A flurry of tungsten rounds shredded through the thick air without more than a muffled series of thuds from across the other side of the street; two black-painted LTACs hidden in the shadows of the alleys from which they peered through had just stepped into view, well-protected by the veil that the radar jamming provided. And going with how the L-Trackers didn’t go off, it suggested that the units either had properly installed N-Converters to suppress their exhaust traces, or that everyone’s L-Trackers were not functioning under the same jamming veil. Either way, Sebastian’s crew had no other way of detecting their approach.

Sebastian kept his shield close, rifle mounted, and eyes downfield. Through the violent knocking of several rounds off of his shield that were fortunate enough to be right on target for a solid hit to the core, his trigger finger hesitated not a fraction of a second as their heat sources provided a trace to lock onto. And unfortunate for the two offenders, they did not have a shield as one well-placed three-round burst from Sebastian chewed through one, and a second later, an equally well-placed burst from Kerry sailed through the other.

[Status!] Sebastian barked, heart racing, eyes focused now on his machine’s and his own body’s vitals.

Kerry heard Andre coughing over the radio as she winced, feeling as if something knocked the wind out of her seconds before. Smoke and the smell of hot metal brought out coughs of her own as she waved her hand fruitlessly in front of her face, drawing in enough breath to respond: “Stable! Andre, you good!?” And as she coughed out again from breathing in the irritating smoke, she realized she had a small window punched in somewhere, prompting her to pull up her visor and spot the two-inch hole in her cockpit door, turning around to see pitted spots from fragmentation scattered about. “Andre?!” she shouted again as her fears and concerns fully turned toward her wingman.

“Nrghh!” Andre groaned, reaching for his chest through similar smoke and light that leaked in from outside through a tiny window. “Shit!” he finally got into words as he sputtered out several more suppressed coughs. “I think…” he began to speak more coherently as he gathered his strength with the time they bought. “Something tagged me but I think I’m fine for now,” he finished as he pulled his hand away, seeing his fingers tinged with blood.

Al was quick to join back in on their situation after hearing the exchanges. “Not according to your vitals update, Nguyen! Check out of there and head back ASAP!”

But Sebastian wasn’t content with the false sense of relief the silence around them brought, feeling as if that wasn’t all there was to the vibration patterns earlier. [Kerry! Cover Andre’s retreat! I will hold this area- I know the Cloak is near!]

“You can’t do that by yourself!” Kerry fussed while knowing she was torn between both wanting to help Andre back, yet couldn’t accept the idea of leaving Sebastian to a one-on-one with what might have been the Cloak after all. Still, the persistent, nagging cough from Andre had her quickly changing her mind.

[Andre, hurry!] Sebastian yelled out, ignoring Kerry’s plea. [And keep breathing no matter what!] he continued as he began to suspect a deflated lung.

“Naw, man, I’m walking this shit off and-” Andre fussed back between coughs he was getting better control over. “No way I risk us getting picked off! You know this is a trap and I am not running anymore!”

Sebastian couldn’t argue more than he did, bracing himself for what he felt was coming as he went back to his vibration sensors. [Suit yourself. Everyone still and ready.]

.

Sam had been listening into the conversation since the ambush, checking for anything on what L-Tracker information she could scrap up in their vicinity.

“We’ll still send medical crew your way, Nguyen! Detach when it arrives!” Al finally answered back amidst the ruckus.

After hearing that in addition to Andre’s unexpected determination, Sam’s focus started to deteriorate, bringing her thoughts to what could have possibly happened to him to put his vitals in yellow. And after a few seconds of relative silence on that end as the other tussles remained in the distant background, the words Tricky spoke earlier resurfaced. Did she have some ulterior motive behind that? Why would she care that I brushed Sebastian off earlier? Does she know something I don’t?

“Eyes!” Sam heard someone’s voice shatter the silence. “Cloak inbound! Sighted near the bridge on Bonifacio!”

“Three on one, y’all!” Kerry responded in a feeble attempt to mask her rapidly intensifying fear and to keep everyone’s spirits up.

“We’re almost done clearing the streets there! Keep weapons live!” she heard the voice continue on the line.

Realizing that was Isaiah closing in on the three of them had her feeling suddenly and intensely guilty. And she felt incredibly foolish having not prepared them better, already sensing how angry Isaiah must be at the moment. I get it… how did I just let him leave without a hint? A clue? Not even Kerry- oh my God… shit! “Don’t sit still! You have to keep a distance- make your way back one jump at a time!”

Her focus was now on the eyes they had on her team from the various angles provided by the Underground’s surveillance network, hoping to catch any detail she could in turn offer up as advice. How the hell have I not been in my right fucking mind to let them know what they might have been up against!? She felt herself now feeling the guilt and panic flashing like fire through her as she started to sweat. Why was I so stupid! Rgh!

.

Sebastian heard the warning, but he stayed quiet as the other two had. He instead switched his eyes over to his IR scanner, bringing it up on full screen. He then tensed up, sitting upright and taking a different grip on his controls. [Kerry, be my ears for me. Andre, rifle up in front of my location and fire if you see a dust cloud.]

