by Billy Wong
"You have a bunch of metal stuck inside you," Andrew said apolegetically to her. "Hopefully most of them won't be too deep to pick out."
"I'll be fine, I always am. By the way, are you really an angel now? What happened, did God actually give you that arm?"
"I don't know. Grendel put me to sleep, and when I woke up there it was, my shooty angel death arm. As for being an angel, I don't think I'm one anymore without it."
"So your supposed angelhood was just your arm, like Rodrick's was his earth power? That's kind of weird..."
"How did he contact you in the first place, anyway?" Henry asked. "Did he just approach you the once while you were peeing and you walked off with him?"
"We actually talked a few times when I was peeing before I settled on my plan, since I always had Blackbird stay a good distance away."
"So smart," she said with a sarcastic thumbs up.
"Hey, it worked." He gazed at the metal limb lying next to him. "I wish I could've kept it to fight the church... but you have a point that it could corrupt me."
"It might turn you permanently evil instead of just becoming a bad guy for a minute," Henry remarked.
Andrew hung his head. "The sooner we forget about this, the better for me."
The detached arm started beeping. "Self explode mode," said a eerily monotonous female voice from it.
Blackbird grabbed it and threw it down the nearby hole. "Goodbye mode!" Hobbling from her injuries, she forced herself to her feet. "We better run in case it brings this place down!"
They all fled outside, Henry helping support the others. "Grendel might have triggered it from somewhere," Andrew moaned. "Darn it, I was still kind of hoping I might get to use it again if we figured out it's safe..."
A deafening boom behind them made their ears ring, and they turned to see the whole hill around the mine entrance collapse in on itself. "We better get out of here," Henry said. Just then, Blackbird too collapsed. He cradled her in his arms. Blood flowed in multiple streams from her mouth down her cheeks. "Blackbird, are you okay?" He looked over her again, saw her injuries more clearly and swallowed with dread. "You're wounded enough to kill a person three times over..."
"Don't worry, I've been hurt this bad before. Just help me up and-" Her head lolled sideways, eyes closed. Moved by the sight of her vulnerability, Henry stroked her hair.
After a moment, Andrew said, "You know, I could kill her right now if you didn't stop me."
"No you couldn't!" She kicked him so hard between the legs, it lifted him off the ground.
"It was... just... a thought," he gasped when he could speak again, ass in the air and face in the dirt.
#
Looking through the representation of God's eyes, Grendel struggled to keep his poker face under the burning scrutiny of the Archcardinal Demetrious. "An angel part, the Gun Arm was stolen from the area you passed through recently," the old man was saying. "You would not happen to know anything about this incident, would you?"
"Of course not." Stupid kid! If only he'd continued cooperating—well, Blackbird would probably still have cut his arm off and killed Grendel if he hadn't been forced to flee when he was, so never mind. "My focus in these last days has solely been on capturing the heretics and recovering their stolen spear."
"Impressive focus. Over three months and no results, perhaps it's time you left it to others and returned to accept your punishment?"
But if he gave up, who knew when he'd get another chance to redeem himself? Besides, he concluded based on where he had found Andrew and Blackbird that they would be visiting Septapolis. In a huge city full of distractions, even she might be hard pressed to protect them. "I'm closer than I've ever been. I know where they're going, to our very doorstep in fact, and will soon have a plan."
"And your last plan, which you had months to perfect, apparently proved sound? Very well though, you will get one more chance. In fact, I'll even make things easier for you. The two boys are insignificant, though having a person who can defeat the angels running around is a problem. Still, retrieve the spear and we will count your endeavor a success."
"I am grateful for your generosity, Your Holiness." In reality, Grendel was displeased. By lowering the bar for his performance, he also reduced the potential prestige for meeting that goal. No matter, Grendel could still go beyond expectations and elevate himself by doing what even Rodrick couldn't and bringing in the fugitives as well.
"It is not generosity, but practicality. I hope you will at least be able to fulfil this task."
