“Has Zekken declared war on nuclear power?” the reporter said on the TV hanging in the ice cream shop. “After his demonstration in the Chernobyl Power Plant, many fear that he will soon come for their primary sources of power in much the same way he went after the Saudi Arabian oil fields over fifteen years ago before chasing the ruling family out of the country. An emergency meeting has been called at the UN today, undoubtedly to discuss this new development brought upon by the self-proclaimed god.”

“Oil fields?” Uther asked, taking a pull on his milkshake.

“Yeah,” I said. “The king there made me mad, so I took away his money maker, then made him give up his throne.”

“Why?”

“Because he was hurting people. Between being a bad man and forcing his people to submit to ancient, barbaric beliefs that have no place in the modern world, he was doing more to hurt his country than help them. Now his country is getting stronger and it doesn’t rely on threats or oil anymore to do so. Aunt Linda even has a business there.”

At the mention of his Aunt Linda, Uther’s eyebrows shot up. She was definitely his favorite among my wives. Probably because she spoiled him rotten whenever they hung out.

“Really? Could we go see it?”

I laughed. “One day. I’ve got too much to do today, and you need to go spend time with your mother. She just got back, remember?”

He nodded. “You do too.”

“I know, but you come first. Her and I will catch up later.” In a “no kids allowed” fashion, I thought to myself.

And you better not keep me waiting too long, dear, Ephine thought to him.

“Daddy!” Uther said suddenly, pointing at the TV. A breaking news banner was flashing across the bottom of the screen.

“Breaking news! We’ve just received reports of an explosion outside of the Church of Zekken in Los Angeles. The building itself suffered no damage, however the initial casualty estimate is expected to be in the hundreds. Eyewitness reports are claiming it was a suicide bombing. Wait a moment…” The reporter appeared to be getting more information through an ear piece before looking back at the camera, his skin noticeably paler. “Uh… there are also reports of explosions at other COZ’s in New York City, Denver, Sydney, Cape Town, Shanghai, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Moscow. This, um, this appears to be a coordinated world wide attack against the Church of Zekken and its followers.”

Uther’s eyes were wide as he turned to me. “Da-” he began, but I shook my head.

“I’m going to send you home, son. I need to take care of this.”

Knowing Uther, I’m sure he wanted to help out in some fashion, but I’d never adopted this tone with him before. He knew I meant business and wisely didn’t argue back. He just nodded. With a tight lipped grimace, I sent him back to Genesis just as an explosion deafened everyone in the ice cream shop, obviously hitting the nearby church here in London. With a thought I popped over and saw the carnage. I could heal the living with no effort, which I did, but unfortunately, I could do nothing for the dead, one of the most difficult lessons I’d been forced to learn early on. What’s gone is gone. I could fix their bodies, but whatever made someone who they were was gone forever. Even Ephine confessed to not knowing what it all entailed. For all our power, there were still plenty of mysteries left in the universe.

Ladies, I thought.

We’re already on it, thought back Persia.

Good. Be as public as you can. Put on a spectacle. Whoever did this is trying to send a message. It’s time to remind them who really has the power here.

Putting action to my thoughts, I appeared over the crowd in a flash of light. Hovering in my Zekken form as I gazed at my surroundings. The center of the blast zone was easy enough to see, since it was cratered. Whoever did this had used more than enough explosives to do the job, if the church was a normal building, that is. Each church was divinely strengthened and was essentially indestructible. It wasn’t uncommon for them to be used as shelters during natural disasters.

“Lord Zekken!” I heard a voice yell and turned to see a policeman running up to me.

“Constable,” I acknowledged.

“First responders are on the way, My Lord.”

“Glad to hear it. I’ve healed the wounded, but there’s nothing I can do for the dead, unfortunately. We need to find witnesses willing to talk. Find out who’s behind this.”

“About that, My Lord. A message was just sent to major news networks by those claiming responsibility.” He moved to pull out his phone to show me, but I waved it off, instead creating a larger screen to view it. On it, a balding man with the most useless attempt at a combover was looking at the camera. The suit was a better make than when he first appeared on TV, and the wings on his back had improved greatly, but it was still unmistakably Walter Lester Jones, the founder of the Raven Angel Society.

