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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GATES

[of_rageandruin]

Don't go around tonight, well it's bound to take your life...

[archangelet]

And in front of the gates, between all those heavily-armed archangels and the Main Gauche (not as heavily armed, but probably way more excited, on the whole), are two teenaged girls.

The shorter, blonde one has a gun, and is standing back, pretty much in a support position. The taller, brunette one is unarmed, her stance so firm it might take a bulldozer to move her, her chin up, and her wings spread.

Tay doesn't want this. God, she doesn't want this, but what choice does she have?

She'll let them make the first move, though.

[of_rageandruin]

Romana had expected to see Taylor Barnam. She hadn't expected to see her standing right in front of the gates. She strides toward her and stops a few feet short, eying the girl with something that might be reproach, or possibly just a mixture of resignation and annoyance. Guardian angel instincts. Always a problem.

"Taylor. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do." About killing Elashte, not in the least, but that it's going to cause Taylor pain... She'll be better off when it's over, though.

[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.

GROUNDS

[of_rageandruin]

I fear rivers overflowing, I hear the voice of rage and ruin...

[sauntereddown]

Logan's on top of the roof, as directed, laying low just in case any of the angels take it into their heads to shoot at her. Not that it would be an easy shot, but you never know. She can't help but grin a little when they blow the gate - that's cute.

And then there's a horde of archangels rushing at the gate, and Logan twitches her wings a little uncomfortably. No matter how much she enjoys the fight, there's something unsettling about that many archangels coming her way.

But at least she'll be able to make the odds just a little more even. She waits until there's a good number of angels through the gates, and then detonates one of the explosives she laid earlier. This explosion is much larger than the one on the gates. There won't be anything left of the angels near the center of the blast. Logan bares her teeth in a grin, and shifts over to her sniper rifle. Not a bad start to all of this, she thinks.

[technicallyiam]

Missy's already in hellhound shape, crouched in the shadows of some trees with Eric and the minute the explosion goes off, she grins in the best approximation of a grin a large hellhound can make and makes a wheezing sound that might be a laugh. That's my girl.

The archangels are scattered, but still trying to fall back into formation. Well, she'll fix that quickly enough. She gives Eric a glance over her shoulder, inclining her head a little in a way that suggests he needs to stick close to her, as if you can convey that with a nod of the head.

She doesn't run- that would expose Eric and she's meant to be covering him and she wouldn't want Jeremy Bonaparte to be upset because he's boy-toy got shot-, merely lunges unexpectedly a group of archangels in formation close by her and makes short work of the lot of them. The ones nearby are probably, more or less, going to be scared shitless by the unexpected hellhound, and meanwhile Eric can work his magic.

[wineandvenom]

Eric's concealed as well as he can be near the entrance, wings tight against his back, influencing every angel within reach. It's fucking hard, throwing emotions without any kind of interaction, and harder when he's having to do it to multiple targets, but he's damned good. He just hopes it's good enough.

Are you sure this is the right thing to do? goes the suggestion. He's planting doubts, making the archangels question their glorious leader. She's having you storm an apartment complex, filled with potential innocents. She's lost it. She's going too far. All that's there, in the emotions he's putting out, and, although he doesn't know it, neatly tying in to Tay's speech.

If he only knew what Missy was thinking about him and Jeremy, he'd be tempted to throw a bit of a deathwish her way, but luckily for all involved, he doesn't.

BASEMENT

[of_rageandruin]

Hope you got your things together, hope you are quite prepared to die...

[of_rageandruin]

There are angels and demons fighting and dying on the grounds. Romana's blocking it out, focusing on the minds apart from the chaos, the minds filled with anxiety and fear that's more anticipation than anything else, and Elashte.

Romana and a group of her best angels have made a push into the south building, taken out the demons guarding the halls with cool efficiency - no matter how well-prepared a demon is, they are not ready for the First among Firsts and her handpicked team, and Romana can sense them coming before they even come into view.

They're in the basement now, Romana at the head of the group, all but silent as they move. The hallways here may be a complex little rabbit warren, but it's not hard to navigate for a psychic who can sense exactly where she needs to go.

[apocalypticos]

There's one slender blonde angel serving as rear guard - she has rather lovely wings - smallish, and colored like a bluejay's wings. She's keeping a close eye out, but there are only so many ways one angel can look, after all...

[borntobealeaver]

Ashley spent two years keeping his thoughts hidden from the Neqa'el he both worked for and loathed, so when Romana passes by his little hiding spot pressed tightly against a wall with a garotte wire taut in his hands, she probably gets about as much psychic noise from him as a fly on the wall. It helps she's got a single-minded determination, and while Ash isn't much of a combat fighter, there is one thing he can do.

The little ones aren't always weakest, but they go down the fastest and with lightning-fast reflexes he darts from his hiding place, slips the wire around her neck and tugs her back into the spare tunnel, pressing himself against the wall, pressing the wire to her throat so hard that her wing joints are pressing rather painfully into his chest.

He whispers soothingly in her ear the whole time until she goes limp, like an Angel of Death leading the person whose deaths he's seen to whatever comes after... Typically, Angels of Death aren't doing the killing (or never, rather), but that's a Charun for you.