●　● San Isidro District, Buenos Aires Outskirts, Argentina, SAU

Leaning against a well-tinted, black luxury sedan, a man in business attire took in a long draw from his cigarette, looking to the sky as he expelled the smoke, watching as it dispersed against the night sky cluttered with distant spotlights and blue flickers. Faint echos of horns blowing added to the disarray as he frowned. [Such a waste of a beautiful night,] he mumbled to himself in reference to the fright the public witnessed half an hour ago before looking down at his watch to view a notification that came up.

He took his last draw of the cigarette he held before putting it out over the receptacle he stood near, retreating to the backseat of the car. [He's ready,] he spoke to the driver as he buckled up, watching the ocean view from the parking lot quickly turn to buildings and street lights. And as the car slowed down and entered a building's rear parking area, it was only a second after it came to a stop that the man rolled his window to look outside, spotting his person of interest. "Hurry up," he switched to English, quickly rolling his window back up.

The opposite side opened up as Isaiah quickly and quietly took his seat after placing his briefcase on the floorboard, closing his door gently. "Thank you for your assistance," he politely spoke up as he buckled up. "I do apologize for everything always having to be moved up in response to unforeseeable developments."

"You know our deal," the man responded through his burdened accent as he signaled the driver to pull away. "I have all of the arranged task teams ready as I promised. One day, three days, one week, they have been ready no matter the delay- or the rush." His eyes then turned directly to him with intent. "But I need the promised results. The results you promised. As long as I and my department get them, I have no complaints."

Isaiah reached into his briefcase and pulled out a small folder which he opened to glance over once more before handing it over. "This is everything I have in as much detail as possible on Hexa's movements and the Infinity security forces they've sent." He allowed the man a moment to look over them before continuing: "How long were you all truly aware of the presidential cabinet's under-the-table dealings with them? Everything we need to counter their public image stunt depends on what you know- details I haven't been filled in on if any."

"I can't tell you what I don't have one hundred percent certainty of, but one detail I can share is it doesn't matter in the end. But you know that, so why bother asking?" He awaited a response from Isaiah, receiving only silence. "They won't touch SAU craft, never have, never will. That's why we let them sign with Vincent Vrey. Let them create their own problems and we will be ready," he added with a confident smile. "And with this," he spoke of the folder in his hand, "you told us where, when, how to, and how much."

"The Galatine was handled by one of their own, but you know that," Isaiah responded after some time.

"As I said, they create their own problems," he quickly replied with a confused chuckle. "Isn't that something to be at ease about? Especially for you, no? Seeing that it was your sister that came out on top and not the one who so… easily disposed of you during your last confrontation."

Isaiah, albeit relieved he wouldn't have to face off again with an insurmountable opponent, avoided taking on the emotional argument invitation. "Your point is my point as well. In-fights can happen at any time, quickly exposing any and every weakness to any plan," he continued as he stared out into the same distance as his accompaniment from earlier, then turned to face him with heightened intensity. "I need to know every future cause for such problems, and it starts with who connects your branch to the president's office. Who do I put eyes on?"

"You… are speaking to the new identity of the SAU, my misinformed friend," he continued in his chuckle as he put the folder away. "I said, it doesn't matter. We are wasting breath here."

Isaiah had long known of the change in power that put Argentina at the chairman position for the indefinite time being, but he knew people watching from their TV's won't be swayed as easily as they would by a simple headline ticker. "So, you're telling me whatever moves your branch makes will meet no pushback from the president? Or the president's followers? Or the local citizens of the D.F. area? Because my research tells me not quite."

"We own that man's pretty little office- we own the whole damned country," the man turned to a near-growl in his sudden shift in tone. "I don't know how things truly work over in your Eden Territories up there in space, but you should know that we work differently down here, boy. We welcomed you back after the… late Oman Orsi tried to put a permanent bounty on your head. Speak with some respect and dignity as we make sure this last plan together is a successful one."

Isaiah showed no intent on furthering the heated topic as he took a calming breath. "Understood, but with that, please understand that I will have to leave this plan as is, Mr. General, sir: a wait and see game. The people as well as the president chose Infinity, so we must make sure they see it as a costly mistake."

"Very well," the man sighed as he too took his level of intensity down, resuming his read-over of the folder contents. "My last question to you before we arrive at your location of operations would be to ask of your opinion. Do you believe the biggest threat, that Arondight your sister is now in possession of, will follow Enrai's orders? Rex's orders? Or perhaps she will slide back to Vrey's command somehow?"

"I mean no offense when I say as you do, sir. Does it matter? I know all too well how she will act."

