Water's rare. Oxygen's still there, but soon enough, drastic measures will have to be taken. Food is harder to get as a result to these states. Humans destroyed Earth. Humans destroyed everything.
"Earth isn't what it used to be. People can't be carefree anymore. Whether you're a civilian or a part of our army, you always have to watch your back. And I wish it wasn't that way. I wish kids could go play outside freely, that families could share dinner in their backyard with a glass of wine, without having to worry about if they'll be able to give the ones they love something to live for the next day.
"I want a world of freedom and hope. I want a world of peace and mutual aid. I want a world where everyone's safe and has the chance to be happy. Unfortunately, some people think power is more important than these values. The W Order is against basic human rights, and this is why we must rally and fight. To give our people a chance to live, we must defeat those who want to take our lives in the first place. Now is not the time to give up.
"We tried to come to a peaceful agreement with the opposite party, but Zelena Greene refused to hear a single word and wanted us at her mercy. I refused, because I believe you shouldn't have to fight for water and food, especially when they hold the solution to this alarming situation. I want a world of health and freedom, and they refuse to help us move in that direction, but we will take what's ours to take and you shall have everything you need, especially if your support stays as strong as it has been until now.
"Things are looking good for us right now. We are in the right path, but we must not claim victory already. Indeed, we've won most battles and we are still strong, and this is why we are giving the W Order one last chance to surrender. They have 48 hours to communicate their decision, or silence will be taken as a decline to our offer. The war is not over, although it has been lasting for far too long, but we are offering yet another chance to end this now and do what's good for our population.
"Do not lose hope, and remember: where there is unity, there is always victory. Thank you."
The woman walked away from the stage as the cameras stopped filming. Her long brown hair tied in a half updo bounced as she quickly walked in the hallway towards her headquarters, followed by a few members from her staff. When she opened the door, five pair of familiar eyes welcomed her. "Quite the speech, Commander Mills," Robin complimented Cora with a slight tilt of the head.
"I know," The woman replied as she headed to the end of the table, in front of numerous screens that showed various reporters or footages from different battles. Emma, Killian and Regina smirked at this answer while Mal simply ignored it. Typical Cora.
"There is no time to lose. Now that the civilians are reassured, we need to act and do what needs to be done," Cora said firmly, clearly not in the mood for childish banters.
The woman tapped on the screen on the table and a map of their enemy's territory appeared on the big screen behind her. "As you can see, our spies have informed us that the East coast of their territory has a minimum of protection, since most of their force is occupied to defend the South and West. We need to take this opportunity as soon as we can. Killian, how many of our soldiers can you send there?" Cora asked, not wasting a single second.
"That depends on how many you'd like and which mission you want to abandon, Commander," The man answered as he laid back casually in his chair.
Cora opened her mouth to reply, but a voice rose up before she could utter a word. "All due respect, Commander, but I think this is a mistake," Regina claimed. "Surely this must be a trap. They wouldn't leave such an easy path for us to attack them."
"I'm well aware this might be a trap, General Mills, but we have to take the chance," The authoritarian woman replied firmly.
"I think we should focus on the borders we're already fighting on," The android added, keeping the same tone and not caring if Cora seemed to have made up her mind already, no matter what the opinions of the members of her counsel were. "We already know they won't accept our offer for their surrender, so we should add more armed force on the existent battlefields since we already have the advantage there. That is the opportunity we should take. Going East seems too easy and Zelena is not that half-witted."
"Do you think I'm some foolish girl? I have already considered that option, but this could be our chance to properly invade their land and take control of a part of their resources, or even get to their element converter. We're running dangerously low on water and we need to try anything we can to get some if we want our army to stand strong and our people to stay alive."
Regina sighed, clenched her teeth and silence fell in the room as everyone pondered the options offered.
"Any objection?" Cora asked after a few seconds. Not a single voice was heard; they all knew that when their leader had made up her mind, there was no changing the plan.
