(P.O.V Clones as Cole is at the PRT)
He tapped his feet and whistled a jaunty tune that would have the Undersiders shivering in fear. He was not famous enough for this tune to be a dead give away of who he was but the people in line were already giving him odd looks.
Not that he would blame them, who the fuck was happy and excited to stand in line to go to the bank. He just smiled back at those that gave him the side eye and that caused them to mind their own business. People in the Bay learned to mind their own business for the most part. You never know who was tweaking on drugs and who was itching to beat you to death for your skin tone.
The people felt a bit more secure here considering it was a bank but their honed instincts told them to avoid the happy freak. He grinned mischievously as these people were going to play a part in his show. Not that they knew that but that was the price you paid for living in The Bay.
Nazis, Sex Trafficking, Malicious Doping, and Capes dragging you into their business. It really was a wonder that anyone lived in this city. Then again The Bay currently had the best health care standards in the world and property was surprisingly cheap in the gang controlled parts of the city. That was a trick for the foolish as the various gangs would knock on your door as soon as you moved in to get their protection fee.
If you had balls the size of manhattan you could not pay but that never ended up well for the people who did. You could be thrown into the underground fighting rings in the Empire territory or strapped to a chair while men rapped your family in the ABB territory. The best option was the Merchants as they ignored the people living there unless the people in question were hot….or vaguely female shaped.
He frowned as he thought that over. The jolly mood he had going on was shot in the knees as he was reminded about how shitty this place was. Ironically, him frowning had the people in this bank even more worried than when he was whistling like an asshole. The side eye has morphed into full on stares and wary whispers as people started to really pay attention.
He wanted to gather attention but he had a whole big moment planned. He did not think that people would be so wary about a man going through something but maybe he underestimated the people's survival instincts.
So he let out a dramatic sigh and faced the crowd. The sound seemed to bring about an almost complete silence. The worry in the room spiking massively as people clutched cell phones and the guards unclipped the guns at their hip.
"Well, my apologies. I had thought this could have waited a bit but clearly my presence is like a lamp to you little moths." He spoke out in a cocky tone as he pulled out a silk cape from his bag and unraveled it.
His words and actions seemed to be the turning point as people scrambled away. Some are already making a bee line for the door and one even being brazen enough to straight jump at a plane of glass to crash through it. The guards had their guns out and were shouting at him to get down and the world became a cacophony of sounds as panic started to blur the rational and the fearful.
He felt his lips twitch as he was expecting a bit of a more calm approach. Maybe fearful huddling and whispers kept in shaking lips. This sort of reaction was really overblown for a god damn cape being unraveled and some ominous words.
Still, he had his part to play so the guns in the guards hands were replaced with bouquets of red roses. They seemed stunned at the sudden change but their attention was dragged back to him as he swung the cape over his shoulder covering their image of him for a moment before he had the cape firmly placed on his shoulders.
During that little display of showmanship he swapped with another Clone that was already dressed in their Cape attire. Pristine white top hat and pressed suit looking like he was moments away from the runway. His face seemingly morphed into the more familiar visage of Kaito Kid. His previous mask was discarded for the iconic look.
"The Phantom Thief at your service ladies and gentlemen." He spoke out with a dramatic bow as his Cape fluttered behind him. He then looked towards a woman who was frozen in fear as she was one of the ones closest to him in line.
She seemed like a mousy woman, someone who lived their lives doing the same thing day in and day out. He decided to be a little kind to the fearful woman.
"Although, ladies as lovely as you can call me Kaito Kid if it makes you more comfortable." He shot out with finger guns and an over dramatic wink. The woman in question seemed to freeze even more as she was pointed out directly. Such a shame, it was like she was not even paying attention to his words.
He then waltzed his way towards the nervous guards who were clutching the bouquets as if they were a life line.
"Although, I suppose I don't have to tell you guys what I'm about. You are clearly fans." He spoke out with that mischievous smile as he glided between the guards plucking the bouquets out of their hands as he made his way to the counter seemingly not even regarding anyone else as a threat.
A couple of the more brave people slowly started to edge their way to exits as the Cape was ignoring them but the teller sitting at the counter was all but shaking as she caught sight of the thief walking towards her.
She was surprisingly stunning for working at a bank but a pretty face was always welcomed in places. She had long black hair pulled into a professional bun and she was dressed in an equally professional manner with a suit jacket and a pencil skirt. She was clearly Asian but her eyes seemed to be almost too wide at this moment.
Maybe it was because she was being put into a heart racing moment but the amount of fear dancing in those eyes had him feeling a bit bad about his plans. He needed a nice showy robbery and he figured most civilians would clear out quickly when they realized he was not that concerned about keeping hostages.
Still, that amount of fear being directed at him was not pleasant. So he gave her a disarming smile and another over dramatic wink. He then laid the bouquets on the counter as he did not want his arms to be full.
