The Last Test

by Puredeadthingy

Mel's shooting for the stars, and is nearly a proper agent now. Why would Brice want to ruin that? Is that his way of saying I like you? Warnings for morally ambiguous Brice and his subsequent pairing with Mel.

First long Angels Unlimited fic. Featuring Brice-gone-evil and a bit of wall bondage.

…I'm far too corrupted for these books.

Reviews loved.

Friday night and the hallway was quiet. Lola had gone to do an advanced GA module and wouldn't be back for a couple of weeks: Reubs and Chase were off saving gorillas. Only Brice, really, out of our mates, was here.

He'd been edgy lately. I had decided to take the agent exams—the big, proper ones—a bit earlier than everyone else in the class. For a few months, at least, we'd be proper angels together, with all the others still trainees.

Me and Brice.

I had to admit, it was a slightly weird scenario. Originally cosmic enemies (Lola said he was stalking me for a bit), then he went back to our side, and then became Lola's boyfriend. Then they'd broken up, all friendly still, but he'd seemed…a bit insecure...ever since.

Having me there, Lola's best mate? I'd never been a total fan. He probably thought I was just waiting for him to go wrong again.

In actual fact, I wished that we'd be OK now. I mean…we'd handled the last mission we went on together well. Plus, it's really hard having someone that fit wary of you.

So we hadn't been hanging out that much together. Last time we had run into each other—at the library—he was all over the place, he tried to avoid me. It was so obvious he was hiding something. I put it down to nervousness that we might be expected to talk or I'd threaten him with something to avenge Lola's breakup. I dunno. But, well. It wasn't that.

It was something a hell of a lot more sinister.

O

Picture the scene: Mel Beeby, dressed in pink Angel-logo tee, bootleg jeans, spiky boots, just collapsed on the bed to try and get some rest after a hard day trying to keep up with Miss Dove's class. Japanese harp music on as I shut my eyes and prepared myself for some kind of sleep.

Something made me open my eyes then, and I have no clue what it was. All I know is that I sat bolt upright, and there was Brice holding something that hummed terribly with dark vibes and looking really upset.

'I'm sorry, Mel,' he said, and in one fluid moment he'd pulled me up and forced the dark thing to my neck. He didn't push it into my skin, but it was all I could do not to touch it. The thing seemed to be tracking me, and I knew if I tried to pull away it would follow me; and who knew what damage it could do?

I don't want you to think I stood there like some helpless damsel in a bad horror film. I tried to fight, shove some body part into his stomach, stamp on him—I literally couldn't make contact with any part of him. Not only did the Dark thing—which I could now see was a disgusting little blunt dagger—sap some of my strength, it also seemed to be impeding my general angelicness. It certainly had a suggestion of warped Light vibes somewhere under there.

As Brice struggled with me to get me out into the hall, he could see the shock and betrayal on my face. He smirked—sadly, it was true—but he still smirked.

'Remember when I said I had long-term plans for you, darling?' he muttered into my hair. 'About the second time we met? Welcome to them.'

That made me nearly sick. I attempted once more to break away, and the dagger came in dangerously close once more. Angels couldn't die, I knew that, but I had the definite impression that if the dagger came and touched my skin, I would be in serious trouble. More serious than Reuben when Brice beat him up back when he was a POD.

Of course, now it seemed like he'd been one all along. All those times he'd pretended to listen to us, after winning a HALO award with us, for goodness' sake!

By now, he was taking me outside, up to the Agency. I'd assumed it was because of the study weeks that the school had been practically deserted, but the streets were, too. I could only hope that it was because—somehow—everyone knew what had happened and was trying to fix it. The thing about Heaven is that your business is known, almost immediately, to everyone.

Brice spoke again. 'I can't say how long I'm gonna need you for, Beeby.'

He must have felt me stiffen. I didn't dare talk.

'See,' he explained, 'The Opposition might want a little…ah…peace offering. To show I'm serious about going back.'

At that, I did turn. It seemed as though part of the Dark vibes the dagger held just ceased to exist then. However, he raised it so it hovered just underneath my chin, and looked straight at me with those beautiful empty blue eyes.

'Mel. Stop it or I'm going to have to hurt you.'

