Shanty City

[LOTO]

Shanty City

Urban city surrounded by a mountainous region that isolates the city itself and anyone in it, with only a few choke points that leads out into the world. These choke points are varied in with the smallest being 25 feet while the biggest is as wide as a football field is long. The city is semi modern third world country status at this point.

[Bloodbayne]

Nestled not too far off a path which had been cut through a thickly wooded area, tucked beneath an earthen overhang which had been created by a maple trees twisted set of roots, lay a slumbering man covered in armor which glistened in the moonlight. Laying in the dirt at the mans side was a long and slender blade which gave off a faint blue glow and a leather wallet which appeared to have a picture of the man as well as a police badge. The badge as well as the ID card inside showed the name of the slumbering man to be Leo Maxim, a Sergeant for the realms police force known simply as The Cops. Leo had been sent out into this area to intercept a group of roaming bandits that was supposed to be passing through, but hours of watching and nothing to show for it had caused the man to surrender his mind to the sweet beckon of sleep. As he slept he experienced what seemed to be the only dream he was capable of having these days, a dream which was pleasant but for whatever reason brought a twinge of sadness to the back of Leos mind.

-

In this dream all the adults around him seemed tower over him, giving him the feeling that he was nothing more than a small child. The people would all point in Leos general direction as he would pass by them on the street, whispering to themselves and some other kids would snicker to themselves before being hurried along by their mothers. Leo would walk alone in a confused haze until he found a small shack in the woods, pushing open its rickety door made of crudely fashioned together tree limbs. Once inside the shack the sound of a sobbing woman begins to echo through darkness inside, beckoning the young boy towards another room at the back of the shack and the air seemed to grow colder as he drew nearer. Inside the room there was darkness, darkness and what appeared to be a spotlight cast upon the form of a woman sitting on her knees with her hands buried into her hands and her back to Leo. There was something familiar about the woman which Leo could not pinpoint, but it always brought him to approach the woman to get more information out of her. What had not happened in his other dreams, was the fact that he was able to touch her shoulder and cause her crying to stop. As she moved to turn towards him, jumbled words which seemed to come from multiple males touched at Leos ears which caused the entire image of the dream to shimmer and fade away just before he could see the womans face.

-

The jumbled male voices caused Leos eyes to suddenly open, revealing his eyes to be glowing the same light blue color of his sword and he quickly lurched into a seated position, his ears now focusing on the voices which he heard. From the sound of their voices, he was able to discern between 5 separate males which sounded to be only 100 ft off to his east and even from this distance away he was able to hear what they spoke to each other about. In a matter of seconds it became obvious to Leo that these were the bandits he had been charged to bring to justice, and by the way they spoke there were at least 3 others who simply did not talk. Hearing what he needed to hear from these men, Leo turned to his right and grabbed the wallet from the ground and placed it behind the buckle of his belt before grabbing the hilt of his blade and stepping out from beneath the earthen overhang, placing the blade onto a clasp on his back. It was time for him to do his duty and to apprehend some criminals and go home.

-

Leo took 3 steps forward before spinning around on the back of his right heel, letting only the tip of his left foot touch the ground before leaping up and onto the top of the earthen overhang 6 feet above him, taking off and landing while making only a whisper of sound. The instant his feet touched the ground he took off once again, tearing through 80 of the 100 ft that stood between him and the roving bandits in a matter of 5 seconds. Choosing to stop and do some reconnaissance rather than go in half cocked he stops 20 ft off in the darkness, standing behind a thick tree to hide himself as he waited for a clear view of the men. In a few seconds the first group of men appeared on the road, three burly men dressed in blue cotton shirts, tan pants, black boots and a red headband. While overall intelligence on the group had been slim from the start, it was obvious as the other 7 men passed by his hiding place that hey were all a part of the same group. That combined with the overall criminal like talk he men were exchanging gave Leo enough evidence to continue.

