I didn’t want to question Crys’ declaration in front of everyone, so I waited until the crowd dispersed. The sibilant hum of rain deepened our voices when we walked back to our vehicles.
“Crys, about what you just said–”
“Operation Reignland will begin immediately.” (Crys)
“Today?”
“Today.” (Crys)
“As in today-today?”
“The biggest threat to Starfish Mansion is gone. Delaying it any further would be absurd.” (Crys)
“Yeah, but it's kinda–“
“Thiefmaster is dead. The rats are motivated. The itinerant court is at Ker. Dancer and Test Subject are dead, but you have obtained the glitch. Flame Tank will be ready soon. All the necessary pieces are in place.” (Crys)
“We’re actually doing this?”
“It is time.” (Crys)
“Is it, though?”
“The letters Thiefmaster sent have been intercepted. However, if even one letter was able to slip through, we have a narrow time window before the information spreads. We must make our move before the information has enough time to travel. Their spies won’t have enough time to send a warning. Caliphate doesn’t have enough time to react and prepare. Our enemies can use the same weapons we use, but the consequences of the information Thiefmaster forced out of you do not matter if the recipients die faster than they have time to use that information effectively.” (Crys)
“Okay, okay, I get it. Gotta go fast for real. But are we sure that the Flame Tank is ready to go for real? Even if they have cleared the tunnel and built the bridge–”
“It will be ready when we get there.” (Crys)
“No time for a test drive?”
“It hasn’t been a problem for you before.” (Crys)
“Well, sure, I drove the tank a few times casually in my time, so it should be okay. But what about the merchant families and the guild situation?”
“I have provoked them enough. They will expose each others secrets to gain our favor. Their skins are already soft enough. Many of them will get sick and fall from a balconies soon. None of those who live will stand in our way. Thiefmaster’s head will be delivered to Cot-Mog-Megs in pine resin as a favor and a warning.” (Crys)
“We’re really going live?”
“Yes.” (Crys)
Straight from Thiefmaster Arc to Reignland Arc. Not even a recap episode in between.
Why am I trying to stall again, you might ask. I don’t know myself. After two years of patiently waiting and planning, we have finally manipulated ourselves into a perfect table position. We hold all the winning cards.
Well-planned is half done. Folding pocket aces is out of the question.
I just need to trust that Crys knows what he’s doing. His plan almost worked in the anime and I have corrected all the things that went wrong – best of all, there’s no no indestructible final boss with an overpowered weapon.
The main characters are not drugged and broken. They are fully equipped and fully motivated.
And with a cherry on top, I’m in a glitched state.
There’s no better time than now. They don’t expect us. They still think Sun City is the one place in the Caliphate no one dares to attack.
I’m not getting any younger. I should do as much as I can before this body breaks down and before this glitch gets canceled.
“Okay. Let’s play.”
Two-parter anime finale, here we come.
Rain and Mirim were close enough to hear our conversation. They didn’t make any comments, but Rain’s body language told me she felt uncomfortable.
“Rain, you’re coming to Sun City with us, right? Just as we planned?”
“No.” (Rain)
Oh boy. Here’s another one prone to hesitation. She promises one thing and then changes her mind. Her mood turns suddenly like weather.
“Rain, you’re a key part in the plan. Shmupping the Sun Palace will be much efficient with you in the crew.”
“...It’s too long.” (Rain)
“The mission is too long? Time away from Sorry Man is too long?”
Ah, right. She just saw Sorry Man in action. She’s completely unwilling to leave his side now. I should’ve seen this coming.
“We can take Sorry Man with us.“
“No. Sorry Man won’t go to Reignland when that trap is still there.” (Rain)
“Tze is not there and the platform doesn’t work automatically. It’s under our control.”
“...Dancer was also trapped in that future cube or whatever.” (Rain)
“Dancer isn’t here either, and no one needs to approach the cube.”
“He wants to touch that cube.” (Rain)
“Well, it’s one of his attractors, but there are dangerous things everywhere. I know all the traps and how to avoid them. Again, Sorry Man doesn’t need to come with us. It’s just a month or two, and you can return earlier, just like we decided.”
“Sorry Man is not going and I’m not leaving Sorry Man.” (Rain)
“Rain, it would be in your best interest to–” (Crys)
“Sister, I will stay at home with Sorry Man.” (Mirim)
That’s right, Mirim, you tell her.
