In Nomine - The Programme

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== Coming to America: ==
In the heavenly halls an angel is summoned.
=== Astariel ===
The Archangel Dominic summons Astariel before him in the hallowed Halls of Judgement, where scribes and clerks maintain a more accurate naughty list than even Santa Claus. 
He tells Astariel that a mission to Earth is now necessary and that he has selected Astariel to be their representative. They would normally send a Triad, but they are confidence that Astariel can handle this difficult assignment. 
David is organising a mission to find and rescue Angels and human servants lost behind enemy lines, to scout the activity of demons in the region and maintain a low profile. Travelling in a group will provide protection. 
Dominic has some additional specific requests however:
As Los Angeles is behind enemy lines it is an excellent place for Renegade angels to hide. They should be returned to Heaven to the care of their Archangel. For Judgement is a compassionate act, not intended to punish but to heal. Dominic also wants them to find and identify any demons that are intentionally targeting Angels and tempting them into damnation. If found, destroy them. Finally, the institutions of Law in Los Angeles appear to be largely under demonic control. If you can, identify who controls them without being identified yourself and come back with recommendations about how this infernal influence can be purged, but do not endanger the mission to do so. If there is need to contact him, it would be best to do so in the safety of a Divine Tether, rather than out in the open. 
They direct Astariel to the Tether in the Cathedral of Creation which leads to Watts Tower on Earth. 
=== Cambel ===
Meanwhile in the Library of Names, Yves's domain is a place of scholarship, debate and curiosity. He sits alone in a warm wood-panelled room lined with books. He invited Cambel inside in the form of an older man in comfortable modern clothes. He invited his angel in and apologised for them being put back in the field so soon after losing their last vessel. 
He also asks Cambel to aid David's mission to help find those lost or trapped in Los Angeles and scout the area. With security of numbers and discretion. 
However there are specific concerns of Destiny in Los Angeles. There is a nexus of Fate and Destiny forming in the city. It is not clear what this Nexus will manifest as, but it is related to Marc and Jean's activities there. He wants Cambel to investigate this and be present to nudge this in the correct direction when it occurs. 
In addition there was a raid on his library, a set of 18th Century vellum sheet music was taken, most likely by mortals. There is reason to suspect that this music is somewhere in the city. This is however, not ordinary music, but a secret song of Ecstasy. This is a dangerous and valuable secret that should not find its way into demon hands, which it would invariably do unless it is recovered. If Cambel needs to contact him, any sufficiently large library will lead to his offices. 
He guided Cambel to the Halls of Creation where others would be waiting.
=== Baruchiel ===
In the vast and echoing Caverns of Stone, Baruchiel was called before the indominable Archangel David, who instructed him with as few words as possible to travel to Los Angeles, find those who had been lost, aid the union of artists in the city if possible, Assist the homeless and keep the Angelic team together. 
=== Maxine: ===
Meanwhile in Seattle, Maxine had come off stage at a smallish venue to a modest but enthusiastic crowd. A woman with flowers in her hair greeted her offstage, Novalis Archangel of Flowers had come to offer her a bouquet. She seemed slightly sick with flu-like symptoms including a blocked nose, but was genuinely delighted to see her.
She explained about David's general mission plan and that she wanted somebody who would be able to help the disparate Angels to find common ground and assist them with modern culture. 
But she specifically wanted Maxine to investigate a few other things: 
She wanted her to keep an eye out for demons that are showing signs of regretting their actions, and to show them that forgiveness is always possible. 
Los Angeles is a hive of cruelty and exploitation, especially of the homeless, the young and the vulnerable. She wanted Maxine to see what can be done to help them. 
Heaven treated the Pagan Gods very poorly, driving some of the survivors towards the side of Hell. She asked that if there were any Ethereals in LA, to see what could be done to make peace with them. 
With that she advised her that the others would be at Watts Tower in a couple of days and that she could meet them there.
=== Tophana ===
At her bakery, Heaven Scent, she was making a delightful cake for an 11 year old's birthday, a cake decorated with a pond and tiny frogs. 
Sonia called through and said that somebody was here to see Tophana. It was a chill looking dark skinned man with dreadlocks and a scruffy green coat that she recognised as Eli. He told her that there were some Angels gathering at his old Tether at Watts Tower. 
He came into the back and they worked on new recopies and decoration techniques together. He told her about David's plan and when the angels would arrive. But also asked her to look into a few oddities: The demons of Lust appear to be active in the LBTQ+ community and behaving oddly, look into this. Chat GPT has been stealing the work of hard working artists. This is unsustainable, at the moment it's not too bad, but if this is allowed to continue it will destroy artists livelihoods. If she can find a way to stop that abusive trend then that would be helpful to creative people around the world. There's an AI researcher in CalTech who is doing some interesting and promising work, try and check in on her. 
=== Meanwhile back in Heaven: ===
Astariel, Baruchiel and Cambel met and introduced themselves to each other outside the Halls of Creation, a vast stellar nursery, where stars and galaxies were left half-formed, but still beautiful in their incompleteness. They were heading towards the Tether to Watts tower when an Offanite caught up with them. 
The wheel of living fire explained that there was a new report of a missing Soldier of God in Los Angeles. Her name was Laura Petros and she was granted her power by David. She worked at the Toll Family Law Counseling Center, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) and has been missing for a few days. They provided Baruchiel with a scroll with the few details they had and they went down the tether. 
