Halo Squad

Chapter 15

"What the hell Dom? You disappeared on us for like the whole battle" Lavinia chastised Dominic, clearly unhappy. "Hey, I was just fighting smart" he retorted, "You weren't fighting at all" "Alright, listen yeah. I knew that attacking it normally wouldn't work. Hellhounds are strong beasts. I realised I'd have to perform a sneak attack. But then of course I thought, I'd burn up if I tried to climb the hellhound in my training kit. Here's where some hopeful logic came in. I went off the assumption that, since we were to fight de-mons in them, our field uniforms would be fire-resistant. So I went to the combat room, summoned my orb, changed into the field uniform, then came back. See, we can only use the orbs from within the combat room. I checked. Then, I came back and...you know the rest". Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Emilia whispered to Japeth "I knew he wasn't dead", who replied "Fine. I'll pay you later".

Dominic continued speaking "However, the real mystery here is, where the bloody hell are the archangels? That fight would've been a lot easier with them here. They just disappeared. So once we find them, they've got some explaining to do". As they walked out of the now destroyed cinema room, their path was suddenly blocked by a large, glowing, imposing figure. "What the H happened here? A little play fight that got out of hand?" Uriel said accusatorily. The massive screen inside the room then fell and crashed to the ground, as if to accentuate the level of damage inside the room, and Uriel's underestimation of the situation. Tamsin walked right up to Uriel, keeping full eye contact the whole time. Dominic whispered "Enjoy a healthy dose of..." and Lavinia finished "Prolonged eye contact". The two of them laughed under their breaths as Tamsin spoke "Uriel, you're an idiot. Do you really think we're capable of this level of destruction? It was a hellhound. We fought it in there. Why do you think we're all so exhausted. Japeth and Baby are literally bruised and burnt. Don't be stupid". Uriel's jaw dropped "What the H?! How the- Oh my- Where are the other three?", Dominic replied "We don't know. We were just going to find them".

The 10 of them made their way to the front of the centre, and walked up to the gate. "I scanned the centre already. They're not here. That means they're inside the citadel. There's no way they went to earth without me noticing. Now normally I'd go on my own, but you lot are in danger while you're here" Uriel whistled with two finger, a feat Dominic had always wished he could do. "I, of course, have wings, so I can fly there. But you do not, so you will once again be travelling by dove". The team all cheered as nine giant doves descended and landed in front of them. Dominic found that he could somehow instantly recognise Faye and he ran over to her "Hey there Faye!". He used his speed and flipped on to Faye's back "Let's go!". He couldn't see, but he was sure that Faye rolled her eyes before taking off. "Dominic, it's good to see you, but I'm surprised that your training is finished so soon. It's only been a month" "Our training isn't finished. We're going to the citadel to find Gabriel, Remiel and Michael. They went missing in the attack" "Attack? What attack?" "A hellhound. It attacked us in the centre" "A hellhound?! They're not supposed to be able to get into heaven. How did it get in?" "We don't actually know yet, or at least Uriel hasn't told us" "I doubt he knows, it isn't even supposed to be possible to break into heaven. You have to be let in". That last statement got Dominic thinking, but he didn't say anything about it. He just replied "Huh".

Dominic looked down, and saw that the citadel gates had become visible, albeit still fairly far off. Faye began a gradual descent and landed about 10 metres from the gates. "Why land here instead of just flying over?" Dominic questioned. Faye shook her head "Border control. I think it's unnecessary, seeing as how you can't get into heaven illegally, but it's easier to just go with it". Dominic climbed off Faye's back, and as they walked across the cloud-like ground towards the gates, they were joined by Dominic's team mates and their doves. As they approached the giant golden gates, a white-robed arabic man with a white beard approached them. "Hello there. I'm Saint Peter, or Simon Peter. You can call me Peter. And you must be the newest team of angels that I heard about. 'Halo Squad', is it?", Dominic nodded, then Peter continued "I know this stuff is a little bit annoying, but better safe than sorry, right? Whichever one of you is the leader, place your halo onto the identification pad next to the gates, and it should let you, your team, and your doves in". Dominic walked over to the identification pad and pulled his halo down from his head. He then placed it against the pad, waited a second, then it beeped twice.

"Walk straight through now" Peter told them. They walked straight through the golden bars of the gates, which reminded the team of the cloud wall they had passed through to get in. Uriel was waiting for them on the other side, tapping his foot impatiently. "Okay you nine, I think I've found the others. However, there's no point taking you with me. You'll be safe enough as long as you're inside the citadel. So I guess you can explore". Uriel flew off, leaving them to wonder what to do next. Gava decided to take charge "Follow me, time to have some fun". He walked to a computer nearby and typed something in, scrolled for a bit, then clicked. "What did you do?" asked Gemma, then the computer shot them all with yellow laser beams and they disintegrated.

A few seconds later, they were all reconstituted in a different place than before. They appeared, all in a daze, in front of a front door. Gava recovered first, exclaiming "It worked!". Baby recovered next "What the hell are you talking about? What just happened?" "We teleported, duh" "How did you know about that?" "Dominic isn't the only one who reads, you know. I did spend some time finding out about this place. Who isn't curious about heaven?" "Okay, where are we then?" "Um, my grandad's house". Everyone else, apart from Dominic, had recovered. Tamsin, Baby, Gemma, Emilia, Anna and Lavinia all let out a simultaneous "Aww!". "No, guys, it's not like that. Don't get me wrong, I miss him and all, but I didn't bring us here to be all emotional and sentimental. I told you we would have some fun, and that's what we're here to do. If I know my grandad, this house will be full of fun stuff. He's always been a teenager at heart". The girls let out another "Aww!". Gava rolled his eyes then turned and knocked on the front door.

The door was opened by a hispanic looking teenager, who appeared no older than 17. His eyes brightened as he saw Gava and shouted "Gava!" in a thick spanish accent. Gava looked confused for a second, then said "Abuelo?" "Sí, nieto. Estás sorprendido de verme así. Eso es comprensible. Espera, ¿qué estás haciendo aquí?" his grandfather replied, eyes full of concern. "No te preocupes, abuelo. No estoy muerto. Es un poco más complicado que eso. Si todos entramos y nos sentamos, puedo explicarlo" Gava told his grandfather, who then beckoned them all in. "What were they saying?" Anna whispered to Emilia, who shrugged. They all walked in, including Dominic who had finally recovered from the teleporting. Gava's grandfather led them into what Dominic assumed was the living room, and gestured to a sofa that didn't look like it would fit them all. But then, as each person sat down, there was somehow space for one more person every time, until he sat down and filled it up. He found it amazing that he wasn't even squashed, he was sitting quite comfortably. Gava, with Dominic chipping in every now and then, told his grandfather the story of all that had happened.