Defection (MentalModel!Brothers and OC)

Chapter 7

I had fallen asleep at some point with Todo's core still laying in my arms when I woke up, leaning against some collapsed wall that was near the bridge. Partially letting the core fall into my lap, I sat up and rubbed the heels of my hands against my eyes, stifling a yawn before holding Todo once more and standing up.

The full moon floating near the horizon in the dark sky told me that it was well after sunset, the surrounding oceanscape still despite the destroyer moving through it. I moved towards one of the sides of the warship, looking over the railing to see the dark waters curling away from the hull as it passed.

"Did you get enough sleep?"

I looked back towards Jyushi, his smile faltering a little as we made eye contact.

"I'm not sure, Jyushi..." I looked back out to the dark horizon, some of the last colorful rays of the day trying to cling to the night sky, "I don't think I'll have a full night's rest for a while."

"Captain lady, you didn't have to do that," He moved to a spot next to me, resting his forearms against the railing and leaning against it while looking out to the horizon, "You could've just left us there."

"I could've...and that may have happened if I didn't have a family that wanted to help me out," I sighed, "Do you...remember the guy that drew away those people that were torturing both of you?"

"Vice Admiral Stanley Crawford of the United States Navy," Jyushi responded nearly immediately, his eyes glowing yellow in the dark as the accompanying soft clicking returned, "Joined the Navy as an officer when he was twenty-two, remained in active service despite his wounds from the Great Naval War."

"Yeah, that's him," I lowered my eyes, remembering the scars on my dad's face, "I told him that Todo had saved me and he must've concluded that if Todo allowed you to follow him back to port, then you must be important to him and thus important to me. He was trying to fight for you both to stay under my command while you were hiding from the Fleet of Fog, but Daddy wasn't the one in charge at Quincy..."

Jyushi stayed quiet as his focus shifted to me, bathing my figure in the soft yellow glow of his eyes.

"I was told what was going to happen to you both by my twin brother, and he had left me enough military gear to sneak into the base without arousing much suspicion."

"Colonel Jonathan Crawford, intelligence officer with the United States Air Force."

I merely nodded as the destroyer's Mental Model rattled off the details.

"These two...were the ones that you had told Todo about when he first arrived?"

"Mainly my dad, but I didn't realize that he had been promoted to a desk job. He used to captain a cruiser named the USS Truxtun, but it must've been destroyed in the fight..."

"Would you have followed in his steps to join the military?" Jyushi looked away from me, the glow fading in his eyes as he stood up from the leaning position.

"No, probably not. I'm too much of a troublemaker and the military has too many rules that need to be obeyed," I laughed a little before following Jyushi towards the bow of the destroyer, "I mean, look at me. I'm running away from home on a Fleet of Fog destroyer, holding a Fog cruiser core in my hands."

"I wouldn't call it 'running away', captain lady," Jyushi placed his hands on the bow railing, looking back towards me as a wave of yellow hexagonal plating shimmered out from underneath his feet, skittering out and covering the destroyer before the hexagons faded from view, "It's more of an evacuation."

"That term again," I kept myself from rolling my eyes in exasperation, "Why are you both so particular about it?"

"Because it means that you'll be going home again at a different time," He was gentle with his response, "Running away could mean that you'll never return despite wanting to, while an evacuation means that you're leaving a location under emergency circumstances but will return when it's safe for you."

I let out an understanding hum, quietly nodding at his explanation, "Yeah, that makes sense..."

"I'd find something to hold onto, captain lady," Jyushi stepped up onto the bow railing, facing the vast ocean in front of him, "I'm about to speed up."

----

To say that I was ready for the Max Schultz's top speed would be a vast understatement.

The first few minutes of acceleration were spent clinging to one of the smaller handrails within the partially collapsed space where I had ducked into to avoid the gunfire, feeling the warship lurch forward under my hand and feet as I tucked Todo's core against my chest. When I finally looked out towards the dark waters around the ship, the spray was just a few feet higher than the railing and splashing back out towards the ocean, my strained eyes watching in fascination as I followed the wake back toward the aft of the warship before widening in surprise.

The tail wake was crashing against itself and broiling into a column of water that was constantly churning as the destroyer powered through the ocean, marking a trail of bubbles that followed us.

"Handling this okay?" Jyushi didn't appear to be affected at all with the slight angle of the deck, the bow practically lifting up out of the water. He slightly raised an arm towards me as I adjusted my grip, looking like he was getting ready to catch me if I fell.

"I wish the sun was up so I could see this," My voice was quiet against the dull roar of the engines and crashing water, "How long can you keep this up for?"

"As long as I need to," His smile was still visible thanks to the full moon lifting higher in the sky, illuminating the whitecaps churning around the destroyer, "We're past the patrol line for the American Fleet of Fog, so I deemed it safe enough to go full out."

"Okay, and how long will it take for you to reach where Todo keeps his stash of nanomaterials?" I released my grip on the handhold and reached out to Jyushi, his hand instantly grabbing on and pulling me between him and the wall of the bridge tower.

"At this speed, it'll take three days if nothing changes within the Fleet of Fog's doctrine," The Mental Model lowered his voice so he wouldn't be yelling in my ear, "I don't have enough stores to make a place comfortable enough for you to rest, captain lady. I'm sorry."

I shook my head at his apology, "There's no need. With the shape that both of you were in, I'm surprised that you managed to rebuild your ship to where it is."

A slightly concerned look settled on Jyushi's face, pulling the smile from his lips as they began to turn downwards, "I focused on my engines and hull integrity. Everything else is just holding on because I can't afford to dump the dead nanomaterial, as it would change my composition and weight distribution."

"Is there enough nanomaterials for you to use at this place?" I began to make my way towards an undamaged part of the bridge, Jyushi keeping to my right as a barrier between me and the unforgiving ocean, "I know that you said it's by the Scapa Flow, but...that puts us right on the doorstep of the North Sea and the English Channel. That's where the European Fleet of Fog is."

"The last upload to the Network showed that the Scapa Flow fleet is moving south into the North Sea," The Max Schultz's Mental Model helped me tuck down into a hatch that led to some kind of stairway that would've traveled to the lower decks of the destroyer if they hadn't been mashed together in a mess of nanomaterial, staying up on the deck while ensuring that I was comfortable enough in the new location, "Todo's deposits are just north of Scotland, so we'll still have to be careful treading into those waters."

His eyes suddenly lit up with the yellow glow once more, a look of realization on his face as his lips spread wide in a smile.

"Though, we need to convince them first."

"Them?" I asked in confusion, starting to recognize when Jyushi was 'talking' to Todo.

"Todo suggested that since our path crosses through the Scapa Flow, and we're in dire need of allies, we should take a dive in the western coast of Ireland. There's some others that are like us and have evacuated the Fleet of Fog until current events calm down."

"Jyushi, I need an answer," I spoke when he was taking a breath, "Who is 'them'?"

"The others that look like us."