The three Malakim and Dandelion go riding to Faber's rescue. Hopefully. Dandelion tracks Faber to a disused theatre, the King's Head, and is fairly sure he's inside, through the wall, on the stage, and still drugged. Case hears that funky battle-approaching Symphonic noise, and girds up his sinews. He and Dandelion sneak up the fire escape that they stopped by to the top, followed by Zebediah and Nathaniel (with medieval shields). The door at the top is old and rusty. Case listens, and hears nothing except the occasional rattle. He forces the door open with Nathaniel's sword, not wishing to do it with his own. Dandelion wants to go first and try kindness, but the Malakim outvote her and say they'll call her if anything happens. Fortunately there are no Seraphim present.
The Malakim sneak towards the stage, currently being on about the first floor level, and spy ahead of them a man with trank gun laid aside, reading a pornographic magazine. Case resonates on him, gets only trivial human minor stuff, sneaks up on him and knocks him out, takes the gun and leaves him looking as though he's asleep. They sneak closer to the stage, and hear voices, discussing waiting for "the Masters" and how long to keep "him" here. Beyond, they can hear someone open the main door of the theatre.
They creep onto the stage balcony, and see (a) an unconscious Faber on the stage, though not, alas, lying on a trapdoor, (b) four men with trank guns, (c) a large, broad-shouldered man who's just entered at the far end of the auditorium, in trenchcoat and suit, coming towards the stage, who is masked. Nathaniel and Zebediah sneak down the stairs towards the stage. Alas, the stairs creak under Zebediah. Everyone looks thataway. Nathaniel charges, followed by Zebediah, and Case starts firing the trank gun from his balcony. Three of the men on the stage go down, and the big guy starts sprinting for the stage. The fourth guy fires at Nathaniel, who catches the dart on his shield, and who shoulder-charges. The fourth guy ducks and rolls. Zebediah reaches Faber and picks him up.
Nathaniel decides to frighten the fourth guy, and lights up his hands. The fourth guy screams, "The Oppressors!" Case does a jump and roll from the balcony, drawing his sword as he does (it has been decided that Case is played by Chow Yun Fat in this feature presentation) and confronts the big guy. The big guy detonates a Song of Thunder, but all the Malakim make their Will rolls, and the only person to fall over is the hapless fourth guy. Zebediah starts dragging Faber towards the exit, via the stairs at the side of the stage, and Nathaniel stays between them and the big guy, while Case attacks personally. The big guy pulls out a broadsword, a la Highlander, but only uses the flat of it in his attacks on Case. Neither proves immediately superior.
Zebediah gets Faber down the stairs, and begins hauling him towards the exit. The big guy changes tactics, and jumps backwards off the edge of the stage, cutting towards Zebediah and Faber. Case and Nathaniel jump after him, though Nathaniel misses his jump and demolishes a chair. The big guy reaches Zebediah, who tries a shield parry and gets knocked to one side. Case tries a flying kick, and misses. Nathaniel cuts for the back of the guy's legs, but uses the flat of his sword, and scores a blow; the big guy goes down on one knee. From the balcony, Dandelion Sings Celestial Charm at the guy. Zebediah attacks, misses, and hits Nathaniel, and they go down together. Case tries a head kick, and misses, and the guy gets him on the leg while he's open. He detonates Thunder again. This time Case and Zebediah go down, but Nathaniel's still standing. There is a short fight, during which Nathaniel cuts the guy's arm, and the guy gets Nathaniel in the side of the head with the flat of his broadsword. Nathaniel lies down to look at the pretty lights.
Case and Zebediah wake to see the big guy hauling Faber towards the exit, in a fireman's lift. Case does an ultra-acrobatic run and flying kick, and connects, and they all go down together. There is a tussle on the floor. The guy gets a grip on Case's neck, and Case discovers that the guy is wearing a box when he tries to knee him in the groin. Zebediah slams his shield into the guy's head, and Case wallops him, and he is apparently unconscious. Nathaniel wakes, and decides to remove the guy's mask, but the guy (who is clearly not unconscious) goes Celestial. Case is the only one who sees his Celestial form - a red-and-gold Seraph. Case realises that the guy's fighting style looked somewhat Groves-trained. Case asks the Seraph who he is, but he sings a note of pure fury before fleeing. The Malakim grab his dropped broadsword and the still-unconscious Faber, grab Dandelion, and leave rapidly, heading for Zebediah's museum.
