748/Bank Robbery!

Bank Robbery!
Date of Scene:	05 October 2014
Location:	Brockton Bay
Synopsis:	The Undersiders rob a bank in Brockton Bay, with a new member at their side. Several Elites show up to stop them..or assist them.
Thanks to:	To everyone who showed up! I had a blast GMing this!
Cast of Characters:	353, 513, 518, Zero Kiryu, 569, 587

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Taylor Hebert (587) has posed:
OCTOBER 5TH, SOMETIME O'CLOCK
BROCKTON BAY, CENTRAL BANK

Brockton Bay's Central Bank is the largest bank in the city, and is usually crowded during normal days. Today's no exception.

Except for the fact that the bank is currently being robbed, a sort of black darkness covering much of the inside lobby of the bank, including around the windows, making it difficult to see exactly what is going on in there from the outside. A group of five robbers have taken the bank, with the identities of four of them known around Brockton Bay. Grue, the 'leader' of the Undersiders, is inside the bank, using his abilities to create a dark veil to cover the hostages inside the bank, both blinding and deafening them whilst they're inside the darkness. Tattletale, 'ops', is in the process of cracking the bank's computer, whilst Regent and Bitch, known by the media as 'Hellhound', are in the vault, filling bags with cash.

And then there's the fifth individual, one almost completely unknown except by a couple of individuals. Taylor Hebert, who still hasn't come up with a codename, is in the vault as well, assisting with the money bagging. She has quite a swarm of bugs with her, dispersed around the crowd inside the shadows, allowing Taylor to feel every single person inside there and know what they're doing. Three large dogs, about the size of rhinos, are behind the bank, awaiting for their master, and also providing a good back guard. They're covered in misshapen bone, flesh, and muscle, and don't look friendly. They give off the mood that if you get anywhere near them, they'll try and eat you.

A passerby notices the darkness through the bank windows, quickly dialing the Protectorate hotline. This isn't good.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Where crime strikes, where people cry out for justice, where money is being unwillingly taken from its leader, Laer will be there! Mostly to strike criminally, do injustice, and get paid, of course. In this particular case, she was simply bored, and her boredom has led to tracing down the signal that had been broadcast out.

    It's not terribly far from the bank that she steps out of a portal, and she's rather rapidly able to track down where the bank in question is. Not that she's planning on immediately interfering, or anything of that sort. Rather, she's going to fold her arms, waiting to see just who else shows up, or when the robbers might come out.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
Bitter Medicine is not the most ideal first responder one could ask for--reasons to be seen. Fresh out of the vats as of last night, he's sporting his threat engagement charms and looking for something to use them on. Thus, when the call goes out, he doesn't hesitate to take off. A stark contrast to the brighter colors of Brockton's heroes, the regulator flies through the air, dark purple jets of plasma sprouting from the soles of his boots.

     He touches down just outside of the bank, looking around for any local law enforcement. From there, he'll identify himself (as a cape from out of town, of course) and request information about the villains inside the bank. The darkness inside the bank gives him an idea, of course, but it never hurts to have all the information before you engage.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    "It's okay, because that Arms-master guy - who said that any heroes reported to him... Is being detained!" One shadow speaks to another up on a roof, a highschool girl's voice commenting to an ostensibly hidden second individual, before she stands up, a cape billowing heroically behind her.

    "I'm just glad Hanabusa could help me with this selfish request. I hope I can figure out how fix my hair after, but... I'm sure it's possible!" Comes a bright, hopeful voice, before the figure hops off of the tall building near the bank, falling down to the ground with a great billowing cloak, to land lightly on the street.

    Yuuki Kuran is dressed... As a classic vampire. Fancy flowing coat over a long black dress, ruffled neck thing, and a big black-on-the-outside red-on-the-inside cloak. Short cropped white hair and a domino mask round out her costume.

    "I'm here to help!" She calls, pointing at the bank.

    It's probably dumb as hell and stupid looking, because she has no idea how capes work, but her and her shenanigans are visible from the street.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Oh well. She signed up for this Union thing, so being a bit heroic without half an idea of what's going on culturally seems about par for the course! JUST KIDDING. Finna's not sure what a bank is, but robbery is not cool, and Bitter Medicine's heading out so she's interested enough to lend a hand.

