain." She called him to the forefront of their unlikely trio. The Captain's eyes seemed to focus again as he met Pacific's gaze once more.

"Of course." He nodded as he continued to lead them on through Brisbane's internal maze. As he did so, already stepping through another hatch, he couldn't help himself. "So are the two of you related in somewhat or form?" He openly asked. "I understand that your roll is in the form of leadership, but I find myself unsure of the tie between the two of you. Celebes obviously holds some form or role of importance. At least from where I'm standing."

Celebes seemed to stew in her own rage at the idea of the man using her name so casually, but she didn't attempt to answer him. If anyone would answer the question, it would be her lady and her alone.

"She does." Pacific confirmed.

"And those out there?" He questioned as he lead the two of them, the crew giving their Captain plenty of space still.

"They all have their own roles to fulfill. Well, at least mine do. Indian has a rather unfortunate habit of killing them before they become useful." Pacific offered.

"So she's the kind to kill simply to kill. And she's aboard my ship." The Captain surmised. "This day becomes more and more fun by the second. For sure."

"At least you don't have her weapons anymore." Celebes offered dryly, her gaze landing on a female sailor that had instead waited for them to pass rather than try to reroute. When they passed, Celebes waited a moment as she watched which way the woman went.

"Celebes."

The Empress snapped her gaze back to her Queen.

Only to find the Captain watching her with narrowed eyes.

"Let's continue on, shall we?"

The Captain turned away as Pacific offered her Empress a narrowed eye glance before she turned as well. Celebes glared holes in the back of the man's head, but followed regardless. Pacific briefly watched the Empress a moment before turning her attention back to the ship itself.

"Celebes's earlier comment does prompt some thought. Why not build your ships bigger with more space? Surely, humanity in this day and age has the capability to do so." She observed. "So why not?"

The Captain did not wake up this morning expecting to have discuss rhyme or reason with demons of the deep.

"There's a fair few many reasons. I don't exactly know what I'm supposed to say though, given I'm not exactly sure what the two of you could relate to. Do either of you understand what the definition of Currency is?"

When the Abyssal Queen of the Pacific and her apparent bodyguard only offered one another confused glances at the idea, the Captain nodded in response. He honestly wasn't sure what he'd expected here, so he thought about it a moment in a way they would understand.

"There are people in positions of power that tell us how many we can build and what kinds we can build." Was his chosen response.

Pacific and Celebes nodded at that. That, they understood.

"Kill them then." The two offered in unison.

To be honest, that was the one thing about this whole conversation he'd been expecting. Suggestions of murder from two murderers themselves. Suddenly, the entire world made sense again and he was going to walk outside and enjoy the newly returned sunshine.

"Where did we go wrong as a society that the Demons of the Deep have ideas so similar to our own civilians, I will never know." The Captain muttered.

Pacific let a low chuckle sound from within her chest.

Celebes continued to glare at the back of the man's head.

"To no one's surprise however, it isn't as simple as that. Even with them in or not in the picture, building a ship like this is not a small undertaking. We need supplies, manpower, time, and funds. I know this may come as a shock to you, but we happen to be a little low on all four." He explained. "Wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" He asked with a side eyed glance at the two.

"You're welcome." Celebes offered in a dry, toneless voice.

"I'm surprised." The Captain said. "Surely you're lying to me. Pacific almost seems calm. You seem to be struggling with the giant stick up your ass."

Celebes's dry and unassuming comment was forgotten in a moment's notice as her fury soared.

"My Queen." She stressed.

"No Celebes."

To her credit, Celebes didn't huff or cross her arms. Her glare at the Captain simply steadied itself. At that display, Pacific did laugh.

"If I had known one human was going to rile you this much, perhaps Bering or Philippine would have been a better pick for this assignment." Pacific said more to herself, than Celebes. But the Empress looked at the Queen in utter and total disbelief, as if the words she'd just heard simply didn't make sense to the Empress.

The Captain watched the interaction between the two a moment out of the corner of his eye before he spoke again.

"So she's like you in a sense. They all are. Koro. Celebes. Bering. Philippine. They carry the names of the seas while serving under the one of their Ocean." The Captain observed. Celebes rolled her eyes at the statement while Pacific nodded, turning her attention back onto the man.

"They are. Celebes is the rule rather than exception, but yes. They serve us and us alone."

"And how many are there...?" The Captain questioned.

"Telling would be spoiling it." Pacific returned.

"Figured I'd try it anyways." The Captain sighed. "That being said however, you did not exactly answer my earlier question, as unlikely as it is. Are they related to you? Some form of bond or relation?" He asked.

"Aren't we the curious one." Pacific said. "Celebes herself is not related to me in what you would see as a typical sense, no, given that she herself is older than myself by a few.... Years." The Queen considered her words carefully. "However, that is not to say that they can not or never will be. Relation to one's Queen is a high honor and warrants various sources of attention on oneself. I currently have no spawn-"

"Spawn?" The Captain suddenly interrupted, the man looking at the Queen like she was mad. "You." He blinked. "You can conceive others?"

The stare that Roberts now found himself under the gaze of told many him many things. The Pacific Queen stood unmoving for a few tense moments, and even Celebes seemed to brace for something unseen as the corridor chilled dramatically in only moments. The Captain in that moment understood what his mistake had been, what with who stood before him. "Apologies."

That seemed to lessen the stare. "As I was saying." Came her voice once again, but this time with frost and an edge to it. "I currently do not have any spawn that are in service to me or myself, but there is one that shares part of my being."

"DNA?" The Captain questioned carefully.

"Not my area of expertise." The Queen responded.

"Nor mine." Roberts added. "But still, the fact that you can successfully conceive others. So you're organic then. Not some demonic race from the depths that we had figured you to be." He observed.

The quiet edge of ice remained in Pacific's tone and body even as she replied to the man. "Of course we can. Yes, we can add to our numbers in other ways yes, and that's the majority of how we come to be in this day and age. But how would you expect us to populate if we did not possess the ability to reproduce in what's seen as a natural way?" She asked.

"I'm still having trouble adjusting to the fact that you're organic." The Captain replied.

Pacific offered only a quiet chuckle in response.

It wasn't too much longer before they reached what Pacific and Celebes assumed to be their destination based on where the Captain had been leading them.

The Bridge.

Captain Roberts stepped into the room with purpose, Harper already turning to greet him. Until her eyes befell that of Celebes coming into the room after him, the Abyssal's head already on a swivel as she looked around. And then the XO's eyes refocused on the massive form of Pacific ducking her way through the doorway before she too properly entered the room.

And Harper wasn't the only who'd noticed as most of the bridge crew were either watching the Abyssal Queen out of the corners of their eyes or had fully turned their heads to openly stare at the walking monstrosity. In turn, Pacific's gaze seemed to sweep over many of them as well, some turning away, unwilling to meet her eyes. Others stared in return openly, an act that prompted another quiet, controlled chuckle to sound from Pacific's chest.

Roberts shook his head.

"This is the Abyssal Pacific Queen and her...." He trailed off.

"Empress." Pacific offered for him, some of the crew recoiling at the monster's voice as if it had been the worst noise they'd ever heard.

"Her Empress Celebes." The Captain explained. "In no uncertain terms, we and the Brisbane as a whole are hostages for the time being until such a time when they see fit to release us from their care. Or, as it happens, when they send us to Davy Jones."

He continued to explain to the Bridge as Celebes broke away from her Queen, now walking around with quiet, free steps. She passed by Sailors who seemed to reel back from her presence and sailors who seemed to stand tall in her presence. Celebes exhaled a cloud of freezing vapor a moment, the sailor closest to her shivering somewhat. The Empresses's eyes landed on the woman a moment before she continued on, looking around. She eventually stopped next to another sailor, peering around her shoulder at screen before her, resting a hand on the console.

The Sailor manning it tried very hard not to make eye contact with the demon standing within her personal space. Her skin crawled as the cold rolling off of the woman in droves danced along her nerves, putting every inch of her body on high alert.

Celebes's blue hazed eyes focused on the woman a moment before turning her attention back to the console before her. Already suspecting as to it's use or what it was meant for, Celebes arched a brow as she turned to look the Sailor in the eyes. Even though she wouldn't meet them in return.

Celebes however already grew tired of her reluctance and looked back to the screen. Reaching down, that finally seemed to prompt the sailor to address her personally. "I-I would ask that you not do that." She told her.

