Like most nights, Darkshift found herself outside prowling the the back alleys and out of the way streets of New York City.  Unlike most previous nights, she wasn't doing so hungry and she wasn't feeling the desperate need to find her next victim to pickpocket.  There was something to be said about the funds that had just started coming in from Aura and her Order.  It meant she wasn't hungry.  It meant her next month's rent was all ready paid.  She felt off kilter.  Most of her life had the edge of desperation.

In a way, one might think that there was a new sort of desperation to her life: That desperation that required the learning of new skills and the further mastery of her powers not only to ensure her own survival and that of her new employer and sometimes partner Aura, but also in order to help her fellow mutant.  Because now, apparently, she was some kind of vigilante mutant super hero out to make the world a better place for her fellow mutant.  She couldn't quite believe that turn of affairs and wasn't quite convinced that she actually believed in the cause yet.  Maybe she was just doing it for the money.  Probably.  Except for that little thrill inside her that said she was doing a good thing and should keep up the good work.  Damn that little part of her anyway.  It was going to complicate her life, she knew it.

Hiding in the shadows was a skill that could never be overrated and so tonight, in a further dedication to the burgeoning new direction of her life, that was her intent to practice.  Her powers, covering her skin in pitch black scales from head to tow, helped the visual side of things.  It was pure skill that was going to help the auditory side of things.  She was all ready good.  She needed to be great.  Along with the pitch black scales, she grew a night black panther tail from her tailbone and a matching set of black panther claws from her fingers.  You never knew when a little self defense might be necessary.

Darkshift hadn't honestly planned on stealing that night, but when an easy mark stumbled into her path, how could she resist.  His clothing marked him as wealthy and his stumbled marked him as a little bit intoxicated.  Creeping up behind him was the easy part.  A clawed hand slipped covertly into a back pocket and, just like that, his wallet was hers.  She must have made a noise then, or something, because just as she was turning to flee he yelled and drew a handgun.  Damn!  Running and weaving from side to side to make aiming the thing more difficult, she ran head first into another person.  Double damn!  Tonight was not her night.

Adder was... doing okay, relatively speaking. Compared to his rougher days, this was definitely in the realm of 'okay.' He didn't feel weak from hunger, he wasn't exhausted from lack of sleep - or nightmare-riddle sleep - and he wasn't sporting any particular injury. His feet weren't frozen, despite having just as little covering them as usual, and, perhaps above all, he was out on the streets at night simply because he wanted to.

He regretted wanting to when someone ran into him. A vaguely, barely familiar scent hung in the night air, and it had held his attention a moment too long. A break from desperation was already weakening his level of alertness. Tch.

He still sprang aside with a low growl in time to keep his balance, more or less, but then his yellow eyes caught the glint of gun. It hadn't been fired recently, not by the smell, but it smelled like more than just metal. A real gun, loaded.

So much for this being a good night, especially since - damn, it was a familiar scent. The guy with the gun was someone he'd run into before, and recently, though without the gun. Rich drunk. What had he stolen? Oh right, a handful of cash he'd been trying to give some woman. Hahhhh - wait what if the drunkard recognized him? Not with his deadweight nose, but through any other sense? Humans still had senses.

Adder bolted, bumping into whoever it was who had run into him, but paid them little mind and focused on getting away from the guy with the gun who had plenty of reason to shoot him.

Darkshift swore audibly and with colour.  How did she get into these damned situations anyway?  She was a reasonably good person, right?  Just trying to make her way in the world?  Doing the best she could?  All answers pointed to yes.  Well, except the occasional theft from those more fortunate than herself.  But that didn't really count, did it?  She was careful not to steal from anyone who actually looked like they would miss the money.

The bang of gunfire rang through the air as her victim took his shot in her direction.  Fortunately, intoxication effected aim and the shot went wide and a shower of brick debris fell to the ground.  "Get back here freak," came the angry oath from behind her, words slightly slurred.  "Both of you!"

Brushing herself off from the person she had bumped into, Darkshift swore she spotted a pair of ears in passing.  Mutant?  No time to question that now, not while she had to save her own precious ass.  "I suggest running, if you know what's good for you,"  See?  She was a good person, even offering helpful advice to a complete stranger.  She didn't deserve this fate at all!

