The Eyes of Fate (Currently in Rewrite)

Chapter 53

"I guess the good Cardinal didn't want to worry his flock by telling them about us," Oracle said just loud enough for Sentinel to hear next to her. "nobody even looked at us twice."

Sentinel looked around again, knowing his eyes were covered by contacts but still nervous about being noticed. He had just walked into the Church of the Guarded Heaven with Oracle, and they were moving with the crowd towards the sanctuary. Oracle was right, nobody had even looked at them funny, not even the man who had handed them programs as they entered the door. 

"Maybe he's worried about all of them getting scared off?" Sentinel offered up, pitching his voice low so nobody else would bother listening in.

"Well, we'll certainly test that, won't we?" Oracle giggled and wrapped her arm around him as they walked into the sanctuary. They flowed towards the back, sitting in the very last row while most of the people around them filed towards the front. The projection screen above the pulpit was showing a pleasant scene of a grassland with crosses in it, and light music was playing.

Once they were seated, they watched more and more people file in. Sentinel was worried they'd wind up surrounded and somebody would notice them, but people quickly started filling into the upstairs seats rather than further back where he and Oracle were. Oracle pulled out her Bible and opened it, revealing the small device she had stashed inside. It didn't have a screen on it, just a handful of buttons and a short antenna. She pressed one of the buttons twice, and Sentinel heard two beeps over his comms.

The signal that they were in position.

"Oracle, can I ask you something?" Sentinel said over the din of chatting churchgoers as the place continued to fill up.

"Sure you can." She glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "After last night I don't think there's too much else I wouldn't want to share.

"Why don't you tell Fang about how much you care about him?"

Oracle choked on her breath and started coughing, and Sentinel could help the chuckle at her reaction.

"What do you mean?" she asked, making Sentinel laugh again. She blushed and stared at the ground.

"You know what I mean, even if your reaction wasn't telling. We were all mad last night, but you were absolutely furious with him. You've always been near him, trying to take care of him even when he'd just shrug you off like the rest of us. You've cared for him for a long time."

"Yes, okay, you're right." She admitted. "He saved me, taught me how to fend for myself, take care of myself. He gave me a purpose. How could I not?"

"Hey, I didn't say that I blamed you." Sentinel held out his hands to placate her. "Just asked why you don't tell him."

"Because of his past." Oracle took a deep breath. "I figured out most of his story through news reports and federal files on him. Everything I learned didn't match up with the him that I knew though, so I stopped researching. I didn't do any research on any of the rest of you other than to know you were safe and what you could do, after that."

"But if you know he's not going to hurt you-"

"It's not about him hurting me!" Oracle's voice was loud, and she looked around and lowered her voice before speaking again. "He was hurt so bad by his girlfriend, bad enough that it still bothers him. I don't want to hurt him any more. I'd rather be his friend than somebody else who hurt him."

"I see." Sentinel said, filing that away. Before he could say anything else, the speakers turned on.

"My children. welcome to another glorious Sunday spent in worship of the lord our God." Cardinal's voice echoed around them, and entire crowd went silent at once. Sentinel and Oracle turned towards the front, where the man himself was standing.