Meanwhile, Bernard and Tony discuss what to do with Terry. They want to expose him, but they have no actual criminal evidence. They decide they may have to keep him under observation, and watch for an opportunity to dispose of him.
Meanwhile, at the cafe, an Indian woman in t-shirt and jeans, with braids and a red caste mark, enters, and asks if she can sit at Lucas' table. He agrees, with much stammering. She asks friendly questions. He babbles. She says she's doing Psychology too, her name is "Halley", and she's interested in men who do boxing. He babbles yet more, blushes, makes excuses, and leaves, heading across to the table where Martin's host is. Both leave. Martin, when they're outside, points out that he didn't tell the woman that Lucas was doing Psychology and Boxing, so that she clearly knew way too much, and this must mean people are watching Lucas. Lucas is astonished.
At the Civic Centre, the man Martin is watching via the security cameras is apparently still in his office, with the light on and the door shut. Martin tells Lucas to head for the Civic Centre, drops his student host, and possesses one of the guards at the Civic Centre. The guard wanders round trying the doors, and walks in on this man (a Mr Green). Mr Green is busy writing, by hand; he says he'll be another hour or so, and will lock up after himself. Martin's guard nods, leaves, and Martin depossesses him, returning to the cameras. Lucas jogs for the Civic Centre.
Martin's cameras suddenly notice an Indian woman in the Civic Centre, who looks like "Halley" from earlier, except that she's in a business suit and has no caste mark. She goes into Mr Green's office, then emerges five minutes later, heading outside to where a car is waiting. Lucas arrives at this moment. Martin uses a pigeon to delay her (via air-to-ground pigeonshit strafing, though he misses) and Lucas calls out to her. She ignores him, and he decides that he must be mistaken. She gets into the car (there is a chauffeur) and is driven away. Martin notes the car number.
Martin's pigeon follows the car. Martin possesses the guard in the security camera room, while Lucas jogs round the Civic Centre and does a recce in imitation of Hero Malakite Nathaniel and because he can't stay still. The car goes to a hotel in town, _The Star_, and parks outside, and the woman goes into the hotel. Martin perches at the front of the hotel and thinks.
An hour and a half goes by. Martin/guard checks Mr Green's door, and finds it locked, though the light's still on inside. He uses his passkey. Inside the room, Mr Green is dead, still sitting at his desk. Beside him is a small, empty bottle with a scent of bitter almonds. There are no signs of disturbance. The writing pad is blank, missing the first few sheets.
Martin uses the Elohite of Jean attunement (which he has) to materialise a computer, which is determined after discussion to include a scanner, and scans the uppermost piece of blank paper, then fiddles with the resolution till he has a partial document, which he saves, and emails to his account.
...ady, ... ave failed y... ... all into the hands of the Oppress... ... give me, I beg of yo... ... swear that I am a loya... ...sire only to regain wha... ...ince the Outcasting. If I ... ... be forgiven, I will bring ... ...ant of the false Maker ... ... Forgive, I beg...
There are no signs of disturbance. Martin goes through the man's pockets, and memorises all the business cards in his wallet. He takes the guard back to the central office and depossesses him, then waits till he can arrange that guard to be the one who discovers the body during normal patrol, as he's left the guard's fingerprints everywhere. He possesses a stray cat, and uses it to roughly inform Lucas of the events.
Lucas phones Case, who agrees to meet him at the University Sports Centre (as he doesn't want to discuss it on the phone). Martin tries phoning the apartment and dojo, but gets no answer. Lucas jogs for the Sports Centre, while Case heads thataway via bike.
Tony goes to meet the prostitute, and says that he wants to talk. ("Oh, you like to talk about it before you do it?") She takes him back to her apartment, and they talk. She is clearly just regarding this as a way to make some money, better than selling french fries at MacDonalds. After an hour or so, he persuades her to consider a part-time researcher job for him at Meridian TV, where he works, and which he can swing. He resonates on her (having failed earlier) and gets her name (Sheila Donoghue), origin (Midlands, poor middle-class family) and the facts that she's interested in her work but has no other real hobbies. He leaves feeling he's made an impression, and she agrees to come down for an interview tomorrow.
Bernard looks for dirt on Terry. He finds a report of an expose of his in Michigan lately, regarding angels and demons, which blew up in his face and was proved a hoax. He phones the dojo and apartment: no answer. He phones the museum, which is where the Faber Rescue Squad retreated to, and gets Zebediah, who invites him over. He goes.
Tony ascends via the University Jean-Tether, to look for files on Teraphim/Terry.
