Unstable Loyalties

Chapter 28

Lightning wandered down the hallways of the Siren base. She couldn't sleep again. Somehow or other, the lack to sleep hardly affected her in the day and she lived with it, not being able to do anything about it. 

"Storm?" someone called and Lightning turned around to see Devastator. 

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Devastator questioned. 

"I could say the same for you," Lightning replied smoothly. Devastator laughed, the sound causing Lightning to feel extremely uneasy. Devastator signaled Lightning  to walk with her and Lightning had no choice but to nod respectfully and follow Devastator. 

"How are you settling in here?" Devastator asked. It was a simple question, but to Lightning it felt like a veiled threat. 

"I'm settling in fine," she replied curtly as Devastator nodded. As they walked past a window, Lightning could not help but gaze out at the stars. 

"I see you like stargazing," Devastator commented, looking at Lightning. Lightning just nodded. 

"I enjoyed stargazing with my sister... it is a pity I could not avenge her myself, nevertheless, I must thank you for killing Lightning. Destructor would be proud." Lightning could not help but feel a slight pang of guilt, mingled with some wariness. Should she believe Devastator or not? 

Lightning just sighed before speaking, "It is quite late already... I better return to my room. Goodnight, Devastator." Truth to be told, she could not help but feel sorry for the Siren. She had to cope with the loss of her sister and lead the Sirens too, it must be hard. Try as she might, she could not help but want to be there for Devastator. It may be wrong, but still, she just couldn't help it.

The next day...

Lightning grabbed a sandwich from the mini fridge in her room(You know, like the kind in hotels). She had put some food in it from her ship when she arrived at the Siren base. Wolfing it down, she tidied up before putting on her combat boots, heading down the corridor. Devastator had wanted her to attend a meeting today. Trying to look as presentable as possible, she entered the meeting room where some of the elite Sirens were. 

Sitting down in one of the chairs, she listened intently as the meeting started, the Sirens talking about Project Hakai, (破壊 Google translation of destruction in Japanese so tell me if its wrong :P) whatever that was. Apparently, it turned out to be a missile capable of taking out a huge city, somewhat like an atomic bomb, but with a larger last radius and was more destructive. It would probably be used as a weapon of mass destruction. That was bad. 

Well, for Azur Lane at least. Lightning willed herself to keep calm as she memorised most of the information on the missile. This missile... it was fueled by a substance used to create a mental cube. The Sirens called it Exitrum, latin for a combination of black and destruction. The fuel was hard enough to obtain, but the metal used for the missile parts was even rarer. It was made from a silver substance found on the Siren's home planet.

As this substance took years to be refined, they were still in the process of refining this batch. They had been doing so for five years and they planned on solidifying the substance before fitting it in the missile, using the missile to destroy the Azur Lane base. 

After the meeting, Lightning started reading up more about Exitrum and the metal, which was called Argenibus. The metal was somewhat like silver, just much, much stronger with many enhanced properties. She had summoned her eagle, sending a quick message to Azur Lane, stating that she would try and sabotage the missile. She took a deep breath, looking down at her hands, clenching her fingers. 

It had been quite a while since she had done any tinkering. She headed to her ship, picking up a book on missiles and rockets, reading through it, trying to memorise most of the information. Once she was done with it, she got a missile from one of her fighters, cutting it open and observing the missile components. All she needed to do was to find something that will counter the Argenibus, or even better, destroy it, then make some modifications to the Sirens' missile such that it will not work properly. 

Putting on some gloves, Lightning then headed to the lab where they kept a few samples of the Argenibus. She looked around discreetly before swiping a bottle of Exitrum and a two small samples of Argenibus.. She headed  to one of the workstations, starting to experiment on the Argenibus, careful not to let other Sirens take note of what she was doing.

Later that day...

Lightning had already sent the extra samples she had to Azur Lane. The experiment she was conducting would take time, that was unavoidable for now. It was fortunate that the Argenibus the Sirens were producing was not enough in quantity for them to create a missile yet. Still, she would have to hurry and find a countering substance, so that she could complete the job as soon as possible. If it dragged on, it would be harder to conceal what she was doing from the Sirens. She sighed softly, holding up the small container that contained the Argenibus she was experimenting on.

Closing her eyes briefly, she opened them again before heading to the bathroom, looking at her reflection in the mirror. As she was not wearing contacts, her blues eyes were easily seen. Avenger had returned with a reply from Azur Lane earlier, the message wishing her the best of luck. She had burned it, destroying the evidence, watching as he ashes were blown away by the wind. Her thoughts wandered back to Devastator. Who was she? Good or bad? To Lightning, she seemed to be treading that fine line of grey. It was too soon to tell, Lightning had all the more a reason to be more careful. Lightning exhaled softly, going back to the bed and gazing out of the window. What would happen if Devastator made her choice? 

Hooray, another chapter! In case you were wondering, Argenibus is a latin combination of sillver and alloy. Hope you liked this chapter!

~Lightningstar out