=== Watts Tower: ===
The tower is a chaotic and vibrant project made from scrap metal, broken ceramics and concrete over a period of over 30 years by a single man. It's now a recognised and protected artistic site. So when two ladies in dark Victorian garb arrived and a Kyriotate lingered incorporeally, everybody assumed them to be arts students. 
Baruchiel found a homeless man named Alan York, a former telemarketer, who he possessed with the promise of food and fresh clothes. Meanwhile Dolores Carter joined them and explained that she was assigned to help Astariel. 
They met with Maxine and Tophana and introduced themselves over a picnic in a nearby park area. Baruchiel told the others about the report of Laura going missing. 
=== The Toll Family Law Counseling Center ===
They piled into Maxine's rented van and immediately got caught in a traffic snarl, but eventually reached the Toll Family Law Counseling Center near the Los Angeles Superior Court. Heading inside they met with the secretary on duty, who was a fan of Maxine and confirmed that she wasn't , but couldn't give out the location of her coworker without some evidence that they were allowed this. But Maxine used her resonance and found that her boss would be able to help. They spoke with her boss Mandy who said that whilst she couldn't give that information out, she was going to check on Laura after work if they waited an hour. 
They agreed and went shopping to get Baruchiel's new host Alan and Astariel some new clothes. Then they loaded into the van and followed behind Mandy. 
=== Laura's Condo ===
Arriving at Laura's home, they tried to get inside. After some sneaking around and seeking a "servants entrance", Cambel just pressed the doorbell for their neighbour who buzzed them in without even waiting to hear who it was. They got upstairs and spoke to the neighbour who said that she made a lot of noise in the middle of the night a few days ago. Finding her door unlocked, they went inside and found that despite her apartment showing signs of a disturbance, it had been cleaned, the bird was fed and her bills had been paid by somebody called Luis Perez, along with an address about 10km North of Laura's condo in a neighbourhood called South Park. 
=== Finding Luis ===
Astariel went up to the door announced herself and said that she wanted to speak about Laura's disappearance, he said he would be right down. Her resonance told her that Luis was lying when he responded, but he quickly bundled out of the back of the property and started driving away. 
Dolores tried to follow but wasn't as skilled a driver as she was a detective. So Baruchiel took the wheel and gave chase. They followed him, but were stuck a long way behind him. He abandoned his truck and fled past some gang members (dressed in Dodger's jerseys with the number 5 on them), escorting another figure. 
Astariel intimidated her way past the gangers who tried to slow them down, as her archaic insults confused them. but they quickly lost the trail as he was faster on foot. 
Heading back to Luis's home they found a bedroom with bars on the windows and a basement full of pictures and dedicated records of Laura's movements over the last few months. The detail however was excessive and interspersed with poems about her. His laptop contained a video live-stream from a hidden camera across the street from her home.
Examining the scene Maxine sighed and said "It's a Djinn. He won't hurt her, at least not what he considers harm for now.", but they still needed to rescue her. 
== "Are you his attorney? No I'm a baker." ==
The Angels and Dolores were in the basement of Luis's home and searching through his computer. 
They found signs that he paid utilities on a trailer home in Nevada and an email to "The Queen of LA", he had sent her an email via an encrypted forwarding service asking who the people chasing him were and asking about the name Astariel. 
As they were digging through the details of the computer Mary faintly heard the distant sound of a loud disturbance to the South West. They drove out to the location and found that the disturbance came from Laura's apartment, 
There was damage to the building and signs of an explosion. With a pair of fire trucks outside and an LAPD cruiser. 
Dolores recognised the officer watching the gathered crowd as Officer Jacobs. A small time thug of an officer who had been part of a bribery ring that Dolores had tried to take down and so he hated her passionately, exchanging sniping comments as they met. 
They wouldn't let people into the building or share information. Maxine tried to cross the line whilst Jacob was distracted, so the female detective Jade Zeal approached her and asked for details. Maxine claimed that she was friends with Laura, a story she seemed to buy. 
Meanwhile Mary noticed that some people in the crowd had been kicked out of their apartments and befriended Elliot, the neighbour that they had spoken to earlier and his dog Betsy. Elliot explained that he had heard police voices before the explosion. 
Baruchiel was less successful however in talking to the crowd and was accused of inappropriate sexual contact by a woman in her pyjamas. His host Alan was almost arrested. But thankfully Mary was able to use the song of Harmony to calm down the woman doing the accusations. Jacobs eventually let both of them go with a warning, saying he had better things to do and didn't want the paperwork. 
Dolores looked around back and found the rope that Luis had used to escape the building with and noticed that there were cameras on it. 
Mary hacked the cameras of the building and was able to make out that Luis escaped the building with Laura's pet cockatiel and that a woman was sat in the passenger seat of the car. They found that the licence plate matched Laura's car. 
Luis received an email saying that he would have the answer in 24 hours. But in checking this, his phone was online and Cambel was able to track it down to a property not far from Luis's home in South Park. 
The house there has Laura's car in the drive and a couple of people out front leaning on a car there. Whilst they are discussing what to do, the two outside meet a third person and gave a hug and warm greeting. Whilst this seemed innocent Dolores could tell this was a drugs hand-off. Once they had been paid the gangers went into check on the people in the house and then went over the road where there's a taco place. 
Mary and Maxine go to the house and knock on the door. The person answering initially claims to not know Luis, but Mary claims to be a vet there to look after the cockatiel. 
