C 120
"Hello again, Koka-kun! You ran off so quickly back at the cafeteria that I didn't get to greet you properly," Gabriel said to Kokabiel.
"I have no words to speak to the woman who butchered thousands of my brothers and sisters," Kokabiel spat out with a scowl.
Gabriel flinched, and I could tell that his words really hurt her. Her white wings drooped down behind her.
"Woah now, there's no need for such hurtful words," I said as I got between them. "Both of you killed our brothers and sisters during the Great War. It happened and it was horrible, but we have to get past it in the end."
"Thank you for your kind words, Layla. But I still know I deserve Kokabiel's hatred. Along with the hundreds of other Fallen Angels that still follow him and I know hate me as well," Gabriel said.
Kokabiel said, "So you know it's not just. You are correct, Sister. I do have an entire legion under my command currently just waiting for me to give the order to restart the Great War at any time." He bragged, and Gabriel looked horrified at the thought. "But," He continued and turned towards me, "If Layla's words hold true, then I will order them to stand by for now once we return. They will save their strength for the real battles we'll need to face in the future."
Gabriel gave me a grateful look.
"Alright then. Enough of the guilt trips and mushy crap!" I said as a purple portal manifested in front of me. I pointed towards it. "I still need to find Earth Marvel, and I don't want to spend another 3 days in whatever world we land in if it's not that." I explained. I also took this moment to swap out my current clothing for the black dress that Lady Death had granted me. It was supposed to shield me from the eyes of "higher beings" when I opened portals into their realms.
"While I am curious about alternate dimensions, I agree. If it's not the correct world, we should just return immediately and try again until Layla gets the correct one," Gabriel said. "I've kind of treated these last few days as a vacation, and I know Michael is slowly being drowned in paperwork in Heaven without me there to lighten the load…"
Even in Heaven, you can never escape paperwork…
I stepped through my portal, and my two very different siblings followed behind me. I was hoping I wouldn't end up anywhere too weird this time.
…
SPLASH!
And I hoped to soon…
SPLASH! SPLASH!
My portal apparently manifested above the ocean. Possibly the Arctic Ocean judging by how cold it was. As a 10-winged Fallen, I could survive in almost any environment, but that didn't mean that being dunked in freezing cold water was particularly pleasant. Under the water next to me, I could see that Gabriel and Kokabiel were just as annoyed. I kicked my feet and swam towards the surface.
All of our heads breached the surface at the same time. I could see ice caps surrounding us as we treaded water. My wings sprang out behind me, and I started floating above the ocean. The freezing saltwater clinging to my skin and hair felt unpleasant. At least until a wave of warm light washed over me. Gabriel had cast a useful spell that immediately dried us all off.
"Thank you, Gabriel."
"Anytime, Layla."
"Tch…" Kokabiel didn't thank her… "Where are we, besides the Arctic obviously? Is this 'Earth Marvel' or whatever you call it?" He asked me.
"I don't know. We'll have to find some people first, I suppose." I said.
"There's ordinary humans about a mile away that way," Gabriel said, pointing off into the distance. Her senses were pretty amazing to sense them. I still had trouble sensing non-magical beings.
"Let's go then." I said as I started flying to where she pointed.
When we got there and hovered over the ice caps, I saw a bunch of men standing around a giant excavator that was digging into the ice. This scene oddly looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. What—or who—I could place though was Agent Coulson of SHIELD standing below on the ice watching other people dig.
I flew down towards him until I was about 10 feet over his head. It was so cold and windy here that he didn't notice me. "Agent Coulson!" I called out to him. He startled and jumped in place before looking up. When his eyes met mine, I could see that they were filled with shock.
Damn, I don't think this was my Coulson. He didn't recognize me at all.
"Hello there? You seem to recognize me? I'm afraid I don't know any of you though." This dimension's Coulson said as he eyed the three of us wearily. Maybe his human instincts were warning him that he was completely outclassed against beings of our caliber…
"Tch… We're in the wrong dimension. Let's try another one, Layla. No point wasting our time with boring ordinary humans. I'd like to speak to Azazel sooner rather than later," Kokabiel said as he floated towards me. He didn't even bother looking at Coulson. He outright dismissed him.
"Wrong dimension?" Coulson asked in obvious spy intelligence gathering mode. "You all don't have to leave immediately? Why don't you stay and we can all talk? Are you here to find the Captain's body as well?"
I snapped my fingers. That's why this scene looked familiar. "This was where they uncovered Steve Rogers alive after 70 years in the ice!" I said out loud in excitement.
"He's alive!?" Coulson asked in shock.
"Yeah, he is and—"
"Coulson, Sir. We've found something and what the fuck!" Another agent ran up to Coulson to report something but freaked out when he saw the three of us floating in the air nearby. He immediately pulled out a pistol and pointed it at us. "All of you land right now! You're all under arrest!" The guy who was looking more familiar by the second shouted at us.
I couldn't help it. I started laughing.
BANG!
He fired a warning shot off to the side. "I mean it!" The agent ordered all of us again. He then pointed his pistol at Gabriel, who probably looked like the most innocent out of the three of us.
Ironically, she was the one with the highest body count by far…
"Hahaha! A human pointing a gun at the Archangel Gabriel herself. Now I've seen everything!" Kokabiel started laughing at the situation. "Now I'm glad I came just to see this!"
I saw Coulson pale when he heard Kokabiel's words. "A-Archangel…!? Agent! Lower your weapon immediately!"
"But Sir!"
"Lower your weapon!" Coulson ordered.
Now I got it! "I finally recognized this guy!" I said while pointing to the other agent. "Yeah, you're the guy who shot me in my dimension! You're a double agent for Hydra!"
""What!"" The two humans exclaimed at the same time. One in shock and betrayal, and the other in anger that I just outed him. He tried to raise his gun towards
us again. A quick flick of my hand and his own hand holding the gun fell to the icy ground…
"AAAaaaahhhh! You bitch!" He fell to his knees and held his already cauterized stump to his chest in pain. That felt good. Cathartic even. I didn't get to take revenge on that guy in my dimension because he got popped as soon as he attacked me at the racetrack.
"Good luck with Captain America and Hydra, Coulson. FYI, half of SHIELD are Hydra spies at this point. See ya!" I gave him a wave before opening a portal and hopping through it.
We were off to the next dimension.
XXX
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