Finders Keepers

When Columbus first sailed through the Atlantic he happened upon a small island by chance and acquired a very special mineral to which he dubbed the Black Heart Diamond. This diamond had a heart shape and like most black diamonds had a dark crystallized structure. What made this gemstone so unique was it's violet core that glowed in the dark.

For a while the diamond was in the custody of England until it was given as a gift to France. This lasted until Hitler took over and took the diamond for study. During this time his Nazi scientists soon discovered a very dangerous secret about the Black Heart Diamond. The discovery turned out to be that the diamond itself emitted small amounts of radiation that completely canceled out detection for all types of radar, infrared and radio frequency. To their misfortune Hitler and his Nazi regime soon lost the war just before this information could be used and put into action.

My employer's grandfather Albert Roth was one of the scientists who studied the gem. When the American Army invaded his German base he was the one who managed to hide the rock away in time inside a small bronze lead lined bust of Hitler. The statue was confiscated and later placed in a gallery at the Holocaust museum where it remained till this day.

It was at the stroke of midnight when Wilder broke into the Holocaust Museum. The job was simple, go in and take the statue. Since the museum itself didn't have any objects that were of any real value it's security was a bit below average. Meaning, it had little to no protection inside while only a few half sleep guards who did their jobs outside. Other than that the job was a piece of cake.

Wilder scales the ceiling eyeing each of the motion detectors positioned at the corners of each room. Since the detectors were aimed towards the ground the devices did not activate as he crawled above on the ceiling. Quiet and swift he quickly disconnects all of the detectors in the room before making his way towards the spot where Hitler's bust was located. Silently walking in front of the statue he quickly places his hand on it's glass barrier. Making a wide circular motion on the smooth clear surface with his index finger Wilder cuts a hole large enough to put his hand through the glass to pull out the statue.

After grabbing Hitler's bust and shoving it into a leather burlap bag Wilder begins making his way towards the exit on the roof. When finally arriving to the top of the building he begins to lose himself in his own thoughts since now he had time to relax. Wilder began to think to himself how easy the job was. Even though it was his first job in LA this was one of the easiest jobs he had ever taken. A guy like him needed a good challenge every once in a while otherwise life wasn't worth living.

Alarms broke the calmness. Wilder on instinct quickly extends his wings.

I should have just stayed at home....was running through her mind as she walks to her apartment building. The day had gone all wrong for Samantha starting with one of her girlfriends calling to complain about her asshole BF she caught with another woman IN HER BED. Between the sobs and the wailing she somehow got Sam to help her move out back to her family.

She would’ve gotten back to her apartment by now if it wasn't for her car’s sudden and untimely death. Sam had to leave the piece of junk by the side of the road because she forgot to bring her cell phone when she hastily came to the aide of her friend. Now she had to walk all the rest of the way back....thank goodness it wasn’t very far already or she might have to fly there and she wasn’t very fond of flying in the dark.

It was already past midnight when Samantha walked by the Holocaust Museum. She stopped for awhile watching the building remembering the few times she had gone inside. She started shivering in the cold and cursed herself for being so hasty she forgot to bring her coat. Standing there in front of the museum in just her yellow turtleneck sweater and jeans the blonde haired girl started playing with the idea of turning on her force field, wanting to see if it can insulate her from the cold but then dismissed it as being too noticeable. Suddenly, Samantha was brought out into attention from her musing when the quiet atmosphere got disturbed by the loud alarms from the museum. She immediately noticed the silhouette of what looked like a large bat extending their wings...

Of all the times to make a mistake he had to go do it on his first mission in the city. His over confidence was going to be his downfall one day. Hopefully, Wilder thought to himself, he still had time to make a clean escape. Whatever law enforcement that were on its way still had a few minutes to get to the museum. That was just enough time to check to see if he obtained the right statue.

Reaching inside of the bag Wilder retrieves the bust. Now there was some sort of secret to opening this thing. If his employer trusted him enough to give him that type of info then things would be less complicated. Besides Wilder couldn't afford to make another mistake. Wilder begins moving his hands along the statue's smooth metal surface testing for any weaknesses. When he found none he tries banging on it with his fist. The statue gave several low faint rings, but no other reaction. Wilder begins to feel as if he was wasting his time with his useless attempts. Still, there had to be some way of opening it.

