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

That night soon turned to the next evening, and then the next as the city did its best to continue its usual business with some cleanup still left to handle, but the air remained unsettling. Airwaves remained jammed, leaving the notion that an attack could occur anywhere, and the news reaching people's devices by local wired networks showed the progress their president and the chairman of the SAU had made. The harbor where the Galatine took its last stand, now housing a host of Infinity outfits shipped in, remained busy in preparations for the worst.

But as for what the SAU reluctantly allowed, thanks to business handled by the president's deal with Hexa, the streets near the SAU Assembly Hall were once again packed with demonstrations. And at several street corners stood newly hired Ai20 LTACs, each tasked with protecting those standing before them should anything disrupt the relatively peaceful marches. After seeing what had escalated over the months in several big cities, no one there wanted to see their capital become the next, expecting the SAU to hurry and make their compromises with the other returning global alliances as they anxiously held their signs and shouted their chants.

The calm in Sam's room, however, continued despite the tensions down the coastal highway. And despite the warnings, she had opened the storm guard covering her balcony doors, finding her preference to sit outside against the wall with a pillow propped behind her back and head. She stared out over the coastline, lost in thought as wind blew through her hair - hair that now further represented her newly embraced identity. She had Kerry help her remove the pink highlights from her hair earlier that morning, returning the portions to white as they were the day she landed in Colombia over six months ago.

An empty chair stood just across from her to her left, reminding her of who it could have been there studying the recent unfolded events with her. A chime rang from her mobile, catching her attention as she saw an article recommended to her from her news app. Hexa always provided a relay to each room, guaranteeing them wireless service when under heavy jamming, and Sam knew not to waste the opportunity as she opened the link.

"You still out there?" Kerry's voice barely made it through the glass while being nearly drowned out by the ambient sounds from town. She soon after opened the sliding glass door as she stepped out to join Sam. "Hey, I'm back," she added, taking a seat the empty chair.

"Was just half-way zoning out," Sam replied with a smile, quickly returning back to the present. She turned her mobile's screen off, placing it on her lap as she looked up to see Kerry fishing something out of the bag she brought.

"Here, I got us a cold drink while I was at it. From a nice little kiosk right across the corner," Kerry spoke as she offered a bottled soda. "No idea if it's any good, though."

"Thanks, I appreciate it either way." She cracked the top open and took a long first gulp, not realizing how thirsty she had gotten after how long she had been outside. "I got a lot figured out in the meantime. Here," she added, handing her a notebook she had been keeping by her side on the ground.

"I've never seen you use these before," Kerry replied with a suspicious smirk, taking it as she began skimming through it.

"My mother always tried her hardest to force me and my brother to use those since we were in school. Was always about her own childhood upbringing, stuff about how her family since generations ago would always take everything down on paper." Wryly chuckling at the irony of it given her memories of having rebelled against using such antiquated note-taking methods, she continued as she stared out into the horizon. "You'd think I'd have had more common sense, though, having heard the stories of life before AI brought humanity into a third world war."

"It's just digital file saving. Everyone does it," Kerry surmised after taking a sip of her drink as well. "I mean, why would she teach you a method that you could lose track of so easily? And how is cloud storage AI related, anyway?"

"It's not about AI alone, per se. You know, just because AI can't use our data against us anymore, it doesn't mean humans won't continue to use it against one another, right?"

"Well, yeah, I get all that, but do you really plan on hand delivering this to command?" Kerry questioned with a frown, still glancing over the contents.

"No."

Kerry's frown quickly turned into a raised brow. "Why write all these conclusions and conjectures, then?"

"Those are for us," Sam flatly stated as she crossed her arms. A confident grin slowly escaped one corner of her mouth, eventually infecting Kerry's as well.

"You weren't shittin' me when you mentioned how you wanted to deal with the Director yesterday, huh," Kerry responded with a chuckle, passing the notebook back. "Hey, look, you know I'm still in for the long haul. I can't disagree with anything you got jotted down, either. You got any idea when we start?"

"I need to talk to someone first, which by the way I'm still waiting on him to show up, but I assume it's coming up pretty damn soon," Sam answered, taking her mobile back into her hand as if to reopen the article she started to read moments ago. "It's not just our lives we have to be careful about, though. The news won't show it directly, but the SAU in-fighting has it still looking like Brazil hasn't given up its attempt to take back its chair, and Argentina is split as is between those wanting reorganizing and restructuring versus those who want to finish taking everything by force before other alliances' influences kick in." She then held up her mobile for Kerry to see, showing the article on holographic display. "See for yourself. The masses are split as well ever since Orsi and Liotta's false flag shit went public."

Kerry took a second to scroll through the article before a concerned frown grew across her brow. "I need to finish getting my head wrapped around that whole ordeal, but this is looking to get worse than it ever did in Manila… or in Dhaka as well." She passed Sam's mobile back to her as she sat back in her chair, shaking her head at the potential consequences for any missteps. "And that's why we can't wait much longer," she thought aloud, leaning farther back in her chair as she too looked out to the coast line, taking in a few long breaths. "And I can only imagine what Reaper is thinking right now, sitting in the shadows, waiting on our move like he thinks he's in control."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Wait, hold on." Sam put a finger up as she tuned in to her left earpiece, which was the one she had been using to stay on Enrai's communication lines. After a tense moment of silence, she clicked a button on her earpiece and looked over to Kerry who had been intently waiting on some kind of sign. "I think it's Eryx. Let me get his call."

[Minimal responses only, Cruella,] Eryx's voice came online after Sam clicked the accept call button. [Are you alone?]

