Chinatown Rush (Anyone and everyone)

OoC: Anyone's welcome to join. *begins poking random BA'ers*

BiC:

Her hands were bound, she couldn’t really tell where she was, because she was also blindfolded for most of the time she spent here. She knew, however, that she was still in the same building where she was captured, because the Triad members hadn’t pushed her that far.

They didn’t bother to gag her, because she never spoke a single word since she was caught. It was almost time, anyway. They would probably ask her to say any last words before they executed her. Suddenly, the door before her creaked opened and light flowed into the room. Through the blindfold, she could tell where was bright and where was dark, which was quite useful.

The men that came into the room roughly grabbed her by the ropes that held her hands together, pulling her up and pushing her through the door. Even then, she didn’t protest. They led her to a very bright room. Listening to their footsteps alone, she could tell that there were at least eight men entering.

She smiled slightly, having passed through this room before she was captured. It was a large room, lots of dried and wiped blood near the unpainted wall, which was full of bullet holes. This was probably where she was standing right now, with those eight or so men lined up in front of her, aiming their guns. On her left, would be the sound of generators whirring, supplying power to the machines on the lower levels as well as the restaurant up top. There were iron bars on the wall to the left, so viewing the generators at work was entirely possible.

So cliché…using a Chinese restaurant for a disguise.

Suddenly, a pair of footsteps approached her. The ropes around her wrists were cut, only to be grabbed by that person. He held it long enough to put her own gun in her hand. A door in front of her opened and a second pair of footsteps made their way toward her, stopping by the lineup of men. The one who had put the gun in her hand scurried back to the line, pulling out and readying his own gun.

"There is one bullet in that gun." The man who had just entered began to speak, "You may choose to take your own life, because ammunition is expensive."

She heard it, the man spoke with a heavy Chinese accent, but there was something else. It was as if he spoke with two voices at the same time. Raisha grinned, knowing it was the ‘thing’ that she had chased here, allowing herself to be caught to catch up with it and kill it. Like the hissing of a snake about to strike, she spoke with a whisper, but loud enough for the man to hear.

"Rakshasa."

The man gasped. Ai raised her gun, and using her memory and the sound of the generators alone, she fired that single bullet through the iron bars, damaging one of the generators. The men in the room scattered, fearing that the generators might explode. Raisha knew that she might just have sparked off a war between the opposing Triad groups in this part of city, with this group most likely thinking that an opposing group had succeeded in damaging their power supply, thus slowing down their work drastically.

Apparently, the men who had escaped locked the doors behind them, leaving of their own behind. He didn’t have a gun, so he just stood there, quivering with Rai’s dagger, Celestia in his hands. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the empty gun towards him, nailing him square on the forehead. Calmly, she walked over to the unconscious man, pulling open his fingers one by one and taking the dagger from him.

"Thank you." She said to him, smiling.

Then, the door to the right flung open. Policemen in uniform flowed through the tiny doorway, aiming their guns at the girl with the knife.

"Freeze!" A few of them shouted the word at the same time. Raisha had to admit, she wasn’t really expecting this, but it didn’t matter.

"Don’t move!" Three officers began to approach her cautiously, still aiming their guns.

But what she did expect was about to happen in…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

The generators screeched to a halt, the whole building became flooded with pitch black. By the time the officers had their flashlights up and searching, she was already gone.

OoC: I am so in. It's like a John Woo movie, except Johnny's not Chinese.

IC:

Sirens blared in the night. Chinese people chattered and shouted to each other in their native tongue. In the distance, one could swear one heard gunfire. Cars and bikes filled the streets, making it almost impossible for a driver to get anywhere very fast.

The key word there was almost.

Johnny Bones grinned. Underneath him, the motorcycle growled.

He ripped forward, slicing through traffic without even focusing. The motorcycle, a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-64--a sports bike, for the laymen--easily zoomed through gaps that left only inches between the zombie's legs and the car, bike, or pedestrian that he moved past.

This thing was beauuuuuuuutiful. It rode great, especially for moving through traffic. Not only that, he hadn't paid a cent for it. Hooray for theft.

Behind him, he heard angry honks, Chinese curses...

More sirens. Great.

But there were far too many police tooting their own horns to be going after him. Something must be going down with the crime lords. Johnny had no respect for the Chinese mafia, the Triads. He didn't like Chinese food and he didn't like Chinese gangsters. Italians trumped them all the way, baby.

He glanced in one of Kawasaki's mirrors. Yeah...there were the cops. Just one car, two pissed off officers...he didn't really need trouble, especially since his financial status was at literal rock bottom, but he needed these idiots to leave him alone...

The holy warrior pulled out a pistol and fired a duo of shots behind him. The bullets bit into the squad car's tires, sending it careening into a fishmonger's stall.

"Holy mackerel," Johnny said, holstering his pistol.

Now, he had a free night with no drugs and no cash. Not exactly the best of times...he needed something to occupy himself with.

Banking abruptly (and causing a cyclist to screech to a halt, fly off his bike, and hit a lamppost), he turned right and headed deeper into the grubbier part of town to find out just what the hell those police were so pissed about.

OoC: I'll join this. I'll be using Aviara. The link is in my sig.

BiC: Avi flew about in the clear blue sky as the birds nearby flew in other directions. She flew on, and eventually came to a halt, shocked at what she saw below. A city full of humans...one building was surrounded by a large group holding guns. Avi then spotted a human on some kind of transportation device meant for only one person. A group of the other humans were after him, but why, Avi did not know.

