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A City to Save for One, A Giant Playground for the Other (Sierra 117 and Blissy)

Sierra-117

Sierra-117

Super-Earth
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
The city came alive at 6:30 am, as it always did. The sun split the trees in the park, rose over most of the building and cascaded off the windows of the giant skyscrapers. It seemed peaceful, but as Sean Jameson came out of an alleyway, a slight cut marking his face, it told the not-so-pretty story behind the picturesque city. With one of the highest crime-solving rates in the country, the police were often lauded by the state. The last national sergeant for the police had come from the city, and there was a feeling the next would too. But the citizens of the fine city knew the truth. It was The Beidger who had saved the city from crumbling under it's social problems. After he had cleared the gangs he did the same to corrupt politicians, public servants and police officers. Just as darkness had threatened to enveloped the city, he had managed to bridge a gap between the rich and poor part of the city to bring about a peace it hadn't seen in some time. He never chose his name, the people and the media had given it to him. He wore it like a badge of honour. However, it was getting bad again. There were many people calling on the rich to do more to help the poor and the rich adamantly refusing to help more than there were. There were also small pockets of gangs and criminals out to get The Bridger for what he had done to them, and they were attacking the people in the poorest areas, trying to hit him where it hurt.

Of course, nobody knew Sean was The Bridger. In fact, apart from the fresh scratch on his cheek, he looked like an ordinary person on his way to work. The fact that his work didn't start for another 150 minutes was irrelevant. He was 6ft tall with a mop of brown hair (now clearly ruffled) sitting atop his almost rectangle shaped head. His eyebrows were furrowed, almost like he was constantly angry. He had denim blue eyes and sported glasses (or contacts, but he liked glasses more). His mouth was thing and he had well defined some well defined cheek bones as well as a well defined chin. He had a longish sort of neck, but nothing too odd and he was slim. He had broad shoulders and good biceps, but his arms were skinny and his fingers long and bony. He was built normally, no fat or muscles but he wasn't a stick either. In fact, all anyone would notice about him straight away was his beard and his well-toned legs, sculpted from years of Tae-Kwon-Do (again, hard to tell). He shrugged, slipping his silver and red costume into his backpack, hoisting it over his shoulder and walking.

He collected himself, allowing the adrenaline to seep out of him as he made his way to his apartment. It had been a long night, he had fought a lot of gang members and stopped 6 burglaries. This was his night-time job, one he did any night he could. He would try and take one night off a week but in reality he probably got one night off a year. Usually he was in bed by 2 o'clock though. However, it had just been one of those nights. He arrived at his apartment at around 6:55. He opened the door and say Lenny sitting at the desk. He had missed George, who he preferred.
"Good morning Mister Jameson, you are up early! Out for a morning jog?" Lenny asked, eyeing the cut on his face, his flushed cheeks and ruffled hair. Sean smiled at him
"Yeah. Had a bit of a stumble though and cut my cheek, nothing to serious though!" he said as he stepped into the elevator and hit 7, where his large apartment was. In fact, each of the 7 floors were an apartment, very handy indeed.

He stepped into his hall and turned straight right, through a door into one of the two bathrooms in the house. He turned on the tap and drank some water, washing the taste of blood out of his mouth. He would have no time to shower. He stepped onto his wooden hallway floor again and made his way to the kitchen, pouring himself some cereal and pouring in milk before sticking it in the microwave. He stashed his bag under the bed and changed into his black slacks and a nice grey short-sleeved shirt. He ate his breakfast and then headed to work.

He ran Jameson Enterprises, a company that produced cheap technology to make life better. These gadgets could do everything, from cook a proper meal with decent ingredients to powering a whole house through a single generator that used around a third of the electricity. Then of course there was his own lab, in which he made gadgets to help him fight crime. He smiled thinking about his next idea, a sonic gun that would disable a person for a matter of minutes giving him time to take them down. He couldn't wait to use it for the first time. He walked slowly, taking in the cool air as he walked, allowing himself to wake up as he did. He thought it was going to be a very peaceful and productive day.
 
Perfection was an interesting subject, one in which the particular character in mention seemed to know truly better then most. Often described as "flawless" the idea of things just fitting in proper fit with no repercussion to any sort opposing action were really nothing more then just concepts of fantasy that deluded minded people considered to be in the ideal. It was simply a matter of staying in the guide lines, keeping your mouth shut and just going with the flow of everything around you. The subject of the perfect little city governed by mediocre politicians who never made a single wrong choice in their life was quite literally impossible. Phoebe Pinkleton knew this to be true above all others, and the interesting part was she was supposedly a prime example of the "perfect daughter" especially during her childhood. She remembered how her parents had her show cased in a number of magazines as the perfect example of a young girl growing up in a safe environment, protected and guided through the acts justice and order under the cynical influence of a masked man and "fixed set" of authority figures. Her and few others that had been fortunate enough to be born into the "right" kinds of families had been hand held for the entire life, that they'd later be raised to replace their teachers. The idea of it seemed so perfect so wonderful and without flaw when in all reality even public figures of a changing society that represented a positive future, could really become some of the worst kinds of people.

All that wonderful news about the well talked and now missing daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the city had seem to loss its edge when no one could really explain what happened to her. Some people believe her going missing was done as some organized criminal kidnapping to mortify the peace that had been so carefully set into motion amongst city civilians both rich and poor, when in all reality there was no peace between them at all but instead mere segregation. Things had begun to take quite a turn for the worst in recent times as the masked vigilante had apparently become the centre of heat when it came to the criminal underworld and there was nothing more fun then being able to point figures at the one thing everyone saw as a representation for everything good and right in the city after all. That was actually what she did best, made everyone second guess who it was they really put their trust in and where the real evil was in the overall crisis that had become the new, yet old city once again.