“People of the world, my name is Walter Jones, and I come to you today to inform you that my followers have carried out attacks against the so-called ‘Church of Zekken.’ We take these steps to show you all the true power of our faith in the Raven Angel, whose appearance should have been viewed by the world as we saw it: a time to put away your outdated gods that offer no proof of their existence and embrace the new. Instead, the world ignored her call, and chose to continue worshipping the myths they grew up with. Others chose to follow this new god,” he said ‘god’ with a taste of disgust in his voice and a sneer on his lips, “who is obviously using our beloved Raven Angel for her powers and propping himself up as the savior of mankind. We’re not sure how he is controlling her, but we seek to release her from his hold and place her back in the position she so rightfully deserves. The attacks will continue until Zekken returns our goddess to us. That is all.”

I must have been giving off an aura, because the young police officer suddenly retreated back a few steps. I couldn’t blame him. I was pissed. This hack thought I was holding Rhia against her will and mooching of her power?! This lunatic built a cult around a woman he’s never spoken to, who’s never made any public statement regarding anything related to the RAS. He just saw a thirty second clip of her on the internet one day and started worshipping her, and now he’s turned that ridiculous belief into a terrorist organization, and what’s more, he’s trying to lay the blame at my feet. There was no way I was going to let this atrocity go unanswered. Turns out, I didn’t have to answer it.

*

“That son of a bitch!” Rhia yelled as she watched the message, reaching for the nearest object to hurl at the image. John’s game controller rocketed towards the screen, shattering as it impacted the indestructible surface. Rhia didn’t care. They’d largely ignored the odd cult that had sprung up years ago, since they hadn’t done anything beyond look ridiculous in their cheap suits and cosplay wings, but Rhia now saw that was a mistake. Suicide bombers! How cowardly could you get? And all because they thought John was using her for power? Before she realized it, she had projected a screen of her own, sending her image around the world.

“Listen here, you little shit!”

“Mother!” Anai chastised from her side. “This is why you didn’t go down to help. Your emotions are a bit unbalanced at the moment. Please, allow me?”

Rhia huffed, but waved her acceptance, crossing her arms as she stared daggers into the screen. The ten year old placed herself in the center of the image, drew herself up, and started speaking with an eloquence that shouldn’t exist in one so young.

“Mr. Jones, you appear to have gotten everything wrong. I am Anai, daughter Lord Zekken and Lady Rhia, and I can assure you that no one is ‘using’ my mother, nor is Lord Zekken ‘propping’ himself up with her power. His power is completely his own. Until now you have been viewed as a source of amusement for my brothers and me, but you have now taken innocent lives in your misguided beliefs, and that is unforgivable.” Her face took on a pissed expression as her ears, tail, and wings, normally hidden, suddenly burst into being in a shower of gold and pink sparks. “As my mother is currently pregnant and my father is undoubtedly helping clean up the mess you’ve created, I shall take on the burden of your punishment!”

Rhia sat up suddenly. “Wait! Wha-” was all she got out before her daughter disappeared.

*

Should we be doing this, Aisha? This seems like a bad idea.

Our parents are too busy. This man must be stopped.

He should be judged by human laws.

He insulted Daddy and Mommy.

Then Mom and Dad should be the ones to deal with him.

They are busy helping others. We can handle one old man.

What if it’s more? Dad and Aunt Ephine locked most of our powers.

What we have is enough. They can’t hurt us. Daddy and Aunt Effie would never let us get hurt. Besides, Anai wants to do this, and so do I. That’s two against one. We win.

Does that count when she’s both of us?

Yes. Now quiet, Angie. We’re here.

Anai reappeared outside a surprisingly small farmhouse. She didn’t know how she knew this is where that nasty man lived, she just knew that she was right. She suddenly realized that she was about to confront this guy wearing jeans and a Sailor Moon t-shirt, and immediately changed it to something she felt more appropriate for the occasion. She may just be a ten year old girl, but she’d watched enough anime with her father to know you can’t scare anyone like that. Quickly she imagined herself clad in some intimidating looking armor and stalked towards the front door.

-

“It must be a lie! It has to be! There is no way our beloved angel would give herself to such a repulsive man! Only I know her true worth!” Walter Jones raged after seeing the response from the pint sized angel. “Claiming to be their daughter? Bah! And what was with those ears and tail? Clearly it’s all a setup to make us look bad!”

“Make us look bad? You killed hundreds today!” a middle aged woman yelled at him from in front of his desk. “This is not what I agreed to! This isn’t what any of us agreed to!”

