Stacy sent me to Pride alone and without much fanfare. I was still wearing just a long coat, now with pants, and I was obviously recognizable to absolutely everyone in Hell.

But, to be fair, I had technically been warning them about the angels, not ushering them in. So people were apprehensive, and I'm sure The Few were pissed off, but I was otherwise given a fair berth.

I did not go much farther than walk around the outer perimeter of the city, however, resting at the gate to the underground. And the rubble that lay there.

No one had touched anything, and I felt the worry was that this collapse would risk further damage if disturbed. Either that, or the authorities were aware of just how hopeless it was to excavate. I had seen for myself how damage had been done. There were few survivors worth fighting for anymore- at most, perhaps the workers on the nearest level of Lust. But it was highly useless to hope excavation teams could reach Greed or Gluttony before survivors died of thirst.

It was grim- that was the easy way to put it. The simplest way to sum up what damage had been done: grim. And of course, I should not be dismissing so easily that this damage had not been done.

It had been caused. Michael Castellano was an enigma that eluded me, but I had learned another thing about him today.

I decided I ought to sit in front of the rubble if I was going to wait. I didn't quite know what I was expecting to happen- Michael to burst through solid rock and kill me?- but I figured I might as well be siting when it occurred.

The elevator in Pride was safe from harm, and a while ago a small squad had been sent down in it to see if they could access any of the levels. They returned shortly after I had arrived, bringing with them an injured woman.

"Wrath's the only place we could even step out, and it's only partially collapsed." Some senior squadman was explaining to the police. "A bomb was placed inside the level, but the passage down to the pit was spared. Ought to be able to get people out through the rift- they can rope down from the Gemini office."

Plans were being made, and I was listening in half interested. Some hellhound had stepped up and almost broken her back protecting one of the tunnels- that was the injured woman they were escorting- and I had to wonder if, well...

...The area in front of the elevator had been spared. And the people in front of the elevator had been the only ones I particularly cared about the fates of. Which left a nice little gap of knowledge in my mind: was Lil alive?

When had I even thought her dead though? There was a moment in the dark room when I had realized Stacy was going to kill everyone, and Lil had been on the screen then. But I had never had a crises about her death. I was almost thinking- 'Well, everyone is going to die. And look! Lil is there too.'

I was a terrible boyfriend. She wouldn't actually call me that though, so I guess I was just a terrible occasional sex partner.

It's not like I could sneak onto the elevator and look for her corpse right now, so I settled to wait some more.

My wait ended when the police grew tired of my constant sitting in their way, and made me stand up. Lane had arrived on the scene just a minute previous, and looked honestly very disappointed to have to escort me away.

"It's hard for you to keep away, isn't it?" She sighed, occasionally glancing back at the scene of rubble with great sadness. She locked me in handcuffs and took the blade off my finger. "The rest of us are going to want to speak with you."

"I hope they kick me out of Hell again." I said with a small laugh, and regretted it moments later because this was honestly a very inappropriate time to be joking.

"Unlikely we'll try that again." Lane said darkly. "We don't have the death sentence in Hell. But that doesn't mean we can't make exceptions."

I kept quiet after that.

It should have gone without saying that no one in The Few seemed happy to see me. Even Stacy- though I suppose he was only doing that to keep up appearances.

"We're unhappy to see you here, Nichael." Kell said.

"That doesn't need to be said." I replied. "And, very seriously, it's Michael now."

It was harder to get more specific than unhappy. Not everyone was here, for one, which was likely something to be concerned about. Kelsey, Blair, Glenn, Logan and Noel, had yet to show. That didn't mean they were dead, but well, no one wanted to be hopeful about anything right now.

There was a quiet and unassuming girl sitting next to Kell who looked vaguely familiar, and after a bout of thought, I recognized from many months ago, back in a bar one late night. Christina, the red-haired friend of Pepper. She had mentioned that she sometimes got involved in these matters.

Alexander was also missing, but quite rightfully no one was concerned about that. Even if they weren't fully aware he was immortal, he was known to disappear in times of trouble, and honestly if he ended up dead most people were pretty certain it would be beneficial to the city in the long run.

"You've named yourself after your god?" Micky asked.

"Why does everyone say that? Your name is Michael too and I'm not accusing you of worshipping it." It was still a very inappropriate time to make jokes, and absolutely no one- myself included- was amused.

