---A Week Later---
Waking up as the sun started to rise, I looked at the Wakasa who had managed to wriggle her way onto my chest. When I went to bed it was Ilulu who was there, and now she was strangely not in bed. Slipping out of bed, I noticed that Zero Two and Lucy were also absent from bed too. Confirming on my map that they were downstairs in the living room, I came down to see what was wrong. Seeing them on the couch looking out the window, I knew something had to be wrong.
"Everything okay?", I asked, "It's unusual for you to be up so early."
"There is something not right.", Ilulu told me, "I don't feel good."
Checking to make sure she wasn't pregnant, I found that she and the others had an anxious status applied to them. Whatever was drawing the Demons and Mutant Undead toward the Ruins of Raccoon City was messing with them. I made this assumption based on the fact that the Demons and the three of them were sensitive Argent Energy released by the GATE Fragments. If Davoth was sending out a broadcast to come back, it would explain why the Demons and those serving them were disappearing. Since the three of them had intelligence and a will of their own they weren't mindlessly going there, but it appeared it was still affecting them.
"Is it like a stomach ache or a headache?", I asked pulling them towards me to comfort them.
"It feels like something abnormal is knocking on my head.", Lucy stated rubbing her forehead, "Like someone is trying to talk to me. The more I resist the louder the knocking gets."
"Hmm, I assume it's the same for all of you too?", I inquired.
Nodding their heads, they said it was the same for them. Saying that they could hear a voice ordering them to come home, they said they didn't want to go. The voice was very angry and full of rage, like the person on the other side hated them. When they tried to ignore it or resist, they would feel an intense amount of pain like when they were exposed to the GATE Fragments.
"It keeps telling me to go back to Raccoon City...I am scared.", Ilulu whispered holding my hand, "I feel like if I let down my guard, he will take over and I won't come back."
"I understand.", I replied looking for something to block their telepathic ability.
I ended up buying three of the helmets Magneto wore to keep Professor X out of his head from the Store. With some modifications I got them molded them to fit their heads. The instant the helmets went on, the three of them let out a blissful sigh with a relaxed look. Seeing the anxious status disappear, I gave them a kiss and told them to let me know next time they felt this way.
"You are family, you don't have to suffer alone.", I assured them.
Smiling at me, they promised to tell me from now on. Watching them sway side to side a few minutes the two of them passed out from exhaustion. I felt bad that I hadn't picked up on it sooner, but they had been hiding it really well. Situating them on the couch so they could get some rest before we needed to leave today.
Getting coffee and tea ready for the others, we enjoyed a meal together before getting ready for the day. Today we would start our trek toward the Ruins of Raccoon City with help from Alcina. The goal was to join up with other militant groups in the vicinity, and locate the GATE Fragments...which would be difficult as they were all likely buried in rubble. Once that was completed we would rebuild the GATE properly, and go to the other side.
"You sure you are going to be okay?", Shizuka asked me as our party started to get ready to leave.
"Of course, we should be gone for a few days. If anything happens I can teleport here instantly in the event we get attacked.", I assured her, "Don't you worry about anything, you just keep smiling and wait for us to come home."
"I didn't expect my husband to be leaving so soon after we moved in, but it can't be helped.", Wakasa told me with a smirk, "Make sure you come home complete because we will be preoccupying you when you return."
"Momma, what does she mean?", Saito asked Kikyo.
"Well...she means we will want to hear everything that happened on their journey.", Kikyo told him while glaring at Wakasa.
"Opps, that is my fault.", Wakasa giggled, "Sorry Saito, it is just going to be lonely while he is gone."
"Does this mean we can sleep in the big comfy bed?", Honoka asked Saori, "Your bed is comfier than the ones we have."
"Of course, we will want the company as the bed will be practically empty now.", Saori laughed, "If you can Victor, bring us back souvenirs."
"Yeah!!", the children shouted listing off toys they wanted.
Telling them I would see what I could do, I gave the wives staying behind a big hug and kiss before telling the children to behave themselves. Promising to behave themselves, I could already tell they were going to be a handful while I was away. On our way up to the helipad, I ran into Howard and Jeong who wanted to update me on things.
"I heard from General Phillips, he has a convoy of people enroute to meet you there.", Howard said.
"Hold on, isn't he the former commander for Fort Hope? I thought you said he-", I stated.
"I thought so too till this morning. Your colleague in Anchorage patched him through a bit ago. He is up to speed, and has people that he needs to send back here. You able to manage that?", Howard asked.
