In it for the Money (IC)

[Supercape]

GM

It was midday, it was hot, and it was lunchtime. The banks of Freedom City were at their busiest, and both staff and customers were irritable. The air con was on the blink, and they had been having intermittent power failures since 11.

The queues were backed up and people had started shouting and complaining. The nervous manager, a middle aged man, balding, sweating, and lacking confidence, had tried to placate the crowd using his "customer engagement in negative circumstances" course, but somehow it didn't translate into real life, and the crowd just hurled abuse at him.

Meanwhile

Mr Davin Davinport, political advisor to the state, lawyer, right wing campaigner and all-round extremist, had had enough. The country was going to the dogs, godamnit, and someone had to stop the rot. All he needed was enough funds to get his political campaign going.

He had found a few disgruntled AEGIS employees, veterans of one fight to many, and too much red tape, who felt the same. They sat in a van outside the bank, donning specialised power armour and checking their plans...

[JackgarPrime]

Freedom City airpsace, just over Downtown

On patrol over the city, the silver form of Victory, AEGIS' newest weapon in the fight for justice, is making his rounds. Keeping a constant look out on the streets far below for any need to interject, his comlink crackles in his ear with the dispatcher's voice. "Agent Victory, come in. We believe we've got a lead on Mr. Davinport. He should be somewhere in the vicinity."

Nodding, Victory smirks to himself. "Got it, HQ. I'll keep my eyes open." All agents have been ordered to keep a lookout for a man suspected of stealing AEGIS weapons, with orders to make his capture top priority. If this is him, it'll be a great way to start beefing up his track record!

[tryrar]

If you asked him, Don would classify himself as an easygoing, polite, all-around nice guy. He rarely got angry, and he didn't stay mad long. But, there are certain things that REALLY pushed his buttons, and trying to get the bank to straighten out certain "statement irregularities"(I.E. theft from his accounts) was one of them. The fact that the bank manager was busy trying to keep the crowd under control wasn't helping any. Don clears his throat to get the man's attention, and continue where they left off.

"Look, this account was closed THREE MONTHS ago, there shouldn't have been ANY transfers from here to that account, and there certainly aren't any accounts of MINE in the Barbados! And these withdrawals" he points to the top sheet of the bundle of papers in his hand "I never authorized these! The signatures on the checks don't match, I never heard of this company here, and I did not buy a rental house in upper New York State."

He takes in a deep breath. "I've already talked to the police about this, but what I want to know is what the hell kind of bank you are running where you don't even make simple checks to see if the people who bring you checks are authorized to cash them! I thought you had to report all withdrawals over $10,000, but my sis says her contacts at the FCC don't have any record of it!" He positively glares at the poor man. "And here I thought this bank prided itself on 'customer service and loyalty'. Well, unless you can give me a satisfactory answer to my concerns about the shoddy management I've seen so far, You can kiss my business with you goodbye!"

[Supercape]

Supercape soared through the sky at a leisurely pace, his pace fluttering magnificently behind him. His blue and white costume positively glistened in the air.

He had decided a little PR and "standard" superheroics wouldn't go amiss if he was ever to get to grips with his "destiny". So a little patrol in the airways was probably a good idea.

And anyway, the weather was hot, the breeze cooling, and... well... sometimes it was just nice to fly!

All it needed was the precise manipulation of atomic forces behind him and ahead of him, push and pull, and off he went. It had taken some practice, but now he found it fairly easy.

Bother to the science, anyway, today he was just going to enjoy the sensation.

[Grotesque]

Peter Blackmore strolled down the city sidewalk, somewhat hot and tired. Having just finished delivering an order, he decided to take his time getting back to the restaurant for the next one. Taking his time to be alone with his thoughts...

Maaaaan it’s toooo hoooooot! The sun is to briiiiight! Walking is taking to looooong! And I have to go to the bathroooooom!!!

With that final thought he stops and looks around in hopes of finding a place to relieve his straining bladder. After looking over the nearby shops, he settles on the bank just a bit further down. Upon entering the building he heads into the men’s room...

This place is toooo hooooot! What happened to the air conditioning? That guy yelling at the teller is to loooooud...

[Supercape]

GM

The weasel bank manager recognised Don almost Immediately, and started applying his "Preferred customer interaction paradigm shifting" workshop course.