She slowly descended from the sky, curious as to what was going on. Humans were holding guns and electronic lights, scrutinizing the building for something Avi was unsure of. She decided not to let herself be seen and snuck here and there to get a glimpse inside the building. It was pitch black, and machinery that appeared to have been destroyed stood in one room. Perhaps the humans were looking for the cause of it? Avi was still unsure, but as curious as ever.

She quietly adventured around the building some more, her presence still unknown to the humans. Avi, thinking nothing more was interesting there, turned her attention to the humans going after the one on the one person transportation device. She flew up in the air and followed them, still curious as to what was really going on.

Avi continued to follow, and eventually saw the human shoot at the others that were after him. She gasped and made sure to stay out of range of the bullets. However, the human wasn't paying attention to the road on which he was driving his transportation device and suddenly crashed into an alley way filled with garbage cans and a fence. Avi landed on the top of the building right next to the alley and looked for the human, hearing the meows of alley cats and the impacts of garbage cans as they slammed into the building walls.

OoC: Aikies is in! Cadenza seems very well suited to dealing with the mafia/Triad/etc. :3

IC:
Sacks of genuine, azure zecca coins were shoved across the table as various papers exchanged deadly hands. The suave, steely-eyed man sitting at the desk leaned forward, his face rising from the shadows to be illuminated by the soft glow of his shaded lamp as he carefully chose his words and began to speak.

"Our...group thanks you for undertaking this job, Miss Venezia."

Cadenza Madrigal laughed. "The zecca's thanks enough."

The two swarthy-faced brutes at either end of the desk exchanged glances. They were not hired for the sharpness of their perceptions, but even they could feel the tension in the air. This Latin woman was pushing their boss' every last nerve--knowing that he needed her skills and couldn't punish her for it.

The seated man nodded with an expression somewhere between a smile and a smirk. "You know..." he began, his voice having lost some of its earlier coolness of tone, "...it's been reported that their power generators have been shut down completely. Perhaps the job is too easy now for what we have paid you..."

Madrigal returned the same sly smile. "A deal's a deal."

The man, already cat-like in his demeanor, looked even more so with his hair angrily on end and his mouth in a toothy snarl; but just as quickly as they had come out, his metaphorical claws retracted and he resumed his smooth manner.

"Ahem, yes, well remember, as they say in your native Italy--'ntra greci e greci nun si vinni abbraciu--there is honor among thieves. Now then...Han, see Miss Venezia out."

A weaselly, gold-complexioned fellow with a whipcord frame stepped forward from the dim corner of the room at the words, a bleak and uninviting glare on his face as he proceeded to escort the gypsy silently out to the Triad's front rooms--a popular, 24-hour laundromat. He left her just as quietly as he had come.

Native Italy? These idiots will believe anything.

Mere seconds spent in the room brought a jarring and adrenalizing change as the blaring of police sirens and cry of people in the streets came within earshot. At the first sign of the noise, Cadenza sprang into action, dropping down into the shadows away from any potential searching eyes and sliding through a window into the city back alleys.

Great job placing your associates in the line of fire, Triad prats--I don't need to be arrested before I even do the job.

OoC: I can't resist. Using Monroe, link in sig. ^_^

BiC: "Where are they!"

The voice echoed through the building and slammed the dark haired man's head against the table. The inspector, a rather round and red faced fellow, lifted the man's head off the table and looked into the man's green eyes. The man didn't flinch in the slightest, even as some blood dripped down his forehead.

"WHERE ARE THEY!" the inspector yelled again as he slammed the mysterious man's head against the table. Blood flowed onto the table and covered the pale skin of the man that was in custody. The man didn't ask why he was here. He knew.

These bastards had brought him in because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He wasn't asian, so why in the hell would he help those grease ball thugs. If anything, the man in custody planned on breathing their thumbs for getting him into this trouble. After all, what person was supposed to know that a bounty hunter was trying to bring down a syndicate?

The handcuffs that the incarcerated man wore were nice and tight, but still didn't draw any blood, despite the fact they appeared to be cutting into his skin. Monroe had nearly had enough of this. If this guy didn't stop, he was gonna get his goddamn face smashed in, and then Monroe would escape. Still, the former assassin needed his weapons back first. Damn cops had confiscated his tools, which made getting out a bit trickier.

"God dammit!" the round inspector said as he lifted up Vossler's head and looked into his eyes. "Talk, you bastard!"

"****... off!" Monroe said slyly as he cast a cocky smile and spit on the cop's face.

The chubby inspector stepped back, wiping the blood off of his face. "You little ****! If you don't tell me where they are, I'm gonna beat your face in!" the inspector threatened.

"How about," Monroe said as he stood up, completely unaffected by anything this guy had done, "You shut the **** up. Man you ***** a lot. What kind of pussy cop are you?" Monroe asked as he cracked his neck.

"Shut up! I'm about two seconds from stomping your face in!" the cop yelled as he pulled out a stun rod and turned it on.

"You're going to regret those words," Vossler said as he looked at the man and snapped the handcuffs chain and grabbed the cop's arm that held his weapon, quickly slamming the inspector's face into a wall, and then slamming it a few more times, until Monroe had calmed down. "Dumb ass, why in the world did you need to talk so much?" the bounty hunter asked as he wiped his face on the man's shirt and let the fallen cop's body slide down the wall, leaving a nice blood streak.

