Sebastian didn't think of anything more than immediately searching for an overhang, a covered breezeway, anything to get behind. Heart racing and his conscious barely able to keep up with his innate, reactionary thinking, he noted the backside of the stoop's stairs had a separate set going to a basement level floor. [There!] He pointed, racing ahead of Rodrigo just as a series of thuds chillingly echoed across the sky and off each face of the nearby buildings.

[Shit!] Rodrigo bit down, grabbing a hold of Sebastian as the two hurriedly negotiated their way down the first flight of stairs, not daring to peek back out to see what happened, knowing what might be taking a nosedive for all they knew.

And sure enough, the roar of panicked screaming filled the dimly lit stairwell as the two hunkered down against the opposite wall.

But as the approaching, sickening hum of broken and torn drive systems signaled the doomed landing craft's fate, Sebastian couldn't help but feel the excruciating weight of what Sam might be caught in the middle of. He knew she was out there after hearing of the unexpected resistance against the SAU military. He knew it was her involved, somehow.

If only he had stayed, he thought, biting down harder as the seconds passed.

.

.

●　● Recoleta District, Buenos Aires, Argentina, SAU

Amidst shouts of alarm throughout the hallways, Sam and Kerry both found themselves right back to the window of the conference room they left only minutes ago, staring out into the sky to see a blazing fireball taking a huge turn for the sea. "That's Hexa's lander!" Sam cried out, aghast. "Is the military declaring war on Akkadia or something!? 'The hell!? That's a fucking act of war, isn't it!"

Kerry, hands over her mouth, couldn't help but think of the lives on board as they barreled towards a crash landing into the Atlantic.

Sam, desperate to know what was unfolding in front of their eyes, grabbed the Enrai-provided device from her bag and clicked the connection button, impatiently awaiting a response. Her feet tapped the floor nervously, watching the landing craft spiral off into the dark distance.

Kerry winced, turning her face away from the window after watching a large, burning chunk of debris falling onto a building below, preventing her from further shock as she missed the disappearing of the landing craft into the darkness of the ocean.

All the while, Sam began letting out a growl in frustration, hands squeezed tightly together.

[Cruella! Don't you DARE move from your location!] Eryx barked the second the connection was established, already predicting the worst from her. [If there were fighters circling in wait, we can only assume they sent more A-7's! Do you understand me?!]

"Yes," Sam forcefully muttered, having no better options.

[Stay put where you are! And stay away from any open windows!]

"But what about-"

"-WE are taking care of everything that needs cleanup! It's all we have power to do, don't you get it? We are lucky the landing craft pulled away to the sea! We almost lost thousands! Now, enough nonsense! Stay hidden!]

Sam immediately put his warning on the back burner as she switched from the disconnected call on her mobile to a maps app, busily and nervously mumbling to herself as her body began to shiver from the nerves: "Two fifty? two fifty… That's right, it was two fifty. Come on, come on…"

Kerry heard the conversation, wanting first to know why they hadn't moved yet, but more so wanting to know what Sam was going on about. "Two fifty? Sam-"

"-Kerry, what time did those fighters attack us earlier?" Sam clumsily interrupted as she turned toward her. "Please tell me you were more attentive like I wish I had been."

Kerry was always a stickler for being on time for anything, leaving her one to subconsciously and frequently check time. "It was just at an hour and fifteen ago," she reluctantly answered upon checking the current time. "Sam, what's two fifty?"

"Thanks," Sam huffed in relief, now thumbing through the map she pulled up that she could utilize for calculating flight arrivals. "Two fifty is the time it takes for a full-on mech outfit to reach the Capital from Curitiba Airbase- the one in Brazil. If they launched more A-7's, it's from there and it's maybe about an hour and a half away."

Kerry held her comments about how far Sam had really been dragged down the Underground's operations, sticking to doing whatever it was she could to help. "We are only two versus what might be a whole city defense platoon. Do you know anything off the top of your head of what Hexa could have at their disposal just in case?"

"Hexa? Nothing at all at this rate." Sam wasn't able to tolerate standing given how much her tremors had kicked in, sitting down at the table. She placed her mobile face-up, showing Kerry what she lined up on the map. "Either way, look. Their forces likely took this route here, putting them quite out of Brazil yet- somewhere near the Uruguayan border." She let Kerry take her seat and gave her a moment to look at the estimation. "What's your confidence on those numbers?"

"I'm only going off what I know from things I saw and heard about with the NAU," Kerry replied while trying to make sense of the estimated location on the map's orientation to their current location. "Military-speaking, I only know the NAU but I can only guess the SAU can't operate that differently. I mean, they operated under the same ruling general last war."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Sam was appreciative getting whatever information she could. She knew this was something she'd never be able to recall from the talks she always deemed too boring from her family about the past wars. "So wait, a whole what now? What you just said- what would that be actual number-wise?"

Kerry paused to reaffirm her recollections. "Coastal city defense platoons normally saw mixed deployment with aerial and carrier support, mobile anti-air and anti-missile defense networks, and mixed armor outfits. That all included would have between one to two dozen A-7's unless they expected a full orbital drop."

Sam rubbed her hands over her face, fighting back the desire to look back outside to assess what was going on across the way. She knew there was chaos, panic, crowd control, maybe even more attacks from above. But knowing she couldn't move out, all she could try to do was to be of help, especially if it would seem even Enrai and Hexa combined would have no shot at being anywhere near prepared. "If there's no such support, how many would it be bumped up to?"

"I can only guess. Fighters only with no carrier to sustain operations? Might be as many as three to four dozen sent."

