Desperate

After a short while, Andrea stood up, and went check her son who was bleeding, sitting on the ground.
"Sophie, my dear, could you please get the bandages for me" she calmly said, trying to relief the stress in the apartment.
"Ah, yes" Sophie still was a little dizzy after all that, but went looking for the bandages.
"Thanks Rafael for protecting us, when your dad and brother hear about this, I'm sure they will be proud of you" Andrea was trying to lift his spirits, as well cleaning his wound.

Sophie arrived with some bandages, they patched Rafael's hand, besides that, all of them were fine, however, the house was a mess, there was blood on the floor and walls. Eventhough Rafael and Sophie were already grown ups, Andrea was trying her best to act calm towards all this situation, after all, no one was ready to handle something like that.

"There is a hotel nearby, you can shower there" Andrea put her hands on Rafael's shoulders "actually, we should stay there for a while, until we resolve how to proceed with our house"
"shouldn't we call the police? or at least dad?" Sophie asked while looking to apartment.
"Everything is, at some point, connected to the military, if an ARC entered here and..."Andrea looked to the blood on the floor "solved the problem, then it's solved"

Shortly after, Sophie and Andrea were packing up a few clothes to get to the hotel, Rafael was out of the apartment, in the building's hallway, in front of their house's door. Apparently, they weren't the only victims, as other houses also had signs of invasion, could be heard people crying along the hallway. Sophie and Andrea finished packing and went for the door to meet Rafael.
"Let's g-"
"I will join the army" Rafael cutted her mother talking.
"What? It's because of what that soldier said?" Andrea was surprised.
"Not only, look around, there is no way I can protect you from any of this, until this chaos settles down, we are all in danger, it needs to be stopped as soon as possible" Rafael was letting his disappointment out in form of anger.
"Rafael, you slapped a knife" Sophie joked.
"Sophie got a point, being a soldier is risky, specially now, and you are not that skilled. Furthermore, you were rejected three years ago, you probably won't be selected again" Andrea spoke concerned.
"It's my second chance, and whatever the risks, I cannot be the only one staying here doing nothing while Marcos and dad are out there fighting" Eventhough there was no news about anyone of the Fenix squad, Marcos's squad, Rafael had already made up his mind.

The next week, Rafael applied and was selected to join the army, along thousands of others who also applied. It was the first time that this many recruits joined the army at once. Then, another week have passed.

"All right, listen up, you were told this would be another training with the ARC's, but no, right now we have twelve sectors being attacked by rebels, near essential city structures and innocent civilians. You all will be mobilized immediately."
A tall, dark skin, short brown hair man, with military clothes of major rank was talking to an number of probably one hundred soldiers, all in ARC suit.
"But sir, we only had a week of training, how we ar-" Rafael promptly asked, but was cutted.
"Private, you know how to move, aim and shoot, that is enough, just follow the orders" He roughly answered. "You all will be assigned sergeants to lead you"
As all soldiers started to move, one near Rafael talked to him
"One week was actually too much"
"What?"
"They are desperate, didn't you notice? This time, for you to join the army, they only checked your history, never had been this easy to be an military and have all the privileges which come with" Then, with a gentle smile, the man introduced himself "By the way, I'm George, I'm in your squad, hope we get along"
Before Rafael could reply, a message played on their communicators:
"Also, for any rebel wannabe clever, by any sign of treason, your ARC will be deactivated, and all units have permission to shoot and kill traitors"
"And of course, preventive measures against any intruder" George seemed really excited "Our first mission will be EPIC"