Now came the tricky part: Getting the hell out of the cop station. First, Monroe needed to get his weapons back. Lucky for Monroe, these idiots had no place to put his stuff, and he could see his stuff just laying on the table in the room next to his own. The people behind the double sided mirror seemed to be panicking as the looked at the hunter, who merely smiled as he picked up the stun baton, and jumped through the single-sided glass.

WIthout any hesitation, Monroe crushed the side of one man's skull with the baton and then proceeded to beat several others. After a few minutes, the room was clear, and Vossler had a chance to catch his breath. The modern man put on his shirt kevlar vest and jacket, and refitted his weapons before thinking of how the hell he'd get out of here. there was the easy way, and the hard way.

The first way, and much harder, yet more fun way, was to fight his way to the first floor of the police station. Well, being on the fourteenth floor made that trick a bit hard, since everyone knew that the hunter wasn't a cop, which made it hard to avoid conflict. The second way... and ah hell, just go for it!

Monroe quickly ran and jumped back into the interrogation room before slamming through the window in that room and flying out and over the street below. The wind blew past his face fiercely as a smile crossed his vivid, although slightly bloodstained, features. The dark man freefell for a few seconds before bracing himself as he fell upon a car, crushing it into the ground and creating a small crater. What a rush!

The dark haired man brushed some of his hair from his eyes. Vossler walked down the streets after jumping off of the car and moving around like ain't **** happen. He had a job to get done, and that would be very fun. Monroe rested his right forearm on his sheathed sword and continued to walk. He wanted to find someone to fight, since it would pass the time better.

Time to get to work. A gang had to die, tonight.

OoC: I'll make another post. This is getting interesting. Keep in mind that Aviara doesn't know what a bike or any kind of vehicle is and she's never been to a city before.

BiC: As Avi was still scrutinizing the alley way for the human with the crashed transportation device, she suddenly heard a loud crash and then the loud honk of a horn. It was so disturbing that Avi had to cover her ears to the noise. She soon forgot about the human and flew back the way she came towards another building near the one she had been stalking earlier. More humans with guns wearing strange outfits were nearby, and identical looking transportation devices were parked in front.

As she drew closer to the scene, Avi noticed another human down below. He was a brown-haired man who looked about her age, but Avi was careful not to get too close, as he was carrying more than one weapon. The man looked quite serious in the eye, and Avi could barely notice some bloodstains on his body. Assuming he had been in some kind of fight, Avi flew to the building where the transportation devices were parked.

She took a peek inside and felt another wave of shock run through her body. A window was broken on the other side, and another human was on the floor dead. A streak of blood lined the wall and guns were lying on the floor. As Avi was scrutinizing the room, however, she didn't notice a group of other humans enter. She just barely managed to escape being seen and decided to leave before she got into any real trouble.

Avi landed on the side of the road down below, deciding to check out the place before she left. She started walking in the opposite direction of the building she had just left and ignored the expressions on other humans' faces as she walked by. However, she suddenly tripped on the pavement and was turned around. Avi bumped into something behind her and turned around to find that it was the human who crashed in the alley way.

OoC: Okay, just to be sure everyone understands, Johnny Bones is the one who crashed, Monroe is the one Avi saw leaving the police station, and she hasn't even seen Aisha or Cadenza yet.

OoC: Waves the "I'm in" flag. I'll be using Kami for this one, so read up on him while I prepare a post.

This is just perfect.

Rai ran through the dark, narrow corridors of the building, using the lights that shone through the windows from outside as a guide. The building was still shrouded in darkness because of the power outage she had caused, but that didn’t stop the flurry of footfalls behind her, chasing her. The policemen that had spotted her before were on her tail, using their flashlights to get through the darkness.

On the other hand, the members of this Triad group probably wanted her head. Now she was stuck in the middle, between the police and this mafia group. Raisha was also sure that the other Triad mafia would get involved in someway, but she wasn’t sure how, exactly.

A beam from a flashlight caught up with her, she heard the panting of a single officer. This tactic of hers, it was working well. Run from the group, they will give chase. Eventually, the fastest person from that group will catch up. When they do, you turn around and deal with them, then run again.

Two loud clicks came from behind her. She gasped slightly, suddenly changing directions, ramming through a door to her right before a loud ‘bang’ rang out through the corridor.

Unfortunately, the fastest person that was catching up with her had a shotgun in his possession.

The door clicked behind her, she turned to face it. The room was lit up every so often by the reds and blues of police car lights. Her vision became blacker than the starless sky, the lights from outside didn’t take their place anymore. Only the light of the poor soul holding the shotgun, about to open the door…

Click.

Without hesitation, Rai sped forward, raising her foot at the last moment. The force of the kick blew through the upper part of the door, landing square on the man’s face, pinning him to the corridor wall. He dropped his gun and some of the shells he was carrying, knocked out cold. She searched him for more ammunition before picking the shotgun up off of the floor. Less than a second later, more policemen ran through the door at the end of the wall, spotting her.

The circles on the walls left by the beams of their flashlights darted around like fireflies while they gave chase. Again she darted into a room to her left. She leapt through the window in that second dark room, landing on a sturdy awning. There, she made her way forward a little, entering another window to a neighbouring room.

She had lost them for now. Rai looked down at the gun in her hands. It was a flashy thing. Shiny metal and black rubber. It was loaded already and she had some spare shells in her hand.

