Flying Back to Britannia

Magnus was having the time of his life. He was dipping, diving, and dodging in the grey-colored plane which had a star stripped on its side. He located two Deutsche planes, and, dipping his nose a little, lined up the plane to aim to fire. He pulled the nose up, finishing the alignments, and fired, shooting a storm of yellow streaks through both aircraft.

The battle below them was slightly in favor of the Deutsche and New Roman forces, but now that they had lost air superiority, the battle was going very much in favor of the UPC forces, now coming out of the trenches to charge, no longer afraid of bombers flying above them.

Magnus and Benny flew around, shooting down any bomber they saw as they were the only planes on the side of the UPC.

A smaller plane was starting to approach them.

Benny radioed over to Magnus, "You see that small plane? That's a fighter. It's much faster and harder to aim at. For your training, cover me while I drop my bombs. Either shoot down the fighter, or escort me. You pick!"

Confronted with the decision, Magnus deferred to a superior intellect.

"I think your best chance at success and keeping Benny alive is to escort him. Maybe while you're flying at the fighter, two more come into our air space, and now you and Benny are separated and out numbered. That's my two cents.", Amicus replied, wishing to give Magnus the most helpful information he could.

Magnus followed the advice, trusting Amicus. He went over to Benny and flew behind him and to the left. Into the radio, he shouted, "Alright, Benny! I'll escort you to the trenches and make sure you get those bombs away!"

"Alrighty then!", Benny replied, going full throttle, not wishing to be shot down by an inferior fighter.

Benny flew over the battlefield, with Magnus in tow. Nearing the trenches, Benny dropped both of his bombs. Because of the forward momentum, the bombs were carried to their target and blew, doing their job and offering aid to the outnumbered UPC infantrymen.

"Alright, Magnus! Now you try bombing the trenches!", Benny radioed, and continued, "I'll escort you this time. You take the lead!"

"Roger that!", Magnus signaled back over affirming that he had heard his instructor.

Magnus flew a good distance before turning around. He was the bomber now, just in a smaller and faster plane.

Flying closer to the ground, Magnus prepared to drop the bombs. He dropped the first one. He heard the scream of the bomb on the way down and the explosion, but no second bomb. He was still over the Deutsche trench, so he tried releasing the bomb again. Still no drop.

"Hey, Benny? I think my hatch is broken! The second bomb won't drop!", Magnus radioed over to his instructor. His instructor thought about what to do.

"Alright, Magnus. Let's take out this fighter and head back to the Royal Air Academy. I'm at about half full for gas. How about you?"

"I'm at around 2/5's. Yeah, we should probably head back if we want to make it there."

"OK, just watch me Magnus, keep close, but don't hit me. Escort me as I finish this fighter off!", Benny gave Magnus his last instruction before leaving, having already engaged the fighter to keep it off of Magnus as he bombed the trenches.

Magnus went and flew to Benny's rear right side this time, watching out for any new fighters that could interrupt their delicate procedure. Benny moved in, like a surgeon with a scalpel. With the control of a neurosurgeon, Benny went in and shot the left wing off of the plane.

"Mission accomplished, Magnus! Time to head home! Back to Britannia!", Benny shouted through the radio as they flew back over the battlefield.

Magnus looked down at the infantrymen who were cheering he and Benny as they flew overhead. After all, he and Benny were the ones who had won the day.

On the flight back, no words were spoken, as both were on the lookout for planes and rockets, as either could come out at you at any second as they flew above the clouds, now cold in their fur coats and hats. It got very cold at high altitudes for the pilots. Thus, they wore heavy coats and fur to keep warm.

As soon as they touched down, a whole crowd gathered on the runway to clap as they got out of their planes. Magnus and Benny waved to the crowd as they walked by and into a building.

"Magnus, you'll be bunking here tonight. You'll be in a two person bedroom, but without a roommate. I prefer to sleep in my own bed if I have the choice too before a battle. Tomorrow will be much harder than today, so prepare yourself."

Benny left after saying those words and Magnus saw him off. Sprawling his tired body on the bed, taxed from all those G's from flying, he listened to the silence.

The silence was beautiful. It was almost as if it were calling to him. Calling him to another world. A world where dreams were reality and time didn't exist. But Magnus didn't fall asleep. Instead, he turned on a lamp and wrote a letter.

Magnus was never any good at writing, so he crumpled it up, too embarrassed at its contents to be satisfied. The process of filling the paper with words and then ruining it and tossing it continued until Magnus was out of paper.

Thus, Magnus never sent his letter. He just thought about his friends, family, work associates, neighbors. He thought that those people's way of life was his greatest priority, so he would defend it. With his life. Thus, if push came to shove, Magnus would be willing to fight any super-being floating out there who would challenge what he wanted to defend. Magnus would risk being ended for it.

As thoughts of dying gloriously in a blaze of glory eventually grew more and more concerning the events of tomorrow, Magnus grew worried, wondering what the General and Benny had in store for him. Magnus was filled with anxiety as the silence's beckoning won him over. His eyelids drifted across his eyes causing a darkness to ensue that would overtake him, and he would fall asleep.