The gangster takes them upstairs to see Luis who is in a bedroom with Laura (who is focused on Candy Crush on her phone and wearing a wig), her luggage and her bird in its cage. 
Mary tells Luis that he's being hunted by Angels and Luis gives them cash. He thanks them and says he plans to leave town. 
However when Maxine asks who his boss is, he grows suspicious. She says "someone who doesn't do fights" this was clearly not what he was expecting, so he drew a gun (But Maxine's Mercurian of Flowers power prevented any actual violence) and demanded to know what was going on. This shook Laura out of her Candy Crush distraction. 
Mary said "We're friends of David." and Laura helped calm Luis down and explained that Luis was trying to defect and was on the run from Asmodeus. Maxine went celestial to prove she wasn't with Asmodeus, which seemed to confirm things. 
Outside some undercover cops approached the house. Astariel and Dolores approached the house. Astariel approached and explained that they were already investigating the place. They left somewhat confused apparently thinking that they might have stumbled on a federal level investigation. 
Dolores tried to warn people by throwing a stone at the window, but this drew the attention of the gang members back from their Tacos. Thankfully Topher approached them speaking the international language of baseball fandom. This calmed the situation down and they invited her in for food. 
Inside they discuss their options and Mary and Maxine persuade Luis to make a move before the Asmodeans or the cops catch up with them. They take the luggage and bird downstairs and get into Laura's car and head out. 
The big problem appears to be that Luis is obsessed with Laura and would do almost anything for her, he's not actually redeemed and might not even be willing to go that final step. 
Heading North East they stop at a Motel to sort themselves out and organise. 
== High Noon at the Hi-Way Host Motel ==
At the motel they pulled in to try and work out what to do. 
The woman behind the desk clearly smelt of smoke despite the no smoking signs and gave them room 6 in Dolores's name.
Getting inside they found a room with a double bed and a few chairs where they could interview Luis and Laura, with a bad coffee maker. 
There was a concern about how invested Laura was in the situation and that this was hard to work out whilst Luis was in the room, so they mentioned that Laura might need a few things from the Amazon Fresh store across the road. 
They split up with Dolores, Maxi Rose and Laura heading over the street. She revealed that Luis worked for Kronos, Demon Prince of Fate and that he had indeed kidnapped her. However this was what his boss demanded of him. His actions had been largely caring since then, although restrictive. She was very well aware of the problems with a person like this, but because she's aware of this sort of person, she thinks that he might just not have had a chance before now. 
The Amazon Fresh Employee at the door tried to sign them up for till-less shopping, where the stores facial recognition software would allow them to just pick up and leave with their purchases, but they turned him down and bought some supplies and a box of doughnuts. Although Maxi Rose was recognised and needed to sign some autographs. 
Whilst they did that, Astariel interrogated Luis. He told them that he came from Hell and that compared to Hell California was hotter, but that hell was noisier and more crowded and that he didn't care for it.
The others came back with the doughnuts and Luis hugged Laura. Shortly afterwards there was a knock on the door. 
A woman carrying tacos came in and warned them that a SWAT team was on its way. Astariel was fascinated by the tacos and dug in eagerly.
The team talked about what to do and a minute or two later an unmarked van and a couple of cars pulled into the Motel. 
At first only one person came out and approached the door. It was the sergeant that they had seen earlier at the scene of Laura's abduction. Jack Wylde. He knocked and said that he was here for Luis. 
Luis cried out that it was Jugdraruth, a distinctly unusual name and tried to flee. 
Baruchiel tried to get in the Sergeants way, and the officer called for backup Luis tried to kick open the bathroom window to escape, Whilst Merandel (The taco delivery woman who revealed herself to been an Angel of Jean) slipped out into the carpark and got in her van. Once inside she tried to delay the LAPD SWAT by driving through them. They dodged but it did scatter them. 
Dolores grabbed the cops radio and tried to persuade them that everything was fine, Wylde shot Astariel, who was largely able to shrug it off, whilst Baruchiel went for Wylde's gun. He fumbled it and there was a shot. Thankfully it missed him, but there was a powerful sound through the symphony that was even louder than the gunshot. 
Astariel revealed her Angelic form and scared Wylde out of the building. 
Luis came back in to fetch Laura and found that she had been fatally shot. Thankfully Cambell was able to use the Corporeal Song of healing to bring her back from the brink of death. Though she was still critically injured. 
Astariel shouted at Luis to get his act together, Cambell snuck out the front and the others were loaded into Merandel's van. 
Astariel and Dolores had the choice of saving themselves or Luis and Laura and chose to sacrifice themselves. They were swiftly arrested by the LAPD and bundled into the van.
The others drove off. Thankfully reports on the situation seemed confused and descriptions were wildly inaccurate. So they were able to make their escape. 
Cambell tried to use the song of healing again, but it failed, Luis suggested they contact the Queen of Los Angeles, a Free Lilim who was the biggest broker in the city. The alternative was taking her to a hospital with a gunshot wound. Campbell tried one last time with the song of healing and burned the last of his essence which stabilised her but left him completely drained. Luis said that as the cops were looking for him, he would do something obvious and draw the cops to him and away from the rest of them whilst they took care of Laura. He got out and looked ready to rob an ATM.
