A/N: Challenge Fic. Hairbrained concept that hit me out of the blue. Anyone wants to pic it up and run, let me know.
The problem with angels is that while they may be immortal, they are far from infallible. That is why there exists the program of Guardian Angels. It is a measure set up to allow them to redeem themselves of their mistakes and allow them back into the gilded halls of the Eternals. For small mistakes, they are given single life assignments, generally for mortals that are not destined to need much intervention. For greater mistakes, the angels can be assigned multiple lives to watch over or individuals that tend to place themselves needlessly into danger. Only those that make the most dire of mistakes receive the toughest assignments. These are the guardians assigned to those that place themselves into danger for the greater good, such as rescue workers, police, and warriors defending the innocent.
This is why the current supervisor of the program, a redeemed angel herself, when she saw the name A. Shepard come across her desk, knew someone had screwed up big time. This wasn't going to be a case of just keeping the target person alive until their appointed time, it would require keeping them relatively intact both mind and body. Normally a soldier assignment was considered successful even if random portions of the body were missing on arrival at in-processing. Sure, it meant more work for the body shop, but that was what they were there for. This one would need all their limbs until their destined time, and the mind needed to remain cohesive as well. Having reviewed the file given to her, she called for the chosen angel to come into the office for the briefing on their assignment.
The sight that greeted her when she looked up startled her greatly. He was one of the Fallen, an angel that had erred so badly as to be cast out completely and assumed by those left above to be beyond redemption. Either he had striven for a very long time to return or her boss had started a new program including them and not told her. As with all angels, physically he was as beautiful as could be standing tall and muscular. Were a mortal woman to view him, they would likely be beside themselves with lust, while a man would be at best respectful of the power in his presence and at worst insanely jealous. To an angel that saw his like every day, he was only of average looks, although the black wings and subtly pointed teeth marked him out immediately as different. The fact that he was dressed in full battle attire meant he knew what kind of assignment he was in for, as there was no known mortal weapon that could pierce the plates, but the skin and robes of most angels were all too fragile in the face of mortals with fell intent.
The first guardians had been lost even before the mortals had stepped from their world into the stars. The continual wars between themselves had pushed them to make ever more destructive and powerful weapons, and in a place called Afghanistan the first guardian fell to a mortal. Although his body absorbed the force of the sniper's bullet intended for his assigned mortal and saved said mortal's life, he could not complete his mission and join the halls of Eternal Life. That had been a bad day for all angels as they realized they could be killed, but the ones on assignment at the time could not spare the time from their charges to retrieve their armor from the vaults. Only the fact that mortals could not normally see the angels kept that incident from revealing them to the mortals at large. Unfortunately, the lack of armor was to take its toll on more angels as the conflicts ground on. Some were successful in saving their targets, causing a hasty reassignment for several angels, others were not as lucky, and perished with the mortals they tried to shield. The raw power of mortal weaponry had only grown from that point, and now it was required for the guardians assigned to soldiers to wear their armor on assignment.
Looking over the blood red plates of the Fallen one's armor her guess that it was of Infernal rather than Blessed make, which raised questions of how it was allowed into the realm in the first place, but it should still be proof against anything the mortals could throw at it. With a quirked eyebrow at her apparent uneasiness he reached for the file and began to leaf through it. At a certain point he stopped and focused intently on the information within.
"I have to start while she is still in the womb? I thought guardians were assigned at birth?"
"Consider yourself lucky, the mother has a guardian assigned as well, so for the time before her birth you will be cooperating with an experienced angel to ease you into it."