Dea propelled herself through the water. The visor was indeed equipped with augmented reality, and it dulled the view through a dark filter similar to sunglasses. The urgency of the mission pushed her to pick up speed.

She maneuvered past rock and mangroves until she reached the cove, where the dock jutted out. The system auto-detected the target location, and the distance appeared in her vision in glowing blue digits. Swimming up, she breached the surface and porpoised towards the beach.

It was warm inside the carapace, though it was designed to be lightweight. At first glance, it resembled an amphipod with stiff armor segments, but they slid and overlapped like tectonic plates, allowing fluid motion.

When she hauled herself onto dry land, augmented reality yet again marked the safe route in blue—all the way up the winding road that led to the facility.

She disengaged the military Cypod on her back and unfolded it to its full dimensions. The added weight should have tired her, but the exoskeleton absorbed much of the stress. Rigorous workouts had also boosted her stamina.

As Dea wriggled into the Cypod, she activated real-time tracking. "I'm at the dock. Be there soon."

"Copy that, Butterfly," Sagari's brisk voice replied. "We see you."

Bull echoed acknowledgement.

"We're on our way to the prison area. You should see us on the map," Sagari continued. "Hold your position at the first guard room once you enter. Rendezvous on the given marker once we give the all-clear."

"Understood."

Sand crunched as the Cypod rolled forward. Dea's hands tightened on the gun, even though the system was set on high alert mode to detect any human within a twenty meter radius. It wasn't fear that made her tremble—it was the fiery magma within that had started to simmer.

Dilip Goonewardane was in the building ahead.

The option to observe from a safe distance was on the table, but she intended to be there to capture Dilip.

Dea sped up the road that snaked through bushy wilderness. Red overlay in her view displayed the detection area of the remaining surveillance cameras. The others fired words back and forth on the general comms link as they advanced through the building.

It struck her then how much of an extra she was to this team. She dwelled on the ease with which she convinced Massa to allow her on this mission. On the other hand, Talmus Mora was quick to air his objections. Doubt seeded in her gut at possible political motives she might have overlooked.

The grim face of the facility loomed ahead in greeting. Next to the closed roller door was the smaller orifice, gaping open for her. The unconscious guards had been cleared, though flattened land grass revealed where they had fallen. She veered away from the red zones and followed the highlighted route.

"I'm at the entrance now," she whispered.

"I see you, Butterfly," Bull responded without missing a beat. "Go right in."

When she zoomed in, the sound of waves dipped. It was a claustrophobic passage that opened up to a space akin to a warehouse. Stark lighting lay bare a monotony of steel grey walls, pipes and cables. On one side was an upper landing. Her eyes flew to the glass barrier there, which showcased a guard room. Screens and workstations sat idle.

Dea eased to a stop and expanded the map at the corner of her view. Sagari and her team appeared in blue icons. They were in one of the large spaces at the center, where the prisoners were held. Red icons turned yellow to indicate incapacitated targets.

The Stingrays had essentially captured this human stronghold.

Her eye homed in on an attached antechamber. Four red icons congregated under a special marker. Dilip.

Rage jetted up, followed by an overpowering urge to see him hurt. Nothing else mattered. The sweet taste of revenge, hovering within grasp, emboldened her. It was as if a monster oozed out from an unknown crevice and gained mass, breathing fire into her veins.

"Butterfly, proceed to our location," Sagari whispered, cutting into her thoughts. "This is a lab—the prison tanks are in the adjacent room."

"Understood," she said through gritted teeth.

Dea traversed a long utility corridor with only the whir of the ventilation system to keep her company. A wayward thought sparked in her brain. They won't actually let me do anything. I'm just baggage they've carried into the mission—but why? Just because I insisted I wanted to be here?

It was symbolic that she was here on this pivotal occasion, but she might very well have been a liability. Yet again, she couldn't dismiss the vague notion that she was a political pawn serving another goal that she couldn't put her finger on. It fueled her fury.

She emerged into a hallway barred by a set of doors—except now it was open. Ribbontail had disabled the scanners.

"They must know something's up by now," Sagari said. "Butterfly, speed up."

Now at the center of the vast land structure, Dea pushed through a door and arrived at her destination, where Sagari's team waited for her.

She jolted to a stop.

The place was indeed a lab. It exuded an ultramodern vibe that blended with crude metal and industrial greys. Screens blinked, liquid bubbled and ropes of cable snaked everywhere. Grating covered parts of the floor, while metallic half walls and sturdy partitions divided the area into sections.

What grabbed her attention were tall twin tubes filled with amber liquid, their striking color popping out of the picture. Still forms floated inside like grotesque specimens preserved in formaldehyde.

They were merpeople.

The world appeared to dim, and it had little to do with the visor.

"Butterfly," Sagari hissed. "Take your position."

