“Alpha have Egypt neutralised,” Tiffany reported.

“Good,” Helix replied, lost in thought.  He had heard every word of his cadet’s exchange with Sebastian, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it all.  He had missed something, something important.  But what?  What was a concert going to do in order to change everything?  And how did three other events in history fit in to the equation?

“Good work, team,” Optimus praised boastfully.  “I knew I could count on you.  Get your wings back up here quickly.”

“Sir?” Seohyun nudged Helix’s arm.  “I’ve been thinking.”

“What is it, cadet?”

“Well, I think we should be looking solely at Stonehenge,” Seohyun mused.  “The other events are quickly resolving with the interventions.  I suggest that we focus our energies on this and incorporate what fresh intel we can from the debriefs.”

Pegasus sat opposite the pair and pulled a document from the table.

“Are you seriously considering that, sir?” Optimus boomed.  “Taking suggestion from a cadet?  And from Omega team, too.”

“What’s wrong with my team?” Taeyeon shot upright.

“Omega is the end.  It is the lowest denomination.”  He walked away, towards the head of the table.  “I don’t see why it isn’t my team that’s down in Stonehenge.  We’d have had the situation fixed within the hour.”

Instantly, Helix shot up from his seat and grabbed Optimus by his freshly pressed jacket and pushed him against the nearby door.

“I’m getting a little tired of your cockiness,” he spoke quietly, his voice soft but sharp and precise.  “I chose Omega because they are the end.  This is where it finishes and I know that this team is the best for it.  Alpha wouldn’t be able to handle this.  At all.”

Optimus’s face drained of all colour, his eyes widened in shock.

“We need to save this place, and I’ll take any suggestion that fits.  Even from a cadet.  If you want to play war games in your mind with your team, then do it on your own time.”  With that, he released his subordinate and turned to the silenced group.  “Seohyun, whatever you need to look at Stonehenge, you have it.”

Seohyun bowed from her seat.

“Optimus,” Helix scowled.  “Take Seohyun to the Library.  She is to have access to every record she needs.”

“Sir?”

“Every.  Record.  She.  Needs.”  He turned to look directly at the embarrassed Commander, belittling him through angered eyes.  “No comments.  No questions.  You answer to her.  Understand?”

He bowed respectfully and swallowed hard.

“I may need more eyes,” Seohyun requested.

“How many people?” Helix asked.

She looked to her leader.  “One.”

“Done.”

Helix looked to Taeyeon.  “Done?”

“Jessica will be released from Star Watch and escorted to the Library,” Taeyeon reported.  “On my orders.”

Seohyun smiled and bowed.

“Is one person enough?”

A nod from the cadet did nothing to placate her leader.  “Tiffany,” she called.  “Has Alpha made its ascent?”

“No, Taeyeon,” Tiffany replied.  “Still making final prep … scrap that, they’ve beamed up.”

Taeyeon rolled her eyes a little at Alpha’s reckless nonchalance and complacency.  Before returning to Heaven, each team should have completed final checks of the area to make sure it was safe.  Given that this was a high state of emergency, it baffled her that what was supposed to be the best team in Heaven was disregarding such measures.  She remained silent, knowing that their Commander was suffering enough.  “You should join Seohyun.  Just in case Jessica isn’t enough.”

Tiffany bowed obediently and rose from her seat, following their intrepid cadet and the shamed and silent Commander out of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Helix apologised to the remaining angels.  “That was not appropriate …”

“Apology accepted, Sir,” Pegasus interrupted before Helix could explain himself.  “I’ve wanted to do the same thing on many occasions.”

“You have?”

“Yes sir.  Just never in such a public arena.”  He carried on reading the document and smiled to himself.  “I just know my angels wouldn’t forgive me if I let them miss such an event.”

-----

Hyoyeon and Sooyoung stood in front of the stage, watching the people rushing back and forth, rigging up lights, moving amplifiers across the stage floor and wiring control boards together.  It looked very much like a rush operation, but one that had been done many times before.  Hyoyeon stood, arms folded across her torso, frustrated.  Sooyoung’s face echoed Hyoyeon’s frustration, with her hands on her hips.  The blast of wind from behind alerted them to their comrades’ return.

“Anything exciting?” Hyoyeon asked.

“Not particularly,” Sunny answered, taking her place to Hyoyeon’s left.  “You?”

“Not at all.”

The quartet watched the activity in silence, Sunny and Yuri looking much more perplexed than Hyoyeon and Sooyoung.

“Any danger here?” Yuri asked.

