* ● ● Unknown Location, Buenos Aires, Argentina, SAU
Amelie finally came to after having passed out. Heavy with a splitting headache and a thick mental fog, she had no recollection of what happened just before trying to make one last run for the prepared escape route.
[She’s opened fire on the sector E barricade!] A voice shouted in shock over someone’s communicator through the continued electrical noise and interference. The sound was just audible enough to make out as if coming from someone’s headset turned up to full volume. She couldn’t figure out from where it came, however, as she realized she was blindfolded and had her hands tied against something on the wall she was seated against. The floor was cold and hard, and the wall behind her was harsh as bare concrete. [Bender, do you copy?!]
“Call out to your daughter,” an impatient order came from just to her left, perhaps only a few feet away. It came from the same direction as the radio noise as well.
But more than figuring the man nearby must be holding the communicator that continued to go off constantly, her mind fought fiercely to focus through the stubborn fog, determined to learn what she could of her situation with the least energy or opportunity wasted.
“Call her to you,” the man continued flatly. “Before she dies.”
[She’s headed for the Assembly- we need backup, now!] The same radio chatter continued as Amelie confirmed it was in fact Sam they were speaking of.
I have to know who I am dealing with more than where I am.
“Ella no es mi hija,” she slowly but clearly spoke with equal impatience back to her captor. Unlike her two children, her background in grade school focused on world languages, and she had a plan for her attempt to start the conversation in Spanish by denying affiliation.
The man chuckled mockingly. [Oh, really? Since when was Samantha Knight not the daughter of Amelie Knight?]
That’s not an Argentine accent! She wasn’t as surprised by the fact her identity was already exposed but more by the thought the likelihood of her captor being from Bishop’s squad was incredibly low.
[Your daughter is seriously about to be terminated by the Big One any second now! You’re the only one that can save her, don’t you get that?! Now call to her, now!] The man was beyond impatient now as she soon after felt a communicator forced up against her head.
And it was a different one from seconds ago as the same chatter continued just beyond them: [Stay back! I can handle her now!] Adrian’s voice answered the desperate calls, triggering more from Amelie’s thoughts and adding more to her situational awareness.
[Whoever hears this, I would worry about my son before I would worry about anyone else if I were you,] Amelie flatly replied, hoping whatever got out enough for Sam to hear, she wouldn’t pick up on what was said nor who said it.
[Your son led you to us, right where you tried to free yourself,] he continued with a disappointed huff. [He’s right here in this building, right now, on his way up to meet you.]
That’s a bluff. No, both of those statements are bluffs.
[Now,] he continued with a sigh. [Last chance before your daughter dies. I see that, well…]
Amelie’s heart began to beat out of her chest, something she hadn’t felt in some time, and she genuinely felt like things weren’t in her control as much as she was accustomed to. She had to decide right then and there regardless of the man’s word about Isaiah was true or not.
[…The Big One has already arrived,] he finished with a mockingly somber tone. [If you don’t call her to you right now, her story ends here.]
Amelie bit down and swallowed, forcefully taking in a difficult breath. This is my only hope here. Sorry if I am wrong-
[-I can’t get any closer than this until you locate that damned cannon unit!] Adrian roared over the communicator, instantly injecting confidence into her choice.
“Samantha!” Amelie belted into the communicator still pushed up against her cheek. “I’m still in the Dumont Building from earlier! One-one-nine me when you get close!” She felt her lips quickly grow numb from the tension and the inability of her lungs to keep up with her heightened pulse and breathing rate. And the click of a pistol’s safety switch only added to it all.
“What is one-one-nine?” Reverting back to his own English, the man now coldly interrogated as he pulled the communicator away. “Five seconds to answer.”
The banging of a kicked in door immediately sent a jolt through the two as if it were the pistol going off. “Mother…” She heard her son’s voice speak to her for the first time in so long, unsure if it was out of surprise and shock or out of disappointment
.
* ● ● North Palermo District, Buenos Aires, Argentina, SAU
Sam’s LTAC’s rollers screeched to a halt as it slipped into a cramped alley between two smaller annex buildings. She was still struggling to catch her breath amidst the overwhelming sense of regret for the stunt she just pulled alongside the panic that struck the second she heard her mother call out to her.
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“One-one-nine when I get close?!” She thought aloud through her gasping breaths, remaining stuck on the number which she felt she had heard before.
Wait!! That code?! The one Dad used to talk about?!
With a deep frown of confusion and denial of the words spoken, she looked back behind her and then over and across the skies above. She readjusted her sweaty grip on her controls as she finally found a building to aim for. And with a silent count in her head for sanity’s sake, she launched off upward and over the annex building, catching sight of the Tiger a few blocks away. But it was also the instant she cleared the second to last story of the building when she let go of the thruster pedals, guaranteeing her expected trajectory the instant she became exposed.
It’s not even looking my way.
Sam knew what that meant, and kept her rifle at rest as she eased herself onto the rooftop next to the annex building she just cleared, now taking her aim but with her aim assist on full laser tracking. The large high-rise just behind the Tiger was obvious cover, but the targeting warning systems had to have done its job judging by the quick turnaround that had her feel like she was now locked in gazes with the Tiger itself.
The feelings of full panic locked her muscles in place momentarily, realizing she put herself right in death’s sights, but that was only until she soon remembered it was the Assembly Hall right behind her less than a block away.