Jones pointed at the TV, which was showing the coverage of the bombings. “They agreed to it! They were the truly faithful! They sacrificed themselves for Her divine glory! They knew that it was the ultimate act of faith for our blessed Raven Angel!”

The door to the tiny room suddenly burst open, and the two stared at the diminutive figure standing in the doorway. Jones gawked at the black and gold wings, golden ears, and the striped tail before taking in the rest of the girl. Brown hair, emerald eyes, four and a half feet tall, and clad in some form of Valkyrie looking armor painted a dark blue with black swirled throughout and a large Z emblazoned on the chest piece in gold.

“Who the fuck are you?” Jones blurted.

“Is that anyway to speak to a child, Mr. Jones?” the girl responded. His eyes went wide as he suddenly realized she was the same girl he’d just seen on TV. She looked around the room, face scrunching up in disgust. “This place stinks. Is it because it’s a farm or is it because of you?”

Jones spluttered, unable to string two words together as he tried to figure out how she found them so fast. He looked at the woman next to him, but she was on her knees with her hands clasped in front of her.

“Please forgive me! I didn’t know he’d planned this! It’s not what I signed on for!” The girl, Anai, looked the woman over, then nodded.

“You speak true. Get out of here.”

The woman shot Jones a look before bolting from the house. The sound of a car starting up and peeling out as it left drifted to the room. Jones had taken the distraction of the car leaving to reach into his desk and pull out the snub nosed revolver he kept there and pointed it at the girl.

“I don’t know what your game is little girl, but I will see the Raven Angel achieve her rightful place! Neither you nor that freak claiming to be a god can stop me!”

“That freak is my father and you will stop insulting him! There is no such thing as the Raven Angel! My mother is a beautiful goddess! She is the Goddess of Wisdom, something you don’t have!” Despite her attempts to look otherwise, she was still, in fact, a ten year old girl, divine or otherwise, and it came out as she stomped her foot and huffed at the man. To anyone else, the crazed look in his eyes and the words coming out of his mouth would have instantly triggered alarm bells in their heads. To someone whose contact with the truly crazy was minimal at best, it went completely unnoticed by Anai until it was too late.

The gun barked three times, deafening in the tiny room, but not quite covering the maniacal laugh coming from the deranged man. Anai found herself lying on her back, stunned. Her chest hurt, and she looked down to find her armor dented right above her heart. It held, but she didn’t want to test if she was truly invincible like her parents were. She decided she needed to finish this quickly and leapt to her feet, much to Jones’ surprise.

“But-!” he got out before she vanished from her spot in a blur, a fist appearing less than an inch from his face. He looked past it to see the look of fury on the girl’s face, which slowly changed to confusion, then apprehension as she turned her head to look behind her. Gripping her armor by the neck hole and smirking, her father held her hanging in the air as he turned her to face him.

“That’s enough, young lady.”

*

John! Rhia’s thought screamed into my head.

I know. I saw. Our little girl has declared herself an avenging angel. I’ll get her, I thought back. I stretched out and felt for Anai’s presence. Ah, there she is. Nebraska, eh? So that’s where the little worm is hiding. I wonder how she found him so fast. Doesn’t matter.

“Constable,” I said, calling the young man back over to me from where he’d retreated.

“Yes, My Lord?”

“I’m going to take care of some family issues. Help who you can here. Spare no expense. I’ll cover it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a little girl to discipline.” The police officer nodded and turned to take control of the scene. Focusing on Anai’s presence again, I disappeared from London and reappeared in a small room.

I was greeted with the sight of the disgusting little man holding a gun on my daughter, the smell of gunpowder fresh in the air. Anai was just getting to her feet, clad in some armor that was dented in the chest. Suddenly she flung herself at the man, fist outstretched. The speed she was travelling would’ve easily turned his head into a pink mist had she connected, and I didn’t want that on her conscience, so I reached out and plucked her from the air just before contact.

“That’s enough, young lady,” I said, turning her to face me. She stiffened momentarily, but loosened up in resignation.

“H-hi, Daddy,” she said sheepishly, not meeting my eyes. Walter was frozen in place, eyes the size of saucers, gun still pointed at where Anai had gotten up from. The smell coming from him, plus the growing dark spot at the front of his pants, indicated he pissed himself. Whether it was from my arrival or Anai’s aborted smiting, I couldn’t be sure. Either way, I locked him in place with a thought while I had a moment with my daughter.

