Shanty City

[Tantalum]

Indeed, Carmen would have finished the snack in turn - if not for having heard a series of high-pitched cries, coupled with another telepathic message requesting the exact opposite. After her first mind-reading incident today, she did not at all take well to the current, and this was especially so while such influences could have related to Carl's mishap. With sudden haste, the woman scanned as best as she could for the source...

...Not long before it had revealed itself willingly. Quite abruptly, her sight was no longer hampered by smoke, but instead from energetic black paws clinging over her face. She tensed a little - lowering herself with raised shoulders - until eventually concluding she was hardly under threat. The remaining melon was set in her left palm, while her right gently yet firmly lifted the intrusive creature by the back of its collar.

"Hmmm," Carmen raised an eyebrow at her feline findings... and struggled valiantly to mark its pink-eyed gaze with any sense of guilt. In her experienced eyes, she was holding nothing more than a black-furred, large-eared female specimen; but given its unusual behaviour, a second judgement was unlikely to go amiss.
"What do you think, Null?" She asked openly, raising Meow a little higher.
The surrounding darkness shimmered ominously, unremarkably, and nothing more.
"...Null??" She repeated, only to have her call interrupted by a groaning, piercing, ethereal wail - unheard by ear, yet rippling through every living soul in the vicinity.

Instinctually, Carmen's alertness raised to maximum; her dilated amber eyes darted in every direction until sighting movement directly ahead. Looming within the narrow, blackened distance, a somewhat less-familiar figure rose stiffly from the smoke-layered ground. Tufts of hair and soaked flesh shadowed above a glazed left eye, and darkened blood formed channels along his partially-exposed skull.
Rigid limbs shuffled one after the other, no sound made as he traversed over his own crimson skid-marks. Staggering, his arms raised lifelessly, bearing half-extended digits beneath leaking wrists. Hidden beneath, the only sure give-away was the glint of his issued badge, which while no less drenched, still held as formally as ever upon his dirtied clothing.

Carmen hesitated to speak, all but minutely unsettled at the state of her partner. Gore and blood were both things she had grown used to seeing, except it still unnerved her to see him animated while bearing such an injury. Having not yet heard a response from the apparent undead, she warily lifted to her own feet, and the cat was released in favour of clinging to the wallet at her waist.

[makiaka]

Meow slowly got angrier and angrier as she hissed at the girl. She was mad the girl wouldn't just give her the melon. She composed a plan to jump on her arm and take it, but if she landed she would slip and scratch her arm up a little. She would then fall on her back towards the ground getting the idea to transform into a human to fall better first, but ended up being wrong. As her body stretched like a ball to her semi humanoid form it was headed head first her ears actually touching the ground before impact. There would be a loud thud as she smashed into the ground soon knocked unconscious. With further inspection her head would be bleeding just enough to make a small pool of blood on the ground getting the back of her ears wet with blood

[Crazy Scion]

Carl shuffled along the ground towards Carmen, all while maintaining his shifting view on Carmen and, more intently, on the strange black cat hanging from the top of her head. As he approached Carmen she slowly stood up, but didn't seem like she could speak her eyes were wide and she was glancing all over his body. He knew what was bugging her despite not ever seeming to notice such details, he could tell as subtle as she was, that she was shocked by his appearance. "I'd better break this gloomy atmosphere." he thought to himself. Speaking as carefree as ever he just looks up at her with his signature grin. "So, what's a matter my dear? Cat got your tongue? heh heh.", then making a great effort to stand tall and cross his arms in front of his chest, "Oh and how long are you going to stare at me for? I think I might blush." before stopping in front of her, he notices Carmen release the cat and reach for her wallet.
---
As she released the cat however, something very unexpected happened. In the span of a second the cat had shifted into a black mass, then to that of a girl. Also in that same instance the girls head crashes against the street, and she falls over on her front. Carl watches as some blood flows from the girls head into a small pool on the road. He then takes notice of yet another fact, and that was that the girl was completely naked. Her tail was covering her back end somewhat, but the rest of her body was exposed. If it wasn't for the fact she was laying face down she would be completely indecent. Carl just stood there still in his crossed armed position fixated on the girl, partly because he wasn't sure what just happened, and partly because he didn't want to stop looking.

