Ava and Gerry stood motionless for a moment in the wake of the primordials abrupt exit. They were like two kids waiting to see if the adults were gone before they could get into trouble. Except they were kids who hated each other’s guts and wanted to murder each other.

When he felt safe God wouldn’t smite him on the spot, Gerry’s combat instincts took over and he moved. Everything around him seemed to slow to a stop. Even Ava. He charged her head on as power flooded through his body. He was already halfway to the angel before she reacted, and even that was slow. He couldn’t help but laugh.

It was now clear what Death had done for him. She had leveled him up to archangel status. There was no other way to explain the drop he was able to get on Ava. Her fancy hand cannon suggested she’d undergone her own upgrade, but that wasn’t enough to compete with him now. The fear of facing the woman he’d nearly been killed by evaporated and was replaced with confidence.

He was in striking range before he stopped laughing. Ava was swinging in her defense. A haymaker was making its way to his head. His mind whirled as he saw the path of her blow, where it was going to hit, and the likely path his head would take if she made contact. A wave of dizziness passed over him as his mind tried to cope with the sudden pattern recognition data it was processing for him. He lost his concentration, and the world sped back up.

Luckily, he got his arm up in a blocking position.

Ava’s punch made contact with him and an explosion of force rocked the block. It traveled through Gerry’s arm, around his body, and into the ground and air behind him. The ground cracked and crumbled around him, while hurricane force wind battered the building next to him. There wasn’t much left to destroy, but the debris kicked up into a cyclone that whipped between the buildings before dying down.

Gerry yelled in triumph when his body wasn’t liquefied by the blow. In fact, it felt considerably weaker than the blows he’d taken from Gaius in training back in Hell.

In that instant, he knew he was going to win this fight. He was stronger, faster, and was able to see where she was going to hit before her hits even landed. All of those new abilities rolled together were a recipe for success. His ego surged.

Ava saw the smile on his face and growled like a rapid animal. It didn’t save her from the uppercut he drove into the bottom of her chin. Her head snapped back, and she rocketed away from him on a course for the moon, that took her in a straight line through a nearby building. It barely slowed her down. She exploded out of the other side in a shower of masonry, but didn’t even flinch as she arched across the city.

Gerry laughed as he watched her limp body grow smaller and smaller.

Finally, she came to, and shook herself awake. Her wings flared out to her sides to stop her forward progress, but she was already halfway to Harlem.

He felt his body respond to his command. His bones stretched, his muscles shifted, and two brilliantly white wings sprouted from between his shoulder blades. He gave them a powerful flap, and rocketed after her.

Ava was still regaining her composure when he hit her like a missile in the abdomen. He felt bones snap, muscles spasm, organs rupture, and wetness on his wings and neck when she coughed up half a gallon of Divine ichor from the trauma. He felt the breath violently expelled from her damaged lungs, and the groan of pain that racked her whole body.

He pealed her off his shoulder, grabbed her by the neck, and chucked her toward the ground. She hit just outside Central Park with enough force to make a twenty foot crater, and didn’t get back up right away.

Gerry hovered in the air over her drunk on the power flooding through his veins. He’d crushed Ava so badly, in just under a minute, that he felt sorry for her. God had sacrificed her like a lamb to the slaughter to avoid a brawl with Death. He’d pinned his chances on taking back Manhattan on an outclassed angel. God have to have known that Death gave Gerry Gabriel’s strength. Was God really that heartless? Or was he really that frightened of his sister?

Gerry was convinced it couldn’t be that simple. He just needed to figure out what God’s plan was.

He looked back down at Ava, who still hadn’t moved, and was sure he had a moment to savor the æther. Death was right. There was an extra sense to everything around him now, and all he had to do was reach out and sample it. It was more than just power to be used for power’s sake. There were subtle undertones to it now, tastes that gave purpose to something that was simply bland before. Everything around him was a masterful feast just waiting for his will to shape it.

He’d used a bit of energy to pulverize Ava, so he took a deep breath and felt the æther respond to fill the void. The mix of cloves and Sriracha was gone now. He must have devoured all of it in the area, but a new aroma was everywhere.

There was a slight buzz in the air; like that comfortable sense of bliss after a fine bourbon. It tasted like the air smelled after a good rain. It was life, abundant and free with a touch of lilac. The bouquet was exquisite, and it was everywhere. While a big metaphysical breath, Gerry inhaled the new selection of power and his chest swelled as the power filled him.

That was about the time a powerful energy blast swatted him from the sky.

***

Ava opened her eyes, only to close them again to wipe away the blood. Her whole body ached. Even her fingernails felt like they’d gone head to head with a jackhammer and lost. With a grunt, she pulled her arms free of the crumbled street all around her. Her shoulder was still dislocated, while her forearm was mending itself with a series of soft cracks. She looked up and saw a small dot hovering above her. She knew she needed to move. She knew she couldn’t stand toe to toe with the mew Gerald Fuller. The realization pained her on so many levels.

