Adrian’s body was already fully tensed from the unexpected blast that lit up his whole display screen array, nonetheless his first time being slung out of a mech’s main frame in over a decade was jarring both physically and mentally. Thrown out of the upper back-side of the Tiger by automated jettison protocol in response to an imminent lethal impact, the cockpit module soared over a hundred meters over several blocks before the parachute sets released, carrying him through a self-calculated, safe, but unmodifiable trajectory towards the nearest safe landing spot towards the coast.

Taking the time to slow his breaths and calm himself enough to manage his situation better, he began to thumb through the emergency prompts to find most of his communication lines were severed upon jettison, leaving him only in contact with a ground team below. [Bender here, requesting a recovery team at the coordinates I am sending now!]

[How did I miss that just now, though?!] His thoughts now quickly sent himself back into an angry mental spiral, now with nothing to do but wait in absolute silence and in hopes no one was tracking him. [How did that girl have enough power for two consecutive shots?!] He then remembered it was a tool of the Vrey’s his opponent wielded. [A weapon of his… AND those words… ‘danger close’ confirms she’s a tool of Vincent Vrey AND the Akkadians. I HAVE to make sure we get that information out as soon as I get back!]

It was embarrassing enough to have lost to such an undersized, lesser talented threat, but now he had to spend time rethinking his approach after leaving the carcass of the Tiger out in the open for the SAU, still controlled by the uppers in Brazil, to get their hands on. He knew he had to make the most of his successes, as after all, what had to be accomplished at absolute least was certainly accomplished. With the much-needed vote sent through, all he needed to do was let his work from earlier do the rest. [Now, I just need to survive this landing and there’s nothing we can’t recover after today,] he told himself as he now started fighting off the remorse from taking the life of his mentor, still reeling from the tainted image of him after that back-stabbing he had received.

[Oh-twenty five until SAU military arrives, Bender, do you copy?] A voice spoke up to him over the channel.

[Understood,] Adrian replied, having felt the timer ticking since the operation began.

[Request is that we retreat in full as all bogeys have scattered and fled towards Belgrano.]

[Affirmative. Just have that recovery team ready.]

After that, a tense but silent thirty seconds passed before tracker alerts went off inside his cockpit. [Someone’s targeting me from below! Don’t tell me it’s her!] He knew he had nothing up his sleeve but to hope there was someone below at the ready. [Incoming bogey, location unknown but it’s tracking me from the ground nearby! Move to intercept!]

[We are too far to act immediately! We’re still minutes from the site!]

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▽　▽　▽

.

Sam leaped out from her LTAC, hurrying down the ladder to find Sebastian’s LTAC parked close by as requested.

Sebastian was already hopping off as he looked at her with complete and total unacceptance. “I don’t know why you think chasing him is important! Let him run! We won!”

Sam hated to be blunt and rude, but felt she had no other choice as she answered back with an impatient bark: “We let him go we all die another day!”

“Stop!” He shouted back as he grabbed her, facing her towards him. “You don’t have to do this! I thought…” His voice trailed off for a second as his grip loosened and looked away, then took a breath to finish: “I thought I lost you just now. Please, Sam.”

Now it hurt even more to press back. “I’m still here, Sebastian.” She couldn’t figure out why she spent so many years hoping to find someone to truly have by her side, looking out for her with true invested interest, and now out of all the irony she felt compelled to push that person away even if for a minute. “And I have to make sure we have a tomorrow, because last time we almost had it taken away for good.”

“I know. There is no guarantee for anything anymore, not even if you come back with that man dead,” Sebastian gathered what energy he could to talk her away.

Irony continued its work as she began to speak on something related to her mother, one whom she never mentioned in any positive light before, and also one who might still be alive unlike whom Sebastian had lost: “Listen, I have to make today worth everything. What advice I was given earlier all makes sense now, and it will only work if I catch him before he runs off. Sorry-”

“-Sam, nobody has anything to gain if we lose you-” Sebastian interrupted, half choked-up as his grip grew stronger and more desperate.

