CounterPoint (6 page)

Chapter 6

After his argument with David, Ariel was convinced more so than ever that humans were too unreliable to comprehend even simple requests. The Bassetts are in danger, but offer them protection and they refuse. If only they knew the sheer complexities of existence, it was enough to fry a human’s brain.

Ariel sidestepped an empty coke can and opened the dirt plastered glass door of the abandoned garage. The small room inside was not typical of an abandoned building. From the outside, the garage looked like it had not been used for decades, even longer.  Inside, however, the floor was tiled a dull matte black. The adhesive between each tile glowed bright luminous white creating a lattice effect. The walls were black and the white border running around them along the floor was in pristine condition. Three large black doors lay at the rear of the room. They were without handles or buttons.

As Ariel approached the middle door, it automatically opened to reveal a huge elevator carriage. Ariel simply stood still for a few moments before the doors slowly hissed closed and the carriage began its descent downwards. To the human eye, the carriage would only have travelled a few metres down considering the elevator ride lasted only six seconds. In reality, however, Ariel was now six miles underground and about to enter what was cryptically known only as Headquarters.            

Located six miles underground in the middle of the Scottish highlands, this massive complex spanned forty floors and housed thousands of angels. Protected with Heaven’s most advanced formulas Headquarters was considered to be the safest place on Earth for any creature. The interior itself followed a very simple pattern of white tiles and walls enclosed by black steel borders. Every door was black, every desk was white. While no lights could be seen, each room was illuminated brightly. The building had no power source. It didn’t need one. Angels always found it curious that whilst hundreds of millions did believe in their existence, they envisioned them floating around the sky carrying harps and singing songs. Humans never even considered angels had an entire planet to run.

Headquarters, however, did not deal with local population issues, which was left to the regional offices. Instead it acted as the centre point for all angelic operations on Earth and had a direct passage to Heaven. Heaven was not administrative, and was the final destination for all those of the human experiment, permitting they met stringent criteria. As such, Heaven was the ideal paradise, but for angels it was only provided in very small quantities.

Ariel was acutely aware that the absence of God was the single greatest catalyst to the under-swelling of negative opinion swarming through the rank and file. Angels had acted as the caretakers of the experiment for millions of years. With those fearing God may never return, dissent at having to maintain Earth for a possible eternity was increasing with every passing day. Angels were created solely to serve God and many were created specifically for the human experiment. No one knew its purpose or when it was to be evaluated, only that God and other omnipotent beings considered it vital for the future. Ariel remembered when plans were being drawn up for the human experiment and only then it was realised just how vast and resource intense it would be. No other planet had been created like Earth before, let alone with the diverse life from plants to animals. Humans were projected, and aptly so, to be the biggest challenge.

“Ariel, we have a situation!” shouted his deputy director. Her long red hair injected some much needed colour against her black office suit. Ariel stared blankly at her, pulling himself back from the memories of the past. She was in a frantic panic.

“We have reports from special operatives signalling a possible mass attack on The White House,” she continued speedily, glancing at some charts. “We have six angels stationed there now, but from intelligence we’re receiving, that will be insufficient to hold the line let alone repel an attack.”  Ariel’s department protected all ‘critical’ locations around the globe from demon interference, especially human centres of power and control.

“What the Hell is going on today?” he replied in anger directed at no one. “Right, inform the Ministry of Defence we need troops out there ASAP or they can explain to Management why The White House has fallen. Get me a full squadron of special operatives; I’m heading down there to take control of the situation. Amber you coordinate from here and get…”

“Sir,” interjected a low ranking angel, “an urgent message.”  He shoved a piece of rolled up parchment into Ariel’s hand before taking off.

“Michael wants to see me,” said Ariel gravely.

“Sounds serious,” said Amber. No one was ever summoned to meet Michael. Ever.

“Indeed. Amber, lead that squadron and eradicate this threat. I’ll join you when I can. Don’t take any prisoners; I want that building secured immediately. Use whatever force necessary.”

“Yes sir,” was her fierce, immediate reply and she rushed towards the elevator with a few others joining her automatically. The benefit of this department being so small was that every angel knew what to expect and what to do, never having to be told.  Looking around, the hallway seemed to be a lot busier than usual for this time of night. The world was overwhelmed with crisis.

Amber appeared in the secretary office attached to the President’s office. She may have just appeared, but with her angelic capabilities she ensured no one took notice.            “The President is in danger. An attack is imminent,” she whispered to the secret service agent stationed at the window. He raced into the President’s office immediately, as swarms of agents appeared through multiple doors.

“Ma’am, we’ve scanned the building. The demons are gone,” said one of her squad team.

“Of course they are,” realised Amber. “Demons would never dare attempt an invasion of The White House. This has been a distraction….everyone, back to base now.”

The angelic squad vanished back to Headquarters. Amber suspected war may be upon them whether they wanted it or not.

***

Whilst he knew it was only a short distance to Michael’s level, it always seemed to go quicker than one wanted it to. Watching the huge double bolted silver doors hiss open sensing his arrival, he readily increased his pace. The sense of power down here was palpable, and kept even the brightest and most confident angels on their toes.

Seven levels up Amber was back, marching up and down the conference room in their department. Made of a solid, thick white glass and surrounded with black leather high back chairs, and centred by a large table fit for a corporate office, the room was built for its pure functionality. She watched as the various department subheads took their seats. The manager concerned with weapon control and supply for the department was still not present. Amber suspected he was in conference with the Ministry of Defence about acquiring more firepower for the troops in Rome to hold off the attacks until reinforcements arrived. Whether he would be successful or not remained to be seen, Heaven’s weapons apart from the basics were under strict lock and key, and their release could only be authorised by an Archangel.

