●　● Medellín, Colombia

Sebastian was at a hospital’s reception desk where he spoke with automated staff while Sam sat at the waiting area close by. Sam had noted on the way there that the city had not been hit as hard by the recent uprisings and violence, yet there was still a thickness in the air that smelled of the possibility the town would have the same fate; the TV screens in the lobby were all tuned into local and national news stations broadcasting the Bogota events over the past weeks, each with clashing opinions as if they were reaching to both sides of the political spectrum present in the building. Sebastian returned to the lobby where he spoke to Sam, who was now standing. “Come, they will allow us to go, now.”

Immediately upon exiting the elevator, the two had showed their Infinity badges to security guards on that floor before passing by several rooms in the cold, sterile-smelling hallway. “There, must be one of those,” Sebastian pointed as they approached the final rooms on the hall, each with additional security outfits standing by. [We are here for Renzo Navarre, Sebastian Navarre, Hexa,] he spoke to the first guard they approached, once again showing his ID.

[This way,] the guard replied as he stepped aside.

The automated door revealed his brother who was sitting upright, head propped up against the tilted bed frame with several machines attached to him via sensor wiring or micro-catheters. [Oh, now you show up, bastard,] he scoffed before smiling. [But that’s a good thing.]

[So glad you are doing better,] Sebastian spoke back as he firmly grabbed the only accessible hand he could, patting his shoulder with the other. He noted the bandaging wrapped around his forehead, the brace around his neck, and the mechanical bracing around his waist that had him firmly pinned to the bed frame. [What happened to you?] he asked, glad to be speaking at all, but horrified at the idea he wasn’t too far from an escaped death.

[Please, take a seat. I might have to talk to you all damn day, bro,] he joked, nodding towards the chairs by the wall behind them. [Why is Cruella still here? She your new arm decoration?] He then saw her hair had changed. [Cruella lost her stripes!] His laughing that ensued seemed painful from what the two could see.

Sam, who had her translation active in-ear, had not seen someone in this bad of a situation before. Her usual reaction would have been to slice back, but even she felt the uncommon urge let it slide. “No, I can explain.”

[Renzo, what happened out there? How did they do this to you all? Is everyone else… really…] his voice tapered off as he became overcome by the thought that so many he worked with so closely over the years were not to be seen again. Not only did he have no place to call home, there would be almost no one left waiting for him wherever the winds would take them.

[We have to mourn later. You know me- damn it I can’t even think to rest until we figure shit out]. He then took in a long breath before continuing. [Motherfuckers came up out of literally nowhere. We fell for a trap. They stopped our train, we got readings of approaching targets, didn’t even get close.] Renzo paused a moment to let out a few coughs. He pressed a button with his control near his hand to bring over a straw from which he drank a few sips of water from. [We disappeared quicker than the poor bastards who she dropped with. I say maybe thirty seconds. All of us, down.]

“Were you able to see the weapons they used?! Were they plasma arc?!” Sam shot out without thinking, remembering how there was only a few seconds between spotting her teammates being downed until she too was taken out the day of her encounter.

“Sam, stop, hold on,” Sebastian grumbled as he put a hand up. [Sorry. She-]

[It’s ok, bro, tell me what she said,] he said with another weak chuckle. [She’s helped us before, maybe she still knows something.] His smile quickly changed to a look of impatience. [I would kill to learn any little piece of information that could point me in the way of those sons of bitches.]

Sebastian sighed, refraining from arguing as well, easing back into his seat. [She asked if you saw anything about the weapons they used. She said some words about them that I don’t know, so…]

[Ah, they were direct contact weapons. They closed in so fast our weapons couldn’t be pointed in time… they had some kind of crazy visuals and tracking distortion device or something. I don’t even know what the fuckers looked like. Couldn’t see them right, couldn’t target them right… one big cluster fuck up close and personal.] He then showed a glimmer of weakness as he looked to the other side of the room. [Some didn’t die immediately. Some got trapped. The weapons they used sealed some of us out from escaping and died burning alive. Dani… she got free. She would’ve died for sure if she didn’t cut those restraints and crawled away.]

[And how is she- I heard she was still in bad shape?] Sebastian rushed back to his side upon hearing her name.

[She will be fine,] he said as he looked back at Sebastian. [Critical but stable. She had to get blood transfusions and forgot what else, but they said give her another day and she should be alright.] He then looked to Sam who seemed to have been listening earnestly but holding her tongue. [Hey, girly, does anything sound familiar?]

