Dea was too shocked to react for a fleeting millisecond. Then she jerked to action.

Everyone raced for cover.

A fusillade of bullets assaulted them. A mailbox exploded, trees splintered and garden walls cracked. Chips flew off a trunk that only partially shielded her. Her panicked eyes locked onto an abandoned vehicle. As she skidded behind it, one shot glanced off the Flamingo. The noise grated in her ears, shockingly loud.

Gunfire pounded her ears again, though this time, her team was not the target. It blasted out from the direction of the mansion, which made it amply clear that the Callians were also fighting Serendivian units. Dea wondered how they could possibly get Tamara into Dilip's study. Smokescreens were useless, since the Callians had sonar. Judging by Muda's silence, she was also assessing the situation.

Precious minutes slipped by. Clouds obscured the sun, further weakened by the haze and dust.

"Muda, we have to move in!" Dea gripped the joystick, recalling Kelp's instructions on the Flamingo's railgun. "I can blow up the first barricade. Use your stun gun to incapacitate them—then we have to deal with the Serendivian units. Tamara, stay the hell back."

An Endera crewman spoke up, "Tear gas? Their helmets don't have respirators, yes?"

"It still won't be that effective, but there's no other choice." Muda cracked her knuckles and made a hand signal. "If it fails, we go with Dea's plan—there's also melee combat."

A nanosecond later, the other Endera human lobbed a smoking canister towards the nearest Callian targets. At the apex of its trajectory, it glinted in the light. Then it plummeted and hit the mark.

A cloud of smoke billowed up, engulfing the area.

Chaos unfolded.

Some of the Callian soldiers reeled from the chemical attack, but others fired another round at them. Shouts rent the air as the gas slowly dispersed.

Muda was the first to reach them.

A bullet ricocheted off her carapace, but she barreled on unfazed. She swung an armored fist at one of the soldiers, the force of the blow tipping his Cypod. Dea joined the fray and rammed another. The military Cypods were too heavy to topple, but the Flamingo was a bigger machine.

All of a sudden, Callian scud bots swooped down in swift projectiles. One of the Endera members fired her EMP gun. Electricity crackled as the bots dropped dead.

"Dea, watch out!" Tamara yelled.

The translation registered too late.

A blow to the side took Dea off guard, metal screeching in her ears, and sent the Flamingo whirling around. Muda retaliated, but the smallish soldier wheeled back with lightning fast reflexes and darted behind the barricade.

Dea's heart drummed an irregular beat as she leveled the railgun, which auto-activated the viewport's augmented reality. "Muda, cover my back!"

Three events happened at once.

Muda and the team clashed with the Callians. Dea aimed the weapon, centering the crosshairs on the stacked barricade. A red icon blinked, target now locked. Abruptly, the small soldier made a side-ways glide—into plain sight.

The surprise move made Dea falter.

At first glance, the armored figure sheathed inside the Cypod was no different from the others. Through the darkened visor, a familiar face peered at her.

Dea's mouth dropped open. "Oomie!"

Words tumbled out of Oomie's mouth, almost inaudible in the commotion, "I knew that was your voice! I just—Dea! We were told you were captured! Holy mackerel!"

Dea recovered enough to shriek, "Tell your squad to paddle down!"

Oomie hastened to bark out a command. Fighting ceased like a beat drop.

Muda panted as she released a merman she had grabbed by the scruff of his neck. As the dust settled, a breeze blew down the deserted road, swaying boughs and rustling leaves. Nothing moved behind the high garden walls, where upscale houses bore witness to the strange spectacle.

Then shooting resumed at the second barricade, and the Callian units sped back to their positions. Those affected by the tear gas were rushed for treatment.

Dea spun around to face Oomie. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question!" her rapid-fire answer exploded out. "I was leading this squad to nab Dilip Goonewardane, though I just knew he ain't in. But Dad wanted us to capture it."

"Oomie, listen to me." Dea jerked closer. "Massa is up to something. This isn't what we think—"

"How are you alive! They told us—wait, what the heck is this thing?" Oomie's eyes darted over Dea's machine. "Is this, like, a secret weapon?"

"It's the Flamingo Mk II. Anuk gave it to me."

"Who the heck is Anuk?"

"The Sea Witch. No—the real one isn't Muda. Listen! Massa wanted you to believe I was captured or dead."

"Why would..." Doubt flashed across Oomie's face, and Dea could almost hear her brain humming.

Suddenly, Oomie jerked as if she just realized something and cocked her gun. The imposing barrel amped up the intimidation she exuded. Dea followed her gaze to the Endera humans.

"Oomie, stop!" Dea scooted sideways to block her teammates from the line of fire. "They're not the enemy."

The small mermaid let out an expletive, though she lowered her weapon. "What the hell is going on here? Why are they in merman carapaces! What do you mean they're not the enemy?"

"They're not the military. They're Endera—a group of underground rebels with an ocean conservation wing."