I’ll only get about twenty-three shots with this thing. At least it’s not very heavy.

She turned around and looked up, only for her eyes to begin staring down the barrel of a gun. A Triad member and his girlfriend were in this room, they hid when she came through the window and the man got his gun and aimed through the darkness at her when she arrived.

The man grinned, his teeth standing out in the darkness. He nodded, thinking he was the triumphant one. Raisha was silent for a few moments, she began to smile back at him, slowly raising her new weapon, too take aim at him.

"Mine’s bigger." She grinned.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang behind the man. The woman screamed. A police officer had kicked down the door, shouting a word that was heard so many time, it began to get sickening.

"Freeze!"

That distraction was welcomed. Raisha shot forward, ramming into the Triad member. He stumbled backwards, unto the police officer behind him. The man pulled the trigger on his gun by reflex, sending a bullet through the ceiling. At this point, the woman, cowering in the corner of the room began screaming endlessly, even to a point where she had to take breaths between screams.

In a flash, Rai pressed the gun against the man’s neck as he was falling and fired, almost fully decapitating him, the bullets shred his flesh and bone as they went through. The police officer behind him got caught in the chest by the bullets as they left the back of the man’s neck, severely injuring him. He was the lucky one, receiving a slowed down shotgun blast at close range with a bullet-proof vest on. Even so, he was still out like a light, lying down in a pool of blood with the Triad member’s body on top of him, his head still hanging on to his neck by a few strands of skin.

That was one. Twenty-two left.

Surely, the police officers who were chasing her would be caught up in what she just did. This allowed her to escape the building unseen. She passed through a back alley to enter a crowded sidewalk, shifting her focus once again to that Rakshasa demon she was hunting earlier.

OoC: Johnny Bones would never crash! xD

IC: "Damn," Johnny said, and hauled his bike upright. He brushed himself off, healed any scrapes and bruises, and checked out the motorcycle. Euuch. A huge, nasty scrape lined the right side of the bike. Well, with luck it would still ride great. He glanced the Kawasaki over again, then heard a low hissing. He groaned. One of the tires had been slashed going through the fence. Well, there wasn't a chance in hell he was leaving it lying around in this place.

He glanced upwards.

Five minutes later, a keyless motorcycle lay on a nigh unreachable rooftop, its rider jogging through the dark, grimy alleyways beyond.

What a positively disgusting place. Texas was much better in all respects. Better food, better music, better cops...no anarchy in the streets. Johnny shuddered. Uncivilized was what this was.

"Freeze!"

He heard the Chinese command and ignored it, pulling out his pistols. The shout was repeated in English--pointless, because he had understood it the first time.

"Look out! He's got a gun!" Chinese, that time. Johnny kept walking, hearing shouts and the metallic clicking of safety catches being flicked off behind him. When the first shot rang out, he exploded into motion, the bullet whizzing past his ear. He ran straight into the wall and, to the policemen's surprise, continued straight up it.

Fifteen feet up, he reached the top and flipped forwards. Time slowed, the cracks of the pistols deepening into lengthy booms, the trails of bullets visible in the air. In the brief milliseconds he could see the four cops behind him, his pistols barked at inhuman speed. The policemen dropped to the ground and one of their squad cars exploded. A crimson and orange flame mushroomed upwards, consuming a pair of shutters and blowing in several windows.

Then Johnny hit the ground on the other side of the wall. The zombie calmly ejected the magazines of his pistols and slotted new ones in, moving quietly onwards in long, easy strides.

It helped that his night vision was perfect. He glanced down exitways to make sure no cops were following him. The only good cop was a dead cop. Nevertheless, he respected that someone had to keep a semblance of order.

Seconds later, as he began to pass in front of another alleyway, someone tripped over his foot, let out an Italian-sounding curse, and landed in a heap on the dirty ground to his left. Johnny arched an eyebrow, fingers caressing the rubber grips of his pistols. As the woman stood up and turned angrily to face him, he bit back a curse of his own.

"Oh," he said as he looked into the eyes of Cadenza Madrigal. "It's you."

Then he raised a pistol and counted down from three.

Oh bloody hell.

It had been bad enough that she had to tolerate these idiots who couldn't hold a candle to the gangsters of their Zhenghe equivalents back on her own Earth, but now Cadenza was face-to-face with someone she had been hoping never to see since she last heard of him from Zorlo. More strength just meant that her old student was going to be even more cocky--and she hadn't gotten along with him to begin with.

Just to make matters worse, she had recently discovered that her student had become a cop on her world--and there was no profession, and no other group of people that she despised more than cops. Vampires preyed on humans, Cernilians had betrayed her country; but her grudge against cops was on so many levels that all others couldn't even compare. There were times when she thought that if she ever learned she only had one last day to live, she would spend that entire day taking as many cops down with her as she could.

So, it was without thought that before Johnny could even take the breath to utter "two", Cadenza dropped back down into the shadows and dismantled his pistols from the inside with a series of precise cuts. The barrels spewed the weapons' dark guts onto the pavement as the woman reverted back, and with a glare, held a dart-shaped magical projectile leveled at his face.

"Are we really going to have to do this right now? I've got business to deal with. I can physically express my hate for you by breaking your face later."

The dark man adjusted his jacket as he cleaned off his sword. Two more dead punks that tried to mug him. That made at least eight tonight. Vossler was getting sick of punk ass Chinese kids trying to steal his sword or gun. Next person to touch him was going to be beat to death with his own hand.