Martin watches the guard discover the body of Mr Green, leaving fingerprints everywhere, and call the police. He leaves, finds a bird, and heads for the University Sports Centre.
At the museum, Dandelion says that Faber should be left to come out from his drug dose naturally. Checking him, they find two trank dart punctures, and a nice large puncture in his forearm where they clearly gave him another dose to keep him under. Bernard arrives. Nathaniel explains about the Mysterious Seraph (who Case has mentioned.) Bernard wonders if it could have been a Balseraph, but Nathaniel says they don't think so, and points out that the guy pulled his blows. Nathaniel also takes aspirin for his headache. They discuss matters. Bernard emails Abdi-Bezek at the Tether with an encrypted summary of events, and asks if anyone used the Tether recently. Abdi-Bezek says only Tony, who is probably not a Mysterious Seraph.
Case talks with Lucas and they compare notes. Martin turns up, possesses a student, and joins in. They all head back for the museum.
Everyone compares notes, reads the part-letter that Martin retrieved, and speculates a lot. Bernard wonders if this is a group of Children of the Grigori. Faber begins to wake. Case goes, with the Crystal, into the next room and inspects Oriental weapons. Faber is questioned, and says he was on his way to see an architect, Sebastian Phas by name, when he got jumped by the thugs. Bernard continuously fails attempts to use his resonance or even detect lies. Martin recognises the name (Sebastian Phas) as one of the cards in Mr Green's pocket. Nathaniel questions Faber more, but Faber apparently knows nothing helpful. More talk. Faber eventually caves in, and admits that Eli sent him a message to meet him here (on a bit of orange origami paper inside a bagel), but not where or when, so he took advantage of Mr Phas' invitation to stop by and discuss building projects.
They speculate as to whether the Triad is trying to pull a fast one and end up getting the credit for it. Nathaniel and Faber compare notes about their problems with Judgement. Nathaniel invites Faber to stay at the flat overnight, and Faber accepts. Zebediah says he's going upstairs to do some things.
Tony ascends, and heads across from the Halls of Progress to the Celestial Tribunal. He goes into Records, passed by a senior Elohite, and finds the file on Teraphim. Fell in the 2nd century AD, ex-Michaelite, believed turned by Malphasians, known to have worked for Malphas and now Nybbas, holder of the Word of Television Marketing. There's a request in the file from one Rigziel, Seraph of War, that he be informed if Teraphim is traced, as he "wants a word with him". Tony hunts for a Rigziel file, and finds one. A few investigations, standard stuff, occasional dissonance, no problems, and the occasion when he dangled a Malakite of Judgement out of the window was marked as "having been provoked". He puts the files back, and heads for the Groves.
Bernard and Martin go to investigate the Star Hotel. The woman's car is still parked outside, and the driver is possibly asleep, as he's sitting very still. Martin tries to possess him, and finds he's dead. They phone Abdi-Bezek, who tells them that the car was hired from Fleet Cars, but that they have paper records, so he can't track who. They decide to leave the car where it is, and go inside. Martin tries to possess the desk clerk, but is resisted. Bernard lies that he's meeting a colleague, and takes a point of dissonance. The desk clerk, an elderly woman, gives a knowing look concerning why two businessmen want to meet a female colleague whose name they don't know at nine pm, and a room number, 24B. They both go up the stairs, and Martin flies a pigeon round to look in the window. The room seems empty and unoccupied. He then fiddles the swipe-card lock, and they go in. The room was never touched, as far as they can see. They hypothesise that she went up to this floor, then simply down the fire escape or back stairs and out that way.
Zebediah ascends via the Jean-Tether, and heads for the Cathedral of the Sword. He's told Laurence is not currently available. He decides to wait at least for a while, and writes up a report in the meantime.
Tony reaches the Groves, and pauses at one side. A couple of Cherubs speak to him. One goes off to look for Rigziel, while the other (who had at first thought him a Servitor of David) comments on Dominic's "nerve" in trying Michael, saying he finds it "cool". This is a Servitor of Janus. The first Cherub comes back, saying that Rigziel is supervising arms practice, and leads Tony over.
Rigziel is a big amethyst-scaled Seraph, supervising axe practice. At first he thinks that Tony and the Cherub are late attenders, and yells for them to get their weapons. Tony explains why he's here, and hands over all the Terry-related information to Rigziel, who is most pleased to get it. Rigziel is very very happy indeed. Tony gets out while the getting is good.
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