●　● Infinity Marikina HQ, Manila, The Philippines

From one of the many monitors on display in the headquarters’ operations control room, Kaylen’s GPS showed her location north of their position, making its way slowly towards base.

“She’s back on the move,” a technician spoke into his headset as he watched over both that monitor as well as a satellite overlay of the broader area. “Do we move a security team in?”

“Negative,” Al’s voice came up from behind him. “Vrey knew what he was doing letting her go. Only need updates if she stops again.”

“Yes sir,” the technician replied. “Understood.” He continued to watch the dot meander through several streets before picking up the pace. “Sir, she’s walking faster.”

Al was still looking down at several reports, unfazed by the technician’s unsettled tone. “She must have found something, then. She was resourceful back in the day, and I assume Vrey knew she still must be.”

“Uh… She’s actively requesting communication, sir.”

Al’s hands stopped momentarily before placing them on top of his desk. “Run a proximity scan from her side. If clear, open an encoded line.”

Moments passed before the blip on the screen came to a full stop between two narrowing streets. “HQ, I got a positive ID on a big target. I had a feeling Channing would be here,” Kaylen’s digitally altered voice spoke, leaving no time for a response before she disconnected for the sake of avoiding tracing.

Marian Channing, why the hell are you here, Al thought to himself as he propped his chin on one hand, leaning forward. He closed his eyes as he starting to try and piece several ideas he had floating around since arrival. She ditched us in Colombia, leaks had her staying there for their operations… and there’s also the fact our late double agent worked with her in Bangladesh. Now she’s here in Manila. She has to be here because Sam’s here. Old memories of their encounters over the past decade started to swarm through his head. He had served with her for a very short stint during the last war, and every encounter with her was painfully strained afterward.

Surely it can’t be because of me. She’d still hate me for obvious reasons, but if there’s anyone she’d hate enough to tail so persistently like this, it’d be someone of more value to her. But it can’t be Sam, either. What’s she up to? Is it something I never knew of between those two?

“Keep tracking her,” Al spoke to the technician as he went back into deep thought.

But never mind that. If she’s here, the Cloak being here wasn’t just a rumor or assumption as said. This confirms it. And this has to do with them knowing about Excalibur. This means they’ve seen us coming and are prepared. And by how they always come far too prepared each time…

He then leaned back, took in a deep breath, and dialed up Vincent on a separate, direct line. “Marian’s a positive. We need to reconsider our options.”

And after a moment of listening, he responded: “You were right. Rodgers had her ways of knowing, and right… never mind how or why. We now know we have to deal with the absolute worst, now, and we might not even have proper time to prepare any of our pilots, much less the normal duty and support crews.”

As he continued listening, he peered over to one of the monitors that showed Philippine military station activity. “Roger. Let’s hope they let us lean on them. I’ll trust you still have the proper connections.”

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The courtyard where Sam and the others remained locked into their assignment was now fairly empty as clouds had gathered fairly heavily overhead. The air was wet with higher humidity and the threat of rain was felt in each breath through their noses.

Sam for the most part had accepted everything she had mapped out in her head, but the last one was still where she was hung up and dreaded the looming topic that was coming up soon. Why can’t the admin pick a leader? This is like asking for mutiny down the road- and that’s IF we manage to pick someone. She briefly closed her eyes tightly, trying to fight through the frustration, knowing she had to have something ready to say this time instead of always simply reacting. Maybe I have to put my hand up for once. I DID figure out a lot this past week and a half.

“So, let me check what I got written here,” Andre mumbled aloud as he held up his notepad. “2, we are here to allow a peaceful change over of powers rather than fight an uphill battle. 3, if we were attacked all of the sudden, we find each other first before securing a safe path to the main hangars. 4, if any of us gets isolated against the Cloak, we run for it.”

“And call for backup,” Kerry added as Sam put her pen down.

“Don’t forget the part mentioned that we can’t just run away, period,” Sam interjected. “Have to run toward the nearest friendlies.”

Andre finished making edits before looking down at the last blank, number five. “Ugh,” he huffed. “I wanted to dodge this question. Any takers, because it sure as hell isn’t me.”

“I vote Sebastian,” Kerry voted to much of everyone’s surprise. She looked around with equal surprise at their reactions. “What, he’s the only one who ever seems to remain calm no matter what shit hits the fan.” She then weakly chuckled. “With each battle we find ourselves locked into, I get less and less capable of handling even my own shit.”

