The night was dark, it was not a new moon that night but it was not but a night or two away. The Ranger was taking advantage of the darkness of the night to visit one of his dealers, the past year had been murder on his arms supply. Guns lost to the General being stolen and a trip to Romania, and ammo used and and lost to fire. Thanks to this state and this city's crazy laws he has to visit back alley dealers to secure what he requires.

The Ranger was on foot that night, he had a place nearby to stash weapons and with the General lost he was limited to his bike which would limit his carrying capacity. He could quickly maneuver back alleys to avoid police with a large quantity of ordinance, a perk to having his power.

New York has many areas that come alive in the dead of night, lit up making you swear the sun came up early. This, was most defiantly not one of those places. Most of the street lights were blown and the ones that worked flickered from shoddy wiring. The Ranger's power opened his eyes beyond normal human limits defeating the near darkness. He could see the occasional bum on the ground, unable to see him in return.

As the Ranger neared the alley where the dealer allegedly opened shop he began to hear the sounds of scuffling. He moved in the direction of the sound to investigate, he assumed it was some animals fighting over some bit of cast out food. The suspicion was dispelled when the sound of screams ripped through the air. Someone was being attacked, or rather a group was being attacked. The Ranger drew his Sig 226 and ran to the sounds. He clicked on the light and rounded the corner, casting light on a violent scene. With Meld at the heart. Meld with upgrades no less. S***.

Meld still hadn't regained her memory. A week ago she had found herself wandering the streets of New York, completely unsure what had happened, where she was or why she was there. Nothing seemed familiar, except a few cobwebbed memories of Aura, Abyss and The Order. As best as she could tell, she had lost most of the past three years of her life. Everything she had done, everyone she had met, had just simply vanished from her mind. Someone had done this to her, of that Lori was certain and Meld trusted Lori's judgement in that, but as for who or why, she had no idea.

To say that everything had disappeared was, perhaps, not entirely accurate. There were echoes of memories, echoes of past fights and past actions. Sometimes she'd see something or someone and it would trigger a thought or a feeling, with no apparent context in her conscious mind. She skills she had learned also remained in tact; how to fight and how to kill, for example, in addition to how to operate all the flesh melds she currently possessed, including those she didn't remember creating.

Aura had helped Meld fill in a few of the blanks of her life and Lori as well. She worked for the Order, fighting for mutant rights. She had also done a little research about her history, discovering some of the acts she had done in support of her cause, bringing context to some of the phantom images of blood and violence that haunted her at times. Almost everything she knew of the last three years, however, was from the mouths of some other person, or from news stories she had managed to track down on the internet. Her memories had not returned and she was simply trying to make due as best she could. It wasn't easy.

Meld's trip into the city this night was spurred by a need to try and trigger a memory, any memory, and an urge to...well, she couldn't quite define what the urge was, exactly. She just knew that she needed to leave, needed to do something. When a man in an alley had yelled a derogatory comment about 'metal mutant scum' she had lost it. There really was no other way to describe the way she reacted other than 'lost it'. The didn't remember making the conscious decision to approach him, nor the decision to grab his arm, causing metal claws to dig into his tender flesh and cause 5 trickles of blood to start running. What she did remember were his terrified screams, the thrill of power that resulted and the blessed relief from the nameless urge that had driven her into the underground of the city night. The more she cut him, the more pain he was in. The more pain he was in, the more he screamed. The more he screamed, the more fully alive Meld felt. This was power. This was what she needed.

A man stood screaming, Meld's clawed hand digging into his flesh. This would undoubtedly be horribly one-sided, so the Ranger would have to even the odds. His eyes returned to normal as the light from his gun illuminated the alley. The Ranger took aim at Meld's arm, he had no desire to kill her but hopefully a .357 Sig bullet flying at 1,430 feet per second and exerting 568 foot-pounds of force on impact would take her attention off the human in her grip.

"Meld! Let him go." The Ranger barked to Meld before squeezing off a round, and then another. And just to insure she focused on him and let the man escape, he fired a third. The sound bounced around inside the alley, the Ranger ignored the pain in his ears and pointed the gun at her head, he decided that if needed he would end Meld.

For the first time since losing her memory, Meld felt alive, well and truly alive. It was almost as if the man's terror reached into the deadened nerves of her skin and resurrected them. Every scream was music to her ears, every shudder of pain a reaffirmation of her own life and the power she held over the lives of others. She was, for that short period of time, complete. Her mind did not register the evil of the acts she was committing, did not register that this man may have a wife or child and certainly had friends and family. Perhaps later when the adrenaline had worn off, perhaps then she might have cause of regret. Or perhaps not. After all, he had invited this upon himself by making racist comments against mutants. This was his fault, not hers.

"Meld! Let him go."

Meld didn't let the man go, nor did she move her head to face the unknown voice. Her tail swiveled and blinked, bringing the man into focus. It was dark with very little external lighting and her tail didn't have the ability to see any better at night than a regular human eye, however she even had the lighting been better she would not have recognized the man. Her victim, by this point, was sobbing in her arms and begging for his life, for her to let him go.

