The Axiom still stood still as Sam had her focus honed in on her ears, listening for anything to give her hint of the Cloak’s position which was once again fully hidden on her visuals. She had already watched the cloud of dust it had kicked up earlier drift too far away to be of anymore use, leaving her without much to go off of.

If only I had some way to tag it once more! Whatever it’s made of, it fixes itself enough to go back full-cloak if I don’t hit it hard enough.

She then noticed an unmarked Ap50 landing into an empty intersection behind where she figured the cloak to be, cutting its parachute attachments and giving off an updated signal of its weapons going live.

I can’t turn my radio back on, can I?- No! Keep your focus! Forget who that is and just…. “Rrgh!” She grunted in frustration. Whoever you are, you’re about to be my bait for targeting this son of a bitch!

A blue flash then stole her attention as a familiar female’s voice came up via channel setting override: “You need to escape while you can!”

The voice thoroughly startled Sam, leaving her unable to respond quickly.

“You have new backup nearby! Rex’s mission has failed and they will retreat soon! Leave now!” the voice continued before another blue flash signaled the end of the call.

So, that’s who that is over there?! Who are they!? Maybe-

Her thoughts were cut off by a sudden flash of brilliant green sweeping downward just over head, accompanied by the equally sudden screeching of impact alarms. And with it came another swift kick to the brain, just as earlier, responding to the prompts that seemed to forcefully yank her hands back on the controls.

The green plasma-arc descended and met the Axiom’s shield it had rapidly swung around. The collision sent Sam reeling backwards, likewise the unexpected kickback sent the attacker in the opposite direction momentarily, forcing it to use its boosters to recover. The green blaze then vanished seemingly as soon as it had appeared.

“Son of a bitch!” Sam screamed out in reaction, realizing this was now the golden opportunity. She pulled her right control stick back over center, pulling the trigger in an upward arc, forgetting to keep her aim away from the open skies. But only three rounds made it out before solid titanium made contact with the SMG’s receiver, severing it in two.

The unignited sword carried through, knocking her shield away from her main frame.

Several prompts felt to force her to pull back on her controls and dash away while other prompts fought to swing her shield back the other way. The resulting conflict in system inputs seemed to rip her mind in two.

And then the flash of green reappeared, triggering her reflexes to swing her left control stick back the other way, shield meeting the descending blade just in time once more. Only this time, the arc hit directly enough to wedge its carrying blade deep into its thick alloy plating.

Her controls wouldn’t budge. Her systems screamed at her to pull away, but the force applied from the other side kept her pinned in place. She saw the glow of the near-melting point zone of impact right in front of her eyes. Her shield wouldn’t hold, and neither would she if she didn’t think of something and quick.

She remembered her 2nd SMG still stored on left hip. She only had seconds to spare, fighting to reconfigure her settings to equip a left hand weapon to her right hand, all the while struggling to keep her LTAC upright and pushing back.

Almost there!! Shit!! Come on!! She bit down, feeling this would be the end if she couldn’t get it to go through. Sweat streamed across her brow and rolled down into her eyes at the worst possible time, feeling the heat and imminent threat of shield and joint failure pressing down.

.

“Got you now, fucking bitch!” Revenant shouted as if he felt Requiem was watching him take his vengeance. He could now feel his right control easing up as the shield across from him started fully buckling under the heat and pressure applied. He was glad he stuck through it all, as this was the moment he had been waiting for since Dhaka. He grinned satisfyingly, already feeling at ease. “Eat shit!”

.

Marian finally got sight of the tussle in her ocular, zooming in as far as she could to make out the two still locked together. She had been standing atop the truck she used to get to her mountainside lookout, only now able to spot them between a clearing of hi-rises. She wanted to breathe a sigh of relief to see the battle finally winding out victoriously, only to have her breath sucked away from her upon a peculiar sight: a thin red beam of light pierced through the dust and smoke, wavering somewhat before honing in on the backside of Revenant’s LTAC. Her eyes widened, quickly clicking her headset to shout: “Tamaz! Get out!”

.

Sam’s shield was now quickly buckling inward from the heat. And knowing her only option for movement was toward the Cloak, it would only hasten the forcing of the impending plasma arc further into her. She had to reach that left hip’s SMG somehow, but even that was now completely hopeless as it would certainly ensure collapsing under the force still bearing down on her. She cried out in denial, unwilling to accept such an end.

*P-TA-TA-TANG!!!*

Rang out the harsh sounds of sliced and pierced armor, immediately followed by a loud series of crackling thunder.

Forgetting how hard she had tried to pull back this whole time, it was like a breath of new life flowed into the Axiom, suddenly able to jump back. She also wasn’t aware of her shield having been blasted in half, essentially freeing her left arm to pull around that SMG she so desperately needed. And in that same motion she saw a flash of a barely visible but definite outline of an LTAC standing in front of her.

And it looked to be missing its right arm.

She didn’t care.

Moreover, she couldn’t care less. All signals pointed her to aim and fire before it could move again. And with no hesitation, pull the trigger, she did.

.

PTATATATATATAH!!!

.

Marian almost dropped her ocular, feeling her heart stopping and stomach knotting up. “Tamaz…” she barely managed to get out through her lips. All she could think now was to call Isaiah.

.

.

.

Sebastian had his helmet off and cabin doors wide open, looking down the street over the fallen Cloak and right into the eyes of the Axiom making its slow approach towards it. He had a laser sight pointed downfield, still illuminating the Axiom’s left shoulder from where he had its aim placed just moments ago. He rushed to unbuckle his harnesses and pulled himself to the edge of the cockpit hatch so as to scream out to her: “Sam! Sam!!!”

