The Marine

Finding the Bounty Hunter on his ship was not something Bill had expected.

The man wore a black hat in addition to his yellow jumpsuit and was seated on a wooden crate surrounded by four Beetleborgs armed with Rivet Rifles.

“I told your men I was an ally, and that they shouldn’t point guns at a friend.”

The man spoke with a sly smile, almost threatening, and Bill’s eyes went from Bascud to a sandy haired girl standing inconspicuously near the primary mortar.

The M.S.S Victory had been completely refitted, they had removed nearly all of the ships regular arsenal and replaced it with two King Cannon and a series of mortars.

Since this was his Departments largest ship, Bill couldn’t foresee a time when either he or one of his Lieutenants wasn’t in charge. And in the normal course of events, regular cannons would not help in a situation that found Bill, Ranse, or Sasha in danger.

With that all said, what the Bounty Hunter couldn’t know was that he was in the line of sight of Bill’s most dangerous cannon or that cannon took the form of a sandy-haired lady Chef.

Now, looking at the Bounty Hunter who was smiling, Bill asked: “What are you doing here?”

“Oh?” replied Bascud who seemed confused before saying: “Well, I’m here to help you now and then you’ll help me later!”

Shaking his head to this suggestion, Bill answered immediately: “Thank you for the offer, however this is a military operation and won’t be needing your assistance at this time.”

Then turning to the men surrounding the Bounty Hunter, Bill added: “Operators, see our guest back to his boat.”

Hearing his order, Bill was answered with a ‘Yes, Sir.’ And ‘My Pleasure.’ However, as two of the Special Operators went to grab Bascud by his arms, the Bounty Hunter dodged them and ran towards Bill.

Bascud was fast, but before he got within two meters of Bill a figure appeared in his shadow and took him to the ground.

Hitting the ground with a “Gah!” sound, Bascud looked up and swore: “M.Marines! You Promised! Liar!”

Seeing Fia pinning him down, the hate on the young man’s face, and the fact he had just ‘kidnapped’ an old man, Bill thought that this whole affair made him look like the villain.

Shaking his head, Bill ordered the Bounty Hunter to be cuffed and as he was raised to his feet Bill spoke clearly.

“Firstly, I never promised you anything. I did tell you that I’d consider your proposal and I still plan to do so when this operation is over. You need to understand that involving civilians in official affairs is something I’m uncomfortable with.”

Bill didn’t doubt the man’s strength, but Bascud was an unknown variable and Bill wanted to arrest Wetton without taking casualties.

Then turning towards his Special Operators, Bill said: “Put him in the seastone cell. The one with the running water.” After giving the order, Bill looked back at Bascud and said: “Once we’re done here, I’ll come and see you. You are not under arrest; you are being held for your own safety. Do Not Start Any Trouble.”

Putting emphasis on his last sentence, Bill watched as the Bounty Hunter went away quietly with his four jailers.

Once the group was out of sight, Bill said “Thank you.” to Fia causing the woman to reply: “He should be the one thanking me.”

Bill: “What did you think of him?”

Seeming to consider this for a moment, the old Fruit Ninja pulled her hair back and spoke as she readjusted her ponytail: “He seemed nice at first. Seems like he has a low opinion of himself, I can tell he’s struggled.”

Giving his old friend a weird look, Bill asked sarcastically: “Oh, you could get all of that in just that short amount of time?”

Returning his odd look with a slight nod of the head, she replied: “It’s just something you need to experience, Bill. Once you have… it’s a look you’ll never forget.”

Giving her a less sarcastic look now, Bill nodded his head and said he’d take her word for it. The truth was that despite everything he had been through in both his lives, Bill knew he was fortunate.

He was fortunate on Earth to be born in the right place at the right time; and now he was fortunate to have been born to one of the most powerful men in the world.

But now was not the time to reflect on the past, and so he ordered Fia to gather up the key people for the operation for a meeting in his office.

This process was smooth as everyone was already on board the Victory and in another couple minutes Bill sat at his desk surrounded by Ranse, Borodo, Fia, Nelson, and behind them stood all twenty of the Beetleborgs.

After a short discussion, the plan they came up with was relatively straight forward.