“Sebastian, you have to believe me this one last time!” Sam cried out, struggling for a painful second before quickly slipping out from his released grip. She knew how much he hurt all along as her hands quickly went back to his, but only for a brief second, as her other half of her conscious screamed to hurry off before it was too late.

She gently pushed off with a teary, defeated smile before quickly turning away. The fact Sebastian had nothing to say in return hit even harder as she knew how this had to feel from his point of view; Dani was surely on his mind more than anyone’s, and if victory meant a chance to salvage what was left of their sanity and their togetherness, it was Sam who slammed the door shut on it, willingly at that. But her gut feelings pushed her to grab a hold of the ladder and pull herself up, not allowing her to look back, swallowing the pain that could have been if she had.

This CAN’T end without them taking the fall! We’re THIS close!

And as soon as she finished hurrying loading up, taking a seat in a cockpit of an LTAC that wasn’t in temporary shut-down recovery mode like the one she just ditched, she hastily switched the communications back to her headset to hear the second voice she hoped to hear.

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[Cruella, I tagged him! Linked his tracking to our satellite!] Renzo yelled out, seemingly exhausted. [Hurry and catch up- I can’t tell which way he’s about to land!]

“I see it! Perfect!” Sam yelled back the second she kicked off full-speed northbound, noting the trail the cockpit module left as she tried to catch her breath. “We’ll cut him off from its East and West! Stay on your path- I’ll cut it off from the West!”

[Just make sure to stay hidden! I don’t know what all is waiting or looking out for us!]

[Cut the radio traffic, damn it!] Kaylen snapped, reminding Sam of the tapped channel threat as she switched her input off. [My group will watch for interception groups! The rest, continue retreat! And stay off the channel if you can!]

[Moving to recover Dani’s unit once I recover the power source here,] Sam heard Sebastian adding in before switching off his input. She let out a tense breath, closing her eyes momentarily before turning down her preset path, accelerating to chase speeds. “Dani…” she mumbled as she recalled the line that continued to haunt her each time she stepped closer to finding any type of end to the constant madness. And once more, Danielle Norris’ warning repeated itself, causing her to shake the thought out of her head with heightened focus. “No, the losses stop here,” she told herself as she began calculating a better interception point for the cockpit module that was growing closer to landing by the second.

“Operative Knight, we’ve established a weak signal connection with Agent Delacroix,” the Skywatch Two’s operator spoke up unexpectedly, filling Sam with even stronger drive. “Status: unknown. Establish a communication link with cooperating ground forces at ground zero in order to upgrade information pipeline.”

Sam now had two things to focus on. This was now not just for Dani but to also ensure her mother’s safety while she still had time.

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▽　▽　▽

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* 　●　● Recoleta District, Buenos Aires, Argentina, SAU

The fires from the earlier blasts continued to burn, all well in view from the coastline where a decommissioned heliport served as the landing site for the Tiger’s ejected cockpit module. Only it was more unsettling to see it nestled deep into the top floor, having crashed through the not-too-stable rooftop, parachutes dangling in the wind and over the ledges.

MBI Cockpit modules aren’t controllable, or were they!? Something’s off here…

With the active drives turned off, Sam’s LTAC quietly and cautiously rolled to a stop as she pulled up next to the building’s outer gate, noting the silence from her channel as well as her surroundings. She stopped to run an L-Scan, noting no particular NOx gas activity anywhere in the vicinity.

Nothing to say a truck or so didn’t already stop by to extract him by now, but hopefully there are some hints left on the module.

Sam activated the emergency shutdown protocol protection sequence as she set the bypass to her watch before hopping out with her bag slung over her shoulder. She removed and armed the pistol she brought along, tossing the bag back behind her and slowly approached the only building nearby through a missing fence panel near the gate.

I’m definitely too far for an accurate pinpoint access from above.

“Moving,” she quietly spoke into her headset, trying not to be overly revealing but hoping Renzo was close.

[I’m close. Proceed,] Renzo quickly answered, clearing her to move quietly ahead.