As a Power, Ava’s abilities were formidable. She outclassed most of the angels in Heaven, but it was abundantly clear Gerry was far stronger. She couldn’t stand and fight him. She needed a different strategy. What worked last time wasn’t going to cut it. She wasn’t going to be able to drive a flaming sword through his heart and watch Divine fire consume his evil.

She needed to strike from the shadows – quick and fast – before retreating, regrouping, and slowly inflicting death by a thousand cuts. His slow death made her smile.

She needed to engage in guerrilla warfare to win back Manhattan, but even then she had a sinking feeling it wouldn’t be enough. That was when God smiled on her and a ray of violet energy blasted Gerry from the sky. She could tell it hurt him by the roar of pain he emitted.

Anything that caused that asshole pain was a friend of hers.

She also saw an opportunity. She tracked his descent, and set off at a run. If she could hit him while he was down, then she stood a better chance at victory. She stuck to the ground to avoid Heaven’s other enemies lurking in the city. It was taking her longer to get to him. She had to conserve her strength as her body knit itself back together along the way. More importantly, it took valuable energy that was not replenishing. Despite her father’s entrance, the area lacked the æther she needed to refuel. She only hoped Gerry had the same limitation.

Thankfully, the approximate area of his crash was mostly free of the wards the Amazon’s had littered across the island. She could tell by all the scattered scorch marks that his violent landing had destroyed the magical protections. She tallied the destruction and thought they’d been able to pull enough æther off him to weaken him.

That brought a smile to her face. In anticipation, she started charging her Hand of God. If any weapon could kill the Infernal bastard, it was that.

***

“Oww,” Gerry grumbled as he pulled himself out of the long furrow he’d dug into the street. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs before the æther took care of any lingering injuries.

He looked over his shoulder to see a chunk of one of his newly-sprouted wings had been incinerated. He banished the wings with a thought, and they sloshed off his body like garbage.

He stepped out of the hole and cracked his neck. The smell of lilacs filled his nose as he pulled in more æther to get back to full strength. Whatever attacked him wasn’t Ava. He had eyes on her, and her new weapon’s discharge wasn’t purple. Something new had joined the fight. He wondered for a second if God had reneged on the deal.

He got his answer shortly.

Two dozen women appeared from hiding. They had completely surrounded him. Some had weapons out and pointed at him. Others’ hands were glowing with various degrees of energy, and a few just cracked their knuckles as if they were hoping for a brawl. Despite their disposition, they all waited for orders. He guessed they’d come from the woman in the honest-to-god crown.

Gerry recognized her, but his memories from just before Death powered him up were a little fuzzy. “We’ve met before, right?” he asked lamely.

The woman was clearly insulted by the question; as most women would be when they believed they should have made an impression. With a wave of her fingers, the other women attacked. Hundreds of bullets, tipped with Divine Steel, sprayed from dozens of SMG’s. Energy blasts pelted him from above in a rainbow of colors. Lastly, the brawlers moved forward while the fire shifted to cover their advance.

The energy blasts he could handle. They barely singed the hair on his skin. The bullets were something else. A few got through before he recognized them as a threat. Divine Steel was Divine Steel. No matter how powerful Gerry was, it was still specialized metal blessed by a primordial and capable of killing Infernal Lords.

One bullet cut into his arm. It cut through his bicep in a spray of blood. Another hit him in the quad, and neatly severed his femoral artery. If he was human, he would have bled to death. Instead, he laughed at other’s mortality.

The wounds closed themselves and the bleeding stopped. He threw up an energy barrier of his own to intercept the bullets. They couldn’t damage if couldn’t hit, and despite their initial effectiveness, they were still being fired from mundane, mortal weapons. That eliminated that threat.

Next were the brawlers. They moved in confident and sure of themselves. On punch and Gerry educated them on their overconfidence.

“Enough!” The leader yelled and another powerful energy blast cut through the air.

Gerry caught the blast in the chest. It threw him backward into a nearby building where he saw purple stars. The skin on his chest had blistered, boiled, and burned off in some places to reveal the muscle beneath. Fresh æther moved in to fill the void, and his wounds closed.

“Everyone stand down.” The command from the woman brought everything to a halt.

“Finally,” Gerry brushed some debris from his shoulder. His clothing above the waste had been completely obliterated by the woman.

He faced the dozens of women shirtless and unafraid.

“State your intentions.” She kept her chin high, despite his ability to fight them all to a draw.

“I’m just here to win a bet,” he kept it simple. “I was fighting with an angel, and kicking her ass – thank you very much – before you shot me down.”

“You have no claim on this city?” she asked.

“I don’t care what you do with the place, ma’am,” he added the hint of respect at the end. The last thing he needed to do was get bogged down by these women. Defeating Ava was what would end all of this.

“You were with Eris?” she asked. “Does she have any claims on this city?”

“I don’t think she gives a shit about anything that happens here or anywhere else,” Gerry replied truthfully.

“Very well. I am Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and I will help you to defeat the false god’s servant so you can leave my lands.”

now he remembered.

“Sure, let’s do that.” He agreed.