-

Reaching up with his left hand to the right part of his collar he pressed a black switch located there and listened for the static feedback in his ear of his mic before continuing. "Sergeant Maxim checking in. Subjects found and proceeding to confront. Standby for outcome." Moving now from behind the tree Leo focused on reaching the road, doing so by leaping onto the road from the shadows, making it a point to audibly slide 2 feet along the dirt of the path to get the attention of the men at the back of the pack. From this slide it caused the wind to tousle his chin length lightly blue hair, which the men took a point to laugh at before he spoke. "I am Sergeant Maxim with The Cops. All of you men are ordered to hereby surrender yourself for arrest of multiple accounts of robbery and murder." As he spoke to them, he held his ID Badge out to this group of men, and was met again with scattered laughter. "[Color=#'40E0D0]If any of you resist arrest, I am allowed to use physical force to bring you all to justice.[/Color]"

-

As he finished speaking his eyes twitched slightly, focusing on a bigger man in the middle of the group who had thrown something towards him. As he saw this, his right hand shot up to the hilt of the blade on his back to lift it from the clasp and bring it whistling through the air infront of him which brought a metallic vibrating echo as the blade slammed a thrown knife to the ground at Leos feet. Quickly he returned the blade to his back, and pressed the switch on his collar once again. "Maxim checking in, targets are hostile. Proceeding with capture." Bringing his hands together Leo begins rubbing his palms together rapidly, causing crackles and small bolts of electricity to gather there. Shortly after this, his body shot forward again as he drew in towards the nearest man, his right hand curled into a fist and resting at his side. When he finally stood infront of this man the electricity gathered in his hands focused itself to the front of his knuckles which created a visible layer of the electricity. Tazer Punch." The man had no time to react as Leo threw his fist outwards, connecting with and sinking into the mans stomach to send a vicious jolt of electricity through the mans body, which appeared to knock him out entirely as well as lift him 2 feet off the ground.

-

When the man began to fall and his arms began to freely bend back towards the sky Leo reached to his back and grabbed hold of 2 sets of stainless steel handcuffs, quickly slipping a pair on the mans arm, set just above his elbows and placing the second pair around his wrists before letting his body fall limply to the floor. At this point the other men began to stir and draw various hand to hand weapons, some even drawing bows, showing Leo he would have to step it up. Two men standing closest to him began to make their way towards him, the man on the right holding a short sword and the man on the left a long sword and each of them waiting and ready to swing at the officer. A small smile came to Leos face as he reached up to grasp the hilt of his blade once more, before pressing off the ground and streaking straight for these two men. The closest, with the long sword, brought his weapon into a horizontal slash for Leos neck, bringing Leo to a sudden stop with his blade pointed towards the sky to meet the blade with his own. As the two blades collided Leo angled his blade towards the man slightly before spinning the blade in a fast clockwise circle before quickly slashing right, ripping the blade from the mans grasp before taking a single step forward to raise his right foot up and slam it into the now defenseless mans chest, feeling the bones of his ribcage popping before one broke and left the man writhing in pain.

-

Leo moved quickly to the next man who was shaking in his boots and made a blind jab directly for his attacker who moved quick to counter. The thick pauldron which rested on his shoulder was placed forward and towards the ground to meet the blade head on at which point he would thrust up towards the air with his shoulder to the throw the blade off direction. At that point Leo closed the last of the distance with one step before slamming his left fist into the mans stomach and knocking the wind from his body. As the man staggered back from this blow Leo cocked his hand back before slamming his fist into the mans nose, feeling the bones shattering as the nose flattened against the mans face, who made no sound as he fell limply to the dirt. A soft twang echoed through the air which caused Leos body to suddenly drop to the ground as an arrow whizzed over his head from infront of him, lopping a few strands of hair from the top of his head.

-

Leo narrowed his eyes at the bowman who was fumbling to notch another arrow and at that moment Leos right fist began to glow a faint red, before the fist opened and a fireball roared to life in his open palm. The archer standing infront of him finally notched his arrow and leveled it with Leos narrowed eyes. Though his arm was shaking the man released the arrow which shot forward with a soft twang, at which point Leo spun on his left heel so that he was safely out of the arrows path before heaving the fireball through the air at 100mph which slammed into the archers chest , knocking him to the floor. Immediately after this Leo dropped to the ground again, but this time he slammed his fists into the ground where he released his Earthen Materia to the surrounding dirt before calling it all back to his hands. When he stood, he took from the ground two perfectly cylindrical stones, each measuring a foot and a half in diameter, and his eyes focused on the remaining 7 men who were now moving to surround him. This brought yet another smile to Leos face as he let his hands sink into the stones which he held, things were about to get fun.

