Dr. Snip

'Angela, are you awake?' a voice asked persistently, it was a quite comforting voice. It was the sort of voice that you would trust with your life, and she wished it would piss off and let her sleep. She was warm and comfortable and had never been so relaxed in her life, but the voice wouldn't go away. She could smell the universal antiseptic odour of a hospital in her nostrils, so she thought it best to open her eyes to see what was going on.

She was looking up at the concerned face of Doctor Paul Young, the chief Biotech at the B.T.O. Medical centre. Her mouth was dry, but he had anticipated this and pressed a wet sponge to her lips. As he gently squeezed the sponge, the water trickled between her dry lips and cooled her throat as she greedily swallowed it.

Her implant kicked in supplying her with data on her current health status; it appeared that all systems were in the green. Her brain remembered that she was here to have her long desired sub-dermal mesh fitted, and she asked her favourite Doctor how the procedure had gone.

'Everything has gone as planned,' Doc Young replied, 'you should now be impervious to normal projectiles, and edged weapons.'

'Don't worry Doc, I know its limitations, I'll steer clear of Lasers and Monofilament blades if at all possible.' Angel whispered.

'Thanks for all your hard work; I do appreciate it. I would have thought I would feel differently, but my skin still seems the same, why is that?'

'The outer layer of your dermis is unchanged; the nano-bots wove the sub-dermal synthetic mesh just under your skin. It is undetectable, both to normal sight and most detection systems.' Paul replied.

'That will do me, it's mainly for protection in the past, and I should only be coming up against relatively simple weapons.' Angel said.

'Be aware that although your skin is reinforced, it will still hurt like hell if you are cut or shot, it just wont kill you,' he warned.

'Right ho, when can I go home?' She asked with a smile. Paul advised her to have a restful week before returning to full activity. Apart from that, she was free to leave as soon as she felt like it.

She stood up carefully, unmindful of the sheet falling from her naked body, and asked for a mirror. The Doctor waved his hand at the window, which normally gave a breathtaking view of London, as it was in the twenty sixth century. Detecting the precise movements of his fingers, it transformed itself into a mirrored surface.

Angel stared intently at herself; she felt various parts of her body, with particular attention to her breasts, to see if she could feel the mesh. To her relief there seemed to be no trace of it, despite the fact that she knew it was there. Or was it? There was only one way to find out, she picked up a scalpel from a tray by the wall, and taking a deep breath stabbed herself in the arm.

The razor sharp point slid across her skin leaving only a slight scratch.

'Fuck, that stings,' she swore, replacing the scalpel on the tray.

'I did warn you it would hurt' said the Doctor, as he rubbed an antiseptic cream he had standing by onto the scratch, 'but I knew you would have to find out for yourself.'

'Just as well I suppose, it will stop me getting complacent in a fight.' Angel said as she kissed Paul goodbye. She walked into the dressing room, and slipped on a standard B.T.O. coverall. It would have to do until she could get home and spray on a cat suit.

Steve was downtime, pervy bashing as usual, so she had the apartment to herself. She splashed about in her waterfall shower room, washing off the hospital smell. Before she dressed, she set her implant to play a selection of her favourite music. She began to exercise in the nude in her personal gym. Angel had studied all the various Martial Arts, and had eventually chosen to create her own unique version of fighting that more resembled dancing.

To assist in her timing, she often fought to her own internal music provided by the implant in her brain. This practice often threw her opponents completely off their own performance, as she would suddenly burst into song at a favourite piece. This was similar to sitting next to someone who was listening to music on headphones, that only they could hear. When they suddenly start to sing along to the music, they don't realise that they are singing out loud to no apparent accompaniment.

She realised this only to well, Angel never fought fairly, and she fought to win at all costs. During a fight with an instructor the previous year, she had been having her arse handed to her by his superior technique and concentration. She had countered by ripping off her tee shirt, and fighting bare breasted. Her instructor's concentration had disappeared, and the harder he tried to ignore her large firm breasts bouncing about in front of him, the more mistakes he made.

