6039/Who even robs banks anymore

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Who even robs banks anymore
Date of Scene: 25 April 2021
Location: 6039 Midtown Bank
Synopsis: Apparently a dragon is who.
Cast of Characters: Simon Lasker, Michael Hannigan, Lucas Trent, Ava Starr




Simon Lasker has posed:
Midtown Bank is one of the older buildings in Manhattan. It was made in the 1920s, finished right before the stockmarket crash. The Building served as a symbol of how little the wealthy had to suffer from the great depression with its white marble pillars and brass fittings that look like gold if the custodians are really on their game. Today there is a reasonable sized crowd. Tax season does that.

Simon is here because he has a reference that a friend said would help him send in his stuff for a refund for free. Apparently ... Wilbur Morton owes somebody a favor. There is a bit of a wait, but at least there is candy and some fancy looking pens that Simon figures nobody would miss.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Standing in the sizable line, Mike waits. The entertainer's rocking his usual off the clock attire. The secondhand jeans are pretty worn looking and the grey t-shirt does nothing to cover up the old scar on his lower right forearm. Instead of his tried and true knitcap, the hair is pulled back into a low set ponytail. Based from clothing choice, he's obviously not here to apply for a loan. As for why he's here? Well it's close to home and they have weekend hours.

What. A. Concept.

Lucas Trent has posed:
Midnighter doesn't like crowds. Or banks. Or people. But here he is nonetheless, dressed like an ordinary human. His salt and pepper hair is cropped short, biceps on display in a short-sleeved shirt with the logo of the band Amon Amarth upon it. He's completed his business with one of the tellers, taking a piece of paperwork over to a small countertop and starting to fill out an envelope. Checks aren't ideal, but he still prefers them to electronic transfers. Part of the shift to digital has meant that people pay less attention to old-fashioned paperwork.

He's on alert because he's always on alert. He's built to be constantly on alert, especially with this many people around.

Ava Starr has posed:
Like young Mr. Lasker, Ava Starr is in the bank on business. Not tax business, mind. Those were filed some time ago... before SHIELD fell, in fact. No, today, she is in expecting to speak with a loan officer. She has all the documents she needs, including a credit report on one Ava Foster, a self-employed entrepreneur looking to expand her small imports business.

Thus, rather than standing in line -- she'd sooner do her banking online, thanks -- she sits in a fairly generic club chair off to one side in a waiting area that has been provided for people with appointments to see the financial gatekeepers in their dark offices. The fingers on one hand drum restlessly on the arm of the chair, her other hand clutched around the small leather folio that holds all her meticulously prepared (and flawlessly forged) documents. A shiver runs down her spine, of the sort commonly associated in cultural folklore with the idea that someone has walked over your grave. She grimaces faintly and rolls her shoulders to loosen them, settling back in her chair once more.

Simon Lasker has posed:
The security guards are quite lax these days at Midtown Bank. Joe at the main front desk is busy watching a game on his phone rather than paying much attention. Why bother? After all, Who robs banks anymore? New York is crawling with Heroes and Villains who don't like being disturbed. Naturally somebody figured 'If its so dangerous that nobody bothers to do it anymore, than nobody will expect it!'. Somebody may find out that this is considerably less unexpected than they thought.

In this case Somebody is a group of four men in animal mascot costumes holding what appear to be some sort of stilized tubas. The man in the elephant costume launches a tie-dyed egg into the crowd, that explodes in a cloud of pink smoke. The man in the tiger costume then speaks up.

"Everybody get on the floor and remain calm. We are just here for the bank's money. If nobody makes any trouble, we can all go home safely and quickly."

The man in the eagle costume and his associate in the zebra costume head over to the tellers with large sacks with dollar signs on them.

Simon curses under his breath. How can the police claim a nearly 100% arrest rate for robberies of all kinds and there still be these knuckle heads all over the place? He grabs a lighter out of his pocket and ducks behind a desk while he examines the situation.

Lucas Trent has posed:
Midnighter doesn't react visibly, keeping it all internalized. He shouldnt' be surprised, this place's lax security is practically begging for someone to take a shot at it. His combat engine rapidly analyzes the four perpetrators, measuring their capabilities, reading their body language, seeing if they're experienced criminals or just amateurs with guns.

