Shine Heaven Now
By Warius
Order 01: The Wingless Robin
Cold was the simple and most exact word to describe that night in beautiful Venice; with the sky sprayed with stars and a big white circle of a moon that made the coldness even more… tangible. The streets and bridges of the waterway citadel were not nearly as isolated as they should have been: the days of autumn were running short, bringing High Water quite regularly; and there were ongoing rumors about mysterious murders puzzling the forensic units.
This should have been enough to technically turn off old Venice's nocturnal life. Nonetheless, there were people still hanging out outside, much to Robin's concern.
"Get a move on Red"
That annoying voice told her trough the auricular, breaking the little concentration she had managed to accomplish. She stood concealed, not hidden but openly standing on the border of an overpass as the young, mundane and quiet girl in black dress and crimson duster she was. She was stalking. Hunting.
Her eyes blinked twice the moment she saw her. The moon made the view ghastlier than it was: A woman walking silently over the water, causing silent ripples as she moved with her arms wide open towards the bridge she was standing on. Her eyes narrowed. Crickets delighted the night in their own rickety serenade, but they were suddenly silenced when the girl's face illuminated with orange light.
"It's heading your way Red!"
She turned back for a moment and hissed inwardly, her eyes shut like the kid watching the glass jar fall from the table. "Mother of God Weiss, can you be silent?" she shook her head at herself and walked off the bridge. A burning corpse soon sank into the waters, while many abandoned gondolas were left traveling the waters in a cracking display of orange blaze.
-- --
"Forgive me father, for I have sinned" her soft, accented voice whispered from the shadows. The familiarity of visiting the house of God always comforted her; she remembered a confession booth as something she could rely on, and every now and then she would come back and sit in the shadows, looking for someone to intercede for her. "It's been seven days since my last confession."
The dark silhouette behind the screen didn't respond. Robin was so used to this ritual; all she could do was wait. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, causing small streaks of red hair to fall softly on her forehead. She felt the minister nodding slowly and whispering a prayer. "I declare myself guilty of violating the fifth commandment; twice-" she said stopping for a moment and thinking how serene she was "-twice today". It was getting common, she feared. Not so long ago, she would make the same confession with her voice breaking and her eyes brimming with tears.
There was a glint of light reflected by the preacher's glasses, the man behind the screen moved, the shadows shifting as he faced the kneeled redhead, and at the same time, a calm voice came from the other side. "You are one of the means of Solomon".
Her eyes snapped open. The words echoed in her head for some minutes, her lower lip quivered behind the shadows that shielded her. She realized she was sweating.
"As a qualified agent of Section Ten, you do possess the Fifth Freedom" the reverend continued unflustered, ignoring her disturbed stare on the other side of the screen. His voice was calm, but his tone was severe and firm. "Thus, it is far beyond me to intercede on your behalf. I am sorry, Sister Sena."
Robin Sena felt something stuck in her chest. Like a knot on her throat that; yet again, couldn't be untied. "Who are you?" she asked; whispering as her stare scrutinized every little hole on the screen that separated her from the priest. "How do you know me? What do you know of Section Ten?"
The cold moonlight that dared to slip through the windows flooded the small chamber as the man on the other side opened the door and moved out, speaking as he did so. "It is no common clerical knowledge, I agree" he said.
Robin quickly did the same, opening the door to see him better. They didn't move for some moments, apparently examining each other.
A young, bold but not too tall of a gentleman, seemingly in his twenties was standing there, staring back at her through a pair of sleek eyeglasses violating everything she was expecting to see. The curly pale blond hair atop his head would've easily reached his shoulders, but it was trapped in a platinum tail that rested behind what seemed to be a twisted version of a priest's outfit: A black silk shirt with a high white collar and arm fitting sleeves that reached up to his wrists, where a pair of black leather gloves started around his hands; and a leather sleeveless duster of the same color that fell around his figure, reaching all the way down to the floor, where a pair of rough steel-capped boots sprouted out of the delicate black fabric of his trousers.
"Unfortunately, Sister Sena," he started, sitting down on a wooden bench and fixing his gaze on the altar "I am no longer an ordinary priest, just like you are most likely anything but an ordinary nun. My name is Alexander Bernier; I am an element of Section Twelve."
"Section Twelve?" Robin whispered in awe. She was so surprised she didn't notice the word nun had been mentioned. "A Carolingian?"
The young man nodded, slightly, though a line of golden hair made its way to his forehead. "Indeed."
"But I thought--"
"You thought we did not exist" he interrupted with a smile on his face. A slight arrogance was stirring off his voice. "I bet you thought The Order was excommunicated hundreds of years ago, didn't you? Don't worry, Sister. I used to think The Solomon was no different from the Monastery of Nostra Signora di San Giuseppe" he added laughing.
Robin was disgusted by his mocking attitude. However, the redhead kept her cold stance. There was an uncomfortable silence, only disturbed by the distant steps of other clerics, and the outlying symphony of crickets. Robin saw his cinnamon eyes fixed on that altar, mirroring the candlelight and looking like they had their own mysterious light.
"What's the point of this?" She finally asked, this time her gaze was fixed on that altar as well.
"Why of course, there is no such thing." he stood up and turned his back at her.
She took an angry step towards him and clenched her fists. How dare he? "Why should I even believe you?" she snapped.
Alexander Bernier smiled, noticing her disturbance. "Maybe you shouldn't believe any stranger from now on. Just look for me when you're ready." he said before taking off, throwing down some coins on the face of a crippled man that was laying on one of the benches.
Robin remained there for some time, watching his dark silhouette disappear in the shadows packed outside the chapel. The crippled man was cursing something in Spanish.