Celebes's attention snapped back to the Sailor almost immediately, eyes narrowing as her blue haze flared, their faces close enough that the haze almost touched the woman's cheek.

"My Queen?" Celebes questioned.

"No."

Celebes offered only a bored expression back to the sailor before turning her attention back to the console, now whole-heartedly ignoring the protests rising in happenings from the woman. Instead, Celebes extended a hand once again towards the screen, now easing a single finger against it's surface.

The screen and its display seemed to stutter a moment at the contact before righting itself again, the woman frowning at the Empress. Celebes paid her no mind though, instead focused on her latest source of amusement. After a moment, she withdrew her finger and again, the screen stuttered as if it was trying to adjust to the loss of something. But after a moment, they system once again righted itself as everything appeared normal.

The Sailor seemed to try and make sense of what she was seeing.

Celebes casually replaced her finger upon the screen's surface.

The system didn't seem to hesitate this time, simply updating itself as needed. The Empresses's eyes seemed to radiate the kind of amusement that got people killed.

The Sailor watched the screen intently.

Celebes went to lift her hand up again ever so-

Only for the Sailor to snatch her wrist out of reflex than any sort of thought. Celebes's gaze snapped to the Sailor as her eyes narrowed, her haze darkening as she prepared to respond in kind. The sailor seemed to finally realize what exactly she'd done and released the skin-stinging cold of the Abyssal's wrist. In turn, the Sailor immediately pointed at the screen once again in a hurry, particularly one point of the screen.

Celebes let her eyes wander to the screen where the Sailor had pointed. And found herself pausing somewhat in thought.

There, staring both the Australian Sailor and Abyssal Empress at the very edge of the screen was a mark that had not been there moments ago. At the very discernible edge of the Brisbane's vision, there was something now there.

Celebes lifted her finger.

The dot vanished.

Celebes replaced her finger.

The dot reappeared.

Closer this time.

A mixed call of My Queen/Captain filled the air of the bridge.

Captain Roberts allowed Pacific to go first before trailing after the Abyssal. As one, the four peered over the console.

"I'm guessing that's another of your kind given it's reluctance to show up unless Celebes is in touch with it." The Captain reasoned.

"That's the safe assumption, yes." Pacific agreed.

"My Queen, you don't think she...." Celebes began, but a quiet glare from the Queen quelled any further explanation of that train of thought. The Captain glanced between the two a moment before looking over the Sailor's shoulder.

"Do we have something we would like to share with the class?" He asked.

The lack of Pacific's usual calm demeanor or snark told the man quite a lot of the situation at hand.

"So then I assume you don't know who's very quickly approaching us." The Captain surmised as he put his hands behind his back, looking over the two Abyssals.

"No." Pacific admitted. "But whoever it is wasn't known to be coming by us." She explained a moment before looking to the Captain. "You have a way to communicate with others on this ship, no?" She questioned. The Captain paused a moment before nodding at the question.

"We do." He answered. "Who exactly are you trying to reach?"

Pacific offered him a look that told the Captain this day wasn't going to get any better.

"Indian. We'll need her as a vanguard until we figure out what exactly is approaching two Abyssal Queens with not a care in the world." Pacific explained to the man. The Captain paused.

"So we're working together?" He questioned.

The finger that impacted his chest would've easily crushed his spine, ribs, and fractured lungs If Pacific had pushed ever so harder. "Until and only until we verify that whatever is approaching this ship is not a concern." She told him flatly before withdrawing her hand. The Captain held off a moment at that, looking to take a glance over those that currently inhabited the bridge.

If he agreed, he wouldn't be able to ensure anything.

If he disagreed, they'd likely kill then and then focus on this unknown.

Not that they weren't likely to die anyways.

"Fine." He agreed. Pacific turned away at that as she returned her attention to the screen.

—/__\—/__\—

Koro idly tapped the end of Celebes's Naginata at the deck, amusing herself in some small way. If Celebes knew she was doing even this small motion with her weapon of choice, there would be hell to pay. But the Empress in question was not here, she and Pacific had ventured into the human ship alongside her Captain. Koro turned her gaze upwards, looking up at the figure of the ship. Hardly an intimidating one, Koro had always preferred the ships that Humanity had put to the water decades ago. They were far more interesting.

And would've been a far more interesting fight.

But they hadn't been allowed their fight back then.

They'd been ready. They'd been waiting. The only thing they'd been missing was word from all five Kingdoms.

Atlantic's came readily.

Pacific's came easily.

Indian's came eagerly.

Southern's came cautiously.

But when the fifth was to arrive, all they ever received from the Kingdom of the North was silence.

Their gamekeeper so to speak, Arctic's involvement with the war would've been crucial. It would've been needed and expected. They were acting by her plans, readying behind her hand. The Queen of the North had been meant to lead the Kingdoms in their war against the surface and its inhabitants, humanity.

War was already engrossing the far continent, countries and cities falling alike to their enemies, fires raged, and their death count grew. Waiting for word was torture. Caribbean and Mediterranean told them that Atlantic was nearly inconsolable at the lack of communication preventing her from sating herself and the needs that went along with it.

Koro couldn't have imagined what that would be like.

And then she learned, when a surprise attack in their own territories brought the war in it's entirety, renewed in full came to their waters. Two powers up to that point that had not been involved with the cares of a world away suddenly brought to a head between them. Their peoples took to the water, their steel coming to life as their guns roared. Watching from below, Koro could only ever take the brilliance in it. She could not fathom why anyone wouldn't want to partake in something so glorious.

She had watched from below when the sky had descended on some of the vessels that her Queen now called her own, when they had been found and laid out to die at the hands of their enemies.

She hadn't been able to witness when those same people were made to bathe in the infernos of the unseen.

And then all at once, humanity had ended their war.

It left a bad taste in all of their mouths. Sure, more conflicts would open in the years that followed, but they were smaller in scale, confined to a few if not one area of their world. And never on the same scale of Naval capacity as they'd exhibited in their grand conflict. Eyes turned suspiciously towards the North and their whereabouts, but no one dared tread Arctic's territory without her consent.

Not even Pacific.

They didn't hear anything from the Arctic Kingdom for the next ten years.

Koro's attention was brought to the present as she looked up. The Sailors and rescues alike that were still on the deck. Tending to their dead, they'd gotten them put into body bags from the looks of things. Koro leaned against the side behind her as she watched ever so carefully move the bodies of former friends.

"What're they doing?"

It was Shantar's questioning tone that filled the quiet that had enveloped their space.

"Preserving, or at least trying to preserve the bodies." Lacca answered her from her spot next to Red and Zanj. The two Empresses offered her quiet looks of suspicion a moment before she continued. "For the purpose of funeral rites. Assuming they are able to return their bodies to those who care for them."

Koro offered a side eyed glance at the Empress.

She hadn't been serving the Indian Queen as long as Eryth had, but Lacca was a contender for Indian's right hand. The two of them know how to approach their Queen properly, knew how to dance around Indian's brutish and bloodlust driven tendencies. Which was an accolade in of itself. Koro herself had once been under the Indian Throne, inhabiting the Lacca title herself. However, space grew between she and her former Queen and it had nearly brought Indian's blade down on her head.

Pacific's throne was a far more secure space. Both for one's job and the attachment that one's head had to their neck.

"Why?" Shantar questioned further.

"There are beliefs amongst their peoples that have heavy to do with beliefs such as those of higher powers or something beyond the existence we find ourselves in. I do not know how common it is in today's age for them, but Humanity's belief and trust in their ancestors has been known to be a driving factor for certain groups of their kind." Lacca explained.

The Empresses around her turned a suspicious eye on her.

How... informed.

"And why exactly do you know that?" Sulu questioned as she approached the Empress with purpose, already going to jab a hand into Lacca's chest.

Only for a hand to snatch the Empress's wrist before contact could be made.

Sulu wheeled on them, ready to chew them out, when she met eyes with that of Indian.

Koro watched the will to resist physically leave her body.

The Empress watched as Sulu was lifted off the deck by her wrist, bringing her eye to eye with Indian, the Queen's haze snapping at the empress almost.

Koro held her breath. She remembered when Indian's had snapped at her like, right before she had tried to behead her.

"A-apologies, my Lady." Sulu tried, her voice a far cry from what it had just been. There was no longer confidence, no fight, no resistance. Just the tone of someone who'd come face to face with their executioner. And they knew it.

