As Evil Does

by P. S. Power

  There was a nod then, from Mike.

  “Perhaps Tarsus could see to that for us? I’ll come visit in a week or two, to finalize things, if that’s all right with you, sir?”

  Tarsus bowed, if only a bit.

  “I await the day. Now, as my granddaughter suggested, we could possibly let go of these prisons? They’re well done, impressively so in fact but perhaps not needed at the moment?” There was a mild air about him, then.

  A thing that she’d never noticed about him before.

  There was a sense of movement in the room, without anything taking place at all. Not until all of the cages suddenly stopped being, their bars of rough, fire-like white light vanishing. At the same time, so did all of the Angels in the room. Even Michael.

  Everyone in the room moved forward then, in case the strange cages came back into being. It didn’t happen, but even presenting themselves as good people, they knew that tricks and traps were a possibility. Especially when dealing with their own kind. That and the unknown. Like the beings that had been there with them. The ones who had been talked into letting them go, without even a threat being made.

  Before she could speak, Tarsus did.

  “We should leave this place. We’re one reality over from our own, in Tibet. Keeley, could you open another portal for us, back to where we belong?”

  Zack moved over to her, his face calm now, instead of angry. His hands weren’t glowing purple any longer, either. He simply waited, once he got there, for her to make the bridge, the portal, between realities.

  Then, going first, he stepped across a great distance which was only a single step away, heading home. Proving it wasn’t a trap. That got everyone else to do it in fairly short order.

  Chapter fourteen

  The advent of the idea that Angels were real didn’t have an immediate impact on the world. Not even the limited one of the Wise Ones. Everyone just went their own way, without bothering to have a large conversation about the new factor in their lives. Keeley got that most of the others weren’t exactly close to her, of course. That meant they weren’t going to seek her out for a conversation on the topic.

  Even the few who did think of her that way left her alone. All of them. Which was fine, really. Keeley, for once, wasn’t the one playing catchup. She understood what was going on, at least as well as anyone else was managing at the moment. Except, of course, Tarsus. Possibly Linden, who’d lived with the information longer than any of the others by hundreds of years.

  That meant she was able to get back to her life in short order. After catching a shower and eating a large meal, enough for ten hungry young men to be unable to finish, she headed in to her day job. As an agent of Division Six. It felt as if she’d been gone for a long time, but the truth was that her boss, instead of telling her off, just looked up at her now familiar work face and smiled.

  His voice was deep, but also kind.

  “Thomson. I wasn’t sure it was cleared for you to come back yet. How’s the situation there?”

  She got what he meant, and was able to give a relieved smile back.

  “It’s good. All clear. Something came up for me last night, or I would have checked in earlier.” She wasn’t trying to lie, but almost didn’t go on. Then, stopping for a second, she realized that the job there at Division Six made something new, like what was happening with her and her people at the moment, kind of important. It was literally their job to know about the strange things in the world. So it was important.

  Central to their very purpose at Division Six, in fact.

  “Um… A group of Angels kidnapped most of the Wise Ones, apparently because they were scared about what would happen to reality without them being in place like they have been for the last five thousand years or so. To get free we all, well, most of us, had to become good. That probably won’t last, since our nature tends to pull us toward darkness pretty hard, but it might cause some ripples through the world. I mean… Until yesterday, I wasn’t certain that I could be good at all. Not really. I can fake it and try to do the right thing, but just being that way, even for a little while is pretty different. Now I know that, if I choose, I can be that way. Even if it takes work to pull off. So, there’s that. It’s a bit different.”

  Will, instead of asking if she was on drugs or making up a story, just nodded at her.

  “Okay. Will this new state hurt your ability to work here, do you think? Do you need time off to get your head clear, or to talk to someone about this?” The words were close to useless, but also very close to the best that a Human male of his culture could have offered in the moment.

  Keeley got that and didn't even feel like making fun of him over it. She wasn’t annoyed or angered by it either, even if it could be construed as him thinking she was weak. Even being good that wasn’t true.

  “Oddly enough, no? To all of it. My powers are the same and while I might be a little less likely to torture or kill people, I’m still not that good. Right now, I’m holding at about the level of a serial killer? Maybe a bit better than that. As to talking to someone about this, who would you recommend? A counselor who’d think that talking to Angels means I’m insane? Coreen who runs the cafeteria upstairs?” She grinned then. “If it comes up, I pick Coreen. She’d at least feed me before thinking I was insane. Plus, she works here, so I bet I can get a fair hearing from her. Sweet lady, Coreen.”

  The man behind the desk tapped it three times with his right index finger. Then he shrugged and nodded.

  “Point taken. Good. We don’t really have anything that you or I need to look at directly for the moment. I have four teams out looking at some anomalies, though at least three of them are probably known groups, just a thing that I didn't recognize off the top of my head. The last, well, it’s similar to the situations with Pindar and Moore. Not violent though. A young woman projecting what seems like ghosts into the world. You have that training ready to go for them?”

  Keeley was able to nod, since she more or less did.

