Adrian nods to the Peacemaker as he arrives, his goggles going up and on his face. "Didn't expect to see you on the scene. Don't know how much help you can be." He answers in his professional tone, though he is frowning, hoping to have answered any questions before they can even be asked. He crooks his thumb towards the Peacemaker. "Since you're here, might as well get your opinion on the scene." He then begins to take a few steps towards the Church, then pauses.


His pace picks up a bit, turning into a quicker stride as he opens the front door to the Church, plodding in. He makes no attempt to disguise the clank of his heavy footsteps, and soon enough, he does infact see the sight he expected to see. Smiling a little bit, and furrowing his brow, Adrian speaks.

"Y'know Officer Phen, your AI is quite the tat-" He then sees Weary, and more pointedly, his pistol. Overwatch snatches up his own, a rather advanced looking piece of technology, and aims it, his voice suddenly raised.

"MCPD! Freeze!"

The Peacemaker followed behind Overwatch as he opened up the doors to the church. He had half-expected something out of a Dan Brown novel, and even without the body there, he knew it was just that; the Latin blood-writing on the wall was the biggest give away.

He did not have time to ponder further, however, as Overwatch's voice shouted out in warning to someone in the room. Seeing two figures in the direction of Overwatch's pointed pistol, one whom was noticeably more bestial, Steinman pulled out his own handgun, a Colt Single Action; He couldn't tell EXACTLY who was the hostile in this scenario, so The Peacemaker just pointed it in their general direction, looking around the church while doing so.

“A few; not the number from defending against the Qularr invasion, but a few recognizable faces among the bunch. I wasn't expecting as much as activity as there was out there.” Darius turned, but still kept an eye on the man's pistol. He did not want him to do anything he would regret. “I know a little bit about Christian symbolism...look around you, and you see a mockery of the most of it. Whoever this is, they have left quite a bit of information. Whether or not it's to throw us off a trail or not...I am not sure.” He briefly looked at where the man was mock crucified. Though the body was no longer there a message remained. “ 'Venio', 'Conor', 'Vincam', 'Resurgnam'. Latin verbs. Something along the lines that who ever did this is coming, will succeed, and rise again. This is not a simple murder; it's a warning., possibly for someone who has done something like this before...”

He looked back at the man, carefully gauging his stance. He seemed neutral for the most part, but he definitely held the air of someone who seemed to be familiar with death. Someone who seeked answers for a living. But the gun in his hand still posed a problem. He needed to convince whoever this was that he was safe. If any one else had seen him armed with the gun--

The doors flung open with Overwatch in his signature silver armor striding in, as though knowing Darius was there. Peacemaker followed suit close behind him.

"Y'know Officer Phen, your AI is quite the tat--" Adrian saw the masked man in front of Darius, and more pointedly, his pistol. He snatched up his own, a rather advanced looking piece of technology, and aimed it, his voice suddenly raised.

"MCPD! Freeze!"

Immediately, Darius reacted. A light around his form briefly shown a visible golden as he held out his palm as some of the light concentrated into it. He let it flow through and around him, as though it were a river. “Don't move,” he ordered in a soft, yet calm and audible voice towards the armed man.

Weary realised that the situation had gotten very bad, very quickly. If they weren't careful, they'd all end up killing each other right here, and the murderer might not get captured. Weary wasn't going to let that happen.

Unfortunately, exactly what he'd hoped wouldn't happen had happened - Overwatch had seen him at the scene. Weary was almost certain that his superior officer didn't know that Detective Alexander O'Keefe was Weary, but the man was intelligent - it was only a matter of time before the man put two and two together.

Nevertheless, Weary made an attempt to defuse the situation.

"Everybody just calm down. I'm putting my gun away," he said, holstering his weapon. "Now, we're all here to investigate this murder. So how about let's let each other go, put away our weapons... and powers," he added, noting the wolf man's light aura.

"I don't want to hurt anyone, and I really don't want to get shot, and if we continue like this, there's a good chance both are going to happen. So, calm the hell down."

Goddamned superheroes, Weary thought.

((

#2316963 Astrosimi wrote:

((Exactly how early is early mass? There seems to be confusion about wether this is night or day.))

Early mass would have been five am, but there would have been an initial finding of the body closer to 3 am. So middle of the night, early morning. Still dark a$$ thirty, if you catch my drift

In other news, we're up to nine people and I hate to say it, but for now, I'm going to have to limit new involvement - unless under special circumstances. If you'd still want to get involved, please PM with your idea on how you want to flow into this. Not trying to be a scourge, but I want to make this work! And with twenty people trying to tug it everywhere, I'm afraid we all might get a tad confused.

The roster will be up below the first post in a few moments, along with some 'rules' (OMG I'm turning into a strict old lady! D: ) Thank you to everyone involved so far, now let's try and push this forward!