Gunshots went off and, in one swift motion, Meld brought her clawed hand down across the man's neck, slitting his throat and causing the end to his pitiful life. She turned to face the newcomer. He had wanted her attention, so now he had it. It was time to see what he planned to do with it.

The gunshots did not have anywhere near the desired result, Meld simply killed the man before turning to face the Ranger. He had wanted to avoid killing Meld, but her actions necessitated her demise. The Ranger set the light on his gun to flash like a strobe light, perhaps the constant light difference directed at her would be blinding.

"Alright, you have forced my hand." The Ranger stated before taking aim at Meld's head and firing, twice. You always double tap. He then reached for the gun on his right side, a Smith and Wesson model 500. He dropped the 226 and put both hands on the 500. The 226 landed its light pointed at the wall but still illuminating down the alley. The Ranger fired the hand cannon with what was ultimately a blind fire, he did not take the time to properly aim. A 350 gram half, inch wide bullet blast forth at 1,975 feet per second riding a four foot long fireball out of the barrel. The Ranger hoped that 3,031 foot-pounds of force would be able to do some damage to the metal monstrosity that was Meld. Otherwise the almost guaranteed hearing damage would not be worth it.

The strobe light effect was disorienting but, perhaps not as disorienting as it would be for most others. Meld had gotten used to constant changes in lighting and perception due to rapid switches between her regular eyes and her tail eye. Not only had it taken a long time to get used to seeing from a different point of view, but combined with that fact the sight was tinged constantly red. Compared to those first couple of months of disorientating, she could deal with strobe lights.

The moment it took Meld to drop her victim was the moment it took her new found enemy to switch guns and fire at her, before she had the least chance to react. The booms from the two gun shots were almost deafening and the blast of fire that lit up the alley was likewise disorienting. At the last possible moment she managed to raise her shield arm. Both bullets smashed into her arm simultaneously, forcing her backwards several feet. Blindly she lashed out with her tail, a move fueled by instinct since she knew her enemy to be several feet out of range.

Once the smoke had cleared Meld growled and began to charge. He would suffer for that.

Meld stopped the bullet with her arm shield thing. The Ranger realized he should have just started with a bullet in Meld's head in the first place. She only staggered back a few feet, apparently her metal parts and bird-like feet gave her the ability to not be knocked down and back by the round. When she gained her footing the anger could see her tail lashing out, and missing by a safe enough distance. The Ranger brought the gun back down from the recoil caused kick and when Meld charged he fired again, he knew it wouldn't work but it would rob her of momentum.

After the round was fired the Ranger was gritting his teeth in pain from the blast endangering his eardrums, but he couldn't stop there. He dropped the gun and drew his knife from its holster above his left pec. With those metal appendages the Ranger would have to try and out maneuver Meld in this strobe lighted alley and wear away at her with knife stabs to the remaining flesh parts. Which would not be easy even in a well lit, open area.

Meld realized that her anger was controlling her actions, something that just didn't happen. Maybe it was the stresses of losing so much of her memory of maybe it was the elevated feelings that she had gotten from her unfortunate victim. She knew, however, in some distant part of her mind, that she could not let her anger control her. In normal circumstances she was the calm and collected one; when a target needed to die she killed them, no questions asked no hesitation. She needed to regain that calm because to fight in this state was to make mistakes and to make mistakes was to get herself killed.

A third gunshot rang out, smashing into Meld's shield and completely stopping her mad charge. Her opponent couldn't be aware of it, but the gunshot that had halted her momentum had just made things worse for herself. All she had needed were a few moments to center herself, to properly prepare her mind for the battle to come.

As Meld's still nameless opponent dropped his gun and got out his knife, she did not resume her charge. Instead she stood, for just a moment, and centered herself. The anger that had fueled her just a moment before began to slowly fade away, leaving her usual deadly icy calm.

The bullet stopped the train of a woman in her tracks. And stopped is where she stayed, she did not resume her charge or make any other aggressive moves. The Ranger had no idea as to why she stopped, perhaps the continued fire caused her to rethink the tactic knowing he could possibly have other toys. The Ranger took the chance to slide off his jacket and toss it to the opposite side of the alley from his gun with the light. His three empty holsters revealed, one under each arm for his guns and the third over his left pec.

The Ranger spaced his legs and began leaning from side to side, bending his knees. To most it would appear as some kind of stretching, but in fact the Ranger was trying to activate his power for the boost he felt he needed, before it was a life or death necessity. Speed.

Meld took the time to center and calm herself. She looked at her opponent, who had now discarded the gun and armed himself with a knife, mentally preparing her strategy. She didn't know if he was mutant or human and, if he was a mutant, that might complicate things. She did know, however, that if he was merely human than it had been a very stupid decision to discard the gun. Even if it hadn't done much damage to her, it was better than having to face her blades in a very up close and personal scrap.