"We're calling it a night, Red. Headquarters' orders" rang the voice of Weiss on her ear. "I'll pick you up by the horses in San Marco."
"When I'm ready…" she whispered to herself.
"Red?"
"I'll be there."
"Kay."
-- --
Father Juliano Collegrie was sitting on his desk, flipping through paperwork regarding Solomon's ministry. It was about midnight, and the blue eyes of the senile clergyman had started to itch with each page his eyes went through; but there was work to be done and obviously no time to be wasted. Of course, there had been a lot of work since the death of an Agent in Japan's subdivision, Kate Rose, may God have her in his glorious kingdom; but it was nothing compared to this… incident, if he should call it something; which was detected only two days ago on England's part.
His elderly heart fell to his stomach at the moment he saw the swarming reports of the amazing and sudden increase of Craft activity in England; a six hundred percent rise to be specific. Such levels could only be found once in Solomon's registry, but it was something that happened over three hundred years ago. And that was certainly not all of it.
A knocking on the door pulled him out of his thinking. He took off his glasses and let out a jaded "Come in, it's open". The door opened slowly, showing a dark mass of fabric that walked silently into the priest's office.
"Padre…" Robin whispered. Bits and pieces of uneasiness skidded through her hazel eyes.
The old priest rose his head and smiled warmly, taking his glasses off. "Robin, come in my dear. How are you?"
"Fine, thank you. I wanted to talk to you about something that happened today."
"Did you hunt?" the priest asked, looking down at his papers for a second.
"Well, yes… but--" she hesitated for a moment, retiring her gaze from her mentor and fixing it on a miscellaneous ornamental plant. "Why wasn't I told anything about The Carolingians still working under The Vatican's decree?"
"Oh…" Father Juliano stared at her for some time, and his mouth became just a line on his face. The priest suddenly looked particularly interested on the part of her dress that fell over the floor. "So I see you've met our friend Alex."
"Our friend?" inquired robin, quite confused about those words. It had become apparent that the priest knew about this man she came across.
"Yes Robin. I'm afraid there has been a change of plans," he said with his rasping voice. The cleric rose up from his chair and started walking around the oak desk; the hollow sound of his shoes tapping the wooden floor echoed around the clerical office. "As you already know, I was going to send you to STN-Japan next week as a replacement for the departed Kate Rose."
"I am ready, Father Juliano" said the girl calmly, but a glint of reproach managed to surge from the depths of her soft voice. "Are you trying to tell me I'm staying here after all that training?"
"May I finish?" Father Juliano took a folder from his desk and handed it to her. The label was marked with the STN-E sigil, England's subdivision of Solomon. "Two days ago this intelligence reached Headquarters, reporting a shocking increase of Craft activity in England."
The redhead flipped through the contents of the file, perplexed. She didn't understand completely what she was looking at, but the numbers were clear, and the graphics made it clearer. "This one's dated three weeks ago."
"Indeed. And some others go back over a month. As you can see these reports were supposed to alert us from the growing threat. They were found by Agent Bolívar only two days ago. Apparently, someone did not want us to find out about this." He stopped for a second, staring in quiet anticipation the girl's expression. Robin seemed undisturbed; she was flipping through the folder once again puzzled by its contents. "The situation is critical - London's bureau has been eradicated, and we haven't been able to establish contact with our Irish support branch. There's most likely been no Solomon presence in the United Kingdom since God-knows when."
"An entire subdivision eradicated?" asked Robin with a very thin voice, she suddenly felt like an ice cube was sliding down her back. An entire squadron of Witch Hunters murdered. How could that be possible?
"Yes. It's the first time anything like this is registered in Solomon's history," the priest stared at her intently, it almost seemed like he was expecting her to yell around the room in any moment.
But Robin remained quiet, in thought. It was getting very obvious by now. "So you're sending me to London instead" she said absent from question. It was a simple statement, as if by matter of fact she knew this whole send-her-to-suicidal-mission thing would happen sooner or later. The clergyman was amazed by the calmness lingering in her voice. "Ever since your training was declared complete you've been my finest Craft-User Robin, you know that. You're one of the best elements Solomon relies on right now. It has to be you, my dear. There's no other way around."
"I will do it," she stated with unruffled determination.
"Excellent, my dear;" his face brightened as he spoke, but at the same time Father Juliano had never looked that old and withered. "There's something else."
Something else? Robin thought. Father Juliano walked behind his desk once more, withdrawing another folder and handing it to her. It was a blank, unlabeled folder with a bunch of paper inside, and just when she was about to open it the priest added: "You'll be going with Mister Alexander Bernier."
The redhead's response was instant and simple.
"What?"
It was the first time she let out a what like that one. Probably the kind of what a person would let out when confronted with overly unpleasant news. The you must be kidding me kind of what. And truth to be told, she didn't know why she felt like that about a man she just even met; but the fact that Father Juliano mentioned her going with him didn't help at all. It sounded like Father Juliano had just found her a babysitter.
"Yes, I wouldn't be sending you alone now, would I? The Carolingians and Solomon have been helping each other since the last Inquisition. There will be others as well; we've put together a top-notch squadron from Solomon agencies all over the world."
God, why was he so necessary? If he was pulling out grade A members from Solomon all around the world then why couldn't he be replaced then? Maybe Solomon-Carolingian relationship was to blame; it probably was pure courteousness towards the so called Order.
"Will there be other Carolingians as well?"
"Oh no; not at all. This… element they sent us is quite special among them, though. It's all in that folder I just gave you, with the rest of the member's background as well" the minister responded.
Robin opened the file and flipped trough the pages aimlessly. She closed it immediately after she found his picture.
"You'll be leaving Rome tomorrow night. You may give me your report now so you can go and take some rest. Now don't give me that look. You must rest."
-- --