"I'm not the angel."

"I'm not an angel either. Did that not make it through the transmission? I'm Graceless. I'm wingless."

"We can't exactly prove that."

"Anymore than we have, of course. That court trial happened. I'm legally a demon and legally not involved in this."

"Nichael." Kell said. "None of that matters. All we know- all everyone knows- is that you sent a broadcast to every channel in the city and told everyone angels were coming. And then the lower levels collapsed."

"It was a warning. It was helpful."

"Thousands are dead."

I couldn't defend myself. I looked at the pattern of the carpet. It was nice. Aesthetically pleasing.

"You look guilty." Lane said. With so many missing, The Few was down to just five people. There was a joke to be made there.

"He was harassing me yesterday- right before he went to speak to Stacy." Moll said.

"He enjoys my company." Stacy said, waving the implied accusation off. "What can I say? I don't control him."

I wasn't really the center of attention in the room, I realized. They were quite happy to accuse me of whatever, but otherwise everyone's attention was much more drawn to their computers of the television at the far end of the room. News was what was driving them. I was just here to be safe.

"Michael's going to kill me later."

Micky looked up from his phone, pointed to himself for a moment, made a face, and then looked down again.

"The arch-angel?" Kell seemed very unhappy to hear the name. "The tunnels are, at the very least, keeping people out of Hell for the moment."

"Nah, they could still get in. The elevator at the entrance stops in the old welcome center as well as the rift to the cycling Earth." Lane explained without paying much attention.

"Well, fuck. We can still put a few guards up though."

"Michael and his brothers were in the explosion. He has already arrived." I said.

"Well. That's one problem dealt with quite nicely then." Micky said with a laugh.

"Michael died in the blast? You're sure of it?" Kell asked, leaning a bit towards me as he spoke.

"I watched the fire consume him. However, he is immortal."

"And the other arch-angels were there too." Micky said. "Though, what was it Nichael here said? 'Heaven is defenseless'. I think those are some words we ought to take to heart." He was laughing a bit, but I don't think he was particularly amused or even giddy. Just nervous.

"We can't. We had many barracks down in the tunnels. It's no doubt our army is too diminished for any sort of safe assault." Moll said. She had yet to meet my eye.

"We don't have to be safe. We know we can kill angels. We know the only ones we really fear have just been blown to scrap. It's a good time as any send everything we have."

"How many are Heaven though? We can't kill an angel without sustaining a heavy loss- usually half the squad, on average." Said Moll. The others were watching in silence.

"We have our key to that question right here." Micky gestured to me. "How many are you?"

"I don't know. Three thousand? Five thousand?"

"We can't trust his numbers." Stacy said.

"I doubt he's lying." Moll said. It was weird for her to stick up for me betraying my once-brothers, but I guess she was just doing her job as a military advisor. "And we should have more than ten thousand soldiers left in Pride."

"Assuming a half death rate, we still ought to have at least an extra thousand left alive."

"Which is plenty of leeway, assuming we have total surprise."

"And assuming they don't just surrender when their losses stack high enough." Micky was speeding up as he was talking, definitely excited.

"If we tell them their arch-angels have already been killed-"

"We might be able to avoid conflict entirely!"

Moll and Micky were leading their conversation with the air that every word they said was going to happen with one hundred percent certainty.

Kell spoke up. "We've lost enough people today. A suicidal assault won't improve matters in the slightest."

"If we let this blow over, war will continue as usual. Except we will be significantly wounded in every industrial way. We can end this today, Kell. No matter how many extra have to die." Moll said.

"They're already leaderless. They likely won't attack us until they determine a reformed system of leadership. And that could take years to settle."

"Yes. Or we can eliminate our only threat while they're still weak." Said Micky.

"We need to do this." Moll added.

Kell was, I suppose, the de facto leader of the group by most technicalities. So when he sighed and said "We will all benefit," the entirety of The Few had decided.

It was time to end this war.

"Michael is immortal though." I said, moments after the affirming pause of this plan had sent Micky and Moll out of the room to rouse up their army.

They ignored me. "I just got a text from Glenn. She's on her way here." Christina said softly.

"That's good." Kell said.

"They're going to try to find a way to reach Lust at the very least. So Kell, that's nice." Christina put a hand on Kell's arm, and he retreated it immediately.