"Yes, I can open a portal back to settlement. Make sure everyone is checked out properly and given Alexia's Cure. I don't need an outbreak happening while I am away.", I told him.
"Understood.", Howard stated, "We will be ready to send people through when you open a portal."
Turning to Jeong, I asked for his update.
"My simulations show the remnants of the dust cloud should be dissipating in three days. I will forward the intel to Red and White Queen once I have it.", Jeong informed me, "Also, I am trying to see if I can get into the US Drone Network to survey the surrounding area."
"Thanks Jeong, if you find anything out please let me know.", I thanked him.
Parting ways with them, my group continued up to meet with Alcina. Seeing her talking with Ryu and company, I started to get a strong feeling that our travel group just got bigger. Glancing over at Cammy and Chun-Li, they gave me an apologetic look.
"We were going to tell you, but...well we forgot.", Cammy laughed.
"Uh huh...forgot, or chose not to tell me?", I sighed.
"We will pay you back for this favor.", Chun-Li said with a wink.
Telling her I would hold her to that, we approached the group who were just finishing their conversation with Alcina.
"What are you all doing here?", I questioned them with a smirk.
"You aren't leaving our butts behind, right?", Juri snickered, "It is boring here now that the Undead are all gone. We need some action, and-"
"What she means to say is we want to help make this successful.", Zangief stated, "The sooner we ensure we are rid of those monsters the sooner we can rebuild."
"Kill Joy, my way of saying it was better.", Juri huffed.
"You realize that Alcina can barely carry my group right?", I reminded them.
"We were hoping maybe you could pilot one of the bombers at the Anchorage Base. We'd like to accompany you to Raccoon City.", Ken said.
Knowing that I hadn't told them I could fly a plane, I glanced back to see who told them. As I looked over the group the only one to flinch was Oriha who gave me a smile. Asking her how that got brought up, she told me that Juri overheard her while she was working on the Samus suit. She had been thinking about make her own AC-130 with me flying it, and was overheard by a few people. Apologizing to me, she said it was an accident and that she didn't mean to do it.
"It's okay, I will just tape you to the wing.", I chuckled.
"Don't do it please!!", she pretended to cry, "I am just a helpless, young girl!!"
"Helpless...", Mikoto, Sayo, and Yuko snickered, "That's hilarious."
"If you are helpless, you can stay back.", I told her.
Hanging her head, Oriha said she was sorry again. Flicking her forehead, I told her to be more cautious about what she says aloud from now on. Snapping my finger I opened a portal the base in Anchorage. Initially I had wanted to do aerial recon, and have some time to prepare for Major Payne. Now with the addition of Ryu's group though that was no longer going to be possible.
"Come on everyone...let's see if I can get a bomber in the first place.", I stated.
---Anchorage Base---
Arriving on base through the portal, I gave a few civilians a heart attack as we came through. Remembering that the knowledge of magic wasn't wide spread yet, I realized that what I did would cause issues. Looking at them with confusion, Tuka and Rory shrugged their shoulders not understanding why they were so frightened.
"An even more dramatic entrance than last time!!", the Major laughed pulling up in his jeep, "So you can open those fancy portals to anywhere?"
"I have to have been there before.", I told him, "Even then, the area can't have changed too much from my last visit or I can't go there either. The bases I visited prior have changed too much for me to teleport to safely so we will have to fly there."
"Your ride going to be able to carry all of these people?", he asked.
"I have a name...", Alcina growled.
"I am sure you do, but you never shared it last time you were here.", he pointed out.
"It's Alcina.", she remarked.
"Got it, my apologies Alcina.", Payne apologized, "Anyways, I assume you will be wanting a plane to carry your group?"
"Can you spare one?", I requested.
"Of course, I suspected you'd have a lot of people who'd want to come.", he laughed, "It isn't much, but it will get you there...hopefully."
"I don't the sound of hopefully...", Mikoto replied.
"Hopefully doesn't instill much confidence in me...", Karin said.
"It's really the only plane we have operational that can get your group to McChord Air Force Base in Washington State.", he told us.
Leading us to an older hanger, his men wheeled out a rather old B-17 bomber that looked almost brand new. Blinking several times I looked over to him like he was insane. Telling him this thing was over fifty years old, he told me it hadn't ever been flown at all. Giving me a brief backstory, he said this plane was supposed to have been used to bomb the Japanese when they took two Aleutian Islands back during WWII. They retreated before it was used for it's intended purpose.
"You expect us to ride in this thing?", Jin asked with a concerned look, "I thought the US Military was supposed to be-"
"Before you give us flak, most of our planes are still getting unbricked from Umbrella's shutdown. We have some planes operational, but nothing that will take you to where you need to go.", he said, "If it was a small number of you, we would have other options."
