Halo Squad

Chapter 16

"And we came here in case any other monster attacks. So that's it" finished Dominic. "Wow. So you guys are the new angels everyone's talking about. I knew about the Halo Squad that hunts hell monsters, but I never realised my Gava was be a part of it" said Gava's grandfather. "Wait, you speak english now?!" exclaimed Gava, and Gemma gave him a 'duh' look "Obviously. He lived in England with us. He would've had to speak english" "No, he understood english, but he never spoke it, at least nowhere near this fluently. Abuelo? Why can you speak english?". Gava's grandfather spoke again "I don't know. I guess it's just that in heaven everyone can speak every language. Also, don't call me Abuelo, it makes me feel old. My name is Rogelio de la Vega. Call me Rogelio or Ro". Rogelio stood up and beckoned for them to follow him into another room. As they walked in they all gasped at what surrounded them. It was a game room, unlike one they had ever seen before. Their game room at the training centre seemed empty compared to this one. It had every games console that Dominic knew existed, and a couple he had never seen before. Immediately, everyone ran to a console and picked up a controller. Dominic had picked up a PS4 controller and was about to search for the game he had wanted to play for a long time, 'InFamous Second Son', when he heard an iPhone ringtone. This time, he remembered and pulled his halo down from his head.

The display said 'Uriel calling' and he hit the answer button. "Hey there Dominic, we've got a little problem. They have no idea what happened. They said the last thing they remember is getting ready to fight the hellhound, then everything after that is blank until I woke them up just now" "Where are you?" "We're in our house. You didn't think we lived at the training centre, did you?" "Um, I guess not. So do you think someone moved them away so they couldn't help us?" "Yes. But who?" "Well, I was thinking. Faye said it's impossible to get to heaven unless you're let in. That means that someone in heaven let the hellhound in. The question is, who has that kind of power?" "Well, God, of course. Also, an archangel. But that doesn't mean it's any of us, there are three other archangels. Although, to be fair, I can't imagine Raphael, Raguel or Sariel doing this" "Is that everyone?" "Well, there is one other...no, it can't be him" "Uriel, tell me. This is important" "There's this one angel, Phanuel. He's specially trained to replace any of us if anything happens. He isn't actually an archangel, but he does have access to some our powers. If any of us died, he would take over, so he needs to have our powers" "Well then, he's clearly the first person we need to question, if you're sure that none of the archangels would do this" "Okay then. I'll make sure these three are alright then I'll come find you. Me, you and your vice captain will go question Phanuel together. Actually, bring two people. It's always good to work in threes, and I'm not really a fighter. Obviously I will if I have to, but you get what I mean" "Yeah, sure. See you in a bit, Uri".

Dominic knew he was taking Baby, but he wasn't sure who else he would take. However, as he looked around the room, he realised he knew exactly who he would take. The person he had been fighting de-mons with for the longest. He walked over to the Xbox One, where Baby and Emilia were fighting in Mortal Kombat X. "Hey, you two. Put down the controllers and come with me" Dominic told them, and they both let out a grunt. Baby and Emilia reluctantly placed down their controllers and stood up to face Dominic. "What do you want?" asked Emilia, Dominic replied "Both of you get on your doves and follow me, I'll explain on the way". All three of them walked out of the door and Baby two-finger whistled, making Dominic jealous. Three doves flew to them, they got on, and flew off. "Okay, explain now" said Baby. Dominic took a deep breath, then said "Basically, someone took Michael, Gabriel and Remiel away so they couldn't save us from the hellhound and they knocked them out and put them in their house and me and Uriel think there's a traitor in heaven who let in the hellhound but the only people who have that power are archangels but obviously it wasn't an archangel who let in the hellhound so that doesn't make sense except for there's a special trainee archangel called Phanuel who also has the power to let people into heaven so we're gonna go question him" he let out a heavy breath.