He realized she either ignored his more than obvious presence, or she was too focused on the Cloak lying defenseless before her. The realization of it being a combination of both quickly sank in on him, cueing him to drop his ladder and descend as fast as he could.

.

Revenant’s cockpit was filled with smoke and the sounds of alarms and burning electronic equipment mixed in with the despair of labored coughs and wheezes. Light peeked in through a series of holes punched in throughout the frontal cockpit walls. He couldn’t feel his right arm, but it moved. He clumsily worked his hand toward the door open switch, pulling the tab as the hatches opened, letting in hot sun along with a muggy breeze, clearing the smoke just enough to see outside.

More blood sprayed from his mouth as he choked on that very air. He tried to focus on undoing his harness buckles, but that would prove to be too tall of a task without any proper dexterity remaining in either hand. “Reap’… I…” More coughs interrupted his struggle to speak over his radio, not aware if it even still functioned. “Reaper… please…” He instead elected to take off his visor at the very least. By now, he at least wanted to see anything but darkness as his visuals were cut out completely.

He felt no pain, just the burns all across his body. He started to stare outward into the sky, making out the shape of clouds in the distance. He then realized he lost his sense of hearing as he noticed the sky quickly blocked out by the menacing glow of the Axiom’s multiple eye units now casting its gaze upon him. He was now staring down the raised barrel of that SMG she fought to equip. Closing his eyes, he starting laughing amongst fits of more coughs and sputters.

.

Sam stared in at the shrapnel-riddled pilot, feeling as if she made eye contact with him. It was no face she knew. Other than the knowledge of his callsign, all that she associated him with by this point were feelings of rage.

For all I know!! She began to cry throughout her chest-gripping thoughts. For all I know! Everything up until now has been all your doing! Everything we’ve had to do! Everything we’ve lost is on you!

Her finger now, albeit shaking violently from her nerves, sat firmly on the left control’s trigger; sights placed squarely over the open hatch.

“You! ...You tried to kill me all those times, for what?! What did we ever do to you!?” She now belted out with all her might, cracked and hoarse.

She at first couldn’t pull the trigger, but then the memory of her having to bludgeon a man at the risk of her being strangled to death. The fright provided the impulse, squeezing the trigger and so tightly that she couldn’t let go. It was like a rage that had been waiting to be unleashed, pent up and waiting to lash out, pulling tears of anger and contempt along with it.

Leaving no opportunity for any parting words or thought, the small, hybridized rounds shredded through the core of the fully visible Cloak like white-hot blades through the morbid canvas laid out before them. And when the magazine was spent, the only sounds joining the painful pounding of her chest were from the shrieking sizzles pouring from around the barrel and the screaming inside her head. She continued staring at the smoldering wreckage, half-strewn across the pavement around them. The feeling of something coming up from her stomach returned in a similar fashion to the night before, but this time the horror-fueled retch was staved off by a sense of righteousness.

Her hands dropped from the controls, almost as if she lost complete feeling in them both from exhaustion. She leaned back, propping the back of her helmet against the headrest, taking in slower breaths to calm down. I just… I just killed Revenant. I just… killed another…

But it all became surreal. She felt like she had seen this before, but from the outside looking in. Memories of Sebastian ripping through Rocha members inside one of their compounds quickly snuck in her thoughts, remembering the horrible, thunderous clamor as he took all of his frustration out on the helpless below.

Her eyes widened, feeling a rush of cold shoot down her spine.

Sebastian- No! what have I done?!

The tears starting heating up once more.

She then swore she heard Sebastian’s voice had emerged from her recollections, calling out to her from a distance. She hastily ripped off her helmet, unbuckled her harnesses and threw open the hatch, looking out to see Sebastian running toward her on foot; the mysterious Ap50 model stood behind him in the backdrop with a large rifle in hand, complete with a matching smoking barrel.

But removing herself from the operating system so abruptly would prove unwise, feeling herself lose the ability to stay upright and keep her eyes focused ahead.

“Sebastian!” Her mouth had opened to shout out his name with every last ounce of energy she had left, all before slowly drooping backward, falling over into the depths of her cockpit.

.

.

.

●　● Manila-Malate District

Isaiah was inside his pickup, parked within the depths of a public parking tower. His head rested on the steering wheel, arms folded and resting on the cluster covering. His breaths were those of someone trying to control their emotions, slow and deliberate.

“She killed Tamaz, damn it! Scrap the plan already for God’s sake!” Marian’s crying plea repeated in his head several times, triggering a shaking of his head in denial. His radio remained off, having to shut out the noise to regroup himself mentally.

“Who else are we going to lose out there?! Answer me!” her voices continued. He felt the urge to slam his fist through the dash, but kept composure enough to resist. He lifted his head from the wheel, pulling his hand in front of his face. He remembered the knife he chose not to bury in her chest that one day in Dhaka.

If only.

He then slowly turned to see a flashing indicator on his mobile he had tossed into the passenger seat. He grabbed it, checking to see it was a news update. Curious, he swiped it open to read.

The plan is still going to work, he thought as he continued scanning the article. The plan was going to work, Tamaz, you didn’t have to be a hero out there. It didn’t have to be this way. He straightened up the best that he could, taking in a deep breath. He felt the sense of isolation for the first time in years. Anything from this point on that would involve direct engagement, he would have to do it alone most likely.

And then it was as if he spotted the information he had most hoped to see. A quick exhale of subdued but greatly needed relief escaped as he brought his left hand to his earpiece. He switched his radio back on, clearing his throat before his lips curled, muttering a cold, flat command: “Move in the Nanning Reserves ahead of schedule. Switch to target group B. Plan to hit with maximum collateral.”