Continuum: Bloodletting (The Shanty Town)

[ImportantNobody]

Members of the mob were collapsing as the maid's bullets shot through their arms and legs in an effort to take them out of the fight as nonlethally as they were able. While the maids were not the best shots, these people under mind control weren't particularly good at dodging either, so with enough bullets flying around it wasn't too hard to wound enough of them to start clearing a path. What they were doing was probably illegal, but it was also helping to save the lives of both themselves and the overwhelmed police forces before things would get even more out of hand. They decided to take all the accountability for their actions after things settled down rather then just let Veltrinius take the fall. He knew nothing of the true seriousness of the actions taking place here, after all.
.
Meanwhile, the situation with the woman and the vampire wasn't looking good. Once good thing was that she was moving to grapple his hand, which would hopefully cause the vampire to have severely limited movements. If that was the case then now would be the chance to strike. All six of the ninjamaids sprung at him at once with katana at the ready. They'd come at him in a semicircle formation around his backside, swinging or stabbing at various locations on his body.

[MelonHead]

As Adrian’s claws were repelled his footing changed substantially and the deflected hand rose up to seize the claw attempting to cut down on his left. Dimly he felt the pain of razor sharp teeth cutting into his flesh, and his blood poured from his wounds. He moved inwards, lifting the mutated claw and skipping underneath her arm as her body turned further to the right.

Once he had moved behind her back his grip on her right arm would only strengthen as he twisted around wrenching the arm painfully low behind her at a little above waist height. This would leave him facing the same direction as Carmen, and as soon as he had the advantage of positioning his right hand would seize the claw and pull it away from his left hand. However, even if it were freed as easily as it should be he would simply shift its position so he could retain wrenching her right arm behind her back and potentially break the bone.

It would be as he did this that the advancing ninja’s would come to his attention, although he had been caught up in the fight and not yet noticed them he was still in a favourable position, while they were unable to strike at him without injuring Carmen. With that situation set, he would remain standing behind her and watch the ninjas carefully, pulling Carmen’s arm periodically to remind her that any sudden moves could be the end of her.

[Tantalum]

Upon taking hold of the claw, Adrian shifted past the rail with swift, sudden footing, manoeuvring to Carmen's back whilst painfully twisting her arm into a lock. Time for the Sargent to react was not only slim, but also rendered near-impossible with her failing balance - and in mere instants had his advantage been made clear, standing behind her whilst she struggled to resist his overpowering strength. Her claw still held rigid, set on draining the fiend's blood as much as he would allow, but a little levering from his other hand was enough to widen it a few inches, barely releasing his punctured hand.
Thankfully, the strain was a little less effective on shapeshifters of her sort, and merely loosening her arm's tendons was enough to lessen the pain. However, while she had more than enough ways to fight back, the indication of her forearm snapping would incapacitate her sooner than she could to him, thus forcing her to abide.

With controlled breathing, she expressionlessly observed the 'vigilantes' who had chosen to side with her. Brandishing curved blades, the half-dozen maids could have perhaps switched the situation, had they not entered a second too soon.
Her shadowed aura flickered once more, and its essence growled with anger inside its borrowed soul. Carmen only agreed with the familiar as she blinked at the maids in turn; having lost whatever element of surprise they had, their lingering would only surmount to more deaths, further setting herself at a disadvantage. Hope was now almost futile against this no-doubt undead creature, but there still remained two last gambits she could play on.
Her left arm pushed steadily to her right, ejecting the grown canines from her wrist as she did so. From the inner, three thin, bony digits began to protrude from the damaged appendage, peeling carefully through its worn membrane. Her concealed weapon was finally complete, and so she awaited a single chance to use it against her captor, however indirect it may be...

[MelonHead]

Twisting the officer’s arm further, he leaned in just close enough so as not to leave himself vulnerable.

“What is your name girl?” He asked quietly, his voice barely a whisper. There was something about learning the names of those skilful enough to test him in combat. The blood leaking from the fleshy holes in his arm and hand and the dull pain emanating from the wounds were mute testament to that.

“My own name is Adrian;
Until next we meet.”