[Tantalum]

Carmen arguably knew better than anyone that cats always landed upright, and so the sudden thud at her feet raised more than a little concern; adequate enough to pry her eyes from Carl's injuries, of whom had taken to relishing at the attention she was giving him prior.
Hesitantly shrugging off the man's remarks, whatever she had heard was clearly louder and heavier than any domestic cat she had encountered. A mere downwards glance was enough to confirm the oddity; a young human female, rested immobile after supposedly injuring its head. Subtle blonde hair ran down to the subject's back - contrasting from faint streaks of blood along the fringe, and a familiar set of black feline ears poking through. And yet, all of this was overshadowed by a grave perturbment above any other.

"Carl... What is..." As asserted as she tried to look, her weak and airy tone conveyed her unparalleled concern. There was too much she needed to say, and too many worries to figure what to put first.
She took a short breath, starting over as she gathered her words. Against her will, she forced eye-contact with the zombie - only to lose her train of thought entirely, upon noticing his entrancement from the indecent figure she stood before...

Her expression switched from utmost disgust, to aggravation - and back, seemingly unable to settle between the two. The clues were easy to put together, yet she remained at a loss as to why this turn of events had come about; what could have made the girl shift like that in public? How could a cat hurt itself from a three-foot fall? Why was she in the middle of a road in the first place? What was happening to the armoured officer they should have caught up with? And how... could Carl...
Directed again at her colleague, Her mouth opened a second time; and held, bearing no words. Frustrated, she blinked no less than three times. Her hazel eyes assessed the situation over, with a conclusion no different to the first.
One shortened, unbalanced step away soon followed another. A quivering right hand rested upon her stifled throat. Clouded liquids seeped from a tightened left fist, its contents rendered far from salvageable.

[Crazy Scion]

Carl takes notice of Carmen's growing distress, and decides that he may want to reign in his senses before things got any worse. He shakes his head then doing the most sensible thing he could think of. He slowly takes off his jacket, better revealing the scrapes of and burn marks from the crash, then stumbling over to the fallen cat girl he gently drapes it over her body. Then straitening himself even more, causing an audible crackling sound, he lets out a long sigh before looking at Carmen, "OK I know your mad, but I think we should look past that and just try to figure this out. I'm as stumped as you as to why there is suddenly a cat girl on the ground, but I can't really say it is that out of place in a world like this." Carl starts wondering what his next move should be. There is an unconscious underage girl at his feet, a team mate that may be in need of back up fighting somewhere, and his body is in no shape to be of any use.
---
As if to add to his growing list of problems, the sound of sirens can be heard in the outer part of the city, not to far from where they are. Carl reaches into his pack and pulls out his radio, that was surprisingly in tack, and turns it on. Voices crackle over the static, "Calling all units. This is HQ we have a report of mass homicides in the outer district on 32nd street. Any nearby units please respond." Carl clicks the radio, "This is Carl I'm nearby the incident in question. What is happening over there?Over."

"Carl? Aren't you suppose to be on providing support...Never mind. This takes precedence. We have reports of people being dragged from there homes and murdered it's speculated to be magic cuase even kids are participating, and non of the the murderers speak. We need you to get over there and see what you can do. The Elite team is being dispatched to make sure this doesn't get out of hand, but they will be a bit so do what you can. Over."

"Understood. I'm hear with Carmen right now, and we will make are way there, but could you redirect a car for us. We sort of had an accident with the bikes, and we are in no shape to ride them. Over."

"Jesus Christ Carl. Well your lucky a squad car is heading down that same road on a response to the sound of a loud crash. I'll let them know they'll have passengers. Over."

"Thanks again Wendy. Your service is invaluable. Over." A sigh is heard over the radio before Carl flips it off. He takes a breath, then looks at Carmen, "Well it seems that are attention is needed elsewhere. We'll have to try to see if we can spot Leo on the way to this current incident." Sirens from around the city can be heard merging on the place of the incident.

