This chapter was written with some help from my friend DatJoshLife. Hope you all enjoy it!

"You," the voice on the phone said, "really have a lot of fucking explaining to do. This better be an emergency or so help me God—"

Nicole sighed. "Hey Josh. Great to hear from you too. And it's… kinda an emergency, yeah."

"Kinda? Convince me not to hang up on you right fucking now." Anger seeped into his words. Anger she couldn't exactly blame him for.

"I… left the Federation, Josh. I defected."

"You… what?" She couldn't see him do it, but she knew he had recoiled in shock. "You… left the Feds? How the hell do you leave the Feds? And in the middle of Magadan, no less?"

Nicole leaned into the phone, rolling her eyes. "Josh, I need you to listen to me. I deployed to Cascadia… and then I defected to the CIF about a month ago."

"You're fighting for the CIF?" Josh seemed to be in shock. "No Shit."

"Nope," she shook her head, phone in hand. "No shit..."

"Well… this should be interesting. You called your folks yet? Your old man is gonna kill you." Josh chuckled, uneasily.

"I… haven't called 'em yet." She sighed.

"You haven't? Oh, what I'd give to be on that phone call. They're worried sick."

"Do you want to be the one who tells my dad that his daughter betrayed the Federation?" Nicole raised her voice. She didn't know how long this call would stay connected, and she needed to get to the important part of the conversation before the Feds found a way to shut down Cascadia's infrastructure again.

"No, but—" He tried to speak, but she interrupted him.

"Then don't fucking tell me to tell them! If I can, I'll tell them I'm doing fine and hold back the detail about… y'know… after we're done." She sighed. "I called you for a reason beyond just 'Hey, Josh, how ya doin! Your AI research start any apocalypses recently?', ya know."

"I mean," he shrugged. "For what it's worth, we haven't committed any atrocities lately. You?"

"Get the fuck off my case, Josh. You're not the one at fucking war." She grimaced. "Anyway, I need to speak with Brian."

"Why? You know he won't talk to you." Josh almost sounded smug. "I dunno if your sudden change of heart will be enough, either. Although, that is another phone call I'd just love to listen to."

"Go fuck yourself, Josh." She grit her teeth.

"Oh, I'm sorry— who needs who here? I could just fucking hang up on you and my life doesn't change a bit."

"So much for a good brother," she sighed. Maybe the pity card?

"Last time I checked, you don't betray family. You had a good brother. Maybe you should've considered that before tearing our hearts out without a second thought."

"Josh?" God, he always did know how to get me. "C'mon, Josh. Please."

"Ahh, so we've moved from just insulting me to get him to listen to you onto just begging. There's some catharsis I've needed for a while now."

"Josh, please. I'm in a pretty fucking bad place right now, okay?" She sighed. "I need to talk to him. I don't know what to do out here… but he'll know. He's been where I am before—"

"You should've considered that before you went to go play Peacekeeper. Give me 10 minutes, then you can try again. I won't guarantee he'll pick up."

"That's better than what I had a few minutes ago." She paused. "Thanks… Josh."

"Oh trust me, the heads-up I'm giving him will just help him get ready to chew your sorry ass out." The smug grin on Josh's face was loud enough for the phone to pick it up. "Plus, you better call today, or when I get back in town tomorrow I can guarantee I'll be on the speakerphone. Have fun! Oh and uh, keep count of those war crimes, I wanna compare when my AI takeover happens."

She didn't have time to groan before he hung up.

The phone picked up on the second ring. That didn't take long, she mused to herself. Maybe he's not that mad?

"So," The voice over the phone was monotone, in that the one tone was seething. "You called."

Oh… he's that mad.

"Two years, now." He continued, his rage creeping into his voice slowly, like a cancer metastasizing. "I suppose you have such a short definition of 'never.'"

She didn't know what to say to that.

"I… I need help, Brian." She stammered out what little she could.

"'Course ya bloody do, if you're coming to me. Heard you stabbed the Feds in the back! Gettin' good at that, now, aren't you?" She didn't have anything to say to that, and she didn't say anything. Yet he still heard her. "Oh, don't go crying now. Your uncle's gotcha."

"I'm gonna have to fight them, eventually." Nicole managed to quit sobbing just long enough to talk. "My squadron. Peacekeepers. You've fought Peacekeepers before."

"Oh, c'mon 'luv. You know that was fifteen years ago. I couldn't help you... if I wanted to."

"There's gotta be something you could tell me. You told me yourself! You were a hero! You mercs were the knights of the skies!"

The man on the phone laughed. A sickening, horrible laugh. "Knight, eh? Not sure where you got that from. And a hero? I was a monster. Looks like you've taken after me just fine."

She took a deep breath. Don't let him get in your head. "He was a vet, you know."

"Who?"

"My mentor. From the Federation. He fought in Oceania, same as you."

"Who. Give me. A name."

"Aleksandr Privalov. Zmei."

The other end hung in silence.

"Zmei? You said you were gonna fight him?" The venom receded from Brian's voice, replaced by shock.

"The way he treated traitors? I would be shocked if he didn't hunt me down personally." Does he… know him?

Brian didn't say anything for a while.

"Then I'll help you." His tone was deadly serious, the infernal hate in his words no longer directed at her. "I'll help you kill the bloody cunt."