I know they have talked about what happens when everyone else is gone except Mirim and Sorry Man. This is like a trial run for that.
“Help them again this time, sister. This is an important battle for everyone's future. We will be fine here with Sorry Man. We will both still be here when you come back.”
Uh-oh. That actually sounds like a death flag, Mirim. Maybe you shouldn’t say it like that.
“No. My answer stands.” (Rain)
“It’s for our future, sister. For Sorry Man’s future.” (Mirim)
“No!” (Rain)
Lightning strike above us. Guys, let’s not argue in front of kids, okay?
Should I do it? I guess I have to do it. I have to play the trigger card I wanted to avoid playing.
“Rain, listen. Some of the high nobles who visited Bone Dune Station are still alive in the Sun Palace. The ones who visited children’s cells.”
Rain’s whole body stiffened. I heard even louder lightning strike somewhere in the forest.
Risky click of the day. Dangerous, dangerous topic.
“Calm down, sister.” (Mirim)
Rain stared at me. Is it go time? Are we triggered enough?
“...Mirim, take care of Sorry Man while I’m away.” (Rain)
“I will, sister.” (Mirim)
Whew. Crisis avoided. We’re hitting the road together after all.
----------------------------------------
I noticed a group of younger students observed us from the veranda. They just stood there holding umbrellas with a confused look on their face. Were they hiding from the school shooter and just came out?
They didn’t hear Crys’ announcement? Should I play an encore for them?
“Global party announcement, listen up! We are going to hit Reignland right after these messages! Starting today, all students who are second year and above must get ready for an excursion to bring down the Caliphate! Operation Reignland is go! I repeat, Operation Reignland is go!”
“Can you repeat that?!” (Word)
Magic Word again. This guy just doesn’t know when to stop.
“Very funny. By the way, you and Snow are not coming to Reignland.”
“Are we going to Reignland?!” (Snow)
“He just said we’re not going, stupid! I wouldn’t go to some stupid Reignland anyway!” (Word)
“You can’t talk to elders like that!” (Snow)
“I just did, stupid!” (Word)
Yup, let’s just ignore those two.
I weighed the flagstaff tied to my left hand. It’s not like I’m holding a lightning rod, right? Should I attach an umbrella to it?
I need to revise my own part in the plan carefully because of this. It would be quite embarrassing if the plan fails because I can’t fit this flagstaff inside the Flame Tank. It would’ve been impossible if the flagstaff was still full length. Good thing I cut it shorter using teleportation circle. It was now short enough to fit the Flame Tank.
Totally meant to do that. Totally not a lucky coincidence.
We need some time to finalize preparations. It’s going to get very busy for a while.
“Kim, did you find Cleaner’s body?”
“His corpse was in the second floor hallway.” (Kimono)
“Okay. He probably did his best against Thiefmaster. None of the students died?”
“So it seems.” (Kimono)
“Goby did his job protecting them. Three Renfields for one vampire is not a bad trade, all things considered. We don't need to change the teams. A proper burial for the fallen heroes of the Revolution Movement is in order.”
“A proper burial for them, but not for Test Subject?” (Kimono)
“Please, Kim, don’t start...”
I didn’t feel particularly sad about the deaths of minor side characters like Cleaner-Goby the same way I mourned the deaths of Dancer and T-Sub. Goby was a useful NPC, but that’s about it. He wasn’t particularly pleasant as a person or interesting as a character. As mentioned before, he was a walking shonen redemption trope – a criminal who became a police officer after a protag won him in a duel and thus stopped his evil crime spree. Without the duel loss and his unfaltering belief in the honor code of his clan, Goby would’ve stayed firmly on the enemy side.
We need to find a new janitor for the orphanage school. But let’s invade, occupy and conquer Reignland first.
----------------------------------------
The map room in the Map Village was turned into a war room.
First phase was to send coded messages to our associates in nearby territories, basically telling them it was finally go time, so they should grab their gear and move out as planned.
The gangs and tribes who were part of Operation Reignland were previously knowledgeable about their own small corner of the plan only. To maintain operational security, info was shared on need-to-know basis, yet the groups were trained to work at specific stages in the grand campaign from the start.
The actual logistics of moving 800+ rowdy revolutionaries to Reignland (making sure that the right people were at the right place at the right time with the right vehicles, weapons and items) was mainly in Crys’ capable hands.
The east coast of Mu on the map table was full of figurines and blocks, and the side table had a pile of wax-stamped envelopes. At this point, it felt like we were playing a cooperative 4X wargame by snailmail.
