"Son... Don't think I'll get another chance to say this. I am proud of you" Mark said, realizing his time is short.
"I know, dad. I know I will miss you, you have been the leader of this crew." Skip said. "And the best father I ever had in my life." they smiled on recalling on those moments.
"Joe, Victor... Take it they didn't make it?" he asked.
"No... but we learned that he was Sakura's older brother," he said.
"Figures... " he began to disintegrate. "Take care of yourselves... Don't forget, I love you, son..." he crumbled into dust in Skip's hands
"I know, Dad..." he said as he silently wept for his father.
"Mark has trusted that I would keep you guys alive..." Jenny says. "I wish I could have done more for him."
"Yeah... By the way, what I did back there-" he began to say.
Sakura taps him on the shoulder and shakes her head no: Skip-Senpai, you have made mistakes, especially the ones that have nearly gotten us killed. However, as The One said, it would have possessed you if you had got control of the A.I. but we have stopped it in its tracks.
"You mean I did all the fighting, Sakura." Jenny reminded her. "And Skip... About before, I-"
"Forget about it. My father and our brothers In arms have stared death in the face. They are family to us and they are always going to be a part of us." Skip said as he got up on the ground and Jenny gathered the sand of his late father. "Jenny, after we get the reward money. We need to decide if we are going to stay open for business."
"Wait! Almost forgot to ask... You are going to have a child on the way, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, Jaycee is pregnant with our son, it has been 3 months," he exclaimed.
"Well then, Guys." Boyek suddenly said something. "Eric and I will testify against Bankcorp, Inc and you guys got stuff to do, right?" he said.
"The stutter?" Jenny noticed, "What happened to it?"
"Actually, after what I have been through, I guess must have gotten some courage from you guys!" he said with a smile which Sakura kissed him on the cheek. This time, Boyek look at her and shrugged it off.
"I see you must have gotten comfortable with women, then?" he laughed in delight.
"E-Eric?!" his face beamed in frustration.
"What?" he joked, which everyone laughed as they headed home with the others.
Unknown Individual's POV
"Well, Millie didn't make it..." a woman said to me while I surveyed the damage from the explosion. "I had wanted to make that bitch pay with her life... she didn't deserve this," she said with derision.
"She has fulfilled her purpose, 22," I said coldly to her. "Do not be harsh with her, we know she has nothing to do with us."
"But what about Jenny, O industrious leader?" she asked me. "You spoke to her in her mind about embracing her potential. I say you should have eliminated her."
"Like the time you wanted to kill Doctor stone?" I walked to her to look her in the eye. "Why did you spare her instead of killing her along with the others, hmm?"
"Zero... I-" she said.
"And who is the one that gave her a chance to live?" I said, raising my voice slightly.
"I did, sir! Because we had bigger fish to fry than killing that one doctor," she said to me.
"The One is no more and Jenny's Immense power is growing as we speak." I chuckled. "Yet I suspect she knows about the conspiracy within the government to silence anyone that possesses the classified intel." I continued. "She doesn't tell them, likely knew they could come after them if she did." I turn back to 22, "That gives us breathing room to operate... for now."
"Shall I kill her?" she smiled.
I rolled my eyes at her for "Shall I kill her?". I won't justify that with a response and settle for a scowl. When 22 saw that, she knew to take the hint and not push it further until I said otherwise.
"Finish the search... We are leaving this planet by Sundown." I commanded her.
"Yes, sir!" she said as she ordered the others to continue the search.
Jennifer Mozaditine... Now, do you see the true potential that lies within you? You have earned your won-hard victory today. We will meet again someday, and when that time comes. I ask again...
Will you stand with us, or will you die with the rest of them?
Aftermath
After delivering the research data and doing a detailed report about their mission, the client paid 1.2 million in credits for a job well done. There was a funeral for Mark, Joe, and Victor, everyone came and offered their condolences to the team, even Admiral Elizabeth came for the funeral. Skip and Elizabeth hugged each other after what they had been through. Even Bass himself respected the man.
After the funeral, the team had made a hard decision to disband the company and split the reward money. They went their separate ways. They left the goodbyes unsaid though, as they were through too much to do so.
The reasons were:
Skip wanted to be there for their child and decided that being a mercenary would take him away from that.
After the death of their comrades, they could keep the company going, but it would not be the same again. Especially after Sakura missed Joe's loud & Boisterous personality.
They decided after the incident, it would not be worth keeping the company going, it would have memories that they would want to forget, especially with Skip & Sakura.
A year passed...
Skip has taken up work as a Cyber Technician Expert and retired from the life of a mercenary. He, Bass and Jaycee, welcome their first baby boy and named him "Mark" after his father. He remains in contact with his family and Sakura, but Jenny had cut off contact from them for unknown reasons. However, Bass chewed him out for nearly getting himself killed several times and challenged him to do strict training exercises each day, which Skip chuckled and enjoyed that his husband was looking out for him.
Sakura has re-joined the PSI-Operatives in the New Boston area and worked as an experienced operative. She had not found a relationship that many had tried to win her heart, but none succeeded. Some say she is still mourning the deaths of Joe and her brother, Victor, as another reason not to give her heart to another.
Jenny remained as a Freelance Mercenary, traveling from Planet to Planet, City by City. She cut off from people she cared about out of fear they would get caught up in her problems. She also visited Lionel's grave to bring flowers to the man who brought out the best in her and vowing to avenge his death. Some say after learning that Zero is still out there, she traveled throughout the galaxy to hunt him down.
Thus, Inface company is defunct and their members go their separate ways. If you think this is over... Well, life has a way of throwing itself a curveball when you at least expect it. But today, they have a life to move on to and they are... The survivors from the Aural Station Incident.