At dawn on the next day Borodo and Fia would lead two platoons which each consisted of sixty rank-and-file Marines armed with rivet rifles and flash grenades, their goal was to secure the soldiers barracks and armory.

While they moved to secure the soldiers who Bill didn’t foresee fighting back, Ranse and the Special Operators would secure the garrison near the Mayors Mansion. These were soldiers personally loyal to the Mayor and as a result Bill would leverage the bulk of his power there.

Finally, like always, he put himself in the most dangerous position as he would personally go to the mansion to make the arrest.

From what he had seen the Mayors Mansion held roughly fifty or so people. These were Wetton’s most diehard supporters, and he could easily foresee a conflict there.

While this was going on, Nelson would have some twenty Marines under his control of the Victory. Bill didn’t foresee any action that would lead the Ruluka Soldiers to attack the ship but considering they were potentially outnumber 3-to-1 he couldn’t leave the ship unattended.

After the meeting, the leaders went to gather the people under them and explain their roles.

They would have the rest of the day to go over the towns layout and break the platoons into smaller squads, this was the largest action Bill had ever organized with 140 Marines in total and he was determined not to lose a single people under him as he left the ship to spend the rest of the day with Wetton.

By now, the old Mayor was surely wary and kept asking when Bill’s other ship should arrive.

“The day after tomorrow.” Bill had told him, and as they spoke, he learned more about the realities of wayward islands.

What particularly interested Bill was the frequency of merchant convoys. He had been on the island for over two weeks and still hadn’t seen any ships besides his own.

This topic was one of the few topics that would get Wetton animated, and he would explain in detail how that not only did the merchants rarely come, but when they did, they always had a reason to offer lower prices.

Talking through the afternoon, it was dinner time before they knew it and Bill excused himself back to the Victory.

Looking around, he was surprised to see that there wasn’t a single person who was afraid.

The Marines in his department all had two years of firearm training under Masterson, and while they weren’t a group of snipers, they were comfortable with a rifle.

During those years they had contributed to building New Haven, too, and it could be said that their moral couldn’t be higher. They were a trained force who never experienced war, and thus didn’t have the notion that they could die.

Sure, they knew that ‘someone’ could die – but that ‘someone’ would not be them.

But then Bill didn’t plan on letting any of them die here, just to arrest a single pirate-turned-dictator.

Telling everyone to get some sleep, the night watch would be led by Nelson and the twenty people under him. Seeing the thinner but still-fat former Commodore light up when he was given this duty was worth it, Bill thought.

Nelson could walk around now, but he still needed to lose about 300kg, which would make it another year or two until the former Commodore would be in fighting condition.

If there were any problems that Bill had with Nelson it was that the former Commodore, despite his harsh mouth, was totally ‘his’ man.

Laying in bed that night, Bill thought that was just one more thing he would have to adjust in the future, and closing his eyes, the next morning came soon.

An hour before the sunrise the Victory was a quiet beehive of activity.

The ship was huge, and on its deck were two platoons of sixty men and woman. Those platoons had been further broken down into squads of ten.

The first people to make their move were Bill, Fia, and Ranse. As rowboats hit the water the trio started neutralizing Wetton’s sentries.

Moving with determination the process didn’t take long, but Bill was surprised by the number of men he had to beat. The trio had laid down some forty soldiers and by the time the first rowboats hit the docks the island had no guards to sound the alarm.

This wasn’t a good sign, Bill thought.

But watching his people make landfall it was too late to turn back now, and he could only rely on his Lieutenants.

By the time the last of the men were on land, the sun was about to rise over the horizon, and everyone went to do their duties.

Ranse’s group of twenty Special Operators were set to move as soon as Bill entered the Mayors Mansion, and just a moment after that the platoons would seize the armory and round up the island’s soldiers.

Because Bill lacked the small portable Communication Snails, the attack had to come down to timing. His Department was so small that leading large actions just wasn’t a consideration, but now he realized was a huge mistake on his part.

Walking up stone steps the morning air was chilly and a fog was starting to form over the harbor below.

Taking one step after the other, Bill could hear footsteps in front of him and by the time he reached the road to the Mansion he knew that the Marines ploy had either been noticed or had been guessed.