We tried to manage the aggro of a whole region; manipulate Death Squads to exit their camps and chase ghosts, drive panicked citizens to northwest side of the city, and so on.
“These letters are going to Sharp Mountains. ‘Red Oni’ is Spehir Spyrox in Hidden Valley base and ‘Blue Oni’ is Agan Tantary at Lake Kroonik base. Don’t mix them up.”
“Yes, Seer!” (messenger)
Spehir Spyrox, the wandering mercenary from the east coast of Mu, was the current leader of our Hidden Valley sub-gang. In the original timeline he teamed up with Rain temporarily during the Hidden Valley episode and got killed by Tze’s death squad at the end of the episode, and later Crys used his name as the mythical ancient founder of Revolution Movement.
“Speedrun, the autorail from Warship City to Sun City.” (Crys)
“What about it?”
“Destroy it or leave it. Choose.” (Crys)
“Oh, I get to choose? I think we can just ignore it. It was important to ambush the train line in the original timeline when Tze was alive and reinforcements arrived from the Warship City, but now that Reignland is in decline and if we have the Flame Tank and airship, the risk is negligible. I mean, Tze ordered the palatzaars to guard the Strangers submersible Hadodoah, so I don’t think there’s any change. They just follow Tze’s last orders blindly forever there. And even if they call reinforcements from Kraton Prevails area, and even if some of them start using their own brains instead of following NPC routines, they’re just throwing fresh meat into a hot grill.”
“High Hats do not act rationally. They will call in reinforcements at the first sign of unrest.” (Crys)
“True, but you know... Flame Tank, so your argument is invalid. Or are you the one getting cold feet now because the key aspects of the operation rest on a Strangers vehicle you haven’t seen in action personally?”
“Everyone has a plan until they punched in the face.” (Crys)
“You really like that line, huh. How about I punch myself while you kick my behind, and then we move to plan B if our hot rod doesn’t work?”
“I will fit that punishment in the schedule.” (Crys)
Crys was a lot more relaxed now that we were finally getting into real action. This plan was his masterpiece in the making and all the pesky obstacles had been cleared. Happily smiling Crys might be my new favourite male MC.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Me? I simply resigned to my fate.
The big wheels are turning, the avalanche has already started; it's too late to late pledge for this crowdfunding campaign.
----------------------------------------
In front of me on the map table was a big list of assets: sidekicks, sub-gangs, well-paid mercenaries, and trustworthy hangarounds who played key roles in this play. They were sorted into seven main task groups:
Operation Reignland v13 (final)
1. Tiger Team (aka Flame Tank Team)
Team leaders: Speedrun and Crys
Main members: Kimono and Rain
There was room for only four people in the Flame Tank, but big guns don’t need big teams. Four has been the magic bottleneck number for MC team sizes lately. Coincidence? I think yes. The second group had only few trusted characters for the same reason:
2. Zeppelin Group (Airship Firebombing Team)
Team leader: Palo
Vice-leader: Sun’s Girl
Main members: Gold Odor, Orchid and Darling
Infiltration assistance provided by: Pirates of the Rose and Sun (captain Drue the Miserable).
Airship Group’s mission was to get inside the city using the water channel from Warship City, assemble the airship on board, and firebomb the city.
Then, after the two small teams with big guns, there were the five large operational groups:
3. Ninja Spider Rat Group (Sneaky Sun City Infiltration & Tunnel Poisoning Team)
Team leader: Woodeye
Vice-leader: Fox Laughing
Main members: Double Shadow, Virtuoso, Ragdoll, Siren, Crooked Blade, Lovely Sun, Violet Cloak, and Eight Under.
Assistance provided by: Palaver of Independent Assassins (a small group of hired killers lead by Rajalgar Drach), Rappa Society (a scattered group of con artists, thieves and spies lead by Thierry “Tirry” the Mystic), Ratline (smuggling group, leader pending) and baron Hutier “Grip” Gerandrelo (with his 30-man crew).
In the anime, Ivorythief and Reavertooth assigned themselves in the infiltration group (which was lead by Ragdoll back then) and Crys just rolled with their decision. If he had been in a clear state of mind, he would’ve realized that the twins just wanted to be the first ones in the Sun Palace to hear Caliph Tze’s offer to flip their coats inside out again.