With a loud sound of whirring copter blades immediately Wilder stops as he turns to see a helicopter flying towards the building. Avoiding detection Wilder climbs on to the south side of the building. Scowling to himself under his breath Wilder whispers, “I don't have time for this, my employer will just have to check this piece of junk for himself.” Jumping off the building Wilder glides along the air currents. He still had to meet up with his employer, they had planned to meet at the top level of an abandoned parking lot structure. There he would hand over the statue and get then get his reward.

"Dammit! Can this day get any worse?" Samantha ruefully exclaimed. The normally cheerful girl cursed the situation she is now in. When the helicopters started appearing, the winged man disappeared and Sam is left to wonder where the hell he went. She wasn't left to wonder for long when moments later Wilder glides past above her.

In a slight moment of righteous fury, Sam yelled "Hey! Stop!!" at the top of her lungs and launches herself off the ground with a faint trail of light left in her wake. Glowing a bright yellow, Samantha readies her force field in an attempt to take down Wilder with a head-on charge.

The words 'Hey!' and 'Stop!' echoed into Wilder's highly sensitive ears. Apparently someone was trying to get his attention. Landing near a boarded up two story condemned building Wilder glances in the direction the voice was coming from. To his surprise the brightest girl he'd ever seen was flying towards his direction. Wilder chuckles to himself, this day just gets better and better.

This girl was going to be a problem if he didn't take care of her soon. Looking up at a boarded up window Wilder suddenly gets an idea. Climbing near the window he rips and punches out the boards. Splinters rain on the ground as Wilder makes quick work of the wooden boards. When finally finished Wilder climbs inside the window and into a dark dusty room. There he waits in the shadows for the girl to arrive.

In hindsight, Samantha realized she should have kept her mouth shut and try to take Wilder by surprise. But then again, she is too worked up to care for the moment. Seeing Wilder going through the window of a boarded up two story building she eagerly proceeds to follow him inside, unheeding the signs of an obvious trap.

Gently landing on the dark and dusty room floor, Sam looked around in disdain as she realized once again that she can't see Wilder. The room is too dark for her too make out anything. "Fortunately, I have a solution for that." thought Sam as she positioned her hands with her palms facing the other in front of her. Using her powers Samantha conjured up a ball of bright light between her hands to illuminate the room. Unfortunately, the instant she did so she found herself thrown back onto a wall with great force; causing cracks to appear on it. If it wasn't for her force field she wasn't sure she'd still be standing.

Her powers may have given her a form of invulnerability, but it doesn't prevent her from being thrown around like a rag doll. The attack has caused Sam to lose focus on her improvised lantern, cloaking the surrounding area in darkness as before. Without giving any time for Sam to regain her composure Wilder proceeds to strike at her from various directions in the darkness, making it seem like he is everywhere at once.

Desperate to regain some sort of edge Samantha forces her energy outward in a blinding flash making the already bright girl even brighter. Hoping that the display will blind her opponent Samantha lashes out with a force field reinforced fist the instant she sees her target.

(OOC: Controlling another character's actions is god-modding. I'll let it pass this time but don't let it become a habit. Besides, I hadn't planned on using Wilder to fight yet but I guess I'll just roll with it.)

Wilder was not using his best attacks on the girl. In fact his main goal was figuring out what she was capable of. Besides acting like a glowing night light she had some good defenses. Most of his attacks weren't doing as much damage as he expected. Still, he had her on the ropes, this meant sooner or later she may get desperate and use her real power against him.

As expected the girl was predictable, she glowed brighter than anything Wilder had ever seen. Half prepared Wilder closes his eyes to block off the light. This was not enough as even with his eyes closed Wilder begins to see black and white blotches. Clever girl Wilder thinks to himself but not clever enough. Anticipating the next attack Wilder immediately rolls to his left.

Raising a hand in an effort for peace Wilder finally calls out, "That was fun, but I really don't have the time for this. So if you have something to say to me then hurry up and make it quick." Not knowing how the girl would handle stopping mid-fight Wilder hoped that she would get the hint.

(OOC: Sorry, I'm still new to this so tell me straight up if i'm wrong or anything... )

Samantha took a moment to catch her breath; Using her powers in the dark is starting to take its toll on her. Still cautious she kept her bright force field up and make it a bit brighter to obscure her face. She has no intention of having her personal life go to ruins just because some crook recognizes her. "My name is Morning Glory, and I believe you have something that does not belong to you" ....Gawd that was so corny, I can't believe I just said that....

