Several hours later, the duo had found separate vantage points from which to stake out the area they had theorized was the location of the Ouroboros hideout.
“According to the GPS, Fleck is still in the area,” noted Lance over the radio.
“Then he hasn't moved much since earlier,” said Adam.
“Maybe he’s taking a nap?” he added with a chuckle.
“Or the higher-ups are punishing him for screwing up their operation to retrieve the Skeleton Key,” suggested Lance.
Lance surveyed the area from his perch on a roof overlooking one of the recreational parks of New Atlantis. Directly next to it, closer to where Adam was, resided the New Atlantis Zoo. Farther north, to Lance’s left, were various businesses and structures.
“Kind of a weird place for a hideout, don't you think?” asked Adam.
“Their base has to be in the lower levels of the city,” stated Lance “It's just a matter of finding out where the entrance is.”
They watched and waited for an hour. Lance used his HUD and his wireless connection to L.A.S.S.I to work on a paper for school when a distant ringing broke his concentration. He saved and closed the windows and keyed the comm line.
“Do you see where that is coming from?” he asked Adam.
“The Fort Knox Bank on Fifth Street,” noted Adam after a brief moment. “There is an unmarked van parked in front of the bank and some suspicious cats going in and out.”
“Well it doesn't look like anyone is going to show us the Ouroboros’ front door tonight,” Lance sighed. “Want to catch some bank robbers?”
“Sounds like fun!” said Adam enthusiastically.
“Then I’ll meet you there,” said Lance as he took a few steps back from the roof’s edge.
He checked the new assembly he had attached to his gauntlets, then fit his grapple to his right arm. He took a deep breath, silently praying that the mechanism would work how it was meant to, and ran to the ledge. He flicked his wrist just before he jumped off the edge and the grapple line shot forwards. He swung across the wide gap in the direction of the bank, safely landing on the other side. He sprinted across the roof, glancing at the mini-map on his HUD to see a blip representing Adam converging to the same destination.
The two reached the roof adjacent to the bank at the same time, pausing to examine the scene. Just as Adam had said, a silver van was parked in front of the bank and several masked and armed men were loading cases of money into it.
“I'm counting four hostiles total, with the likely chance of a fifth inside,” stated Lance. “They're all wearing mostly the same black outfit, but there are enough subtle differences to distinguish them.”
“I saw that,” noted Adam. “The new tagging system for the HUD works like a charm!”
“Any suggestions for handling this?” asked Lance.
Though his expression was masked by his helmet and visor, Adam shot a surprised look at Lance. “You're asking me? I'm usually asking you!”
“I know, but we are a team here,” said Lance. “You're my partner, not my sidekick. I wanted to see what your thoughts were before we did this.”
Adam took in what Lance said, then looked down at the robbery in progress. “Whatever we do, we need to act quickly so we don't get caught in another incident with the police when they get here,” he said. “We should probably disable their vehicle so they can't use it to escape,” he continued.
“Sounds like a good start,” stated Lance.
“Then take down whoever we can in the bank and catch the rest of them in the alleys,” Adam finished.
“I’ll go across and get their attention,” said Lance. “You take care of the van and then come up behind them.”
“Let's do it!” said Adam with an extended fist.
Lance fist-bumped with Adam, shot his line across the street, then silently swung to the other side. Adam glanced over the edge again, looking for a stealthy way down. There were several balconies. Perfect. He swung his legs over the side, twisting his body to face the wall, and dropped to the first balcony’s wall. He climbed across to the side and dropped to hang from the next balcony, continuing in a similar fashion until he dropped to the ground. He ducked behind a parked car and peeked around to see if the thieves had noticed him.
Just as he did, there was a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass inside the bank. The three men outside dropped the bags they were carrying and rushed in to investigate. Assuming that was his cue, Adam sprinted across the street to the van. He opened the driver's side door to find the seat was occupied… but thankfully the man in the seat was asleep.
Adam tapped the man on the shoulder until the driver groggily opened his eyes.
“Huh…? What is it… Barry…?” the man yawned. “I swear… I was just resting my… eyes…”
He looked over to see his reflection on Adam's visor and let out a gasp just as Adam jerked him out of the seat.