The cracking of bullets and gunfire erupted into the air nearby, and Vossler tuned everything out, hearing the sounds clear as day. It was one thing to fire a gun type that Monroe didn't hear and hope that he didn't hear it, but these guns held a familiar bark to them. Another of the men that Monroe had failed to catch for the destruction of that island city that the Fencer of Tasogare had last been sighted in. Maybe that guy, Bones, knew something about Zorlo's whereabouts. If not, the bounty hunter would just bring Johnny to justice in that island town.

Aside from the bark of guns and a nearby explosion that drew the modern man running towards the scene, a second voice briefly spoke. Being able to tune out useless voices and noises was a great thing to learn, and the fact that these two seemed to know each other made this hunt all the greater. The two of them could just kill each other and then Monroe could play clean up, and if he was even luckier, the other person was wanted too. Kill two birds with one stone.

The dark clad man ran with all speed towards where he had heard the people speaking and leapt onto a nearby stone wall, observing for a moment. Gun parts from a Beretta littered the ground, and the former assassin observed the strange dart that a rather short woman held to the man towering over her.

Yep, that was Johnny Bones all right. Monroe would never forget that mug, especially since it wasn't every day a person saw a walking skeleton take on human flesh. What a strange experiment Bones must have been. Damn government.

As for the short woman, she seemed somewhat familiar. She wasn't a bounty, however she was a criminal all the same. A criminal in some place that Monroe had been called Rubato. That was all Monroe needed to know. The two were both criminals, even if they were wanted in different places, so bringing them both in meant big rewards. Now, he'd simply sit and... Oh hell!

Suddenly, a piece of the old stone slid slightly and eventually simply gave out, sending Monroe falling face first onto the ground. A muffled ow escaped his lips as the dark haired man slowly lifted himself up. That had been a very bad entrance to make, especially with two such notorious criminals. Well, it was better he make himself known then remain unknown.

The dark dressed man stood up and dusted himself off, looking at the short woman and the tall man, pondering what to say. He didn't want to do anything stupid, like make them both his foe, since he had accounts of both of their strength. It was better to take the side you were least likely to lose on, but which was it? Well, since Monroe knew Johnny better, perhaps he'd appeal to the dead man and hope that the skeleton didn't recall the fact they were trying to shoot each other to death.

Nah, that'd be a waste. If it didn't work, then Monroe would simply land himself in a ****-shack of a situation. Best to keep his own side. If he was lucky, they'd kill each other, and then he'd step in and finish the last person standing. It wasn't like anything would blow his...

"Cadenza, watch out, that guy wearing black is a bounty hunter and friends with that little girl that keeps following you. He knows your a criminal in Rubato," a familiar voice rang out to the three, but no figure was attached to it. It seemed Johnny and Cadenza knew this voice, but it left Monroe dumbfounded.

What the hell was that? And omnipresent voice? Maybe there was a God after all. Well, Vossler didn't have to worry. He'd just mop these two up... somehow, and then get rich off of Johnny and give the woman to Tracey so she could get the glory she so greatly desired. It wasn't like Monroe wanted a petty criminal. Such things didn't concern him. He wasn't a cop.

The time to put up or shut up had come, and Monroe wasn't about to turn and run just yet. He'd not do anything foolish either, but he'd worked himself into a bad situation. Time to make it better, and that would start by defeating one of these two!

OoC: Yes, Zorlo did just pull an omnipresent voice to tell Cadenza what was going on. What fun it was too. ^_^

OoC: Okay, I'm a bit confused. First off, has anybody even noticed my character yet? I'm unable to tell. I'm asking so I know what is describing who. Second...Johnny Bones was supposed to be standing directly in front of Avi...not Cadenza. 0_o

BiC: Avi said nothing to the human at first. She was nervous and couldn't find words. Instead, she backed away and flew off before the human could do anything. Soaring back into the sky, Avi caught a glimpse of two women and two men, including the human she was just standing in front of near the building with the broken window. All four of them appeared to be human, but she couldn't be too sure. Avi hovered there in the air, watching what was going on between the four humans.

They seemed to be having a conversation, but Avi couldn't make out anything they were saying. She slowly, but quietly descended back to the ground, wanting to secretly find out what on earth was going on in this place. If it was something involving her sister, she would need to get involved as well. Avi ducked behind a tree after she landed, wanting to hear the conversation to see if there was any mention of something about her sister.

"How does he know I'm a criminal there?" one of the women asked.

"I do not know," one of the men replied. "But I swear--" The man cut himself off and glanced at the tree Avi was behind. Avi tried to get out of sight, but it was too late. The man caught her.

"Hey, were you eavesdropping on us?" he asked. Avi shook her head, nervousness taking over her mind.

"Why no, I--" she replied. "Well, maybe I was, but it was only to find out what's going on."

"Oh really?" the woman replied. "Who are you?"

"Avi..." Avi replied. She was still nervous, not only because of the people standing in front of her, but also due to the chaos going on in the area.

The woman said nothing back. She simply looked at Avi and noted her wings and the color of the skin. Avi could tell that the woman hadn't seen a creature such as herself before by the look on her face. The woman glanced from one of the men, to the other, and then to the other woman. Her glance returned to Avi seconds later.

"You aren't a human, I see," she concluded. "My name is Cadenza."

