"We have to catch him off guard..." Time muttered. "What if we....no no, no no no."
"What?" Fate inquired.
"No, it's silly."
"If it is, we will let you know."
"What if we sent humans after him?"
Everyone stared at him.
Time got to his feet. "He wouldn't expect that. In every other instance in which Lucifer has tried to interfere, it's taken an entire angelic army to quell him. Half the time it doesn't work anyway—he just slinks away somewhere and we end up battling Hellspawn."
"I don't think—" Rosalyn said, "—I mean, no offense, but I don't think humans would be capable of handling Lucifer."
"We could help them. Fortify their minds." Father Time looked excitedly between everyone. "Humans think outside of the box; angels are pretty autonomous in their actions. Maybe improvising would throw him off guard."
"They wouldn't even make a dent," Sera muttered, his voice echoing down to them. "Did you miss the part where I told you he killed Michael? Did I mention he beheaded him? With his hands?" Sera got on his feet, walking back towards the group. "Just—ripped his head clean off?"
"So then we will use some non-humans too," Fate agreed excitedly. "No, Sera, I really think that Time is onto something here."
"Okay. And who would pick said-humans?"
"I would. I know every single person; I know their true heart. I know who would be even remotely up to the task."
Rosalyn grinned. "I like this."
"We need a contingency plan." Sera stood directly in front of Fate, squaring off his shoulders and narrowing his eyes. "I want her."
"No. She would kill Lucifer."
"Exactly."
"Out of the question. Absolutely out of the question."
"Why? I am sick of playing this tango with Lucifer. He goes into hiding for a while and then rears his ugly head again. And every time it gets worse, and worse, and worse. I feel like this time he's—" Sera paused. He wasn't being melodramatic. "He's trying to start Armageddon."
When Fate didn't respond, Sera continued. "I won't let that happen."
"It is bound to happen sometime."
"I'm not letting that happen. Not after everything we've all been through so far. It's too soon."
"It has been literally millions of—"
"No! It's too early. I don't care that the Time Frames are fucked right now. I don't care that because of whatever Lucifer has done Armageddon doesn't have a set date anymore because of, well, that," he gestured to the repeating images of L.A. burning. "I will do everything in my power to stop Armageddon from happening now!"
A sigh escaped Fate's mouth. "God said Lucifer cannot and will not ever be outright killed. You know this. It is part of His Plan. She would kill him."
"I don't care," Sera insisted stubbornly.
"Who would kill him?" Rosalyn finally asked.
"Angelus Supreme," Fate and Sera said simultaneously, not bothering to look at her.
"Who?"
"She's not ripe yet," Fate continued, ignoring Rosalyn. "It's only been nine years this cycle."
"Ripe?" Rosalyn quipped. "Like a fruit?"
"I want to bring her along," Sera insisted angrily.
"Who?" Rosalyn repeated.
Sera swung his head to look down at Rosalyn angrily. "Angelus Supreme! We said that already!"
"Yeah but who is that?"
Sera sighed impatiently. "Lesson time. Okay so there's God, right? Then there is His right hand, Archangel Primus—me. Then there are the archangels, and then lesser angels, and then come the guardian angels, and then finally cherubs."
"I know all that."
"Well, directly above Archangel Primus but on inactive duty is Angelus Supreme."
"Inactive? What do you mean? And what did you mean by ripe? You're confusing me."
"Angelus Supreme is the most potent being in the universe outside of God. She was created after Lucifer Fell as a failsafe. If anything was to ever happen, and the universe itself was ever in danger, then Angelus Supreme would be called forth."
"She is the end-all-be-all," Fate said. "She is more powerful than even I."
Rosalyn's eyes grew into huge orbs, stunned at that statement.
"She is extremely volatile and dangerous in her power," Sera continued. "Like imagine...Imagine a million atomic bombs going off all at once."
"The only thing she cannot destroy is God Himself," Fate said.
Rosalyn was having a hard time comprehending it all. She put a hand to her forehead, all but reeling. "Why didn't I know any of this?"
"You didn't have a high enough clearance," all three replied together. Time chuckled.
"Well, we have explained this much to her; shall we explain the rest?" Fate asked.
Sera shrugged. "Might as well." He directed his attention to Rosalyn.
"Angelus Supreme is reincarnated, over and over again. As the years pass her power grows stronger. She reaches her peak potential at around age 30—that is when she would pack the million-atomic-bombs wallop, and when she would have the most control over her power if she were to unleash it."
"That is not to say that as a nine year old child her power is not immense," Fate interjected. "She currently far surpasses even Sera in her holy magic. The problem is, however, such a small vessel cannot contain or handle such a load."