    PAY NO ATTENTION AT ALL TO THE HUMMINGBIRD that's zipping about the bank's doors and windows, looking for an entrance it can squeeze through...

Zero Kiryu has posed:
    There is a young man with Yuuki, and he has bothered only to costume himself moderately. A plain white mask partially conceals his face and eyes, and in all other things he is dressed normally. Zero Kiriyu would look incredibly cranky if more of his face was visible, and if the truth must be told, he doesn't like operating in Armsmaster's territory. The man had started a pissing match with Tony Stark the last time he'd encountered him, and the whole scenario had soured his thoughts on this area. He really doesn't want to get into it with somebody who should be an ally.

    "If you can't get it fixed, it's your own fault. This is an unnecessary level of detail." He complains to Yuuki, jumping after her with ease. There are some things that Yuuki is capable of that he just can't physically handle, but falls from lethal heights aren't one of them. It's just easier to jump down than it is to find the stairs or something.

    He seems uneasy with this entire situation, and doesn't even have his weapon out right now. After all, he's just here to protect Yuuki, and though he can sense several people who are 'more-than-human', they certainly don't appear on his radar as monsters exactly.

    There is no mistaking Zero Kiriyu for anybody or anything but Zero Kiriyu with a thin mask on.

Taylor Hebert (587) has posed:
There's a few policemen pulling up nearby, and they're open to Bitter Medicine's questions, they don't want to have to deal with this! While they're not sure who is in there, the darkness fits the description of a guy named 'Grue', a darkness generator. Rumor has it he's with some supervillain group, but not much known about him. One of them thought he saw a giant dog earlier, though, but wasn't sure; weird shit happens all the time around here.

Laer is paid mind by civilians, but no one approaches her. She's not familiar, and most people won't get involved with capes, not even the cops want to deal with them. That's what the Protectorate's for.

Whilst the hummingbird isn't noticed, the two unfamiliar capes are noticed outside by Grue! He's immune to his own ability, as he moves out of the darkness, shouting out to his partners-in-crime. "We got capes. Don't recognize them, but they're here. We need to get a move on!" Tattletale speaks from behind the computer, still working with it. "Give me five minutes. Stall them, if you have to.". Grue moves closer to the door, ready in case of a frontal assault.

Meanwhile, Regent, Bitch, and Taylor begin to move their bags out to the back, attaching them to Brutus. Bitch is wearing a plastic rottweiler mask, but it doesn't matter; her identity is public for anyone who searches for it, Rachel Lindt, murderer with an extensive history. She mounts Judas, Regent following after her, and whistles, causing Judas and Angelica to leap forward and start to dash around and towards the front of the bank.

Taylor moves back inside, to cover Grue. She leaves a few bugs on Brutus and the money as an alarm, and then frowns underneath her mask.

Well, this is going to be more violent than she wanted.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     The Alchemical opens the door of a nearby police cruiser. If these are anything like regulator dropships, they have some sort of PA system... There's the flight control, the speed gauge, the magnetic clamps... ah, here it is. Click.

     "Attention subversives. Cease all criminal activity or face the wages of your dissidence. You have five seconds to comply."

     Incidentally, five seconds is exactly how long it takes an Aztec kung-fu cyborg traveling at sixty miles an hour to crash through a set of double doors! Those purple jets of plasma burn brightly in the bank, but are they enough to counteract Grue's power of darkness manipulation?

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer looks up at the sudden booming sound of the PA, a small smile coming to the elf's face. She does look a little like someone in costume, even if it's just leather armor, rather beat up. And the ears.

    Oh, and the guitar across her back.

    She'll glance over towards one of the police officers, flashing a badge of her own - if he's really, really paying attention, he just might spot that she's a Colonel with the Confederacy. "Hey. You. How much money do they keep in that bank, anyway?"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki... Erm, no. DRACULINA!... Is mostly ignored or kept away from by the cops, which... Well, honestly she's fine with. She actually pauses, letting her pointing finger and her public declaration go unanswered beyond the 'villains' preparing themselves. She doesn't smell any blood, and with Zero besides her...