[ImportantNobody]

Shanty Town was no place of a bunch of maids and a self proclaimed Crowned Prince, but they were never-the-less seen strolling down the crime ridden streets as if they had no worry of the dangers at hand. Perhaps that wasn't the best choice of words, but they were willing to visit this place regardless of the danger. Luckily for "Prince" Veltrinius his maids were much more capable then they appeared in the ways of combat, being armed mostly with guns and ready to kick the butts of the standard criminals roaming the area. Every so often a really tough one would appear, for which they'd be no match, but he came prepared. He had ninja maids scouting the surrounding areas for signs of such danger, leaving only the pathetic criminals within attacking distance of him. And it was a group of these pathetic criminals that did in fact make their way over to one of his maids, glaring at her suggestively.
.
"Hey sweetie, wanna have fun?" The man most likely the boss of this gang said, clearly not a suggestion, but rather an indisputable order. The other members, eight in total, crowded around her while brandishing weapons. The maid had a pistol hidden within her uniform, which her hand was reaching for in order to deliver swift justice to these creeps. The rest of his maids began to follow suit. However, that would not be necessary.
.
"Don't waste your bullets on the likes of them, my dear," Veltry said with a wave of his hand, stepping forward.
.
"And who do you think you are?!" The gruff man snarled, pointing his dagger at him.
.
"I don't have time for this madness, for I have a cat to chase," Veltry explained with a sigh. Before the man even had time to question this, Veltry built up some energy in his throat, ready to deliver a special power that he possessed.
.
"Have you seen a black cat around lately," came his question, said as regally as if he was giving out a royal address.

"No sir," the man replied back in a monotonous tone, his face suddenly loosing all tension so that he appeared to be dreadfully bored of this conversation, yet compelled to comply with it anyways. The other members of the group only stared at him in shock, clearly wondering what had caused such a dramatic shift to occur. One minute he was threatening his life and the next he was calling him sir, carrying out a conversation about cats.
.
"Boss, let's just kill this man and be done with this childish display! We can't leave this woman waiting!" One of the more scroungy looking of them pleaded, wagging his sword at him. That took a lot of guts, or perhaps sheer stupidity, but it wasn't met with any well deserved hostilities regardless.
.
"I have not seen a black cat," came the leaders dull reply yet again, showing that he was still under the influence of Veltry's energy.
.
"*#$% this, I'm taking this guy out!" One of the other members shouted, letting out a battle cry which was soon followed by some of the others, who all readied their weapons before charging forward. Veltry had hoped that taking out their leader would have dampened their willingness to foolishly carry out any such attack, but it looked like he was wrong. Oh well, against these types of people he would have no trouble catching all of them under his control at once. It took a special breed of criminals this stupid to make even Veltry calm in the fact of an attack.
.
"Tell everyone you meet that you're an idiot and then do 1,000 jumping jacks," he commanded, sending his energy flowing out of his voice yet again, this time reaching the ears of all the attacking men at once. Their thundering footsteps soon came to a halt, their weapons lowered, and then they all turned back around without protest, shuffling down the ally way like zombies to carry out their commands. His order would probably keep them out of his way long enough for him to carry out his mission.
.
"I'm an idiot," he heard them repeating almost endlessly, well after they had gone out of sight around one of the corners. The rest of the members didn't know what to make if this, but they certainly weren't sticking around to find out. Exchanging dumbfounded glances, the group speed off from the direction they came, leaving behind the ones under his control to shamble around until they regained control of their senses, probably at least a couple of minute later knowing them.
.
"We've found the cat!" Veltry heard a female voice shout urgently, and he turned his attention to his right to see one of his maids racing towards him. Finally they made some progress, but why so serious? His question was soon answered. "She appears to be in trouble!"
.
Veltry was normally a calm guy, but upon hearing this news he immediately sprung into action. "OUT OF MY WAY!!!" he shouted, unintentionally sending some of his energy out in his voice as he did so. The young woman was taken back by the madness in his voice, but quickly complied; either under his influence or not she certainly wasn't going to disobey. Her stormed past her, shouting, "WHERE'S THE BLACK CAT?!" He got a timid reply that they were only two minutes away straight ahead, but he was determined to make it there in one. His maids hurried behind him with guns at the ready, but were struggling to keep up with his pace. Luckily he made it to the scene of the accident quickly enough, just in time to see two people crouched over a...naked underage girl? The maids came up from behind him a second later, panting like crazy. Veltry was just as exhausted as they were, but didn't show it. He was too busy trying to figure out what was going on.
.
"What's going on here? Have you seen a black cat?" He questioned as he marched towards them. He was trying to calm his nerves, but his hands were still shaking. It wasn't from the alcohol either. He knew that he couldn't get so emotional over a cute little kitten that he didn't even own yet, but he just couldn't help himself. Who knows what the creeps in this city would do.