It had to be my imagination, but his voice seemed to break over the word 'hurt'. He didn't give me much time to ponder it, though. We'd reached the Agency. He used me like a shield, as he stalked through the reception. Nobody on duty seemed to do anything except watch, which actually made me feel slightly better: someone more powerful must be nearby, if they weren't doing anything.

We found out when we got to Depatures. Michael was there, eyes full of trepidation. I felt sorry for him—Brice had blown his last chance with Heaven after all the trust Michael had placed in him.

'I want a portal to Hell,' Brice said harshly. 'Then I'll let her go.'

I tried to protest, tell them that wasn't what Brice had told me, but I couldn't seem to speak. I wondered idly if the dagger disabled the person it was being used against, but I was shaken from that thought by Michael. He was looking at Brice, some deep sorrow etched on his face.

'We can't make you reconsider?' he asked in a low voice. 'The Opposition won't—'

'They will,' said Brice impatiently. 'You didn't tell me Dom was in trouble. They're offering me some more jobs to keep an eye on him.'

At that, Michael lowered his eyes. Brice stepped backwards into a portal, with me half-in, half-out of it. As the portal shuddered, I was ready to be shoved away, thinking blindly that perhaps Brice was bluffing, he was just in it for his brother.

But then Michael must have twigged something was up, or my terror and uncertainty showed, because he started forwards.

It was too late. The portal took off, I was pulled in by Brice, and he shut the door. The last glimpse I saw of Heaven was Michael's face, both sad and frightening.

Then, suddenly, quietly, Brice's voice: 'Sorry, Mel.'

O

If you've never been to the Hell dimensions? Don't start now.

It's rank, and dank, and dark, and the only way you're likely to go is if you're being hauled down a slimy passage by a foreboding Dark agent who would probably not care if he gutted you.

I was trying to justify his actions to myself. Dom was in trouble, Brice obviously loved him…Dom could have been part of a PODS plot all along…Dom was…Dom was…

That was ridiculous. The only thing Dom was? Clueless. I'd met him. He had no idea about the Dark Powers. He had no idea Brice was his brother, for Pete's sake. This was all Brice's doing, and I felt so stupid I'd fallen for his redeemed-bad-guy act.

It's never like the fairytales, I reminded myself miserably. When will you learn, girl?

We stopped. Brice was looking down into some kind of depressing cave. It seemed to be the place to take prisoners or something, because when he wrestled me in, there were a few others there. I remember thinking they were humans.

They didn't raise their heads at all as he shoved me in. I caught several glimpses of them as Brice manoeuvred me so the dagger was still at my throat, and so he was in front of me. Bags of bones, tatty clothes hanging off them—some modern, some not so modern—and all of them with their heads down.

I didn't have much time to dwell on their predicament. Brice had carefully lifted one of my arms, and, keeping the evil blade inches from my neck, clasped it to some kind of manacle. I couldn't see it exactly until he did the same to that elbow. It looked like a dull strip of metal, spike-edged, and totally lightweight. Until you tried to pull on it, that was.

Brice noticed me tugging and gave me a small, emotionless smile. 'Beeby, the only way these chains can be released is if someone divine does it. You've got no chance unless Michael suddenly strobes in—which he won't. They can afford to lose some.'

Now he'd got me partially secured, he relaxed enough to take the Dark thing from my neck. My voice rushed back to me, and for a moment I had to think of all the things I wanted to say to him.

I settled on swearing. 'You bastard.'

Brice shrugged, coolly looking me over as he fastened my other wrist to the wall. 'I warned you,' he said 'Not my fault if you didn't believe me.'

'So what's going to happen provided I don't get free and kick your sorry Opposition arse?' I snapped, trying to make my voice sound sort of cool/tough, not easy to do when you're ready to just about make yourself ill with terror.

He didn't look at me. 'I'm not the one to ask about that. Maybe they'll experiment new injury devices on you. Maybe you'll just stay here forever.'

Having made sure I couldn't break free, Brice leant forward and flicked a strand of hair away from the side of my ear, so he could whisper into it. I felt a rush of warm breath, and then, the scariest thing I had heard that day;

'Maybe they'll make you an agent like me.'