  “We can set that up today, actually. Both of them are actually part way into being ready for it. Steve has been working on meditation daily and Ravi is a master of that kind of thing. All we need to do is teach them some subconsciously linked mechanisms to control their abilities and we should be set. The big issue here is that Humans don’t directly talk to that part of themselves very clearly. We might need to come up with a basic symbolic language for that. Nothing too hard to do. Some magical sigils and that kind of thing?” She meant it, but the Human in front of her winced.

  “That’s probably the plan, then. Oh, I also have a note here? It was on my desk when I came in. A person named Jim Bollings wants to get with you to discuss plans for the node building out back?” Will picked up the printed sheet of paper. “He’s going through me, because he isn’t certain what’s allowed otherwise. It’s in the note. Here.” He held up the tri-folded sheet, a smile hovering on his lips.

  Keeley took it carefully, then read the whole thing, making sure she wasn’t missing anything of note.

  Then she handed it back and nodded a few times.

  “Right. James Bollings was put in charge of designing the new node house. The building for the node that Zack is putting in for us. We’re also holding a raffle for free trips to other realities. Just for regular people. Obviously, if any of our people here want to try that, they need to butter up Ravi or me. Which makes sense, actually. We have people that might want to go home to visit and things like that. I’ll call Jim in a bit to set that up.”

  Will didn't dismiss her, just nodding and going back to whatever he was working on. She took that as a sign that getting out of his office was in order. Even if he was always more polite than that. Her own office door had her name on it, but she understood that Jim had probably heard a lot about how evil and scary she was. Which was fine, being that it was still more or less true.

  Those were things that he’d probably heard from Fram, who, she noticed, was still missing. At least that might be t
he case. When she got to her work space and settled, Keeley picked up the phone and called Tyler, up on the first floor. Normally his secretary, Fram, would have answered. This time the phone just rang for a while. It didn’t go to message or anything, so, as she was about to hang up, there was a click.

  “Tyler Gartner, how may I help you?”

  She sighed.

  “Hi, Ty. It’s Keeley. I was just looking for Fram. There was a thing last night, which I’ll cover with you later, if Ann doesn’t do it first. Also, I’m alive. We all are. A lot of people were taken prisoner though, by Angels. Gregor and Fram weren’t there. I need to check on Greg, too.” That he was lower on her personal list of people to protect just made sense. Fram had once been her slave, or at least had pretended to be so well she was still willing to swear it had happened. Gregor was a friend of hers, more or less.

  Meaning they both made the list, but that Fram was hers.

  Tyler just made a low, slightly distressed sound. It came from deep inside of him and wasn’t really human in nature.

  “Crap. I’ve been juggling phone calls all morning. I mean, he’s normally here by now, but on occasion that doesn’t happen. I hadn’t really thought much about it. I mean, we work pretty much every day, so if he wants one off every few months, I tend not to have a problem with it, you know?”

  She could see that one, actually.

  “Got it. I’ll see if I can find him and possibly someone to answer your phone for you. Let me… Actually, I think I have just the man. James Bollings?”

  The name forced a silence to come into being, but after a moment, Ty sniffed.

  “Okay, I know who you mean at least. Is he good with phones?”

  She had no clue and didn’t bother to lie about it, since that would be too easy to catch.

  “I don’t know at all. He’s building contacts though, for a project in another world, with Ambassador Baker, so it can’t hurt for him to talk to people.” At least she could have used that to her benefit. The Human man could as well, if she coached him a bit on the idea.

  “Thanks, then, Keeley. Let me know if you need help? On the Fram and Gregor front. Or anything else, I suppose.” He sounded doubtful on that part, as if she wasn’t going to need him for anything in particular, any time soon.

  Which was, of course, probably true. At least for very serious things.

  “You know, if we can get some time freed up, you need to chat with Karen, from Yoghurt World. She’s working for Don Holmstrum right now, but it can’t hurt to make a connection that way.”

  The harried sounding man didn't even ask why he needed to meet the woman. Which meant he’d likely heard a bit about what was going on in that direction. He had sources that way, she didn't doubt.

  The man sighed, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

  “You’ll set that up for me? I don’t think I have a connection there, yet. We could invite her and Donald to a party? I think we have something coming up in a few weeks. I know it in fact. You and Ravi are coming?”

  She nodded, since that was a good enough plan, really.

  “Especially if Ravi is living there. How did that go, by the way? You clearly don’t hate him too much, if you’re inviting him to a party with you.” She’d left before anything had been finalized, the night before. It was early, or she’d have called Ravi herself already, to let him know she was okay.

  Really, she kind of needed to do that next, even if it meant waking him up.

  At least she wasn’t hanging out with her pals, eating pancakes and forgetting him. She hadn’t forgotten him at all, she’d just assumed he’d be sleeping still.

  Tyler chuckled.

  “Right, like we’re going to tell a line walker we don’t want him? Plus, he’s actually nice. He’d have gotten in with us even if he was still just working at Safeway, if we knew to ask him. I was just asking if you and he were coming together. I think he kind of slept with Calley last night.” There was a pause then, letting her speak.

  She nodded as she did it.

