CounterPoint

by Daniel Rafferty

  “Stop the gas reaching Central London, sir. If it leads to a huge flame ball then so be it. It’s better than the capital burning to a crisp. We can work with our partners in Europe to find a way to drain the gas out of the system afterwards. But sir,” George pressed his face right up to the cam in the control room, “you need to do it now!”

  The cam cut off. It was these decisions that tested your mettle. Tom knew what had to be done; he’d rather deal with a fireball in some field or under some motorway than in the heart of one of the most populated, dense cities in the world.

  “General, where would be the best place to destroy the pipeline?”

  “The M20, sir, just outside of Ashford. We’ve calculated the pipeline is less than twenty metres down in this location. We can have our jets in the air in less than ten minutes with the proper ordinance.”

  “Do it,” said the Prime Minister, now being rushed out of the room with other high ranking ministers of government. The officials hurriedly piled into helicopters and soon were evacuating.

  “Sir,” shouted Will, his thick round glasses shaking with the vibration of the helicopter as it shot across the dark London skyline, “General Robinson reports they are in position, standing by to blow a section of the pipeline.”

  “Make it so!” shouted back Tom. Even with the electronic headsets they were wearing, it was difficult to differentiate everything but the most simple of words. He could only hope now the army would be successful and he could get back to Downing Street and convene a press conference. It was vital to get a grip of the situation publicly; the press were stationed outside Number 10 twenty-four hours a day. A huge explosion in the distance caught his eye, but it wasn’t as far away as he would have liked.

  Chapter 15

  The memorial service was scheduled to take place in the Throne Room. Like Heaven, Headquarters had a ceremonial room reserved for important rituals and events. This was different though and Amber knew it. There had never been the death of an archangel in the history of creation. Until now. The ramifications of this would be huge. It might provide the final spark to ignite an all-out war on Earth. She couldn’t help wonder if that was the plan all along. Something so horrifying, the death of an archangel, would be an unmatchable catalyst to mobilise the rank and file. Gabriel held much respect among the entire community. While the Throne Room itself was impressive – it took up the entire floor of level six – it was miserable compared to the Grand Throne Room in Heaven.

  Meeting with some of her counterparts from other departments, Amber took her place quite close to the front of the stage. Over a hundred angels had gathered. Paintings throughout human history adorned each wall; the ceiling was one huge mosaic art work and on the stage sat the Throne, Michael’s Throne. It was pure gold, derived from Heaven itself and fortified with every type of jewel imaginable. Its tall back towered up towards the ceiling. At each side of it sat much smaller throne chairs for the other archangels. Gabriel’s, second to the centre, was of course absent. The Throne Room was a claw-back from simpler, grander times before the experiment.

  “Ma’am.”

  Amber looked round to see one of her assistants standing at the end of the pew looking flustered. He swished over a small piece of parchment. What she read stunned her. Without excusing herself, she dashed out of the Throne Room and could catch out of the corner of her eye others slowly starting to do the same as the information was circulated.

  “Sir,” said Amber barging into his office unannounced, “there’s been a huge explosion in Central London! The city’s in chaos, almost destroyed. Fifteen of our operatives have been killed. The regional office has been obliterated. Over half the city is on fire!”

  “How the Hell has this happened?” bellowed Ariel, jumping up from his chair, snapping his fingers and his long winter coat appeared on him. “I’ll need to get there immediately. Amber have a security detail meet me at St Pauls Cathedral. I want them fully armed and ready for action. Deploy reconnaissance angels into the sky. I refuse to believe this is a mere human accident. Demons....” he stopped at his office door before it opened, “or angels may be responsible for this. I need to know exactly what’s happening in that city. You lead from the operations room, I’ll give you up-to-date information on the ground,” he finished and raced out down the corridor.

