She woke up today. This tough greenie is going to cause me much trouble before this job is through. How am I supposed to take her out when she can't even take a hit properly. I've thrown so much at her and most Righteous would have given up long ago. But she just takes it all in stride. I'd almost say she isn't backing down, but it's hard to make that comparison when this battle between us isn't even a real battle.

I'm at a loss. I've tried almost all my old tricks. I'm going to have to be more creative with this one. Great, that's exactly what I need on this frustrating job.

I watch with extreme annoyance as she talks with the older one. She barely seems rattled despite being in a coma of sorts for months. I see her resolve when the older one says something to her, in a forceful way given his sudden tension. I wait for the older one to leave her alone and I melt into the shadows around her.
"I know you're there."

My body tenses at her words. Her lips barely moved when she spoke. If I didn't know her voice from watching her for so long I wouldn't be sure she spoke at all.

"I know you're responsible for this. I know you've been watching me. Stop playing games with me. You're not going to win, I won't let you. I know the Fallen feed on fear, I'm not afraid of you." Her eyes are closed as she lays there, looking as peaceful as can be. As is she isn't making bold declarations to a seemingly empty room.

I find myself intrigued. I'm still full of intense anger and frustration. But her boldness and intense loyalty intrigues me though. I've never seen such fierce emotions in a greenie before. Or any Righteous for that matter. She's something different. Something new. I'm beginning to think her independence is not the only thing that sets her apart from the others of her kind.

I'm not ready to stop playing games as she put it. I'd rather try a few more tricks. But soon I will face her and soon we will discover just how resilient she is. But I'm not finished yet. No, I'm not finished by a long shot.

She claims to know that I am. To know what I'm like. She can make assumptions all she wants, that does not define me. I won't bother to correct her outright. I've grown used to being underestimated and categorized by my heritage and work that it no longer bothers me. In fact I almost prefer it. Let them expect whatever they want, it will make their failure that much more sweeter to me. Of course this being the case I know I should reserve my judgements about her and not jump to any conclusions. I know the danger of underestimating my opponent better than most. Still this doesn't seem to stop me from scoffing at her declaration. After all how could a mere green Righteous think they were capable of going against me? Me, who is beyond rank in my realm and caused more chaos in my long life than any other of less, equal, or even more experience in my line of work.

The thought is almost funny. I can't believe anyone, Fallen, human, or Righteous who could walk away from an encounter with me unscratched unless I let them, except of course Lucifer and maybe some archangels. I haven't had the displeasure of meeting any higher ranked Righteous airheads. I did meet an archangel once, that was a rather unpleasant experience.

I smile at the thought of the memory. This archangel had had the misfortune of stumbling upon me on their way to rescue a poor helpless guardian. They didn't even make it to the guardian and may not even be able to fly anymore with the nasty burns they acquired from our altercation. It was not unlike the acid burns that I had gained in my youth in Hell. But these were worse. The archangel, poor thing, had to call in for reinforcements just to carry them back to their home realm to get patched up. Of course I was long gone by then. This encounter effectively elevated my status to the right hand none other than our cursed leader in the flesh. Or should I say scars? When you've been in Hell as long as he has there is hardly an inch of skin left that isn't covered in red burns and gashes and marred with scars.

The point is I achieved what was originally thought to be impossible. And with minimal effort. It wasn't even that hard to sneak up on the over confident archangel and through a flame and acid spell at their wings. I've learned that the best way to eliminate a threat of a Righteous is to take out their wings. They aren't toughened from youth as we are. They don't know how to carry on without the use of certain parts, especially their wings. Take out their wings and they never come back to this realm for fear. Easiest trick in the book.

Of course that didn't really work in this case did it. I broke her wing and put her in a coma and she's right in front of me now, awake and whole. She's tougher than the average Righteous, I'll give her that. Carefully I take my finger and write a message back to her in response to her declaration in floating, flaming words.