It seemed that she would be taken to the LAPD Headquarters downtown for processing before being transported to the nearby LAPD Metropolitan Detention Centre until trial. They didn't have long to decide what to do next. 
== Jailbreak ==
With Astariel in prison, part of the group went off to seek advice from their Superiors. 
At the LAPD HQ Astariel was interviewed by an officer, who she gave vague but truthful answers to. Then they used the song of Tongues to update the others. They could get out, but wouldn't leave Delores behind.
The others in the Van tried to work out what to do next.
Baruchiel tried to sneak in Celestially to the LAPD, but wasn't able to find them before a Djinn in celestial form did. They scrapped, but Baruchiel decided to leave it alone. 
Laura said she could try and represent Dolores and Astariel, which would prove Luis didn't abduct her, but she couldn't represent them in a criminal trial despite being a lawyer as she was involved in events personally. Thankfully Dolores did have a good lawyer. Cambel was able to get into the police systems and assigned the officers who were witnesses to training courses or holidays, so that they couldn't coordinate their evidence. Baruchiel meanwhile snuck into evidence lockup and managed to "lose" a bunch of the physical evidence. 
With these obstacles taken care of, Dolores at least was released and Astariel was able to get out easily enough.
Reunited, they decided that Luis was a long-term project and they would check in on him and Laura regularly to see what progress Laura was able to make with him. 
They reported to their superiors for their rewards. 
== An Audience with the Queen ==
A few weeks after the incident with Luis, the team have split up. Tophana is in her bakery, Astariel has returned to the heavens, Campbel is looking after his biker gang as they patrol troubled areas and Baruchiel is back designing websites for rare book library services. 
As the Heaven Scent bakery is hosting a Bridge night for elder queers, Sonia, Tophana's friend receives a message from Orc the Angel of Networking. He's got a situation update and a mission for the team. Tophana brings everybody together and they meet up in the bakery's small office. 
Orc tells them that Luis's debriefing is going well. He's revealed a lot of information about Kronos's operation and is working on improving himself for redemption. However they have hit an obstacle in his redemption. Whilst in LA, he did a number of favours for and asked for favours from the Queen of LA. These favours manifest on his soul and unless they are removed by the Queen, they will cause any attempt at redemption to be much much harder. So Orc asks them to try and help pay off this debt on his behalf. 
Astariel is sceptical about paying off another person's debts, this doesn't feel just to her. Tophana meanwhile is hesitant to do anything that might involve harm to other people. But they agree to at least hear the Queen out. Orc gives them some contact details and an appointment. The Soho House, West Hollywood at 3pm. 
The building is a large glass-fronted building with the club only occupying the top few floors. The receptionist buzzed them up to the top floor restaurant where they were expected. The interior is a lavish place with a glass roof and trees growing through the restaurant area. 
To their surprise the "Queen of LA" is actually a man at the moment, wearing the form of a man with sculpted features and greying hair who introduces themselves as "Johnathan". He explains that Luis owed three major favours. As a gesture of good will and in the interest of encouraging further business, they waive the smallest of these favours. They ask about the group who introduce themselves and "Johnathan" expresses admiration for the food at Heaven Scent. 
They lay out three jobs that they need doing, each of which will clear one of the favours: 
* A Djinn of the Media named Gorbory is concerned about the safety of his client, a wealthy writer, director and producer, who has received credible death threats and wants somebody to find out who is threatening their employer and stop them. 
* An Angel by the name of Mehetabel is looking for help with a data heist from Amazon Web Services.
* The Walt Disney corporation are concerned about a string of Arsons near their parks and want them investigated and potentially stopped. Local demons reported large amounts of disturbance in the area, implying a Celestial was responsible. 
They are hesitant about working with demons, so they agree to check out Mehetabel first. Calling him up, he suggests meeting at the Heaven Scent bakery. 
A few hours later he pulls up there in a white panel van advertising a cleaning company. In the back room, over teas and coffees he explains that the Warner Brothers Discovery group shelved two complete movies: Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme. That had combined, hundreds of thousands of man hours invested in them, but would never be released due to them being used as a tax write-off. He wants to get access to these, but the data centre at which they are stored is heavily protected and the computer systems too secure to break into as they contain the confidential information of thousands of major businesses around the area. 
They agreed to help and Dolores went in, planting camera bugs in the reception to monitor how people get in. She found that security was particularly tight. Employees needed to input a code, swipe a key fob and be recognised by the desk staff in order to enter. Mehetabel explained that he couldn't easily possess anybody, as anybody responsible for a security breach would be criminally prosecuted and be forever blacklisted from the industry and as a Kyriotate he can't leave his host in a worse position than when he found them. 
They decided that they would need to acquire a key fob without the worker knowing, Dolores's cameras had already captured a lot of the codes used by the workers and somebody would need to use the Song of Form to impersonate a worker who had a rock solid alibi to avoid causing that person trouble. 
== Coyote Vs Acme ==
Agreeing on the plan Maxine started up an impromptu busking performance just around the corner of the data centre, attracting a number of bored office workers who hung around to watch for a few minutes. A few threw crumpled dollar bills into her guitar case, whilst a few others looked around for a tap point to leave their donation digitally. 
Meanwhile Tophana snuck up and expertly liberated a key fob that a man named Pete was wearing on his belt and replaced it with a replica Maxine had bought a few hours earlier. Stealthily exiting with nobody any the wiser. 
