Hot Goods (IC)

[Raveled]

GM

November 12th

1:23 AM

Parkside

Freedom City slept fitfully. Lights pushed back the blanket of night and here, in the heart of the city, traffic noise and emergency vehicles kept it from ever being exactly silent. For the two figures ghosting around the apartment, though, it was all to the good. Any long-time city-dweller developed a certain deafness to the everyday -- or everynight -- sounds. That created a safe zone for the thieves to operate in, and they plied their tradecraft well.

But not well enough. In a large, well-appointed bedroom, Amir al-Misri's eyes opened. The candles placed at strategic points around the room has mostly burned down and guttered out, leaving him in darkness leavened only by the glow of streetlights outside. The shapely brunette next to him felt the change in his breathing pattern in her sleep and pressed up closer to him. For just a moment everything was perfect and Asmir wondered what had woken him. Then he heard an unoiled hinge out in the apartment's living area squeal, and all the hints his unconscious mind had picked up on clicked together and the knowledge appeared in the forefront of his brain -- someone else was in the apartment!

[TheAbsurdist]

Amir was never someone who woke slowly. So that creeping sensation that someone else in the apartment made his eyes snap open. Shifting a little in bed, he waited, almost expecting a cat to leap out of the shadows, but that wasn't what he felt. His eyes narrowed, and he slide out the bed, bare feet to the floor. Clenching his hands, he padded towards the door to the room, and very carefully turned the doorknob, and opened it. This was a new experience, he did not find it novel or entertaining. Going from dead sleep to adrenaline pounding through his blood and his head, he glanced back to the sleeping form in the bed. He'd make it up to her later.

Pushing open the door he stepped out into the hallway outside of it.

[Raveled]

GM

Aside from the bedroom and the master bath, the apartment was one huge open space. When Amir opened the door, he could clearly see two people crowded around a safe concealed behind a folding wall panel. The one standing was a small-boned Asian woman wearing a gray jumpsuit with purple highlights on the arms. She glanced over at Amir and her eyes widened; she reached down and tapped the other burglar on the head, then stepped clear. The other burglar was a man nearly as tall as Asad; he was dressed in a bodyglove so deeply purple it was almost black, with an unruly mane of blonde hair spilling over his shoulders. He grinned and snatched a glowing green rod from his belt; with a quick snap of his wrist it extended to nearly his own height. He grinned easily, holding the staff between him and Asad. "Well well. What do we have here, Get-Away?"

The woman eyed the playboy hero carefully. "Got me, Trap Door. I thought this woman lived alone."

[Raveled]

GM

As Asad advanced, Get-Away took a step towards the balcony doors -- then disappeared, becoming a gray streak as she moved too fast to follow. She literally ran down the side of the building to a white, unmarked panel van sitting in the apartment building's alley. She halted inside and sat down next to a huge man with steel skin. "You're up, Smash," she said, touching his shoulder. "Trap Door's in trouble and needs back-up."

Smash nodded and opened the van's sliding door, jumping down to the street and zooming off in another blur of super-human speed. He retraced Get-Away's route almost exactly, except his four-hundred pound footsteps broke windows and bent structural members out of true. Appearing suddenly in the apartment, he slammed into Asad, sending the superhero flying back. Slowing back down to mortal speeds, he blinked and took a good look at the hero. "Uh. Trap Door?" Smash raised a hand to his head and stretched at his bald, metal pate. "Why is this guy in his underwear?"

[TheAbsurdist]

Asad didn't get a chance to respond, his mind processing the people there. The thrumming in his ears did not help him the slightest, but he remembered, a split second before stars exploded, and he was careening into furniture and against the wall. It hurt. Finding limits for his abilities was not something he wanted right now. Dazed from the blow, he sagged against the wall he was currently occupying an indentation in. Still breathing, still conscious just rattled from what felt like a southbound train crashing into him.

[Raveled]

GM

Trap Door moved forward with an odd sort of sideways shuffle, spinning the glowing kinetistaff easily. Once in range, he jabbed at Asad's face with the butt of the staff; the hero had enough presence of mind to move his head in time, though, and the staff simply shattered some floortiles. He spat and backed off, making room for Smash. "Step on 'im, Smash," he instructed his steel-skinned ally; and the metallic thief stepped up, eagerly stomping on Asad's stomach. Or where it wood be, if the absorbing hero hadn't rolled at the last moment. Now the two thieves retreated, watching warily as the hero climbed to his feet.

