Vigilant Alliance, Part 1: The Heist

[Render of Veils]

Los Angeles, California, afternoon, a bank…

Broken pieces of wall lay scattered on the floor, with thick dust from the ceiling coating its surface. They shook, but there was no earthquake this day. Behind the large semi-circular main desk of the bank’s lobby, in a room deep within the building was the vault. Its massive thick door sealed the chamber from assault, which came in the form of a massively muscular man whose very skin looked like it was made of bricks, right down to the color. Every hit the door took from Brick’s pounding fists sent shaking tremors, causing furniture to shift and objects to leap an inch off the ground.

“Aye, doncha think your hittin’ it a lil’ too hard there?” came a voice from next to him. Petro leaned against the adjacent wall to the vault’s door, which even the superhuman Brick was having a hard time budging.

“Go screw yourself!” the mutated African-American growled, stopping his pounding to focus on trying to grapple the door and rip it off. His efforts were to no avail, and it seemed the entire door and architecture around it was made specifically for superhumans in mind.

I see your efforts aren’t faring too well, said a disembodied voice. Petro looked up at the ceiling to the room.

“They got ‘ta whole room pretty nicely done up boss. Reinforced adamantine steel my guess, and the whole place has it. Be a while b’fore Brickie here can budge it,” he replied, glancing over to Brick, who had stopped to listen, breathing heavily.

Very well. Do what you can to assist him, Foreman’s voice spoke. Then it was gone, like a phantasm. Petro and Brick looked at each other, and the former shrugged.

“S’pose I can help,” he said. Walking towards the vault, he raised his hand. For a brief moment a black oil pooled in the palm, and then fire shot out towards the door…


Outside the bank, numerous armed men and vehicles stood ready for action. Several tanks had placed themselves at the chokepoints to the roads leading to and from the building, its entrance surrounded by a dozen SWAT units and national guard soldiers. Vans and police squad cars were parked in the back behind a barricade that had been set up as men ran to and fro. Beyond them outside a large quarantine zone, a large crowd gathered while multiple news crews reported on what was happening. Overhead, several news and police helicopters buzzed around the scene.

A large man at the front line of the armed blockade stood up, holding a megaphone.

“FOREMAN AND THE CREW! THIS IS THE UNITED STATES MILITARY AND LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT! THE ENTIRE BUILDING IS SURROUNDED! WE HAVE UNITS POSITIONED AT EVERY ENTRANCE AND EXIT! GIVE YOURSELF UP AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!”

The officer lowered his megaphone, standing back and awaiting a response. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then, the main entrance’s door opened. Out stepped a tall, slender woman with long black hair, the skin also a uniform ebony darkness that made her look like a shadow given life. Though apparently naked, her entire frame was shrouded by a dark, whispy cloud of blackness. Both of her arms were crossed, and she shook her head, sighing.

“They never think do they Slag?” Ash said to seemingly no one in particular. Guns were cocked and pointed straight at her, but the soldiers and policemen held back, waiting for their signal. Ash lowered her arms.

“Heh, waiting to fire huh? I guess none of you know who you are dealing with,” she said out loud to them all. Without even a moment’s notice a jet of darkness shot out from Ash, completely enveloping the entire area in total darkness. Men cried out as any sense of vision was completely lost, and soon things were in an uproar.

“This is unit five, I can’t see a goddamn thing!”

“Unit eleven, where the hell is everyone?!”

“What just happened?!”

This and more chatter filled the air, destroying any sense of order and procedure. Men scrambled to figure out where they were, stumbling over themselves and running into every imaginable object without any sense of location. Several gunshots, muffled by the thick black substance blind them went off, briefly illuminating the frightened soldiers before darkness consumed them.

In one of the helicopters, the reporter inside gasped at the sight. A thick black cloud, completely impenetrable to light, enveloped the entire block surrounding the bank. Nothing could be seen or heard from within, and those who dared approached suddenly vanished like they had been sucked in. A few minutes passed, then the shadowy fog receded. Soon enough it was all but gone, and Ash reformed herself back to where she had been, surveying the handiwork. Within the radius of the cloud she had created, every single person was sprawled across the ground, slumped over barricades or in the seats of vehicles, dead. Their mouths were all gaping open, filled with a black substance that flaked out and floated into the air like dust. Ash chuckled.