Gathered in front of Bill were three of Henzo’s battle suits and sixty rough looking soldiers.

 Standing there in silence, Bill wasn’t worried so much about the assortment in front of him. He was capable of ripping up a seabed with his bare hands, firearms weren’t a consideration for his personal safety.

Instead, his first thought was the two platoon that went to the barracks.

Perhaps taking Bill’s inaction as an indication of fear, a man in one of the battle suits started cackling with laughter.

Bill instantly recognized the voice, it the Mayors son Flip.

“I bet you weren’t expecting this! We knew you were bound to show up and so waited here every morning since you’ve arrived!”

After he said this, another suit yelled at him saying to ‘shut up’ – and Bill could tell it was Wetton.

Hearing the foolish rants, Bill suddenly felt better and so he declared loudly: “Mayor, or should I say, ‘Chin Curtain’ Wetton, You are under Arrest for Piracy. Do not resist!”

He was sure his declaration was heard by everyone assembled in front of him, but before he acted, he clarified: “You soldiers are not currently seen as accomplices to the former Mayor’s crimes, drop you weapons, and you will not have to face Justice.”

Seeing none of the men move, Flip again started laughing inside his battle suit and exclaimed: “Drop their weapons?! All these boys know how to do is fight! Hehaheha!”

After telling his son to shut up again, Wetton stepped forward in his battle suit and fire started spewing from its pincer-like claws.

“Former Mayor? I’m afraid you, the former ‘Captain’ is confused!”

Flip: “Yeah! You’re big but we know how clumsy you are! Today is gonna be your last, boy!”

When he said this, Bill watched as sixty modified flintlocks were pointed in his direction.

By now, he knew Ranse and the other Special Operators were in ear shot, so he asked: “Where’re your other men, I’m only counting sixty here, are they all prepared to fight against the World Government?”

Hearing the threat of the World Government, the Ruluka Soldiers flinched, but Flip was insistent: “These boys can fight! And my son is down at the barracks trying to arrange those cowards, they ma- “I said shut up!”

Delivering a kick to his son’s battle suit, Wetton cried out: “Enough talk, DIE!” and followed by the crack of rifles, Wetton rushed forwards.

Jumping into the air as the first soldier shot at him, Bill did a ‘Z’ motion and dodged the shots.

Taking his time, his first concern was whether or not Ranse would redeploy the Beetleborgs down to the barracks. Thankfully, his childhood buddy knew how to think, and as Bill zigged and zagged, he saw 21 shadows bound down through the air towards the barracks and armory.

Coming in on the first soldiers, who to their credit hadn’t run away, Bill delivered an open palm to a man’s chest and flung him into several of his compatriots.

Through the cracks of gun fire, he dodged and laid low one man after another.

Unlike when he was younger, now Bill only had a tertiary concern for the lives of those who fought against him.

Which was to say, when he attacked, the lives of his enemies were only third in importance. First was his own and allies’ lives, second was the speed needed to subdue them, and finally third was capturing his enemies alive.

In this way, Bill took out the sixty soldiers in under two minutes.

Through the so-called fight, he had been dodging around Wetton, Flip, and the other battle suit but now looked at them and demanded their surrender.

When his demand was answered by an electric shock, Bill took his war hammer from his waste and threw the weapon clear through the battle suit.

“A.Alright!” said Flip, as he dropped to his knees. Apparently, the older man had never been exposed to a true superhuman and hadn’t at all expected what he had just witnessed.

One unarmed man easily destroying a platoon of riflemen was not something casually seen, but it wasn’t unheard of, as shown Wetton rushed forward with his flamer spewing in all directions.

Dodging under and then to the side the flame, Bill grabbed one of the arms and pulled.

Metal shattered broke and fuel started spraying, and in one quick motion Bill proceeded to rip open the top of the suit like a tuna can and pull Wetton out before he burned alive.

Wetton was not a small man but held up in the air by the 9ft tall Bill, he looked like a child being scolded by a parent.

During the few minutes this charade had taken, Bill didn’t hear any noise coming from the barracks, and so speaking in a neutral voice, he told the former Mayor.

“You are under arrest for piracy and assaulting a Marine.”

Flip cried.