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The Second National Bank. Not the First, but certainly no less packed with money. And that's exactly what tonights crooks are hoping for. For in fact, these are fully equipped super villains, ready to knock off the armored truck unloading behind it. As the guards carrying money sacks inside, one of them hears a click and feels a point leveled behind his head. "A'ight, pops. Just put down the money and nobody has to become a backyard shishkabob." The guard complies as more costumed thugs arrived. 5 in total. Those who have patrolled the streets before may recognize a few faces among them. This is the infamous Flashmob. The speargun wielding villain starts to whisper directions to the others. "Chemistro, get to work crackin' dat vault. Mista Fish, Comanche, keep these fine folk under ya watch. Hamilton, you an' me's getting the money from the truck."
"Where's Cheshire?" the fice headed mutant asked, his voice garbled as if gargling water.
"Right here, my fish friend." A sixth figure fades into existence behind the fish, bowing and twirling his gun. "Enough chatter. Chesh, check the security 'round the vault. Make sure we ain't got no mo' company, you got me?" Cheshire bowed before vanishing again. The other villains get to their appointed tasks.
*
Howard had been waiting in line for some time with every intention of having a little in person discussion on a certain investment of his. Of course he didn't need the money but it's the publicity of getting it that oftentimes made headlines, a nice little public announcement of exactly what he's planning.
He's all dressed up for the occasion as well, one of his nicest suits, which sadly is not quite the height of fashion it used to be, but damned if it doesn't look just as sharp as the day he had it custom stitched. The matching hat of his is flicked down to shadow part of his face a friendly expression and that partially grey mustache of his peaking out, as he walks right up to the counter in order to bring to light his appointment.
Zed's only recently arrived to New York City. Harlem seemed the place to go- he mostly fit in there. Mostly. Darkskinned men weren't that uncommon in the area. He was walking when it all happened- watched as men accosted men and waylaid an armored car. "So, what you think about that, Tea?" he asked no one in particular. "Yeah. Probably good for a meal. Certainly deserving of the lesson we've got to teach." The Vet speaking to himself on the street- odd. "Question is do we just walk up, or do we play it cool. Mysterious. I mean, we've got a reputation to uphold, Tea."
Zed tightened a fist and checked the spot behind his back where his blade was stashed. Under the jacket. Hard to see. "Lets just walk up." Zed says as he begins towards the group of villains. "Hey!" he shouts, "Hey, you!"
*
Maximus has literally no money. So, he was lurking about, looking rather charmingly innocent in a nice suit and combed hair. Standing a few people behind Howard, he's honestly about to rob the place himself, in his own way, before some more organized villains beat him to it. He's going to be SO annoyed.
*
Perhaps it was just luck. Last time Samantha had been walking home and encountered a bank robbery? She'd been hit by a car! Of course, that ended worse for the car then the blonde woman whom was currently making her way down the street and away from her work towards her intended meal. Had she had breakfast today? She honestly couldn't remember. But even she couldn't survive purely on coffee at the clinic forever, something the rumble of her stomach would attest to. She hadn't actually noticed the fact that the armored car was being robbed…at least, not until Zed had spoken up and accosted the men. Crap!
Biting her lip for a moment the blonde considers, then she moves to duck out of sight, digging into her bag for her mask while she shrugs out of her coat. She'd committed to trying this 'hero' thing. Looks like she was going to get a chance now
*
As Zed approaches, Spear dropped the bags of money he was carrying and leveled his spear gun at the impending interloper. Mr. Fish drew his handgun and Comanche nocked an arrow into his bow, aiming at Zed as well. "You betta' be scattin', busta', or we about to put more holes in you than-" Whatever Spear is about compare Zed to, he's interrupted by a sudden loud explosion and the cracking of the walls of the bank. Seems Chemistro has finished cracking the vault. A dust cloud spews out of the open back door of the bank, before the four villains curse loudly and begin to fall back inside, with Mr. Fish, Spear and Commanche firing their respective weapons at Zed.
Cockroach Hamilton is the first to reach the main lobby, firing off one of his shotgun's six barrel. "Okay, seems we're doing this the loud and proud way! If you all would be so kind as to get on the floor and not move a muscle, we'll be the finest friends! Anyone thinking of being a hero, lemme direct you attention to my big friend here! He can rip superhumans apart. I advise you follow orders if you'd like to live!" Most everyone in the bank, customers and tellers alike, comply with his request.
*
For the first moment of the explosion Howard is calm and collected, he tries to gather his thoughts then he sees them start giving orders, and pulls out a small pen from his pocked calling out. "Are you Cockroach Hamilton?" A starstruck tone in his voice an uncharacteristic sort of look in his eyes of sheet aww. "I'm real sorry to bother you, but before you rob us, can I just have your autograph?" Pulling out a small pad of paper, and a pen. "I've been following your work for years, and it would just mean the world to me."
