Psychic Company: Case 02 - Seraph Pt.3
The world went silent and there was a soft click in her head.
Lilian dropped a folder on Emily's lap. She stared at it for a second and then looked up at the tall woman. "What's this?"
"The report from Equipo de Fe," Lilian replied.
"The Mexico team?" Emily opened the folder and flipped through some papers. It looked like a report on some leads. "They're folklorists, right?"
"Something like that. I wasn't paying attention." Lilian crossed her arms and looked away in the direction the fallen seraph was last seen. "Elena said she wants you to call her if you want to know more."
"Will do. Did you manage to get your monitoring equipment back online?"
"I tried again but everything's fried. Whatever wasn't nuked by recording that guy's falling was worn away by the second storm."
"If you're worried about the cost you can put in a requisition—"
"I know! I know. That's not what I'm thinking about. It's just—" Lilian sighed. "I wish we were of more help."
Emily scowled. "Hey, we're not done yet. There's still more for you to do."
Lilian sighed again, angrier this time, and combed through her hair with her fingers. "Okay. Sure. I'm gonna go help Fiona scrub."
"Okay. I'll read what Equipo de Fe got for us." Emily watched Lilian leave and then turned her gaze to the files in her lap. She mostly skimmed them but something stuck out for her—a story about a young woman who could speak with the gods from a village near modern day Mexico City. She pulled up some Company records from around the same time and her face darkened. She immediately called Elena and put their vidcall up on one of the screens.
Elena Iglesias was a plump woman with warm skin, curly black hair, and glasses. She sat leisurely in what looked like a library with textbooks scattered everywhere. She was the team lead for Equipo de Fe and the best Mexican folklorist in the Company. "I was wondering when you would call," she said. "So, which one do you want to hear more of?"
"The girl who could talk with the gods—that's the woman our seraph is looking for, isn't it?"
Elena hissed a breath in. "That can't be proven."
Emily sent the record file she pulled up. "Company agents captured a seraph near Tenochtitlan in the same year it fell. That's not just a coincidence. Did you know about this?"
Elena halfheartedly looked over the file before pushing it aside. "What about it?"
Emily was shocked. "What do you mean what about it?" she shouted. "Those agents didn't bother learning the situation. They didn't know he was in love with her! If he wasn't captured, would things have turned out differently? It's the Company's fault—our fault that—"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Adonis said. He was a table over having dinner with the Office 3 field team and intended to listen quietly to what was going on but he had had enough. "Who do you think you are to get upset on their behalf? Don't blame the fall of Tenochtitlan on the Company, and don't speculate that it wouldn't have fallen if the seraph were there. How do you know the seraph wouldn't have just saved the woman and fled?"
"That's not what—"
"You don't know what seraphs do, how they behave. No human does. Their minds are unknowable so don't presume to be on the in."
"I'm sorry," Emily finally said after a long silence.
"The important thing is deciding on what to do from now on," Elena said. "What are we disguising the new storm as?"
"A tropical storm," Emily replied. She sighed. "As for what to do going forward... I'm not sure. We can try weakening the storm around him but I don't even know what his goal is anymore."
"That sounds like the beginning of a plan to me," Elena said. "We can talk details when you get here. Actually, there's someone I want you to meet. In the meantime, is there anything we can get started on here?"
"Our feeds are down so if you could set up some data on the seraph and his storm, and then evacuate the entire trajectory... Am I asking too much? He's headed for Mexico City, isn't he?"
Elena grimaced. "The entire city might be too much, but we can start with the direction its coming from."
Emily smiled. "Thanks. See you guys soon."
Based in a building owned by the Company with a bar on the first floor and apartments above, the support office in Mexico City was the perfect cover as well as source of information. Associate staff had already arrived from Mérida head office and were helping coordinate the evacuation. Elena led the group up to a room set up with six monitors, each with a different feed.
"This is what you want to see," Elena said and pointed to a satellite imaging feed with the seraph's trajectory superimposed on top. It clearly showed the seraph's storm barrelling down the middle of Mexico straight for the capital. "It really picked up speed as it passed through Sonora and has been in a straight line ever since."
Emily studied the feed, moving it around and examining the cities on the map. The scope of the storm was huge. "I want the military to set up an outer perimeter along the valley."
"I'll get Valeria on that. What else?"
"We can set up an inner perimeter ourselves, right?"
Elena looked toward the Storm Chasers on the other side of the room. Neither her or Emily knew if they had ever dealt with something of this magnitude before. "It's a good thing you have them—even if they do look a little shaken. That group has created a bond, tasted each other's magic. They can be on opposite sides of the world and still cast together." Elena nodded to herself.
"That's incredibly powerful, isn't it?" Emily said.
"That's why every chanting mage is on a watchlist." She sighed. "Anyway, I'll arrange for them to be taken to their positions in the valley. What do you want my team to do?"
Emily frowned. "Um, I haven't met them yet, so—"
"Oh, how could I have forgotten. I wanted to introduce you to someone, too! Come, this way." Elena gently placed her hands on Emily's shoulders and guided her downstairs and out the back of the bar to a little enclosed courtyard. Across from them was a little stone and brick chapel that had a mostly angelic design motif. Elena gently knocked on the heavy wooden doors before peering in. "Javier?"
"What?" a grumpy voice replied.
Elena giggled. "Are you still praying?"
"I'm always praying, Elena."
"You can take a break, you know. The field captain arrived."
Javier sighed. He pushed himself up from the floor and came over to the chapel door, from which he leaned out and glared at the two women—Emily in particular.
"Say hi," Elena said. She smiled against Javier's frown.
Javier combed through his soft white hair and sighed again. "Hi. I'm Javier Sanchez."
"Tell her what you are," Elena prompted.
"You can tell her these things, Elena. I have things to do."