“Yes! That describes everything I saw!” she blurted out, having long waited her turn to speak. She too approached the two as she continued: “Have you spoken to anyone from command about those details, yet?!”

[Have you spoken to command about all that? She said she knows exactly what you described,] Sebastian translated.

“Wait,” Sam said as she handed Renzo her mobile with her translator switched to two-way. “There.”

[Hah, I thought girls from the NAU were against touching people,] he joked once again, noticing how her hand gently and carefully placed the mobile in his so that he wouldn’t drop it. [No, I kid! Damn!] he said with a stronger laugh followed by a stronger cough seeing her reaction. [Hey, Cruella, where did your stripes go?] he said, once more noticing the restored all-black condition of Sam’s hair.

“Ok, ha-ha, enough of the damn jokes, I really want to help get something figured out here,” she snapped back, unable to hold her tongue anymore. “Did you speak to command, yet?”

[Yes,] he flatly spat back. [And I never heard back. I don’t know if I like who is in charge of the new CCC in Cuba. I miss the nice looking lady from Singapore CCC and she always had better response time.]

“Cuba is new,” Sam replied back in a defensive tone. “They are, like, a week old. Singapore had their hands beyond full and you just have to let them settle in a bit. Let me talk to my dad, OK? I think he’d love to hear this as he has been waiting for more confirmations.”

[Yes, you do that. I like your father, too. Good man,] he said with a smile that matched Sebastian’s from earlier. [Hey, Bas,] he said as he turned his attention. [Are you really staying?]

Sebastian couldn’t help but smile with a confused laugh. [Of course! Why would I leave at a time like this? I have to help you get better so we can get back at those bastards one day!]

Renzo’s smile disappeared in an instant. [You would leave right now if you had brains.]

[What?]

[Look at me. Go take a good look at Dani, too. Heh, you and me both in the end spoke well about Infinity no matter how much I wanted to hate them. They gave us so much. Gave me a bigger ego in addition to the bigger weapons. You speak of revenge? That’s great. All I can think of is revenge. So, why waste time?! Go out there and find the bastards that did this. Do you want to just sit here and shoot the shit with me while I wait until the day I can put on a helmet again? Which might be, like, in how many months?]

[But, you don’t make any sense! Where would I even start to go until then?]

Renzo rolled his eyes in disbelief. [You are too smart to act like such an ignorant dumbass all the time. You got the best connection on the fucking planet to getting anything you want- right there!] he said with his best attempt to point at Sam. [Cruella’s father I’m sure would gladly hook you up! Am I right?] he said with a look to Sam.

“Uh,” she said with an uncomfortable smile, “I don’t think asking me for help on pivotal decisions is ever a good idea.”

[You know what, stop, I think-] Renzo continued with another intermittent cough.

Sebastian winced in reaction. [That’s enough, we will come to talk again when you rest some more-]

[You making me fucking yell so much is what’s making me cough, damn it! Shut up for a second!] he said through more coughing. [Go check the wrecked black boxes again. I bet the director allows it. There is some good shit I had left out on purpose, I guarantee you… not really trusting anyone but you to tell. I got a piece of one of those bastard’s capes, drapes, whatever the fuck it was, and I saw the target clearly for that split second before he had me running. Go back to Bogota and demand you see those black boxes, especially mine. If you find it, I bet you get a good idea of what to do next and who to call. See?] he said, having held back the urge to cough until the end, letting a few out and drinking more water.

Sebastian stood up straight with a cross of his arms. [Now, that’s really quite enough. I will go check on Dani, now. You’ll hang in there?]

Renzo looked back up with a sincere look in his eyes. [Go. Go see her. And think about what I said. You want to do the right thing… well staying here ain’t it.]

Sam quietly waved to Renzo as she followed Sebastian out, taking note of the sudden change in atmosphere. I would have never known these two had this kind of… dynamic. Point taken.