"Why do you care that I killed him?" Meld got herself into a defensive position, shield in front of her, poised to act at a moment's notice. While she was still feeling high off the agony and death she had just caused, she didn't desire this man's death, not in any more than the general sense of wanting the euphoria that death brought her. If he left now, she would probably allow him to leave. Even if he called the cops she could probably escape before they arrived. That, and she was all ready wanted for worse than this, so what would one more body to her count really mean?

"Because people can't just go about killin' others. Sure, some killin's can be justified but this jus' looks t' be pure unadulterated murder."

The Ranger did not want to be the first to make a move in this fight, he would rather Meld engage and wait for her to slip up. Yet now that she had stopped, she was remaining in a defensive position. If he had too he would begin the engagement, and in preparation his left hand moved to his butt pack and after opening it slightly he gripped the flash bang inside. It had worked on Meld before and hopefully he could make use of it again.

"Were you expectin' jus' to be able to kill someone and get away with it? You don't have Aura and David here this time, or any of your other friends like at the Pharmaceuticals place. It will be a much more even fight."

"He attacked me, I defended myself," Meld replied, voice completely deadpan. So maybe it wasn't entirely truth and perhaps she hadn't needed to torture him to make him scream, but it was realistic enough. Because of what she looked like, people did sometimes attack her. Stupid people and people with a death wish, but people none the less. Whoever this guy was, he hadn't come upon her right at the beginning, at least she was pretty sure he hadn't, so how could he know for certain? If he decided to side with the human, then he deserved whatever fate came to him.

Meld remained as she was, standing defensively with her shield protectively in front of her. She would give the man the chance to see the error of his ways, give him a chance to see reason. If he didn't take it, well, whatever resulted was his fault and not hers. After all, he knew she was willing to kill. Her human eyes remained trained on him and her tail was directed behind her, just in case some unforeseen threat were to show up from the other end of the alley.

"I don't need either Aura or David to deal with a threat," Meld answered calmly. Not that she knew who this David was. For that matter, it seemed that she had had experience with this man before too. If only she could remember where and when. A shard of pain arced through her head as she tried to recall him but she ignored it. It didn't matter anyway.

"Even if that's true, killin' him was unnecessary. I doubt he would pursue an attack after havin' his arm ripped open by claws."

Meld was maintaining her defensive stance, the Ranger assumed he would have to make the first move. He slid the flashbang out of his butt-pack, but he held it behind his back for the time being. He would have to time it right or Meld might be able to protect her eyes.

"Well, we'll see."

The Ranger moved fast. His left hand rounded his body to in front of his chest, he wrapped his right middle finger around the pin and pulled it out. He tossed the flash bang down the alley to land and roll to Meld's feet. As soon as it had left his hand the Ranger side stepped out of the alley, put his back against the wall, face looking away from the alley's opening, and his fingers in his ears. Only when the BANG happened did he round the corner back into the alley, knife raised poised to attack what he hoped was a temporarily disabled Meld.

"Because people can't just go about killin' others. Sure, some killin's can be justified but this jus' looks t' be pure unadulterated murder."

"That is a matter of opinion." Meld spoke the words with chilling coldness. In her own mind her actions were justified and this, whoever he was, was just trying to be the hero of the day. He didn't understand the situation and he certain didn't have a grasp on the practicalities of living in reality. The kind her victim came from didn't deserve to exist. As for the hero's kind, at least she could understand him. He was trying to do good, however misguided his actions. She would allow him to live, if at all posssible but that didn't mean she would allow him to win.

Meld didn't immediately realize what the little spherical thing was and by the time she did realize it was a grenade it was too late. The flashbang went off, half deafening her and sending shooting pain into her head through her eyes a feeling that had the disturbing aura of familiarity. Unlike the previous unremembered time, however, this time she had a third eye, one which was almost never open while her human eyes were and one which was, consequently, entirely uneffected by the explosion.

Despite the shards of glass in her skull, Meld resisted the urge to clutch at her head, instead opening her ruby tail eye. The moment her enemy came into range with his pathetic little knife, she would strike and attempt to plunge the barged end of her tail into his chest.

The flashing of the light on the gun left the Ranger unable to fully discern how the flash bang had affected Meld. The Ranger did not waste time attempting to see if she was disabled or not. He charged, his right arm trailing so when he reached her he could swing the 7 inch long Ka-Bar forward for maximum effectiveness.

The Ranger's power kicked in and his charge toward Meld increased to an Olympic sprint in speed. Should his flash bang have failed or Meld's eyes recovered faster than normal eyes the Ranger assumed the flashing light, now at his back, would prevent her from gaining a good image of him as he approached. Nearing Meld, the Ranger began to dart from left to right and when he reached Meld he was on her left and he jabbed the knife forward aiming for her neck. He would rely on the momentum of the stab from his speed to work as well as any added muscle strength would allow him to push harder after making contact.