"More holes than what?" Zed asks, "Don't leave me hanging, scumbag." he almost growls out as he closes the distance without a shred of fear in his voice or in his stance. "You think you're the first asshole to level a gun at me?" Zed drives forward, lurching and shifting as he moves. However, one arrow strikes him- a bullet. They flatten against his skin. Fall away. "Yeah, you got that right, Tea." he says to no one in particular. "These boys are due for a wicked lesson." Zed charges- running towards the three who are firing at him. He moves with confident strides, running full tilt, about to throw a fist at the closest of the trio.
*
"Wait? Is this fellow famous?" Maximus tilts his head as he looks at Cockroach Hamilton. "More famous than the Absorbing Man?" Max crouched down when the shotgun went off, light eyes scanning the fellow in front of him by a few now-cowering people.
*
Unaware of the strange fan-boying that Howard and Maximus are undertaking, Samantha steps out of her cover and begins to rush towards the would-be robbers, only to blink when not only is someone else doing the same thing, but bullets seem to be bouncing off him as easily as they would her. That is…unexpected. A shrug, she'll take whatever help is on offer! Leaping into the air, the young woman doesn't rush at a run, she -flies- straight at the so-called big gun who'd been announced as dangerous to other super humans. Seems she'll find out for herself.
*
Zed's fist lands a full score knock-out blow on Spear's jaw, sending him spiraling as he was reloading his spear gun. He staggers for a moment, raising a finger to say something before falling back unconscious. Mr. Fish garbles an angry bellow at Zed as Comanche launched another fruitless arrow at him, before both took off inside.
Cockroach seems a bit taken aback and a little star-struck himself that someone actually recognized him! "Ah… ub… okay, sure!" As soon as he takes the pen and clicks it, though, a stream of green-ish spray comes out the side, catching Cockroach in the face and making him a bit woozy. "Wha… wha waz… uh…" At about this point, a *CLICK* can be heard right in front of Howard's face. A split second later, Samantha crashes in to punch Cockroach out… only her fist stops a couple feet short, instead hitting something else invisible! Whatever this invisible force is, it knocks into Cockroach and sprawls him out on the ground. A moment later, Cheshire fades into view, his finger still wrapped around the pistol he'd been pointing at Howard.
That was 3 taken care of… now where were the rest of them?
*
"Looks like I'm not the only one star-struck." Howard comments falling back to that more respectable hard expression of his the years spent acting in his own films coming to use. Then comes the click, that gun leveled right at his face. "Don't suppose you'd mind giving me an autograph?" Said stone-faced as he takes a step back to put the supers between himself and the encroaching villains.
*
A moments pause as he looks back over, adjusting his tie with a single hand. "Good work on the save, forgot to bring the infrared sunglasses with me." Said in the same manner as his earlier quips making it a bit more difficult to decypher if he actually does have one of those somewhere.
*
Zed is like a man possessed. He throws another punch to Spear's face once the man is down= he'll wake up with a broken nose. Broken cheek bones. He leans down low and takes a breath- a glowing blue energy flowing between them- Zed is inhaling something- a touch of Spear's soul torn away from him in a moment.
And then he's up, eyes like black marbles as he follows behind the two who'd started to run away. "Don't be scared!" he shouts, "You need to learn a lesson!" he continues as he begins his chase.
*
Maximus arches his brows when the invisible one reveals himself. He says nothing to the man, but reaches out his hand to the older man to try to pull him backwards, closer to him, away from the fray and the threats. "That was an interesting trick you used. I think you and I need to have a talk sometime. Later." His voice has an odd accent to it, vaguely British, but not exactly. He stares at Cheshire.
*
The invisible-turned-visible hostage taker that is Cheshire earns a twitch of Samantha's brow before she looks between the fallen cockroach and the gun-wielding Cheshire. Raising her own hand to point at the weapon she shakes her head. "You don't really want to do…" she begins, cutting off her own warning fakeout as a bolt of blue sizzling light leaps from her fingertip, aimed squarely at the gun itself. "Better to just surrender." She's smiling beneath her simple domino mask. Alright, so she was enjoying this a little.
*
As Zed sucks out part of Spear's soul, his body writhes and twitches a moment before going limp. As he approached the back door however, a small canister comes clanking along the floor and skitters to a halt in front of Zed… before rocking the place with another, slightly smaller and more controlled explosion than before. But the inertia alone should send him flying back… or at least, it would send a normal person flying.
Out front, Cheshire's eyes go wide and steady as he seems to be stuck in some kind of trance. His fingers quickly uncurl around the gun he was holding before Samantha's blast knocks it clear of his grip. After another steady moment, his whole body goes limp.
Quickly following that, another, much smaller, but still wall shaking explosion rocks the back of the bank. Clearly, the others were not done causing mayhem.
