Apostle Baby Daddy Is A Top Shot

CHAPTER 6, THE GATHERING STORM

The bells would not stop. From every steeple and clock tower, from churches long abandoned and chapels that hadn’t opened their doors in decades, their iron throats cried the same note. 

Dominion City trembled beneath the sound, as if the metal itself knew what had awakened.

Yeshua stood at the edge of the river, the morning light bleaching the color from everything. The water ran gold where it caught the reflection of the still-burning tower. 

Beside him, Jessica and Florence watched the skyline flicker between smoke and sunlight. “It’s been ringing for three hours,” Florence whispered. “Why won’t it stop?”

“It’s not a warning,” Yeshua said quietly. “It’s a summons.”

Jessica frowned. “To what?”

He didn’t answer. The mark under his sleeve throbbed once, like a pulse too large for his veins.

Across the river, Dominion Tower was surrounded by barricades and reporters. Screens replayed the night’s eruption in endless loops.

Politicians called for curfews, churches for repentance. The world had seen the Third Sign, and nobody knew what it meant.

Mother Leah watched it all from the cathedral’s cracked balcony. Her candles burned blue in the daylight wind. “Three signs,” she murmured. “Four yet to come.”

She turned to the statue behind the altar, the angel with folded wings. “Guide him, Lord, before zeal devours faith.”

Back by the river, Jessica’s communicator crackled. “Ward here,” she answered.

A distorted male voice came through. “Captain, Dominion Command authorizes retrieval. Target Yael is to be escorted to Haven Base for containment and briefing.”

Florence stiffened. “Containment?”

Yeshua’s eyes narrowed. “You really think you can cage this?”

Jessica held his gaze. “I think the city needs answers before panic turns into war.”

“Then we’ll give them one,” he said, stepping past her toward the bridge.

Florence caught his arm. “Where are you going?”

“To the cathedral. The Dominion began there, it should answer there.”

Jessica sighed, gesturing to her team. “You heard him. We’re walking him in alive.”

The bridge was half-blocked by abandoned cars. The air smelled of oil and incense; someone had scrawled prayers in chalk across the asphalt. Save us from ourselves. The Heir has come.

As they crossed, a crowd formed, hundreds of people pressing forward, phones raised, voices overlapping. “Bless us!”

“Touch my child!”

“Monster!”

Someone threw a bottle. It shattered at Yeshua’s feet. He didn’t flinch. “Back,” Jessica barked, but the mob surged closer.

Florence saw the glow start beneath his sleeve, saw the calm settle over him like armor. “Yeshua, don’t.”

He raised his hand. Light rippled outward, not harsh but gentle, washing through the crowd like warm wind. 

The noise stopped. People dropped to their knees without knowing why. For a moment, the city was silent except for the bells. He lowered his arm. “No more fear,” he said softly. “We have enough of that.”

Florence stared at him, awed, terrified, unable to look away. By noon, the crowd had thinned to whispers. 

News drones circled overhead, their red lenses blinking like watchful eyes. Yeshua, Florence, and Jessica climbed the cracked marble steps of Dominion Cathedral.

The great doors stood open for the first time in years. Dust motes drifted in the sunlight that speared through the roof. 

Inside, the blue flames of Leah’s candles still burned, steady as heartbeats. Mother Leah turned at the sound of footsteps. “So the Tower sends soldiers now,” she said. “And brings me my prodigal with them.”

Jessica inclined her head. “Command requested he be contained. I requested counsel first.”

Leah’s sharp eyes measured her, then softened as they fell on Yeshua. “You look older,” she said.

“I feel older.”

“Age isn’t what makes a shepherd,” Leah replied. “It’s what breaks him.”

He smiled faintly. “Then I’ve been well prepared.”

Florence stepped into the nave, studying the murals that had half-peeled from the walls. “This place feels alive,” she whispered.

“It is,” Leah said. “Every prayer ever spoken here is part of its bones.”

The bells outside shifted tone, deepening. Leah’s head snapped toward the sound. “They’ve changed key. That means the Council is moving.”

Moments later, the cathedral’s side doors opened and the Council entered, six figures wrapped in gray robes, faces shadowed. 

Behind them trailed aides with datapads and armed guards. The lead councilor, the same woman who had questioned Yeshua at the Tower, raised a hand.

“Dominion recognizes the Heir of the Third Sign,” she declared. “And demands an accounting.”

Yeshua met her gaze. “You already know what happened.”

“We know what the cameras recorded,” she said. “We need to know what you heard.”

He hesitated. “A voice. It said the Third Sign is come.”

“Then it spoke true,” Leah said. “But not all voices are from Heaven.”

The Councilwoman’s eyes flicked to Leah. “Old priestess, your caution borders on blasphemy.”

“My caution kept this city alive while your councils built towers,” Leah snapped. “Don’t lecture me about blasphemy when your politics echo the Watcher’s pride.”

Tension crackled like static. Jessica shifted her grip on her spear but stayed silent.

The Councilwoman turned back to Yeshua. “Every miracle destabilizes the city. The populace worships you one minute and riots the next. You must submit to the Dominion’s protection before chaos consumes what faith remains.”

Yeshua looked around the cathedral, the cracked windows, the candles, the frightened faith in Florence’s eyes. “I’ll submit to God,” he said quietly, “not to fear.”

A murmur rippled through the Council. The woman’s tone hardened. “Then you force our hand.”

Leah stepped between them. “You’ll spill holy blood in a sanctuary?”

“We’ll do what must be done,” the woman said. She signaled to the guards. “Seize him.”

Steel boots rang against stone as they moved forward. Yeshua’s mark began to glow. Florence shouted, “Stop!”

Light erupted, blinding and soundless. The guards froze mid-stride. Dust hung in the air like ash. 

Outside, every bell stopped ringing at once. Leah whispered, “He’s reached the Fourth Threshold.”

Jessica exhaled, eyes wide. “And there’s no putting it back.”