The church was surrounded, the police forming a blockade in front of the building as they waited for META backup. Hostage situations were always tricky, but it was even worse when a mutant was involved. Until the META arrived, they were stuck negotiating, and the man inside was making demands fairly quickly, the  usual, money, a vehicle, and whatever else a mentally disturbed individual thinks he can get by holding lives on the line. Even when the meta arrived they wouldn't be able to send them in without risking the civilians inside. An ambulance was on standby as the situation unfolded. 

Eric, or Raziel as he was going by nowadays looked at the scene from a rooftop, taking in the situation. His eyes glowed as he scanned the building, looking at the heat signatures to determine the situation inside. A number of people were lined up along the pews, some crouched down while others prayed. The man walking down the center with a phone in his hand was the hostage taker, the connection from his phone heading out towards the phone mast for this area of the city. "So what do we have on this guy," Raziel asked through his ear piece, the signal heading strait upwards into the atmosphere a satellite somewhere in orbit.

"Not much," came the voice in his ear, "You have to remember most mutants go undetected over there, so not all of them are on record." The Borough kept him up to date with what information they had, but keeping tabs on mutants a continent away came with limitations. Unless it was on record, he was unlikely to get much insight from the local authorities. "So what do you have for me?" he asked, after all, some information was better then none at all. "Jonah Bronter, age 32, he's worked as a pharmacist for the last 10 years."

"Seems a bit drastic for a person with no prior record." Raziel said, "Anything in his private life to set him off?" Generally that was the cause in such cases, mutants were the same as people, push them too far any anyone could snap. "Martine Bronter, his wife, recently deceased, casualty from a stray police bullet during another incident." That would do it, nothing like grief and lack of faith in 'the system' to drive an otherwise normal man to extremes. He shifted through the energy fields, looking for some indication of what the mans powers were. Sometimes mutants had a different energy signature not typical of normal people when they tapped into some other form of energy, showing up as some different color to his vision. Jonah had one, a mass of purple energy, centered in his brain. In his experience this usually pointed to some form of mental ability, lack of a weapon suggested an offensive one. He would have to keep an eye on that.

"Ok, I'm going silent," he said, before taking off the earpiece and tucking it away. Standard procedure, he had to cut communications before engaging, he couldn't be seen communicating with anyone, nor risk someone detecting the comm channel. From here on, he was on his own. 

The gunshots had been loud. Excruciatingly so. Not just make-you-jump-a-little loud, no. It was the kind of loud that one could feel vibrate through their body as it shook the streets.

Juliette had been caught completely off guard by the noise. Her grocery bags weighing heavily in her hands, she glanced around to try and spot where it had come from. They landed on a church across the street.

It was an incredibly regal looking building. The stained glass windows glinted in the harsh sunlight, and the stone steeples were architectural wonders.

Having been raised Jewish but never really sticking to it, Juliette didn't tend to frequent churches. However, there was no telling what could have happened inside that church, and she figured they might need medical assistance.

She dropped her heavy bags on the street and joined an already forming group outside of the building. Most people had run from the noise, but a select few came towards it. She was one.

Juliette pulled open the huge doors and ran inside, unsure of what to expect. What she saw, though, was not what she had in mind.

People lined the pews, their hands on the back of their heads as they wimpered from fear. The perpetrator of the noise stood in one of the isles, the gun in his hands.

Her throat went dry as all heads turned towards her. The man with the gun looked her dead in the eyes as she walked slightly closer. From what she could see, no one had been injured. It was likely just a warning shot. Great, so now she was stuck for nothing.

"Sit down," the man instructed harshly.

Juliette did so, knowing better than to argue at that point. She say with her head down and her eyes straight ahead. It was a good time to attract as little attention as possible.

The man took out his phone and began to talk on it. It sounded like he was making demands of some sort. Juliette was too terrified to listen closely.

What had she gotten herself into?