    "H-hey, uh... What's your 'cape' name?" Yuuki asks, resisting strongly saying her bodyguard's name. "I can't call you by your real name, you know!" She huffs, before looking out with glowing red eyes from behind her domino mask, not bothering to restrain herself... For the show!

    Then Bitter Medicine plasma-powered-charges the front of the building, causing her to blink and look left and right. "Um... erm... Right! EVILDOERS!" She calls, before just sort of walking sheepishly in the wake of Bitter Medicine, towards the 'front ranks' of the Undersiders.

    "Are we just going to fight them? Should we defend people? Will... Will Bloody Rose work on normal humans?"

Zero Kiryu has posed:
    "If you have to call me something else, just call me Bodyguard. But to be frank, I don't care if they know who I am. I'm not from around here and I don't intend to do anything about them." Zero responds to Yuuki, bluntly. He follows after her still, but his gun doesn't come out. A glance at him would reveal he's sniffing at the air, but he doesn't seem all that troubled by what he does smell. There's nothing to be concerned about to begin with, and this isn't the kind of conflict that he is used to presiding over. This is, after all, Yuuki's show.

    He nods towards the bank, "I believe these beings are abnormal enough for Bloody Rose to function, but I won't raise it against them. They are taking from a business, but they've shed no blood, and operating at my maximum combat parameters doesn't make any sense in these circumstances. It would escalate the situation to no end."

    "As far as I'm concerned, the only one who has any responsibility to do anything here is the bank's insurance company." Another incredibly blunt statement. Zero gazes into the darkness of the front of the bank, as Bitter Medicine makes his move. He wanders closer, not out of any intent to actually interfere just yet, but to see how it plays out against that darkness.

Finna (513) has posed:
    There's really nothingg much that Finna can do here so far. But with Bitter Medicine 'opening' a way in, the little Lunar flits up to the ceiling and sort of zips along it, shapeshifting into a bat midair. Why a bat? Why, because bats are very good at seeing with their ears instead of their eyes.

    Which means she finds a perch and starts 'pinging' the area to build a mental map of where everything is... this darkness is pretty troublesome, and there are much bigger people on the scene. She'll figure out where she fits soon enough.

    If not, at least she'll how these people operate. And can maybe pursue anyone who tries getting away...

Taylor Hebert (587) has posed:
The cops don't do anything when Bitter Medicine uses the PA system. He's a cape, they're not interfering. When Laer approaches, one of them looks at her badge. He doesn't recognize it, but she looks like a cape..probably out of town. "Uh..no idea. Quite a bit, it's the largest bank in the city. If these guys get away, they're going to have quite a haul all together.".

The criminal activity does not cease on Bitter Medicine's command. The doors are easily crushed, but the darkness inside is blinding both vision and sound. Except for something odd. Bitter Medicine and his plasma are able to create a gap in the darkness where the plasma hits, causing Grue to take a quick step back and out of the way as he continues to emit more darkness out of his hands, firing it at Bitter Medicine. The plasma continues to phase through it temporarily, but he's hoping he might be able to send BM off balance.

Taylor's moving towards Tattletale, allowing Grue to attempt to hold off Bitter Medicine for now. The hostages aren't moving; they're remaining down and quiet until this is all over. Tattletale takes a glance at Bitter Medicine, before remarking loudly so Taylor and Grue can hear her. "Something's screwing with the darkness, might be the plasma coming from his boots, but I'm not sure! Something's off, I don't recognize him."

Out back, the rhino-sized bone-dogs Judas and Angelica finally make their way to the front, Bitch on Judas and Regent on Angelica, Regent holding very tightly because these dogs don't have saddles and are very bumpy vehicles, leading him to leap off once they reach the front. Bitch, however, just whistles, sending Judas (with her still on him) and Angelica lunging at Yuuki and Zero respectively. They're mostly normal dogs, except they're huge, super strong, super durable, super fast, and are covered in bone, flesh, and muscle. Yup, normal dogs.