One-one-nine, the SOS beacon… Mom somehow knows their plan, but it seems like that Tiger pilot knows ours, too.
Only a few seconds had passed, but the Tiger was yet to make a move. It was almost as if both sides knew the relative stalemate they were in, but something had to give. Her right foot rested heavily on the edge of the thruster pedal and both wrists twitched, eager to pull away the second anything moved.
Come on, Dani, I know you’re out there ready for a good shot or this guy isn’t frozen up like this.
With one long, steady breath and a forced attempt to tense away her quivering wrists, she worked up the will to set everything off. She flicked her left thumb switch and squeezed her right trigger, feeling a single, solid thump and a bang. The one time she ever felt glad to be in the underwhelmingly equipped Ai-20 LTAC was now as a gas tube round fired off from the underbarrel mount that all similar frames came with as standard.
And seeing the Tiger’s shield fling around towards Sam’s direction instinctively was the exact reaction she hoped for, feeling a surge of hope rush through her.
“You’re lucky, not smart,” spoke the same condescending voice from earlier.
She wasn’t surprised, however, already long assuming he was still hacked into her communications system. But even though a myriad of return insults were nearly brimming over from her gut, something kept them choked down as the flash of hope from just now rapidly faded.
Where is Dani?!
The Tiger’s left side was fully exposed. Beyond her desires to lash back out were the rapidly piling up doubts that she was only simply losing her mind, yet maybe she was already over-thinking and just needed to wait one more second. And that very fear kept her locked in place, afraid to make a regretful move.
“This movement is too large for you to even put a dent in,” Adrian’s voice continued through surprisingly heightened clarity despite the heavy jamming and interference. “The only thing stopping me is that building behind you, just as it stops you from the same, right? You are like me. We don’t wish to harm those who have no place in this fight.”
Come on, Dani!! Sam shouted out in her mind, unable to take her shaky but steadfast gaze on the Tiger in front and above. Where the hell are you!? Take the shot!
And then the sounds of approaching sirens spoke of more impending doom if she didn’t do something quick. She had no clue as of what intervention forces might show up or how quickly, and her standing there was the worst way to invite such a return of the earlier favor paid to the blockades.
[So, I see you are the same, big sister,] Adrian then spoke in his native tongue, drawing a panicked, tight-chested gasp from Sam the instant she figured out what he meant. [This is my last offer for you to all turn and leave, because I see your fight is with me and not the men of the Assembly. I respect that.]
“Eunice!” Sam yelled out to Dani out by her call-sign, no longer able to stand the tension and broke her locked gaze, now looking at her map to see two Hexa-marked signals just a few blocks to her right. From the angle she saw, there was no way they didn’t have a shot. “What are you waiting for?!”
Dani desperately wanted to pull the trigger, having for over a minute had the Tiger in her manually adjusted sights. But it wasn’t just the desire to avoid collateral damage that had her frozen up completely, it was the new fear stricken into her the moment she heard Adrian’s voice over her line as well. That fear grew rapidly by the second, realizing that her given-away position after firing would mean there would be no setting up for a second shot. This was it, and even if she dealt considerable damage to her target, destroying property would have the SAU bearing down on her team as well, banking her judgment off of her brothers’ suggestions that they let the Tiger remain the only responsible party as best as they could. And despite Sam’s call for action, she knew just as well not to respond, choking down her response through the sweat and tension.
But the next shouted cue from Sam seemingly freed up much of that in a heartbeat: “Eunice! I hear sirens! I’ll draw them!”
Dani then thought to herself as a smile grew: [Go. I promise won’t let you down.]
Sam knew the SAU would be bearing down on her any chance they got once any form of assistance arrived, and even though the approaching sirens in the background didn’t necessarily signify armed forces present, it nevertheless meant there was absolutely no time left before she had to move. Feeling a different panic kick in with the fear Dani was not even present to make a shot, she took the initiative to buy even just one more minute.
He has to be fixed on taking me down. Maybe that’s what I need to do. She then calculated the whereabouts of Sebastian and Renzo, even Kaylen and the others. There was no way they had just deserted the area.
Feet to the floor and control sticks flung back, her LTAC took a jump back that cleared her of the one thing keeping her safe, and as hoped, he took a shot that sent a bright, loudly crackling blast of light that halfway melted through her riot shield. Sam immediately let off of the pedals and hoped her sudden free fall would trick him into even just a split second of misjudgment, biting down fiercely in anticipation of a possible back-breaking crash if her calculations were off.
“Poor decision,” Adrian scoffed as he prepared to time his next shot.
But instead of bracing for impact, instincts pushed her feet back against the pedals once more as another flash of brilliant green splashed around the Tiger’s shield, this time carrying pieces of armor with it. Sam couldn’t look as she avoided careening into a building behind her, not able to catch the Tiger reeling in retreat nor the building’s topmost corner being the only recipient of collateral.
Finding her balance finally gave her the chance to readjust and take aim, knowing Dani had to have landed a decent hit just then.
Dani knew, however, that she was the one to take the second shot with the perfectly presented opportunity given the new distance of the Tiger from the nearest building, but before she could pull the trigger, a bright flash flickered only in a way that a rifle aimed directly at her would as she gasped.