[Bloodbayne]

The metallic clang which sounded through the air as the two swords collided seemed to echo endlessly in Leos mind as next few moments seemed to slow down, his eyes widening to reveal a splash of black reaching into the now dimly lit pools of blue. It seemed as though he had let his confidence get the best of him this time as Strakhov batted his blade aside and closed in, leaving only enough time for Leo to retract his right arm into his body, crossing his right pectoral muscle before collision. The following collision with the alley wall, while dampened slightly, forced the remaining air from Leos lungs, a flash of light and a high pitched ringing sounding out as the back of his head smacked the stone wall. As Strakhov moved himself from the wall, Leo began to slump towards the ground while watching the man reach to his belt to remove an object he only saw as an explosive which was dropped to the ground infront of him. As it hit the ground, so had Leos knees and as soon as he had his balance his eyes flashed a dark brown as his left palm did as well before it was slammed on top of the grenade, plunging it and his hand into the ground until his hand was sunk to his elbow, leaving the grenade 2 1/2 feet beneath the surface.

From this further usage of the energy in his body a quarter of Leos left iris had turned black and half of his right iris had done the same, unknowingly using up more and more of his fresh energy reserve. A further show of his energy came as his eyes briefly flashed a pale yellow, his hand the same as it broke from the surface of the earth and in a quick movement Leo leaped from the ground using his feet and left hand. As he rose from the ground he stretched his left hand out for a vicious uppercut towards Strakhovs chin, a meager charge of lightning Materia dancing along the knuckles of his hand. The plan would be to make contact with Strakhovs chin in only a seconds time, swinging with enough strength to bring the man off his feet if the punch would land, hoping to use the coursing lightning as a sort of taser. The darkness consuming his eyes seemed to be changing Leo all together, his hair losing its color as well as his sword which now lay on the ground of the alleyway.

[Rayn Night]

• Strakhov’s shoulder tackle had connected fiercely, leaving Leo to hit the wall hard. The man should have known that keeping his feet off the ground while in a hand-to-hand combat is the worst idea. The power he could unleash was greater, but failure would mean a great disadvantage or serious counter-attack. The kid had fallen for it, being crushed to the wall. Strakhov simply took a step back, letting the Peace Keeper hit the ground. The young man wasn’t very impress for someone able to swing the blade he wielded with such ease. Even the greatest Khadorian warriors weren’t able to swing a sword like his with ease; even the Doom Reavers weren’t able to be so precise. Maybe the kid had a future if he could stick to the basics.
  
  The smoke grenade would have started puffing out thick smoke to blind Strakhov’s opponent, but it seemed that the man still had much more tricks up his sleeve. There seemed to be energy radiating from him and the Khadorian simple watched, very impressed. He would be a very potent soldier, on that might bring the Cygnars down…Strakhov looked down at him as it seemed something was changing… And the grenade had dissipated into the ground. As shocking as that was, Strakhov bent over a little, checking the depth of the power and almost chocked. How could he do such a thing? It was exactly what Strakhov asked himself before noticing the sudden change in color from his hand. Not a good sign, so Strakhov took a step back, just in time to avoid the uppercut. The mask that covered his face scratched his left check and flew off his head, held on by the power line on his shoulder… And he felt a light shock, feeling quite agitated now… But the man still had his feet off the ground.
  
  Taking a step forward this time. He cocked a punch with his left hand and went straight for the stomach, knowing the man wouldn’t be able to move away with both his feet off the ground. The kid made the same mistake and this time would pay dearly for it. There was going o be another heavy impact and Leo was probably gonna go down on this one.

[Tantalum]

"But why was... and she just... in front of... aurrrrggh...!" After moments hung in complete disbelief, it took a while longer for Carmen to vent her aggravation. Thankfully Carl had been smart enough to lend the girl his coat, else in her mood she might have torn it from him herself. The garment was still a little bloody, but it would have to suffice on such short notice.