She handed it off to Baruchiel who used the Celestial song of Form to assume Pete's face, but he didn't quite manage it. He got the build and the beard right, but the face was all over the place and a dead give away that something was wrong. With a bit of guidance from Tophana he was able to fix himself up, but at the cost of nearly all his essence. 
He located an LA rat and possessed its ratty body. Slipping the rat into his bag before heading back to the office. 
Going through the entrance he entered the code and was checked in with no problem, but he ran into a co-worker in the corridor named Emily. She asked him if he was going to the game and he said he wasn't sure. She also pointed out he'd already walked past his office. 
She took the strange and distant behaviour as confirmation that he had indeed been cheating on her and ran off in tears. 
Baruchiel went into his office, eager to escape the drama and climbed up on the desk to put the rat in the drop-ceiling. But whilst his rat form was exploring, there was a knock on the door from another co-worker, this one named Dave who heard the noise and asked if Emily had found out about the affair. He said that he'd be around to help if he needed anything and that he would see them at the game. Meanwhile the rat successfully inserted the USB stick and got the data. 
Baruchiel attempted to turn invisible but instead only managed mild transparency, so instead chose to pull the fire alarm and cause an evacuation., leaving the rat behind to get the USB stick out so that there was no trace of the infiltration. 
As they fled into the carpark, he dropped the song of form and reverted back to his host's normal appearance, escaping the office drama and going back to join everybody else. Orc, the Angel of Networks, confirmed that the mission had been a success and he got the film files. 
They met over coffee to decide what to do next, deciding that it would be better to help the Walt Disney Corporation rather than try to persuade Astariel to help a Demon of the Media save their client. 
So they need to solve some arsons that appear to have been caused by a celestial.
== Droning On ==
Travelling to the first of the three sites the group turned up in the van and pulled up to a black wrought iron gate. 
The only access was an intercom which they used. Their contact David Sutherland let them in and explained the situation. This was the third property hit in about 10 days. 
This was Pioneer Villa’s HOA - where the fire was last night. The property (Number 3) belonged to the actor Tom Hiddleston, a simple apartment where he stayed whilst working on films or visiting the parks. They spoke with the exhausted custodian James who gave them access to the fire department preliminary reports and the security camera footage (Which showed no unusual entry or exit). They found out that the fire started around 1am. The house was unoccupied at the time and that the fire report said that it started above the ground floor with an unknown accelerant. The whole place had a strangely abandoned vibe, as very few people actually lived there. Eventually they found one of the neighbours who first reported the fire Joyce Yeung an Asian-American Disney Imagineer who lived in number 16 over the street. She was working late from home and ordered pizza, until later in the evening when she smelt something burning. She went to her bedroom window and saw the fire and called the LAFD. However Astariel was able to discover that there was a subtle unconscious lie of omission. She had heard something that she had almost forgotten herself. There was a buzzing sound about half an hour before she noticed the blaze like that of a distant lawnmower. The other witness Tony Fabrico from number 24 was asleep the whole time. 
Having exhausted their leads there they went to the Shadow Park Gated Community which had a similar fire 4 days ago. This time the fire report was more detailed as it mentioned a metal based accelerant, and the night guard was the one who noticed the blaze. This to was a somewhat lifeless gated community. They spoke to Jack Bloomer, a real-estate manager who managed franchises of the Disney stores. However he said he didn't spot anything, Astariel could tell that this was because he was actually next door sleeping with his neighbours wife at the time. So they didn't pursue things there.
Portarosa Community had a fire 10 days ago. They didn't have access there, so they called up David, who told one of his employees to help. Adjoa Terezie, an African-American woman who was unhappy to be asked to help unpaid on her day off by her boss. She gave them access to what she could and helped them get a copy of the fire report, which was a similar situation to the others. She mentioned that there were golfers on the night of the fire. When asked how she knew there were golfers, she explained that they used drones to illuminate the course and track balls at night and she heard the drone engines. 
All three locations had the semi-abandoned lifelessness to them and the burnt properties were all empty when it happened. So Dolores checked online and found several protests related to the rising cost of buying a home in LA and resistance to these nearly empty gated communities. One name that came up was Robert Hudson. He had an old YouTube channel under his own name, but also had a channel under the name DroneHUD where he tinkered and modified drones and put them through their paces to film special effects scenes. Investigating further, he had collaborated with several other YouTubers including one called GraceUnderFire, whose channel focused on firework displays, gender reveal stunts and other displays of pyrotechnics. 
So they set up a Skype Interview posing as a science channel on YouTube. He answered questions about Disney, his collaborations, his work with Hacksmith Industries in Canada and drones in the Ukraine war, with Baruchiel posing as a hipster YouTuber. Robert didn't seem super-impressed by his limited responses, but shrugged it off as a less capable YouTuber. 
Meanwhile Cambel managed to trace the signal to a single city block and Dolores narrowed it down even further to one of a few houses. 
Dolores set up outside and put him under surveillance, but he drove off down to a park and met the person who appeared to be GraceUnderFire. 
She was wearing a VR headset and handling controls whilst he was on his laptop presumably co-piloting. Cambel and Baruchiel together managed to tap into the drone feeds and could exert some control over it. They saw his was scouting out houses with a drone that was capable of delivering a payload. He couldn't find a good place to dump the payload that wouldn't cause more damage. 
Instead Astariel approached them and tried to engage them in conversation and when they wouldn't, she threatened to call the police. So they packed up and left instead to go to the In-and-out burger down the road. 