Other than that, the original group (Ragdoll, Woody, Foxy, Doubles, Lovely Sun and Cloak) was pretty good, so I just added some Crys’ recommendations. Woody’s passive sabotage skill prevented him from driving or using any complicated machines because he just broke them after a while, so it was natural to send him inside the Sun City gatehouse that controlled the mechanical portcullis system. Double Shadow was a solid dude in the anime and practically dated princess Achlop while in the Starfish Mansion, but he hadn’t visited Starfish Mansion yet in this timeline. It was too early for them.
Crys was a bit hesitant to put Cloak in any group because Cloak’s biological father was one of the side bosses of Princes of Darkness, but I knew Cloak ran away from home and had no interest in going back. He was a trustworthy dude in the anime as well; he was forced to live in a closet because all the rooms in the orphanage were full, but in this timeline he had his own room because none of the stupid bullies, troublemakers and turncoats weren’t there (and this wasn’t a metaphor for anything). The main bit of Cloak’s family drama happened during the episode The Gathering, when Cloak’s father Alberamey arrived to Starfish Mansion as the representative of Princes of Darkness instead of Ruzi the Non-Existent, but this timeline was peaceful and drama-free on that front.
On another note, the Rappa Society con artists and wizard-wannabes were pretty easy to get into the Revolution Movement just by providing deep lore info about apparitions to Tirry, explaining some local mysterious phenomenons and giving sage advice about their future as a group.
4. Totally Not The Main Attack Group (Distraction Team)
Team leader: Silver Tongue
Vice-leaders: Sectional (aka Cross-Section aka Crossec) and Sparkling Oasis
Members groups and their leaders: Clan of the Forest of the Branchless Trees (warrior clan; leader chief Maghany Musy), Clan of Iron Wolves (a large family of Plands; leader matriarch Mina Pland), No-Nails Gang (prairie gang from No-Lands; leader Huge-Big-War-Man), Mirror Carriers (North Reignland street gang; leader Tanu), Skullhunters (riverboat gang; leader Iu-Iu) and Cloud Owl Sect (secluded group of martial artist slash warrior monks; leader Zouge).
In the anime, Silver Tongue was the leader of the Train Robbery Group. They were practically the only part of Reignland operation that succeeded as planned in the OG timeline. By the way, French fans of the anime were convinced that Silver’s character was based on French resistance fighter Simone Segouin, but the showrunner denied all resemblance to living or deceased real people.
Silver Tongue, Crossec and Sparkles worked well together, so putting these three in the same group here as well was a no-brainer – although placing a young woman in charge of multiple roidraged barbarian-type characters seemed like a bad idea on the surface, I was sure those three would make it work together.
By the way, the Cloud Owl Sect joined our movement soon after Kimono humiliated their first rank master in a duel. This happened during a short side quest we did last year. And then Kim humiliated them again when one elder complained about “dirty tricks” and demanded a rematch. The ascetic warriors were strong, but they weren’t main character strong, and their skills with swords and spears were pretty much trash against hot weapons. They were being held back by their inflexible traditions until we arrived.
Outside their own training, they now taught some basic close quarters combat to our new recruits at Lake Kroonik, and during this operation, they would fight for the first time outside their own mountain area.
5. Death Squad Kiting Group (aka Road Warrior Group)
Team Leader: Plum Leaf
Vice Leaders: Skywolf and Breadcrumb
Member groups and their leaders: Show Your Weapons Gang (young street gang; leader Purplefield), Nihilists of the East Reef (gang of street thugs; leader pending), Long Drop Bandits (outlaw group from northern Mu; leader Leopold Rope), Stray Dogs of the Stray Dog City (major street gang; leader Fourixar II), Ultion Alliance (ragtag group of escaped slaves from Corelands; leader Free Betweener), and Color Lock Gang (forest gang from Wineep Isthmus; leader Candle Snuffer).
In the original timeline, Magic Word was the leader of Palace Road Group; a group equivalent to our current Road Warrior Group.
Following the coastal Palace Road to Reignland’s border and pushing through road blockades with Strangers vehicles Blitzkrieg-style worked first two-thirds of the way in the anime, but the last third with Death Squad roadblocks was a problem. Our solution to this last-third problem was easy: send Infiltration Team and Distraction Team to pave the road first. Divide et impera.
At some point I seriously thought about adding drummers with big kettle drums on top of one of the vehicles to play some hardcore ghetto beats, but Crys talked me out of the idea. I’m sure he would’ve said yes if electric guitars and amplifiers existed.