[No, I'm with Chalmette,] Sam continued to practice her Spanish as she looked at Kerry, motioning her to join in the line over her earpiece as well. "She joins every conversation if I am involved."

[Understood,] he quickly accepted, much to Sam's relief. [Minimal civilian casualty risk time and areas have been confirmed. Infinity gave us permission to move forward with your relocation. Is your equipment confirmed ready?]

"Both ready."

[Meet at the first floor in fifteen minutes, and bring your equipment bags. Only come together with Chalmette. Do not show anyone anything nor speak to anyone- not even each other, until I arrive.]

"Understood," Sam answered as she looked at Kerry with a gesture as if to convey: "Sooner than I expected."

After hanging up, the two had quickly folded and stuffed their pilot suits they hung to air out into their equipment bags. And as Sam went for the door, Kerry passed her one smaller bag for her to sling over her other shoulder.

"That should be everything," Kerry commented as she grabbed a similar bag and shouldered it in similar fashion.

.

▽　▽　▽

.

Time had passed, and after waiting outside the lobby doors with the presence of a handful of Infinity personnel on guard, Sam finally saw the pickup truck she was expecting as it slowly approached.

"That's him," she confidently stated as she picked her bag up and slung it over her shoulder.

"How do you know? He didn't tell us what he was driving," Kerry assumed while preparing her bag as well. She also checked to make sure her earpiece was properly adjusted for in-ear translation.

"They've all driven trucks like that. No reason to believe it suddenly changed overnight," Sam casually quipped, but retained her sincerity as she approached the curb. "Come on. I can see his face now, it's him."

[We got a good little drive ahead of us,] Eryx spoke as the two hopped in the back row, bags dropped at their feet. [Are you two fine alone? I can still pull some strings to get a security detail,] he added as he carefully pulled away.

Sam, paying little attention to Eryx's associate sitting in the front passenger seat, gestured her decline as she responded: "I appreciate the offer, but who'd even be capable of looking for us given the current state of things? Besides, we're both well equipped, just in case."

[Well, she doesn't look like she just walked into the Distrito Federal without a hitch,] Eryx snidely commented as he motioned his hand toward Kerry, able to see her through his rear-view mirror. [I see a big knot on her head.]

"Yeah, do you know anything about that?" Sam was quick to ask, quickly looking his way to read his expression that would follow.

[No, why would I? I just call things as I see them- look, let's cut to the chase,] Eryx impatiently changed the subject as he pulled onto the main street headed for the highway. [Are your mobiles switched to our line only, I assume?]

"They've been off," Sam responded, checking her mobile just in case. Looking back ahead as the truck neared the highway, a strong flood of memories from her first day's visit to Bogota poured in, thinking back to how her seat in the truck was similar, but rather than leaving a storm, she was headed right for one. "What's this location you spoke of?"

[I got you two joining one of the recon teams our boss put in position yesterday. One is near the Assembly Hall, and the other is near Plaza de Mayo. Both are potentially unstable given the rapidly growing demonstrations on both sides, and both could be where Infinity must make a response.]

"And that's where Reaper jumps out to wipe out whatever gets launched," Kerry whispered to herself as she thought aloud, still blankly staring out into the distance as she kept her focus in on the conversation.

"But why give us options?" Sam asked, leaning forward as if to check the other passenger's reactions.

[Because you two hold the key to the strongest weapons we have access to,] Eryx reluctantly answered, knowing he had no choice but to go with reality. [And you have the most knowledge of their strongest enemy.]

[You may've lost twice,] the passenger added to Sam's surprise, speaking firmly but still looking at the road ahead. [But you survived, and you also destroyed two Cloaks and a Tiger… a whole fucking Tiger. And your friend has her name made as well, the one who also survived Reaper more than once and destroyed half of Rex's LTAC cache in Dhaka. That's the story everyone knows by now about you two. You have the skills and weapons, but you also have the know-how… the information. And information is the most valuable possession in our world.]

That does make sense. This is a network of nothing but spies, thieves, and secret communication lines across the globe.

[And also, we owe you a favor for 'carefully' showing Emilia the door. She got too out of hand for us to trust with the biggest operation, but when she settles down she'll be right back with us.]

So that's what happened. Glad she's okay after all that, at least. "I see…"

[So,] Eryx followed up. [You get to choose. Wherever you choose as the best location, we will deliver,]

"But there is a third option," Sam finally got around to asking the question she wanted to initially, and both men in front had their facial expressions completely reset upon hearing. "Infinity is about to use a secondary drop zone at the Hippodrome in Palermo, not far from the Assembly Hall. That'd be another big target if Bishop decides to strike preemptively."

[No one told us that, not even Enrai himself,] Eryx mumbled aloud, sending a confused look to his accomplice. [Did you hear anything on that?]

Sam waited for a response, and after seeing nothing more than a lost shake of his head, she continued in heightened confidence: "That there's our secondary option in case shit hits the fan. Our first option is nothing other than the Assembly Hall. Where things started is where things tend to end."

A long silence would persist, figuring it was from the two's thinking and calculations based on the new information. Sam and Kerry exchanged a few confident glances at each other in the meantime.

…The more I think about it, the more I quit caring about what Hexa or even Enrai might have to say. I learned a lot all these months, and now I have to make sure I do something with it.

Sam had spoken to the Director the prior morning, learning of Infinity's system of informants that had been working behind the scenes between their corporate office and Enrai. Already assuming time was the only obstacle, she felt no threat in continuing to open up. "Hexa isn't keeping information from you because they don't want to trust you, it's because they legally can't and have to rely on slow, untraceable methods to get to you. But us here, we can get it to you much faster depending on how much we can trust you will work with us."

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