by Alex Siegel
"It's Stony!" he yelled. "Let us out!"
The door opened. A squad of PEA agents in full body armor was waiting on the other side. They carried a mix of tranquilizer guns, glue guns, beanbag launchers, and normal guns that shot bullets. Stony wasn't taking any chances. Diana would have an armed escort during her tour of the facility.
They began walking. The interrogation section was in an underground part of headquarters. The corridors formed a maze of white walls and bright fluorescent lights. There were no signs anywhere, no indication of which way led out. An escaped prisoner would quickly get lost and become trapped in a dead end.
Stony knew the way though, and after making several turns, he guided the group through a long tunnel to the prison. It was a separate building north of headquarters, but the only way to get inside was through the tunnel.
"You mentioned you were also interrogated," Diana said softly. "What did you mean?"
"I once worked for a demon," Stony said, "and so did Mia. But let me back up and explain the structure of the PEA. There are four operational divisions. The first and largest consists of federal agents, ordinary humans with ordinary capabilities. They do all the tedious grunt work during investigations. The second division consists of priests and ministers. They received special training in the best ways to dispel supernatural evil. They specialize in exorcisms."
"What about the third division?"
"That's us, and there are only five members. We served Hell before we flipped sides. We betrayed Satan. Now we're the monsters who fight the monsters."
"Oh." Diana's eyes brightened. "That's how you got your powers."
"Exactly. They were given by a demon. Mia and I were brought here in chains and interrogated, just like you. We suffered all the horrors the PEA could throw at us. In my case, it took months of pure misery before I saw the light. I was very stubborn. I'm hoping you're smarter than that."
She looked down with a thoughtful expression.
The group arrived at a security checkpoint. Stony maintained a firm grip on Diana even while his eyes and hands were being scanned. She hadn't tried anything tricky yet, but he was ready.
After passing through the checkpoint, they began climbing a long staircase.
"You said there are four divisions," Diana said. "What is the fourth?"
"That division has only one member," Stony said. "If you behave, you'll meet him when this tour is over."
"Is he very special?"
"You could say that. The reason we're talking is because he saw something he liked in you."
The group emerged onto a balcony overlooking the floor of the PEA prison. The prison was a single, enormous room, big enough to serve as a hangar for several jumbo jets. Guards with sniper rifles walked on suspended catwalks, and they could see everything. No walls blocked their view. Cameras and automatic gun turrets hung from the ceiling at regular intervals. The lights were bright, and they never turned off. Silver crucifixes were everywhere.
Stony clenched his jaw. Seeing the prison again brought back ugly memories.
"I see guards," Diana said, "but I don't see any prisoners."
"Look in the pits." Mia pointed at the floor.
Two hundred circular pits formed a regular grid in the floor. Each pit was about eight feet wide at top and twenty deep. The sides sloped so they were a little wider at the bottom. Steel grills covered the tops of the pits in most cases, but air-tight sheets of plastic sealed a few.
"The prisoners are stuck in the ground?" Diana said in a horrified tone.
"In total isolation for the rest of their lives," Stony said. "Come. Let's meet a few of my old adversaries."
Stony, Mia, and Diana rode a lift down to ground level. The lift hung from the ceiling, so when it was in a raised position, nothing could be climbed. As soon as they stepped off, the lift went back up. The armed escort of agents remained on the balcony. Regular agents couldn't come down to the floor except in an emergency.
Stony let go of Diana's wrist. She had nowhere to run, and if she tried, the gun turrets would cut her down.
"The prisoners never leave the pits?" she said.
"Never," Mia said.
"What do they eat?"
"A faucet supplies liquid food in measured quantities." Mia curled her lip. "It tastes like chalk."
"You were really a prisoner here?" Diana said with wide eyes.
"Yes. Like Stony, I was stubborn and loud. They made me wear a steel bucket over my head until I finally shut up."