Finna might have a bit of trouble with the darkness; it's not just blinding, it's /deafening/. She'll be able, if she tries, to withstand it, but it's clearly not normal darkness, screwing with sight, sound, /and/ touch.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     This darkness is troublesome, but not the end of the story for Bitter Medicine. The time for warnings is over. The time for playing nice is over. The Alchemical reaches for Voidbane, scowling. Then he stops. 'Pull your punches,' said Armsmaster at the briefing a while back.

     Those who do not kneel will be knelt. Bitter Medicine activates his Chemical Fog Generator and begins pumping the lobby full of acrid white smoke. Tear gas billows from his body like burning rain clouds. Well... hopefully the hostages can crawl out.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer nods to the officer, and makes her way a bit apart from where any of the officers are standing, lifting a hand up, a bubble appearing in it. She'll whisper something into the bubble, which then floats off into the bank and the darkness. It will find a central position within the bank, and, with a pop...

    "I'm bored, and this looks entertaining. When you're ready to ask for help, my fee is half plus one. Ask for Laer on local radio."

    One what? She's not actually familiar with the local currency, but it's more about keeping score for her, anyways. Fitting these things into twenty five words was hard sometimes!

Finna (513) has posed:
    The moment a really funny-smelling SOMETHING that's irritating her eyes and nose gets released, Finna evacuates the building by going out the same hole she came back in through just plain memory. AFTER slamming head-first into the hole's rim and a few stray bricks, anyways. Back into the light again goes the bat, who promptly twists about in midair and shifts back into human form. Chances are a few people might be noticing her fox features, but only the magically-sighted will see her tattoos.

    "Pwegh...augh... that stuff..." This is what she gets for not coordinating, apparently. Oh well, she's not that vulnerable to such simple compounds.

    But this is confounding. How's she supposed to operate when she can't even tell where she is, what's around, or anything else needed for basic navigation? "That's a crafty trick... gonna have to hand it to the guy who's behind this sorcery! It's doing the job." She remarks irritably.

    For the moment, she just circles around the building for any other ways in, maybe a glimpse of anything happening inside. She'll be disappointed on the latter though, for sure.

Zero Kiryu has posed:
    Now, when he had come here Zero had absolutely no intention of getting involved. He's simply not somebody who is inclined to escalate to violence when no violence is occurring. This changes rapidly when some gigantic creatures that could approximately be called dogs ride out after them with a girl riding upon their back. Their intent is clear, and he doesn't need to wait to react to them. His hand rises and plunges into his coat, and a moment later he withdraws a dinky ass handgun that doesn't look like it could possibly rise to the challenge of those beasts or Bitch. He fires it once to demonstrate its effects, deliberately missing both rider and mount.

    Not by a lot, but by enough that it's clear he missed on purpose.

    What issues forth is a high-powered pink burst of energy in an approximately cross shape. It could be belittled at a glance, but something like that is doubtless dangerous. It is also not the only thing the gun can do, but the vampire hunter takes no pains to demonstrate its other properties. This enemy will be vulnerable to them once they actually close to range, a mistake that they are actively making by charging him.

    "Only warning." Zero advises Bitch, as she and her beasts close in and lunge. The warning is delivered in time for her to abort the attack if she wants, but...

    If she follows through, she will be at close range with this gunner. At a glance it would appear as if Zero is at a disadvantage here, but in truth his ability against close-range fighters who charge into his zone is enormous. That is not self-evident however, so it may not seem a credible warning at all.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki - 'Draculina' - nods to 'Bodyguard'. "Well... I guess that makes sense. But that makes it better as a debut, right? If we want to be capes in this town, a situation where nobody is going to get hurt and... And..."

    She's lost in thought as she walks across the way, a confident stride that's made almost majestic by her costume billowing and frilling and being quite... Well, imposing and regal!

    Then she gets taken to the ground, being landed upon by a lunging dog, pinned for now under the weight of Judas.

    Freshly shampooed mega superdog. She just sort of lays under it, looking up with her glowing red eyes.

    "Erm... Please get off me?" She asks, politely. She doesn't want to hurt a dog! Even a horrible murder-dog. The smell of it, that of a dog 'cared for' gives her the impression it is someone's precious friend. Even if it is monstrous.

