Sebastian overheard the entire exchange just well enough from his distance to follow what was going on. [No, I can do it this time.] he thought as he jogged up to the ladder just as Sam finished straightening the LTAC’s stance. “Sam! Let me pilot this time!”

“What? No way!” she rebuffed with a frown, remaining busy with wrapping up her work. “Who said we are going to engage?! You heard the lady! We are getting the hell out of here!”

Rain drops started to fall from the gaping hole in the ceiling, setting off an idea in his head as his eyes widened. “No, the rain! This is the perfect time to go after them! Sam!” he shouted, jumping a few times to get her full attention. “If it’s raining, you can see the Cloak!”

“And do what?!”

“I can take it down, I promise! Just let me go out there!”

“And take on the pilot who took out Mr. Silva?! Would you listen to yourself?! You’ve lost your damned mind!” she argued back, closing down the maintenance application on her watch, finally taking the time to look back down from the open cockpit door. “We can just fly out of here on a good boost, instead! Enough to get us over that wall at least!”

The rain was now pouring in.

Something had Sebastian pause momentarily before releasing pent-up emotions he had been holding in since the last encounter that didn’t end as well as he had wished. “Sam, this is why I came here! What I want to stop is coming for us right now! Don’t take this away from me!”

The anguish in that last line reached her heart, feeling the shock down her spine. Was that directed at me? Is he blaming me all the sudden for something? Why do I suddenly feel like I was an accessory!? She stood up so that she could look him in the eyes before continuing. “Sebastian. Stop the nonsense and climb up. We are leaving so that neither of us has to travel home alone.”

Sebastian was unshaken, unwavering. It wasn’t just pent-up feelings from the witnessed conflict earlier, it was from the very beginning of this journey he stepped out on. He had been the spectator since arrival. He had been the only one that couldn’t share the experience in the same manner as the others, being the only one new to unknown lands. He had always held in the thought that no matter how chaotic his hometown had gotten, it was his home. His people. He always had the luxury of autonomy when he wanted it because it was his and Renzo’s to share, and if things could have been done better, he did it. Now he felt it in his core that he was no longer to sit back and simply go along when he knew better… when his knowledge and judgment could serve more.

[No more shutting me up like everyone else.]

“No. I won’t leave without trying myself for once.”

Huh?! “Sebastian, damn it! You asked me to come back to you alive and here I am! Twice returned to you! Now it’s your turn!” she angrily shouted back, eyes shut tight from frustration and the hot sense of tears building up. Who the hell does he think he is all the sudden?

*PING* rang the IR proximity alert. Shit, not now!! her mind raced as she reached for her watch screen once more to pull up the HUD on holographic display. A map was brought up, showing a faint readout on a heat source rapidly approaching their building. Her thoughts quickly settled on a notion that had her nerves start to tighten once more into a bundle. Every time I end up facing them, there were NEVER any IR tracking alerts. This Cloak is desperate, or maybe he’s that confident knowing it’s just us, now.

“I heard that alarm!” Sebastian shouted impatiently from below. “Switch with me while we have time, Sam!” Startled by a sudden kicking noise, he involuntarily took a step back to see the ladder withdrawn back into the cockpit module as the doors closed. “SAM!”

No, it won’t work that way, Sam thought with a heavy heart amongst her frazzling nerves. On one hand, she herself wasn’t able to fully grasp what path she had just chosen or how she arrived to the sudden conclusion. Yet on the other, she knew deep down that if one had to face the Cloak, it’d have to be her. “I have more tools in the box for facing this thing, Sebastian. Sorry,” she said over the external speaker as the Ap50’s catalyzers warmed up, forcing Sebastian to back off before being blasted by the hot air that would start gusting out. She knew he wouldn’t be in the state of mind to listen, but she continued anyway, hoping he would understand: “Besides, it’s raining now. Metamaterial doesn’t stop splashing water droplets.” She then brought the helmet down and buckled it on, ignoring the unpleasantries she noted earlier as she continued to buckle in her shoulder harnesses. Visor down and visuals up, she looked up to the hole showing the rain falling down upon her.

“Sam, stop! Don’t do it!”

She took in a long, deep breath, holding it in as if it might be the last one she would take in before jumping into a constant string of panic-driven action as it was earlier, thinking she had to make this one move count.

Heat source from that direction…

The catalyzers reached optimum temperatures as the whirring slowed.

Cloak will be running hot for at least three seconds before cool-down and it disappears like always…

The locks on the magazine and ignition chamber for the hybrid rifle clicked open as the arm holding it pulled itself in for take-off clearance.

Leaving aim-assist on for those three seconds.

Her stomach tightened sharply as she bit down and gripped the controls tightly, waiting for that worked up courage to kick in enough to hit the floor pedals. But in that next moment, it was something else that briefly got her attention.

Sebastian!

She quickly scanned the area in front of her, seeing he had disappeared from her field of vision, no longer in blast damage reach. Only then did she finally feel the urge kick in.

I’m sorry.

