As the Axiom came to a grinding halt against the sidewalk pavement, the expected silence inside the cockpit was instead filled with Sam’s crying out in anguish. Not a single beep was heard with the OS silenced via emergency power shutdown to avoid fires, and her helmet’s visor was severely cracked from impact by a chunk of shrapnel that resulted from one of the gatling rounds flying through her cabin not too far from her head. Even the ventilation system had stopped, now bringing out heavy, laborious coughs from Sam as smoke and dust filled her lungs. As dizzy as she was from the onset of another concussion, the coughing now had her completely out of sorts, unable to even think what to do next.

“I know how much it hurts, Sam,” a calm voice popped in over her earpiece, still connected to the same separate communicator. Throughout the coughing and writhing in agony, that one voice seemed to bring her to focus just enough to gather what was about to happen.

“No…” she began to whimper out in desperation, unbuckling her harnesses and reaching blindly for the hatch release switch. “No… no, no, NO!!” Her voice steadily found enough strength to yell back through her blind, delirious state. “You don’t know shit!” she continued, still unable to find the hatch release. “Still too afraid to face me without cheating, just like always!”

“You don’t know what I fear, Sam, and it would never be you,” he emphatically responded as his last few words grew even stronger as if rising toward a certain crescendo.

.

●　● Infinity Marikina HQ, Manila, The Philippines

Al’s commandeered Ai20 unit was now clear for rolling out as the last technician backed away, giving the signal with his illuminated beacons. He sat in the last moments he had of silence, praying something would stop him from doing what he was about to do.

“It went through!” Tricky’s voice rang out over his headset as his eyes opened wide, breathing in a deep breath of relief, letting go of the controls. “They got it to work!”

“Thank you, God,” he spoke out through the sigh he let out, feeling every tensed muscle in his body come undone. He then took one more breath before speaking back into the channel: “I will keep my promise. Thank you. Now we just need to get the word to Navarre to get out of there.” He then gripped the controls once more, but this time with ease and confidence. “Pull whoever we have in the field for retreat cover! I’ll take over for the main target recovery!”

.

●　● North Marikina District, Manila, The Philippines

“What?! You…” Sam knew what Isaiah meant just then.

He’s… he’s really going to kill me!

Adrenaline fully kicked in, she mustered up the strength to do the only thing that came to mind. Through the continued labored breaths, she frantically kicked the door panel in front of her, but the padding only sent her foot reeling back in vain. Dizzy and struggling to stay in focus, she propped her feet against the same door panel, this time using whatever she had left in her attempt to pry it open. Nausea kicked in as her legs fell limp.

I can’t let everything end like this… no… I…

“No, no, please,” she mumbled amidst her panicked breathing. The ground shook under her back, signaling the approaching footsteps of metal upon asphalt, and the next sound she heard was the most fearsome one: the sound of an igniting plasma arc.

.

“Isaiah! Stop- it’s too late now!” Marian screamed over Isaiah’s earpiece as if it was for the tenth time, and his reaction was as if he just now heard it for the first time. He had struggled this whole time deciding between a pure retreat and doing what it took to make sure Sam never interfered again, which had recently been proven to be just as crucial.

He then felt like this was the sloppiest he had ever been this whole time on Earth.

The grip he had on his controls started to weaken as his hands started to tremble. “I can’t go back now, I have to do this!” he shouted back with a pull of his controls, bringing his sword up and around to strike his downed prey. And as the sword began to fall, both of the Seraphiel’s forearms severed at the midway point of their frames as the sword got caught up in the mix, heavily twirling off astray just past a geyser of hot asphalt and dirt before slicing and wedging itself into the garage building nearby.

Losing its balance, he hit the thrusters with his momentum intact to avoid stumbling to the ground, now himself feeling like his heart was the one about to beat out of his chest, panicking as he had no defenses nor any way to return the attack, wherever it came from. He whipped around midair to redirect himself north for a retreat, now realizing it had to be the power he feared he might have to face, although he didn’t expect it to be under such dire circumstances. “Where is it?!” he shouted to Marian as he dove for cover immediately upon clearing the first set of buildings.

“It’s beyond my sight and too well-shielded for our sensors to pick up, even on IR! You’re going to have to stay hidden until we can get you out of there!”