No time to contemplate the balance of karma as a second gunshot rang through the air, this time coming close enough to almost feel the wind against her scales.  Taking her own advice, she bolted forward.

The person who'd run into him smelled a bit odd. Too flexible, and street-familiar. Of course, Adder had come across a lot of people who smelled odd. In a way, people smelled odd more often than not, if only to him. He knew his nose worked differently. Part of being a mutant. Whatever.

There were better times to philosophize than while being shot at. And running, and wincing at the sheer sound of gunfire. His ears, his poor ears! What had they done to deserve this? Sure, he'd stolen from the guy, but not today! And he could clearly afford it, if he was out drinking again so soon.

Not fair, not fair, not fair. Was this what came of having decent, pleasant days? Maybe he shouldn't have them anymore. If he started to feel okay, he'd just hole up and wait for it to pass. That seemed safer.

"Do you always drag random people into your stupid confrontations?" he hissed, still breathing easily despite the pace he was setting. He wasn't starving and he was used to running, so his gait was easy and smooth and he could go for quite a while.

If only her manifests shifts worked more like Aura's she wouldn't have had to worry about something as banal as a handgun.  Not that she didn't appreciate her own wide range of abilities, but right at that moment bullet immunity seemed like quite the appealing trait.  Scales and fur were good for some things, but bullet deflection, alas, was not among them.

"Thieves!  I'll get you both!"  Great.  Now the drunk was yelling like a maniac, as if gunshots ringing through the night wasn't enough to attract attention.  The fact that she wasn't the maniac wielding the gun and thus any attention would probably be drawn directly to her assailant didn't quite occur to her.  Old habits died hard and thief preferred to work in the shadows.  Damn her clumsiness anyway!

"Recently?  More often than I'd like," Darkshift responded, panting slightly.  Only a few weeks ago she might have been significantly winded by this point but since joining the Order, getting herself into better shape had become more of a priority.  Mutant super hero and all that.  Plus, her partner would be depending upon her and that stood for something.  Surprisingly.

Spotting a dumpster out of her peripheral vision, she dove behind it just as a third bullet ricocheted off the metal.  "Back here!"  She called and gestured for the other man to follow her.  Hopefully the temporary shelter of the dumpster would force their attacker to come closer.  Close quarters were kind of her specialty.

"YOU WERE TOO DRUNK TO ACTUALLY REMEMBER!" Adder yelled over his shoulder - and then abruptly ducked to the side because the muzzle of that gun was a little too dangerously aligned with him. It hardly would have been the first time his clear night vision had saved his life, and as usual he hoped that it wouldn't be his last; future near-death experiences meant he'd survived this one, and that was kind of the point.

"You might want to consider a lifestyle change," he muttered snarkily. It was also incredibly hypocritical, since his lifestyle-by-situation wasn't exactly changing through his own intent or anything. Then again, he didn't drag passersby into his messes very often.

Hide behind a dumpster? Ow sharp metal ping sound, running wasn't doing much here and the gunshots were loud enough to be giving him the seeds of a splitting headache in this form.

"Got a bright idea?" he growled softly, pressing himself against the metal of the dumpster and flicking his ears to keep precise track of the gunman.

Good.  Now they had both reached the relative safety of the dumpster, sarcasm of her fellow hunted not withstanding.  He wasn't wrong in his assessment, in any case.  Way to go Jayden, figuring out how to save your hid for another few minutes.  Good job.  The question was, now what?

"Any chance you've got super speed or super reflexes?" she asked, matching him for every little bit of sarcasm he had displayed only moments ago.  One more bullet striking metal with a loud bang followed by some very colorful and loudly uttered words of frustration.  How many bullets was that now?  3? 4?  And how many bullets were normally stored in guns like that?  6?  8?  More?  Why hadn't she paid attention to these sorts of things back when she didn't have a mad man shooting at her?  Damn her short sightedness anyway.

To compound matters, the faint sound of sirens could be heard in the background, still distant but it wouldn't take long for them to follow the sound of the gunshots.  Could her life possibly get any worse?  Damn it all!

Adder snapped his teeth in irritation, but it achieved nothing. "Depends on how you define super," he growled, "but I'm not fast enough to dodge bullets and I have a headache in this form. It's your mess, you fix it."