The Ap50 rocketed out of the building, shoulder units and stabilizers scraping the edges of the concrete floors on the way out. This is my one shot. Her LTAC pivoted with a short, violent twist in a clockwise motion, aiming arm outstretched, facing the main street headed to the west wall. The auto tracking mechanism feedback only took one vibration to set off the blind pull of the trigger, not even waiting for any other confirmation.

TAH-TAH-TAH!!!

.

Isaiah heard the shots fired a split second after hearing one of the three rounds tear through his Samael’s right ankle joint, setting off the damage monitor alert. Before the weight could cause that same leg to buckle under the sudden unsupportable force of its step, he took off full boost, making a beeline for the Ap50. That’s Sam, still using the aim assist unlike the others. He put his shield up in front, ditching his cloak as it sailed off behind him in its wake.

Sam now had her screen filled with a rapidly approaching green and brown camouflaged unit as she continued firing in limited bursts under aim assist. What is it doing?! It’s making a head on attack without its cloaking?! Shit! She could sense the impending full-speed collision, one she knew her body couldn’t afford to absorb any more than it had already from earlier, quick to put up her shield before tilting back, boosting off back towards the street below and away from the apartment from which she arose.

Isaiah cut his jump-boost engines short, snapping his controls forward to angle his dive right towards her, ignited sword pulled back. The approach was naturally at a much faster rate of acceleration compared to that of Sam’s headed in reverse, giving him a clean, wide-open look as all the incoming burst fire ricocheted harmlessly off his shield. The path to his first strike was clear despite the resistance Sam put up, bringing back memories from their childhood when they used to spar with fencing. It was always a one-sided affair, much like the scene now. You never took things seriously enough to reach a high level in anything. Why, why haven’t you given up already!?

That’s it! Sam realized her grave mistake as she came within a second before she would be forced to land on the quickly approaching pavement below. No aim assist! She pulled back on the controls and clicked a button near the thumb’s hat switch just as she saw the shield of the Samael pulled back, revealing a thrusting flash of brilliant green. Shit!!

Several alarms rang simultaneously, one being the collision warning, and the other was her landing approach warning. She indeed hit her landing angle rougher than calculated, jarring her enough to lose sight of her shield she tried to bring around. The unsettling crash of dense armor material slamming into brick and mortar along with a new, louder alarm led her to the notion that her shield was the culprit. Wasting no time, she lifted back off of the ground, keeping her reversing speed. In the same motion, she pulled her rifle back around, pushing the aiming hat switch around to center it over any exposed frame she could find as it continued to swiftly encroach upon her.

Isaiah gave Sam her full second to attempt. It was all the time he needed to clear the distance limit for his next swing as he pulled back for another thrust.

Sam suddenly felt a gripping, almost tingling sensation shoot up her tendons running along the backs of her wrists. It felt as if something within her nervous system involuntarily nudged her thumb’s trembling, awkward motions into a smoother action. The notion came swiftly and dizzyingly, yet felt right. She squeezed the right trigger, feeling the pulsations from the recoil.

TA-TA-TAH!!!

Bright orange trails sliced through the armored forearm panels of the Samael, detaching the hand and the sword it carried. The sight of the spiraling trail of glowing green off behind them confirmed the hit.

YES! GOT’EM!!

However, that split second she had bought in her mind was far from delivered; Isaiah’s leap forward never slowed, instead finding the shield used as an impact weapon, shoving her back and off balance. SHIT! she reacted as she could tell her speed was too high to simply fall back to her roller feet. But in that same moment, another dizzying, nauseating sensation rushed over her as she felt the intense urge to pull her right control stick back and stick her foot down on the left boost pedal. Using the counteracting forces, the Ap50 bounded harshly from touching down at that angle, but nonetheless found both feet’s stable contact as she kept her momentum.

Isaiah took a harder impact on his still-functioning left foot, using it to follow through with another lunging jump forward, shield pulled back.

As she saw the Samael diving in, for the third and ultimately final time the sickening, mysterious sensation-influencing her reactions washed away her vision momentarily, feeling as if she were about to black out. She then felt the deafening screech of metal upon metal as Isaiah rammed his shield bottom-point first into the core of her Ap50, this time knocking her onto her back. As her LTAC took a tumble, it was as if the next seconds went blank for her. It was only moments later she finally had gathered herself enough to recognize the damage alarms screaming, her hyperventilation raging, and her vision still largely blacked out. But beyond that, it was quiet… serene, almost.

In the meantime, Isaiah had doubled back to where he dropped his sword. Limping on his damaged lower leg units, he dropped his shield and picked up the sword with his fully functioning left hand, turning back to face Sam’s wreckage.

The silence for Sam was now turning into soft thuds approaching. Her breathing became even deeper and more unstable, panic further setting in. No, I’m getting out of here alive! She mustered the focus just enough to sling off her harnesses and helmet, furiously fighting to find the emergency door controls. At long last, the awakening sensation of the rain beating down on her seemed to clear her vision even if just temporarily, finding her way up and out of the cockpit, slipping on her way down, taking a tumble onto the asphalt below. Groaning and wincing from the fall, she was slow to get up.