"Think of a jug of water," Sera continued. "It can only hold so much until it overflows."
"Which is precisely why," Time said in his soft, raspy voice, "she is 'inactive.' Unless something goes wrong she is programmed to never be sentient of her power."
"It would be too much for her," Fate explained. "She would accidentally destroy the Surface. Possibly the solar system."
"Instantaneous black hole," Old Man Time said. "Destroy everything—the Surface, Heaven, Hell, The Time Realm..."
"A sleeper agent," Sera said. He glared at Fate. "But I want her to be awake for this."
Fate swiveled to him. "No. It is too dangerous. And it is specifically stated we cannot lay a lethal finger on Lucifer—"
"That was before he obliterated L.A., Fate! The game has changed; why can't you see—"
"Stop it!" Rosalyn shouted. Everyone looked at her. "Just stop it already. I am sick of you two bickering like children. Now, I hate to say it, but I would feel much safer if we had this Angelus Supreme with us, ripe or not."
Sera crossed his arms, smiling smugly at Fate.
"It's not because I necessarily agree with you personally, Sera, so get that smirk off your face."
Sera's face fell.
"If this really is the end of times," Rosalyn continued, "we have to try and stop it. That is our duty written by God Himself. And if that means trying to kill Lucifer, then it is what it is and we will just suffer the consequences for our actions when the time comes."
She shook her head, her gentle voice taking on an edge of urgency. "I agree with the idea of bringing her along only because nothing like this has ever happened before. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all the other cliché's that apply. I might eat my words, but I think I'd rather suffer the consequences and say I tried than be looking one of the Four Horsemen in the face."
She paused. "The Four Horsemen are real, right?"
Sera nodded grimly. "Seen them with my own eyes. Well, one of the four, anyway. "
After a moment, Fate turned to the old man. "Time—your thoughts?"
Time patted Fate on the shoulder. "I think it's time for the girl, my dear friend."
With a heavy sigh, Fate removed a pad of paper and pen from beneath his shirt. He scribbled something down quickly, tore off the piece of paper, and held it out to Sera.
"Here is the address she currently lives at. I do not care at this point how you collect her, just be mindful of how you do it—I do not want you blowing up the rest of the world. One catastrophic explosion a day is all I can handle."
He was suddenly wearing a friar's robe with a large hood. He put the pen and paper somewhere beneath the cloak. "I will set about collecting the humans and whomever else I deem worthy."
"You sure this is the right address?"
From beneath the hood Sera could feel a withering look. The archangel grinned.
"Bring them to Hell after they've all been collected, directly to Lucifer," Time instructed everyone. "He won't be expecting a direct assault in Hell."
"How do we know he'll be there?" Rosalyn inquired.
"After pulling a stunt like blowing up an entire city, he will be exhausted," Time said. "He will need time to recuperate."
"Even us higher beings have our limits," Fate said. "We still must abide by the basic laws of physics and science."
"We should meet in the antechamber to the Underworld," Sera said to Fate. Fate nodded.
Rosalyn looked at the group. "What should I do? I want to do something."
"Right now," Sera said with a smile, rubbing his hands up and down her arms, "I think it would be most helpful if you researched how in the fuck Lucifer did this. I wasn't aware he was even capable of blowing up an entire city in one fell swoop. We need to know what other tricks he has up his sleeves if we're even going to attempt this."
Rosalyn nodded. Sera was still smiling down at her as he spoke. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this."
"I'm happy to help," she replied genuinely chipper. "You'll come get me when everything is ready, right?"
"Of course. All the books you need should be located in my office. There might be a few in the cellar beneath my office."
"Cellar? What--"
Sera reached inside his breast pocket and removed a small set of brass keys. He plopped them into her hand.
"Pull back the large Oriental rug and there is a trap door. You might need to move the desk; it's been awhile since I've had to go down there, I forget exactly where the door is."
Rosalyn looked at the keys, and then back at Sera. "Is this part of the 'I don't have a high enough clearance level'?"
Sera grinned and nodded.
"I do believe we have a plan," Fate said to everyone. "It should not take me that long to gather everyone. I already have a pretty clear idea in my head of whom is worthy of this task."
"Good. I will go collect the girl," Sera said, beginning to turn away.
Fate grabbed his arm quickly, which earned him a confused glare. "Her name is Jeanette."
Then the deity was gone. In the blink of an eye, Sera and Rosalyn disappeared too.
Old Man Time gingerly guided himself back to the chair Fate had left for him and sat. With a sigh, the man rubbed his knees anxiously. Vacantly he starred in the direction of the Time Frames.
"Good luck," he whispered.