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the-gravestone-saga · 2 years

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Chapter 5: The Radio Tower

Angel Fallen: The Chronicles of the Legion has been canned and will no longer be updated

It was well past midday when Rudra and her allies arrived at the abandoned radio tower. The sun had dipped in the sky and was hovering just above the horizon, casting everything in a distinct golden glow as the evening hours crept along the bustling city of Evo. The long shadows being cast enveloped the radio tower, covering it in darkness that concealed crucial exits and entrances where any number of Judgment’s lackeys could be hiding within.

Rudra and her allies had climbed the scaffolding that surrounded the lower station and were perched at the very top, carefully examining the building for any signs of movement. Anita’s terrifying attack drones hovered in the air, suspended high above the radio tower to stay out of sight. The radio station was deathly quiet, and the tower itself creaked and groaned like a dying tree left out to bake in the sun. Despite the eerie absence of life, Rudra could feel someone lurking inside the abandoned station, plotting away in gloom and dust.

“Anita, are the drones picking up anything?” Rudra asked, her eyes glued to the radio station.

“Not really. I could fire at the building and see if anyone shoots back.”

“Hold off on that,” Rudra replied. “Shadiel won’t just give his position away like that. He doesn’t know you put a tracker on him and he certainly won’t know we’re here until we show ourselves. As far as he’s concerned, he has all the time in the world to broadcast that signal uninterrupted.”

“Do you want a Disruptor? It messes with the senses and removes what the user doesn’t want them to perceive.”

“Will it work from this height?”

“If we use it from the tower itself, but it’ll heat up considerably.”

“Wouldn’t you need a direct shot of Shadiel to even use it?” Larimar asked.

“Nah, it runs on a new frequency. Combines radio waves with brain waves. That said, if I use it on too many people, you’ll only have so much time to do what you need to do before it’ll start... messing up.”

Larimar shot Anita a worried look. “What do you mean it’ll start messing up?”

“Distort the area around them, show the hidden things as twistedly deformed variations, possibly knock out a sense or two entirely until it loses power or overheats. You know, the usual stuff.”

“I’m fucking sorry!?” Noir gaped, staring at Anita in shock.

“...on second thought, let's not use the Disruptor,” Rudra said curtly.

“You’re the boss,” Anita shrugged.

Rudra thought for a moment, intently watching the radio station below when an idea crossed her mind. “We'll need to know where they’re hiding in order to intervene. Ofia? Can you get a look inside with your rings?”

Ofia wordlessly slipped off one of the many cuffs on her arm and spun it around in her hand, showing off the many eyes that were embedded into the gold, much to Noir’s surprise and Anita’s intrigue. “What kind of Ophan would I be if I didn’t have eyes everywhere?” She asked with a cheeky grin.

“Send some inside the station and tell me what you see. But don’t let Shadiel or his goons see them.”

“You got it, boss.” Ofia extended her arms straight out with her palms facing down. The rings slid off her arms on their own and hovered in the air in front of her. Dozens of eyes opened up on the rings and gazed back at Ofia with their piercing, glossy stares.

“...I am going to steal and/or study the sh*t out of that thing if I get the chance,” Anita gaped, staring at the living rings like a gleeful child.

“Good luck with that. These rings have quite the temper,” Ofia replied bluntly. She raised her hands and held her palms out to the rings and began to draw sigils in the air in front of her, tracing them with golden light. The rings stared blankly at the sigils she drew, gleaning information from them that was lost on Ofia’s company.

“...The hell is she doing?” Noir asked, quite lost as she watched Ofia create the unusual symbols.

“Giving the rings instructions,” Rudra answered. “Her rings are strange. They can only understand the ancient angel language.”

“...Then why doesn’t she just tell them in that language?”

“She can’t - for your safety, of course. Humans can never be permitted to hear the tongue of angels. If you did, your heads would explode under the weight of ancient words that mortals are forbidden to hear.”

Anita’s grin widened at the morbid information. “If I could figure out a way to translate your angelic language in a way we humans could understand, imagine the possibilities!”

“That’s a big ‘if,’ Anita,” Ofia responded, summoning a screen of golden symbols. “Have you ever translated a divine language before?”

“Not yet. No divine entities have ever let me study their languages. No idea why.”

“Short answer: the Disruptor exists,” Noir answered dryly.

“The malfunctions aren’t even my f- okay, yeah they are, but only by accident!”

“How many of your inventions have malfunctioned?” Rudra asked.

“During testing or during actual field use?”

“Both.”

Anita gave an awkward cough in response. “On the field, I think 15. In testing... like, at least 50.”

Rudra glanced up at the battle drones hovering above them. “Please tell me those things won’t malfunction.”

“Nah, I tested them and fixed them a bunch of times. If they do malfunction, though, the explosion should take a few hostiles with ‘em.”

“Right. I-”

The conversation was abruptly interrupted when the air rang like a bell, and turning to Ofia revealed that she had finished giving the rings their commands. The golden sigils retracted back into her hands and blinked out of existence. The blank expression in the eyes of the rings had disappeared and the living circlets stood in attention. Ofia leaned forward and whispered something unintelligible to the rings and the circlets darted off towards the station, finding their way inside the abandoned building through any entrance they could find.

“There, I’ve given them the order to search the station and stay out of sight. We should know where Shadiel is hiding soon.” Ofia sat down on the rickety scaffolding and lowered her head, humming quietly to herself as images of the interior of the station flashed before her eyes. Everything the rings saw, she could see as well.

“This is so weird. So, are the rings a part of her, or…?” Noir trailed off, at a loss for words.

“It’s a gray area,” Rudra shrugged. “She’s an Ophan, which is a class of Throne. Thrones have always been among the strangest of angels, even compared to us Seraphs. As a result, it’s hard to tell what is and isn’t part of her body. Her real form is a set of flaming wheels with thousands of eyes on them and it’s even harder to tell what is and what isn’t part of her in that form.”

“...I want to see that form.”

“Trust me, you don’t. There’s a reason we used to say ‘be not afraid’ when we greeted mortals in our true forms,” Rudra said.

“How bad can it be?”

“The last time I showed my true form to a mortal, they ran away screaming,” Ofia answered dryly.

“D*mn. That ugly, huh?” Anita winced.

“More like so unbelievably terrifying that even the most stone-faced mortal would run for the hills,” Larimar remarked.

“Eh, can’t be that bad. Just have Noir cover her eyes.”

“Even if I did show you my true form, I can’t do it right now. My real form is so damn flashy that Shadiel would see it from a mile away. Again, I look like a bunch of giant, flaming, spinning wheels.”

“Eh, okay. I can wait.”

“What do you look like in your true form?” Noir asked, turning to Rudra.

“Like several pairs of wings with thousands of eyes.”

“Who made that design choice and why?” Anita asked.

“Deedee did. We just choose the human forms for ourselves.”

“Deedee?”

“It’s what some of us called the Original One,” Rudra said, leaning against the scaffolding rails. “It’s an old nickname.”

“Wait, you told them about the Original One?” Joriel asked, giving Rudra a once-over.

“I had to so they would know what’s going on,” Rudra shrugged. “The Original One gave us our true forms, but we are allowed to choose how we present ourselves to mortals. Although some of us have such strange forms that it can’t fully be contained in a human body,” Rudra explained, motioning to the eyes that covered Larimar’s body - who gave Rudra an unamused glare.

“That sucks,” Noir frowned.

“If it works, it works,” Rudra said simply. “Me and Jori have the most human disguises. Because we are Seraphs, we have enough power and precision to contain our true forms within human bodies.”

“What about the wings?” Noir inquired, poking at Rudra’s feathers.

“We just keep them out for convenience.”

“Huh. I guess that makes sense. I can respect always having a getaway plan. When I was still working for RED, I had to have at least ten different escape plans during every mission I went on. The worst thing a Spy can do is get caught.” Noir sighed wistfully, holding her head in her hands. “But it would’ve been nice to have wings. It would have made my job so much easier.”

“You want me to build you some?”

“...Couldn’t you just make a jetpack?”

“That wouldn’t look as cool. Plus, you can’t weaponize a jetpack, or at least not well.”

“Don’t humans have a bad track record with getting things off the ground?” Rudra questioned.

“We invented planes, didn’t we? Besides, I’m no ordinary human. I’m Dr. Anita James. Impossible and untouchable are words with an expiration date for me.”

Rudra raised an eyebrow at Anita and her crazed grin, which looked like it was about to split the woman’s face open. “...You remind me of someone I used to know.”

“Good guy?”

“Yeah, an old friend. Not around anymore, unfortunately.”

