"Rico. Honeyyy! My star! Look, here's the thing-"

A sigh on the other end of the line interrupted her before Rico said in a mildly annoyed but mostly disinterested voice, "Don't 'my star' me. I don't have time for a shot right now, Garland."

"Oh, no, this isn't about a shot. Well, not a movie shot at least. Gunshots though? Very likely event. Fair warning." She cleared her throat. "Right, here's the skinny: I'm in a bit of a situation with some leftover Black Hand members here at Casquillos Vacíos. Turns out some of those guys are truly fanatic and your army left a bit of a leak here. Not sure where they are right now but I'm stuck. You'd think the Black Hand would give up at some point. Didn't Gabriela call them off? Huh, rebellious Black Hand soldiers… Talk about irony." She heard shuffling and faint, muffled talking in the background on Rico's end, most prominently among it all was Rico's own voice but she couldn't make out what he was saying. It sounded like he was barking orders though, which meant he was probably bossing recruits around. And not that she didn't appreciate a bit of bossing around, she just wished this time he'd actually listen instead, considering the fact that what she was telling him was kind of important. So she just kept talking in hopes of regaining his attention.

"I'm guessing they didn't like my latest picture. Philistines. Or maybe it was the stunt we pulled at Academia Qacha. Or the fact that I never got permits for my not-entirely-legal, literal stunts. Or the faking my death thing to avoid having to get permits in the first place..." She paused briefly and pondered her own words. "This has nothing to do with a missing permit though, I swear! Unless you need permits for interviews now. I wouldn't put it past them to be honest. But I thought that would change with you and your army taking over. Speaking of which, I don't think their captivity policy is entirely in compliance with the new laws either..." She touched her chin to check if the cut on it was still bleeding while the noise on Rico's end grew louder, so Garland raised her voice too.

"Anyway, Rico, your rebel friends told me about the training. You know, when I did the remaining interviews for the DVD extras in the extended edition? So I know you're busy which is probably why you ignored all my text messages but I really don't want to find out what they have planned for me. So, could you, you know, swing by and do your Rodriguez thing?"

Rico still didn't reply. Instead, the sound of rushing wind and an engine of some sort joined the noisy jumble. A helicopter training mission? Surely he could put that on hold to give her an answer or even stop by for a few minutes, right?

"Rico? Listen, doll, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on all accounts but I- I could really-"

"I'm on my way," he said with an unexpected determination in his voice.

"Oh! Oh." Finally hearing his voice again startled her a little but then she sighed a breath of relief. "Well, thank you, Rico. I don't know what I'd do without you."

There was a short silence, then Rico said, "I'm your bodyguard, remember?"

Garland chuckled briefly as her tension faded. "Yeah, I remember. Best one I've had, that's for sure."

The background noises were still there but Rico seemed entirely focused on their conversation now. "How were you able to call me anyway? Didn't they take your phone?"

"Well, they did take my other ones. Stopped searching me after they found the third one, so either I hid this one well enough or they're just fans of the rule of three."

"While you don't stick to any rules," Rico pointed out with a smirk in his voice.

"I prefer to make up my own ones."

"Why do you have four phones?"

"Oh, I have a lot more than that. Most of them are just burner phones though. You wouldn't believe how many calls I get over the course of the day that interrupt my work at the worst possible moments, so I have some for spam. On silent. That I never pick up. Oh yeah, this is one for unwanted calls, so never call me on this number."

Rico huffed. "I've never called you anyway."

"Huh, I hadn't noticed," she said, rolling her eyes. "Well, sometimes it's up to one party to maintain a friendship, right? You know, we cou- Oh shit, someone's coming, gotta go!" She added the last part in a whisper and quickly hung up.

Once it was clear that the line was disconnected Rico told Fiera to hurry up before his gaze landed on the display of his grappling hook. It wasn't that he had ignored her messages, he had simply been too preoccupied to notice them due to the training of the new recruits. He would have reacted to them, even if he usually didn't. But then again, her usual messages were always rather succinct and random, messages that didn't require any further conversation and that Garland never seemed to expect a reply for. At least she's never told him otherwise. They were rarely questions, and if so metaphorical ones, but most commonly just one or two sentences recounting some random occurrence, maybe a weird thing that had happened or a special moment she wanted to share with him, for whatever reason. Sometimes she vented about someone or something briefly (mostly that script writer of hers, Charlie was his name?) or sent some cryptic text or philosophical musing. Other times she let him know what she was working on and how far they were with the shootings, and she regularly updated her list of things that had gotten confiscated by the Black Hand. A rather long list he had to admit. Although those updates had become less frequent as of late.