Either way, Lucas is more than capable of tearing them to pieces. The question is whether or not he should even bother. He wouldn't break cover just to protect someone else's money. But if they got violent - so would he.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
While Midnighter may always be on alert. Mike is anything but at the moment. As for why, it's not because he's tired. Wade has made certain that Mike's music schedule was open this week. But, he is wondering about a possible acting gig that's been hinted to come his way. Namely- what IS it? Sometimes casting agents can be SO vague.

He's so distracted with that it isn't until the smoke pops up obscuring the vision of him an everyone around him that he realizes something's up. The men shouting just confirms it. Well. If he can't see them. They PROBABLY can't see him so...

The smoke is oddly a blessing as it obscures the transition to Phantasm. As he mirrors, the scar switches over to the left forearm. He crouches down quietly. The bank money is insured. So, probably better to wait.

Ava Starr has posed:
The pink smoke is enough to startle Ava out of her pseudo-reverie. She actually stumbles back -- even though she's sitting. She lands on her bottom *through* the chair, body phasing automatically in defense. "Sonuva..." Her leather folio sits beneath the chair now, as she flickers out of sight, shifting her molecular wavelength automatically into the non-visible spectrum. This renders her imperceptable to any sensors -- whether human or electronic. No sight. No sense. No sound. No heat. Nothing. Not unless you can detect quantum energy.

Like Lucas, she is disinclined to get invovled. It's bad enough her fall through the chair and subsequent ghost act was probably caught on bank cameras. But launching an attack at these guys without her suit? Less of a good idea.

Again, though, like Lucas... the moment they become violent or threaten the wrong people (you know, like a parent with their kid), all bets are off.

Simon Lasker has posed:
Choosing to say they were only there for the bank's money has managed to prevent any sort of immidiate action against them. Clearly mister tiger's plan is brilliant. If only things worked out that way.

Eagle and Zebra head into the back room to get the vault open. Elephant's smoke fills the room. The smoke is still smoke and inhaleing it burns the throat and eyes. People are coughing. A bang and a crash follow shortly. I mean maybe they are just trying to get into the vault? The fire alarm goes off, which is unpleasant but still possibly nothing. then another bang and some screams. A flickering green light starts climbing the walls in the direction of the vault. The green light is oddly cold, but it burns just the same.

"Eagle? Zebra? What is that?" Elephant and tiger run out of the bank after a short delay. The earth shakes and a loud roar starts from the direction of the vault and then the overhead lights go out.

Simon used to be a firefighter and he knows that you don't sit around in a smokey building where you don't know what is going on. He starts crawling towards where he remembers the door being, which is pretty close to the right direction. Then he hears a roar. Somebody is really getting into character apparently. No lights. Un-oh.

Lucas Trent has posed:
The explosions definitely change the situation significantly. Escalation means danger. Midnighter isn't a bleeding heart about to cry his eyes out over a few civilians, but it's still worth intervening. He keeps low, switching to thermal to pick a target. Best to take out the elephant first, get rid of the smoke.

He hears that heartbeat disappear and wonders at it. Not back near the explosions. Close at hand. Somebody either just died or just vanished. Either way, it's an anomaly worth tracking.

He moves low for the Elephant and throws a hard punch into the liver, following it up with a stomp at the back of the calf to try and break the guy's ankle even as he slaps the other hand over the masked mouth to try to muffle the dude's cries of alarm.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike listens carefully, head turning to look blindly in the direction of most of the noise. Under the cover of the smoke, Mike gets up, blindly. The collection of sounds is sufficient to raise some additional alarm bells. This is by no means a simple robbery.

Using what senses he has left, Mike bolts towards the vault area, form shifting into that a wolf as he simply passes through the unseen objects in his path. If that roar is any indication, there might be need for it.

Ava Starr has posed:
Really, the *smart* thing for Ava to do would be to pick up her fallen folio and phase right on out of the building. Come back another day. Intangible as she is, the smoke doesn't really bother her. Neither does the heat. It simply can't touch her, where she is. Neither can the fire, or pretty much anything else these people intend to throw at them.

