"Where am I, Wings?" - Asked Lucas, looking at the empty, white area.
A floating display appeared. Lucas was clearly within her ship, but she didn't know where.
Nulli Termini. - The display showed - The Boundless Area. This is the area of the ship that activates when a paradox is being generated and contains both universes. If you are here, it means Wings is using most of its power to prevent the paradox from harming existence until the paradox is somehow undone. It also means the ship will have to remain still for the duration of the paradox.
"I see... Wings... You are magnificent. You know that, right?" - Said Lucas, softly. Her angelic nature was subsumed under her human will for now. She felt it was better that way.
A door appeared.
"You need me to go fix this, then. I see. Hold tight, then, dear. Where is the catgirl, incidentally?"
I sent her to a safe place outside of myself. - Was the display. Unusually... personal. It was also not lost on Lucas.
"I'll fix this, Wings. Promise."
Thank you. - Was the display.
Lucas stepped through...
...only to be greeted by some seven soldiers pointing guns at the entrance Wings had made.
"Hell of a reception, soldiers..." - Said Lucas.
"Who are you?" - Asked a guy in a military uniform that Lucas would identify as belonging to a general if only she had the remotest interest in military hierarchies.
"Name's Lucas. Here to help deal with a paradox thing. You?"
"General Make-peace." - He said.
"...really? General Make-peace? Okay, so, if I ever get a job as a hooker, my name will be Creates Virginity, then. Codename, I take it?"
"Yes." - Said the general, curtly - "Lucas. An angel with a sword that can appear anywhere. I heard about you. We had to... make changes to our policies due to a few of your actions. Likewise, you teleported a former Secretary of State to The Hague."
Lucas smiled.
"...where he was charged for his crimes against humanity seeing as he was now in a place where he could be, yes. Oh, good times. I'm sorry about the inconvenience." - She wasn't - "So, anyways. My ship's holding reality together right now, but it means I've got no ride to go solve whatever it was. I reckon you guys have the means to send me there... So, yeah. I came to help."
"What makes you think we need your help?" - Asked a soldier, still pointing his rifle at the angel.
"Okay, first of all, will you put down the goddamn boomsticks already?" - Asked Lucas.
The general made a gesture and the soldiers lowered their weapons.
"I know where to go. I know how to fix things. And our good general knows who I am." - Said Lucas - "Moreover... I really don't trust you guys not to screw things up."
"What?" - Asked the general.
"Have you seen how you guys run a country once you get to power?" - Asked Lucas.
The general looked at Lucas evenly.
"I heard of you. And you seem to have a particular distaste for dictatorships. I do not like them, either. However, sometimes things we might see as unsavory must be done to..."
Lucas smiled congenially at the general.
"Don't finish that sentence, General. Just don't."
"Regardless..." - Said the general - "You are assuming we are incompetent at running our own operations."
"Yes, but, even assuming you aren't, you still need my help." - Said Lucas - "And... Huh." Lucas was looking at a wall. She knew the houses in those satellite photos.
Lakeside.
Lucas turned around, smiling a very dangerous smile.
Being a military and spying on Lucas's friends.
Not a safe place to be.
"Okay, new plan." - She began, softly, then kept on in a crescendo - "You guys tell me what the FUCK YOU WERE DOING IN LAKESIDE, AND I DON'T CHOP OFF YOUR ARMS ONE BY ONE!"
A soldier went to point his rifle at her again. She quickly made a clean cut on it with her sword, reducing its barrel to scrap.
"What. Were. You. Doing. In. Lakeside?" - Asked Lucas.
Other soldiers were - from a further side of the room - pointing their guns at Lucas. They weren't about to be the first to pull the trigger, though.
"Lucas." - Said the general, meeting her gaze - "We had to watch them to ensure they were not attacked. For their protection. And for that of the world."
Lucas took a look at the blueprints of several pieces of technology on that desk.
"And to get their expertise... You FUCKERS! Who in the hell do you think you're dealing with? They're under MY protection!"
"You are not always here, as shown by the fact that we could spy on them. They need protection from those that would use their powers for evil. Likewise, Lucas, do you think the Brazilian military does not spy on you?"
Lucas glared at the general.
The fate of the world is at stake. - She thought.
She glowed a bit. Her face was utterly calm and serene. The room became dead silent. Not a one soldier was foolish enough to pull the trigger.
"Put down your weapons." - Said Lucas, calmly, the angelic nature in her detached. Right now it was very nearly detached from even things like valuing their lives.
The soldiers did.
The glow subsided.
Show of power. - Thought the general - And it's working. - he finished his thought, somberly.
Lucas's face went back to the usual manic.
"Good boys." - She said, her voice dripping sarcasm - "So. Seems we'll get along just swimmingly. Let's save the world and be done with it. I'm sure you're as anxious to never see my face again as I am to never see yours. And after I'm done, I and the Brazilian Minister of Defense will have a chat, one nicer than the one we just had. It may or not be after I post the blueprints for all of your weapons online. Isn't it fun?"
"And you claim not to be authoritarian." - Said the general, dryly.
"Yeah, with a bunch of milicos going Big Fucking Brother on my friends, who would have thought. Let's just do this already." - Said Lucas, making it clear that, whatever milico (1) meant, it was not a good thing.
"...fine. Come. We'll show you our tech and you'll tell us what you know."
"...fair enough." - Said Lucas.
The two "friends" went to see what they could do.
(1) - Brazilian slur for the military and its personnel during the 1964-1984 dictatorship.