The General at first looked back at him side-eyed, then realized something as he grinned. "Well, then, we will just have to… wait and see."

.

.

●　● Berazategui District, Buenos Aires Outskirts, Argentina, SAU

Sam stood there at the doorway inside the entryway of her hotel room arranged for her. Standing there with her bag still shouldered, she emptily stared across the empty room and seemingly right through the storm guard-covered window. She found herself paralyzed by too many memories of days and nights that started like this. The dorm room at the Infinity operations center in Manila memories had her mind thinking of places where bombs may have been planted. Memories from the apartment building they narrowly escaped in Bogota had other parts of her mind focused on exits in case of being the target of a manhunt. And the worst of them all was from the notion her Arondight was packed away somewhere, and unlike their stay in Dhaka, she had no idea where to go in the event she needed to load up and fight back in an emergency.

Everything's come together all at once all too well… like so much could go wrong… But it's both Infinity and Enrai forces gathered here. Shouldn't that be enough? Shouldn't I feel safe enough for now?

A buzz from her watch startled her from her trance, quickly looking back as if expecting such an emergency. But with a quick read, her shoulders slumped as if a heavy weight was lifted off of her.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Another startled jolt arose from her as a knock came at the door just behind her. Without thought or hesitation, she quietly turned to look out of the peep hole to see it was Kerry dressed down in bike shorts and a tank top undershirt, shouldering a small duffel bag. Another sigh of relief came as she opened the door as she let her in, noting she had smelled of shampoo and body wash which reminded Sam that she herself hadn't even showered yet.

"Hey, you heard the announcement about-" Kerry started to inquire eagerly before cutting herself off as she noticed Sam was still in her pilot suit, still shouldering her gear and equipment bag. Frowning, she changed her tune: "Girl! You mean to tell me you been standing here the past twenty minutes?!"

"Oh, right," Sam awkwardly smiled as she dropped her bag to the floor and propped it against the wall, turning to close the door behind Kerry.

"Nope, nope, come on." Kerry closed the door herself and quickly moved to guide her towards the main room. "You're clearly not okay," she added through clear concern, leading her to the foot of one of the beds before turning to take her seat just a few feet over. "Come on," she continued, patting the open area next to her. "And no, I don't care if you stink. We need to talk, and now that our op has just been put on hold, we got time."

Sam slowly took her seat, anxious about where to even begin.

So much has happened since then. But to be honest, I really don't even feel like burdening her with my stories again…

Her stare drooped down to the floor between the two beds as her awkward smile followed suit, taking in a slow breath through her mouth as if ready to speak, but nothing materialized in the end after a slow sigh through her nose.

Kerry's frown returned, even deeper than before as she picked up on something just then. "Sam, where is Sebastian? I know it's horrible of me to not ask sooner, but where has he been this whole time?" She saw Sam's lips tighten into a painful smile, signaling to her the worst. "Sam, what happened to him? Don't tell me he…"

Sam closed her eyes, letting out a wry, nasal chuckle as she shook her head. "He left." She then found her focus through that somehow, now looking back at Kerry with a continued weak smile. "He's fine. I, well… it's my fault, but, he's back in Colombia."

"But you two were…" Kerry was at a loss, feeling conflicted between relief and anger on Sam's behalf.

"Here," Sam interrupted Kerry's thoughts as she tapped through a few commands on her watch, bringing up her photo album tied to her mobile account's cloud storage and put it on holographic display. "Look. I'll show you what I meant. Maybe this is the best place to start," she added as she brought up a folder full of pictures of her and the Navarre family. "This is was his brother, Renzo, and this was his sister, Daniela- or, Dani."

Kerry picked up on the faltering of Sam's energy as she went on, swiping through pictures of the three siblings together in what looked like fairly recent photos. "I remember hearing of them. What happened? You said… 'were'… right?"

"Renzo here… He called me Cruella from day one til the last day," Sam continued on, left wrist trembling as she felt Kerry take hold in response, bringing it to a wrest on her lap. "That's where I got the name from. I'd have been shot to death instead of him if he wasn't there to save me from my stupid ideas."

Kerry remained silent, continuing to hold Sam's hand through her own flashbacks of losing Devin in front of her eyes, and almost losing Andre in a similar fashion.

And here I am speaking of who I lost when after all it was my fault she lost someone even more important…

"Both he and Dani were dragged into what they were because I had to jump out at everything I did without realizing how powerless I was in each situation, and both are gone because of that. And it's worse when I think about how… how that was what happened with everyone else lost because of me."

