<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="color: #00FF00">Skyscraper Rooftops</span></span><br/><br/>Despite the unpleasant sensation, like sharp shards of something starting to crawl up her arms from her wrists, Jess smiled a small smile to herself as she noticed the Lurker's own hands starting to boil and burn. Either the doctor had little experience of her kind, or he'd grown rusty from too long dealing only with lost and vulnerable souls. She wrenched her wrists free of his grasp even as he pulled his hand away from her wrists, backing up a little to allow herself a moment as she shook off the lingering effects of his grasp. As she did so, the sleeves of her bodysuit rippled and oozed forwards, flowing over the gashes Julien's claws had left before surrounding them and tightening, applying pressure. It was a function of her suit; to close uninfected wounds, keeping pressure on them while her recuperative abilities did the rest. She could already feel the flesh knitting back together, even as Julien examined his own maimed hands. She spared the doctor a glance, noticing as she did so, that the darkness had faded somewhat, and that the sounds absent a moment before had leaked back into the formerly silent space. “Wow doctor, if I didn’t know better… I’d say you’d just breached another one of your calls of duty,” Jess remarked “isn’t that regarded as battery?”<br/><br/>Julien ignored her. Looking at his hands with morbid fascination. “Interesting,” he muttered, before smirking lightly in her direction “haven’t had this happen before..". That little snippet of information told Jess that the doctor was indeed unfamiliar with the Nephilim. If he'd known a thing about them, he'd have known better than to lay hands on her in the first place- if he'd wanted to avoid a burning anyway. As for what she imagined he might have been planning with that third eye of his- well, that would certainly have been a far nastier surprise for him than her. He'd have ended up meeting The Maker a lot sooner than ever he might plan to. She noticed his ear suddenly twitch, his head lowering to one side- he knew his patient was making a bid for freedom. That wasn't good, it meant the situation was about to escalate again. “Hey, it was battery!” Julien jumped back onto the subject erratically, feigning defeat as he threw his arms up in the air briefly “what are you going to do? Sue me?!” he laughed. The darkness closed in on Jess again; visibility as close to pitch black as ever. “You’re brave for taking me on to protect the girl, my dear. But you’re also a fool.” He announced menacingly, before turning around. Disappearing into the night. Leaving Jess in the maze of darkness he had left behind.<br/><br/>Jess smiled a small smile again, speaking although she knew he hadn't stopped to listen.<span style="font-style: italic">"The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of God greater than human strength,"</span>She remarked in cryptic tones as she assessed the situation. She needed to get out of the darkness Julien had left her as company, and quickly, or get around it, in order to catch up with him before he had time to start another one-to-one with Carly. How best to do that though? She needed the solution quickly. She felt an inward stirring, as though someone- or rather Someone- had just whispered in the ears of her very soul and a piece of scripture came to mind:<span style="font-style: italic"> Walk by faith, not by sight</span>. Flashing a larger grin than her previous small smiles, Jess closed her eyes on the darkness and began to move. Four paces to the 10 o'clock position- yes, that was it, she felt the tip of her boot brush against the edge of the skylight. She went into a crouch, letting her fingers glide across pane and frame as she examined the window. It was still open, exactly as she remembered it. She hooked her legs to the edge, allowing herself to hang suspended head-first into the room again. Remembering the scene when she'd discharged her pistols earlier in the evening. Desk over there, some seats over there, mirror, fireplace... empty floorspace that way and a few metres straight down. Jess released the grip her legs had on the sill, descending headfirst before flipping to land catlike on her feet, on the floor of the office- still with her eyes tight shut. Door at twelve o'clock, seven paces. Jess rose smoothly to her feet and took measured strides forwards. Her questing hand found the door handle. The door was slightly ajar. Jess pulled it swiftly but soundlessly open and stepped out into the corridor. As she felt a change in the ambient atmosphere she opened her eyes. The unnatural darkness was gone, and so too was the supprssion field Julien exuded. She was firing on all cylinders again! Jess allowed herself a few seconds of bouncing on her toes in victory before that inward voice reminded her the job wasn't done yet.<br/><br/><span style="color: #40FF00"><span style="font-weight: bold">Medical Hallways<br/></span></span><br/>She still had to rescue Carly before the Lurker got to her more than he had already! As Jess began to move- this time at speed- she felt that inward voice say something else. Since the Lurker now knew what she was, it wouldn't hurt to be a little more-<span style="font-style: italic"> overt</span>. A steely look came into Jess's eyes as she sped down the corridor; she understood full well what that meant. The Lurker had attempted use of a suppression field, darkness and fear. Well, he wasn't the only one capable of projecting a field designed to weaken an opponent. Darkness gave him shadows to move and hide in- how would he like a little light? H'd tried to find fear- too bad for him; Jess had none he could use, thanks to the life she had led. As she continued to accelerate through the corridors, her outward appearence changed.