27/XXVII. Because Of Who You Are (Remastered)

SFX: Cough, cough, cough

Arthur’s short breaths and blood-soaked hand interrupted Johnny’s dream land as he awakened seeing his twin at the corner of their room, dead-pale with blood oozing from his mouth.

“ART!” The darkness didn’t help much. The window opposite the door illuminated the corner of the room where Arthur was, but not the whole floor.

Johnny clumsily stumbled across the floor as he rattled seeing his twin cough up blood.

This wasn’t something he could handle alone.

Whenever Arthur gets into these medically-dangerous situations, Johnny becomes too overwhelmed, though, he can only show his calm demeanor as he doesn’t want his twin to panic as well.

But Arthur knew the truth, Johnny’s erratic heartbeat and cold sweats. He knew when his kid-twin needed air or help from the adults.

Arthur slammed his other hand at Johnny’s mouth to silence him as he drew closer.

“Sh—sh- shut up…” He stuttered as he tried to keep his consciousness awake. His eyelids tried to shut off his eyes.

Johnny gently and slowly removed Arthur’s hands from his mouth and calmed down.

“What happened?” Johnny couldn’t comprehend what was happening, the one minute he was in dreamland, the next - he’s enveloped in darkness seeing his brother struggle for his life.

He appeared to be losing control of the blood flow. Johnny wanted to sprint to call Matthew and an ambulance to treat Arthur, but he hesitated as he wanted to know what Arthur wants first before doing anything else.

“Shhh…shhhh…” Arthur gestured his pointer shushing Johnny with his blood-soaked hands.

He was still trying to calm down his breathing, slowing down and taking deep breaths.

“I’ll call Matthew.” As Johnny sprang up to run to the door, however his twin yanked his arms down to avoid momentum, coiling him back to the floor stumbling.

“Art! This isn’t the time-” He’s clearly trying to overpower Arthur this time round, attempting to release Arthur’s grip from his arm.

Johnny darted his eyes from the dark room to one of their drawers, he wanted to check Arthur’s meds if it’s enough to calm him down.

It appeared to Arthur that he was checking for a phone to call Matthew.

“D…don’t.” Arthur continued to struggle breathing. “I’ll… b-be fine.” He wiped the blood off of his mouth with his non-blood-soaked hand.

One of the clones got shot and wasn’t fast enough to turn invisible, the recoil of the shot obviously manifested in Arthur’s physical body.

Since Michael now has a physical body of a human, the characteristics of it translated to his own angelic body.

But this was not the time Arthur can get surprised by this, he definitely learned this fast because of that shot.

He was always careful, but the number of his clones can also affect his concentration and his deductive prowess at times.

“Art, you’re bleeding, you’re coughing up… I’m just a kid.” Johnny’s anxiety went through the roof.

He definitely wanted to carry Arthur out of the house to a hospital, but that’s not what his twin wanted, and he doesn’t want to go against Arthur’s will.

“I’ll… b-be fine. I promise. Just… stay here with me, p-please.” His twin’s pleading words reassured Johnny at his worried state.

It wasn’t his nature to ignore his bleeding twin, but he knew that if he pushed himself to call someone, Arthur would do anything to stop him and will aggravate more of his injury or whatever’s happening in his body.

“Alright. What are we doing?” Johnny picked up the notepad and the laptop that Arthur barely gripped when he coughed up blood.

Knowing all of this, Johnny turned his attention to what was Arthur doing before coughing up blood.

It became his way to divert his attention from the damning situation, and his part doing what they need to do.

“Eli-liminating s-s—susp-pects.” His short breaths started to slow down proving his heart calmed down minutes ago.

“You’ve eliminated one out of twenty?” Johnny read the list with the first one with a streaking line across the name.

Arthur inverted the notepad in his hands and Johnny peeked the list under the moonlight.

“I…I- have.”

“How about the others?”

“S-still doing it.” Arthur closed his eyes, and calmed his breathing, deeply breathed and went to the spiritual realm.

Johnny always trusted Arthur’s action. He neither asks nor questions Arthur’s methods and abilities. He hath seen them first-hand when they were but little wee boys.

Michael’s clone gained access to the residence of the fourth person on the list quite quickly.

A small apartment located in the suburbs, with an elm tree standing tall just outside the property.

Beautiful porches and balcony adjacent to the front window of each floor and apartment, and one main doorway to the front and to the back for the exit adorned the place.

The fourth on the list, Jamison R. Pauls, one of the contestants of the Top Cook, lived quietly in the apartment for years.

Criminal past included assault to a police officer, participating in an unorganized riot, and harboring a wanted, international terrorist, Will Jones, nicknamed, Ahriman, and suspected to be one of the founding members of the terrorist group, Abaddon, that strived fear and sowed chaos and destruction using chemical bombs in the late 1980’s.