“See? I told you I could take care of them.”

Something liquid and glimmering splashed next to her, forming a puddle of oily, dirty mercury before rising up and assuming a semi-humanoid form. Slag looked at his partner, giving her a not so pleasing expression.

“Yeah, like always. Never give me a chance to shine.” Ash chuckled.

“Now now, no need to be jealous my dear. You’ll get a moment one of these days.” Her tone was decidedly condescending, and he didn’t seem to appreciate this too much.

“You’ll slip up one of these days. I’ll show you I can do things better than you can!” Ash turned around, looking down at the liquid metal orbs on Slag’s face.

“Is that a challenge?” Her tone had changed, charged with the subdued anger of a proud woman whose security was threatened. They stared at each other, tension mounting the air around the standoff.

Remember your roles you two, came the Foreman’s telepathic voice once more. No infighting please, or I will stick both of you with the job of opening that vault. Slag looked up.

“So Brick and Petro are having a hard time with it?” he said.

Something like that. Of course, if you and Ash were there instead of them, I can garuntee neither of you would find the job remotely easy. Now, quit bickering and keep watch for any more ‘interlopers.’ We are on a time-frame here and interruptions are not allowed.

Once he was done speaking, silence prevailed. Ash sighed, then went back inside. Looking around for a minute, Slag quickly dissolved his body and like her vanished into the building, leaving behind the carnage around the building…


Rules:

1. In your first post, devote a few paragraphs to describe, in detail, how your character happens to be in the general vicinity. A little background information on how and why they are in Los Angeles, and an introduction to their character. This includes an entrance for them. After that, you largely have free power. Just keep in mind that you can post for your character, and ONLY your character's actions and dialogue. Do not introduce anything else into the storyline, as this will corrupt the plot. There are other rules, but considering that pretty much most of you are at least somewhat experienced RPers, I am going to leave those rules unstated, as they are very basic ones.

2. There will be a loose post order. Everyone will post once after this, and then I will post. After that, it will largely depend on who is online when, which means some of you may be left in the dust. I am highly suggesting that after I post in response to someone, that someone else besides the person I was responding to post, so we don’t get caught in such situations. However, for the most part, this is a responsibility on your part; I’ll post basically whenever I feel like it.

[funwithfire]

L.A. a world all it's own. Home to fame, fortune, and a cesspool of crime and chaos. The perfect place for Chimera to practice on the 'small fry' or so he thought when he came in a few days ago while his fathers team came up with new tests. Unfortunately even the lesser crooks have been keeping to themselves for the most part while he was patrolling.

Now heading back to where he had been sleeping to gather what few things he had brought with him he hears loud noises of what he thought may have been sirens. "Now, this may be more of a challenge." Being a few miles away he knew he might miss most of the big action but he tried to make his way there as fast as he could jumping roof to roof and wall to wall.

Now just blocks away he was able to see the area the cars had stopped, and what he saw he did not want to believe. He had got there just in time to see the blackness pull itself back together and in it's wake the bodies of the officers lying there more then likely dead. "Well, now this looks bad."

Moving in trying not to alert this person or group, as he was still a little unsure as to which, too soon. He made his way to a building across the street from the bank and jumped down, landing atop one of the empty police cars. "Now now, was it really necessary to do that? I mean from the looks of it they couldn't stop you any way." Knowing his typical tactics would probably fail if he didn't get the first hit, he watched them to see the response and readied himself to dodge if he needed.

[Piccylo]

Las Angeles, being a place with a hearty nightlife just as any other big city, had big, lighted signs all through the commercial districts. Big lights require a lot of maintenance. Big businesses require big lights to outshine other businesses. All of this calls for professionals in the job. Millicent could have gotten a job a little closer to home easily. After all, she had a daughter to think about. But she had heard rumors about super-villain level crime in the Las Angeles area, and she could hardly ignore it.

