A Petty Bank Robbery (Open)

[Cassandra Dent]

The brunette, blue eyed girl stood at the entrance of the establishment. Her pistols strapped to her hips and her father’s henchmen flowed in from behind her. She did look like she was in control and in charge, however she wondered why she was there. It seemed a bit under her father to be robbing banks, and much less sending her to make sure it gets done. She was not intimidated by the armed guards and the large muscular men stationed at the entrances and exits of the building.

The henchmen piled in and approached the tellers and the patrons that were in the bank to tend to their financial business. The same business that her father wants her to acquire with help from his ‘hired helped’. From the corner of her eye, she saw a guard reach for their firearm and she sighed. Before he could brandish his weapon, she had one of her pistols in her hand pointed at his head. ”I wouldn’t do that if you wanted to live.” She mentioned, and motioned with the aimed handgun for him to toss it into the middle of the floor so that her father’s goons can collect it.

”That goes for the rest of you.” The sixteen year old girl announced and motioned with the gun for them to do the same. She nodded her head in satisfaction when they all complied with her request. ”Don't worry, people, no need for alarm, it's just a good-old fashioned, low-tech stick up! We're interested in the basics: cash, jewelry, cellular telephones. Just hand them over nicely, and no one will be hurt." She announced to the others the statement her father had made her memorize for this job.

She watched as a pretty thing of a teller reached for the silent alarm, and she was in front of her quickly with a pistol pointed in her face. ”I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” She said and sighed, putting her other pistol away only to retrieve her coin. She shows it to the teller, both sides, and then flips it. It whistles as it flies through the air and she watches as it lands on the counter between the two of them. ”Ah. Fortune smiles. Another day of wine and roses." She says with a wicked smile and puts her gun away. ”Now if everyone would just cooperate, we will get what we want and leave you folks alone.” She reiterated and watched as her father’s thugs collected their bounty.

[cccxlii]

A black haired and bluish-black eyed man was making his way towards the exit, his business here at the bank was done. Chinese in origin, and with a obvious nervous expression on his face. One might assume that he was visting from China, and had gotten his currency changed. However, this notion could easily be discarded as he was walking out from the safety deposit box area. Even so, it wasn't hard to imagine that he had put something in for safekeeping while he roamed Gotham City, a smart move for a tourist unfamiliar to the area.

What this chinese man was doing right now though, could be called a not-so-smart move. Despite an obvious robbery going on, he was walking calmly towards the exit, as though nothing was wrong. He strode with such an air of confidence, in his loose white button-up and his black tactical 5.11 pants (which was a brand used by some police forces; they were light, maneuverable, and had lots of different pockets), that some of the goons almost thought that he belonged there. Finally, one of the henchman called out to him.

Tóng stopped at once, and turned to face the crowds. He was kind of hoping that if he just ignored them, that they would be so shocked that he could just walk out. "But, I guess human nature doesn't work that way," he thought. One of the thugs was approachiing him, to gather whatever money or things he had. He actually wasn't carrying anything like that on him, but he was hiding on his person a variety of top secret items from the MSS (Ministry of State Security) that had been placed here by one of their agents, he had just picked the things up from one of the safety deposit boxes.

Well, Tóng was in something of a pickle. If he used his powers, there would be a lot of witnesses and even cameras. He could've claimed he had a tazer, but after someone looked over that footage or if he were to be questioned, he wouldn't have any tazer to produce. His mind briefly went to a knife he carried under his shirt in a shoulder harness, but that too was suspicious, if not just because of its unique design. It seemed he'd have to do this the old-fashioned way, the thought made him regret never learning any real wushu.

As the goon drew near, Tóng crouched, as if he was going to sit down, but instead he squatted. As soon as the guy got close enough, he lurched forward and wrapped his arms around the guy's right leg. When he did this he brought his shoulder forward while standing and pulling the leg up and out, a technique to quickly off-balance and off-center the target. It worked as intended, the man was down and dazed in a second. Now his "friends" were looking this way, their guns aimed at Tóng. It was time to run.

He ran and jumped onto a counter, one of a line of counters that were made for people to write their checks before going up to the tellers. This line lead straight to the offices of the bank, where Tóng hoped to get enough time to put on his mask, jacket, and weapons. He ran along the length of the counter, jumping to the next one when he ran out of counter. All the while he was being shot at, and he was beginning to wonder if adopting such a elevated position was such a wise choice. He knew the answer when he felt a bullet graze the back of his neck.