There had been talks of a new face polluting the criminal underworld who had both been causing trouble for police and other criminals alike. Someone alike the very hero the city had trusted so much, also wore her own mask and bore her own motives that seemed to be anything but ethical to the least bit. Despite that however most people still found their trust foolishly tailgating the masked hero of the city and the fragile police force. Most people in this sort of gig that she was in didn't take too many big risks, but with this woman all bets were off. They might not have believed the rumours they heard about her just yet but that would all change by the turn of the coming dawn.

It happened over night and in such a way that people hadn't expected it. A place like Jameson Enterprise was sure to have a decent security to it right? Well apparently even those kinds of people felt sympathy for a rather oddly placed crying girl trespassing on their property. Naturally the two crewmen on shift went to investigate only to have the crying girl turn on them with a pistol and put a bullet in both their heads without the slightest display of disregard. It wasn't until moments after that the security to the building had been breached and more and more of the strangely clad pink and green wearing followers would begin to flood into the building. Not a single question was exchanged in the action, as the mysterious henchmen would easily force their way through the front doors of the building not hesitating to fire at anyone who was still unfortunately at work. The scariest part of it all was that none of the culprits at the scene could be identified due to the odd plain theatrical themed masked they all seemed to wear that displayed various different emotions. Eventually someone was smart enough to stay alive long enough to pull the alarm and the building would explode into a roar of desperate siren as the real culprit behind the murderous act would hum along contently to the sound of the siren as if it were joy to her very ears, amongst the many others dressed and masked just like her..
 
He had been right about it being a peaceful and gorgeous day. He only had two meetings and they weren't even that tedious like some of his meetings could be. He spent a lot of time in the lab today. He had finally completed the sonic immobilizier. He couldn't help put punch a fist in the air and yell in joy as he finished that project. He had expected to be working on it for another few days. He pushed it into his spare backpack that he had in the office in case any situation ever kicked off in the middle of the city before he could get home to get his primary backpack. It had everything that the one at home had and, thank goodness, he had never needed the backpack. Nothing too serious had ever kicked off in the middle of the city during the day. As he thought about the city his joy feel. He had seen it and felt it, the criminals were more organised and they were united in one effort; to take him down. It was weird being a target like that but he knew he could defend himself. He had taken down the heads of gangs before, he could do it again. He was confident of that. He decided to go for some lunch, wanting to enjoy the sunshine for a while before he headed back in to work more on his projects...

He came back an hour later and worked on a taser. The only way to contact him while he was in his lab was to call him. No-one ever knew where he was, no-one knew about the lab. It wasn't even on the blueprints for the building. It was just a store room apparently, but Sean had converted it to a lab and had done so much in here to help out people in a business way and in a crime way aswell. He looked outside and noticed darkness had fallen without him even realising. He could get lost in his own projects. He sighed and went to grab his coat, wanting to get home and rest up for a while before he went back out on the streets in 3 more hours. Then he heard it. A loud bell shrilled throughout the whole building. Sean looked around confused. He ran straight to his desk and checked his computer, accessing the cameras in the building. As the images came up he say multiple people wearing masks and costumes of pink and green. He look horrified and ran straight to his backpack. He estimated he had about 5 minutes until they came up here to pillage the safe. He didn't bother hiding it, there wasn't much money in it anyway. He locked down his private lab, making it near impossible to penetrate. He threw off his clothes and pulled on his red and grey costume. It was made of a light Kelvar mesh that hid his face as well as the rest of his body. He looked up and picked up his guns, sliding them into the holsters on his costumes. He grabbed his re-enforced kendo sticks as well to do some damage.

He went straight down the stairs, disabling the lift quickly trapping anyone on the way up in them straight away. However, it was only a drop in the ocean to the amount of bad guys he would have to face. He met the first masked freak on his way down, straight away taking out a kendo stick and hitting him in the temple with it, knocking him straight out. Down a few feet below he saw two. He hoped down, taking the first one out with the stick before kicking the second in the head. He continued to take out little pockets of resistance until he got to the lobby. However, as he made his way he was soon surrounded by enemies. They were all smirking, trapping him in a circle. He watched, wondering what to do. Well, he knew what to do but he had to figure out what they wanted and who was running the show. He watched as some of the henchmen not involved in circling him were carrying some of his gadgets, finished, unfinished, prototypes and parts of some
"Well, I certainly didn't expect this today" he said looking around at the enemies, both males and females, hearing someone hum along with the siren "So who is behind this freak show? Don't get me wrong, I like cheerleaders. But deranged cheerleader? I don't think that will catch on as a sexy way to dress up for your partner." he said but no-one said anything. He wasn't worried. He wasn't over-confident either but he was pretty sure he could get himself out of it "So, whose your leader? Who had this genius idea to dress you like sexy clowns?"
 
Things had been going according to plan as they often did when the potential danger was that of dimwitted security who left their front doors open to falsely devastated crying teenaged girl. For the most part she knew better then to expect matters to remain as simple as they had started, especially considering there was a so called superhero running around in a fancy outfit just looking to justify every non do-gooder he could lay his hands on and honestly it sounded like it would be fun to meet a person of this sort of mentality. Of course her motives were a double edged sword, part of them made out to be seen as some sort of simple robbery of certain well known company that none of the other crooks in town had the courage to lay their hands on, but with her it was honestly never about the merchandise that she'd have her boys and girls swindle into their pockets. Instead of seeing matters at a level of value she instead was after something else entirely, something what couldn't physically obtained but could thrive in the minds of the people who thought so highly of the way things were going in their city. Of course she'd have the occasion dimwit in her ranks that thought so simply of the matter, but she'd usually make off with those sorts when they popped up like daises by having them do something that she deemed really improbable to survive. To be simple and frank about that matter, it wasn't so easy to understand the culprit behind this whole act, as in trying to do so it was normal to be the victim of extreme offence or brutality in the process, if you'd even escape with your life at all.