“Aw, I’m sorry,” Noir frowned. “How long ago was it?”

“About 6000 years. It was sometime after the Split. He was obsessed with his inventions and was a brilliant mind…granted, he did nearly blow up Antarctica and he’s the reason echidnas exist,” Rudra said tartly. “And I’m pretty sure he’s the reason that blobfish are…like that.”

“He sounds like my Uncle Phil. Good guy, kinda insane.” Noir frowned. “What was his name?”

“Coeus. Titan of Intellect.”

“Wait, Titan? Like, the Titans from Greek Mythology?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“...what the fuck.”

“Cool! Also, Noir, what’s your uncle’s contact information? I’d like to get in touch with-”

“Done!” Ofia blurted, interrupting Anita. She rose to her feet and turned back to the station. “The rings found him. He’s in there, alright. He’s in the basement and he’s fiddling with some kind of control panel. It looks like he’s using Anita’s tech with it, too.”

“What’s the tech look like?”

“Uh…did you happen to give that agent some kind of black box with a red switch?”

“Yeah. That’s the Persuader. It plays certain frequencies that cause people to carry out commands. Makes evacuations and emergency procedures way easier. I actually have the remote; if someone can get me back to the lab, I can cause it to self-destruct.”

“I can fly you back,” Talon said. “Will you have a way to communicate with us from HECU?”

“Do you guys have cell phones?”

Larimar held up a hand as he dug around in his satchel. “Uh…does this count?” he asked, holding up what looked like a stone tablet. It was roughly the size of a cell phone and had a white gem in place of a screen. “These are Emitter Stones. We used these to communicate with each other when we were in Heaven, but they should work here.”

“How do I operate them?”

“You just have to turn this dial around the gem to turn it on, then it’ll pull up a hologram. Anyone connected to the tablet will appear as a contact. Just click the one you want and you’ll be able to speak to us.”

“Alright. Sounds good!”

“Good thing I brought a spare.” Larimar produced a second Emitter Stone from his bag and handed it to Anita.

“Thanks, man!” Anita pocketed the Emitter Stone and prepared to climb onto Talon’s back, but Ofia quickly grabbed Anita’s arm and stopped her.

“Wait! There’s more things in the room with Shadiel,” she said. “Exactly how much tech did you give that agent?”

“The Persuader and the Town Crier. Why?”

“There’s a third item that Shadiel is using. It looks like a staff of some sort. It’s red at the top, it almost looks like it’s on fire. And there’s a blue gem in the shaft that looks like ice. Did you give him anything like that?”

“Nope, doesn’t ring a bell. But maybe I can study it.”

“I don’t think you’ll ever get the chance. Ofia, can you see what he’s doing with it?” Rudra inquired.

“He’s got it hooked up to the control panel…somehow.”

“Are there any guards in the room?”

“There’s three, and there’s angels guarding most of the entrances. But there is a way in. Noir, you said that the construction crew working here damaged the power supply to this place?”

“Er, yes?” Noir answered.

“They did more damage than they thought. There’s a hole in the ground near the generators that leads down to the basement. We can cut Shadiel off there,” Ofia informed.

“Good. Talon, take Anita back to HECU. We’ll take it from here. Come on.”

“Wait - Hang on, I can’t fly!” Noir squawked, stepping back as Rudra spread her massive wings.

“No need. I’ll just carry you.” Rudra deftly sweeped Noir off her feet and hoisted her into her arms, holding her in a princess carry. Noir yelped and threw her arms around Rudra’s neck as Rudra leapt from the scaffolding, carrying a screaming Noir down with her. The rest of the angels followed soon after, gliding down to the rubble-littered station whilst Talon took off back to HECU with Anita.

Just like Ofia had said, there was a gaping hole in the concrete near the now defunct generators. Large pieces of debris were scattered about it and rebar stuck up from the hole like jagged teeth. Jumping into the pit revealed a broken down and recently deserted utility room. Dust filled the air and sparks occasionally flew from the broken equipment.

When the angels landed, Noir promptly collapsed to the ground in shock. “...Never do that again,” she wheezed, shakily climbing to her feet. “Ugh, I think I spat up my lunch up there…”

“You’ve never had to do anything like that?” Rudra quizzed, raising a brow.

“I had to go bungee jumping during a mission in the Amazon, but that’s hardly the same!” Noir huffed, roughly brushing the dust off her trench coat. She fixed her glasses and her eyes darted around the abandoned utility tunnel. A grimace spread across her face and she quickly pressed her scarf against her mouth to stifle a cough. “Ugh, this place is worse than I thought. How did they screw up the renovations this badly?”

“Hey, it gives us a way in,” Larimar replied. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he stepped forward, and he let out a strained wheeze. The hundreds of eyes on his wings began to shimmer with irritated tears. “Ugh, I hate having so many eyes,” he strained, promptly closing all but two of his eyes to block out the dust.

“You didn’t close them?” Joriel asked dryly.

“Normally, I don’t need to close all my eyes,” Larimar grumbled, shaking dust and grit off his wings.

“I’m so glad I don’t have to worry about that in this form,” Ofia snickered, trotting past Larimar.

“Show-off,” Larimar groused, swiping the air to disperse the dust.

The small group of angels carefully crossed the ruined tunnel and arrived at the exit, which opened up into the rest of the basement. Rudra stuck her head out the door first, then everyone followed suit. The basement appeared empty, save for the distant clacking of boots against tile. Ofia hummed quietly, closing observing the basement through her scattered rings.

“Hmm…Shadiel’s guards are on the move. They’re patrolling the basement, but none of them have gotten close to the utility tunnels. The coast is clear for now. Come on!”

Styna nodded, looking around. “One of the angels here has a sweet cloak,” she commented, pointing to an open side room where a single angel stood. “I’m taking it.”

“Don’t loot if you can’t reliably take them out first,” Skyla replied. “Ofia? Anyone else in that room?”

“Hm…No, it looks like that cloaked angel is the only one in there,” Ofia answered curtly.

“What rank is he?”

“Cherubim. He has a lance and a shield on him,” Ofia said.

“...I’m taking it.”

Rudra let out an exasperated sigh. “Alright, but make it quick. And don’t get caught.”

“Of course,” Styna grinned, her eyes lighting up. She stooped down and quietly scampered out of the utility tunnel and towards the side room. She disappeared into darkness, then a moment later the Cherubim was grabbed from behind and dragged out of view. A few muffled strikes were heard, and the basement fell silent again. A second later, Styna scuttled back to the tunnel with the Cherubim’s cloak in tow.

“See?”

“Less than a minute. That’s gotta be a record,” Larimar remarked.

“Mom taught me a few moves,” Styna answered, throwing the black cloak over her shoulders.

Rudra leaned against the doorway and closely examined the rest of the basement, carefully searching the darkness for any hidden angels. “Alright, Noir, now’s the time to put those spy skills to use. I need you to-” Rudra turned around as she spoke, expecting to see Noir waiting behind her - so imagine her surprise to see that the woman was nowhere in sight. “What the - where did she go!?” she exclaimed, her eyes quickly darting around the tunnels.

“Guess she’s not a spy for no reason,” Joriel remarked.

“I guess that’s our cue,” Rudra sighed. “Noir, I hope you know what you’re doing…Ofia, lead the way.”

Ofia nodded and hurriedly fled the utility tunnel, leading the angels into the basement proper as she followed the trail of floating rings. The basement was far more expansive than the exterior of the station implied, and it stretched out into numerous utility tunnels that were scattered across the flat. It was nearly pitch black, concealing the angels in almost complete darkness as they rushed after Ofia through winding halls and piles of hazardous debris, narrowly avoiding detection from the enemy angels that patrolled the gloomy basement.

After what felt like hours stumbling around in the ill-lit basement, Ofia finally stopped dead in her tracks as though she had been stunned. She extended a hand as the final ring returned to her arm, then she ducked behind a crumbling wall and motioned for the other angels to join her.

“What’s going on? Why did you stop?” Skyla whispered, peering at Ofia.

“The trail stops here,” Ofia whispered back. “They found Shadiel. He’s right around the corner.”

Rudra’s lustrous pupils flared and she carefully gripped the crumbling wall. She silently gestured for the angels to move before gradually shuffling to the edge of the wall, mindful of where her steps fell on the debris-ridden ground. Steadily, she poked her head out around the corner and peered into the room beside her. A dim blue light shone from the room, and she could faintly make out a silhouette standing before the source of the light. A series of computers flashed and blinked like strobe lights, and the figure’s hands moved over the keyboard with such ease that it appeared he had done it a thousand times before. The man stood before the blinking monitor’s in a daze, his attention glued to the screens as though he were entranced.