So, why doesn't she just walk away? It's not like she owes any of these people anything. And she doesn't have her suit.

She sighs softly and pulls the hood of her jacket up so it covers her head, her collar partially obscuring her face. Then, she begins moving through the smoke, seeking Mr. Tiger. This is easier done by keeping low and watching the mist swirling at people's feet. Because heat -- and therefore smoke -- rises. And when she finds him, having to step out onto the street to do so, she thrusts an intangible fist into his throat. She flickers into the visible spectrum behind him, though still intangible. Her face is hidden by her hood and the bulk of his body.

"Let me be very clear," she says over his shoulder from behind, her voice an alto, London-accented rasp. "The moment I solidify my fist, your trachia explodes. Call your boys off and get the hell out of here. You've done enough damage here, today." The cells in his throat can feel the unstable flickering of her hand. It's painful, having a quantum ghost phase through you. Not excrutiatingly painful, but rather like having a low-level electric current running through your nervous system -- tingly with a frisson of tenderizing threat running underneath.

Simon Lasker has posed:
Elephant struggles against Midnighter's grip in vain. Muffling someone through one of these masks is a whole other thing. He can still speak, but it is muffled. "

"What are you doing? You should be running too. Something happened and ... It laughed..." panic fills his voice. He isn't even holding his weapon anymore.

Tiger is already in a full panic, so he nods along at Avas request. "You don't have to tell me. This was a set up. There was something waiting for us. My guys are not responding and probably dead, and all we did was smoke the room and break the vault door. The rest isn't us."

As Michael approaches the vault he hears a low growl. The noise implies something very large and he can feel something moving in the vault.

Simon has finally found his way to the door where he manages to escape. Now to figure out what to do about the smoke. There is someone out here, and there is tiger being dealt with by someone.

"Hey, Hope I am not interrupting anything. Which side are you on?"

Lucas Trent has posed:
Midnighter relieves elephant of any further burden of consciousness, a quick clamp on his carotid cutting off blood flow to his brain long enough to make him black out. Midnighter drops the man in a heap and steps over the pile as he makes his way forward, through the cowering civilians who remains.

"Could be a super playin' hero. Could be somethin' nastier than you. You got any enemies, zoo crew?" he asks, pulling on a pair of black gloves and adjusting them on his hands. "Speak now or forever hold your guts."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Being the phantasm has no sense of touch, he can't feel anything moving around. But the sound is there. With the darkness he's unable to determine where the creature is.

So here's a basic synopsis. Right now with the darkness the only sense he has to rely on is hearing. But without the sight... what is he even going to do about it?

The wolf sits, turning it's head, listening to the growl. And gives a woof of inquiry.

Well, when you can't fight. Use your words.

Right?

Ava Starr has posed:
"If it's a setup," Ava replies, not yet removing her fist from the tiger-garbed man's throat, "who set you up?" She's just curious, now. Because, really, if there's some sort of monster in there, she's probably better out on the street with him. At least, until the screaming starts.

"What the hell is in there?" Because, you know, information is power. She knows that all too well. More than that, if she *is* going to help, she'd like to know what she's up against.

Clearly, she doesn't nearly share the same sense of urgency about this that other people might. She glances over her shoulder briefly at Lasker, not revealing her face. "Not his," she says flatly, referring to the man in her grip.

Simon Lasker has posed:
The civilians cough and whimper unhelpfully when Midnighter speaks at them. One of them asks "Should we leave?"

The back area is filled with black smoke instead of pink smoke. Michael does not hear a reply. Instead something like a pair of green headlights flicks on in front of him. A pair of small green flames that are either closer together or farther away flick out in front of him. Then a roar of green flame blasts at him. The green lights flick off and then on again. If he is very observant he would notice that something like eyelids closed on them when they went off.

Tiger stands there stiffly. "I don't know whats going on. I didn't go in there. I just heard something make a noise in there and there weren't supposed to be any wild animals in there. If it took out my guys I didn't wanna get close to it."

