Don't be cruel River put your little thinking cells to use for your people.I'll get you started. What happened after Beatrice left the OCS? Go.
Ava returns, mysteriously, dropped off at a hospital or just shows up, paralyzed, no halo, maybe no memory of anything that happened to her.
Jillian Salvius is somehow tipped off about her and negotiates to take over her "care." Her reputation took a hit after Adriel, so she's very low-profile right now. She knows Michael is dead, but she sees Ava as a link with him. Mom mode activated. Knowing Ava no longer has the halo, she sees no reason to alert the OCS right away. She's not being cruel: she truly wants Ava to heal completely before she gets swamped again into a life that really wasn't hers. And as she has no memory (or just dreams of the past), best not to mess with her.
The OCS is at loggerheads with the new Pope, who is an angry man at how Adriel was able to fool everyone, almost destroy the Church (and the planet) and plans to erase anything about him, and that includes anything connected, like the OCS. He doesn't believe in them, and with Adriel gone, what could their mission possibly be now.
Salvius might be the Elrond to Superion's Gandalf, and might be who she goes to in order to save or re-organize the OCS. All they have learned, all the threats still out there, they can't lose what they've built because the Pope is a reactionary idiot (who clearly hates women).
Meanwhile, Beatrice has lost her faith. She's been recruited by MI5 (who know of her tactical nun past) as an assassin/spy, but her goal is to be part of a secret group continuing Salvius' work on another arc, to the other side. She's starting to see that these other dimensions aren't populated so much with "demons" or "devils" as alien races, almost all of whom are under the thumb of the one called Reya, who has created multiple races of "monsters" as her armies. These worlds used to overlap, until she brought order and maintains it with an iron fist, so to speak.
A group of scientists working on the new portal is being hunted by Lilith, who doesn't want anyone opening another door. She and Beatrice will be on the wrong end of each other's sticks before they end up working together.
This will, naturally, circle us back to Salvius and the OCS, how the new Pope, by minimizing the dangers out there, is allowing them to flourish, and chaos is only a step away.
The OCS will learn of Ava's return, as she recovers with Jillian (and we learn it was Mary who brought her back: Mary now being an agent for Reya (and more than a match for Lilith). She is also the Halo-bearer.
Beatrice is warned about Ava, and she does her best to be indifferent to the woman who now doesn't remember her; but Ava remembers seeing her face, the last thing she saw, and the "I Love you." She wants to learn more about Beatrice and what they meant to one another, something Beatrice rebuffs, not wanting to be hurt again. Love is weakness and all that.
Beatrice's mission with MI5, the secret group, dovetails with OCS/Salvius and the Pope being behind a growing global movement to attack Reya's realm.
Ava's memories start returning, including her time in the orphanage, and how miserable her young life once was: until she met a group of warrior nuns and one in particular, who helped her find, for a while, purpose and joy. She's also regaining her memories of Reya's realm, that Mary isn't sure she should engage with: she wants to protect her, but also there is a bigger issue that humans aren't ready for yet.
Big finale: many doors are opened to many other worlds, endless parallel realities, including one where all previous halo-bearers still exist (including versions of Superion and Ava) and have their own army. Chaos ensues.
turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
dailybridgerton
amandla
vaporwave