"Oh, calm yourself darling. I'm just here for the money. You just got to point me to the Vault and I can take care of it myself. No need to stick around after that." He shot out hoping the information would calm the shaking woman but the dread pooling in those pupils seemed to burn just as bright.
"Please, you don't know what you're doing" She shot back with a trembling voice and a shudder running through her body. At that he frowned as this was a reaction that was well beyond being fearful of the new Cape on the scene. So the question is, if she was not fearful of him who was she afraid of?
He looked at the rest of the room. All the civilians had evacuated quickly, which was strange as there usually was some dumbass sticking around to record new Capes but everyone fled like Cerbures himself was after them. The employee's working here on the other hand were standing stiffly and seemed to be in an equally fearful mood. Even the Guards were staring off into the distance and looked like they were contemplating slitting their own throats.
They were not even looking at him. After he got the guns away from them they seemed to be resigned to their fate and almost seemed like they were waiting for execution.
Not exactly the light hearted joke of a robbery he was going for. This was quickly painting a picture that spoke of something. What that thing was he had no idea but clearly something was going on here.
"How about you walk away, you don't have to be here for what comes next." He offered kindly to the girl in front of him before turning to the rest of the room. "That goes for the rest of you as well, I'm not sure what's going on here but you should cut while you still can." He offered the rest of the room.
His declaration was met with complete and utter silence and a despondent aura to fill the room to the brim. Okay, he thought the offer would have done more.
"They can't, please just leave." The teller was begging with her shaky voice and he looked over at her. For a moment he thought this entire situation was just a charade. A scam to push away the more kind feeling robbers but he dismissed that thought quickly.
People robbing banks were not the type to fall for something like this. Besides, that fear that seemed to pour out of this poor woman was not something you could act out. She looked moments away from swallowing a barrel of a gun and praying her next life was something pleasant.
He looked around the room for a moment, frowning at the mood and the state of the place. Perhaps he should have wondered why some guy felt the need to dash through a panel of glass to get away from this place.
He took a step away from the counter and faced the teller again.
"Alright, you win. If this is some scam you and your crew deserve oscars with the way you are acting. I'll head on out." He said as he started to stroll out of the place.
The teller almost collapsed onto the counter in front of her when he decided to leave. The tension allowing her to operate through her fear was all but gone so she was like a puppet with its strings cut. He was tempted to go check on her but him being here was the main problem so he was going to take care of that.
He got most of his goals accomplished anyways. He made a rather public showing of Kaito Kid while Cole Diamant was held up in the PRT building. He also wanted to collect some energy from theft but he could hit up a different place as he left.
As he was almost out of the building when two figures walked through the broken panel of glass. A girl who was wearing a muzzle like mask with a short cropped buzz cut and a man wearing nothing but jeans, some chains, and a tiger mask with blue stripes.
He stopped his steps as those two figures were more than familiar to him as he has seen them in rallies before. Stormtiger and Cricket. He was not expecting the Empire to come to his little show here but he could deal with those two.
The issue was he had no idea what was going on here and he did not want to ruin innocent lives by involving them in his issues.
"Christ kid, you sure know how to pick a place. You were always such a squirmy bug at rallies so I figured you were too soft for the empire but here you are robbing a chink joint." Cricket shot out with a cocky demeanour, her voice dull and robotic. One look at the box strapped to her throat and the rather blatant scar from her slashed throat told you why she was talking like that.
Still despite her lack of emotion in her voice her body language spoke volumes as she sauntered into the room and loosely held her Kamas as she gave Cole a once over.
He wanted to frown as she was clearly talking about Cole, not the Cape Kaito Kid that was supposed to be here. He knew that the Empire was always going to have their doubts about his identity but he never expected them to be so blatant.
The relief that seemed to have been filling the room faded as the staff knew what was going to happen here. The dread and fear was back but this time it looked like they genuinely were thinking about biting their tongues off.
"Cricket, you're crossing lines." Stromtiger shot out from the side as he followed along, taking care not to touch any of the glass. The guy was very aware that he was not wearing a shirt and that shards of glass were everywhere around here.
Cricket just gave her partner an annoying shrug as she faced back to him.
"Do we really have to bother with all this cloak and dagger bullshit, the kid practically outed himself." Cricket shot out as she turned around and winked at the Clone.
"You know the rules Cricket, the last thing we need is to have another reminder about why we don't cross those lines." Stormtiger spoke out with a tired acceptance as he was used to dealing with his partner's rather blunt way of going about things.
"It's also bad form to assume things lassie." He offered as he watched the two Capes with a wary look. His words earned him a stiff raspy laugh from Cricket as her genuine voice leaked out and a dull stare from the man wearing a tiger mask.