Taylor Hebert (587) has posed:
The cops pause and step back when Laer does her magic. Give her space! The Undersiders inside stare at the bubble, but make no response to it just yet. They're busy being tear gassed, with Grue moving back towards Skitter and Tattletale to try and avoid it.

Around the back, Finna will notice a huge ass dog, with bags of money on his back. Brutus wants to get in on the action, but master told him no, the money might get damaged, so he stays here.

Giving Bitch 'warnings' is not a good idea. Instead of scaring her off, it makes her temper worse. Snarling, she yells out. "Fuck you!". Judas seems to be charging faster at Zero, whilst Angelica begins to gnarl at Yuuki, chomping at her. She's not trying to kill her, her master only gave her the 'grievously injure' command. She only knows two attack commands. Sadly, that's the less lethal one.

Regent moves around towards Zero, raising his scepter-free hand, and swiping his arm sideways. He's attempting to use his ability against Zero to trip him, but even he's not sure if it will work; this group seems to have something up their sleeves to use against them!

With a mental command, Skitter's bugs on the hostages attempt to swarm Bitter Medicine, but the tear gas isn't making this very easy. After a brief glance from Grue and Tattletale, she looks up to the bubble, before using the headset in her mask to contact on the radio. A teenaged girl's voice comes over.

"You have a deal."

Zero Kiryu has posed:
    Zero is charged, and run down, and most likely bitten rather viciously... but he doesn't fall, and he doesn't yield. His strength is deceptively enormous and despite the weight leveraged against him he's plenty able to continue to stand and move. The difference in mass doesn't seem to be enough to overpower him. Compared to Yuuki he would be nothing, but even so he's still quite physically superhuman, and he's actually been eating lately. Matter of fact, Yuuki has provided at least a little of it, so he's stronger than he would ordinarily be. He looks up towards Bitch on her titanic mount of a dog, then towards the dog itself.

    Regent, however, finds much less traction. Attempting to issue orders that contradict Zero's own control over his body fails utterly. The feeling of it is like trying to force a mountain to its knees. By force of will alone, the contradiction is corrected almost instantly. It's an astoundingly unfair turnaround.

    "Girl."

    "I don't care about your bank robbery. I'm here protecting someone. Don't forget that this is the choice you made." Zero doesn't turn the gun on her. He doesn't need to -- she and her mounts charged right in. Metallic vines sprout like rapid-growth kudzu from the gun in his hand, coiling around his body... and around the body of Judas, who is currently getting ample opportunity to shred Zero pretty hard at close range.

    However.

    Those vines could tear a much stronger being than these dogs apart. They are made to slay immortals, and these dogs are 'merely' empowered beings of flesh and bone. They don't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down or ceasing growing, and the first of them snake out and begin hooking their thorns into Judas immediately. In theory it's avoidable, but -- not while Judas is still attacking the vampire hunter at close range. The more it grows, the more it's like trying to bite something through a god-killing rose bush. The price of attacking is, necessarily, having one's flesh torn and blood sucked by the vines.

Laer (353) has posed:
    "Alright, then." Laer says, moderately cheered up as she receives the confirmation of agreement. There were a few options for how to proceed, of course, but...

    For the moment, she'll simply start to walk in, using a minor song to try to clear the air. It doesn't work on darkness, but it works on tear gas, at least. She'll stop after a moment, trying to get some kind of sense for what might be going on, before calling out. "Hey. Do you simply want a way out, or are you wanting to fight? Because the way out is a lot easier."

    Laer hasn't made what could be called an actual move to help yet; she's just attempting to make plans. Hopefully involving the fact that she's able to portal. Portals are the best bank robbery escape vehicles.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Insects? A few of them do make it onto the Alchemical, enough to set his analytical mind pondering. This isn't a poor area of town. The buildings and faces here are clean. Therefore, the insect population should be under control... What if they are under control--i.e., taking orders? He scowls. Foolish girl must think he's a villain. "Stop with the bugs. I'm a cape," he shouts.

     He can barely hear anything over the coughing, between the mortals and the Elites, so he shouts again, this time to a real ally. "Finna! Evacuate the mor--" Mortals won't work. "Help the huma--" That won't work either. Frustratedly, he shouts, "REMOVE NONCOMBATANTS!" The lobby, by this point, is well and truly full of tear gas, so he deactivates his plasma thrusters and begins walking through the bank, hands outstretched to try and detect either walls or hostiles.

