An NQ-4 Spirit Hawk, one of the UAVs patrolling the exclusion zone, detects an apparition materializing two kilometers from the center of the soul trap. Within 45 seconds, Angel Sarah Garcia is seated in the projector interface. In the control station behind her is her wife, her operator, Mage Maria Garcia. Maria flips the switch to fire up the projector array, and Sarah’s soul is transmitted onto the battlefield.
Her form is a classic winged knight in fantasy-medieval armor, precisely 100 meters tall. The apparition is a glowing dark orb, like a miniature black hole. She captures its attention immediately; Sarah is currently the brightest humanoid soul-signature in the western hemisphere. The orb’s surface becomes less uniform as it transforms into an enormous human eye. That’s good. If it’s focused on watching her, it probably won’t notice the next-nearest souls at the base, home of her physical body and, more importantly, her operator.
Sarah draws her sword and charges at the eye, but her blade passes right through it, barely leaving a ripple in its incorporeal mass. “Fuck.”
She hears the voice of her operator from right behind her. “It’s okay, we’ve got this.” And then in a strangely more cruel tone, “You look beautiful like that.” Something about the way Maria says it is wrong yet familiar. When has Sarah heard those words before? Oh, no, that’s the last thing she should be thinking about. The apparition picks up on her fear and starts changing, features developing until Sarah is staring at an enormous monochrome simulacrum of her father. She can face down monsters from another reality, but she was never able to stand up to him. She can’t do this.
“Shh, I’ve got you,” her operator says, and Sarah can feel Maria’s magic flowing into her mind. She blinks.
An angel is on the battlefield, face to face with a humanoid apparition. “Who is…” she starts to ask.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” her Operator answers calmly. “It’s wearing the face of an abuser from your past, someone who can’t hurt you anymore. What matters is that it’s trying to look like a person, and people can be cut.”
Right. She knows how to do this. Her sword is already in her hands. The apparition raises an arm to try to block her first attack, and she slices off its wrist. Her next thrust is to its center of mass, and it buckles over, bleeding holographic black blood. Her final blow severs its head, and the apparition dissipates.
“Good work. Sensors don’t show any more signatures. Another pair will be on station to relieve us in four minutes. Stand watch until then.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the angel replies. She’s been a good angel.
Sarah mumbles “what happened?” as she wakes up in her quarters. All she knows is that she’s safe, her wife’s arms wrapped around her.
“Typical apparition response. It never even tried to leave the soul trap. You took it out in less than three minutes.” Maria sounds proud.
“I don’t remember…”
“That’s okay, love. There’ll be an official debrief with the general in about an hour, but it’s just a formality. You were perfect, I promise.”