Episode 02: Ghosts of the Past
Chapter 01
"Closing in on the target," the buzzy voice of their main pilot, the enigmatic Manning, sounded over the radio. "Prepare for deployment."
"Aye, aye, captain!" Wy shouted in response, standing up and stretching. Throughout the eight-hour flight she'd been more than a little antsy. She never sat still for long, switching positions every fifteen minutes, crossing and uncrossing her legs, sometimes leaning back and sometimes leaning forward, even eventually taking advantage of the entire bench and lying down. Whenever she tried to peruse her handheld (for when the privacy-less hologram screens of smartbands just didn't cut it), it seemed that nothing could catch her attention for long enough, and she would eventually go back to fidgeting and looking around the dull, gray interior of the plane.
Sea, who had been calmly reading Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (translated since his Russian was pretty rusty these past couple centuries), couldn't help but look up every once in a while to notice Wy playing with her hair or tapping aimlessly at the touchscreen of her handheld. But whenever he asked her if she was alright, she would just brush the question off, switching topics or even cutting off potential conversation altogether.
As his thoughts and eyes began to drift more and more towards the distraction that was Wy, he couldn't help but examine her odd behaviour more thoroughly. It didn't make much sense for her to be this excited for the mission. Sure, they had finally (probably) found another Nation, but neither of them had been especially close to Canada. He knew that she often became restless the longer she was stuck inside or performing repetitive tasks, but it had been just over a week since she'd returned from a mission.
Thinking back to the day's earlier events, she had not been so anxious before leaving. It was only since boarding the plane that she'd become restless. Perhaps she had a fear of flying, and didn't want him to know out of embarrassment. It seemed a bit silly not to tell him, but people did a lot of weird things when placed in situations they were uncomfortable with. Then again, she was usually alright in helicopters, but this flying machine in particular didn't give them the chance to look outside. It would probably bother most people being trapped in a metal cylinder hurtling through the air. In any case, he had decided not to press her for answers, not wanting to make the ordeal worse for her by pestering.
Manning's announcement, therefore, was a relief to the both of them. Making sure his page was saved for a later day, Sea placed his own handheld back in his pocket before standing up and stretching also. It was time to get to work, antsy partner or no.
After fully gearing up and triple checking that they had everything they'd need, the two Nations waited for the go ahead to open the side door and jump out. The boxes they had loaded earlier weren't for them; they were filled with ammo from bullets to grenades. Transport planes were neither equipped nor built for combat, leaving them pretty vulnerable, and the addition of a few escort warplanes would only make convoys more conspicuous. It was hard enough charging an invisibility field around a single plane with magic that would last more than three hours let alone more than fifteen.
So, the Guard had found a way around their restrictions by utilising the psionic abilities of their members. If attacked, the psionic would break the boxes and send the projectiles hurdling into enemy aircraft with just their minds. Their homing abilities were far better than guns, at any rate, proving the tactic effective if not risky since most psionics couldn't keep up such high-intensity, long-distance battles for longer than five minutes.
This was the reason for why a greenhorn like Nicholas was accompanying them on such an unusually covert trip. He might not have been the most experienced soldier, having been in the Guard for only a year, but, according to his file, his natural strong psionic skills equated him with a Level Six spell caster. Considering there were only fifteen levels, and the kid himself was only eighteen, well…there was some room to brag on his part. Nonetheless, everyone's hope was for everything to go smoothly, and if the first half of the flight was any indication, it was to be an equally boring trip home for the pilot and co-pilot.
"Opening the door now, sirs," Nicholas announced over the radio. There was no point in correcting him that he didn't need to be so formal with either of the two Nations. Their comrades were right: he'd get accustomed to seeing them all as equals in time.
As the heavy door slid open, the pair was immediately assaulted by a gust of cold wind, but it wasn't enough to knock them off of their feet. Wy was the first to approach the opening. Looking down out at the green tracks of land streaked with the vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges of autumn leaves below, she quickly turned to Sea and asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Her normally untroubled brown eyes betrayed her apprehension from behind the transparent visor of her helmet.
