Halcyon City Heroes

Breaking news, word of mouth, social media and Maetahuman activity apps all confirm that the Crime Masters have been spotted knocking over banks all across the City. With the Exemplars and Challengers occupied with evacuating the coast and battling a giant Sea Serpent, it seems lesser known heroes and A.E.G.I.S. are the only line of defense the city can rely on.
In other news; Rosa Rook, CEO of Rook Industries has begun to blame the rise of street level crime and now the Kidnapping of the Mayor on Huma and the Examplars constant escalation towards threats outside of Halcyon City.
"Today's events at Flying Freedom Plaza could have been averted is Huma had only stayed in the City that he puts in danger daily by taking the law into his own hands. Now where is he when villains his father antagonized are rampaging through our city?" a clip of the woman's angry speech asks.

People make way for the Challengers, the Exemplars fly or use their private helicopter. The mighty Grey Fox has a bus pass that he can't use because he'd have to take of his mask.

Hearing the news of the gallery from a nearby TV store, they made their way to the art gallery.

Police sirens were wailing and a crowd had cautiously gathered around the area.

Seriously, villians in this city were like car accidents. Everyone knows nothing good comes of it, but everyone stops and rubbernecks anyway.

Gearmaster may have gotten away in that cloud of acrid smoke, but there was no way he was done with whatever nefarious plot he and the Crime Masters cooked up. Even their name hadn't aged well, couldn't they have chosen something more in line with the times?

Riptide was tearing down the long streets and alleyways as fast as his Aquablades could take him, scrubbing corners and long jumping building gaps like every other practiced parkour aficionado. The lights though were the giveaway. He stopped with the patrols to ask what was going on, and who, if anyone was involved. After that brief conversation, the youthful hero walked across the street and tried to spy into the windows to figure out more of what was going on, completely oblivious to the fact that one of his own was already inside.

Grey Fox has little trouble sneaking past or taking down the handful of henchmen guarding the entrance. You do take note that the red-costumed and bandana wearing mooks are packing serious hardware; Rook Industries energy weapons. These are what many police force and private security folks pay good money for to deal with metahumans.
The main hall is split into two paths that both lead to the same open room. In that room you see the Scarlet Songbird and Snapping Turtle standing in front of the famous painting of Flying Freedom, considered to be the first true Superhero and known to have battled earlier incarnations of the Crime Masters alone and alongside other Golden Age heroes.
Songbird seems to be admiring the painting and talking to the disinterested Snapping Turtle, his sing song voice softly echoing in the wide-open section of the gallery. More of his thugs are in the room, carefully packing up various paintings, sculptures and other valuables.
Down a hall on the right side of the building you can see the staff and a few guests being held hostage by more armed thugs and Gear Master. Centipede and Troll seem to be missing, but you can see Solace down a hall to the left of the building searching for something, and occasionally passing off pieces of art to the thugs accompanying him.

Riptide, you realize that the gallery isn't meant for people to look in, but rather to pay on the way in. But, you do manage to spy what you're looking for; Grey Fox has rushed in on his own and is sure to flush out some thieves for a good ol' fashioned slobber knocker.

The Grey Fox rushes through the door and encountered three henchmen standing guard.
you know you have to pay to get into the gallery guys. So I'm going to make sure you do!

One rushes him swinging a wild overhead blow. The grey fox grabs the hand as it comes swinging down an uses the velocity to flip him over. The other two come rushing in then. Fox takes up a boxing stance to receive them and then kicks one in the shin rather than throwing a punch throwing the mook off balance. The other swings a truncheon, but Fox rolls out of the way so he strikes his buddy who is already off balance instead. Allowing the thug to step past him Fox then grabs the remaining mook from behind and places several quick blows to the guys kidneys dropping him to his knees then finishes him off with a solid punch to the back of the head.

The Grey Fox glances left and right and heads left, slowing to a trot as he see's Solice and the thugs.



Hey you! You should be in a museum not a gallery!

Solice turns and Fox sees that he obviously isn't one of the older villains.

I go wherever I want. Guys take care of this, I'm busy Solice motions to fox and the thugs drop their loot and rush towards the would-be hero.

The goons attack Grey Fox as Solace makes his way further down the hall. He is clearly looking for something, which he finds quickly. He stands before a painting of Rook Plaza before it was renovated, a statue of it's founder with smiling children around it.
With both hands, the Crime Master pulls down the painting, revealing a high-tech safe. He places a device on the key-pad, and after a few chimes the safe spins open.
Inside is a few thousand dollars in cash and various other valuable. Solace throws them aside and pushes a button that is revealed. The wall around the safe suddenly reveals itself as a door. Holographic images wink out and a cache full of boxes with Rook Industries labels on them are revealed.
He reaches for a stack of long boxes and cracks it open. Within are more of the guns the Crime Master's goons have been using. A wicked smile crosses the man's face and he walks across the room to another stack of boxes.
These ones are smaller and marked as hazardous. Cracking one of the crates open, Solace reveals more of the drug that the Crime masters have been selling.
"I've got the goods." he says into a walkies-talkie.

There was nothing. It was boring. Flying just above the building line looking for those jackasses was just...tiresome. Apollo always seemed to bounce to a spot after it had been hit, it was annoying. They seemed way too...organized. It was like these were all just distractions for something bigger.

Lights, sirens! Something, finally! He dropped down to the level and saw the forming barricade and a restless Riptide. "What are we waiting for?" throwing people around sounded like a good idea right now, especially after that embarrassing moment with Songbird not long ago.

"More on the situation. Some of the Crime Masters are in there, and their henchmen are armed to the teeth with cutting edge tech." Riptide looked nervous, even through his half-mask. "Grey Fox is already inside, I haven't heard shots yet, so his infiltration is better for us once the others show up"

Horizon narrowed his eyes, not sure what his new "companion" was considering, but making a move while someone else was inside meant he had to hold back, and he needed Blue Star there to make sure it happened. He landed and waited with Riptide, wondering what the "right moment" would be. In the meantime, maybe someone curious would wander out of the gallery for him...

The mooks leveled their beam rifles at Fox and he sprinted towards them as they unleashed a hail of blue and red beams that screamed through the air (for half a second Max thought they would have made pew pew sounds) leaving burned ozone in their wake.

Pfft.

Pfft.

Fox blinked out as the lazers would have impacted him and reappeared on the far side of Solice.

Fox snatched at the walkie talkie in Solice's hands but the villain wrestled with him for it, clamping on tighter than Fox had expected. Well this guy's loss-



Fox jumped again. This time with the intertwined Solice in the front of the art gallery.

Max was never in a school play but it didn't hurt to start trying

"AAAAAAAAAARH" he cried melodramatically and let himself fall limp in Solice's hands.

"Meh, not much to this one it seems" Solice muttered and let Fox drop to the ground below.