Rico opened his messenger. While the most recent messages under Garland's normal number were a paragraph on some American wood frog that hibernates frozen to ice, a catering drama in three acts and another single message that read 'they confiscated my key grip' with no further elaboration or resolution, there were a bunch of new messages from an unknown number that for once were clear as day.

'SOS'

'MAYDAY'

'CQD?'

'Just come to Casquillos Vacíos please'

'Quickly'

'Oh this is Garland btw'

'Long story'

'Rico?'

'You there?'

'Hello'

'Hellooooo'

'Pick up your goddamn grappling hook :('

'I'm gonna get another lead actor if you don't react!'

'Ah you've seen right through that haven't you'

'Ha'

'Ha ha…'

'Ricoooo'

'Fine'

Rico sighed as they were drawing near their destination and proceeded to jump out of the helicopter before it had even fully reached the base, spreading his wingsuit as Fiera called after him, "Go kick their asses, hermano!"

He arrived just in time to see his director's futile attempts at negotiation fail as two soldiers shoved her on the backseat of a Warrior Offroader that was ready to go. Quickly landing on its roof, Rico made short work of the bystanders, pulled out the driver and hurled his own weapons in before swinging himself inside, a move that, under these circumstances, reminded him a lot of those rebel breakout missions he occasionally used to do for Alessia in Medici. Good times. And, after all, it had been established that Garland was, in fact, a rebel now. In more than one way, actually.

"We should hang out more," she greeted him, inappropriately cheerful, leaning forward slightly with her hands on his seat and beaming at him in the rear view mirror.

"Oh yeah? What makes you think that?" Rico replied but then he gave her a smile in return, unlocked the back-seat doors and stepped on the gas. He noticed some minor bruises on her face and for some reason they made him disproportionately angry. Best to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Garland seemed to have other ideas.

"Rico, wait! Turn around!" she urged out of the blue but all Rico did was frown at her.

"I'm getting you out of here," he explained the obvious, just in case she had a concussion or brain damage or something. Well, more brain damage than usual that is.

"No, Rico- Ugh!"

He immediately hit the brakes when he saw Garland open the door and leap out of the car, absently wondering if she had done so by accident, like he sometimes did.

"Qué chinga- What are you doing?"

"They got my baby!" she shouted as she ran in the opposite direction of where Rico had been heading.

"What?"

"My car," she clarified, briefly turning around to roll her eyes at him, somewhat playfully. So he shared a pet name with her car. Nice.

Rico sighed, exited the Offroader, set up his defender machine gun and cleared her path before he turned around and proceeded to fight off the soldiers that were approaching him. After taking down about half a dozen of them he heard an engine rev up and turned his head to see an orange Verdeleon Eco, covered in scrapes and dents, shoot out of the bushes surrounding one of the buildings. It pulled up right next to him where Garland winded down her window and made an inviting gesture. "Hop in, Rico. Let's bail."

"I can fight these people," Rico declared, emphasizing his statement by shooting yet another private down.

"Ugh, now's not the time for heroics, honey. We'll call for backup or something. Can't let anything happen to my lead actor. Or to me for that matter." Rico was a little surprised that she mentioned him first and seemingly added herself as an afterthought. But seriously, if now wasn't the time for heroics, then when was?

"I always thought you had a Coyle Mambo," he said distractedly, not ceasing his fight.

"Nah, that's just my work car. The Eco is my private one."

"So, how many private ones do you have?"

"Just this. Why would I need more than one car?"

Rico took a small break from firing to cast a quick glance over the Eco's countless damages.

"Hm. Looks like the Black Hand didn't treat it very well."

Garland frowned at him for a moment but then realization flashed over her face. "Oh, no. It looked like that before." She waved her hand dismissively, averting her gaze. "Well... Except for the bullet holes. Most of them at least." Rico raised an eyebrow and was suddenly very unsure if Garland should be the one behind the wheel. Then again, he probably wasn't a better choice either. Facing the facts, he was probably even a worse choice.

He felt her gaze bore into the side of his head while he fought off a few more enemies, the silent, accusing glare much more effective than any words could have been. Or maybe she simply hadn't uttered those words yet.

"Urgh, fine," he finally said in defeat and, out of habit, almost ripped open her door to drag her out with a flimsy excuse à la "I need this" but he quickly thought better of it and instead slid over the hood, possibly with the intent of looking extra cool while adding a few more scrapes to her car's collection, and took both weapons in his hands, so he could fit into the car. It was quite cramped inside, with the long sniper rifle and the bulky defender machine gun in his lap. He hadn't even fully sat down when the car started moving.