Rudra immediately recognized the looming figure, and an all too familiar sense of rage boiled in her chest. Oh, Shadiel. How she detested that pathetic angel. So many awful memories of this angel blazed through her mind. A loathsome Seraph driven by greed and a wanton desire for power. He was reckless in his pursuits, guiding many of his fellow angels to disaster in his blind race to achieve Judgment’s favor. So much willful malice and gross negligence for the good word of an equally vile deity. Rudra had seen him create so much destruction in his mindless pursuit of meaningless status, annihilating angels and mortals alike as he built horrific machines that served no other purpose than to quench Judgment’s thirst for blood, a thirst so intense that it could only be satiated by the most powerful weapons ever conceived by angel-kind.

The reckless cruelty of Shadiel’s pursuits made Rudra’s blood boil. The memories of those detestable machines were still fresh in her mind, and she could still hear the gnashing and wailing of angels that were subjected to Shadiel’s destructive whims. And now here he was on Earth, standing over a computer with stolen inventions from Anita, gleefully preparing to subject humanity to the same callous experiments Rudra had bore witness to in Heaven for thousands of years. It was utterly disgusting.

Her jaw clenched at the memories and she gripped the fragmenting wall so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She picked out the three items that Shadiel had hooked up to the console. The Persuader and Town Crier were plugged into the monitors as Ofia had said, as was a glowing red scepter that stood against the wall next to Shadiel. A few cables awkwardly connected the scepter to the console, and the air seemed to buzz around the blade that was affixed to the end of the staff.

Rudra carefully wrapped her hand around the hilt of her sword and began to slide it out of its scabbard when a fleeting movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Gazing into the darkness, Rudra was stunned to see Noir huddled down in the shadows, barely visible in the dimly lit room. Noir locked eyes with Rudra and gave her the signal to wait. Rudra sucked in breath, but sheathed her sword, trusting Noir with whatever she was about to do.

Noir lowered herself to the floor and slowly crawled her way to the console, moving through the shadows as though she had lived in them her entire life. When she came to the console, she steadily crawled underneath Shadiel and under the desk that the computers rested on, leaving Shadiel none the wiser. The angels all watched in amazed silence as Noir pulled some wires from the wall and meticulously began to cut them one by one, gradually pulling the power from the computers.

“Sabotage,” Rudra whispered, a chuckle in her voice. That’s why Noir had disappeared. Nothing threw off an enemy more than ruining their plans while they remained completely oblivious to their enemy’s presence, and Noir was a master of sabotage.

Rudra pulled back behind the wall again and pulled out her Emitter Stone. Turning it on, she quickly contacted Anita. “Anita, we’ve got Shadiel. Noir’s disabling his equipment now. I’ll give you the signal to destroy the tech you gave him.”

“Sure thing!”

Rudra exhaled sharply and looked around the corner once again. Noir had disconnected numerous wires and had slashed countless cables, leaving them uselessly hanging from underneath the desk. The monitors around Shadiel began to glitch and flicker, and one by one began shutting down. It was like watching dominoes fall - once the first monitor was knocked out, the rest came following soon after. Shadiel muttered to himself angrily as the computers lost power and he desperately tried to reboot the console with little success. He let out a shout, then slammed his fists against the desk.

“NO! What is causing this!? The backup generators should have lasted me for at least a week!” he shrieked, seething with anger. “What’s Judgment going to say when he sees this? Ack, I can’t do this job with such flimsy equipment!” Shadiel seized the keyboard and furiously threw it across the room, destroying it in an instant and scattering keys across the tile floor. His gaudy orange eyes flashed like fire and his pale face was screwed up in a scowl. He looked just as insane as Rudra remembered him.

Rudra swiftly ducked back behind the wall again, narrowly avoiding Shadiel’s enraged gaze. The angel took a sharp breath and turned back to the monitors with clenched fists. “No matter, I can still make use of this. At least that moronic scientist gave me something useful,” he groused, roughly unplugging the Persuader and Town Crier from the computers.

Noir hurriedly raised her hand and wildly motioned to Rudra, who swiftly turned her attention back to the Emitter Stone.

“Now, Anita!”

“DID THAT SON OF A B*TCH CALL ME MORONIC-” Anita squawked as the machines blew up in Shadiel’s hands.

Shadiel screamed in pain and shock and staggered back, his hands and arms set alight by the explosions. Pieces of sharp metal were flung from the devices upon their destruction and those bits of shrapnel sliced into Shadiel’s face, drawing a golden liquid from his wounds. He furiously screamed and dropped what little remained of the machines in a burned heap as a string of curses flew from his mouth.

While Shadiel was distracted by pain and fury, Rudra and her angels seized their chane and striked, leaping from the shadows and ambushing the bewildered Shadiel. The first thing he could have possibly registered in the split second it took for the angels to reveal themselves was one of Ofia’s rings slamming directly into his face, throwing him backwards into the computers and through the plaster wall behind them, creating a hole that opened up into a musty and damp room beyond the wall. Noir doved out of the crosshairs and rolled back towards the angels, skillfully landing upright on her feet when she came to a halt.

“You ok?” Rudra questioned, drawing her fearsome blade.

“Never better,” Noir huffed with a grin, fixing her dress. “I’ve had to disconnect microwaves that were more complicated than that!”

Shadiel let out an exasperated cry as he rose from the sparking debris that once made up the radio stations computers, an irate and shocked look on his face. “Gah! What is the meaning of this!?” he shrieked, pulling himself from the rubble. “I demand to know-!”

His words were interrupted by a mortified and strangled gasp. The anger drained from his face so quickly it was damn-near whiplash inducing. His eyes became as wide as dinner plates as his fury was swiftly replaced with surprise. “What? You!? How did you find me!? I thought Judgment got rid of you!”

“Hardly,” Rudra sneered, holding her flaming sword at Shadiel’s chest. “A little fall like that is barely enough to kill a Seraph - I think you know that well. After all, you experimented on every class of angel you could get your hands on before you became an Angel Lord with Tyliel and Raivel.”

“I should’ve known. You were always the stubborn one!” Shadiel hissed, an unhinged fury in his eyes. “You just don’t know when to quit! Even when you were still in Heaven you couldn’t help but intervene in everything I did! Do you have any idea how far you set me back with my inventions!?”

“Good, it means I did my job,” Rudra retorted coldly, advancing on Shadiel. “You know why we’re here, so let’s make this quick. We can do this one of two ways, Shadiel. Either you give us that relic, or we kill you for it,” Rudra said, punctuating each of her words by stabbing the end of her blade against the unhinged angel’s chest, pushing him back inch by inch with every jab.

“I’m not handing the relic over! You know as well as I do that there’s no stopping the Rapture when it comes, so why delay it any longer?”

“I’ll delay it as much as I need to in order to make sure you and Judgment are nothing more than bits of stardust!” Rudra snapped. She stalked over the rumble left behind by the destroyed computers and plaster wall and dropped into the damp room beyond. “When Judgment threw all of those angels down to Earth with me, he made a massive mistake. He made an enemy out of us and we don’t forget easily. Especially when it comes to monsters like you.”

“Hand over the relic, Shadiel! You’re completely outnumbered and you’re not getting out of this easily!” Skyla shouted as she joined Rudra beyond the wall, her hands glowing with elemental energy.

“Like Hell I will!” Shadiel roared, his eyes flashing with divine power. He tried to lunge forward at Rudra, but the Seraph gave a dismissive huff at Shadiel’s posturing and grabbed him by the throat, destroying his momentum and holding him up off the floor at an arm’s length.

“That can be arranged.”

The basement suddenly became suffocatingly hot as Rudra’s entire body was set alight in scarlet flames. The tiles below her bubbled and foamed, and the rubble around her melted down into molten rock. The air itself seemed to boil, shimmering with searing heat. A wall of flames engulfed Rudra and lit up the dark basement in a bright crimson light. All Shadiel could see in front of him was a pillar of fire, but Rudra’s hand remained firmly around his throat. Panic rose in Shadiel’s eyes, watching in horror as Rudra’s arm morphed into a clawed hand, encased in a brimstone gauntlet. The mere touch of Rudra’s hand burned horribly and things only got worse for Shadiel when the flames parted and revealed Rudra’s mortifying new form.

Rudra’s umber skin had turned a dark red: scales replaced her skin and a fiery yellow glow now burned in her eyes like lanterns. A pair of jagged black horns jutted up from her head, curling back like a crown. A line of golden spines started at her forehead and went down the length of her neck and back, extending down towards a newly formed tail that whipped back and forth. Rudra’s pearly wings had morphed into a pair of mighty crimson wings that were covered in serrated blades. Her armor had turned pitch black, save for the nightmarish glow of Hellfire that burned through the chinks in the armor. In the middle of her chest, a crack had split open from which hellish flames spouted, and the fire burned so hot it scorched Shadiel’s skin. She was wholly, utterly terrifying.

