Breath in, exhale, hold, squeeze the trigger.

Boom!

A shot rang out in the New York streets as the rifle pressed to Rianne's shoulder shot fire and bucked against her shoulder. She worked the action on her rifle before clicking the safety on. She could see her target through the scope, he lay on the ground his pistol laying feet away. A small hole in the glass of the building and the spider webs spread from it blocking part of her view.

The man was a member of the mob, it was believed he was working with a terror cell. That was the last thing this city needed, the big crime families working with foreign organizations who want to wipe clean everything Rianne held dear.

The call had come that the man had taken hostages following a shake up gone bad. Rianne was close enough to get on scene with her rifle and end the situation before anyone else got hurt. Now she was following the ambulance to a nearby hospital. The department was putting several officers on security while the man was at the hospital. The also wanted an ESU officer on hand due to the terrorist connections. As the first ESU officer on hand, Rianne was the first to hold guard duty.

When they took the man into the surgery Rianne took position outside.

She took no joy in having shot the man who she still had not learned the name for. She was given the order to shoot and complied. Nor did she want the man to die, she had expected it following the shot and had mentally prepared for that there was the chance for her not to have taken another life.

She crossed her arms in front of her midsection, hand blocking her sidearm, and waited.

It was nearing the end of his shift. Most days, he didn't tend to count down the minutes. Especially considering there was this awful tendency whenever he did it for something to go completely fubar, but today he realllly needed this shift to not drag on for longer. He had a date with someone for the first time in he couldn't even remember how long. It was a lovely lass that one of his old university mates had set him up on a blind date. 

He was basically bouncing on his heels when the 10 minute mark got there. One of the nurses turned to him and asked why he looked like he had ants in his pants. "First date. Long time." He rasped, quickly grabbing a large gulp of water. This elicited a chuckle from a few nearby people, who immediately started joking about Mal dating trolls, and them rejecting him because they always looked too much alike. Wise-asses.

Taking one's break at the end of a shift was a really odd experience. Reflecting on this he continued to take sips of water to re-hydrate and scribble at paperwork in the break room until he heard a commotion. "Oh. Nonononono." He mumbled. 

The door swung open, a middle aged Doctor peeking in and grimacing at him. "Your replacement's not here yet Mal, I need you to scrub in for me." He quickly dropped before swiftly turning and moving out of the doorway. As the door swung closed and Mal's jaw hang ajar he caught a glimpse of a gurney blasting past with a lot of padding. And red. Dr Malcom Graves was on his feet faster than people who'd known him in his childhood could have thought possible.

Grabbing fresh gloves after washing his hands and disinfecting he quickly stepped past a female standing near the door way in a guarding position and moved into the operating theater. "What've we got, chief?" He asked briskly, moving into the fray. Damn. Emotions were running high on this one. 

As the doctors had passed Rianne she'd heard them commetning on the status of the man.

"Gunshot wound. Through and through left side of the chest..." And after that it was all doctorese that Rianne couldn't follow.

From where Rianne was positioned she could hear the seemingly frantic movements and speech of the doctors and nurses. They were all working so hard to save the life of a man Rianne had just tried to kill. And now Rianne was standing outside the room to protect all of them. The world is a funny place sometimes.

Apparently the man was the son of a big shot in the mob. The Department was now sending additional officers to position at the entrances to the hospital. Rianne spent the next several minutes listening to the radio. The man was Tony Cirillo. Son of one of the underbosses of one of the cities more notorious crime families. Intel indicates that the family had begun coordinating with a few notable terrorist organizations.

It also turned out that one of the undercover officers who had imbedded himself within the family had reported Tony was a mutant. Power unknown. It was from in family rumor.

Some people could have a pretty good sense for tension. Making comments about knives, and to which degree it can be cut with them. Malcom though, could actually feel the tension in the air as it were. The senior surgeon seemed to know something about this that Malcom didn't, he also felt this tight ball of it in the lobby outside. Something was amiss here, and he wasn't sure what. Was this person someone particularly important.

