~~~A.N.G.E.L~~~
Prologue
Within a vast area, 12 instruments scratched the same letters down.
A N G E L
~~~A.N.G.E.L~~~
Suburbs of Magyar
Elizabeta stared at the letters as she ran her feather quill thoughtfully across her chin and giggled softly as it tickled her. ANGEL – Aerodynamic Nameless Government Extermination Legion. Elizabeta sighed for the fifth time in the last few minutes. It was a requirement of all government employed magicians to create at least one ANGEL to be used in the military. And Elizabeta had been in the government since she was 15 years old, and at age 20, she had still not created a single ANGEL. Well that was going to change tonight...hopefully.
She stood up and headed back to the living room of her quaint apartment...which until about 6 months ago, she had shared with her boyfriend Roderich and her ex boyfriend Gilbert. Yes that had been a bit awkward living with both of them...but she had managed it rather tolerably. Her favorite weapon...a frying pan of potent capabilities, namely those of causing extreme pain and temporary unconsciousness when swung firmly across the skull...had come in very handy. However, never had she thought in a million years that the two werewolves would refuse the new government law requiring all supernatural humans and creatures to report immediately for government service. No never in a million years had she expected them, and their fellow pack members, to turn against the government and become rebels.
"It's the principle of it Liz." Roderich explained calmly, while she was still conscious...not yet having succumbed to the drug they had slipped into her teacup so she couldn't stop them from leaving or raise the alarm, "We've never really agreed with the government's way of doing things. So of course we can't join them."
"It sure as hell aint!" Gilbert shouted...rifling through the silver drawer so they could have 'funds' to live off of, "It's about being free to do as we please! We have to be free. I don't want to be a f**king government hound...Damn is this really the only silver we've got?"
They had left shortly after that. Elizabeta's eyes wandered over the pictures that she still hadn't had the heart to take down, despite the orders from her employers. She felt tears pricking at her eyes but she had resolved not to cry anymore. So with great difficulty she tore her gaze away back to the center of the room where she had made a circle of flowers. It wasn't a necessity for the conjuring of an angel, but it helped her to focus on the space where the ANGEL was meant to appear...besides...it looked nice.
Elizabeta focused on the spot directly in the middle of the circle and closed her eyes taking a deep breath...
~~~A.N.G.E.L~~~
New England Pent House Apartment
ANGEL – Aerodynamic Nameless Government Extermination Legion
Alfred F. Jones looked at what he had written for probably the 10nth time in just a few minutes.
Aerodynamic...they have wings...like a bird's...white like a dove's...mhm...
Nameless...they're all called ANGEL...no differentiation...All have bleach blond hair, blue eyes, no expression, relatively tall, thin...never heard of one being given a normal name...or even a number...nothing to make them unique...that's the way It's supposed to be...yeah...
Government...all angels were sent to the government as a part of the armed forces...no private angels...would get in trouble, probably, if you had a private one...right...
Extermination...all ANGELS possessed dangerous powers and the ability to wield any weapon with ten times the force of even the most powerful magician...any weapon...which did not include animals...ok...
Legion...frankly this part is just self explanatory and goes back to the government thing...the ANGELS are formed into groups dubbed legions...
All of this was simple and straightforward. Even he...with his failed attempt of being a great hero and conjuring powerful entities to help him...the most recent of these attempts had resulted in a dragon, dubbed The President, still wreaking havoc on the ASU islands... ... ... ... he tried not to think about it too much... ... ... but even with all this, even he knew what an ANGEL was supposed to be.
So why then was he currently sitting across from a boy with sandy blond hair, piercing emerald eyes, an annoyed expression, shorter than himself, with cream colored wings, calling himself Arthur, and blatantly refusing to join the military?
Alfred just couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong. How had the ANGEL...er rather ANGEL(S)...he kept forgetting about the other one sitting over on the couch...clutching a small polar bear to his chest...making no noise at all...except to answer that he was Matthew whenever the bear asked
...yeah
"It just doesn't make sense." He muttered again running a hand through his hair and trying not to meet, Arthur's eyes, "I followed everything perfectly. With a slight alteration in the way of speaking...but I didn't think..."
"Yeah that's clear." Arthur cut across him, "If you had been thinking you would have conjured two perfectly normal ANGELS to send to your precious government to be mindless pawns in their schemes. Well maybe this will knock some sense into that enlarged head of yours, stupid git."