She now walked down the street nonchalantly, dressed in her usual jumpsuit, a danish (in the process of consumption) in one hand, a phone held against her ear in the other, and a large bag slung over her shoulder.

"Yes, honey. I'm glad you hed a good day at school," she said into the receiver, some of her German accent still lingering after all these years, "Are you minding your sitter? Good. Good. Oh I should be beck by de end of de week." She took another bite from her danish, inwardly sighing that she still has problems with the "th" sound when it isn't in her daughter's name.

The second car in five minutes zoomed past, siren whirring. Millicent was distracted by this long enough to miss something that her daughter said, and had to ask her to repeat herself. Thisbe didn't get much into what she wanted to say before a jeep and a SWAT car followed. Millicent frowned. This looked to be the standard actions taken in the case of superhuman criminal activity.

"I'm sorry, Thisbe. I will talk to you later. I've got something to take care of. Goodbye." She pressed the off button a little more hastily than she wished, and proceeded to scarf down the remainder of her danish as she ran, looking for somewhere to change. It always figured. When she had the costume on, nothing happened, but when it was off, some horrible monster starts eating downtown. At least she had the foresight to have it in her purse this time. She found an alleyway and climbed up a fire escape after making sure no one would see her. She changed outfits quickly, not as one might expect someone who had to prepare for a potentially deadly assault, but as one who was potentially late for work. She had been a superhero for a good portion of her life, after all.

Outfit changed and copper wire spooled and put away, Ionia placed her purse and clothes in a shadowed corner of the fire escape flew herself towards the sound of the sirens.As she approached, she could make out some of the words on the megaphone, not many, but enough to understand which supervillains were involved. The Crew warranted caution when approaching. She took a slower but less noticeable route.

The first thing she saw was the receding black cloud and the lifeless forms of men in uniforms. She saw the cloud seem to form into a woman in the distance, standing on the bank that the vehicles and new corpses surrounded. Another form joined her, one that looked strangely metallic, and they did nothing briefly, perhaps talking, before they disappeared again. It would be best to neutralize that strange woman first, Ionia thought.

A loud thump came from almost across the street. Ionia turned to see a strange creature perched atop a vacated police car. "Now now, was it really necessary to do that? I mean from the looks of it they couldn't stop you any way."[/i]

Ionia raised a brow, curious and confused. She did not recognize this person, but he didn't look like anyone that would be in the Crew. In fact, she was willing to bet that he was a vigilante, but she was unsure. He could have been a resident superhero of Las Angeles, one that simply never got in touch with the superhero groups she'd been associated with. But it seemed pretty obvious to her by his brash exposure of himself that he was strong in melee, and likely meant to use that strength.

She decided that the least she could do for a potential ally is support him. She started to use her electricity to ionize the air around him from a distance, creating a thin bubble of thick air around him that could move with him. If that strange woman who became Ash attacked first, it would be unlikely that she could get through the barrier easily.

[Render of Veils]

There would be no response to Chimera's taunt from either Ash or Slag. The pair of criminals entered the bank's lobby, Ash catching enough to look back and see the mutant vigilante perched on one of the police vehicles.

"Oh dear, looks like somebody wants to play," she said in a rather drab tone. Slag reformed from his puddle and looked towards the windows.

"Just one? I thought there'd be at least two or three..."

There is another one as well, spoke The Foreman's spectral voice. A woman it looks like, judging by her aura an electrical manipulator. I wouldn't underestimate them.

"Feh, I dealt with that living magnet back in Denver easily enough. Whats a living lightning rod to me?" Ash replied haughtily.

She can't hurt you Ash, but she can hurt Slag. But wait to attack. Lets see what they do first, then we'll make our move.

"Did I ever tell you I sooooooo love it when you've got a plan?"


From the outside, both Chimera and Ionia could see Ash's trademark blackness envelop the interior, effectively blinding them to whatever she and the other members of The Crew were doing. Nothing else happened for several minutes.