His left hand shot out to wrap around the right side of her neck, and his eyes rose to glance at the ninja’s approaching. It was time to make his move; he had spent too long playing with the woman, foolish perhaps. As soon as the hand made contact he threw it wide, the sudden move accompanied by the releasing of her hand as he intended to throw her clear to his left across the rooftop.

Provided she moved out the way as he intended, he would burst part her with all the speed at his disposal, the cloaking of near invisibility still clinging to him as he jumped at the nearest maid, her blade slashing through the night and narrowly missing his neck as he tackled her across the rooftops. The other maids moved in on him, striving to save their fallen ally while also striking at Adrian who rose, the shadows falling away to reveal his hood had dropped. Blood smeared his face, but there was an unearthly beauty in his pale features and a haunted look in his dark eyes.

The maid struggled in his grasp, and he relieved her of her weapon as he bit into her neck. Blades slashed towards him from all sides, and almost casually the hand lightly resting on his victims shoulder spread wide once more, causing the fallen maid to twist and fall from the rooftop.

Adrian lifted the blade and parried three strikes at once, his speed near unfathomable. One fluid twist and a fighter’s head was separated from her body, the blade whirring round to parry two more blows as he lashed out with an elbow and then a foot, knocking another from the rooftop. Four left, two struck, one cut his arm and the blood pooled from the wound, he snarled as his blade cut another maid near in half. The hilt turned around, he followed it and sent it flying directly into a maid’s nose, she fell back and he cut her across the shoulder. Three, they were scared now; one made a fatal mistake as she overextended and his fangs took her life. Two, he kicked the fallen riot shield from earlier into her knees and sent a blade through her chest.

Poetic perhaps, or maybe just through skill, only their leader remained alive. She fixed him with a glare of sheer determination, her blade flashing suddenly and catching the light causing a momentary blip in his defence. It was enough to put a cut across his side which caused him to jump back in sudden pain and irritation.

She would pay dearly for her success.

The katana raised, suddenly he reversed his grip allowing the metal to run across his own arm. His blood pooled across the blade after so many wounds sustained, even though they slowly healed from his intake of blood. Once the blade was wet with his lifeblood, he muttered incomprehensibly and it became tainted.

Another grim smile, this time accompanied by a flurry of debilitating blows as Aimi was forced back, parrying his attacks only partially and suffering a multitude of minor wounds. She suddenly grimaced and dropped forward, the blade falling from her hands.

He caught her in his embrace, and his fangs sunk into her flesh. Venom mixing with the poison already present in her veins, his blood mixing with her own as her eyes darkened and glazed over, a single scream cutting off as it suddenly gave way to pure adoration. He allowed her to slump lifelessly to the ground beside the rail of the rooftop, and turned to face Carmen with his sword at the ready, once again they were separated by the divide.

[Tantalum]

The undead figure leaned in from behind, his voice trailing down the tip of her bat-like ear. Given her state of vulnerability, she hesitated to answer his question, but knew to brace as he mentioned his departure. Not before long, she found herself lifted by the neck, and then tossed aside just as nonchalantly as she had to his blade.

She tumbled upon landing several feet to her left, rolling once before her limbs steadied against the tainted roof; and once upright, her right claw snapped onto her left. With sudden force, the damaged appendage was finally torn from the joint. The remainder of its shell cracked open with ease, and plasma seeped from the openings as her grown replacement was unsheathed.
A vague figure of a small, exoskeletal hand flexed outwards, fluids still dripping from black pointed nails. The cone-like structure seen earlier was now seen to be her central digit; a giant, loosely curved and unsegmented claw, 15 inches long with a pointed and bladed tip. The musculature supporting it grotesquely filled her swollen palm, ensuring she would have a chance against Adrian's strikes; but this weapon was only a fail-safe, rather opting for a more reliable means.

The remainder of her reformed digits reached to her right pocket, raising her trusted steel revolver at the fleeing assaulter - only to hesitate, as the maids followed too closely to risk a shot. At this point, the Sargent could only hope for them to be sensible; Adrian's strength had been demonstrated to them beforehand, and surely they would not intervene without talents to back them up... But alas, her hopes were drained as he drew blood from the first maid's neck, letting the body slump off the roof's edge.