<br/><br/>She didn't engage in a full transformation- the corridors weren't suited to a 12-foot giantess-but it was time to look a little more the part. Light began to emanate from her- not a pixie-trail of sparkles, but a bright, brilliant light that drove away every darkness it touched. Her hair started to float around her head, as though caught in an unnatural breeze, glowing like a radiant, ruby halo, as her eyes began to blaze. And upon her back, the most significant change of all became apparent. Gradually rising up and fanning out, four huge wings emerged, in an approximate 'X' formation. Wings that slid through the substance of her clothing as though it were not there, or as though they were slightly out of sync with material reality. Wings where every feather, from largest to smallest seemed to be wrought of a different hue or colour of brilliant, pulsating light.<br/><br/>Jess smiled wider than ever as her pinions drifted lazily through the walls of the corridor as she spread her wings to full span. As much as she loved her parkour and free-running, nothing compared to the sensation of taking wing. It really had been too long since last she stretched her wings. A swift, sudden downbeat of her wings accelerated her further, rapidly eating up the distance Julien had put between herself and him. As she rounded the next corner, she saw Julien and Carly ahead in the distance. It looked like Julien hadn't only caught Carly, but was about to use that sinister third eye again! Pausing briefly, Jess placed herself slightly out of sync with the material world. There were a few advantages to doing such a thing: Firstly, when not truly in synch with the material world, when out of sync by a fraction, you enabled yourself to cover much greater distances in a fraction of the time- it was a technique just a step away from true teleportation. Secondly, it allowed you to do so unobserved until you properly reconnected with the material world again. The disadvantage was that the greater percentage of the supernatural war between Heaven and Hell was fought in the supernatural world, but there were always supernatural beings- good or evil- close to the skin of the world without actually being in it, and to constantly de-sync and sync would draw their attention. However, in this instance that point was moot- with the show Julien had already put on tonight, it was safe to assume their attention had already been drawn. With a clap of her wings, Jess shot, unseen, towards the doctor and his wayward charge.<br/><br/>“Carly,” Julien called out “you’re here at a strange hour.” The cat girl’s fur stood up as she plucked up the courage to swing her torso around and gaze at the devil looking down on her. Her ears lowering as her eyes widened. The look alone rooted her to the ground. “I g-g-g-got lost… heh…” Carly forced a laugh, before looking away timidly. “Well…” Julien deliberated, unfolding his arms and walking over to her “can I… help you up?” She screamed as she found herself wrenched by the arm. The force nearly dislocating her elbow from its socket.  The pain was excruciating. Not just from the force but the numbing and deadening sensation that stripped her whole arm from control. Her veins feeling like they were being shredded with growing, malignant thorns. She hung like a writhing rabbit, whimpering and struggling to break free as Julien continued to secure her. “How much do you know?” he demanded “or do I need to find out the hard way?!” The eye within his free left hand was emerging and began to blink sinisterly. Palm slowly reaching out for her forehead.<br/><br/>Suddenly, the entire corrdor was lit up in a glow that put sunlight to shame as Jess synced with material reality again, appearing with the swift suddenness of a bolt of lightning between Julien and Carly, wings flared so that she seemed to fill all the available space with her presence. Her silver-blue eyes locked Julien's with a piercingly keen gaze for a second before she spoke. "Adding assault and intimidation to your list of misdeeds for the evening doctor?" she enquired. Her voice, though still containing the light-hearted tones it had carried earlier that evening, was now almost unrecognisable as it resonated with the authority of Heaven. Her piercing, sweeping gaze took in both Julien's face and his hands before she spoke again. "I believe that all adds up to malpractice doctor- you could lose your licence for that. That isn't the most important thing you could lose tonight though".<br/><br/>As Jess spoke she extended her hands, allowing a blade of brilliant light to appear in each. She brought one to within an inch of the palm of Julien's left hand before she spoke again. "Release the girl Julien," she said, "I think you already know what I hold in my hand- the Sword of the Spirit; no mere material blade but one 'living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow and the thoughts and intentions of the heart'. You already know that you'll burn if you touch my skin, so take a guess what'll happen," Jess said as she purposefully adjusted the blade trained on the Lurker's left hand, "if you get an<span style="font-style: italic">eyeful</span>of this".<br/><br/><span style="color: #40FF00"><span style="font-weight: bold">OOC: </span> </span>Well, that got long again! Hope it works for you Kha? ^^ Assuming these links work, for the sort of wing layout Jess has, see this image:m<a class="postlink" href="http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt99/Tifaret/anime/angel.jpg">http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt99 ... /angel.jpg</a>m<br/>Now just imagine them glowing and seemingly made of light, like this:m<a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RvaQA6Pjj4&amp;hd=1">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RvaQA6Pjj4&amp;hd=1</a>m<br/>But multicoloured rather than just one colour