Continuum: Bloodletting (The Shanty Town)

[MelonHead]

As soon as Carl peeked over the edge and began readying his gun Adrian spotted him, already looking in that direction it was simplicity in itself for his hunter’s eyes to pick out the movement. He darted to the left to clear some space as he made his run, the gun visible and the projectile fired where he was thought to be, sadly Carl had misjudged his position through the invisibility. The coin whistled harmlessly past him obviously not well suited in its role as a bullet. Adrian didn’t take note of it, fully focused on his target as each step took him closer, within two seconds he had reached the edge and cleared the gap, his sword in hand and his feet landing lightly on the wall.

He drew his arm wide, dropping to the same level behind the gunman who he now noted was crouched. Adrian turned, cleaving his blade around wide to remove the gunman’s head.

[Tantalum]

'So he did follow...' Carmen struggled to sight a figure upon glancing behind, but her ears and her familiar were sure enough that it was not over. Below the howls from the departed rooftop, a determinable number of individuals could be heard nearing the area on foot; Be they reinforcements, outsiders or even more enemies, Carmen no longer held any cares so long as they served as a distraction.
Still, she could not help but wonder - what could Adrian possibly want from her, after having let her depart? Her given humiliation was all she thought she had to offer; but as she pondered their skirmish, their bloodshed, it was not at all long before her worst-case scenario was realised.
Were a sadistic, hematophagous being to somehow get hold of the concentrated, purified blood she had developed for herself... The natures and evidence sadly added up, and the implications sickened her beyond all measure. Before her mind flooded any more with his victims, her startled thoughts were turned to instinctual self-preservation; pulling herself around the nearest corner, her back slumped against a wall opposite the earlier frays.
Her echolocation confirmed temporary safety, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that her time was short. Her trust in her faction was gone, and the distant, unconventional gunfire merely signalled her first cover. No longer taking steep risks, she began her timely restoration began whilst she had certain seconds to spare.

Carmen's lower muscles soon receded, and her height lessened further as she restored her original stature. The blade and claw remained at her sides, but everything not aiding her self-defence was to be reverted to her normal figure.
A stretch was made as she realigned her shortening spine, and her breathing lessened in accordance with shrinking lungs. Her left hand tugged on her own feline fangs, effortlessly detaching them such that human canines could replace them. The fur lacing her ears malted by itself, and they shrank enough to be concealed beneath her shoulder-length hair.
Finally, her grainy brown exoskeleton began to shed, revealing her natural skin between irregular, horizontal splits. She scratched at what was left of her now-hollow snout, peeling the loosened coating from her restored jaw beneath - then consumed the samples whole, rather than discarding.
The rest would separate on its own accord - but to avoid leaving evidence, travelling would be unwise until she had finished. But a moment longer and Carmen could begin to regenerate her wounds, thus hastening her retreat so long as the vampire could be held off...

[Crazy Scion]

Seeing that his first shot hit nothing, Carl assumes the worst and proceeds as if Adrian had figured out his location. He leaps across to other building, strangely almost at the same time Adrian leaped to his building, and ran over to the riot shield and straps it to his left arm. He holds the Windup Gun so that the cone is poking the shield and his thumb is on the other side of the switch. He stands in the middle of the roof circling slowly to try to see if he can pick up on his nearly invisible enemy. Being on such and open surface with no obstacles he can keep his eyes and ears open for anything out of place.

Lewis picks up on Carmen's wary mind as she wonders closer to the fight area and calls out to her, "Officer Carmen it's good to see you in one piece. Are you OK? The force is closing in on the crowd and we are working to get this situation under control. If you need anything like medical or back up I can direct you. On A different note do you know if Commander Carl has located the cloaked figure?" Lewis hovers high in the air a few building away for Carmen over looking the forces.

[MelonHead]

Considering Adrian was running directly at Carl, by jumping across at the same time as him there was no other option but for them to collide in the air. Adrian was slightly off centre, but not significantly enough to avoid him, however due to his enhanced reflexes he did not just blindly crash into the zombie.

His left arm dragged across and wide horizontally, as he passed Carl in mid-air, the obsidian blade launched in a slash which should cut across Carl’s chest. With his attack launched Adrian would then twist, to allow his body to slide past Carl in the air and to land in a favourable position on his right food, skidding to a stop quickly. He would be side on, allowing him to quickly bound off his right foot and then immediately pursue Carl, dropping his cloak as he did so to regain a greater sense of depth perception while also conserving his energy.