"Get your rifle out of my face," Garland said, shoving the barrel away from her with a scowl. Then there was a sudden thud and a jolt went through the car. Garland's wide eyes returned to the road ahead immediately while the Black Hand soldier she had hit rolled over their roof.

"Whoops, sorry."

Rico shook his head. "At least the Offroader had space in the back…," he mumbled distractedly, still trying to sort his weapons in the narrow cockpit as bullets started raining down on the Eco from all sides.

After dodging one of the Black Hand vehicles with an adept jerk of the wheel, resulting in a precise evasion maneuver, Garland gleefully said, "This is going well, isn't it?"

"As long as they don't send tanks or choppers," Rico replied and proceeded to turn on the radio as they took a left turn down a ramp. Garland tossed him a quick glance before she switched through the stations and stopped at Recuerdo. Once her hand was back on the wheel Rico switched to Furibundo. Garland shot him a disgruntled look, took an unnecessarily harsh left turn towards the exit of the base and switched back to Recuerdo. When Rico reached for the button again Garland did the same and they switched back and forth between all kinds of stations, causing Garland to get distracted and take her foot off the gas a little, which might have been a conscious choice out of self-preservation.

"Rico, stop it."

"If you get to drive I get to at least choose the music."

"Driver picks the music, handsome. Go shoot out of the window or something, as compensation."

"My weapons are too big for that."

"Well, that's just great, Rico!"

They kept switching the stations angrily as the car was swerving about, before Garland got the idea to just let fate decide, so she grabbed Rico by the grappling hook and yanked his arm away. Fate had chosen radio Fresca.

"No," they said in unison and scowled at each other before the fight began anew and then right at the word 'Accidente' a sudden high-pitched hissing sound came from the rear end of the car which immediately pulled to the left and before Garland could steer in the opposite direction they promptly hit a lamp post right outside the base which caused them to come to an abrupt halt. Out of surprise they both let go of the radio button.

"Oh shit." When Garland started the car again there was some sort of scraping noise audible. "Okay... Okay. So, this is less than ideal."

Rico groaned, crossed his arms in front of his chest, as much as his weapons allowed, and slumped back against his seat. "I could have fought them off!"

"Well, maybe I didn't want you to get in trouble because of me."

"I like trouble."

"Good for you. Anyway, don't worry, doll, this isn't the first time I've steered a three-wheeled vehicle."

"But were the other ones supposed to have three wheels?"

She shot him a cross between a glare and a pout while they zigzagged along the road. "Just tell me where to go and I'll get us there."

After a moment of pondering Rico said, "Bueno, El Abismo is close... -ish. We should be safe there."

"Where is that?"

"I'll give you directions. Take the next right. Onto the bridge." His eyes widened at the thought of her trying to steer her dented Eco with three tires over a bridge. Five actually, he realized in horror, the faint explosions that were starting to occur at random all around them suddenly ringing in his ears much more prominently. "Dios mío..."

And just like the time when they had jumped through the roof of El Estadio it wasn't himself he was worried about.

"Relax, we'll be fine!" Garland said cheerfully, sounding entirely self-assured. Once back on track, she held the steering wheel straight and the car stayed on the current left turn of the road almost perfectly. "See?"

They sped towards the bridge and Garland did a risky drift at the junction which actually worked better than Rico had expected. On the bridge she fell silent and became highly focused, jerking the steering wheel to the right in small, precise movements to keep the vehicle on a straight path. The crossing went smoothly – that was until a Black Hand buggy crashed into their side and caused them to skid against the little ridge on the edge of the bridge. It kept them from falling into the river but now Rico feared that Garland was going to be less cautious on the next few bridges since being cautious didn't exactly pay off with pursuers like that. And, well, it wasn't her style anyway.

"You wanna fight dirty, huh? No problem for me."

She reversed briefly while some soldiers were getting out of the buggy to shoot at them, and put her foot to the floor.

In the next left turn she made the mistake to actually steer left ever so slightly, presumably out of habit, and promptly the car stood with the windshield facing the oncoming hostile vehicles.

"Oh," she commented dryly and quickly drove in a right circle over a grass verge back onto the road.

"Alright, Garland King, get a grip. This is not the most pressing situation you've been in."

"Oh yeah? What was the most pressing one then?"

"Well, remember when I mentioned the bad conditions under which I had to cut Space Station Zero? The story behind that is that, not kidding, I was actually, literally, stranded in spa-"

"Garland, por favor. Just drive."

