Sam returned the gesture with an awkward grumble, suddenly unable to look her in the eye. “Um, I planned on doing that, but, well…”

“It’s okay. You need to eat, and besides, we have eyes outside,” Tricky responded in a manner she hoped would lighten the mood, pulling a canned coffee drink from her own bag. As she cracked it open and took a sip, she then looked at Sam once more with the same gesture once more. “I need a break, too. Please.”

Sam shrugged, feeling she had no choice. But then again, she did buy it with the intent to eat. “Well, thanks, I guess,” she mumbled with a cautious smile as she pulled out the wrapped empanada from the bag. As she opened the top of the wrapper, the smell that lured her in struck her full swing this time, finding herself now thoughtlessly digging in.

“You seem to know what to buy,” Tricky continued with a chuckle after another long sip from her coffee. “Do you know about our food already?”

Sam finished chewing and swallowing before looking through what she started eating. “I ate these in Colombia earlier this summer. I saw the word and recognized the smell, kind of. But these are still pretty different.” And without further thought, she couldn’t help but chow down. She was now feeling her hunger hit even harder, and the savory treat’s taste and aroma were more than welcoming.

And the small talk continued until she was done with her brief but thoroughly enjoyed meal, leading Tricky to invite her to follow alongside her somewhere. They made it several blocks down and away from Infinity’s HQ before their stroll took them to a busy intersection with several cars lined up along the sidewalk.

Tricky motioned Sam her toward a newer, relatively expensive-looking sedan. And as she hopped in first, she continued motioning her to climb in.

Sam had her fair share of involuntary rides since her arrival on Earth, but this one was the nicest yet. The younger driver herself was well dressed, matching the still-new car smell and upscale interior. And as more small talk continued, she managed to find peace with the situation as their brief drive took them through rapidly narrowing streets and to a series of apartment buildings.

And after following Tricky up a few flights of stairs, she passed through a door that was horribly similar to the heavy doors she passed through when Devin had her held hostage, if that was the proper terminology.

But before her senses could give her the wrong vibes, Tricky calmly spoke with an abrupt change in subject: “We need to have a more… business-like talk, now.”

Sam chuckled with another shrug of her shoulder. “Of course, I sensed this had to be what was up all along. Sure, I mean,” she huffed, crossing her arms lightly. “The list is long. I do owe a lot of people these days including you all.” She continued following Tricky to a table where the two sat down. They were the only two there other than the couple of guards at the heavy set of doors down the hall.

“So,” Tricky cleared her throat as she leaned forward, elbows on the table. “As you can tell, we have to stay hidden. We use many… layers of shields to keep us safe and this floor has no communications in or out. And the whole ride here was scrambled as well, so no one knows we even drove here.”

And that is supposed to make me feel comfortable? Sam thought as she started to grow more uncomfortable, shifting in her seat. But then again, I would hate to have been tracked on my way out of HQ, now that I think about how much of a dumb-ass I was for just walking out. Ugh.

“And that leaves me with, well, messages from Tyrus himself.”

Again? What’s with their recent obsession? She tried to think about the last exchange she shared with Tyrus, but things were still foggy.

“He first has an offer for you, and then he also needs us to explain our situation to you, and we promise to keep it short.”

Sam’s brow raised. “We? Who is we?”

Tricky turned to look at her watch. “He’s coming soon. We were a bit early.” She then looked back at Sam. “Before that, I also need to tell you something personal. That old man, Mr. Ongoco. I know you have seen the news.”

She knew of no such name, but hearing the words “old man” come from her lips instantly brought back the memories of that night’s assassination she witnessed. The onset brought shivers up her spine, unable to answer with anything.

“That night I met you in person for the first time.” Tricky’s voice started to lower, as did her chin. “Enough people saw what happened. We know it wasn’t Hexa, and the witnesses were probably supposed to have died, too, that night. But Mr. Ongoco’s death, while we are very sad,” she now spoke with her chin back up. “It gave us new spirit in our fight. We saw who the real threat is this time.”

“Rex,” Sam uttered unintentionally, realizing what she said and immediately looked away, unsure if that was something better not to have said.

“Rex is using the wrong people for the wrong purpose,” Tricky responded in affirmation of Sam’s assumption. “But it’s also Tyrus who says the same. We are tired of being used.” She then pulled her long, dark brown hair from her forehead, revealing scars from a wound that ran down from near her temple down to her ear, showing a piece of her ear missing. “We are tired of being weapons.”

My God, what happened to her and why?

Tricky continued in earnest: “We stopped fighting our own people because they were never the enemy in the beginning. It’s not the police we will fight anymore, it’s not the government anymore, it’s foreigners with bad interests.”

Sam then remembered the most recent protests being protected by Hexa and the police, which was the complete opposite from what she had heard stories of. “Then, what was that car bomb?”

“Who do you think pays for those men? The ones we aren’t even sure if they are our countrymen? They are here to try to change our minds and change who we fight.”

Sebastian’s sentiments then echoed through Sam’s head, remembering too many stories of the Rocha and their tactics. The name Rex then surfaced even stronger, now assuming a complete, perfect connection between the two countries. But why else would she tell me all of this if she’s not like the others? Are they still trying to reel me in? She let out a heavy sigh in deeper thought, hesitating before eventually replying. “Well, what can I do? I’m not a fighter, and I am not going to leave Hexa. I can’t just abandon certain people.”