“None at all,” Sooyoung reported.  “We’ve scouted the perimeter, twice.  No Fallen, no distress, nothing.”

“That’ll change,” Yuri sighed.

Hyoyeon turned to Yuri.  “Shen me?”

“Fallen agent.  Said this was connected somehow.”

“I thought you said nothing happened.”

“I said nothing in particular,” Sunny corrected her, continuing to watch the action.  “Just some idle threats; ‘tonight is the night we take over Heaven’, rightful ruler, banish Helix, more asinine comments, blah blah blah.”

“But this is definitely connected?”

“Yup.”  Sunny walked towards the steps.  “You checked the floor?”

“No, just the perimeter,” Sooyoung reported.

Sunny ascended the stairs to the group’s left regardless and looked around, Sooyoung following her.  Yuri and Hyoyeon split up, Yuri walking around the stage to the left and Hyoyeon to the right.

The stage floor was black, made from tiles that were one meter square.  It measured 30 meters in length, 12 meters in breadth and stood a meter and a half above the ground.  The rafters above must have been four or five meters from the stage floor.  A large piece of black fabric covered the rear of the stage and created two darkened enclaves about two meters in depth, each with a staircase leading from the back.  A pair of stacked amplifiers stood at the front, blocking the public’s view of the enclave.  Sunny walked towards a table sitting in the left enclave, looking at a clipboard.  She ran a finger along the writings, before placing her backpack on the ground and opening it up.

“Anything?” Sooyoung asked.

“Programme,” Sunny explained, taking out a black and silver wrist bracelet.  It was about ten centimetres in length and supported a rather flat display.  As she fixed it to her right wrist, the display glowed slightly; a dull grey, but still brighter than the black it had been.  She held her hand above the piece of paper and breathed deeply, almost willing the information to enter into her hand.  Sure enough, the display glowed brighter, projecting a digital copy of the programme that sat on the table.  She turned away from Sooyoung, held her arm out and swiped three fingers of her left hand across the display.  A holographic projection appeared in front of them both, floating about two feet from the floor and standing three feet tall.

“Titan Call are headlining this gig, I guess,” Sunny mused, lowering her wrist.  As if by magic, the holographic projection remained in place.

“Titan Call?”

“Sebastian’s band.”

“Sebastian … was he the Fallen guy?”

“Uh huh,” Sunny read the remainder of the programme.  Events would start at midnight.  Which felt rather apt for a bid to take over Heaven.  Other acts were sparse, but Titan Call would perform for about two hours.  Sooyoung looked at the top of the programme.”

“‘Foresraine Enterprises’,” she read aloud.  “Who are they?”

“The people bankrolling it?” Sunny mused, tapping her earpiece.  “Omega Two to Omega Control, come in.”

“Reading you, Sunny,” Yoona answered.  “What happened?”

“Sending you a programme of the evening’s festivities,” she tapped at the edge of the screen.  “What do you make of it?”

A few seconds passed.  “Received transmission,” Yoona confirmed.  “We’ll have a look at this and get back to you.”

“Thanks,” Sunny smiled.  “Oh, can you get Seohyun to check out ‘Foresraine Enterprises’?  See what they have to do with this?”

“Will do.  Over and out.”

A tap of the earpiece ceased the connection once more.

“Find anything?” Yuri asked, entering from the rear of the stage to the right.  Hyoyeon followed directly behind her.

“Not much,” Sunny mused, “just the programme.  Titan Call are definitely here.”

“Why would Fallen Guy be performing?” Hyoyeon asked.  “It’s not making much sense.”

“Nothing is,” Sunny mumbled before turning off the projection and looking around for any more clues to the plan.  It was at that moment that two figures walked past the group.

“Ah, Miss Foresraine,” a gruff man called out.  The foursome turned to look.  The two men were both quite tall and very stocky.  They looked like typical Hell’s Angels bikers; leather vest jackets, denim jeans, boots, beer belly, long grey hair, long grey moustaches.  One wore a black t-shirt underneath his jacket, and it looked like one wore nothing underneath his, but did wear a blue and white bandana over his head.  They both approached an older woman, possibly her early 40s, jet black hair.  She wore sandals, paired with a white cotton t-shirt and an ankle-length purple tie dyed skirt.  She was not quite tall, perhaps 5 foot 4, and quite slim.  Sunny eyed her with suspicion.  This new arrival didn’t feel like Fallen, but something was odd about her.

“Please, Tiny,” she smiled.  “I keep telling you; call me Lucy.”