“I’ll call when I can. Message from Rodrigo is don’t trust anyone but my brother. Not even Emilia, who I think is Kaylen Rodgers. Don’t go anywhere or do anything unless you are told to do it.”

The two paused for a moment, having least expected such an ominous message, especially for having just woke up from a surgery operation.

[Yeah, um,] Renzo broke the silence as they started back for the entrance walkway. [Like I said, don’t mention anything to Kaylen.]

“Right. You won’t have to tell me that twice,” Sam answered with a huff of relief mixed with added stress.

▽　▽　▽

“What were you thinking!? Did anyone say you could use that thing?!” Kaylen fussed as the two sat in the same workspace they were in earlier that morning, both wincing as her anger was felt in that swift onslaught. Sam especially cowered, realizing the device she had was likely monitored actively, and if not, at least had accessible activation logs or so.

“It was just me, nothing to do with Renzo,” Sam tried to cover at least the innocent as she admitted fault. “I wasn’t really in the right mind when I got curious.”

“That was for us to reach YOU in emergency-” Kaylen fired back before Renzo got up to walk out, cutting her off.

[You never told us shit,] he griped, opening the door as he looked back. [Cruella may be naïve or terrible with thinking ahead sometimes, but please, no one said not to touch it, right?! Give us a break.]

[You of all people supposedly already had that kind of sense, though, right?] Kaylen shot back without missing a beat, still highly agitated from the discovery and from her extreme exhaustion. [And where do you think you’re going? You’re still on Hexa’s watch through our watch and you have to train up on the new model.]

She then turned to Sam as she adjusted her language. “You’re the same- I mean same goes for you. You’re technically under our care and supervision so act like you’re working for us and not just using us, fair?”

She has a point. “Fair, and apologies.” Sam then stood up to join Renzo at least in the sense of shifting the mood to something more constructive. “Well, I guess it’s best we go ahead and get started, then. If you don’t mind showing us the place, I can take everything from there so you can get your rest.”

Kaylen sighed, held her tongue, and got up from her spot on the wall she had been leaning against. “Alright. Let’s go.”

▽　▽　▽

Sam and Renzo were led back towards the main entrance before being stopped in front of a narrow elevator shaft. On the way there and while awaiting the elevator, Sam realized how she still felt quite out of place, still receiving strange stares and glances from nearly everyone who passed by. Kaylen never introduced them to anyone, yet no one ever seemed to expect an invitation, either. She deep down had a curiosity and desire to know more about how the Underground worked, but it was just like with Tyrus’ Underground– nothing but ambiguity and obscurity, save for what little insight and tidbits one may receive from an insider.

They stepped into the narrow elevator and took a long, slow trip downward. Judging by the air, they were well underwater and perhaps even underground. But once they emerged from the access tunnel that led them to a large holding area, Sam’s eyes lit up with both amazement and offense. In front of her were five Ai-20 models, all lined up and in seemingly good shape.

“What the- why are there Hexa models here?! How… how did Enrai get their hands on these!?” Sam shouted under her breath as she turned to Kaylen, also noting how perplexed even Renzo was. “Are these stolen?!”

“Of course,” Kaylen stolidly replied as she took them closer, not minding the few maintenance crewmembers present as they toiled along. “We actually bought these from Rex back in June.”

June!? Shit!! Sam felt much more rage the second she heard that date, knowing damned well Kaylen was referencing the Welcome Party Incident as she would always lamentingly recall it. “My crew died in these, you know,” Sam quietly but firmly shot directly at her, also disgusted by Kaylen’s seemingly indifferent attitude. But then again, hell, she may not have any clue what really went down that day.

[Wait,] Renzo stopped as if he too sensed something wrong. [Why are they so well rebuilt?]

“Rex had a whole slew of parts retrieved over that whole campaign. They weren’t always on bad terms with us, you know,” Kaylen answered as she pulled them back along with her motion to follow. “We set up simulation software in all of these so that emergency launches can be made even during a training session.”

Sam head what she said, but they didn’t fully register as they neared one of the Ai20 units, noting the obvious repairs made after extensive frontal damage had been taken across the upper torso. It was as if entire panels of armor had been replaced, painted, and polished, leaving it to stick out compared to the older panels that showed some weathering.

Sam then noted the large riot shield missing from each of them. Something still feels off… “So, we have to sit in the real thing to run the simulator… that’s something I’ve never heard of.”

[This is how we taught ourselves,] Renzo popped in, oblivious to Sam’s heightened sense of distrust. [Not sure where our boss bought them from, but he had us rig up the Gamma models with the same thing she just explained. Nothing new to me at least.]

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Sam then arrived at the stairs that would take her up to the first Ai20’s access catwalk. “Can I see who this belonged to, first?” She asked with apparent discomfort.

Kaylen didn’t understand the heaviness of the air around her, but nonetheless conceded. “I mean, this was the one for you anyway. Go ahead.”

Sam slowly made her way up in such a way even Renzo found himself pausing to look upon her in a watchful way, almost cautiously. She felt her heart inexplicably grow heavier as she recognized the mark on the right shoulder plate. It had a twin bar mark painted in black underneath chemically stripped-off lettering. Her memory may have been playing tricks on her, but it reminded her of the S. K. lettering she had on her unit, now wondering which letters these had to be.

Upon arrival to the opened cockpit, she tossed her bag into the under-seat compartment just as she used to always do, took her seat, and immediately pulled up the startup access panel. It was a small screen that operated separately from the helmet and visor system, usually used by maintenance crews to check on certain systems without the need to open the operating system fully. And the second she pulled up the user log and thumbed through a few unrecognized registries, her heart stopped at the sight of the surname “Burnley.”

