Not So Unbreakable After All (07-02-2022)

## GEO-7, Arthur’s Bay, Camelot [07/02/2022]

Archangel lies in the hospital bed, still unconscious due to the damage of the Corruption he received during the attack on the rally. Agents Royal, Crown, and Tsar all sit tentatively in the room, watching all of the injured Roundtable members. “It was our job to protect them,” Royal says in a defeated tone. “Whole point of our unit is to escort and protect. Fuck how did we screw this up so bad?” Crown responds, “You know the Doc, his reflexes were faster than anyone could even process. There was nothing we could do to stop him. And the others seemed like they were protecting us and the Advisory Board.”

“I still felt useless.”

“Hey, you got the Director to a safe place. That’s a successful mission in itself.”

“What if they had found me though? I had no gun, I certainly don’t have fucking superpowers. Maybe I’d get a few hits in before I would be skewered or whatever.”

“The ‘what if’ didn’t happen though. We got the Roundtable out. Even if they are injured.”

Tsar speaks up as he sits by the entrance, “So, we waiting on this medic from the Seraphim?”

Crown nods and says, “They go by Priestess.”

“And she’ll be able to fix the Director and the others?”

“That’s what they claim, yeah.”

The entrance door slides open and the three look towards it. They see a woman in a robe and a saggy headpiece. She’s holding an ornamental staff and has a jeweled bracelet. Behind her is a halo that glows a soft pink, with a sigil of the Red Cross and the Caduceus on either side. She smiles and walks in. Crown taps on Tenma’s shoulder to get her attention from her computer. Tenma looks over and greets the woman, “Hello there, Priestess, correct?” The woman answers, “Yeah, that’s me. I’m sorry I took so long. I was on a mission when I was notified of the attack on the Roundtable.”

“It’s fine. They’re all stable. Imperialist said that you’re able to heal anything?”

“That’s right, yes.”

“Are your abilities like the other medic we had from the Seraphim? The one that prays?”

“Ah, you mean 12th Disciple. No, our healing powers are different. She’s actually my apprentice. I should see how she’s doing after this. May I?”

“Go ahead.”

Priestess walks with her staff towards Archangel. She looks at him and sees the Corruption spreading from the wound he received. She sighs and says to herself, “It’s just like what happened to Creed…”

Royal hears this and asks, “This has happened before?”

“Oh, yeah. Archangel’s counterpart, Creed. He also suffered a wound that was made out of Corrupting powers.”

“Creed? I don’t think I’ve heard that name before.”

“He goes by a different name now which you recognize as the Seraph.”

“Huh, yeah, I thought his name was always just Seraph.”

“It’s a name not said much anymore. Usually Seraph’s real name is used by original members like me and Corvus, or his old enemies.”

Priestess tilts her staff slightly in Archangel’s direction. The staff sends out a beam of energy towards Archangel’s wound in his shoulder. The wound’s corrupting veins begin to retract and disappear. The gash in his shoulder also begins to close up. Eventually the wound completely heals, and the agents and Tenma look in amazement. “It’s like it never happened…” Royal comments as she gently touches Archangel’s shoulder. Crown says to himself, “Well would you look at that.” Priestess looks at the sleeping Witch, Wizard, and Malik King and tilts her staff towards them as well. Three beams shoot out at all of them and begin to heal their burns and wounds. Malik’s puncture wound completely closes up, and Witch and Wizard’s burns start to fade. Priestess looks at the Agents and Tenma and reports, “They’ll be fine. They just need more rest.” Tsar walks up to Priestess and salutes while saying, “You’re in our debt, Ma’am.” Priestess looks flustered and stammers, “N-No that’s okay! Don’t worry about it.” Tenma asks, “That staff, what does it do exactly aside from healing? What is your ability?”

“Ah, I manipulate aura. I can use it to either create defenses or heal a person. This staff is actually an item from Creed’s necklace. It was gifted to me.”

“Did you say your staff is an A-006 instance?”

“A…006?”

Royal explains, “We codename anomalous items or subjects with superhuman properties. Seraph and Archangel’s necklace is codenamed A-005, with the weapons and tools coming out of them as A-006.” Priestess thinks about it and then answers, “Oh, then yes. It’s from his necklace. He made it to where I have full ownership of this version of the staff. He can still make another one if he wanted to. However, he doesn’t have much use for it since he doesn’t have powers like mine that can fully utilize it. It was kind of crafted specifically for me.” Tenma writes something down in her notes and nods. She then asks, “So what is this “corruption” your group keeps talking about?” Priestess looks distressed a bit but answers, “Corruption is an energy created by humans. It can directly hurt holy beings. Corruption is made when humans lose faith in any way. Whether it be in a person, a god, a mission, anything. Only a few people so far have been able to directly control Corruption, including the Syndicate general.”

“Is that why you haven’t killed him yet?”

“Yeah, Creed was almost killed by corruption last time by the general’s father. Judas is even more in tune with Corruption. We’re working hard to find a way to work around this problem. Holy powers can only do so much to defend against corruption.”

“I see. I thought Archangel was invincible the way he was shrugging off even magic attacks.”

“I thought Creed was too, until something like this happened. Scared me half to death. Seeing him that way was…terrifying.”

Priestess looks at Archangel as he sleeps soundly and then looks at the Agents. “I must be going now. Like always, contact us if you need anything.” Royal, Crown, and Tsar salute before she walks out. Tenma looks at the three and asks, “Still have your doubts?” Royal looks at the now healed Roundtable and shakes her head. The other two follow suit. Crown says, “We need to find out who they were. We can’t have Terrorism in Camelot. Especially when it’s directed toward us.”

Tsar asks, “Imperialist said something about Syndicate. Maybe we start there?”

“We’ll talk about it to the Council. Maybe get a Seraphim member in the meeting too.”

Tenma nods in agreement and goes back to her computer. The three agents sit back down in their spots and keep watch of the Roundtable until they all wake up.