Tóng side-flipped off the edge of one of the counters and tumbled when he hit the floor, then he started running while crouched behind the counters, they acting as a shield from any unwanted bullets. Meanwhile some of the goons were already maneuvering behind the counters to get a shot at him. He was getting closer to the offices. One of the thugs moved around the end of a counter, right in front of Tóng, who shoved him into the counter and continued running. Now he no longer had the benefit of cover, henchmen on each side of the counter taking shots at him. But it didn't matter to him, he was right next to an office.

Tóng threw himself into the glass window. He knew he might get cut doing this, but it was much faster than trying to running around and dodging through the doorway. The glass shattered and he tumbled into standing when he hit the ground, as he ran deeper into what seemed like a complex maze of offices. Tóng's current destinaation was the office at the far-side of the complex, where he hoped to get enough time to get into his gear.

[Cassandra Dent]

Cass was making her way around the floor, just making sure that the patrons of the bank handed over their possessions. Pointing her pistols at someone’s head when needed, but her ultimate goal was to make sure that the clientele handed over everything of value to them. She thought that it was going pretty darned well, that was until bullets started to fly. She turned around to see her father’s thugs shoot at a man who was running to escape them for some reason. She sighed and rolled her eyes, there always was someone who tried to be a hero. Or be brave. Either way was a stupid choice.

She watched as the man crashed through a window and sighed. ”Keep collecting. I’ll deal with the troublemaker.” She announced to the goons, while saunter to the far side of the offices. She knew that is where she would have gone if she was trying to get away, or do something foolish. She pulled out both of her pistols, and held them ready to fire as she searched the offices for the runner. She slowly, and carefully made her way to the farthest office.

[cccxlii]

Tóng ripped around a corner and slid into the office, where he sat and panted for a few moments. His eyes darted around to check if there were any cameras in this office. To his luck, there wasn't any kind of surveillance equipment in this workspace. Now that he was sure he was safe to change he rushed over to the window at the backwall of the office. Tóng wrapped his cuffs around his hand and then opened the window as wide as it could open. An odd move but a neccessary one, it'd help a lot later when it came to an alibi.

Tóng reached into his back pocket and withdrew a black rectangle, which he soon unfolded and revealed to be a long coat. He quickly opened it and slid his arms into the sleeves. The coat was bulletproof, but only in the front and back (Just the chest, excluding the sleeves, sides, skirt, and tail of the coat), it was an important piece of equipment for a guy like Tóng, who's entire fighting style required for him to be in short range. Now he pulled back the right sleeve and reached into one of his leg pockets, this time withdrawing a strange device about six inches long. Tóng immediately attached it to his forearm and reached for the end of the device, taking hold of a small caribiner and tugging on it, revealing a wire attached to the end of it.

He was far from finished with putting on his gear. Tóng reached into his coat and into his shirt, promptly drawing a concealed knife. The knife was large, kind of like a bowie knife. The handle and all was metal and there was a small ring on the pommel, where he soon slipped the caribiner and wire into. Tóng reached back into his shirt and took another article out, this time it was no foreign device or weapon. In his hand he held a white mask with an odd blue decoration on the right eye; he carefully put this on, then he rolled his sleeve back down and fastened his coat. Tóng stepped out of the office.

The moment he walked out, their eyes locked, but only for a moment. The masked man positioned himself in the middle of the hallway that led to the office, Cassandra at the other end. He looked over her briefly, and spoke in a monotone voice, "Drop the gun and walk away. If you don't, I'll kill you." He twirled the knife in his hand and began moving towards her, his long strides proving to shorten the distance considerably with each step. "One..."

[Cassandra Dent]

Cass was careful in her search as she looked for the runner. She knew how to shoot well, and was really good in hand to hand combat. She grew up doing both, and her father had of coursed trained her in both areas. He was of coursed trained by the best. Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke, taught her father how to shoot and become an excellent marksman. Then Batman taught him hand to hand combat. He was extensively trained in hand to hand. Of course her father had put her through the exact same training, and she was more than capable of holding her own in a fight. As she got down to the last few rooms, a man that seemed to match the build of the one she was searching for emerged and stared her down.

"Drop the gun and walk away. If you don't, I'll kill you."

She cocked her head as she watched him twirled a knife in his hand before charging her. She put the pistols away and smirked. ”"If I've got even half a chance of beating you, I intend to take it!" She told him and prepared herself for a battle. She knew how to fight against someone with a knife and various other weapons with nothing but her own two hands. Her father had made sure of that, so she bent her knees a little and started to charge him. She never took her eyes off his body, knowing that if she did she would be defeated.