A person with an European descent and bears a striking resemblance to one American president, Jamison used his looks to gain popularity in the social media game and as one of his hobbies were cooking, one of his so-called fans suggested he entered the competition.

“This would be perfect!” The sudden outburst in the kitchen made Michael jumped with surprise.

Jamison tested his new recipes in the kitchen.

Michael tapped in the physical realm and detected several listening devices in the apartment.

Of course, Pauls was one of the strongest suspect the intelligence agencies has since he has a terrorist-criminal past.

The MI7 and the Interpol got here first, but nonetheless, investigating in person is much faster than these listening devices. Michael thought to himself.

Beside the kitchen was his bedroom, full of posters and pictures of women, maybe some he dated before, but who knows.

Michael manifested invisibly in the physical realm and scanned the pictures for further investigation.

Stocks of doll that were lady-like garnished the other side of his bedroom, and filled his bookshelves.

The typical toy lover? Michael thought.

The books in the lower part of the bookshelves appeared to be untouched, looked like they were only there to cover the truth in the bedroom.

No lines, no creaks on the spines of the books, hard-covered, and decorative.

He went ahead and observed Jamison in the kitchen, and brought back a sample of the stew that he’s been concocting there.

Michael concluded that Pauls was just a typical, ordinary guy with an eerie habit of idolizing women and cartoons, but he felt something strange in the room, but cannot figure out what as of the moment.

There is seriously something wrong with this household, but I’ll get back to this one later.

Michael’s clone teleported back to Arthur and vanished into thin air.

“What was that?” The strong rush of wind surprised Johnny as he searches for the people in the list in Arthur’s laptop.

“N-nothing.” Arthur slowly opened his eyes, adjusted to the darkness in the room, and picked up his pen on the floor.

Jamison Pauls, he slashed his name off of the list, and continued on his investigation with his clones.

“Chief, the kid’s bleeding, but now, his twin’s helping with the investigation. He crossed off another name on the list, it’s a bit blood soaked, so I can’t make out the letters, I’ll get back to you once I cleared that out.” The spy struggled to look into his binoculars, glimpsing creepily in the dead of the night, using only moonlight to see through the room.

No response from the chief.

Michael’s clone soon invaded the personal settlement of the seventh on the list, Carson Hill, a known director.

One of the human’s stains that has the criminal past of alleged rape of a minor, sexual assault of a model, and served only a month in prison, posted bail and didn’t even finish the judge’s order of community service and rehabilitation.

When it comes to children, Michael turns to anger and frustration.

This residence appeared to be large on the outside, but when Michael entered the home, there weren’t any visible large spaces on the inside.

There must be something hidden here. He tried searching for anything that might be used as a lever. He also checked for any contraption.

Thankfully, there was no one home as he was searching.

His clone tapped into the physical realm, and checked places where fingerprints would be all over.

A pen? A book? And… the door knobs.

It’s totally normal to have a functioning pen used all the time, and the door knobs filled with fingerprints were usual as well, but the book…

It bothered Michael.

His eyes squinted on the bookshelf – it was a large one, to boot. Wood made from mahogany, and standing almost seven foot tall, filled with thousands of books, but one stood out due to the fact that it’s only been touched near the spine.

The clone tilted his neck as he approached the bookshelf, ever wondering what contraption is waiting if he turn down the book – mystery drove his reins and excited him more than anything.

This should be good. He thought as he smiled creepily and held down the book.

He heard gears turning, from beneath the floor, the bookshelves parted like the Red Sea and a room illuminated as the covers opened.

What mystery! He smirked as he entered the secret room cautiously. He wouldn’t want a shotgun to his face again.

That was the first time he experienced recoil to his original human body.

What mystery room of shadows disappointed and infuriated Michael so much. Pictures and videos of children’s pornography filled the red-lighted room.

What appeared to be a bed beside the large monitor screen was neatly tucked in at the right side of the room.

“Carson… Grrrrrr…” The carpet absorbed the loud growl Michael let out as he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

Calm down, Michael, let’s do this wisely. We’re now in a civilized age, and justice can be served through local authorities. He stabilized his breathing and teleported a small camera into his hands.

Camera contained a motion detector and will only record once motion was detected in the room.

Michael put the camera in the most hidden place in the room – the open cupboard under the television. The shadow in the room covered the cupboard in most places, and without an LED light from the camera, it cannot be detected.

I’ll make sure you’re brought to the human justice, and when it’s your time to die, I’ll be there to- No, that’s not right. It’s not like Michael to feel the role of punishing this human stain.