Alfred glared at the ANGEL before letting out another sigh.
"I'm certain that the government would still..."
"Nope. Not interested. Sorry mate, create yourself some other ANGELS properly this time and send them off to save your sorry skin. I'm not moving from this chair."
As if to illustrate his point, Arthur swung his sandaled feet onto the table, leaned back in the chair sighing in contentment, and placed his hands behind his head.
Alfred threw his hands in the air in great frustration.
"You can't do this!"
"Sure I can." Arthur yawned, "It's your fault that I turned out like this. You failed. Now live with it."
In utter fury Alfred stood from the table and stormed from the room.
Arthur turned to Matthew with a slight grin.
"Rather testy isn't he?"
~~~A.N.G.E.L~~~
Modest Mansion in Zhongguo
Yao wrote the same letters down again. He had written them down every day for the past week and now he was finally ready to act on them.
It's time
He stood carefully from the low table and approached the two cushions in the middle of the room. Settling onto his knees on one of them he faced the other.
Soon I shall have created an ANGEL and then...I can consider myself as strong as Ivan.
Yao allowed himself a little smile as thoughts of his greatest rival came into his mind. Their latest meeting at the international conference for prominent young magicians had ended with a battle between one of his greatest conjurings...Kou, a dragon of great power...and Natalia, Ivan's insanely dangerous Ice Daemon. The outcome had not been a pleasant one...Kou, now back in his human form, had been avoiding him for several weeks now, disappearing for days on end. Well that was just fine with Yao...Natalia had not escaped unharmed either. Yao got great pleasure at the thought of how long it was going to take her and Ivan to heal all the gashes and bites she had sustained. That would be time that he wouldn't have to create any more ANGELS to send to the military. Yao glowered a little and folded his arms. How many of the forces in the government military stationed in Russkaya Zemlya had been conjured by Ivan?...50...60? Well soon he would be challenged. And he was going to be the one to do it.
With this joyous thought in mind, Yao closed his eyes and took a deep breath, lifting his hands and beginning the spell...
ANNIKII! An overly excited voice shouted bursting into the room and...knocking him off balance right near the end of the spell...
Curse Im-Yong to hell!
~~~A.N.G.E.L~~~
Castle in Russkaya Zemlya
Ivan sat comfortably in his chair with a bottle of Vodka close at hand and the letters...A N G E L...scratched into the surface of his side table. He tapped the jack knife thoughtfully on the edge of it..again causing several small gouges in the wood and sending little wood chips to the floor...to be swept up in a dust pan by the overly nervous daemon, Raivis.
"Really sir I don't know what the issue is. Just kill it like you have all the other mutated ones." Eduard, another one of Ivan's daemons, calmly stated from behind his computer across the room.
"I could. This is true. Very easily." Ivan whispered and a slightly crazed smile twitched at his lips, "But...this would not be the first time that I have taken pity. Right...Toris?"
The young ANGEL jumped slightly at the sound of his name and nodded his fare brown head slightly.
"Yes sir...it wouldn't be." He murmured softly and returned to the task of setting the table.
"And what would you suggest then Toris?" Ivan continued placing his fingertips together in front of his face and staring intently at his personal ANGEL, "Should we make this Tino a part of our little family?"
Toris continued with his task but he grew a bit more bold over time and turned to face his master with calculating eyes.
"Sir...I think we should." He waited for the outburst...for a force of magic to be hurled his way...but nothing came...instead Ivan simply studied him for several minutes
For his part Toris tried to keep his eyes locked with the magicians and not show how much his heart was beating...of course this proved slightly futile...his wings were what always gave him away...when he was nervous, they always fluttered ever so slightly with agitation, their flecked surface twitching like a cats tail. Toris was rather quite proud of his Spotted Owls wings and made it a point to clean them every day. Yeah he preened...well he was essentially part bird after all...
These thoughts were broken at last by Ivan's calm, cool, voice.
"I suggest you set another place at the table then Toris. I'm sure our newest member will wish to eat with us. What better way to get to know us right?"
Toris rubbed sweaty palms together and nodded quickly.
"Yes sir."
Ivan nodded in his usual dismissive way and rose from his chair. The entire room seemed to hold its breath as the tall powerful figure headed for the door leading to the cellar where a very chilled Tino had been awaiting his fate for a good two hours.