And he'd bolt past the mess and get the hell out of here while she got herself shot up. He had no allegiance to her; why should it matter what happened to her?

Plus with sirens, he didn't want to stick around, gunman or no. If she got shot and cops were already coming, she'd probably even survive. He just needed her to be a distraction. So...

"I have an idea," he said quickly. "When he gets close, you go for the gun, I'll go for him." Fifty percent lie, completely even face, voice, and heartbeat. Well, situationally even heartbeat. There was kind of a lot going on.

The words 'this form' implied that he had another form at his disposal.  Interesting.  Unfortunately he also made clear that dodging bullets was not an option.  Too bad, that would have made things much easier, not to mention less dangerous.  Not that her life was ever easy.

The plan he came up with sounded pretty similar to the one she might suggest.  Could she trust him though, was the question.  It wasn't like they knew each other beyond some random encounter in which she had gotten him into a whole lot more trouble than he probably would have gotten into on her own.  Still, what choice did she have?

"Two targets are better than one and he probably isn't aiming so well anyway with all the booze he's consumed."  Wishful thinking, maybe.  "On three we jump out, I'll go for the gun you can go for the gunman."  She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, but what choice did she have?

The gunman, far from being cowed by the sound of sirens (if he even noticed them at all) hadn't stopped with his insane ravings.  By now he had run up to the garbage bin the two were hiding behind and starting banging the gun on the metal and taunting his targets.

"All right, one...two...three!"  Darkshift darted out, praying her new 'friend' did the same and kept his end of the bargain.  

The next time he was trying to sleep, if he weren't in his usual before-sleep state of extreme exhaustion, Adder might muse about whether or not his plan here was a good one, in some of the different forms of 'good.' He wasn't really much of one for morality, much less philosophizing, but sometimes he did think about the impacts and effects of things.

Right now, his focus was on not getting shot, and that focus didn't include not getting the girl shot. So. When she moved, Adder readied himself, and then threw himself out a heartbeat later - a slow heartbeat, to be honest, but still not too long afterwards.

He came up on the gunman's rear, kindly shouldered him in the kidneys - and then bolted out of the alley, putting the gunman between himself and the girl. He ran significantly faster than he had before, since he wasn't keeping pace with anyone and rather wanted to lose that person in the distance. Good bye, farewell, no hard feelings, you'd probably survive just fine.

A moment after Jayden darted forward, yet another gunshot went off, the bullet grazing her in the shoulder.  Thank whatever supernatural deity that might have been out there for touch scales combined with drunken shooters.  Pain blossomed and crimson blood began to flow but the wound was minor.  Probably.

There was too much going on for her to notice that the other guy waited just a tiny amount before he propelled himself forward as well.  She went for the gun, he went for the kidney shot and by virtue of teamwork, their attacker fell to the ground in a heap.  With barely a thought, her head transformed into that of a panther and she bit down on the gunman's wrist, warm life blood spurting into his mouth.  She spat it out as he howled in pain, tiny wrist bones cracking at the pressure of her bite.

"Serves you right, bastard!"  She kicked the gun away, pulling herself to her feet.  Looking around, it didn't take long to realize her temporary 'ally' had fled.  "And you're a bastard too!"  She yelled the last out, loud as she could, hoping he'd here.  Nope, it probably wouldn't make much of a difference in his life but it made her feel better to curse him out.

Gunshot was too close, owwwwwww, but his skin was intact, he could feel that, and if he wasn't bleeding then it was just his ears and he was best served by getting the hell out of there.

That, he was pretty good at.

As he proved now, with a hint of a grin at the shout that tried out drown out the ringing in his ears. Bastard? Naw, his parents had been married. ***hole would be more appropriate, now wouldn't it? But she was clearly still alive so far, and so he didn't even hesitate in his vanishing.

A quick assessment of her should proved the wound to be minor.  She had a first aid kit at home for just such an occasion.  The sound of sirens got louder but she wasn't concerned; she knew these alleys like she knew the back of her hand and she wasn't easy to spot in the darkness.  Of course, there was still some irritation at the cowardly flight of the other mutant, but no point in dwelling on what couldn't be changed.  For the moment, at any rate.  One day they might meet again and on that day they'd see how forgiving she was feeling.  For now, home and a long, hot bath.