Sebastian was sitting down in a chair he had scooted up right next to Dani’s bedframe, her right hand clasped in his. Her eyes were sunken and dark, chest slowly rising and falling. He couldn’t see her whole face, however, as a mask and set of tubes covered her mouth and nose. He looked over to see her legs were both fully set in molds, showing evidence she had emergency restructuring surgery. He had heard of the procedure that could fix severed ligaments or crushed joints in less than an hour with the newer technology brought from the NAU just before the dissolution of the confederacy, but he had never known anyone to receive it. All he could tell was whatever happened, she almost lost both of them; nothing however hinted of the ensuing complications that must have forced them to put her in a medically induced coma. He took in another deep breath before looking back to her face. [I never went into our job thinking this would be how it might end. To think what I helped drag you into,] he thought aloud as he took a few moments to regather himself. [I know what I have to do. You always looked after me. Now I need to make sure to continue fixing things. Everyone kept promising better days to us. This time, I am not taking any more promises. No, I will make the promise. And I will make it come to reality. I am coming back with the head of whoever did this to you all.]

Sam had heard everything before he started to stand back up, carefully placing Dani’s tube-riddled hand back over her chest. She realized she had seen and heard more losses, pains, and grief over the course of a week than she might have over the entirety of her life. The weight she felt emanating from the room had her unable to find the words to speak to him as he left through the doorway.

Sebastian could pick up on it as he paused before passing her. “Thank you for being here for me, too, Sam,” he said as he turned to reach for a hug.

Sam, without thinking or hesitating, reached back out in return to embrace someone in a manner she had never before: both grateful and empathetic yet comforted and warmed.

▽　▽　▽

(Two Days Later)

●　● Bogota, Colombia

Sam and Sebastian stepped out from a transport vehicle that pulled up to a location they had not seen before, marked Hexa property; the place seemed to have formerly served as a distribution warehouse before abandoning and subsequent purchase from Hexa for reoutfitting as a dispatch and servicing center – a vast departure from the makeshift setup they once had at the El Campín stadium from before. Much was still under construction, but was a more welcome sight as they had been missing the sense of stability.

“Ms. Knight! Sorry to make you wait all this time!” Director Braun waved as he approached the two.

“Thank you for taking the time, Director,” Sam waved back as she shook hands. “Thanks for also getting me reprocessed.”

“Sure thing, and glad to see you, too, Mr. Navarre,” he said as he shook hands with Sebastian. “I got that blackbox pulled, finally. We already looked through it, and I am sure everyone else interested got some good looks as well. Anything in particular you are looking for?”

“Is it the box from Renzo Navarre?” Sebastian quickly inquired. “That is the one we need to see.”

“That is exactly why this took so damn long to get clearance for, even with Ms. Knight’s father involved,” he said as he led the two inside a temporary office structure. “There’s been speculation that more Hexa tech had been stolen to do what we saw being used, and I mean stolen so well that we never knew anything was ever even sniffed at.” He then had them pass through to a smaller, darkened room and approach a screen he had already prepared. “Here, look.”

The two watched repeated frame sets of Renzo’s hybridized rifle rounds by chance pass through a distorted blur of an image before seeing a few paused, clarified frames of what looked to be a head unit similar to the LTACs Sam had seen too often. “That looks like the first head camera assembly I got adjusted to in the 1st A-series. But everything else looks… off. What’s with that cloak? I remember Renzo mentioning capes. This doesn’t look good.”

Sebastian took a closer look at the extended handle sword-like weapon being wielded. “And it’s like was described to me. What is that?”

“Can you zoom in on that weapon?” Sam requested as she too took a step closer. She then remembered seeing something similar before when she saw the bright beaming light source at the end of the handle at the base of a long, slender metal core that extended to a point. In her past, she never paid much actual attention to her visits to the Earth-Space War Museum where she had plenty of opportunity to take a closer look at the mech remnants her father piloted. But she did remember the old-world inspired broadsword-like weapon it had in its grips. “Director, did he mention anything about this weapon?”

“Your father?” he responded as he himself took a closer look. “Of course I never got to speak with him personally. I wasn’t part of the conversation other than getting you clearance for this. So, what in particular were you looking for within this footage?”

“Anything we can get. I wanted a good look at the son of a bitch who did this to my brother and sister,” Sebastian was quick to reply. “I also need to see the next frames.” As he saw the next few slowed segments, he noticed the entire base frame of the LTAC was visible, seeing stark similarities to the Ai20 frame Sam had once piloted. “The armor isn’t hiding by itself. It is the cape.”

“A cloak… metamaterial cloaking,” Sam mumbled, catching the attention of the director.

“Meta what? Where did you hear that?” the Director inquired, having never heard such a term despite his experience.