Arthur trembled as the clone did, staring deeply at his blood-soaked left hand as did the clone, and the clone looked at his reflection at the television.

His left eye has turned completely white and-

Arthur shook with his eyes wide open, and slammed his blood-soaked hand on his face, with his fingers giving space to his left eye to see through.

“Eon!” He returned to the spiritual realm as he shouted.

Johnny gulped at the sight of Arthur breaking down, but he didn’t move, there’s something about his twin doing that kind of thing but retaining his sanity that made Johnny not touch him.

“Michael, I have woken up.” Another voice from beyond, invisible in both the physical and the spiritual realm called out.

“Get back to your sleep, I do not wish help you out here on Earth.” Michael suspiciously looked around – turning his body and his head into every direction with paranoia in his eyes.

“Come on, I feel your rage, your agony, I will punish the evil, I will eliminate the darkness! I will-“

“SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!” Michael regained himself, and calmed his heart, eliminated all emotions and shut Eon inside.

The two angels warred against each other since the Great Rebellion – the angel of wrath versus the angel of mercy.

One spirit trying to occupy the one body assigned to the both of them.

“You can’t do this to me, you can’t just shut me uppppppppp!” The fleeting voice of Eon inside Michael gave him the peace he needs.

Michael has the upper hand – he learned Eon’s early days that the angel of wrath only comes out when he’s feeling strong emotions.

The power of God can just push back the will of God inside by bottling up his emotions. At least, that’s what has been happening for thousands of years.

Arthur’s breathing has gone back to normal, and he reached out beside Johnny for the towel and wiped off the blood off his hand and face.

He slashed off Carson’s name on the list.

“Not him?” Johnny asked Arthur as he searches for any incriminating events that may involve the nineteen individuals.

“No… I haven’t found any connection to a terrorist group.” He sighed as he closed his eyes once more.

That clone re-emerged in the physical realm and stayed hidden and invisible in the secret room that he kept shut, waiting for Carson to arrive, with a burner phone in his hand – of course, invisible as well.

Soon, the clones began returning to Arthur in the physical realm with their memories in tow.

The third to return was the one assigned on the fifteenth person on the list, Dylan Ward, one of the producers of the Top Cook show that has a criminal record of Extortion and Blackmail, and was known for his racist mouth in the show-business field.

Quite a luxurious home! Michael entered through aerial means in a penthouse located at the heart of London, overlooking the Big Ben, and the city beneath the tower.

Still invisible, he tucked in his wings and replaced his armour with a short white robe, which no one would see, but he only wanted to avoid any detection of movement in the home as security cameras were all over the place.

This penthouse is much more expensive than our home.

Grandiose paintings, art collections, a grand piano, a walk-in closet, and a queen-sized bed, with a two – story library, and a private theatre room inside the library garnished the penthouse in its utmost beauty.

Michael phased through the closed windows, to check any suspicious items in the library and the private theatre room.

The walls brought out the accent of white gold through the posts and the corner-walls.

The room detected motion and turned on the automated candle-lights around the room. The light surprised Michael but he continued his way to the theatre room invisibly.

His steps quietly echoed through the tiled floor, and the candle-lights alerted the motion detectors, and the security cameras LED lights blipped and began recording.

He entered the spiritual realm mirroring the physical realm and he noticed a trail of darkness in the penthouse.

Michael re-emerged in the physical realm and observed the whole room. There were traces of demons all over the place – it was a den of sin.

Two conflicting Spectra, and one Possession, who-

Michael pierced once more on the spiritual realm mirroring the penthouse, and blasted his spiritual light into the space.

“Come out! I know you’re here.” His shout echoed at the empty space- at least that’s what he saw, but not felt.

“My lord, we are here.” The three demons materialized in the spiritual realm.

“Indesiel, angel of images, no… what is your demon name?” Michael called out to the one in the front of the three.

“Caecusian, a spectra, my lord.” He bowed his head with a smirk in his face.

“Behind you, Spekuel, angel of mirages, what is your demon name?” He asked, curling his eyebrow, showing disgust to the fallen.

“Reddon, a spectra, my lord.” He avoided eye contact with Michael.

“And you? Esuriel, angel of appetite?” Michael tilted his head to the other side.

“Desideron, a possession, my lord.” The third avoided eye-contact as well, uncaring, and unmoving.

“You did quite well establishing a home here, sucking the life out of this human scum.” Michael walked around, his irritation clearly vibrated through the spiritual realm.

“Do you wish for us to go, my lord?” Caecusian, the arrogant one, tried to push the limit of Michael.

“Stop calling me that, I’m not your lord.” He emphasized that with a deep, fuming voice.

“I assumed you wanted something since you called us.” Reddon spoke out of turn, and-

SFX: Slap!

