“What does that mean?? Is he going to commit suicide?!” asked Peal.

“In a way, he is,” I answered. “It’s…kind of like an inside joke between us.”

“Not every hunting trip goes well,” I explained. “Sometimes you end up cornered by a demon who’s too smart for you, or too strong to kill in one hit, or both. Once, Knell ended up in a situation like that with me. I was bleeding out, and he’d already lost a lot of body mass…that is to say, if any more colors were torn off of him, he might not be able to put himself back together. But he had to destroy the demon in order to bring back help for me, so he said, “I have to end this”. And he did.

“Since then, that phrase is basically code for, ‘I’m going to eliminate the problem right now, or I’m going to die trying’. Sometimes he says it to be funny, but…I don’t think he’s joking this time.”

“So…he plans to kill Saint Toll?” Peal ventured.

“I guess so.”

“You guys, are you sure we shouldn’t come up with some kind of Plan B??” asked Blare. “He sounded kinda weird when he said that, like he was missing some marbles…even when you’re talking telepathically, you can kinda tell when someone sounds a little off…”

“Maybe whatever he’s going through over there is getting to him…which is all the more reason he’d do something desperate like this,” I said.

“It might make logical sense, though,” said Peal. “Before you got here, I was looking at the employment records in the laboratories…just out of desperation, you know. And I noticed that, over the last month, the zoology lab has been slowly purging all of its staff. A lot of them left for Earth when the Synthesis project got rolling, and since then they’ve just kept disappearing from the payroll.” Her wings were flashing. “At this point, it looks like Saint Toll might be the only one left there.”

“Well…that’s creepy,” said Blare.

“Creepy and suspicious. Obviously, he doesn’t want anyone else, human or angel, to know about whatever he’s doing…which means that he’s the only thing standing between Knell and freedom. If Saint Toll is out of the picture, no one will chase after him if he escapes. The other people who helped put him there probably think he’s dead; he’ll be…I think you call it ‘home free’.”

“So, if this works, it’ll actually end up better than our plan,” I remarked. “If it works.”

“Speakin’ of which, I have to head back,” said Blare. “He said he wanted me to hang around nearby, so he can ‘let me know’ when he needs me to lead him out of that place. Although I have no idea when that’ll be…”

“When it does happen, you can call my number at the Earth facility,” said Peal. “Of course, I won’t be able to answer it…but I have it set up so that my wings notify me whenever that number is called. We’ll head over as soon as possible; I will carry Clarion down to Level 4 myself if I have to.”

“Sure thing, if you’ll just tell me the number…” Blare replied, holding my PC. “…Oh, wait, it’s already here! In Mr. Sunshine’s Contacts, under the name ‘Space Girlfriend’!”

“…I’m in your Contacts??” Peal asked.

“No! I mean, you are, but not by that name!” I glared at Blare. “I gave you that thing so you’d have access to the facility maps, not so you could go through my stuff!”

“Aw, come on. I need something to do while I’m staked out over there. By the way, I just officially changed it to ‘Space Girlfriend’.” She slipped through the door. “See y’all at crunch time!” She yelled from outside.

Peal just smiled at me. I tried not to make eye contact.

“You know, I don’t mind being your ‘Space Girlfriend’,” she said finally. “If ‘girlfriend’ means what I think it means…”

“It does, and you aren’t.”

“But we did go on one date, and you never formally broke up with me afterwards. So, according to Earth customs, doesn’t that mean we’re technically still together?”

“Peal…”

“Okay, we won’t talk about it now…let’s just wait until this is all over. So I can get Knell on my side…I know he’s got you wrapped around his little finger~.”

I just sighed.

Peal sat down next to me again. “…I miss him, too, you know. I never thought I’d be endorsing my own supervisor’s murder, but…whatever Knell is planning, I hope it works out.”

“So do I.”