Samantha analyzes the situation she's in and finds herself at a disadvantage. It's clear that she is not able to match him in fighting skills and that leaves only her powers. Samantha inwardly frowns at that since her powers are not as effective in the dark and keeping the room illuminated is already draining much of her energy.

Observing the winged man in front of her while waiting for his answer Samantha couldn't help but notice that the man has a handsome face that hints of a wild and carefree nature. His tall imposing stature radiates a beastly confidence in himself such that his presence alone seems to say 'I'm better than you'. Samantha couldn't help but appreciate the man in front of her.

"Well aren't you the bright one," Wilder sarcastically responds, "Of course this item does not belong to me." He dangles the leather burlap bag in his left hand. "It's a worthless piece of junk from a worthless museum that was worthy enough for my worthless employer to pay me to steal it."

Wilder walks over to the open window, his vision was slowly returning. Of course he was still as blind as a bat, Wilder hated the irony of his situation. His eyes were very sensitive to bright lights so it didn't help much when the girl had started to increase the intensity of her brightness. This meant he had to rely on his other senses. Not as if that was really a problem, with just his hearing alone he was perfectly aware of his surroundings. In fact Wilder could tell that this Morning Glory girl's breathing was becoming shorter and faster. He wondered if he might've caused more damage than he originally thought or if this was some sort of side affect for over exerting her powers. Whatever it was Wilder had finally come to a decision.

"Look I'm not the guy you want. My employer made a contract with me to steal it. Even if you do manage to stop me, which I highly doubt, my employer can always hire someone else to steal it again. So if you want to play hero, the right way, I recommend that you inconspicuously follow me to where my employer is located. There's just one condition, you have to promise to not try any of your vigilante antics until after I get paid."

Hearing what he has to say Samantha unconsciously pouts in annoyance at the guy's stuck-up attitude. Unfortunately it doesn't make his statement any less true. Lighting the room is already taxing her reserves and she needs to rest for awhile.

Observing the winged man, Samantha bites her lower lip as she carefully consider the suggestion. 'I don't know enough to take proper action, therefore I should get more info.'

Dimming her one-woman light-show Samantha stares at the frame of the man in front of her and asks, "What's your name, hotshot?"

He considered lying to her but knowing that there was no point to it he told her the truth instead. "The name's Wilder Goldy Locks."

Not planning to wait any longer Wilder clamps his hand on the pane of the broken window. Thrusting himself forward Wilder leaps out through the jagged opening. Falling fast near the ground just before reaching the bottom he flaps his leather like wings and glides away.

Just before soaring out of sight Wilder shouts out, "You can think about it all night, but you won't accomplish anything with that sort of attitude."

The instant Wilder went through the window Samantha darts forward to follow after him. Barely catching sight of him she hears his shout just as she got out of the window. Samantha frowns for a moment at his comment before flying off chasing after Wilder.

Following the general direction of Wilder's voice Samantha ascends higher in the dark sky. Sam grumbles indignantly to herself, "Inconspicuously? How am I to do that when I'm about as inconspicuous as an over-sized firefly?"

But even with that thought Sam realizes that the idea has merit and proceeds to find the winged man while trying to become less conspicuous; Hoping to be mistaken for a passing plane by anyone looking up the sky. She sighs at the absurdity of that thought.

It took only a few minutes before Wilder finally came upon the huge parking structure. About six cars were settled on top with their car lights on. The cars themselves were empty since their passengers were standing besides their vehicles smoking on cigarettes.

That didn't really concern Wilder, it wasn't the first time one of his employers compensated by having numerous amounts of guards. This usually meant that they were so fearful that they needed to compensate by having overwhelming amounts of protection. Wilder thought it funny since this behavior usually ended up getting people caught.

A young bald man with a long nose and triple thick glasses walks out of a black vehicle. He had on a black Jacket some white slacks and a red buttoned up shirt. He was a famous German scientist called Ezra Roth grandson of Albert Roth the same man who researched the Black Heart Diamond. In other words my employer.

Ezra may have hired him but Wilder knew for a fact that the other men in suits worked for someone else. It was probably the local mafia, the men had Hispanic features meaning Wilder wasn't dealing with their New York counterparts. Still, they must have had some serious power since most of the men were either carrying an AK or an uzi.

After seeing the bag Ezra begins to take a step forward to reach for it. Wilder pulls back reminding the man that he was forgetting something important. Ezra nods repeating, "Of Course," to himself. Opening the trunk of the same black vehicle Ezra pulls out a metal briefcase. A man wearing a hat and goatee grabs the case from Ezra and holds it open for Wilder to see. Inside were several crisp bills of good ole U.S. currency. Wilder grabs open the case and hands over the bag.