Her face rapidly paled. My first squad leader Burnely?! … I was… I was right…

Sam knew the riot shield she held up alongside the others wouldn’t hold up against a tank round. And in that next instant as she heard and felt the blast knock from the tank’s cannon, she could then equally hear and feel the shattering of the squad commander’s shield as he was thrown back into the Ai20s in front of her. Screaming out in panic with hands held over her head as she ducked, smoke and dust rushed in and enveloped all standing within the clearing.

“We need to retreat! We aren’t equipped to handle tanks!” one of the pilots shouted over the radio.

Numb from the panic, she could barely make out what was being shouted out over the radio.

“Commander Burnley is down! I repeat, commander down!” another added in terror.

She freed herself from the trance of that flashback enough to get out from the cockpit. And as she shook off the overwhelming flood of memories, she could now make out the footsteps of Renzo as he hurriedly headed towards her.

[Cruella, what happened!?] Concerned, he ran up next to her, and through some panting he looked around to try and find what had her spooked. [Did you see something strange or…?]

“I’m not getting in these,” she stiffly responded with a shake of her head. Backing away slowly, she turned to face him and repeat: “This is wrong. I am not about to get in any of these.”

“I swear,” Sam heard Kaylen sigh from below, fueling her resistance.

“Renzo,” she continued to speak to him as she paid no heed to Kaylen’s indifference. “This belonged to my squad commander the day I dropped into Bogota. Those others belonged to my old crewmates; they were all killed by the Cloak’s mercenaries. Just like your crewmates.”

Renzo could see it all now as far as what had her so shaken, having his own short flashbacks of his encounter with that very enemy, but he no longer felt chills down his spine each time he reflected on the whole ordeal. Not like she was, at least from his perspective. But he did have some words to offer her out of respect for her sense of honor that translated over to him perfectly.

[Listen,] he spoke with hands placed firmly on her shoulders. [This isn’t war or anything, but we signed up for this shit just like your crew. Just like my crew. We can always quit, but we don’t. This is just more of what we have to stomach through to get to our own goals, because I can promise you I felt what you felt many times before. As wrong as I want to say it is, we have the same goals they had, and if you put the shoe on the other foot here I bet they’d do and expect the same, don’t you see?]

Sam had avoided eye contact the whole time, not only from the discomfort being that close to someone she hadn’t gotten that close to just yet, but also from hating how right his reasoning was. She knew she wanted to close this chapter out of her life so badly, but still she felt a solid gag reflex just thinking about sitting where people she knew lost their lives. “I get it, I get what you’re saying,” she finally responded as she gently shrugged his hands off her shoulders, now finally able to look him in the eye even if just for a second. “But this was someone’s death turned into a cash deal. I am not about to be part of it, and something says you wouldn’t normally, either, am I wrong?”

“Then get the hell out, then!” Kaylen shouted from below, drawing a wince and a frown from Sam. “Wasting our time spouting all that- I thought you were serious about hitting them back hard! Did you even know them personally or something?!”

That one word struck a nerve, but she had a point.

[Yeah, uh…] Renzo clumsily chimed in as he shrugged his shoulders. [I forgot that point, too. I knew my crewmates like family, did you?]

Now, Sam did feel like a fool somewhat. Her emotions were true, but now she saw the irrationality of it. But that doesn’t excuse you for being a complete asshole! She wanted to scream back at her so badly, biting her tongue instead with a bitterly drawn face.

It took a few more seconds to let out a few breaths along with some of her tension before feeling able to climb into the cockpit once more and take a seat. It still felt terribly insulting to do what she was about to do, but she knew Renzo and Kaylen were right. Maybe if I just get this shit overwith… She reached up to grab the helmet, and the instant her fingers took grip she breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing the materials weren’t even Hexa standard. Of all things the crew did to reassemble the LTAC, that may have been the one saving grace to keep what was left of Sam’s will intact.

[I’ll be in the one behind you,] Renzo spoke back with continued concern. [You going to be alright?]

“I will be,” Sam replied with bit of lingering sheepishness mixed in with her uneasiness. “Thanks, though.”

Then came what would instantly reset her emotional state completely with the activating of her helmet. She had completely forgotten how incredibly anxious she was about seeing the Arondight for herself, and while this was only a simulation, this would let her at least experience it from that standpoint, letting her find out about every detail there was to it while trying it out. Eyes widened with excitement, she quickly dug through every system menu she could without going too far as to get lost, feeling like she took a trip back to her beta testing at Jazira Station.

This thing’s driven by a completely different drive system altogether! How am I supposed to learn this in one day!? But she was lying to herself. She couldn’t wait to see if she could do just that, figuring that despite how complicated the rearranged main booster network seemed, it meant to her this must move the seemingly larger frame around even faster than the Axiom. And then the fully flexible dual shield system with support boost input?! And check out the maximum output on that NGF feeder for the main rifle! Is that even legal?! But then she noticed one major detail she passed up initially; the system ran off of Antares Mk.1, which was what she never got to experience previously. She remembered Danielle’s and Gabriel’s explanation of how Mk.1 was the rawest form of feedback, coming up more harshly and forcibly compared to the smoother, more accurately read A.I. input of the Mk.2 system she used back in Dhaka and Manila. But being a simulator prepared by an Underground faction, there would be no such testing of the Antares’ system’s feedback inputs.

This means no chance to test the MOST important function of the whole fucking thing.

She let out a defeated sigh for the moment, cracking her knuckles as she shook off the notion. Got a lot to test regardless. One step at a time, Sam.