"Geeze, you were the one who asked."

And he was so going to ask her about that later but now just wasn't the time for stories, especially not ones she seemed very eager to tell and focus all her attention on. Maybe he would have let her tell it if they weren't currently coming up on the second bridge. It was good- bad (!) enough that she had started recklessly sliding and bumping into other cars in the traffic, knocking over a speed limit sign when they left the bridge.

"Third time's the charm, eh?"

As he observed her attempts to keep the car under control with the added difficulty, Rico's gaze kept flicking back and forth between the steering wheel and the road. He bit his lip while his right leg twitched, itching to floor the gas pedal himself.

"Hey, uh, how about I drive?"

She shot him a glance that looked as surprised as it did offended. "W- what? We can't switch places now."

"Just hand over the wheel then and you keep working the pedals."

"But I want the wheel! I mean, that- that would be… highly irregular. Or something. And besides, I know how you drive. Got lots of footage, you know."

With a roll of his eyes Rico sat back and tried to relax, making the firm decision that one day he was going to shoot a tire of one of those chase sequence Kerners of hers.

"Turn right, up the hill," he told her with a jerk of his head as No Controles started playing on the radio.

For once the Warrior Offroader blocking their path was actually useful because it helped Garland master her drift when she skidded against it. To counteract the incline she used nitrous but they were still far from being as fast as they had been on the straight road. Or with four functioning wheels at their disposal.

"Come on, baby, you can do this."

Rico raised an eyebrow at her, inwardly still hoping she was going to let him steer.

"I'm talking to my car."

"Well, how should I know?"

Garland just smirked at him cheekily before changing the topic. "So, was the Sarg mad when you left or what?"

"Not really."

"Well, what did he say?"

Rico sighed. "He said 'Go get your girl, parcero.'"

When he turned to look at her there was a huge smile on her face and a glint in her eyes.

"Tell him I'm very grateful to him."

Rico gave her a frown and a huff in indignation. "Why him? I'm the one who came here. Didn't need his permission for that."

Garland didn't reply and instead just gave him an affectionate smile before another buggy hit their rear-end and caused them to veer off course and turn the wrong way around again, so she hit the brakes to reorganize herself and regain control. At least this commotion got her to stop looking at him like that.

"Someone should tell them these are not bumper cars. I'm gonna get whiplash."

"They're doing a good job of reenacting Road Rage: The Movie."

"Seriously, how many of them are there?" Garland asked as the buggy that had rammed them reversed slightly before speeding towards them, the result of that being that the off-road vehicle climbed up the Eco where it got stuck on top of them. Scrunching up her nose, Garland leaned forward on the steering wheel to look upwards through the windshield at the buggy on their roof. Then she slumped back in her seat, pointed upwards and snapped her head around to give Rico a surprisingly impressed look.

"See, this is the kind of energy I'd like to see from you." Rico was just about to ask her if she wanted him to crush her Kerners with a tank but when he realized that maybe she wasn't referring to her movies in particular, an entirely different scenario came to his mind and he decided not to comment on it any further.

"No idea what's going on anymore," she murmured while putting the car in reverse, and drove a narrow curve, trying to get rid of the buggy that way, with moderate success. And, judging by the shift in her facial expression, this apparently reminded her to bring up something else that's been on her mind.

"Hey, Rico, since this is our first non-work related rendezvous since the premiere, I haven't had the chance to tell you, uhm… That evening at the after party-" she got cut off by yet another vehicle crashing into them, crushing one of their own bikes between the two of them and causing Garland to curse under her breath and ask if they even cared about their people at all. At least the jolt also loosened the blind passenger on their roof.

Rico, used to Black Hand soldiers being as expendable as Stormtroopers, took a deep breath and mentally prepared for the worst. She probably wanted to talk about the dance or the kiss or something he had said. Had he said the wrong thing at some point? If so it was Garland's fault for encouraging him. Was it an inopportune moment to jump out of the car?

For now though, since one of the hundreds of road signs with arrows on them indicated a bend to the right for once, he decided to actually follow her compensation advice and tried to stick his slimmer weapon out of his window to shoot at the Black Hand vehicles. Thankfully, the Eco's windows were quite big but since the rifle was almost as long as he was tall, he had to lean back quite a bit to be able to look through the scope. He felt a hand press against his back between his shoulder blades and wasn't sure if Garland's goal was to hold him steady and make it less straining for him or if she simply wanted to keep him away from the gearshift.

