"Over here," Emmett calls, his voice overpowering the echo of the door slamming shut behind Edward.
It takes Edward a moment to spot Shiva in the darkness, a small pin-point of blue light on her nose revealing her location. Its engine sounds like a gentle wind. Coming around the back wing, he sees Emmett's imposing form silhouetting the dim light of Shiva's opened loading ramp.
"Here," Emmett says. He forcefully hands Edward a small, thin rectangle before quickly boarding.
Edward looks at the device in his hand as he steps on to the plane, the light revealing its details. A button on its side. A deep curve and two long metal prongs on the short end. A taser. The ramp begins to ascend, closing the aircraft as soon as he is enters with a dull, hydraulic hum.
"Go ahead and strap in, sir." Jacob says from his spot on the side of the aircraft. His seat is mounted on to the metal frames that lines Shiva's inside. Two thick canvas straps hang around his shoulders and connect at his sternum. Next to him, his M249 machine gun is tied in to a rack and his assault pack sits in a mesh bin underneath. "Your weapon's right there," he adds before refocusing on his phone.
Glancing behind him while he slides the taser in his pack, Edward spots his M4 on the wall and a seat folded up against the framing. He sets his bag in to the netted cubby beside him as he pulls down the chair and sits.
"It's quiet," Edward says to no one in particular as he slides his arms in to the safety harness. For something called a hyper-velocity aircraft, he expects its engines to roar.
"We got her from another agency," Emmett says, kneeling behind pilot's seat. Bella faces forward sits in the neighboring chair, her wings folded over and behind her. She shifts her weight as she conducts her pre-flight checks, making her wings move like sails on the water. It's an odd sight, cramped and unnatural but it calms Edward somewhat.
Emmett finishes securing his gear behind and nudges a wing out of his way to sit. After strapping himself in, he activates the radio in his neck.
"Radios active," he says, immediately working with the dials and gauges that surround him.
"Griefs, check," Jacob says, instinctively clicking on his radio and responding.
"Adele, check." Alice.
It's the first time Edward has experienced a Gamma team radio check. His heart keeps pounding, the confidence and doubt ebbing in and out of him with every pump. Quickly, he follows his gut.
"Actual, check." He watches Jacob intently, finding satisfaction in the young soldier's lack of reaction.
Emmett looks up at Bella, who nods her ridged, fanged face while she continues to adjust the dials on her side of the aircraft.
"Comms are go," Emmett says. "Going black."
The dim lights along the roof of the hold go out. Green specks, orderly arranged along the console barely reveal the pilots' features. Jacob's phone continues to cast a cone of blue pm his face, completely oblivious to the changes around him. Amused at the sight, Edward smiles. Surreality begins to wash over.
"Observation, ready," Alice says over the radio.
"Check." Emmett grips the control wheel and adjust his foot on the large pedal below him. With the sound of a gusting sea breeze, Shiva shifts back slightly. "Go for Shiva."
"On you," Alice says.
Bella reaches down next to her, gripping tightly on a large level mounted beside her seat. She gently pulls up, causing Shiva to rise vertically off the ground.
The movement of the aircraft churns an influx of excitement in Edward's stomach. He leans forward as far as his harness will allow, allowing him to just see through the front window. He barely makes out the seams of the panels lining the Pen in the low light.
Shiva gently rocks back and forth like a canoe on a still lake as Bella uses her other hand to thrust the aircraft forward. The panels begin to move past the plane, slow but accelerating.
Trust is the only thing that keeps Edward from panicking as they move faster. The Pen is massive, but at their increasing speed they could reach the other end at an instant.
"Corridor is open," Alice says.
Edward just makes out the ring of blue lights circling the large door that opens high on the Pen wall as they speed in to a subterranean tube. Evenly spaced red and blue lights alternate faster and faster with the surrounding blackness as they shift slightly upward. He's transfixed.
"Full departure," Emmett says, "In three. Two."
A sudden flash of forest and they're in the night sky. Thousands of stars surround them as they climb higher.
"Corridor is secure," Alice says. "Kick ass, guys."
Unable to see anything but the stars ahead of him, Edward rests back in his seat. A worn divot in the cushion cradles the ARMS' spine comfortably. It's impossible to tell how far they traveled underground. He has no bearing. He doesn't know their speed. It feels like they're not moving. He closes his eyes and clears his mind.