  Amber ran to the operations room, keeping hold of her folders and trusted pen. All around her staff had already been made aware of the disaster and had begun implementing emergency procedures as required. A specialist team from another ministry had already been dispatched to save as many sacred artefacts as possible. This type of deviation from the natural course was unprecedented. Someone clearly had a lot of explaining to do; the destruction of a capital city like London had not been foretold and was totally unacceptable.

  Generally, any massively disruptive event would be planned for well in advance by a committee of angels from relevant departments. How to deal with a surge in deaths, how to relocate various artefacts of significant importance and even the environmental ramifications all had to be discussed. It took months of planning as angels could not simply take the artefacts; they had to be relocated by ‘human means’. This usually meant installing angels in various positions throughout the relevant government agencies so they could do this without anyone noticing anything.

  “Amber” said Ariel, his voice echoing through the room. “Were outside St Paul’s Cathedral; it’s been destroyed. The emergency services are overwhelmed. Most of them have no doubt been killed. Amber, we need to stop the fire but I’m having difficulty doing that.”

  “Explain, sir” said Amber confused. Putting out a fire would be simple work to an angel. Further, it would look natural to human eyes. The fire would simply dissipate, although quickly.

  “It simply won’t go out. That means there’s something more at work here than we realise, this wasn’t an accident. This fire, it possesses supernatural qualities.” As he spoke, massive explosions and crackling fire were audible around him, punctuated by the sound of sirens and frantic screams. It sounded like a war zone down there. What Amber didn’t get was why. It would have far greater impact for the demons to destroy Rome or Paris, from a military point of view.

  “Sir, I don’t think there is any more need for you to be there” said Amber hastily; she wanted him out of there. The city was no doubt now swarming with demons, and they would be heavily outnumbered.

  “I want to see more of the city first Amber, there may still be more we can do here. Liaise with the emergency department; get them to send all the teams they have down to the city at once. I hardly see any presence here at all apart from us getting pictures and ornaments out. And see...”

  Ariel’s voice began to crackle, and a sprawling growl and more screams could be heard.

  “Sir?” repeated Amber, “Sir, can you hear me?”

  There was calm as those in the room, at least twenty of them, waited, listening for any break in the silence.

  “What was that growl?” shouted Amber. She needed to know what they were up against down there before she sent further teams.

  “It’s the Behemoth.”

  Amber turned round to see Lana standing in the door way. Her sweeping long bright blonde hair flowing down her black office suit. She was very majestic and emanated authority.

  “It’s a what?” said Amber.

  “The Behemoth. A creature of old. I saw it myself when I flew over London on my way here. It’s been locked away for millions of years. One of God’s earlier creations. Its imprisonment is dealt with strictly by Heaven.”

  “Then they’ve unleashed the Behemoth to kill the demon uprising in London,” offered one angel. The stare between Amber and Lana told a different story. They knew this was not their intentions. But keeping general rank and file angels calm and collected during a crisis was essential, and a required quality in any manager.

  “Is Ariel in danger?”

  “He may already be dead. The Behemoth is one
of two creatures created by God himself when he began creating more advanced life forms. These two creatures are the most feared in all of creation. Most aren’t even aware of their existence as they were created long before angels. I can tell you this; this creature was never meant to be released. Ever.”

  “Why were they even created?”

  “To fight an ancient war you know nothing of. We don’t have time for a history lesson.”

  “You say there are two?” pushed Amber, getting all the facts before proceeding.

  “Yes, but the other is strapped to the depths of the sea. It certainly won’t be swimming around the streets of London. It’s also in a separate enclosure so it may not be released.”

  “How do we kill it?”

  “We can’t. Only an archangel possesses the power to even battle such a creature. We need to contain the creature. If we can encircle it in a ring of fire then I can devise a solution which could possibly put it to sleep. This is just an assumption.”

  “Well there’s plenty of fire here,” shouted Ariel over the room once more. Amber breathed a sigh of relief. “Amber, I’m flying high above London right now. The rest of the team are dead. This city is in ruins, even worse than the great fire of old. There are bodies everywhere and I can spot humans throwing themselves out of burning buildings all over the city. The creature, we couldn’t possibly hold it off. What in damn making is this thing? It’s the size of a tower block!”