“My dad and my brother had a bunch of boring talks of that… I don’t know… theory? A long time ago. I could be way the hell off with this one, but I think someone beat them to the punch, because if Hexa officially made this I have already at least seen or heard of it even if just a little. Oh yeah, if I were to try and do anything with this, I’d have to talk to my dad, first. But seeing this all here… this is way out of my league.”

“What do you mean? You seem to know much about all of this,” Sebastian added, feeling a bit let down. “I think they are making a joke of us. Is there no way to use what we have… or use what we know to get back at them?”

Sam let out a long sigh, closing her eyes in focused thought. Strategizing was never her responsibility before as she was only familiar mostly with well-established protocol. And with her own experience with them once before, crossing paths with them once more was never an option. “Sebastian, I think we need to sit back and get numbers and plans put together. I saw them before. You saw what they did to us way back. They clearly have every advantage against us and the only thing I see in both cases is a total lack of preparation. And I don’t mean basic preparation. This is some extremely high level shit that even I couldn’t speak on. Remember, you’ve been at this longer than me.”

“So, what are you saying? You aren’t already giving up, are you?”

“Of course not,” she scoffed. “You can’t just go riding in like a… you know… knight in shining armor, forgive the pun. We need to get someone to rewrite some books for us if getting back at them is the focus.”

Director Braun stepped back in as he noticed the footage was no longer the focus. “If you two are done I do have a lot to get back to.”

“Sorry,” Sam looked back with a softened expression. “I really appreciate you having this for us. Just give me one more minute- I need to take one more look at that weapon of his.” She nodded in thanks to his welcoming gesture and continued scrolling back to the clearer resolution imaging of the attacking LTAC, taking a much closer look at the handle. “It’s exactly as your brother and my dad described. This plasma arc tech is apparently serious business for the full sized mechs. Having it on these guys, downsized so well yet so effective? Someone who knows not only Hexa tech to the T, but also fully grasped tech we haven’t seen since war time a decade ago.” She stood back straight, looking over to Sebastian with a stern look. “We really, really need to gather ourselves before taking any action, and we will need more men to do this.”

▽　▽　▽

“When is your report time, again?” Sam asked as the two walked away from the portable office building. “I don’t have anything until tomorrow since they just finished my re-processing.”

“I am in some kind of in between thing. I requested transfer to here, but my return response has never come. I thought it would be here by now.”

“Oh, yeah, you did mention that,” she said as they sat at a bus stop bench. “I really need to just get some good phone calls in, you know, before we actually decide what to do. And it sounds like we got time.” She then looked at him, knowing he had been really gung-ho about joining any group that showed a leaning toward search and destroy ops concerning the unidentified cloaked LTACs. “Don’t get me wrong. I really don’t want you to give up, and I have no intention on not helping us get back. Do you get what I mean?”

Sebastian knew he couldn’t get caught up in his emotions, either. “I know. Do you think your father can think of something?”

“He’s been busy doing a lot of crazy shit like trying to open up new CCC’s across the globe, establish different recruitment pipelines, maybe still trying to do that whole pilot requirement change. I doubt he’s had time to devote just to our little cause.”

“Well, we can hope, right?” he said with a defeated smile. “But maybe with your new toy, we might attract them. What do you think?”

“I might not be in it long. Why would they want it here? Bogota has really settled down since the EMP incident. But if that was the case, they’d already be trying to move us to Medellin, right?”

“This silence in our schedules has me a bit uncomfortable.”

“Maybe you’re just hungry again,” she joked, noticing that it was actually the case for her. She leaned against him with a goofy smile as she continued: “Yo quiero… yo quiero comer… camarones.”

“Again!?” he laughed back. “That’s all you eat these days!” As he turned to see the top of her head he was reminded of the arctic white streaks she used to have. “Are you ever going to go back to your old hair style?”

“Hmm,” she thought as she continued leaning against him. “So much I have stopped doing since I got here, whether it was a choice or not,” she chuckled as she continued pondering the question. “I don’t think I will. I haven’t been partying, I haven’t been going to clubs or drinking, I haven’t been updating my social media… it’s all a big reset for me. I haven’t even reached for my phone unless it was a call! I really think I like moving forward with the newer, less crisis-laden me.” She then turned to him with a curious look. “Why, did you like that hairstyle better?”

“Um, do you know why my group always called you Cruella?” he asked sheepishly.

Sam’s face soured quickly before rolling her eyes. “Yeah. I looked it up. Thanks for letting them call me that all this time, asshole.”

“What?! I thought you always knew!” he returned in defensive laughter.