~XOXO DD ))

Goddamned superheroes was right. Adrian didn't put his weapon down. But he did get that nagging feeling... the voice. It was one he was relatively familiar with.

"Sir, put down that weapon. You're already disturbing a crime scene, and I'm considering arresting you. If I take your masked face in and I find out you aren't even registered, the situation is going to get worse. Put your weapon on the floor, and your hands in the air."

He did not sound pleased. Amongst those that knew him, it was abundantly clear he detested the way so many tried to run their own investigations, instead of just working with the police.

"Y'know, its like I said to the press. You people don't have to sneak around, goddammit. Walk up to me, on the damn crimescene, and chances are, I'll let you in." His goggles glowed brightly, even in the morning area, and their glow was focused right on the masked assailant.

Yeah. Cops. They don't like it when you try to bend their rules.

Darius felt the light dissipate on its own, fading away into the air. The masked man wasn't going anywhere; he knew that much. Adrian and his officers made sure of that. Still, Adrian was always by the book, and as much as Darius admired that, nothing was ever colored in black or white.

"Y'know, its like I said to the press. You people don't have to sneak around, goddammit. Walk up to me, on the damn crimescene, and chances are, I'll let you in.”

The blue humanoid-wolf sighed. He understood Adrian's argument, but... “I did not think you would appreciate a Meta-S.W.A.T. officer on site of a murder investigation being seen in public; it would have inflated the already large public interest you had gathered outside. Something that, I think you can agree, is already a stressor to this very...strange combination of circumstances.” He turned to the masked man to his side. “As for him, I know your consistencies in sticking to procedure about a crime scene, but sometimes even masked vigilantes have to keep their cover like certain officers do. I wasn't expecting him either, but he's not here to disturb the crime scene, nor is he here to cause a mess. He hasn't touched a thing since I've been here without his notice. He's here to help just as I am. If he wasn't to be reasoned with, do you really think I would have let him keep his gun?”

He stared back at the others with a calm gaze. No accusations or taking sides, simply stating facts. He was an officer himself, of course, but in a situation such as this, he didn't make things happen, he let them flowed as a constant motion. Causing things to polarize abruptly typically erupted in pointless violence.

He gave one final glance to Adrian, waiting to act upon his next orders and hoping that this would not break out into any further shouting or fighting. Hopefully, physical force would not be necessary here, but he waited for Adrian's cue, tilting his head slightly.

Keio pulled up to the mass of people outside the crime scene on his Hayabusa, he glared at the crowd through his helmet. Why was it that murder’s always drew crowds? He hated crowds. He pulled up and parked his bike nearby leaving his helmet on the handle bars, took of the backpack he had and pulled out his goggles. He placed them on his head and walked over to the crowd, sliding through them and eventually immerging at the police tape. He flashed his badge to one of the officers and was allowed through.

Keio made his way to the church, He entered behind the group within the Church, “I miss somethin’?”

"Y'know, its like I said to the press. You people don't have to sneak around, goddammit. Walk up to me, on the damn crimescene, and chances are, I'll let you in." the white armored man offered.

And the blue wolf responded but his last sentence is what decided Marcus “He's here to help just as I am. If he wasn't to be reasoned with, do you really think I would have let him keep his gun?”

So there was some margin there, some tolerance that could be exploited. Marcus took that as his cue and well, walked out of the shadows near the confessionals “This is me walking up to you then, officer. You letting me in?” walking between benches in the groups general direction, both hand raised to show he was unarmed, he was calm incarnate. He still had his eyes closed beneath the thick dark glasses but he could ‘feel & perceive’ all of them. There was some tension but it could be defused quickly enough “I’m sorry for intruding as well” slowly nodding to the other intruder and then to each in turn. There was something about the wolf that juggled is memory but what…? Lowering his hands slowly, as to not alarm anyone he finally smiled in Overwatch direction. “Mr.Larn I believe... I just interrogated the victim, in a way. I thought you might want to know a few things”. Nearing them he stopped, awaiting a verdict. Docile as a kitten. Just then, someone chimed from the front door “I miss something?” the red hair, goggle wearing young man offered. Marcus smile deepened. This place was getting as crowded as outside.

A warp of screams and hisses echoed down the block as a burning orange streak came flying by, people howled and cowered as the flare-like object landed. "Heh, heh, sorry everyone, sorry to frighten." People gave him looks of disgust and annoyance and Inkiddo just rolled his eyes and tried pushing through the crowd to the yellow tape. He was about to go under the yellow tape when the officer placed a hand on his chest.

"Wait, wait, wait, pal. I think we have enough heroes in there doing their thing. How about you go off somewhere else where you're needed, 'kay?" Inkiddo couldn't believe this and looked at the officer and then saw a man walk through.

"Errr, what's his name? Umm, ohh yeah! Keio, Keioseth! Hey could I get a hand here, I can help."

Adrian looks at Darius, pointedly not lowering his pistol at the still unnamed Weary. He taps his ear.

