Chapter 13
Book, chapter and verse has been removed at the insistence of the Holy Roman Church. The book referred to is no longer established in doctrine. Edit made without the author's knowledge.
After a wonderful few hours of peace with Angiola we had to part ways. We got geared up together, and I was pleased to see she was wearing the custom 2011 I had given her. She was going to maintain an overwatch position with a squad from M.P. and likely wouldn't be in a position to use it. Nevertheless, it put a genuine smile on my face when I saw it. We drove to the airfield together and I was surprised to see one of her partners was a gorgeous Israeli woman, a former Mossad sharp shooter. I knew that Manus Patris recruited the best of the best, I was just surprised to see someone wearing a Star Of David working ostensibly for The Vatican. Along with the former Mossad agent there was a pair of marine scout sniper teams. I was able to leave her knowing that she would be in great hands. Reginald would head the team, acting as a spotter when needed but also running all the drone assets for the attack.
Once all the planes were in the air, we linked up through a conference call and video link. We had some of the best and most experienced military minds in the world as well as a handful of members from The Order who combined, had an untold number of years firsthand experience battling evil. We all knew the plan of attack as well as the primary goals, the top of the list being to secure the bomb. Killing the dark pope was a close second, but once we got the nuke out of play, his plans would be ruined. “One last thing before we log off. We know that he has at least one doppelgänger on his side. They can take the form of anyone, so we need a challenge question. If anyone on your squad is out of view, for any amount of time, make sure we ask the challenge question! The question is “My monkeys” the answer is “say uncle”. Doppelgängers can read minds. So with them reading “say uncle” in the mind of the challenger, they will reply with only “uncle”. If this happens, fill them with holes. I don’t care who it looks like. Understood”? I explained to everyone over the video call. The last thing we needed is being infiltrated by one of these creatures. As we flew across the Tyrrhenian sea I couldn't help the nagging suspicion it wouldn't be that easy. I still had no clue about the medical facility in my dream or vision was about, or if it was indeed an abandoned medical facility. We talked it over several times during the meeting but we had no way of locating it. Not to mention, it was empty in the dream. Manus Patris had CBRN suits they could put on if we found ourselves in a situation that dictated them. None of them wanted to go into battle wearing one, for several reasons. They were bulky, clumsy, hot especially when working in areas with already high temperatures and really cut down on field of vision. At the end of the day, the caldera explosion did seem like the most logical target, and it definitely covered all the things The Owl had spoken of. I was probably just overthinking things again. The plan was pretty basic, we would break into 6 teams with about 25 men to a team, then surround and enter the compound. The overwatch teams were setting up on a small rise to the south east, topographical maps and satellite images showed a clear line of sight for the snipers. I wandered off to the rear of the plane's cargo area grabbing a spare laptop on the way. I set up a video call to Angiola's laptop knowing she rarely went anywhere without it. My screen soon filled up with her gorgeous smile, I could tell she had gone to the back of her plane as well. “Hey, Whats up, Is everything okay?” she asked me. “Yeah, everything is going fine on our end. I was just thinking, if we don't get to the nuke on time or if the Dark Pope blows it up out of spite”.... I trailed off, my throat suddenly felt too tight. “I just want you to know how much I love you. The last few days have honestly been the happiest of my long life, I finally feel complete. You make me whole, and I can't begin to articulate how you make me feel. If the bomb goes off, You may be far enough to heal and the radiation won't bother you so”... I stopped mid sentence as she burst into tears. Sobbing she said “You are an amazing man, I am so incredibly in love with you and this is so sweet, but you can't worry about any of that right now okay! Win this fight first! Then we will have FOREVER together, just like you said”. She was sobbing still and I didn't know what I had said to upset her. I hoped I hadn't screwed things up. The Israeli sniper had wandered over and was asking Angiola some technical questions about the equipment they were going to be using. “I'm sorry! I have to go, I WILL see you when this is over. I love you!” She said, kissing her hand and placing it on the camera before closing the laptop. Well, that hadn't settled my nerves at all like I had hoped for. Almost 450 years old and I still don't understand relationships... Normally, that wouldn't matter to me but this one was different. As the plane began descending, the sun was a massive orange ball just peeking out from the horizon. Sending streaks of radiance piercing into the dawn of a new day. We should be in position to start the raid with plenty of sunlight to spare. It was time to get things going. I was actually nervous about this one, not only because of the possible world ending ramifications but the possible loss of life. It sounds bizarre but after all these years you almost take for granted that you WILL see tomorrow. I've been shot, stabbed, blown up and set on fire. I WOULD have been dead hundreds if not thousands of times over from battle alone but I'm still here, and so is The Order. This all began at the literal BC/AD line when Judas begged to bless the silver and make amends, we have been battling evil ever since. I just had a really bad feeling about this one. I'm sure The Order would survive but I wasn't so sure about the ones on this mission. The main thing is that we completed this one. No matter what happened to us, even if he did set off the nuke out of spite and turn everyone there to a cloud of dust and atoms, we would stop his plans.We had to finish this, we couldn't let him kickstart the end.