Sam had already changed into the clothes Devin provided and stood at the barricaded window with her elbows propped on the sill, face buried in her hands. Countless minutes passed, battling away the thoughts of what could have been while desperately trying to come up with any kind of way to get signal to her watch, knowing that might be her only way out. But she eventually caved into the futility of it, backing away with a shake of her head in defeat.

Who am I kidding? I don’t have half the strength of everyone else nor the strategizing know-how they seem to always have around so conveniently. If I could just get some luck or something?

She continued her slow, short-stepped pacing around the room.

Maybe they were able to follow Devin and are just waiting on a chance to break in? The thought was now shameful after what she had experienced, leading to another shake of her head to ditch the notion. She backed herself against the door, letting out a deep sigh. As she propped the back of her head against it, she slowly leaned against it, slouching until her right elbow bumped into the door handle.

Her eyes opened up wide that next instant, backing her elbow away before placing it back as if to play with the handle a bit. There’s play in it! It might be…

Freeing her hands with the placing of her watch in her right pants pocket, she excitedly turned around and gave the handle a gentle pull, hearing it click as it continued downward about a quarter of a turn. No fucking way! Why would he… never mind!

She refrained from opening it, realizing there could be guards waiting on the other side. Her heart started beating out of her chest, seconds feeling like an eternity. What can I even do? I have no weapons or anything! Shit…

But the seconds led to only more silence.

Wait… does that mean there’s no one there?

The door was suddenly pulled away from her as she almost let out a scream, losing her balance. She fell head first into Devin who had just returned.

“Oof,” he let out as he caught his balance along with hers, pushing her back upright.

Oh shit! Don’t kill me!! She bit down and kept her eyes closed as if ready to receive some form of physical backlash for her incredibly short-lived escape.

“Well damn!” he fussed in a hushed voice, halfway smiling. “I was right, you really were crazy enough to think about escaping. Come on,” he said as he walked around behind her, nudging her down the hallway.

“Wait, you aren’t-”

“Shh,” he whispered, continuing to motion her to the end of the hallway. “Something on you got Rex’s men on their way, and I know it wasn’t me because I ain’t got shit on me with a signal.”

There was no one else in or around the building even as they walked outside to Devin’s car. Sam knew she had a chance now to attempt a run for it, but something kept her back. Why is he moving me? And when he said Rex’s men are on the way, does that mean he’s technically trying to save me? She then remembered Devin had a firm grip on her shoulder, and the dark alleys surrounding them looked like the worst form of invitation for a foreigner to run to. She chose the wait-in-silence option as he opened the passenger-side door for her.

She sat down on her own, offering no resistance as he pulled out his pistol from behind him and paused to look around before hopping in. Something in the air reaffirmed Sam and her choice to follow his lead. “You can tell me now, can’t you? Is this about Rex being after me?” she whispered back as he started the car.

“Do you really make me out to be some actual bad guy here, Sam?” he responded in his usual voice as they started down the road. He then looked to her, checking her wrists. “No watch. What do you have on you that is giving off a signal? Because whatever the fuck it is, they’re using it. Turn it off if you want us to live to tomorrow.”

She didn’t know whether or not to count this as defeat or not, but the level of sincerity in his voice convinced her she should turn off her watch. Yet, something also convinced her it’d be against better judgment to reveal she had it this whole time. She let out a huff, hoping to fool him with an attempted distraction. “Unless one of your men stuck me with something earlier, I don’t know- you destroyed my only phone, remember? And I’ve already lost tons of those by now as it stands.”

“Shit… no matter, though,” his voice changed as he looked back ahead. “Where we are going, we will have cover regardless. I’ll make it work.” He didn’t catch the fact Sam’s right hand had fumbled around the pocket where she kept her watch. “I don’t know why but I feel even luckier it was you I ran into.”

Good, he didn’t notice me… I think. She slowly pulled her fingers away from her pocket after feeling the reassuring bump vibration from her watch powering off.

