A rescue arrives, but it's a little rough around the edges...

Despite the fact that all three of you are new, after what you've already been through tonight, the appearance of the four armed lowlives is greeted by the three heroines prseent (including you) with mutters of annoyance rather than gasps of fear. "Are you kidding me? There's so many thugs and thieves in this city that seeing one group of thugs leaving a place is enough by itself to attract more?"

"Hey," one of them says, pointing to you. "I recognize that one. That's Lickety-Split Lynn! See, Matty?" he says to the guy who seems to be in charge. "I told you it was smart to stay away from trying to shake down little places on the waterfront for a few weeks. These camera-chasing super girls always get bored and wander off to go pick a fight with somebody flashier, if you just lay low for a while when they're running around your turf."

"Yeah, and what good is that gonna do?" the third one is a bulky one who looks like 'muscle', wearing overalls and a wifebeater, asks. "There's so damn many of them this year that as soon as some of them leave, more are gonna come around. Who's the one with the weird hair?"

You turn towards Wushu Panda with her silly, elaborate 'braided rings on either side of her head' hairstyle and smirk. "I think he's talking about you, Panda."

"Yeah, that was it." the lead criminal says, rubbing his chin. "Wushu Panda. The one who got the cops to put in a searchlight with her symbol on it, and shine it into the sky when there's 'trouble'. These chicks get more and more creative with their gimmicks, huh? So, what should I do with you three ladies?"

"How about 'let us go and hope we have more important things to do?" Magik Knight says with a confident smirk. "I cannot even see through this duct tape, but just by hearing you speak I think I can tell you are not worth our time. So untie us, and you can have your filthy, rat-infested warehouse back and we won't bother if you want to hold yourselves a little discount auction on whatever else those villains left behind. It's fair, yes?"

"Oh," 'Matty', the one in the cheap suit standing up in front, grins, showing his cigarette-stained teeth. "You don't like the warehouse? Not to worry. We'll go ahead and take you somewhere much more comfortable. As for the whole 'untying' thing, let's have ourselves a talk and discuss it when we get there."

Your exhausted body feels another surge of fear-driven adrenaline as the petty crooks close in around you, grabby hands outstretched. "You dumbasses. Even tied up, you should know better than to swagger up to the likes of us! You don't even count as a warm up! I'll lick you good with just half of my strength! Good thing Dee didn't realize how pointless it was, hog-tying me like this!" You concentrate and focus on activating your power again.

Much to your delight, you're finding that like exercising a muscle, splitting yourself is getting easier every time you do it. It barely hurts at all this time. "Ha!" you say as a copy of you divides off and ends up laying next to you. "Now I'll... We'll..."

You glance over at the well-endowed,short-haired blonde babe now laying next to you, a.k.a. Lynn #2. She's.... tied up and covered in ropes and duct tape, just like you are.

"Oh hell/shit". both of you say in chorus. You're briefly curious about how the copies you make of yourself have slightly different reactions to the same situation as you do, even if it's just a different choice of words. But that curiosity is soon drowned in disappointment as you realize splitting any further will just make the problem worse.

The criminals are suitably impressed, though. "Wow! Did she just make herself a sister? And here I was thinking she was already perfect." another of the thugs, a younger guy wearing a leather jacket, says. "9.5 to a 10! I've never heard of a hero who could do that before." As much as you hate to admit it, even if it's coming from extremely ill-intentioned villains, you're incredibly flattered that finally someone has complimented you for your powers, for the first time since you got to this damn city.

"Heheh... normally, I'd complain that now we have 4 we have to carry instead of 3." the one who spoke reaches down anad grabs Lynn #2, hoisting her over his shoulder as she curses and struggles. "but when sexy girls in skimpy costumes are the cargo, I don't mind-"

Before he can get any further, there's a crash from up above.... near one of the skylights. "Hey!" a man's voice shouts from above it. In sharp contrast to the swaggering smugness and lasciviousness of the criminals, this new voice is sharp and indignant. "Get your hands in the air and step away from the girls! Right now! I mean it!"

From the ladder leading down from up a dark-haired, sallow skinned young man with a semi-automatic pistol drawn has been climbing down. He's now hanging onto the ladder with one hand and aiming at the thugs with the other.

"Who the fuck is that?" one of Matty's bodyguards asks. "Police?"

"No way," Matty himself says. "They know not to come here on their own. Hey, junior!" he shouts at the man on the ladder. "Why don't you get the hell out of here and forget you saw anything? This is none of your business! And you better keep it that way unless you want to wash up on the shore in a few days, you get me?" he shouts back, confident in their numbers.

Sure enough, the guy up above you looks scared. The gun is trembling a little in his hand. Despite the height advantage, he can't move clinging to a ladder like that. Was he expecting these thugs to just give up, despite having him outnumbered 4 to 1? Your breath catches. "Oh shit," you say. "He might not know they're packin' iron! Hey, mister-!" you start to shout...

...but before you can, you hear an even deeper voice from behind you, out of your field of vision. "Forget about a few days, asshole. You're not gonna live to see tomorrow afternoon if any a' your hands goes anywhere near your jackets."

"Wha?!" the big guy in the overalls impulsively turns around. He doesn't seem to like whatever he sees behind you. "Oh, shit!"

The deep voice comes from behind you. "You may wanna lie down, ladies." There is a noisy sound of a gun cocking. "And you three supers, too."

Magik Knight flops down against the floor immediately. You see Lynn #2 do likewise. Since your own self is doing it, you figure you should do the same, and throw yourself down on your side.

As the rest of Matty's gang starts to turn around, a monstrous staccato rattle resounds of the warehouse walls, and a series of bright flashes illuminates the darkness. With superhuman hearing like yours, you can appreciate the hiss of bullets passing right over you as somebody sweeps an automatic weapon over the four hapless criminals. Rather than turn and fight, they start running in every direction. Judging by the agonized howling after the initial fusillade, at least one of those bullets found its mark - you see one of the indistinct figures fleeing into the gloom stagger and nearly fall, his run changing to an uncoordinated stumble.

"Hmm," the voice from before sounds behind you again. "he's still moving after one. I need to find a decent place in this city to get hollow-points," he says in as casual a tone as if noting that the tires on his car were running low. "Good work getting those guys' attention, Daisaku, but Christ! You shoulda got off the ladder first!" he shouts up, as the man on the ladder wearing the suede jacket starts clambering down sheepishly.

"Oh hey, where's my manners." your rescuer(?) adds with a chuckle. "Sorry if I gave you girls an ear-ache. When piece of crap punks don't follow my suggestions, it makes my finger itch like hell."

"Who..." you finally manage to say, struggling anew against your bindings, "who are you fellas? The police?"

"Ehhhh... not exactly." The guy in the jacket, 'Daisaku' apparently, looks a little embarrassed by that question as he walks up and begins cutting Wushu Panda's bindings.