Fire built up in Rudra’s mouth and she blasted Shadiel with pure condensed Hellfire, sending him careening through the musty basement and into the wall, burning plaster and wood to ash.

“HOLY SHIT!” Noir screamed, completely shocked by what she had just seen. “YOU JUST TURNED INTO A DEMON AND BLASTED THAT GUY WITH A FIREBALL! WHAT THE HELL-”

“Get the relic! I’ll deal with him!” Rudra hissed, following Shadiel across the damp basement.

“On it!” Joriel shouted. She spun around to grab the relic, but stopped dead in her tracks upon finding that the relic was nowhere to be found. “What - it was right here! How did it just disappear!?” she squawked, prompting the angels to begin searching the rubble for the relic.

“What the…?” Noir’s eyes darted about the room, scanning for any sign of the glowing scepter among the debris as the angels began digging amongst the wreckage.

Surely such a glaring relic couldn’t have gotten far. And even if it had, Noir had a feeling it would be obvious to see in the dark. As Noir’s eyes scoured the rubble, she caught sight of something dimly glowing in the room beyond the wreckage, where Rudra and Shadiel were now locked in combat. The relic was laying on the floor, having been blown through the wall when Ofia attacked.

“Rudra! The relic! It’s in there with you!” Noir shouted, a spike of panic rising in her voice.

She rushed past the angels and leapt clear over the pile of debris that separated the rooms and raced for the relic, rapidly closing the distance between herself and the scepter. With her hand outstretched, she dove for the scepter, but narrowly missed it when Rudra’s tail smacked it away. Noir landed flat on her stomach but hastily recovered and leapt to her feet. Spinning around, she prepared to make another go at the scepter. Unfortunately, Shadiel had gotten to it first. Having briefly managed to break away from Rudra’s merciless onslaught, he had lunged for the scepter just before Noir and now had the strange relic in his grasp. With labored breathing, he backed away from Noir and Rudra, holding the scepter up, fully prepared to use it against the two women.

“Stay back! You have no idea what this thing can do to you!” He hissed, steadily backing away as Noir and Rudra continued to advance on him.

“Oh come on, it’s just some dumb spear!” Noir retorted, drawing a knife from her trench coat.

“Oh no, it’s much more than that!” He grinned wildly. “You recognize this relic, don’t you, Rudra? Remember, you had to retrieve it over a century ago for Judgment!”

“It was a worthless piece of junk,” Rudra scoffed dismissively. “It could barely power our tech, much less the computers of this world.”

“But I found a use for it! In my experiments, I discovered its true purpose! Dad wanted this for a reason and you know that! He wouldn’t have just sent you on a wild goose chase if there wasn’t something in it for him!”

“He sent me on so many inane missions that I’m surprised I haven’t been sent on an actual goose chase at this point!” Rudra bit back.

“This one’s plenty different, Rood,” Shadiel cackled. “I discovered so much about this scepter during my experiments. This relic has power beyond what even I can harness! It has the power to alter and affect the mind in many ways - it can corrupt and purify! It can shift and change reality to whatever the user pleases, and it has plenty of destructive potential! That’s why it’s here! All it’ll take is hooking this up to the radio tower, and the signal this relic will broadcast will plunge the entire city into chaos, and we’ll be one step closer to starting the Rapture!”

“If you so much as leave this room with that relic, I’ll wipe you off the face of the planet!” Rudra hissed, the split in her chest flaring with power.

“I don’t think you’ll be feeling so confident about that!” Shadiel flashed her a too-wide grin and raised the scepter above his head. “Just watch, and I’ll show you what this thing can really do!” He then brought the scepter down, slamming its shaft into the tile floor. The blade at the end of the staff burned brightly and the air around it began to shimmer and glow, rippling like waves on a lake. Rudra and Noir stared at the blade for several seconds, unamused by what they were sure was another pedantic display.

Then the pain started. A piercing and ear-splitting ring filled the air and stabbed at Rudra and Noir’s skulls, overwhelming them with head-splitting pain. The two let out an anguished cry and grabbed their heads, dropping to their knees as white-hot agony washed over them like a wave. They plugged their ears tightly, trying desperately to block out the horrendous ringing. It felt like nails were being hammered into their skulls, digging into their brains and engulfing everything in a mind-numbing haze that left Rudra and Noir dazed and disoriented. Rudra’s friends dropped to their knees as well, holding their heads as the awful noise impaled their skulls and overwhelmed them just the same.

Unable to think straight and barely able to move without suffering severe and painful spasms, the angels were unable to stop Shadiel as he fled the scene, leaving everyone in the basement - his lackey’s included - to suffer the torment of the strange relic as they were plunged into the throes of maddening torture.

Rudra, having been forced out of her demonic form, collapsed to the floor, gasping for air as searing pain detonated through her skull and down her spine. She wheezed and coughed, her thoughts spinning rapidly in her mind like a top. She had to follow Shadiel and she had to get that relic away from him! She shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss it - of course that damn relic had to be dangerous! Why else would he use it to broadcast a dangerous signal? She regretted ever finding that thing for Judgment all those years ago!

A hand squeezed onto Rudra’s shoulder and Rudra found herself being pulled to her feet, not of her own accord. An arm wound its way under her shoulder and hoisted her up with some difficulty, helping her through the wall Ofia had blasted Shadiel through.

“What the-”

“Don’t worry, I gotcha,” Noir’s strangled voice came, shakily reassuring the disoriented Seraph.

“What the - Noir, how are you resisting this?” Rudra managed between bouts of pain.

“I’m a Spy. Do you know how much psychological conditioning I went through for that job? When you could be interrogated at any point, you gotta have a strong mind for it,” she wheezed, pulling Rudra through the gap in the wall and rejoining the other angels. “Go, go! Stop that freak before he can reach the radio tower!”

Rudra wordlessly nodded and darted after Shadiel, struggling to force down the haze of pain and focus on her target. Following the path she had taken to get inside the station, Rudra sprinted through the darkness and rubble and found her way back to the utility tunnel. Staggering towards the hole in the ground, Rudra swiftly took to the air and returned to the surface.

Momentarily blinded by the light after having become accustomed to the dark station basement, Rudra quickly reoriented herself and focused her gaze on the radio tower. A small black speck in the air gave away Shadiels position, and Rudra hastily pulled out her Emitter Stone once again to contact Anita.

“Anita! Anita, Shadiel’s out in the open! I need your drones to attack him! NOW!”

“Oh, trust me, they see him.” The drones in the sky came down from the radio tower as Anita spoke, descending upon Shadiel like an angry swarm of hornets. The air became filled with the booming crack of gunfire as the drones unloaded their ammunition onto Shadiel, attempting to blast the angel out of the sky.

“Keep that fire going! We need to force him back to the ground! He’s carrying the relic and he’s trying to broadcast the signal with it!”

“MA’AM, YES, MA’AM! THIS IS FOR CALLING ME A MORON YOU F-”

The drones followed Shadiel’s every movement, chasing him through the sky as Anita screamed over the Emitter Stone, clearly enjoying the chance to shoot the crazed angel out of the air. Rudra followed closely behind the drones, waiting for her chance to steal the relic back from Shadiel as a shower of bullets rained down upon him.

“Have you gotten a hit on him yet?”

“A couple. I may have to turn up the damage settings.”

“Do it if you have to! I need to get that relic away from him!”

“Sure thing!” Anita whooped with a crazed cackle.

The battle drones all began to flash red and their rate of fire increased dramatically, drowning Shadiel in an impossible-to-dodge hailstorm of lead. It only took a few seconds before a bullet found its mark on one of Shadiel’s wings and threw him out of the sky, sending him hurtling back down to the station in a frenzy of screams and feathers. Crashing into the station’s rooftop, a cloud of dust was sent up as he tumbled over the plaster roof and collapsed in a heap. The relic had been knocked from his hands and was sent careening across the roof, where it now precariously balanced over the edge.

Shadiel hissed and spat out dust, scrambling to his feet in spite of the pain that shot through his back. Rudra landed on the roof behind him not a second later, her sword drawn. A cold anger was written across her face and her jaw was set, her eyes flashing with fire.

“End of the line, Shadiel! Now hand over the relic, or I’ll have my friend here give you a front row seat to the very tech you stole from her,” Rudra threatened, holding up the Emitter Stone as though it were a weapon. “You’ve already seen what these drones alone are capable of.”

