Gavin stood outside and within the shadow of Silas's mansion. Specifically, he was standing outside the large gates that would normally have closed off the decorated outer walls surrounding the large building itself. However for now both were open, as Diana was still inside. The sun had already set five hours ago and the only light came from the cresent-shaped moon.
Gavin just finished pulling both of his leather gloves on. He then proceeded to double-check that the chain wrapped across his chest was done so tight.
He looked over to the mansion, waiting for Diana and whoever else that may have opted to join the mission, appear.

Diana quietly exited the mansion, walking over to wear Gavin stood. The sound of gravel under her shoes seemed to echo through the night, the air tense and ominous. There were no sword sheathes attached to her back, but there was a slight lump in her leather jacket. Diana thought that a gun would be more appropriate for what they were doing. 

"I told Temperance and Avalon to stay, Kitty would kill me if she found out I let her daughter go snooping around."

Jaya folded in her angelic wings at the gates of the mansion, looking up at it with some wonder. It was an impressive home and she had never been here before. Before her she saw Gavin and Diana, forcing a smile between them.

"So, what're we doing?"

Gavin nodded to Diana in acknowledgement before turning to Jaya.
"We're headed to the scene of the attack. A small grocery store a few blocks from the KI. The police officer said there was CCTV evidence, I'd like to see it myself. And if there's anything else we could gather."
He motioned for the two to follow him. He walked away from the front of the mansion and stopped next to a gold-plated four wheeler - a civilian version of the Warthog army jeep used be the UNSC. On the back, the machine gun turret was replaced by four seats situated at each side, facing each other.
"Managed to convince Silas to borrow me this, lets try not to scratch it though. So lets try not start a fight if anything happens." Gavin said as he got into the driver's seat.

Diana climbed up next to him, sitting in the passenger seat and casting a worried glance back at Jaya. "Dont do that. I know that look." A frown tugged at Diana's lips. "Your mother regularly has that look." 

Diana ran a hand through her snowy blonde hair, turning forward but still speaking to Jaya softly. "Its okay to show that you're upset."

Jaya nodded and followed silently, sitting in the passenger seat with her head down. There was so much going through her mind right now. Her academy was being halted, her students arrested and victimised. And the nightmares...

She looked up when Diana spoke to her.
"Had that look..." She replied grimly, before shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to expressing myself. Had no one to talk to for..." A slight pause came as her memories flooded back from the dark times. "Forever."

Gavin hit the ignition on the Hog and steered the vehicle out of the designated parking area. Traffic shouldn't be too bad at this time, so it wouldn't take long to get there.
As he was driving, he looked at the top rear view mirror back at Jaya. It was obvious that she wasn't in the best of moods. Depressed, sad. He'd been there before. And he knew how hard it was to hide.

"Look, I know the kinda stuff you're going through. I know it's difficult. But whatever happens, just know we'll get to the bottom of this. One way or another, we'll uncover enough evidence to use against ONI, or whoever the hell is doing this."
He paused, thinking of something more to say.
"Your efforts won't go to waste okay? I promise you. Whatever you did here will always be remembered." And that was all he could manage. And the only sound left was that of the Hog's engine.

Diana's face darkened for a moment, a flicker of emotion running across her eyes. Denial. "She isn't dead." She whispered, her hands clenching into fists. "She had to have had a back up plan." This was the reason Diana was not like Jaya, she was fooling herself into believing her sister would come back. 

Diana coughed and the darkness disappeared, her hand reaching back and grabbing Jaya's to give it a squeeze. "I know you don't know me very well, but you're family. I'm always here to talk." She gave Jaya a slightly sad smile. "I understand more than you know."

"Thank you," Jaya sighed with a slight smile, looking at the two of them. "Both of you." She had never had anyone there for her before, not even her parents who she couldn't spend time with after he release from the Starforger. Her mother was dead, no matter what Diana said, and her father was too busy...

Too busy doing his job?

She decided not to dwell on it now, instead looking ahead at the road. For now their priority was figuring out what ONI were doing.

After a few minutes, Gavin slowed down slightly but didn't stop. Slowly, they passed a large detached store, the front of which had an empty car park. The store itself was destroyed. The roof had partially collapsed and every single window had either shattered or cracked. There were burnt marks all over the building and even some of the car park was visibly affected.
"So this is it then.." Gavin said as he examined the scene. He turned into the car park, slowly approaching one of the parking spaces nearer to the store.

"Damn." Diana cursed quietly when Gavin parked and she got out of the car. There were still lingering chemo signals of fear and paranoia underneath the scent of ash from the fire. 

"This looks really bad."

Jaya went silent again, lowering her gaze to avoid looking at the devastation. Her arms crossed once more tightly. Already she was starting to regret coming along, especially when she could have sent another one of her Knights. Maybe they could stomach this, but she felt she could not.

Gavin exited the vehicle and began the short walk to the entrance of the store, or what was left of it. Of course, there was nothing there to obstruct him from entering anymore. The glass automatic doors that had once been there were shattered and their frames weakened to the point of being forcefully bent outwards due to the force of the blast. This offered a space enough for a person at a time to step through.
Gavin looked back at the other two. He then focused on Diana and beckoned her to follow with his hand and then looked at Jaya.
"Hey, are you coming or do you think you'll be better off out here?" He asked, noticing her posture.