"Holy shit." Oomie slid a hand on her helmet, obviously forgetting she was wearing one. "This is insane. You're working with humans now? And I don't—it was crazy when they announced that you were captured! Hima was a wreck."

"Where is she?"

"She's in my squad. She fought kinda reckless after, you know—and she had to be treated for a shoulder injury. They patched her up and just sent her back. She's over there," Oomie said, gesturing towards the second barricade, and then yelled over a comms channel, "Hima! Dea's here! She's alive! No—hold your position till I get to you!"

Dea was momentarily overwhelmed by the thought of how her alleged capture might have affected Hima and Gramma. "Look, I can't just sit here and tell you the whole story. We don't have time. We need to stop this war!"

Oomie's eyebrows arced. "You're going to call for a ceasefire?"

"Yeah, because this war would achieve nothing. And I'll also have to deal with Dilip and Massa—I dunno what their moves would be. Anyways, there's something I want you to do. It's asking a lot, but I need you to trust me."

The other girl regarded her for a moment, her breath unsteady. "To be honest, there was something off about how Massa acted. He's back in power as the de facto Regent. Public anger and anti-human sentiment are at an all-time high."

"Oh." Dea pulled down the mask and sucked in a lungful of air. "He just strengthened his political position..."

Oomie's head swiveled at the noise of gunfire, and she responded to an incoming transmission before turning back to Dea. "In fact, now that I think about it—"

Muda interrupted, "We've wasted enough time! We have to get Tamara in now."

"Who's Tamara?" Oomie snapped. "What are you talking about?"

The Endera hacker now jogged towards them from the cover of a leafy tree. Residual gas still misted the road, drifting over charred cars and destroyed shrubbery. Sparks flew from a broken power cable.

"Tamara, this is Oomie," Dea said the instant she reached them. "She's a strategist, the leader of this squad and a hacker herself. She'd get you inside Dilip's study."

"Wait, what? I am?" Oomie's eyes flitted from one to another before her comms link distracted her. "Hima, no! Hold your position—"

"Tamara here is from Endera, the human rebels I told you about," Dea fired out, urgency coiling in her gut. "You need to get her into that mansion, so she could dig up dirt on Dilip and complete their case against the Goonewardane dynasty."

Hesitation flickered on the mermaid's face. "That's—"

"I know this is a lot to take in, but I need you to listen."

"I'm listening. Tell me."

"Most humans don't know how corrupted the Goonewardane administration is. And there's no future for us with them in power—even if we stop this war. We'd be painted the villains, and there'd be no hope of change. Worst case scenario—they'd try to wipe us out. Endera here is the key to changing that. But they need access to Dilip's computer. Are you with me?"

Oomie's eyes narrowed as she processed the rapid slew of information. "Yep."

"Okay. In other circumstances, you'd have been able to help with this, but I'm thinking you'd have no clue about human computer systems. So Tamara over there," Dea said, jerking a thumb in the direction of the human girl, "is the one who's going to do it. Your mission is to get her into that study."

Oomie's face hardened into a determined mask. "Orders received."

"I'm counting on you."

A faint smile tugged at Dea's lips as she whipped out her ogi. She proceeded to transfer the layout of Dilip's residence to Oomie's device, though transmission was slow. Oomie scanned the map, an impressive frown now shadowing her features, but she asked no questions.

Gunfire pummeled their eardrums again. Agitation gripped the team, hands tensing on weapons.

"Can I trust you on this?" Dea shouted over the noise, getting ready to leave.

"Yep." Oomie's hand jerked up into a salute. "I'm on it."

A ray of optimism lanced through her heart. "Thank you. These guys here will help you—consider them reinforcements. But I'd need someone from your side—Hima."

"Alright. You're heading to the battlefield now?"

"Yeah, and Muda here comes with me."

"Not the Sea Witch?"

"No," Muda grunted.

Oomie eyed the black coils of hair, looking unconvinced.

"And one more thing." Dea focused her attention on the mini map in the corner of the viewport. "Where's your dad? I need to get to him to call off our forces."

"He's—I'll send you the location." Oomie hastened to send her coordinates. "He's in one of the amphibious APCs by the shoreline. It's converted to a mobile command post. I gotta let him know you're—"

"Wait, don't tell him—he'd have to report to Massa." Dea relayed the information to Nadie's team. "I need to get to him first."

"Okay."

They exchanged a hasty farewell, the brooding sky above reflecting their inner seascape.

Oomie wheeled around and rushed down the road to the second barricade while Tamara and the others followed behind. Nadie updated them on the route to reach the Square and warned them of "Molotov cocktails". Meanwhile, a new unit approached them at breakneck speed, and a weak smile tugged at Dea's lips. Hima!

"Muda," Dea said, turning to the merwoman, "you ready? I guess it's the three of us now."

Muda hefted her gun. "Affirmative."

"Alright. Let's go kick ass."

Animal: Remora

https://youtu.be/yzDWWzDenZQ