Quickly realising why nobody had said anything about it, he swatted those thoughts away so he'd not be too distracted. Gunshot wounds could be varying degrees of dangerous and difficult to deal with depending on where they connected, and this one was a doosey. One of the younger of the group, still in their residency seemed a little jumpy, too eager to prove themselves on their first big surgery, not approaching things with a clear head. 

Luckily Mal's senior was pretty experienced and was taking the lead. "Dr Graves grab those forceps, get ready to apply here, hand me that scalpel." He listed off as Malcom got to work making sure that the wound was open enough after the other Doctor made an incision to actually get to work on it. 

It was hard to keep his concentration, because there was a sense of foreboding and anger gathering outside, like a storm. Just what was going on? 

The call came in that a black SUV was now parked outside the hospital. No one had stepped out. Due to current department policy of Terry stops they were just keeping an eye on the vehicle. Depending on who exited the vehicle, if anyone did, they would roll up on the vehicle.

Rianne guessed nothing would happen as long as Tony was in surgery. Once he was stable enough to move though it might get dicey.

A quick scan over the halls. She was looking for anyone who looked out of place. The mob may have already planted someone inside. No one’s body language indicated they were there as either a spotter for the men outside or as someone from the mob behind enemy lines ready to start off the party.

She wondered how the surgery was going. If it went poorly and Tony died not only would it be another death on the ledger against her, but she might just have a crime family out for her if it became known she made the shot.

The doctors might also become targets if they failed to save Tony.

Rianne shook her head. These were not things she should be concerning herself with now. She needed to be focused on the task at hand. Keep an eye out and be ready to respond to any threat.

Malcom really wanted to ask why this was so important, beyond any other normal patient in the building. A younger Doctor might have reacted harshly to that, suggesting that everyone's surgery was of equal importance, but Malcom knew that there were some tricky situations beyond just the individual. He'd also completed his residency under this Doctor, so he trusted his instincts and judgement. 

Daring not distract the lead surgeon, he continued to do his part, making sure that there was enough room for them to work. In a few more moments they'd found the bullet. It was tense situations like this where he found himself reflecting on things, like how alien being hands deep in this much blood would have seemed to him a few years ago. Now his only real concern was whether or not he messed anything up here and put the man at further risk.

Blood, so much blood. "Clamp here." he directed one of the others as he moved his hands, trying very hard to avoid cramping. God, fatigue was a b****. 

After another 20 minutes of intensive work, occasionally having his sweat dabbed by one of the other nurses they seemed to get most of the bleeding arteries under control, the pulse was getting pretty weak though. Malcom quickly started to stitch up the incisions they'd made with the others, moving towards the worst part of trying to save somebodies life. The waiting. 

As the time ticked by more radio chatter rolled in. Another fan had shown up on the opposite side of the hospital. No aggressive moves had been made. Still just vans parked outside.

Rianne was growing restless. As she stood outside the operating room she could feel a fight coming. She felt it coming and knew she couldn't go to retieve a rifle or shotgun from her patrol car. If something happened it would be her sidearm and her powers against whatever huffed and puffed and tried to blow the hospital up.

Eventually the tone of the noise from the operating room changed. The frantic nature of the noise had dulled to more of a murmur. They must be through the thick of it.

Maybe this meant that Tony would survive. Maybe the mob outside wouldn't decide they want Tony back. Maybe she tonight she could go home at the end of her shift and drink a beer and put this all behind her.

Only time would tell.

Malcom and the others in the room surveyed the state of the victim they'd been working on. Quickly coming to the conclusion with one another that they'd done what they could for him so far, they agreed that they would need to monitor his condition closely over the next few hours to make sure that he was going to live through it. Malcom hated hard surgery. Especially after a day of work, he was drenched in sweat and his muscles were completely aching. 

Thinking about nothing now but a glass of something cold and taking his feet off the ground he moved over to dispose of the gloves and make sure he was cleaned thoroughly before moving to the exit with the other Doctor as they pushed open the doors an urgent page began to ping on the elder's waist. He grimaced, glancing at Malcom, only to receive a grim nod in return. His replacement was still not here, and on top of that he'd have to keep an eye on the patient. 

