Gun Running

[Madotsuki]

Madotsuki had to consider herself lucky that the two weren't aware she she could phase. She flickered out of reality for a moment, then reformed herself right behind Errol. Predicting the direction the man would take to shoot her, she swatted her diary at his hand, knocking the gun out of his grip and sending it out of reach. In the space of a second, she summoned the giant fist and shot Errol across the street. He collided with the wall, then slumped down.

While he struggled to pull himself up, the dreamer pulled out her knife and twirled around to parry an incoming blow from Sabitsuki. Metal rang against metal as the two gangsters dueled. For a moment, Madotsuki could catch a glimpse of primal joy in the albino's eyes as she flashed her a wicked grin full of sharp teeth. That was the first sign that this woman wasn't quite human. The second was when she forced the knife away from her and butted her head into the dreamer's torso.

Immediately, pain erupted in two places. Madotsuki grabbed her chest and stumbled backwards, staring in awe at Sabitsuki, whom now had two short, thick horns sticking out of her head. Her nails had grown into razor sharp claws. Wherever the oddities emerged, the area around it had turned a deep red, like the act of doing so had broke the skin so a person could see the muscles below. This odd effect was also apparent along her jawline, which dropped lower than Madotsuki thought was possible. The scent of rust was overwhelming, and Errol screamed.

The Night Terror tilted her head back to dodge a set of claws, then glanced over at the lackey to see what was going on. Errol was staring at Sabitsuki, but not in that "what just happened to you" sort of way. Madotsuki couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about his expression told her that he had seen her do this before and was terrified of her doing it again.

She had to wonder what the poor guy had witnessed if he was that horrified at his own boss, but when you're in the middle of a battle, you don't have much time to think. The dreamer slashed at her, sending waves of purplish energy toward her foe. Sabitsuki gave an inhuman bellow and flailed her claws around, groping about for the little girl she had underestimated. Madotsuki took no time in fleeing the scene, but when she turned to see what the monster was up to, she saw that she had abandoned the iron pipe and was loping on all fours, her feet having torn through her leather boots via more sharp claws. Madotsuki wasn't even sure what to call the creature in front of her anymore-- it looked move like a undead corpse than anything else.

The dreamer briefly considered phasing into the tunnel, but decided that the monster would just follow her. And she'd follow her until the dreamer needed to stop. What then? Instead, she plowed deeper into the underbelly of Tier 6. She needed to get the beast off of her tail before she could do anything.

Sabitsuki was definitely fast, no doubt about it, but Madotsuki was faster. Slowly, the monster eeked out of sight, and the dreamer took the opportunity to duck into an alleyway. Hopefully the tight space would help her against the monster should she discover her. Her fingers wrapped around her knife so tightly, her knuckles turned white. Desperately, she wished that the beast wouldn't see her.

And then the strangest thing happened: when Sabitsuki rounded the corner, she paused. She sniffed the air, then snarled, slowly but surely returning to a more human form. Once her jaw resembled that of a regular person's, she glanced around and frowned, realizing that she didn't have her weapon anymore. She stared down the alley, not quite at Madotsuki, but rather, at the dead end wall behind her.

"How..." she managed, looking as if she had no idea where her prey was at. She examined her claws for a moment, then turned around and walked off, muttering that the girl wouldn't get off so easy next time.

...What on earth just happened? Madotsuki glanced down at herself, only to find that she wasn't there. There was nothing where her body should've been. She really had disappeared.

Once she was sure that the beastly albino was gone, she sneaked towards where she remembered the tunnel to be at. Thankfully she didn't have much trouble trying to move around when she couldn't see her limbs. When she arrived at the tunnel, she noticed that Errol was no longer there. With that in mind, she hopped into the entrance and vanished into the depths of Tier 7.