[funwithfire]

Watching from his position atop the car, Chimera saw the darkness spread again filling his view inside.

"So, that's how you wanna do this!?"

He jumped down beside the car and pried off one of the hubcaps and, like a discuss, hurled it toward the last spot he remembered seeing Ash. Almost immediately after he covered his better with his cloak and began too follow the path his projectile took, watching for any drastic shift in the matter.

[Render of Veils]

The hubcap's speed shattered the glass of the bank doors, causing the black mist inside to spill out like fog. The projectile itself was quickly enveloped into the cloud, but nothing else was heard or seen.

Suddenly, without warning, a massive silvery fist shot up through the ground directly beneath Chimera! Even with Ionia's protective barrier in place, the force of such an unexpected blow would be enough to send the vigilante flying a dozen yards!

[funwithfire]

Catching a shine at the bottom of his view he jumped, not to try and dodge but merely to try and reduce the damage from impact, as that was all he could think to do.

"Damn, you're a sneaky one." Was the thought that went threw his mind, as he was sent flying back past the border the cars had made and into a building. Stopping himself on the wall he dug in his claws and tried to get a good look around to find the one who attacked

[Render of Veils]

He didn't need to look long. Black fog issued from the hole where Chimera had originally been standing, as well as from the bank. And out of it emerged Slag, his liquid metal form oozing over the edges of the opening while the black mist that was Ash swept around him, filling a good deal of the ground in the street with inky shadow. Ash herself partially emerged from the dark cloud, her red eyes looking over the two heroes.

If they were communicating, it wasn't apparent, but they did not stand around for much longer. With a burst of speed Slag tore through the wreckage of vehicles like a tidal wave, heading directly for Chimera's position! Before Ionia could try to stop him, Ash's black cloud rose up around herm cutting of a great deal of light.

"Your mine sunshine," she taunted. Already the heroine could feel the air around her begin to spin like a tornado, which began to pick up speed quickly!

[Piccylo]

Ionia had been assessing the situation and her opponents, but it was obvious that she didn't have the luxury to examine passively any longer. But, being a daughter of an evil genius gave her at least the ability to think clearly even while her light was being blocked out by an almost insubstantial enemy, one that can cut off her own air supply at almost any moment.

The man appears to be made of molten metal... Almost certainly a conductor, and will likely always be grounded. But this woman appears to be made of ash... An insulator, non-conductive.

I can use both to my advantage if need be.

Ionia knelt low and put a cloth over her mouth, a precaution that was more for appearances than survival, and began to ionize the molecules, smaller than can be seen, that floated even through the ash. Some were negatively charged, some were positively charged... and soon nature's electric engine, with the power supply coming from Ionia herself, was forming, and Ionia would be safely in the middle pocket.

If she wants a tornado, I'll help her make a real one!

She smirked behind her cloth and shouted loud enough to be heard over the spinning ash and wind, "I haven't been called 'sunshine' in a long while, and I'm not sure if I've ever been called that in English before."

[funwithfire]

Chimera jumped, to try and dodge both Slag and the wreckage he was knocking up, while doing another quick scan of the area. While in the air he saw a fire hydrant across the street, about half a block down.

"Can't really make things much worse, can it?" he said trying to keep his thoughts to himself.

In attempt to keep some distance between his foe and himself he made a break for his target as soon as he hit land.

[Render of Veils]

Slag, seeing the direction Chimera was headed, zipped along after him at incredible speed. Forming two arms, he stretched them out and with mace-like ends he threw one to smash the ground in front of his target!


"Then how about pushing daisies under the sun!" Ash retorted to Ionia. Even as the black funnel accelerated, black blades shot out towards the heroine, ready to tear her apart like fruit in a blender!



A block away, Anthony Ferrari watched the battle commence with a sense of euphoric excitement. This is my chance, he thought. Beating up random gangsters isn't heroic. The young man who hoped to become a hero as 'Kraken' observed the goings on, trying to look for an opening.