Indian's face didn't contort, didn't shift or change as her other hand approached Sulu's bare stomach. Flexing her fingers, she placed each of the five against the surface of Sulu's body. Against weapons of the conventional nature, such as a weapon meant to bruise or rounds of human nature, Sulu was all but invincible against them, no damage could caress her form.

Against the fingers of a Queen, her flesh was all but giving as the fingers began to indent against Sulu's stomach.

Hushed whispers broke out from behind them, Koro having no doubt that the sailors on deck had stopped to stay and watch. To bare witness what was normally only done in the privacy of the deep. For Indian to so boldly go down this route told much of her current attitude.

Sulu's skin slowly began to give as Indian pushed further ever so slowly, the Empress's hand snatching Indian's wrist in a fool's errand of stopping her assault.

"M-my lady!" Sulu tried to the extent that she could reach, her face ever starting to contort with pain. "I am an Empress of the Pacific Throne!" Sulu shrieked.

Ichor kissed Indian's fingertips as Sulu's internals kissed the open air of the Indian Ocean as the Queen's fingers bathed in the liquid, the grip on her wrist courtesy of Sulu only hastening the progress if anything. Still, Indian's fingers dig deeper, pushing into the Empresses's body proper amidst her cries of pain and anguish.

The other empresses didn't offer even a breath in opposition.

"I-Indian?" Came the quiet, and almost startled voice.

Indian's hand stopped a moment as she lowered Sulu somewhat as the Queen and empresses alike turned their gaze onto the owner of the voice a moment later.

A few dozen paces from Indian stood one of the human sailors aboard the vessel. Young, If Koro looked at him right. Arching a brow, the struggling of Sulu against Indian's hold was the only sound that passed by them for a scant moment as Indian's gaze bore holes through the man's form.

As If finally putting together that he was on the spot in front of 13 of the most dangerous beings on the planet for him and him specifically, the Sailor pointed quickly towards the ship proper. "There's a call from the Bridge. It's... it's the other one. She wants to speak to you." He told her carefully.

He'd already heard what happened quickly after her boarding the ship. She'd killed four men absentmindedly while getting at the fifth who she went onto behead at Pacific's urging.

He watched everything he did carefully.

"Pacific?" Indian questioned after a moment, Sulu's wrist still well within her grasp, even as the Empress pulled at her hand in a desperate attempt at Freedom as she dangled above the deck by a few solid inches. The Sailor's eyes ever so briefly darted to her struggling form a moment before snapping back and landing solely on Indian. He nodded at her seconds old question, but something told him that that was already far too slow for her liking.

"Yes ma'am."

Something about the response, whether it be the nature of it or the actual response itself he didn't know, but it seemed to amuse the Queen as a splinter of emotion filled her features. After a moment longer, her grip on Sulu's wrist loosened and the Empress all but dropped to the deck, ichor splashing down as she did so from the now clear wounds in her stomach. Indian turned her full attention onto the Sailor as Sulu attempted to stand, a hand carefully and oh so slowly holding at her stomach. Indian went to take a step.

"Apologies, my-"

Koro's eyes closed at the first utterance of the first vowel out of Sulu's lips. She didn't see the way Indian pivoted on her heel nor did she witness as the Queen's arm came up.

Even the Indian itself couldn't overcome the noise of Sulu's head hitting the water.

A moment later, something crumpled to the ground.

When Indian's footsteps grew across the deck a fair distance, Koro took her chances. And found what she already confirmed she'd suspected was coming from the moment Pacific had killed Timor.

Retribution.

She found Sulu's now headless body crumpled into a pile at their feet. Both Pacific and Indian Empresses alike could only stare down at it a moment as Indian walked off with the no doubt now scared shitless sailor leading her on whatever direction he'd needed. Koro stayed quiet a moment, only trading careful glances with the other Empresses there. Serving there queens in such a manor as they did was an honor, and they knew that.

It was also particularly dangerous as well.

The Queens could be easy to anger and hard to calm. Only Southern had never raised her hand or weapons against one of them without purpose, whether it be her own or an Empress of another Kingdom.

Southern's employ was an unspoken dream in events like this.

They didn't even notice Indian approaching them again a few quiet moments later, the Queen making her presence known by lightly kicking the headless body with her foot. In turn the Empresses looked up to the Queen of the Indian Kingdom.

"It seems Celebes was fucking about on their bridge and somehow uncovered something unseen. Something of our nature." She told them. "There's something Abyssal in origin heading our way."

That seemed to snap the Empresses out of their daze.

"My Queen?" Eryth questioned further.

"I want Koro, Shantar, Red, and Arabian on the water in support. I'm handling long range engagement. The Brisbane...." Indian offered with a hand to her face. "Will be filling our support." She explained through ground teeth.

Koro went to hand Celebes's Naginata to Bering in turn, none of the four even offering hesitation at the idea of refusing what Indian had ordered. They silently turned towards the starboard side of the ship, already going for and stepping up and over the railing. They landed on the ocean's surface with quiet splashes before they moved along, outpacing the Brisbane as they heard Indian hit the water behind them, the Queen slipping beneath the waves.

—/\—\/—/\—

"She's in the water." Celebes commented as she stood before the windows on the bridge, watching off the side of the ship as the four Empresses that Indian had asked glided across the water's surface, Koro topping a wave with relative ease. Pacific nodded at that as she watched for her own two eyes, the Captain standing next to her as the two observed.

"So pardon my curiosity here, but I trust that you're aware of our side of this conflict?" He asked, glancing up at the Queen. Pacific nodded, her gaze unmoving from it's spot on the window as she watched the four Empresses.

"I am." She confirmed. "I take this to mean that you intend to question whether or not there is a link between ours and yours given the base similarities between the two?" She asked.

Roberts nodded.

"No." Pacific confirmed for him. "There is no link between us and them. How yours come to be and how ours come be are not the same. Though the end result is still the same in this case." She answered him.

"And you haven't engaged them?" He questioned.

"One does not engage a fight with those who have no means to fight back." The Queen answered him, her tone level. The Captain bit back at his next response, far more venom with it than he wanted in that moment.

"And our cities? New York? Los Angeles? San Francisco? The attack on Sydney?" He questioned.

"An opening act." Pacific told him. "To be sure."

The Captain didn't have anything to add to that for the moment, simply watching as the four Empresses darted over the waves a moment alongside the Brisbane. He wondered briefly if this was how it was supposed to be, not the war of course, but the ability to work alongside one another. Of course, they'd made their choice when they'd burned New York and San Francisco to the ground, Los Angeles and Sydney being minor in comparison. But he let his mind briefly wander a moment longer until Pacific broke him from his thoughts.

"Hard to Port, Captain." Pacific told him.

"Excuse me?" He questioned.

"Hard to Port. Indian likes her space and isn't likely to care if that includes gouging out the side of the Brisbane if it comes to it." Pacific told him.

The Captain took a moment to try and figure If her advice was genuine.

"Helm. Hard to port." He ordered.

"Hard to port." The Helmsmen repeated. Though the order originated from someone other than this Captain, his Captain had given it regardless.

The Brisbane lurched into the maneuver, pulling away from the Empresses as she did so. And for good reason, as Pacific had indicated it would be, as the top of a superstructure began to rise from the waves. The Captain gave the order to straighten along their original path once more once he was sure they were going to be out of Indian's way.

Still. The Captain wasn't quite sure what he was watching.

He watched as the superstructure that had begun to rise from the waves continued to do so, quickly giving form to more and more.

Ahead of that, a bow broke through the surface, water clearing the deck as the ocean gave way to monstrosity and metal. The first vestiges of Indian's deck broke the surface as her bow plowed through a wave.

The Captain could only look on in horror.

The first signs of Indian's guns poked through the waves, her forward turret flashing the night sky under the Brisbane's lights. The water continued to clear off of her deck as more and more of the ship continued to surface, her second turret becoming visible behind the first. Roberts watched as the Queen took to the surface proper, her bow overcoming another way as the ship seemed to settle.

And then suddenly the deck under her first turret begin to give.

"Yeah, she's pissed." Pacific observed as Indian's first turret fell a little more until the deck below it couldn't hold anymore, the turret simply collapsing within the ship. But it didn't stop there as the sudden commotion knocked her second turret uneven, the whole thing toppling forwards, smashing through her deck as it presumably went to join the first.

And even though he couldn't see exactly the aft side of the form, he could tell something was going on all the same.

