For Justice and Liberty for all!

Was there anything more cliche then a bank robbery? Maybe just serial bank robbers. Jeisen had been tracking a meta human group bent on robbing banks across the world. He had first encountered these folks back in London when he helped to stop a hiest. The groups robbery had been prevented, but the group itself had escaped with relative ease.

Now they were in Washington, getting ready for another hiest. Nolan had manage to track them down and pinpoint their next likely target to a bank off of sixth street. It was in the middle of a transfer so there would be nearly twice as much money in the bbk then normal, but the security was lax. A prime target ready for the taking. Jeisen had found out the target to late to let the bank know in time to stop it. But maybe he could nab the robbers in the act.

Using his home teleporter, Jeisen jumped halfway across the world to a rooftop in a rainy city. A small flash of light was all it took to bring the cloaked man. Jeisen crouched on th rooftop over looking the building. There was already a size able hole where the door used to be. If the full team was here, there would be six meta human robbers already inside and waiting. Te most powerful of the bunch was a meta human who could manipulate ice at a rapid rate. He was complimented by a team which ranged from a brute of a man to a speedster that had the edge on Jeisen.

Nolan: "you know, I bet that brute of a guy remebers you. Think he is goin to throw you through a wall after last time?"

Jeisen: "I doubt he remebers me. I'm surprised he remebers how to breath when he walks"

The hole would probably be watched by now so bet to find an alternate route inside. Hoping down, Jeisen began to run to the side of the two story bank. Placing his foot gingerly on the side of the wall at first, Jeisen began to walk up the side of the building till he reached an open window. With a roll, he threw himself in and under a desk.

Once safely inside the second level of the building, Nolan began scanning the site for targets and bodies. The thermal scans showed eighteen people total in the building counting the meta human villains. The video images Nolan tapped into showed that the meta humans were already on the first floor actively breaking into the vault. Looked like all six where here.

Beverly North, daughter of a heavyweight in the scientific community, heiress of the North Labs legacy, and former sidekick of the star-spangled superhero known as The American, stands in the post office across the street from the bank.  The racket finds its way into the building and she lowers her head in annoyance.  "Come on, man.  During Christmas Break?  Don't you people have better things to do than make my life difficult?" she grumbles beneath her breath.  In the panic of civilians, crowding into the building to avoid danger, Beverly slips out of the post office through a back exit and stands in an alley, her back to a wall.  Pressing a button on her watch, she crosses her arms and waits.  Seconds later, a sleek, patriotically colored, and near silent motor bike stops in front of her.  "Huh. 48 seconds.  Going to have to work on trimming that down a bit."

She pops open the back seat, revealing a red, white, and blue costume folded inside.  "Come to momma," she says.  Moments later, she's fully clad in a flag-themed get-up, strapping  on her signature gauntlets which send sparks up along her fingers.  She clasps her belt around her waist and removes her grappling gun, using it to ascend to the roof of the bank and force her way in through a window on the upper floor.  Once she's in, she looks around.  "What I wouldn't give for an H.U.D, right about now.  Note to self.  Add heads-up display to Christmas List."

Nolan: "Sir, it looks like there is a walking flag down outside of the bank."

Jeisen: "Excuse me?"

Rather then explain, Nolan just brought the camera's videos of the first floor outside, up inside Jeisen's helm. It wasn't a walking flag, rather just someone in a very bright hero suit. And it looked like she was going to be making her way through a nearby window via a grappling hook. Jeisen had to dive behind a desk before she would spot him.

inside his helm, Nolan quipped.

Nolan: "You know? That is one bright costume there."

Jeisen couldn't help but agree with that. Then again, he was friends with a man who literally set himself on fire to look like a demon so this wasn't too unusual to be honest. He debated standing up to reveal his presence to the girl, but before he could do that they were inturrpted. A man shapped blur came running up the stairs. When it came to a stop, there was a man staring confusedly and both Jeisen crouched in front of the desk and the girl wearing the star spangled banner as a uniform.

Speedster: "ummmmm... ya"

with a rapid movement of his arm, Jeisen threw one of his knives at the man but it was already too late. The speedster was half way down the stairs before the knife could have reached him. It imbeded its self in the wall on the otherside, vibrating softly from the force of the throw. Jeisen stood and turned to the the girl.

Jeisen: "There is going to be six of them. Each are powerful in their own right. Are you ready to stop a robbery?"

A hooded figure speaking with a mechanical voice filter was probably not the best way to make a first impression. Still, they had no time to waste as now the group downstairs was going to be ready for them.