The doors through which they entered opened once more, and as Sam turned to see who arrived, she was nowhere near expecting to see Devin walk through.

The moment she saw him, thoughts of Kerry were quickly washed over by the frights experienced the night she last saw him. Walking away from him led her to that deadly confrontation, including all the flashbacks she tried so hard to keep at bay. All the pain, agony, blood, and blinding panic. She knew it wasn’t his fault, but the correlation still strongly lingered.

A hand on her shoulder made her realize she had zoned out again during that recollection, pulling her back into reality and looking up to see Devin looking back with concern. It was that sincerity she remembered seeing in his eyes, too, that helped pull her back. “Hey, Sam. Sorry you had to go through all of that, but damn am I glad to see you still breathing.”

She diffidently shrugged with a nod, taking in a breath. “Kerry’s still worried sick. Why are you here risking yourself?”

“I have you to thank for a lot, it seems,” he continued as he took a seat at the table, dodging her second comment. “Look, before I get into the nitty gritty, I did see the files on your little encounter with Rush and his buddy. Had that ambush pulled in on the three of you before taking those two down, you’d all be done for. No Kerry to worry about me if she’s been wiped.” He then leaned in similarly to Tricky with a comforting smile. “You don’t know how much everyone owes you, Sam. You even did all of the heavy lifting for us without any collateral. Not a single non-vacant building hit, and our people have taken notice.”

It hit her. She hadn’t been thanked like this before from so many people in one day. And in deeper honesty with herself, she realized she hadn’t been thanked for much of anything from anyone with any trace of sincerity, leaving her to respond with another sheepish, awkward shrug.

“But here’s the word I had to bring you from Tyrus,” he spoke now with a heavier tone. “I couldn’t just sit back and leave you strictly with people who haven’t gotten to know you at all. Anyway,” he said as he straightened up in his seat. “Tyrus first wanted me to ask if you want safe exit from the country.”

Exit?! I could go home?!

Devin gave her time to respond, sensing the cloud kicked up.

But… but… wait…

“Sam, your father is flying in tomorrow.”

He had her sudden, full attention with that. “What?!”

“He, uhh, will be great for securing you maximum safe passage since his security team is uncrackable, you know?”

Sam still couldn’t shake her confusion. “Why? Why is he coming here?!”

“Well, to get you home, why else?” Devin responded with his own shrug.

Déjà vu. She didn’t even have to stop to recollect that experience twice encountered. “No. I’m not done deciding yet.” Right? I can’t just… leave! She thought as her head began to shake in disbelief. Thoughts of the Cloaks, the setups, Revenant’s face… Isaiah’s glare. The last one had her shivering again.

Devin pursed his lips as if holding something back, but moved them again to speak with difficulty: “Sam, I got to view so much more than that fight you had. I got everything on, well, you. Who you really are.”

She paused, slowly looking back up at him. “What do you mean? And what does that have to do with me being offered to leave? I still don’t get that or-”

Devin shook his head. “Damn it, Sam, no file on record Earth-side had you originally listed as a ‘Gen One’ pilot, much less with a FL-1 network implant.”

Sam paused once more, but this time in genuine befuddlement. “Wait, I knew I was ‘gen one’, but what’s the big deal about an FL-1? Why’s it any different from other neural mesh networks for any other ‘gen one’?”

“I didn’t know the difference either until Tyrus told us. It’s still yet to become public knowledge; FL-1 implants were reserved for the compatible pilots only. They ended up being the platform for which the monstrosity called Antares was designed around.”

What?! How did I never hear of this?! Does that mean Dad knew all this time- even before I got my network implant?!

“You ran for almost half an hour on maximum settings whereas anyone else would’ve melted their brains long before.” He sensed the confusion growing into shock, but before letting her respond, he drove another fact in to worsen the tension. “You aren’t just a pilot, Sam. You are cut of the same cloth as Harbingers; not by blood but by design. Just like your father… and your brother.” He saw the shock turn to panic, knowing he hit it on the head. “Am I right? Is that why you can’t leave?”

Sam was hit by something so unexpected she began to feel faint as her heart began to beat out of her chest. She couldn’t even think straight as the mixture of Isaiah’s glare mixed with the world somehow finding out and exposing her for the secrets she had been withholding.

How the fuck did they find out!?

She then heard Devin’s voice slowly pull her back to reality, followed by another concerned hand taking a hold of her shoulder.

“Sam… Sam? You okay? Just what in the hell did Reaper put you through?”

She couldn’t believe her ears anymore, still paralyzed by the fact they somehow knew and seemed to have proof beyond any possible deception. She didn’t even really fully understand why it had to be kept from everyone’s knowledge-

Sebastian! He’s the only one I ever told!

But before her mind could play tricks on her and superimpose his image over some sort of foul play, Devin continued with another nudge of his hand: “Sam! Listen!”

She finally fixated her eyes on his, deciding to try and calm down and slow her breathing down. “How did you know? Who told you?”