"Of course, of course, if there is anything I can help you with, I would just like to assure you of our ongoing commitment to high quality service and how much we value your custom and patronage. "

This of course, only earned him fierce glares from the ever expanding and sweaty queue.

Further grovelling would have to wait, however, as five men in full body armour marched into the Bank. The leader, who appeared to wear heavier armour of silver colouration, fired a blast of pure energy into the ceiling, causing some masonry to tumble to the floor. One poor old lady got hit on the head, fell unconscious, and started bleeding to the screams and shrieks of the customers.

"All right then folks. This is a stick up! Don't anybody move. We are only in it for the money!"

"Oh dear" mumbled the manager. He hadn't attended his leadership in challenging situations course yet.

[JackgarPrime]

Keeping his eye on the ground after getting the heads-up from headquarters, Victory keeps his highly-upgraded vision sharp for anyone that either resembles the suspect, or walking around that even looks metallic. And it isn't long before he catches a glimpse at 5 large, silver figures heading into Central Bank. And one of them looked a bit larger than the rest. "HQ? This is Victory. I might have found the suspect at the Center Bank. Be ready for pickup." With that, the blue-and-silver cyborg streaks down to the street, hovering just outside the open door, to try and get a look at the situation inside.

[tryrar]

Hearing the blast, Don immediately up. The sight of five men in power armor holding up the bank causes two reactions: a sense of utter incredulity and an urge to laugh. Who the hell is dumb enough to rob a bank in THIS city?! That's about as smart as opening the lion's cage, walking in and locking it behind you, and throwing rocks at the lion! The mirth dies a moment later, as it becomes clear that terminally idiotic or not, they had come pretty well prepared. Well, so now what? I'm pretty sure they can see me, so making a move to hide somewhere long enough to get my field up would likely get me shot...wait, they're not really looking in this direction yet, so if I can find something to hide behind, maybe I can ruin their day and protect these people! Don looks around for a hiding place to change...and spots a customer consultation booth. Perfect! He makes a quick move into the booth, ducks down, and begins floating of the ground. As soon as his feet leave the ground, his barrier snaps up, light bends away from him, and Dyne is ready for action! Hmmm, better play it cool for now, too many people in the line of fire. I'll just stay hidden in this booth...

[Grotesque]

Shortly after Peter gets into the bathroom he hears a disturbance outside in the main area,

Oh SNAP! A bank robbery? Here? While I'm here too? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? ...wait a minute...

Peter calms down and takes a deep breath,

I know what I need to do. Come on man, stay calm. Focus. You know what you got to do... But wait I don't have time to change... CRUD! ...going to have to improvise...

Peter goes to the door and cracks it open slightly and yells out in a falsetto voice,

"OH NO! SOME PEOPLE ARE ROBBING THE BANK! I SHOULD CALL FOR THE POLICE ON MY CELL PHONE! I SURE HOPE THEY DON'T COME IN HERE TO STOP ME!"

After hopefully getting their attention Peter ducks to the side of the door that it open into and waits...

[Supercape]

GM

"Holy Hollerin' Have-a-go Heroes!" cursed the leader. He pointed at two of his goons. "You two, stay here, we are going to have to sort this out. "

With that, the three armoured bank robbers marched into the gentleman's toilets, fully expecting to rip the mobile phone off some innocent bystander.

"Jeesh, not a good start, Dave!" said one of the two armoured agents guarding the rest of the crowds.

"Shuddup, don't use my name, Pete!" snapped the other, and turned his attention to the cashiers "you two, start loading up the bags, or we start shooting!" and with that, they both hurled two heavy suitcases at the desk.

[Supercape]

Supercape was gently floating through the sky when he saw Victory hurtle through the air towards the bank.

At that speed, he could barely make out the cyborgs features. He certainly couldn't recognise the figure, but then, he admitted to himself that he was hardly an expert on superhero culture.

In any case, to travel at that speed towards a bank probably meant he was needed, either to fight or to aid, so he set off after him, and - although unable to match is speed - was soon alighting by his side next to the bank.

"Hi there, names Supercape", he saluted. He always felt slightly akward in these situations, so he compensated by increasing the size of his cape still further. "What's going on? need a hand?"

