"Are you...positive she'll forgive me after that night?"
"I'm positive! She doesn't look like one to hold a grudge so go on out and apologize!"
...
"Well...alright."
—————
"A tie...how did we tie?!"
Hipper was looking at the gaming screen, where both her and her sister had actually tied on score despite being on both maximum difficulty and in versus mode.
Azrael rolled her eyes, patting her sister and hearing the metallic tapping of her shoulder. Both she and Hipper were unnerved by it, but quickly shook it off.
"So you want to go somewhere else and enjoy the rest of the day, or head back and get acquainted to your new body?"
"Uhm...probably get use to myself. If I don't, who knows what will happen if I get caught in a bad situation."
Azrael nodded to her, and took the tickets, which wasn't many mind you, and spent it on a bit of chocolate balls. "First things first, can you taste?"
She knew chocolates were Hipper's favorites, so this was a perfect way to check if she could still taste things. She passed one over to her sister, who unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth, chewing it slowly before swallowing.
...
Her expression fell, and Azrael immediately knew the issue.
"You can't taste can you?"
"No...I can't enjoy candy anymore!"
She started to quietly sob, but since she was a robot now, there wasn't any tears. Azrael pulled her into a hug, and Hipper hugged back.
"Well, another thing, you'll be fine when you eat things."
"W-what? But I'm not alive anymore!"
"Yet the Sirens accounted for that from what your original purpose was."
She separated from her and tapped her stomach a few times, where the quiet churning of rotors and gears were heard.
"You run on Biological fuel sources, so as long as you're well fed, you'll be steaming along for several days."
"Huh? How did you figure that out?"
Azrael made a snipping motion with her fingers. "When you weren't yourself, I took you down with the help of Eldridge and opened you up. Found out how you operated and such."
"Eeugh...sounds so weird when you put it like that."
Azrael shrugged before she walked off back towards the repair bay, where she and Hipper were staying for now to test the capabilities of her new form. However, Azrael heard footsteps running up behind them, and with the ragged breath as well, it was obvious they were running for a while.
"Hipper, hold your horses for a minute, someone's running to find us."
"Hm? Oh yeah, now that you pointed it out I hear it too."
They stopped and turned around, hearing as the footsteps grew ever closer to them, it was heavier footsteps, so whoever it was is wearing either dress shoes or boots, and Azrael was the only one who wore boots.
...
"Oh, it's you Enterprise..."
She had turned the corner, her face covered in sweat as her eyes grew wide when she saw them standing there. She came to a stop and nearly collapsed, resting her hands on her knees as she caught her breath.
"I...I want to...to..."
"Out with it! What do you want?"
Enterprise stood up again, still breathing fairly heavily, but having enough air to function properly.
"I...I want to apologize for...that night."
...
"An apology? That's something you never see from past, present, or future Enterprises."
She stood undeterred, still looking at Azrael without flinching away. "Then this could be the first time right?"
Azrael kept her gaze on Enterprise, but quickly shoed away Hipper, who could tell that this was a tense situation for both of them. Now left alone, Enterprise started to sweat a bit as Azrael stood there unwavering.
"Well...I just wanted to say that..."
...
Azrael blinked, then slowly walked over to Enterprise, who was getting more and more nervous as she approached her. Azrael reached to the back pocket of her coat, drawing a black steel knife, which immediately caught Enterprise's attention.
"H-hey...calm down Azrael..."
Azrael was still silent, but her eyes grew dimmer as she raised the knife higher. Enterprise knew she couldn't take her on at the close range they were at if a fight did break between the two of them, and quickly turned to get away from her.
But she severely underestimated the speed of the META ship.
"Gah!"
She shoved into a wall, and was pushed with her back to it as she stared Azrael in the eyes, her own shaking in terror as the knife gleamed in the light. Just as it raised to it's apex, she stabbed down, and Enterprise closed her eyes in fear of seeing the blade come down on her.
...
The hand gently fell away from her shoulder, and as she slowly opened her eyes, she saw that she had no wound anywhere on her body.
"Now we're even Enterprise."
She saw Azrael walk away, and finally she noticed the knife stuck in the wall next to her, with some of her hair stuck under the blade.
'Ha...haha...'
...
Enterprise pulled the blade out, and promptly collapsed on the ground, out of it from the near death experience.
——
Azrael smirked as she left Enterprise in a loop. She had forgiven the carrier as soon as she said her apology, but she wanted to mess with her a bit to make her point across...okay, maybe she just wanted to fuck with her.
She knew Hipper would be back in the repair bay for her to overwatch her testing, so all Azrael's had to do was head...back...
"Get off of me York!"
"I'm HUNGRY!!"
"Dammit! Get off!"
She heard the commotion happening, and decided it was probably a good idea to investigate it.
...
"What the fuck?"
She peaked around the corner and saw the KGV class, minus Howe, all together in one place. Prince of Wales was fighting with Duke of York, who seemed like she was...trying to suck her blood?
"Get off of me York! We aren't doing this again!"
"But I'm starving, and you're the only one here!"
"George is right there!"
"Her blood is fatty! Yours is far better!"
As for George, she was just happily eating a tart, not caring about their quarrel in the slightest.
Azrael walked over to them, going unnoticed because of their struggle. "What the hell are you two doing?"
York's eyes shot over to her, and Wales paled a bit as she knew what was about to happen. York lunged off of Wales, her red eyes clearly aiming straight for her neck.
"Azrael, watch out!"
George looked up from her pastry, her eyes widening as she saw York lunging at Azrael. None of them were close enough to stop her.
"GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD!!"
When she collided with Azrael, she didn't even flinch as the battleship brought her teeth down on her neck. York greedily slurped up her blood while Azrael literally cradled her and let her do so.
George and Wales were just staring at the scene, completely caught off guard that Azrael was more than willing to let York suck blood straight from her without any fuss.
"I...what?"
George patted Wales back. "I'm confused too..."
After around half a minute, York stopped drinking Azrael's blood, and her eyes returned to the cool blue that they usually are. She blinked several times as her cheeks tinted red, both from what she discovered from how Azrael's blood tastes, and her predicament of being cradled like a child.
"Azrael...perhaps you can put me down now?"
Azrael did put her down, quickly wiping her neck wound as it dried up fairly quickly. "You're lucky we of the future can heal to a limited degree, otherwise I would have decked you flat."
"I'm sorry!" She bowed down in panic and genuine sorrow, but Azrael just tapped her head and walked off.
"George...what exactly are you seeing in her?"
George watched her walk off, a small smile on her face. "I'm not sure myself...but she pulled me into this trap of love, and I'm loving the feeling."
Wales shook her head as York wiped her mouth. The three had enough of the day, and opted to go back to their room and rest.
As for Azrael, she finally arrived at the repair bay, and she saw Hipper sitting on the operating table looking at the minigun that was currently replacing her left arm. She turned to the door when it opened, and when she saw her sister there, the guns retracted and formed her hand again.
"So, are you ready to test your stuff?"
Hipper smiled, creating an energy sword out from her right arm. A shield of energy formed on her left one, and she pointed her sword at Azrael.
"I'm ready, are you?"
Azrael smiled, drawing a broadsword and flipping it around into a reverse grip. "More than ready."