"Run..." Was the only word she managed to speak aloud, yet both her self-pride and her frank despair stifled the warning. Null called out instead, its cold, ethereal wail siphoning through their souls, but such action only appeared to harden their resolve.
Needless to say, the other assassins all but fell one after the other, slain by their own blades with horrific efficiency. Still unable to move greater than a limp, Carmen could only watch as bloodshed littered the adjacent roof, solemnly shaking her head; however, her emotions were only shown when Adrian took hold of the final sword-wielder, whose face she clearly recalled from earlier.

She could not begin to understand the spell or ritual cast before her, but the implications of her death especially drove her to sheer enragement. She dashed forwards, clearing five yards in a single pace - only for the second to give way from forgotten injuries, again sending her into an equally-painful tumble.
It was far too late by the time she had recovered. Aimi's scream cut off prematurely, and her wounded body laid sprawled at the fiend's feet. Bloodied frills adorned the corpses of her fellow colleagues, whilst the perpetrator stood smugly amongst the bloodshed, no doubt enjoying Carmen's reaction as much as his own work.

Her amber eyes could not portray her disgust any clearer. Though devoid of apparent fear, her entire form held rigid with anger - then soon after, shifted and calmed to a sporadic tremor, in unison with her familiar's aura.
"It..." she stammered, breaking eye contact as she forced her words. "...It appears there's no-one left to evacuate. My work here is done."
Her ears lowered in defeat, and hesitantly her gun was turned away, taking preference of her rapier-like claw were she to defend any following assaults. With some difficulty, a shortened step followed another as she shuffled back in retreat.

[MelonHead]

Aimi slowly died at his feet, making the change to a vampire as poison ran through her veins, she grew quiet sobbing gently on the floor.

Adrian’s head cocked to one side as he glared at Carmen, backing away slowly as she admitted her own failure. It was a bitter sweet feeling, watching his quarry flee so quickly, on the one hand it showed the police force was weak and his mission easy. On the other hand, he had been enjoying the battle and to not be sufficiently tested was a waste.

As Carmen backed away he followed her, the katana clasped in his right hand in a reverse grip, he reached the edge of the rooftop and neatly skipped over. Carmen could probably have escaped the rooftop by now, but had she not he would throw the weapon spear like straight at her, aiming for her middle region relatively accurately despite its poor design for such an attack. If she had escaped now he had given her the chance, he would drop the katana to one side and reclaim his superior fallen blades from where they lay after they were discarded.

[Crazy Scion]

A little while earlier:
When Carl finally rose from the earth he wasn't sure exactly how long he'd been out for, but it became apparent he had been sleeping far longer then he had anticipated. He immediately reaches into his pouch and flips on his radio to hear the chatter. The situation with the crowds was no going very well from the sounds of things, and many of his own have fallen to mysterious forces. Carl starts running towards the disaster area, taking a moment to make a call on his radio, "HQ this is Carl. I'm back with the living and currently on route for the disaster area. Is there any updates about the situation I should know about? Over."

The voice of Wendy crackles over the radio, "Carl the situation is bad. The initial response team has already been pushed back very far and has taken heavy casualties, the worse being from what reports say to be a hooded figure. The new girl...I mean agent Carmen apparently perused this figure and her were about currently aren't clear. Good news is a strange group of maids came and started helping with the fighting, and the second response group is only a few minutes away and should arrive about the same time you do. Commander Lewis is also now on the scene and has approved the use of fire arms as long as only non fatal areas are targeted. Over."

"It's unfortunate that we need to use such force, but I know Lewis knows what he is doing. I'll go after Carmen and see if she need assistants, and hopefully I'm not to late to be of any help. Over." Sounding a bit relieved Wendy replies,"I'll inform Commander Lewis of your arrival, and good luck Carl. Over." Carl clicks off his radio and continues to make his way towards the gunfire and screams.

A few minutes later he arrives at the scene and it looked pretty bad. Most of the advancing enemies were unarmed, but they seemed very good a shrugging off any non lethal threats like stuns and riot shields. Many of the hostiles however were downed by minor bullet wounds to the legs and arms, so the advantage was slowly tipping in his favor. Several men on foot arrive on the scene, and are all armed with long barrel rifles. Carl can't help, but stop to ask them if the rifles were a bit excessive, but was informed they were armed with low velocity rounds and that they were meant for better aimed shots to keep the fatalities to a minimum.