[JackgarPrime]

Well, there was no question now. This had to be his target. Looking them all over, and seeing that three of them went off to check some element or other, it left only 2 of them right there to charge at. Taking a moment to figure which he would go for, he hears someone greet him. A bit surprised at the cordiality in the voice in this situation, he looks over and spots a man wearing a very...fancy-looking cape. He takes a moment to take the unusual costume in, but then returns the salute. "Name's Victory. We've got 5 hostiles in power armor. 3 of them went off. If we take these two down now, it'll make the rest easier. I'll take the right one, you take the left. Ready?" He turned himself towards the target foe, and his boosters began to rev up, power gathering in them for a charge. "3....2.....1...."

[tryrar]

Behind the booth, dyne cautiously peeks on the situation. He hears the cry from the bathroom, and simultaneously applauded and pitied the brave fool who lured three of them away. i hope he gets a medal for that, and I DAMN sure hope it won't be awarded posthumously! Looking around, he spots something that might well even the odds: an alarm! he ever so cautiously uses a precise gravitational field to slowly depress the alarm...

[Supercape]

Supercape nodded "at your service, Mr. Victory" impressed with the man's military air. And, to be frank, with the sheer complexity and degree of energy he detected coursing through the flesh and steel body.

At Victory's command, he burst through the Bank doors to take in the sight of the two armoured goons threatening all and sundry. "Only two?" he questioned, but there wasn't to be time for debate. They had to take the initiative.

[JackgarPrime]

As his countdown ends, the powerful rockets let loose, shooting out an incredible pressure behind them, pushing his body at outrageous speeds towards the foe he picked out. Rearing back, he remembers that he has to try not to completely destroy these armors, as they're still AEGIS property, and his orders were to bring them back in if possible. It causes his blow to hesitate a bit, so he ends up not hitting quite as hard as he could have. It was still one hell of a punch, as rockets blast from behind his elbow to smack the foe right in the stomach.

[tryrar]

As the alarm goes off, Dyne is surprised to see an IMMEDIATE response as two people burst in, with one clocking one of the goons! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why robbing a bank in Freedom City is about the stupidest thing you could ever do; you don't know who might spot you strolling into a bank in power armor! He immediately recognizes Supercape from the incident at the casino, but the other hero with the rocket booster was unknown to him. Well, playing it cool is out the window, so might as well introduce myself...with a gravitic assault to the face, of course! He takes aim at the two goons and launches a sphere of gravitons, which impacts the ground at the power-armor jockeys' feet and erupts into a twisting, serpentine arc of gravitic force that collides with them...only for the armor to go up a bit in Dyne's estimation as absorbs the attack! Huh, that's some pretty good piece of equipment! It makes me wonder where the heck they got them, because those sure look to be military grade...

[Grotesque]

Peter watched as the three armed thugs enter the men's room...

OH CRUD! I just wanted one, maaaaybe two to come in here, but three? They're gonna kick my ass!

A slight hint of fear showing, Peter contemplates just hiding it out and trying to escape...

Then a little voice in the back of his head speaks up in a determined voice...

Calm down! We knew things like this would happen when we decided to become a hero. Now are you still will to commit to that or not? You have been trained, and taught how to fight, now is the time to USE IT! You ARE the Vermillion Bird, the Avatar of Fire, the great...Suzaku!

With a determined look in his eyes, Peter bursts into his Chi Aura fire and steps forward swinging at the closest robber, as hard as he can, yelling...

SUZAKU PUNCH!!!

Slightly surprised, Peter feels his fist catch on of the goons delivering a hard solid blow, he can feel the armor absorb most of the impact, but knows that the guy has got to be hurting.

[Supercape]

Supercape sprung into the Bank to see the two armoured goons in front of him, swivelling around to respond to the intrusion. His speedy comrade had attacked before he could even get his bearings, but he wasn't far behind.

A nudge of a few key atoms around one of them, and a brilliant purple glow bathed his target. He must have been doing something right, because the guy took a few steps back and sunk to his knees, head bowed, with the armoured powersuit fizzing and sparking.

Down, but not quite out...

