The sun had fully set as the warehouse where Isaiah had set up his operations was now in full darkness aside from the sparse lighting provided around each entrance and exit. Isaiah was followed by Revenant and Requiem to one of the doors as they opened and entered, seeing their tarp covered LTACs standing in the clearing.

The three remained silent as they walked up to one of the loading areas, grabbing the tarp and pulling it off to reveal their heavily modified Kappa frames they used in Bogota, this time with a pair of large shields that ran a length from the top of the shoulders down to the ground. Each was arm mounted and with a swivel mount attached to the shoulder, suggesting free weapon utilization while being able to keep defenses up.

“It’s a shame, I tell ya,” Requiem quipped, gazing up for a moment. “I really wanted to surprise the Infinity drop. Aren’t we kinda wasting that info that Sur lady just tipped us with?”

“Keep moving,” Isaiah stoically replied as he moved to the next. “I really don’t have that kind of energy right now.”

The door opening behind them startled the three but quickly eased up once they saw it was Marian. “Damn, Cable, ever knock?” Requiem fussed with a chuckle.

As she approached them, she intensely stared down Isaiah in a confrontational manner. “If this is because you can’t pull the trigger, then damn it let me do it.”

He let out a tired sigh, shaking his head even though he knew the ire he would draw. He frankly had no energy left to care after the days he had pulled whatever he had to achieve his rewritten plan’s goals. “Stay out of this. You had your job to wrap up the Taneesha Sur deal, now this is ours.”

“No,” she firmly retorted with a tinge of anger. “My job handed to me was watching her and extracting any info I could. I did that and got you everything you needed to know. Now it’s time to utilize it like you said because they are dropping tonight and you are going to just let that happen?”

He started walking towards the next LTAC, uninterested in a quarrel. “Did you finish the deal with her? Or did you shy away from that, too?”

“I don’t take orders from outsiders, much less do I ever use lethal force on any human,” she hissed in reference to the Hossain’s, stubbornly following close behind. “Rex ordered me to one job and it’s a done deal. And while we are being unfair little cunts, you seem to be shying away from a certain little undesirable conflict with a certain someone.”

“This isn’t about that,” he deflected calmly, hiding the nerve it struck as the three pulled down the next tarp, revealing the same setup for Isaiah’s LTAC. “You asked if I was OK with the possible outcomes, and I said yes, didn’t I? Now let us get to work,” he said as he turned to face her with an exhausted, irritated expression, eyes closed. “Go back to your hotel room where it’s safe. You won’t like how rowdy it’s going to get.”

“Damn it, why are you being so stubborn all of the sudden!? How do you think Rex will handle us with you going a completely different direction!?”

Revenant turned to speak, taking care to speak in a way as to not further fuel the fires. “Trust us. This deal we got inked will have us out of here tomorrow.”

“That isn’t the point!” she roared back defensively.

Isaiah then looked to his watch. “They’re checked in and ready for the first phase.” He then looked to Marian who he knew he wasn’t going to win over from the start. All he could worry about now was moving forward, and the clock was ticking. “You know you shouldn’t be here- you should be packing your things so you can head out with the rest of us tomorrow. Anything that results from you not fulfilling your end of the job will fall on you.”

She couldn’t think of a retort in time before Requiem warmed up his LTAC’s boosters, drowning out any words she may have decided to utter. When she looked up, the other two were headed for theirs as well. Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you. You aren’t always right, Isaiah. When Hexa recaptures their base, they won’t let you just waltz up to Parliament like that.

.

.

▽　▽　▽

.

Sam and Andre descended quietly down the stairs and into the first classroom on her left where Kerry was seated. The room was the only one that had all the windows fully boarded up where lower amounts of light wouldn’t get out, and it worked out well as she had to utilize her mobile display to illuminate her formation notes and movement audibles. “What’s the word?”

“Sam here has a pretty solid approach. Take a look and see if you’re cool with it.” He passed her Sam’s map diagram covered in circles, arrows, and labels. He continued as she looked it over: “We just need to make it to point B to plant the drop signal. We use that line of buildings along the edge for retreating if necessary. Any long-range fire should be minimal as whatever we have seen from the Underground has never been heavy enough to fire from over the walls. Drop would be over us in less than five minutes if we open up the signal by 9.”

Kerry then looked over to Sam with a satisfied nod. “This beats what I had in case. I have to admit, I’ve never had play improv with LTAC equipment before. Last time we got in a jam, Director did all that for us.” She then stood up, patting the dust off her behind and legs. “Go catch Sebastian for me if you don’t mind,” she said to Andre and then looked to Sam. “Thanks. This does help, and it gives me something to work with.”

Wow, I… never imagined her thanking me. Maybe it’s just my overthinking that had me sure she hated my guts deep down. “No sweat, and… thank you for getting us here. No way I could’ve gotten here myself.”

