*About sixteen hours later...*
Mikael awakens on a bed in a somewhat small room, with the evening sun piercing through the windows. He makes to move, but his arms feel like jelly and his lower body refuses to cooperate. He takes the time to look around the room. Willing himself to his feet, Mikael gets up and off the bed. He is patched up with bandages from the top of his head, a few around his face and upper torso, and one on his right arm.
He overhears a conversation in a neighboring room and sluggishly moves himself in position to eavesdrop, but the voices get closer to him than he is to them, and he stops moving as the door opens and Marvin, along with the two people from earlier, walk into the room.
"You shouldn't be moving, you know..." Marvin says, picking up Mikael's arm and supporting him.
"Aunty Beatrice?" Mikael says in confusion. "Mallory? What are you two doing here?" He asks.
The woman with the eyepatch, Beatrice, answers. "We live here. That's the wrong question."
The man in the jack-o-lantern, Mallory, points him to the bed. "Have a seat, your sister will be here soon."
Marvin, Beatrice and Mallory sit around Mikael on the bed.
"The Hand is here?" Beatrice says in shock. "Why? Who is this assailant anyway?"
"That person is Milton Alderman." Mikael says. "He's known amongst the Fallen as The Archangel."
"What's the Hand?" Marvin asks, with the others stopping to look at him.
"The Hand, Mr. Kaine..." Beatrice starts with a sigh. "Well, not much is known to us as Winnowers, but our working theory, according to the only one of us who's been to the Preternatural before..." she looks at Mikael before returning her gaze to Marvin. "...is that they are the top of the food chain of all Fallen."
"So, what you're saying is they aren't officially recognized by the Society?" Marvin asks again.
"Unfortunately not..." Beatrice says. "Mostly due in part because there was no one else to witness it, Mikael was suspended for even bringing up the notion that the World-Eaters are not the most dangerous of the Fallen, along with multiple counts of heresy against the Society's beliefs, misuse of power and taking a mission that didn't belong to him..."
"You don't have to bring up my whole rap sheet, aunty Bea." Mikael complains.
"Right, I'm sorry."
"It's only a matter of time..." Ramiel's voice goes from behind Marvin, as everyone turns to her.
"Ramiel...you're finally here." Marvin says.
She walks up to Beatrice and Mallory and embraces them both with a big smile on her face, before walking up to Marvin and slapping him.
"You let my brother get hurt, and you didn't call me." She says, her smile from earlier vanishing entirely, leaving a purely sour expression. "I can tolerate weakness, and I paired you up with him because I trust your intuition but it appears I was wrong..."
"Now, now, calm down, Rami." Mikael cuts her off. "It was an investigation, we didn't know beforehand..." He is cut off by Ramiel's slap washing across his face, leaving him dumbfounded. She follows it up by hugging him tightly.
"Stop scaring me, Mikey, You don't have to go through that again," she says.
"Before what?" Beatrice backtracks. "It's only a matter of time...before what?"
Ramiel turns to her. "Before the Society takes action against The Hand," she says.
"What makes you say that?" Mallory asks.
"A councilman of the society was killed a few days ago. *We* didn't find out until yesterday." Ramiel explains further. "The Council, including our parents..." She glances at Mikael, then turns back to Mallory. "They threw the information under the bus and buried it. Gabriel and I went looking, and we found out that a Fallen killed the Councilman."
"But only you and everyone here know of the hand, so how does Gabriel...?" Mikael makes to ask, but is interrupted by Ramiel.
"He doesn't. But he will find evidence of something greater than the dreaded World-Eaters soon, particularly because this man's death was all so silent...It's inevitable."
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There is a light buzz coming from Beatrice's pocket. She picks out her contact card and answers the call. "Hello?"
"Mercer Darling! How've you been?" A feminine voice goes off.
"Marie? How'd you get my card?" Beatrice says in shock. Mikael and Rafael stare at each other, and Marvin is still confused.
"Oh, don't worry about that, dearest," Marie says with an aloof expression. "I believe you have something of mine."
"I don't remember borrowing anything from you." Beatrice says sarcastically, as her shock transforms quickly into disgust.
"Well, I don't remember leasing him to you." She says.
"This is pointless," Beatrice says and ends the call, throwing her card on the floor across from her.
"Mother's here?" Mikael panics. "Were you tailed here, Rami?"
"If she were, there wouldn't be any way for her to know." Mallory sighs. "What did she want, Bea?"
"Mikael, apparently." Beatrice bluntly states.
Marvin sits there, watching. "Could they want Mikael back to press him for information?" He quietly mutters, but as everyone in the room has senses enhanced beyond the human level, they hear him loud and clearly.
"What?" Mikael and Ramiel chorus as Mallory sits back, stroking his lantern where his jaw is meant to be. "That doesn't seem too far fetched."
"You're correct, Vincent." Marie's voice echoes from behind him. Everyone's focus shifts to her, and the man next to her, her husband.
"I figured you were here already." Mallory says, not nearly as surprised as the siblings adjacent to him. "I guess Solander was your way off getting here as quickly as possible." He says, directing his eyes to the fading glow of a white hot circle on the ground around the two.
"Makes sense. Solander's Kill Radius is the only one capable of teleportation." Beatrice says.
"That was rude, by the way." Marie points to her.
Marie and Solander are both tall in their own rights. Solander has curly, dark chestnut hair, and Marie has light-brown, straight hair. Both are fair-skinned and are dressed in corporate outfits that give them an air of superiority.
Marvin is met by a combination of fierce auras that make him feel like passing out just by staring at Mikael's parents. Mikael himself notices Marvin's sudden weariness and addresses it.
"You can stop with the intimidation thing, there's a regular person in the room."
Suddenly, the intimidating aura ceases immediately. "Ah," Marie starts, walking over to Marvin. So, Gabriel was telling the truth, " she says, touching his face. "Tell me, young man..."
"Don't tell her anything, Marvin. Don't look in her eyes." Mikael says, as Solander stares on, stoic and quiet.
Unfortunately for Marvin, her gaze has trapped him already. "Who are you? What is it about you? How can you see the things we do? The Fallen?"
Marvin opens his mouth, but before he can speak, Beatrice takes out her pistol and fires a small beam of energy right in between his eyes, knocking him out entirely.
"You're such a spoilsport, Mercer," Marie says, sighing in disappointment.
Solander walks to Mikael and examines the bandages on his head, face, and torso. "You're still fighting and losing?"
"How do you know I'm losing?" Mikael slowly distances himself from him. "I'm no longer your disciple, father. I have no interest in your lectures."
"Well, you feel that way, at least." Marie turns to him and walks across from him. "You'll be coming with us and spending the night with your family."
Mikael eyes widen in disbelief. "Wait, what?" He says before he is dragged by the arm of his father, who takes him over to his mother's position. Mikael fights out of his father's grip, but all to no avail. Marie looks at Ramiel, who has her hands ready, with a beam of energy prepared to blast her.
Her hands are shaky as she stares down her father. Beatrice and Mallory watch on, knowing they are both incapable of doing anything. Solander looks at her and whispers to her "I'll see you at home."
Marie, unapologetically taunts. "Dinner is by eight. Don't be late."
The circle around them from before opens up again and surrounds the three of them, before instantly teleporting them.