Well atleast there might be someone who can help. "Okay, good. The stone is on fire in there and its not like any fire I know, and I used to be a firefighter." He was, but he does still look too young for it. "I don't have any equipment so I could use some help."

Lucas Trent has posed:
Midnighter snorts at the civilian. "What was your first clue? Yeah. Run," he says.

A reasonable man would be afraid of green flames or smoke but Midnighter isn't exactly reasonable or ordinary. With his gloves in place, he plows forward towards the back, head down and senses on full-tilt boogie, looking for something to fight.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Well the visual DOES help. The wolf leaps off to the side as the blast of flame comes out. NO clue what that is but he knows that he doesn't want to be hit by it. As it gets dark again, the wolf hears the growing commotion outside the vault. Okay. Can't have this thing leave this area.

The wolf shifts to the side, giving a challenging growl to the unseen creature. Come on flaming peepers! Go after the wolf!

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava can't really argue with Tiger's logic. And she doesn't really care, at this moment, about leaving him for the police. So, solidifying the hand that's NOT in his throat, she shoves him away from her. She turns back toward Lasker. "What sort of help?" she asks.

Oh, she's not opposed to helping, since he asked, and now she wants to see just what it is that spooked Tiger so. She's just not sure what a ghost like her can do. Search and rescue was never a big part of her training. Too bad, really. She'd have been damned good at it.

The green fire that flickers through the glass door to the bank, distant though it is, catches her attention. "Looks like we may need to hurry, whatever you want to do."

Simon Lasker has posed:
"The other guys *cough* said not to move." others clearly don't need a second invitation. Infact the first guy doesn't need one either. The whole group that heard Midnighter all start making their way out of the building.

The lights in the darkness sway towards Michael in a manner that implies something quite large, but also with a long stride. The ground where Michael was standing is now on fire. The thing is now sillhouetted agaist some flame. it has four legs and a long serpentine tail. Two more flicks from its nostrils appear before it unleashes another gout of flame at michael.

Simon thinks for a bit. Usually putting out the fire gets rid of the smoke, but perhaps not in this case. "We could start the sprinklers and break some upper windows. You know, to let the smoke out. Maybe we will be able to see what we are doing." He looks back in. The flame is cold somehow, and pulling on it chills him. This will be interesting.

Lucas Trent has posed:
Midnighter is making his way back towards the creature - it's definitely a creature, he can tell that much, just from the sound of its body. At the suggestion of sprinklers overheard, he almost pulls the fire alarm, but then realizes the resulting bell will likely just irritate the crap out of him. So he yanks an extinquisher off the wall inside. Thermal scans are showing cold rather than heat, though.

"Hey, Dragon Bitch," he yells. "Come out and get your ass kicked."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As there's a bit more light eeping in, the movement of the shadows is most welcome. So it appears the invitation was accepted. Good! Right? The wolf starts to charge forward, leaping to the side as the makings of another blast of flame becomes apparent.

Borrowing the light from the creature's cast he uses it to press against a wall to launch him onto the creature's back, claws extended to slash at whatever he can get a hold of.

Hello Dragon.

Meet a Drago.

Ava Starr has posed:
"Yeah," Ava says skeptically. "'Cause the sprinkler system's clearly working." With all the smoke and flame already there, she'd have expected it to be dousing the place already with its dirty, stagnated water. Systems in these big old buildings never get cleaned out enough.

But there are people starting to finally get the hint and stream out of the building, a bit of the smoke coming with them. "Fine," she tells Lasker. "I'll get the windows. You figure out the sprinklers." And for a moment, she's glad she can stay intangible for most of this. Because if he does get those sprinklers going, it's going to be gross until the water flushes through enough.

With that, she turns and, flickering invisible once more, darts back into the building. She pauses briefly by the chair she was originally sitting in, becoming both visible and tangible just long enough to scoop up her folio and take it with her. The documents in it were expensive to prepare. She'd rather not spend that money twice.

Then, she flickers out of sight and out of phase once more to start trying to find a way up to those windows.

Simon Lasker has posed:
Noise issues from the back room, but the 'Dragon Bitch' Does not appear to have a witty retort.