OoC: I don't think Cadenza would just introduce herself like that (and she has met harpies)--but that's okay. We can work with that. ^^;;

And who's the second woman? Is Raisha already there and I missed it? o_O

IC:
Things could not have taken a worse turn--this job was becoming far too sloppy for the Dome teacher to tolerate. First and bad enough on its own, there had been the appearance of her old student who had come back from the dead; then from a wall had fallen an unwelcome bounty hunter who, according to the startling interjection from Zorlo, was associated with the cops back in her country; and now, a harpy who had been listening to the whole exchange for as long as only the gods knew had decided to drop in. What had happened to discretion and stealth--and who the hell would gather in a dark alley when the cops were parading around the city?

Apparently us, Cadenza thought, scowling at the company that had gathered. The sight of two men associated with the cops made her blood boil.

Pivoting fast on the heel of her boot, she caught the bounty hunter in a sudden, shadow-charged uppercut. The harpy took to the skies before the bloodied man could bring her sailing into the building wall with him.

When the collective glances of the assembled fighters strayed back from Monroe's body struggling against the mold-covered bricks, Cadenza Madrigal was gone without a trace.

"Never load a gun." Asha recalls the words from two weeks ago. "This thing is for pointing at people, not killing them. Make a shot, and the whole thing gets messy. I think you'll find it's amazing what people will do if you point a gun at them."

How, then, did this thing end up armed?

Asha had found herself intruiged by this world -- one where humans harnessed steam pressure and lightening to move carts without horses. And even more so -- the man-made meteors -- little towers filled with black powder, which fly high into the heavens and then shatter -- creating a thousand incandescent points of brilliance.

But over the next few days, she saw that the metal beetles don't stop as a horse would when a person steps into its path, what happens if a rocket fires off at the wrong angle, and just what else the black power could be used for.

It was quite simple. Her train was on the first Thursday of October, and she had settled into a routine during her stay. Out of the room by nine, coffee shop 'till eleven, take tram back at five. But then one day a man approached her over her cappuccino -- in Asha's opinion one of the most glorious foodstuffs in existence -- and told her about the Pistol. Iron and pewter, with a bone handle -- keep her safe, he had said. She bought it, after much hassling, just to get the man away.

And, up until now, it had remained hidden in the inside pocket of her overcoat. She wanted no trouble, and knew what these things could do. But she'd seen the shootings -- and had stumbled upon a silk smuggling operation on dusk of the previous morning -- and had narrowly missed a headshot -- before running very fast.

So she had loaded the gun and dutifully kept it in her inside pocket -- but now, at the last minute, when she dropped her passport at the train station, the pistol slipped out of her pocket as she leant down to pick it up -- and clattered on the paving, discharging a shot.

Asha learns fast, but not fast enough to figure out a safety catch.

There were shouts, a couple of curses and exclamations, and she looked up to see a dozen barrels or more facing back down at her. Everyone has a gun, of course, but no-one dared to use them -- because, of course, everyone has a gun.

Asha stood very slowly, hands in the air, and smiled.

Which is roughly when the lights went out.

OoC: *pokes Yamari* Rai hasn’t met Cadenza, Monroe, and Johnny yet. And yay for yet another person

BiC:

The sound of a pistil going off sounded overhead. The girl glanced up by instinct, then looked back ahead and continued on her way. It wasn’t long then, before the same buildings’ power shut down. That’s must be unfortunate. Still, the blond girl continued on her way. She had nothing particular to be doing, but she also had no business with the building she just so happened to be strolling around the outside of.

Then the cops came. That’s unfortunate. Their loud sirens blaring, the blue and red lights blinding anyone who looked directly at them, and men and women scrambling out of their portal cars and sprinting towards the building. And it just so happened that Roery was almost perfectly in their way. How extremely unfortunate. Roery, not needing to be stampeded at that moment, quickly backpedaled away from the incoming police.

"Move out of the way!" one man yelled. Well gee, thanks for that, I was considering standing my ground and seeing how well I faired, but you convinced me otherwise. Roery turned and walked bristly away from the half-hazardly rushing of the cops, relieved slightly that something worse hadn’t happened

"Freeze!"

... they couldn’t...

"Put your hands in the air!"

Are you serious?!

"Turn around and put you hands where I can see them!"

You have got to be kidding me. Slowly, and reluctantly the blond haired young woman turned to face the man that was barking the orders, an annoyed expression evident on her face.

"Sir, are you sure that her...?"

"Of course it is, the description says attractive blond. 5'8", 120." Answered the first man, who was holding a gun up to the young woman.

The second officer studied the girl before him for a second. "Yeah but sir, isn’t she supposed to be in the building...? And... 5'8"?"

"We found her escaping the entrance of the building! Put you hands in the air! Now!" He repeated.

Wow, he just isn’t going to lose this argument is he? She sighed. To bad for him. I really don’t have time for this. Slowly, the female soldier raised her hands out of her jacket pockets and lifted them up to eye level.

"Down on the ground! Now!"

Would they please make up their minds... Roery thought, thoroughly annoyed. It didn’t really matter though, because of what she was going to do next. Before either man could react, Roery had already donned her armor, flicked both guns into her hands, and fired two plasma disks at both the men’s feet. The disks exploded on the ground, shooting shrapnel, concrete, and dust everywhere. She heard one of the man yell in surprise, no doubt getting sprayed by the harmful derby. By the time the dust had cleared enough for them to see clearly, Roery had already vanished from their view.