She'd just continue to hum on to the pitch of siren blaring through every room and crawy the big old building had and wait in patient amusement for the so called hero to make his grand entrance. Despite wanting to meet him, their little engagement wouldn't be solely about that but instead lightly dapple around the bigger picture which involved her doing things to him that really got people locking their doors at night. Every person in her little parade of chaotic colour went every which way they were ordered too carrying out each and every detail that she had instructed, as the small group of ten accomplishes went about attending to their duties without any display of hesitation or disregard. It wouldn't be until she'd hear the sound of the elevator creak up to the top floor, only to open as the sound of a body collapsing to the ground seemed to phase out the nonchalantly chatter of the siren. Her attention immediately shifted to the elevator as the hero made his grand entrance, basically throwing himself in the middle of the fray for everyone to see.

A small slip of a psychotic giggle slipped from her lips beneath the mask as she'd slowly go about tilting her head to one side, to take in the full image of the masked crusader before her as she'd envision herself taking that stupid smirk off his face at the snap of her fingers. Before she could say anything at all one of the masked men immediately raised a pistol to the heros head, drawing it a mere inch from his skull, ironically his mask mocked that of a pokerface. Shortly after the rest followed as the sounds of their lower tier weapons clipped into a ready state to meet the hero in a simliar display. It was then that she'd step before the one who seemed to lead the rest and speak up, throwing the entirity of attention on herself where she always wanted it to be.

"Oh no.. Not yet.. I think he's kind of funny don't you.. Not like the rest of you clowns though right? I mean that's all we are, colours in funny outfits rightttt?"

She'd state aloud in a rather chilling cheerful tone that just seemed to happy to fit the sort of person she was. A moment after her announcement she'd swing both her hands from behind her to reveal a set of two large pom's, one being green and the other pink to match the rest of her and everyone else's outfit.

"You knowwww.. you don't exactly look like a team playerrr..? Ya know what I meann? And we don't exactly take well to the lone wolf types."

Following her second statement she'd shift a single hand to the neurotic mask she worn, shifting it from her face and revealing her identity beneath, which was only shrouded by a second mask of colorful dark mystery.
 
He heard the familiar sound of a hand-gun being raised, the rattle of a bullet in the chamber and a clip in the handle, clanking together as it was lifted up with force. He felt it rest a mere two inches from his skull but the smirk under his mask (which also appeared on his mask due to a series of LED lights that reacted to movements in his lips). He felt the rest of their guns move up as well, pointing straight at his head. His smirk flickered slightly, only enough for an observant person to notice but he kept it up, looking as confident as ever. He had his secret weapon on him, he just needed a chance to use it. Damn it, if I move at all they'll blow my head off. My suit wasn't designed to take this much fire power this close up he thought to himself. He then heard the giggle and looked around to see a female step forward telling him he was quite funny. If he wasn't afraid of them being jumpy and pumping his head full of lead he would have bowed at her compliment

He watched as she went up to the man who had first raised the gun and everyone stared at her as she did. God job random evil doer he thought as his fingers slipped into one of the hidden pockets on his suit, finding the sonic immobilser. He switched it on, having to let it charge before using it. He watched as the female who just gotten in front of the pokerface masked guy suddenly produced pom poms. What kind of person accessories a costume they use to commit crimes? he wondered, but the guy in the mask seemed a bit uncomfortable now. Sean looked on in interest as the female addressed him again. This time there was something menacing in her voice, even though what she said seemed like a perfectly logical leap. He stared with curiosity, as his head told him 10 seconds before he could use the immobiliser, as the woman brought her hand to her face and took off her mask, revealing a different one underneath. Everyone in the circle seemed to gasp in a mix of shock and fear and the person who had drew his gun first looked to be genuinely terrified. Sean was curious to see what the woman would do to him but he decided it would be better to use the immobiliser now. He clicked it and everyone to the side of him and behind him, as well as the guy the female was talking to, collapsed in a heap, leaving only a handful of her men remaining

He laughed as he looked around, seeing mostly everyone down. He turned and looked at her, seeing she was examining the man who had collapsed just in front of her, looking quite curious.
"Awww you seem almost worried about him" Sean said with a grin "So since that's the case, and seeing as how terrified everyone was when you took off your first mask to reveal something different underneath, I'm assuming you're the leader" he said, being very calm, almost friendly, as he talked to her. "What do you want with this place? It's not a weapons factory, there is no secrets, there is nothing to gain from here" he said, very confident now as no-one knew this business like he knew it "So what are you doing? If you tell me and surrender we can pin all of this on someone else. You can get the help you need rather than go to prison!"
 
Even with her limited time taking up a guise as the masked psychopath she had been quickly working a reputation of being, she had seen her fair share of neat tricks having been crafted by equally as uninteresting characters that generated them. Not everyone had the ability to do whatever he just did and despite not fully understanding what had really happened, she couldn't help but snicker in childish response to him making his first move. Apparently this mystery hero wasn't all ego and a mess of bad jokes after all. To her he was really just another problem and one she'd have to find a solution to as she did all of her others. Normally criminals had plans or morals when they went about doing the things they did, but when you signed up with her all of that seemed to totally go out the window. It had quite literally become just a game of doing what was told of you over fear of ending up as just another bad excuse for a poor example of someone who was clearly apart of the overall problem if they weren't on her side about it. Though despite that sort of persona she'd wear about her, there was more to her then met the eye which was something that had naturally gone overlooked when it came to making a first confrontation with this particular character.

