[b](Jotunn Draugr/Pirouette)[/b]

Margaret didn't even jump as the head of her undead companion was blasted by a far off shot. [i]"Tch"[/i] Margaret scoffed as she watched the body crumple. Gunrat, as she apparently called herself, just wasted her freebee shot killing some poor zombie instead.

Margaret lingered a bit longer, rocking back and forth on her feet, counting in her head. It was a short count, only seconds before she finished. Once she had finished her count, she bent down and hastened off in an inhuman sprint. A mere moment after she had moved, a second loud bang echoed out and Margaret's hair whisked away from the shockwave of the passing bullet, missing her just. She tried her best to guess where the shooter was but she didn't have much a mind for guns. She did, however, have a mind for Gunrat, as the past few months of squaring off with the would-be hero had provided Margaret a lot of information on this fight. 

Margaret scurried through alleyways, all the while dodging obstacles, before finding a way up one of the taller buildings in the area. A fire escape hung to the side of the building and the Ghoul quickly made her way up the stairs, curious to see if her hunch was right on whether or not Gunrat was up there.

"[i]Wo-cao[/i]", Gunrat hissed. The shot missed, and now that monstrosity was in full sprint. She fumbled through her pouch again, trying frantically to load another round in before the damned monster was out of sight. She successfully loaded the next round in, but The Ghoul had already ducked into the alley, out of sight. Xiu could only assume it was coming straight for her, and a long-range rifle would be nearly useless. Slinging it over her shoulder, she pulled out two 44. Magnum pistols from holsters within her jacket. 

"This'll leave a dent", she snickered, scanning her surroundings for a shadow. "Zhang, send backup quick. Make sure Jiao has gasoline, in case it goes well, and a medkit in case it doesn't. Copy?"

"Copy ma'am", Zhang answered, just as Xiu heard the metallic shaking of the fire escape out of her other ear. It was already making its way up to the roof.

"[i]Hao-ba-mei-nu-ren[/i]", she sang in her native tongue, pointing both barrels at the building's edge. "Time to die."

Up and up Margaret went as she scaled the building's fire escape until eventually she reached the top of the staircase. She leapt up, clearing the distance from the fifth floor to the roof. She didn't even have a time to land on her feet before she came under fire. Gunrat opened fire with her .44 magnums and at this range, she was deadly accurate.

Margaret landed just as a chunk of metal lodged itself into her leg. Her face tightened from the sudden shock but she didn't linger and quickly continued her charge towards her opponent. She raised her arms and covered her face as she darted forward, closing the gap quickly but not without injury as several bullets pierced Margaret's body, each hitting her with an impact to slow her down but not stop her.

Close enough, she lashed out swinging her powerful arms out hoping to smack Gunrat with her super strength.

Gunrat braced for the impact, as the freakish girl-thing came barreling down on her. Dropping one of her revolvers, she thrust her left arm out in an attempt to block the attack. It landed square on her forearm with a deep [i]CLANG[/i], ricocheting off her metalic under-skin plating. Still, the force was enough to send her flying backward.

Gunrat hit the roof hard, but managed to tuck into a roll. Tumbling to a bruised stop, she looked up at the monster, suffering no major effects from the several bullets currently lodged into her body. As The Ghoul continued its approach, Gunrat jumped to her feet, drawing a combat knife to replace her lost pistol. As the creature wound up for another swing, she dove forward, aiming her blade directly at The Ghoul's eye.

Margaret's feet slid to a stop as she tried to be more defensive as Gunrat leapt for her. Instinctively, Margaret raised one of her arms to cover her face which turned out to be a prudent move as Gunrat's knife lodged itself into the Ghoul's arm, slicing all the way through to come out the other end, almost reaching her face.

With Gunrat this close, Margaret cocked her other arm in prepartion for her attack. Her hand stretched back as the fingers were forcibly folded back on themselves revealing the bone in her forearm suddenly grew to a sharp point. She thrusted this arm forward towards Gunrat's stomach in hopes of piercing her armor and skin.

Gunrat gave one instinctual heave with her left hand, attempting to free the knife now burried in her opponant's arm. It was no use, and she left herself wide open as the Ghoul thrust its bone shiv toward her. Reacting quickly, she attempted to sidestep out of the way. The shiv found its mark in Xiu's side with a great deal of force. Thankfully, her leather jacket also carried steel plating, like her arms and legs. The collision landed with a deep crunch, as a couple of her ribs shattered under the sudden impact.

A groan of pain escaped her mouth as she again fell backward. Landing square on her back, breathless, she lined up her remaining revolver. It still had a few rounds left in it. If she lined the shot up correctly, it would still make it through the beast's knife-stuck arm, and burry itself in its brain. 

Her eyes grew wide as she focussed, measuring the angle as best as she could. The shambling monstrosity still moving in.

"[i]Hnngh[/i], mark!"

Margaret raised her arm with its bone shiv and attempted to leap down onto her opponent, aiming to plant the shiv right into Gunrat's face but the sudden defeaning sound of gunfire rang in Margaret's ears.

Gunrat hit her mark as her bullet barreled through Margaret's arm and went right through before finding Margaret's eye. The bullet painfully lodged itself somewhere inside Margaret's head as she stumbled backwards covering her eye. As her flesh began healing around it, she hissed in pain as she could feel the bullet agitate the area around it. In pain, Margaret retreated to the edge of the building. She lingered for a moment before jumping off the building and onto the fire escape that she had ascended earlier. She took the oppurtunity to escape from plain sight as well, and leapt through one of the windows, glass shattering as she tumbled through, and into a lofty apartment.