Lewis floated around the area directing the police forces in positions using his mental projection made communication faster then a radio. Lewis was able to pick up on the minds of people withing the general area, and used that to help him tell the location of people or creatures, well as long as it had a mind it had a presence. The minds of the infected people were surprisingly easy to read given there single minded determination to accomplish there goal. They didn't seem to care about his presence as long as it didn't slow there progress they wouldn't spare an ounce of energy to try blocking him out. Still it helped little given there thoughts mainly consisted of kill this, attack that. Lewis packed the cops into tight triangle formations leading with Riot Shielders and followed by rifle men. The riot Shields would use stun rods or flashes to slow the enemy, then the rifle men would take careful shots to disarm and cripple the crowed. They had several teams spread out to slowly close in on the crowed and surround it. Lewis would report there movements and general locations, and the men would move into position to intercept.

Carl ran around the area trying to find Carmen, but had no idea where she would be. He didn't want to leave the street given the advantage he had on the ground, but decided that the roof tops would be a better place to look from. He lets his muscles exerts a large force and leaps to the top of a nearby building. He isn't certain what he is looking for, but then it wasn't exactly hard to see with his night vision. Lewis informs him of a direction that fighting was happening, but couldn't give him an exact location, but moving in that direction it didn't take him long to come across a scene he will never forget. There was a strange figure cloaked in darkness surrounded by a team of what appeared to be the for mentioned maids from the reports. They had him surrounded, but that seemed to be no disadvantage for there opponent as proceeded to kill them off one by one. Carl was to far away to help, but he ran and leaped all while watching the carnage. The maids fought bravely, but they all fell one by one and even the last maid had some kind of horrible ritual performed on her. Her horrible screams were enough to make Carl want to cry for the girls suffering, and he felt himself getting increasingly mad and letting out far more of his strength. To his surprise he sees another figure near the assumed Demon, but whatever the creature was he could barely tell. All he could make out was that it was hurt. Carl opens his mind an thinks, "Lewis we have several casualties over on my position, and I need back up for injured. See if you can get a sniper team to the roofs to provide cover. Though be warned the target appears nearly invisible in normal light so, if anyone has a dam thermal scope it will really help."

In response to Carl, the high pitched thoughts of Lewis enter his mind, "I hear you Carl, but we can't spare much to help you. I have a few men on the roof tops already and will tell them to keep an eye out for you. So, try to show them where to look and give them something to hit."

"Understood." Carl is only one roof top away from the hooded figure at this point. He would be approaching from his right side from the figures perspective. He ducks behind the edge of the roof, and watches as the figure crosses the gap towards the injured creature. The situation was looking bad, but he needed to wait for an opportunity to act or risk more casualties by spooking the thing with the spear.

[Tantalum]

Uncaring of his actions, Adrian neared her at a leisurely pace, and fresh blood dripped from his borrowed sword. Carmen's glare held fiercer than the murderer's own, yet it remained she was the one who would have to retreat. It was breaking her every moral to let the fiend live, but as much as she regretted it, her allies so far had not allowed her much choice.
"Adrian, you say." Her dismissive, sickened and weary words barely made it across the divide. "Expect no mercy if we meet again."
With this, her revolver was pocketed again, and her hand stretched for the rail opposite to where she stood before. A simple hop lifted her above and over, and a skilful descent placed her safely at the base of the building.

She waited a moment as she leaned against the wall, her ears perked to catch whether Adrian had followed. Seconds passed, along with the sound of him travelling up to the roof she had been on, but no vibration thereafter suggested he had approached further.
Listening further, it did appear that others had arrived in the area, but few things could possibly convince her to turn back. In half-relievement, her attention then turned to her right leg, which still ached from the assaults earlier. With inspection, it appeared she could move it minimally at the thigh, but any motion or weight at all triggered intolerable pain through the limb. All too well, she knew its condition would only worsen the longer it was left unhealed - and although a shapeshifter by nature, Carmen knew not how to rebuild her damaged mutations.

