Summary: Angel finds true love and is willing to risk all, even his life, for her. Rated: R (due to some coarse language, graphic violence and implied sex) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Angel's Halo by Billy "So, how do I look?" The man quietly gazed at himself in the mirror. The reflection that looked back was extremely well dressed. From the looks of him, one never would be able to tell that he was a mutant. "Well, to quote the poet Edgar Allan Poe, 'All that we see or seem, Is but a dream within a dream." "Hank, would you like to say that in English for those of us who don't speak oddball?" "You look spiffy, Warren. You should learn to stop worrying all the time." Angel took one more look at himself to make sure everything was still fine. He still couldn't believe the great job Beast did of tying down his wings and covering up his blue skin. With any luck, the girls might just think that his shoulders were as broad as a football players! "I know. You'd think that Xavier would give us some more time off considering how often we save the world. How am I supposed to get a date when we have no free time." "All the more reason to make good use of the time we do have." With that, Hank took a leap out the window and swung to the ground from a nearby tree branch. "We do have a door Hank. We aren't trying to draw too much attention to ourselves tonight, remember?" "Sorry, I guess it slipped my mind" "It's OK. Well, we should hurry up. Bobby isn't going to wait in the garage forever." The sound of screeching tires alerted them that they had already taken too long getting ready. "It looks like we have one less person in our car pool tonight." Warren bolted from the room to meet Hank in the garage so that they could catch up with Bobby and paint the town red. After a short chase, not to mention a half dozen of Angel's 'shortcuts' through the woods, he and Beast managed to find Drake's coupe parked in the lot of a sports bar on the edge of town. Warren's ruby red Ferrari drew enough attention even if there wasn't a big blue beast hanging on for dear life in the passenger's seat. As soon as they came to a screeching halt, they both jumped over the doors of the convertible and ran into the bar. After running into the lobby, Beast's feet went right out from under him and he somersaulted back on to the floor. "I thought you guys would never show up. Hey Hank, how'd you like my ice slide?" Bobby said with a sly grin on his face. "Bobby, do you ever get tired of pulling these little pranks?" Warren said, obviously annoyed. "No." "Damn it, Bobby. Can we at least have one night where we can be normal?" The three of them slowly left the lobby and walked into the bar. Behind them, another person fell on the ice slide that was left on the ground. Drake couldn't help but chuckle as he heard the poor fellow hit the ground with a thud. Angel slowly shook his head disapprovingly. "Well Bobby, that makes three games in a row." Beast laughed to himself. "Care to make it four?" Iceman rested his weight on his pool cue, distraught with his poor performance. "Might as well. You can break this time." Hank took his place at the head of the table while Bobby racked up the balls yet again. Beast looked smugly down at Ice as he set up for his shot. "Watch this." Beast took a step back and put the cue behind his back. In one powerful poke, the white ball flew up into the air and landed in the middle of the triangle. All three of the corner balls drifted into the pockets as the rest of the balls scattered around the table. Bobby could only get one word out of his mouth. "WHAT?!?" "Physics my dear friend. You should study it sometime." "Just shoot, furball." Beast lined up his next shot and drew back the cue. As it sprung forward, Bobby slyly let out an ice beam that froze the ball solidly to the table. As Beast's cue hit the ice ball, the cue gave way and snapped into two clean pieces. Angel looked back down at his beer from the bar. 'This is going to be a long night.' he thought to himself. "Give me another one.." Angel mused to the bartender. "You know, that girl over there has been checking you out all night." Angel quickly swung around to look at this girl. He turned back around even quicker to once again face the bartender. "Make that two beers." Once his order was ready, Angel slowly stood up and walked towards the girl in the corner. He stopped by the pool table that Iceman and Beast were playing at. "Hank, do you think you can get a ride home with Bobby tonight?" "Sure Warren, why?" Angel looked over his shoulder at the girl who was still checking him out. Beast just chuckled and nodded his head. Iceman's reaction was slightly different. "WHAT?!? Why is everyone getting lucky tonight except for me? You'd better not screw this one up Warren. That girl's a goddess!" Angel had to agree with him there. She did look like a goddess. Another glance at her confirmed that. She had shoulder length brown hair and a face that looked like it was carved by master artists. The tight red dress she had on revealed her curves and he was more than happy with them. She looked to be no more than early 20's. Angel once again picked up the glasses and continued