We conquer paradise just to burn it to the ground...

[of_rageandruin]

When archangels go to war, it doesn't tend to be in Romana's typical sleek sedans with tinted windows. More often, it's in vans - large, windowless, capable of holding a good-sized group of archangels and their weaponry. An obscene number of these vans are now pulling up around the Main Gauche, doors swinging open and angels with a variety of large

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[archangelet]

Tay swallows hard. This is her idol standing in front of her, her old mentor, the woman who, when she was small, she used to imagine was actually her mother. Forget humans, the First among Firsts just couldn't let it be known she had a child. That was years ago, obviously, but daydreams like that stick with you.

"My name is Tay Barnam," she says, loud enough to be heard by the rest of the angels, though she can't quite look away from Romana. "I'm a guardian angel, and my ward is in there. There are kids in there, human kids who never did anything deserving this. We're not trying to start a war with you, but we will defend ourselves if you insist on attacking us."

She manages to look away from Romana and out at the angels. "I know you guys think that this is the right thing to do, because demons should be killed, but please, just listen. I have seen angels do terrible things. And I have seen demons do good. The Neqa'el that you guys are coming to kill tonight? He saved my life, before I got my wings, during the plague. He worked with a genetic engineer to create a cure, so that people would stop dying. He's been my ward for three months now, and he's gone out of his way to help make the transition here as smooth as possible." Deep breaths, Tay. Deep breaths. Her eyes are flickering over the angels, trying to find one face in particular, one she thinks might listen to her, but she doesn't find it. She frowns a little and continues. "Please, just... don't do this. It's wrong."

[of_rageandruin]

Oh, Taylor, Taylor... Romana can't blame her for it, because three months with a demon and a calling and limited angelic contact will do that to even a Barnam. But if anything's wrong here, it's that Elashte is Tay's ward in the first place, and she's going to fix that, tonight.

She's going to have to take her Tay out first, though. Disable her, until Elashte's dead, and then they'll take her home. Take care of her.

Romana doesn't give her a warning, just hits her with a hard psychic smack, like a cat with a small mouse. It sends Tay flying to one side, knocking into a tree. The blonde girl lunges after her almost immediately, and Romana eyes the two of them to make sure neither's going to get up and come after her or her angels just yet.

"Sky," she says levelly, and nods to the gates.

[broketheboyinme]

Sky pushes his way through the crowd with a small bomb that he plants on the gate and arms with all the precision of a master craftsman... If your craft is bombmaking and planting that is. The timer's set to go off in about a minute and it's not going to make an explosion big enough that they're all going to need to make a run for it, but enough that they're going to want to take cover behind the vans for a second.

He takes a few steps back and inclines his head towards the vans. "This is the part where it's probably a good idea to duck and cover. Quickly."

[of_rageandruin]

"Thank you, Sky," Romana says, and moves toward the vans, waving a hand in a gesture for all the other archangels to do the same. "Take cover!" She glances briefly to Tay and her friend, but the blonde girl's already pulled Tay up and is half carrying her away from the gates. Good.

It's not a long wait. There's an explosion that rattles the vans, a rush of heat... and then the gates are wide open. Romana catches the eyes of a few of her officers and jerks her head toward the gates in silent command. Go.

And they charge, guns in hand, wings out.