But even with the ruin of destruction surrounding her at every turn, Alica still took the time to admire that which was beautiful.

Be it the bursting lights of color above, a snowfall blanketing lamps of candle wax on the streets or Humanity's ability to pull together and help those around them in need. In Alicia's eyes, beauty was beauty.

So that was the normal sight in Washington City, large fortresses of the sky departing for trade, while others, many filled with supplies, would land and distribute according to need. Smaller airships would also traffic themselves, filled with strike teams of soldiers who tried to hinder the Ancient war efforts anytime they could. But today brought a different sight, one that was rarely seen.

Today's incoming ship from Berlin was anything but standard, or so Alicia's team would soon find out. A loud bell began ringing throughout the city, making all military personnel aware of an incoming airship, one bearing the flag of the German Resistance as it began to quickly descend.

It was more of a sky armada, the huge galleon of aged wood and brass molding coasting down, visible guns mounted in various places. It was odd to see such a war-capable ship landing in Washington City, at least one that brandished the flag of German Resistance.             

Alicia's attention was captured for a moment by the revolving Gatling guns that were placed near the landing area of the city. They were primitive, not to mention steam powered, but inside of the Guardian Angel where modern technology simply wouldn't work, they were a damn solid line of defense.

“What do you think this is all about?” Calypso asked the group, all of them keeping their eyes on the airship which had landed and was being anchored down.

It was obvious within an instant that this was no ordinary transport. The markings were a bit different, which let the entire group know it wasn't a trade ship. It carried higher ranking officials from the German Resistance. The question each of them pondered was why?

“Who gives a damn. It's just our job to hold their hands and walk them into the command center.” Alicia replied, G breaking his stare to watch four airships bearing the United States Resistance flag take flight.

After the initial invasion, the United States of America simply became known as the Resistance. Rightfully so, the flag had been redesigned to fit the times. Every faction which had dedicated itself to the fight against Ancients, had the same design. A white flag with a single, large star on its middle. The star contained a reminder of the country or area that once was. In this case, the large star contained stripes of red, white and blue.

It had been designed that way for a single reason. Unity. It symbolized a single cause, or star, against the Ancients. The Germans had placed the colors of their original flag into the star of their Resistance flag, and other factions, smaller factions who had sided with the Resistance, had used the same design as well, placing their own colors inside of the star.

No matter a soldier's country, origin or current mission, he or she could be sure of one thing. When a single-star flag was nearby, it was a place which shared a common goal. Defeating the Ancients at all costs.

And so the airships took flight, none of them heading into the direction of Berlin, which meant they were either being dispatched to trade for needed supplies or to recruit new soldiers in the war against the Ancients.

Nearly a dozen heavily armed soldiers were first to exit the German Resistance marked air fortress, fully uniformed as they stepped cautiously from the stained wooden deck of the ship onto the hard pavement of the landing zone.

It was a huge area, formerly a parking lot that was set up near what had once been a large outdoor sports stadium. Back before hunting Ancients for the survival of the Human race had become the one and only sport that mattered. As the soldiers looked thoroughly across the surroundings, they motioned for the remainder of the passengers to join them.

“Must be pretty damn important for them to arrive with such a large security detail.” G muttered.

“Must be.” Alicia agreed.

He was right, normally an escort group consisted of only two soldiers. The idea was, if you ran across a group of Ancients, you were more than likely dead anyway. So large of an escort meant that the Germans wanted whoever was aboard the airship to damn well arrive in good condition.

When Nadia Jacobson first exited the ship, Alicia's group stood speechless. Tight black military grade pants topped off her solid gray shirt. Their full attention began to shift to her brilliant blonde hair as Nadia casually stepped onto the blacktop. Her lipstick a darker red tint, seemingly shimmering in only the faint light of day as she glanced into the direction of Alicia's group for a moment before turning back to watch her companions.

Preacher was the next to find his footing on solid ground. Alfons Scheper was anything but a holy man, earning his name from the large, Heaven-Six model sniper rifle that he chose to wield.