Kerry immediately picked up on that same reference she put away to change the topic before Sam broke down further. "Hey, let me be honest here," she firmly interrupted as she tightened her grip affirmingly. "Back then, I really did hate you for what you did, but the more time went on, the more I realized I had been doing the same things as you up until I met you. I realized I was in no place to blame you when you were stuck in the position of decision making and not me. Always easier to blame the ones with unwanted responsibility, you know." And then she realized Sam must not have opened up to anyone since then like this, softly wiping away a tear she saw running down her nose with her other hand. "And then that's when Ms. Norris caught up with me. She reminded me of how much we lose in this field of work, and what risks we run when we want to come out on top."

Sam looked up for a second in thought, trying to gather herself somewhat. "You saw Ms. Norris? How? I thought-"

"-She must have always known how to find me," Kerry smiled feebly as she thought back to what got her there, taking a second to find the right words. "You know, I also hate Devin for what he did. Talking to Ms. Norris reminded me that he spent all those months working for the Underground and never once hinted anything to me. Then faking his kidnapping? Made me realize how powerless I really was in his life, finding myself simply following him along as I, well, wound up almost dying right beside him."

Kerry then let out her own weak, wry chuckle as she shook her head, now looking back at Sam. "I can't hate you if I don't hate Devin, too. Everything… everything that we've all done, this is what we do, right? That's what Ms. Norris reminded me of." She then looked over at the last photo Sam stopped at, which was from the restaurant where Sam, Sebastian, Renzo, Dani, and Kaylen were last at before joining up with Rex's group at Bahia Blanca. She slowly closed the display function and then closed the app completely, looking back up at her. "I see that you had to part ways with that blonde chick, too. Did Ms. Norris tell you about that title you're chasing?"

Sam let out a deep sigh, finally answering after a quiet moment. "Yeah, about losing everything. It's been happening every step of the way."

"No, it hasn't." Kerry let go of Sam's wrist as she stood up, crossing her arms as if to make some kind of statement. "It clearly doesn't count if we're on the same path."

She's also trying to be- no way, I'm misunderstanding something here. Sam sniffled and wiped her eyes, trying to pull herself together and look back up at Kerry. "Same path? You mean-"

"-I mean trying to end this because we want to, not because we have to. That's what she told me to tell you. That's the path we're on." Kerry then offered both hands as if to help Sam to her feet. "She asked if I was happy sitting on my ass, lost and no idea where or what to do with myself, or if I wanted to finish what I set out to do from the beginning," she continued as she pulled Sam up to her feet, looking up to keep eye level as the two standing that close accentuated their difference in height. "You know, you do look a lot like your mom."

"My mother died trying to save me as well," Sam spoke through renewed, burning tears, forced to look away yet again. "She tried for years to keep me off of this endless path, and-"

Kerry knew that wouldn't go anywhere productive, although she never had experienced the pain from losing a parent. If anything, it reinforced her belief that she couldn't hold Sam accountable for Devin's loss without at least recognizing the losses of others. "-Your mother was a loving person after all," she firmly interrupted, placing her hands on Sam's shoulders, trying to get her to look back at her once more. "And I know now's not the best time to get into all of that, and I also realize how much you've lost as well, so let me say this much. You're still driven towards something, or you wouldn't be here, right? Just as you wouldn't have saved me back there in that container if you hadn't been, right?" Kerry smiled, this time more confidently as she let go of Sam's shoulders. "I'm clearly just as insane as you are to be saying all this, but, you know-"

"-I get it," Sam chuckled back, naturally revealing a smile in return. "You remind me what I had to do for someone in the same sense way back before. And as the ones I showed you once told me, we do what we do, chose what we chose, and here we are. And seems everyone who has lived out such a life like we have, they end up losing a lot, sometimes much worse." She then fought off those memories of Sebastian, Renzo, and Dani, all except for one last memory. She held up her right hand and extended her pinky finger. "So, look. I won't repeat the last time. No secrets, nothing held back. No running away."

"I got no intent on following you down that Harbinger or whatever path you seem stuck on, but this is where I was supposed to have been all along," Kerry grinned as she interlocked Sam's pink with hers. "I'll be right with ya, ready to put this all behind us for good." But upon letting go, she then took a hold of Sam's shoulders but with a twist and a light push towards the bathroom. "But first you need to shower before we keep talking because girl you stank."

"Does that mean you ordering- wait, do you even know what's good to order here?" Sam asked through a chuckle she felt she hadn't let out naturally in weeks. "Because I'm hungry," she added in the same tone, unbuckling her shoe's ankle straps.

"I got you, I'm fixin' to get permission for a delivery," Kerry laughed off the doubt as she pulled out her mobile from her pocket in a hurry. "Ain't no place here on Earth that don't speak pizza."

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