"Grew some balls did you kid? You followed that Herren girl like a lost puppy so I figured you were neutered like one but clearly Triggering went to your head if you think you can talk to the both of us like this." Cricket spoke out as she came closer to the clone and started to spin her Kamas from the chain.
"This is pointless kid, come with us. Kaiser wants to have a talk and you know better than to deny him that." Stormtiger spoke out dully, it was clear he did not really care if this recruitment went well. In fact, judging from his body language he and cricket were on the same page.
They were looking for a reason to put him in his place. Trying to establish a pecking order with the new Cape that was going to join them.
"I know I wear all white but that's because it's stylish, I don't really feel the need to follow along because you two are throwing random information at me." He spoke out as he made to exist the building.
The two Capes looked at each other for a moment before StormTiger shrugged and Cricket blurred into motion.
"Shame kid, this could have been easy. Got to remember that when you are kneeling before Kaiser." Cricket shot out as she approached Cole with a speed others would find difficult to match but it was nothing truly supernatural.
She threw one of her Kamas at Cole. Then as he was dodging out of the way a suffocating sound blared out from her and he felt his steps shudder as he almost lost balance and he felt a sickness pooling in his gut. That distraction was good enough that Cricket was able to close the distance and wrap her chain around his throat as she tried to pull him down to the ground.
He swapped places with Stormtiger and the man in question let out a startled squawk as he was not prepared for that as he was standing off on the side watching the battle like a bouncer.
Cricket to her credit released her partner quickly, her supernatural reflexes coming in handy as she was about to stab Cole to get him to comply.
Cole rubbed his throat for a moment as he felt the cold iron chains wrapping around his throat for a moment earlier. He glared at the two of them and took out a collapsible staff from his pocket.
It was next to useless for combat but the purpose of the thing was not that.
"Rude, at least take me out on a date before you bring out the chains and knives. I don't want to join in on the bondage slave gig you guys have going on as a trouple." Cole spat out as he replaced the staff in his hand with Regent's cane.
He could not use his inventory as a Clone so he had to get creative when dealing with tools. Another clone was basically just watching gear he might need so he could swap random items for those things.
His words seemed to actually give the duo of supervillains pause as they were not sure how to handle the statement.
"What, you surprised that your little kink got out? Why are you suprised Cricket you walk around with your little puppy all the time and he just wears tight jeans and a fucking chain. I know you are proud of your little kink but do you really have to advertise to the whole world?" He snarked out as he was irritated with the Empire for a long time and it felt good taking the piss out of them.
Stormtiger let out a deep sigh and Cricket just shrugged off the comment clearly not bothered by the words.
"You got a mouth on you kid, I'll put it to good use later. Maybe you will learn a trick or two for your little girl." Cricket spoke out as she started to get ready to charge him again.
He blinked as he was not expecting that from the Cape but she was probably just mocking him. The whole buzz cut and the scars covering her body screamed butch lesbian and while that would roll for Bitch that was not in his ball park.
"Right, not dealing with whatever that was." He spat out before he swung the taser at one of the guards standing near him. The man seemed stunned that I was attacking him but he was soon replaced with Cricket who was behind him.
Thank god for the Clone network who made trickster's power too good.
To her credit she responded almost immediately as she tried to shift out of the way of the sudden tazing. She also used her power to give Cole vertigo but he ignored it and it went away after a moment of her being tazed.
She surprisingly held on for a bit but she was apparently a tough cookie. She was certainly not beating the butch lesbian acquisitions.
As he was doing that he was warned that Stormtiger was behind him swinging out his hands as condensed air was formed into the shape of wolverine like claws as the guy wanted to tear him apart.
Again he was swapped with a potted plant that was similar in size and his attack met the interior wall of the bank. Cole took the time to inject Cricket with a sedative as she was moaning on the ground from the tazing.
He then faced Stormtiger who was looking like he was about to throw air blades at him damn his teammate.
He gave the racist Cape a cheeky wave and replaced the guy with his downed teammate and the man soon met the same fate as he was tazed and then injected.
Honestly, too many Capes were too squishy for their own good and his rapid attacks were nearly impossible to stop. He turned to the staff who looked like they were fully praying for things to be over and done with.
"Right, sorry about the additional show people. I'll be out of your hair in a moment." He spoke out as he addressed the fearful bank employees. He then frowned as he looked at the two downed Capes before him. Should he just drag them out of here?
As he was contemplating that he felt a chill on his neck and swapped himself with the same potted plant he used for Stormtiger. His instincts proved to be correct as a figure materialized at where he was standing before.
The man had a knife already in a stabbing motion but he hit nothing but foliage. The figure flashed to the other side of the room and Cole watched as a clone was left behind as the new Cape looked over at Cole standing around in a completely different spot.
Why the fuck was Oni-lee here? Seriously, he just wanted to rob one bank!