And then her hull seemed to split in half right down the middle.

If Roberts wasn't watching it unfold right before his very eyes, he would've dismissed it as a fever dream. And he wasn't far off from doing that anyways just to be safe.

The far side of her hull, superstructure and all seemed to ever so slowly move away from it's pair, but both somehow managed to stand upright and straight even as water surged down the middle of the two, moving between them without a care in the world.

And then everything that had seemed to happen in the last twenty seconds seemed to start correcting itself, the first sign being the new materials coming from within as they set about constructing a new bow for the Queen, soon enough connecting the two pieces once again.

Roberts blanched.

"She can rebuild herself." He observed.

Pacific said nothing.

He watched as new materials seemed to flow from within her, going about properly reinforcing the hull, building within, and building onto what was now a paired set of superstructures.

If he could get past the idea that the two pieces of superstructure were sliding further back along the surface of her deck. Of what remained of it. Only for a new smoke stack to surge up between them, complimented by two more behind that.

The bridge had long gone quiet as they watched what would only be possible in a dream.

Her entire structure seemed to shudder as the two pieces formally began to reconnect themselves with one another, new deck materials slipping in from the bow and headed towards the aft. Only for their progress to be interrupted as Roberts watched the form of... something bust through what had already been laid down, it disrupting yet another section of the deck before it was yanked hard in the way of the Superstructures. Something seemed to strike it from below, pushing it up as it began to straighten out.

Roberts watched the now dual turret nestle itself into the half circle against the superstructure, A barbette rising from a hole in the deck to meet it, the turret dropping in with a heavy thud as the guns rotated into their slots in the turret.

And then the bow produced another turret, it's own guns slamming into it from somewhere below as it to straightened out along the deck, coming to a rest in front of and below the first turret. He watched as the first of guns began to sprout what looked to be scales or teeth on the upper side and underbelly of the barrels, the second set of guns following suit.

The growths seemed to release steam into the air from within as the rest of her form seemed to finish, the stack between the twin superstructures and the two behind it began to belch a black smog into the air.

"Didn't realize we were fighting fucking Megatron."
One of the bridge crew muttered behind them.

Roberts couldn't bring himself to disagree.

A black mist seemed to pour from the four barrels and it leaked out from the base of the turret, seeping out from between it and the barbette. It coated the deck in a thin, hazy layer of the stuff as the deck finished replacing itself as the superstructure finished their own altering. But just as soon as it did, changes began to spread back throughout down their heights, notably at their sides as what Roberts assumed was meant to be her secondary arsenal began to materialize at the base of the closest tower. Folding up and out, Roberts counted one... three... ten main secondary batteries accompanied by no small amount of smaller caliber guns.

The ocean seemed to settle below them as it's mistress took a moment to orient herself.

Under the lights of the Brisbane, she was the stuff of nightmares made real.

This is the foe they were fighting.

Roberts only stared.

And then his eyes were drawn back to her guns.

He thought the two dual turrets had been just an artistic choice or something down that train of thought. But as he looked them over, he realized that wasn't the case. He'd been aboard the Missouri during a vacation to Hawaii once or twice before in a time that felt like it was decades prior. And the rifles that Indian sported under the shine of the Brisbane was far more than that of the Missouri or any of her sisters.

"Finally noticed it, have you?" Pacific questioned, side-eying the man. Roberts nodded, assuming to know of which she was speaking.

"I'm almost afraid to ask." He admitted.

"Ask. It'll make you feel better." Pacific said, her grin showing some teeth. "Promise."

He didn't put much very stock in the words of a monster.

But he asked all the same.

"How big."

"685's."

Roberts did the math in his head a moment, making the conversions before he shook his head.

Indian's rifles at this point in time were 27 inches.

"I do have a question." Roberts asked. "If you'll indulge curiosity for curiosity's sake."

"You've been a gracious Host." Pacific agreed. Though Roberts had no doubt that Hostage would've fit there even more equally. "So I'll allow it."

"I've seen the footage of what's now being called the Execution in the Med." He told her. The footage wasn't public just yet, but leaks could only be censored effectively for so long. "Your lot went there with the explicit purpose of killing and sinking New Jersey. But my question is why do you take these forms?" He questioned, gesturing to Indian through the glass as she finished up last minute additions. "It's twenty twenty-three. Hulls, weapons of this caliber were things of the past until your kind rose from the depths and made them a requirement. Why use them in the first place?"

"Because we meant to engage this war when your peoples still wielded them in regular numbers." She told him.

His mind took that one sentence in, and the more he thought about it, the more and more the situation around him changed. This War wasn't one that happened by whim or on a random chance. Her single statement alone told everything about this conflict being pre-meditated. For the last 80 years in fact.

"So why wait."

"Circumstances withheld our hand."

He ended that line of questioning there. Pacific wasn't likely to explain further than she wanted to, and based on the fact that statement was shorter than the last, he was at the end of that particular route.

In which he was spared an awkward silence with the Queen as the motion of Indian's guns starting their rotating warranted his attention. In turn, he looked to the helm.

"Shadow the Queen. But put some more space between Us and She. If whatever's coming our way has guns, I'd rather not find out the hard way." He ordered. The Helmsmen offered an affirmative to his Captain as the Brisbane once again inched to port, putting more distance between she and Indian. In turn, Indian's rifles began to rise. As they did so, Roberts looked to Pacific.

"Surprised you're not out there with her. What's one Abyssal Queen when we could have two fighting for our safety." He offered, though he just barely managed to keep the sarcasm from his tone. Still, Pacific seemed to pick up on that particular intent, her eyes seeming to have something of an amusement about them even if her face didn't shift in the slightest.

"Indian's always been the brawler amongst us. She relishes the up close and personal approach to her way of diplomacy. Which is to say that she has no approach." Pacific explained.

"And you?" He questioned.

"I've always valued my space on the water." Was her answer. Roberts nodded at that as the two of them watched Indian make her final adjustments.

And then the darkness of the Indian Ocean and the space around them was eradicated ever temporarily as Indian's rifles spoke their own songs of death and darkness.

Robert's entire being rattled as they did so, others of the crew having their own effects to the oversized rifles being fired in such close proximity. Brisbane herself seemed bristle at the idea of such weapons being used in a way to harm those that she would protect.

And then Indian's second set sung their encore.

Robert's head pounded against his skull at the sound. Or was it the proximity. Or was it simply spooky Abyssal Bullshit that was doing it. He didn't know what it was, didn't know how to explain it. But he hated it.

"When I learned that there was to be a chance of fighting alongside the guns of old, to be honest, it was a little exciting at a potential chance to see one of the Gunslinger's in her prime. This isn't how I imagined it." Roberts said, The Queen simply nodding in turn at that.

This fight was Indian's and hers alone.

—/—\—/—\—

Her second set dropped to their brief loading angles as she watched the horizon for any sign. They knew they were out there, she could sense their approaching presence. She didn't know who it was, didn't know what it was just yet, but she could tell that they were... substantial.

Teeth flashed in a currently non-existent grin.

"Koro. Red. Pursue."

The two Empresses signaled affirmatives as Indian's guns came back up, adjusting their aim.

Koro and Red took off across the Ocean's surface, almost as if they were racing one another as Indian fired in full this time, the oversized shells screaming through the night sky as they laid the path for the two to follow. Well over the Horizon, they'd picked up on the approaching presence as well.

Koro jumped from the crest of a wave, Red chasing at her tail as the two Empresses dashed across the water under the cloudless sky.

From behind them now a ways, Indian once again let her rifles sing, the ocean giving way for them.

"Hate when she brings those out." Red muttered.

"Atlantic's a Psycho, but at least she respects the sound barrier." Koro agreed.

"And my hearing." Red added.

Their lives would be forfeit had Indian heard them.

But she was back there and they were rapidly approaching the presence they'd now been easily detecting for a time.

Neither of them were expecting for the ocean itself to open below them and swallow them whole.

Indian sensed their presences diminish somewhat and frowned. Sure, comparing to the likes of Lacca, Celebes, or Caribbean, the two of them were not set apart in any meaningful way. But Red could reliably handle her own in a fight and she'd trained Koro herself. She'd beat combat into Koro'a veins with her own two hands and had her continued when Koro stood before her broken and bloodied.

Her guns once again rose with their intended firing angles, ready to blow whatever it was out of the water.

And then a familiar feeling about the approaching presence rapidly approaching her filtered through her mind.