  “Nifty. He’ll be wracked with guilt, no doubt, but we really do have an open relationship that way. Plus, Calley’s cool. Not that I have any great stories that way from my wild night out, hanging with my ex-demon friends. It was all Angel this and learn to be good that. Oh, hey… Do you want to host a meeting here? We’ll probably have most of the Wise Ones and at least that many Angels in attendance. It might end up being held someplace else, but if you don’t mind, we have room for it, in the main assembly hall.” That was normally used for their own, mainly useless, version of the U.N. the seats in it were nice and soft though and it was set up for translators.

  Not that she knew anyone that was going to be able to do Angel to English translations. Except possibly Fram or Gregor. If they weren’t dead in a ditch someplace. If they were, then she was probably going to have to become all evil again, since she would be avenging them.

  Tyler coughed.

  “Seriously? That… Well, we can do that. Let me know when, so I can make certain everything is cleared for that day… I have another call.” He hung up suddenly, being abrupt due to stress.

  The next call she made was to her boyfriend.

  He picked up on the second ring.

  “Ravi Pindar.”

  “Hey, Ravi, it’s Keeley. I’m alive and not doing anything nearly as fun as sitting in a restaurant. In fact, I’m at work at the moment. I didn’t know if you’d be up yet, but figured if you went to bed with Calley she’d wake you up to hit that before getting off to work herself.”

  It was early still, even if Will was at work. Most of the Ambassadors didn’t come in until later, but Calley was her people’s President. She lived with Tyler, in Sparks, which meant that she probably needed one of the line walkers to get her to and from work each day.

  Which could make getting in good with Ravi a brilliant plan on her part.

  Ravi, rather charmingly sputtered a bit.

  “I… you know about that? We just…” He sounded a bit amazed.

  She spoke before that could turn into him feeling spied on.

  “I had to get with Tyler a few minutes ago. It seems Fram is still missing? He mentioned the thing with Calley. Which is cool, by the way. Not that I’ve been doing my part to make this an open relationship lately. Last night was all work. So, if possible, keep tonight open for me?” Being a good person had not lowered her libido even one scintilla.

  It also hadn’t made her more jealous or less open minded, however that worked.

  Ravi recovered nicely, from the awkward conversation.

  “Sure thing. I’m… going to be there, soon, actually. I didn’t quit the store, but I’m out at Coffee Hub. I did get my hours cut back at Safeway. I’m hanging in until they get a new cashier trained. It won’t take too long. People want to work right now.”

  She could see that. The economy was clearly poised for another down turn, soon. The jobs market wasn’t bad at the moment though, so the smart money was trying to get in on what they could while everything was still somewhat reasonable. Those who weren’t as smart were just going to be stuck, probably by the next October. Then, the world wasn’t fair to those who weren’t as intelligent as their peers.

  She nodded, letting the sound carry into her voice.

  “Neat. That should make some time in your schedule. At least until people work out that you’ll take them places for free. I was just telling Will that you and I will hook up the people there with free vacations and trips, not fifteen minutes ago. We’re nice that way, you know?” She wasn’t trying to be manipulative, but the technique she used, being playfully leading, still had the same effect.

  Except that Ravi laughed at the same time.

  “That is pretty sweet of us. I’ll be there in… Call it thirty minutes?”

  She nodded, getting that he’d have other things to do first. Like Calley again. That or at least getting her to the Colorado node complex. There was a hint of sound in the background, but it didn’t seem to b
e the Bat Shifter. It was too far away for that. Plus, from the dynamics of the thing, it sounded a lot like Ravi was in the living room of the mansion.

  He wasn’t going to have sex in a common room of his new house that soon. It would eventually happen, but that would take time and a bit of prompting. It would probably also start an orgy, no matter who he was with at the time. Public sex was an invitation to all comers, as much as anything else ever could be, after all.

  “See you then. Unless I have to run out and rescue Fram or Gregor. In that case… Well, you know the drill there. I’ll leave a note.”

  “Got it. See you!”

  As soon as the phone clicked off, she dialed Gregor’s number, from memory. That didn't get a response, though she was able to leave a message on an old school answering machine. That, not keeping up with technology, was a problem for some older beings. It probably wasn’t the rationale in this particular case, however. Gregor would have a reason for doing something like that. What it was, she wasn’t certain at all. The truth was that the man pretended to be a Greater Demon or had been doing that for a long time. That meant he’d been forced to keep up with advances in technology, just so that he didn't give himself away.

  After that, she thought for a moment, then called up Jim Bollings. He answered his phone on the third ring, sounding like he’d been asleep, but was faking being chipper for her. Or more likely, like he was doing that for anyone that had bothered to call, even if it was too early still.

  “This is Jim, what can I do for you?” He managed to be reasonably smooth about the whole thing, which was a great sign in her book. Then, Jim, unlike Karen, wasn’t boring at all. He went and did things, had adventures and traveled to other worlds as part of his job.

  “Hi Jim. This is Keeley Thomson. We need to set an appointment to go over the designs you have for the new node house. Also, I need you to get in to Tyler Gartner’s office and take the place of his secretary as soon as possible. Answering phones and making appointments. Fram is missing. We don’t know why or who has him. If anyone. He might walk into the office before you get there even, but just in case I’m putting out some feelers that way.”