He pulled away from the intersection they approached, speeding up to what felt much more comfortable to both of them as they cruised down the now-empty, somewhat wider streets. “Now we both have to lay low, but thank you for drawing their asses out for me. Revenant went blank after that casino fiasco, killing any chances of me locating them. But someone got greedy, and now is a good time to knock them down a peg or three before trying to barge in here and take over like they do everywhere else.”

“But why do you have to lay low?”

“Knowing Revenant is back and Rex is moving his men this quickly and boldly, it means Reaper is here.”

Sam picked up on how heavy and solemn his tone had become. Reaper. I need to take that name down.

“And if Reaper is here,” he continued, “it means he will know I was the one who picked you up.” He then started chuckling in an obvious mixture of fear and disbelief. “I thought it was just because you killed Requiem, but now I realize, you were slated to be a part of Project Excalibur, weren’t you.”

Shit! Of course, he would have dug or hacked around and find out about the project, being a damned leak and all!

…

But let me let him finish. This is way too much good information to throw away the chance to be of use here!

“Well… yes, but why?”

“Bingo.” He began looking for an intersection coming up and turned down a narrow street once more, slowing down considerably. “I got my own safehouse no one knows about, not even Kerry, that we will stay at until I figure out what to do next for us.” He then brought the car to a stop underneath a smaller apartment complex’s entrance awning. He then turned to look her in the eye.

His next words would jar Sam’s soul more than anything she had heard in a long while.

“I need to talk to you about joining the Underground.”

...

“Are you crazy!?” Sam hissed through her teeth, not sure if the off-the-cuff question was offensively genuine or meant as an insult to her integrity.

“I can explain shit that will change that per-determined pride of yours,” Devin confidently remarked, putting the car in park and turning off the engine. “This old shack never had proper WIFI or any kind of satellite linkages, so the shielding I put up months ago would have never been registered on Tyrus’s or Rex’s logs,” he continued as he eased himself out of the car, having made a complete turnaround from the edginess he had leaving the previous building to that of at-home levels of ease. “You can run at any time, but the invitation only gets extended once.”

“Is that supposed to be a challenge?” She wasn’t trying to be smart-mouthed this time, rather, she just didn’t know of any other way to put it, given the circumstances. She too had opened the door and even thought of running if not for just a fleeting moment.

He looked over the car’s roof and straight in the eye without wavering. “Hey, I mean, you keep making me out to be some kind of bad guy, right?”

Well, she thought as she mindfully dodged the charming smile he returned, unwelcome as it may have been. He did save my life. He could have done literally anything else the Underground… does… whatever the fuck it is they do.

…

No, wait, this is my chance to do something. “Alright, I’ll listen, but just to listen,” she said with a grin in return.

.

.

He led her into a surprisingly comfy though cramped living room/bedroom, given how old the building’s appearance. She approached the small table with a few floor pillows scattered beneath it.

“Go ahead, I need a beer,” he spoke as he turned to pull open a small refrigerator that doubled as a bookcase prop.

She pulled out a floor pillow and carefully eased herself down, uncomfortable in the loaned leggings, having no other option but to sit with legs extended out. She leaned back a bit to prop her weight on her opened hands just behind her, head leaning back as she scanned the one room apartment. “There’s like, nothing electronic in here,” she spoke as she noted the refrigerator, small window A/C unit, and the lighting. “For how clean you keep your living spaces, why avoid more creature comforts?”

“I shielded the area, remember?” he replied, following with a nasal laugh. “Drink?”

“Actually, yes, please.” She didn’t think to reject this one offer given how parched she was.

He then sat across the table from her, comfortably cross-legged with a beer can in each hand, extending one her way. “I don’t know how good of a pilot you are, but you must be something special if you were snagged by Project Excalibur. That’s like… CEO Vrey level shit.”

She reached out for it as she began speaking: “Come on. Explain this whole offer of yours, because poorly-fitting compliments aren’t doing anything for me.” With a crack of the tab, she without hesitation began to quench her thirst.