his walk over to her table. "Can I sit down?" "Sure." she said. Being this close to her allowed him to see her deep green eyes. Her smile was warm and inviting and he knew he was welcome. "My name's Warren. I saw you from the bar and decided to buy you a drink." "Gee thanks. My name's Anna. Anna Hayes. I've been watching you all night. I hoped that you would come over and talk." Out of the corner of his eye, Warren saw Beast and Iceman get up to leave, obviously amused by Warren's attempts at charming the young girl. They talked late into the night until they were the last two in the bar that night. At around 2:00am, the bartender came up to them. "Closing time, lovebirds. Time to go." Only now did he realize how late it had gotten...and how close he had gotten to Anna. "Well, do you need a ride home?" Warren asked her quietly. "That would be great." The two walked to the parking lot, Angel's arm wrapped tightly around her shoulder. He opened the door to his car for her and then hoped in the other side. Within minutes, they arrived at her apartment. "Are you going to be heading home now too?" she asked after he kissed her goodnight. "Yeah. I hope I don't wake up the others when I come in. It is awfully late." "Why don't you spend the night here? I'm sure we can find something to do all night..." She unlocked the door to her room and showed Warren in. He heard the door close behind him and the latch click afterwards. She jumped onto the bed as Angel stood taking off his jacket. "Anna, there's something I have to show you." Warren slowly unbuttoned his shirt and placed it on top of his jacket. She couldn't help but stare as he showed off his impressive wingspan. It also revealed his unpainted blue skin but Anna was concentrating on the mighty wings that were hidden throughout the whole night. "I hope this doesn't change anything with us." "Are you kidding? How shallow do you think I am? I could care less that you are a mutant! You're fun to be with! Those mutant hating bastards can just go to hell." Angel couldn't believe what he was hearing! Not only was she beautiful, fun, and smart, she didn't care that he was a mutant. "Are you just going to stand there all day?" With two flaps of his powerful wings, he flew on to the bed beside Anna. She reached over and turned off the light beside her bed. Warren left early the next morning but not before saying another heartfelt goodbye followed by a long kiss. He knew the Professor would already be mad that he didn't return last night but he'd be furious if Angel wasn't back by midday. Warren raced down the stairs and jumped into his Ferrari and floored it. He rushed back to the mansion and found the rest of the team in the rec room eating breakfast. The first thing he saw was Kitty sitting on the sofa with Rogue and Jean. She said a cheerful 'hi' to Warren and quickly went back to her conversation. It seemed like no one had realized just where he was last night. Relieved, he started towards the other end to get some food for himself when he noticed most of the guys were there waiting for him. "Way to go, mon ami!" Remy hollered at the top of his lungs. 'Damn it.' Warren thought. 'I knew Bobby couldn't keep his mouth shut. Soon there after Beast and Iceman joined Remy in the hooting and whistling. Feeling his face turning red, all Warren could do was to take a bow which incited more hollering. By now the girls had jumped up off the couch and began walking towards the others to find out what was going on. Logan came in from the outside to investigate as well. The newcomers were demanding an explanation, one which Bobby was more than happy to provide. He nonchalantly slid over and told the story but not before giving Angel a pat on the back. Remy jogged over and wanted to know every detail first hand from Warren himself. Beast seemed more concerned with Bobby's story which included a lifesize model of the girl made out of ice. Scott cooly walked by Warren and said to him quietly, "I hope it was worth it. The Professor seems pretty mad at you." "Trust me, Scott. It was." Later that day, the disturbance caused by Warren's wild night had subsided and regular training once again commenced. Hank and Bobby insisted that Warren try out the new simulation in the Danger Room. They told him Beast cooked it up that morning as a special training exercise. Warren walked in the temporarily feature-less room alone as Bobby and Hank booted up the new program. Within seconds the program loaded and Warren was faced with an exact duplicate of Anna. "What the hell is this?" Angel demanded, looking up at the control room high above the floor. Bobby's voice came on over the loud speaker. "After seeing that shaky performance last night, we figured you could use some more practice." The laughter of the two pranksters could be heard clearly all the way down at the ground. Warren just shook his head with a grin on his face. "I don't know when or where but I'll get you two someday." The threat made Beast laugh even louder than before. As Warren marched out of the room, Bobby was laughing so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. "Ah do think that was mighty cruel of them, Warren." Rogue said out in