Rook Industries has a hand in everything, including criminal incarceration. As a result, they’ve done plenty of R&D on suppressing super-powers or neutralizing such powers’ users. This is theoretically only to be used by law enforcement to contain villains. By now, everyone in the hero community knows that such gear often “falls off the back of the truck” and into criminal hands. More than a few suggest that it didn’t so much fall off as was pushed out.
These guys are definitely kitted out with Rook gear. High-resolution motion detection drones, for use against speedsters, phasers, or invisible heroes. Mess with the drones, and you’ll set off an alarm. Bioweb rifles, to immobilize even strong heroes. J, Q, and T-type force shields, to bounce rays back at supers who aren’t immune to their own blasting powers. The thieves are loading cargo onto a truck, but they probably have other escape routes planned. If any of them get away, they’ll just recruit another few guys and keep doing more jobs.
Perched on a nearby rooftop, Harry is putting together his plan of action when Andi arrives, duffel bag in hand. She unrolls it, revealing Armiger’s sword. A moment later, the man himself teleports onto the scene. Telekinetian levitates gracefully down from the night sky, completing the group.
“I counted eight people,” reports Harry. “There’s probably four or five more inside the warehouse.”
“I’ll find out for sure,” volunteers Armiger, and hops off the side of the building.
“Andi, TK, get me a count of the drones in the air?” Harry asks. “We’ll need to take those out, at once if we can.”
The two others fly off. Harry is pretty sure the plan will work. Let Armiger do his sword-of-kings thing to find the guys inside. Take out the drones to make the thieves scratch their plan and go for a getaway. Round up the guys outside with super-speed - men with guns aren’t a problem for Mercury, not these days. Trust Andi and TK to take care of anyone he can’t find. Hand them over to law enforcement. Get some chips from—
“Halt, evil-doers!”
The voice rings out with authority, shattering the silence of the night.
Who the hell?
Harry peers down from the rooftop, trying to spot the source of the call.
There’s a girl, a couple years younger than himself. She’s got a sword that glows with the stars of the night sky. She’s got a tiara, and she’s standing on top of the thieves’ truck.
Radiance? No - there’s definitely a Sword Princess vibe here, but she doesn’t look anything like her. More like… hmm. Someone cribbing from the same inspirations as her.
Points for entrance, but she just messed up our plans, thinks Harry glumly. At least he’ll get to see how the newcomer handles herself.
The thieves raise their biorifles and start firing. Others take up positions with their shields. They’ve clearly practiced this maneuver.
The girl leaps gracefully into the sky. The thieves aim up. There’s nothing so predictable as the ballistic arc of someone jumping, after all. But too late, they realize - as Harry did immediately - that the leap was performed by an illusion, or a mirage. The real sword princess is crouched on the truck. When the thieves fire, she rolls off it and into a fighting stance, then rushes forward in a heartbeat. Her blade goes through the rifles - good, good, no casualties - and she shoulder-checks two of the thieves into their comrades.
Harry hops off the roof himself. In a blur, he’s running down the side of it, across the ground, into the warehouse yard. He arrives before the falling thieves have hit the ground.
“There’s more inside!” he yells to the newcomer. On cue, two thieves run out of the warehouse, rifles up - and are punched out in tandem by Andi and TK. Armiger is nowhere to be seen.
The sword princess doesn’t acknowledge Harry. Instead, she splits into three illusory duplicates, leaving the remaining thieves to figure out the real target to shoot. The correct answer is “none of them”, and more flashing bladework disposes of the rifles. The guys with force shields raise them against the star-blade, and the newcomer pauses, perhaps wondering how to deal with this.
Harry could easily intervene - end this, if he wanted. But he’s curious. So he watches.
The girl nods to herself, and creates more duplicates. She seemingly charges, and the force shields seem to repel her weapon. Harry, watching at super-speed, sees the trick. The thieves are putting their weight behind the shields, pushing forward in anticipation of resisting a powerful counter-force. Instead, the newcomer’s illusions fade at the last moments, and she catches the men off-balance.
Harry can tell she’s not sure how to just knock a guy out, and a sword isn’t really a subduing tool. Feeling uncomfortable for a reason he can’t name, he finally takes the initiative, striking from behind with karate chops at ultra-speed.
The men fall at the newcomer’s feet. Harry, Andi, and TK converge on her.
“Hey. Are you on ASIST too?”
The sword princess looks confused. “I’m assisting…?” she says.
Okay, she has no idea. Harry tries other names for the app. “YOLOdex? The part-time job? Quill Qids?”
“Quill!” This is a name she knows. “Uh… no? I’m on my own.”
Harry nods. That makes sense. She’s clearly a newbie hero. “I’m Mercury. This is A10 and Telekinetian. No real names, we’re not in a safe place. But what can we call you?”
The sword princess hesitates. “Listen, I gotta go,” she says suddenly. Starlit wings, of the same seeming nature as her sword, emerge from her back. “Uh. Um. Call me Peri!”
With that, she launches herself into the sky, leaving the three heroes with both captives and questions.