[cccxlii]

Tóng stopped his pace at her words, of all the things he thought she would do, this was not one he even anticipated. He muttered aside, "Half a chance?" His eyes narrowed, but it couldn't be seen under his mask. In reality, she stood little to no chance against him. All he'd have to do is grab hold of her and send a few hundred volts through her. Though he originally planned on using his ability to "taze" her into unconsciousness. But her behavior demanded a change of plan.

She was confident, too much so. For a moment, he thought that she had some kind of power, thus making her one of his targets. Tóng knew better than to just assume something like that, he'd test her in combat first. Now, he considered dropping his knife and fighting her hand to hand, like it seemed she so desired to do. He thought better than this though, he didn't know what power she had after all.

Tóng simply stood there, waiting for her approach and first move. He took no stance, and he did not alter himself in order to be ready for her attack. Maybe this was a mistake, just waiting for her. She could have super strength, and would knock him through a few walls with her punch. But that thought couldn't change his mind. He kept careful watch of her face, noting every expression. There were so many "ticks" and superfluous motions that humans did subconsciously, watching their body and face intently could provide an easy gateway into their thoughts.

[Cassandra Dent]

When her opponent stopped, she did the same. Cass knew that she did not want to give him a reason to touch her. She did not know what he could do, but she wasn’t a stupid girl. She knew better than to get within arms reach of an opponent, they could easily strike you and catch you off guard. So as soon as he stopped, so did she. She kept her eye sight on him, watching his every move and waited on him to make it.

She of course had put up her guns as per his order earlier, and her right hand immediately reached into her pocket and began to play with her coin that matched her father’s. This guy had no clue who her father was, so he had absolutely no idea who she was. Whenever she entered a room at home occupied with her father’s thugs, they would cower and move out of her way in fear. Being Harvey Dent’s daughter did that for you, and being a child of Two-Face only sealed the fact that you’re bound to be half crazy at the least.

Cass of course had her crazy moments, and she smirked in a way that told her opponent that she was indeed insane. Just like her old man. She then withdrew her coin and let it play across her fingers in thought. She never once looked away from him, and continued to give him her insane smirk as her coin moved in her hand.

[cccxlii]

Tóng arched his back and bent his knees a bit. He did this the moment she stopped, expecting her to do something. When he saw that she was going to play with a coin, he loosened up. Now, he started walking towards her, and he spoke as he did so, retaining the same monotone voice as before, "How wary of you... I must congratulate you though, my three seconds are up." He approached her slowly and steadily. The mask hid his intentions, if he had any intentions at all.

With each step, the tail of his coat would wave ever so slightly. The masked man was visibly relaxed, even the knife in his hand was just barely held onto, by the tips of his fingers. He spoke again, "You ooze confidence. But, I'm going assume that you're without any powers. The fact you're carrying a gun is near proof of that." He stopped and turned, he was standing right next to a water cooler.

Tóng reached out and took a cone-shaped cup from a tall dispenser attached to the side of the water cooler. He briefly glanced at the young girl and spoke before returning attention to the cooler, "I can assume you don't have any powers for one reason..." He filled the cup with water and turned to her again, "You didn't have a plan on approaching me."

He started his approach once more, taking those ever so small and steady steps. "That's how you can always tell the difference between someone with powers and someone who doesn't. Someone with a kind of power prioritizes getting his opponent into a situation where he can use his powers. The fact that you at first charged for me and then stopped to play with that coin of yours."

Tóng stopped a few feet away form her, out of arm's length (for both of them). The cup, which was filled to the brim, spilled a few drops at the sudden stop of movement. He tensed, no longer relaxed as before. "Because you don't have any powers, you're not on my list. However, with what I saw earlier... It seems you're the leader of that motley crew of thugs."

He shifted and lowered the cup a bit, meanwhile, he tightened his grip on his knife. Tóng started on something on a monologue. "It strikes odd to me though, how bored you were earlier. Especially while your men were all uptight. That's why you went after me yourself. Something tells me you don't need the money, which would mean that you're working for someone. However, while this might be the case, it's obvious you don't respect them all that much. You would've shot me the moment you saw me if you did respect that person, seeing me as a threat to the mission. Am I correct?"

[Cassandra Dent]

Cass stood her ground, playing with her coin as she tried to make a decision on just shooting him where he stood or go for a fight. She watched him like a hawk as he approached her and spoke to her in a monotone of a voice. She then no longer allowed her coin to play across her fingers as she stopped it in a position on top of her thumb. She gave that half insane smirk as she prepared for her next move. One that will tell her what she should do with her decision. She actually flipped the coin as her opponent got a cup of water from the nearby cooler.

