You get there mere minutes after the villains do!

Heroic will: Low

By the time you and Doc pull up, it is clear to anyone with eyes to see that something is very wrong at the Greenview bank. The large, upscale financial institution, complete with neoclassical fluted columns out front (a nigh-ubiquitous feature for any large public building here in Acropolis) had gotten a new addition tonight; namely, a new rectangular door right in the side that somebody had improvised with fire powers or a lot of thermite. The edges of the neatly sliced aperture were still glowing cherry red. Someone had beaten you there by minutes - it was all but certain that they were still inside.

You toss your helmet off and grab Dr. Rainbow in your arms, swinging her up and giving her an affectionate hug. "Yes! You chose the perfect night to come with me. Nightingale's legacy of planning-before-pugilism pays off in perpetuity!" Well, darn it - that had looked good on paper, but saying it out loud was just plain corny. Rainbow was the definition of an easy audience to please, though, and she nodded with eyes full of spirit, irises shifting from deep blue to purple and giving you a kiss on the cheek, for luck. You decided not to rub off the blue lipstick mark on your blushing cheek. Let the villains gawk.

Double-checking your utility belt, you note that you only had the materials for two of your ferrofluid "sticky shurikens", so you needed to make them count. That was ok - they should take down anything mechanized in one well-placed hit. Having a superheroine with (among other things) healing powers with you made you more confident that you could afford one or two nasty surprises in this but still win.

Just as you're feeling particularly confident that you have this gang's number, you step inside, and find yourself in a secure area just outside the vault door... and as you do, when your foot touches the floor, an alarm blares and red lights start flashing.

"Oh no!" Dr. Rainbow says, much too loudly - you'll need to have a talk with her about stealth. You turn and shoosh her, as if that'll do any good. Apparently the villains had some way of bypassing the pressure-sensitive floor that you didn't. Now they would know you were coming. The fact that the cops would be coming now wasn't any consolation - the absolute best you could hope for was that they'd slow the escaping villains down.

A red spot on the vault door caught your eye. "Dr. Rainbow, look! There's a hot spot on the vault door, seem something was melting its way into the steel. These people work fast - they can't have been here for more than 5 minutes. But the question is, where did th-"

With no warning (to Dr. Rainbow, at least) your right hand lashes out like a cobra and catches an oncoming invisible fist aimed right at your jaw. Catching a punch by the knuckles hurts, even with padded gloves like yours, but damn if it isn't intimidating to whoever was on the receiving end.

You give the invisible villainess who just tried to attack you a mocking whistle. "Come on now, Diamond. If it didn't work the first time, what made you think I was going to fall for it..." you punctuate your words with a devastating snap kick to the invisibility-suited woman's midsection. Suit flickering with static, she was sent sprawling backwards, struggling to catch her breath, "...after you've already tipped your hand?"

Before you can say anything else or feel too satisfied with yourself, the wall just to your right explodes into a shower of debris as a huge mechanical fist with a black 'clubs' suit symbol on it tried to grab you. You duck away from it just in time, and are grateful that you keep your hair short and that your costume, impractically sexy though it might be, doesn't include a cape.

A squeaky feminine voice was played over a speaker as a hulking set of power armor styled after a medieval knight finishes plowing through the wall to try and ambush you. "GET AWAY FROM MY SIS, BIRD BITCH!" At first you assume it's another villainess, but the voice deepens towards the end; it seems to be a male's voice prone to high pitched cracks.

While the right arm of the power-suit had an oversized hand, the left one ended in some kind of cannon with three barrels arranged in the shape of the clubs suit. Well, you had to admit - this gang had a good sense of style. No wonder so many thugs had been excited about the chance to hench for them.

"I've got this one, Rainbow!" Even as you toss off the confident statement, your hand is already drawing and hurling one of your sticky shurikens just as "Club-9" takes aim at you. The black projectile splatters on impact as if it were made of paint, and then magnetically bonds to the gun barrels.

With a shrill cry of rage, Club-9 charged at you and tried to tackle you. Getting fancy, you do a standing high jump and do the splits in midair so that he passes right underneath your barely-clothed ass. With a crash, the power-suited villain collides with another wall.

Another woman in a skin-tight suit appears. While Diamond-9 was on the chubby side, this girl - who was completely covered except for her straight, neck-length black hair - looked frankly anorexic, with visible ribs even through her jumpsuit. There is a symbol of a spade suit on her otherwise featureless outfit. She takes one look at you, and you gulp nervously, wondering if she is going to lunge for you from behind while Club charges again. Instead, she pulls out several objects that look like card decks from her belt and starts placing them around one side of the bank vault.

Well, that is certainly rude! If you're going to show up and confront the villains they can at least pause their robbery to deal with you. You make a note to punish her for her overconfidence.

Dr. Rainbow seems frozen up by the prospect of real combat. She stutters something, and sparks fly from her wand.

"The lollipop, the lollipop!!" you shout at your wavering partner. That finally gets her attention and she starts tracing her wand in a patter, using the power correctly this time.

There is a shuddering explosion behind you as Dr. Rainbow finally got round to throwing the attack you'd seen her practice earlier, and most of the rest of that wall collapses on the guy in the power armor. You didn't even need your spare sticky shuriken after all! "I'm sorry!" Dr. Rainbow shouts afterwards. "I hope I didn't break your toy suit, it's really neat-looking! Please stay down, would you?"

"You couldn't resist showing off and bragging, could you?" You say, pinning Diamond-9 to the floor once again with your foot, and pulling out a set of handcuffs. "Your gang's threats were all over the underworld. Of all the gangs I would expect yours above all to know the importance of keeping a good poker face!"

"Oh, you're real god damn cute." Diamond says, looking up at you defiantly now that she's got her breath back. "Me and Spadie are going to have some fun with you."

"And how do you figure that, my thieving little magpies?" You glance over at the skinny girl rigging the vault. "She doesn't look like much of a fighter to-"

"Look down at your hands." Even as Diamond says that, there is a sudden snap-snap sound and you feel a new weight around your wrists. Looking down in bafflement, you see that your handcuffs have bound themselves around your own wrists and locked of their own accord! Before you can do anything about it, your entire utility belt gets yanked off - including the two special polymer fighting batons that you had counted on providing the edge against a ferrokinetic villain.

With a painful lurch, you are yanked up into midair by the handcuffs around your wrists, your legs dangling and kicking helplessly.

"Nightingale!" Dr. Rainbow shouts with concern. "Let her go, you bully!" Her eyes suddenly shift to a red hue, and she conjures up a very menacing looking giant syringe full of rainbow-colored fluid. That... was a lot more vicious of a weapon than you were expecting her to produce. She charged with a shrill cry at Spade-9, who was still working on the vault door, her back to you and Rainbow.

"Doc, no, don't..!" you try to shout a warning, try to tell her that the ferrokinetic is the real threat and needs to be neutralized... but it doesn't actually matter. Without turning around, the gangly Spade-9 displays surprising grace and sidesteps, delivering a closed-fisted backhand to Dr. Rainbow's face as the hapless heroine lunged. Dr. Rainbow dropped like a sack of potatoes, groaning softly and curling up into the fetal position.

"Well, well, well... A couple more colorful girls who think they can sit at the high-rollers table." A posh, contralto woman's voice floated to you, teasing but also with a hint of scorn and anger. Heels clicking, another villainess stepped out of the shadows and approached...