She'd only tilt her head in slow decline, after watching four of her front henchmen drop down to the floor like flies. Honestly the nature of how they fell without any fore-warning really did stir to bother her, but if there was one thing she truly was an expert at, it was covering up that sense of fear or discomfort with her deeply sickened colourfully violent imagination. After a moment she'd realize that the four that had fallen over wouldn't be getting up any time soon and she'd ponder out-loud in her normal exaggerated tone.

"Uh-oh.. did you kill them? I's hope nottt.. Because that would make you a murderrr right? And murders are bad people. Aren't you suppose to be some kind of hero?"

She'd giggle at the end of her sentence as if to show she was more amused then intimidated by the mystery man with fancy gadgetry in front of her.

"Sayy.. You wouldn't happen to have more toys on you would youu? Could I see emm? Or did you wanna see mine?"

She'd snark back in playful tone, as her body would step closer to him and she'd slowly turn on the heels of her dark platformed footwear. The two massive pom poms on her hands would press together tightly as she'd sort of press them towards her chest, as if she were reaching for the zipper of her sweater. It seemed as if she thought the two of them were playing a game and she was hiding something from him and didn't want him to peak at what it might be, based on the nature of her actions.
 
He watched her reaction to most of her men going down. He was surprised she didn't seem fazed by it. Instead she just seemed curious. That's weird, normally one thing like that and they give up he told himself, not taking his eyes off of her or the few remaining henchmen still left standing. He made a mental note to fix his sonic immobiliser, it needed more range and the ability to pass through bodies otherwise it would be useless if he faced a large group like that again. The people still continued to pillage some items, taking them out the door and into the waiting vans. He was surprised at how calm she was. He had just cut her options in several ways and yet she seemed almost...giddy at what he had done. That disturbed him a little but he didn't let it show at all as she began to talk.

He laughed a little as she attempted to call him a bad guy if he murdered someone. He knew that wasn't true. Hell, even if the device had killed them it was self-defence. They were going to kill him. But he looked at her and grinned, the lights on his LED mouth twinkling as his real one's grin extended.
"I don't think so. A. They aren't even unconscious, they just can't move a muscle in their body. They are immobilised and B. they were pointing guns at me. Self-defence isn't defined as murder if my memory and knowledge of the law serves me correctly" he smirked "and it does, because, you know" he stuck both of his thumbs in the air and pointed them at himself, not really caring about the four henchmen left standing and their guns "genius" he said, still looking at her. He felt his heart rate slow down a little, the adrenaline starting to leave his body as he wasn't afraid anymore. If anything he seemed wildly confident of coming out on top in this situation.

Well, that was until she spoke again and stepped closer to him. He frowned again, his eyes narrowing Toys? What toys he thought, a little more concerned now than he had been just a few minutes ago. Sean stiffened a little as she raised her pom poms towards her chest and zipper. He couldn't see anything while she was hidden behind them. He assessed the situation immediately. There was her and her four men left. Better to take them out before she does anything. And with that he was off. He sprang right over her and the four men, his strong legs allowing him to jump that high. He landed on his feet behind them and raised his hand, shooting a net from a little tube, no bigger than the tip of a pen. The net expanded as it flew through the air, landing on the four men and shocking them, enough to knock them out. He looked at her and grinned
"Trust me lady, whatever you have is nothing compared to my arsenal. I've taken down entire gangs and look at you, pulling off a heist at a nothing facility" he had to keep the bitterness out of his voice, he didn't like thrashing his own company but it had to be done, he had to make her see he was better to get her to surrender. "So whatever you are planning to do I'd say don't, give up and come with me to the police station. I don't want to hurt you but I will if I have to"
 
It was tough for her to consider what this guy's hassle might make him worth and if she should even bother allowing herself to play around with him at all or just drop him dead on the spot. Generally speaking this girl had an idea of what sort of people she liked to keep around while others often really just got in the way if she didn't do something about them. Regardless of that matter, she had a reputation to maintain and sense of control to keep in the bigger picture. Her gang looked up to her, they acted on a whim when she preached a command since the idea of what they were doing was disguised as some sort of mis-understood family that didn't a stronger voice to lead them forward, namely her and just looking at what he was doing to her little boys and girls was really starting to turning her gears in a rather impatient cynical fashion.

For the most part things between the two of these very different people were quickly taking a turn to more conflicting circumstances. Not only had had this guy guy attacked and successfully knocked conscious the majority of his muscle but now he seemed to be slowly reasserting his sense of confidence over the whole matter. It was that fact alone that really started to make her own spine tingle in a certain way that was anything but good. There was no doubt here that this mystery hero brought about with him a better arsenal then she could counter, but that didn't exactly mean that she couldn't out play him. On one hand this guy really was playing right into her hand by overlooking her as nothing more then a strange woman with an eccentric taste of colour and violence, but that truly all as it were intended to be. She'd only monitor his actions prior to his leap in the air and assault on the rest of her remaining muscle as she'd watch them become trapped under the net, protesting with the groans of uncomfortable struggles. Her eyes followed him until he'd made his landing on the opposite side of things and she'd find herself fighting the urge to cringe at the idea of this idiot getting in her way.

"Oh you so sureee? But the fun hasn't even started yet!"