It was all the hesitation that it needed.

—/\__/\—

Captain Logan Roberts watched in something paralleled with bafflement and unbelieving as Indian's aft and everything that came with it was lifted up and out of the water from below in an explosive surfacing by what looked to be... a whale. Jaw firmly lodged into the steel that made up the underside of the battleship, a form that he estimated to easily be 100,000 tons, she was lifted up and held there without a care in the world.

Until the balance shifted ever so slightly and from the jaws of the whale, Indian toppled helplessly to the side, causing the likes of a plume of water only dreamed by that of children in swimming pools.

"Oh for FUCK'S SAKE!" Celebes screamed behind them, prompting two or three of the Bridge crew to nearly jump out of their skin.

Roberts watched Indian's form slowly slip beneath the waves as the Whale, largely the same color as the Leviathan and Kraken flattened out with a heavy flop onto the water's surface. It made a noise that Roberts could barely make out from where he was, but it was about that time when the size of the thing finally occurred to him.

This was... not a normal whale.

Given that sitting on the surface of the water, it was longer than Indian had been in the monstrosity of a ship.

A low breath from Pacific told him a lot more than he'd expected to learn.

"An old friend of yours?" He questioned. Pacific's, admittedly, put off exhale of breath answered her before she could.

"In a way, yes." She answered him before turning. "Celebes!" She snapped.

The Empress grew still in her position where she had been all but malding a moment before. Roberts watched the Empress a moment before looking back to the Whale which was now happily slapping around on the surface. Happily though given that one wrong strike could sink a small boat if caught the wrong way. He watched a few moments later, Indian re-emerged from the water, now once again as her normal self as she began to scale the climb to get to the top of the whale.

"Given the other two beasts you brought to wrangle us in, I take that this is yet a third." He questioned.

"Yes." Pacific told him as they watched Indian bend at the waist. It took a moment for Roberts to realize it, but the Queen seemed to be speaking to the monster. And to his surprised, going off of the tail splashing around every so often consistent with the Queen's motions, it seemed to be responding to her in full. "Though this one's appearance confirms a few things for sure."

"So who does it belong to?" Roberts questioned.

There was a long few moments as Pacific went quiet, her attention focused solely on Indian and the Whale before them, almost to the point where Roberts did not think she would answer his question.

But she surprised him.

"A, until very recently, thought lost empress by the name of Nordic."

Nordic?

"Thought lost?" He questioned.

"She's been... wayward to the furthest extent of the word. We were not sure if she was even alive until most recently. But reports were doubtful in most minds. But the fact that her Demon now rests before us...."

"Reports no longer in doubt." Roberts answered.

"Indeed."

"So then where is she?" Roberts questioned.

"That always seems to be the question with Nordic. Though I'm sure the Empresses gathered here today will tell you should you ask that they would rather have her be anywhere else but here."

"If I ask the Empresses anything, I am more likely to receive threats of physical violence than having them actually answer anything I ask." He told her. But someone entering the bridge brought his attention back to the hatch. Noting one of his crew keeping his eyes on Pacific and then darting to his in a careful motion, Roberts looked to Pacific. "Excuse me a moment."

She didn't respond, still watching Indian on top of Nordic's demon. In response, Leviathan appeared a moment later and strung herself over the top of the Demon, a motion that Indian stepped out of the way of. A moment later, Nordic's demon submerged for a few moments before coming back up, now facing properly towards the Brisbane. And a second after that, it opened it's mouth to reveal a more than pissed off Koro and a highly amused Red. Koro screamed something that Pacific couldn't make out at the Whale while still in it's mouth, only to have the full weight of it's tongue dropped on her from above. The Empress flattened as she vanished entirely, Pacific smirking ever so slightly at the sight. Indian laughed from above as Red simply stepped around where Koro was now fighting against the Demon's tongue to regain the right to stand.

Roberts returned to her side a moment later, watching whatever the fuck was happening before him play out.

"Something wrong Captain?" Pacific questioned.

"There's an Empress's deceased body on Brisbane's deck." He answered her.

Pacific's body didn't immediately react, Roberts figuring that the Abyssal was trying to figure out if he had heard him correctly before something in her figure seemed to tighten, almost as if she was now braced for a fight. Behind him, he could hear Celebes suddenly go still.

"Does your crew know-"

"Sulu." He interrupted her. Before the same attitude from earlier could spring forth from him speaking out of turn, he turned fully to face her. "Executed by Indian. Beheaded, by from what they tell me, a rather intense backhand."

Pacific stared at the man dead on for a few moments longer than he would've liked before turning back to the window. There, her gaze locked solely onto Indian and stayed there.

"Is that so."

Roberts refrained from answering her that time.

A very uncomfortable silence enveloped the bridge at that for a time as their now sizable party made it's way over the water.

All the way until the lights began to poke at them from over the Horizon. Celebes took notice first of them, the Empress standing before the forward windows as she looked over them. Even Pacific turned her head somewhat to glance in their direction.

"All Stop." Captain Roberts ordered.

The Brisbane's props cut short as she began to slow. Neither Pacific or Celebes said anything at this action, but Roberts took note of the way the two had gone eerily still. And more so than that, Indian, Koro, Shantar, Red, and Arabian had gone still as well as they stared over the horizon at the distant lights now greeted them.

"What do your people call it?" Celebes question as she stood before the window, watching the distance like a hawk.

"The Maldives."

Celebes didn't answer in return, still watching the horizon line and those which sat on it.

The bridge was almost entirely silent save for the breathing of the crew.

The way each and every Abyssal in eyesight has gone stone still was not something that sat easily on his nerves nor in his heart. He took another look at Pacific for a moment, as if that was going to convince her of something or to do something before everything came crashing down around him. Something was going on, of that he-

"Captain! Radar contacts!"

Roberts turned on his heel almost immediately, Pacific all but forgotten in that second.

"How many?" He called.

"At least a hundred." She called, looking to the man with an almost haunted expression. Roberts took that information in a moment, and in the next second, he wheeled around to look at Pacific. She hadn't turned away from the window, her form hadn't even moved. But those hazed eyes were now watching him in the reflection instead of Indian now, the Queen's attention all on him.

Roberts didn't spare any words for her. Deals with the devil only killed people in the end.

"They're just Radar contacts Captain." Pacific called from behind him, her tone one of uninterested and bored. But everything about her tone and words suggested malice and a hatred for anything that didn't come from the deep. Her voice had gone from grating to downright infuriating, but he wouldn't let that show. Not now.

"Bearing?" He called.

"What's a little panic over something on radar going to do?" Pacific's voice called. Celebes snickered from her place at the window.

The Radar Tech spared only a slight look to Celebes before looking back to her station. "Bearing is.... Bearing is...." She trailed off.

"Ramirez!" The Captain ordered.

"They've vanished Captain!" She called back. "I don't have a single one on Radar!

"See." Pacific droned. "Absolutely nothing to worry about Captain."

Just as a Zero thundered by the bridge beyond the window Pacific was watching.

And then the Brisbane shook to it's very core, Roberts briefly struggling for his footing, feeling almost like something had a hold of it. It came in the form of the Leviathan the Captain realized, the beast seeming to be going after something on the aft of the ship. Not the ship itself, but almost like-

"Captain! They've taken the Phalanx offline!"

He barely caught sight of the Leviathan pulling away from the Brisbane, her Phalanx securely in it's mouth. Roberts pushed that from his mind, the weapon now no longer any worth to him as a pair of Val's surged past the Brisbane on her port side. He just barely caught the markings on them, their Imperial Navy livery just as bright as they'd been 80 years ago.

"Just a bit of harmless fun, Captain." Pacific offered him. Roberts wheeled on her, but where she'd been facing the window moments ago, she now stood facing him and him alone, her haze burning renewed as her lips slowly began to split into a grin that slowly overcame her features, her teeth flashing in the light.

He'd invited the Devil in.

And then the Brisbane shook again, Roberts grabbing for support as something smashed into the ship. He needed have asked, he didn't need to and he doubted that Pacific would openly tell him anyways.

"VLS is offline, Captain." One of the techs told him. He looked from him to the horizon as more aircraft zipped past the Brisbane without a care in the world, most of the meaningful weapons that had a chance having been disabled. He watched as they vanished from the lights of the Brisbane into the darkness between them and the Maldives. In turn, Pacific stepped up next to him, her hands behind her back as she watched the horizon from the bridge.