6. Keeping It Real Team (Flaming Flamingo Group / Support & Exfil Team)
Team Leader: Spehir Spyrox
Vice leader: Dawdler
Background assistance provided by: Lake Kroonik Crew (leader Agan Tantary Sheriff-Killer) and Majestics (gang of self-described nobles, formerly known as Ur’s Caliphs; leader Seed).
7. Operation Ice Cream Barge (Late Night Team)
Team Leader: Loksen Rosth
Members: Highlands Escort Agency, featuring bounty hunters Pharro, Erwin, Jadao and Sarpe.
The seventh group would arrive a bit later to drop more field rations and support to our diligent warriors, and possibly collect some gratitude points by providing humanitarian aid for starving people (very selectively). The pikemen of Highlands Escort Agency (assisted by Loksen Rosth’s handpicked group of bounty hunters) were in charge of cargo.
And that’s about it.
Mirim, Sorry Man and Kurdt were part of the non-participating group (aka Staying Home Club). We have to leave behind at least one main character who’s able to talk as our representative. In the anime, all the main characters left the mansion for the final battle, and when no one returned, Achlop had to take over.
All Pikatrate soldiers and citizens, and also our trio of high-level gunsmiths (blacksmith Vaasyn Kazior, redsmith Rigo Worg and whitesmith Tir Mirtao) were exempted from service.
Ivorythief and Reavertooth were obviously out. In the original timeline, the twins jumped on Caliph Tze’s side during the final battle. The reasons for that jump didn’t exist in this timeline (Revolution Movement hadn’t declined into a disorganized group of crazy drug addicts, etc.), but there was a small chance that a sudden betrayal could still happen – more so after what happened to me in the Winter Forest.
Both enemies and allies in this world were making moves they didn’t make in the game or anime. Can't be too careful with those two.
I was also worried about what the twins might do in the Golden Cage courtesan harem during or after the invasion. Fireland tribes were traditionally toxic in their methods of cruelty when it came to treatment of captives and civilians. I wanted to avoid the horrible scenario where I would have to choose between ignoring their barbaric acts and trying to stop them with force.
Well, it’s just an issue of selecting the right personnel for the right jobs. The twins are precise instruments for surgical assassinations and Rainwoman is a blunt tool for all-out chaotic battlefield.
The newest first year students of the orphanage school were still too green to join the operation, so they were assigned to admin tasks that were previously performed by older members, while our main invasion force consisted of the older members transferred away from those tasks – plus all the independent street gangs and groups we had collected under the Revolution Movement’s bluebird banner.
On the orphanage side, messenger Steve and chuunibyou witch Dryghten were better at working on the home front. Magic Word and Snowstone were not included in the roster either; someone had to keep the orphanage in order while older students were away.
Nightfire, the current leader of the Slave Towers gang, was part of our alliance on the Ur side, so their job was to watch our backs on the eastern end of Wineep. When majority of Revolution Movement’s strength suddenly leaves the isthmus like this, all enemy gangs at northern Ur will certainly get some weird ideas about invading our territories. But we’ll be back soon enough to retake whatever they take.
All in all, total of 800+ Revolution Movement members and affiliates.
It doesn’t feel like much compared to the thousands upon thousands of Caliphate soldiers, knights and guards in Reignland, but all our members are carefully vetted by Crys and me, and considering their abilities and the high-level items and Strangers vehicles in our possession (and not even mentioning the precog-level strats we can carry out), the power and influence we project on both continents is multiple times higher than our numbers on paper.
Still, Crys expected that about five hundred of us would die during this operation – if everything goes horribly wrong, that is. Most of the casualties in this nightmare scenario would be in the Distraction Team and Road Warrior Group.
Yeah, this was Crys’ realistic estimate for a successful mission. We would win in the end, but the price would be high. But win is a win.
I obviously hoped for zero casualties, especially for our four-person Flame Tank Team.
Speaking of casualties, the current third and second year students included the main cast of the fourth anime season. When the anime came to the fourth season, the original main characters basically stayed in the Starfish Mansion and didn’t do much anything, so the students of the orphanage school became the new focus characters. Viewers thought that the showrunner dropped the ball and jumped the shark with this weird cast change and stopped watching the anime. Fifth season brought the original main characters back to the spotlight, but the damage was already done; only the final battle brought some of the audience back, and they were disappointed again when most of the main characters died, ending the anime on a bitter note.