O

Brice abruptly left after that. I wasn't surprised; he'd probably gone off to bow and scrape to the Opposition big guns, 'Please sir, I brought you an angel, now can I see my baby brother?'

He wasn't going to get the satisfaction of that easily, I thought fiercely. It must give them a kick to see these humans all crumpled by the wall each time they walked in here, right? Well, I could help them.

With some effort—those Dark vibes did not go away easily—I sent out a few vibes to those around me. Weaker, yeah, than my normal ones, but every little bit helps.

They responded fast. It surprised me. Being battered with PODS vibes every day for who knows how long, I would have thought they'd take ages to even react to them. They just soaked them up, practically faster than I could send them.

It might just have been knowing I was helping them? But I felt stronger. Strong enough to send out more vibes, at least. It could have just been pure defiance; 'I'm in Hell and I'm still doing good.'

Whatever the reason, I was struck by the change in them. Still skinny, still shivering, still dressed in their rags, but they had some shred of dignity back. I only wished they could keep the vibes for longer…

Wait, Mel, I scolded myself. You're a senior now.

The vibes streaming from my hands became wobbly spheres of pale yellow light, and settled by each person. One by one, they absorbed the light into their skin to save it up, apart from one person. The light just rebounded. I tried it again, and again; but each time the light bounced back. Just as I was panicking I'd tried to make a Dark double-agent feel better, vibes shot out of their own hands.

Angel vibes.

I stared in shock as the angel got up—apparently not tied up—and approached me.

'Thank you,' it said kindly, peeling away the metal strips. 'Very admirable.'

'Er,' I said, confused. 'You're—what? How come you're here if you're an angel but you can get out?'

The angel gave me a look. Ah, I thought, noticing the eyes. Pure angel. That explains it.

Pure angels are pretty much saints. Some of them double as saints when the Agency needs them to. It makes sense that one would stay in an Opposition hellhole like this just to help out.

'Thanks,' I stammered. 'Will they be--?'

I was looking at the humans. The angel nodded. 'I think your task is more important,' it said briefly. 'Hurry, before they come back.'

Totally confused, I went. I wasn't going to do any good in that evil little cave. The angel's weird phrasing had got me thinking. Task? What, so I was brought here by, like, the forces of good to balance some great cosmic wrong?

Slightly cheered by this thought, I slithered down a load of gravel directly to the right of the cave, looking out to see if any evil demon guards were there or whatever. Nobody was; it was totally dead down there. No movement of air, no laughter, no tears—nothing. Just one empty wasteland.

Because I'd left Heaven in rather a bit of a hurry, I didn't have my Angel tags on me. Obviously, I couldn't connect to Michael and that lot, but faking it might work again, right?

Not daring to shut my eyes, I quickly sent out a thought on the angelic frequency.

Erm, it's Mel. I'm OK. I think you might want to help Brice soon, yeah? Get a few agents to keep an eye on him. He can't have turned evil now, not after all that's happened. Maybe he got a few too many toxic vibes? Who knows. I'll check ya later.

With that done, all that was left for me to do was—

A bit of an interlude here. When me and Reuben were in Limbo, trying to find Tsubomi's soul, we just knew stuff we shouldn't have done. Not like that! I mean, like…we knew which direction to take, we knew what to do to soothe the fire demon. Here it was all my own thoughts, and being trapped in Hell was not a good situation for that to happen in.

Well, Mel, I told myself bravely. Off we go.

One thing I'd noticed was some disturbing vibes in a large clay heap a few hundred yards away from me. Stealthily creeping round til I found the door, it, too, seemed empty.

Steeling myself, I walked in. It was too hot in there, made me dizzy. Then I noticed an inferno of red vibes dancing in the centre of the room.

Yeah, that might be it, I thought sarcastically. I tiptoed to the edge of the pit, feeling ever more sick. I didn't dare try and adjust my angelic senses now, lest it leave a gap where the vibes could get stronger. Summoning as many of my vibes as I could spare, I let them pour into the sick drum of hatred at my feet. The air mellowed a little, and I allowed myself to relax.

Until a terrible roar split the air, about three seconds later. A quivering red demon, one eye placed in its forehead, was charging towards me. I squeaked in terror, and then Helix took over.