-

Each man which surrounded him held a weapon in their hands which they hoped would be enough to help them win, but each man still showed a twinge of fear. Regardless of the fear they felt 3 of the 7 men, the most heavily armed, began to charge forward from the circle they had created around Leo and they wielded a regular splitting axe, a ball tipped mace and a battle axe headed halberd. The man with the halberd would be the first one to reach Leo with his longer weapon, which was met and parried by the stone surrounding Leos right hand that had been brought to an uppercut to intercept.The metallic scraping noise which followed still freshly echoed and the blade of the weapon began to raise into the air as Leo lurched forward, executing another uppercut as he closed the distance. As the hit connected he could feel the vibrations of the man's jaw bone shattering with the stones impact before some of the man's teeth were next before he dropped to ground. The remaining 2 men hoped Leo would be too busy massacring their teammate to notice them advancing on his blind side, but fearful men are heavy footed and as such it was not long before Leo heard them, but he waited a few seconds until they would draw nearer. When the men were no more than 5 ft away their steps increased and they raised their weapons to strike, but Leo was faster as he spun around on his right heel with both stone covered hands raised to shoulder level and cocked back to swing. As he swung his fists forward he ordered in his mind for the hold they had on him to be released, timing it perfectly for the end of his punch at which time the stones would suddenly tear through the air and into the faces of the two men. The splintering and crunching sounds of broken teeth and noses echoed through the air before the men dropped to ground, knocked out cold just like the other men.

-

At this point with only 4 frightened men left to take care of Leo felt it would be easy to finish this fight now as he began to feverishly rub his hands together to generate enough energy before the men would close in. After a few seconds Leo closed his right hand which was now alive and crackling with yellow jolts of electricity, which began to die away as he focused the energy to the palm of his hand. With a deafening crack Leo opened his hand again, revealing a glimmering yellow Materia orb that was immediately placed into the Materia slot present on Leos belt buckle. This buckle spread the energy all throughout Leos body and it caused a slight tingle to spread from head to toe as it flooded his nervous system, which seemed to increase as he bent down and grasped the hilt lf his sword once again. As he grabbed hold of his sword and the energy sunk in deep enough, Leos eyes, hair and his sword all began to glow a bright yellow rather than blue and a slender grin spread along his lips before he waved to the 4 men. Around his legs the lightning energy began to crackle and pulse before Leo suddenly bolted forward, his speed increased by 10% at the moment, coming to a stop directly in front of the first man. His sudden appearance struck fear into the man's body before a solid uppercut sent the man flying into the air, Leo stepping to his right before the man was able to rise more than 2 feet, dishing out the same blow and continuing on with the remaining 2 in the same method. As his fist connected with the jaw of the 4th man Leos eyes, hair and sword blinked suddenly back to their light blue glow before the lightning Materia in his belt vanished, going back into his body. Leo looked around him now, counting the number of men either writhing on the ground or lying their unconscious, counting 10 all together.

-

"Not too bad if you ask me" As he spoke he brushed off his sleeves, a few tufts of dirt spilling into the air around him. When he finished that, he set about rounding all the gang members up and strapping handcuffs onto the 9 men who did not have them. When all men were in the same general area, Leo stood in front of them and shut his eyes as well as slowed down his breathing. As he did this the color of his hands began to turn a light blue as the air around him and the men began to grow cold, to the point that streams of steam would travel from Leoa nostrils. He opened his eyes suddenly after 10 seconds of concentration and slammed the tip of his blade into the earth, sending a surge of a light blue energy into the dirt. "Multiple Ice Pillar!" His words echoed almost endlessly through the forest as the surface of the ground around the group of men began to frost over, before 20 ice pillars tore through the ground in the form of a perfect square. Between each pillar was enough space for an open hand to fit through, but nothing more. Leo gave a quiet chuckle as he watched a few of the men breathe a sigh of relief, as it meant Leo was finished with them.