As the coin flipped in the air, she watched as he spoke some more and continued to approach her. Her hand tightened on the butt of one of her beloved pistols. He was of course correct when he said she didn’t have a plan of approach, but then again if he knew who she was then it would make sense. Being a Dent, one did not need a plan of approach when it came to a fight. Just a very trusted gun and a good, solid fist. If he continued on this path and course he was on, he would soon find out.

"It strikes odd to me though, how bored you were earlier. Especially while your men were all uptight. That's why you went after me yourself. Something tells me you don't need the money, which would mean that you're working for someone. However, while this might be the case, it's obvious you don't respect them all that much. You would've shot me the moment you saw me if you did respect that person, seeing me as a threat to the mission. Am I correct?"

Cass continued to smirk half crazily at him and caught her coin in her hand before looking down at it. Her smirk only got bigger as she read the results. ”I didn’t shoot because I thought you would have proved to be more of a hand to hand challenge, but if all you are going to do is talk my ears off then I can remedy that problem.” She told him before quickly pulling out her pistol, taking aim, and pulling the trigger. The whole series of movements on her part took less than three seconds.

[cccxlii]

Tóng's body shook from head to toe as the bullet struck him. He was expecting it, but it still hurt, even with the bulletproof coat. He had watched her pull that gun, aim, and fire it. If he had really wished to, the moment she got that gun out of the holster, he could've been upon her. His hand at this very second would be slipped around her throat as the deadly current was administered, her body's resistance would destroy her.

But, Tóng did not wish to openly attack this girl. Even though she was technically an adult, and she even had a gun pointed at him. He still viewed her as a young woman. However, he knew that he could not get past her without making some kind of violence. His planned method though, would be discreet, and she probably wouldn't even know what hit her. He wouldn't kill her, like he planned. It wasn't just that he didn't like killing women or children, but she could prove useful. He would stun her and see where things go from there.

Tóng was an actor, it was part of his training, and it would come in handy in this next part. Although the need to not emulate a facial expression of pain made this next task easier. He half-clutched the spot where he was shot, and then let himself fall to the floor. He did it expertly, not fearing what pain he might suffer when he hit the ground. He did not tense up or try to stop his fall. It really looked like he was shot dead.

As he fell, the water-cone in his hand spilt and water raced across the tile floor, pooling around Cassandra's feet. The other hand dropped his knife, which now also lied next to Cassandra's feet, barely touching the water. The cord on the end of the knife led back to Tóng, who seemed dead, but in reality was plotting his next move. He had planned this from the moment she had reacted to him stopping.

If she wouldn't get in range for him, he figured he'd bring her into range. From this distance, with his weapon fallen and seemingly a corpse. She wouldn't expect it. With a thought, Tóng sent electricity running through the wire. The knife on the other end crackled and arced, the water touching the knife also became electrified. Tóng himself didn't move at all, but out of the corner of his eye, through the slit in his mask, he was watching the whole thing.

[Cassandra Dent]

Cass watched as her opponent tried to distract her. It did not escape her notice that he hadn’t drank any of the water from the cup. That is what kept her on full alert. She was of course always knowing what her opponent was doing, thanks to her father. She watched as he feel from her shot, spilling the full cup of water, and his knife fell near her feet. She watched as the water slowly made its way around her feet, and she cocked her head to the side in puzzlement. She then retrieved her cell phone, and snapped a picture of the guy. She then quickly sent it to her father for him to look into. It wouldn’t be too much longer before she found more information on him. Her father had long arms, and strong fingers.

She put her cell phone up, and then she began to hear the crackle of charging electricity. Her eyes got wide, and she suddenly realized what was going on. She quickly jumped up and back flipped out and away from the pool of water. She remembered doing something similar with her training as her father threw sharp objects at her. She suddenly realized that she didn’t truly injure him, and that his clothing was somehow bulletproof. ”You have no idea who I am, do you?” She asked him as she stopped her acrobatic stunt and turned to face him.

[cccxlii]

Tóng picked himself up off the ground, albeit slowly. "A backflip? That seems like a waste of energy to me," commented Tóng as he turned towards her. He thought a bit before speaking, deciding to test her and play on whatever fears he could dig up, "It appears I guessed right. You do work for someone, either that or you enjoy taking photos of your victims. I don't think they'll miss you that much. In any case, you're right, I don't know who you are. But I don't think it too important to know the name of a dead girl."