The instant the speedster crashes through the door, Liberty readies one of her trademarked 'shooting stars'.  However, the man leaves as quickly as he'd arrived, chased off by some guy in a hood.  She locks up for a moment, assessing the situation in her head.  Then she eases up, stowing the shooting star back in one of her belt pouches, and crosses her arms before looking toward the door.  In another instant, she tears off.  "Sure thing, spooky.  I've dealt with worse," she says without a second thought.  "Besides.  My city.  I'd better be ready.  Just point me at the ones who wanted black eyes for Christmas."

Jeisen looked at this girl from the side of his eye while keeping watch on the stairs for another intrusion. Seems she was the local hero for this place which was confirmed by Nolan

Nolan: "Local newspapers have a couple of reports on her it seems. Goes by the name Liberty. Seems like she has been in this city for a little over a year now and has been on a tear through the local kingpins and crime syndicates. She knows what she is doing. No reports of any obvious meta human abilities like slinging fire or anything, but there could be something else. News reports on her powers tend to be pretty vague."

Jeisen simply digested the information before crouching down. He popped a device off of his wrist and dropped it down. A hologram of the building came up in a 3-D display. Jeisen raised a hand and pointed at it

Jeisen: "So... this is the map of the building. Pretty basic. The six red dots are the meta humans, the green dots are the hostages, and the blue dots are us. The robbers basic plan most of the time is to hold a group of hostages while their speedster runs patrol and a teleporter moves their goods to an off site location. They have a gunman, a bruiser with lots of strength, a guy who seems to regenerate quickly and their leader. The leader is a inc manipulator of a strong calabler, but not overwhelming. Individually, these guys aren't that tough. They do however work in tandem with each other."

Jeisen pointed to each of the groups of dots as he was talking. The two of them were right above the group of greens with two reds right next to them. The four other reds held two greens almost right next to the vault. The speedster had told them Heros were here already.

Jeisen: "We could both move at once on the hostages to free them. I have quite a few flash bangs I could plant while I get close and you come through right... here pointing at the ground floor right above the group of hostages. to try and free them. You grab the group while I grab the other two?"

He looked up from explaining his possible plan. If she had an alternative or knew something that would work better, now would be a good time to tell.

Liberty looks over the projection, her hand to her chin and tapping her foot.  A speedster, huh?  Okay, so that isn't too unlike Comet.  If I can find a way to cripple him, then that shouldn't be too much of a problem.  Super Strength is up Big Bertha's alley.  Shouldn't be too difficult as long as I stay on my toes and keep moving.  A gunman can't be as bad as Tommy Gun.  Plug the guns and no problem.  Teleporter sounds like Wink.  That'll be trickier.  My new best friend, here, looks pretty quick.  We'll have to watch one another's backs.  The Ice Manipulator could be a problem, but I may be able to heat things up with my gauntlets.  A healer is going to be annoying.  But I may have an idea.  

"All right, sure," she finally says.  "Civilian Round-Up sounds like the best solution.  It's their most workable angle.  Take that advantage and they'll be forced into a fight.  If we take the tougher ones, then we can rely on the cops to deal some damage to the ones that aren't as much of a threat, like the gunman."  She focuses in on the dot representing the Ice Manipulator.  "Say, what can you do other than produce fancy gizmos like mine?"

Jeisen: "civilian round up it is. I'll got plant the flashbangs for us. If we can, lets keep the cops out of it. I don't want to put them in harms way if we can help it. Nolan?"

Jeisen reached under his cloak and threw out a small ball that expanded into his trusty sidekick of a robot. The small ball bobbed up and down in the air as it looked back at Jeisen

Nolan: "Yes?"

Jeisen: "Time it for us, will you?"

Nolan: "Alrighty, it will be on my count then"

Jeisen nodded once before starting to walk to the stairs. He paused for a second and looked back over to Liberty

Jeisen: "I can fight."

And with that Jeisen turned invisible with his camo cloak. Nolan looked over at Liberty. With a sarcastic tone, he said to her

Nolan: "He is always so serious, I swear."

Jeisen was walking along the wall as he carefully planted flash bangs around the room. His boots were keeping him planted to the ceiling above the hostages and robbers, letting him move around without trouble. The ice leader was already building up a fair amount of ice particles around the vault door while the behomth of a man kept on pounding on it. Looked like they were having trouble getting in and now were rushing to get through before the heroes struck. The teleporter wasn't insight, but Jeisen bet he was moving small amounts of cash from inside the vault already. The gunman was leaning on the wall next to the group of hostages, not looking worried despite the news of the heroes above them. The regenerator that was next to him was a completely different story though. The guy looked like a big bag of nerves, biting at his hand. The speedster was running a patrol from window to window to door to door as he checked the surroundings. Jeisen hung above the ice and the strength user, his guns ready and aimed at the both of them. Two normal humans were cowering in few a little off to the side of the pair. All Jeisen was waiting for now was the signal.