She made me rise up in the air and Ninja Angel came out. I swooped, evaded and eventually had to start fighting. Kick, punch, spin, try and get in all her (him? its?) weak spots. My last kick came squarely on its eye and it staggered back, back, back, and into the red-vibed-void.

I felt no remorse: I never do. The void seemed to be blocked now, by the unconscious demon, and I could function a lot more easily.

I let myself back to the ground and then raced to where I'd heard the demon come from. Computer screens blinked at me. I gagged as I saw a picture of Dom. It was like the Angel Watch centre in reverse—targeting innocent humans with toxins every day.

I don't know why it made me so ill. It makes sense, right? But my inner Mel totally did not see it like that. She was the one that forced me to touch that pottery keyboard, access Dom's file and completely delete it. She was the one who gathered the strength she could have used for flying back to destroy every damn workstation in the place. It was all her.

Go her.

(Those were my thoughts for about twenty-five seconds as I slumped against a big stalagmite and tried to get my breath back. I felt so drained, it was unbelievable. The PODs vibes had really got to me—without the tags, I couldn't really make many adjustments to my senses.)

It wasn't over yet. It never is.

The ice-cold tones of Brice crept over me like a shiver. He was angry, I assumed. Angry I'd escaped his little prison, angry I'd saved his brother without his help.

But he didn't have that dagger. And that made me feel a million times better.

'Beeby,' he said coolly, suddenly appearing opposite me. He looked around him, then his jaw dropped for a second. 'What the hell did you do here?'

I was in a defensive stance, though I really hoped I wouldn't have to act on it. Breathing heavily, I replied. 'Helped. Destroyed the—the Opposition Watch centre. Now Dom's OK. And you can go back to Heaven.'

He laughed, still amazed. 'You have any idea how pissed off the bosses are gonna be with me when they see this?'

'You're not coming back? Brice, you have everything going for you—'

'Mel,' he said impatiently. 'I just kidnapped you, stole a portal and broke into the library to steal a Dark artefact to do the above. They're not going to be happy to see me.'

'You're staying, then.' I shifted into an attacking stance.

He nodded slowly.

'Brice, I'm really sorry about this,' I mumbled, and then punched him in the face. Couldn't have him taking me off again.

He stumbled back, clutching his nose and looking at me with a mix of horror, surprise and respect.

'Fuck me,' he managed to say, in a tone of abject shock, and then collapsed on the floor.

As I stood, shaking life back into my pained hand, I heard some of that lullaby music that always means I'm near Heaven. I spun round, scared that this was another Opposition trick, and saw Michael and a few Heavenly paramedics there. I was completely bewildered.

The paramedics clustered around Brice, as I stood awkwardly to one side. Michael walked over to me.

'Bit of an unorthodox technique, Mel,' he said, carefully keeping his face straight, 'But you passed.'

'Eh?' I said, confused.

'Your final examination. You're an agent now.' Michael smiled at me, and my eyes just opened wide. 'So all this was the exam? Are we really in Hell?'

'Yes. And no,' he said carefully. 'It was a top-grade simulation. Brice was, ah, the catalyst, shall we say. He's not—as indeed, you suspected—really evil. He was an obvious choice, and he readily agreed to help us with your exam.'

I frowned. 'Surely Lola would have been a better choice? They know each other better—'

'Technically true,' Michael interrupted. 'But you two do have some connection. You were his line into Heaven, when he saw you for that first time in 1940's London. I think…you two definitely need to talk about this. We generally manage to step in before any actual blows are thrown.'

'Wait,' I said, still confused. 'How did I pass?'

Our headmaster pinched his nose while thinking about how to answer. 'A fairytale motif, based on your History club scan. A kidnap, a dark sword, an imprisonment, three good deeds—the humans, the demon fight and the wiping of Dom off the files (he's fine, by the way), and—'

But Michael was called away by another strobe of light. He smiled merrily. 'Come on, Melanie, I believe your friends will want to see you,'

So with the angel paramedics holding Brice on a stretcher, we all beamed back to Heaven.

O

Here was the first thing I saw when I got back to my dorm, after the congrats at Departures and the fending off of eager trainees.