"We'll be fine," he replied calmly, having done this kind of thing a million times both before and after the Apocalypse. Adding two and two together, Sea determined that she was afraid of falling, or maybe just falling thousands of feet, and would probably require a bit of a push. "Just follow the steps. My invisibility enchantments will hold, so we shouldn't be attacked when we land, or while we're in the air."
She didn't seem anymore reassured from that explanation, deeming not to respond, but before she could reconsider, the voice of Manning once again rang over the crackle of the radio. "Get out of my plane."
Shoving Wy out of the plane first, much to her displeasure if her shout of "God dammit, Sea!" was any indication, Sea responded to the pilot's command with a brief "See you in two weeks" before jumping from the machine himself. She was still yelling at him a minute after leaving the aircraft, but he tuned her out in favour of admiring the view.
There was something indescribable in the act of falling from this height. There was no fear, only exhilaration, and it was a feeling Sea could never get tired of. Wrapped in wind with a most amazing view of the world below with its greens and blues, and, lately, reds, yellows, and oranges, spreading out to still unseeable reaches, it was truly an amazing experience each time. Up here there was nothing between you and the freedom of the sky.
Unfortunately, it couldn't last forever, and in no time at all they were deploying their parachutes, and gliding down to the solid earth. Wy landed in the clearing first and not nearly as ungracefully as one would have assumed (she didn't fall on her face, so that was a plus), shortly followed by Sea. Removing her headgear, Wy took a deep, relieved breath, and sighed, thankful for the dirt and grass beneath her feet. For her, flying was an acceptable method of transportation, but jumping out of aircraft was not something Nations and the humans they so resembled were meant to do.
As they packed up their now useless gear into Wy's bottomless backpack (a much larger dimensional space from her clutch), Sea couldn't help but point out his observations to his companion. "You're afraid of heights, aren't you, Wy? Or, more specifically, falling from great heights."
She blushed and didn't turn her head to look at him. "I'm okay with the flying, but this kind of stuff freaks me out a bit, watching the world get closer and closer." She seemed to shiver reflexively.
"That's the best part," Sea maintained with a smile, checking over his pistol before placing it in its holster. She gave him a look that clearly said he was crazy, eliciting a small chuckle from the blond. "Alright, I won't tease. It's a hard thing to do the first time, but it gets easier after that. Now, Burleston should be…" He brought up a hologram map of the area, and turned clockwise about forty-five degrees clockwise. "That way."
"You ready?" she asked, her rifle checked out and in her hands. She had already stored her glaive in the space-altering device (named the Extradimensional Pocket Device, or EPD for short) clipped to her belt, which both eliminated the need to carry around a bulky weapon and kept said weapon hidden from enemy eyes, allowing a slight advantage in almost any situation. Sea had opted for the classic, albeit modified, AK-47 (with laser bullet capabilities, of course), storing his swords in his own device. The backpack held whatever else they might need, from ammo and grenades to rations and spare clothes. But mostly ammo. You could never be too careful, especially in a strange new land.
Nodding, Sea dropped their invisibility field, and together they started out for the small town of Burleston.
By their estimates, it would take between forty-five minutes to an hour to walk into Burleston, as long as they were walking in a relatively straight line. Despite the fact that this area had once been part of the sprawling metropolis and vast farmlands that had been the Greater Toronto Area, it was now mostly covered in foliage. The woods and fields had reclaimed what humankind had taken from it so many centuries before. This made the trek a little tricky since they had to watch their step in the forests and find their way across streams while keeping an eye out for signs of sentient, and/or malevolent life. Combined, these factors slowed their progress, and shifted them slightly off the planned route every once in a while, but not by much.
