Across the street from the bank was a rented apartment, and one, the young supervillain Nachtkrapp sat by the window, watching the people come and go, while the crew that hired her argued over some more inane crap. Nachtkrapp, real name Alison Macleod, looked over to the three other super-criminals. “Hey, dipshits, if we’re going to knock this place over, we should do it now. Ain’t gonna be long before the pickup, and I don’t really feel like chasing an armored car.”
Two of the other villains had been arguing, some dime-store heat blasters, Alison didn’t even know their names. Super or otherwise. Their teleporter had been trying to calm things down, so she was happy for her intervention. One of the heat blasters moved towards Nachtkrapp aggressively, only to get his head smashed against the wall, in his dazed state she held him against it. “You actually trying to step to me? You’re lucky you put together this job, or I’d leave you here for even thinking it.”
“I’m leading the attack right? You three better get in, this town’s crawling with heroes, so fucking up your first big job will suck for you.” Nachtkrapp left the apartment through the door, walking down the stairs, suiting up as she did. Well, suiting up was generous for what she currently did. Her all black outfit was already on, hell she even broke out her lucky leather jacket, so all she had to do was pull up her face covering and throw on her mirrored goggles.
People took a second to realize who they were looking at, she wasn’t exactly an A-lister, but at least known. Plus when energy starts to build around someone’s hands, creating something that looks like black fire, as they walk out into the street toward a bank… Well, one could pretty easily infer they were looking at super-villain.
Raising her hand, Nachtkrapp released a blast of the energy, it rippled over the glass of the bank’s large front window, reducing it to sparkling dust. She stepped over the ledge, looking at the patrons and employees. “Alright, fuckers,” She saw the three powered goons appear behind the counter. “You all know what this is, and my friends here, generous use of that term, are going to your vault..” She tossed a few bags onto the counter. “Put as much from the safety deposit boxes in these as you can.”
The bank teller nearest her grabbed the bags and scurried off, and then, Nachtkrapp waited, leaning against the counter. The real reason she was hired for the job. The heroes.
“You know,” She heard the voice before she saw the hero, the figure landing outside the same window she came in through, the battle-form of the mechanical hero GearGrind cutting a somewhat intimidating silhouette. “Takes a real arrogant bitch to walk to her target, when she can fly.”
“What can I say,” Nachtkrapp stood. “I'm an addict and my drug is attention.”
Two wing-like constructs appeared from the villain’s back, and she launches herself at the superhero, coating her arms in energy, knocking GearGrind back into the street, though only managing to dent the battle-form’s armour a little bit. She couldn’t get a good bead on them, but Nachtkrapp saw two figures moving in her old hideout across the way. “So, robo-cop, who’s the backup? They’re shit at hiding.”
“As if I’d tell you.”
“Just wanted to know if I should keep going easy or not.”
GearGrind made a ‘tsk’ noise before a launcher lifted from her shoulder, and fired a small rocket that burst apart into a wide net. Nachtkrapp let out a laugh, tossing two energy blasts at it, tearing it apart “Come on, I know I ain’t a local, but the least you could is show a little respect, I’m a terror all down the coast.”
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“Small time is small time.” GearGrind lunged, swinging a heavy titanium fist down at the villain, who just barely dodged the strike, which instead struck cement, and took to the air above the machine hero.
“Is your plan to just hurt my feeli-Agh!” Three high velocity shots of a congealed liquid collided into Nachtkrapp’s back, knocking her flying form forward making her smash into the bank building. Peeling herself off the brick, she turned and faced the attacker, a handsome man with a blood-like liquid floated around him. “Wait? Sanguine? Oh, that's right, you did go clean…”
The man just chuckled before unleashing another pelting of the blood-like substance, Nachtkrapp dodging the incoming assault, though it was clear there wasn’t enough strength behind them to do more than bruise her up. “Liked you better when you were still doing the blood mage shtick,” She charged up a burst of energy, and unleashed it into him “You had style then…”
Rockets shot up from the ground, from GearGrind, narrowly dodged by the psychic flyer to hit the nearby buildings, the rockets popping into masses of restricting pink goo. Nachtkrapp dropped down to slam an energy-coated fist against the mechanized hero once more.
That’s when it happened… The rumbling came from deep within the bank, the few remaining tellers and customers finally running away, and the gathered Supers froze. Nachtkrapp flew in as the smoke bellowed, one of the heat users lay on the ground, out cold. She hoped. While the girl, the teleporter, was laying against the wall, wide-eyed and babbling.
“What the hell happened?” Nachtkrapp said, kneeling beside her. One of the girl's arms was burnt, but nothing too severe. Maybe a little scarring at worst. The girl took a second to realize she was being spoken to.
“M-Ma-Maxie and Marco st-started to fight again, Maxie wanted to leave, d-ditch after grabbing some weird box…Marco and him fought, Marco lost…I-I-I tried stopping him, but…” She stared at her arm, as if remembering it was injured.
“Hey! Stay with me!”
“He...He tossed some kind of bomb into the vault… And r-ran when I wouldn’t take him to the rendezvous…” The girl passed out, and Nachtkrapp roared out her frustrations.
“A fucking screwjob!” She yelled as the flames flickered within the vault. “I’ll find that little bastard and-!”
Nachtkrapp hadn’t heard the hero land behind her, but she certainly felt the arms go around her mid-section. Barely had time to look down and see the bug-eyed mask of this one, new to her, before the electric shock ran through her and the world went dark.
Alison Macleod, awoke in a medical cell, with a power suppression collar around her neck, she didn’t open her eyes but she knew the feeling… That’s when she heard two people moving around, one speaking. “You overdid it.”
Shuffling a bit, then the first voice, GearGrind’s voice, speaks again. “She’s been out for two days. Thankfully, that Anya girl was able to tell us what happened, so Alison is still a viable candidate.”
More shuffling and something tapping on GearGrind’s chassis. “Yes, I’m aware, I was actually in the fight. Unlike someone.”
The other figure stepped back from the hero, was it the bug-eyed mask one? Must be. “Oh, I agree, hell she would have beat you into next week,” Alison struggled not to grin, “She’s a far more experienced combatant, which means you should feel some sympathy for her. She’s been in the game about 5 years, mostly lesser crimes, but still… Being a super-criminal since she was 14…”
GearGrind sighed, there was a reverberated edge to it. A stark reminder to Alison that the woman was a cyborg, not someone that jumped into different suits. She heard the other start heading for the door, a pause, then GearGrind again. “Yeah, I’m putting forth the case tonight. She hasn’t broken any limits, plus I have enough of a reputation so I can throw my weight around a bit. I’ll see ya later.”
The other heads out, GearGrind moves, presumably to look at the medical information screens. “Looks good, she’s at least reacting to outside stimuli… Should already have come to by the look of things, given meta-human physiology, maybe a minor reaction to the collar.”
The cyborg started to leave, and despite her footsteps having an obvious metallic clang, Alison couldn’t help but notice just how weirdly quiet and light GearGrind moved.
Once she was sure the hero was gone, she opened her eyes and sat up. Doctors will probably be in to check on her soon, she could attempt an escape then but… This wasn’t like her stint in juvie a few years back, she’s in the middle of a city not farmland, getting away without powers isn’t just a case of walking far enough into a forest to get out of suppressor transmission range.
Yep, she was most definitely up shit creek without a paddle… Wait… What case was that hero talking about?