Raziel watched the situation, and the sudden sound of gunshots clued him into the additional threat. The problem with weapons were they rarely gave off energy for him to view. Now the barrel glowed with heat. Now he would have to watch for both his powers and bullets. His own pistols were in their holsters on his back, and it looked like he may well need them if things went sour. He examined the church for entrances, but it seemed pretty closed off, unless one wanted to follow suite with the woman who had walked right in and into the barrel of a gun. That left the windows, and while he could smash through, it was more likely to risk the civilians safety unless he could disarm his opponent within moments of doing so. With Jonah walking the aisle, that was unlikely. The pulpit was right by the big stain glass window, it would be ideal, but he would have to somehow maneuver Jonah to it. His glowing eyes fell on the phone signal. He smirked a little as an idea struck him. He hit the pressure sensor on his flight harness, and the holographic wings spread out as he leapt into the air, flying over the church. To onlookers it looked like an angel doing a flyover, but Raziel had an objective in mind. He flew at the signal, passing his hand through it. Instantly, the line was cut, and Raziel briefly saw the retreating line as it rushed down the path. He then landed on the steeple, watching and waiting.

"Hello? Hello!?" Jonah said as the negotiator he had been talking to was cut off. He looked at his phone, and saw the signal bars were gone, "Damnit!" he said, holding it up and searching for a reconnection. Of all the worst times to hit a dead zone. He kept his gun in sight of his hostages, so no one would get any ideas, then started down the aisle, occasionally holding his phone up and trying to redial. He would have gone outside, but in the situation even being near the front door was a bad idea. He looked up at the big stain glass window above the pulpit. The stain glass was not see through, meaning no one should be able to take a accurate shot at him through it, and it was the closest to outside he could probably get, so he walked up, still holding the phone aloft as he cursed at the continued denial of service.


Raziel waited until Jonah was behind the pulpit, then leapt into the air, circled, and dove at the window, bracing himself and covering his face with his arms to prevent any cuts. He keyed in on Jonah's position and his gun, smashing through the window. Hostages looked up at the sound, briefly seeing the images of angels fall away as what appeared to be a real winged angel diving through. Jonah looked up just in time to see Raziel, and raised his gun instinctively. Just what Raziel was hoping. He shot out an arm, and griped the barrel of the gun, covering it with his palm as Jonah pulled the trigger again and again. There was a series of bangs, and both figures went tumbling, Raziel rolling over and tearing the gun from Jonah's grip, continuing his tumble out of Jonah's immediate reach before rolling onto his feet. In a swift motion, he removed the clip from the gun and tossed it aside, letting go of the bullets still in his hand where they had stopped after leaving the gun. Raziel quickly positioned himself so that he was between Jonah and the hostages, knowing that he had only disarmed one weapon.

By now Jonah was back on his feet, a little stunned and shocked but unharmed. "Damn it, who do you think you are!?" he said, unfazed by the pair of wings he saw on the man who had just managed to get his gun. Everyone had seen mutants before, the fact that an angel mutant had crashed into the church was just a coincidence. Raziel watched with glowing eyes, keeping his eye on the purple energy. "Time to stand down Jonah." he said calmly and clearly, taking a few steps forward. The fact that he knew his name seemed to faze him a little bit more, but not enough. "Do you think that because you got my gun that you've won? I'm a mutant too!" Jonah said, and Raziel could see the energy in his head become more agitated. He couldn't allow him to take aim at the hostages, so he struck below the belt. "Do you really think this is what Martine wants?" he said. Jonah froze at the mention of his dead wife, first there was shock, he supposed he could have access to a police file, but doubt was there as this guy hadn't issued police commands, and he wasn't wearing any sort of uniform or logo. Still, shock soon gave way to anger, "What do you know?" he said, trying to avoid going further, but his eyes were now locked on Raziel. "Do you think she wants you throwing your life away on her account?" Raziel continued, choosing his words deliberately. He could see confusion in Jonah's eyes. Wants, present tense, as if she was still alive. He could see doubt forming, Jonah was questioning himself, was this actually a real angel? But once again, anger over road his expression, "Shut up? She's DEAD!"

Raziel say the energy spiral out of his mind, forming a bolt before it shot his way. He reacted fast, positioning his hands to intercept it. The energy vanished on contact. In the visible spectrum, nothing had happened. Jonah looked even more confused, but quickly fired another bolt at him. Raziel again intercepted it, continuing forward. Jonah was starting to panic a little, were his powers not working. He started firing them one after another, but Raziel continued forward unfazed. "She says it was an accident, no one wanted her to die." he said. He could see the panic in his face, fear at his words. He was seriously doubting himself now, who was this guy? Had he really talked to her? Raziel could see him panting a bit, rapid use of his powers seemed to be tiring him out. Raziel didn't have to block as much as his attacks slowed. "She want's you to live your life, she is waiting for you, don't mess it up." His attacks stopped, Jonah visibly stunned, and Raziel was close enough. He was faltering, and that was all he needed.