[TheAbsurdist]

He moved in a surprising fluid motion, on his feet, and holding up his hands like a boxer. Looking astoundingly uninjured for how hard he was it. "Step on me? When did you gents decide to be this brutal? Your reps aren't for that. Fine. Then gentlemen, it is, as they say, on." When in doubt, hit the biggest guy there. And hit him hard. A step forward, and a lunging punch. He had been taking boxing lessons recently, realizing he had never really learned how to fight before, and that had to change, drastically if he expected to hang with some of the things out there. And, unsurprisingly, Asad was a fan of Mohammed Ali. It wasn't a haymaker, but he was leaving himself wide open to make sure he had a better swing at him. The force of the blow was a palpable thing, and it was the first time he had truly laid into someone with everything he had.

[Raveled]

Asad's fist buried itself in Smash's solar plexus and drove the huge man back, wheezing. Trap Door scowled and slammed his kenitistaff into the side of Asad's head. The hero stumbled to the side and fell through the door into the bedroom -- fell literally, as he suddenly found himself passing through a freezing cold space that stole the breath from his lungs. Trap Door snapped his fingers and the portal closed behind the hero, nodded smartly, and went back to his theft.

For his part, Asad found himself suddenly falling out of a door onto a wooden platform. He certainly wasn't in the same apartment as before; this one was done in shades of white and cream, with the platform he was on in front of a... elevator door? The elevator shaft was in the very center of the room, and the platform turned out to be a landing on a spiral staircase that wound around it and lead upwards. The four walls were all glass and it seemed that Asad hadn't moved very far, but --

His thoughts were interrupted when the staircase vibrated with heavy steps and he heard an angry voice speak to him. "Whoever you are, stay on the ground while I call the police." Asad turned his head to see Ironclad, in full armor, standing on the steps -- aiming her wrist blasters at him.

[TheAbsurdist]

That was a shocking experience, he had no frame of reference. Tonight, Amir was planning on calling it a wash, and move on from there. He hit the floor with a smack of his almost naked body, and if he wasn't so, so... so peeved then he might be embarrassed. Only dimly aware of the threat as he pushed himself to his feet, he shook his head a little and looked towards the voice, looking a little disorientated. "My apologies, I, uh..." Well this didn't look familiar at all, this was a completely different building. "Crap. I understand your stance, however, I need to get back to where I was before, so if you will excuse me, I will make my leave." And now was the time where his history of being labelled shameless by Arabic news outlets, Forbes, and various tabloids was helping him. Otherwise he might be a bit embarrassed that all he had on were those boxers, well that and smears of dust from drywall.

[Raveled]

Ironclad blinked as she took in the man sitting on her staircase, and after a moment her helmet folded back so she could get a better look. Underneath, her hair was rather mussed and she blinked at him blearily. "Wait a second. You're... Asad, right? Amir al-Misri? Um... What are you doing in your underwear?" Ironclad looked away, blushing. He really was a good-looking man, and she wasn't used to have single, unattached, attractive men in her apartment, especially not their underwear. "Wait, what exactly is going on here?"

[TheAbsurdist]

Seeing the mask move away from her face, he couldn't help but offer her a charming smile. It was second nature, and he wasn't trying when it happened. "Larceny Inc. decided where I was at was a good location to knock off. I had words to say to the contrary," he shivered a little with the power still thrumming through him, Smash hit hard, "And I got sent... here... So, I need to go-" Stopping himself as he realized he'd be a little disorientated. "Hm. Where am I in relation to Parkside?" His attitude wasn't going to help her own blushing, as he seemed, at least, immune to whatever shame would be appropriate in this situation. The kind of attitude necessary to get into a form fitting superhero costume.

[Raveled]

"Oh. Okay." Ironclad's helmet sealed up, partly to prevent her showing further embarrassment, and jumped down to the floor, jets flaring at the last moment so she didn't fall through the floorboards. Every wall in the apartment seemed to be made of glass cubes except for French doors set at the compass points. Ironclad walked towards one, connecting to her security system remotely and deactivating the alarms; the last thing she wanted was to come home to find her place warming with cops. "This is actually Parkside. On the south-east end." She walked through the door, out onto a concrete balcony that ringed the penthouse apartment. "If you can give me a street address, I can lead you there." She took a deep breath and once again wondered how to fit a coffee machine into her armor. "But if it's Larceny Inc., I wouldn't worry too much. They're thieves, yes, but they don't have a reputation for being violent."

[TheAbsurdist]

He did however get a glimpse of her face, not a lot, and were circumstances a little different he might have flirted with her. But even he knew that was crossing a line into creepytown. Idly reaching up he rubbed some of the drywall dust out of his beard. "I am aware of their reputation, but Smash knocked me into the wall, fortunately I am not so... delicate." Half turning towards her and nodding at the location she gave. "I am pretty sure I know where we are. Huh, not far from my place." He chuckled to himself, and started to rise up from the balcony. "You have been a help miss, but I believe I need to go thrash some thieves."