"I'd rather they dig their way to every level."

"At least we can find Kelsey."

Kell frowned at the direct comment. "He'd have contacted me by now if he was alive."

"At least we can find his body. And I hope, not only for your sake, that he's alive."

"My sake never needed to be questioned." There was something else going on, something I didn't care about, and I decided to ignore their subtext.

"Michael can't die." I reminded. "He and his brothers are immortal."

Lane, Kell and the suspiciously quiet Stacy exchanged looks. Then Lane stood up and put her hand on my wrists, leaning over to be on my level.

"Nic- Michael, I'm sorry, but your Michael is dead. He was crushed by the cave in, and no matter what he's told you, he is dead."

"He's immortal though. He's going to come here and kill me soon."

"There's no such thing as immortality from death. You'll be fine."

She was trying to comfort me, but for once I wasn't upset. Exactly what had happened in the last hour was yet to hit me. All odds considered, I'd find a way to make sure it never did. All I was trying to do was let them know ahead of time what was going to happen.

"When I die, then you'll realize that I was correct."

"You're going to be fine." She had a kind and old smile which would have genuinely calmed me down if I actually had any stress.

"Can I leave then? You guys have your war to carry out. I have little left to do here."

"Last time Hell was in chaos, we let a good number of criminals slip through. It would be good not to have that happen again." Stacy said.

"You're still suspicious." Lane reminded.

I sighed and resigned myself to waiting for Michael. Glenn eventually showed up, as did Logan. But then Logan had to run off to join the other military generals in planning the attack, and Glenn soon insisted I be tied up outside the meeting room so I couldn't overhear any further plans.

So, in the end, I was tied to a water cooler in a serene office hallway with no way to know what was happening outside.

Waiting for a couple hours in a hallway was boring. I couldn't even access the water cooler I was connected to, though other people could, and once or twice I had to duck my head while someone refilled their cup.

At one point, Christina came out to get a drink. "Nice to see you scar-free." She said between tiny cups of water that she downed in one sip. "They're kicking me out so they can discuss 'military strategy.'"

"I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"I do this." She said, frowning and raising her eyebrows. "I wanted to be here for Kell. But I've gained a reputation for stealing glory, so of course the ever insane Glenn wants to keep me away from the drama's climax."

"Glenn is insane?" I said, and I guess my serious tone threw her off, because she laughed.

"I should watch my mouth around you angels! You'd think I, of all people, would have learned that by now. No, Glenn's not clinically anything that I'm aware of. She's kind of, to steal a word from a third grade teacher of mine, kooky. Little off. Kind of too extreme to get angry at."

"She does not practice fair law."

Christina snorted. "Trust me, she doesn't have any kind of law degree. She wanted to be an Olympic swimmer, found out she sucked, decided to become a TV producer, sucked at film school, and then just sold her soul for a successful TV pilot. To this day, she'll talk on and on about this TV show that only existed in cycle eight if you get her the slightest bit drunk. She even has the discs. I assume the only way she sleeps at night is with them playing on repeat."

"Are you being facetious?"

Christina furled her brow. "That's a large word for an angel to know." She downed another cup of water. "Anyways, good luck out there." She left.

I was relieved when, almost unsurprisingly, Glenn grabbed me roughly and ran me into the conference room again. And there, sitting as expected in a lovely white dress, was Michael.

I pointed him out to Lane. "He can't die."

"You will though." He lunged at me, and to my surprise Kell blocked him with his arm.

"No." He simply said.

I was seated across from Michael, who looked slightly angry at his denial of a chance to kill. But he was still sitting here, quite plainly, and not killing every single demon in the room.

"Where are the Brothers?" I asked him.

"Still dead, I suppose. I dunno where they turned up. Still took me a bit to get down here and I knew exactly where I wanted to revive."

"You can... control your revival?" Glenn asked. I noted she was the furthest from Michael- of course, everyone was keeping their distance. But she was standing in the corner. I didn't have to question what had given her those scars on her face.

"Took a couple deaths, but yeah." He shrugged. "Not too hard. My brothers never got it down though, so it might take a while for them to regroup. And I don't even know if Percy revives or not, so that could get interesting."

"Why haven't you killed me yet?"

He sort of rolled his eyes with the minimal amount of effort needed to roll one's eyes. It was like a half roll. "Kelly's stopping me."