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Oho?" Finding a dog with huge bags that look pretty heavy out back, and guessing this isn't normal for the area (has anyone else seen big, laden dogshanging around danger zones?) Finna approaches... some would say, fearlessly approaches. She's not bothered by a dog, no matter how fierce it might be.

    She does keep some distance - about ten feet - and crouches down. What follows is... she just speaks, but her words are carried by Essence. The dog will understand them just fine.

    "Are you waiting for someone?"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    While Zero goes total ham on his giant beast-dog, the dog mauling Yuuki gets its teeth in her and manages to tear at her, fouling up her cape and dress and body and bleeding all over. Her 'sweet' blood - to beings that draw any sort of power out of it, or simply like the taste of people - stains the dog's teeth as she struggles lightly.

    Then she closes her eyes, even as she cries out in pain, and a horrible wave of lethally aimed kinetic force blasts out from her outwards, potentially 'blowing up' the dog, but most likely freeing her without 'killing' the beast. Not that she knows the trick to the dogs, but past a point 'blow up the thing trying to kill me' is pretty simple and instinctual.

    She struggles to her feet, her wounds already closing and her ruined clothes covered in holes and dogslobber. "Ewwwww..." She breathes, sitting up, looking around with a decent measure of panic.

    "Z... Bodyguard, are you okay?" She calls, heeding his safety before hers.

    The dog, try as it might, couldn't /actually/ kill her. It /could/ kill Zero.

Taylor Hebert (587) has posed:
As Bitter Medicine speaks, Taylor begins to recognize him. He was the cape with Armsmaster. Meaning he knows she's actually a hero. Meaning oh god this is bad. Tattletale perks her head up from the computer at his specific words, but, doesn't say anything. She's pieced something together..but seems like she doesn't want to share. She finishes with what she's doing on the computer, before speaking up. "Done. We'll take a way out.", she speaks towards Laer. "We have two allies out front, one with a scepter, and one with a pair of dogs. There's a third dog out back, he has the cash."

SPEAKING OF BRUTUS. As Finna approaches, he snarls, very angrily. He barks, but Finna likely can translate his meanings. "Get away! This belongs to my master! I'll hurt you!". It seems that if Finna makes another step, Brutus is going to lunge. If he gets the chance to, anyways.

Bitch growls as her and Judas are entangled in the metal vines. She looks like she wants to keep fighting, but Regent, panicking under his mask after his ability completely fails to work at all, shouts out to her. "Call off the dogs! Call them off! He's going to /kill them/!"

It's with Yuuki's attack against Angelica that Bitch finally shouts out. "Fine! Let us go! This isn't over, fucker!". She's seething mad, but it seems she cares more about her dogs than the fight, as with a whistle, Judas stops struggling.

As Angelica gets up, she snarls at Yuuki, but with Bitch's command, doesn't move either. Doesn't stop snarling either, though. She's a very nice dog.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer tilts her head at that request. "I can give you one portal, and it's going to be from here. Get your allies to fall back, please." She's not terribly worried about Bitter Medicine, or about being recognized, given that she's very much well known and all.

    "Oh, also, keep them from bothering me. It takes a minute or two." She'll start into a song from there, trying to rip open a portal to one of her own safe havens - in this case, probably somewhat inconveniently, a temple to herself on Afterus. Of course, that's trusting that noone bothers to stop her, and that all of the robbers (most importantly, the one with the cash) make it to her location...

Zero Kiryu has posed:
    If not for the help of Bloody Rose, Zero would have had to be much more clever than he was to defeat these dogs. They're superhuman enough to give him trouble, and letting one charge him like that would normally be a bad idea. He can, in fact, still die from ordinary injuries. It would still take a lot from creatures like this, but they could do it. As it is, he's bleeding quite badly where the dog bit him along the shoulders and arms. The puncture wounds would be fatal to a normal person, but on close inspection they've started to slowly close up. Relatively speaking, anyway. The injuries are still quite bad, even for a vampire, but they're still recoverable.