No way he was leaving this to the kids. He turned and moved back over to them, clearing his throat. "Get him into one of the observational rooms, we're going to keep an eye on him until he's out of the woods or..." He left that hanging before a thought struck him. This was a delicate situation. "Make sure it's one of the more private ones. I'll be along in 2 minutes, move." He took on a much more authoritative tone, making the residents quickly skip to it. 

He stepped out into the lobby, glancing again at the women that was standing guard over it and giving her a glance before moving to grab a cup of water and quickly draining it and moving back to her. "Judging by the way you're dressed, I'm assuming you're an officer overseeing the situation, Maam?" he asked politely. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but police officers weren't entirely out of the norm when a shooting was involved. 

The door opened and doctors began to leave. They didn't look like they'd just watched a man die. Just exhausted. Rianne didn't blame them, this whole time she'd spent guarding them they'd spent staring down death.

Eventually one of the doctors joined her by the door.

"Judging by the way you're dressed, I'm assuming you're an officer overseeing the situation, Maam?"

She looked over to him. Distilling his description in cop mode. Mid twenties, 5'11", short brunette hair, hazel eyes, English accent, no visible mutation, scars, or tattoos.

"That's right. I'm officer Hunter." And I shot the man you just saved. "How is Tony?"

Over the radio there was talk about movement around one of the vans. Officer was moving in to talk to the men.

Immediately he had to curb some interest he took in her, picking up on her mixture of emotions. He knew what it felt like to be getting sized up at this point, but was perfectly okay with this. Lots of cops and law types tended to do that to people when they met them. It was like the way that he categorised emotional patterns and injuries that he noted on people when he first met them. Life tended to condition you that way. 

He blinked at her, picking up waves of guilt and nerves bunched together. Okay, so she'd probably been the one to pull the trigger. And she evidently didn't want him dead. Mal quickly resolved that he liked this person. 

"Well, officer Hunter, I'm sorry to tell you that we won't know for quite some time." He gestured a direction and began walking, assuming she'd follow. "We've done what we can for now but only time can tell." He paused to glance at her. "I'm sure this is hard for you, I'm sorry." He added more gently than what he'd said before. 

He'd stopped at a vending machine to quickly grab a drink with caffeine in it and began drinking it. "He'll be moved to a private observation room, I'm about to head over there if you'd like to be near him." 

They won't know for quite some time, that made sense. They've what they could, that just meant time to wait. He was sorry this was hard for Rianne, that was... Wait.

Rianne was all but certain she hadn't been wearing her emotions on her face. The steely cop face is impenetrable when you need it. This doctor must be crazy good at reading people. Or an empath. Not that it made a huge difference right now. Rianne followed him as he spoke. She didn't have to stand immediately outside the door, and if needed she could cross half the hospital in seconds.

"I'll be fine. I did what I had to, and saved the hostages." Saving a group balanced out taking one life, right? Especially when that one is threatening to kill the group. It had to be.

She really needed a drink.

"He'll be moved to a private observation room, I'm about to head over there if you'd like to be near him."

"I have to be near him until I'm relieved. His status warrants someone from ESU watching him."

Outside, the officer was speaking to one of the mob member.

The surprise that registered in her face made him feel a little spike of internal guilt. He didn't advertise his power, he shouldn't have to and he knew he shouldn't. But still, he felt like the woman was in a bit of a tense emotional state, and it might be better to be forthcoming with her about things. "Sorry, I'm an Empath. Can't help it." He admitted to her, hoping she knew exactly what that meant, but then again most cops probably would. 

He didn't argue with her. "I'm sure you did." He agreed sincerely, taking a large gulp of the caffeinated drink. 

Starting to move towards the room, he blinked a few times, turning his head towards her at the last comment. "I thought there was something up. John was practically sweating bullets in there, definitely a good call not to advertise it around the residents though, some of them are just barely getting into this job." Malcom wasn't entirely thrilled with the prospect, but he had a pretty good reign on himself by this point, and chose to exercise that. 

