“There is considerable damage to her cranium… But can she be salvaged…?” The mechanical three-headed being spoke to itself—its other heads. “She can… but she will no longer grow as much as we want her to… Don’t be sentimental… can she execute her mission? She can… That’s all I needed to hear… our plans are unaffected by time… the breeding cycles on all sides are stable enough to prolong us… wake her and send her off to Coney Island… give her full military support… if she proves to be faulty… dispose of her… if she succeeds, however… she will serve as a template for our next project overseas…”
#
The mission was simple for Major 2177-727.v2-Jade. Eliminate all aggressors on Coney Island that were harbouring the last of the Tunnel Rats. The bubble poppers were no more, for there were no more bubbles to pop. The Monarch’s plan had succeeded in the next phase.
“Send us your battle plan. Eliminate them in one fell swoop, Major. No survivors.”
“Yes, Your Majesties.” Major 2177-727.v2-Jade complied. “Transmitting the plans now. You will like this one very much. It will make use of my abilities. I would like to strike at dawn, just before a school day. There will be many people on the shore and in the village.”
“A creative plan… perhaps we overestimated the damages to your head…”
“I hope to show you that my combat abilities have not been blunted too…”
“This will be entertaining. Show us, Major.”
#
The sun had not yet risen in the sleepy slums of Coney Island, and yet the whole village was awake in confusion. The birds were chirping loudly, and the dogs on their leashes were yelping loudly. Children were running to the beaches in excitement with the amount of fish flip-flopping about on the cold sand. Fathers and sons, clueless about the history of the world ran with their nets to where the children were. It was everyone for themselves. Whoever collected the most would sell the most to export by noon; a gold rush.
One woman, stepped out of the hut with eyes wide open in horror, almost speechless. Old Singapore was nowhere near a faultline. Then she yelled to her new comrades to quickly get everyone they could see out inland. “Run as fast as you can we don’t have—” She looked to the sea again… the water began to recede and soon enough, white noise came rumbling down over the horizon. She ran away from the ocean along with whoever was with her.
#
When the nuclear device was detonated deep in the seabed as per The Major’s directions, her entire battalion was ready and waiting with large tiltrotor aircraft hovering overhead. Upon detonation, the shattering of the seabed and the formation of the tidal waves, their fast attack boats slipped out the back and slammed into the chaotic sea, full speed ahead at the enemy’s hideout. The manmade waves crashed down upon their enemies as predicted and whoever was left was too dazed to put up a proper gunfight.
The Major’s boats surged further inland into the now-flooded mangroves along with the rising waters where the illegal weapon stockpiles were, and where the last remnants of the rats were making their final stand.
“Multipile Strike UAVs offline.” The battle radio chimed. “Enemy has active MANPADs and SAM. Armour Battalion is currently late and will arrive in fifteen mikes. Out.”
“Major? What’s the plan? Do we wait?” One of the sergeants asked 2177-727.v2-Jade.
“The water will recede soon. We don’t have time. We’re going in… quiet and wet.”
“Got it. All victors, engines off! Dive away! We’re not waiting for armour.”
Into the water, Major 2177-727.v2-Jade went, along with the battalion that was modified to be just like her. They swam swiftly with fins all about their body, unimpeded by the opposing currents where the water already began to recede noticeably. Even then, in the murky waters of the muddied mangrove, they would not be seen. Their prey had no chance, though they could see the splashes of water in the deep, high-velocity bullets disintegrated upon hitting the water's surface, and ion cannon shots simply boiled and fizzled out a few centimetres deep.
Major 2177-727.v2-Jade and her men returned fire with the special gear they had that could be fired from underwater—pressurised harpoon rifles.
Single-shot, but otherwise highly effective.
The Princess of Clams and her army had the sea as their shield.
But then as then soon as they thought they had the advantage, their enemies gave into desperation. Like those who were lazy and unskilled in harvesting aquatic life, they too turned to the simple method of… dynamite fishing.
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Grenades and plastic explosives sank into the murky waters.
Shockwaves rippled throughout the receding waterline just as bodies began to float up.
Major 2177-727.v2-Jade managed to jump out of the water, but not without injuries, she had caught a few bullets in her belly coming out and her ears were now bleeding, but better injured than dead. She tossed aside her harpoon rifle and unzipped her waterproof bag, unfolding the stock of her compact plasma gun. Already, her surviving men followed and lit up the mangrove with a flurry of red bolts, slashing and burning all that their enemies hid behind.
“Retreat!” The enemy said, falling back one by one as they covered each other.
“Charge!” 2177-727.v2-Jade growled, as her platoon charged all at once with plasma blades drawn. She, however, had been bestowed a trident made from aircraft aluminium by The Monarch themselves. Scattered, unorganised skirmishes began to take place all around the mangrove swamp in a brutal melee.