-

Reaching up to his collar he pressed down on the black button to establish the link with HQ and started talking. "Sergeant Maxim reporting in, all bandits accounted for and captured 3 miles east of Shanty City. Send extraction team for criminal pickup. Maxim out." With that Leo turn upon the heel of his right foot and pointed himself to the west and began walking. Within 30 minutes he had traversed the 3 miles which lay between him and the Shanty City, making his way immediately for the Skyscraper that was the Cops HQ. There was no doubt on his mind that someone would want to know what had happened with the gang of bandits, though he was unsure who he would be talking to on this visit to HQ.

[Tantalum]

The cries of the guilty echoed throughout the city, no different to any of the evenings before it. A couple months had passed since the Cops established themselves within the developing area, but their collaborative efforts had yet to bear fruit against the unyielding crimes towards the plentiful innocent. Even today, not just the criminals but their targets alike would be tested against vile, plentiful and unending misfortune through blunt force.

Five miles from the recently captured bandits, within the untamed streets of Shanty City, rested an equally-insignificant victim of fate; between one of many a narrow brick-paved alleyway, his head hung low and awoken, with lengthy red hair doing little to obscure the minor, yet still-bleeding wounds lacing his neck and chest. The leather jacket he wore had been violently torn open, albeit with no lethal cuts to show for it.
Far more noticeably, a brown, horn-like spear was impaled through his left arm, pinning it to the concrete wall behind and forcing the rest of his body into an uncomfortable raised slouch. A worn, double-edged dagger was left but a few inches from his right; its blade bore no trace of recent blood, yet its handle was drenched in his own.

A young woman, supposedly a passer-by, rested acute brown eyes upon the grim handiwork which obscured her path. Dressed in a thin beige longcoat, she stood at ease, making no action as she hovered beside her unconscious accompaniment. It was clear the man was in dire need of aid - and clearer still that she was not at all safe in the area - but both warnings were completely disregarded, as she assessed what she knew to be more pressing matters.
Raised nonchalantly, a delicate right hand rested upon a large feminine wallet, hung stiffly from her waist. Her left hand sifted through a smaller, masculine wallet, speckled with faded blood.
"How fickle our luck can be..." Carmen Kaser sighed wistfully to herself, shaking her head. Not entirely satisfied by this encounter, she turned from the victim to her other, equally-grim surroundings. Between the stained concrete and steel supports, few objects obscured besides littered scrap metal and occasional shattered crates. A flickering lamp to her right cast a dim grey shadow behind her small figure, but otherwise did little to lessen the fog obscuring the pathway.
"...But at least you seem happy for once." She looked back over her shoulder; as if expecting the nothingness behind her to respond. The shadows shimmered as the smog sifted past, no different to any other. Carmen smiled lightly at the lack of response. "No doubt we'll get to deal with plenty more of them, no?"

Without further concern, she began to slink away from the encounter, venturing further from the light. It was a long night for an opportunist like herself, and no time was to be spared as the local faction disposed of said opportunities by the hour.

[Crazy Scion]