"He’s our angel liaison,” she said to Emily and then turned to Javier. “It's better if these things come directly from you. Oh, by the way, have you gotten any word?"
"Nothing."
"Um," Emily mumbled, "I didn't know we had an angel liaison."
"This is why Javier explains himself.” Elena sighed. “He is special.”
"Why?"
"I'm half angel," he said, a little annoyed. "I... purify things." He eyed the miniature Lantern of Gabriel. "Like that thing, except I don't need to recharge."
"That's great! Can you—"
"No." Javier's reply came fast and firm. "A fallen angel isn't necessarily corrupt." He looked in the direction of the coming storm. "That seraph... isn't malicious. They're hurt." He seemed almost pained, like he felt the seraph's feelings. "Seraphs are powerful. They are the most divine. Returning to their previous form is likely possible for that one. How does your plan account for that?"
"It doesn’t. The plan is to disperse the storm with Elena, weaken him with the mages, and to use a capture device specialised for corrupt beings."
"But they're not corrupt," Javier said.
Emily didn't know what to say. Her entire plan went out the window if the seraph wasn't corrupt. "Can you... talk with him?"
Javier was reluctant. "I can, but you also have the voice. You can speak—"
"I want you there with me, then. I tried talking to him last time, in Arizona, and that didn't go well. I don't know how to talk with him."
"It's not hard."
"It's very hard. I need your help."
Javier pressed his lips together and looked away, avoiding eye contact. "I guess I'll help..."
Elena smiled. "Good job, Emily. Flattery works best on him."
The seraph's new storm, smaller in size than the last one but as powerful as a cyclone, quickly engulfed the empty city of Aguascalientes, its people having evacuated to Guadalajara. Next on the hit list of places on the way to Mexico City was León, which was empty except for Company agents. This was where Emily moved their forward operations to. Kain and Emily were in forward positions at the edge of town in case the seraph attacked, while Charles helped the mages weaken the seraph for capture. Elena was somewhere in the hills to the east, while Valeria, her second in command, coordinated the Mexican military operations from Guadalejara. Emily stood on the roof of Hotel Elena de Cobre dressed in some protective gear and a communications headset. Javier was next to her wearing only his white robes.
Over comms, Elena said, "The seraph is in position."
"Disperse the storm," Emily said and Elena's eyes glowed a bright white. She reached into the sky with both hands, seemingly gripping the clouds themselves, and pulled them down onto the seraph's storm. The seraph's massive body toppled to the ground, thrown off balance by the clashing of weather around it. A wall of wind rushed toward León, covering everything in dirt and dust. The seraph, on its knees, looked toward the city, its body still composed completely of light. The only difference from before was that the shape of its wings were bat-like instead of feathery.
Despite being quite a distance away, the seraph spotted Emily immediately. "You," it groaned. "And the one next to you..."
Emily wasn't sure whether to use her ability or not and in that moment of hesitation, Javier stepped forward. His voice, when he spoke, was commanding—regal, even—and rang in Emily's head. "Seraph," he said. "Look back and witness the damage you have caused."
The seraph didn't move. It didn't have a face so they couldn't tell if it really heard Javier or not. It moved into a crossed leg position on the ground and seemed to freeze in position. "I mean no harm, but I must see the changes for myself. If you do not let me pass, I will go through you."
"This is a different world," Javier said. "What you wish to see no longer exists."
The seraph sighed. "I know you only speak the truth, but I must see it for myself."
"You do this for a woman, yes? Do you love her?"
The seraph shifted in position. "You humans often talk much about this love. I can’t say if what I feel is love—if I’m able to experience it at all—but I know that I am her protector. I do not feel her presence and I am afraid."
Emily finally said something. "That's because she's passed. Why can't you go back to heaven and see her?"
The seraph was silent.
Javier glared at her like she just said something stupid. "Even if she is in heaven, they are a seraph—there is no mingling between human souls and divinity. Our plane was the only place they could have met," he said, motioning to the seraph.
It suddenly dawned on Emily why the seraph was in such a state. No longer able to see the one he cared about the most, it must have driven him crazy. She suddenly felt sorry for the seraph. "Is there anything we can do?"
Javier scowled. "No."
"You can let me pass. I wish to see what everything has turned into," the seraph said.
"We can't do that, Seraph," Javier said and then over comms he gave the order to start the weakening.
The seraph's light began to dim almost immediately, likely a combined effort between the mages, Charles, and Valeria's domination technique. Eventually the seraph didn't glow anymore at all and was simply a giant, bat-winged man.
Emily readied the capture device, unsure if it was even going to work. She watched as a sad smile slowly formed on the seraph's lips. Something about it was familiar and it unsettled her. It was like she was back in Arizona watching the seraph fall from grace all over again. The world went silent and there was a soft click in her head.
"Don't do it!" Emily shouted and raised the capture device.
"I'm sorry," the seraph whispered but the words echoed in everyone's minds.
Cracks of light first appeared on the seraph's fingers but they quickly snaked up its arms and throughout the whole body.
Tears welled in Emily's eyes as she aimed the capture device. Just as she was about to switch it on, Javier rested a warm hand on her shoulder. "Don't," he said sadly. "It won't work. We need to get somewhere safe."
"I can't let him do this," she sobbed.
"He's made his choice."
Emily growled in frustration as she wiped her face. She took in a haggard breath and gulped back the rest of her sobs. "I'm cancelling the mission," she said over comms. "Everyone, drop everything and get to safety." She climbed into a truck with Javier, and together they drove to pick up her team. Emily looked back as they sped through the city away from the seraph, glaring at the growing light with sadness and disappointment.
They had just reached the city limits when a massive explosion of light erupted from the seraph, completely fracturing its existence. And just like that, it was over. The seraph was no more—shattered.