"You... could kill him though."

"Yeah."

"Or kill me. You can't die, so it's not like there's any real risks stopping you here."

"I still hold a few rules to live by. I didn't come to Hell to kill everyone in it. Just you. Then I'm leaving and the war can continue normally. If Kelly here wants to hit me on the chest a few times before that happens, sure. Your city's a mess either ways. Which of you tried to blow me up again?"

"That was me, sorry."

"I'm so disappointed in you!" He exclaimed.

Meanwhile, naturally, The Few were in various states of shock, proud self-congratulating, and general acceptance. But none felt particularly brave enough to step into our conversation and do something about it.

Well, Kell looked ready to kill me. But I had long suspected he was always ready to kill an angel if the need arose- his reputation surpassed him- so I wasn't too surprised to see him this angry now.

Michael yawned with great exaggeration. "Well, I guess you took out a ton of demons besides possibly killing Percy, so I can't fault you there. If our army was anything like this one, you'd be getting all the medals right now. Still gotta kill you though."

"You're very calm about killing." Lane said, seemingly intrigued by Michael. "He's proven to be very valuable, yet you have no qualms about ending his life."

"He knows too much."

"He killed his sister without any thought too." I added. I was unable to lie or even think clearly in the presence of Michael.

"Please. He'll revive too."

"Sh- h- they were a man?" I was suddenly sorry to have brought the subject up.

"He'll have said otherwise. Or else have implied it. He calls himself Lucky now, course, but I named him that. Lucky Luke-y got everything he wanted."

"Now, I get that you're immortal, but how much force does it take to knock you out cold?" Stacy said, and I realized this may have been a sort of personal subject- and I was quite glad to hand the topic to someone else, for I was entirely unsure about it.

I was sure, actually. But I didn't think I understood. I knew to doubt Michael, and I knew to hate him. But if I had to learn something, he was my favorite source. And he had often prided himself on only having brothers-

But that really didn't change the fact that Lucky had definitely been a woman, and his sister. And the subject was lost to me, the details especially, so I only had the sense to agree with the demons and be quiet.

"Your 'brother' then, Lucky- they're not an angel?" I watched with curiosity as Lane tread cautiously into the conversation. There was a certain mutual cringe between the members of The Few that I had missed out on, but none of them seemed pleased with Michael.

"I'm bored." He said. "This topic is duller than he is."

"I was being quite serious about the knock out question. I understand angels are a little bit tougher than your average human, so perhaps it might be best to stick to a series of small hits instead of one large one?" Stacy had pulled a lighter from his jacket, and was twirling it through his fingers instead of lighting it.

"You're not going to knock me out." Michael said coyly.

"Maybe someone else will then?" Stacy surveyed his coworkers, and as unsettled as they seemed to be, no one wanted to actually knock him out.

Kell sighed. "We have to keep him where we can see him."

"We can see him quite fine when he's unconscious."

"I'm as irate as seemingly offensive comments as you are, but we don't know the full story-"

"Please."

"And it's none of our business anyways."

Michael chimed in, utterly upbeat. "Plus it's a good idea to not make me mad. Then I'll kill one or two of you. And trust me, I've heard about the last time you guys were stuck in a conference room with an angel."

"I can knock him out." I offered. "He's going to kill me anyways."

"Michael, yes." Stacy said.

"Michael, no." Kell said.

"Michael? You guys are calling him Michael too now? Wow, why couldn't you have just stuck to a normal fallen name like Pine? This would be so much less confusing."

"Don't actually knock him out." Kell reminded.

"I might as well get going actually." Michael checked his non-existent watch. "You know, gotta pick up my brothers and all."

"Aren't you going to kill me?"

"Oh, don't get so whiney! I know you're going to miss me, but I feel like I ought to have my brothers present for your death. More formal that way. Also gotta check up on whatever happened to Percy. I'd hate to have that left hanging."

"Where are you heading?" Glenn asked, and I recalled there was a plan in the works that relied quite exclusively on him not being in Heaven.

"I dunno. I used to wake up near some house in the past Earth. Guess I'll start there. I don't know how any of this works or anything. Just figure I'll find them eventually."

There was an unsounded sigh of relief to that. But it didn't leave much time on the chance that he was right.

Michael got up, and naturally no one moved to stop him. "Bye though. I'll be back pretty soon to kill you, I promise."