the hall. "But funny too! Remy nearly bust a rib he was laughing so hard!" Gambit chirped in. "Say, you mind if I try that program some time? It looks like it might be fun." "You're sick Gambit." Rogue said walking away. "You think Hank could make me one with her face on it?" Remy added gesturing towards Rogue. "I heard that, sugah!" In minutes, almost the whole team was assembled in Xavier's office. "I have been alerted to a potentially dangerous situation." As Charles finished the sentence, Angel flew in through the window. "Sorry, Prof. Didn't mean to be late." "Glad you finally decided to show up Warren. I know about your exploits last night but we can worry about that latter. Have a seat." "I'd prefer standing." "Fine. I found that a band of renegade mutant hunters are preparing to buy new, hi-tech weapons from a notorious arms dealer. To make matters worse, they have a hostage should anything go south on them." "A hostage? Who is it?" Scott asked, looking more worried than before. "A civilian. I gained as much knowledge as I could from the information I received in the vision. I used Cerebro's database to give you more details on the building, the arms dealers and the hostage. There are copies for each of you in these folders. You must stop this deal from going down and it must be done quickly. I have word that the mutant hunters are picking up the goods tonight at midnight leaving you mere hours. I have already completely debriefed Scott and he..." Warren took a quick around the room to see what everyone else thought of this. Storm and Jean seemed genuinely concerned and hanging on all of Scott's words. Rogue seemed more concerned with her nails and Remy with watching her do her nails. Logan glanced outside the window waiting for Scott to get to the attack plan. Iceman was another story. He flipped through the file folder but stopped about halfway through. His face went as white as a ghost and showed the picture to Beast behind him who had a similar effect. "What is it, Bobby?" Warren grabbed his folder off the desk and flipped through it quickly until he saw what they were looking at. The hostage was Anna, the young girl he met the night before. "OH SHIT!!! He screamed at the top of his lungs. "What is it, sugah?" Rogue asked. He dropped the folder on the ground and soon they all knew what was going on. "Warren, just calm down. This is going to turn out fine." Jean tried to reassure him. "We'll stop these guys..." "I'M GOING! You guys can tag along if you want but no one else touches any of the arms dealers, GOT IT?" With one giant flap of his wings, Warren flew out the window, headed to the warehouse the dealers took as a base. "Now what the hell's wrong with him? You'd never see me run off on a mission by myself bent on revenge." Logan asked. He was answered with a thick silence and some snickering by Bobby. "I'm following him to make sure he's going to be OK." Logan dashed out the door and soon his Jeep went tearing down the road at 115 MPH in a vain attempt to catch up with Angel. "What time are those bastards getting here, boss?" "Midnight. That still leaves us two hours to kill. What ever will we do to pass the time?" He slowly turned to face the girl, tied up in the corner. An evil smile crossed his face, the single light bulb hanging above casting shadows across his twisted features. She squirmed against the ropes trying to break free. "Don't worry, pretty. The fun's just starting." "That's enough." "Who do you think you are giving me orders? I think you're forgetting who is in charge here!" "No, Sir. I just don't think it's a good idea to do anything like that." "I've had just about enough of you. Go outside and see if Jim needs any help on guard duty. Leave me free in here to do anything I..." The dealer's sentence cut off in mid word by a horrible crashing sound. His eyes darted upwards to see the skylight shatter allowing a new wave of moonlight into the dark warehouse. His eyes were fixed on the roof until he heard the girl trying to scream through the gag shoved in her mouth. On the ground mere feet from where he stood lay a fresh pool of blood and the body that it came from. He realized immediately that it was his partner, the one who was keeping watch outside that night. "What the fuck is going on here?" he said to no one in particular. The moon gently shone on the cold floor, it's soft glow reflected on the ever-expanding ruby pool now covering a large portion of the floor. He closed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming; could this really be happening? Was Jim really dead? How? He opened his eyes, once again concentrating on the floor. This time the shadow on the floor was different. The glow on the floor was not full like it was only seconds ago. The figure of a man broke the circle. Unable to look up, he gazed at the floor as the figure's shoulders grew and expanded revealing a massive set of wings. Angel silently looked down from above at the man staring down at the pool of blood. He knew that the intruder was there, but was too afraid to look for himself. Good. This is how it was supposed to play out. Funny though; it seemed like there would be more than one guard. At least there should have been more inside. Angel slowly started his descent with gentle flaps of his wings. "Who are you?" the terrified man managed to get out. "I am justice. I punish the offenders of righteousness. I see the evil in the hearts of men and avenge the hearts of innocence lost. I am the Hand of God. I AM ANGEL." "What do you want with me? Why are you here?" Finally Angel touched down and looked at the body of the guard. "This is merely a taste of what you will get." "I think not bird boy." another evil smile came ear to ear, this one far more sinister than the last. 