“Well, we got about thirty minutes before we step out. Let’s run these through as much as we can.”

.

.

.

Sebastian was propped up against the corner of the stairwell exit in a chair he had pulled from a classroom, keeping a good view of the main entrance along with the windows around him in sight, keeping his devices off as to keep himself hidden by darkness. But with how quiet it had remained since their arrival, he had nothing to do to occupy himself other than thought.

[I still don’t get what doesn’t stop others from coming out this way. It was that easy for us to get here, why isn’t anyone else trying to hole up in here? Seems like a great place to do something bad and never get caught.] He then quietly chuckled to himself. [What am I talking about. We are about to do something bad to the public eye. Speaking of which, they were right, it’s been way too quiet. There were so many riots back home. Why has it been so much quieter after all those riots downtown I read about? Do the locals know something we don’t?]

He then heard footsteps approaching down the stairs, assuming it was one from the group, continuing to stay on the lookout.

“Hey,” Andre whispered from one flight above. “We’re going over the plan before heading out. Come on back up.”

.

▽　▽　▽

.

The warm, humid breeze that had been blowing steadily earlier had now started to pick up, kicking up tiny, dusty whirlwinds between the alleys leading up to the clearing identified by Sam earlier. The eerie silence disrupted only by the whistling of the wind quickly turned to a roar of raindrops beating into the walls of the buildings that remained standing and the gravel below.

Good, better this rain came sooner than predicted, Sam thought as she peered out from beneath the opened window of an empty shop on the corner across from the clearing. The deluge was now in full force, echoes of the rain whipping against the buildings intensifying as winds continued to pick up. She looked over her shoulder to see the others weren’t quite as comforted by the sudden change in conditions. Maybe I spoke too soon. I’ve never even been out in this kind of rain before in my life. By now, mist riding the winds had begun to sting her face, causing her to back up and head back to where the others had gathered by the door. She reached into her bag’s rear pocket, confirming her LTAC access key pod was where it should be. Alright, any minute now.

Kerry, who was standing at the front nearest to the exit door, turned to show her watch glowing yellow as she held up her index and middle fingers in the air just above her head. The four lined up as if getting ready to rush out into the rain.

Sam’s heart began to pound harder with each passing second, but by this point she had grown so accustomed to it there wasn’t quite as much of an edge to it. She saw Kerry’s hand signal change to just her index finger as each member nervously clutched their shouldered bag’s straps tight. A peculiar hum could now be picked up faintly in the distance. It grew as well by the second, bringing comfort to each of their hearts. The now fully recognizable whirring of the jump-boost drives began to overpower the drumming of the rain as Kerry put down her finger, tightening her fist and giving it a shake before they darted from the doorway and out into the downpour.

Damn it! Shit! This is not what I was expecting rain to be like! As soon as Sam’s shoes hit the first larger puddle she felt her heel give way to the loosened gravel, feeling gravity yank her around and down toward the ground before Sebastian caught her fall, quickly helping her back upright and giving her a push back in the right direction. She thought to turn and thank him, but the flow of the events had her staying focused on not slipping and moving forward.

A familiar rush of blazing air and heated mist rushed in from behind them as they quickly lined up against the wall directly adjacent to the clearing, watching the LTAC’s land as programmed one by one. Sam instinctively looked to Kerry at the front of the line and Andre at the back, each with their sidearm up. Sam and Sebastian were to board first, moving to their cover fire positions and allow Kerry and Andre time to set up safely.

The Axiom’s doors opened, and the boarding ladder extended to the ground as Sam jumped on, making her way upward but keeping her head down as the rain continued to assault their thoroughly soaked bodies. She rolled in, quickly tossing her bag under the cockpit seat and closed the doors. She ran her hands across her rain-beaded face and back over her drenched hair, knocking off what moisture she could before seating the helmet over her head, strapping it and her harnesses in. Visor down, she could now see the lighting-enhanced images over her surroundings which were only as welcome to her as was the fuzzy, unnerving feeling of her neural mesh linking with the Antares Mk II system. “LOS Comms up. All systems normal. Booster cells on recharge,” she spoke out over the local channel, clicking away at the controls. “Weapons live. I see you, Sebastian. Moving to position.”

The Axiom lifted and pounded each foot into the ground below with each stride it took to one end of the clearing, moving surprisingly quick for its heft. All she had to do was wait for the others to check in, leaving her to cover one end facing the ever-ominous concrete wall at the end of the street, fearing that if anything was to react to their movement it would come from the source of the lights beyond the wall, barely visible through the blinding rain. Shield up and launcher propped and aimed to the skyline, her eyes darted occasionally from side to side, scanning the area as her in-visor camera followed her eye motion. She was, after all that training, much more accustomed to the camera motions, noticing how things didn’t feel as disorienting being in the real thing compared to the simulator unit.