"Chin up Captain. You're about to watch an entire country wiped from the map."

And now the Devil was making the rules.

_/\_\/_/\_

All manner of Zeroes, Val's, and Kate's surged across the waves and waters of the Indian Ocean as they rapidly approached the lights and sounds of the Maldives. Squadrons split off of of the main assault force as they dipped south, their targets already clear and ready. The rest of them continued on, soon angling up as their flaps bent, taking to the sky proper.

Before them, the Maldives continued on unknowing of the danger at hand.

That would change.

Rapidly.

More and more, squadrons split off from their main forces as they vectored to their assigned targets and areas, their payloads at the ready.

As the forward plane approached the first target, the peoples had already realized what was happening due to the engine noise. They ran for cover as the first one was dropped, the canister bomb breaking free of the plane as it was released from it's holdings, crashing to the surface.

Only for it to break open mid flight.

The pieces of the original bomb casing fell away as it revealed a cluster of eight smaller black canisters. At the height the bomb broke apart, their area of effect was wide, each of them landing a fair distance apart from the next. One end of them became heavier in flight, extending as it threw the item's balance off center. When they hit the ground, they burrowed a ways into the soil, falling still a moment.

Until a green light flashed on top and the lid popped up, unsealing the canister proper.

But nothing came out.

The planes had long past this particular island by this point, the noise slowly being drowned out under the noise of engines. The peoples that had been only a moment ago running for some sort of safety stopping in confusion for a moment when none of them turned back towards them, the planes that had dropped their payloads already vectoring off to return to where they'd come from while the others continued onto their own objectives.

And still the black canisters did not react.

For the time, they went largely unnoticed as the people gathered with one another in a brief moment of peace.

—/—\—/—\—

Captain Roberts watched the distant horizon, waiting for any sign that something had happened, that something had gone wrong. But the sky of the horizon remained dark, not a single explosion or any sign of violence to be had. He could vaguely see the outlines of the aircraft dipping into the light on some cases, but that was in the distance and the sea spray was doing no one any favors.

"Waiting's always the worst part." Pacific said from behind him.

He ignored her.

"We need to get warning-"

"Warning for what?" Pacific questioned. "Humans aren't nearly the smartest things on this planet, but surely even they can tell they're under attack." She offered as she stepped towards the window at the front. "We figured it out after our attacks on your cities at the dawn of this war. You're easy to kill, but hard to stamp out. If we'd been able to wait, to wait around on that day, I wonder how many more of your peoples blood would've painted your streets. I could smell it even from where I was, in the rear. The metallic scent that you and yours carries is intoxicating at it's core. Your waters smelled of it for weeks after."

The amusement, the curiosity that he'd felt was gone. Burned away by the spindlings of rage and hate and discontent that filled his form.

"We didn't ask for-"

"We did." Pacific interrupted. "Every kill. Every death. Every separation. Our intent. Our goal. Our everything. Bleed Humanity at the source, bleed them of their waters and of their cities. Of their men, their women, their children. Bleed you and yours until the point where you wouldn't dare look beyond your shores. Where you would stay where you were wanted, where you would stay out of our way. Out of what is ours." She told him. "But admittedly to our surprise, you didn't. You took to your ships, you took to your guns, you took to your planes. So we bled you on the water and took your people to our depths. And yet still, you continue to fight a war of attrition, one that you cannot hope to match."

Roberts stood defiant before her.

"So we'll burn you out."

The horizon behind her lit up in a miasma of flames, one island going up here, another going up there. Pacific stepped away from the window as the bridge of the Brisbane was cast in the worst kind of light, the crew at almost a loss. Ramirez's hands went to her mouth in horrified realization as they watched the entirety of the Maldives go up in flames. Whatever weapon they'd used... whatever tool they'd employed.

It was efficient.

Islands to the south followed suit, reigniting the light as fires danced over the water's surface, shimmering in it's reflection as they treated the Brisbane to a nightmare of their own person hell.

The light was a duty failed.

An oath forgotten.

A job unfinished.

Robert's fists clenched at his sides as he watched the fires rage unabated, both on the horizon and in the distance.

"A victory."

Roberts wheeled on the voice ready to stand against Pacific only to find a second white hazed figure stepping through the hatch. She stood shorter than that of Pacific, but her presence seemed to bolster the former if anything, the grin on Pacific's face widening if that was even possible. He looked at this newcomer, his form backlit by the lights of death and decay. She in turn watched him over the rim of her high necklined coat, her mouth and nose being hidden away. Long strands of Snow White hair splayed down her form as she looked down on him.

"And a defeat."

Roberts stood before the Queens expecting to die.

"The look of a man ready to beg for death." The newcomer offered. "And if not given, then he would bring it down on his head to correct for that of past mistakes."

"He hasn't been totally unbearable." Pacific told her. The unknown glanced to Pacific a moment at that before looking back to Roberts.

"Pacific is far too hostile for her own good." She told him as she took a step towards the man. "But she appreciates the hospitality of that there is little doubt." The shorter of the two commented before turning fully towards the Captain, standing before him. "But I suppose based your body language that there is not much room left for negotiation. A shame."

"Just be done with us and let us drown in peace." He snapped. Pacific's eyes narrowed dangerously at the tone as the newcomer before him narrowed eyes as well, but not quite the extent that Pacific had.

"You misunderstand. I'd asked of them that this ship remain surface bound."

"For what reason!?" The Captain demanded.

"Because your side has seen too many Martyrs and Victims. I think it high time that you be allowed a messenger." She reasoned. The Captain snapped at that, taking a step towards the Queen.

Only for a sharp pain to pierce his side.

"Captain!?" Harper cried from her position.

Roberts ever so slowly looked down to find her hand emerging from her coat, in it holding the knife that had bitten into him when he'd taken a step forwards. Her hand released it, letting it hang free as her hand vanished back within her coat. She made no move as he leaned back against the railing. He didn't think she'd hit anything vital, but it was clear at the blade that was still extending from him that it was clearly made for doing damage on the way out rather than the way in, made for tearing flesh or as much damage as it could inflict.

"I would advise not removing that until you're within sufficient care." She noted from behind Harper, who had moved over to him as she eased him to the ground, already making to look at the wound. She reached up for the ledge to pull herself back up.

Only for the newcomer to snatch her wrist.

Harper and the Captain only had a moment to adjust to what was happening before Pacific chuckled. "Finally. The boredom was setting in."

"So be careful with them. They're no good to me broken." Was her reply as the newcomer pulled Harper to her. As if getting the message, Celebes approached Ramirez, immediately yanking her by the waist as Pacific neared the window, simply pushing on it before it shattered under her touch.

Her next words would haunt Roberts for the rest of his days as Harper and Ramirez attempted to struggle against their now captors holds.

"CLEAR THE SHIP!"

—/—\/—\—

Indian was already landing back on the deck a few moment's later, followed in short form by the four empresses that had been out on the water with her.

They'd all heard Pacific's order.

Eyes fell upon the eight sailors still stationed there, with rifles at the ready.

Indian could care less.

She strode with purpose towards the eight, the sailors realizing a step in at what was happening. Safeties coming off, the eight of them raised in tandem as they sighted down the Queen.

Indian approached regardless.

There was only a second's hesitation on the sailors part.

And then they opened fire.

Rounds either missed or simply ricocheted off of the Queen as she approached the firing line. But her eyes didn't even dart, did not even make a move to land on any of them. She simply reached for one of them, hand snatching at their head, and twisted.

He crumpled as she walked past without a worry in her world.

Before they could turn on her, the Empresses fell upon them.

The rifle fire behind Indian died shortly as the Indian Queen and the empresses began to move through the ship with precision and reason, splitting off in pairs as they came to ladders or other directions.

Indian's objectives were two and two alone.

Find her weapons.

Southern dragged Harper along, even as the woman pulled against her, her hand going for Southern's to try and get her wrist free. Southern tightened her grip, nearly crushing the woman's wrist then and there in retaliation. Harper nearly lost her footing at that and Southern hauled her to her feet as they came across a hatch that other sailors were trying to close before they could reach. In turn, Southern took Ramirez's wrist with her other hand as Celebes stepped past the Queen  and approached the hatch, taking only a second to wind a leg back before she kicked at the the surface.

The Hatch flew open, slamming into those on the other side, either painting them against the wall or knocking them down the corridor across the floor with their own set of injuries. Celebes huffed at that as she made to cross through the hatch.