“Amber, we’ve just received word that three angels have been killed in combat in Jerusalem.” Amber swung round to look at the bearer of bad news.  Jared, seconded from the Department of Strategic Planning who also acted as a conduit between the two departments instead of relying on the ‘hourly updates’.

“What is going on?” replied Amber, her voice raised and throwing her papers on the white glass table. She was becoming extremely frustrated; angels were dying and management was staying quiet about the whole affair. Usually a large taskforce would be dispatched instantly to quell the demon uprisings once they became problematic.

“We aren’t sure. We’re detecting massive increases in demon activity all across the globe. Investigations have yet to release their findings on what is happening,” answered Jared, flicking through his paperwork whilst replying to his superior.

Amber knew the Department of Investigations would not be releasing any findings until it was reviewed by management and censored accordingly. If you weren’t in management, you never got the full picture.

“Sorry I’m late boss; Heaven isn’t issuing any requests for more powerful weapons. They say they won’t be releasing anything until they receive an order from management to do so. At the moment, they’re not even taking requests for later review.” Matthew had just entered the room. As always, his presence was felt and heard at the same time. Despite always wearing the best fitting suits his tie was always undone and out of place, something even Ariel had given up in reminding him about. After hearing this Amber had had enough.

“Ok listen up everybody,” shouted Amber to the room, rounding them all in. “I want a complete list of where our forces are, what weapons they currently have and how many are encountering strong resistance. Demon numbers across the globe that are currently active against our troops, now!” The room become a hive of activity almost immediately.

“Jared,” she turned to him once more, “tell defence to shore up the protection of every human leader, everywhere.”  He nodded and instantly sped off.

Entering the official offices of Saint Michael the Archangel was an experience one does not forget. The offices themselves were rarely used, as Michael was no fan of Earth and preferred the sunlight of Heaven. The room itself was completely different from the rest of the complex. Its dark oak walls were a welcome change from the bleach clean décor used everywhere else. The plush, dark red carpet which was bordered with solid oak wooden flooring felt soft and extravagant underfoot. Upon pushing open the main office doors, Ariel was now walking up the long corridor towards the large dark wooden desk situated at the end in a large circular room. Catching his eye were the various displays of artwork adorning the wooden walls. Artwork depicting the creation of Earth, the first humans and even the war in Heaven. He recognised one of the portraits, what humans adoringly called ‘
The Mona Lisa
’ by Leonardo DaVinci, a famous work shrouded still in mystery. Why Michael even had that hanging in his office confused Ariel greatly.

Upon entering the main room he saw Michael standing, gazing out through the large square window directly behind his desk holding his hands behind his back. Highly trained special operation angels were also present – four, each spaced evenly along the walls of the room. Clad in a precisely cut black suit and tie, their silence only added to the level of fear they projected. They stood motionless, arms crossed forward and staring directly ahead. 

“Ariel. I’m glad to finally meet you in person, as it were,” said Michael, still staring through the window.

Caught by surprise due to the cold silence in the room, Ariel thought quickly and spoke even more so.  “Thank you, sir. It is an honour,” he replied, trying to keep his calm and nerve.

“Ariel,” Michael continued to stare out the large window, “we have the gravest of problems.”

“And what is that, sir?”  Turning round to face Ariel for the first time, he could feel Michael’s eyes meeting his directly. The enormous golden drapes surrounding the window coupled with the thunderstorm outside only added to the aura of Michael’s stature and power.

“We are tasked with administrating this planet. It is time to rid it of the demon threat once and for all. The human experiment is failing, it cannot last the intended course. We must give the humans a chance to start over. There have also been rumours Lucifer may be on the verge of escaping his prison. We cannot allow that to happen.” Michael let the words hang in the air. Their weight lingered for what seemed like minutes. Scripture telling of the return and uprising of Lucifer was generally considered illegitimate by angelic scholars. Lucifer was locked in the darkest pits of an unreachable prison and chained with the most powerful constraints known to Heaven.  Even Fate herself had acknowledged that the uprising of Lucifer was not on any of her schedules and that they were ‘planned very far in advance’. Sensing Ariel’s silence, Michael continued.

“Heaven believes that evil has polluted this planet to such an extent that the experiment is now in danger. The Archangel Council is in full agreement. The experiment must be protected and therefore we must wage war on demon-kind. To do nothing would be abandoning our oath to God. Demon numbers continue to rise as humanity falls deeper into the throes of demon territory. We cannot allow that to continue, for humanity’s sake and ours. Whatever has to be done must be done. From midnight tonight I am ordering all regional offices to a state of high alert. We’ll be putting more troops on the ground than at any time in the history of this planet.” 

Ariel was now feeling the weight of what he was told bearing down on him. They were now getting ready for war.

“I’m sorry, sir, but can I be so bold as to ask why you are informing me of this privately?” asked Ariel. He was a director and head of department, but there were over twenty departments and then management was also above him in the angelic hierarchy.

“You have yet to be successful in your mission. You were instructed to remove that human family from Dublin and place them in a safe house, yet this has still not been done. This bloodline is important to us and if we fail to secure them we will regret it. We cannot allow them to fall into demonic possession. Intelligence reports indicate that demons have also become aware of this particular family. If they secure them before us, they can use them as leverage and possibly even experimentation. Seeing the questions written all over Ariel’s face, Michael knew he would have to tell him more but only as much as was absolutely necessary.

“I can’t emphasise enough the importance of securing this family. Heaven agrees with me in this instance. It is written in the Holy Scriptures. Radweriel has personally informed me that this family must be secured. Get them to agree. Do whatever you have to do to bring them to a safe location and secure it. I’m authorising you to use any and all resources you need.”