"I have faith I will do so."
The Archcardinal paused. "While faith is what we are built on, there are times in which it is not enough. Therefore, particularly as you'll already be in Septapolis, I will also be sending you help."
"Thank you again, Your Holiness." He closed the holy symbol. At first his back began to grow heated with annoyance, but then he looked at the bright side and the corners of his mouth rose. The "help" he was getting would steal some of his credit... so what. After being thwarted twice by those annoying kids, it might be worth it just to see them fail.
Chapter 6
They finally arrived before Septapolis, the City of Seven Sides one of which had been built disproportionately longer than the rest. Carried in Henry's arms because she was so hurt, Blackbird looked up the tall white walls topped with multicolored flags which fluttered before a backdrop of clear blue sky. "Wow! So this is civilization... I think I've been in a city before, but never looked at one from outside like this."
Even though he had seen it many times, coming back after so long Henry too felt a sense of awe. "It's like we've stepped out from a dream, and finally come back to the real world."
Andrew rolled his eyes. "Stop trying to wax poetic. I'm still missing an arm—again—and we still have monster girl with us, so it was hardly less than real."
"It's Blackbird!" said Blackbird. "So you said this is the church's seat of power too, right? Why do you make your headquarters in such a risky place?"
Henry explained. "So many people go in and out of this city every day, there's no way they can pay close attention to everyone. We also figure they're less likely to expect the people who oppose them to be hiding right under their noses."
"That and the business our boss runs is here," Andrew added.
"And that too. Grendel probably knows we'll likely be visiting Septapolis now, if not that we're based here. We need to be careful."
They passed through the gates, shortly behind which many merchant stalls of varying impressiveness were set up. Blackbird asked to be put down. "Are you sure?" Henry asked. "You're..."
"I'm okay," she said though he felt her body shudder with pain right now. "I just want to be able to walk around and look at the shops without bothering you every time. Don't worry, I'm the invincible champion of the continent remember?" He set her down and they headed slowly towards their destination deep in the city, the men too taking some time to check out new wares.
After some time, Andrew nudged Henry. "Hey, I think Blackbird's gotten lost. I don't see her anywhere."
"And you haven't been watching her?"
"Were you? She's your girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend." Henry gave him a quizzical look. "You can tell I think she's cute?"
"You were stroking her damn hair while she was kind-of-passed out."
He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, we should stop and wait for her here so she can find us."
An hour and a half passed with no sign of the girl. "You think maybe we should go look for her?" Andrew asked.
"But what if she comes back after we leave? Let's just stay put."
Another half hour went by. "All right, I'll go look for her and you keep waiting here. I'm smaller so it'll be easier for me to navigate the crowd."
That hardly made enough difference to be a valid reason... Henry would've wanted to go instead of standing here bored if Andrew didn't feel like being sly and volunteering himself. He waited another
hour, and was getting really annoyed when Blackbird finally returned holding a large sack. "What's in there?" he asked.
She opened it up to show him. "Lip paint! Nail paint! Skin lotion! Perfume! Hair oil! Jewelry! Dresses! Girl stuff!"
He stared. "B-but how did you manage to afford to buy all this?" Nervously, he checked if his own wallet was still there.
"Don't you remember all those bounty hunters I beat up? I'm not too stupid to keep their money in case I might want to trade it for something. Think I used most of it up, though."
"Well, I'm glad at least it's not my money." Seeing that she struggled a little with the bag due to her condition, he offered to carry it for her. He didn't have major trouble with the weight, but many would considering it must be two hundred pounds.
Andrew eventually came back looking aggravated from his fruitless search and they continued on. They finally reached Ancient Wisdom, the restaurant tucked in a back corner of the city which served as the front for the SCA (Society for Conserving Artifacts). The place was known for serving dishes supposedly made from ancient recipes, but largely just made up by their leader and restaurant owner, Pete Nirn.