  Amber wasted no time in bringing him up to speed. They were dispatching more troops immediately and the plan was to corner the creature in a part of the city and encircle it with Heavenly oil which they’d then set alight. According to scripture, Lana had read this should contain it, in a ‘holy ring of fire’, so to speak.

  “Right, well get more people down here right away. I’ll create diversions for it until you get here.”

  ***

  “David, stop the car.”

  Thinking his grandmother was car sick, David dutifully pulled over on the dull country lane. The lashing rain and gale force winds were a constant loud background noise. Complete blackness surrounded them, no road lights here.

  “What was that you were saying about London, Cathy?”

  “It’s all over the news, Mum; a massive monster is loose in downtown London. The army are in disarray and the city itself is on fire,” called out Catherine reading it from her iPhone.

  “Then it’s begun,” said Mary in a serious, quiet tone. She knew this could happen. “A dear family friend came to see me. He told me things that have and are coming true.”

  “Gran, stop,” interjected David, his anger rising.

  “I’m going to London,” Mary looked around at them all. “I will be back.”

  “No way, Gran, you’re not going there. It’s not our problem,” argued Claire.

  “She’s right, Mum, you’re too old and frail. Besides we would never be able to get you there in time.”

  “If I don’t do this, the consequences for us could be even worse. I have never lied to any of you before. Stay in this exact spot; do not move until I come back. I will be back.”

  No sooner had she finished her last sentence that she vanished. Catherine had never seen her mum do that before; she heard it was possible but only very few of them could ever possess the power for such an ability.

  The jeep sat by the country road, the headlights dimming as the clan tried not to draw attention to themselves. They feared what could be lurking around them, in the trees.

  Chapter 16

  Ariel flew high above the City of London. Thick black and grey smoke pummelled into the air, spitting fire and flames in every direction. The city was overwhelmed by raging infernos. The Houses of Parliament were now engulfed in a fiery storm, setting light to everything around them. With the electricity out, only the fire kept the city from complete darkness.

  The creature had stopped, as if eyeing its next target. Or it could be receiving further instructions suspected Ariel. With haste the creature now pounded on all four legs towards Tower Bridge, one of London’s greatest landmarks. Ariel knew he had to strike fast. Sweeping down through the wind and rain towards the bridge it was a race against time. The creature had already begun crawling on top of the bridge, but it was too large to cross over it. Close enough, he held his two hands outwards and projected bolts of fiery white blinding lightning at the bridges foundations until they exploded. The sheer brightness of the lightning lit up the city in every direction and could be seen for miles. The stone and brickwork exploded through the night sky. The Behemoth let out a harrowing scream which echoed all over London. Sporadic pockets of humans could be seen lining the Thames, watching the horror show as it unfolded.

  “Sir,” said Amber, who was now here with a contingent of special agents.

  “Good to see you. Where is Lana?”

  “She’s attempting to secure the amount of oil we will need to contain this beast,” said Amber, who couldn’t take her eyes off it as it broke free of the mangled pieces of iron and stone in the river. She suspected it wouldn’t be drowning. Ariel was right; it was huge and walked on four massive paws. Its thick dark brown leathery skin with patches of hair around its beady eyes and back really did make it look like something not of this world.

  His eyes darting, Ariel swung the cannons on a destroyer naval vessel that was docked close to Parliament towards the Behemoth and fired them. Using his power, he intensified the large bullets until they were enflamed and firing rapidly, causing the cannons to short circuit after a few seconds. The creature was roaring even more now, the cannon fire and bridge exploding had only helped aggravate it further. Speckles of blood could be seen where the bullets impacted, but the creatures armour was holding.