“All systems normal, all tracking up, and in position”, Sebastian spoke up as he joined in the channel. “I’m seeing nothing in the south sky.” He then ran his sights down the street to his right, unable to make out anything but saw nothing on his scanners. “And we still have nothing on the NOx scanner.”

“This weather is total ass but it might have been the best thing to happen,” Kerry joined in as she finished powering up her systems. “Andre, you good?”

“Ready.”

“Point A rally complete,” Kerry continued as she turned to the open field. “Proceed to point B. Sam, keep watch on the western wall. Sebastian, keep eyes on the building line. Andre, watch the skies. I will keep eyes up ahead.”

.

.

A man with a viewfinder witnessed the approach of the four LTACs headed his way from the building opposite from them at the edge of the airfield. Sitting in darkness, dimly lit only by what light made it through from the other side of the city, he continued looking out his window of the upper floor room, now reaching for his radio call button. [They are early as we expected, but too early. We aren’t ready to take them on head-to-head. Where is Reaper?] he spoke in local tongue.

[Hold position,] another man responded over the channel. [We cannot locate Reaper or his men.]

[Why not?! They were supposed to be here as promised!] he continued as he grew anxious, seeming to have signed up for the assignment based on his supposed support.

[They never returned contact after this morning. Hold your positions.]

[Hold my position my ass,] he grumbled as he changed channels on the radio. “Incoming enemy LTAC units- I count four. What is your status?” he spoke in English this time.

“We are ready when you are, but incoming enemies already? Are you sure? Isn’t it early?” a thick accent-burdened response came back over the line. “What is their outfit?”

“I can’t see well but I see four. Walking together.”

“Walking?” he said with a mix of disbelief and confidence. “We will move out on your signal.”

.

Sam continued her backwards walk over soaked turf, feeling each squishy thud of her moving feet and still sensing the never-ending fuzzy vibrations from the driving rain. Monitors remained empty, scanning back and forth but never seeing anything other than emptiness and a lonely row of buildings they had by now separated themselves from completely.

Kerry continued her pace as point-man, keeping her rifle barrel downfield. The large control building, still completely dark, slowly grew in size on her screen as they steadily approached. A glint of light flickered and disappeared instantaneously in the distance, quickly catching her attention. What did I just see in that window? “Hold,” she calmly ordered as she stopped in her tracks. She got her first opportunity to utilize a mental command for the system, looking harder at that window and allowing the camera to zoom in, hitting around 20x magnification. I know I saw something- there! She thought as her eyes widened in both anticipation and fear. “Located an active viewfinder on the 4th floor of the main building!’ “Pop it,” Andre flatly and calmly responded, keeping his barrel aimed up towards the opposite wall’s sky.

Pop it? What are they- Sam had no time to finish thinking before the normally ear-splitting ring sent out by a hybridized rifle round. She instinctively whipped her head around to see nothing that could be made out, and sensors were still quiet for her.

“Um, I don’t know if I hit it with these conditions holding our readings back, y’all, but they know we’ coming for real!” Kerry spoke with urgency and nervous excitement. “Speed it up! Get to point B!” But just as they hit the pavement of the old runway, the maximum distance threshold to close in on crucial details was crossed as the soft glow of the light-enhanced visuals of their surroundings suddenly sharpened and formed a crisper view of the control building complex. Within the clearly defined borders of the complex was now a full readout of visible human counts as well as specific mechanical heat sources and their origins. “They’ve got something moving on the back side! Tail, rotate! Wings, quarter front!” she barked in code, referencing their limited but specialized playbook of sorts.

Sam, feeling the comfort of the firm concrete below her feet, used it to push off at a jogging pace, passing up the stopped Ap50 Kerry was in as she took the lead, shield up. As she set pace, Sebastian and Andre, just behind her to her left and right, pivoted their upper frames to the front, keeping their aim just to the left and right of the complex. “Prepping flare,” she commented as she toggled her multi-launcher magazine load from rocket to ECM flare. “Firing on mark.”

“Five…” Sebastian heard Kerry as he carefully watched an increasingly intense glow his display showed behind the complex. [She’d better watch her timing. We are getting too damn close for this.]

“Four…” Andre heard as he too was growing nervous, watching the IR glow start to slowly spread from one large blob into three and then into six. “Three…” Come on, Kerry, let’s speed it up! They’d be in firing range by now!

“Two…” Shit! Sam thought in reaction to the eight defined blobs now showing NOx readings, each predicted to be Kappa frame signatures. Why are we moving so close?!

“One…” Kerry could tell they were just at only three hundred meters out from the complex, easily crossing them into conventional rifle firing range, but she had her reasons, and her convictions were shown as she smirked through the sweat and the tension. “Flare out.”