== The Arrest ==
Uncertain of how to proceed they called up Merandel (Alias: Miranda Gale), the Cherub of Lightning for a technological edge. Whilst Dolores staked them out as they enjoyed their burger at the local in-and-out. 
Merandel was curious if they were doing the right thing here, but hacked into their phones and looked at the recent videos posted, including Grace's fireworks, sweeping videos of the wildfires and other pyrotechnic related events. 
By the time they were organised they had left the In-and-out and headed into town. They lost them in the traffic, but were able to follow their phones with Merandel's help. 
They couldn't risk a confrontation in a busy public place so staked out her home (A somewhat dingy condo on the 4th Floor, another effect of the LA Housing Crisis) with Dolores out front. Checking the YouTube account they had hacked earlier, they found videos of the residential fires, although it didn't show who set them, it was incriminating that she had videos of all of the fires, which happened many miles apart in the middle of the night. They also found some old reddit threads which were nearly 10 years old, slightly too old for somebody who looked that age. The posts included a vitriolic campaign to save a Mongolian BBQ place, which she said served the best ribs on the continent. 
Once she had returned, Astariel rang the bell for her 4th floor condo and she said she would just be a minute, but Merandel used her resonance to check her Alexa in the flat and heard that she was calling somebody for help with the Angels and they would be there in about 5 mins. 
So Merandel overpowered the lock and they went up, Dolores tried to pick the lock whilst Baruchiel took the fire escape. Dolores wasn't making much progress with the lock and the door spontaneously caught fire burning Dolores. Cambel hung back and healed Dolores's wounds. Merandel went and got a fire extinguisher and put out the flames and Astariel impatient for justice kicked down the door. 
As they did, Astariel said that Grace was a demon, which she vigorously denied (And everybody but Astariel instantly believed). Bystanders left their apartments and went outside, some filming the scene and others urging them to leave, but nobody making much of a move to stop them. 
Astariel then unleashed the vengence of the lord, which is much more impressive when you aren't in a physical body which limits movement, so her and grace had something that appeared to be little more than a slap fight, whilst Baruchiel urged them to get out of there. 
Grace drew their attention to a fire and entranced the group for a moment, after which a firefighter was shaking them out of their trance. Grace had fled presumably in the care of the people she had called. 
However they still had her phone details, so Cambel called her, explaining that Disney had asked them to stop the situation. This seemed to alarm her and she mentioned the Mouse catching up to her and finding out where she lived. Also asking if Loki sent them. She explained that she had good reason, Disney had levelled her favourite Mongolian BBQ place, they deserved it. However she agreed to Cambel that she would refrain from destroying any more Disney properties for 10 years, 
Everybody was satisfied except Astariel, who vowed that Grace should face justice. She returned the next day with a black eye and simply said it had been handled, although Grace did seem to have escaped for now. 
== The Scholarship ==
Merandel could sense trouble brewing. Her ward Kathleen Pool, the post-graduate student working in computer science was distraught. 
Checking over records she found out why. Kathleen had just been sent a letter that Merandel had been copied in to, which stated that whilst her scholarship would continue to the end of the financial year, it would not be renewed in September. The news crushed Kathleen, who was from a relatively poor background. Merandel tried to remedy the situation by plying the student with drinks, but this weirded Kathleen out. 
Meanwhile Astariel was investigating the printed publications of the Colonies and found a journal called the National Enquirer, which detailed a spontaneous aura of fear appearing in areas East of LA around Burbank. 
Calling the Angelic team together they investigated the situation and found that the company that offered the scholarship, the Venture Group, was theoretically doing quite well overall, but was diverting almost as much money as it could from other investments to buy up stocks in Northrupp Grumman. Although why this was the case was unclear. 
They managed to secure a meeting with the Venture Group's CFO, Odele Argyros, a Greek financier. Odele behaved oddly during the meeting, seemingly unable to see the difference between furniture and people. 
He explains that he's protecting vital assets and that the CEO has confidence in his plans, despite the unorthodox tactics. Throughout he suggests that he has very good reasons to protect this particular investment despite extreme interest in it. 
Outside they try and fail to sneak into the company network, but do overhear some office drones talking about their concerns with this hyperfocused direction and particularly one specific part of the investment portfolio under Northrupp Grumman, a high value storage company called Patent Mark. 
They went along to one of Patent Mark's sites and found an old disused military bunker that had been converted into a secure facility for holding items. 
Exploring in Celestial Form they located a trove of Celestial artefacts and unusual technology being constantly lent out and received back in. But they could not linger as one of the guards spotted the celestial form. 
== The nanosecond buyout ==
Uncertain of how to proceed they consider calling in their superiors, particularly Jean, Archangel of Lightning for advice. 
Travelling to the University computer labs where Merandel worked, they entered after midnight and rearranged the servers into a symbol of the Kabbalic Sefirot with attached USB drives, but to their disappointment a student waking up and spilling their drink disrupted the ritual. 
They tried again, but got nothing more than a message on a nearby screen saying that the call could not be connected at this time. 
They then tried to use the University Library to summon Yves, but despite masterfully solving a chain of book queries that would lead to everybody involved discovering and learning more, the ritualistic invocation of completing a library card in the name of Yves failed to elicit any results. A repeated attempt earned a chiding from Tom Hiddleston, who happened to be in the library and told them to not disturb people and perhaps not do their summoning's there. 
