King of the High Seas Remastered (PWxAL)

Chapter 7 - Publicity Stunt

18:59, Whistler's Rock

Hitman, Dominic, Brooklyn, and the commander sit around a table at the same restaurant from the night before. Hitman is splitting a pizza that hardly fits on the table, while the other three have their own meals.

Dominic points at a TV mounted above the bar. "Look, there it is. Right on time."

Everyone's attention is directed to the TV, which is playing the news.

An anchor speaks while Sicario's emblem is put up on the screen.

"In the middle of the morning earlier today, a mercenary group known as Sicario attacked a Siren testing site. Sicario were reportedly hired by Azur lane yesterday after sinking a Siren supercarrier fleet. The military disclosed the after-action report to us, which states that Sicario engaged Siren forces during an ongoing field test, stopping it."

"After the Siren forces were destroyed, an elite Siren appeared on the battlefield. USS Brooklyn and her battlegroup, who were present during the battle but maintain that they never engaged enemy forces, recorded the engagement between Sicario's Hitman Team and this Siren. We will now show the recording, which was started shortly after Sicario decided to engage the elite Siren despite suggestions to retreat."

The screen transitions to the recording, and the seven of them watch as the camera zooms in on Tester, who is firing her guns repeatedly. Then, the camera moves to Hitman just as they break formation and disappear into the clouds. They watch Evelyn distract Tester as Peter sneaks up on her and scores the first hits. Then, they watch Monarch appear out of the clouds and deal a blow. Afterwards, Tester fights off Peter and Evelyn's teamwork. Then the camera zooms in on Monarch, who has started his run that crippled the Elite. The camera continues to track Monarch as he dodges Tester's shots and hits her with missiles. The camera then shifts to Tester, who is down on one knee attempting to recover. That's when Monarch comes back and deals the final blow. The camera zooms in as the smoke clears, and captures Tester sinking. The recording ends.

Brooklyn leans back in her chair and crosses her arms in triumph.

The commander is awestruck. "Wow. I was surprised to hear that you defeated Tester in the first place, but seeing it is something else entirely."

He turns to look at Monarch. "You're something else, aren't you, Monarch?"

Monarch gives him a half-hearted shrug.

The commander chuckles. "Just another day for you, huh?"

Robin interrupts. "That doesn't mean she's gone for good, though, right? I think I remember you saying something about that."

The commander nods. "Yes. As long as her mainframe is intact, she can go through as many bodies as the Sirens can produce."

Robin asks him, "Can this mainframe be destroyed?"

The commander nods again. "Yes. We destroyed the mainframe of an elite Siren named Compiler some time ago. However, we were unable to destroy her remaining body afterwards, so she's still out there somewhere."

"Anyway, I'm impressed by your performance, and the public will be too. They don't know that Tester was probably off her game, after all."

Dominic smirks. "Alright, cool."

The commander laughs. "I doubt you'll be feeling the same way when news crews come knocking. Once they figure out who you are, they'll be after you."

Peter rather grimly says, "Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened."

[Short chapter this time. Hopefully still good.]