Pain Purity and Apocalypse

Chapter 18: Through Hell and High Water

Sunday, May 24, 1993
(Location: Somewhere in Asherwood)

Dear Trinity and Victor,
I won't tell you where I'm going, or what I'm doing, you probably already know. Don't follow me, I've already caused enough casualties— I know where Xander is, and I promised I would get him back. Focus on keeping AOME soldiers away from Asherwood, and Trinity, you are better at hand to hand combat. Angels fight long range, and so will Jude, I refuse to have you lose your life— sacrifice yourself, for the team. You're strong, and resourceful, your place is on the battlefield saving those who are close to you. As I am not one of those people, nor is Xander, leave Jude Grail to us. Victor, thank you for all you've done for RORO, for this cause... If I don't see either of you again, I'd just like to say, we've been through a lot together and I have come to see you guys as my friends. Thank you,
Sincerely,
your friend,
Lok Magnus

Trinity's hands shake, both Victor and her eyes stare in absolute shock at the words printed across the ripped piece of paper. They were fighting off the last two Bombers when Victor noticed, Lok was gone. Laying on the top of the bloody, white suit, belonging to one of those two male Angels, was this note.

"That selfish— son of a!— But, he's right, I have been trained for the battlefield. As much as I want to drive my scythe through Jude's skull, who knows if I would even be able to get close? When my parents died, they couldn't escape Lok's flames, so who am I to think I could?"
"You surprise me every day, Trinity. You're not stubborn, yet you don't give up either. Lok is right, you'll have the biggest impact on the ground, fighting AOME's army. Since they are trained with guns and bladed weapons, they most likely wouldn't fly too much." Victor concludes. Lok has been right thus far, to their left a little ways away, flames flicker amongst the destroyed, scarlet aircraft. A massive chunk is missing from the centre of the aircraft, not caused by the impact against the tree. A bomb must have been dropped from above, destroyed the centre of the metallic body, and then the crash happened soon after. Lok's prediction that they followed the plane was correct, and how they found the team? Well that's another question.

"We don't have an aircraft, but I know where we can find help. Though, I'm not as fast as I used to be, as you can clearly see, so I'll have to guide you." Trinity looks at him questioningly, eyebrows raised with concern.

"What am I going to be doing? Where am I going?" She asks.

"Remember how I instructed the mission with the glider planes?"
"Yes?"
"What I failed to mention earlier was that, I think one of the gliders was high-jacked and the one who responded on the radio system was a Bomber. They must have cracked information out of the Cadet pilot, which is how they knew where we were going to be. Their radar must have seen the gliders, but since there were five, I'm praying that at least two got above Asherwood. I installed fast connection sequencing, so ten to twenty seconds would have been enough." She nods, still not understanding what that has to do with her.

"Wait, hold on, here's a question, how did you know the method to hack into Asherwood's camera and radio system without having been in Asherwood?" This is something he was not anticipating anyone would ask, nor did he think to mention it with all the chaos. His only goal was to make it work, and gloss over all the extra messy details of how.

"Trinity, I'll explain once we're in safe territory. No more questions regarding anything other than the current topic."
"Okay, where are you sending me?" He points to the red painted helmet in her hand, and the one he is wearing.

"Hand me the helmet for a second," he kneels on the grassy bank of the Tiber River, flips the helmets over, and presses two silver buttons down at the same time. A low, electrical buzz jolts through both, and he hands one back to Trinity.