“Well,” he huffed before opening his and taking his first sip. “Let me first say this.” He firmly placed the can on the table, looking her squarely in the eye once again. “The Underground first started off as a future-pilot advocacy movement until they realized that what we needed was what the whole world really needed. You surely must consider yourself a ‘pilot”, right?”

Hold on… This whole situation has first-night-in-Bogota vibes… Shake it off, Sam.

“I mean, why else are you here in Manila?” he persisted while the last phrase really struck that same bell in Sam’s mind.

She was slow to respond. “Well, to be honest…” That question, the level of exhaustion she was in, the look he was giving her – it was impossible to shake the notion this was a repeat of that very night.

But what’s different this time is I already know the answer… for once! Hah…

Devin noticed something had her suddenly and uncomfortably hesitant. “I’m just asking a simple question, but did I step on any toes here, maybe?”

Sam continued wearily in thought: I AM a pilot. Yes. I signed up to do exactly what I signed up to do.

Why am I here in Manila?

Damn it, I am a Hexa: Infinity pilot. I am a former volunteer pilot for Project Antares Mk.2 and current volunteer pilot for upcoming Project Excalibur. I need to fucking act like it!

Without waiting any further for her to come up with a response, he hardheadedly continued with his proposition. “Anyway, listen, no one knows more about what it’s like to have everything taken away, then everything in the world given to them, just to again have it all stripped away like pilots do. And you know what’s happening to everyone all around the world ever since the Confederacy got torn down?” he asked as he picked up the can for another sip, deciding to give Sam another chance to say something.

“Yeah, sorry,” she said with a shudder. “Let me digest everything for one more second, please.”

“Go ahead,” he casually replied with another swig.

Right. This guy is no Sebastian. Sebastian genuinely had my best interests at heart all this time, and now I need to have not only his in return, but I still owe Kerry something major big time. Devin’s sloppy for a mole, albeit he’s been nicer than he has to be. Yep. I am getting myself into a position to get shit done tonight on my own for once. “It’s been a long night, you know?”

“Ran down, chased around a casino in the dark, almost killed, picked up by a total whacko,” he said with a gesture to how crazy it all must have sounded. “Locked up in a nasty old holding cell. I realize that, and I’m sorry. I get how frazzled your nerves are- I don’t mean to rush you.”

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes with a sigh. She then laughed on the inside, feeling like this is exactly how her own father acted toward something so unbelievable. “OK, let me get this straight.” Let’s start with some knowledge I can take with me. “I already know the message of the Underground, which is re-establishing the old Confederacy so that dying countries can be re-established as well. Pilots get their freedom to access the job-pool and money-pool again yada yada. I get all that shit, Devin. How does everything you’ve said equate to anything here in your own country, though? Admit it, Hexa has allowed P4C to peacefully protest the Charter AND call for a new PM that supports the reforms, am I wrong?” Yes! I’m so glad I read up on some news for once in my life before I got here!

“But that’s just it!” Devin firmly agreed, much against Sam’s expectations.

“Huh? But why would you need me to join if things are going to plan, then?” she continued in suspicion with a raised brow.

“Because they aren’t!” Devin started chuckling under his breath. “I get it. Look,” he said as he leaned back, propping one arm across a knee he pulled close to him. “I keep mentioning Rex, the guy you know somehow. He’s here, you already want Hexa to allow P4C to win, which is what we want as well-”

“Who is we?!”

“We as in us Filipinos. Tyrus speaks for us, not Rex. And remember how I said they’re on their way looking for me, or you, or both of us? Now is a chance to do like me and make sure both sides win here!” He paused, waiting for things to click in her head.

Oh. Shit… that wasn’t what I expected, but it still doesn’t change shit for me. “I get it. You need me as a pilot for your side to help stop whoever the hell Rex sent.”

“You see!” he said with arms in a ‘eureka’ gesture. “No one has to know you joined! Why not make happen what was supposed to happen anyway? You gotta work both sides to make it work in real life, just like politics.”