Oblivious to his thought process, she just continued her story. "There was a bit of an uproar when you left. You know, after you fucking flung yourself off the roof! People were going nuts."

Rico turned his head, this time to the right, to blink at her, momentarily dumbfounded. Then he burst out laughing, absently thinking that he'd be lying on the dashboard now if Garland's hand wasn't there.

"That's not funny, Rico!" Garland reprimanded with a suppressed grin that betrayed her true feelings. "Someone had the audacity to ask if I danced so badly that you'd committed suicide," she added more quietly, ducking her head a little.

Rico snorted and shrugged apologetically while aiming at a buggy's tire which was so much harder than usual under these erratic conditions and with such limited operating space. "They were on to something."

"You're one to talk."

"You didn't seem surprised though." Rico pulled the trigger. It was more of a lucky shot than skill when one of the front tires popped and the buggy somersaulted down the slope and exploded when it made contact with the ground.

"Of course not. I would have expected nothing else from you but they don't know you like I do. Anyway. One of the critics almost had a heart attack. Not that she didn't deserve it though…"

Something Rico couldn't aim at was a Warrior Offroader that served as a road block in their path. To avoid collision with it, instead of staying on the serpentine road, Garland just took a shortcut straight through nature where she mowed down a whole lot of greens.

"Really? What did she criticize?" Rico asked as he pulled the rifle back inside since he didn't have a clear line of sight anymore.

Instead of replying she just gave him a cryptic look and a thin-lipped smile when, accompanied by some shrubs, they drifted back on the road right in front of a honking Caravana Camper before continuing their ascent in a slalom around more vehicles, and instead of crashing into them took down several light posts, road signs and even a small tree.

"I kinda like the sound of those light posts when I tear them down. Oh and have you noticed how the beat of the music really fits the way we crash into things?"

"You. How you crash into things. None of this is my doing."

"Well, you keep distracting me," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand as she was determinedly heading towards the tunnel, violently jerking the wheel when the Offroader from before crashed into their side and even though Garland immediately slammed on the brakes they were still skidding towards the cliff, right through the guardrail which put up no resistance whatsoever, and only screeched to a halt shortly before they would have tipped over the edge, the parts of the guardrail they had torn apart greeting a flock of colorful parrots on their way down. One of the Black Hand buggies wasn't as lucky (or smart? Conscious maybe?) as them and they watched it pass them at full speed and plunge into the abyss where a faint explosion was audible a few moments later. Rico was just glad it hadn't taken them with it and his mind briefly wandered to the times he had driven around in the Medician version of that – his beloved Urga Ogars – in the Bavarium mines in Prospere. Also very good times.

A few seconds passed as the blast of the explosion faded before Rico heard a snort next to him and when he turned his head to look at Garland it was her turn to burst out laughing while he stared at her in mild confusion.

"What the-"

She turned towards him, calming down a little and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, I... I'm just having a lot of fun right now."

A small smile crept over Rico's face. He knew exactly what she meant. Mira was right. They were both insane. Well, her whole crew was but she was definitely the head of insanity. And Rico was starting to realize just how similar they were. Now he truly understood what Garland had meant when she had called them "a pair", insinuating that both of them didn't pretend and let the effects department handle everything. He'd known from the start that she wanted it real. She obviously also had an affinity to be in the shit and while Rico was even more worried about her than about Luis he had to admit he was also impressed. And he felt understood. Besides, she would never let him – or anyone really – talk her out of being in the action, so there was no use in trying anyway. Taking all that into account, he wasn't nearly as jealous of her being the one behind the wheel anymore because she seemed to enjoy it just as much as he would. Not a waste at all.

Speaking of jealousy, there was someone else who was ecstatic about 'pure insanity' and who would probably love to star in Garland's movies, being a self-proclaimed rebel rock star and all.

And the fact that Garland was as excited about action, including explosions, as he was was reason number… infinity? that it was a damn shame that Dimah was gone. Rico was probably never going to be over that.

"Is it just me or do these guardrails literally serve no purpose?" Garland's voice pulled him back to the present as she did a shoulder check and started reversing. "What are they made of? Cardboard?"

From their position Rico could peek into the valley. There was the mountain on the opposite side, covered in trees, and a waterfall to their left that formed a river below which flowed through the small town of Macchu Sacha. And there were also the ruins where he had gotten his first call from Javi which felt like it had happened ages ago. In ancient times, so to speak.

"El Abismo is right over there behind that mountain."

"Final spurt. Got it."

Garland pulled back and maneuvered her car towards the tunnel.