###
A little over a dozen of minutes later, the meeting was ended and everyone had to return to their jobs immediately. Robin and Regina walked together in the hallways, the ticking of her black heels on the white floor being the only thing that could be heard as they headed towards their laboratory.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Robin finally sighed worriedly to his partner, making Regina raise her eyebrows with a slightly annoyed face.
"I would like to say the same, but that expression wouldn't be accurate considering my abilities and the nature of my being," She mumbled and continued to look straight ahead of her with raised eyebrows, her pace increasing slightly.
Robin observed her for a few seconds with a frown, feeling somewhat bad for his word use. "Regina, I just meant that I agreed with –" He started gently, but was cut off before he could elaborate on his thoughts.
"I know what you meant, Robin. I'm not an idiot," She retorted, but still kept a casual and composed tone.
"I never said that," The man told her softly, and she noticed how his voice had quietened slightly in comparison to his previous words.
"I know you never would," The android replied and finally looked at him, extorting a slight smirk from Robin before reflecting one at him. It always amazed Robin how she knew what to tell him to end a discussion, whether they agreed or not. It always amazed him how she was capable of the sharpest replies to the sweetest ones in just an instant.
Regina waved her hand in front of the closed door, making them slide open as the device recognized her composition. It was faster this way when they were together. Otherwise, Robin needed his ID card always hanging on his belt, the one Cora had given to him after she promoted him. They walked in the big room full of interactive screens, various tables, desks, tools, maps and just everything and anything they could possibly need. Robin walked to his desk and opened up a few files sent from Cora directly after they ended the meeting. Regina did the same on the big screen opposite to Robin's desk. "So, what do we start with?" The man asked, leading to a discussion of what would be the safest and yet most effective option on their hands.
Hours went by and they both didn't realize it was getting really late and that they –well Robin at least– should probably get some rest. "Alright, I should go and sleep before we put this plan to execution. I'm not sure Cora would enjoy seeing us messing that one up," He muttered, making Regina smirk and nod as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I can confirm that, although we're heading straight into a catastrophe in my opinion," She replied to him. Robin couldn't agree more with her after their night talking about the various possible outcomes of this mission.
A few seconds of silence fell between them. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was definitely more awkward than what they were used to. Perhaps they were both tired, or perhaps they both sensed an unacknowledged tension between them. The weight of unspoken confessions lingered, until Robin opened his mouth to say goodnight to his partner, but her voice broke the absence of sound before his own could.
"Robin, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for quite a while now," She admitted and looked him in the eyes.
Robin frowned, asking in a gentle and caring voice, "What? Is there something wrong?" He knew this was serious, he could see it in the way she looked at him, in the completely different mood established between the two of them now.
Regina took a deep breath and licked her lips before launching herself. "I know we have much more important matters to take care of with the war and everything that's been going on during the last few years, but I just... I need to feel, Robin." She confessed and gulped, looking in his deep blue eyes.
A frown slowly grew on his face and he stayed silent for a few seconds, not expecting this kind of revelation tonight. He's known her for so long now, better than anyone even, but he didn't expect this desire to be expressed now, at the twilight of a dangerous mission. "But, Regina," he started, but she shook her head and didn't let him finish.
"Robin, I know. I know that emotions are a complex disturbance that includes three main components: subjective affects, physiological reactions that are associated with mobilization of forms specific to the species for adaptive actions, and impulses to action who have both instrumental and expressive characteristics, and that they are weaknesses, but I'm certain they're not just that. Surely they must be more than that," she told him, going from an intensity of speech and gradually softening her tone. "And I know how you feel," she confessed slowly.
Robin stared at her with furrowed eyebrows, trying not to change his expression as he waited for her to elaborate. "I know how you feel towards me. I know about your... affection." He let out a deep breath and started to walk around as he ran a hand in his hair. "And you should have known that I would know," She continued. "You're the one who programmed me and–" she said quickly, but now it was Robin's turn to interrupt her.