[Tantalum]

'Damn it Carl!!' Was the chimera's immediate thoughts as she stepped out in alarm, scanning in all directions for her undead recruiter, only to once again find her weight thrown on her injured leg. With agitation brimming, she carried herself back against the wall, sighing whilst the familiar voice continued on.
Carmen noted they were polite enough to offer aid, but her morals outright refused to let herself be indebted by such an unreliable faction. 'I'm perfectly fine here...' her sluggish response could not be any less convincing - but the telepath's ending words raised a question she had not considered before. '...If you're not Carl, then who is this?'

[Crazy Scion]

The sudden swipe in the air was unexpected, but the cut was fairly shallow and didn't damage any important muscles. The cut dripped with blood, but the blood didn't flow out of the wound, and was even already a bit stagnant. Carl was not slowed down by the action and landed on the other roof in a crouch, but quickly twisted to the side and threw his arm back to fire a shot at where he just was in hopes of catching the demon as he landed.

If Adrian is hit he would be sent flying back onto the other roof top. In this case Carl would use the time to spring over to the riot shield just off to his side and shove it on his left arm and secure it, then move the windup gun to his left hand

If Adrian is further then 10 feet, then all the power the shot had would dissipate into strong 30 mile hour wind current that would push against Adrian. In this case Carl would still spring over and shove the riot shield on his arm, but may not have enough time to secure it, or switch the windup gun to his left hand.

Lewis was a bit surprised at how upset Carmen was about the whole matter, and didn't bother disguising her thoughts either. This didn't stop him from answering her in the same squeaky and calm voice he usually did, "My name is Lewis, and I am the commander of the Police faction, or as Carl likes to call us The Cops. I'm sorry that your first day as an officer has proven to be so stressful, but I would like too assure that my faction appreciates your help, and I sincerely apologize for letting you down. I'm afraid our officers had far more problems with this incident then we had originally anticipated." Lewis lets out a mental sigh. "After all it was suppose to be a simple riot response, not a mini war on our doorstep. Though most of the damage was mainly due this cloaked figure that murdered a good portion of the first response and threw them into chaos. We have since stepped up our response force and not many of the rioters are even left at this point. If you can assist in any way to help us arrest and capture this cloaked man, then I would be very grateful."

[MelonHead]

Adrian indeed felt himself buffeted by the sudden wind, enough so that he could not immediately follow as he was pressed back and his foot dragged across the ground to provide friction and prevent himself losing balance. He had managed to turn to face into the attack, which helped, and he could clearly see Carl make it to the shield before the winds receded and he could press forward. The riot shield was fairly material in nature, not seemingly enchanted it would provide no logical resistance to his next attack, which he fired on the move as he made to dive back over the rooftop.

The green hex manifested itself in his right hand with the knife and shot forward, cutting through the air to strike at Carl while he was unprepared. It flew with the speed of an arrow, over such a short distance and so suddenly Adrian had little belief that it could fail to hit its target as it struggled with the cumbersome defence, which would provide no obstacle to his silencing spell. When it collided with Carl he would be muted for a period of time roughly around ten seconds, unable to cast spells or use magic, which would likely be catastrophic for a creature sustained by it but time would tell.

Immediately after the silence was launched he landed back on the original rooftop, leaving Aimi behind once more as she struggled with the vampiric poison in her veins. Adrian landed lightly with the trained skill of an acrobatic, immediately dropping into a half crouch as he sprinted towards Carl, striking at his right side with the blade in an arcing horizontal slash which would be aimed at his exposed body, provided the shield could not be moved in time. If it were, Adrian would pull back the blade and kick the bottom of the shield, either causing it to launch upwards and injure Carl or knock back allowing a small gap at the top for Adrian to plunge his knife into Carl’s eye.

[Tantalum]

Carmen remained all but unimpressed with the intruder's words. With all things considered there was little more Lewis could say on his behalf, but even in noting this she was not taken so quickly.
'And you're sure numbers are enough?' Her back uneasily raised closer to the wall, taking care to hold balance whilst she combed the flakes caught in her hair. 'I engaged the offender. Couldn't restrain him long enough for our reinforcements. Certainly an undead. He shrugs off pain, and his reflexes are monstrous....'
Catching her thoughts before they trailed off, all recollection of Carmen's injury was pushed to the back of her mind. '...I've... been in better conditions right now,' she found herself mimicking Lewis's figurative sigh. 'Really, I'm glad I've been of some use to you. Your voice is all sweet while you're in here, but you've also fed lives to Adrian without any progress. If you expect to drop more of us just for one criminal, I won't be staying to witness it.'