Finally she put him out of his misery, with a flurry of blows that left him unconscious on the floor. When he regained consciousness he came to see her, ' Outstanding Agent Black,' he said as he shook her hand.

'They are aren't they,' she answered with a wicked smile.

Needless to say that she wasn't allowed to use her boost capability during practice bouts, but she had many hidden weapons to call upon if required. She had once been reported for offering sex to an opponent, to distract them during a match; she had been disappointed when the girl had refused. Angel had to exert herself to win that one and she hated exerting herself.

There was a lot of cat in her personality, she was amoral, bi-sexual, and an Alpha female. Over six feet tall, long blond hair, brilliant blue eyes and possessing a muscle builders body with large breasts, she was universally disliked and envied by all her female acquaintances. She had no friends at all, until she had met Steve downtime, and unexpectedly fallen in love with him.

He had been a cop in the twentieth century, and her mission had been to teach him how to use the QT that he had found. She had used the time away from him, to finally get her own personal armour fitted. She had wanted it, ever since she heard that the military had invented it for their special forces.

It had taken two days for the nanobots to weave it just beneath her skin, but she didn't begrudge the time in the least. Since she had been released from the B.T,O, she had spent every possible moment with Steve. He was in the process of setting up his own business, a combination of Private detective agency and Star Chamber.

His main goal was to right wrongs, and punish those who couldn't be punished, in his own unique way. When she had run through a light exercise routine to check that everything was working properly, she again showered and got dressed in her trademark catsuit. She stood in the spray booth, as the catsuit was sprayed evenly onto her perfect and now armoured body. She wondered how Steve was getting on without her.

Steve was sitting at his breakfast table polishing Excalibur. This was the genuine sword of King Arthur that Angel had given him for his birthday, he found the task pleasant and soothing. He was trying to set up a system that would enable ordinary people to contact him, if they needed help with certain problems. He wasn't interested in finding lost property or cats; he needed to protect the children of his time against those that would prey on them.

As Dr. Snip he already struck fear into the hearts of Paedophiles in Britain. However he was well aware that the problem was worldwide, and that he had only scratched the surface of the sick industry. Angel had asked him why he bore such a hatred for child abusers; he had no pat answer for her. His own childhood had been happy and unthreatened, and he had never known if any of his childhood friends had been abused.

Nevertheless his blood boiled when he heard of crimes against children. Getting his hands on a working time machine; was the answer to a life long desire to eradicate this crime from society. With the advantage of hindsight, and the invaluable police files. Steve had been able to go back in time, and stop the perverts from committing their crimes in the first place.

He then ensured that they wouldn't be a threat to children from then on, by castrating them. He would have had no compunction about killing some of them. However his personal code of honour demanded that he first gave them a chance to change their ways, albeit without any balls. So far he hadn't had to revisit any of these people, which was just as well for them.

The problem was that he could only intervene if he knew about the crime in the first instance, and he relied on the police files to target his adversaries. This meant of course that the crimes had already been committed, and all he could do was go back and change what had already happened. He was only too aware that a great percentage of these crimes, never came to light at all. Often they were not known about until the abused child was old enough to press charges, and these were difficult to prove after many years had passed.

Before he concerned himself with child abuse abroad, he wanted to investigate the abuse practiced on children by the clergy of Britain. The main cause of this situation, was the Catholic churches tradition of celibacy for its priests. This seemed to be an un-natural practice, that was the root cause of frustration, in otherwise kind and dedicated men.

He couldn't do anything about church policy, but he certainly could do something about the guilty priests. However he needed victims to come forward and expose these perverts. He had no fear of punishing an innocent man, as he always went to the scene of an alleged attack, to confirm the validity of the victim's accusation.

At the same time, he was trying to plan a strike against organised child porn producers in Thailand, and other foreign parts. His head was thumping, as he thought up various plans only to abandon them when a flaw revealed itself in them. He had thought of sending a letter to all Priests, warning them what would happen to them if they transgressed.

