The woman lay on the ground in tears, ashamed and frightened of those that surrounded her.  She had just been raped, and now the leader of the gang that had done so was readying to kill her.

Some members, disgusted with their actions, looked to the side as the leader rubbed the blade along the traumatised woman’s face; others were delighted in the scene before them.

The leader then rubbed his hand along the woman’s chest, which was only covered by a ripped bra.

The leader picked up the woman and threw her against the wall.

A car’s headlights shone over the alley, and whilst the car did not frighten the gang, the shadow cast on the wall did.

A shadow of a human stood tall, occupying a large portion of the wall.  Coming from the shoulders of the human in the shadow were two large wings that spanned the entire length of the headlights, forming a striking resemblance to that of a cross.

Several of the gang members turned to the source of the shadow in fear.  There was a figure standing there, his head lowered.

“Boss… this guy…” one member pointed out shakily.

“I’m busy!” was the agitated response.  “Get rid of him!”

All members of the gang turned to face this new figure, whilst the leader continued to toy with his victim.

“Zephyr!” another figure called as he approached the alley.

“Yes, Raziel?” the figure, Zephyr, replied calmly.

“You know you can’t reveal your wings to humans!”

“Oh, shut it, Raziel!  It seems this jerk is ignoring us.”  Zephyr nodded his head in the direction of the leader.

“Zephyr!  Do you have to be so combative?”

“Get them!” the leader yelled before again turning to the woman.  The gang advanced, but Zephyr remained motionless.

“Ahh, Zephyr…  It’s seven-on-two…” Raziel pointed out softly.

Zephyr sighed and unfolded his arms, beckoning for the fight to begin.  Three gang members smiled as they withdrew pocket-knives.

“Zephyr…?”  Raziel lost even more confidence as he noticed this.

Two armed gang members charged at Zephyr, blades held high.  Zephyr tilted to the left of one swing and intercepted the second attack with his right hand.

Zephyr held his left hand behind his back as he blocked one member’s attacks and dodged his other opponents.

Raziel was far less headstrong, confronting his enemies in a much more realistic way.  At every opportunity he threw his opponents into each other so as to reduce the number he had to fight at one time.

Zephyr continued to block certain attacks with his one hand and dodge the others.  He moved as he pleased, fully in control of this battle.

He slowly edged towards one side of the alley, surrounded by two armed and two unarmed opponents.

As he approached the wall, he let his left hand slide down to his side whilst his right continued to block attacks.

When one of his opponents came between him and the wall, he raised his left hand across his face.  In the blink of an eye he struck the man forcefully.

The gang member was knocked backwards and turned, slamming face-first into the wall beside him.  He dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Zephyr took this opportunity to begin fighting with both hands.

Raziel, however, wasn’t finding it as easy.  Although only fighting one armed opponent and three all up, he had no opportunities to gain the offensive.  He continued to block and dodge to the best of his ability, patiently awaiting an opportunity to fight back.

The armed opponent stabbed at Raziel’s face, but Raziel leaned back and grabbed his wrist.  He then brought his spare palm to the back of his opponent’s elbow, snapping it on impact.

Now only facing two unarmed opponents, Raziel had a much easier time.

The two armed members stepped back and thrust their knives at Zephyr’s face.  He pulled away and used his hands to push aside the attack, so that both blades came to rest beside his face.  Wrapping his arms around theirs, Zephyr straightened them so that his opponents’ elbows both snapped, rendering them harmless.  He then punched both adversaries in the face, dropping them to the floor.  He swiftly turned and back-handed his last opponent; the man fell to the floor, unconscious.

Now free of all attackers, Zephyr walked over to the leader, who was still taunting his victim.

“Please, don’t kill me!” the woman pleaded.

“I’ve got everything I wanted from you,” the leader smirked, holding his knife high.

Wasting no words, Zephyr grabbed the leader by the back of the throat and rammed his head into the wall, knocking him out as sirens began wailing in the distance.

At the sound of the police, all the conscious members of the gang fled the scene, leaving all the unconscious members at the mercy of the law, the leader inclusive.

The woman, ashamed of her appearance, tried to cover herself.  Zephyr, smiling softly, picked up her dress and handed it to her before diverting his vision away from her.

“Thank you…” she whispered.

Zephyr and Raziel turned and walked slowly away, leaving the woman as she composed herself.

“Pathetic, isn’t it…” Zephyr mused, looking up at the stars as he walked down the path.

“What is?”  Raziel asked.

“We can only predict deaths... That woman was raped… because we didn’t see it coming…  Right now she needs someone to comfort her, but we can’t stay due to our duties…”

“Hey, come on, man, she’s still alive thanks to us!  That ought to be more than enough.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…”

The two walked on, weaving through people as they reflected on their first act of guardianship.  They were, of course, Guardian Angels, members of a select group of warriors sent from Heaven to protect the human race from anything that should come their way.