  “Amber, take two angels and hit it from the left; we’ll hit it from the right,” ordered Ariel, nodding to the two other angels. They flew in formation round the creature instantly. From a distance, onlookers watched the beast being darted with bolts of white and red lightning from multiple directions. While the Behemoth may have been large, it was slow and cumbersome. Its paws, the size of jeeps, couldn’t keep up with the fast contingent of angels zapping around it from every angle. Ariel desperately wanted to keep it in the water so it couldn’t cause any more damage to the city. Amber dove downwards. A thick shining silver rope began to form around its legs and a thick knot formed. She used her hand to control the knot and tighten it further causing the creature to sink and fall, giving them a moment’s respite.

  With the creature down, Ariel saw his opportunity to lay down some more heavy fire. Spotting a brightly lit wheel in the distance, he threw his hands forward, shaking it from the foundations. He’d batter this creature into the planet’s mantle with it if necessary.

  “Don’t you DARE!” shouted Amber, appearing beside him and shoving is hand down by his side again.

  “What?” replied Ariel confused and startled.

  “That’s the London Eye, a huge landmark. There’s hardly anything left of this city, don’t finish it off for the enemy.”

  Ariel rolled his eyes; human buildings could be rebuilt. Monetary value was irrelevant to him but Amber looked at things from more than just a military perspective. At that moment, jet missiles flew in-between them, blasting them apart. The missiles impacted on the creature’s side, to more huge grunts and growls. Three tornado supersonic fighters were rapidly flying towards the Behemoth. Four more missiles exploded into its side, along with a directed spray of high velocity bullets. Smoke and flames of fire now engulfed the creature as it struggled to keep its balance in the water.

  “They’re only making this thing angrier,” shouted Amber to Ariel, trying to be heard over the sound of the roaring jets around them. The creature collapsed onto all four knees and then, as if gathering energy, sprung up into the air taking a huge amount of water with it. Its two front paws voraciously tore two of the three fighters from the air as they passed it. The fighters descended into the Thames. Ariel shut down the weap
ons system on the other jet; he didn’t want any more humans dying this day. The Behemoth landing back on its paws caused the ground to shake violently along with ripples in the Thames.

  “I suggest a coordinated lightning bolt from above. We combine all our power and hit it from the top. Charge downwards. It’ll electrify the river as well,” suggested Amber, flying back up beside Ariel as the final fighter jet flew away from the scene.

  “It would certainly use up a lot of our reserves,” he countered, “but it could be enough to slow this thing down until Lana returns. Make it happen.”

  At that moment, a flash of bright white light ripped across the smoky London skyline close to the Behemoth. Ariel, with eyesight only an angel could have, saw Mary Bassett had appeared. What the Hell was going on? Amber shot him an utterly perplexed look as well, and they raced down towards her. Right where the bridge had been torn off, Mary stood there with her white short curly hair, warm woollen coat with gold buttons and her ever faithful ring.

  “Mary, my name is Ariel,” he said landing down on the scorched earth, approaching her slowly.

  “Stop where you are,” she replied calmly, and raised her hand towards them with her palm pointing upwards. Ariel and Amber had suddenly lost the ability to move, as if they had been glued to the spot and had no control over their limbs. Only their eyes retained their ability to move.

  Mary took a few steps forward and, using her ring, projected a stream of white light towards the Behemoth to catch its attention, almost like a fog light. It worked. A growl, followed by a slow repositioning of itself, told Mary the time was now. Walking briskly towards the bellowing growls of the creature, her coat flew violently in the wind but her gait was confident and determined. She threw both her small old hands forward now, and lifted them upwards. The creature had a startled, aggressive look in its small beady eyes as its entire body mass began rising out of the Thames river slowly. A low grumbling noise emerged from its throat as it rose. Gallons of water flushed off it. Mary would not blink, not risking breaking the stare between her and the creature. She most likely had one shot at this. The creature kept rising high until it was about thirty metres above the waterline. She felt a heavy weight bearing down on her.