Only for the hatch to swing closed in turn, slamming Celebes in the face before the door promptly locked before her.

Southern narrowed her eyes at that a moment as Celebes collected herself for a moment before taking back to the hatch, hands going to the latch. Whatever had closed the door on Celebes didn't resist as the Empress began to work on the door. But by this point, Pacific had split from the group, going her own way as she attempted to find any other of their targets.

Southern had more than a few experiments in mind as she tightened her grip on Ramirez's wrist in warning, the woman trying much the same thing Harper had. Behind them, Pacific reappeared with her own sailors in hand, one simply thrown over her shoulder as the other one was dragged behind her. Southern watched a moment before proceeding to the hatch as Celebes got it open.

Only for a sailor to strike her over the head with what looked to be an extinguisher.

In turn, Celebes kicked back with her foot, meeting the man's thigh. Based on how extended the leg became at that, Southern doubted the man would be walking anytime soon.

Not that it mattered as Celebes turned and drove the point of her boot into the man's throat.

Ahead of them came Arabian and Zanj, each hauling a female sailor of their own as the two screamed in resistance, struggling against their captors. In pursuit came three of their fellow sailors  attempting to grapple with Arabian. Celebes reached down for the extinguisher that had previously been used to assault her and stalked towards the sailors, Southern and Pacific following behind. Noting Celebes's approach, the sailors released Arabian as they backed away from Celebes.

Celebes did not pull away as she brought the extinguisher up and above her head as she rounded the corner at them.

The sound of the metal container making contact with something not nearly as sturdy made both Southern and Pacific chuckle.

Harper and Ramirez renewed their struggling at that, pulling away at Southern's grip. The Queen once again tightened her grips on the two as Southern hauled them along. Up ahead, more of the Empresses began to emerge from other parts of the ship, all either carrying sailors with them or dragging them along. The rest of the crew seemed to be trying to interfere where they could.

Or were until Indian emerged from a different corridor, sickles reclaimed and both dripping in a more than explanatory amount of blood. She stalked for the sailors trailing after the Empresses, grabbing one by the throat as the rest focused on her as the immediate throat.

Blood splattering the wall beyond the next corner told the other two Queens much.

The aft deck of the greeted them, first and foremost more than that though were the bodies of the eight sailors strewn about, their rifles either smashed or bent into weird angles. Southern made conscious effort to step around the rather substantial amount of blood while Pacific and the Empresses trailed through it, approaching the end of the deck. Pacific's eyes befell Sulu's body, exactly where the Captain had said it was. She held a moment at that, taking it in before Southern's sharp whistle brought her attention away.

That's when the Spy Queen's subs began to surface.

Though they weren't the typical So or Ka classes that made up Pacific's or Indian's rather insubstantial sub lines, these in particular were converted I-Class destroyers. Enlarged and their primary weapons removed, they were perfect for moving select amounts of supplies to locations outside of the normal supply lines.

Or in this case, and converted specifically for this purpose, transporting living beings.

Lazarev and Mawson rose from the depths next to the converts.

Harper and Ramirez were tossed from the deck as Southern dropped them over the side, eyes widening in surprise somewhat.

They'd barely even fully submerged before Mawson and Lazarev were on them, the Empresses seizing them with little trouble. Bringing them back to the surface, the two Empresses began to guide the two towards one of the I-Class.

As it's jaws crept open.

Mawson and Lazarev rose to their feet as the grabbed at the two sailors in their grasp. As they neared the I-Class proper, both women seemed to realize exactly what the intent was and began to thrash about as the Empresses guided them exactly where they wanted.

Harper tried to hold onto something on the exterior of the destroyer as Mawson lowered her to the correct height.

It was a futile attempt as Mawson shoved the woman into the destroyer's mouth.

Lazarev all but smashed Ramirez into the opening with her a few seconds later.

"Lazarev!" Southern snapped.

"Apologies my Queen." The Empress offered as she and Mawson made sure to push the two in just a bit more.

And then the destroyer's jaws snapped shut, the two within all but sealed away. Meeting eyes with it's Queen, it's haze flared momentarily before it began to sink below the surface, soon vanishing from sight.

All hell broke loose.

The sailors well within the grasps of the Empresses on deck were either tossed overboard or held in waiting as Southern jumped to the water's surface to assist. Those that struggled more were held back as Southern and her empresses tended to those showing to be less of an issue. However, as Pacific turned after dumping her hostages into the Indian below them for Southern to handle, she met eyes with someone she hadn't been expecting.

There, standing before them a ways, in front of the bodies of the sailors that the Empresses had torn through was a girl, nearly a child if Pacific knew right based on what she'd seen. Standing about 5'4 her outfit tattered and blood splashed about her, she turned to look at Pacific dead on.

Her ruby red eyes were thick with tears, running down her cheeks.

Pacific laughed.

And then she caught sight of Indian emerging from the ship, a sailor that was clearly unconscious thrown over her shoulder. The Queen haphazardly tossed the woman overboard, Southern scrambling somewhat as she went for the woman to make sure she didn't slip below the waves. But she didn't offer any words in Indian's direction in opposition of this, the Queen likely realizing that it would've been wasted breath.

Indian's hands went for her hips as Pacific began to approach her, the other Queen's back to her.

Pacific brought up an arm to reach for the Queen, Sulu's death surging to the forefront of her mind.

Indian turned.

With a flash of metal.

The blade of Indian's sickle flashed black as a coating of ichor covered the crimson red blood that had been there beforehand.

And for good reason as Pacific's left hand helplessly flopped to the deck into a puddle of it's own ichor.

"My Queen!?" Shantar called frantically, the only one having seen it happen before her eyes, the other Empresses turning as Indian flourished the sickle in her hand that had made the cut.

A singular second passed by between the two titans.

And then Pacific moved as she simply rushed forwards, her right hand grabbing Indian by the neck as she bowled the two of them right over the side of the Brisbane. But as they hit the water, neither of them stopped as they began to sink into the Abyss.

Indian's telltale bloodlust grin was absent as the surface quickly became that of a fleeting memory above them, the only light rapidly become their hazes and nothing else.

It was much in the same way of a free fall as the Queen's descended into the darkness and the depths. Only for a moment though as Indian brought her legs up and planted her feet square into Pacific's stomach and pushed. Pacific's grip couldn't hold to Indian at the sudden pressure and was forced to release against the force of another Queen as the two plummeted towards the bottom.

It came up fast, but the two were faster.

Indian landed on her feet first, the ground below her giving somewhat as her impact stirred up a mess of sediments and other such stuff, whatever deep sea life that had been present scurrying away at the sudden and onset threat of violence and death.

Pacific crashed into the bottom a few moments later, her feet planting firmly into the ground as her ichor dyed the already pitch black waters. Through the onslaught of disturbed  sediments and soils, Pacific could see Indian's white haze burning it's way through the darkness, watching her with every intent under the surface.

A foreign pain ripples through Pacific's entire being, the ghost of fingers and an appendage no longer there flicking at the back of her mind. Pacific's right fist clenched as her white haze snapped at the water around it as the Queen of the Pacific settled into her rage and hate.

And then her right hand opened to her side as something came swinging out of the depths at her.

Indian launched herself at Pacific, sickles ready for more.

The shaft of Pacific's battle axe met her hand a moment later and the Queen offered a heavy swing, the unseen blade careening through the depths as it rose up to defend it's mistress.

Blade met blades as sparks showered the two even at these depths, briefly illuminating the two in a shower of molten fury and long tolerated hate as the two clashed before the motion of Pacific's swing carried all the way through, throwing Indian back a ways as the darkness returned, the two's eyes never leaving the others.

But Indian, never the one to relent in her rage or conquests, pressed the advantage that both knew she had.

The only sign was the movement of her eyes as Pacific brought up the weapon in a defensive motion, another sickle sliding across the curve of the Queen's axe, more sparks lighting their rage and way into existence before the second sickle followed high, Pacific shifting the shaft of the axe to throw off the strike throwing off the slash before she pushed Indian off of her with a heavy shove. Pacific's hand slid to the quarter of the way down the shaft, pulling it back and slamming it down at the Queen.

Indian's sickles caught the blow, once again as they were angled, sliding away from the curved blade all to easily for Indian and more than Pacific would have preferred.

But Indian backed off a moment.

Pacific registered movement ever so briefly behind her.

All before the gaping maw of Leviathan came rushing for her from the darkness of the depths.