Apart from the magnitude of the task, he realised that a great many Priests were completely innocent of this crime. He would only be insulting them, and losing the high moral ground that he liked to occupy. Fuck it, it's an impossible task he swore to himself. I'd be pissing in the ocean for all the good I would do, trying to stop such a massive conspiracy.

Perhaps I could change Church policy after all, he thought in desperation. I'd need to go to the top man, and convince him to personally intervene. With the aid of his implant, and his QT, he could possibly masquerade as a divine messenger, and order the current Pope to clean house or else. Steve had already used his borrowed technology to impersonate the Devil, when he destroyed a satanic coven.

However he had too much respect for the man, to try and fool him in such a manner. No he felt that he owed it to the man who was Gods voice on Earth, to tell him the truth and ask for his personal help. He went to his wardrobe, to dress himself suitably for his audience with the Pope; he wanted to make a good impression.

Since completing his mission for the world brain, he had reluctantly resigned from the Police force. Steve simply didn't have the time to hold down an ordinary job, and pursue his war on Paedophiles. He could afford to give up his job, due to the fact that he had used his QT to win the National Lottery, and was now financially independent.

In the first flush of excitement at becoming a Millionaire he had bought himself a house out of sight of the general public, a black Bentley saloon car, and a set of expensive clothes. This would be the first time that he had an occasion to dress up in his best clothes, and he took his time about it.

Finally he inspected the result of his efforts in a full-length mirror, it showed a big man with wide powerful shoulders wearing a dinner suit. Very James Bondish, he thought with satisfaction as he checked his expensive shoes for shininess. He had already checked with Merlin, for a window of opportunity to meet the Pope in private. Merlin was the world Brain of the future, it enabled him to use his QT device to travel in time.

It was harder than most people would suspect to meet the Pope, as the man was now eighty one years old. He was surrounded by nursing nuns, and other assistants all of each day, and most of each night. Merlin had located a small time slot, in which the Pope meditated in total privacy, in a small chapel next to his bedroom at three in the morning. This was where Steve planned to speak to him, and tell him the situation regarding Paedophile priests. He would also tell him what he intended to do about it if the Pope didn't clean house.

It was tranquil and cool in the small stone walled chapel, the old man treasured these solitary moments in his hectic life. Even at his age, and with his health failing, the pressures of his office didn't ease. His devoted assistants, attempted to shield him as much as possible from the day-to-day business of running the Juggernaut; that was the Catholic Church.

However he often found himself asking his maker, if he could be allowed to put down this burden, and allow another younger man to face the challenges of the twenty first century. He had seen far too much in his life, it took a lot to surprise him. He was totally surprised however, to see a man appear from thin air directly in front of him, as he sat looking towards the small altar at the far end of the chapel.

'Good evening sir, my name is Steven Steele, and I apologise if I startled you,' said Steve as he stood in front of the Pontiff. The old man looked at him in wonder, and seemed at a loss for words. Steve patiently waited making no threatening moves, he realised that he must seem a strange and frightening sight to an old sick man.

'English, you speak English, fascinating.' the old man said slowly. 'I had hoped you were the answer to a prayer, but I am not ready to believe that Angels would speak to an old Polish man in English.' Steve asked if he could sit, and at the Popes nod, pulled up a chair and sat down a few feet away from him.

'I am only a human being sir; I make no claims of divinity or demonology. I am also known by the appellation of Dr. Snip, I must speak with you of a grave matter concerning a number of your priests.' The old mans head bowed as he took this information aboard, then he raised his head again and looked Steve in the eye. For a moment the years fell away, and Steve could see again the tough no-nonsense Priest that he once was.

'I have heard of your quest Mr. Steele, and if it pleases you to hear it, you have caused consternation, amongst certain groups of clergy.' Said the Pope.

'It would please me sir, if you would personally see to it, that this policy of denial and cover up ceased. Also that these men were brought into the light of day by the Church.' Steve replied.

'Your policy at the moment, seems to be one of removing those guilty of these crimes to other dioceses, and sending them to help groups etc.