"Woah. Where's Uriel then?" asked Emilia, "He should be joining us on the way, he said he'd come find us" "Wait, how do you know the way without Uriel?" "I don't. But Faye does, don't you". Faye said a short "Indeed" then went back to her silent flying. "See?" said Dominic, and Baby rolled her eyes. As they flew towards a large white complex, Uriel swooped in and started flying alongside them. "Hey there, I see you didn't want to wait for me. Oh well, let's land a bit outside the angel centre and sneak in. That way, we have the element of surprise so he can't escape or ambush us" Uriel told them, starting to move downwards. The doves followed suit, coming to a land about 30 metres from the complex. The four of them made their way to one of the apartment buildings, then Uriel stopped, saying "Oh no". Baby noticed first "What's wrong?" "You two. You and Emilia. You're wearing the training kit, not the field suit" Yeah, so?" "You don't have access to the stealth mode like me and Dominic do. And we can't summon your orbs from here. Okay, what we're gonna have to do is, me and Dominic will go first, and we'll call you up once we're sure the coast is clear". As they walked up to the building's side, Emilia and Baby nodded at Uriel and Dominic. "Swipe your right forearm, and select 'Stealth' from the menu that will appear" whispered Uriel. Dominic did as he was told, and he saw that he was now a faint grey colour.

"You appear misty to yourself, but you are now invisible to everyone apart from me" Uriel told him quietly "We need to fly up to the top floor, where Phanuel lives. Raise your arms so I can carry you up". Dominic raised his arms, and Uriel wrapped his arms around Dominic's torso and flew up. As they went up, Dominic whispered "This would be so much easier if I had wings" "Yes, Dominic I know. I'm just as unhappy with Gabriel's decision as you are. As the best flyer out of all the archangels, I was going to be the one training you. But, as you probably know, Gabriel is very stubborn. He doesn't listen to reason if it doesn't fit with his 'plan'". Dominic didn't reply to this, just said "Stop!" as they reached the top floor. As they had hoped, there was an open window leading into Phanuel's bathroom. They slid through, thanking God that it was big enough for them. "Okay Dominic, we approach Phanuel, knock him out, then tie him to a chair and come out of stealth mode. Then we can wake him up and question him", Dominic nodded at Uriel then crept out of the bathroom, snuck up behind Phanuel, who was sitting at a table eating, and knocked him out with a hit in the temple.

Uriel brought out some rope from a pocket on his suit, and proceeded to tie Phanuel to his chair. They both came out of stealth mode, then pressed some pressure points on his wrists to wake him up. Phanuel shot awake, instantly panicking "What the H is going on? Why am I tied up? Am I going to die? Oh my-" "Shut up" Dominic cut him off. "We've simply got some questions to ask you, Phanuel" said Uriel, then Dominic followed with "I suggest you answer truthfully. You're alive right now and we wouldn't that to change" instinctually playing bad cop. Uriel gave Dominic a glare then turned back to Phanuel "What do you know about a hellhound attack?" "Hellhound attack? Um, hellhounds are very powerful, the last hellhound attack was on Earth, eleventh of september, twenty-fifteen. Why?" "Wrong. The last hellhound attack was about an hour and a half ago" "What?! Where?" "Really? You don't know?" "No! Of course not" "So you're not the one that sent it?" "What? I would never-" "How do we know that? Can you prove it?" "I-". Phanuel was cut off by a knock on the door. Dominic brought out one of his swords and answered the door. Emilia and Baby walked in "We got bored waiting for you to call us".

"You guys got any information yet?" asked Emilia, and Dominic replied "Not yet" while staring Phanuel down. Without blinking or breaking eye contact, Dominic said "hegvert hamet" and a glowing band appeared around Phanuel's waist. Uriel's eyes widened as he said "Is that what I think it is?" and Emilia followed "What the hell did he just do?". Dominic ignored them and questioned Phanuel "Today, a hellhound attacked us in our training centre. We both know there isn't any way to break in, which means someone let it in. Was this you?", Phanuel struggled for a bit, then said "I didn't know about the hellhound. Someone was trying to get into heaven and I was given instructions to let them in. I didn't realise it was a hellhound, if I had I wouldn't let it in" "Instructions from who?" "I don't know. It was just inside my checklist. Everyday I have a checklist of what I have to do that day. I don't know who makes it, but today the first thing on my checklist was to let in the person outside the boundaries" "The boundaries?" "The wall of cloud you see that surrounds heaven, it's a special boundary that shuts heaven off from outside realms, like your universe, other dimensions, or even the Furnace Realm" "Furnace Realm? You mean hell?" "Yes. But it is unwise to throw the name around as casually as you do" "Whatever. But you're saying that someone else told you to let the hellhound in, and you didn't know what it was" "Yes. That's the truth" "Alright, lְhapְsִyeq". The band around Phanuel's waist disappeared and his head slumped, as he had fallen unconscious.