[Derin]

If it hadn't been for the change in her work schedule, Whiplash would've been in Southside when the police scanner alerted her of the robbery. As it was, she dismissed it out of hand due to its location and it took a couple of minutes for her brain to catch up and remind her where she was. She swore under her breath, more from habit than any real irritation, and turned the motorbike around. Might as well check it out.

It was unnerving to be travelling as Whiplash so far from her usual haunt, but she had a job to do. Or at least get a look at. She changed in a dark corner and locked up her motorbike (which was probably less likely to be stolen in the more upmarket neighbourhood, at least), took to the roofs and headed over.

No sound of hostiles. Was the battle over? Old instincts told her not to be caught loitering around an abandoned crime scene immediately after the crime, but she ignored them and dropped inside. The place appeared empty. Hmm. Damage from the fight, of course, and a broken safe. Did anybody mess about stealing money or jewels in a city full of vigilantes? Or had there been something more exotic in the safe?

[Raveled]

Ironclad hesitated. Truthfully, her part in things was done here. She could go back to bed and just wave the whole encounter away as just another oddity of living in Freedom City. However, she was the sort of person who could never fall back to asleep once she woke up, and if she was being truthful Asad was likely to feature in her dreams for the next few days anyway. So she shrugged and closed the door behind him. "I'll follow you," she said, setting her armor's systems to record. "No offence, but if Larceny knocked you out once you might need back up."

[TheAbsurdist]

A beat, and he looked at her featureless mask a moment, and then shrugged. He remember the armor from the charity event, but he wasn't particularly curious as to who she was under the mask, even if she was cute, in a 'just woken up' sort of way, he had more pressing concerns. "I will probably need the help, especially if I get teleported away again." Asad looked out from her balcony, then shrugged a little, and then pushed off the balcony and rose into the air, before he soared over Parkside in his hundred dollar Egyptian cotton boxers. He pushed himself hard, making himself go faster. The flying thing was still new, he didn't know how he did it, since everything else seemed to be based on something completely different. He was still waiting for those scientists to get back to him about the tests they ran on him, he needed to know if his powers were a danger to himself or others. So there he was pushing himself hard. He didn't care about his stuff, but he needed to know that Amber was okay. They had just seen each other a couple of times, but he felt responsible for her, especially with the nagging fear of something happening to her, all because he had to be the hero. Dammit.

[Raveled]

Ironclad followed behind Asad, her thrusters making a bright star against the night sky as they arched over the city. Approaching the apartment of Asad's lady-friend, they could see signs of damage from the outside, like the line of smashed windows leading to the balcony or the cracked tiles within. They could also see the lean woman with the coiled bullwhip on one hip, examining the crime scene and standing in front of the opened wall safe. Ironclad hovered just off the balcony and began warming up her weapon systems. "Halt, yo-- Hey, wait a minute. I've heard about you, you're Whiplash. Right?"

[TheAbsurdist]

Asad was a little focused on his annoyance levels as he was trailed by Ironclad. Otherwise there might have been a bit more of a show, given she was following after him when he was just in a pair of boxers. So she would see his moment suddenly stop before they arrived and it would carry him through, and he landed on his feet, skidding a little, and once more absorbing the blows. He did not immediately recognize Whiplash however, and he started to raise his hands, to fend off the next attack. His eyes narrowed a little, before Ironclad said the name, and it made him visibly relax. "Pardon me then, I need to change. As bracing as it is to fly the friend skies in my unmentionables, I would rather be a bit more covered."

[Derin]

Whiplash had fought the urge to flee as the heroes approached. She was not a common criminal and this had not been her robbery; she had... well, she didn't have any right to be there, really, but that wasn't the point. She nodded at the mention of her name. "I was in the area and heard the report..." she didn't recognise the suited figure that had addressed her, but the underdressed gentleman accompanying her was a different matter. She'd seen him on the news, some rich business owner. Al-Misri, that was it. "Do either of you know what was taken?" She thought about adding, 'why aren't you wearing pants?', but decided against it. It was unlikely to be connected to the case.

[TheAbsurdist]

He glanced to Whiplash, taking a moment for recognition to set in, though he knew almost immediately she wasn't a known associate of Larceny Inc. Nodding at her words, he started to move towards the bedroom, knowing that at worst she was tied up or something. "I think they were breaking into the safe when I woke up. I came out to stop it, and they hit me hard, and then teleported me near Ironclad. One moment." He carefully opened the door, and looked inside, letting out a sigh of relief after a few moments, before stepping into it, and pulling on his clothes. While he didn't have a full hero suit handy, lessons to be considered for later, he did at least a shirt to go along with his nominal cargo khakis.