It was busy right now, so most of the staff just waved to Henry and company while they headed to the back, giving Blackbird curious looks. One curly-haired girl did follow and catch up after they passed through the kitchen into the storage area. "Andrew!" Kara said in her usual loud voice, throwing her arms around him. "Thank goodness you made it back!" Her lips parted in a gasp as she realized something was wrong. "What happened to your arm?!"
He glanced Blackbird's way. "She cut it off."
Kara stepped towards Blackbird and threw a punch with her weight behind it at her jaw. Blackbird braced herself so when it connected, her head didn't move an inch, and Kara cradled her hand. "The hell, that was like hitting a brick wall!"
"Don't hit her." Grudgingly, Andrew clarified, "She amputated it to save my life when it was damaged beyond repair."
"Oh... sorry about punching you."
Blackbird shrugged. "Hurt you more than it hurt me. And the second time, I cut it off because he made an ill-advised deal with the church."
Kara blinked. "You cut what off twice, his arm? How's that..."
Andrew put his arm over her shoulders and kissed her head. "Don't worry, I'll tell you everything later. I'm really happy to see you again."
She looked at him. "I'm so sorry about your arm! What a reminder of how dangerous life is, but I'm grateful beyond words you're alive. I—we'll make sure to take good care of you from now on."
"Don't talk like that. I may be disabled, but I'm not unable. I can still handle myself as well as I ever could." Henry and Blackbird smiled. "I mean, just the other day I was fighting Blackbird and blew lots of holes in her."
Blackbird's smile turned into a frown. "That was when you had the angel arm, no way you could have done it otherwise!" She touched her chest which had been ravaged by his Shot Mode and winced. "Nice hits, though."
"Angel arm?" Kara asked, sounding more baffled by the moment. "What have you two been doing out there?"
Henry sighed. "It's a long story. Is Pete around? If you want, we could explain things to you both at once."
"He's in the office. I guess I can wait a minute to find out what craziness happened. I've heard some rumors." She turned to Blackbird. "So you're the insanely strong warrior who killed Rodrick? You don't look much bigger than me."
She put her hand on a level with Kara's head to check her height. "I'm a little bigger. Thicker too."
"That wasn't the point..."
"She's like a child," Andrew said.
"Hey! And I may not be that big, but I have this huge sword-"
"Don't take it out," Henry warned. "There's no space, a few showy moves will destroy the room."
"Aww."
They found Pete behind his desk going over documents. A ponytailed though balding middle-aged man, he looked unassuming, but was probably the most knowledgeable person about artifacts Henry had ever met. Even though it was a holy arm instead, he could probably figure out how Clayton's spear worked unlike Henry and Andrew who had experimented with it for months with no success.
"You boys are finally back. And I see you've brought your new friend."
"This is Blackbird," Henry said. "She saved our lives a lot of times, and was in her own manga where she beat up dragons for fun. It isn't far off from her actual abilities."
Pete shook hands with her and grimaced. "Sheesh, you should learn to hold back more on your strength. You taught them the word 'manga' huh? You must be pretty well traveled and educated."
Blackbird replied, "Um..."
"She's getting there," Henry put in.
Pete studied Andrew's left side under his cloak. "Wait a minute... what's wrong with your arm?" He showed it, and the older man's voice grew small. "My God, what happened? I knew we were sending you into dangerous situations, but I'd hoped you would never have to-"
"It's okay," Andrew said. "It happened long ago, and I've already adjusted to it. My friends helped."
"You've become impressively strong. Back when I first met you, you were a fiery young man with drive, but even so I sensed a softness in you and feared the fire would fail to keep burning in the face of adversity... I'm very glad to be proven wrong." He looked at Henry as well before returning his gaze to Andrew. "I'm sorry you've been hurt, both of you are nothing short of remarkable for being hunted by the church for so long and still coming back. You make me so proud."
Blackbird chimed in. "Well, they did have some help."