“SHUT UP!” Reddon slumped right down to the floor as Caecusian slapped him right in the face.

“I am the more superior Spectra here, and you will respect my territorial authority!” Caecusian gritted his teeth and growled at the face of the other Spectra.

“SILENCE!” Michael sighed heavily and stared sharply with squinted eyes at the three demons.

He turned back from them and began to walk away, face-palmed like he was in a room full of idiots, and sighed once more deeply.

“How can we be of service?” Desideron asked in reverence, continually bowing, and avoiding eye-contact.

Michael inhaled deeply and turn around to face them. “I want to know how the human spends his time.”

“Are you referring to Mr. Dylan Ward?” The Possession spoke and Michael nodded.

“Any lie will cause you a limb.” Michael called forth the power of fire in his hands.

“Yes, my lord.” He only rolled his eyes in the demon’s reverence.

“The human spends his time bringing in female... hmmmmm…” Caecusian tried to find the right modern word as he trailed his thoughts.

“Sexual servers or hosts?” He continued, wondering about the right word still.

“Prostitutes, my lord.” Desideron made a feeble attempt to quell Michael’s irritation.

“Go on.” Michael gave Desideron a chance to speak.

“Yes. Mister Ward also brings little girls here on his… den to…” The demon gulped, he knew the attachment of the captain of the host of heaven to the human children.

“To what?” Michael had a hint of the words the demon was going to speak of next. He had inkling that this place and that person was just that.

“Sexual favors.” Desideron answer confirmed his greatest fear – the abuse of children.

He clenched his fists as he closed his eyes. It was obvious he was trying to calm his heart down.

“At what point where you involved?” Michael questioned the Possession.

Desideron knew that answering that question may mean his destruction, knowing this, he quivered in dread. He gulped and became overcome with panic and horror in his heart.

His silence concerned Michael deeply as he smirked and drew closer. “I said, WHAT. WAS. YOUR. involvement in all of these?”

Every step of Michael quaked the heart of the demon, as he stayed silent, looking everywhere but Michael’s eyes and trying to hide behind the two Spectras.

“I…” Michael inched forward to the demon, but stopped as he blurted out his first word. “I just told the human that no one would know.” He continued, his short breathes were visible to the two demons and the one angel.

Michael sighed and detected no lie from the demon.

“Then, this human is really a depraved one.” He thought heavily as he maintained his presence in the spiritual realm.

“What about his other activities?” He turned his eyes to Caecusian who had been staring blankly at the two.

“Ah! Y-yes.” The demon stuttered answering Michael.

“When he’s alone, he spends his nights abusing what was left of his body through that white powder – he’s been sniffing it all night so that he can sleep.” The Spectra was aware of his territorial subjects.

Michael also noticed the white powder creeping on the carpet underneath the coffee table.

“Drugs…?”

“Sire, there is another demon you can ask about the human’s activity when he’s not here at this place.” Reddon quickly jumped the gun, obviously, there were nothing more that they can tell the power of God, but they need him to get out of there.

“An Obssession?” Michael turned his eyes to the other Spectra.

“Yes, sire, he’s the angel of mutation, Minuel, his demon name, Immuton.” The demon continued bowing and avoiding eye contact.

“Right, thank you for that information, Spekuel.” Reddon heard from Lucifer that Michael still called the demons their angel names.

“No problem, sire.”

“Before I go…” Michael sighed glancing at the three demons. “Esuriel, what was his life like before he became corrupted?” He glared at the one who possessed the human.

“He was physically and verbally abused by his father when he was a child. His mother would only stand and stare at the boy while he whimpered in tears and shake in fear. He only survived this abuse because his father had a heart attack when he was just eight.” The demon described what he saw through the human’s memories.

“He jumped from one foster home to another since he became a trouble-some kid, and someone finally took him under a family, but he became a punching bag until he left the home when he earned a job at twenty-six years of age.”

Michael nodded as he analyzed and created a profile for this human scum.

“Thank you for all your help.”

Michael re-emerged to the physical realm, and teleported to the main security room of the building.

He confirmed with his eyes the recording of the sin of this producer every night.

The angel created copies of the security tapes of the motion detector cameras in the room, and teleported them to a news outlets, to the production company of the producer and to the Metropolitan Police Department in the heart of the city of London.

“This needs to stop now.”

Johnny picked up the news a couple of minutes later through a ping to his smartphone, and through the internet connection in the laptop he’s using.

“Wooooohh… He’s in the list, is this your doing, Arthur?” He watched the live video of the arrest of Dylan Ward from one of his city apartments sleeping with one of the prostitutes.

“Yeahhh… I needed to stop-”