2024-02-19: Fold

• Cutscene: Fold
• Cast: Sayla Mass
• Where: Villa Mass, AEU Spain - Old Memories
• Date: 27 to 30 July 0098
• Summary: The Shuffle Alliance has been shorn of secrecy, and it's primary base destroyed. Sayla tries to work out what happened, make contact with survivors- and finally has to make a call that was put on her three years ago.

---

December 0093

"...Why am I getting this, Jamil. I'm not in charge. That's you and... the new crest holders."

"You've got something that they don't, Sayla. That's why."

"And what, exactly, is it that has led to me having to make the call?"

—

July 27, 0098

When the Nubia Connection have retreated, Sayla can't help but think it was too easy. The Shuffle Heart transforms and leaves the scene. Approaching the Villa in it would be risky- walking around in a Mobile Trace Suit would draw lots of unwanted attention. She finds a place to hunker down, and calls a driver.

Once she's home, Sayla rushes to the hidden comms station. Most lines of communication are dead- she cycles through backups.

Desperate messages are sent as she starts running multiple news channels on a second screen.

The reports from Auckland come in, and Sayla's heart freezes.

—

June 0094

"Not a damn one of them will step up. The Neo-American guy keeps wanting to be my bodyguard instead of stepping up, our gallant chevalier turns up to meetings but mostly sits there quietly and nods. One of them's out there doing piracy, for god's sake! And we're replacing Alan with a child who should still be in school!" Sayla slammed down the rest of her third double scotch. "Seriously, Radha, these are the people we lost Tris and the rest for?"

"I see you don't count the King of Hearts in your list."

Sayla frowned at her drinking partner. "...the bars on the floor, but he clears it. I'll take 'fucks off to sit under a waterfall without telling anyone' over what Master Asia did to us any day." She flagged down the waiter at the bar. "Another of the same."

Radha looked a touch uncomfortable. "Maybe some asanas would be a better choice."

Sayla simply fixed her 2IC with a dead eyed stare.

—

July 28, 0098

She hasn't slept. She knows she should. But not until she's heard back from everyone.

A call to Leina, to let her know that she's okay. Checking in on Akane and Rikka, knowing they were in Nouvelle. Confirming Renais was alive after the fighting, waiting for responses from Nidaime and Knight, Judau and Roux.

She had heard back from a bunch of them by now. Rashid and the Maganacs made contact in the last hour. She was still waiting on Sweetwater, the Freeden and Merida.

Sayla was on her fourth coffee as she reviewed the news footage.

The shape was becoming clearer... but she couldn't make it all out yet.

—

January 0095

"...So, what's your read?"

Sayla frowned. "A little too good to be true, honestly? But if we're going to continue operating, we need them. We're still lacking intelligence, and they have it in spades, as well as troops. We could do a lot of good if we ally with this Mithril. We'd be changing, though. We won't be able to react as quickly."

Jamil nodded, looking down at Sayla through his sunglasses. "...That's what I thought. I think it's worth the risk. What do you say?"

Sayla sighed again. "It's not supposed to be my call, Jamil. But since you won't leave until you hear it, yes. I think they'd approve."

"I'll get it through our 'leaders' then."

—-

July 29, 0098

She woke up bleary eyed in front of the comms console, Foras gently pressing his head against hers. How long had she been out?

Six hours. Too long.

She checked the messages. Nothing new.

The unmanned drone sent over Merida had been shot down, without any useful footage. It was a clear sign the island was lost.

And then, an alert. A little notification that there was movement at a location.

One of the dead drops had activity. She noted down the coordinates, deleted the alert, and ran for the hover lander. She had to make sure she was the one who got this.

—

March 0096

"It feels like we were doing what we were trying to avoid." Sayla said, quietly, after the meeting. "Captain Testarossa is legitimately capable but..."

"But you don't like having a kid in that position." Jamil Neate finished her thought for her.