Isaiah struggled to keep his cool, nearly clipping two buildings as he weaved his way through the remaining sparse traffic. “B-11! Find me there!”

.

Inside the wrecked Axiom, however, the silence instead had Sam believing the sudden disappearance of the earlier footsteps meant that her attacker was in the air now, lunging towards her, shooting that final surge of adrenaline through her as if to scream out and plead for her life. Her feet once more found themselves against the door panel, pushing out with all her might. Just as the joints to the lower panel began to creak under stress, an unfamiliar roar of boosting thrusters zoomed overhead, searing hot air rushing through the newly opened crevice between the door panels. A volley of gunfire boomed and echoed, sending her already pounding head for another violent loop as she screamed out in excruciating pain. Silence never came as the sound of the rushing hot air around her continued endlessly. Was it there to save her? The thought was short-lived as she struggled to keep her focus.

.

Completely out of view from the Axiom above, the Galatine hovered ominously overhead, lowering its shoulder mounted cannons as the folded back up behind it. “Target, Reaper, disabled,” Kaylen’s lower than usual, flat-toned voice coldly called out from inside. “Next objective.”

“Retrieve the Axiom pilot,” Tricky’s voice came up in a quick response.

“Understood.” She then lowered the Galatine a touch as she distanced from the Axiom a bit to keep it out of her back-thrust. “Confirm your status,” she now continued to call out from the loudspeaker, hopeful to reach Sam below.

.

What…?! Who…!?

Sam had no clue what to make of the sudden unknown voice ringing down. The tone was almost robotic. It wasn’t a voice she recognized, but it was nevertheless a sign she was being rescued. Her hands fumbled around her helmet’s strap mounts to either side of her head, haplessly attempting to remove the contraption from her head so as to see or hear better what was going on. “I… I can’t… I can’t…” Words were difficult to come by in this physical state, much less enough breath to push out through her vocal cords. Dizziness grew stronger. Her fight against blacking out quickly grew weaker with each second passing. It was then she felt herself being dragged away. She could sense the metal beneath her scraping, pulling away from the direction of the threat as she finally gathered a semblance of her orientation; She had been lying on her back facing upwards this whole time.

As soon as whatever it was that had a grip on her had let go, she felt a rush of cooler air as well as blinding light from outside pour in. She once again thought to reach for her helmet strap mounts but couldn’t find the strength.

“Easy, easy!!” she heard a man’s voice before she felt herself being carefully lifted out by two sets of arms.

“No neck injuries apparent, let’s get her out, quick!” another man’s voice added.

But just minutes ago, Sam was sure she was going to die where she lay. Even with the expected comfort to overpower her fears, her mind was now affixed to the thought “but, how?” Her death was that certain to her. Her left thumb finally found its way to the release tab, allowing her to jerk away the strap that held the broken helmet on. As the helmet rolled off her head and fell to the back of the cockpit below her, the lights from above had her once again quickly overcome with pain. “Why… who… who are you!?”

“Confirm your status!” Kaylen’s robotic voice from above once more shouted over its loudspeaker with a possible hint of impatience.

“Who are you!?” Sam again shouted, running out of breath.

“This is Galatine. Your survival status has been confirmed.”

She wasn’t sure who or what Galatine was. She was even less sure how she was even able to sit upright and who had been helping her up.

Sebastian…

The nevertheless reassuring pair of arms behind her continued to keep a grip on her before she felt herself being carried away. “Is she… she a Harbinger… here to save…”

“Hey, come on, Sam! Stay with us!” the ever-distancing voice from one of the men earlier rang out from one side of her.

“Is this even the right pilot?!” the other man continued from the other side. “Hey, what’s your name, pilot!?”

“My name? … I… what are…” It was no good. The fight was over, and everything went numb from that point.

.

All silence…

All darkness…

.

▽　▽　▽

.

Peeking from around the back corner from the partially destroyed garage building to make sure the coast was clear, Sebastian kept a woozy but conscious Kerry upright with both arms supporting her, defeatedly looking back at the scooter he rode in on. The sword knocked from the Seraphiel’s grip earlier had just missed them by a story, putting a large chunk of concrete on top of the crushed scooter but with themselves safe from further injury. Helping her walk, they carefully and slowly turned the corner before seeing several cars and trucks encircling the Axiom wreckage, initially drawing sharp panic from him. “Hey!” he began to bark back before realizing their intent.

