8821/Undercurrents: Problem in Pakistan

Undercurrents: Problem in Pakistan
Date of Scene:	15 August 2019
Location:	Shah Purah, Pakistani-Controlled Kashmir, Pakistan
Synopsis:	Mera and Aquaman go to Pakistan to investigate the use of plasma weapons to attack villages. They confirm what they feared.
Cast of Characters:	Aquaman, Aquawoman
Tinyplot:	Undercurrents

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Aquaman has posed:
News that Atlantis-Poseidonis infantry plasma rifles might have been recovered in New York, after an assassination attempt on mutants, floated up the chain to the morning intelligence briefing the day before very quickly. The King and Princess had not been pleased, to say the least and intelligence was tasked with finding out what happened if there were any other incidents.

There were several possible incidents. Reports had been turning up in the news for several weeks that outlying villages and military posts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo were attacked with energy weapons. Atlantean intelligence analysts found these stories and some pictures in the wake of the New York incident. The pictures were not clear enough, but the possibility was there; the wounds on dead villagers and military personnel could have been made by plasma weapons.

That morning's briefing also included information that another attack was reported overnight in at a village called Shah Purah in Pakistani-Controlled Kashmir. As with the other attacks, there was unlikely to be a state response or investigation for some time. The areas were too remote, dangerous or the attacks served the purposes of the government of the day.

Arthur was not about let another minute go without looking into the situation. The morning briefing ended immediately with the King saying he and Princess Mera would look into the issue personally. That focused minds and cleared the day's schedule.

In the royal apartments of the New York embassy, Arthur finishes donning his armour. "If this is true I'm putting someone in the arena with the sharks," Arthur fumes. "You'll keep satellites from seeing us?" he asks. He knows it is a trivially easy task for a sorceress of Mera's skill, but it is better than open ranting. The Atlantean King grabs Poseidon's Trident and turns to his betrothed.

Aquawoman has posed:
Mera nods, fastening her pauldrons securely and pulling her fiery hair free of any bindings under which it may be caught. "I will refract any signals which may detect us before they ever reach the ground," she advises, but her expression is concerned. "Please reserve judgment, Arthur. We do not yet know where these weapons are coming from, or whether, in fact, they are even truly Atlantean. They could be replicas using stolen technology, or even surmised technology. We have no way of knowing until we can see and examine them for ourselves. Until then, do not let it weigh so heavily upon you. We focus on the first things, first. And take steps only when they are necessary. THEN you may give someone to the sharks." She smiles warmly and touches his cheek.

Aquaman has posed:
Arthur grunts but relents at Mera's touch and words, as he always does.

"Fine, I will try not to jump to conclusion," he says. His expression is still stormy but less overtly angry. "At least I don't have to sit through this morning's court," he mutters and smirks to Mera.

The king holds Poseidon's Trident between he and Mera for her to grasp. There is a swirl of water and the two are gone.

They appear across the world in the next instant. The two walk together out of a river that tracks its way through the bottom of a long green mountain valley. The air is not too thin here, so they are not especially high. Evergreens descend the mountain slopes and give way to meadow and pasture.

In front of them is what must be Shah Purah. Thatched roofed wooden homes are mixed with a handful of homes made of low concrete squares with metal roofs. In a few places homes are bombed out and stained by subsequent weather from any one of the frequent raids and fights in the region. Fewer than a dozen homes make up the village in all. A single power line runs into the village from across the river and tracks away into the distance beside a rutted dirt road wide enough for a single vehicle.

It is very quiet. There are no voices. No children running or adults going about their business. From the banks of the river, Mera and Arthur can see why. Strewn at intervals along the road are bodies being attended to by crows, a dog and even a pair of buzzards. The smell of the dead wafts slowly toward them on a weak breeze.

Arthur frowns at the sight. "What kind of ruler can know this happened and ignore it?" he growls.

Aquawoman has posed:
"Patience, Arthur. A tragedy, yes. But we must remain focused on the tasks at hand." Mera stands, her hand grasping her own bident by her side to steady herself in the presence of the neglected, the defiled and forgotten, and the voices of the dead seem to stir, fetid and angry and mournful upon the scant breeze.

"If we fail in that task, Arthur, we fail these and the countless more they represent."

Aquaman has posed:
Arthur exhales sharply. He walks purposefully up the river bank with Mera under the warm midday sun and wafting scent of decay. The birds protest and scatter as the two Atlanteans reach the first of the bodies. The body had probably been that of a young man, but much of the face was in ruins now.

The birds had ignored a huge melted burn on the man's back though. Something seared halfway through the chest from the back. The tissue on the man's back all around the wound is heat damaged.

Arthur crouches down to look at the body and frowns. "It looks right," he says to Mera.

Aquawoman has posed:
Mera furrows her brow and kneels beside the body of the fallen. She tilts her head and examines the wound.