[JackgarPrime]

The guy's partner doesn't seem to be faring much better. After an initial smack from Victory to knock him off balance, he follows up, putting even more force into this hit. He doesn't want to destroy the armor, but it seems unavoidable to at least do some damage. And that means he'd have to put this guy down ASAP. And the easiest way to do that is shaking the brain inside the skull. Even if he didn't hit through the armor, the sheer force of the hit would surely knock his head all around. Not to mention sending him hurtling into the wall, smashing into it with a loud CRUNCH, and leaving one hell of a crack, although he doesn't go through it, parts of the wall cacked on to his back as he falls prone. As it hits, the momentum moves the sight out of the corner of his eye a bit, where he spots a woman knocked on to the ground, under a bit of rubble. Eyes widening a bit, he takes the moment that his target reels from the hit to send in a call "Dispatch! Get an ambulance sent to my location ASAP! We've got a civilian down!"

[tryrar]

Dyne watches the two goons get their bells really rung in quick succession. As it appears that the pair at the door have things well in hand, Dyne decides to go help the guy in the restroom who had drawn off the other three. He pops up from behind the booth. "Looks like you two can handle things here, but those other three were lured away by some brave,crazy bastard who yelled from the restroom that he was calling the cops on his cell phone, so I'm going to go rescue him before we have a corpse on our hands!" Giving a brief nod to Supercape, he flies off into the restroom...in time to see a guy surrounded by a fire aura land a blazing combo on one of the goons! Huh, guess this guy wasn't so suicidal after all. Might as well lend him a hand... Concentrating for a moment, Dyne let's out a shadowy, distorted field of altered gravity that ripples throughout the bathroom! The field encloses around the three villains-avoiding the man covered in fire-though one of them manages to resist the effect, to Dyne's surprise. He then commands the gravity within the field to reverse, causing the two trapped goons to slam into the ceiling!

[Grotesque]

Slightly surprised at somebody entering the room behind him Peter almost turns around to face the new entry. Catching himself he focuses again on his original opponents, being sure to keep his head down so as not to give a clear look at his face. Surprising Peter even more is when he turns back to the robbers, and two of them shoot into the air, becoming embedded into the ceiling.

Oooookay not going to look THAT gift horse in the mouth.

With the two goons out of the way, Peter lets loose a powerful spinning kick at the remaining opponent.

SUZAKU KICK!!!

His target moves out of the way, dodging the firey kick, as Peter readies himself for another go at this guy...

[Supercape]

GM

The leader of the pack was surprisingly fast and still had his head on. "Not so fast, young whippersnapper!" he snapped back at the martial artist.

"Cornered in the gent's... how ignoble!" he fumed, and with that, launched a mighty punch at Suzaku, which he telepgraphed and accordingly, missed.

"Curses, you rapscallion, stay still why don't ya!"

[Supercape]

Supercape

Supercape glanced once more at the fizzing power armour of the robber and focussed his mind. A quick nudge here, a quick push here, a quick nth dimensional recalibration of the wavestring formation observer entanglement nowhere... and again there was a burst of blue-purple radiation enveloping the man.

"Oh dear" he muttered "I think I miscalculated..."

The fizzing actually seemed to decrease slightly as the man shook his head to clear the cobwebs and aim a gauntlet bristling with sophisticated weaponry at the caped hero!

[JackgarPrime]

It seemed as though things were under control enough that it was clear for him to evacuate the citizen. While, of course, defeating his target is his mission, first priority is always to ensure the safety of innocents. Moving quickly, Victory breaks off from the battle to grab the woman from under the rubble and get her outside as swiftly as he could. It seemed the ambulance was already there. Good. Then she'll get immediate attention. He brings her there, and speaks with the paramedics.

"This woman was struck by a part of the ceiling. She's unconscious, but breathing. Get her out of here. We'll make sure you won't need to carry anyone else out." With a quick salute, he turns back around, heading once more to rejoin the battle.

[tryrar]

Meanwhile, back in the bathroom, Dyne's field dissipates, causing the two goons plastered to the ceiling to fall to the ground, where they moan a little at the impact. Sorry, charlies, not letting you off THAT easy! His field erupts again, catching the leader this time, though one of the goons manages resist the field! He then commands both captured robbers to hit the ceiling again; one manages to brace himself this time, while the leader hits full-force, cracking the ceiling as well as knocking him for a loop! The field fades away, the two robbers hit the ground.....

Only for the field to spring into being once more! It catches all three off guard, and they soon find themselves hurled against the ceiling for the third time, causing it to develop ever-wider cracks and knocking on of the robbers out cold!

Huh, and my mother said cartoons rot the brain...