[Two bogeys down, drawing the rest on me,] Kaylen quickly added before backing out.

Sam took the push from her team with a deep breath, then quietly headed for the staircase attached to the outer wall, seeing it led to the roof.

And after a long, slow, but hopefully undetectable trek to the top, she peeped over the last step to take a few glances, checking to see if it was clear. She pondered the risk of checking Renzo’s location once more, but quickly declined once the buzz from a radio call shocked her into a frozen position where she stood, just having set foot on the rooftop. She could tell it was a floor below, perhaps two, but it was definitely a few words in haste from a Spanish speaker. The radio then quickly fell silent, wondering if the pilot turned it off, signaling what she needed to know. He was there, and he was by himself.

Perfect.

She breathed out quietly but with heavy relief, knowing better now what to do next as she took a perch by the front corner facing the street entrance gate, laying down against the short ledge wall in a manner to face the hole left by the cockpit module. She then noted the stairwell door from the inside just across the roof in plain view. She kept her trigger finger at the ready, sidearm facing toward that very door as if expecting it to open.

And nothing moved nor made a sound for another minute, clearing her to pass her sidearm to her left hand and started typing in a command into her watch.

“Location Sent. Location Received. Active scanning commencing,” read the notification on her watch screen. And with that, she put her sidearm back at the ready, aimed for the door once more.

That’s that. Just need to sit tight now. Any truck that comes this way, I’ll hear it. Any movement from him toward me, I’ll see it comin-

***BDAH!***

-SHIT!!

A quick shriek escaped her as she stopped herself from jumping up at the sound of a discharged round. And combined with the spray of concrete shrapnel from the round that missed her by inches, she clumsily rolled back from the direction she came from which was her only clear path.

How the fu- where is he?!

“You can either die out there when my men arrive!” She heard Adrian shout from within, a sign she could stop to breath and let him talk while she tried to regather herself. “Or you can die here trying to get to me first! Your choice, little girl!”

But she wasn’t there to fight, now figuring escape was her best option. She quickly stood back up, hoping to make a dash for the exit staircase she used moments ago but only just before that section of flooring she stood above gave way. Screams unable to make it through the unexpected near-free fall, she braced for the tumble she knew was coming. The fall was fortunately less hazardous and less of a travel than expected as the section fell at an angle, coming to a complete stop against sturdier structures underneath as she stumbled and rolled into the darkness, slamming up against a wall as dust quickly filled the area, blocking out most of the light that came in from above.

She didn’t dare move or utter a single sound despite the pain. She stayed still, holding in her coughs from the dust filling her nasal passages, knowing the more she couldn’t see was the more he couldn’t either.

Seconds passed, only to reveal what she hoped least for: A flashlight’s beam tore through the darkness and the dust, slowly hovering nearer and nearer to where she lay, afraid to react, afraid to hold up her only weapon for fear of the sound it might make. She had to play it off like she wasn’t there if luck could have its way.

“That was very brave of you,” Adrian muttered aloud as the sound of his footsteps slowly approached. “A one-one-nine right here in the heart of the enemy. How fancy. Did you get that from your father? I know all about those trick plans.”

What? How could he know!?

“It mostly worked. My men are getting flushed out at the Delmont Building, no idea where that mother of yours is now.”

And why would he tell me this?!

“But I am no fool. I know the main target wasn’t there. It was me. I know.” He began chuckling in between breaths with hints of desperation.

Sam continued to remain stiff as a statue despite the ever-enclosing flashlight beam. Is he really… wait…

“I realize I wasn’t as dumb to react to your shots you took on my boys at the Assembly. You got the best weapon to serve us that we could have ever asked for. That Vrey boy’s Icarus rifle you somehow got your hands on… that’s going to be our best plan moving forward! And we have you to thank, little Sammie!”

The beam was now only feet away, and too much dust had settled. Sam still had her hand on her sidearm, although still close up against her left hip. It was now to either die in silence or move and die regardless, facing one who most certainly had aim.