It was at that point that she'd reveal her own surprise, her sweater zipping down at the snap of her zipper. Underneath she really bore nothing of much importance, aside from her own colorful costume that unsurprisingly fit the rest of her get up. What was important however, was the subject of the mesh that seemed to be weaved into the costume, it was similar to his in a sense that it obvious looked like the sort of gear to be able to take a bullet or two, but it wasn't the costume that he'd have to worry about even if it did serve to distract him. Following the pull of her zipper she'd swing both her pom poms forward toward the mystery hero and the sound of compressed gas escaping some form of canister would faintly surround her. In another moment a flare would spark in the midst of the pom pom's and then explode into an inferno of flame jolting towards him in a massive ball as the sound of the dangerous flame blazing would engulf the room. If he'd pay any attention at all to her, he'd notice a rather euphoric expression light up her face as if she were having all fun in the world by attempting to burn him alive with the flame-spray of napalm.

"Careful not to get sun burnnnn!"

She'd tease aloud in her normal unsettling tone.
 
He looked at her as she took down the last few men and couldn't help but notice her eyes getting a little bit darker, her mind clearly working, ticking away. He saw she was clearly ticked off at the way he was taking down her men, not enjoying the fact that he was not only taking them down easily but that he was taking them down full stop. He wasn't sure whether it was because she genuinely cared about the men or that she was just annoyed that he was levelling the playing field. He could be surprised at times by how much bad guys actually cared about their henchmen. He didn't really care what her thinking was at the moment. He had to be careful. For a woman like her to command so many different men was something that didn't fill him with hope that now he had taken the muscle out he would have it easy.

But he was still confident. He hadn't lived for so long because he was bad at what he did. He had faced insurmountable odds before and had come out alive. And he had evened those odds now. It was one on one and Sean knew there was no-one better at him when it came to one-on-one scenarios. He flashed a grin at her as if to tell her that he knew he was going to win. He was pretty sure he was going to, but he wasn't underestimating her,not by any means. She had managed to get inside his building and take out his highly trained security guards. That meant something and he knew it.

The grin was soon wiped off his face though as he listened to her speak, her words sending a chill down his spine. How can she be so confident? he asked himself, gearing up a taser for his next move. If he could land it on her he would have a chance of knocking her out and throwing her in a cell. He would put a personal call into the DA to make sure she paid for everything she had done. He looked though in surprise when she revealed her costume. It was a similar mesh to his, even if the colour was very different. That worried him a little bit. He didn't let it show but if she could develop something like he had who knew what else she could create. He was too in his own head to realise that she had snapped up the pom poms. Once he saw it though he knew she had something hidden in them. He saw the spark and dived, feeling the heat cascade over his body as the flame engulfed him. He had made the mesh to also withstand large temperatures and flames. That been said though as the flame went over him the heat instantly got to him. The mesh stopped him from being burned alive but the heat and smoke made it difficult to breathe. He was on his knees now, gasping large amounts of air as it felt his lungs and entire body was burning from the inside out.

He looked over at her, her comment angering him. He had to think of a way to let him recover. His hand went to a pouch and he threw a few pellets on the crowd, a orange smoke filling the room, giving him some time to recover Fuck I shoulda been more wary he thought to himself, feeling his lungs less desperate for air now as he stood back up. He waited for the smoke to clear to see where she was, his left hand raised now, ready to stick her with the taser.
 
To her surprise, things had gone unexpectedly well as she'd watch the flame engulf the hero in a roar of inferno. She couldn't help but find herself grinning from the success of the attack, as she wondered if she achieved an easy victory over him with her first move. It was unlikely that he'd fall so easily but she was hopeful that might very well be the case. Her curiosity got the better of her as she'd release control of the flame only to try and give herself a better look at her foe, only to have smoke explode in her face. She hadn't expected him to be so witty with his own defence, despite noticing the window of opportunity she'd have against him and she'd cough aloud once or twice before quickly flipping backward herself. It was like when her body moved she barely made a sound, the agility of her built yet small skinny form sliding easily backward with the momentum of her retreat. She'd disappear in the cloud of smoke he had so foolishly provided to her and do her best and quickly go about snapping her own full face mask back on before the smoke would really get the better of her. After another moment of collecting her breath she'd snap her attention to the floor and notice a bright coloured bat lying down aside one of her fallen henchman. She'd grab the bat without hesitation and slip away somewhere else in the room to try and throw the benefit of the smoke in her favour, planning to throw a sneak attack against him once it cleared.

Despite binding her time and waiting in a hidden location behind a cubicle in the room, she couldn't help but wonder if this little set back was starting to get the better of her. She could feel herself growing impatient with the whole matter as her hands would fumble and shake in bothered display at her grip of the bat. It was like she was so swamped in emotions, both angry and scared to continue doing what she was doing, but despite all that she seemed to maintain that awkward sense of forced perfect euphoria. The bottom line was she didn't like having her fun ruined and she didn't like it when people opposed her at all. The longer she'd remain there, simply counting the seconds the more cruel her thoughts would become as her mind swamped with the idea of simply doing more then just killing the man and doing so much more to him once she could get total control of the situation..

Once the smoke would finally clear she'd be careful in taking her next advance, only peaking around the corner of the cubicle to see just how close she really was to the super-hero. She was in luck, he wasn't much further then a few meters away and in realizing that she'd begin to make her second move. Instead of bothering to try and sneak up on him she'd huddle her body in a squat and leap over the side wall of the cubicle flipping through the air and aimming to bring the bat down directly on the back of his skull in a single hard swing with the momentum of her fall.

"Baseball's never been so funnn..!"

She'd exclaim in her her usual tone, though she seemed to let her excitement slip a little at the idea of causing him harm.
 