"No, Regina, I had no way to know. I don't know what happened with you, what I did that was different, but you're not like the others. You're unpredictable, you can't be controlled as some would like and you have your own perception of things, which is absolutely phenomenal! So no, I didn't have any way to know you were able to discriminate feelings so easily, although I did know you were good at identifying them and using them to your advantage. Or Cora's." He told her frantically.
They stared at each other and Regina gulped before replying. "Well, to be honest, you're not that subtle," she mumbled. Robin scowled at her, not expecting this bit of humour from her.
He eventually smiled and looked down, his hand coming up to rub his temples as he felt a pang in his chest. "And you just proved my point again, you unpredictable woman," he muttered and made her smirk, her eyes still observing him.
"I know you're smart enough for this, Robin. I'm confident that you will find a way, that we will find a way if we work together on this. It won't make me human, but it could make me more than a few connections and an empty shell of steel," She said softly and walked closer to him, hoping to convince her partner.
"Don't talk like that, you know you're much more than that," Robin replied seriously, looking in her eyes. They had that small purple glimmer in them and he found that added to her unique charm.
"No, Robin. You don't see me like that, but I just said objective facts. Just like I am supposed to. Like I was made to," she mumbled to him and looked down at the end, another body language she studied and saved in her program.
"Objective facts aren't always the truth," The man muttered, making her smirk again. That was the Robin she knew.
They stared at each other for a few seconds, contemplating what they had in common, what was making them different and what was uniting them, the complexity of their relationship. "I know you want to help, because I know you'd like to make that realization too. I also know that you know you'll say yes, but you're just being stubborn and trying to keep your pride by ma–" Regina started to ramble, but Robin grunted and didn't let her finish.
"Fine! Fine, I'll do it. You can stop your Mrs. Know-It-All speech now," he said and walked back to his desk, not believing what he just got himself into.
Regina smiled widely and followed him, standing on the opposite site of his work furniture. "Thank you, Robin. You won't regret it, I promise. I'd say I'm happy, but obviously I don't really know what that's like, which is kind of the point of this operation," Regina went on.
Robin put his glasses on his nose and looked at her above them. "Well at least there is something you don't know," he muttered to her before looking down at the papers on his desk.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny, Mr. Sarcasm," she said with an unimpressed expression.
"Well look at who just used sarcasm heself," he pointed without looking at her.
"You're not funny."
"I believe you claimed the opposite less than 10 seconds ago, dear."
Regina rolled her eyes at him and sat down in a chair in front of his desk. "Weren't you going to bed?" She asked after a few seconds.
"Not anymore. We have more stuff to work on now, don't we?" He replied and looked at her above his glasses. Regina gave him a genuine smile, somehow incredibly excited to see where this would lead, but she was also proud that Robin wanted to start right away.
"We do, but perhaps it'd be wiser to wait until after tomorrow's mission to start operation Lionheart?" Regina suggested as she folded her hands on her thighs.
"So that's what you wanna call it?" Robin asked and got a nod in return. "Alright, you're probably right." He considered following his first plan, but then he also realized he wanted to know what she thought about his feelings. He was about to ask her for her opinion, but decided against it in the end. It was probably better to keep acting like before until this next mission was over, although many others would probably follow.
"Listen, Robin," Regina started after a few seconds where Robin had decided to go back to his room, "we'll both be on the field tomorrow, and I'll make everything in my power to keep the both of us alive, along with as much people as I can, but if anything goes wrong, I just want you to know that –" She said, the man listening intently before he shook his head when he realized what this was probably all about.
"Don't, Regina. We'll both come back, just like we always do, and then we can really talk," He muttered to her, his heart beating faster as he thought he was avoiding a dangerous conversation. But he should have known that Regina wasn't one to let go that easily.