Nolan chimed in both Jeisen's helm and out loud

Nolan: "Move on the marks in three... two.... one... go"

With that, the flash bangs detonated around the room and Jeisen opened fire on the ice and strongman, trying to drive them away from the two hostages.

Liberty watches as a little drone unfolds in front of her and she looks it over as it and the hooded man converse. Huh. Kinda reminds me of Adaptroid... before the crazy, anyway. When it speaks to her, she places her hands on her hips. "Serious. Yeah, I know the sort," she says. She removes a couple handfuls of her shooting stars from her belt and gets into position, awaiting the signal. When the flashes go off, Liberty spring in, leaping high. "Alley-oop!" she says and she acrobatically flips through the air, throwing her shooting stars in a wide arc towards the gunner and the healer to distract them. She hits the ground with a role and readies one of her special stars, slinging it at the armed man's gun. As it slices through the air, a faint electrical pulse surges along it. Should it make contact with the gun, the gunman would be in for a shocking revelation. "Merry Christmas!"

With the flash bang going off, the gunman quickly averted his eyes to sheild himself from the light. The regenerator however, wasn't as quick to teach and wuickly doubled over clutching at his eyes. The gunman raised his pistols, aiming for Jeisen when he spotted out d the corner of his eye what would seem to be a Star-Spangled Banner doing a flip down the stairs at him. At the last second, he noticed the stars being thrown at him and had to react quickly. He simply shoved his compatriot in the way of the projectiles. The healer went from clutching at his eyes to now clutching at his chest as the electrical signals caused him to spazm like a fish out of water.

With his teammate now floping around, the gun man raised two guns at the new arrival.

Gunman: "Merry Christmas? Kid, this isn't a game now."

Nolan (who had floated down with liberty behind her): "you're just made cause if it was, we'd be winning"

Nolan had to duck behind liberty to avoid a returning sho from the man for the remark.


*************

On the other side of the room Jeisen came down from the ceiling firing. The brute took two shots to the back, but the ice manipulator managed to duck out o the way to behind some ice. Landing in his feet, Jeisen charged the giant of a man, sliding at the last second to avoid a wild swing. He rose up from his slide and scampered up th mans back.

With ease, Jeisen jumped off the mans head flipping and twisting in the air to shoot him twice in the chest. The man staggered back, but Jeisen was already changing focus. He collapsed one of his guns down and brought out a knife as he turned to face the ice manipulator who was trying to sneak up behind him. Holdin the knife in a reverse grip, Jeisen but through a thing shield of ice to break through the leaders defenses. The leader countered by trying to shove his hands forward into Jeisen as he unleashed a torrent of ice at him. Jeisen knocked the mans hands downward as he twisted and flipped over the mans shoulder with a roll. As he rolled over the man he planted his anti gravity device on him. With both feet bač on the hround Jeisen punched the man, sending him flying with the help of the device.

The giant strong man caught him though and slide backwards with him. Jeisen unsnapped both guns again as he stood facing his enemies

Liberty dives to one side, rolling and throwing more stars at the guy's guns.  Then she slams her fists together and energy builds up around them.  She flips into the air and, whilst upside-down, facing the crooks, she aims and shoots a concussive blast at them from her gauntlets.  "Seein' stars, yet?"

Hostages.  Gotta find the hostages.  Where are the- She turns around and sees a handful of people tied up.  ...Oh.  She grabs a shooting star and uses it as a knife to try and cut away at their bindings.  "Hi.  Don't mind me.  Just saving your life.  Feel free to send me a Christmas card or something."

The gunman was blown back over a hostage from the concussion shots. He skid to a stop not too far away and looked dazed for the moment. The regenerator was getting up from his tazering as his ability kicked in. Too slowly however to stop Liberty from untieing the hostages friom the groups. Most looked at her with a dumb look that fear/ helplessness gave some people, but a few understood what she was doing and tried to be helpful. Once they were free, they all began to make a break for the doorway. The regenerator lashed out and grabbed one of them, holding them unsteadily as he backed away from liberty

Reg: "B-Back off or the man gets it! I swear I'll... I'll break his neck if I have to."

Both the regenerator and the hostage looked scared. In fact it was harder to tell which one was more frightened. Would the reg actually break the hostages neck? Could he even do it with those scrawny muscles of his? How much was Liberty willing to risk?

**************************

Jeisen was having fun on his own with the other three. He was a calm in a storm of bodies, maneuvering around the three meta human robbers with relative ease. He would counter a speedsters blow, turn the brusier in the way of ice blasts and just causing general mayhem between the three. All the while, he was keeping an eye on Liberty across the room and his own hostage he was trying to rescue. If he could do this right, he could get the hostage away easily and finally put a stop to these would be robbers.