Very few if any are defrocked, and sent to jail for their crimes. I feel it only fair to you; and the Church, to give you fair warning. I intend to identify and punish these men myself, if the Church refuses to take responsibility for them.' Having said his piece, Steve sat back and waited for the Pope's answer.

'You seem to be a remarkable man Mr. Steele, and I have no doubt that you could indeed do as you say.

When the newspapers start hearing of priests being castrated by you, then my Church will be shaken, as if Samson himself was pushing over the pillar of trust that these men sully by their actions.' The Pope sat in silence for a while, and then said 'You have my promise that I will concentrate on this problem until it has been corrected.'

Steve breathed a sigh of relief when he heard these words, as he had no idea how to identify the particular priests involved. Once again the magical reputation of Dr. Snip, had worked its charm, and he had gotten the result he had hoped for. Now he wouldn't be tied down for years, single-handedly tracking down these perverts. He could now hopefully leave it to the might of the Catholic Church, to do the job for him.

As he got up ready to leave the Pope asked him to wait a while, 'If you don't mind Mr. Steele, I have been interested in you for a while. Perhaps you could satisfy an old mans curiosity, as to how you manage to achieve such remarkable results.'

'If you treat what I tell you as a confession, then I would have no objection to enlightening you sir,' Steve replied seriously.

'Certainly, what you tell me will stay in my head until I go to my maker,' Mr. Steele.

'OK but please call me Steve.'

'Thank you Steve, and you can call me Charles, as in your language Karol seems to be regarded as a girls name.' At this Steve laughed out loud in surprise, 'For a second there I thought you were going to say that I could call you Johnny,' he chuckled relaxing in this unique mans company.

Suddenly the door to the chapel opened, and the concerned face of an old nun peered in. She had heard Steve's outburst of laughter, coming from a place where she knew her Pope was alone. There was only one entrance to the chapel, and she had been sitting outside it since he had entered it.

There was no way that anyone could enter without her seeing them. Yet she was confronted with the sight of the supreme Pontiff, sitting at ease with a smartly dressed man, who had obviously been laughing at a remark made by him.

'It's quite all right Sister there is nothing to fear, I'm just hearing this young mans confession. Please ensure that we are not disturbed until I emerge.'

Although obviously puzzled, the old nun obeyed her master and quietly shut the door of the chapel on her way out. The old man settled himself comfortably, and asked Steve to commence his story. Steve started at the beginning, and told how he found the QT Device that enabled him to travel in time.

As he was a policeman, he had decided to use its powers to fight the criminals that disgusted him most. The abusers and killers, that preyed on the innocent children of the world. He explained that he had created the fearsome persona of Dr. Snip, to punish these perverts. Whilst preventing them from harming the children; that they had harmed before he intervened.

He then told him about meeting Angel, a time agent from the future, who had been sent back to teach him how to use the device efficiently. They had various adventures together, as Steve learned how best to use the QT, some of which he told to his attentive listener. Finally he told of the World Brain he called Merlin, and the mission he had undertaken to help give mankind the stars.

Throughout his story, the Pontiff sat quietly his old lined face giving nothing of what he thought away. Finally when Steve had finished, he looked at him and whispered

'A time machine, you have the ability to travel to any event in history and see it with your own eyes.' Although it was not said as a question, Steve replied that he could indeed do just that and had done so on many occasions.

The Pope looked at Steve and said 'as a policeman you used this device to fight crimes, what do you think a Priest would use such a device for?' Steve looked the old man in the eye, and said 'I believe it would be very tempting for such a Priest, to travel back in time to see a certain special man; and perhaps to witness certain holy events with his own eyes.'

'Temptation, yes, but to be able to talk to him, and ask his advice on how his Church should proceed, would be a miracle, and one that I would gladly attempt.' The Pope said quietly. Steve sat in stunned silence, what had he got himself into here. To say that things were getting out of control; was one way of putting it. He sat and thought of his options, he had the promise that he had come, for so he could just thank the Pope and leave now.