In a quick movement, Raziel thrust his palm upwards into Jonah navel septum, a pressure point, knocking his head up and back. Jonah didn't know what hit him and lost his balance, falling to the side as he lost consciousness.

"Not that I don't emphasis," he said to the unconscious man, "but you still took a bunch of people hostage, lucky for you nobody was hurt." he turned the man over on his stomach and bound his wrists behind him, just in case he regained consciousness. He didn't want him firing off whatever his bolts were in anyones direction. He touched the pressure sensor again, turning off his wings, which faded into nothingness. "Everyone okay?" he yelled back to the piers, though he could see that a number of the hostages were heading for the door, quick on the uptake that their captor was disabled.

Head down and silent seemed to be the best way to attract the least amount of attention as possible. The man walked up and down the aisle, phone in hand. It seemed like he might never get off of it. In fact, nearly everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Juliette could hear her own heartbeat pound in her ears, a steady, pumping rhythm. She had seldom been that terrified in years.

After what felt like an eternity, something happened. The sound of shattering glass was quickly followed by what looked like an angel descending into the crowd. Juliette breathed in sharply as he wrestled the attacker to the ground.

Her view wasn't great from her seat at the back, and she was too terrified to move. From what she could hear, though, it sounded like they were having a conversation while fighting. The 'angel' brought up a name. A woman's name to be specific. It didn't seem like he was just an interfering vigilante. No, he knew too much for that.

"Shut up? She's DEAD!" That much Juliette could make out just fine. So, someone died to set off his anger.

The non-vigilante continued to speak to the aggressor, saying things that clearly set him off. He seemed to slow, not being able to get any hits in to the 'angel'. Finally, the non-vigilante seemed to get in a final blow. It was an incredibly precise shot, hitting directly on a pressure point. No, this was not a vigilante.

The aggressor fell to the ground, unconscious.

>>"Everyone okay?"

Juliette stood up, trying to get a feel for her surroundings. "Who are you?" She asked him, ignoring the fact that most of the other captives were running for the door in a desperate cling to freedom.

Surveying the hostages, Raziel could see no one was bleeding at least, nor were those evacuating limping or showing signs of injury. One woman though addressed him directly, questioning who he was. After making sure Jonah was secure and detained, he went closer. "Nobody of consequence," he said. For all his calm demeanor, Eric enjoyed a bit of the fun and mystery that came with his job, particularly when he got to mess with people, "But for the sake of formality, you can call me Raziel," he said, giving a exaggerated bow as a gentleman greeting a lady. Then he recognized her, the woman who had walked into the church before, a person who apparently ran towards the danger instead of away. Interesting.

"Usually it's a good idea not to run towards the gunshots," he said, not in a condemning or judgemental manner, but as one who found some sort of intrigue about it. His accent was clearly english, and despite having snow white hair, had a face of a man in his mid 20s with brilliant blue eyes. The alias that they assigned to him, in a way suited him, as his physical appearance could entertain the idea of angelic origin, however fabricated it was. "What exactly prompted you to go looking for trouble?" he asked, still in the interested tone. While talking he kept tabs on the doors as people started exiting the church, no doubt the police would come charging in soon, and he planned to be out of there before they could start asking him questions.

The man was like nothing Juliette had ever seen before. He looked almost etherial, with his white hair, bright blue eyes and English accent. It took her a moment to take in his appearance, even though he had dropped the facade of the angel wings.

Juliette felt her face grow warm. Some small part of her had hoped that no one would bring up the fact that she had run into a church after hearing gun shots. It wasn't exactly role-model behaviour. But nonetheless, she had done it, and now 'Raziel', as he called himself, was asking her about it.

"I..." She faltered awkwardly. "I wanted to make sure everyone was alright. I'm a nurse, so I thought I might be able to help," she trailed off, her voice reverberating off of the enormous church walls. She looked back towards Raziel, a somewhat embarrassed expression covering her face.

Raziel gave up a small chuckle, this woman certainly was a rare one. "Commendable," he said with some respect, "But in future I would suggest forming a plan before walking in the front door," he advised, "Even a nurse is no good if she is dead." The last part carried a little more weight in his tone, as the implications were serious, had Jonah been a serial killer or more trigger happy, she could have easily become a casualty.