He smiled. "I'm not forgetting you, mighty Blackbird. It still takes some fortitude to get through an ordeal like this mentally sound. So what have you all been doing for the past third of a year?"
They moved to the secret vault in the basement, its shelves lined with artifacts ranging from daggers to sound amplifying machines and many unidentified, to talk more privately. There they told him and Kara everything. "Unfortunately all we managed to get was this spear," Henry finished, handing it over. "It's not even an artifact the way we usually think of, but maybe we can learn more about the church from it. I wish we could've brought back Andrew's second arm since it's supposed to make one an 'angel,' but it blew up."
"It's fine. I'm glad you two are safe, and since your friend killed Rodrick, that should be a fair blow to the church as well." He studied Blackbird who sat on the floor looking through her sack, having grown bored of the history lesson long ago. "How could she do it, though? The Archcardinal declared he was a match for a thousand men with his new angelic status."
"She's a monster... a lovable one." Andrew shook his head at Henry's description. "Speaking of the Archcardinal, what else has been going on in the world while we were away?"
They learned that after Rodrick's death, several other warriors had been deemed angels by the church and displayed supernatural powers that awed the people. The tide of public opinion, which had been turning with the drought and apparent lack of divine blessings, now swung back in their favor. Pete didn't know yet what they should do next, but suggested Henry and Andrew stay here until he did. Blackbird didn't have anywhere better to go either, and wanted to try out city life instead of hiding in the wilderness right now. The rest of the day was spent catching up with the men's other friends at the restaurant, the fashionable twin servers Jason and Janice and quiet assistant chef Fatim. They too were members of the SCA, acting in support roles like gathering information while others did the dirty work of hunting down artifacts.
At one point, Henry spotted Blackbird and Kara sitting down together on boxes in the storeroom and listened in. "Sorry again about punching you," Kara was saying. "I find you pretty admirable now. It was good of you not to kill Andrew after wounding you that badly—even I might've in self defense."
"I didn't kill him because he's my friend, even if we got in a fight. I don't get to have a lot of friends, or keep them for long, so I cherish the ones I have. I miss my mangaka
!"
"What's a mangaka again? Anyway, maybe that'll change now that you're willing to give society a chance. But on a related note, don't you remember anything about what happened to your family at all?"
Blackbird fidgeted with her fingers at the question. "No. I don't remember my old name, let alone how I lost it."
Even though he couldn't know for sure what happened, Henry felt sad for her. He figured her family had probably been slaughtered by monsters, and she blocked it out of her conscious memory. It was likely that incident which had turned her into a human monster.
"I hear you train to fight, but don't actually get to use it?" Blackbird said. "It must be annoying having a man be so overprotective of you. I wouldn't like that."
"It isn't just because of Andrew. I could get on the missions if I really wanted. But if I did and got found out by the church, then I'd have to be an outlaw too and not be able to work a normal public job like this. I'm not sure I feel ready to take it that far."
"I have an idea how you could use your skills without giving away your identity." She whispered something in Kara's ear, which Henry wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was. "By the way, why do you like to do this stuff anyway? Do you want to be like the boys?"
"I'm inspired by Andrew's sister Eileen. Growing up I wanted to be strong like she was, so I started training with Andrew and the others to get that way."
"What about me, do I inspire you? I'm pretty strong too." Blackbird squeezed Kara's arm lightly, making her yelp and her eyes bulge at the tremendous crushing power in her slim fingers.
She rubbed her arm. "Geez... but I didn't mean just physical strength. Mental strength and perseverance, too."
"I think I have those too."
Kara smiled at her innocent confidence. "Maybe you do. I wouldn't mind having someone new to inspire me."
"Then I'll do my best to impress you like I have the guys."
When it came time for bed, they retired to the guest room Pete had in his apartment upstairs. Luckily, there were just enough beds for the three of them. Falling spread-eagled onto hers, Blackbird exhaled dramatically. "So soft. Can't even recall my last time lying on something so soft."