“You stubborn imbecile!” Shadiel squawked, a demented fury rising in his voice. “I’m not handing the relic over and I’ll not be made a fool of by the primitive technology of mortals! I was chosen as an Angel Lord for a reason! Tyliel, Raivel, and myself are Judgment’s chosen warriors! We’ll bring about the Rapture and you and your stubborn team of fallen angels will not stand in our-!”

Shadiel’s unhinged ramblings were abruptly interrupted when one of Anita’s drones fired at him and knocked him to the ground. Shadiel let out a pained cry and gripped his shoulder, a golden liquid seeping into his white robe where he had been shot.

“Did you do that?” Rudra asked, glancing at the Emitter Stone.

“He called MY technology primitive. I can handle my tech being called dangerous, but I will NOT stand for someone to slander my inventions like this!”

“Huh. No kidding. And look, you even shut him up. I consider this an absolute win,” Rudra said with a smirk. “Keep those drones trained on him. Just in case he gets any ideas.” Rudra pocketed the Emitter Stone and strided past Shadiel as he squirmed in agony. Stooping down, Rudra retrieved the relic from the rooftop’s edge and spun it around in her hands. “I regret ever getting this for Judgment,” she scowled. She turned back to Shadiel and fixed him with a cold glare. “I’ll be making an example out of you, Shadiel. I’ll give you the exact death you deserve, and I’ll hang up your corpse for all of Judgment’s armies. Your broken body will be a warning to him, and all the angels who want to see this world burn!”

Shadiel coughed hoarsely and rolled onto his stomach, golden liquid dripping from his mouth. “There’s no way you can beat him, you know that! You lost against him once, who’s to say that the result won’t be the same?”

“I think you already know what the result will be,” she hissed, fire swirling around her hand.

Shadiel snarled a string of curses under his breath and he forced himself to stand. He was hunched over and held his bleeding shoulder, and one of his wings stuck out at an awkward angle. He sucked in breath through clenched teeth and glared daggers at Rudra. “I’m not gonna let you make a fool out of me!” he shouted. “I’m no coward! I’m not dying until my mission is done!” Shadiel let go of his injured shoulder and lunged forward at Rudra with shocking speed for an injured man. He grabbed hold of the scepter’s shaft and tried to force it from Rudra’s hands, but the Seraph maintained an iron grip on the glowing relic.

“Let go, Shadiel! You’ve lost this battle!” Rudra snapped, shoving Shadiel back to break him loose from the relic.

“As long as I’m still standing, I haven’t lost! NOW GIVE ME THE RELIC!” Shadiel screamed, a wild look in his eyes.

He pulled back on the scepter with all his strength, but Rudra remained unyielding, refusing to let go even as Shadiel fruitlessly flailed against her. The two Seraphim pushed and pulled against each other in a desperate game of tug-of-war, striving to throw the other off and take the staff for themselves. But the constant attempts to wrench the staff from the other’s hands put a substantial stress on the wooden shaft, and cracks began to form within the bindings of the ancient scepter. With every push, metal snapped - with every heave, wood splintered. The blade at the end of the scepter screamed and creaked as it began to come loose from the shaft. The entire relic threatened to split apart into a thousand shards under the pressure of Shadiel and Rudra’s struggle until finally-

BOOM!

The relic snapped apart in a blaze of intense energy, rupturing open like a split atom. Shadiel and Rudra could feel rushes of emotion, a hundred thousand years and more worth of fury, spite, and joy to be free. Two minds far older than either growled and hissed around the two Seraphs as they escaped the relic in a wave of darkness and light, almost threatening to drown the angels in all those thoughts and to overtake them both in powers that could corrupt and purify - and then the two were gone, disappearing from the radio station in an instant and fleeing into the open world.

The energy subsided almost as quickly as it came and the explosion receded faster than was physically possible. Rudra and Shadiel found themselves laying sprawled out on the roof, having been thrown back by the force of the relic breaking open and the ancient powers within being released. Rudra gasped and jumped to her feet, her head still spinning. She shook her head to shake off the daze and scanned the roof, finding that all that remained of the relic was a broken staff, snapped in twain. The glow was gone and the energy once contained within had disappeared for good.

Rudra gulped and brushed dust off of her face, then removed the Emitter Stone from her pocket. “...Anita? Did you get that?”

“Get what?”

“...You didn’t see that? The relic broke open and-” Rudra shuffled to the broken staff and plucked the broken blade from the ground. She turned it over in her hands, examining the cracked and rusted metal. She sighed and let it fall from her hands, watching as it landed with a clatter. “Nevermind. It’s done. The relic is useless now.”

“If you say so.”

Shadiel, laying a few yards away from where the broken scepter set, clumsily rolled onto his back and groggily got to his feet. There was a dazed look on his face and his hands had been severely burned by the eruption of power from the relic. He winced and gripped his bleeding shoulder, his arm hanging uselessly by his side. He staggered back with a choked gasp the moment he saw Rudra still standing and he spread his crumpled wings. Without another word, he took to the air in a lopsided and ungainly manner, haphazardly fleeing into the sky. Rudra huffed, watching silently as he disappeared into the clouds.

Certain that the threat had been neutralized, Rudra flew back down to ground level and re-entered the station just in time to see Noir helping her allies out of the basement, guiding them towards the radio station’s main exit. The angels all looked dizzy and lightheaded, weakly stumbling about.

“Noir, is everyone ok?” Rudra asked, striding over to Noir as she helped Joriel up the basement stairs.

“Yeah, everyone’s fine,” Noir nodded, her face a sickly pale. “I don’t know what that thing did, but it gave me this awful headache. I think I need to lie down after this,” she mumbled. “You?”

“Yes, I’m alright. I destroyed the relic, but Shadiel got away. The good news is that Shadiel’s badly injured, so he won’t be a threat for a long while.”

“I can see why you hate that guy,” Noir said, scrunching her nose. “What a lunatic.”

“And that’s arguably him at his most sane,” Rudra sighed, rubbing her arm. “Let’s regroup at HECU. We can figure out what to do from there.”

“And hopefully take a nap,” Noir yawned, rubbing her temples.

“Wait, Rood,” Joriel interjected, raising a hand. “Shadiel’s guards were affected by the relic as well.”

“...His angels are still down there?” Rudra questioned. “Surely they must have fled when he used the relic.”

“Apparently not. They were just as affected as we were,” Joriel replied.

She moved aside as Judgment angels began to tentatively climb out of the basement, weary and shaken. There was an unhealthy, sickly pallor around their eyes, and their backs were hunched down in exhaustion. Rudra tensed up at the sight of the blue Judgment tabards that adorned the angels, but there was no hostility from them. Just a speechless uneasiness as they filed out of the basement.

“They don’t want to fight us, Rood,” Larimar added, coming to Rudra’s side. “I think they want to change allegiances.”

“...What?”

“Yeah, I’m just as surprised as you. I think getting hit with that weapon and being left behind by Shadiel finally knocked some sense into them.”

And that seemed to be true - all except for one angel, however. One last angel rose from the basement, one that looked wildly different than the rest. This one had been affected by the relic differently than others, and the changes were far more drastic. Crimson wings, glowing orange eyes, gold and black armor, and a deranged grin. "Where's the b*tch who stole my cloak?" he hissed, shoving past the crowd of sick and tired angels.

Rudra and her allies all stood stiff at the sight of the red angel, taken aback by the stark juxtaposition between him and the pale angels around him.

"Well? Where is she? I got a middle finger for Dad and a little gift for her!" he hissed, a wave of negative, corrupted energy coming off of him.

“Flip Dad off all you want, but you’re not getting anywhere near Styna,” Rudra hissed, flames building up around her fists.

"Styna? The nerdy one? I remember her." With a rush of speed none of the angels could react to, and a burst of shadow to blind everyone around him, the red angel charged Styna, dagger drawn and laughing-mad. "CONSIDER THIS THE PRICE FOR MY CLOAK, B*TCH!" he howled.

And before anyone realized what had happened, Styna was on the ground holding her bleeding face, and the angel was flying away, cackling as he fled into the sky.

“STYNA!” Rudra shouted, blindsided by the speed at which the Cherubim moved. She felt an intense rush of adrenaline surge through her, telling her to chase the red Cherubim into the sky - but another, more poignant surge of fear and peril tore her away from her immediate thoughts and urged her to scramble to Styna’s side. Rudra dropped to Styna’s side and helped her sit upright, holding her arms as Styna screamed into her hands. Golden liquid seeped through her fingers and ran down her arms, dripping onto Rudra’s hands. “Shit…hang on, I’ve got you…”

“Rudra, her eye!” Joriel gasped, dropping to Styna’s side. “That lunatic stole her eye - dammit, I’m sorry Styna,” She breathed, gently cupping Styna’s gold-covered hands.