The suit had already activated the black stealth mode that it had built in. It was not nearly as good as a cloaking device, or anything like that, but it did provide a good cover in dark places. Not only was her armor now pitch black and none reflective, but her hair and skin where now black as night also, the white of her eyes a dark gray, and her pupils the same black shade as her hair. Roery was already on the other side of the building, keeping to the shadows, but she knew she wouldn’t really be able to make it across the lamp, lit street without drawing attention to her strange armor. She quickly found a dark corner against the building to hide herself, looking both ways before dematerializing her armor. She honestly didn’t know which was better, staying in her black armor, or reverting back to her original clothes that the police had found her in. Non-the-less, the people in the streets were more likely to find her less odd in her casual clothes.

Roery paced quickly to the other side of the busy street, disappearing into another ally-way just as the cops that had been following her came around the corner. She soon ran into a dead end. How unfortunate... well, for the cops that is. As they made their way into the same ally-way, flashed their flashlights about, Roery had already used her armor to scale herself over the building and back into the busy streets below.

Oh, no you don't, gypsy. No, no no.

A flash of red light burned through the alleyway, scouring the shadows. Johnny's eyes gleamed bright as an exploding star, searching for a sign of the escaped gypsy. To hell with these two schmucks. There was a bigger fish to fry.

Ah-ha! A tremor in the shadows, almost imperceptible to a human eye. Johnny's eyes were decidedly inhuman; he still didn't know everything they could do.

Only a second passed from when Cadenza vanished to when Johnny exploded into motion. As he ran, he pulled out and prepped a frag grenade, dropping it to the ground behind him. It went off three seconds later, blowing apart the narrow alley walls and blocking the passage off. Oh, that Vossler. What a silly boy.

Whups. Better focus. He had almost lost her there. She was moving faster...no doubt she realized she was being followed. Hell, in the shadows, she was faster than he was. Johnny slowed and looked up, his eyes zooming forward farther than a sniper scope. There was the alley exit, but no other openings branched off from this passage. She had to go out that way.

Bingo.

He leaped twenty feet into the air and landed on a rooftop, one foot accidentally pushing through the flimsy material. What was that? Felt like paper. He jerked himself free and zipped from one roof to the next, leaping quickly before his weight brought him to a humiliating and chase-ending fall.

Luckily enough, no other roofs gave way. He jumped, slid down a gutter, and landed outside the alley. A less-crowded street, thank God.

Yep...there she was, briskly strolling in the opposite direction. Guess what, gypsy? Johnny Bones don't never give up nothin'. A triple negative!

He took off running again. His pistols were in pieces, but his magic was what mattered. Ha ha.

With a click of his fingers, a lightning bolt tore out of the sky and hit the ground two feet away from Cadenza, shattering the concrete.

"Dammit, I missed."

OoC: Dear God you guys reply fast. Good job. ^_^

BiC: Monroe stood up, completely disregarding the person he had hit during the attack and wiping his chin. She hit almost as hard as that fencer hit, maybe harder. That was hard to determine, since this woman's powers weren't that of the run-of-the-mill thug. After all, it wasn't every day you saw a person with darkness covering their fist run up and slug ya. Come to think of it, that Johnny guys powers weren't exactly natural either, and Vossler was damn sure the woman he'd just slammed into had wings. What the hell was wrong with this city?

If Monroe didn't have his bullets hidden inside his coat, he'd have thrown the thing off already. Come to think of it, why in the hell was he wearing a his shirt, considering how God damn hot it was out here. Come to think of it, now would be a good time to test out that new thing that Monroe had read about in that book. A skill that, from what it read, would be quite interesting to use. Anyway, that didn't matter right now, and wouldn't matter unless the former bounty hunter chose to fight one of the two stronger people.

The modern fencer took off his jacket and hung it over the wall as he took off his kevlar vest, and then his shirt. The dark clad man casually tossed his shirt away and cast his trench coat over his shoulders and began walking again. Hot damn those bastards ran fast. The dark man had lost both of them already. Time for the hunt then, which was what a bounty hunter was trained to do.

The modern man grounded himself before pushing himself upwards, flying through the sky to a nearby fire escape and climbing further up that. The best place to find people, especially stupid people, was from the sky. Actually, more then anything, Vossler had a tactical advantage, but that was something else. The advantage of height only meant something when he was raining death from above, which actually sounded kinda cool right now. After all, he'd been cheap shotted by that woman to begin with.

From the dark man's vantage point, he looked below in search of one of the two people he had just found. He'd be both rich and have made another person happy if he brought those two damn people in. After all, that frag grenade had almost hit the dark haired man, and that didn't bode well with the lost specimen.

The modern fencer squatted down, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his forearms. The streets below were busy, but no sign of either of those bastards was evident. Annoying. Highly annoying, actually. In fact, if Monroe didn't catch a small hint of a sign of either of them soon, he figured he'd just leave.

Vossler found himself in quite an annoyed mood now. He had lost not one, but two criminals in the span of about a minute. What a way to end things so quickly as they both ran off like cowards. He'd have his vengeance, however. They couldn't run that far; he had memorized the back streets well, and would go on the hunt soon. After all, what good hunter gave immediate chase and wasn't a British coward? Coward, nice word for a royal, outdated thing they are.