'Hey, carita! Sorry we had to go for the big test ( But it's the rules. Anyways, come down to the beach when you're ready—party time!

Love, Lollie xxxxx'

I can't tell you how much better I felt, seeing those words. I literally ran into my room, badly needing a shower, and literally bumped into Brice—nose looking better—who had been standing on the opposite side of the door.

'Beeby! Watch where you're running!'

I couldn't do anything but stare for a minute. Yeah, it was all part of the exam, I knew, but there were still some pretty strong emotions there.

Brice smirked slowly. 'Mel? Sweetheart? You can talk now.'

'I didn't imagine our meeting to be quite so soon after the…exam,' I managed. 'Er. Sorry for, you know, punching your lights out.'

He touched his nose carefully. 'Yeah, I was a bit surprised you did that. Not that you actually made me unconscious—'

I raised an eyebrow. Brice changed the subject.

'Sooo, Miss Angel,' he said jovially. 'Are we cool?'

I had to think about that. I would, obviously, have preferred not to have been kidnapped and hauled into what I thought was Hell. But if he'd volunteered for an exam, well…

'Hey, Brice,' I said slowly. 'How come you were the one on this mission? Not Lollie or anything?'

Brice coughed. 'Um. They asked me to.'

Being in Heaven really robs you of your ability to lie convincingly.

'Brice, seriously.'

He looked very flushed. 'I offered. Cause. I wanted to help.'

I was confused. 'But—Lola, surely, woulda made more sense—'

He shook his head, and then, hurriedly, 'I don't know her as well.'

'Just 'cause you were my cosmic stalker—'

'Yeah, it wasn't just that,' he said rather quickly. 'See, with Lola, although she's a lovely girl, we never really knew each other, did we? And with you, yeah, I know it's crazy, but we just have this cosmic thing going, and I thought you might be less scared if it were me, and—um. Yeah.'

He looked expectantly at me. I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. 'Erm. Thanks?' I hazarded. 'It wasn't that bad. I mean. You were actually quite sexy as the baddie. When that knife-thing wasn't there.'

He scratched at the back of his head. 'Oh.'

I distinctly felt that something was up. 'Yeah…so, I need to go shower…'

'Oh! Oh, yeah,' he said miserably. 'I'll, um, see you. At your party thing.'

With that, he turned and plodded from the room. I was left standing there, thinking that I perhaps should have picked up on something.

Shrugging, I went for my shower.

O

As I stood under the hot jets, trying to scrub every trace of Dark vibe from my skin, I mulled over Brice. The dejected look, the break in his voice, the whispering into my ear and hair—

Wait. Woah. He couldn't fancy me, could he? Was he just a really good actor? Was he just laughing at me?

I stood there stock still, and then leapt out, dried myself, dressed and did my hair and makeup, and hotfooted it down to the beach.

The party was jumping already. Everyone was there, dancing and having a great time. Lola charged up to me, happy as anything.

'You passed!' she said joyously. 'Cosmic!' Pressing a kiss to my cheek, she turned me to Reuben, Orlando, Amber, Ferdy, Flora, Chase—

Brice. He smiled shyly, and I bit my lip. 'Can we talk?' he asked in a low voice, and Lola released me, and brushed past him.

'Don't mess it up!' I could have sworn she hissed to him as he pulled me to a semi-private tree, away from the main dancefloor.

He looked incredibly nervous. 'I'm really sorry about being the bad guy, Mel—' he began. He shut up as I opened my mouth.

'It's OK. If you hadn't been evil I might have even been able to enjoy it,' I said brazenly, hoping for some sort of reaction.

I got one. He blushed and looked somewhat hopeful. He leaned in, I thought to whisper something—

He kissed me, right there, on the beach, with everyone able to see if they wanted.

I got quite into it, actually. His fingers were in my air and he smelt warm and sharp and oh so different from anyone else here so far. I hardly even noticed the music, or the lights. As he pulled away, as I touched my lips in shock, I noticed some of the trainees staring, Lola muttering 'FINALLY!', Reuben coughing and Amber giggling nervously.

Brice gave me one of his lazy bad-boy smiles. 'Come on, angel girl, the party's waiting.'

I smirked straight back at him. 'It can wait a bit longer, don't you think?'