"You somehow seem more relaxed than when we were driving to the premiere, even though the Black Hand was only casually chasing us back then."

"Well, obviously we had a deadline to meet at that time. You know, making people wait doesn't mean arriving so late that most have decided to leave already. Ten-minute-rule, honey."

"You still haven't told me what that means," Rico reminded her as they entered the tunnel which immediately disrupted their radio reception.

"It's kind of obvious. There were some very important people present who think that "wasting"", she made air quotes with her right hand and continued in a slightly mocking tone, "even just ten minutes of their precious time with waiting is too much."

"Pretty sure you'd feel the same way."

"Yeah, well, that's because my time actually is precious."

"Why didn't you just want to be, you know, punctual then?"

She gave him a sly smirk. "Easy. I have my own ten-minute-rule. You see, in my experience, anticipation levels and attention rates peak within ten minutes after the scheduled time. Be too early and people take you for granted. Be too late and they lose interest. So there's this little window of time that you shouldn't miss. Fashionably late, as they say."

"Doesn't that also mean their expectations for the movies are higher?"

"What, you think I can't deliver?" She asked while evading a sideswipe from a hostile vehicle by stepping on the brakes, and took a few seconds to hum in thought before starting the car again. Much more quietly she added, "Hm, although that may be the reason why Koreatown was panned by the critics at its release..."

"Or maybe they're just iffy about the gore."

"Psch. It's what it says on the tin. Wimps. But anyway, beside this little psychological trick... and uhm, this might come as a surprise to you, but sometimes I simply like to get on people's nerves a little."

Rico huffed and shook his head. "That's probably the first thing that doesn't surprise me about you."

Apropos surprising, Garland had apparently come to the conclusion that speeding across the next bridge at full throttle coupled with nitrous was the best idea. Granted, the car stayed in a surprisingly straight line but Rico was still grasping his seat as he sneaked a peek at the speedometer.

"Are you sure you should be going 200 with only three wheels? On a bridge?" In his mind's eye he could already see them freefall into the valley. That was until he'd open his parachute. Then he'd just have to watch her freefall into the valley.

"We're nowhere near 200, I think there's something wrong with the speedometer." She tapped the display twice with the back of her index finger before noticing the colorful array of warning lights. "Oh, and with the engine. And the tires, obviously. Airbags could be fickle, oil pressure system's not doing so hot, screen wash's empty, we might be losing fuel and- Hey! You know I can see here that you're not buckled up, buster." Her reproving look turned into an incredulous one. "How have you been able to stay in your seat this whole time?"

Rico shrugged, absently wishing she'd stop talking and focus on not causing an accident instead. "Practice."

"Well, say your prayers, darling." Little did she know that he'd been doing so since before he had even reached Casquillos Vacíos. Garland put the pedal to the metal and the only remaining evidence of them getting chased were the bullets that kept hitting the Eco.

"You know, there's something artistic about listening to 'No Controles' while being chased by violent maniacs in a smoking car. Gotta make a note of that."

Once they had left the bridge and were on the right-hand bend that connected it with the next one, Rico stuck his head out of the window to take a look at their pursuers and noticed the very distinct single wavy line they were leaving in the dirt road, accompanied by a spray of sparks on the parts where the asphalt was coming through.

"Their car isn't smoking."

"No, but ours is, honey."

Rico hummed in response. There was something he needed to address though, no matter how dire the situation. "Hey, in case you didn't know, the woman in that song is singing about her not wanting people to control the way she dresses and thinks. It's not, you know, 'no control'..."

Her eyes briefly flicked at him.

"No, no I know that. But it sounds like it though, for us uncultured tourists. In the heat of the moment. But then I guess it's more a message to our friends here than a description of our situation. Still fitting." She shrugged and turned it up before casting a glance at their pursuers in the side mirror, and shouted out the window, "Hey, jackasses, no controles anything about us anymore! You lost the war, deal with it!"

Rico couldn't hide the proud smile that formed on his lips.

A moment later, just as they were leaving the fourth bridge, their car got hit by something that sounded suspiciously like a tank projectile and with loud clattering both of their doors got dislodged.

"Guess they didn't get the memo."

"Garland...," Rico drawled, pinching the bridge of his nose but refraining from bringing up for the umpteenth time that he could have defeated them and cleared their heat all the way back at the base.

"Yep, I don't think we're gonna make it, darling."

Yellow warning lights turned red, flashing at them obtrusively while dark smoke leaked from the engine bay, and Garland hit the brakes as a precaution.