In a midst the flurry of bodies, Jeisen planted a small mark on all three of the metas around him, letting him teleport to them when needed. It could be a key difference later if things got serious.

Liberty looks over her shoulder at the fidgety little man and his hostage.  ...Wow.  This is either really bad or really... REALLY pathetic.  She sighs and subtly presses a button on her belt with her back to him.  Then she turns around and holds out her hands.  "Okay.  Okay, buddy.  You win.  Look, see?  No fists.  You don't need to do anything drastic.  I'm not gonna hit ya.  I promise," she says.

She looks to the hostage.  "No worries, mister.  He's not gonna hurt'cha."

All the while she walks around them before sitting on one of the desks.  What happens next is a barrage of noise, drowned out by the gunfire over in Jeisen's fight.  Liberty's Star Cycle crashes through the door, racing inside toward the healer and the hostage.  Using that chaos as a distraction, she rushes the healer to tear the hostage away from him before the bike hits.  Hey. I said *I* wouldn't hit him.

Nolan flaoted down next to liberty as the bike rested on the healer. He zapped the guy with a jury rigged tazer. The man jolted but stayed down. The bike was a good move, took the man compeltly by surprise. Nolan beemed at liberty

Nolan: "Lookkk I'm helping! Oh, ma'am..."

The gun man was back on his feet and had found a gun again. He was pointing it right at liberty from behind...

******

Jeisen continued his little dance of speed. Every step brought him closer to the hostage till finally he saw his chance. He slid under neath the big guys punch to the hostage and threw on his anti gravity device. Now with minimal effort, Jeisen grabbed and slide the hostage out of harms way down the corridor. A small handspring backwards and Jeisen was now facing the trio of the ice user, big man and speedster who all looked a little worse for wear by  now. He grinned underneath his helm as he pointed both his guns at them. Before they could go back at it though... the roof was torn off in a violent motion from above. In the now gaping whole, a helicopter flew above them just like it had in London. The ice user had been waiting for this and threw up a massive wall of ice just as Jeisen acted to stop him. With the element of surprise, the ice user managed to edge out Jeisen in the draw. '

**********

The gunman stared at liberty, ignoring the helicopter above him. He brought the hammer back, but before he could fire, a small man appeared out of thin air behind him.

Tele: "Sorry to spoil your fun, but our ride is here. Time to go!"

With a jerk and a loud bang, all three of the meta humans near liberty were gone.

*********

Jeisen could only watch as the wall of ice grew higher up to the helicopter before suddenly collapsing. The trio he had been fighting were now gone, having escaped up into the helicopter. Jeisen just sighed and snapped both of his guns back into their wrist bands. Least the group had been stopped this time.

"Good work, drone-y.  I'd give ya a high five, but... well..."  The little drone notices something.  Liberty sees the gunman over her shoulder.  "Oh..."  She gathers a few shooting stars between her fingers in one hand.  All right.  Subject favors his left.  Optimal evasion means dive right, 75 degrees.  Witnessed gunmanship skill, combined with physical condition suggests, at maximum, two-point-five seconds before second firing attempt.  Throw two stars to distract second round of fire.  Save Electro-Star to disable gun while subject is distracted.  Strike left knee to destabilize.  Knock aside weapon and, as subject falls, hammer fist the back of his skull.  Subject should fall face first with a seventy-two percent chance of a broken nose.  The drone can taze him and we can call it a day.  Chance of success?  About 50/50.  Fun.  Liberty makes one motion to get ready.  Suddenly, though, this man appears and, as quickly as he arrives, he's gone, having whisked away all the other perps as well.

"What the heck?"

She turns to Jeisen and approaches him.  "Sooo... I think we won.  Well, sort of.  Good work everybody.  Let's pack it up and I'll scan the city surveillance systems to see if I can find 'em."  She whistles and her bike drives up to her.  Then she notes Jeisen.  "Well, you don't look happy."

Jeisen blinked behind his helm as the girl made a comment about how he looked. He looked to his right, wondering how the hell she was seeing his face before he realized he had just sighed out loud. He gave a shrug before looking back up at the hol from which the gang had escaped through.

Jeisen: "Just a little mad at myself for not capturing them this time. This is the second time I've fought these robbers. This time went a bit better, thanks to you."

Jeisen turned to Liberty and held out his hand. An unusual gesture, but from what he head read about her in the newspapers and seeing her in action here, Jeisen felt that he could trust her.

Jeisen: "Thank you for your help... Liberty right? I'm...."

Nolan quickly cut him off from over his shoulder- : "I'm Nolan! Northern Overwatch Lurker Analytic Network!"

Jeisen sighed again