    "I'll live." He answers Yuuki. Zero is not letting this girl charge him with her dogs if he meets her like this again, though.

    Zero doesn't release the dog as anticipated, but he does relax the vine's grip on it. He moves slowly and deliberately around towards Regent, who is the one with the good sense to try to just resolve this without violence. Would've been better if he'd been doing the talking in the first place. By the time the Vampire Hunter approaches Regent, his eyes can be seen glowing a brilliant red behind his mask. He looks at the young man appraisingly.

    "Your teamwork is good. I want to talk to you all later." He says, reaching into his coat pockets with a free hand. Zero Kiriyu flicks a business card towards Regent, and it gets enough airtime to get caught if Regent is decently speedy. There's no trick there-- the vines begin to recede from around the great dog, letting it loose. A gesture to show that he's good for not being a dick.

    Zero looks towards the bank. "You didn't hurt anybody in there, you work well together, and you care about the beings you work with... even the animals." He observes. That seems to be all he has to say about the matter.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     This is going nowhere fast. Someone is using some sort of countermagic to dispel his Charm. There goes his plan to smoke these dissidents out. His patience for this entire encounter is waning, quickly. "What are you doing? Help or get out," he shouts to Taylor. The darkness prevents him from seeing where the exit is. No door? Make door. One more activation of his Plasma Thruster Assembly sends him crashing through the roof of the bank.

     Taking to the skies, the Alchemical hovers several hundred feet above it. Unless there's a sewer exit or some fantastic spell at their disposal, they're going to have to leave it sometime, and that's when he'll strike. Of course, this high up, he notices the fight between Zero, Yuuki, Regent, and 'Hellhound.'

     One rat in the hand is worth two in the ventillation shaft, as they say back home. Let's see here. The two people in dramatic masks appear to be fighting the two on the dogs. Hellhound must be the one in the cheesy store-bought rottweiler mask, which makes the other one... "Regent." Unaware of any agreements made with Zero, the Alchemical makes a beeline for the Undersider, purple jets of plasma leaving a trail of ash in their wake. He stretches a hand out. At the last minute, he banks--cessation of hostilities?

     The Alchemical touches down next to Zero, arms crossed. "You're letting these dissidents go?"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki dusts herself off, looking at the dogs as they snarl and back off, Zero having driven off his attacker and the masked 'Regent' calling the whole deal off. For her part, she pulls an toothmarked and bloody and slobbered cravat from her front off, wiping off her face a bit before stuffing it away in a pocket on her fancy vest, looking quite worse for wear clothing wise, but even after a few moments her wounds have closed and her body returned to a 'normal' state.

    "Bodyguard, um..." She begins, but Zero is tossing his business card at Regent, and the attack has been called off. So she just shrugs. "I guess we're not going to be very good capes today... Oh well. Today I'll go with what you want, Bodyguard." 'Draculina' replies, glancing at his dog-created wounds and frowning.

    "Um, well, I think because nobody got hurt, we'll let the insurance take care of it? Fighting could endanger people, and things could be far worse. It's better if we fight them later, when we can do it without complications!" She explains, before hurrying to Zero's side, offering her left wrist to him with a little grin. "Well then, my thrall, you can accept your reward for your service!" She titters, with a little grin.

    She treats the whole thing as a big joke, even as Bitter Medicine who had charged a bunch of villains and teargassed a bank full of captives... Well, they were pretty extreme. Honestly, she didn't want /anyone/ to go all out in these circumstances.

    "Like this it's okay, right?"

Zero Kiryu has posed:
    Zero Kiriyu is utterly exasperated with this entire situation. He is a Vampire Hunter, so by nature he simply has no interest in contesting the actions of other humans. In these circumstances, the value of violently shutting these kids down is incredibly low. Had they harmed the people inside, he would agree that apprehending them is ideal. As things are however, no such harm occurred. All escalations on their part simply increase the harm of the situation without increasing the gains on their part. From an objective standpoint, there is simply nothing to be gained by forcing the issue.