The workaround, while lengthy, was far more convenient for her than having a medic see to it; reverting her shapeshifts was always an uncomfortable process, but she would have plenty of time to do so once she knew she was safe.
Keeping as cautious as ever, Carmen began to slink past buildings and alleys at a steadied, limping pace, retreating back towards where she had entered the clearing. By the work of her protective familiar, cast shadows from looming walls sleekly wrapped her form as she travelled, hiding the pair from the few sparse individuals left behind.

[MelonHead]

The katana clattered to the ground at his feet as Carmen’s retreat rendered his earlier intentions void. His eyes scouting the rooftop quickly as his sensitive ears picked out the arrival of a significant number of people. Speeding over, he reclaimed the sword and his knife, jumping up onto an elongated rail and crouching there, the sword in his left hand the knife in his right.

The metallic, familiar, smell of blood still clung to both implements, but most strongly to the obsidian blade. He lifted it to eye level, droplets formed on the side of the weapon and he ran it across his lips, cleaning it and drinking the strange blood of the Chimera. Immediately he felt its effects, strangeness, it was unlike anything he had ever sampled before. It felt as if it opened up parts of his nature, of his vampirism, possibly brought about by the reaction to Carmen’s blood. He almost fell from his perch, his eyes darkening further as madness took him, and it was almost as if he had drunk from an entire family. He had only felt the feeling once before, when he killed those who made him, but now he knew he had to have more, his metabolism spiked and the wounds on his arms sealed over, almost completely healed. He felt near full strength as his head tilted to one side, attempting to sense Carmen’s presence.

I MUST… HAVE MORE, his thoughts screamed through his mind, and he jumped high and landed on the rooftop as the shadows sprang to him. He splayed both weapons wide, and an unfamiliar scent drew his attention, near Aimi as she lay dying, he could feel a presence which reminded him of vampires. It wasn’t the same, but he knew something was there which could possibly pose a threat to him.

“COME OUT LITTLE ONE” he roared.
“You cannot escape your fate;
I will still take you.”

As he stared across the divide the shadows covered him with exaggerated slowness, leaving him near invisible in the darkness.

[Crazy Scion]

Carl was still crouched behind the edge of the roof Carl watches as the creature retreats off the side of the building. At least that was one less thing he had to worry about, but it didn't take long for the cloaked figure to run around and pick up a sword and a dagger, then taking up position at the end of some railing a little ways to his right. With the demon armed with weapons he was now going to need something to cover himself with or risk getting cut to shreds. He spots a riot shield lying on the edge of the roof across from him, and the swords that the maids had wielded were still scattered about. It was starting to see he had some options, but as he makes these observations his thoughts are interrupted by the figure yelling into the night.

“COME OUT LITTLE ONE” he roared.
“You cannot escape your fate;
I will still take you.”

"Perfect, I think I just lost the element of surprise." he thought to himself as watches as the figure of the demon fade into near invisibility again, "Wait maybe not. He called me out, but he hasn't come charging at me. Though it is really hard to see I think I can make out bits and pieces of it on that rail still, so lets try something." Carl reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a small copper coin. Lightly holding the coin between his thumb and index finger, he holds it in front of his face, then brings the Windup Gun and touches the end to the coin. Using the roofs edge to keep the gun steady, he carefully aims at where he saw the figure of the demon disappear, then flips the switch. Without any kick or sound from the gun the coin fires out of his finger like a bullet straight at the center of where he thought Adrian was. "Due to the gun fire and shouting all over the place on top of the fact my Windup Gun makes no sound. It will be very difficult for that Demon to figure out my location after only few shots." he thinks to himself.

Regardless if the coin hits or misses, if Adrian remains in the same spot or drops his cloak. Carl would continue to silently snipe from his position on the roof with his pocket full of change, firing one shot every 10-12 seconds. Until Adrian moves where he cant see him, or make out his form in which case Carl will leap from his position to the other rooftop and quickly retrieve the riot shield.

When Carl has fired 4 shots or if it becomes apparent Adrian has figured out where Carl is. Carl will then leap from his position to the other rooftop and try to quickly retrieve the riot shield.