One had just brought Sam out on a stretcher, another with medical equipment, and others were putting away large metal cutters. This was a rescue operation, but from who was the mystery. “Come on,” he spoke aside to Kerry as he helped her slowly make their way forward. “Medical team is here.” But Kerry’s feet began to dig in, stopping him once more. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he looked over to see a face that reminded him of a lost, scared child.

“You’re not Devin,” she mumbled as she started to push away. “Where’s Devin?”

But before Sebastian could find a proper response while attempting to keep her from stumbling over, part of the medevac crew rushed over to them after identifying them as pilots and seeing her condition.

“Where?! Where is he!?” she started to scream, tears beginning to pool up as they joined the struggle to calm her down. “Where’s Devin!?”

Sebastian, now with his own feeling of a lump in the back of his throat so big it suffocated him, slowly conceded the fight to the medical crew as he looked away, knowing he couldn’t dare answer truthfully.

.

.

Above them, still in a hover, Kaylen remained as still as a mannequin inside the Galatine’s cockpit, awaiting further input.

“Galatine,” a new voice came up, sending a strange shock through her as her body reacted with a wince. It was the lead tech from earlier that had Al removed before resuming control. “Nullify previous orders,” he continued in his command, unknowing of another series of subtle jerking reactions coming from Kaylen’s body throughout. “Galatine, respond.”

…

“Galatine, respond, now.”

“Galatine! Retrieve the Axiom pilot!” Tricky’s voice once more came through as another jolt was sent up her spine.

“Son of a bitch, someone’s still trying to override the commands!” the tech seethed aloud, not switching the channel off as he fumed. “Galatine! Do not change the preliminary objective! Eliminate Reaper, now!”

But unlike before, Kaylen remained unresponsive as alarms started ringing left and right, with one of them being an uncontrolled descent. And as autopilot started to kick in, both of her arms tensed up tightly as opposing inputs were read by the piloting system.

“Galatine! Galatine, respond!” the tech continued in his outrage.

.

.

Sebastian back below grabbed a hold of Kerry the instant he sensed something going awry, now hearing the jarring hum of the hover drives of the Galatine floating by overhead. And amongst the sudden outburst of shouts and calls for cover, the Galatine floundered into the office building across the street from them, sending down a shower of glass and debris.

.

.

.

▽　▽　▽

.

Isaiah was under complete digital and electronic silence, and not a single light source to reveal the psychological wreck he was in, leaving only the audible struggle to keep his breath rate steady as evidence. A beep of his watch then triggered him to reach out and pull the hatch release, and as the light from the setting sun poured in he grabbed a hold of the extending ladder and rode it to the bottom, finding a truck pulling right beside the Seraphiel.

“Get in!” he heard Marian scream from the cracked open window.

Wasting no time, he made a dash for the passenger side, throwing himself in with a shout: “Go!”

And with her hands and feet at the ready, Marian tore off with a screech of its rear tires. And as it rounded the first intersection and out of sight, they would be unaware of their impeccable timing. An Ai20 landed near the Seraphiel, checking the perimeter before pointing its rifle towards its downed target.

Al remained in his seat, zooming in to see the opened hatches and no sign of life nearby. He let out a disappointed sigh as he spoke up: “Damn it… He was took quick. I didn’t make it in time.” As he awaited a response, he continued running a scan of the Seraphiel, noting it had both hands missing and no other signs of armaments. And upon further inspection, both of its main leg booster units had a pair of holes punched through them, signaling the cause for its downed status.

“That thing… to think it was this surgical from blocks away…” And although his next sigh seemed somewhat out of relief, he knew right then and there that he’d have a lot to answer to after hearing the altercation from moments ago.

His earpiece then came with a response: “All units including medevac, return to base. No sign of armed combatants remaining within the scanned zone of inclusion.”

The voice was one he hadn’t heard yet, giving him a strong hint that things were already regressing as he had still expected Tricky to have some response for him by now. “Returning,” he hesitantly answered as he left a beacon marking on the Seraphiel’s carcass. “Marked secondary objective for retrieval post security sweep. Primary objective whereabouts unknown.”