Stony led the two women to a particular pit. He looked down through the grill and saw a man lying on a thin, filthy mattress. He wore just a loincloth, so nothing hid his hundreds of colorful tattoos. Pictures of snakes, guns, cars, skulls, and knives covered every inch of his skin, including his face. The tattoos slowly moved around as if flowing in water.
Stony kicked the grill to produce a loud clang. "Hey, Max! How's it going?"
The man looked up from his bed. "Stony and Miasma." His voice dripped with hatred. "Who is the pretty girl?"
"Oh, that's Diana," Stony said.
"Send her down." Max licked his lips. "I'll show her a good time."
"I don't think so. I'm curious. What do you do all day?"
"Think about revenge."
"Sounds monotonous," Stony said. "Do you know what I do when I'm bored? Eat tasty food, catch an occasional movie, and have sex with Mia. The next time I'm screwing her, I'll think of you and give her an extra special thrust." He rotated his hips suggestively.
Diana looked at him with a speculative expression.
Max jumped out of bed. "I'll kill you, motherfucker!" he screamed. "I'll rip you apart! I'll have your liver for dinner!"
"No." Stony smiled. "You'll die of old age in that stinking hole if you don't find a way to kill yourself first. I suggest bashing your skull against the wall. Others have tried that successfully."
He walked off as Max continued to yell empty threats. Mia and Diana followed.
"That was fun," Mia said with a wicked smile.
"I thought so," Stony said.
He led the way across the prison floor to another pit. It held an old woman wearing rags. Brittle, gray hair hung down to her waist. She had lost her teeth, and her mouth had an odd shape as a result. Deep lines crisscrossed her face.
"Who is that old hag?" Diana said.
"Be more respectful," Mia said. "She was a supermodel named Ambrosia."
"Huh? But she was one of the most beautiful women in the world! Then she disappeared...."
Ambrosia looked up from the floor of her cell. "I was the most beautiful woman in the world," she croaked.
"Not anymore," Mia said. "Tell your tale to my young, impressionable friend here."
Ambrosia clamped her mouth shut.
"Don't be difficult," Mia said. "You have a problem with spiders, right? It would be a shame if a few hundred were released in your cell."
"You wouldn't!"
Mia smiled in a particularly nasty way.
"OK!" Ambrosia said. "I cut a deal with a demon. He made me exquisitely beautiful."
"And what did you have to do to retain your beauty?"
"Bathe in the blood of virgins."
"I don't see a lot of blood down there," Mia said, "virgin or otherwise. You're aging at like fifty times the normal rate. Must suck."
"You bitch!" Ambrosia screamed. "I should've killed you when I had the chance."
"You never had that chance. I was always one step ahead of you. Enjoy your retirement!"
Ambrosia screeched.
Stony led Mia and Diana to another pit. A very thick sheet of plastic covered the opening, but an intercom allowed communication with the prisoner below.
Stony looked down. A withered, old man with deathly white skin was standing there. He had long fangs and steeply arched eyebrows. The only furniture was a coffin filled with dirt.
"Is that a real vampire?" Diana whispered.
Stony nodded. "He was very powerful, a real pai
n-in-the-ass to capture."
The vampire noticed the visitors and looked up. "Stony," he said in a thin, scratchy voice.
"What's wrong with you? You're not looking so good."
"They're feeding me rat blood... and not enough of it."
"What a shame." Stony shook his head in mock sadness. "But I suppose you should feel lucky their feeding you at all. We normally just destroy vampires. A nice, thick stake through the heart does the trick." He pretended to stab himself in the heart. "Maybe the PEA is keeping you around because we like to see you suffer."
"How dare you disrespect me!" the vampire said. "I am Ferdinand the Terrible! The Terror of Dubasari! Villagers whisper my name as a curse."
"You're right. A famous monster like you shouldn't have to suck rat blood. I'll ask the PEA to upgrade your diet."
"You will?"