The soldiers of Royal Krah were modified to be faster, and whatever remained of the Tunnel Rats were cut down one by one. 2177-727.v2-Jade charged into the fray, throwing her trident into the first man she could see, and then slinging about her plasma PDW to fire at the rest.
She jumped and somersaulted to where her trident was, with strong legs built to weather the currents. She jumped and stabbed, and jumped some more, like a frog; she owned this environment. But then a squelching of mud came from nearby and before she knew it, a rocket slammed into the mud right where she was about to land, throwing her off and slamming her into one of the trees.
“Forget what I said that night… today, one of us will be right.”
2177-727.v2-Jade hastily drew her plasma PDW, but before she could fire, an accurate shot blew the firearm out of her hand.
“There is no going back, Jade! What you’ve done! –there will be no home for you to come back to!” Said a familiar middle-aged lady in a diving suit with greyed hair, boots and a plate carrier; revolver smoking in one hand, a whaling harpoon in the other. “Don’t pretend to not know me! I made you!”
She hissed, her lungs ablaze. “The Monarchs made me. Your dream for me was to stay where I was, in that shitty fishing village… and then what? Grow up to help you kill more children taking the exams? To not be freed from poverty? To not start a new life? You say we are slaves under the crown, but the under the Tunnel Rats and the Rebellion’s actions, you people enslave yourselves to poverty under the guise of freedom and independence.” She stood up using her trident as a crutch. “You have not seen what lies outside of Old Singapore, where good people obey and keep their mouths shut, and do the job they are told to do as per the X-Levels. Clean water, a good wage and electricity—all in exchange for obedience. You are like this, because of disobedience, your selfish idea to restore the real Singapore…” Now, 2177-727.v2-Jade aimed her trident at her foe. “Once you’re gone, the suffering of Old Singapore ends. The nostalgia for the old days dies with you and your comrades…”
“When I am gone… the cycle repeats… and then The Monarch will just find you—or your replacements—another enemy for the Kingdom’s dogs to chase after… we are not special ya’know… we are just ants in a box…”
2177-727.v2-Jade did not reply. She lunged at her foe without remorse.
Trident clashed against harpoon in an epic symphony.
Plasma bolts versus gunfire played second fiddle all around.
“Major, we’ve eliminated the SAM Site and The Monarch has ordered napalm runs on the mangroves! We’ve been told to pull out! The mission is complete!”
“I’m busy, Sergeant. Go on without me!” 2177-727.v2-Jade grunted, dodging a near-fatal thrust. “Set the bombing run on my beacon! I am in battle with the HVT!”
“Major, I can’t do that.”
“That’s an order, Sergeant. I’m almost done.”
“Wilco, Major. Godspeed.”
“I’ll see you on Monday, Sergeant,” 2177-727.v2-Jade replied while parrying another thrust from her opponent.
“You’d sacrifice your life to stop me…? You’re as foolish as I thought.”
“Hmph… everything today was calculated… even your demise…” 2177-727.v2-Jade began to slow her movements. The stabs from her opponent’s harpoons were getting close. And then, a stab. 2177-727.v2-Jade took a stab clean to her belly.
“I am the greater warrior…” Her foe claimed, yanking her harpoon out.
2177-727.v2-Jade smiled. Blood and intestines did not spill out. She zipped down her dive suit. At first, all that was seen were gills and slime, but then, where the victorious thrust had landed, was a gaping hole surrounded by metal. “You are a great human. You were right. I am a fish out of water—and I am indeed a ghost in a shell. Thank you for the fight.”
She leapfrogged into the water just in time. Just like clockwork.
Arrow-shaped silhouettes burst forth from the clouds, screaming down low over the tops of the mangroves, shaking the earth, and dropping giant olive green pushpins into the tree line.
They turned white hot and consumed everything green and living.
#
2177-727.v3-Jade’s Helicopter hummed overhead. It had been years since she last felt the sight and the warm fuzzy feelings of nostalgia that came with it. It was another time and another province before it became abandoned. Today was a Monday, but not just any Monday.
It was the day of the X-Levels for the Philippine Islands.
With the entry of the Second Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping into what was left of the world stage in shattered Korea, the United States of North America withdrew their forces to defend the megacorporations in Japan where the majority of their investments were placed in.
Out went America, and in came Krah, but the rebels did not care who their new masters would be. Smart missiles streaked from the treeline, screaming into the flock of helicopters. Lasers effortlessly melted the missiles mid-air. The escorting attack helicopters broke away from the formation and began engaging the heat signatures in the treeline without mercy.
From where she sat, she could see students already lined up in the school compound.
This generation is more docile than the last… She thought as the helicopter’s tires squished softy on the giant yellow “H”. As she disembarked, all of them were already saluting with one hand, and pushing their hair up, exposing their barcodes.
Anything to work in the Capital of New Singapore.
Anything to escape the hellish cycle of poverty.
“Students, I am Lieutenant Colonel 2177-727.v3-Jade, and welcome to the X-Levels.”