Emmett turns the wheel slightly causing Shiva to gently roll as they veer south.
Minutes later, Shiva shifts back as she slows and descends. The movement jerks Edward awake.
"Everything okay?" he asks, hiding the embarrassment of his inadvertently nap.
"We're just landing," Emmett says.
Edward says nothing as he leans forward to watch. The glow of Hartsville in the distance disappears behind thick foliage as trees surround the lowering aircraft. With a quiet bump they touch down. A moment later, the noise of Shiva's engines die leaving them in silence.
"We're here, Alice," Emmett says, quickly standing and removing his gear from behind his seat.
"Reading you," Alice says. "You're about two miles north-west of the site."
With flash a dull green, Bella activates a bank of small monitors mounted beside her. On-screen, the surround wood appears in discolored night-vision. She flips through the different angles, seeing all around them, before lowering the ramp for their exit.
As the ramp lowers, Edward and Jacob release themselves. The fading light of a half moon picking through the cloudy sky gives them just enough light to remove their gear without feeling around blindly. Edward leaves his rifle on the wall, remembering his planned meeting with Clear Water.
Edward deactivates his radios as he steps off Shiva, his pack dangling from his hand. The wings' protective curl around him allow him to focus only on the narrow funnel ahead. The air is crisp, cool, comforting. He feels safe.
"I thought our radios would be out of range," he whispers as Jacob steps off.
"Shiva is a relay," Jacob says. His machine gun hangs heavily across his body as he tosses his pack over shoulder while walking down the ramp. He slides a hand in to an ammo pouch on his chest. "Damn it," he nearly shouts, conscious of his volume. He frantically pats his pouches before calming as he withdraws a bottle of painkillers from his pocket.
He displays it to Edward, flashing a satisfied grin.
"Better?" Edward says, with a resigned smile.
"Yep." Jacob slides the pills in the pouch as he walks to the opening between Shiva's wings. Casually, he pops his weapon's tripod down and lowers the gun to the ground by its strap. With an exaggerated plop, he the machine gun in the grass. The stock tucks tightly in to his shoulder as he cozies to the sights to provide security.
"You ready?" Emmett says, leading the transformed Bella out as they exit. His rifle hangs off one shoulder while he holds a sword in his opposite hand.
"Weapons," Edward says. His eyes narrow with the order.
Emmett momentarily pauses, juggling the sword in his hand. The hilt spins rapidly as it hangs briefly in the air. Shoulders back. Chest high. His eyes meet Edward's and he purses his lips. He finally reboards Shiva with an annoyed exhale.
Bella's fangs press against the inside of her lips as she grins. Her wings stretch high, allowing blood to circulate, and she tilts her head back and looks at Edward, gauging him.
The sight is intimating, her massive wings towering over Edward. The shadows rough and dark over her ridged, deformed face. But all he sees is her eyes; trust, patience and understanding in their deep brown. It makes him smile, the last of the lingering nerves erased.
"I'm taking a knife," Emmett says, stomping around Bella as he comes off the ramp. He gently kicks Jacob's elbow as he walks out of the Shiva's ring of safety, daring the night.
"Me too," Edward says, tapping the blade strapped to his thigh. He throws his pack over his shoulder and shoots Bella a wink. "Mind the fort."
"Have fun, sir," Jacob says as Edward passes him to join Emmett in the small clearing.
"There," Emmett says, nodding towards the distance. In the darkness, a bright red light lazily flashes, 'Stay away.' The ghostly pale shape of the cooling tower seems to shimmer as it blends with the graying sky around it.
It's much more immense than Edward anticipated, even after reviewing diagrams and plans. From here, it doesn't seem like an abandoned nuclear plant. It's a slumbering giant impregnated with terror. Edward can find nothing to say. He can only look.
"I hope Clear Water has actual information this time," Emmett says. The moist grass squeaks and whines under his steps as he heads in to the trees.
"Anything would be better than what we know now," Edward says, focusing on his steps as he follows Emmett. The movement is all that keeps the nearby tower striving to dominate his mind.
"Sure."
They continue walking, the rhythmic crunch of foliage the only sounds they make.