'This asshole thinks he can screw with us?' It looked like the intruder hadn't seen him sneak into the shadows and crack open one of the cases they were supposed to be selling. He took care not to make any noise so that he wouldn't give himself away. He snapped the hammer and began to charge the new weapon. After a few short seconds, he heard a small ping, alerting him the weapon was ready to be fired. Quickly he steadied himself and took aim at the mysterious intruder. He heard a voice out of the shadows behind him. "Now, what are you going to do with that, bub?" He spun around to see the feral face behind him step into the light. "Why can't you villains ever play nice?" The man's eyes darted down to see the blades pop out of this new warriors hands. With one catlike motion, the 'claws' sliced right through the stock of the weapon, shattering it into a million pieces. "Close your jaw, man. Have a little self-respect." he added. "What the hell are you?" "Name's Wolverine. Don't forget it." The 'Wolverine' as he called himself walked right passed the bewildered man towards the very frightened girl. The dealer reached under his coat and pulled out a small .45 auto he had hidden there. He extended his arm, pointing the gun at the overconfident intruder. "Die you mutant son-of-a-bitch!" he screamed. He quickly pulled the trigger again and again, until his clip was out of ammo. The 'Wolverine' lay face down on the floor, six smoking bullet holes in his back. "Now, you learned not to fuck with us." "And you still haven't learned not to fuck with me." The man slowly stood up and looked straight into the man's eyes once again. "Now why'd you have to go and do a thing like that?" "This can't be! You're dead. I can see the holes right there!" "What? These holes?" As he spoke the exit wounds on his chest began closing themselves off. The man's face turned as white as a ghost. "You've taken your best shot and now it's my turn!!!" Again the claws popped out of his hands and he lunged toward the arms dealer. Wolverine savagely tore at the man's throat and chest. Thankfully, he was dead long before Wolverine actually started having fun. Angel looked down at the fight that was brewing on the other end of the warehouse. "Wolverine! That's enough!" He regarded the pool of blood flowing from the man's body. The body was torn to shreds, vital organs exposed and major tissue loss was clear. He looked back at the main dealer, his face white with fear. "You should be thankful Wolverine ended his life quickly. You won't have the same luxury." Angel looked across at Wolverine. "Logan. Get the girl and get the fuck out of here. This one's personal." Logan complied, knowing how consuming rage can be. He jogged over to Anna and quickly untied her. Picking her up, he ran out the main door and put her back in his Jeep. "Now it's just you and me." Angel smiled, obviously getting a kick out of this man's fear. With one giant flap of his wings, he sent the man flying back into a row of crates. Angel flew over beside him and only now realized the blow had knocked him unconscious. "You will pay for your crimes." Angel mounted the body and began pummelling the fallen foe. Blood flowed to the man's face quickly from the savage beating he was taking. Angel drew back once again and punched full force and connected squarely with the man's nose. Blood splattered forward leaving a red stain on Angel's white gloves. Satisfied, Angel drew back and proceeded to work on the body know. Kick after vicious kick landed on the ribs. The bones breaking were music to Angel's ears. "Now it's time to end this game." He picked up a large crate and hoisted it above his head. He flew into the air, intent on ending the criminal's life painfully. "What? Who said that?" The heavenly voice responded him. He knew exactly who it was now. "You...You're right." He swooped back down and tossed the box aside. Moments later, Angel appeared in the doorway dragging the still unconscious body behind him. "Why? Why didn't you tell me you were a mutant?" "I don't know. I couldn't admit it to myself for years. I wouldn't have told you but seeing how happy you were made me realize being a mutant might not be that bad." "Anna, I'm just happy that you're alive." "I wouldn't have been if I hadn't..." "It was you who sent the message to Xavier?!?" She quietly nodded. "Anna, I want to thank you again for stopping me back there. I didn't know what I was doing." "It's alright. Mistakes happen and you couldn't help it." The two lovers embraced, kissing one another more passionately than ever before. Remy couldn't help but applaud from the doorway.