He knew full well the risks of throwing the smoke bombs. It would give her a chance to hide or sneak up on him in the smoke. But he had needed the time to recuperate. He had just been fried inside his suit and had he been in the flame any longer he would probably be unconscious from the lack of oxygen and heat exhaustion. He slowly got to his feet as the smoke began to clear, feeling the full effects now of his earlier excretions in taking out her henchmen who ha been searching his building. But he still had plenty of fight left in him. He wasn't going to make this easy for her. If she wanted to kill him she would be sacrificing a lot herself to do so. He wouldn't go down so easily. He was determined not to go down at all. He had heard a few coughs a few feet away and made his way there, having trained in environments full of smoke for this very reason.

However, when he got there he found she wasn't there Damn, she must have slipped away quietly he thought, gritting his teeth as he did. She was talented, that was for sure. He looked all around, taking everything in as his eyes scanned the surroundings. Nothing. Just a pile of unconscious or unmoving henchmen. She must have gotten away but when he looked out he still saw two vans left, one of them loaded with gear the other empty. He did a quick calculation in his head and realised that all the men on the ground would fit in the empty van meaning that she would probably be making a get away in either the one laden with gear or as a part of the group of henchmen. He gritted his teeth and heard a rustling of wood and paper behind him. He turned to see her flying through the air, baseball bat in hand aiming for his skull. He immediately brought up his strapped elbow, blocking the blow as it came down, gritting in teeth as he still felt the impact throughout his entire arm. He lifted his leg, swinging it straight at her chest. He caught her perfectly, sending her sliding along the floor.

He quickly raised his taser and fired it at her, it hitting her suit right in the middle
"Sorry about this" he quipped smirking "it might get a little bit hair raising" he said hitting the switch on the electric output device he was holding that was strapped to the string connected to her and hit the switch. He looked at her and his smirk turned to a frown as he realised it didn't work Fuck the suit! he thought as he quickly tried to get something else from his arsenal to take her down.
 
Despite the hero coming off as more of an annoyance then an actual threat in the beginning he had begun to really show just how remarkably annoying he could really be. Naturally it was more obvious for someone like her to conclude to more extreme ends that determined one person a certain type of thing at a faster and more radical rate then someone who was clearly within their right mind. His attacker was obviously someone who was without a doubt a complete and total lunatic but despite that little fact she seemed to shroud it all away with a chilly sense of euphoria that just didn't quite add up to her actions. It was sort of like being repeatedly assault by someone who seemed like the happiest person in the universe and despite the condition of their obvious smile they seemed to make sense of the emotion by doing other less very "unsettling" things such as gunning down office employers or trying to light city speculates on fire like they were nothing more then flies that needed to be zapped. Whatever the case was with the one acting him, he'd be in no position to try and figure it out when she wanted nothing more then to make a pez-dispenser out of his head once she was through with him.

Once she leapt from her cover with the nimble flip and the smack down of the bat to his arm she'd realize he was a bit faster then she had originally took him for, but immediately went about concluding that it was probably because of another one of his stupid toys. Honestly the whole idea of this guy being a wired device was really starting to get to her, there was no fun in fighting a man that was barely man at all but used a set of toys to win all his battles and the idea of it was really starting to take a toll on her. He'd block her surprise attack with blind luck, as he'd follow up with his own counter attack sending her a decent distance from him with that quick kick he'd deliver to her chest. She felt the pain of the base of his boot collide with her stomach as she'd tumble across the ground from the force of the blow unable to catch herself from the fall and only turn to face him to meet a set of tiny clamps sticking into the front of the mesh of her outfit.

At first she felt a real sense of distress fumble through her as she'd quickly make sense of the clamps realizing that they were attached to something he had which could only mean one thing.. another toy for her to play with, how joyful indeed.. Though that would all change the minute he'd flip the switch and nothing would happen. Her expression became dazzled in insane delight, as she'd discard her former flaming throwing devices from the secrecy of her pom pom's and grab the length of the wire. She'd spread her legs apart and and mount them on the two cubicle walls at her side, showing just how flexible she really was. With her body stationed in a comfortable and supported position she'd go about sharply pulling on the taser wires that connected her and him together as she'd begin to whistle a delightful little tone aloud.

"Fried hero on a hook.. on hook he be.. why don't you come a little closer and play with me?! Ha...!"

She'd cheer out loud as she'd begin to reel in the hero in his fried attire.
 
As the claps had connected he had seen the fear in her eyes. Now it was his turn for the fear to show as he was pulled towards her. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He had designed it so the only way to remove the clamps was for him to touch them after he had shocked the criminal in front of him. But it hadn't worked this time and it had given her an opportunity to take advantage of it. He had never had any of his gadgets fail on him so much. He dug his feet in and held on to the cable as best he could, trying his best not to be pulled in towards her. She had been smart though, using her flexibility to use her body as an anchor against the wall meaning that unless he was stronger than two walls (which he wasn't) she would win this tug of war.

A calmness came over him as he resisted, thinking about everything he had done for the city. If today was going to be his last at least he made sure that when the police did get here they would have around half of her men arrested and a fair idea of what they were up against. He allowed his retinal camera to take a photo of her, being sent straight back to his laptop. If he didn't make it the cops would find his body, know what he was and be able to search his apartment. She was an enigma though. Clearly full of hatred and anger, yet so happy to cause violence and mayhem. It was almost like she was at peace while doing so, being very happy an excited when at her most vicious. That wasn't weird to him, how good she was against him was though. He had never faced someone as good as her before.

