William didn't expect this, the years as a military officer made him think he knew all varieties of welcoming methods but apparently he's wrong. He had seen a very warm welcome, a very spectacular and dramatic welcome, and he had seen a very not keen of his presence kind of welcome, so what did he have to call a welcome where 2 incredibly hot women instantly smother him? not even one second when he exits the passenger door of the plane that is carrying him he's already been tackled down, thankfully Private Ryan and his 2 friends already ran off somewhere since they are gone from his sight otherwise they're gonna be a swearing flat meat just like he did.
after letting out a couple of swear words, William looks up toward his attackers, ignoring the two pairs of eyes staring him right into his soul. "sorry for my lack of intel, but am I supposed t'know you two beauties?" he groaned, holding the back of his head in slight pain.
that is a mistake. "Beautiful...he called me beautiful...HE CALLED ME BEAUTIFUL!" the white-haired woman shivers and trembles in excitement
"B-B-beautiful?! n-no I-i i'm not worthy...i'm not worthyimnotworthyi'mnotworthy..." the other one mutters, her ponytail hazel hair wagged softly as she rocked back and forth, her pink irises growing and shrinking rapidly, her hands glued to either side of her head.
Not understanding what is with the two women's reactions William can only watch the two's go about with his response. Never has he seen someone react like these two in front of him. He rises up, attempting to calm the two women down, finally succeeding after copious amounts of tries as he now can be seen standing up with the two women in front of him, still eyeing him intensely.
"Now, let's try this again, can I ask who you two are?"
"hehe, my name is USS Enterprise!" the white-haired one chimed in, snaking her delicate-looking hands around William's arm before pressing her body to his causing him to flinch slightly by the contact. "and I'm glad I got to see you again in this form~"
"I-I'm HMS Swiftsure! although I'm unworthy of your praise, I'm also glad to have you back, commander!" the other one with hazel brown ponytail salutes with a mix of obvious dissatisfaction herself while trembling under William's presence by his side, looking like she's about to faint from bliss.
William nodded, a bit confused by the two whose apparently the ships he worked with back then. Lots of questions he wanted to ask but at the moment he decided to brush them aside, after all, he still had a few matters that needed to be solved and that is not going away by just standing there with 2 hot beauties on either side of his.
"well..while i would like to spend time to get reacquainted with all of you girls but.." he felt a tightening grip from both sides as the girls seemingly oddly offended at the mention of other ships under his command, doesn't help either that he could tell there have been obvious tell-tale signs that there are bad blood between these 2. "i need to see carl in his office so, can you two let go of me..?"
the 2 girls stayed silent as they eyed him leaving William to ponder what is actually causing them to look at him with such weird looks. was it something he did in the past? something he forgot? heck, are they even relevant? he can't tell. Everyone says the sensitivity to others' atmosphere always makes a relationship last for a lifetime but it's safe to say that he's bad at handling women. Especially on making a first impression, hence why he's still single even though he's already almost 40. thankfully though to his relief, the 2 finally let go of their hands, their lips curled up slightly.
"off course, I'll be by the dormitory should you need me.." enterprise laughs silently as she tucks both of her hands behind her back.
"and i will be by the shipyard..good luck with your meeting with the head admiral, commander.." swiftsure bows softly. William nodded, facing the entrance of the base and walked in before looking at the two again and waves, causing them to gasps before the door of the entry closes.
"haa...such a gracious presence...commander..~"
"hehehe...i hope my body excites you commander...~your reaction..haa..~"
enterprise huddled her arms together as Swiftsure again trembles, collapsing on her knees as her white gloves envelopes her slightly darken face. Onlookers who are at the landing zone taking care of the equipment can only watch, not dare to interrupt whatever wretched thoughts the two shipgirls are having of this apparently veteran officer of the federation. Only god knows what will happen to them if they dare to do so.
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William is surprised that it didn't take him long to find his footings after not setting his foot inside the Azur federation HQ for 10 years, sure a lot of things has changed, he has been gone for 10 years for god's sake but for the big parts, everything are still there just even more up to snuff with technology, a special touch he knew done by the cheeky hands of Carl and Necros that caused him to chuckles, looking at the building's walls as he traverse.
10 years, it's been 10 years since he left and now out of nowhere he's back here again, and out of all reasons that exist he can't believe he's back because a fucking bunch of Alien girls. No one knew why they came here for obvious reasons obviously. Apparently from what he heard, when Carl established contact with the more, lets say talkative and reasonable kind of sirens, they said their world went kaboom so they went and look for a new one and earth fit the bill, cool. but the rest of 'em? William's not so sure that's just it. Carl seems to agree too, when they shot the coast that is, but the other reason he's back also because apparently all not some but all shipgirls refused to listen to anyone, even carl himself, demanding for his presence here, no William, no action, which left William to scratch his head in confusion as to what do they actually want from him.
But he'll save that question for later, as of right now he can only groan in annoyance, looking into one conference room by one conference room, fucking carl, how many god damned conference room a single fucking HQ needed anyway? william shake his head as he cursed their existence.
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"Head Admiral Mithos, I'm sure you're aware that those sirens has basically declared war against us yes?" A man dressed in a white admiral uniform asked, his head cocked to the side towards carl's direction as carl raised his eyebrows briefly before nodding.
"I believe so, yes" he answered in a relaxed manner, the admiral's face scrunched up and then proceeds to slams his hands against the table while the rest of the room remained unfazed.
"Then why the hell are we all just seating here like we're a bunch of fucking dogs?!" he yelled, balling his fist in agitation as another man seated across him whistled before feigning a surprise expression, his right eye slightly covered by the mix of black and bangs of his hair although the man doesn't even look older than 30.