    "I am a Vampire Hunter, presently operating as a bodyguard. I hunt beasts who prey on humans, not humans who prey on businesses. My charge can suffer no lasting damage in these circumstances. In short, there is no reason for me to exercise my full strength and give these kids trouble." He says to Bitter Medicine, coldly.

    Zero focuses on Bitter Medicine properly and adds, "If I were not attacked, I wouldn't have acted at all."

    As for Yuuki, she gets a pointed look and a shake of his head. He might be a bit flushed there, but it's hard to tell. Either way, it's clear that he's rejecting /some/thing she just offered.

Finna (513) has posed:
    With all the commotion and confusion, Finna can really do nothing. Can't help the hostages, can't dispel the darkness, can't figure out what's happening inside... and all of the teargas and other things floating around in there is not to her liking.

    She sticks her tongue out at Brutus, and... LEAPS straight up onto the bank's wall, like some kind of lizard. yes, like a lizard, because she clings to the wall, UPSIDE down, right above whatever door the team's most likely to be coming out of.

    Yeah, she's up there, so unless Brutus can CLIMB WALLS, there's nothing he can do as Finna grins down at him... SOMEHOW clinging to the wall like a gecko.

Taylor Hebert (587) has posed:
Bitter Medicine is going to break Taylor's cover if she doesn't act, she's sure of it. She doesn't quite want to do this..but she has no choice. Any bugs still alive in the bank or on hostages, as well as much as she can get from the sidewalks and areas around Bitter Medicine begin to swarm towards him..before rushing at him. She steps out, shouting loudly. Her costume, if he recognizes it, is the same as the first time they met.

"You must be thinking of the wrong cape."

Grue shouts outside, towards Bitch and Regent. "We got an out! Come on!". Tattletale finishes what she's doing on the computer, before moving towards Laer and the others.

Regent accepts the card. He doesn't say anything, but he is feeling very lucky today. Bitch is still pissed off, but that's her default mode, as her, Regent, and the dogs rush back into the bank.

With a whistle from Bitch, Brutus hears a command to return. Finna's over the back door..so he leaps up high onto the wall, climbs right over, and leaps through the hole in the roof, landing just where he doesn't crush the others. The money's intact.

Grue speaks quickly to Laer. "We're all here, we got the cash, go!"

Laer (353) has posed:
    And as Grue speaks to her, the portal flairs open. It's theoretically possible for anyone to follow through for the next minute or so, but given that it's in Laer's Shadowy Temple rather than virtually anywhere less obviously sketchy, this may or may not help.

    Laer's the first one through it, in any case, and she'll have a business card in hand by the time the Undersiders step through. It's doublefaced, which isn't symbolic at all, with one side being for her contact information with the Syndicate, and the other with the Confederacy.

    She'll give the recruitment speech once everyone makes it through. As well as taking her cut.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Being swarmed by stinging insects has a negative effect on one's disposition. The Exalt disappears momentarily beneath a cloud of insects. He won't give these bastards the satisfaction of hearing any furious shouts. Clenching his hands so tightly as to create audible squeaking from his leather gloves, he activates his Chemical Fog Generator and flares his anima banner to its iconic level as pincers and mandibles irritate his flesh.

     Foul-smelling but harmless smoke belches forth from the vents in his body, obfuscating his form and hopefully dispelling his insect problem. As the sound of a factory press mingled with boots on a catwalk fills the air, a blue-black thundercloud looms over the Exalt, flashes of purple lightning visible within. Bitter Medicine /seethes./

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna's forced to think fast. If one of these people has some nebulous power to 'control insects,' then she doesn't want to tail them as something they might be able to innately sense. So she'll have to get creative in other ways. While still SOMEhow remaining perched on the wall, she once again adopts hummingbird form. The shift takes a few seconds, but leaves her flitting up to the hole that was just vacated and looking about rapidly. Just waiting for someone to come out!

Taylor Hebert (587) has posed:
Everyone leaps into the portal after Laer, except for Taylor. She waits a few seconds, before dispersing her bugs, and then walking through the portal. The Undersiders' reaction of the Shadowy Temple..is surprised. Laer's going to have to explain some things to them. Like the fact that there's a Multiverse outside their multiverse.

No one ever walks through the door Finna is perched above.