“I know their weaknesses, though,” Sam found herself rebutting, having feared she couldn’t find the courage to say but somehow managed. No turning back now. “I think with how things are now, you know, I could better lead a coordinated attack on them knowing their methods.” She didn’t notice the awkward looking away from the others as she continued: “I mean, there was a pattern somewhat in how the last two Cloaks operated. It was something I did go over in my head over and over again.”

“Sam, um, you didn’t even beat the last Cloak,” Andre jabbed, rolling his eyes, much to her offense. “Sebastian did.”

“Wait, what?!” All three of the others sputtered.

“When’d you get this info?” Kerry asked in surprise.

“What the hell- what made you come up with something like that?!” Sam heatedly shouted.

Sebastian seemed to have taken the most offense. “Cierra el pico, Andre!”

“Dude!” Andre fussed back at everyone. “This guy blew the fucker’s sword holding arm off- no telling how many of us saw the playback! I don’t know why you two didn’t, but go look for yourselves!”

Sebastian! Sam now redirected her reaction towards what she could tell meant “shut up”, a self-incriminating message. “Hey, you know something I don’t?!” She fussed, standing up with open hands of frustration aimed at him. “Something you could have told me all this time!?”

Ugh! This is fucking embarrassing! She thought as it left her feeling betrayed by her own sense of accomplishment.

Sebastian put his head into his open hand he had propped up on the table, shaking with a mixture of disappointment and guilt.

“He was obviously trying not to make you feel bad!” Andre snidely interjected. “But don’t let that get to your head and make you think you’re ready to be a leader all the sudden- just because you started discovering your Gen One piloting capabilities and what not.”

That word again! Sam’s eyes darted towards Andre’s. “What the hell does that even have to do with anything?! That’s two of you going behind my back about shit you could be upfront with! And now you want to accuse me of being incapable of leading when I can’t even trust what- rgh!” she grumbled, sitting back down as her left leg started trembling nervously. What the ever-living fuck was Dad thinking putting us to this bullshit!

Kerry held back her desire to pop off at Andre for that remark, but seeing Sam in that state drove her the other direction to keep things from bursting even more at the seams. “Well, if this is how you want to do the team, Andre,” she spoke with a huff, standing up while looking at Sam. “Let me go back to squad lead. I can’t let this shit tear us apart, but as things stand,” she spoke with a glare aimed at him. “You and Sebastian need to get your priorities straight, and if Sam not leading is all it takes to suit your petty self, she won’t lead. I will.”

“Kerry, you don’t have to take that from him!” Sam argued back as her heated emotions started taking over. “If it wasn’t for you and me the other day, he’s dead! And this is the attitude he takes after trying to walk out on us!”

“And that’s what’s wrong with you, still!” Andre matched wits and volume. “Things just HAPPEN to work out every damn time but you can’t admit you are reckless! You just make shit up as you go because the only one you’re really worried about is you!”

“Andre,” Sebastian growled as if he were about to have an outburst himself. “Una palabra mas y juro que-”

“-Hey!” Sam now tore into Sebastian. “Speak to me, buddy! You should have something to say after what was just let loose, huh!”

“Sam, please, not now,” he spoke through his teeth as he continued the struggle to keep his composure.

“Then when!?” While she awaited his response, she noted Kerry and Andre already off on their own extension of the argument. Oh wow. I swear, Sam shook her head in thought as she got up to walk towards the connecting hallways entrance. Thanks, Kerry, for having my back, I guess. If that’s what you can even call it.

“Uh, Sam, where are you going?!” Kerry asked in surprise.

“You three got this, right?” Sam sarcastically spat back with a gesture waving them off. She gave the door a rude shove as she started heading towards her quarters, thinking: And to hell with that emotionless son of a bitch. What the hell was I even waiting on all this time?! She had paid no attention to the clamor that arose as she distanced herself, having no desire to further partake. Fuck it. Let me just claim my injury reserve title for a few days. This shit isn’t worth it, not right now. They want me out of the way or on my own? Sure, I can handle that. That’s all I ended up doing two sorties in a fucking row.

The cloud over her head that rapidly grew darker by the second followed her in silence all the way to her room where she walked and proceeded to flop onto her bed face first. Normally in these instances, the tears of frustration and denial would have already started flowing, but something had her still holding on. It was as if she wouldn’t let herself cry over these kinds of things anymore. She had grown tougher skin and a more resilient spirit over her time on Earth, and in her mind, this shouldn’t be the hardest thing to overcome.