“Holy shit!” Noir stood aghast, shocked by the sight. “What the hell do we do? That angel just took one of her eyes!”

“I can heal her,” Rudra breathed, taking one of Styna’s unsteady hands. Rudra gently squeezed the young Power’s hand - she could feel the shock already beginning to settle into Styna’s small body.

“Wait, Rudra, you’re still inexperienced with healing wounds,” Larimar interjected, touching Rudra’s shoulder. “You won’t be able to restore her eye if you do this.”

“And none of you have the strength to heal her right now,” Rudra said, her body tense.

She turned back to Styna and carefully lowered Styna’s hands from her face, revealing a gouge where her left eye should have been. Golden liquid flowed from the wound and down her face, and Styna could barely speak through her labored breaths. Rudra gingerly placed a hand over the wound, wincing as thin lines of golden blood drenched her hands and flowed over her knuckles. Steeling herself, Rudra inhaled deeply and focused her power. A soft blue light was emitted from her palm and soothed Styna, relieving her of pain. Styna’s labored gasps slowly turned into a soft whimpering, until she finally fell silent. A few errant tears dripped from her remaining eye, but it was the last of them. She took in a shuddering breath as the light faded and Rudra removed her hand, revealing a healed, but heavily scarred eye-socket. The angels around Rudra murmured and whispered, left in a state of blind shock at what they had witnessed as they looked on at Rudra and Joriel holding a trembling Styna.

***

“One more bandage…there! All fixed up,” Anita declared with a smile, applying a final bandage to Rudra’s injured arm.

With Shadiel defeated and the relic destroyed, Rudra had brought her allies and the sickly Judgment angels back to HECU to regroup and recover. Anita and numerous medical personnel tended to the injured, patching them up as best they could. Styna’s wounds had been cleaned and dressed and any trace of her gouged eye was gone - all except from the ring of bandages that covered part of her face.

“I’ve heard of that power before... I know I have,” the hurt angel murmured. “Do you know what it was?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t,” Rudra admitted, her wings drooping sullenly.

“Shadiel said you were the one who found it. How come you don’t know its power?” Noir asked, popping a few painkillers into her mouth.

“I was just sent to find it, I was never told what kind of power was contained inside it. For the longest time, I thought it didn’t have any power. Judgment tried to activate that relic for ages with no results.”

“Whatever or whoever was inside it, there’s no doubt that it contained a large amount of energy that can corrupt and purify,” Joriel added, rubbing her temples. “We angels can be affected severely by a few kinds of magic. Hellfire is one, corrupt and pure energies are another. It disrupts our natural flow of divine energy and can cause a whole host of side effects in those exposed to it. It can either make us sick, take on new powers, or even drive some of us mad.”

“So that’s why all these Judgment angels look so sick,” Noir remarked, pursing her lips at the pale angels around her.

“And it’s not just a matter of making them sick,” Rudra continued, flexing her bandaged hand. “It can also cause drastic changes in behavior.”

“Like the angel that attacked Styna?”

“Exactly.”

Noir’s eyes darted around the lab again, glancing between the Judgment angels and the Legion angels. “So…what’s the difference Between pure and corrupt energy?”

“It’s hard to gauge. Corrupt and pure energy haven’t been studied much,” Rudra said, clicking her tongue. “But from what we know, corrupt energy can bring out the worst in an angel, and pure energy can bring out the best. But…well, neither are without side effects.”

Noir pursed her lips. “So…I’m guessing that Cherubim was hit with corrupt energy?”

“Most likely,” Rudra nodded. “And these angels were primarily hit with pure energy,” she added, motioning to the pale angels.

“So why weren’t you guys affected as much as the rest of the angels?” Noir asked. “You don’t look sick to me.”

“If I had to guess?” Rudra started, rubbing her neck. “I’d say it’s because of the Hellfire energy we absorbed. It must have protected us in some way.”

“...I guess that makes sense,” Noir said. She took a seat next to Rudra and took a swig from her water bottle. “On another note, do you guys bleed gold or something?”

Rudra and Joriel lifted their heads and stared at Noir with blank expressions. “...Gold?”

“Yeah, gold,” Noir repeated, pointing at Rudra’s bandages. “That is gold, right?”

“Er…” Rudra stammered. “Uh, no. It’s Ichor.”

“Boy am I glad I’m wearing my gloves, then,” Anita put in. “That sh*t is said to kill humans that come into contact with it.”

“Wait, really?” Noir exclaimed, pulling her hand back from Rudra’s bandages.

“Unfortunately.” Rudra shrugged. “Our blood is toxic to mortals.”

“Yikes. That’s gotta suck if you ever need someone’s help to patch up an injury,” Noir grimaced.

“How are you immune?” Joriel asked Anita. “No way it’s just the gloves.”

Anita shrugged. “I experimented on myself to be able to withstand explosions. Maybe it helps me withstand toxic substances.”

Larimar’s attention snapped away from tending to the sickly angels and he glared daggers into Anita. “Wait, don’t tell me you actually self-experiment!”

“Of course I do. Experimenting on others raises all sorts of ethical issues and it’s hard to get consent to some of my less... palatable ideas.”

“Do you have any idea how dangerous self-experimentation is? All it takes is one badly done test and you’re dead!”

“I run tests on human blood cells first! And simulations! Besides, look at me! I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“And who knows how many alterations you’ve made to your body! If you change one wrong thing or alter your body in one wrong way, it’ll lead to disaster on your part!”

“What am I supposed to do? Experiment on criminals or something?”

“Well…Colonel Dyson did say that she could test inventions on hostile Freaks,” Noir chimed in. “And most hostile Freaks are durable enough to withstand anything. Hell, some of them can even respawn after dying.”

“Testing weapons is one thing. Testing alterations to biology is another. If I want it to work on humans, I need human test subjects, or at least as close to human as I can get.”

Rudra and Noir looked on awkwardly as Larimar and Anita continued to argue, growing ever more heated and intense as the minutes passed.

“...I’m starting to think we should stop them,” Noir commented.

“Nah, let them have at it. They’ll get tired eventually,” Rudra replied. “Besides, Larimar’s been in arguments like this before. He’s used to it.”

“I dunno, Anita can get pretty intense during these kinds of arguments,” Noir said. “I once saw her use a device on herself just to prove a point.”

“And Larimar isn’t one for backing down.”

Noir sighed and rested her head in her hands, listening as Anita and Larimar’s argument raged on with all the fervor that an argument between two scientists could have. Accepting that the verbal battle wouldn’t end anytime soon, Noir opted to destress now that her killer headache was starting to subside. She leaned down and slipped her right heel off, followed by her striped stocking. She then wrapped her hands around the joint where her knee connected to her thigh and unhooked a mechanism before removing her right leg - much to Rudra’s surprise.

“What the - you have a prosthetic leg?” She asked, watching as Noir placed the mechanical leg in her lap.

“Yep. Anita made this model for me,” Noir said, running a hand over the sleek prosthetic. “It’s the most advanced prosthetic I’ve ever had.”

“...If I may ask, how did you lose your leg?” Rudra asked hesitantly.

“Hm? Oh, no, I never lost my leg,” Noir explained. She pulled the ends of her trench coat up to reveal her thigh, and from the knee down she had no leg. A white gel liner was pulled up over the limb, and she carefully peeled the liner back to reveal a scarless thigh underneath, no trace of surgery anywhere.

“I was born like this. My parents had my first prosthetic made when I was little. It was a pretty basic model, but I didn’t care. As long as I could run around, I was a content toddler,” She chuckled. She slipped the gel liner back on and pulled her prosthetic leg back over her thigh.

“Interesting…How many prosthetics have you been through?”

“Eh…” Noir paused and tapped her forefinger against her chin, silently counting. “Uh…roughly 12 or so throughout my life. Most of them were when I was still growing and my parents had to get new models to replace the old ones when they didn’t fit anymore. This one is my most recent and unless something happens to it, I think I’ll be keeping it for a while. Anita makes most of the prosthetics around here, actually.”

“Larimar was responsible for creating new prosthetics back in Heaven,” Rudra remarked. “Although I guess Shadiel is in charge of that now…”

“-And that is why self-experimentation is the single worst thing any self respecting scientist could ever do!” Larimar shouted, having scribbled an incomprehensible list of things onto a nearby whiteboard.