*
Howard isn't exactly expecting to get suddenly swept off of his feet, so he takes a slight stumble as he's ripped backwards. His hat knocked a bit off kilter while he's in the middle of adjusting his tie. There's a pause as he regains his footing. "Since when is the middle of a combat sc-" Then the explosion sends his footing somewhat loose as it rocks the foundation, the rest of the sentence obscured somewhat from the sound. Though he ends it by readjusting his collar, and tipping his hat back into place.
*
"Tea. You know I hate it when shit blows up in our face." Zed says before he's rocked back by the explosion- thrown into a wall with surprising force. Its knocked him about, but it doesn't seem to have caused any major injury. When he stands, he brushes himself off and rushes again and now runs again forward towards the direction that grenade had come from. "Now we're going to break your god-damned arms! You'll be lucky to hold a pencil by the time I'm done with you!"
*
Sammy had missed the whole…soul sucking. It would probably have unnearved her quite a bit if she hadn't had her back to it. Right now however? She's got bigger concerns to deal with. There were quite a lot of innocent civillians to get caught in the crossfire. "Everyone!" she calls out over the fray. "Make your way out carefully, across the street and wait for the police to arrive." Would it make getting witnesses harder? Probably. But it also ment less people to unwittingly catch bullets.
*
Maximus rocks with the explosion and loses some balance. He grips Howard for some recovery, then comes back to his feet. "Pardon…one moment." He lets go, and crawls along the floor a few feet before he has some cover by a table and giant red chairs that are supposed to be unnervingly comfortable, the sort that suck you down into them and won't let go. Those peasants…er…humans…that demonstrate cowardly behavior are enveloped in a command that is comforting and simplistic. Out. Out she says. Or so it seems. The puppetmaster does not out himself by making a show of it, but he does have one of the sheep leave behind her fur coat.
*
As Zed recovers from the explosion, he'll find that the whole thing seems to have been largely a diversion. Pressing on through the rubble, he'll see the blast had the unintended side effect of knocking out Comanche, as he lay motionless and eyes closed on a pile of broken concrete.
In the lobby, Chemistro and Mr. Fish emerge from behind the teller booths, Mr. Fish firing at the remaining folks (chiefly Sammy, with Howard caught somewhat in the crossfire), while Chemistro pulls a capsule from his belt and shakes it, throwing it towards the lobby as it began to expell a huge cloud of thick, gray smoke, choking the area in unseeable fog.
*
Howard's hat goes flying back off of his head as a stray round smacks into it, sending it crashing into the wall. The hat simply falls back down towards the ground, leading Howard to move for cover once the shots start. He doesn't exactly take the second moment to get shot, instead breaking his expensive rollex watch off from his hand. A quick pull of the device locks it into place over his mouth functioning as a sort of rebreather.
Zed continues forward, frowning as smoke begins to filter up. "Sonofa…" he shakes his head. "Okay, okay. Where'd they go." he says as he looks over to Comanche. Quiet a long moment, but inward he goes- regardless of the danger ahead. Almost as if he's got a death wish.
*
Samantha has disconnected.
*
As Zed enters the fray of smoke, he'll find that while breathable, it certainly stings the throat as only smoke can. Thankfully for Howard, his rebreather does a good job of keeping the air from burning him. But once Zed passes through the other side, he finds that the pair are nowhere to be seen. Either they've already made the split… or they back tracked through the smoke. Either way, as the cloud clears, they are nowhere to be seen in the lobby anymore.
*
Zed's eyes narrow quietly. He looks left. He looks right. He balls his hands into fists. He nose twitches and he shakes his head from the acrid smoke. "Got away, hrm?" he asks to himself. "Well." he cleans his hands, "People are safe. I'll figure out where those idiots got off to." he mumbles, "And then.. I'm going to bring the pain. It'll be disgusting." he admits. "You're going to fucking hate it." he continues to talk, "No, Tea. No. Not the whole thing. Never a good idea to take the whole thing." he stuffs his hands in his pockets.
*
Reaching into his pocket, Howard pulls out what looks to be a pair of ordinary sunglasses. However when he presses a small button on either side of the lenses a small wall pops out either side, along with a head band of sorts. The glasses turn to a pair of goggles that he shoves onto his head to try and protect his eyes from this burning smoke. Coming back to a stand he scans the room, looking for his hat, and any sign of the two men.
*
Maximus is hacking and crawling for the door. Unclean air is just…the WORST, especially for Maximus. He's sensitive enough as it is and this is all on purpose, too. While he was trying to be helpful, now he's the one that needs the help.
*
Neither Zed nor Howard are able to see the where the two villains have run off to. Which is, in fact, a nearby manhole that leads into the sewers below, let by Mr. Fish. But with the destruction of the bank, the arriving of the police, and the people in need of attention, it seems this little skirmish has come to a close. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured and the money was left largely untouched, along with 4 criminals ready to be taken into custody. All in all, a good victory!
However, the loss of Howard's hat was greatly mourned, and it was immediately rushed to the nearest habadashery for stiches.
*
Zed walks off into the night.