Diana wrapped an arm around Jaya's shoulders, ducking her head down and speaking quietly to the girl. "Its alright if you prefer to stay out here, I'll even stay with you if you'd like." 

She gently gave Jaya's shoulders a squeeze, giving her a reassuring smile. "I know this is a lot. But you arent alone."

Jaya paused for a moment to think. Her mind dwelled on her parents. Both of them had been so strong. They had defended the Earth and the Galaxy so many times without letting fear get to them. Why was she so unlike them? Was this was Blightslayer's purge did? Maybe being a Phoenix was better after all...

Shaking her head to snap out of her thoughts, she focused on Gavin and Diana.
"No, I can do this." She nodded, moving forwards with them.

[size=30]"Splendid" Gavin said almost exaggeratively as he disappeared into the store.[/size]
[size=30]The inside of the store was even more of a mess; shelves were either outright destroyed, burnt or toppled over. Groceries had been reduced to dust and ashes almost entirely and the walls and ceiling were covered in soot and dried blood. There were similar markings on the floor and fewer on the ceiling. A few wires were hanging down from destroyed portions on the overhead ceiling.[/size]
[size=30]"Damn," was all Gavin managed as he moved further in.[/size]

"Multiple different blood types. There were a great deal of casualties." Diana remarked when she sniffed the air, a frown on her face.  

"Explosives were definitely used here. "

As Jaya entered the scene of death and destruction she began to understand the problem. Her parents were Demon and Vampire, beings of darkness that thrived on blood and departed souls. Ever since her purging she had been an Angel. Angels were beings of light and life, and so such places as the one she was stood in effected her. More powerful Angels learned to cope with the weakness, but Jaya was not one such Angel.

Nevertheless she maintained her position, examining the scene reluctantly.
"Maybe we should gather some evidence for the Knights to analyse. Might give us some leads."

"The police officer said they had CCTV evidence. I wonder if there's anything left over.." Gavin said in response to Jaya.
He looked about, searching for the security room.
As he searched the sound of a soft thud, like boots against concrete emitted from outside. However the sound was low enough to be dismissed entirely by those who were not particularly refined or advanced in their sense of hearing.
Gavin himself paused only for half a second before carying on walking around.

"Yeah," Jaya nodded at Gavin's point about the CCTV, moving forward with him to look for the security room. She didn't stop until Diana told them to. "What's wrong?" Her eyes dotted about for a moment, scanning for what might be causing her aunt to be so cautious. Nothing seemed obviously here.

"Someone's here?" Jaya raised her eyebrows at Diana, having not heard the sound herself and therefore unaware of it.

Gavin stopped dead as soon as Diana had told them to. Her tone made him realise instantly that she knew something they didn't. Did she see something?
He unwrapped his chain and let it fall to the floor, the sound of it echoing throughout the entire building. His hand still grasped one end and kept part of it suspended above the pile. His eyes turned yellow as his eyeballs began to burn up and replace with small balls of fiery energy.
"You see something?" He asked, his voice now slightly distorted.

Suddenly, the sound of glass breaking was heard from the skylight above, and then the soft squelching of flesh as a sniper round penetrated Diana's upper chest. Three more shots came through in the same manner, impacting her lower chest, right shoulder and abdomen. The bullets each left their mark as well; as soon as each had impacted, they exploded and released a total of 40ml of dead human blood into her body.

The first shot stunned Diana, the blonde looking down at her chest if puzzled. Then the second shot made her stumble back. The third made her body jerk around and the fourth floored her. Diana was out like a light, a pool of blood starting to form beneath her unconscious body. It didn't seem like any of the wounds were healing and she was growing pale at an alarming rate. Diana needed immediate medical attention.

Or she would die.

Jaya stayed tense as she tried to figure out what Diana had seen or heard. However when the sniper shots rang out she half-screamed, falling back from the sight of her aunt being shot. For a few seconds her ears rung from the sound and fear gripped her, but the realization that her aunt was dying snapped her back to reality.

Revealing her wings from within her back, Jaya crawl forward to grab ahold of Diana and try pull her back out of the view of the skylight. At the same time her left wing stretched over to cover them from above, it's divine magic strengthening the feathers to hopefully prevent another shot. 

If successful in retrieving her aunt, she'd begin channeling holy energy into her; albeit it at a slow rate. Her powers as an angel were weak as they were, and being tortured for so long had worsened them even more.

The sound of sniper shots had Gavin snapping his attention upwards to their point of entry.
"Get clear!" he shouted, but it was too late. The sound of Diana's body dropping caught his attention and soon Jaya rushed to tend to her.
"No.. NO!" Panic had overwhelmed him immediately, but with it also came an abundance of rage. His skin began to blister and burn off as heat built up beneath it. Eventually flames broke out from under the flesh and ate away at whatever flesh and muscle was left on his head and body.
The Ghost Rider quickly rushed to the center, hoping to draw attention if the shooter had Jaya in their sights. Against the dark sky, he could hardly make out a silhouette that seemed to be handling a large rifle. Quickly, the Ghost Rider threw up a wall of fire aimed at the attacker, but whoever it was moved fast. The Ghost Rider caught a brief glimpse of the illuminated figure as it moved away from the attack, disappearing out of sight.
Whoever it was had stood themselves on a large vent shaft towering a meter over the skylight.

His attention then switched to Diana, and the panic and worry began to return to his chest.