He struggled to keep his composure, but it was a series of flashbacks from his intensive training sessions with Danielle that helped instill a sense of direction. He had never received maneuvering and combat skill coaching of that magnitude before, and he felt that rather than a chance to showcase what he felt he could pull of now, it was his ticket to survival.

“You can’t just sit there, damn it!” he heard Sam yell out but continued to dismiss the warning.

“Hops incoming!” Kerry added in immediately after, showing her unwillingness to break pattern despite the stubborn appeal. “One block away!”

“I see it!” Andre spoke through his clenched teeth, trying to stave off the pain enough to keep a good focus downfield. He caught sight of a kicked-up shower of gravel off the pavement from a clearing just inside five hundred meters out. “Conventional rounds, right?!” he continued as he started to place several single-fire shots up the cleared street. “Let’s hope they’re right!”

“That’s a jump!” Kerry shouted out that next instant, looking up to see Sebastian’s next move so she could have even a remote sense of how to react next.

[I see it,] Sebastian spoke through his teeth, pushing forward on the controls as each base disconnected, rotated a quarter of a turn to the outside, now freeing up his hands to take on a more unrestricted range of motion. His rifle was docked as short, sturdy blades extended from the armor attachments on his LTAC’s forearm docking units, and in the same motion his LTAC took a wider stance with his left foot forward. And in that next moment he could then see a short-lived but critical flash of white on his IR vision just above him and on rapid descent.

.

Andre threw off his helmet, hands now trembling from the overwhelming chest pain he was stubbornly enduring, quickly reaching for the hatch release. “I’m no good like this,” he struggled to speak out, pulling the switch. “Let me be your eyes, bro,” he continued as the doors opened, revealing Sebastian locked up with a large cloak veiled LTAC. Through his shortening breath, he looked on with a smirk as if suddenly the Cloak wasn’t as frightening anymore.

.

Sebastian heard the remark, feeling a new sense of hope as he held himself upright against the force of the enemy’s arms trying to push through. He couldn’t see anything more than the bright glow on his IR sensor just past his own hands, but he still knew he had some time bought with this as he started to picture the orientation of his attacker. [HQ, I am engaged with the Cloak! Keep a watch on my back!]

“One approaching behind us- Don’t worry, I got it!” he heard Kerry shout out before blasting off. “Andre, hang in there!”

And immediately after, he heard Andre chime back in with something that would open his eyes: “Cloak planted his left foot! He’s pulling!”

And that was his chance to see if his estimation was correct. He pulled back his controls and sidestepped to his left, watching the visual of the Cloak’s blade’s heat trace swing and miss just to the right of him.

.

Andre was now standing at the edge of the hatch, leaning against the frame as he saw the spectacle unfold, the Cloak now with its sword in the pavement and its shield on the opposite side from Sebastian. “Left gut open! Hit it!”

And now everything in that instant made sense as to why Sebastian spent so many hours with high-speed juking. It never was as clear until now that it wasn’t about him approaching targets at high speed, it was the opposite. And as he watched the blade’s traces flick towards him from the right, he had already jumped ahead of the lunge the Cloak took at him. He knew where his target would end up with such momentum, throwing out a right hook, feeling the crunch of armor alloy meeting his own blade.

“Landed a hit… through his right shoulder!” he heard Andre struggle to announce. But greater than his concern for his health was the concern for what he knew he was about to do. And rather than spending a precious second attempting to dislodge his weapon, he released it and blasted off backward to distance himself with enough time to rearm his rifle. And the second he squared up his landing, a flick of a switch on his controls showed that one of the settings was set to unlatch his cockpit doors. He stared down the Cloak, watching it turn to face him down, watching it drop its shield and switch hands as it powered off its blade’s plasma arc. Sebastian wasn’t too sure if the pilot was aware of the laser marker his rifle cast over its chest area, but this was what he had only prayed he could one day pull off once more. It worked once before, and now it would have to work again.

“Oh wow. You smart son of a bitch,” he heard Andre chuckle through obvious agony, now imagining the pain the other end was about to receive. He didn’t catch a good look at Sam’s brother’s face last time, but it was for the best as it might have caused him to hesitate more than he already was. He now instead felt the anger he almost forgot he harbored as he imagined the faces of his brothers lost at their hands. He remembered how he pictured his sister almost dying, laying helpless and nearly left for dead.

This was the last Cloak left, and this would send him home, finally. And not just himself, but Sam as well, now imagining her crying for her lost brother.

“I’m so sorry, Sam,” he muttered aloud, now watching the Cloak freeze up as if he was listening in the whole time.

“What?!” he heard her shout back in confusion just as he pulled the trigger and didn’t let go. And with the unobstructed assault on his ears and body from each round ripping its way down the way, he had no way of hearing Sam’s continued responses. He held down the trigger until he watched the Cloak fall to the ground motionless.

Some seconds passed in silence afterwards, only accompanied by the sound of a sizzling barrel just outside his open cockpit doors.

“Cloak axed,” he heard Andre speak before another coughing fit. “I repeat… Cloak axed.”