It was a just another day for Carl as he walked casually through the dark streets of the City, well not dark to Carl, in fact it might as well be the middle of the day. Keeping a glancing view for anything out of place, he would appear to anyone just to be a spaced out guy. He starts to round a corner when he finds himself staring at a black haired girl walking down the other side of the street. She had tanned skin, was about and a half feet in height, and had a very thin yet athletic build to her not that it denied her some curves in the chest a hips department. Her face was averaged, with light-brown eyes, and had short black hair (as mentioned) which hangs in waves almost reaching her shoulders. She also had a notably pointed nose, a slightly wide mouth, and thin neck. She wore a simple outfit consisting of: a pale beige long coat that almost reached down to her knees, underneath that is a grey top which clung to her thin shape again emphasizing her features, mainly around the chest area, simple blue jeans with a white elastic belt, flat-heeled shoes that matched her coat, a masculine gold watch is worn on her left wrist, and a pair of half-rimmed sunglasses hang from her coat's collar. I a span of a few moments he ran over all her details dozens of times turning his head to follow her movement until. *Clang!* In his detraction he ends up walking head first into a pole, he felt no pain because he is dead, but never less got confused and stumbles backwards, then fell on his butt. He sits there a moment refocusing his sense before finally sighing to himself, "I really need to stop doing that." he says as he pushes himself to his feet. He brushes him self off and starts to continue on his way when he feels a tug on his sleeve. He stops, then looks over his shoulder, but sees nothing. Taking a guess he slowly looks down, and to his surprise, sees a cute little girl holding a worn out teddy bear in her arms, she was looking up at him with the widest eyes. "Ack." was the only sound Carl made before freezing solid, like a statue he continued to stair at the girl, with even more intensity then the black haired girl who past him on the street. She couldn't have been more then eight years standing at less then half his own height ,she had slightly tanned skin, but her body was a bit thin and she seemed like she had been in the sun a bit to long, her hair was a wavy dirty blond, her face was rounded like a kids though signs of thinning were evident, her eyes were a piercing blue that seemed to captivate. Her attire was simple: a blue dress that emphasized her eyes and was slightly worn out like her teddy bear, along with some brown flip flops.

Sensing his piercing Gaze the girl starts to grow uncomfortable which was evident by how hard she was squeezing the bear. Managing to speak in a a weak, but squeaky voice she says, "Ex-excuse me ofi-officer can you help me. My Mom isn't feeling well and she collapsed and I don't know what's wrong with her and and I'm worried." Carl snaps out of his trance and immediately kicks himself into officer mode, straitening his shoulders, and forming a stern look on his face, then speaking in a serious, but light tone, "It seems your Mom isn't feeling well, may have even collapsed from heat stroke given the hot day. Can you tell me where she is?" The girl now fidgeting a little makes a weak attempt to point off to a space between two nearby buildings. Trying to resist how cute she was acting he kept his face stern and continues, "Good she is close. You should go check on her, I'll see if I can get some water and men to help and..." "No! please you have to come with me!" She frantically interrupts. Carl brakes his stern face for a moment to look at the girl confused. The girl suddenly becoming timid again speaks softly, "I mean I'm worried about her and want you to make she's alright for me." then looking like she was gonna break into tears. "Please won't you come with me?" Carl's facade completely falls apart as his body twists and he start uttering incomprehensible words."Gah! MMMM Nah nah nah ieeeeee." He bashes his head against the pole while screaming, "It's*Clang!*to*Clang*Cute!"*Clang!**Clang!**Clang!*Now bent over and breathing heavily, even though he doesn't need to breath, he turns his head towards the girl with a crazed look in his eye. The girl is confused and even frightened now clutch her bear even tighter then before, not sure how she had driven the officer mad, but before she could say anything Carl mutters, "Lead the way." The girl pauses for a moment realizing his compliance, then taking a moment seemingly to consider something, she then starts walking towards the alley, with Carl shuffling after her muttering the word "cute" over and over. The alley is dark cause of and over hang and cut off at the end, meaning there was only one way in or out. Carl stairs lazily at the surroundings trying to recover from his cuteness shock, but the further into the alley he gets the more her start to realize something felt off. He tenses up and looks at the girl who keeps leading him down the alley, then sees at the end a women leaning against the wall. He couldn't make out her features well since she was slouched over her self, but she had black hair and a white T shirt and and a long grey looking skirt. Taking that to be the girls mother he snaps the rest of the way out of his stupor and rushes to her side. The women looked to be out cold and slumped over even, and he wasn't sure but he thought he saw blood dripping from the back of her head.