He lead her to the room and gestured towards the doorway. "This is the room, I thought a private room might be better, feeling that something was up." He admitted. He didn't wait for a response before pressing on inside, there was a nurse checking him over, Mal moved over and took a look, grabbing the man's charts and humming to himself. "Hmmm. Not much better, but at least he's not deteriorated", he murmured to himself as two of the younger Doctors in training moved in.

The doctor admitted that he was an empath. "It's fine. Just wasn't expecting it." And it was fine. Mostly. She didn't like the idea of someone being privy to her feelings at the moment, but if the man really couldn't help it there was nothing to be done about it.

Rianne let the the exchange about the hostages die. She would be fine to talk about it eventually. She always was fine later, it was still too soon. She simply smiled in reply.

As they moved again to the room Tony was being moved to the doctor explained that he thought something was up and that he felt it was good they hadn't advertised the truth of the situation. "Protocol was to keep it hush hush..." Rianne trailed off and her hand went to her radio where she turned up the volume of her earpiece. The officer and mobster were shouting and more mobsters were exiting the van. No call that the officers pistol was drawn. "Spooking everyone in the hospital wouldn't help anyone."

The room they moved Tony was a private room. Dr. Empath must be pretty good, he'd picked up on what was going on and made a good decision. Keep Tony away from other patients if the brown stuff hits the fan. She followed the doctor into the room. She shut the door behind her and stood next to it while he went to do his thing.

She overheard him say, "Hmmm. Not much better, but at least he's not deteriorated" That was good to hear. Could be worse.

Again she listened to her radio. Pistol drawn. One mobster was complying with commands. Another mobster was moving around the officer. A third was circling the other way. Another police unit was heading in for backup.

Rianne slowly reached moved her hand to her sidearm and silently popped the buttons to her to the straps. Her level three holster was now a level two.

Malcom picked up on the level of tension that was emanating from the woman and quickly checked on the two younger Doctor's, who were also now in the room with them, looking a little confused at the Officer that had accompanied Malcom into the room, he glanced over the charts one more time and set them down, turning to the two and giving them a reassuring smile. "The best we can do right now is monitor him closely." 

The tension increased quite quickly and Malcom's eyes flashed over to the Officer, her hands were on her holster. He didn't know much about the ways in which the police here operated, but he suspected that her motions weren't good ones when it came to keeping the peace. 

"Uhhhm, Dr Graves?" one of them asked in a shaky voice. Malcom turned his head and followed the kid's gaze, of course lining up with Officer Hunter's gun.

There was a little commotion further up the hallway, at the very edge of his range he could sense a large degree of fear and confusion. He tilted his head towards the Officer, stepping closer and lowering his voice a little. "Unless I'm mistaken, someone not too pleased has gotten inside, and is disconcerting the rest of the staff." He supplied quietly. 

The officers outside and the mobsters worked themselves to a stand still. The officers were unwilling to shoot yet and the mobsters unwilling to comply. While this was going on another call came over the radio. Male, mid thirties, 6'3", well groomed, some kind of tattoo going up his neck had entered the hospital and was stirring up trouble.

In the room Rianne could see that the doctors had noticed her hand working her holster. A moment later Dr. Empath, or Dr. Graves rather, made his way to her.

"Unless I'm mistaken, someone not too pleased has gotten inside, and is disconcerting the rest of the staff."

Rianne nodded to him listening to the radio. "Three men in a standoff with two officers out front. Another believed to be associated is in the building. He hasn't hurt anyone but he is making his anger known." She said quietly

Suddenly her eyes went wide. Shot fired. The officers outside were firing on the first mobster who had appeared to comply. He'd instead been slowly glowing large spikes to fire. One of the officers had been hit in the arm the other's vest had blocked a couple spikes. Immediately after that a call came out that the man in the building had covered his hand in some kind of energy and had used it to burn though a counter when a nurse refused to tell him where Tony was.

Rianned grasped her pistol, rocked it back then forward to release it, and drew her pistol. She brought it up the her chest, the side of the gun pressed to her body with the muzzle down. Her other hand went to the door.

Her feelings from before washed away. She her calm settle in as training took over.

"Everyone stay calm. This is now an active shooter situation."