"Of course." Stony smiled. "You shall dine on mashed flies and cockroaches tonight!"
"No! I will rip out your heart..."
Stony walked off with Mia and Diana a step behind.
"This is too much fun," Mia said, "but maybe we should get down to business."
"Sure," Stony said.
He walked over to an open pit. A ladder was leaning against the side and sticking out the top.
"Climb down," he ordered Diana.
"Huh?" She looked at him with a confused expression. "Why?"
"Just do it... or I'll throw you down."
She backed away, and fur sprouted across her face.
"See those guys?" Stony pointed to the guards on the catwalks. "They have sniper rifles, and there is no cover in this prison. I just have to give the word, and your brains will become a splatter pattern on the floor. Now climb down!"
Diana looked at the guards for a moment. Then she meekly climbed down the ladder and hopped onto the floor at the bottom of the pit. Stony pulled out the ladder, trapping her below. She stared up at him anxiously.
"Cozy?" he said.
"Not really," she said in an uncertain voice.
"Get used to it. That's your home for the rest of your life. It has your name on it."
She swallowed. "But...."
"Don't complain," Stony said. "You're guilty of terrible crimes. You kidnapped children and participated in unholy rituals."
"Orcus made me! I never had a choice! If I didn't obey, he whipped me, and the collar wouldn't let me run away!"
"You must have quite a bit of evil in you, or a demon would never have given you the power to turn into an animal."
Diana winced. "I may have done some things."
"And you will now pay the price."
"What about you? You told me you served a demon once. You're evil, too!"
"I turned towards the light," Stony said. "I betrayed my infernal masters. I committed myself, body and soul, to the fight for good. That's why I'm up here and you're down there." He put his arm around Mia's shoulders. "She made the same choice. Now it's your turn."
He looked down at Diana and waited for her to reach the obvious conclusion. She knew what was at stake. She had seen and experienced the price of refusing to cooperate.
"Not much of a choice," she said. "A lifetime of imprisonment and torture, or working for the government against my will."
"That's what I thought at first," Stony said, "but once I started the job, I realized it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I get paid to clobber people who deserve clobbering."
She licked her lips. "Maybe I could... turn towards the light," she said softly.
He fought an urge to smile. She still had a long way to go before he could declare victory.
"You want to join the third division?" he said.
"Yeah. Sure."
"Don't be so casual about it. We expect absolute commitment and unwavering loyalty. You will risk your life to protect the innocent. You will follow our rules. You will help us hunt and kill Orcus."
"How can I trust you?" she said. "You could be feeding me a load of bullshit."
"You'll have proof soon enough. Until then, it's a leap of faith. We're the good guys. Believe it."
Diana looked down at the bare concrete floor of her pit. She was thinking about it, and he understood her indecision. She had been through a traumatic experience and didn't know who to trust. Abandoning a way of life and a belief system was hard, even for a slave. She was hoping for an easier way out.
"The demon will come after me," she said. "He'll be very angry."
"We will protect you," Stony said.
"From a demon?"
"If angry demons were a problem for us, I would be dead a hundred times over. I've pissed off more minions of Hell than I can count. Make a decision. Which side do you want to fight for? Evil or good?"
After a long hesitation, Diana said, "Good."
She didn't sound fully committed, and he couldn't trust her anyway. She could easily be lying. He knew very well that old, bad habits were hard to break. He had given her no time to adjust to life without her collar. It was likely she was just playing him and hoping for an opportunity to escape later.
Regardless of her current motives, her recruitment couldn't wait. He needed her immediate help with catching Orcus. Stony just had to hope that she had the intelligence and wisdom to reorient herself in minutes instead of weeks or months. So far, the signs were encouraging.
He lowered the ladder into the pit. She eagerly climbed out as soon as the ladder touched the ground. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was back on the surface.
Diana looked at the other pits. "Does every prisoner get the option of joining the third division?"