“Oh, and I'm supposed to take advice from someone who needs to wear 50 different safety goggles during an experiment?” Anita scoffed, dismissively waving a hand.

“I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I CAN AND I WILL WEAR THOSE SAFETY GOGGLES IF IT MEANS I GET TO KEEP ALL OF MY EYES!” Larimar shouted, his wings flaring in anger. The two looked as though they were only a few heartbeats away from brawling in the middle of Anita’s lab when Joriel let out an exasperated shout, startling the two scientists into silence.

“Will you two just shut up!? You’re gonna give everyone in here a migraine with your yelling!” Joriel shouted, her face contorting into a frustrated scowl. Larimar and Anita huffed and folded their arms as they turned away from each other, marching off in aggrieved silence.

With the two finally done arguing, Rudra leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, enjoying a brief moment of reprieve. Her head still throbbed, but the worst of the relics effects were beginning to subside. She took in a deep breath, rhythmically opening and closing her bandaged hand as she slowly regained feeling in her palm. After the relic exploded in her hands, a numbness had temporarily spread into her arms.

She opened one of her eyes as she heard the lab doors creak open, and when she lowered her gaze from the ceiling, she saw a Judgment angel standing in the doorway. He had taken his blue Judgment tabard off and was now wearing a simple white robe - in fact, it appeared he was wearing a patient gown. He seemed more intact than the other Judgment angels. His skin didn’t have the unhealthy sallowness that the other angels did, and his body didn’t weakly tremble like his fellow angels. Despite being exposed to the same energy, he looked to be in better spirits. All except for his eyes, however, which had a somewhat vacant stare in them.

“...Rudra?” He whispered, his absent gaze falling on the Seraph.

“Yes? What is it?” Rudra questioned, tilting her head towards the angel.

“I overheard the leader of this place talking about you and your friend here,” He started, a hesitant slowness to his voice. “You call him Colonel Dyson, correct? He wants to see you.”

“What?” Noir blurted, lowering her sunglasses to look at the angel. “Why does Dyson want to see us?”

“I don’t know. He just said he wanted to talk.” The angel then wordlessly left the lab, the vacant gaze never leaving his eyes.

“Wh…uh,” Noir stammered, staring after the angel. “Is that a side effect of the relic?”

“...I think so,” Rudra shrugged, rising from her chair. “Come on, let's make this quick.”

Vacating the lab, Rudra and Noir made their way through the white industrial halls of HECU and made their way to Colonel Dyson’s office. He was sitting at his desk, silently looking through paperwork as a mercenary dressed in black stood vigil beside the desk. Colonel Dyson lifted his eyes from his paperwork as Rudra and Noir stepped into his office.

“Well that was certainly fast,” he remarked, glancing at his watch. “Please, come in and take a seat. I have something I need to tell you.”

“And what’s that?” Rudra inquired, sitting down.

“I heard about what you did at the radio tower. That was some impressive work out there, and I wanted to thank you for getting Evo City out of that mess.”

“Huh, word spreads fast around here…” Rudra hummed. “I couldn’t have done it on my own, Colonel. Dr. James was able to track Shadiel’s location and Noir here is responsible for disconnecting him from the radio station. Me and my angels were able to stop him once he wasn’t a threat to the city anymore.”

“Exactly. We could use that kind of work around here, and anyone that can work as well with Dr. James as you did would be a great hire in my book.”

Rudra cocked an eyebrow at Dyson. “Wait, you’re considering hiring me?”

“If you’re interested.”

“You’d have access to all of the tech here,” Noir chimed in, turning to Rudra. “And the pay is good, but I don’t know if that’s a selling point for you since…well, you’re an angel, I’m not sure how money would benefit you.”

Rudra folded her arms across her chest and sat forward, locking eyes with Dyson. “If I take this job, I expect to have access to all of your communication and tracking tech, along with any weaponry Dr. James has at her disposal. The scuffle at the radio station was just a microcosm of things to come.”

“Be my guest. Most of them are WMDs anyway, so we don’t have a lot of use for them.”

“Then I’m in,” Rudra nodded. “But I must say this; I likely won’t be around HQ for very long. Myself and the Legion will have to travel around the globe in the coming months to deal with ongoing threats that are beyond your scope.”

“Yes, of course. If you need anything from us, just ask.”

“Then it’s settled.” Rudra stood and shook Dyson’s hand. “I just ask that HECU stays alert. You’ll have more to worry about in Evo than just Freaks.”

“Sure thing.”

“Now, if we’re done here, I have angels to attend to,” Rudra said. She turned on her heel and left as quickly as she came, Noir following in tow.

“Damn, I’ve never seen Dyson hire anyone that quickly. Do you know how much paperwork I had to fill out when I was looking for a job here? He doesn’t just accept anyone!” Noir exclaimed, hurrying after Rudra.

“I guess I’m not just anyone,” Rudra shrugged. “The job gets me access to all the tech I need, but I don’t plan on focusing much on…whatever it is Dyson expects me to do around here. I have more important things to take care of.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Dyson plans on writing you up on being late to work in the coming months…actually, how would that work? Can he even do that? Technically, he’s your boss now, but he’s also not since, you know, you’re a Seraph and all.”

“The way I see it? On paper, he’s the boss. But beyond that, I doubt he’d have much sway with me or the Legion.”

“That’s gonna be a fun conference meeting,” Noir chuckled, following Rudra back to the lab.

Returning to the lobby, Rudra and Joriel ran into each other. Joriel still looked ill and pale from being exposed to the relics negative influence, but she appeared significantly better than the others.

“Jori? What’re you doing? You’re supposed to be resting.”

“Anita and Larimar started arguing again,” Joriel sighed, a hand on her temple. “I was just looking for somewhere quiet.”

“The break room should be empty,” Noir said, hooking her thumb towards the hallway behind her. “There’s even a vending machine. But just between you and me, get the honey buns. The donuts in that machine suck.”

“I’m not hungry,” Joriel sighed. Striding past the two women, she abruptly stopped and caught Rudra by the arm. “Hey, Rood? …Thank you for healing Styna.”

“Uh - of course,” Rudra replied hesitantly. Joriel slowly nodded her head and released Rudra’s arm, continuing down the hall without another word.

“She looks rough,” Noir remarked solemnly, watching Joriel go.

“She and her squadron didn’t absorb any Hell energy. They got the brunt of the energy from that relic,” Rudra explained. “She’ll be fine once she rests.”

“And Styna? If angel tech is so advanced, then don’t you guys have, like, prosthetic eyes or something?”

“We do, but we don’t have access to them at the moment. Most of our advanced tech is still in Heaven,” Rudra said.

“So the Legion is outmanned, outgunned, outmatched…ok, now I’m seeing why Hell energy was a necessity for you guys,” Noir deadpanned, counting on her hand the ways in which the Legion was outnumbered. “Just based on what little I know of Judgment and his goons, it sounds like you guys are gonna need all the help you can get.”

“Exactly. Which is why I wanted to ask you something important,” Rudra said emphatically. She took Noir’s hand and pulled her aside into a nearby vacant IT office. Rudra clasped Noir’s shoulders and looked the surprised woman in the eyes.

“Woah - what the hell is going on?” Noir stammered, taken aback by Rudra’s abruptness.

“I’m going to ask you this, and I’ll only ask once. The skills you have are exactly what the Legion needs. You stopped Shadiel before he could broadcast that signal and you were willing to fight him directly when he threatened us with the relic. The Legion needs people like you.”

“Wh - are you asking me to officially join the Legion? That’s awesome-!”

“I - ok, yes, that’s part of what I’m asking, but it’s more than that,” Rudra interrupted, raising a hand. “You’ve got the skill for this battle, but I worry if you have the strength to keep up with Judgment’s forces.”

“Rudra, I’ve dealt with some of the most dangerous people on the planet. I know I can keep up,” Noir stated emphatically, never once breaking eye contact with Rudra.

“The people you’ve fought here do not even begin to hold a candle to the devastation Judgment will bring. You need to step up your game if you want to fight. Which is why I want to give you something. I want to give you the strength of an angel.”

“Wh - WHAT!? What, like, you’re gonna bless me with new power or-”

“Exactly,” Rudra nodded, setting her jaw. “You’ll have superhuman strength and endurance comparable to the Freaks HECU studies.”

“Holy shit-” Noir breathed, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. “You’re kidding, you gotta be-”

“I’m not joking,” Rudra stressed, squeezing Noir’s shoulder. “Do you accept?”

“Yes!” Noir blurted. “I’m not gonna let Judgment and his armies run around Earth without a fight!”

Rudra gave Noir a resolute grin and took her hands. “Then I’ll make it so.”