Sam sunk in her chair, as did Kerry. Both felt more and more helpless the more they realized what they were most likely staring down threat-wise.

They then both instinctively looked back out toward Plaza de Mayo, unable to make out anything in particular other than the fact it was still as it was earlier: unchanged. "You know," Kerry started as she began to back away. "We should really go back where the chief told us to stay. This window is making me nervous again, and you and I know we're going nowhere anytime soon."

"Yeah, I just…" Sam let her doubts die with the acceptance of their helplessness, slowly turning toward the door. Thoughts of the crowd she saw slain, the relentless pursuit of the fighter jets, and the downed landing craft all came back in a flash, weighed heavily and painfully on her conscience.

How could everything go so wrong so suddenly? And not just to us- Was he of all people turned against? Maybe this is… no, no, I'm not going there. I need to just stop thinking.

The two had been led to one of the vehicle maintenance staff's operations rooms, situated just adjacent to the main garage where they could see both of their LTAC's parked just meters away. A large TV display showed a split screen of several news outlets, each muted with captions in Spanish. The two sat and watched with attention split between each, hoping to catch something to begin digging deeper for on their own, but each seemingly ran on about the political spillover caused by the attacks as well as the protestors' deaths.

Sam shook her head impatiently. "No one's mentioning the launch."

"Right… nor anything about the SAU's intentions. Maybe it's all still playing out behind the scenes?" Kerry surmised, shrugging her shoulders.

Sam defeatedly turned to look over the Arondight, noting how roughed up it looked in comparison to how shiny and awe-inspiring it appeared before first flight. But it got her where she sat in one piece with such ease it that it continued to inspire awe, drawing her back into her fit of doubts that there had to be something it was capable of doing besides sitting. And all the while, it never caught her attention that a few mechanics were posing under the main frame for one of their buddies taking pictures.

A sudden repeated patting of a hand on her shoulder startled her as she looked to see what Kerry would want all of the sudden.

"Look! Look! Get your translator out!" She shouted in a hushed voice, opening her mobile and held it up, aiming it toward the screen. "The bottom right channel!"

Sam quickly followed suit after snapping her focus back to the TV, seeing it was airing a live address from the Argentine President.

One of the mechanics passing through saw their awkward attempt to catch what they could, pausing for a moment in thought. After a silent struggle to think of something, he turned to find the remote on the counter behind them and walked it over to catch their attention using his best attempt to gesture changing the audio settings. After seeing a confused look turn into a pair of grateful but awkward smiles and thanks from the two, he switched the broadcast over to full screen and turned the audio on so that their earpieces could pick up something to translate.

But even as time passed, and even as the mechanic who helped out remained as if interested in the broadcast, only mentions of the President's condemning of the SAU Military's actions, his calling out of their clear intentions to disrupt the sovereignty of the nation, and his requests for aid from nearby countries rolled through. Frustration rapidly set back in for Sam, once more feeling like there had to be something to do besides sit there, even if it just meant gaining some type of valuable knowledge.

"I know it's eating you up, but maybe this is just a sign for us to rest while we can?" Kerry spoke in subtle defeat as she leaned back with a sigh. She too had been hoping herself to get a better grip on the unfolding situation. "Knowing our luck, something's going to roll around unexpectedly, and… you know…"

Sam stubbornly continued her listening in for anything for another twenty minutes before she too gave in. Kerry stuck with her for the meantime, but was constantly distracted by the coming and going of mechanics and other staff members as if contemplating approaching them for something.

"Excuse me," one younger staff member finally gathered the confidence to speak to them from behind.

The two turned to see what was going on, and Kerry, who had noticed his face earlier, was first to reply: "Yes? Do you need help?"

"Oh, no," he shyly smiled as he gestured otherwise. "Can we get your picture? Please?"

"Sam, get your eyes off the screen and come take a break for once," Kerry insisted as she made her answer apparent, grabbing her by the arm and giving her a firm tug. "This isn't good for anyone. At least let the nice people housing us get a picture."

"You're right," Sam conceded with a huff, then a smile towards the men looking on with excitement. At least this time, she thought, there couldn't be anything similar to a repeat from earlier given their much safer situation.

But a few minutes after they all left the room, the camera on TV switched over to a live feed from the SAU Argentine Branch Administration where the leading General had taken the podium to speak on their actions.

[We have zero tolerance for foreign interventions and the violent transgressions that typically ensue,] he spoke of the Tiger incident, [and even more so, zero tolerance for the targeting and killing of our men in uniform who were not actively engaged in combat with the intruders! And no, we are not concerned with the empty statements issued by the PLA as they have no right to speak on our situation!] The camera zoomed in, showing the disgust on the General's face as he continued speaking intently: [The President knows nothing of the situation that has grappled our nation and has run off with his tail between his legs to the Chinasphere Alliance as if they have a place here to say what is what. He has lost control of the Federal District, and after sustaining losses inflicted by and instigated by Hexa's Infinity, who had no legal right to sign contracts with the President unilaterally, we officially declare the organization as a terrorist organization seeking the destabilization of our nation! As of right now, effective immediately, all Hexa forces will immediately surrender and minimize their punishments or face the full strength of our military! We will not bow to foreign interests nor will we ever allow them to think we can be pushed around! We will defend our country! No further comment!!]

[General, sir!] The presser continued, hoping to get one more question in. [Do you believe their alliance's secretary general had no substance in their allegations of war crimes committed on your own citizens? Sir? Sir, please!] He continued to no avail as the security detail saw the General out of the room.

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