"I would stay and chat a bit longer, but it seems the authorities have caught wind of the situation," he said, glancing through the open doors at a number of police officers hurrying towards the building, "So unless you'd like a birds eye view of the city, I really must be going." It was as much an invitation as a farewell, he would be more then happy to continue the conversation in the air, but he couldn't stick around without committing to questioning from the police, which would not do at all.

Juliette bowed her head slight, nodding with an understanding laugh. "I'm not usually that reckless. I don't typically do anything like this. I... Don't really know what came over me, to be honest."

>>"I would stay and chat a bit longer, but it seems the authorities have caught wind of the situation, So unless you'd like a birds eye view of the city, I really must be going."

She considered his statement, wondering what he did that made him wary to stay and talk with the police. Technically, Juliette knew that she was supposed to stay and give her statement to the police, but he sounded like he was actually inviting her to fly. She had never been invited to fly before. It wasn't something that most people were able to do, so it seemed a shame to pass up the opportunity.

Her energy level wasn't low, but it definitely wasn't high enough to be able to fly anywhere, which meant she would have to get some. "Sure, that sounds nice. Are you alright to make a detour, though?"

Raziel smiled slyly as the woman surprisingly jumped in on his invitation. Certainly not your ordinary woman, running into danger and now running off with a complete stranger. He supposed his dashing good looks may have something to do with it. Of course she had her own request, and a detour was fine by him as long as it wasn't somewhere that may compromise him. "Of course, within reeason you understand," he said, winking one eye. He saw the first police man enter the building, and was quick to act. "Pardon my impertinence," he said, before scooping Juliette up in his arms and turning to run for the way he had come in, using Juliette's weight to activate the pressure sensor for his wings, making it appear as if they came out on their own accord. The holographic wings spread and Raziel way in the air and dashing through the broken window, even as the police shouted after them. Within a few moments they were above the church, down below the crowd of freed hostages were recovering from their ordeal, a few looking up and pointing, assumably at their angelic rescuer. Raziel looked down, not for them, but shifted his vision to scan for any META in the area, as if they had gotten here they may target him since he was a mutant in the area. Fortuntly it seemed they had not yet arrived on the scene, which was enough for Raziel at the moment.

"How do you like the view," he said to the woman, adjusting his course to take them the 'scenic' route which gave view to some of the New York skyline. He knew his wings wouldn't last anymore then around 8 more minutes, so he mentally counted down, deciding he would land in about 5, allowing him some extra flight time after he dropped off his passenger.

>>"Pardon my impertinence."

Juliette let out a surprised cry as she was scooped off of the ground. She felt her weight be shifted as Raziel carried her out of the building. It was diffent from how she usually flew, since that time she was not in control. It was incredibly unsettling, and she had trouble enjoying the view as she felt her stomach clench.

>>"How do you like the view,"

"Put me down. Now." Juliette instructed, clenching her jaw to keep from screaming. Sure, he had just save her life and the lives of everyone in the church, but that didn't mean she could trust him. Especially if he had reason to avoid the police.

Raziel could feel the woman's tension, though this was understandable given his sudden actions. Still, he couldn't help but poke a little fun at her order. "Sure you don't want me to land first?" he said with a bit of a chuckle in his voice. Still, he circled a nearby roof before descending and put the woman down, deactivating his wings so they could recharge in the mean time. He quickly scanned the view behind him for any META that could be in pursuit, specifically for the scanners they used to detect mutants. He had seen them enough to know what to look for. There didn't seem to be any, he guessed they hadn't arrived on scene yet. He turned back to the woman, and caught a glimpse of an energy signature. It took him a moment, but as he focused in on the specific wavelength, he saw she was drawing in energy from the light around her. So she was a mutant as well. This just got more and more interesting as time went by.

"Kind of rude to accept an invitation then freak out about it," he said teasingly, "Then again, not many people jump into the arms of complete strangers on a whim, so I can let that slide." He wondered what exactly what had prompted her to do that. She obviously must think she can defend herself, which was quite possible given she was a mutant with some sort of energy power. He wondered how much he should let her know, obviously not his real identity, but how much of his cover story should he let on? He was accessing the value, having contacts would give him more resources to work with, and a nurse would have access to medical records that may otherwise be unavailable. He was thinking about the lack of information they had on Jonah, given the nature of some mutations, it was more likely a medical record would take note of pertinent information that could effect treatment. He didn't expect it would be a huge resource, but every little bit helped.