Gripping Noir’s hands, a faint golden light emanated from Rudra’s palms and enveloped Noir’s hands, descending down her wrists and arms and wrapping around her entire body like a blanket of starlight. Energy coursed through Noir’s veins and she could feel herself growing stronger by the second. Every fiber of her being lit up with power and every nerve in her body flared to life. It was as though the light itself was fusing with muscle and bone and reinforcing her entire body. It was a wondrous experience, watching the light dance around her vision before she became infused with its magnificent power.

It only lasted for a second, and it was done. The light faded and Noir found herself standing before Rudra once again.

“Wh…woah,” Noir breathed, her entire body trembling with adrenaline.

“How do you feel?” Rudra asked, releasing Noir’s hands. She watched as Noir examined her palms and looked down at herself, her eyes lit up in wonder. There were no visible changes, but Noir nonetheless appeared more powerful than before.

“I feel stronger,” Noir grinned. She braced herself and slammed her heel into the ground, and the impact was so strong that it shattered the tile upon impact. Noir leapt back in shock, startled by her own strength. “HOLY - did I just do that!?”

“You did. I’ve blessed you with superhuman strength in your legs and enhanced endurance. One kick from you should be strong enough to shatter steel.”

“That’s AWESOME!” Noir cackled. “What else can I do?”

“Just a few miscellaneous abilities. You should be able to hover a few inches above the ground to traverse rough terrain and I’ve given you extra strength in your arms. You should also be able to conjure magic now.”

“This is the coolest shit,” Noir said, grinning at her hands. She turned to the wall beside her and delivered a kick to it, which splintered the wall into countless metal shards. Noir staggered back a second afterward, the force of impact knocking her off balance. She stared at the hole in the wall, then looked down at her heel as the sole fell away from her shoe. “...I probably should have thought that through.”

“Ooh,” Rudra winced. “I forgot to take human footwear into account. Normally us angels already have clothing that can withstand this sort of thing. Uh…sorry, about the heels.”

“And these were my favorite heels,” Noir pouted, slipping the ruined shoe off.

“Could Anita make shoes for this?” Rudra questioned, taking the crushed heel and examining it.

“Of course she could. If she can make a prosthetic that can withstand the kicks-” Noir started, gesturing to her still intact prosthetic leg, “-then she can make shoes for it.”

“I can arrange for that,” a third voice interjected. Noir and Rudra’s attention snapped to the IT office’s entrance and saw Anita’s head peeking through.

“...How long have you been standing there?” Rudra asked.

“Roughly ten minutes. I hear you got new powers.”

“Uh…yeah. I was gonna ask you if you could make me new shoes to accommodate for that,” Noir said, holding up her ruined heel.

“Sure! Same material your leg is made of?”

“Yeah, actually…wait, what exactly did you make my prosthetic out of?”

“Oh, I created a new form of metal.”

“Since when?”

“A couple weeks before I came to work for HECU. Don’t worry, it’s completely safe. I went through 50 different stability tests to make sure of that.”

“That only makes me more worried,” Noir deadpanned.

“You could always give back the leg,” Anita said dryly. “Besides, it’s not like anything bad has happened with the metal since I perfected it.”

Noir sighed. “Fine. I need a new set of shoes that can withstand my new powers, but if something happens with the metal, it’s on you.”

Anita just shrugged. “Fine by me. Oh, one more thing. Rudra, the angel with the blank eyes wanted to talk to you.”

“For what?” Rudra quizzed, tilting her head.

“Dunno. The guy was really quiet about it. He’s waiting for you in the lobby” Anita said before trudging off.

“Well, I’ll leave you to that. I need to get myself a new pair of shoes,” Noir huffed, slipping off her other shoe. “Thanks for the powers. I won't let you down!” She shot Rudra a smile before hurrying after Anita in her socks.

Rudra watched Noir and Anita disappear into the lab before shuffling out of the IT office and making her way back to the lobby. The vacant-eyed angel was standing in the middle of the room, blankly staring at Rudra as she strided up to him.

“Anita told me you wanted to see me. What is it?” Rudra asked, folding her arms.

The blank angel titled his head, his dark hair falling over his shoulders. He then held up a small item for Rudra to see - it looked like an ornate key. “Judgment will be attacking key places across the globe,” he started with a cold flatness to his voice. “You will need a way to keep up with him. When Shadiel brought us here, he used one of our airships. It’s not far from here.”

Rudra’s face lit up in surprise. “An airship? Where is it?”

“Above us,” he replied. He motioned outside and Rudra quickly sped past him.

Running through the glass doors of HECU, Rudra came out to the courtyard that marked the entrance and turned her hopeful eyes skyward. The air shimmered and glistened like glass submerged in water. She could faintly make out the silvery outline of a colossal structure hovering above the city, barely visible among the wispy clouds. The vacant-eyed angel walked out to the courtyard and stopped beside Rudra. He raised the key heavenward and clicked it’s head down. A loud, droning hum filled the air and the shimmer in the sky flashed and began melting away, pulling back to reveal an impossibly gigantic airship parked in the air, casting a long shadow over Evo City as its invisible cloak fell away.

A gasp caught Rudra’s throat as recognition dawned on her face. Even from her fish-eye view, she immediately knew the identity of the airship hovering above her. She knew because she had manned the very same airship centuries prior. An Empire Class Battleship, designed with only the best of angel tech, equipped with an arsenal of state-of-the-art defenses and weaponry and built with a hull that was nigh impenetrable. The most fearsome airship in Judgment’s arsenal: The Angel of Vengeance.

And here it was, parked directly over Evo City and at Rudra’s disposal. A knowing grin crossed her face. It was deliciously ironic to her and it made her want to laugh aloud at Judgment’s misfortune. His most advanced airship, given to Shadiel under the belief he’d steer it to victory when all he’d done is steer it directly into Rudra’s clutches.

“Shadiel used the relic against us and left us behind,” The vacant-eye angel said, admiring the airship. “I don’t want to fight for someone who would abandon us at the drop of a hat, and my eyes have been opened to how Dad truly sees us. I certainly don’t want them to have this airship. So, I’m giving this to you and the Legion. Don’t let us down. Avenge us,” he said emphatically, a twinge of sadness in his voice as he handed the ornate key to Rudra. Rudra squeezed the key tightly and gave the angel an assuring nod.

“I won’t. I promise.”

“What the - I WALK AWAY FOR FIVE MINUTES AND I COME OUT TO THIS!” Noir’s voice abruptly squawked. She and Anita were standing a few yards behind Rudra and the angel, gaping at the airship in dumbfounded awe.

“...I am going to run so. Many. Tests.”

“What the - What is that!? WHAT IS THAT!?” Noir shrieked, her awestruck eyes never leaving the ship. “First I get powers, and now I see this!? This is SO AWESOME!”

“This is the Angel of Vengeance,” Rudra declared, turning to Noir and Anita with a wide grin. “The most powerful ship in Judgment’s entire arsenal. And it’s all ours.”

Anita was on her way to the ship with a speed that shocked everyone present, tools in hand. “Tell me how to get up there! I need to start running tests!”

“Keep that energy, I’ll be needing it soon,” Rudra said. “I’ll let you study the ship, and in return I want you to find and fix anything you find in there. I’ll lend you a team of angels to help you. And I want you to remove any Judgment symbols you see in there. The design will look just like the tabards Shadiel and his angels wore. You can’t miss it.”

“Oh hell yes!” Anita grinned, bouncing on the spot.

“...Ok, whatever happened here, do I want to know?” Larimar asked hesitantly, carefully stepping out of HECU with the rest of the Legions lead angels.

“We’ve got ourselves an airship,” Rudra replied. “Courtesy of Shadiel.”

“Wh - The Angel of Vengeance!?” Ofia squawked, a few feathers popping off her wings in astonishment. “No way!”

“I’ve only ever heard stories about this thing,” Talon whispered, awestruck.

“And you’ll get to experience it. This will be our base of operations from now on.”

“Please tell me this thing is gonna get a visual overhaul,” Skyla frowned, glaring at the Judgment symbols plastered across the airship's hull. “It’s like if an eyesore was a paint.”

“All in due time. Noir? Anita? I hope you two aren’t airsick, because you’ll be spending a while onboard,” Rudra declared, clapping Anita and Noir on their shoulders and flashing them both a toothy grin.

#Team Fortress 2 #Freak Fortress #The Gravestone Saga #Angel Fallen: The Chronicles of the Legion #Rudra Seraph #Lady Noir #Anita James #Joriel #Ofia #Skyla #Styna #Madame Talon #Shadiel #Larimar Prince

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