Yue

 28th January

13:06 GMT -5

"Where did you wake up? Was it Skyros? Because if so-."

"No. I awoke in a forest, not far from here. For a time I wandered alone, my connection to Creation's fires taken from me."

"If you don't want your weapons taken from you, don't try murdering people with them."

She raises her hands, fires blooming to life around each of them. "My theurgy may be gone, but as one who was part of the choir which sang the universe into being-"

"I'm more of a-"

"-I am well-familiar with-"

"-giant hand man-"

"-mortal magics, and-"

"-myself."

"-cease your heretical prattlings!"

"No! I don't work for you, I don't work for the Silver City and after you set fire to a street I am under no obligation to treat you as anything other than a criminal." I make a gesture of appeal with both hands. "What was that in aid of?"

"I could see the taint of the demonic upon them."

"This is exactly how Asmodel was able to hoodwink so many angels into joining his crusade of self-aggrandisement! It's all about appearances and not at all about content or philosophy with you people! They were under arrest! We are going to break the pact with Triskele and rehabilitate them! What the Hell have we come to when a pagan like me is more interested in redemption than an angel?"

The flames around her hands go out, her expression vacant. "I… No. No." Her eyes harden. "You did this to me-."

"I didn't do this to you. If you want to get back to the Silver City, all you have to do is repent in full and find a non-suicidal way to die. Once you're back, I'm sure the remaining Kings will find some way to fix you-."

"Guh!"

The fires go out and Noriel staggers. "No, no-."

Her hair shrinks, turning brown as her face restructures itself back into that of Ms Danvers. Who jerks, yanking her hands away from where Noriel was holding them. "Bitch! I'm not fireproof!"

"Ms Danvers-."

"Oh, you couldn't even fry the one person we both want dead!"

"Ms Danvers, I feel that you may have gotten somewhat over your head. And when that happens, the intelligent thing to do is admit to it at the earliest opportunity. Most people don't do that for reasons of ego, but I'm hoping that at this point you're willing to recognise that I'm a problem that neither you nor your… Housemate? Are equipped to deal with. And in a situation like this-."

She draws a small knife from.. somewhere with her right hand, and slices a cut across her left palm. "By blood freely offered-."

My construct manacles pin her arms to the wall behind her, then to the construct I place over the wall when I realise that it isn't rated for any significant strain. A filament evaporates when it touches the knife blade but a small electric shock is enough to make her drop it to the floor. Another pair of manacles pins her ankles while I float up the stairs towards her, a look of what I hope is frustrated benevolence on my face.

"Thank you for the evidence and probable cause, but that really wasn't very sensible. While an angel with-."

"Fuckingshitsuckergraaaaagh-!"

I muzzle her.

"With its full theurgical power intact is a threat to me, one using a human body and with only the earthly magic it can channel through an untrained body isn't. She couldn't burn me if she wanted to, and I've come to realise that -despite my antipathy towards them- many angels are in fact reasonable, rational beings whose ends do not necessarily match my own."

She is not happy about that muzzle. I take a look inside her. Oh, woe is me, my parents don't understand me, everything is stupid, Buzz shows me-.

Ah. Well, at least I know what he looks like now. But I don't think I'm going to get anything useful from Ms Danvers.

Hm. Let's see. What was the inscription John Dee used for this sort of thing..?

Lines and symbols appear on the surface of my constructs, Enochian characters which are supposed to make getting in contact with angels easier. For some reason summoners are much less inclined to call up angels than they are demons, despite the fact that the latter will always try to screw you on the deal. I mean, yes, summoned angels nuked the Resurrection Crusade, but only after they'd had contact with them for a prolonged period of time and after they mucked up a major job. Given how popular monotheism is, it's a little odd that more people don't try it.

Maybe it's an education thing?

Ms Danvers stiffens for a moment, then her… Their hair turns blonde again. Noriel looks around, her eyes focusing for a moment on the symbols on my constructs, then goes back to glaring at me. Since she appears to be the more reasonable half of this duo I remove the muzzle.

"That's curious."

"This is your fault."

"No, I killed you in self-defence. It's either Asmodel's fault for giving you an illegitimate order, yours for following it, or…" I shake my head. "I don't even know. This isn't what happened when the First died."

"Linda Danvers' lover, the demon 'Buzz', found me while I wandered lost and bereft. He performed a ritual, and when next I was aware I was like this."

"The police and my team are looking for Mister Buzz. Might I assume that you're interested in reversing this?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to go back to the Silver City?"

She regards me curiously for a moment. "Yes."

"Do you believe that I want rid of you?"

"Of course you do."

"Then start making yourself useful. How do I keep you dominant?"

"I don't know." She looks at the Enochian characters. "What is this..? 'Welcome'?"

"Atlanteans don't study theurgy. Does Ms Danvers have any particular magical power?"

"She can.. confuse me. Confound my mind, steer me… To an extent. But in her own right she is a minor ritualist."

"Right." I take a set of binding chains out of subspace. "I'm going to put these on you, then you're going to come with me to talk to the police. We're going to find Buzz, and then we're going to separate you, and then Ms Danvers can join her fellow cultists in prison."

I smile.

"And then you can go to prison for attempted murder. Take it as part of your redemption."