“Who the heck are you?” he yelped.
“Someone who is going to make you think twice about robbing banks in this city,” stated Adam as he pounded his fists together.
The driver made a move to reach for his holstered firearm and Adam leaped forward just quickly enough to close the gap and disarm the man with a swipe of his fist. He grabbed the man by the lapel with one hand, pulling back with the other to punch him, but stopped as the middle-aged man cringed in anticipation of the blow. Adam hesitated a moment longer, but finally followed through and knocked out the man when he heard gunshots and yelling from the other side of the van.
Meanwhile, Lance was busy inside, picking off the robbers one by one. At the moment he was taking cover around a corner while the remaining three of five assailants retreated with an occasional spray of bullets behind them.
He keyed his comm.
“Adam?” he called.
“How’s it going in there?” asked Adam.
“Just peachy,” stated Lance smugly just before jumping to another corner. “They know I'm here if you couldn't tell.”
Lance carefully peered around his cover just as another spray of bullets flew inches from his face.
“Well, no better time to test this out than now…” he said to himself.
He unlatched a segment of the gear on his left arm and pulled a slide down the length of his arm. As he did, a buckler unfolded from the bulk of his forearm. He held it out in front of him as he charged around the corner, the bullets pinging off of the buckler as if nothing.
The robbers were clearly startled at the lack of effect of their weapons and made a mad run for the exit. Suddenly the glass behind them shattered as Adam jumped through and tackled the one nearest him. Knocking him out with a punch, Adam joined Lance in chasing after the last two men. As if they had telepathically shared the same idea, the duo fired their grapples at the robbers’ feet, entangling and tripping them.
“GET OVER HERE!” growled Adam in a menacing voice as he pulled on the line, dragging the robber towards him.
Lance gave a half-amused glance at Adam.
They pinned down the robbers, then tied them up.
“Good thing we actually brought something to restrain them with this time,” said Adam.
The robbers angrily struggled against the ropes.
“I don't know who you guys are, but when we get out…” started one of them. He stopped when Lance crouched in front of him just inches from his face.
“When you get out, we’ll be waiting to throw you right back in,” he stated coldly, the criminal staring at the blank visor with a hint of fear.
The sound of sirens caused Lance to look down the street and he saw the flashing of blue lights around the corner of the farthest block.
“Time to go,” he said to Adam as he stood.
Adam turned and ran down the street away from the sirens, with Lance close behind, until they came to an alley. They ducked in just in time before the police vehicles came to where they could've spotted the two. They climbed up the side of the building via the fire escape, then grappled across the street to a vantage point to observe the aftermath of their deed. The confused look on the officers’ faces at the scene brought a sense of both amusement and satisfaction to the duo.
“So when do I get a cool bulletproof gauntlet like that?” asked Adam with a chuckle as he lightly punched Lance on the shoulder.
“I actually have something more streamlined in mind for you that I'm working on,” stated Lance. “And yes, it's bulletproof.”
They continued to watch as more police arrived at the scene to sweep the area.
“We should probably get out of here before they decide to look for us,” suggested Adam. “I'd rather not have a sit down with the law, let alone the confrontation with my brother.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Lance as he turned from the edge of the roof.
He looked at the time on his HUD, grateful that he had updated the software to include it.
“It’s only 11:40,” stated Lance. “Why don't we patrol around to see what other bad guys are lurking about?”
“Should we split up?” asked Adam. “There's more than plenty of cityscapes to cover between just the two of us.”
“We should, but we also should stay within a reasonable range of each other in case we do come across anything,” said Lance.
“L.A.S.S.I. set active markers on our HUDs for each other,” he said over the comm.
On their respective visor displays, they saw the other with a blueish-green outline, a name tag, and the distance they stood from each other.
“How do you even get the distances and stuff to work for this?” queried Adam with intrigue.
Lance smirked.
“I may have hypothetically hacked into some government satellites orbiting the earth to use their top-of-the-line GPS systems,” he said.
“Of course you did,” laughed Adam as he turned towards the city center.
Comments