He reaches down about to shake the women when, *Wham* the sound of splintering wood is all he can hear before stumbling forward and nearly falling on top of the women. He stops his fall with his arms to avoid landing on the women and rolls over to his back to see man standing where he had been starring at him with a confused look on his face. The little girl is hiding behind the man peaking around his leg to look at Carl, with the same confused look as the man. The man speaks in a deep voice, "Why the hell are you still conscious? What's your head made of? Lead?" Carl not sure if he should respond decides to try standing up, but as he rises the man quickly grabs Carl by the shoulders and shoves him against the wall. Hoisting Carl to his feet he puts his face in Carl's and breaths into his face, the smell of his breath was repugnant, like he'd just eaten a ton of rotting fish. Carl for once thanked the fact he had a terrible sense of smell imagining how much worse it could be. The man looks over at the girl and motion's with his head for her to come over. Now that he had a chance he could take stock of the mans details. He was of a fairly strong build, with think a large chest and thick arms, that he was flexing to keep Carl pend. His hair was black, but the most noticable trait was his eyes, witch were the same piercing shade of blue as the girls. The little girl from before starts digging threw Carl's pockets throwing his badge, cuffs, and radio on the ground until she got a hold of a skin colored bag. She opened it up to find a nice some of gold inside witch she stared at wide eye'd and almost yipping in joy show it to to the man, "Daddy look we hit it rich." The man looks down and smiles the turns back to Carl, "Well it seems that you must have been a Currier or something to have that kind of cash on you. To bad we'll be taking it off your hands." the girl takes notice of the pack tied to the side of Carls leg and reaches into it. She pulls out a strange pistol.

The gun appears to be a toy at a glance. The head of the gun is a fog Grey cone, and the back is circular with two bronze rings on each side with holes in the middle. It has an iron grip with a piece of electrical tape tied around it, and a nub that acts as a trigger. "What is this?" the little Girl muses as she fishes out a bronze colored key from the pack. The key had the engraving of a fist on it, and seem to fit perfectly in one of the holes on the side of the gun. Not getting, mad or tensing up, but simply looking at the girl with a smile, and speaking in a calm carefree manner, "That little girl is a music box. Unusual shape, but if you wind the key into the slot it will play a tune for you." "Really!" the girl beams. Carl felt like his heart may have beat just then, but turning his attention to the man as the girl fidgets with turning the key while holding the bag of gold. He glares at the man who in turn glares back at him, "I don't suppose you plan on letting me go do you?" The man gives him a funny look, "Well if you had just fallen unconscious like the women there, then I would have now I'm afraid since you've gotten a good look at my face that I can leave you be." Carl doesn't look the least upset if not even appearing a bit sorry for the man, "It makes since. I mean I'd feel the same in your shoe's, but I'm afraid that's where the feelings end. Unlike you I'd prefer not to kill especially in a world where death means nothing. So, with that I apologize in advance for what I'm about to do." Carl gives him a big grin and before the man could even ask what he meant, Carl throws both his arms up and breaks the mans grip in an instant. Then shoving his hands forward forces the man backwards. The little girl just finishing winding the pistol looks up to see her Daddy back peddling to stay on his feet, and then in the next instant sees Carl run up and snatch the pistol out of her hand. The man regains his balance and sees Carl coming at him, and tries to punch him in the face, but to his bewilderment instead of dodging Carl catches his fist in his own. Not only that, but he seems to be crushing his hand pain shoots through his fist and he stats to struggle. Grunting from the pain he throws another fist at Carl, but this time Carl pokes something into his chest that causes him to freeze. The strange Pistol from before was now pointed at his chest, he looks up at Carl almost sweating now.

The little Girl just stood there unsure what to do, not wanting to do anything to upset the man who now had a dangerous weapon pointed at her Dad. A bit scared now the man manages to speak, "I thought you said you didn't like to kill people?" Carl looks at him for a moment then sighs, "No I do not, but lucky for you this isn't fatal." Carl pulls the trigger, then a loud force of air seems to come out of the gun, taking up a wide area, the current kicks up boxes, trash, and carries the man out of the Alley at a high speed, and sends him soaring through the street, where he bounces like a rock skipping across water a few times before rolling to a stop. "Daddy!" The little girl yells before rushing to his side, dropping the gold as she does. Carl picks up the bag and follows the girl to the sight of her unconscious Father. She stands over him shaking him back and forth, he lets out a loud groan but doesn't make any effort to stand. Carl walks up with radio in hand, taking on his stern voice from before Carl speaks into the radio, "HQ this is Carl. We have a couple of casualties do to bandit activity, requesting medical support down on first street. Over." *radio static* "Voice of a women, Roger that medical team on route ETA 15 minutes. Over." Carl turns off the radio the girl looked up at him confused, and tears streaming down her face now, "Why?" she asks. "Why? Do you mean why did I not report you? Simple my little girl, because I'm sure your Daddy hear has learned his lesson. That and how could I leave a cute little girl like yourself orphaned, oh and here." Carl holds a clench fist up to the girl and when she get's the message to cup her hand. He let's fall a few gold coins from the bag. "Enough to pay the medical and to maybe get a good nights sleep." Carl starts to walk away the girl in disbelief, but she manages to work up the nerve to yell, "How! How can you be kind in such a horrible world. Such a hopeless and cruel world like this!" Carl looks at the girl and gives her his warmest smile and speaks in a warm voice, "Because I believe that not all hope is lost. That we can live happy and in peace. We the strong just have to fight for that happiness to protect you the weak and innocent. Promise to keep your Daddy out of trouble now OK. Goodbye." Carl starts to walk away. The girl yells out to him again, "Wait!" Carl looks over his shoulder at the girl. In timid voice much like be for she say, "Thank you." Carl stumbles hearing the girls cute thanks, and with a blush on his face runs off towards HQ.

