Midnight Banking (IC)

[Quinn]

December 22, 2010.

12:00 PM; Midnight.

Weather: Overcast, with scattered showers.

The tellers were just seeing the last of the late-night customers out at Gold Lion Banking and Trust...the days leading up to Christmas always ended up with tons and tons of buisness, people spending money, buisnesses depositing money, money, money, money all flowing through their coffers. GLBT was nearly full to bursting with hard currency right now...and some Grinch knew it.

Without warning, a massive van came bursting through the glass-front doors, the side doors sliding open and disgorging a truly prodigious amount of thuggish types, guys in caps and white sleeveless shirts, carrying many different sharp, pointy, blunt, or bullet-filled instruments. They flooded to the counters, roaring at the employees to get down. The employees, used to this kind of treatment (Freedom City, remember?), nosedived for the floor, one particularly courageous teller surreptitiously poking the silent alarm as she hit the ground.

One crook panicked as he heard sirens in the distance, reflexively clutching his gun. Bullets spat from his Uzi, neatly decapitating a statue in the front foyer before a ham-like fist closed over his.

"Youse should calm down. Youse could hurt somebody wit dat."

The fist squeezed, and the thug's face went white from the pain. He nodded, and the fist unclenched. A massive figure in an oversized trenchcoat and fedora marched forward, pointing to the various boxes and crates around the back.

"No time for da safe, just grab what youse can and haul it to the van. Get movin', ya lugs!"

A smile under the hat as the thugs started running around, ferrying boxes and bags of money, hard currency to the van.

"Hurr hurr hurr...now this is what I call a Merry Christmas, boys!"

[Dream]

Matthew Rose was burning the night oil. It was almost Christmas. On top of his workload being kind of light these days and his kids being taken care of -- he got Faith two tickets to see that thing she likes, a group called Diamonds, and he got Joshua a piece of history, a large piece of broken building signed by the Freedom League -- there was very little else to do before the big holiday not tree days away. Wait for Santa, maybe. But justice did not wait for the jolly old elf. Shadow Man was there to protect the good girls and boys and put the naughty ones in their place! And boy did he run into some naughty ones tonight. Bank robbers! There was a large hole where the door used to be. And there was a van in the hole. "Time to save the economy. One bank at a time." Shadow Man flew down into the van and punched the driver when he was unaware. After the driver was out, Shadow Man flipped the van over and knelt behind it, waiting for the rest of the bank robbers to come out and find him.

[Aoiroo]

Southside wasn't her usual scene, but apparently that's where the busts were and she couldn't say business wasn't booming even with the Christmas season. Well at least she had brought some nice bows to stick to the baddies for when the cops came around. She was actually thinking of turning in for the night after that since tomorrow signified the start of her uninterupted family time for the holiday season but apparently bank robbers had no respect for her sleep schedule.

When she was on the scene she already had a good view of the car and the van. She got an even better view when it flipped back a few feet.

Guess I'm not running solo for this job.

Backing away and up against the wall she snuck closer to the scene to assess whether or not intervention would be nessicary.

[Quinn]

The driver's head snapped back and he tumbled outwards as the van flipped on it's side with an almighty crash, causing the majority of the crooks to spin and point their guns at it with a truly prodigious amounts of "ka-click"s. Bags of legal tender lay on their sides as the gangsters slowly looked about, gun barrels following their eyes. The leader, walking up with footsteps that shook the floor tiles, and looked at his men. The oversized criminal just shook his head, chuckling in a low bass rumble, before reaching down and, with one hand, easily hefted the van overhead and looked down with beady eyes at the figure who had been huddling behind it with a big-ol' grin under that hat.

"Hey boys, check dis out! Sandy Claus's sent us a hero for Christmas! You gotta name, shorty?"

[Dream]

"My name is Shadow Man," he said with gusto. Shadow Man looked at the armed men and their leader. They couldn't see it but there was scorn under his mask. He crossed his arms across his chest, "Gentlemen, it's almost Christmas. You don't want to spend the holidays without your family do you? This is surely a way to spend a while in a prison cell. Even if you get away with the money, which you won't, how will you explain your ill-gotten gains to everyone you meet? Do you think they will respect you when you tell them you've robbed a bank? I think not! That's not all you have to think about. Think about how the money you steal will take away not from just someone's Christmas, but other things. People will not be able to buy medicine and pay hospital bills. And their lives will be on your hands, just because you wanted spending money. Gentlemen, how can you even think of committing such an act?"

[Quinn]

The thugs behind the boss faltered, lowering their guns and looking at each other with the bare bones of shame. Those looks deepened as Shadowman mentioned hospital bills, and two of the thugs exchanged a glance as they dropped the Uzi's to the ground with a clatter. The fact that this hero had upended their van right in front of them, followed by a harangue even with the boss standing over him, didn't help much.