"Alright... Owner is still out, I will give the cops a call. I wasn't aware she hibernated instead of slept."

[Raveled]

Ironclad blushed under her helmet. "Well, what are you supposed to do when a mostly-naked man drops into your living room and asks what address he's at?" She moved past Whiplash and scanned the safe with her full sensor suite. There were no fingerprints or hairs, which frankly she didn't expect to find -- Larceny Inc. were professionals, whatever else one could say about them -- but wasn't forensic science built on the notion that nothing could interact with something else without leaving traces behind? Maybe a full radiological scan...

As the young genius pondered her options, Amir took the chance to slip into something less revealing, he heard a feminine sigh behind him and glanced around to see his female companion sit up in bed. Meagan Blackstone was a rising action star, and exercise combined with the sort of beauty treatments that were Hollywood de rigueur she was quite the sight to behold, even in a disheveled, just-woken-up state. "Amir," she purred, stretching languidly. "Why are you getting out of bed? Don't you want to... Wait." She rubbed at her eyes and looked at the bedroom door, squinting at the light seeping around the cracks. "Did you turn the lights on in the sitting room?"

[Derin]

Someone was asleep in the bedroom? And she'd walked in without noticing? Man, she was rusty. It was a good thing she'd given up crime, or she'd be in jail all the time with sloppy work like that. She glanced around, eyes lingering in areas where experience told her the cameras probably were. "I assume there are cameras in here?" Although a lot of people never bothered with security cameras, even when they had something worth protecting. And this was no random grab; it was a professional job. This person had something worth protecting.

[TheAbsurdist]

He sighed, mostly because this was not precisely an easy thing to explain. "Someone broke into your house and teleported me to the otherside of the park. A few other heroes are here, we are going to see -" Breaking off what he was saying as he pulled on a shirt. "-see about recovering what we can, or if they were after something special." He smiled at her then, a reassuring, confident smile, even if currently he didn't have evidence to back up that assertion outside of his own mind.. "I am sorry our date was ruined my little bird. But I am going to have to chase after these people to get back what is yours. But I am going to need you to identify what they took, and then the police are going to be here to talk to you." He slide the fleece jacket on, before slipping his feet into his shoes.

[Raveled]

Meagan blinked owlishly as Asad explain the situation. "Just wait. There are other people in my apartment?" The actress slid out of bed and pulled on a bathrobe and slippers, following Asad out into the main room. there she took in the open and empty safe, as well as the heroines crouches over it. "Hey, hey," she shouted, stomping over and shooting them away. "Get out of there! That's my stuff, that's... oh my god!" She looked inside the picked-clean safe and her eyes widened. "They took everything. They even took the Heart!"

Ironclad blinked, her reaction hidden under her helmet. "I'm sorry -- the Heart?"

Meagan nodded, turning back to face the heroes. "Yes, the Heart of the Phoenix! It's a gemstone I bought in Greece, it's --"

"A sixteen and a half carat ruby," Ironclad interrupted. Once she had a name, the technopath went hunting through cyberpace and she read out the information as quick as she could assimilate it. "Supposed to be a treasure of Troy. According to the Aenid, was taken by the city's survivors as part of their treasury. First appears in the historical record as part of Ceaser's regalia. Was looted by the Goths when Rome fell, eventually turned up in the Ottoman Empire. Was acquired by a British Army major sometime before World War One. Used by Lady Celtic in several rituals during World War Two, passed to a private collection afterwards."

As Ironclad trailed off Meagan sniffed sharply, rather peeved that her spotlight had been stolen. "You didn't mention the most important part," she snapped. "It's always warm."

"Yes," Ironclad replied, "her voice soft and vague. "It keeps a consistent temperature of ninety-nine point eight degrees Fahrenheit. Exactly human body temperature. I wonder what could account for that? An exothermic chemical reaction? But why would it still be going this long?" The young woman seemed to snap back to the here and now and looked at Meagan. "After we retrieve it, would you let me take a core sample?" The actress merely sniffed again and tossed her hair.

[Derin]

A gem. Gems she could do. Other things were taken out of the vault as well and the Heart could very well be a dead end... but it could be something.

So why take it? It was clearly a contract job. It wasn't some opportunistic thief hoping to find a fence for it. They'd hit for volume, a jewellery store as opposed to a private vault. And they'd not go for something so recognisable, something impossible to sell. A job like that... it'd be a really, really obsessive collector who'd pay for that just because they liked the thing. Some sort of personal revenge was the obvious motive. But in Freedom City it was probably something ridiculous, like a component for a superweapon.

"Ma'am, do you have any enemies?" Whiplash asked, knowing full well that she sounded like a useless police stereotype. "And could you tell me how you came by the Heart? Who did you buy it from?"