[Tantalum]

The resounding of metal siphoned through the damp air, causing Carmen to turn instinctively on the spot.
She blinked tightly a couple times, before finally surveying the distance with dilated, amber-coloured eyes. Staring back, a thin brown-haired man with pale skin appeared sat on the floor - most believably due to recoiling from the signpost in front of him. The man did not turn back, but nonetheless appeared to be in a hurry as he continued onwards. Carmen only raised an eyebrow, before finally denouncing under her breath: "...That man's going to be dead in minutes."
Part of her almost felt sorry for him, but little could be done for such a lost cause. Anyone as clumsy as what she witnessed didn't survive a night outside in Shanty, and such a man would positively attract trouble sooner than later. Sadly, the best she believed she could do for him is take advantage of whichever party ensnared him first.

The commotion was easy enough to follow after, and a brisk, silent walk shortly presented her with exactly what she expected to see. A hardened bandit stood above a fragile and now-immobile man - who had also revealed himself to be a police officer, no less. The bandit's daughter's eyes glistened at the sight of his impressive valuables - as did Carmen's own, as she continually tried to swallow her disbelief.
The assaulter was well-built, but was otherwise unarmed; compared to what she had run into before, such a target would be child's play, but Carl's unexpected donation had made the pair worth her time. She shifted back into the shadows, only to locate a vantage point while Carl was undoubtedly done away with.

It was a short distance, but circling around a pair of shacks put her within ample lighting for an unseen ambush. Whilst travelling, a loud noise suggestive of pressurised air could be heard over her light footing - perhaps an excessive method of torture, but Carmen had no reason to be concerned with some magic trick or otherwise...
...At least, not until the man she had marked dead was now the only one of the pair standing, with the bandit being knocked a clean fifty yards away. Heightened winds travelled through the poorly-lit street in their direction, swaying some of the poorer shacks before the streets were silenced again. The girl, although in tears, otherwise looked unharmed, and despite the officer contacting their HQ, both had been let off without charges.

Carmen shrugged. It was an unfamiliar turn of events, and now that her treasure was in somewhat safer hands, her plans for an ambush held a little more risk than she had planned for. However, assaults were not all that Carmen held high experience in...
Once the girl had left, the mark began to sprint in her direction, and perfectly on cue. No more than two long strides put Carmen directly within the officer's running path; her stance was steady enough to prevent him passing, yet also readied to simply trip him over if he dared try to evade.
"Nice to see the government here doing its job," she said with utmost, practised politeness.

[Bloodbayne]

The stale and warm air inside of the HQ washed over Leos night chilled body, causing a small shiver to move from his head to toe and a soft sigh to slip from his lips. The lobby was always a nice war welcome after spending so long in the cold, though that would be the only positive thing to be derived from building in Leos eyes. Strutting up to the woman standing behind the front desk, he sets about ringing the tiny metallic bell on her desk three times, stopping only after seeing the annoyed look the woman passed his way. With a frustrated sigh the woman addressed him "Is there something I can help you with Officer Maxim?" Presenting the lady with as generous a smile as he could currently muster, Leo responded "Could you be so kind as to tell me who I'd currently see for a mission debriefing?"