Zephyr and Raziel were responsible for the prevention of death, and were not authorised to get involved with any other type of sin.  They were, however, allowed to kill sinners on the basis that after death a soul faces Judgement, and then is allowed certain access to Heaven.  It was, however, preferred if they didn’t kill unless absolutely necessary, and under no circumstances could Zephyr or Raziel reveal their angelic abilities to humans.

“Oh my god!  Somebody help him!”  A woman’s gaze was focused on the road ahead of her.  A man was stuck in the middle of traffic, with cars zooming past him.

Zephyr turned.  The man was wincing in pain as he recoiled from being struck by a glancing car.

Zephyr smiled at Raziel, who solemnly shook his head in deterrence.  “They aren’t gonna stop,” Zephyr pointed out, dashing onto the road.

He narrowly dodged a car speeding past him, and soon realised just how hard it was going to be to reach his target without using his abilities.

Timing his jumps, Zephyr made it most of the way when he noticed a large truck approaching.

“Wide load,” Zephyr muttered, “typical.”  Shifting his weight, Zephyr prepared to jump.  When another car passed him, he leapt forward, sliding over the bonnet.  As he did so, the car continued under him, and he rolled onto the roof and into the air; a slight shift of his weight and Zephyr landed on his feet beside the man.

“How are we going to get out of this?” the man asked, in shock.

Zephyr grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the floor.  Turning, he gasped as he realised the truck was less than a metre away; Zephyr threw his legs out and dropped to the floor.  He used his arms to cover his face, and the truck slammed into him, ramming him to the floor.

The truck passed over the two, but Zephyr didn’t pause to admire his luck.  His arms, although burning with pain, were fine, so Zephyr grabbed the man and threw him out of the path of the next car.

Zephyr continued to grab the man and throw him across lanes, waiting for the right moments to jump the lane and resume his task.  By the time he reached the other side, a large crowd had gathered, cheering and applauding his efforts.

Ignoring the crowd, Zephyr turned and weaved through the people, finding Raziel.

“Zephyr, Sixth Avenue, there’s a -”

“I know; I saw it.”

“When you were on the road?” Raziel asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, only reason I was hit by the truck.”

“You’re lucky nobody saw you get hit by it…”

“Let’s go.”

Zephyr and Raziel pushed past the remaining people and ran through the street, making a left at Sixth Avenue.

“Where was it…?” Raziel asked anxiously.

Zephyr scanned the area.  All the houses looked the same in this district.  Zephyr replayed the vision in his mind.  There was a young woman being beaten by her husband.  He then grabbed a knife and proceeded to stab the woman until she died.  It was pretty trivial, but Zephyr took in every detail to try and find an indicator of which house they were in.

“They’re definitely on the left side, but…”  Zephyr trailed off.  He couldn’t find a single detail he could use.

“We can always look through the windows.”

“Heh, we’re the ultimate life-form, Guardian Angels, but we’re looking through windows to try and find our target.”  Still, Zephyr sprinted up the lawn of the first house and peered through the window.  He saw no struggle going on, so he ran to the next house.  Raziel ran up to the end of the street, and together they narrowed out the majority of houses.

Zephyr was just about to dismiss a house when he noticed a knife on a small table.  Recalling his vision, it was indeed where the man had picked up the weapon.

Zephyr lowered himself out of sight, and called out to Raziel.  “Give me your dagger,” he ordered.

Raziel threw his dagger toward Zephyr, who caught it with ease.  Counting down, Zephyr leapt through the glass and rested in a crouching position.  Slowly raising his gaze, Zephyr stared at the man, who was now reaching for the knife.

“I suggest you don’t,” Zephyr growled.

“What the hell!” the man exclaimed.  He dropped the knife in shock, and attempted to run.  Zephyr, taking no steps, merely leapt forth and wrapped his arms around the man’s legs.  The man fell to the floor, and Zephyr grabbed him by the throat.

“I don’t like men who think they can beat women,” Zephyr snarled.  “I’d kill you, but that’s an easy option out of your punishment.”  Zephyr then slammed the man in the gut and winded him.  He left Raziel to watch the unconscious man as the sirens slowly grew louder; having prevented the murder, Zephyr was again free to tour the streets.

“Dude, you’ve gotta stop being so aggressive,” Raziel advised Zephyr.  “Sure, there’s no real consequence for you killing them, but the cops will get involved, and then you will have problems.”

“Don’t worry.  The last thing a criminal wants is to call the police.  We’ll be fine.”

“I guess I have to give you that one…”

“Well, whatever.  I’m hungry, so let’s grab something to eat.”

“And what are we going to pay with?”

“I dunno.  We’ll figure that out when we get there.”  Zephyr headed for the path and began walking towards the shopping district.  Raziel hesitantly followed, but continued asking questions.

“Can’t you see it…?” Zephyr asked in disbelief.

“See what?” Raziel replied.

Zephyr shrugged off confusion and continued walking.  His vision was one of quite a disturbing nature to him.  He was standing with a young girl in front of him.  One bullet was heading straight for the girl, whereas the other was aimed for him.  He watched the bullets slowly wind closer, and his vision had faded just before impact.