"We're never 100% sure, Robin, so shut up and listen to me, okay?" She replied to him firmly. "You know being interrupted is impolite and irritating," She added. Robin smirked again and looked down, glancing back up at her before she continued.
The woman took a deep breath and licked her lips before starting again. "Once the war's over, I just thought… I'd really like to accompany you in whatever project you may want to get involved to." She confessed to him. "I think we make a great team and it'd be a shame that our collaboration ends after this dark time."
Robin stared at the woman in front of him and he gave her an honest smile. "It would be my honour, Regina." He muttered to her, pride and happiness swelling in the pit of his stomach. Regina smiled slightly and, with that, Robin wished her a good night before leaving the room to go to bed, although he was assured he probably wouldn't sleep for a single minute.
###
They weren't in the front lines. They were rather far back, almost the last ones. Their principal task wasn't to fight anyway. They gave orders to apply the discussed strategies. They were only backup soldiers, fighting only if it was absolutely necessary. They had been and still were valuable assets in this grand scheme they called war.
The troop of armed and careful soldiers marched forward, a few tanks and other motorised weapons scattered amongst the men, women and androids. Humans were in a superior number however; let the androids fight on the established battlefields while sending humans on a recognition mission on the practically opened borders was the agreement they had reached back in the meeting.
As they were told, the territory wasn't very well secured. If the W Order would have taken a decision based on common sense, they would have retreated since they were clearly outnumbered. Apparently, they had other commands since they didn't make a single move.
As their troop continued to march forward, Robin held his breath, trying to anticipate what would happen. Regina looked at him, clearly still not convinced either by the probabilities of how this battle would end. The Mills Army got closer and closer and the members of the W Order didn't even blink, didn't even get ready to fight. "What the hell are they doing?" Robin mumbled, and then it happened. They were not ready for this.
A rather big machine, looking like a high, imposing tank, its barrel at least twice the diameter of a normal tank, rolled on top of a hill behind the soldiers. The muzzle moved to target the front of Mills Army and an overwhelming impression that time was slowing down seized everyone who witnessed the scene. The warriors kept on moving forward, but this strange machine they had never seen before disturbed their attention.
Regina tried to think of all the possibilities, tried to discover the strategy they'd use against them. Then, she noticed the composition of every member standing for the W Order: they were all made of steel, they were all androids. Her eyes widened when she connected the dots and realised what was happening. "RETREAT!" Regina yelled as loud as she could without a warning, making Robin look at her in confusion.
But it was too late. The opposite party activated their weapon, releasing a green smoke that glided like silk against the ground. It slid through the mechanical W Order and reached the first line of the Mills Army. They had obeyed to their General's instruction as soon as her scream echoed in the desertic valley, but it wasn't enough to save them. As the green smoke wrapped its gentle claws around the human flesh, it started to dry quickly, so quickly it made the soldiers screech in agony as they felt water leave their body, as they felt the liquids in their body turn into mud.
"What the hell is happening?" Robin asked Regina as he ran back towards their vehicle to save his life, just like everyone else was desperately trying to do.
"They're using their element converting machine as a weapon! That's how they get their water, but now they're using it to raid our army!" Regina answered as she went in the opposite direction to go try to save more humans.
"Regina! Wait!" Robin exclaimed, his heart beating faster than ever.
"No, Robin! You get in there, make sure no air from outside comes in and that everyone follows the same directions and stays safe," She ordered firmly. She needed his leadership, she needed his bravery, she needed his selflessness, but above all, she needed him to stay alive.
So he did, as best as he could, and he waited. He waited for all of it to be over, tried to reassure the groups in the various vehicles by sending video messages. God, the wait was unbearable. The green smoke kept everyone from seeing what was happening outside. They might have been unable to see, but they could hear everything. The animalistic cries of utter pain and the echoes of armours falling one above the other would forever scar their memories. Robin made sure a report of the events was sent to Cora, or at least what little information he was aware of for now. And then he waited again, waited for all of it to end, waited for Regina's call, waited, or hoped, for a miracle. Hope. The word seemed completely absurd to him as he was unable to ignore to sound of his colleagues dying cruelly just outside the miraculously safe shell of steel.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally got a message from Regina. A simple "come and see this". He quickly opened the door and was about to rush out, but then stopped when he saw the scene offered to him.