"Oh boy. Let's get outta here."

Finally in agreement about something, they both jumped out of the car on their respective side and only briefly rolled on the sandy road due to the curbed speed while the car came to a halt a short distance away from them. Garland immediately pushed herself up on her hands and knees, snapping her head around just in time to watch her Eco explode. Rico felt the blast and the heat of the flames as he ran towards her and set up his defender machine gun to shield them both from the onslaught of bullets.

"Nooo! Baby!"

"I'm f-" He interrupted himself and groaned. Yep, she meant her car again. "Get up," he said and grabbed her by the arm to pick her up. Still holding up the shield of his gun he dragged her behind the scorched wreck, all senses on high alert as his mind raced to come up with a plan, only to get ripped out of his tunnel vision by a pained whimper next to him.

"What is it? Did you get shot?"

Her gloomy gaze wandered towards what was left of her car.

"Straight in the heart," she said dramatically.

Rico let out a very audible, very impatient sigh and rolled his eyes, his mind briefly flicking to his high attrition rate.

He took her hand and gently pushed her behind his back while he kept shooting at the seemingly endless replenishment of Black Hand soldiers. Were any of them listening to Gabriela? He was starting to have his doubts about that. Training more recruits was absolutely mandatory.

"Come on. Run. I have an idea," he said, indicating the direction of the closest cliff and they both started heading towards it.

"I'm glad you do. I have about twelve but I see all of them leading to either an explosion or a hail of bullets. Definitely resulting in us being dead."

"Better stick with my plan then."

"So what is your plan?"

"You'll see."

Picking up speed, they were coming up on the edge of the cliff.

"Uh, Rico? Don't leave me on a cliffhanger."

"Hold on tight."

"To what?!" she almost screeched.

"Me!"

Just before reaching the abyss Rico reattached the defender machine gun to his back, put his arm around Garland's waist and spun her on his chest where she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his stomach. Then he took the plunge and deployed his parachute a few moments later, watching bushes and trees with vehicles among them fall down the cliff below him.

"Ricooooooly shit!"

Rico steered them towards the waterfall where he knew was a draft of air that would be strong enough to carry them away faster, thanking God when none of the shots that got fired after them hit their target.

"Ooh, would you look at that, city boy, you're using the rainbow parachute Props made for you! That was always my favorite one too," Garland commented, no trace left of her initial fright. Then again, maybe it hadn't been fright in the first place. More like ecstasy.

While Rico only had the beautiful valley in front of him in his field of view, Garland was looking over his shoulder at their enemies. And something she saw was probably the reason why she was currently detaching one of his weapons from his back.

"I said hold on tight!" Rico barked and tightened his grip around her while she fiddled around with the sniper rifle and positioned it on his shoulder.

"Relax, baby, I got this," Garland reassured him with a click of her tongue and a wink.

"There's nothing for you to get."

"Thankfully, these Black Hand rifles aren't as loud as regular ones," she mused and proceeded to cover his ear with her upper arm regardless before firing a shot.

Once they had reached the air draft, Rico steered them away from the waterfall while they were picking up speed.

"Bullseye! One more bad guy goes down. But more approach. Our hero gets a little worried but his partner has his back. Their enemies get ready to set up a machine gun-"

"Wait, what?"

"What? Don't interrupt my creative flow! Where was I? Right, the machine gun. Danger. Suspense. Drama! Every second counts now. She checks her rifle. Only one shot left. With a resolute expression on her face she looks up from her weapon. This is it, she thinks. The moment that will decide between life and death. This time, not only her own survival depends on her – no – she's responsible for no one less than Rico Rodriguez himself."

"What, no sister of mine involved this time that I should know of?" Rico asked cheekily, causing Garland to break character with a chuckle for a second.

"She aims – not at any of them but at the helicopter above-"

"Helicopter?"

"We zoom in on her eye, not yet knowing what she will do, how she'll get them out of this. One shot. She's got one shot."

"That rifle is almost fully loa-"

"BAM!" Her shot fired right on cue. "The shot hits its target. The pilot is dead in an instant. The-"

"Unlikely…," Rico said gruffly, contemplating which side to choose at the upcoming fork. With a smile he decided to simply go for the prettier one.

"-helicopter goes down – and crashes into the flood of enemies. Boom! They all go up in flames."

There was a faint, very small explosion, then a few moments later a much bigger one, and another, and Rico found himself confused as to which parts of her story had actually been true.

"Woohoo! Take that!"