"The cape's right...and screw this, I didn't sign up to fight a hero!"

"Man, what are we doin'! Imagine what my mudder would say if she saw me here."

"Yeah, robbin' a bank on Christmas, that ain't right. I'm outta here!"

And the first thug sprinted for the exit, followed by a long line of them as they chucked their guns aside and fled for the door. The boss, face almost livid with rage, turned away from the hero and roared invectives.

"Ya good-for-nuttin' bums! Rats! Get dose lazy hides back here! You gonna give up on a huge score 'cause of some big-mouth cape?!"

The oversized boss almost started after them, but seemed to think better of it before rounding on the hero. A meaty fist clenched and unclenched in front of him as his face turned positively mean, his eyes gleaming with malice. The crook stepped back as he spoke, reaching up and tossing the coat aside. He wore a pair of suspenders and a ratty pair of stretched blue jeans, along with a dirty white undershirt...but what drew the eye was that one hand was holding...a huge iron ball and chain!

"Youse got a big mouth, hero. Youse just made me miss out on a big score, and dat means youse gotta pay. Y'know what dat means, cape?"

[Dream]

Shadow Man was happy to see the thugs were reasonable and with logic. "Thank you. If you'll just stay here, and not run off." Before he could finish his sentence, they ran off. He sighed and would have went after the misguided thugs and finished his instructions, but the boss, it seemed, did not like the situation at hand. Shadow Man had to deal with the more dangerous situation at hand now. He would find the others later. "It means," Shadow Man said seriously, "that your mouth is writing checks that you cannot possibly pay! I owe you nothing but swift justice!"

[Aoiroo]

As a shadow on the wall, Sil didn't find much need to expose herself. Examining from afar she had to stop herself from sighing audibly,

Jesus, what a cheeseball.

The guy in front of her was in all black, but he definitely wasn't any of the black cladded heroes she knew,

Not Midnight, he doesn't talk that much, and Razorwing would of taken that robber out by now. Probably a newer guy, looks pretty durable if what he did to that van is any indication.

Shrugging her shoulders she onto a more outwardly put wall and slipped behind the counter. If anything else, she could probably get all this place evacuated in the time those two finished their banter.

[Quinn]

The ball dropped from his hand to crack on the cement, the chain clanking in the oversized thug's hand as he stepped back, looking surprisingly cheerful as he shrugged out of his coat.

"Youse the one writing fat checks, wiseguy. But I tells you what. I'm a nice guy, sos I'll let youse get the first punch in. That's fair, right?"

And he spread his arms wide, leaving himself wide open for the blow.

"Well, go ahead, copper. Make a move!"

[Dream]

Shadow Man lunged at the villainous wisecracker, "The bank of Justice will cover my claims. As for yours, what do you have? Insufficient funds!" The grab was a little bit off and he slipped. Catching his balance, he floated a bit before avoiding making himself look foolish.He gave the villain a stealy-eyed glare and crossed his arms, silently waiting, nay daring, the villain to do something in return.

[Aoiroo]

Stalking down behind the counter, Sil had managed to redirect most of the staff to the backdoor though not before hearing the back and forth quipping between the two fighting up front.

Ugh, that last one was painful.

Making a face behind her expressionless mask she followed the escaping hostages in silence to insure their safety.

[Quinn]

The big man laughed as the hero tried to seize him with surprising strength, but simply flexed his muscles and broke the grip, letting the hero slip and float momentarily.

"Aww, dat's it? Tell youse what, let me shows ya how to throws a punch!"

And with a wide grin, the huge thug bore down on Shadow Man like a freight train, fist reared back and swinging forth. The sheer weight of the swing caused the air to pop as it flew by the slippery hero, connecting with a desk and crushing it like so many twigs!

[Dream]

Shadow Man did not flinch as the large man brought his fist down, missing him and exploding the table. "Villain, you have made a mistake. I am afraid you will have to get your eyes checked where ever they lock you up," Shadow Man said throwing a right cross hitting the villain square in the jaw. "You have robbed another desk jockey of employment, sir. You will pay that man's salary from your cell!"

[Aoiroo]

Closing the door as she crept back inside she let out a sigh,

Alright, everyone's out so that just leaves...

She nearly jumped at the sound of a crushing desk. Sneaking over she took a few steps forward and saw those two were still going at it. Though for the life of her she couldn't understand what the heck the dude in black was talking about.

[Quinn]

"Youse keep talkin', 'hero'! Only gonna make it more satisfyin' when I knock all ya teeth down youse troat!"

Shadow Man's punch struck the villain's jaw, but it was immovable as granite. With a wide grin, exposing nasty yellowed teeth, the villain took yet another mighty swipe with his ham-sized fist. However, the villain's accuracy remained poor, and another innocent desk lay broken upon the field of battle.