Dozens and dozens of lifeless bodies lay on the ground. Androids were picking some of them up to bring them back to the war vehicles. Robin spotted Regina in the middle of this horrific scene. He walked up to her, hating to have to stride over corpses to resolve this maze of death. Once he got to her, he noticed how clenched her jaw was and how white her knuckles were while she held a small aluminum disc.
"What's that?" Robin asked her quietly with a hoarse voice
Regina didn't flinch once she felt Robin's presence and didn't look at him either when he asked her a question. "It's Gold," She grumbled. "He sent this when the smoke faded away," She added and gave him the disc, putting her hands on her hips as he activated the hologram.
Never be confident about winning a war that's not over. Surrender or innocents will go through the same treatment. You have 2 hours. Have a good day, dears.
Robin absolutely hated his smug grin. For a second, he fantasied about how it would feel to have his fist meet his face. "Bloody cowards," He grumbled, his anger towards Zelena, Gold and everyone who had anything to do with this overwhelming him.
"We need a new plan, and we need to act quickly," Regina mumbled, staring at all the bodies surrounding them, taking in the weight of this defeat, of all the lives ended. It wasn't the first time they were surrounded by corpses, and it probably wasn't the last, but this time it was different, it was done in the most nefarious way. The two leaders silently agreed on two things before heading back to their protected vehicle: this could never happen again and this would not go unpunished.
###
After calling Commander Mills, they had decided to reinforce the defense of the towns surrounding the attacked area, calling solely androids. Surrender was not an option. They had to do everything in their power to protect their people and make the situation turn around somehow.
Robin and Regina were heading to the biggest city around, driving through the sand fields surrounding them. "I knew it," The women grumbled, gripping the steering wheel tightly, secretly wishing she was crushing Zelena's neck. "I knew something was going to happen, and yet I didn't do anything. I just let it happen."
Robin looked at her from the co-pilot seat and shook his head. "Regina, no one's to blame for what happened except for the person who gave the order to activate the machine," He tried to remind her, but she shook her head.
"I know, Robin, but I should have thought about it before. I should have seen it coming."
"There was no way you could have expected that."
"Stop trying to protect me. All of these people could still be alive if I would have done something sooner."
"You couldn't know anything of what would happen, and you saved so many lives to–" Robin continued, but was cut off when Regina abruptly pushed on the breaks, his head almost hitting the dashboard. He looked over at her, wondering what the hell happened, but then he noticed her unusual face before he could speak, her mouth slightly opened and her eyes wide. She was so expressive, and yet so… speechless.
But then he looked ahead of them. Then he saw what she saw. They had arrived at their destination. Unfortunately, it seemed that a cloud of green smoke had gotten there before them. Bodies were scattered on the ground; old men, little girls, teenagers, parents, babies – everyone was dead, the corpses completely dry and shrivelled from the water dragged out of their system. Pure horror froze Robin in place. His eyes were the only part of his body he could move, allowing him to engrave more and more of this traumatizing scene.
They were astounded at the cruelty of this attack. Thousands of innocents died in pure agony, like if their life wasn't already difficult with the lack of resources they were victims of. The damages were worse than any bombing they'd seen. There was no survivor, no sign of life, nothing. The W Order had crossed the line this time. This massacre was unforgivable. The purple glimmer in Regina's eyes darkened ever so slightly as the images of the slaughter infiltrated her program, fuelling her incorporated motivations to a level they had never reached before. And as they both looked at the green flag displaying a gold "W" for all to see, the fabric taking at least half of the building's height, they knew that war really had only just begun.