>>23390525

Feeling a tingle running down her spine, Amate looks past the man as a rumble begins to shake the building they are in.

>???: Obsessed fools...!
>Amate: Who...are you?
>???: I didn't want it to come to this, but there is no other choice.

Grabbing hold of Amate, the man opens a hatch hidden below the lone table in the building. Keeping her in his arms, the man leaps down into its depths. Meanwhile outside of the tattered building, a man yells against his communication device as a Mobile Suit breaches through the colonies wall.

>Intelligence Officer: Have you gone mad?! What in the hell do you think you are-
>Jerid: I am sick of waiting! If we can catch or crush this guy here and now, it won't matter what these colonist cry about!
>Intelligence Officer: You will be forced before a firing line for this!
>Jerid: Cowards like you are why the Earth has not been freed yet!

Landing a new model variant of the RX-78 within the slums, Jerid ignites swipes away the roof of the building that had contained the unknown figure and Amate. With Amate still in his arms, the figure reaches for a communication device in his pocket, planting it next to his mouth as he descends deeper through the maintenance tunnels.

>???: The jammer is perfectly safe, but the Federation are hunting after me. Recover it from dead drop "K" and wait for me to return.
>Amate: S-seriously, who are you? Did they actually send a Mobile Suit just for you?
>???: For us, now.

Amate recoils at the idea that she will also be incriminated in what is occurring...and yet, she feels a strange excitement within her. Leaning into the man's hold, Amate sees a flash of the girl she had accidentally exchanged bags with.

>???: My apologies about all of this.
>Amate: I-if you want to make it up to me, then tell me who you are! Are you with the Zeons?!
>???:...I believe you have more than earned that. My name...is Quattro Bajeena.