Pacific briefly sidestepped the beast before dragging her blade along it's hide, the Demon feeling as she cut it open a ways before it smartly pulled away from her, retreating into the darkness as it awaited another chance to strike.

Only for the Kraken to befall it from above.

But Pacific didn't have time to focus on that as a blade flashed in her left side.

And then it went dark.

Pacific screamed as she reeled from the pain, her left arm instinctively coming up to try and shield the now wounded piece of herself. But the lack of limb movement reminded her of Indian's precious gift, there being no hand there to utilize any longer.

The clanging of blades brought Pacific's now admittedly red Vision forwards, where Indian now stood before her. And even now, as Leviathan snapped at the Kraken somewhere in the darkness around them, their collisions shaking the very ocean around them

Pacific looked at her through one good eye, her axe at her side.

"We waited for her! You told us that our war would be one to follow for centuries! One that would see them ripped from this world! But she betrayed us! She betrayed us and yet you still continue to follow her plans, you continue to engage this war as if she's at the lead!" Indian bellowed at her, blades poised for a strike as she stood before Pacific. "You disallow Southern her experiments, you disallow Atlantic her raiding, you disallow me my carnage. And yet you sit your fat, dumb, and lazy ass on your throne while the humans sink your fleets by the dozens!"

"They are not a threat to us!" Pacific roared back.

"NO!" Indian bellowed, leveling one of her sickles at Pacific. "YOU ARE! YOU ARE THE THREAT TO US AND OURS! YOU ARE THE ONE THAT STANDS BETWEEN US AND VICTORY! YOU SEE YOURSELF IN HER IMAGE! YOU SEE YOURSELF AS OUR NEXT LEADER! A LEADER WHO ALLOWS THE HUMANS RESPITE! ALLOWS THEM TIME TO BREATHE. TO THINK! TO LIVE!"

"We will-"

"THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE DEALT THEM A BLOW THAT THEY WILL NOT COME BACK FROM! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THEY HAVE BEEN DEALT A LOSS THAT THEY WILL FEEL FOR THE REST OF THEIR DAYS! THOSE ISLANDS WILL NEVER AGAIN BE CALLED A HOME AND IT'S BECAUSE OF SOUTHERN! NOT BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU WERE ONLY HERE BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO PLAY WITH YOUR TOYS! YOUR RELICS! YOUR IRRELEVANCE!"

"THEY ARE NOT-"

"TELL ME WHY PACIFIC! TELL ME WHY THE HUMANS WERE ALLOWED TO CROSS YOUR TERRITORY WITH A SHIP OF THE MAKING MATCHING THE ONE THAT SOUTHERN, ATLANTIC, AND MYSELF CLASHED WITH THE SAME! AND WE TORE HER TO SHREDS! WE SENT HER DOWN WITH HER CHILDREN, WITH THEIR HOPES, THEIR DREAMS, AND THEIR LIVES! TELL ME PACIFIC!"

Pacific adjusted a moment but Indian would have none of it. She came from her blind spot and planted a boot against the Queen's face, smashing into her and kicking her back a ways. Indian's fingers twitched against the handles of her sickles as her white haze flared, the scent of Pacific's ichor in the water a nauseating and gruesome one. But Indian ignored it as the stuff swirled past her, barely kissing the flesh of her stomach as she made way for the Queen where she'd landed.

Pacific's hands went for her axe, standing as Indian approached. Even in a blind spot, she knew her to be approaching, knew her to be ready. She stood before the Indian Queen for only a moment before she swung at her.

A sickle met either side of the battle axe's shaft.

And it shattered as Indian pulled her weapons through the surface of it, breaking the Pacific Queen's weapon then and there, the head of the weapon tumbling to the ground as Pacific backpedaled as the damage registered to her, what had been the lowest point of the shaft grasped in her hand. She looked at it only a moment before a sickle's end dug deep into Pacific's chest, the second following suit a moment later as Indian pulled at her flesh, deep gashes carving into the Queen's body and her form. Pacific roared in pain as she dropped the shaft in exchange for Indian's throat, grabbing with her one good hand. But Indian was ready as she kicked Pacific in one of the wounds she'd just made, her entire being convulsing with pain. She released Indian momentarily and in turn the sickles raked her skin again, cross cuts bearing their way across the gashes she'd just left Pacific with, each wound seeping ichor heavily as it mixed with the darkness around them.

Indian again went for the Queen, hooking one of her sickles into the hem of the Queen's clothes, twisting as she yanked her towards her as Indian threw her head back.

And slammed it forwards into Pacific's face, the Pacific Queen stumbling back. Indian further kicked her back, Pacific ending up on her back before the Indian Queen. Sickles still poised for a strike, Indian watched her a moment, watching as the ichor of the Queen tainted the waters around them.

Things stilled for a moment.

"You are no Arctic." Indian told her. "She would not have allowed something like this to come to pass. She would not have allowed the humans so much room to maneuver. She would not have allowed herself to fall so low. You follow in her image Pacific, and all I see in it's reflection is a sight that Diobella would regret even acknowledging."

Pacific lay still.

Indian watched a moment.

And then she turned away, her sickles finally losing their readiness. Leviathan and Kraken still met one another head around them in the darkness, the water pushing and pulling as the two beasts followed the example set forth for them by their mistresses.

She took a few steps towards where the beasts were raging with one another.

And then movement behind her stilled her motion, Indian turning.

She found Pacific just starting to sit up, fingers raking the sediment and soil as she made to pull herself up to her feet. Indian chuckled as she fully turned towards the downed Queen, sickles tilting as they readied themselves for another bout.

She went to take a step.

And then part of her recognized the fact that the blade of the axe and what remained of it's shaft was missing.

Her sickles flicked upwards as she brought them up above her.

Just as a singular white hazed eye burning with hatred and hellfire incarnate opened above her.

Sparks erupted as the blade of Pacific's former axe was brought down on Indian like a executioner's blade as the former Pacific was all but forgotten about. But the sickles wouldn't hold this time, Indian back-stepping as Pacific hit the ground, only taking seconds to pivot before continuing her assault, a underhanded swipe temporarily breaking Indian's defense, throwing Indian up somewhat before Pacific prepared to bring the weapon back down on her.

Wielded not like the axe it had been moments before, but instead like the cleaver it now was.

Indian's sickles tried to catch the blade coming back down at her, and they so barely did, sparks showering the both of the for all the worth it was. The movement was fast enough and quick enough that Indian only caught the movement approaching in the corner of her eye barely before it made contact.

Barely noticed as Pacific drove the arm that no longer had a hand to it through Indian's shoulder, the bone of the Abyssal Queen making for a weapon all on it's own. Indian recoiled with the strike, giving Pacific the advantage she needed as she drove the blade of her cleaver into Indian's stomach, the impact rewarded with ichor as Pacific cut her deep.

And then Pacific yanked the weapon free, tearing flesh as she did.

She brought it up in a jagged motion, the blade scarring Indian from the waistline to just below the chest, more ichor flowing free as she pushed her other arm deeper, the bone impaling Indian all but bending Indian at the knee. She pushed further down, angled it, Indian coming with it as one of her knees met the earth. And in turn, Pacific flourished the weapon before bringing it down.

Straight to Indian's neck.

Indian's sickles managed to cut the flesh of the arm wielding the weapon, managed to slice flesh where none had been cut. But she didn't stop the impact.

Pacific's blade cut deep into the Queen's neck, Ichor flowing freely as Indian seethed in pain.

But the weapon didn't kill.

Pacific didn't kill.

The bruised and bleeding Queens stilled a moment, their ichor twirling around themselves and one another a moment as if the Oceans themselves were bearing witness to the end right here and now.

And then Pacific's one eye met that of Indian's two.

"You will fall in line or you will fall before me."

She accentuated her point with a yank of the blade.

It was a few moments before Indian's head shifted.

A nod.

The blade was ripped free of Indian's neck, the ichor of a Queen sticking to the weapon even underwater as Pacific ripped her bone free of Indian's shoulder.

Pacific turned her back on Indian as she made to walk away.

She heard Indian take a single intake of breath.

And then that breath turned into laughter.

Wild, uncontrolled, and downright feral laughter.

It sounded through the depths and prompted the beasts to give pause as Pacific trudged her way away from the Indian Queen, her one hazed eye the only light as the darkness of the ocean's depths greeted her as it always had.

Even as the edges of her royal haze flickered black.