Thump… Thump…

The sound of the approaching Samael re-energized her effort to pull herself up off the ground and make a hobbled dash for the narrow alley she saw in front of her just a few meters away. Unable to continue her forward momentum, she slipped once more on the slick, oily asphalt. Catching herself this time, she bit down through the pain sent up her seemingly broken body, fighting through one last time to get back on her feet and continue forward. She finally got the proper footing to fall forward just enough to reach out and catch the corner of the building leading into the alleyway before she was suddenly grabbed from behind and slung firmly against the opposite wall from her.

She was had been completely overtaken, now, forearm pinned against her neck, unable to regain the breath knocked out of her that resulted from the impact against the wall. She now could also feel the hot, intense burn of a puncture wound digging through her left shoulder just beneath the collar bone. Her right arm flailed in attempt to push the body off of her but was to no avail; all she could do now was open her eyes, taking one look at the person trying to take her life. Vision still blurred, she struggled to bring focus on the face that almost up against hers, feeling his breath, his cold stare, a sense she was being divinely judged.

…

Why isn’t he killing me already?

Forearm still pressed firmly against her neck, the fight just to even suck in the slightest hint of air began to fade. Her right hand she had wrapped around a fist-full of his arm’s jacket material was now falling limp. The rain beading up and rolling down her face mixed with the tears of lost hope.

.

“This is the last time I’ll warn you, damn it!” Isaiah seethed as he stood over Sam whom he had just shoved to the ground after tussling over her mobile. He scrolled down to a delete application button, pressing it without hesitation. “You still think it’s all a game of fame!? Wealth?! Death is the only reward you’ll get if you follow our path!”

“What do you want!?” Sebastian now shouted back in a voice that shook her core. Both were now stopped in the middle of the corridor, staring at each other. “I have a brother and sister who need me! I need to go see them! You…! You need to be-”

“-With you,” Sam interrupted with a broken voice.

.

Sebastian… where are you…?

.

The pressure from the arm was removed suddenly from her neck as gasps of air rushed in, followed by intermittent coughs. Vision began to return slowly, however, she remained forcefully planted in place.

“Death is the only reward you’ll get if you follow my path,” the voice spoke, jarring her soul. The voice alone increased her already exhausted rush of adrenaline, but the words spoken carried a stabbing pain sharper than what had her shoulder pinned to the wooden building exterior behind her. She now felt his arm removed completely from her, feeling the distance grow between them as he backed away. And now that her breath had finally caught up with her just enough to see, Isaiah’s rain-soaked visage was now all she could see.

Anger, rage, humility, resentment, all rushed through her veins upon that sight.

“You son of a bitch,” she grumbled through the surge of emotions and the ever-lingering, intensely biting pain, reaching over to remove whatever it was he had left in her.

“I thought I could make you see your worthlessness out here, but… you are too stubborn to disappear, to quit like you always did everything else!”

The judgmental, mocking stare continued to burn into her, worsening as she was unable to bear the pain that came from her attempting to force the handled object loose from her shoulder.

“Always in my way! Never understanding how wrong you always had been and how wrong you still are!”

“Fucking… bastard! How could…” she continued to push her voice through the pain and struggle to keep her consciousness together.

“No… I won’t do our mother or father like that, letting you die at your own blood’s hands. You die from your own mistakes, warning after warning!” he said as he lifted a hand, pressing a button on his headset. “All LTAC threats eliminated. Move your men in,” he coldly commanded against his own inner conflicted emotions, unaware of his own tears that had now long been mixed with the rain as well.

I looked up to you all those years… and I was looking up to this?!

It only took those moments to turn her entire image of her brother she had been compared to all her life, even admiring, into one she would now burn in effigy if given the chance. She now fully, instantly regretted ever having wished she could find where he had been all these years, expecting him to have found a path to enlightenment outside the containment of their mother’s stifling bounds and chains, but instead found that she was looking at the one she now felt she could hold responsible for the murder of who knows how many. “Piece of shit!” she roared out, eyes shut tight, with the last of her strength-

-KUTHN-THN-THNK!!

Popped and scattered asphalt and gravel sailed up and off of Isaiah’s face and upper body as he flinched, throwing his hands up in defense, spinning away from what had to have been gunfire-

-BDA-DA-DAH!!

The delayed sound of rifle fire from behind him crackled and echoed through the alleys.

Isaiah was now running frantically back for the Samael, narrowly dodging incoming fire that continued to send dust, mist, and gravel fountains just behind him.

.

Sebastian pulled his rifle back, watching the escaping figure disappear behind the Samael standing there, mid-street, too far away to catch on foot from where he stood. Unsatisfied with the borrowed weapon he brought with him, he had forgotten how hard roller delayed, cased ammunition rifles kicked and how much barrel climb they had, or he was confident he would have got at lease one on him. His eyes then darted over to find Sam still pinned against the wall. [She must be too hurt or weak to move,] he thought as he turned and dashed through the alley he stood next to, turning back onto a smaller gravel path that paralleled the main street. Running as fast as he could, all he could think would be to pop back in to that very corner to grab Sam without both losing count of the buildings as well as losing track of the Samael he knew would soon be on the move. [Hang in there, Sam! Please!]