"Arthur. Do you see here, around the wound, where the skin is light? Bleached, almost." She picks up a twig and uses it to indicate the edges of the burn, where the skin, while not burned, is still marred. She is careful not to touch the flesh with the thin object. "Whitened. Here, and along here." She follows the lines with the twig and then tosses it aside. "Hydrogen peroxide. A by-product of water plasma." She lifts her fact to seek his, leaving her conclusion unspoken.

Aquaman has posed:
Arthur shields his eyes from the sunlight has a look at what Mera is pointing out. It seems like so much nothing to him, and he is about to say so, until Mera explain. That stops him.

"Fuck," Arthur barks. Birds from the next corpse scatter and caw in alarm.

Before he can continue, staccato weapons fire breaks out beyond some trees about three miles away back along the 'road', up river.

"How much do you want to bet..." he starts and springs to his feet, ready to run down to the river and race upstream.

Aquawoman has posed:
"I am not a betting woman, but you are probably right," Mera replies. She follows Arthur quickly, her bident glistening in the sunlight as she hastens alongside him.

Aquaman has posed:
The swim upriver is beyond brief for the two Atlanteans. But it is noticeable given the depth of the water. The river reverses direction in their wake and they explode onto shore, sending water cascading in all directions.

Unsurprisingly, the combatants are stunned. Six Pakistani men in army uniforms are pinned down behind the four foot cement wall that serves as the fortification around the low cement house they use for an outpost. It is on the road at the edge of another village on the 'road'. They are drenched by the spray Mera and Arthur cause. Their wall is nearly eaten through with deep scorch marks.

Four Caucasian men are spread out in a semi circle on the opposite side of the outpost from the village. They are using trees and boulders for cover and have sleek white energy rifles. The weapons are instantly recognizable to Mera and Arthur. They are dressed in a an array of different camouflage and other gear with no unifying them except the weapons.

One of the four mercenaries points in the direction of the two Atlanteans. But the Princess and King have the initiative here.

Aquawoman has posed:
Mera simply raises the hand holding her golden bident, and the water from the river rises into a column that whirls like a great cyclone, moving swiftly between the riflemen and their intended targets. A hundred feet wide, the column spins and edges threateningly toward the riflemen. Lightning bolts from her bident and armour seem to tether her to the column, spiderwebbing between her and the raging behemoth. And through it. Mera's voice, amplified by the sound conductivity of the water, is heard clearly above the roar...or perhaps within it.

"Gentlemen. Consider this your rock bottom. The time has come to make better life choices, starting This. Very. Moment."

Aquaman has posed:
Arthur plants the butt of Poseidon's Trident in the ground and watches. He looks entirely amused.

The riflemen are not. They freeze in place in shock. Two drop their weapons and raise their hands. The other two turn and bolt for a green jeep parked in the road about 40 feet back. A long, long, long way to run in the circumstances.

One of the Pakistani soldiers stands up and fires at Arthur. A couple of rounds glance off him and lodge in the nearby trees. Arthur just looks over at the soldier. The man's eyes go wide. He drops his rifle and looks suddenly apologetic.

Aquawoman has posed:
"You may not take that which does not belong to you," Mera's voice echoes for what sounds like a mile, and the cyclone snakes swiftly toward the two defectors, wiping their jeep from the playing field and wrapping around the two in a circle that closes in around them like a curtain of violent water and lightning. They can be seen through the sheeting of water, trapped inside, as tongues of lightning lick the ground at their feet menacingly.

"Perhaps we did not understand one another before..."

Aquaman has posed:
The last two riflemen stop dead. One literally wets himself when he is surrounded. They both drop their weapons and fall to their knees. The soiled one covers his head with his hands. The two who gave up already look at each other and decide to kneel down with hands on their heads.

"I didn't get to stab one," Arthur complains gruffly. He walks through Mera's wall to the far side and stabs his trident into the ground. One tine goes on each side of the man's leg and the trident is driven far enough that the fork of the weapon pins the leg painfully to the ground. Arthur grabs the man by the hair from behind and yanks his head back so he can look up at the Atlantean.

"Where'd you get the rifle?" Arthur growls.

Mera has clearly done more than her work. The mercenary is almost gibbering.

"Oh god please, it's just a contract," he whines pitifully. "They gave us the guns! To test!"

"Who did?"

"The, the contact, in Islamabad. No name but we tailed him after. He went to a Hammer office! I don't know anything else!"

Arthur sneers in disdain.

First is the whoosh. The Atlanteans are fast enough to hear it and notice it before what follows. The fire. It spreads out from near where Arthur stands and butts ineffectually against Mera's watery creations. Then the boom and the wind.

"Assholes," Arthur grumbles. He brushes human and tree ash off his armoured chest.

Everything within 40 feet not protected by water is scorched. That includes the two early surrenderers. Well above in a clear sky is a winged drone plane is banking away.

Arthur walks back toward Mera grumbling. "Hammer Industries gave them the rifles. /Hammer/."

Aquawoman has posed:
Mera shakes her head, rubbing her temple. "We have a good amount of work ahead of us, but we know now where to start."

She tilts her head up, her face illuminated by the sun's glint off the water. "At least you got to stab one..." she concludes with a wry smile.