After about an hour, the two Nations figured they'd be in Burleston any moment. The settlement was nestled in a particularly large wooded area, which the map told them they had stepped into some fifteen minutes prior. The scenery might have made for slow going, but its beauty kept the trek from getting too boring. Much like the forests of England, magic had allowed these trees to grow beyond their regular capabilities. Southern Ontario's forests were largely deciduous in nature, and since it was mid-September the leaves were already mostly painted in reds, yellows, and oranges. Old leaves already covered the ground, crinkling satisfyingly when crunched underfoot. Coupled with the gentle morning sunlight, the odd sound of a bubbling creak, and the crisp, but not cold, autumn air, it was practically magical.
Even on edge as they were strolling through an unknown territory with unknown threats, the two Nations were able to enjoy the hike at least a little. That was until they reached a small ridge.
The climb up the rolling, tree-covered hill was easy enough, but they were forced to stop and take cover behind one of the larger trees at the flattened top. The other side of the hill declined sharply, providing a perfect vantage point for the pair to observe what was happening below. A large procession of destitute-looking beings, mainly non-human, were making their way through the forest in one long, broken line. They appeared poor, and hungry, and miserable, with nary a weapon in sight. They were helpless and hopeless, like refugees fleeing a war.
What had happened to these poor people?
"How are we going to get around them?" Wy whispered to him. Sea couldn't help but feel a little shocked at her words.
"Wy, we should help them."
Wy sighed. "How, Sea? We can't just walk up to them; they aren't going to trust random people they find in the forest. We have no supplies to give them, no safe haven to lead them to, and neither of us are healers. It could take them days to get to where they're going, and we don't have that time." Her resolve softened as Sea looked away, his downhearted gaze set on the refugees below, but not enough to give in. She was in charge, and it was her duty to keep them focused on the mission. "I'm sorry, Sea. But there's nothing we can do."
Sea's response held a slightly scathing tone to it. "That's exactly what I told myself during the Bloody Campaign."
An awkward moment of silence stretched out between them as they watched the procession continue. There must have been at least three hundred people in all, D-Bees from all dimensions and walks of life, and the odd human family here and there. They'd all be done for should bandits or monsters show up. Or worse, whatever they were fleeing from.
"Sea-"
"Hey! You there!" A mysterious, and yet somehow familiar, voice sounded from above. Turning their attention away from the scene below, the pair raised their guns up at the source of the sound. Standing on a thick branch six metres from the slightly sloped ground was their target.
Canada's appearance had not changed much in three hundred years, or so it would seem. The Nation resembled a twenty-one year old human, even with those unusual, bespectacled blue-violet eyes. His clothing was a bit odd, some stylistic hash of a mechanic's outfit, though he'd kept the goggle look for some reason, the darkened lenses perched atop his blond head.
There were only two things about his appearance that were shocking to Sea and Wy. First, one gloved hand sat on the end of a very large, very heavy-looking hammer. The head was the size of a small microwave, flat at one end and spiked at the other, with a five-foot long handle. Second, he was frowning, and a cold fury was shining in his eyes. Highly unusual behaviour for someone who neither Sea nor Wy had ever even seen mildly upset, let alone angry.
"What are you doing here?" he asked them in a serious tone.
Wy and Sea glanced at each other, unsure of what to do or say. Did Canada not recognize them? It was understandable considering they'd both grown up since the Apocalypse. Perhaps this wasn't really Canada? In any case, what were they to say? If it was Canada standing before them, then telling the truth would be the better bet. But if it was an imposter, they could end up exposing the details of their mission, or their backgrounds, a huge risk. The supposedly North American Nation took their silence as proof that they were guilty of some crime unknown to the pair.
"I thought so. A couple of well-armed, presumably well-trained individuals sneaking around in the middle of a forest, tailing a caravan of refugees…" the older Nation narrowed his eyes.
"You're CS spies here to finish the job you started in Tolkeen!"
"What? No, we're not spies!" Sea shouted, a tad confused at the situation they seemed to have gotten into.
"You'll need a better defense than that if you want to stay alive," Canada replied. Sea got the feeling that something just wasn't right. Reaching for Wy, he grabbed her shoulder just before Canada shouted into the trees behind himself. "Take the shot, Jack!"