"No." Stony shook his head. "Very few. Perhaps one in a hundred. In fact, we simply kill most of our enemies. We only keep the ones who might still have valuable information for us, and they spend the rest of their lives in the pits."
"But not me. What makes me special?"
"You were... judged worthy."
She cocked her head. "By who?"
"The entity you're about to meet."
Chapter Five
Stony was holding Diana's wrist again. They had left the prison section with its overwhelming security, and he was worried she might try something foolish. He knew she was still looking for a way out of this situation, any way out. Survival and freedom were her main objectives. She was fidgeting and glancing in all directions.
They were on the eleventh floor of headquarters, otherwise known as the "executive" floor. The most senior managers in the agency had their offices here, including Director Robertson. The lighting fixtures had a brass finish, or at least a fake brass finish. Pale blue carpet muffled Stony's footsteps. Some of the hallways featured decorative plastic plants. The wooden office doors had nameplates on the outside.
Mia was holding Diana's other wrist. Nobody else would notice, but Stony could tell Mia was on edge. She also knew that Diana could try to run at any moment.
An armed escort followed them as insurance.
The group finally came to a white door in the center of the floor. Stony was about to knock when he heard Rathanael's voice.
"Come in," the angel said.
Stony, Diana, and Mia entered the office. Their escort remained in the hallway and stood guard.
Other members of the third division were already waiting in Rathanael's office. Stony nodded to Brian and Veronica. Stony wanted Kane to be part of this very important meeting, but he was probably in surgery for his leg. Ace's absence also caused Stony to feel a painful stab of grief and loss.
Director Robertson wasn't present either. Ordinary humans weren't invited to initiation ceremonies. He would be told of the outcome.
Veronica glared at Diana with open hostility. Even though Diana wasn't directly responsible for Ace's death, she was guilty by association. That will take some smoothing over, Stony thought.
The office was a perfect cube with white walls, a white ceiling, and a white floor. Whenever Stony entered, he had the feeling of walking into a cloud. Rathanael had a wh
ite desk and a chair, although Stony had never seen him use it. There was no other furniture or decorations. The desk was perfectly clean without any papers or a computer. The angel had nothing to do in his office except contemplate the world.
Rathanael was leaning against his desk with his arms crossed. He had set aside his trench coat so his beautiful white wings could unfold. They looked like the wings of a dove except a hundred times bigger. He still wore his loose black tie though, forming a vertical black stripe against a white field. He chewed noisily on a big wad of bubble gum.
"You're a real angel!" Diana said, staring in wonder.
"Obviously," he replied in a curt tone.
Stony closed the office door and locked it.
"His name is Rathanael," he said. "He's the boss around here. These other two people are Veronica and Brian, also members of the third division."
Diana smiled politely, but the expression looked forced. "Glad to meet you." She offered her hand.
Brian gave Diana's hand a quick, perfunctory shake. Veronica just watched coldly.
"What are your powers?" Diana said.
"I'm an assassin," Brian said without bothering to elaborate.
Stony knew that single word hardly did justice to Brian's extraordinary skills. He was one of the top assassins in the world. He could sneak past the toughest security and kill silently.
Veronica remained silent, and Stony decided that was probably best in this case. She was a living lie detector. If Diana told a falsehood, Veronica would know it.
"Let's just get down to business," Rathanael said. "Do you understand why you're here?"
"I think so," Diana said. "Stony told me I could get out of being tortured and imprisoned by joining your team."
Stony frowned. She could've phrased that response in a more positive way.
"That's true," Rathanael said, "but you didn't really answer the question. You're here to swear loyalty to Heaven, to dedicate your body and soul to fighting for the Lord. You're going to set aside your sinful ways and adopt a life of righteousness."
"Sure, if that's what you need me to do."
The angel sighed. He walked over to Diana and put his hands on her shoulders. His eyes glowed white as he stared at her. Stony imagined the angel was examining her soul.