Anyway, Monroe simply watched below, pulling a white cord out of one of the inner pockets of his trench coat. After a few seconds, the dark clad man put two white buds in his ears and pressed a button on a small device. The modern fencer put on some good hunting music on his Ipod Nano and prepared himself mentally for the hunt. It would be a long night.

With that, the dark haired man jumped back slightly and then ran to the edge of the building, hurtling himself towards the ground below, slamming into another empty car and smashing the ceiling down into the transportation vehicle before jumping off and bursting off into a run. He had a pair of prey to capture this night.

OoC: Alright, this is getting to be too much for me. I quit this battle.

Originally Posted by Yamari

OoC: Alright, this is getting to be too much for me. I quit this battle.

High five for being swept away.

You guys have fun ^.^

OoC:

Originally Posted by Yamari

OoC: Alright, this is getting to be too much for me. I quit this battle.

Awh =/ Okay, Yamari.

IC:

"Quick, there she is! Get her!"

They were smarter than she thought. Rai figured that the Triad members would be searching in the back streets and alleyways, not the crowded main roads. She moved along quickly, not running, but walking briskly, moving along the pedestrians’ responses of "Who?" and "What?" She swiftly changed directions, out of the busy street and into an almost dead alley. On her right was a small line of people entering a doorway with music coming out of it. Raisha joined this line, hiding the hand holding the shotgun behind her left thigh. No one could see it from the back either, because of the dark crimson cape that hung off her left shoulder.

It was a nightclub, packed to the brim with rave lights and teens having good times in their semi-odd clothing, similar to what Rai was wearing. She actually frowned slightly, twisting her lips to one side, at that thought. The people were there without a care in the world, either sitting and snuggling on one of the couches in the corners or dancing on the dance floor to what blared from the sneakers.

"Tiala, Tiala
My baby, don't rush me
I know it's coming, but lets not go crazy
You've got your reasons
And reasons I know
You'll never be alone"

Her shotgun was slightly out in the open now, but just a bit. Each time a rave light shined on her for a split second, the silvery colour of the gun shone back. No one was focused on her lower body, anyway. There were too much shadows cast by everyone in the large room to see any lower than the chest area - which was where most of the guys there were focused on. In the midst of flashing lights and teens, she pushed through to the dance floor, hoping to lose the mafia group who had just entered the club. They were standing by the entrance, looking over the crowd to spot those familiar gold irises and hair.

"On the dance floor, the dance floor"

No one took note of her as she quietly squeezed her way through the crowd. No one, except those two robust guys walking over to her. They were not like the traditional bouncer that you see in those movies. Not at all. They were Chinese, not bald, wearing suits without shades and were more muscular and tall than fat and wide.

"You're locked in my sights"

"Hey, lady. I know what you got there. We don’t want any trouble, okay?" He spoke English perfectly, with a small trace of a Chinese accent. They were either brave, or very foolish to freely approach a woman that possessed a shotgun.

"You hide in the crowd"

Thinking quickly, she began speaking to them sternly, over the sound of the music.

"I’m Lieutenant Aisha. I’m on my own, being chased by those men over there!" She glanced over at the men who were still standing over at the entrance. "I don’t have my badge. My cover was blown, I came in here to lose them."

"And get lost in the lights"

The two Chinese men looked at each other. The silent one shrugged, the talkative one nodded in response. He turned to Rai and nodded in the same way, before making his way over towards the group of Triad members. Raisha grinned, that was just too easy. Again, she began making her way through the crowd once more, heading towards another door with a brightly lit ‘Exit’ sign above it.

"Now these feelings I'm feeling"

She took a breath of fresh air as she exited. The small, but empty, space of the back alley she had come into was welcomed, but she could still hear the music from inside. Suddenly, footfalls from her left reached her ears. There was very little time between steps, meaning that the person was running swiftly. Quickly, Rai put her right hand on the handle of Celestia, ready to draw it if the person approaching her had bone to pick. As he emerged, her eyes began to work. He didn’t look like a police officer and he seemed far away from being a Triad member. The dark clad man was running at full speed, with a sword attached to the right side of his black belt which held up equally black trousers.

Suddenly, he slid to a stop, ending up right in front of her. Perhaps he was afraid that he was about to run her over like a train? Raisha didn’t know. Quickly, she turned away from him, to the opposite end of the alley. There was a loud rumbling from there. A Chinese guy on a motorbike was heading towards her at full speed. As he got closer, the rumbling got louder, eventually turning into a screech. He was trying to aim a gun at her while riding, but he seemed to not have practiced riding a motorbike one-handed.

"They cut to the bone"

Raisha stood her ground with the dark clothed man right behind her. She didn’t worry about him anymore, because she seemed to not be his target, if he had one at all.

Rai increased her weight rapidly, so much so that the concrete below began to crack. As the cracks spread out, the screeching got louder, Rai readied her shotgun, ejecting the spent shells from the last time she used it. The rider was almost upon her now. He was still unable to aim properly, lowering his hand to regain control of the handle bars at intervals.

"Tiala, Tiala"

She raised her right leg and kicked the front of the bike as it approached. The bike stopped dead in its tracks, sending the rider forward and Rai an inch or two sliding back, still standing firm on her left foot. Everything was in slow motion now. The rider screamed as he came forward. Aisha pressed the gun against his forehead, almost stopping his motion.

She turned her face away and pulled the trigger.

"You’re good as gold."



OoC: Yeah, the dark-clothed guy is Monroe