The phantasm jumps on to the dragon's back. it howls in pain before rolling over. It wants more space so it makes a break for the main room.

Simon starts to say something about how it takes heat to start a sprinkler system, but Ava is already gone. He uses his lighter and starts setting off the sprinklers. It isn't ideal as the sprinklers interfere with his power, but he can tell that the smoke is starting to die down.

Lucas Trent has posed:
The roaring noise at least lets Lucas know that the creature is heading his way. He improvises, not having a weapon on hand, grabbing a folding chair from a nearby waiting area and folding it up. Was he going to attack this thing like a WWE superstar ambushing an enemy as he peeks out of the locker room?

Yes, yes, he was.

So when the dragon's head emerges, Midnighter pulls back and smacks with a fair amount of superhuman might, his extensive strength likely causing the chair to explode on impact. What effect it has on the dragon remains to be seen.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As the dim light that is present in the room allows for him to see the movement, the dragon's sudden roll does end up taking the wolf for a ride. As the pair hit the foor, there's a yelp from the wolf as the claws end up ripping away from the dragon, taking what bits were lodged underneath with it.

The wolf shakes his head, glancing up to try and track the creature's new path. The eyes squint, seeing the figure's shadow move towards the main area.

NO!

Hoping that the bankfolks got out, he starts to skiddadle after the dragon.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava manages to knock out enough windows to let the smoke billow out. She remains intangible, however, as the sprinklers begin to go off. In her experience, there are plenty of sprinklers that respond to the amount of particulate matter in the air -- as from smoke -- in addition to heat. So many ways to set them off. She's used that as a trick or two before now.

Of course, between the breaking glass and the igniting sprinklers, it's possible Midnighter's efforts to spare himself the alarm have amounted to naught, given the high likelihood both of those occurrances would set them off.

She phases through the wall of an office and places her folio on top of a filing cabinet, but beneath an overturned basket. That should protect it well enough while she deals with the rest of this crap.

Finally, she phases back out of the wall and jogs toward where the dragon creatures is. Invisible. Intangible. Her head tilts as she looks at it. "Well aren't you ugly?"

Simon Lasker has posed:
The dragon plows through the chair as it smacks into its head. It definately felt it, as it shrieks and sprays flame into the room. Most people had already left at this poin, but the rest get the hint here. The dragon stops before hitting the far wall behind the counter. It turns towards Midnighter and flames flicker out of its nostrils.

The alarms do go off, but Midnighter is probably the only one for whome it might actually be distracting. A whole dragon is pretty good at focusing your attention. As the windows break and the sprinklers pour, the smoke fades to the point that it is mostly just hazy. The dragon also appears to be entirely immune to any efforts to banter it.

Simon stops what he is doing. He hasn't seen a dragon in real life before. They don't pay him enough for this crap. Infact -- as he is unemployed 'they' don't pay him anything. A bubble of flame expands out of him and he pushes down on the green flames. With his efforts and some help from the water, some of the flames go out, leaving ice behind.

Lucas Trent has posed:
Midnighter holds the remnants of the chair, one of the legs still in his grip, a bit twisted and sharp at the end. "Does this thing belong to anybody? Come and claim it now because if it comes after me, I'm going to shove my arm down its through and shove this piece of steel through its lung."

He braces himself, prepared to dodge if it breathes fire at him, his superhuman reflexes and strength making him more than capable of getting out of the way on short notice. The fire alarm -did- suck, no doubt about it, but he tried to tune it out for now. Mostly it just made him irritable and he wasn't exactly a picture of good cheer before.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
There is a momentary bit of relief as the view of the bank starts to become even clearer, showing people having exited out. Oh good. Most of the people left. So all that's needed is to keep this thing in.

Silently the wolf stalks, eyes on the dragon with each step. Once he's between the dragon and the door out into public. His body turns, positioning, ready. "Why was there a dragon in a bank vault to begin with?" The canine asks.

Ava Starr has posed:
Oh, good. A talking wolf. And here Ava thought the dragon was the weirdest thing she was going to see today. And they wonder why she doesn't do hero work? Not to mention the fact Midnighter has much the same idea she does. She doubts it'll survive long without a heart.