The wire suddenly sprang to life as the knife retracted back to him, the wiring coiling itself in the mechanism hidden underneath his sleeve. He twirled it for but a moment as soon as it reached his hand. "I've been playing with you this entire time. Now you know I have power over electricity, and you know I have bulletproof clothing. If I can grab you then you're dead. What will you do now?"

Tóng started towards her, at a walking pace, he spoke to her in that same monotone voice as always "Behind you is a fire alarm. If I can pull it, then the sprinklers will turn on. Which would mean that there would be water everywhere, there will be no escape." Quickly, Tóng veered off course and kneeled next to the west wall of the hallway, he briefly touched the outlet that was there.

In that very instant, three things happened at once. First, the power to the building went out and the hallway was shrouded in darkness. Then Tóng bolted for her, sprinting in a very low stance, his footsteps seemed to echo all around. Finally, perhaps just an moment later, something moved by Cassandra, and there was a rush of wind as it did, as if someone had run past her.

[Cassandra Dent]

Cass stayed in the same position from, ever watching her opponent move. She only gave her half insane smirk as he called her a dead girl. If he only knew the truth about her. Her father sent her to rob this bank clean, and yet she comes across…what and who is the man before her? As if on cue, her phone alerts her of a message and she turned her half insane smirk into a full fledge one as she swiftly pulls her phone out of her pocket and put it in front of her so that she could read the message and keep an eye on him. She quickly read the message and smirked even more to herself. She quickly put the phone back up and looked at her opponent with knowing. Her father had gotten everything on this man in front of her.

"I've been playing with you this entire time. Now you know I have power over electricity, and you know I have bulletproof clothing. If I can grab you then you're dead. What will you do now? Behind you is a fire alarm. If I can pull it, then the sprinklers will turn on. Which would mean that there would be water everywhere, there will be no escape."

She watched as he approached her, and she continued to smirk at him already making his possible plan of actions in her mind. However it only came as a slight surprise to her when he suddenly veered off toward a nearby electrical outlet, and with what she knows about him this could prove bad on her part. So went she was thrust into near total darkness, she used her other senses to compensate for the lose of her sight. She quickly withdrew her knife from the sheath that is strapped to the small of her back. She of course heard his approach in the dark, and when she felt him pass her with a small rush of wind she made her move. She swung around and brought her knife with her, she felt it slice through something but she did not know what as she couldn’t see…

[cccxlii]

Her knife didn't cut into something so much as it hit something. Whatever it did hit, it was lifted with the strength of her swing. Then the clanging of metal could be heard resounding against the tile of the floor and the walls, this sound along with the echoing footsteps from before, it was obvious that she hadn't hit him. Suddenly, the footsteps stopped and there was a presence behind Cassandra. It was then that the backup generators kicked in, and the lights turned on, revealing the situation entirely.

The most obvious thing was that it was actually Tóng's knife and wire that went past her, fast enough to cause a disturbance in the air. The footsteps that were loud enough to reverberate off of everything made it hard to tell wherever the source came from, which made it easy to assume he had just ran past her. He had gotten the idea after talking to a man about the No Shadow technique back in China, which entailed making a distraction with your hand while truly striking with your foot, same principle here. Hung over her knife was the wire, and the knife on the end of it sat lamely on the floor.

Behind her, stood -of course- Tóng, who she likely now knew as Hei or Dian. His arms were in the process of moving around her, about to grab hold of her, then pull her in and immobilize her. His plan was simple, that he knew, but it appeared to have had worked against the girl. The agent was hoping he'd be able to get her with this move, if he couldn't then it would mean he'd really have to fight her to take her down; it wasn't something he was looking forward to.

[Cassandra Dent]

Cass felt something wrap around her knife, and her eyes went wide as she realized what it was. She knew he threw that damn knife past her, as if in a trap and she fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker. She was not someone who takes getting fooled well, and he was about to know it. When the back up power came on, she didn’t waste much time gawking about her situation. Tóng stood behind her, ready to grab hold of her with his arms. She of course did not waste any time thinking about what to do next, she just did it.

As he attempted to immobilize her with his arms, she smirked to herself, and began to drop to the floor. On the way down, her right foot shot out and attempted to make contact with his knee to bring him down before he could bring her down. She then got on her back, and in a blink of an eye she had her pistols pointed at him once again. So of course now if he made a move for her, she would have no doubts about pulling the triggers. And this time she would put a hole where his clothes did not cover him, like his head. She was a crack shot after all, and she had no doubts that she could pull it off. Her father would be so proud of her… At the thought of her insane father, she gave her own insane grin. One that could be misunderstood as a ‘Come on and try it’ smile.