He inched closer and decided to risk something he had never tried before, mainly because he had never been in this situation before. His expression changed from gritting his teeth due to exertion to a playful smile. He looked at her as it did and seemed to shrug
"Well, if you want me that bad" he said, still struggling against her pull, making the calculation in his head "then I have no choice but to oblige a ladies wish!" he said before leaping forward, the momentum of his resitance and her pulling allowing him to fly through the air quicker. He was on her quickly, his fist balled up and he aimed for her head, the soft tissue behind the ear, trying to knock her out and finish this as quickly as possible.
 
This guy never seemed to run out of surprises to dull her with, never-mind when she thought she had in the worst of situations where he couldn't pull any more witty counters or recoveries of the spur of the situation. Despite knowing better then to really letting it get to her, she couldn't help but feel her mood taking a rather sour decline by the moment. It was like no matter what she did, he always managed to find some sort of exit or way of toppling the perfection of the situation right back over her head and frankly she couldn't stand things not going her way. Perhaps that were one of her blatant weaknesses, but she'd do her best not to advertise it, her devastated mood of psychotic delight seeming to do what it did best and down out any evidence of fragility at any obvious moment. Even when he'd use the coiling motion of her advance from the wire to his suit and spring himself through the air towards her, she'd still maintain tolerance over the abrupt disappointment of his heroic actions giving him yet again another swift advantage. It was true that the momentum of the way he launched himself at her did give him quite a sense of acceleration as he'd drive through the air, coming at her like a bat out of hell. However there was one very important factor he had over looked and that was the flexibility of her form, as she'd spontaneously raise her knee towards her face, swinging it in a sharp swift motion as she'd ram it across his jaw and deny his swift advance.

It wasn't much of a victory at all, but more so a defence and that would be good enough for the time being since there was very little time to account for at all. The sound of the blaring sirens would remind her of the reality of the situation as she'd find herself grumbling in detest at the fact that she could hear police sirens wailing in the distance already. It hadn't even felt like they had been fighting for any longer then five minutes and already this heroes noble pet dogs were coming barking down the road to try and tear up a new piece of fresh meat. Cops.. She hated cops, but she could definitely say she dislike whatever this costumed gadget happy do-gooder was even more then cops. She'd only think about what to do next for a split second as she'd flip herself upward and disregard and really advantage at trying to really hurt her attack for the time being, as she'd only the strong base of her long plat-formed boot swinging blindly in his direction, hoping she could get a last kick in. Without even bothering to really care the impression she'd make on the so called hero, she'd rush over to fire escape and kick the door open and take off into the night.
 
He was all sure he was going to hit her but then he saw her moving as quick as lightning, managing to get her knee up. This is going to hurt was his last thought before he felt the hard bone of the knee-joint connecting with his left side of his jaw, groaning in pain as he felt the vibration of the impact moving through the base of his jaw and through the side of his head, sending messages to the brain he was in pain. He felt the throbbing and redness spread, the sign of inflammation to protect the bones and nerves. He groaned as he was sent crashing to the floor, his momentum ended by her knee. He looked up, feeling that he was a bit woozy from the smack, but having to get to his knees to keep his defence up Damn it Sean, work through the pain he said as he got to his knees, making progress. His vision was a bit blurry now, a grimace of pain painting his face, the LED lights matching it on his mask.

But then he heard it. The sirens in the distance. The police coming to check out what was going on in the building. The alarm being raised had alerted him, but also the police. He looked up at her, his sight coming back into focus. He saw she was annoyed and he couldn't help but grin. He was a bit annoyed himself, he had wanted to beat her and put the cuffs on himself but he would be happy with taking a lot of her men away from her. He watched her as she leapt through the air, aiming a kick at his chin. He dodged, rolling out of the way quickly, not wanting to take another kick or hit to his face. He watched in annoyance as she went through the fire escape, running into the blackness of the night, swallowing her whole as she rang. He stood up, his jaw screaming to him in agony from the knee he had taken. He turned to see one or two of the men starting to shake a little, trying to get the effect of the sonic device off of them. He kicked both of them in the head, sending them onto the floor, their eyes rolling back in their head.

He looked outside and saw the familiar blaze of the red and blue sirens coming towards him, the lights hazy at first but coming clearer as they approached the company Headquarters. He looked as the cop cars pulled up. He watched Commissoner Harrison climb out of the car, looking at the carnage that was in the lobby and also The Bridger's burnt suit
"Jesus what happened you?" he asked, looking at him with a mix of concern and joy at the fact they had so many criminals in the lobby ready to be locked up. Before Sean could answer he signalled for the officers to arrest all the men on the floor. He turned back to the man in the suit "What happened here?" he asked.
"A raid on the headquarters, most of the security guards were murdered. I took out a few upstairs before being surrounded. I used a sonic immobiliser before battling the ring leader" he described her to him, telling Harrison what she was wearing and the build "I better be off Commissioner, I'll visit Mr. Jameson on the way back and tell him what happened"
"You should get looked over" said Harrison, clear concern in his voice. Sean laughed and looked at him.
"You know how it is Commissioner, I can't get checked out. Once the mask comes off you have to arrest me. I can't risk that!" he said to him before walking off "I'll see you again soon I'm sure" he said activating his Hoverboard and heading off into the night.

