“Yes. I think the pod must have malfunctioned with the three of us on it, so it sent us here.”
“Wait. There were only two of us.”
“Umm…no. That’s where it gets funnier, actually,” Ace stammered. “You teleported to the house with Alex.”
“Are you joking?”
“No. You pulled the three of us onto the pod. When we landed here in Dublin, you were unconscious. Alex and I got into an altercation in their angel transport room. He was restrained and is in custody.”
“Oh no. This can’t be happening,” I said softly, rubbing my face.
“I spoke with Rider and Stella last night. They all made it back to L.A. Glinda was slightly injured because they were attacked when leaving the tunnels. But they’re safe. Terredome was utterly leveled and General Matthews’ army is searching for Sato’s body as we speak.”
“You said last night. How long have I been out?”
“Close to twelve hours. It’s 9am here.”
“Oh. I’m glad everyone is safe.”
“Well sort of.”
“What?”
“While we were in Terredome, something bad happened at the LARF. Fly’s son was kidnapped by the odd blonde-haired woman. Victoria had been watching him when the woman drove through the lobby. The car damaged everything in the hall. She snatched Gadget, got into her car, and took off.”
“Oh my…oh no,” I said, hopping off of the bed. “Did they follow her?”
“It all happened so fast and no one else was in the lobby. Victoria tried to fly after her, but was pierced by a poisonous dart. She’s recovering and should be fine in a few days. But they finally know who she is.”
“And?”
“You may or may not know her. I can’t remember the name Rider mentioned, but everyone in L.A. is trying to find how’s she’s connected to all of this.”
“We need to get back to L.A. right now,” I said firmly. I stood and started making my way towards the door.
“We can’t quite yet,” replied Ace.
“Why not?” I paused.
“While they were taking Alex into custody, he ingested a liquid that was hidden in a capsule inside of his mouth. Since yesterday, he has been growing larger in size. His wings are enormous and are dark red now. His teeth transformed into pointed fangs and his nails are like claws.”
“Do you think he’s a threat to the city by being here?”
“Yes. That’s exactly why we can’t leave right now. An ATS pod is being set up near his cage. They would like us to transport him back to L.A. Rider and Stella are building a holding cell for him now. He will be executed once he’s back.”
“Can’t they execute him here?”
“They tried. They’ve been trying all night. Whatever he took, it has thickened his skin, making it impervious to any weapons they have here.”
“What do Rider and Stella have in mind then?”
“Execution by incendiary. Some type of contained explosion, I believe.”
“Well it better work, and fast. How soon can we leave?”
“The pod will be ready in an hour. You should probably eat before we take off.”
Ace guided me out of the room and we left the building. It felt like years had passed since I had roamed through bustling city streets. Everything sounded loud and no other angels were in sight.
“Wait. We can’t be out here. People will see our wings.”
“They can’t unless they’re an Espial, remember?”
“Oh right.”
I had grown accustomed to everyone being able to see me for what I truly was. Walking the narrow streets of Dublin, I mostly blended in. People walked in and out of stores and pubs, laughing and enjoying the end of summer. Slightly humid and muggy out, we walked into a nearby pub just as rain began to fall. Inside was dimly lit, yet felt cozy. We ordered potato and corned beef dishes, served with pints of ale. The pain in my left hand had mostly faded and I could feel the strength returning to my body as I ate. Ace was famished as well, shoveling large forkfuls of food into his mouth.
“He was planning everything all along.”
“I suspected that might be the case,” nodded Ace.
“I think a part of me hoped that he wasn’t always bad. But I was just fooling myself.”
“Don’t worry. He will be begging you for mercy when we get back to L.A.”
“He shouldn’t waste his breath because his kind of evil has no place in this world.”
Ace nodded and went back to his plate. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. I felt so different compared to several months earlier. What seemed like so long ago, I was worried about something going wrong during my Oculation procedure. All of a sudden, I was the descendant of an arch angel, fighting alongside angel warriors in an effort to protect mankind. We got up and left the pub after satisfying our hunger. As we approached the Dublin angel center, I paused and looked up at the sky. It was drizzling and the cool water felt good on my face.
#
We still had roughly twenty minutes before the pod would be ready. The Irish angels took time showing me around their facility while Ace sat in the lobby, sharpening his invisible arrows. Smaller than both the ARC and LARF centers, they explained that while they were familiar with Sato’s evil plans, he had yet to travel overseas. Therefore, they saw no need in expanding their central intelligence or weaponry. The Irish base, known as the Ireland Angel Center, had no combat training room. Its defense department only consisted of a single computer in a tiny room. From what we were told, the small building only contained three launch pads. Upon arriving in their ATS room, I saw the pod that I had arrived on with Ace and Alex. It was dented and had scuff marks all around it from where Ace and Alex had fought. The other two pods were pristine.
“When was the last time anyone transported?” I asked Seamus, the head of defense.