Dea turned to glimpse the merwoman at the opposite end—near the door of the antechamber, from which a faint noise of conversation wafted out. Unconscious humans sprawled on one side, two clad in white coats. Manta and Ribbontail were beyond view.

Without a word, Dea rolled the Cypod towards the designated spot behind a partition. She shook while the inferno inside burned away and fed the monster.

"Devil, I'm in position," Ribbontail's voice said over the comms link.

"Any luck with a visual?" Sagari asked.

"There's an obstruction in the vents. The scud bots cannot access the antechamber. There's no way to ascertain which is our primary target. The sonar image is too fuzzy."

"Something's off," the merwoman growled. "This whole thing was almost too easy."

Manta remained silent.

Dea checked the sonar feed. It was indeed hard to make out anything other than general characteristics such as height and body shape. On another occasion, she might have been in favor of aborting this mission in the face of unknown danger, but now, the flames devoured all reason. She could only see her end goal, enticingly within reach.

"I'm now in position by the secondary entrance," Ribbontail whispered. "Awaiting orders."

"Alright, team." Sagari inched closer to the door, holding the gun. "Direct confrontation is unavoidable. We go in on my command. Ribbontail, you nab Goonewardane while we distract them."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sagari started a countdown. The tension skyrocketed.

It was hard to believe that they were just meters from Dilip. What was mere talk in the tactical room was now being rendered a reality. Her stare shifted to the vertical vats. The turbulence of anger and hate gained momentum into a violent conflagration.

"Three," Sagari's voice whispered over the comms channel.

Dea's accelerated heartbeat pounded in her ears. The concern she harbored for the safety of her team dissolved in the heat of the moment. Destroy Dilip. Twist that smile into a grimace.

"Two."

Manta cocked his gun, his torso positioned into a battle stance above his Cypod. As her eyes bored into the land machine, Anuk suddenly invaded her thoughts. You're not the girl I met. The words rumbled through her mind and opened a floodgate. She staggered, breathing uneven.

"One. Go!"

The Stingrays surged forward in a coordinated attack. Manta hunkered down and rammed the door with his bulk, reinforced with the Cypod's armor.

Dea clutched her head—the pressure made it hard to breathe. The monster is behind the door. The fire within receded, leaving behind a charred blackness, and a tiny voice sputtered to life, which she tried in vain to stifle. There's one inside you too.

The door burst open with a loud boom, and the team stormed in—Sagari aiming the gun just over Manta's defensive stance.

A nanosecond later, Sagari yelled, "Goonewardane's not here! It's a trap!"

Her words were half drowned out by the deafening shots that ensued, sending shockwaves out of the room. Thuds and crashes added to the cacophony of shouts—both merman and human.

The earsplitting screech of an alarm blared out, and red light pulsed on and off.

Shock immobilized Dea. Her ears rang. Then she jabbed at the button on her helmet to dull the sonic assault.

Bull's voice crackled in through the emergency channel, "Cloaked units detected! Eagle on the way."

"No! Don't send in Eagle," Sagari yelled, her words punctuated by heavy panting. "Wait for Butterfly. Get her out and go!"

The merman didn't respond for a heartbeat—then he intoned, "Acknowledged."

The map in Dea's vision alerted her to fifteen red dots converging fast—seemingly materialized out of thin air.They must've anticipated this attack!

Her panicked eyes fixated on the open doorway, momentarily bathed in crimson. Manta came rocketing out, pushing aside the lifeless form of a human soldier. An arm segment of his carapace was gone.

"Butterfly, stay out of sight!" he shouted. "When you see the smoke, get back to the utility corridor. Then get to the sub. We'll hold them off."

Manta raced to a half wall, wheels screeching as he expertly drifted in an arcing sideways skid. Now stationed behind it, he aimed his gun at the lab's main entrance.

Dea's heart hammered in tandem with the battle raging in the antechamber. Rooted to the spot, she hurled a look in its direction again. Gunshots exploded inside.

Then two things happened at once.

Sagari rolled her Cypod into the lab again, followed by Ribbontail. They were obviously victorious, but Ribbontail's limp arm and battered carapace made it obvious that victory had come at a price.

Then the first three of the enemy units broke into the lab, carrying heavy shields.

A fusillade of gunshots ricocheted off metal and struck the walls like claps of thunder. The pulsating red and whining alarm triggered what could only be described as visceral fear. Dea darted behind a column for cover.

She peeked around in time to witness more human soldiers streaming in. They shot relentlessly at Manta. The wall started cracking under the barrage. Ribbontail had set the scud bots to attack mode—they took down two humans before a soldier arrived with an EMP gun, which made short work of them.

Sagari, who was hidden behind one of the central tubes, hurled a metallic cylinder to the floor. Smoke billowed out.

The merwoman proceeded to open fire at the enemy, aiming for weak spots through shields and bulletproof vests. Manta followed suit. At least two humans dropped. The smoke was so thick now that it was hard to see what was going on.