"It is short notice, we can't be picky.", I told them, "Maybe next time people will give me advanced notice."
"You sure you can pilot this?", Yoko questioned, "This plane is older than almost everyone here."
"Yes, I will want to do a once over to ensure the plane is safe enough to get us there.", I responded, "Give me thirty minutes to do a once over."
Approaching the plane, I started to consider whether teaching my group to fly would have been a better idea. I could have given them a crash course in Dragon Ball Z style flight, but that would have taken time for them to build up the endurance to handle long distance flight. It wasn't something they could pick up and use in a day, it took a long time to master it and the clock was ticking for the other side of the GATE.
Using my HUD and experience to make sure everything was functional and in good condition, I gave the group a thumbs up of approval. Nervously boarding the plane as the hanger crew got the plane fueled up, I went through the pre-flight checklist. Taking a seat next to me as my co-pilot, Yoko offered to help me as she did have some experience flying ultralight planes.
"You are sure this old thing is going to take off?", Yoko said.
"Have some faith in your husband, I will get us off the ground and get us there quicker using magic.", I chuckled, "We will cruise in with a nice tailwind helping to speed up our trip."
"How long is this flight going to be?", Mai asked me, "We don't have a bathroom on the plane so..."
"Go before me leave, or use a bottle.", I told her.
"I mean...couldn't you make a bathroom?", she pleaded batting her eye lashes at me.
Staring at her, I told her she was an idiot for thinking that was going to work. Reminding her that I harem of curvy beauties, I motioned to Yoko and Yuko with a smile. Telling her to try again later, I told her the alternative was tying a rope around her waist and dangling her out the bomb bay door.
"No...I...I think I will go before we leave.", she said running off.
"It's a four hour flight so make sure you all are prepared for that.", I told the group.
Hearing most of the women disembark the plane to use the facilities now, I chuckled to myself. Asking me what was so funny, I told Yoko and Yuko that there were chemical toilets on the plane if they really needed to use the bathroom. Hitting me on the head, they told me I could have just told them that from the beginning.
"Listen, there is only a few of them on the plane...they are smaller than a porta potty.", I stated, "They should be used for emergencies only, not for everyone to go as they pleased."
"Ah...so you couldn't adjust it to be a full sized one?", Yoko asked unbuckling her seatbelt.
"No, they are about this size.", I said making a gesture with my hands, "Not only that, there is no walls around them. Since it was usually guys in these planes, there was no need for privacy."
Heading off to do their business, I didn't blame them. They didn't build these planes back in the day with women in mind. Most of the people in these planes would have been men so a small bucket was enough for them. Even then a guy could really only piss in the chemical toilet...if they needed to shit they'd probably use an ammo can.
Once everyone had the chance to use the facilities, I got us out to the runway. Getting the all clear from air traffic control, I gave the engines the beans and let off the brakes. Slowly picking up speed as we zoomed down the runway, everyone watched out the large windows in the front of the plane as the end of the runway started to draw closer.
"Victor...pull up.", Rei said gripping a railing.
"Not yet.", I responded.
Watching our air speed, we weren't going fast enough to get airborne. As the end of the runway came into view, people started to get nervous. Voicing their concerns, I tuned them out and pegged the engines and pulled back on the stick. A hundred feet from the end of the runway the plane lifted up off the ground much to everyone's relief.
"You are going to give us a heart attack!", Miu pouted.
"I had it under control, you all need to calm down. It takes some extra time for these old planes to get to the right speed.", I sighed as I got the plane pointed towards Washington, "Now sit back and relax, we will be there in a few hours so enjoy your break while you can."
Our flight to our first stop was very smooth with minimal turbulence which was good for the groups mental state. While most of them may not look it, they were petrified that this old thing would cut out mid-flight and send us crashing into the ocean. What they didn't remember was that I could us magic to make the plane glide, or pull a Superman and carry the plane to our destination if needed.
"So how many hours do you have logged?", Laura asked me.
"Several hundred hours, my fathers let me pilot our jet between destinations. Not only that, I flew planes in Boarding School.", I told her.
"What sort of Boarding School lets kids fly planes?!", Mai questioned.
"The type that wanted me to do something other than annoy them.", I snickered, "I gave them a hard time to get the training I wanted."
Talking about our pasts as we flew towards Washington State, we all got to know each other better and laugh at the mistakes we had made. Before we realized it, the base came into view on the horizon.