Rex wasn't amused, but he did entertain one last question. "Watch my back over an empty threat? You expect me to believe the PLA will act unilaterally within SAU borders without permission?"

And it was one question Isaiah didn't mind leaving unanswered, still with his guard fully up. "In the end, you always worked for me. Both in the past and even now."

An explosion rocked the hangar as a large hole above opened up, sending a cascade of debris downward toward the Curtana. The shield Isaiah had equipped and brought over his head was one that was already heavily invested in by Hexa's research team, but it was clear someone else had their hand involved afterward. Flashes of light went out in small shockwaves as the large chunks of debris that struck the shield bounced away; it was as if each piece's kinetic energy was transferred into another form, all made evident with each spark and flash.

He then looked upward the moment the worst had passed, seeing nothing but night sky. If anything, he figured, Rex only had LTAC's at his disposal, and it was evident none of them were aerial combat equipped. He undocked his main weapon, a sword of sorts that constituted of a main blade longer than the Curtana was tall, and a pommel blade that rivaled the longest of the close-defense knives. Swinging it in a full circle around him, a brilliant blue swirl of light was joined by the slung bits of slag alongside the flung pieces of scaffolding, catwalks, and other structural materials as he cleared himself enough space to move the second Rex's men made their move.

Both hands on the sword, the Curtana steadied its stance, blade aimed toward the main gate.

Silence ensued for the next minute. Isaiah's breathing rate was heightened, but not to a point where it was a distraction. He finally heard the sounds of rollers striking a curb or some step-up, one that could only come from an LTAC on the move. It was just outside the main gate from what he could tell, prompting him to move his left hand's grip from the sword and to the shield's main grip, pivoting and charging for the door with a sudden burst.

.

▽　▽　▽

.

What was considered too quiet quickly became the opposite after just one block. While they were still only two blocks away, it would start to feel farther and farther. It was as if the floodgates opened, and the streets all around quickly became so clogged with people headed for the Assembly Hall that Sam and Kerry both found themselves at a complete standstill, unsure how to proceed, and stuck somewhere halfway between the intersections.

"Why are they all headed to the center of danger so suddenly?!" Sam fussed, unable to make any sense of the situation. "They should be staying in shelter or fleeing! Not the opposite!"

"You never got a chance to understand real protests at the core, did you?" Kerry commented, not in a demeaning way but rather in an honest, concerned manner. Her nerves weren't as on edge as Sam's, and she took the moment as a chance to gather her own handle on the situation. "They don't care about anything more than getting a message out there, especially now that the explosions and gunfire have stopped. And with the airwaves as jammed as they are now? This could go on for a long time."

"It's just… it's just that when I think about- wait," Sam felt embarrassed, feeling put on the spot by her own remarks. This was what Hexa had founded Infinity for in the first place. It was never about silencing chaos or bringing order, it was about protecting who needed protecting. In Bogota, armed foreign instigators brought havoc into areas not needing any more damage than it was already sustaining. In Dhaka, helping the nation in avoiding a military coup was the original intent. In Manila, protecting a peaceful exchange from one party to another was the goal, one that required stopping Isaiah's use of force in the process.

And even now, it wasn't about order. She knew all along this was all fueled by the locals' desire to know the truth. They just got put through an unfair string of chaotic events centered around the false flag operation that Adrian Liotta spearheaded, and now no one knows the true intent behind either of SAU's in-fighting factions. All they want is the military to back off and let their president work on doing what was originally promised. No one asked for a coup. No one asked for all these deaths and injuries. And now it was apparent that they weren't afraid of saying a loud, emphatic "no" to their perceived perpetrators.

Sam stood there for a quiet moment, reflecting on the last casual exchange she had with Andre before their last jump into the fray. Now, looking more consciously at the slow, scattered, but steady march toward the Assembly Hall, she eased back on her controls, allowing the Arondight to take a more relaxed stance. "Yeah, it's sad it took me this long."

