“So, we’re doing Big G’s job for him? How does that help us?”

The away team—”Adam”, “Eve”, “Job”, and “Canaanite”—prepared their gear while Dr. McKenzie briefed them on the mission.

“The whole point of everything that’s happened is for Yahweh to finally impose His will onto the world. A central part of that is Lucifer’s condemnation to the Abyss. We make that impossible, and the Divine Plan should unravel.”

Eve, whom they had agreed would take the shot, hefted her rifle. “Not a problem, boss. But what happens then?”

“We anticipate that such a severe disruption in His Plan should, in some sense, disrupt Jesus’ connection to Yahweh—and His divine powers.”

“He’ll be mortal?” Job asked, incredulous. “Why ain’t we taking a shot at Him, then?”

“You want to be the one to come at the King of Kings and miss?” Eve shot back.

“In part that,” McKenzie replied. “Also, while He won’t be able to strike us down as he would before, even if lethal force was successful, we expect He would simply be resurrected shortly after—and would finally bring His full attention on our group. Our strike needs to be non-lethal if we want it to stick.”

“What about the angels? They won’t stand around staring while we take out their King.”

“Actually, they might. As far as we can tell, angels are physical manifestations of Yahweh’s will, with little agency of their own, a state presumably implemented after Lucifer’s fall. With Yahweh ‘shorted out,’ the angels should be little more than floating light posts.”

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The team looked over their gear once more. Among an assortment of weapons and tools, the essentials were laid out in the center: A Barrett M82, Eve’s weapon of choice for angelic foes; a propelled set of bolas, meant to immobilize Jesus long enough to use their main tool; a specialized mask, developed by the CPH with as many noise cancellation methods built into it as possible, all to prevent its wearer from speaking a word—or a Word. Applied Theology had determined that, in order to use His divine power, Jesus needed to speak it into being. The team’s mission was to prevent Him from doing so by any means necessary.

“Now, once we’ve taken the shot, you’ll only have a few moments where Jesus’ connection is broken, so you need to take Him captive fast. Once He’s incapacitated, prophecy should be so derailed that it becomes self-sustaining. We just need to make sure He isn’t able to issue a new prophecy once we have Him in containment.”

“Why is this going to work?” Canaanite asked. Everyone in the group paused and looked at her. She faltered, but stood her ground. “God is omniscient—won’t He know our plan? Won’t He be able to stop us?”

Adam spoke up first. “We have to assume not. This is our, er, Hail Mary pass. If this fails, countless people will die in agony, never mind what comes next. We are Humanity and the world’s last hope.”

“And if He were going to stop us, I’d say He’d have done it by now. What the Doc said sounds right,” Job added.

Doctor McKenzie was last. “I am right. All our research has supported it. Yahweh can’t act outside His word, so we make sure He can’t give new ones.”

Canaanite was one of the few members of the CPH who maintained some level of faith. She hesitated. Am I really doing this? She thought of the lessons from her youth. Then she thought of the fire, the earthquakes, the countless dead she had seen, and she resolved herself. Yes—I am* “You’re right. Let’s do this.”

“Then it’s time,” Adam said. “Team, tonight we fight for something bigger than any cause before. Tonight, we fight for the fate of our world! Our people! Tonight, we defend Humanity!”

“FUCK YEAH!” Came the reply.