"Quick question, what are your names?" - Asked Lucas.
"Astra." - Said Astra.
"I'm Bryan. So... Uhm... Who or what are you?" - Asked Bryan.
"Come on, now, my man... I gave you my true name because Lucas is a fairly common name... And because I'm saving your ass, so you won't be that inclined to sell me out... But I'm sure you've got an Internet connection. And you yourself asked if the scar moved... Now, riddle me this." - Said Lucas, flourishing as if preparing the moment - "What do you call an angel that has a moving scar?"
Bryan paused.
"No way..."
"You know, for someone on an alien planet that traveled through space and time, you're strangely skeptical. Yes, Bryan, my man. I exist. And good thing, too, or I'd not have Wings there to get you out of here... BUT! For now, we explore the city. There must be a Starbucks around here somewhere!" - Said Lucas.
"So you're... But that's just... I mean..." - Said Bryan, trying to make sense of what Lucas had implied.
For the fact is Lucas had a bit of Internet fame - as a mythical being, as the Angel of Chaos. An angel-changed that appeared at random places from time to time. Not fighting crime per se, but basically liberating people. While most people said certain countries were more mindful of human and changed rights nowadays due to a plethora of political reasons, a few claimed it was due to one figure, namely the Angel of Chaos, the Angel with the Moving Scar.
Part of that was true. Lucas had, indeed, done a lot to fight tyranny and had a lot of her own brand of fun in the process, but the other political reasons were still present. All of that meant that countries had been quite a bit more democratic of late.
"Yes, just an internet myth. Suuuuure." - Said Lucas, smiling - "Do I look like Bigfoot to you, Bryan, my man? Wait, scrap that, Bigfoot's real, too. He owes me money, actually. Ah well. Aaaaanyways, yes, I'm real."
Anecdotes abounded about her, from the absurd to the even more absurd. The UN and the HRC would deny it, but there were eyewitness reports of former strongmen of small countries all but "appearing" in The Hague wearing chicken suits and other indignancies.
"So... The stories..." - Said Bryan - "The mariachi band incident..."
"Oh, the mariachi band! One of my favorites! I have to show you the footage Wings made of it when we get back! It'll kill ya! Don't let me forget it! Now. Exploring the planet. Ruins of a city, and... Huh. Yeah, those weren't here the last time either..."
Fishing on the sea, manning a small boat, were two clockwork-like dolls.
"Not alive." - Said Astra - "I would... Feel."
"Those antenna are more than just show, then, Astra. Good." - Said Lucas - "You do these detection thingies. I do 'chopping things up'. Bryan, you're on meerkat duty."
"Meerkat duty?" - Asked Bryan.
"Be prepared and give a shout if anything's about to attack us." - Said Lucas - "This planet was uninhabited. It now has, or had cities. So..."
Bureau of Paranormal Investigation
"Computers throughout the world just suffered a magical attack..." - Said Cecilia - "The attack was stopped by one person..."
"Did the attacks involve some code becoming corrupted?" - Asked Hawkins, evenly.
"Yes... Why?" - Asked Cecilia.
"Because, Cecilia, something like a different alphabet would corrupt codes..." - Said Hawkins - "We have to call the brass and tell them to get some programmers."
Cecilia extended her online "awareness" to what Hawkins was reading: A news report on how some people in a small town were now using a different alphabet to write, an alphabet that was from right to left and filled with triangles and circles, and on how it seemed to be slowly spreading.
"I will try and create a program to decode it. If it's worldwide, we have to make preparations..." - Said Cecilia.
"You do that." - Said Hawkins - "I will look into it."