Juliette stood quickly as soon as they touched down on the roof. She had purposely ignored his jab, a little urked by his actions. Her breathing slowed back down to normal, helped by the bright sunlight that she absorbed. She noticed Raziel looking at her as she did, and turned back to him with a slightly quizical look. He shouldn't be able to tell what she was doing since the energy she was absorbing was minimal at most. Then she remembered his abilities, and guessed that it might have something to do with that.

"Well, I didn't think you were going to pick me up!" She inisted upon hearing him, "I assumed that you were going suggesting that I fly alongside you instead of with you!"

Her breath had almost completely steadied as she glanced at him. "Sorry, you just freaked me out a bit," she told him, slightly more calm than before.

"My apologies," said Raziel, with a slight hint or sarcasm as he added, "I didn't know I was supposed to know you could fly yourself." He noted that little tidbit for later, whatever she did with the energy she absorbed included some form of flight.It wasn't that he was planning anything, but he made a habit of remembering details about the people he met for the sake of thoroughness and documentation, he would after all have to make a report of the happenings of today to HQ, and details such as this would be useful in that report.

"Sorry, you just freaked me out a bit,"

"Well, I did warn you," he said as a matter of factly. Not that he hadn't enjoyed it all the same, but she was making the assumption that he knew everything about her abilities. Not that he hadn't given that impression in his little act, if he had been watching someone who apparently knew personal details about someone else, the thought my cross his mind if not for his training. Still, she was assuming a bit much.

"So your also a mutant," he said, acting as if this was the first he had heard of it even though he had figured it out a few moments ago, "Were you thinking you could take on that guy?" he questioned. For all he knew she could, though in his experience, civilians, even with powers, generally lacked the experience. Jonah was an example, he was reliant on powers and his gun to control the situation, but once those were no longer an option for him he had no physical training to fall back on. If he had been a trained fighter, it would have made it much more difficult for him to take him down.

Juliette narrowed her eyes at Raziel. Was he seriously giving her this amount of attitude? After he had just picked her up without asking and flown her across the city? "You couldn't have known, but you could have asked. Or specified that you were going to carry me." She shook her head at him, beginning to like him less and less.

"No, I didn't think I could take him on," Juliette told him, a hint of aggression in her voice. Her hackles had already been raised, and he wasn't exactly helping himself with the way he spoke to her. She didn't take well to condescension. "I just wanted to see if I could help. I didn't realize how bad the situation was. I'm not stupid enough to take on a man with a gun alone. Or to pick up random strangers without asking first and then fly away."

In a huff, she turned away, getting ready to leave the rooftop. She judged that she had about enough energy to make it down safely, since there was no way she was going to get back in the arms of the arrogant man behind her. No way whatsoever.

She changed form quickly, and stepped off the edge, floating safely back to the ground. Once down, she changed back and glanced up at the building before walking towards an alleyway.

It was obvious the woman had completely changed her mind about holding any type of conversation with him. Oh well, win a few lose a few. He wasn't going to make her stay if she didn't want to, the only reason he had taken her along was because she expressed interest, if that was gone now, it was no loss on his part. He just watched as she took off, scanning the energy waves she gave off as she flew down to the streets. After that he took his ear piece out and put it back in his ears. "This is Raziel, target has been neutralized," he said as he turned it on.

"Took you a while to go live again, any trouble?" came the voice on the other end. "No, just picked up a passenger after." he replied, "Maybe you can get me some info on nurses in the local hospitals," he continued, giving the woman's description and the powers she had displayed for their information gathering. "Give us a few days and we'll have a name for you." said the voice. "In the mean time you can look into an unsolved case file we've come across."

"Anything big? asked Raziel, a bit interested in a case the local apparently couldn't handle. "Unknown as of yet, a local mauling, a few people hospitalized. Wounds suggest some sort of animal attack, but accounts from the victims say it was a mutant. Some sort of werewolf."

"I'm sorely tempted to make a few 'American Werewolf in London' jokes here," he said with a bit of a laugh. "So who are the victims?" he asked, listening as HQ filled him in on the details they had discovered.