“It has been several decades,” he replied. His Irish accent was thick. His dark brown hair had shimmery specks of gold. His green eyes were kind and they matched his emerald wings. “We don’t really have a need to leave here.”
“Not even to network with other angel facilities?”
“Why should we? No one helped us after the war. We’ve decided it’s best to look out for ourselves.”
“But Sato didn’t care about who helped who during the war. He single-handedly destroyed the entire planet by detonating the nuclear reactor.”
“That was not our problem. And now that he’s dead, it will never affect us again. None of it matters anymore. He’s gone and the world can continue on as it did before.”
I shook my head in frustration. “I don’t think you understand that Sato’s presence has little to do with the fact that you’ve isolated yourselves when you could have had help all along.” Seeing that I couldn’t change his mind, I switched gears. “Did a lot of you survive the GWW?”
“I think that’s a question better suited for your leader, Rider, to address.”
“Why do you say that?”
He turned away from me and turned on a tablet resting on a small desk. It was clear he wouldn’t answer my question. I tried a different approach.
“Do you know how we ended up here?”
Seamus shrugged. “I really don’t know. That’s a problem on your departing end, not our receiving end.” The tablet opened a visual messaging program. “It’s going to connect you to Los Angeles,” he said, motioning me to move closer. After a quick beep, Rider’s face appeared on the screen.
“Sol, are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes I’m fine. How’s my mom?”
“We have her in hiding here are the ARC. She’s fine and knows that you are safe.”
“Ok good. How are Div and Glinda?”
“Div is the same like always. Happy that we destroyed Terredome and the CEB. Glinda is still a little shaken from the tunnel attack, but she’s recuperating and will be back to normal in a day or two. Div is overseeing her treatment.”
“Ace
and I will be back shortly, so I will make sure to check in on her first thing. And Luke?”
“Luke’s well. He too is in hiding.”
“Ok great,” I sighed, thankful that everyone was safe.
“I know we have much to catch up on when you arrive, but is there anything vital that Sato said when you were in his office? We could not make out anything he said using Fly’s vocal recognition software.”
“Well Alex is seventy, not seventeen. And they’ve taken the citizens of Terredome to begin feeding off of their blood. The smell was horrid. I think that he’s trying to harvest human blood as a resource to live off.”
“That would make sense. His goal to rule mankind can only be achieved if humans are in a weakened state. It’s possible that it’s also the only thing he’d be able to satisfy his demon army with.”
“Exactly.”
“One last question, Sol.”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember anyone by the name of Jeze DeMonica?”
My heart stopped in my chest. “Yes, why?”
“Luke was reviewing the security footage of the kidnapping of Gadget with me. He identified the woman as Jeze DeMonica. He said that the three of you went to school together?”
“We did. Don’t you remember?”
“That’s the problem. We’ve never had a student named Jeze DeMonica in school records. As the principal, I do recognize her face, but I do not know this person based her name, or based on the records on file for the school.”
“So a random girl had been roaming the halls and attending classes, yet no one questioned who she was. How on earth is she involved in something like this?”
“After some research using facial recognition software, it seems her family is distant relatives of Sato. Her uncle, who’s a cousin of his, is the mayor of a city near Terredome.”
“And?”
“And after the incident in the ARC, his city was overrun by rebels who refused to succumb to his quest for human enslavement. Word of what happened at the ARC seems to have spread. Cities across the land are beginning to rebel against Sato’s regimes.”
“So that’s why she came looking for me. Jeze blames me.”
“That’s what we believe.”
Seamus cleared his throat. When I looked over, he pointed at the door. “Rider, they’re summoning me to go.”
“Alright, Sol. See you shortly.”
I followed Seamus and two other angels down a flight of stairs and into a crypt. I made up my mind to not let Rider’s update affect either my thinking or my emotions. In each tomb sat bones of various creatures, still connected to shackles. From the opposite end of the room, I heard growls and rattling chains. We approached the locked gate in front of the last tomb and I saw a large beast with red wings trying to pull the chains off of the wall. Alex had grown both larger and taller. His hair was now flaming red like his father’s, with matching wings. He turned and snarled when he saw me, baring his teeth.
“Ready to die?” I asked him.
He growled and lunged forward. His body snapped back when the chains restrained him from coming closer to the gate. I watched as one of the angels opened the gate and I stepped in. I removed my sais from my back and pointed them at him while they set up the portable pod in the tomb. Ace came over and held up his bow. Lights around the pod’s base began blinking.
“You are all set for transport,” said one of the angels.
“Thank you,” said Ace.
The angels carefully moved forward and brought Alex’s arms to his back, where they tightened new shackles around his wrists and ankles. They disengaged the ones holding him to the wall and moved him onto the pod. Ace and I stood on the pod at his sides.
“Let’s go ensure that Alex meets his just deserves,” I said with a grin to Ace.
He smirked back and I held myself steady as we twinkled, then disappeared.
*
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