The humans advanced regardless, retaliating violently. Sagari and Manta were forced to withdraw. Ribbontail was now non-responsive, propped behind a column. Through the onslaught of sensory stimuli, that one image seared into Dea's brain. You're responsible for this. You made this happen.

Sagari unleashed another smoke grenade and roared, "Butterfly, go, go, go!"

It snapped Dea to her senses. Her system switched to flight mode.

As more smoke geysered up, she jumped to action, following the escape route highlighted on the sonar map. The Cypod wheels clattered over debris as she zipped along the walls under the cover of the smokescreen. Heavy fire thundered in the lab.

In her peripheral vision, Dea witnessed a stray bullet hit one of the tubes, which loomed above the fog.

Amber liquid spurted out from the bullet hole, and cracks webbed out in rapid succession. In the winking alarm glow, it took on a blood red intensity. Then all at once, the whole tube splintered in a shower of glass—myriad shards glinting in the light amidst the smoke and chaos. Liquid sloshed out.

Dea averted her eyes from the cadaver that spilled out and powered on. She almost reached the doorway, but she turned back in a moment of hesitation.

Sagari's words reverberated in her head, yelling to Bull not to send in Eagle. Ribbontail was out of the fight, so there was no way Sagari and Manta could win against a dozen human soldiers in direct combat—even though they had the carapace and their military prowess.

The ridi dropped. Dea's hands clenched on the gun, and she whirled around.

The smoke slowly cleared to reveal Sagari and Manta putting up a valiant fight. The latter dodged the line of fire from a soldier who had attempted a sneak attack from the side. Several human soldiers lay slumped on the floor while more drove the two Stingrays back.

Dea stared at the backs of the humans, gaining definition as the smoke dissipated. Her heart pumped out a surge of adrenaline.

She broke into a hurtling dash.

Unlike the humans' jerky motion, the Cypod sailed smoothly through the lab, now slick with liquid. It was similar to yet another round of the last stage of target practice, where she had to shoot on the move—though now she had to avoid critical hits.

Dea aimed at a leg and fired. A howl issued out, and the soldier dropped. She shifted her aim to her left and shot another. That was as far as her surprise attack went.

As she rushed on like a torpedo, two humans whipped back, lightning fast reflexes springing to action. On top of that, the Cypod wheels juddered over fallen debris, rattling Dea out of her careful aim.

The next shot missed.

The humans were now too close to shoot. Her brain registered Sagari's shout. She bent back—just as a backhand blow swiped the air mere inches from her nose.

Dea swerved and crashed into a soldier, the Cypod armor making contact with his legs with a sickening crunch. He sprawled to the floor. Manta and Sagari used the distraction to shoot down another soldier.

Then bullets fired. One grazed her helmet—the loud screech assaulting her eardrums. Another struck her back, the force knocking her forward. Pain blossomed on the site, though she knew the carapace deflected it.

She jerked the Cypod into motion and accelerated to the partition that Sagari was using as a shield.

When she skidded to a halt behind it, Sagari swore and hissed, "Butterfly! What the—"

A volley of bullets bashed the barrier—it wasn't going to stand much longer. There was no other place to go. Dea panted heavily as she stared at a glass cabinet not far from her. It reflected the scene beyond the partition.

The smoke had cleared to a see-through haze. Injured soldiers crawled out of the line of fire. Dea turned to Sagari. Her carapace had dented and cracked. Her upper arm was exposed, covered in blood.

Suddenly, Manta's cry made them jump.

The humans had overpowered him. The built-in language app translated random words, uttered too fast for effective translation.

"Surrender!" a soldier yelled. "Lay down your weapons!"

Sagari's helmeted head regarded Dea, red light reflected on the visor. The merwoman flung away the gun. Dea did the same.

The wail of the alarm petered out, and white lights glared, unveiling the aftermath of the battle.

Craters and bullet holes pockmarked the walls. Tables lay upended, liquid dripped down metal grating and sparks flew out of broken cables. Bodies and rubble littered the floor, resting on a bed of shattered glass.

"Raise your hands where we can see them!" the human yelled.

There was no way out of this. They straightened up, hands raised. A deathly stillness enveloped Dea—a familiar numbness that was her normal.

What happened next was a series of events almost too fast to process.

The human soldiers disarmed them, removing hidden weapons. The helmets came off, as well as segments of the carapace. Sagari's face was an impassive mask, but she made no attempt to resist. It was confirmation that they were defeated. Dea slackened her arms against the iron grip of the humans holding her.

After the frenetic activity died down, three pairs of footsteps jogged into the lab. Dea tilted her head. She heard him before she saw him.

Flanked by two soldiers, Dilip Goonewardane ambled into view.

Animal: Mimic Octopus

https://youtu.be/Wos8kouz810