She pauses behind the thing, however, deciding to wait and see how this plays out for the others. There's no point wading into the thick of it when there seem to others here fare more suited to the fray.

Simon Lasker has posed:
Frustratingly the person responsible for the dragon in the bank very unhelpfully fails to reveal themselves or explain themselves. The dragon also exercises its right to remain... not talking. It also unleashes more flame at where Midnighter was standing.

Simon continues on the flames. He figures he should be able to get the fire under control just as soon as this dragon stop setting fire to the stonework. Interestingly Fire seems to put out the green flames.

Lucas Trent has posed:
Midnighter moves forward, springing into the air to overshoot the gout of fire in his direction. He lands in a roll and moves inwards, closing separation between him and the dragon at rapid speed before he stabs that sharpened piece of chair at the thing's throat.

He doesn't assume that's enough, throwing a hard punch with his free hand, calculating the angle correctly to hit the hinge of its jaw to hopefully dislocate it and make any more gouts of fire a lot less well-aimed. Or maybe just hoping he hurts the damn thing enough that it flies off.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As Midnighter rushes forward with an attack of his own, the wolf holds still. It doesn't make sense to go lunging when another is-

Oh. So that's why bad guys in films take turns when fighting the good guy.

Wait, does that make them the bad guy?

The very presence of the dragon bothers the wolf. And there isn't a suitable explanation for it. You think a bank employee would have said something about the dragon in the vault if it had been there long. Hmm.

Where did the Zebra and Eagle guy being mentioned go anyways? Were they even back there?

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava stalks around the dragon now. She flickers into the visible range, still hooded, collar still high. It's stupid, really. There's enough footage now for it not to matter. She's never going to get that loan, now. Not from this bank.

Damn it.

Midnighter hits the thing, trying to puncture it. Ava dashes towards it, phasing right through it until she reaches a point where she can leap on its back from behind and, becoming tangible enough to ride it, she can thrust an intangible hand into its back, seeking to grasp its heart.

Simon Lasker has posed:
The dragon makes more pained noises as the chair skewer is driven into it. Green blood drips out of it and burns the ground. It is also hurt by being punched in the jaw, but it isn't stopped either. It swats at him with one claw after the other.

With people standing around it standing just a bit away from it, the dragon begins to thrash about, flinging flame around the room.

Simon was just getting a handle on the sickly green flame as the dragon flings out more. "Just jump on it or something. This flame hurts."

Lucas Trent has posed:
Midnighter figures that one hand is better than two and he focuses his energy, tensing his body and then thrusting his superstrong fist up and forward. He throws enough force to drive through the scale wall of its hide and into the cavity so that he can add his own hand to that attack on its hard, wanting to put the thing out of its misery.

If he were capable of sympathy, he might feel bad for the thing. But it came into a bank, what the fuck did it expect?

Michael Hannigan has posed:
The wolf's head turns, looking to the person who just appears. The head tilts curiously before he looks back to the dragon. The thrashing though is a factor that's not needed. "If you're not fighting it, get OUT of the bank!" The wolf growls in warning to the random stragglers before he runs and leaps, trying to land on an otherwise unoccupied portion of the dragon.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava plunges both arms in up to the elbows, her lips a thin white line in her darkly tanned face. She wraps her fingers around what feels to the energy pulsing through her veins much like the thrum of a heartbeat. Then, she solidifies her hands and throws herself backward, throwing a good dash of quantum energy into the movement to give her the momentum to rip the organ free of the thing's boney, armored chest.

Simon Lasker has posed:
The dragon wails as the chair leg goes further into it, and its flailing becomes more laboured. With another weight holding onto in, it is even more slowed down, till at last, when Its heart is yanked on, it twitches a bit before falling limp. The lights in its eyes going out, and a cloud of black smoke escapes its mouth.

Further investigation reveals the bloody costumes of eagle and zebra. They apparently had only just opened the vault when they died, and while one safe deposit box was clearly tampered with, nothing was reported stolen. Elephant (aka Martin Scefcewicz) Swears he knew nothing about the dragon, and Tiger remains at large.