"Darius, why do you think these things were invented?" He sounds immensely irritated that the situation even happened. As Keio arrives, Overwatch gives a nod in his general direction. THEN the OTHER individual arrives, offering his assistance.

"Hey Keio." He then turns to the man with the gun, announcing. "-That- is the way to do it." He motions to Kid Death. "Though, before 'interviewing' our victim in the future, I'd kindly ask that you request to do so through official channels."

His gun never leaving the man yet to comply, Adrian motions for the other heroes to gather a respectful distance away from the crime scene. "Still waiting for those hands, sir." He punctuates this statement by flipping a switch on the pistol.

Weary sighed, and removed his gun from his holster, lowering it to the floor.

"Now, can you please stop pointing that thing at me? You heard the... man... I'm just here investigating."

He raised his hands. There were altogether too many heroes here for his tastes. This was going to get public. Goddamned superheroes. They can't just stick to fighting superhuman threats, they have to meddle in things they can't possibly understand. We're dealing with a human monster here. And I bet it isn't frightened by masks or capes. God-DAMNED superheroes.

((Just pointing out - the victim's body has been removed.))

Adrian lowers the pistol, returning it to his side and making his way over to Weary, snatching the pistol away and taking his hands, then placing his hand on the mans back, lightly begins to push him over to Darius in a non-antagonistic manner. "Watch him."

Finally addressing David, Adrian nods. "A bit. Seems that 'closed off murder scene' translates to 'Club Caprice' in superhero. And I thought I was fluent." He says the last bit lightly, though he turns around to the rest of them that had come, making a point to motion Psionistar to stand besides him. "Now. Can any of you actually provide anything of substance to the investigation, like our friend her claims he can?" Adrian motions to Kid Death, who hopefully complied with the grouping.

((And yes, the Victim's body has been taken away by CSI.))

(( Hey guys...coming at this from a different angle since you guys are so advanced into the crime scene bit. ))

Keio looked at the others then back at Larn, “Well I arrived a little and Larn, you’d be surprised what oddities exist in ‘superhero’ speak. Your comment is mild at best. Anyway, bodies gone, do you have a camera with the crime scene photos so I can take a look?” Keio unzipped his leather riding jacket and adjusted his fingerless gloves.

Weary moved, slowly, and retrieved his Polaroid camera. He didn't want to give it up, but the situation seemed to call for a show of good faith.

"No photos of the body, but I do have crime scene photos. As for your question, Officer... I'm a seasoned detective, and I've dealt with one or two serial killer cases in my time - I was called in to work on the Whiteface case at one point." That much was true, but Weary neglected to mention that he was the detective initially assigned the case - no point in giving up his identity without a fight.

Keio held out his hand to the man with the Polaroid, "Lt. Kyran S. McIlroy. Keio will do just fine though and thanks." He looked at the pictures, "Give me a little context here friend."

Weary made his way, slowly, to where he could see the photos Keio was looking at.

"You'd have to ask Overwatch for details, but there was a priest, crucified here-" Weary pointed to the bloody crucifix on the wall in the photo- "and had his blood used as ink to write those phrases. Latin, someone said. Pieces of his body have been used to... replace the wafers that represent the flesh of Christ. The chalice that is meant to contain wine symbolizing the blood of Christ is filled with what appears to be the priest's blood, although forensics will have to confirm. And the candles - only one is lit. What I think is that that means this killing is the first. Don't quote me on that, though."

Weary stood up straight, and noticed that Overwatch was looking at him carefully. All of a sudden, his mask seemed far too thin.

Adrian motions to Kid Death.

Marcus took a few steps forward to join the now, colorful group. Nodding to Adrian “I’m Marcus” he offers no one in perticular. His voice his low and calm and hides many accents but only the most talented linguist could pinpoint the origins. He goes on looking at each in turn while reciting “After ‘viewing’ the victims last moments, I can explain that later, and the victim’s body I surmise that we are dealing with the first of many, unless we do something about it. There’s a deep feeling of righteousness. Our murderer think what it’s doing is right. The priest deserved it in its mind.”

Turning around and pointing to one confessional in particular “It started over there, the violence I mean. I believe the killer was here a few minutes before, maybe close to the candles, can’t be sure. That part was a bit blurry but they talked before any of this happened”. Turning his head towards Darius “Maybe you can pick up a sent?” he said a little unsure about the wolfman abilities. Looking at Keio and Weary “The body was in bad shape. Big spikes through hands and feets. Shins were bruised and some bones actually broke skin. There was also some carving on the abdomen, wrists, thighs and his manhood. Like patches of skin removed. Indeed, placed over there.” he pointed at the communion plate and waited to see if anyone was about to lose his breakfast. Then he added “And there should be 6 files with pictures on top somewhere over the crucifixion area, unless CSI took them”. Curious about the files himself, Marcus walks closer to the scene to see if they are still there.