Broken World

(11) No happy ending, ever

James twiddled his thumbs as he rode the elevator to the highest floor in the tallest building in the Gargorn capital. Never before had he been so nervous to enter into a meeting, for never before had he been dealing with an unkillable enemy. The meeting that laid ahead of him was to discuss how to deal with the Angel problem. Despite the fact that the Angels had started appearing more than five years ago they had all been far too busy to come together but now that things were starting to calm down, they had made time for this important meeting.

At last the elevator came to a halt, and he marched out and took his place at the table. "There you are, we almost started without you." Said one of the board members. "I had trouble on the way over." Said James coldly, for he was in no mood for simple minded questions. There was a minute of silence as the board members just eyed each other before James cleared his throat and said, "Well, let's get this over with. Angels, what are we going to do about them?" No answer. Slowly a hand rose which he recognized as belonging to his old friend Darren. "Yes Darren," he said. "If you don't mind me asking, what are the Angels?" there was a murmur of disapproval from the people. "How can you not know?" Asked James with piercing eyes.

"Since my last assignment relating to Mia I have been in retirement working on my studies far out in the countryside." James rubbed his chin. "With Angel logic it makes sense that you haven't had an encounter yet." "An encounter?" "Yes, you see for a little more than five years every night at twelve they have come and bright their swift eye for eye justice. You are familiar with the term, are you not?" "Yes, eye for eye justice means every action against oneself is met with an equal punishment, usually the exact same." "Precisely." "So, if these Angels are bringers of perfect Justice then what's so bad about it?" Questioned Darren.

"Well, you see this scenario. You are driving and you hit someone, a complete accident, what's the penalty?" Said James. Darren began to understand. "Most likely jail, or a fine to help compensate for the family, but I'm guessing that's not the case with the Angels." "No, it's not. No one is safe from their Justice, they act on even the smallest of things. From failing a surgery, to slapping your younger brother they will deliver." Darren was put into deep thought. "Then what can we do?" "That's what we will decide today." Said James. Deep down James hoped they could come to an astute decision and soon, every minute they spent debating was another the Angels had to exact their 'justice', but they would definitely need to play their cards right to beat these possibly supernatural beings.

The group went back and forth discussing different ideas when Darren finally put out an idea. "What about Mia?" He said. "What about her?" Asked James. "Why can't we just have her come into this to hunt down and destroy the Angels?" James took a breath then said, "Two reasons why not. One, and if I'm going to be candid with you, she is not on good terms with us since we denied helping her piece together her little boyfriend, and two, I'm afraid these creatures are too strong even for her." Wanting to avoid an altercation between his friend he made a quick decision to switch tactics. "But is it not worth going to her and asking? Worst case she gets herself killed, best case we are rid of these angels and we know from experience it takes a lot to kill her." James let out a sigh. "Fine, but only one condition..."

Darren had always been separate from the group. Never once in the book or in the real world had he ever made a real friend, he had been in friend groups but it just wasn't the same. Once again he found himself alone as he drove to Mia's house which had taken some time to track down, to try and convince her to help. He had struck a deal with the board that if Mia could deal with the Angels they would make every attempt possible to fix Justin.

Who knew it could be so hard to track down an old friend? Thought Darren as he walked up the porch and jumped to the door. He knocked, no answer. "Hello, Mia? Are you in there?" He called out. Still no answer. "I'm coming in, alright?" He said before opening the door, surprising it was unlocked. He walked into a mostly dark room. "Mia, you in here?" He walked over and flipped on the lights. He heard someone moan. "Oh you're sleeping, my bad." He said then flipped off the lights. He could hear the sound of yawning, then Mia's soft voice said, "It's ok. Haven't done much but sleep for the past few years so a little conversation couldn't kill me."