Kerry allowed more time for Sam to let it all soak in, feeling like there wasn't as much to move in on after all. If it was going to be this big of a crowd, there was no way the SAU would just smash through everything forcefully. The A-7's they had for intimidation were gone, and Enrai's forces already cleared out the rest prior to. Nothing but a massive gathering awaited them to join. "Do you really think Reaper just shows up like this? He's never been known to target civilians, right?"

[HEY!] A voice from a passing young man below shouted, waving his arms at the Arondight's head camera.

"Hmm?" Sam pondered both Kerry's question and this one particular passerby's reaction. She switched her megaphone function on through her curiosity. "Yes?"

[I saw what you did to those sick bastards!] The man hollered back, clasping his hands over his mouth in a way to get his voice to carry better. [Way to kick their ass! Show them who's in charge!] He added before holding his mobile up for an awkward angled selfie.

She switched her megaphone back off with a grin she tried to fight back, knowing not to let her guard down too much. She did realize earlier how much attention her Arondight and Kerry's Ap50 had drawn, either in awe or fear, or both. She then propped her rail gun over her shoulder as if posing with the man below, seeing more protestors stop to gather around him for a group selfie. "About your question," Sam finally got around to answering Kerry. "I never once read anything on him attacking something that wasn't armored, not even collateral-speaking. If he attacks us now, it'd be a first, so I don't know."

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"Sam!" Kerry shouted as one of her movement sensors began to ring. She planted her feet in a position ready to floor it, but knew there were too many bystanders up against her and in the way of backblast. She eased her stance wider and crouched her Ap50 some as she turned on her megaphone function to shout: "Get back! Get back everyone!"

Sam was already lunging in response to the warning, and in a second, everyone nearby began to scream and distance themselves from the area. "What direction!?" She figured it must have been the explosives alarm, assuming Kerry had left her proximity detection sensors on. But who would carry explosives in a place like-

Kerry felt a sudden jolt of pain shoot through her brain, timed too perfectly with a flashing flurry of evasive maneuver input commands across her visor. Giving into the strongest punch she felt, she flung her LTAC into a half-tumble to her left, falling face-flat onto the pavement as a shrill, deafening streak of pulverized concrete, asphalt, and dirt spewed and stretched a blindingly quick line just between her LTAC and Sam's.

Another roar rapidly approached before they could even start to process what had just happened, and it thundered by overhead with the familiar shriek of a fighter jet.

"Kerry!" Sam belted out with a cracked voice, spinning around as if to take aim but found the skies already clear. The sound of screaming and panicked bystanders quickly flooded the streets as they continued their flight.

"I'm fine!" Panting, head splitting, and ears ringing, she got her Ap50 upright. Scuffed and scratched up, but in one functioning piece, nonetheless. Her eyes widened upon the view she took in as she realized who took the damage. At the start of where the trail of anti-armor rounds ripped through the road, she saw the remains of several people scattered about. "Oh shit! Sam!"

The Arondight was about fifteen meters ahead and to the left side of the street from the damaged area. After a quick scan once more, she realized Antares never gave her a warning, clearly from how far she was from the impact zone. How'd she dodge that?! That's a miracle she's alive, much less already up and actively scanning!

But then she also caught on that next instant what Kerry was referring to, noticing the bodies littering the same zone as the dust cleared. Eyes widening, disgust and anger building, she clicked back over to Enrai's channel: "This is Cruella! We got massive civilian casualties here! Alliance fighters just… they killed their own…" For once, she felt less panic and more of a desire to chase the jet down, which was harder to control than the usual fear-driven panic.

[We told you not to approach the Hall!] Enrai's signature voice raged.

Damn it, he sure did. But still!!!

[Distance yourselves immediately! We will have to handle disaster cleanup- get yourselves back out of the crowded areas before it approaches again!]

"Understood," Sam conceded, biting her tongue.