While Carl answered another call, Carmen knelt to check over the cat-girl's wounds; though not at all something she favoured to do, it was far preferred to watching her partner attempt instead. Beneath evened locks of hair, a clean graze crossed a little above her forehead - which while not the politest of sights, was a vast improvement to the state Carl had let himself get into. As expected, her breathing and pulse were not out of the norm, but her ears and fingers were untwitching, a sure enough sign that she had been knocked cold from the fall. Even now she struggled to believe how a cat of all creatures had made such a mishap - and here in the most crime-ridden city in the land, no less. Sure she was lucky enough for law enforcers to have found her first, but the ordeal had set them back on valuable time...

---

Putting down the radio, the zombie finally calls her attention, bearing further bad news.
"Elsewhere..." she echoed in exasperation. "Elsewhere?! I knew you guys were understaffed but this is silly!"
Two fists waved agitatedly at her sides as her voice only heightened, "Why don't we have anyone else on hand?! Leo still hasn't reported anything back, and now we have this-"

"Where's the black cat?!"

In the distance, a faint spoken call distinguished itself above the passing winds. How she had heard from such distance was anyone's guess, but regardless she wasted no time rising to her feet again. Following the call, a bustling of footsteps and metal broke into rising chorus - and from the nearest alley corner approached the officers' most abnormal encounter yet.
Leading the group, the first offender was a tall, thin-built man who came to rest less than a dozen yards from Carmen and Carl. He appeared remarkably energetic despite having trekked for a fair distance, especially considering his attire was no less than a suit of full-bodied, gold-plated, jewel-embroiled armour.
How he was able to get away with such nonsensicality, was made clear but a moment after. Tailing wearily behind, an assorted group of young women held at alert; each of their equally-bright maid outfits were laced in traditional white frills, and most carried varying firearms in plain view.

Carmen held ever tighter to her wallet. Was this an entirely new breed of stupid, or did they actually have a reputation to match their audacity? Either way, it appeared they were at least influential enough to get this far into the city in that dress.
Without any hint of fear, her eyes scanned along each of the lackeys' guns in turn. Though none were pointing at her, they knew how to correctly hold them.
None of the individuals passed the suggestion of being hostile - but having been trained to anticipate the worst, Carmen's focus was on ensuring she acted swiftly if the situation got out of hand. Covertly, two digits covertly slipped beneath the wallet's folds, flicking though its surface contents with memorised precision.

"What's going on here? Have you seen a black cat?" Gaining breath as quickly as he exhaled, Veltry was quick to state his peculiar business. By coincidence, Carmen certainly had seen a black cat - and if the man turned out responsible for said cat's street manners, she'd have a lot more to say to him as well... Or at least, a while after Carl and herself had talked their way out of their mortal disadvantage.
Having thought the situation through, she did not respond with haste. Instead, she sent a knowing glance at her undead ally, having assumed he had the more-practised experience and etiquette in such dilemmas.

[Bloodbayne]

Even though the blow was a glancing one, it brought about a small smug smirk to Leos lips to see the mask Strakhov had wore dangling from his armor but it became apparent rather quickly that this minor victory would be short lived. It seemed as though Strakhov intended to release another attack as Leo placed himself in yet another disadvantageous position, though he would not allow himself to be caught so easily this time and the orb resting in the knife upon his back began to come to life again. As Strakhov began to swing his fist the blade released a strong gust of wind to change Leos position, however the blade responded in a way that he had not been expecting, blasting him towards the fist that was coming towards him. Though the plating across his stomach took a majority of the blow, the force that was exerted on Leos body caused a quiet gasp to leave his lips as it forced the wind from his body and throwing his body a few feet backwards through the air. To add to his struggles the blade upon his back reacted negatively once again, throwing a gust of air in the opposite direction that his body was currently moving which caused his body to scream through the air and slam against a wall behind him. The resulting impact to the head briefly relieved Leo of his consciousness and caused the wall to collapse inwards, throwing him into the darkness where only a cloud of dust would remain from the collision with Leo laying beneath a small pile of rubble. Within the rubble and in the darkness of his mind Leo began to hear a voice, a quiet whisper that came from too far a distance for him to hear through it grew in volume each time it spoke.