Disheartened by their patrons failure to respond, and the revelation that Dominic can't be summoned, but would appear naturally in about 2 days to get a report update from Astariel, they looked for other contacts. The Kyriotate of the Wind (Theft) Mehetabel was one person they could contact. He filled them in on a few details. He revealed that UBS, one of the companies attempting to buy Northrup Grumman out from under Venture Group is owned by Mammon, Demon Prince of Greed's lackies. 
He suggested a few ways to resolve the situation, all of which involved theft or blowing up financial institutions. 
They had a long discussion about what the best approach would be:
* Cambel wanted to use Kathleen's new AI system to steal the company out from under the investment firm and restore it to ownership of Venture group directly. But Merandel was worried that this would attract the attention of hostile powers to her ward. 
* Another option would be to steal the physical items from the various vaults around the world. However Astariel was concerned about wholescale larceny by angels stealing from other angels. There was also the question of where they could transport and store these rare artefacts. Astariel suggested a safe storage facility she saw advertised on a billboard. 
* Finally the idea of blowing up the area was Merandel's favourite, but she couldn't be in three locations at once. 
So they agreed to ask Kathleen about the idea, approaching her at a coffee shop where she was meeting with a fellow student named Kevin. Cambel was able to scare him off and they presented the idea of enacting a quick series of financial trades to Kathleen. Unfortunately she was concerned about the dangers of doing anything illegal, so would only be persuaded if they could give her a lawyer confirming that this wasn't illegal. Unfortunately Dolores confirmed that it would be illegal for most people. Only venture capitalists could meddle in those markets. 
They contacted Odele Argyros, who confirmed he was an Angel serving Marc and said he would support the venture, despite its risks, as Marc always told him to believe in people. He too had been unable to contact his superior recently. He talked to Kathleen and agreed to bear the responsibility for the trades and a day later Cambel and Kathleen were in the University whilst Merandel rode to the UBS financial trading markets in West LA and tried to generate lightning to draw the attention of Mammon's servants, which she did, despite the lightning failing. She was pursued as she tried to flee and her attackers forced her off a bridge, after which things went black for her.
Back at the University, Kathleen booted up the AI and set it to work, drawing considerable resources from the system. The AI struggled, as it appeared that whilst financial institutions didn't have quite the same level of capabilities, they did have some sort of advanced algorithm working to protect their investments specifically from this sort of thing. It was looking unlikely to work, but Cambel spotted another large piece of software on the network, this kicked a lot of people off their projects and tried to analyse Kathleen's AI. Campbel suggested recording this, but by the time Kathleen was ready to do so, the unknown software had removed its self from the system.
He called Odele to confirm the good news, who immediately insisted on restoring and increasing Kathleen's scholarship next year. They also tried to contact Merandel, but the message went to answerphone. 
== Primal Drives ==
The last thing Merandel remembered, they were tumbling off a cliff being thrown around oddly weightless before a terrible scrunching sound. 
Then they awoke in a vast cathedral of crystal and light. Their woolly Mammoth form was being comforted by a pair of other cherubs, a wolf and a gorilla. Barnabus the wolf-form Cherub tried to offer some reassurance; "It's okay, it's only a vessel. You're safe here." Merandel had died in the line of duty. 
When Merandel mentioned that there was a human who might be in danger, Barnabus understood and sympathised. Guiding them to Jean who was overseeing inventions in his Cathedral. Jean said that he'd received a request from David Archangel of Stone which was both terse and seemed trivial. Apparently a number of small businesses in Burbank California were going out of business due to strange activity. Certainly it wasn't in Jean's jurisdiction and he was a bit perplexed by it, but he was happy to pass on the message. Also as Merandel's ward was still doing well, Jean advised that he would send them back immediately, instructing Barnabus to direct them to a place where a fresh Vessel could be prepared. 
Descending to Earth Merandel ended up in a rather sterile, but welcoming facility in a liquid-filled pod and a fresh new body, a clone apparently in a hidden facility. She was given clothes and basic gear and released back into Los Angeles after a few hours riding in the back of a windowless van. 
Meeting back up with the others at the University they discussed what to do next. 
Merandel's message from Jean lined up with the strange fear events that Astariel had read about in the National Enquirer. 
Looking into police reports and media, Dolores found that several small minority owned businesses had been hit with a mysterious bout of fear before being robbed. 
They went along and questioned the various owners, who varied between pathetically thankful that somebody was taking them seriously to dismissive. After a detailed investigation they found several locations that had been hit. Unfortunately the one thing they had in common was outdated CCTV systems and poor security. 
* A hot dog vendor (4 days ago)
* The Hold in the Wall (polish take-away) (9 days ago)
* "Handy Market, Choice Meats, Wine Store, Craft Beer Shop, Bottle Shop, Butcher "Asian Supermarket (14 days ago)
* Tatsu Sushi (19 days ago)
* General Cho's fried chicken (24 days ago)
However talking to the witnesses and investigating whatever footage they could get revealed a pattern. 
# The fear attacks happened exactly at sunset. 
# There were two figures involved in these recent thefts.
## A male courier working for MyHermes, a local Californian courier business which delivers packages primarily but has recently branched out into food delivery. This man always seemed to be at the epicentre of the fear attacks, but seemed just as affected by them as everybody else, invariably fleeing the scene. 
