image [https://i.imgur.com/7tZEnsI.jpg]
“Renzo, Dani, Sam…” Sebastian’s panicked voice barely made it through. “Run!!”
[A Rebellion Tiger unit- No way in hell they got their hands on one!] Renzo followed Dani to the backside of the building they stood next to. [Base, do you copy! This is Enzo! We aren’t equipped for that thing- no one told us about any fucking Tigers!]
Sam never once pondered facing a behemoth that fast and equally deadly, not even in her months of extensive simulation training against more commonplace full-sized mech outfits. The Tigre was the centerpiece to the last successful and highly notorious Earth Invasion a decade ago, and she knew if there was no equally-sized mech to match it back then, there’d be no way an LTAC a third of its size could even stand in the same room.
“No good!” Sam cried out as she turned to the building opposite from the one Renzo and Dani ducked behind. “Too much jamming, and we don’t have anything to hit that thing with!”
Despite her panicking, she knew the only thing for sure that could at least buy them some time would be to use the residents inside the buildings as a shield, as up to this point, no single major opponent she faced ever blindly destroyed active residential infrastructure. And her next connecting thought led her to recall the one weapon that was the first step in the old Confederacy’s slow turn of the tides last war: the NGF hybridized rifle round.
[Hey!] Renzo impatiently- and rightfully so, shouted out to Sam from across the street, barely remaining within direct line-of-sight for their communications. [What is that thing even use?! Are we sitting ducks here or what?!]
“If that thing is equipped like last war, we’d know already!” Sam only saw digital recreations from movie scenes which limited her perception of the storied full NGF beam emissions the Tiger’s carbine utilized, but she knew it had to be multiple times louder than their hybridized rounds the Ap-50 LTACs used. “Remember the weapons you used before that made all that extra racket? Those are all based on Barringer’s designs- that Tiger is equipped with the original most likely! If you hear anything like lightning strikes, we’re already cooked!”
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* ● ● Enrai Branch Operations Outpost, Belgrano District, Buenos Aires, Argentina, SAU
Chaos was a rare element from everything Sebastian had gathered during his extended stay provided by Enrai’s Underground; no matter what developments occurred, everything had a plan in place.
This, however, was nowhere near their protocol.
[They have already sensed our threat to their actions!] Orsi bellowed during the continued Assembly over the speakers that rang off of every wall inside the outpost. [Two hours and fifty minutes! They have long known of our worst weakness!]
Sebastian scrambled to find a line that could connect him back to Sam and his siblings, growling and swearing in between each failed attempt. [Piece of shit! Why aren’t these lines connecting!?]
[We have no time! Use my connections with our Underground resistance force to fight back!] Orsi’s oration continued as one operator passed Sebastian, stopping to correct him.
[No! You have to wait until the other side accepts the connection! They’re keeping it closed for a reason!]
Sebastian, refusing to accept that as an answer, only became more distraught as he turned to return a fierce glare. [Then what?! Let their reason be why my three people get slaughtered?!]
The operator did, however, sense in Sebastian’s voice a certain conveyed emotion that only comes with certain experiences, urging him to ponder the circumstances for a moment. [Wait, maybe…]
Sebastian stared back at the irritatingly silent monitor helplessly, hoping the three LTACs in view stayed put. It was almost as if the airborne Tiger unit was waiting for something as well.
[Our police have no power, and Curitiba cannot scramble defense MBI’s to our aid fast enough! This is EXACTLY what we’ve been warning of for years!]
[I know what to do!] The operator finally answered Sebastian’s plea as he hurried off to the adjacent room. [Keep your eyes on that screen!]
[This is our last chance, fellow members!] Another voice added in to the plea to the Assembly. [We’ve freed the Commissioner’s seat! Vote in Oman Orsi before this all spirals out of control!]
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Sebastian began to focus on the Tiger that remained still in the air, hovering at about one hundred meters from the ground. It’s peculiar weapon, shorter than any rifle he’d ever seen equipped on any mech he’s seen, was aimed at towards their direction. Yet, nothing new came over any channel, and with the assumption there was no ongoing communication with the unidentified unit, he began paying more attention to the broadcast behind him.
[SAU official responses must be reconfigured from the ground up! First, Colombia! Twice, even!] Orsi continued in the same sense of urgency. [We are not about to become the first to fall victim to over-complacency and choked off by our own red tape restrictions!]
[He’s buying time for something,] Sebastian mumbled to himself before the operator from earlier ran back in.
[We got contact from La Pampa Group!] He exclaimed, pulling up a new screen on the display, showing three other LTACs resembling a heavier Kappa build, making their way through stopped car traffic. [We just need Cramer Group to hold their positions and buy time!]