But how?

On the one hand, watching Slag's silvery molten burn and metal whatever it came into contact with caused his stomach to churn, and Anthony had to turn away to prevent himself from shuddering. However, what could he do against Ash? Maybe...

Putting up his hood and skimask, he began to approach the battle...

[funwithfire]

Sliding to a near halt he quickly changed his direction and tried to dash around hoping that the other wouldn't hit him.

"Crap, crap, crap."

Just inches from the end of his obstacle he attempted another leap toward his objective.

[Piccylo]

Ionia wasn't foolish enough to not have thick air and wind of her own creation between her and the spinning ash. A sudden electrical charge ensured that it would be thicker still and block the ash from slicing her to bits.

"Well, if a little merry-go-round doesn't make das Fräulein queasy, I'll just put de breaks on it."

Another electrical charge repolarized the air at one point in the black tornado, causing thick air to "magnetize" and accumulate quickly and creating a large wall right in the middle of the wind path, meant for Ash's momentum to slam right into it.

Ionia wasn't so foolish as to think that it'd harm Ash; the purpose was to confuse the girl so that Ionia could separate herself from Ash and get to the next step in her plan.

[Render of Veils]

"A wall?! Your attempt to escape, and this is the best you can do?!" Ash said. Even as Ionia created the air-construct the misty villainess shifted her mass around it, bypassing the barrier altogther without interrupting her flow of inertia.

"So now you got a fan. Well, blow on this!"

Suddenly the entire funnel stopped its movement and suddenly compressed, ready to crush Ionia in a terrific implosion of force!


Slag sneered as Chimera avoided his ploy, bring about his other arm into his path. But instead of trying to smash the vigilante with another bludgeon, the serpentine appendage threw out dozens of tendrils, solidifying them into an immense net to entangle Chimera!


"Do you think they can beat them?"

"No."

Two figures atop a nearby building overlooking the scene watched, hidden in the shadow of a nearby building. One was masked and crouched over the edge, the other merely hovering in mid-air with a cape billowing behind her.

"The best these two can hope for is to hold their own," said the crouching man. "And it'll be over once the rest are done."

"Who else is around?" said the levitating heroine, looking away.

"There's two rookies that might interve: Anthony Ferrari, teenager whose been beating up drug gangs so far. And Plastique is in the neighborhood as well. They might turn the tide for a while. But these kids have nothing on The Crew."

"Don't forget that Ionia is down there," the woman commented. "She is anything but a rookie Silverfish."

"Indeed, but she has no experience in the new breed of supercriminal. Lets just wait and see, and hope Zenith and Shockwave don't have to intervene." The hovering heroine sighed, and alighted on the roof. The crouched figure she had called 'Silverfish' looked up at her.

"Don't worry Fury. No matter what, The Crew will be stopped, here and now."

She didn't respond.

[Piccylo]

Ionia frowned. "You should work on your jokes, Fräulein."

The fact that the wall didn't even phase Ash's momentum didn't worry Ionia terribly. It's not like there's only one way to use ionization to your advantage. But Ionia was annoyed, and was worried about Chimera. If she let Ash distract her too long, she might not be in time to help him if he's in danger.

Maybe a bigger, more roundabout tactic would work a little better.

She put a huge discharge of electricity in the air on the upper-half of where Ash was quickly closing in to crush her. The ionized air became very thick, the molecules of air squishing pieces of ash and blocking other molecular passages where the oxides, carbonates, and bicarbonates might attempt to escape. The huge charge should have ionized some of Ash's molecules as well, theoretically putting this upper "hemisphere of smog" mostly, if not completely, under her control.

Having no time to find out whether or not she succeeded in freezing part of Ash, she hopped and put a strong, single charge under her feet to have the air propel her upwards, pushing the dome of smog as well, to escape the lower-half of Ash's crushing force. With her concentration so divided, some of the electricity she put under her feet grounded accidentally, which jolted her, but she had no time to let it bother her. She pushed forward, bracing herself for impact if she didn't succeed.