“‘I shall take on the burden of your punishment?’ Really? That’s the best line you could come up with?”

Still dangling, she shrugged. “I thought about saying ‘In the name of the moon,’ but nobody calls it that anymore.”

I barked out a laugh. “Well, no one can deny you aren’t my kid. What’s up with this armor? It looks cool, but it’s not like you need it. You could take a tank round to the chest and not suffer any damage. You’d be knocked halfway across the county, but you’d be just fine.”

“Aren’t you the one that always says presentation is key? I doubt anyone would take me seriously if I were just in jeans and a t-shirt.”

Shaking my head, I put her down. “Fair enough.” Walter let out a whimper from where he was frozen. “Calm down, jackass. We’ll get to you in a moment. I’m talking to my daughter right now. Now, which of you took the lead in this?” While Anai was certainly her own being, I knew the two halves heavily influenced her at times. There was no way that two disparate personalities like Aisha and Angela would easily merge into a unified third personality.

With a POP, Angela and Aisha stood before me, both similarly adorned in armor as Anai had been, complete with matching dents in the chest plate. Angela stood with her arms crossed, looking daggers at Aisha, who was nervously playing with her tail, ears flat against her head, eyes focused on my feet. Walter squeaked in surprise at the split, but no one paid him any mind.

“I told you it was a bad idea!” Angela said. Aisha flinched but didn’t say anything.

“Aisha,” I said. “I have a feeling the Goddess of Compassion is going to have a few words for you later. As for me, I’m just happy you’re both alright. You helped me locate this knucklehead faster, so I’m going to call this even.” Aisha’s eyes finally met mine, hope flickering dimly. “That’s not to say what your mothers are going to do, however.” That hope suddenly vanished as her eyes grew wide at the thought.

“But-!” Angela began to protest, but I cut her off.

“No buts, young lady. You may have told her it was a bad idea, but you didn’t seem to make too much of an effort to put a stop to it, did you? Therefore, you get to speak to your mother as well.” Looking around conspiratorially, I stage whispered, “perhaps if you get that food she likes, you won’t be grounded for the next century.”

I straightened up and faced Walter Jones, the villain of the hour, releasing the hold I had on him. He flopped back in to his chair and tried to point the gun at me, but I waved it out of existence. “Mr. Jones, I do believe you owe my girls here an apology.”

“F-for what?”

“For what? Seriously? You shot my kids. We’re going to discuss that matter privately, but for now, I’d like you to show them how an adult is supposed to act when they’ve done something wrong. Best do it on your own. You won’t like it if I have to make you.”

“Now see here! I only shot one kid, not these two!” he blurted out. The three of us just stared at him, stupid expressions on our faces.

“Did he really just say that?” asked Aisha.

“Yes. Yes, he did,” answered Angela.

“Girls,” I said through gritted teeth. “Best you head home right now. Mr. Jones and I are about to have a very private conversation.” The girls nodded and vanished in their usual sparkling display. Locking him up with a thought, I levitated Walter out of his chair and had him float behind me as I walked around the small house, checking out each of the rooms. He may or may not have bounced off walls and door jams as I took my tour.

“All by ourselves? No guards or anything? You’re either amazingly confident or resoundingly stupid. You can speak. I haven’t taken that ability away from you.”

“W-what are you going to do to me?” he asked.

“Nope. I asked you first. Why no guards? Where is everyone? I know your movement was bigger than you and a handful of lunatics willing to blow themselves up.”

His mouth clamped shut, evidently refusing to answer. I greatly dislike using intimidation tactics. Especially when my opponent knows he’s heavily outclassed. Doesn’t mean I won’t use them though. Sighing, I snapped my fingers, bringing us four miles from the house I found him in. Four miles above the house, I guess I should clarify. Walter’s eyes about bugged out of his head, and I had to stop the heart attack that he was about to suffer.

“Bit chilly up here, isn’t it? Oxygen is pretty thin as well. I’d imagine you’d pass out pretty quickly. Don’t worry though. Getting back to normal temperatures is easy enough. Can’t guarantee your condition upon arrival though.” I let him drop a couple feet before halting him again. He squealed, then pissed himself again. Grimacing, I waved away his mess. “Come on, man. Show some backbone. You talked a big game earlier. Now you’re whimpering like a beat puppy and wetting yourself like a four year old. Wait, I take that back. I have a four year old and she hasn’t had any accidents lately.”