"whoaa...calm down there would you Russ?...keep it clean remember? it's written in your contract after all, besides he's your own boss no?" the man chuckles as he spins slowly in his chair, whistling away as the man named Russ scoffs.
"Stay out of my damned business Hune! besides, why are you even in here anyways? all you've been doing is nothing but eat and sleep"
"Hey carl, think I can get one of these for back home? i really like how plush it is" hune looked at carl who shrugs before gesturing feel free with his hand while smirking.
"don't you ignore me, you sleazy bastard!" Russ slammed the table again as Hune just lift his hands, still spinning in his chair as he laughs.
"Rear admiral Russ is right Head Admiral, it has been 2 whole years since these....shipgirls has came out of your development project and yet..." the man folds his arms, leaning back towards his chair as his wrinkled red eyes looked towards carl with quite the animosity behind them. "they have been doing nothing but being a financial liability that the federation now have to cope with..." the older man sighs, moving away strands of his medium length grey hair out of his sight occasionally as he fixed his monocle by his left eye.
Nile and Hune frowned at the state of the meeting, over the years since William left after he had caused a huge ruckus when he and the previous installment had an argument, the group along with carl and necros who is not here due to him attending a meeting himself over the siren gray area have taken over the reins inside the higher chain of the Federation console, effectively establishing a significantly better-restructured system. But of course, there will always be a very unhappy group of people who hated the takeover, seething at the fact they can't really use the federation to leech their money from and have control basically over the military strength of the world such is the reality of humanity. The conference room over time turns into the battlefield rather than the battlefield itself as a significant power struggle between factions broke out, in the middle of an increasingly looming threat of war from sirens no less. Although it is a lot of work keeping them preoccupied, they honestly can't help but feel bored. During their years of when they are in service since they got to know the perilous, hyperactive, incredibly bright-minded yet a huge troublemaker friend, they hardly got any rest but they didn't mind it strangely, rather it was fun.
As the world had lost it's colors more and more and everyone became incredibly uniform as they only hungers for powers William had trailblazed his way through that normalcy. Everything about him sticks out like a sore thumb, he never really dressed in his uniform properly, always picking a fight with other personnels, unusually and brutally blunt, and for such a bright-minded person academically his manners cannot be more different like day and night, making everyday always eventful and adventurous, but unfortunately as of now, what they're looking at is nothing even close to fun.
"pfeh! why do we even bother of lobbying rights for these women anyways? they should be grateful already since we turned them into living people, they're nothing but rustbuckets without our money, they should've known their place!" Russ scoffs, causing the other attendees to murmur among themselves as the older official lips curls slightly upwards, sneering at their situation. Nile, not liking Russ's statement wants to respond, but before he can carl lift his right hand towards him.
"But Head admiral-!"
"Nile, it's okay" carl reassures him, prompting the Japanese-Egyptian official to stand down as he looked towards the rest of the room, smirking in the process before he claps his hands together, regaining control of the room. "Admirals, I do very much sympathize with your meanings. Yes, they have not been making much progress if any I must admit" carl says, but before Russ and the older man can bask in their victory car continues. "So in turn, I devised a plan that will ensure significant progress in this war" he smirks.
"and what kind of plan would that be?" Russ rolled his eyes, feigning a bored expression, relishing in his victory inside but, that would be shortlived, as just a few seconds later, the grand wooden door that functions as an entry and exit of the conference room got flung opened, the huge noise of the doors hitting the metal pillars almost knocked Russ out of his seat by shock as a booming voice called in.
"Fuckin' finally, was thinking I might as well go home if I can't find this god damned conference carl" the voice says as a figure walk inside the room.
"Who-?! hey! don't you realize this is a-!"
"Ah, William! I was concerned about how long you will take your sweet time, please come in." Carl welcomes the intruder in, all attention of the room focused on the man, confused at who is he as Nile and Hune looked at him with widen eyes, shocked expression on their face as they watched the two walked towards the center.
"Oh, i guess hi to you all bastards too" William grins with a mocking smile before his eyes catches the figures of hune and nile as he smirks slightly. "Except you two, been a while don't you think nile, hune?" he laughs.
"Hah! i see you're back from the brink Comrade!" Hune laughs, letting out a laugh he only makes when William is around as his russian accent leaks out. "how have you been?"
"could've been better, if not for a certain damned brit who sent a bunch of SOB's into my fucking place that is" William feigned a grimace as carl just smirks.
"can't be sure if you'd come willingly, besides you could've went a bit soft after a couple of years away are you not?" he chuckles as William mock gasps. "damn Carl, I thought after years of friendships you would've known better" William shake his head disapprovingly.
"I am sure carl is just merely testing to make sure you're still doing well, you could have sustained a severe permanent injury for all we know during your absence after all considering your nature" Nile chuckles, his usual curt and strict attitude replaced with a more caring and friendly one.
"As gentle as you always did eh Nile? how's that sword of yours been holdin' up? still sharp?"
"Mhm, as expected of your craftsmanship as always" nile smiles, as the 4 friends had fun in their little reunion, the older gentleman who is watching meanwhile, did not. his smile turned into a frown, his eyebrows furrowed, and hands tangled with each other, not impressed by the wildcard that the pesky head admiral had brought into their little game. Russ and the council wouldn't know but he knew, that this man, smelled trouble and as if fate wanting to rub salt on his wounds, it doesn't help either when Carl finally introduced the loudmouthed name.
"Everyone, meet William Runner" he chuckles as he patted william's shoulders. "A good friend of mine and..." carl pauses as he gazes the conference room, confusion and curiosity filled the room before his eyes came into contact with the older general. "Former commander of the Exo-scorch naval fleet and the reason azur lane has earned the reputation that it has now"