-

Paying as little attention to his question as possible she pointed towards a small rectangular sign at the right end of the desk which read 'Captain Out Til Morning'. With a quiet growl of frustration under his breath, Leo gave an exasperated sigh of defeat before running his fingers slowly through his light blue hair. "That's wonderful" He said after a few seconds of silence "Thanks anyway." With that Leo pushed himself off of the main desk, spinning around on his heels before catching stride and moseying his way to the numerous wooden benches which lined the walls and collapsing onto one, stretching his legs out with his toes pointed in the air. After letting his head fall backwards and rest against the wall, he began cursing the various Captains he knew to work here as they had again postponed one of his trips home. They all knew that his home was at least a 2 days trip if he took his bike, and 4 if he was to walk and they constantly forced him to have to sleep over in the lobby. As the time ticked on and Leo became more and more lost in his thoughts his breathing came in more drawn out breaths and he eventually began to snore as his mind was lost to sleep.
(I guess just incorporate Leo when you can <.< until then he'll be napping on a bench.)

[Crazy Scion]

Carl still lost in his own thoughts think of the girl's final good bye message, had hardly noticed the black haired women when she suddenly burst from the shadows and stood in his path. In fact he had paid so little attention that he didn't have enough time to dodge the girl who now stood directly in front of him.

"Nice to see the government here doing its job," was all he heard before looking up, and then for the second time today he head first into something. Carl again was unaffected by the tangle with the girl in any painful sense, but still felt senses, and very soft and warm senses. The girl had caught him like one would a a blind charge by side stepping him and twisting his arm, but Carl had put his hand forward to try to catch himself, but unfortunately he found hold on something that he really shouldn't have touched.

[Tantalum]

Sadly, her politeness was overlooked just as much as she had minded his haphazardness. Rather than stopping or evading, the man crashed straight into her - surprisingly not knocking her over, but certainly swaying her balance. Her left arm had reached to his chest, lessening the unexpected collision - but with utmost misfortune, Carl had also managed to do the same.

Silence alone held between the pair. Ridden with shock as she was, it appeared time alone would not release the pair from being held.
"What.." she uttered under a stifled breath. The sarcastic confidence she boasted, was all but lost in instants - and upon glancing down at herself, it was completely forgotten as well.
"You." Coupled with bared teeth, her free hand raised threateningly.
"Senseless!" A single-footed leap raised her a head above her assaulter, whilst her closed hand dragged him by the collar to her left.
"Idiot!!" With remarkable execution, a brutal fist was slammed diagonally towards Carl's throat, with force enough to leave any living man without air for a full minute.

[Crazy Scion]

Carl staggered backwards clutching at his throat. To any observer he appeared to be struggling to breath, but actually was massaging his throat since her punch had nearly crushed his vocal cords, leaving a noticeable cave in on his neck. He tried to speak, "Y....br...m...wn....p.p..", was all he could mutter. His vowels lost were gone, and though much deserved given the circumstance, yet he found himself a bit annoyed at the loss of his voice and glared daggers at the girl.

[Tantalum]

Carmen could care less of his struggles as she stood over her victim, her entire body shivering from exaggerated alarm. Though little was done to hide her blush, both her arms were now folded tightly and uncomfortably, with pointed nails sunk deep into her longcoat's fabric.
"Just what sort of government allows for this?!" she exclaimed behind lengthened teeth, looking down on Carl with a near-genuine look of disgust. While truly offended, she could not afford to let real emotions ruin the pitch she had set from the start.
"Thugs are littering these streets every way I look, yet when I finally run into officers like you," Carmen gestured without raising a nail, "you're too busy chasing after little girls who aren't even half your..." She then paused dramatically - and curiously - crouching to sniff at his emptied breath.
"-Heck, you're probably several times /my/ age!" she only cringed even more, giving time for biased thoughts to wander. She was not entirely certain on this judgement in truth, although it was one explanation for the man's lack of panic. "Guessing you have higher-ups in that mess of a faction, I'd love to hear what those fools have to say about this..."