"Jenova..." It was the voice of a male that had long since been forgotten, and it continued to call to him a number of times until it grew silent and left Leo to his thoughts again. "Jenova!" The voice roared inside his mind once more before a brief flash illuminated the darkness of his mind. It revealed to him a large room alive with technological beeps and clicks of numerous scientific equipment, all of which were connected to a large test tube like machine in the center of the room which held a teenage boy. The boy could have been no more than 16 and had an innumerable amount of tubes and wires attached to him all over, asleep and floating within a thick and glowing blue liquid. Though he could see what was happening it seemed as though he was not in the room and was simply able to watch what went on as a tall, slender, long white haired man dressed in a long black trenchcoat stepped into the room. Leo recognized the man instantly, it was the man who had spent numerous years training him to fight the way he had, making him wonder what it was that he was doing in this room. The man, known as Sephiroth, stepped up to the largest of the computers which surrounded the room and pressed a series of keys on its control panel before a hiss sounded from the giant test tube. The computer responded with a few beeps before a cylindrical compartment out with a hiss from the bottom of the tube. A few quick glances around the room were taken before Sephiroth stepped up to the tube and reached into the left side of his trench coat to retrieve a vial he had stored within there containing a black liquid. The liquid inside of the vial he held was a substance that had been used to create Sephiroth, Jenova cells which were derived from an ancient alien race which had at one point attempted to destroy his world. Without a seconds hesitation Sephiroth placed the vial into the compartment and it slid closed before a few beeps sounded his success before the machine ejected the compartment and allowed Sephiroth to retrieve the empty vial and place it in his trenchcoat. These cells would lay dormant until a time that Leo was weak enough for them to take over, at which point they would be intended to change Leos molecular and DNA structure to match that of Sephiroths as the cells were derived from his body.

At the moment that Leo had lost consciousness the cells within his body seized the moment of weakness and began their instantaneous hostile takeover of his body, transforming almost everything about Leos body as he lay beneath the rubble. A full 30 second of silence would pass before the sound of stone slabs grinding against one another sounded from within the darkness of the broken home where Leo lay, before 2 4ftx4ftx4in (LengthxWidthxHeight) slabs of stone suddenly shot from the darkness and towards Strakhov. The first slab would take 5 seconds to reach him, the two slabs having two seconds between the separate impact times, each holding enough force to bring down another wall if that had been their target. Whether these two slabs of stone would make contact with Strakhov, Leo would step out from the darkness of the rundown building and it would be more than obvious that something had changed within the darkness. The cells which had lay dormant in his body had shifted his physical appearance to mirror his old mentor Sephiroth and had allowed for a number of his techniques, all physical attributes to be transferred to Leo. The once 5'9 man now stood at a staggering 6'2, had a slender form which was covered now with leather armor, a black trench coat which stretched to his knees, a matching set of steel pauldrons on his shoulders, waist length silver hair and a pair of green feline like eyes. Upon the mans face was a rather obvious smirk and a glare that revealed his growing agitation for the man that he was currently facing.

"Well now, I suppose we can both stop playing around. Am I right?" As he spoke he reached up with his black leather gloved hands to wipe a stream of blood away from his lip, eyeing it as though he was discovering something new. "Huh.. how interesting.."

With that Leo flicked his wrist and tossed the single droplet of blood which had not dried onto the ground of the alleyway before curling his right hand as though he held a blade within its grasp. Leo suddenly began to charge down the alleyway, intent on closing the distance which stood between him and Strakhov as quickly as he could, each step pushing him faster than the one before. The sprint came to a sudden stop on the 5th step as Leo planted his left foot on the ground and cocked back his right hand before throwing his open palm out towards Strakhovs stomach, hoping to force the man off balance. Regardless of a hit, dodge or block Leo would continue his assault immediately after his first hit, balling his left hand into a fist before jabbing out towards the mans hopefully still exposed chin and to end it all he cocked his right hand back again and sent a straight jab for the mans nose in hopes to break it and hinder the man.

Just a shorter blade.