Excitedly pulling out the sculpture from the bag Ezra gazes upon the stern face of Hitler's bust. Giving the sculpture several rhythmic taps he manages to bust the bottom open. Landing in his palm was the dark crystal like heart shaped Black Heart Diamond.

(OOC: Sorry for the late post, I had a case of writer's block and had to deal with real-life. )

Samantha rolls her eyes as she looks on at the gathering from a distance; the six cars and the group of suits parading around with guns is a definite attention catcher. From what she can see Wilder's employer should be the bald guy with glasses holding what seems to be a heart shaped black diamond. The diamond must be of great value for it to be hidden inside that bust.

Taking a deep breath Samantha prepares herself mentally as she dives toward the group from above. Landing smack-dab in the center of the group Samantha stands in a suggestively arrogant pose with her arms crossed facing the bald man holding the diamond. "The Museum really isn't the best place to be jewelry shopping you know." exclaims Samantha with a smirk on her face.

All around her the men looks surprised with the sole exception of Wilder who seems to have a mix of irritation and amusement showing on his face. Samantha's predisposition towards making a dramatic entry might bite her in the patootie someday but for now it is working in her favor by drawing the attention of the crooks for what she's about to do.

"F*ck! Its one of those super freaks!" cried one of the suits as they all aimed their weapons on Sam. 'That's right, keep your eyes on me boys' thought Sam as she prepares for a repeat performance of her earlier stunt with Wilder.

In a single instant Samantha blinds the crooks with a flash of light brighter than the one she used with Wilder. 'That should keep them blind for a while.' thought Sam as she floats towards one of the thugs, waving his Uzi around in a panic with one arm across his eyes. For once the night proves useful to her powers as it makes her personal flash bang much more effective in blinding opponents as their eyes try to adjust to sudden changes in lighting.

The trouble wasn't necessary, he had what he wanted, money was money after all. The girl would just have to handle things by herself. Nothing personal but he had had enough trouble for one night. Jumping off the building and landing safely on the street below Wilder opens up his briefcase and checks his cash. Quickly glancing over the neatly stacked hundred dollar bills Wilder grins until he notices something odd. All the cash looked exactly the same. No, not the pictures but everything else such as the serial numbers and the letters. The cash was counterfeit and he nearly fell for it.

Out of the corner of his eye Wilder notices a black vehicle driving out of the parking lot. Even though it had tinted windows he never forgot a scent, it was Ezra Roth. He was being driven away and Wilder had just a little bit of time to get his revenge. Pulling a knife from his sleeve Wilder throws it forward while aiming underneath the vehicle. The handle of the knife skids and bounces off the ground causing the sharp part off the blade to collide with the tank. Being a sharp and strong blade the knife easily pierces the tank, causing the colliding metals to spark enough for the gasoline to catch.

Ezra never stood a chance of surviving. The explosion knocked the vehicle 10 feet into the air before crash landing on to the pavement and smashing into a smoldering heap. Walking to the fire Wilder tosses his briefcase. Counterfeit money was useless to him and he didn't care much in keeping it. Kneeling down Wilder grabs a small metal case that laid next to a smoking corpse. Wilder didn't really need to take a wild guess to know what was inside the case. Tossing the small box into the bushes Wilder then turns his attention to the battle.

Sounds of bullet fire rings through the streets from above, a lot of action was going on in the lot. The girl might be having trouble. He didn't care, although that didn't stop him from trying to join in the action. Climbing an outside wall to the top of the lot Wilder begins to attack the gang. Wilder grabs the closest man he could find, he cracks the man's knees before snapping his neck. The others were to bewildered by Morning Glory's light show to notice him. With lightning fast speed Wilder grabs another man holding a gun, twisting the mans arm behind his own back Wilder grabs the gun and forces the man to shoot himself through the chest. Bullets rip through the man's torso hitting other gang members in the process.

Wilder doesn't even bother to look at the girl, instead he calls out, "These guys betrayed me so I'm not going to play nice anymore." Grabbing another man with a gun Wilder forces the man's gun underneath the man's own chin before firing. Brain matter and skull fragments sprays on to the ground. Wilder lets go and drops the dead man's limp body. As if nothing happened he continues talking, "Let's work together and take these clowns down. If not I can pretty much finish up here myself."