He felt Garland put the rifle back in place and saw a grin on her face out of the corner of his eyes which made him even more curious, so he started to turn around to see what she had done, since they didn't seem to be in any immediate danger anymore anyway, but he stopped when Garland repositioned herself to be able to look ahead as well, just before they were passing over the waterfall by Macchu Sacha.

"Okay, I think we're cl- oh my god, what a beautiful wide shot! And you get to see this every day. Consider me officially jealous. I mean, flying around in helicopters is one thing but this- wow! Now I know how Rose felt."

"Who?"

"You know, honey, this would be much more romantic under different circumstances."

"It's not supposed to be romantic."

"It could be! Oh how I wish the cameras were rolling right now. This is some of the most iconic stuff I would have ever shot. Especially with the fitting soundtrack. Damn it!"

"Just be glad you're alive."

"Oh, I am! I am. It's just such a wasted opportunity, you know?"

"No, I don't."

"Oh! I may not have cameras up here but I do have my phone!" She tugged a state of the art smartphone from her right jeans pocket.

"I thought you said that was one of your burner phones."

"Doesn't mean they have to be from the Stone Age, babe." She raised her phone and began to take pictures. "These won't end up as actual movie scenes but at least I can take some BTS pictures. Sort of," she commented, proceeding to take a bunch of pictures of the valley from all kinds of angles.

"Yes! Beautiful! Gorgeous!"

"You should probably put your other arm around me too."

"Rico Rodriguez, are you flirting with me? Haha, just kidding." Her gaze turned thoughtful when she looked at him. "That reminds me though..." She switched to the selfie camera and held up her phone in front of their faces, ignoring a very enraged-looking text message that popped up on the upper edge of the screen.

"Smile!"

Rico didn't smile. Instead he eyed her from the side with what he imagined was a disapproving look on his face while Garland smiled widely into the camera and tapped the button.

Great, another addition to his collection of unwanted selfies with friends. Mario had contributed most of them.

"Now this, THIS is my most iconic snapshot of all time! I present to you the new company desktop wallpaper. Shirt print. Mug. Poster!"

"Garland..."

"What? Can't I be proud of a personal achievement?"

He sighed. "Ah well. You wouldn't believe how many people have asked me for a parachute ride in Medici."

"Are you saying I'm privileged to have gotten captured by the Black Hand and getting my car destroyed?"

"What? No! No, I-"

Garland chuckled. "Relax, honey, I'm kidding. I know that I'm privileged because of that."

Rico just grunted and, since the parachute wasn't designed for two people and hence lost altitude much quicker than usual, turned around and began his landing approach towards the part of Macchu Sacha that lay behind the river splitting.

"Hold on."

"Oh, I'm holding on alright, doll."

They landed by a dock that was a little secluded from a gathering of reveling people around a barbecue, people who reacted in typical fashion to seeing a parachute in action. Their little siesta presented a stark contrast to the remnants of war up there.

Once Rico's feet touched the ground Garland let go of him and he put his parachute away in record time as soon as he came to a halt.

"Phew, now that was exhilarating. But I guess it's just an ordinary forenoon for you, eh?" Garland said, readjusting her clothes while taking in their surroundings. Rico finally received the announcement that the Black Hand considered them gone and immediately became more relaxed.

"Not entirely ordinary... I finally got to see you in action. You did better than I would have expected."

She turned to smile at him now.

"Well, what can I say, darling. I didn't make tons of action movies without learning a thing or t-" She cut herself off when Rico hugged her.

"Whoa." At first she just stood there, a little startled but then she quickly returned the gesture with a smile. "Look at you, Rico Rodriguez. I didn't know you cared."

Rico pulled back and took a step away from her, a stoic look on his face.

"Hrm. Just try not to get into trouble again, okay?"

"I heard you like trouble."

"I do, but not when it jeopardizes people I don't particularly want to see… dead."

She put a hand on his upper arm and tilted her head to look up at him. "Rico, that may just be the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." Then her face lit up and she quickly added, "That's going in my DPR. Next to the photo." After a moment she petted his arm and narrowed her eyes in thought, saying, "We should repeat this sometime," to which Rico internally nodded in agreement, and led the way to the barbecue where, to Rico's great satisfaction, Furibundo was playing on a radio. He smirked after her, that smirk being part Furibundo, part barbecue, part anticipation for a fun afternoon and part... something else.

"Hope they got some Halloumi. Oh and tell me everything about the time you watched Road Rage: The Movie! I want all your thoughts."

Well, it would be a fun afternoon as long as he didn't disclose that he'd marathon-watched her entire filmography.

Fin