## A short but muscular figure wearing a black baseball cap and a balaclava. This figure always arrived after the panic attacks happened and always just did a quick snatch and grab of the cash in the cash draw. 
They hacked into MyHermes, the courier company and tracked the Courier's address down. He wasn't home but breaking in they found it was bare and minimalistic, he had evidently taken his laptop and phone with him. From the app they were able to track his location to a nearby restaurant. 
From the van they saw him inside the restaurant and much like the other patrons, he panicked and began to flee, some of the team ran after him. A second van appeared and attempted to run him down, but the team intervened and prevented it. Rather than pushing their luck, the van drove away and the angels were able to tackle him to the ground, whilst the others waited. 
The second figure appeared and did a quick snatch and grab of the contents of the till. They were able to restrain them only to find that the figure was a woman wearing a balaclava, hat and a fake muscle suit to give her a more masculine silhouette. Beneath she was a blonde woman with a trans-Atlantic accent. They bundled the two suspects into the van and drove off to a safehouse to interrogate them. 
They were able to determine that the source of the fear disturbance did not come from the man, but from what was in his backpack. Specifically a laptop with a hard-drive which contained an enchanted human tooth as the head of the drive reader. There was also a strange arrangement of sticks and strings that looked like a dream catcher. Bound inside was some sort of celestial. 
== Interrogation: ==
In the van they discussed where they could go. Astariel suggested that she had recently seen some "moving pictures" which suggested that an interrogation should take place in an abandoned office building basement. A suggestion that Dolores instantly rebuked as cliche, but she reluctantly agreed that she did happen to know an abandoned office building which would fit the bill. 
They pulled into an office building and tied their prisoners to chairs. 
Starting with the courier Zeke, Astariel took him and fixed him with a terrifying glare. Whilst he seemed somewhat muted in his response, he started trying to bargain for his life, offering free deliveries, the tiny amount of money he had saved up and so on. Astariel could only get the most basic read on him, but it was a truthful. Asking about some things like his job, rent and basics of life gave concrete and certain answers, but anything from more than a couple of years ago was filled in by vague and confused statements, as if he were inventing them. He also didn't remember about the robberies. One thing that did come up was that he worked a lot of hours and was barely able to afford his crumby apartment. 
Cambel realised that there was something very wrong and was able to use the Celestial Song of healing to restore something, but it was only a very brief respite. Enough for Astariel to ask 6 questions: 
* Where did you get the Laptop? I stole it from one of Vapula's labs.
* How did you steal it? I used a song to phase through the walls. 
* Why did you take it? Because my boss told me to.
* Who was your boss: Janus
* What's in the dream catcher: My enemy
* What about your accomplice: She isn't my accomplice, I don't know her.
They discussed summoning Janus himself, but thought that they should interview the other suspect first. 
They rummaged around Barbera Bernstein's possessions. They found her phone had a lot of videos and social media messages. She had some money, car keys and other items, but had left her ID behind. She had a lot of videos of herself doing interviews and investigations. 
Astariel's attempts at intimidation were far more successful this time. Barbera confessed everything, although she did seem happy that somebody wanted to hear her stories. She explained that initially she was investigating this as a news story, she discovered the pattern and linked it to Zeke. However when she tried to sell her story, only the National Enquirer would buy it and for a mere $200. Barely enough to cover the travel expenses. Nobody else was interested, so next time she had the opportunity, she grabbed the money on instinct from the restaurant and ran. It was enough money to help her eat but she was careless. So she found a muscle suit to borrow to hide her identity with next time. She felt that after all the hard work she put in, she deserved something for her efforts until she could get on her feet. 
There was some discussion about her judgement, but she wasn't fundamentally evil, just depressed and seizing an opportunity. 
Instead they tried to summon Janus. Cambel leading the effort, he laid out the stolen money on the floor in a pattern relating to the heists used to obtain it. With essence from the others, a sharp wind blew through the basement and rattled a door at the other side. 
When everybody was facing away a lean man greeted them from the opposite direction, already playing with Astariel's purse and being snidely dismissive of Dominic's agent. 
Janus explained that Zeke was a terrible thing, a remnant of an angel of his, whose celestial form had been destroyed by combat with a demon. Most likely this is the being caught in the dreamcatcher. With none of his celestial essence remaining, what was left of Zeke fell back into his role as a courier. The mind and body carrying on on autopilot going through their day to day life as normal. 
Astariel said that Dominic would take the dreamcatcher and the laptop, as a crime had been committed and the guilty needed to be punished on behalf of the small business owners who had suffered here. Janus countered with an offer, he pulled out a large briefcase filled with bank notes (Japanese yen) that he had picked up in Tokyo recently. Even with fees for conversion, it should be enough to recompense the businesses for their losses. The group agreed and Janus took the laptop, the dreamcatcher and what was left of Zeke back with him. However when looking at Barbera he said that the Media had its claws deep inside her and that she wasn't going to be any use to him as an agent, leaving her fate up to Astariel and the others. 
Cambel suggested that she take over Zeke's job and apartment, giving her at least a more steady income and a place to live. Then she can commit herself to selfless work by helping Dolores and being a true investigator. Something that she agreed to with much fear and trepidation. 
With money in hand they were able to give the funds to the businesses that were affected and bring them back from the brink of bankruptcy and Barbera becomes a pawn of the Angels. Dominic later shows that they are quite pleased with the outcome and reward the team. 
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