Sebastian huffed nervously, hand over his chin. [Hold on. From what that Orsi guy is saying and looking at how this Tiger is moving, it’s the Tiger that is the one buying time here.]
[Huh!?]
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* ● ● North Palermo District, Buenos Aires, Argentina, SAU
From within the Tiger’s cockpit, Adrian’s brow was already in a nervous sweat. But from his visible agitation, it wasn’t nerves dealing with piloting a full-sized wartime mech for the first time in years, nor was it the blaring air raid sirens accompanied by emptied cars littering the streets below.
[Bender! Why aren’t you engaging!] A voice angrily barked over the encrypted line fed from somewhere below. [Your freezing up has got Bishop paralyzed!]
His grip tightened as he fought the urge to follow through. [I never asked for you, damn it! Get me Bishop on the line, now! No one cleared the target area like the plan called for!] He roared back with greater ferocity.
[These ARE Bishops orders!] The operator snapped back. [Engage now or this will all fall on you!]
Adrian bit down, knowing well what entailed with holding off for this long, allowing his enemy time to regroup, yet he still stubbornly held onto his initial gut feelings. [Look at them! They’re not even fighting back!] It then clicked. He now felt he had a good understanding of the situation. He brought in his prided final puzzle piece to the grand scheme, and what stood in his way wasn’t a trio of helpless LTAC units serving a separate faction, it was a side target that came as a priority last minute in a set area that was supposed to have been cleared of civilians in his mind- or at least that how he was informed just prior.
Adrian then opened his mouth and let out his frustration without further care for how it would come across. [If Bishop wants that captive dead, he should do it himself! We didn’t bring out the Big One for this!] He continued seething, adjusting his legs in preparation for blasting off. [I’m moving to the original priority target-]
[-Target has escaped!] The operator interrupted him, causing him to freeze in place for a crucial second before a lapse in judgment passed.
He envisioned this target that his mentor had placed such a last-minute, heavy emphasis in prioritizing without ever lending a single explanation, and he saw its apparent escape somehow leading to his demise if he let this spiral out of control. He felt Orsi put him here for a reason, and he couldn’t let it spoil what he had come so far for, despite how sick it made him feel to his stomach.
Another voice joined in from the ground, confirming his thoughts. [This is holding cell A-1! Hostile infiltration forces present on both exits and the captive has gotten free inside the compound and is likely on the run!]
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▽ ▽ ▽
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Below and behind the nearest high-rises, Sam, Renzo, and Dani remained where they stood, keeping fully out of the Tiger’s view. Though with each passing second, Sam grew more and more impatient, as if her end was put on hold just for the sake of mocking her. Panicked and clouded thoughts soon turned to doubts. “Why is it just sitting there?! What is it waiting on!?” She fruitlessly shouted her thoughts out loud before looking over at the two across the street.
[It’s open!] Sebastian’s voice suddenly crackled in, taking the three by surprise. [Lines are open- Renzo! That Tiger is having trouble of some sort! If you are going to make a run for it, now is a good shot!]
[On it!] Renzo answered without hesitation as Sam watched the two point their headings southward.
[Pin a location!] Dani chimed in before moving as she then noticed Sam’s unexpected movement. [Cruella! What are you doing!?]
Sam initially thought to make a quick jump to their side of the street before making a group exit, but something caught her eye in a way that had her freeze just beyond the safety of the shadow of the high-rise she hid behind. The Tiger remained where it had all along, but it was the angle of the weapon it wielded that drew instant panic and anger.
She knew what the target must have been all along, and they were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, perhaps. The angle made it apparent it had intentions of demolishing the very high-rise the ground teams intended on infiltrating and hostage extracting.
“NO! WAIT!” Words escaped her vocal cords so tensed her voice cracked to the point Renzo, Dani, and now Sebastian as well felt the sheer terror enough to bring their focus to a crashing halt.
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Adrian bumped the hat switch on his right control pod with his tensed thumb, hovering a manually targeting reticle over a marked zone just over the twelfth floor of the twenty-story residential high-rise. Closing his eyes and letting out a tight breath, he squeezed the trigger.
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Sam’s fingers, wrists, and knees remained locked, stiff, frozen solid despite the brilliant flash of blue and the crackling of thunder loud enough to sense the chilling vibrations through her entire cockpit. And they came once, twice, three times before her blind rage took over enough to point her rifle to the skies through the bursting fountains of smoke, debris, and shrapnel, pulling the trigger with all caution to the wind.
“SAM, NO!” Sebastian wildly called out over the radio to no avail.