He alternated between staring at me and the ground so far below him, whimpering.

“Sorry,” I said. “I got a bit off topic there for a second. We want to talk before you pass out, right? So, where is everyone? Technically I could pull it from your mind, but I haven’t had the centuries of practice that my wives had and I might completely wipe it. I’m sure you don’t want that, and I know I certainly don’t, so save us both the time and the effort, why don’t ya?” He was still frozen in fear, so I slowly started to rotate him until he was upside down. This had the desired effect of sparking some life in his eyes.

“A-a-a-alright!” he gasped out. Smiling, I righted him, then placed a bubble of warm air around him, allowing him to breathe normally. After taking a couple deep breaths, he spoke. “They left after the first reports came in about the bombings. They abandoned me and my call. They didn’t have the faith I thought they did.”

“Still talking like that after the last few minutes? You do understand your position here, don’t you?”

“I am her most faithful! I will do what I must to ensure her place!”

“She never asked for your worship, you know? She wasn’t even a goddess when you started your little cult. How do you justify any of this without ever knowing anything about her?”

“She tried to rescue the astronauts after the Event! She made the effort when none of the other gods would! They just let millions die! She alone took action!”

“She did that at my request! I asked her to do that!” I decided that telling him that she blamed herself for not stopping the Event would probably be a bad idea. I felt certain that it would only compound his zealotry. “Listen, I never had any issue with you guys worshipping her. I don’t have any issue with anyone worshipping whoever they want. It’s not uncommon for a lot of my followers to retain their original beliefs as well, as contradictory as that may be. I only ask that people be cool to one another and that whatever they do, they do it to the best of their ability. I want to light a fire in them that helps them be better than they were yesterday. It’s a religion of practicality. When they combine that with their faith based beliefs, people have found a way to surpass their old limitations. But you…” I floated him over to me until we were nearly nose to nose.

“You, in your selfishness, have deprived so many people of seeing tomorrow. You’ve openly attacked me and my followers. You’ve even managed to piss off the very goddess you claim to worship.” The color drained from his face. “Be thankful my daughter found you first. If my wife had, your so called ‘Raven Angel,’ it’s very likely there wouldn’t have been enough left of you to identify. Pregnant women have little time for fools.”

I snapped my fingers taking us to hover over the various sites that he’d had attacked, allowing him to take in the results of his actions. My buildings were unscathed, and the wounded had already been healed by Persia at each of the sites, but the bodies were still being accounted for. He turned green, clearly not expecting the carnage. Limbs and blood dotted the various detonation sites.

“This is what you’ve wrought,” I said, before returning us to the farmhouse. I dropped him into his seat and released my hold on him. “Suicide bombers,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Just what the hell did you promise them that they’d willingly blow themselves up like that?”

“Does it matter? What’s done is done.” He threw his hands up.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m sure you said something about it being the ultimate act of faith and that the Raven Angel would reward them in the afterlife or some such bullshit, right?” He pointedly avoided eye contact with me, confirming my suspicions. “I do have one question though. If that’s supposed to be the ultimate act of faith, how come you’re still here? You’ve repeatedly stated how you’re her most faithful follower. Shouldn’t you have been the first to strap on a vest?”

He gaped.

“Come on now. Don’t go all hypocritical on me now. It’s one way or the other.” Snapping my fingers, a vest appeared on him, the button sitting in his hand. “Well, here’s your chance to prove your faith. It’s just you and me here. You’re strapped up with explosives. I’m the guy you’ve got an issue with. Go ahead, push the button.”

He looked down and stared at the device strapped to him, then at the little red button in his hand. He dropped it, letting it dangle at his side as he broke down and cried. I nodded at his reaction.

“That’s what I thought. Another fucking coward hiding behind made up doctrine to exert control over others. So big on using suicide bombers, but too much of a bitch to strap one on yourself. I hate people like you the most. Come on, you pathetic hypocrite. I’m sure there are some guys at the Hoover Building that would be very interested in speaking to you right about now.” I grabbed him by the back of his coat between the stupid looking wings he still wore and made the vest disappear, then together we vanished from the small farm house in Nebraska, bound for Washington D.C.