There were still some orphanage school side characters I hadn’t encountered at all – like Bonetorch, Raw Redhorse, and Dancer’s little sister Fu-Go. I had changed the timeline enough that I had no idea were they were now. Was Fu-Go still kept as a slave somewhere in the Sultanate? In the anime, she appeared on her own and quickly became the new leader of the Nihilists Gang, but it was already well past that point in the story and she hadn’t appeared. Something had changed her fate.
Then there was that guy called Tantary Agan Czt-Czk, a fallen nobleman who helped Rainwoman in one of the episodes after Bone Dune Station escape. He was a mysterious individual with a cool character design. Was he still wandering somewhere in the wastelands of northern Mu, waiting for a wild encounter? We found his cousin Sheriff-Killer and Crys put him in charge of the Lake Kroonik Crew, but Czt-Czt (who I actually wanted) didn’t pop up.
And the whole Shining Lanterns gang. Where were they? It was like they didn’t even exist in this timeline. Were they hiding somewhere, or were they buried in an unmarked mass grave?
And what about that one unnamed guy who joined Thiefmaster’s group during Ivorythief’s solo adventure, but tried to help Ivorythief during the castle attack instead of following Thiefmaster? I’d really like to know his name, where he is and what he’s doing, and if he’s an ally or an enemy.
----------------------------------------
Before returning to the Starfish Mansion to finish my personal preparations, I jumped on the stage and gave a speech to the team leaders who were standing in the room. They were in full gear and wearing their colorful face masks, ready to move out.
“Everyone, listen up! I know you’ve been all waiting for this day for a super long time, but don’t get too exited. Just do your job and follow the plan. You’re the best of the best of the best, you can do it. Now, some final reminders for the road... As I’ve said before, as I’ve super-said before: don’t shoot the ones who hold their hands up and their heads down. We have turtles inside the Sun Palace, so don’t shoot the women with painted faces and...“
Oh, right. They have probably never seen an actual turtle. I hope there are still a few turtles alive on some distant shores of this world.
“...Turtles in this context are our double agents, co-conspirators, insiders and saboteurs. They are on our side for one reason or another, but they pretend to be on the enemy side. They leave some doors open accidentally, forget keys in tactical locations, stuff like that. Our turtles surrender immediately and hold a white handkerchief between their index finger and middle finger on their left hand. Some of them may pretend to be dead, so check their bodies for the handkerchief signal as well. Make sure to remind your teams about this. Understood?”
“Yes, Seer!” (team leaders)
“Memorize the short list of greens and purples you should not kill, if you find them alive. Especially important are the two people at the top of the list: the nameless chief librarian in the palace and a woman named Mireille in the prison dungeon. That is, if you have to improvise and happen to end up in those areas. If you hurt them, your credit rating in the Revolution Movement goes down considerably. Do not kill any civilians indiscriminately. Got it?”
“Yes, Seer!” (team leaders)
“And no raping. Absolutely no raping. Those moving over Golden Cage area especially, watch after every sub-gang members in your team. Seriously, this should be obvious and I shouldn’t even have to say this, but I mean zero raping. Not women, not men, not anything. If you see a ghost, don’t try to rape it. If I hear any member saying ‘not raping enemies is weak’ again, you’re getting banned and canceled immediately. You’re out of this party faster than a scramjet missile. Raping is not funny and rapists are not cool. Understood?”
“Yes, Seer!” (team leaders)
I knocked the floor twice with my flagstaff to emphasize my words like an old-timey judge.
“I repeat: no raping, no looting, no torturing prisoners, no killing civilians, no destroying paintings or sculptures or cultural artifacts. The targets are Caliphate soldiers and High Hats. Permakill the bullies quickly and efficiently and without mercy. Exterminate them like cockroaches. Keep it woke, fascist lives don’t matter. The only ones we don’t tolerate are the ones who do not tolerate. One for all and all for one. We are the future, we are the children. Can I get a hell yeah?”
“Hell yeah!” (team leaders)
“Now fly! Fly, my pretty monkeys! Go forth and conquer! Light the beacons, tonight we ride shiny and chrome! Let’s make the trains run on schedule – eh, maybe not that line... And remember to hydrate, it’s a desert zone, the complete opposite of this area. But don’t drink from the fountains in the Sun Palace, fill your canteens before Reignland–”
I felt like I was sending my kids for their first errand.