[Cruella, listen!] Eryx suddenly joined the exchange. [We have no more connection with Hexa's satellite! Orders from Director Braun are to head for Casa Rosada at once and rally with the rest of Infinity's forces being sent there! A coup is imminent given the actions of the SAU military!] He added as his voice quickly began to die off from interference, possibly from him being on the move between relay nodes.

I knew it! "Understood! But what do we do about that fighter jet?!"

[Stick to the narrower streets and find a way without getting in the open!]

"Sam! Come on, we need to hurry! We're dead meat if we don't keep moving!" Kerry fussed, turning to head back toward the southeast.

The two quickly but carefully weaved their way around the rapidly thinning crowd, headlamps back on full burn as they hoped it would serve to discourage more on foot from approaching. Sam tossed her rail gun once she had the chance, equipping her hybridized assault rifle she left docked to the Arondight's right hip. She spun it around to coast backwards as she made sure to laser paint the weapon, hoping Enrai would grab it before anyone else could, but she knew the weight of it could potentially be lethal given how fast she would need to react in response to another sweep from the fighter jets. That thought reminded her once more of how miraculously Kerry dodged that last sweep, coming in so fast she didn't even realize it until after it had already ripped up meters' worth of asphalt.

But she knew she had no time to worry about that. She instead began calculating the potential threats Infinity forces would face. And as time passed with each block they sped down, she more and more worried about how quiet the skies became. She knew nothing about how military fighter jets operate. She was no war veteran, nor did she ever study anything of the like. "Kerry, do you see nothing as well? Where the hell did that thing go!? Did it leave?!"

"It's probably waiting for us to get out in the open," Kerry guessed, keeping a keen eye on the sky while following the Arondight at a safe distance.

Damn it… There has to be SOMETHING we can do… Sam knew there was going to be countless moments in the moment, however short-lived, that might be the one time the jet would time its next strafing run. And no matter how much Antares could work its calculations, nothing could give her time to react in such a short window of time against such a small, fast-moving target.

But as they approached the next narrow intersection after carefully weaving between curbside-parked cars, both caught sight of a burning three-car wreck right in the middle of it, likely caused from distracted driving during what must have been a frightening instance earlier. Nerves kicked in as she knew how slow they'd have to work their way around it in the open, especially if they did it one by one.

However, she also had a chance to catch a garage building about eight stories high just ahead before the intersection. "Perfect!" She shouted, getting a tighter grip on her controls, feeling if there was a time to take at least one shot, it'd be now. "Kerry-"

"-Wait!" Kerry worriedly blasted out. "You're starting to abuse our little code, don't you think!?"

"Just go!" Sam fussed back, unable to waste another second with what precious acceleration space she had left, slamming both sticks forward against their limiters. Hoping Kerry would take the chance, she then pressed down on both pedals, making a leap for the garage. And there it was, Antare's picking up on an incoming object, cueing her to begin her spin as she readied her thumb, hovering it over the hat-switch.

***Brrrrrrr-rr-rrr-rrrrt***

Ripped a string of anti-armor rounds through the thick summer air, all coming from the fighter jet that was already on its planned-out attack run.

Sam felt the instinctive need to stay on the jump booster pedals, soaring well over her landing approach angle as she now caught sight of her target.

Kerry couldn't fight off the urge to slam on the brakes the second she saw the string of rounds seemingly slice through the concrete giant in front of her, sending fountains of gray and white dust and debris so high she lost track of the Arondight. "SAM!!"

***TA-TA-TA-TA-TAH!!!***

Screamed and crackled the two back-to-back, three-round burst of hybridized rounds she knew only Hexa models could make. And as the brilliant orange tracer-like strings of light shot out from the clouds, Kerry knew now she had to hurry and make her run for the other side and out of the open. But the second she finally reached the safety of building cover at last through her heavy sweat, the sound of what seemed like a screeching rocket zipping by got the best of her nerves as she jolted back in her seat with a wince. The immediately ensuing explosion nearby that rocked her frame's interior then had her once more coming to a grinding, panicked halt.

...

"Sam!?"

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