Despite the initial urgency of their leave for Manila, Sam found he had surplus time to sleep, have lunch and sleep again only to still be soaring in the air. Alex seemed contrary to him though, every time he was awake so was she, he wondered if she’d gotten any rest but at least they’d shared a meal before he’d gone to sleep yet again.

Groggily rubbing his eyes clear of the haze, Sam sat up, set his chair back into sitting form and searched for Nyx. His dear pet seemed to sense his awakening as she prowled out from the cockpit and hopped on his lap with a meow of greeting. Sam smiled and pet down her black coat of fur.

Alex exited a cockpit a moment after, her brows furrowed in consternation smoothed at the sight of him awake, she smiled thinly and said, “Good, I was just about to come stir you. It’s almost time to land.”

“Finally, how long have we been up here anyway?”

She shook her head, “Doesn’t matter, we’re hovering above Manila now and it is chaos down there.”

Sam gulped at that, it was obvious they’d been in transit long enough for the situation to devolve even further, “Not much DSF presence at this Tower is there?”

Alex leaned against a chair, arms folded, “No, we have a presence but we don’t have the same trapping infrastructure here as we do back there.”

Sam paused mid thought to summon what she was referring to from memory, he blinked, “Alpha Ring?”

“Despite our efforts, securing each fallen tower with three operational defence ring systems isn’t possible, we’re trying but we’ve been lucky enough up till this point to have finished four.”

“Mine included,” Sam said with a nod, “I did wonder how the DSF managed to erect so much in under a month.”

Alex scoffed, “When humans want something built there’s very little that can stop us. That said, those monsters are stopping us from making Manila safe, several have already escaped the sphere of agents and camps set up. The entire country is open to assault from Belua now.”

Sam gulped under her hardened gaze and suddenly noticed she was no longer in her simple exercise outfit. She wore slick battle armour, the same kind she had on when they’d first met with his nude-self strapped to a gurney. Suddenly the jagged scars that scratched up her face were more prevalent than they were a moment ago. Her rifle was nowhere in sight but the war knife that was as large as Sam’s forearm was strapped by her side.

It’s really is almost time. No, we’re just late. A thought seared through Sam’s mind at that, “The Belua are running free? That means-”

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“Not free, we’re fighting tooth and nail down there and we’ll be joining them in a minute but yes, it means if we take too long to exterminate the Belua and if this Tower Surge keeps pumping Belua then, well, Manila may be the first city to fall in this apocalypse.”

Sam didn’t like the empty silence that followed her words, there was nothing to contest that fact save for the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Up until this point his world was not so threatened that a city might be wiped off the map. He’d gone about existing as a courier, reliant on modern services, electricity, water filtration, air conditioning, entertainment and now the apocalypse was truly banging on the bubble of ignorance and hope any living person had.

“Let’s stop them.” Sam said, resolved to put the immeasurable power of Regalia the same damned towers have gifted him to good use. This was what he signed up for after all.

A ding resounded throughout the aircraft and Alex quickly took her seat as the seatbelt indicator flashed, “Glad you’re feeling enthused. We’ve got a gift waiting for you once we land.”

Sam followed suit and strapped himself and Nyx as the plane bumped and screeched to a careful stop. It rolled forward for a moment and he felt it steered around a turn before the engine and constant rumble finally ceased.

In the quiet, Sam half expected to hear the chaos of the apocalypse happening in Manila but there were no such sounds. He looked out his window but before he could get a good look he heard Alex unlatch herself and stand. He quickly followed after her out and shuddered at the first slap of Manila breeze.

He sniffed intently all the way down the steps and into the cart waiting for them, “There’s something…”

“It’s sulphur.” Alex answered even before he could ask the question, “Just how the Tower Surge goes but…if we can smell it this far then we’d better hurry.”

The couldn’t go any faster than he was already but he leaned forward at her words anyway. He drove into a hangar but just outside it was a helicopter with people Alex waved at.

“More DSF agents?” Sam asked as they stepped out, the hangar was empty with only a couple ceiling high shelves and a table decorated with weaponry. Alex headed for the table immediately.

“Everyone you’ve been in contact with, including the pilot and hostess were DSF in some capacity. We keep things close.” She put the rifle together and hoisted a bag of glowing bullets on her belt, “Over there, second row, take it out, it’s yours.”

Sam looked where she pointed and there was a large, broad rectangular shaped bag. It was flat and he had to pull it off the shelf by its edges. He gripped the sides, unsure of what was in the bag, it was hard and didn’t snap in half like he thought it would when his arms failed him and caused its other end to smack against the floor.

He laid it out in front of him and pulled the zipper open with Alex watching over him, “Is this…glass?”

“Yup. General Sir thought you’d like something stronger than everyday thrown away materials. This is tempered glass, bulletproof…with some exceptions and very heat resistant. Use it.”

Sam tried but, “I can’t, it’s not broken.”

Alex raised a brow at that, “What exactly qualifies as…broken? It’ll be hard to.” She shook her head with a sigh and tossed him a holster with a gun in it, her instructions were obvious as she took several cautious steps back.

“I thought you said it was bulletproof.”

“With some exception.”

Sam rolled his eyes, buckled the holster around his waist and pulled the gun out, “Well, here’s to saving Manila.”