Sayla nodded. "Yeah. And all these new allies... This 'Combat Revue' project that was started before they died, the Maganacs, this group in Sweetwater, those kids from Tsutsujidai... And not to mention Riku. This isn't even his dimension, and we've brought him into this."

Jaiml's expression darkened. "...You buy that?"

Sayla shot him a look. "I felt it. What he'd been through... and he's definitely not human. It's damn near impossible to lie in that space." After a second, Sayla spoke again. "I guess this is the new Shuffle Alliance. I wonder if they'd think we're doing the right thing."

Jamil Neate shrugged, but didn't say anymore.

—

July 30, 0098

The ashes of the message burnt in an old ashtray. She made sure nothing was left. She had seen what was on it. She had seen what she needed to see.

They had lost Merida. They had been exposed publicly. Even if they were distractions, they were distractions by people who knew exactly where they had needed to hit. Intelligence organizations would put two and two together faster than they had. Someone would realize what it meant, drawing out all those forces. The secrecy they hid under was completely compromised, more than even Martha Vist-Carbine had done.

She looked at the ashes a little longer.

She had to do this.

She booted up the comms console, and opened up a recording.

"This is Heart-2 to all remaining Shuffle Alliance forces."

Sayla closes her eyes, and steels herself.

"Merida Island is lost. In the initial attack, there were five killed, with an additional forty wounded. I don't know who attacked us, or how, but it's gone. If you receive any communications from the Merida facilities, they are compromised."

She breathes in slowly, then releases the breath before speaking again. "However, following the battle, the TDD-1 was sunk. Diamond-2 and her crew are KIA. We are unable to send anyone into the battlezone to search for the dead. The status of Dr Mikamura and Jack in Diamond is unknown, but I would not hold out hope."

Sayla's eyes open again, hardened. "Mithril has been destroyed. I have lost contact with Zener, and all our alliances are exposed. It is my assessment that the Shuffle Alliance cannot continue as it is. We are compromised, open and vulnerable."

Sayla's tone continues steady, but she's struggling. "...As such, I am issuing my final order as Heart-2, and invoking the protocol granted to me. The Shuffle Alliance is to disband, effective immediately. We have lost too many to continue, and I will not have us lose more. From now on, the Shuffle Alliance is those who hold the crests- and no one more. Some of you may feel this is giving up..."

She shakes her head slowly. "...so to those of you who feel that way, I ask this: Go where you think you can do the most good. Protect those close to you. If you still have the spirit to fight, then fight, wherever and however you can. The world has changed, and the Shuffle Alliance can no longer watch over war as once we did. So I ask you to follow the path that your heart lays out for you, and hold true to your convictions. This is my final request."

Sayla reaches down, and inserts a key into the terminal.

"Heart-2, Sayla Mass- out."

The recording ends. She turns the key, and a slot opens for the hardened device she used for Shuffle business. She slots it in, and a new message came up on the screen.

Emergency Protocol: Fold initiated. Confirmation?

"Ace of Spades. Eight of Spades. Ace of Clubs. Eight of Clubs. Two of Hearts."

Confirmed. Please seal the room upon leaving. Emergency protocol activating in sixty seconds.

Sayla Mass stepped out of that little room for the last time, the door sealing.

Sixty seconds later, the comms terminal burst into light- then melted into slag as the thermite charge activated. The fire safety system activated, and the room filled with smothering foam that hardened. The secret door sealed, never to open again.

And the Shuffle Alliance network goes dark.

—

December 0093

"And what, exactly, is it that has led to me having to make the call?"

Sayla glared daggers at Jamil Neate, as she held the key and hardened phone he gave her

Jamil was impassive, and spoke bluntly before turning and walking away. "You've got something else beyond fighting. That's more than any of us."

Sayla looked away, closing her fist around the key. "...Is that so?" She says, quietly.

—

July 30, 0098

She picked her phone up from the desk of her study, and walked out to the living room. She dialed.

"Sakura, it's Sayla. I need you to book me a train for Hong Kong. Let me know when it's done."

She hung up the phone, and exhaled, her shoulders sagging.

"...I really hope you know what you're doing."