" Tell us who you are." Alex was trying to be bold, commanding, and give the sense that he knew he doing, but Michael wanted to reach over slap him. His high pitched voice straining to make itself seem tough only made him seem even more unsure about what he was doing. In front of him, behind a metal table sat the trio of newcomers.

Michael studied them with a critical eye. The man, with his bow tie and floppy hair, made him appear clownish. But there was a shrewd intelligence in his eyes that made Michael's hand clench, ready for anything that this man could dish out. I

Beside him was the girl whom he referred to as Clara. Her doe eyes shared the same intelligence as her companion, but it was diluted by a overpowering sense of curiosity. She was wearing an old flapper dress, her hair curled in ringlets, framing her face. Michael could see the arousal stirring in Alex at the sight of her; yet there was nothing appealing about her to him. True, he could get her to willingly sleep with him, but he did not see the point in doing so. He could have any woman in Vega if he wanted to. Yet it was the other girl that bothered him.

She was sitting in the shadows of the room, her eyes veiled by the glasses she wore. But even as Alex talked to her, her eyes never left Michael. They bored into him, stripping his flesh away to reveal his soul and Michael shifted trying to relieve the tension that had steadily begun to grow in him as soon as they entered the room.

Her hands, which were fiddling with a piece of string she had plucked from the Doctor's tweed jacket, were large for a woman; but the dexterity they contained fascinated him.

" What is your name?" Michael's voice shattered his concentration as soon as he realized he spoke his thoughts out loud.

" I'm the Doctor. This is Clara," The Doctor patted her hand carelessly and Michael saw her blush. Michael nodded slightly to acknowledge he had heard him. " And the one behind me is Lyra." Michael saw her flinch as she pushed herself further into the shadows. Michael rolled her name in his mouth quickly and quietly, savoring the taste of it. Alex stood and stretched. Michael saw him nod and following Alex, left the room.

" None of them are 8 balls, that much we do know. Could they be higher angels?" Michael shrugged. " It is a possibility." Alex shivered slightly at those words and looked back at the trio through the glass. " I don't think so Michael. Hell, none of them have even heard of the war. I think that we should set the free. Allow them to got back to where ever they are from." Michael shrugged again, too busy thinking to argue the point of keeping them locked up.

" There is something about her..."

" What do you mean by her?" Michael shrugged again as he took a place at the window into the interrogation room.

" Have you ever had that sense that your past has come back to haunt you?" Alex nodded, his mind returning to the memory of watching his father, Jeep die. " There is something about that girl in there," Michael inclined his head to the girl in the shadows. " That seems familiar." Michael turned to face Alex and he saw him flinch. It was going to be a long night, he realized and took a step back.

" Let them go, but do not allow them to leave Vega. I want to figure out if they can help us or not." The smile that graced Alex's face made Michael's stomach churn at what he was about to do. The door slid open softly and Alex told them the good news with the smile still on his face, his eyes locked on Clara. Michael waited.

The first two, the Doctor and Clara, filed out of the room. Michael tensed. He watched as Lyra stood and made her way out the door. Michael leapt; his 200 pounds of muscle pinning her to the floor as he tore off her glasses. Golden eyes stared back into his, a fire glowing within them, and he felt her lift him easily and push him off of herself. Michael knew what she was and as he watched her, he also knew he understood. For there are only three things that can kill a Archangel. The first was old age. The second was a Varian sword. But it was the third that promised a death that made Michael shiver.

The girl was a Bengar.