Thaw out a Second Life

Choices in Life

After Akagi's stunt which nearly escalated the incident, Bismarck is naturally cautious of any information regarding the incident. More importantly, it's best not to let Akagi near the rigging even if there's no sabotage involved.

"Akagi, did you believe my sister transformed into a META back then? For a brief moment, I saw them revert to the dark and grim form of her deceased META version" Bismarck asks for her perspective
"Her presence was awfully mixed. The output was on a META's level, but her body was that of a normal kansen. The deceased refused to stay truly dead and haunts both of you as a lingering influence"
"Even as a piece, her consciousness survived"

Bismarck shakes her head trying to forget how the META persisted as a disembodied consciousness within her wisdom cube's fragment.

"I suggest you ensure the dead META is actually dead. If your sister is overtaken by a META and you fail to put her down, I will incinerate her myself before your carelessness let her loose" Akagi makes her stern warning
"My sister will not harm anyone so long as I stand. I will ensure she's stable and free of any influence"
"I hope it's more than confidence, Bismarck. An incomplete awakening and she had to stab herself to be stopped"

Akagi alone failed to even dent Tirpitz and her flames only provoked her into nearly killing her. Bismarck may have arrived, but she keeps stalling until the unexpected turn of Tirpitz stabbing herself occurred.

________________________________________________________________________________

Two days after the incident, the affected kansens recovered from hypothermia and resumed their duty in Iron Blood. Everyone starts to relax and continue with their day, except for the likes of Bismarck who's cooped up in her office albeit impatiently tapping her fingers while staring at the analysis on the deactivated Orthrus.

"It says here, that Orthrus should be fixed after Neumark removed the parts from the META rigging and reformatted it" Graf Zeppelin flips one of the files
"We dismantled the old rigging and destroyed it as ordered. I supervised the process for full certainty" Friedrich der Grosse confidently reports
"Although Tirpitz rampaged and nearly underwent full METAmorphosis, it got rid of the corrosion. After the last checkup, there are no lingering side effects on her physical body"

Bismarck briefly sighs in relief, but her eyes are sharply focused on the spread-out files in front of her.

"Tirpitz doesn't remember losing control. That rigging must have overwhelmed her senses and influenced her behavior" Graf Zeppelin clicks her tongue
"I believe it's for the best Tirpitz has general knowledge of her rampage. That child will blame herself and be distraught if we reveal all the details" Friedrich der Grosse looks at Bismarck
"I agree. It's not her fault, to begin with, so I don't want her to wallow in a sin she doesn't even remember" Bismarck raises her head
"What do we do with Akagi? You let her go easily when she could have sabotaged the rigging"
"Without solid evidence, we cannot hold another ship accountable"

As the leader of Iron Blood, Bismarck wishes to avoid conflict with another nation as much as possible. More importantly, Akagi is sharp and sensed something amiss in the fight.

"What's the progress on Orthrus' reconstruction? Neumark won't come out of the warehouse and practically sleeps there....." Bismarck massages her temples
"According to her this morning, Orthrus is nearly operational, but she's slowed down by wiping the system clean" Friedrich der Grosse slides the last update on the rigging
"How about Tirpitz's incomplete retrofit?"
"It's in a stable and manageable state, but Tirpitz is practically left in an imperfect retrofit"
"........"

Bismarck flips to one of the files in hand and views another portion of Neumark's analysis and findings after running tests and scans on Tirpitz's wisdom cube.