The touching reunions lasted for over a day. Everyone took the ti to talk to Raymond alone. Gio didn’t bother going back for the rest of the day. That was especially the case when he saw the looks on Jax and Alice’s faces when they stepped foot in the zephyr.
The ground team’s relationships with their Captain went beyond those of subordinates and their leader. They were friends and a family. It was definitely touching to see.
But, at a certain point, Raymond did eventually beg them to let him leave the dical ward.
He felt suffocated staying in bed all day. At the first opportunity, he found himself a wheelchair and made himself mobile again.
The adaptation period was surprisingly short. Within a couple minutes, he was wheeling around like it was nothing. The halls of the zephyr were more than wide enough to support him, and all of its exits were ramps. His mobility wasn’t as restricted as he thought it would be.
Well, the actual adaptation period would be much longer, but Raymond was almost thankful for the chaos around them. There was too much going on. He had too much information to absorb once he awakened, so there wasn’t space for him to think about his own state.
He raised his head as Jax walked into the room and waved.
"I guess I’m the last one to show up," Jax said with a grin, looking around.
All seven mbers of the ground team, and Gio, were in the zephyr’s main area, gathered around the central table.
"You’re late," Raymond said, rolling his eyes.
"I couldn’t do anything about it. Air traffic, you know?"
Jax had just returned from an errand outside the ship, so there wasn’t a need to criticize his lateness. It was more a comnt made for the sake of greeting.
"Now that everyone’s here," Raymond continued, "let’s talk about it."
It had been almost a month since the last mission. More than enough ti had passed. When he tried to call this eting, he faced opposition from several people who told him to focus on resting, but he refused.
With his mobility regained, the first thing he did was visit the operation center and have Natalia and the others fill him in on everything he missed. He was now aware of the entire truth of the trap that took his legs. He was also aware of all the information collected afterward.
"I know all of you want to hunker down and rest for a while, but it’s not possible. You all know as well as I do what this ans for us."
The implications in the Wasteland had already been explored, but that wasn’t it.
"If we return to the Upper Strata right now, we’ll be killed before we even know what’s happening."
Right now, in the Wasteland, they were dead. They had been erased from the world. The activities of their main team and subsidiary teams had been cloaked in shadows when they were almost always in the light.
If they returned to the light hastily, it wouldn’t be able to accept them. The darkness within would rise up and take them before anything could happen.
"Our only option is to stay low as a group, but if we remain like that for too long, it’ll be impossible for us to return. We’ll have to watch our steps forever."
He couldn’t put his team into that situation, which ant sitting still was not an option.
"Natalia, bring it out and show them."
At his command, Natalia walked up to the central table and pressed a button on its side. A small space opened in its surface, where she inserted a tablet.
The table closed over it and beeped three or four tis as it connected to the device. A second later, there were holograms filling the air between them.
"I’m sure so of you know this, since it’s all information you collected, but I’ll go over it so everyone is on the sa page."
Natalia followed his words, bringing up the appropriate screens when they were needed.
"Four primary camp locations have been discovered in the past two weeks. Two were found by Jax and another two by Alice. After an investigation with the Shadows, they’ve also ranked them in terms of importance."
Raymond looked at the changing holograms.
"The first two look related to the machine we found. The third looks to house valuable intel that we need to steal. And the last..."
His eyes turned to Jax, who nodded.
"Yeah, well, I spotted the one running that camp. You guys have heard of that Mother Baba woman, right?"
An array of nods responded to his question.
She was a famous djinn who was known for taking thousands of lives to fuel her greed. Her na wasn’t one of the biggest, but it wasn’t anywhere near unknown either.
"She’s in charge of the place, which is confusing since she was never affiliated with anyone. What’s more concerning is the look of the camp itself. It’s completely different from the rest."
Gio’s eyes went to the holograms in the air. The first three camps were splashes of modern architecture in the midst of the expansive jungle. They looked like research facilities or hospitals.
The last, however, looked like a true cult-worshipping camp. Its borders were massive walls that couldn’t be climbed without being discovered by the guards patrolling the periter. Those walls looked to be made of listone or a similar material.
The camp was in the desert. The inside could only be seen through images taken from above. It was a colorful scenery in the sand filled with multi-colored tents and flags. There were small dots that were obviously people numbering in the hundreds, existing throughout the camp.
There were several areas attached to the camp through the outside, but even they were blocked by high walls.
It didn’t look like it was related to the Apocalypse Church at all.
"But it is," Jax continued.
"Mother Baba is working with the Apocalypse Church for so reason. If we aren’t wrong, they must’ve made so kind of deal. And this is only a personal thought, but..."
Jax looked around the room before focusing on Raymond.
"I think the Apocalypse Church is entertaining her because of her connections."
Primarily, the woman who called herself "Mother Baba" was known throughout the world because she had connections to people much more important than her.
Mother Baba had been a primary capture target for many agencies because of who she knew more than what she’d done.
"Mother Baba’s web of connections is vast, but the Apocalypse Church is equally big. What kind of connection could they be chasing to need her influence?" Raymond asked.
Jax shook his head.
"I don’t know. We have to do a deeper investigation to figure that out, but I don’t think it’s possible without revealing our presence."
Another unknown force that was being dragged into the mix, a force that the Apocalypse Church needed Mother Baba’s help to contact...
’...I can think of a few.’
Gio frowned.
None of them spelled out anything good.
And if it was the worst of them...
’I have to go on that mission.’
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