Humming a jaunty tune, the doors to the bank opened for him. The few people inside took one look at his ski mask and bolted, whipping out phones and calling the cops.
He didn’t care. Walking up to the teller, he placed a note, with a password and two account numbers on it, in front of the window. “Please,” his lips curl into a smirk. “Transfer a hundred and fifty million from this account,” he tapped the top one. “To this.” He tapped the other. “It will ask for an emergency confirmation password, enter the one on the note and yes, I will know if you purposely mess it up. If you refuse, then I would have to do it myself and I believe we would both prefer to leave the place undamaged. Repeat business and all that.”
Shaking the teller begins the transfer process, eyeing me nervously. After all, he was new on the scene. The poor girl doesn’t know if he had powers or not. I do, of course, and he had practiced in secret for over a year to get a grasp of what he was capable of.
The doors are kicked open and three cops barge in, pistols raised. “FREEZE!” one of the yells. glancing back at them he just sighs, raises his hand, and waves. their guns, gear, and clothes are ripped from them and thrown against a wall in a mess. He left them their underwear, so at least they would have some decency. the teller ‘eeped’ and typed faster.
“You three,” he addressed the now very underdressed cops. “go into the back room so you don't embarrass yourselves, I'm sure the teller will be happy to grab your clothes for you after I leave.” He felt his phone vibrate twice in quick succession, the signal from his friend that the funds had been transferred thrice, and the accounts connected to the theft erased.
The door to the bank's back room opens and the cops make their way into it. He gives a nod of thanks to the teller and starts to hum his tune again as he walks out the front door.
five cop cars, and seven police officers behind them, their guns pointed at the entrance of the bank and now me. He just sighed. At least his first robbery will get some attention. “Listen,” He addressed the cops and the crowd that he could see. “I could take those guns, and your cars, and use them against you. I would prefer not too. so i’m ju-”
“Hold it THIEF!”
He looked up at the voice, not exactly surprised that a hero had shown up. After all, with all the big names currently distracted by a major threat, this was the chance for his newer and/or street-level counterparts to start earning fame.
The hero in question was clearly female, and judging by the baggy homemade costume, she was in the same boat as him. New. She appeared to be half-hawk, if the taloned feet and feathers had anything to say. As she landed though, her body shifted, becoming bulkier, grey skinned, and judging by the new horn sprouting in the middle of her face, half-rhino. She now stood a good few feet above him and he couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated.
A multi-shifter… well someones going to be recruited. Shifter powers were not rare, but multi-shifters had an edge in versatility over them.
“Yeah, no.” He yanked his hand back, and the cop car behind the yet named heroine was pulled into the back of her legs. He lifted my hand slightly before the impact and caught her in the knees. She crumpled and caught the fall, but he had already turned and ran towards the nearest alley.
“COWARD!” She screamed but he paid it no mind. He saw his next diversion tactic a little deep into the alley, but just close enough that he would have time. He waved his hand in a half-moon from front to back, and the dumpster flew up and over his head… towards the stupefied cops.
He heard her swear as he continued my mad sprint. It sounded like she had caught it. Good. he had made sure that it would have landed on an unoccupied cop car if she didn’t stop it… which she wouldn’t have known in the heat of the moment.
Taking several turns, removing the mask and gloves, he found himself strolling leisurely through one of the city's parks, backtracking towards a shopping mall where he tried out a spattering of cologne samples. From there, he made his way towards the apartment. The roundabout trip took a few hours.
“Hey Dori,” he greeted the lazy black cat in the entranceway. Whistling the tune of a pop song stuck in my head while in the elevator, he took out his phone to check the news.
Star Major, Everdoom, and Amethyst Heart Halt Ocean Wraiths Attack on Ferraday!
Billionaire Gabe Westokeen Loses 150 Mil in Daring Robbery at Ferraday City Bank!
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Street Level Heroes Receive Cheers! New Rising Stars?!
While it had been luck that he had stumbled upon the info that Ocean Wraith would be attacking today, it appears he wasn’t the only one who took advantage of the overpowered assholes at the top being distracted. It did, however, seem as if he had been the most successful.
His phone buzzed, the pop-up notifying him that a deposit of five hundred thousand had been made to his account. Not a bad haul for his first job.
Getting off on the fifth floor, he went to his apartment at the end of the hall. He made sure to lock up before removing the ski mask and gloves from under his jacket and waistband. Flopping onto the couch, his smart tv automatically flicked on to the news. A laughing smiley face made of static in the top right corner.
He would have commented, but was distracted by the heroine being interviewed. The shifter looked slightly uncomfortable but still held her head high, which wasn’t all that high now that she was fully human by the looks of it.
“The as yet named or identified thief,” she was saying. “Had a form of telekinesis, triggered by the movement of his hands.” Observant, although it is kinda obvious. On the right side of the screen, the news channel's Bitter feed was blowing up, someone had made a connection between his powers and a spell from a classic table-top game. Apparently it was quite catchy.
The newscaster was obviously watching the feed and told the reporter, judging by the frantic tapping of the ear piece. “The individual, this villainous Mage Hand, got away, but did so by putting the lives of our respectable men in blue in danger. They are safe thanks to you, Miss-?”
The mic shifted in front of the heroine, she took a deep breath, puffed up with pride, “Anthra,” she spoke clearly, as if she rehearsed it, who am I kidding of course she did. “I am Anthra, and this Mage Hand will not get away next time.”
He snorted as the tv paused, “Gonna have to work on that delivery Miss. Anthra, and Codex, I see you in the corner.” The nearly translucent smiley face grew to be a dark green and covered most of the screen.
[“This Anthra shall be entertaining for us,”] a monotonous robotic voice came from the TV's speakers. [“Also, our client is extremely pleased and has left a stellar review on the V-Web. That, along with how public this job became, has increased the-”] he stopped and flashed blue. [“We have three new inquiries about our services.”]
“Fuck yeah,” he got up and went to the fridge to grab a celebratory beer. “Any info on the clients and what do they want stolen?”
[“Two of them are anonymous, the last is from Division.”]
“That old timer is still active?”
[“...” ] Codex paused, clearly doing, or rather hacking, something. [“It took some digging, but there is an indicator that he has been avoiding the public eye due to valid threats to his life. Heroic threats. There is a brief clip of Star Major ripping the heads from his clones. While Division can be violent, he has never killed or committed acts that would warrant such hostility. I am filing this under the ‘Proof Star Major is a Greedy Asshole’ folder.”]
“Damn,” he sighed, popped the cap off my beer and took a swig. “Good reason to lay low then, what’s the job?”
[“The Prototype Oblivion Mask.”]
“The- holy shit, the mask that would supposedly allow someone to breathe in space? That’s supposed to be revealed next week, the security is going to be a bitch-and-a-half.”
[“He is offering a partially renovated lair as payment.”]
“... Clarify, one that we have, or one that he has?”
[“Latter.”]
“Find out who’s in charge of security, who’s in charge of the project, and where the money’s coming from to build this thing. Also, find out who's at the bottom of the food chain and where they hang out. I’ll snoop around to see if I can’t pick up any juicy rumors. Send a message to Division accepting the job. “
["Message sent five minutes ago."]
“You’re an asshole and I love you, you robotic bastard.”