As he hovered home he couldn't help but think about the woman he had just faced. He had managed to avoid her but just about. He had underestimated her a bit, something he planned not to do again. He got near his apartment and took off his mask, putting a jacket over the rest of his suit and walking in. He went in and looked in the mirror, taking off his suit, just standing in his boxers. He was red all along his chest and arms. Not burnt, but the heat had taken a bit of a toll on his body, reddening it a bit as it was starved for oxygen, the heat dehydrating it. His jaw had swollen a little, a blue bruise becoming larger as the blood pooled and dried under his skin. He grabbed some ice from his freezer and applied it to his jaw, walking to his chair. He sat down and looked at the images his eye camera had taken to his laptop. He focused on her, thinking deeply about who she was and what she wanted. He didn't know and despite racking his brain for a few minutes he couldn't come up with anything. He sighed and climbed into bed, planning to roam the streets the next few evenings to find anything that would lead him to her. He feel asleep on the other side of his jaw, thankful he hadn't had his life ended by the maniac.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He had prowled the streets for 3 nights straight, trying to find anything that would him to her. But there had been nothing on that front. He had stopped multiple muggings, break-ins and 3 drug busts in the space of the 3 nights. But he was annoyed at himself that he hadn't caught anything. He stood ready to call it a night. And then he saw it. A person walking down a street, looking determined. He had caught his eye because of the similar pattern he was wearing. He tapped into the nearby security cameras and saw his face. He was wearing a mask, similar to those that he had seen the guys wear in his lobby 4 nights ago. He grinned and followed him, hoping he would lead him to her.
 
Things honestly should have gone over better that night, but in reality it was her own fault for screwing them up but it wasn't like there was really anyone around to tell her that now was there? That good for nothing masked crusader had may not done much of a number on her but he did do good work to her numbers. With several of her strongest supporters probably behind bars by now she'd have a couple new matters to consider. She knew that getting new muscle wasn't really the problem, not really in a town like this where a lot of people in these parts had a similar mentality to her own and wanted nothing more then the cities hero to be removed from the equation. The hassle of obtaining new hands to do the majority of her dirty work wouldn't come so easily as she'd remember the struggles of getting her first boat load of anarchy hungry advocates only but a month or so ago. Ultimately the impact the hero had made on her had really done well to chip away at any form of ration surface she may have very well had left in her. Not like there was much rationality to even be found with a character such as her, but now she simply could not wipe the idea of making this do-gooder pay through a way he'd never forget.

Unfortunately for him, she wasn't like most other villians. What she did wasn't about the money or even the name that came with it, but more so about the atrocities that were the violent criminal actions in themselves. Letting them all believe it was so simple was really just all part of the fun, it let her pick away at all the little blind-spots people like the hero and his supporters totally went oblivious too. What this hero didn't know was that being the type of character that she was, she had a really bad sense of generating an overall fairness for everyone despite whatever impression she may have been claiming to make and the situation would all come back to her finding her own self happiness at the end of the day, to whatever extremity that really meant. He clearly wanted to level the playing field, or at least that's how she took what he did back there when he had a dozen of her men ambushed and arrested because he couldn't mind his own damn business.. So she'd be sure to level the playing field in the same way he had.

It only took her a night or so to really realize what it was that would hurt him most. All she could remember that night from their original feud was the bothersome sound of blaring alarms and then sirens followed shortly after and it really made her consider just independent this hero could really be. No doubt if she did anything, whether it was have her remaining boys and girls rob a store or commit a murder then the cops and the shining city hero would be on the scene at the whim of the mention, so she'd have to do something a little more clever then just a straight up crime. Despite the real intention of her plan, she opened it as she would anything else she did, just another mean undesirable god forsaken petty act of some people getting hurt and a few cash registers being emptied. She only did it with three guys this time, each of which totting a standard issue fire arm and a couple of colourful sacks to carry to stolen money.

They'd be at the location they had given her, robbing the clerk of the store by gun point when the police would come wailing down the streets in their obnoxious blaring squad cars and pull out to stop the crime in process. The officers would draw their weapons and step out from their car, yelling their usual thing that they did when they comforted criminals in the act of breaking the law but in the midst of their sentence they'd be interrupt by the roaring sound of an explosion going off only a few feet behind them as a small little painted pink and green grenade would meet the hood of their car and sending the officers flying in a hailstorm of fire and debry.

"An eye for an eye I supposeee!"

She'd cheerily call aloud at the notable success of the set-up, as she'd dwindle about with the remaining other four grenades in her hand. The beginning of her plan would set into motion with the horrendous act of killing the three cops but that was only the tip of the ice berg for what she had in mind.



 
He followed the man carefully, using the building tops as cover, using the boost button on his hoverboard when he had to clear large gaps. He needed to keep up with him and not be seen. The sooner he got this lunatic behind bars the better the city would be. He had asked himself many times was what he put himself through worth it? Of course it was, he needed to do it. This city had given him everything he had and he needed to repay that debt. People needed hope in their lives, they deserved to live in peace. Even if that meant he had to sacrifice his body- even himself he would do it gladly. He had never imagined it ending any other way. He knew this suit would be what he was wearing when he died. He knew eventually his tools, intelligence, strength and skill would let him down and he'd be killed. But he didn't care. Being a martyr would push more people to do what he did. Soon the city would take itself back from the grips of crime. It would rid itself of the dirt and the debris of the bad people and make itself clean again.

But he didn't plan on dying anytime soon. He knew the city wasn't quite ready for that burden and so he would carry it for them. He would do it until they were ready and then he would keep on carrying it until he expired. It was the way he was. He had hated letting anyone down as a kid and he was still the same way now. Life had dealt him what seemed like a shit hand but in hindsight it was the best one it could have done. It had made him become he was now. And he was thankful for it. But as he followed the guy in the mask he wondered what background the mad woman in the costume had. Was she like him? A girl from the wrong side of the town completely envious of what the rich had? Or was she middle class? Or rich? He didn't know and he didn't care. All he cared about now was finding her.

He heard the earpiece in his ear crackle. It was connected to a police scanner and was constantly going. He heard about a robbery in a convience store and so tuned it out and kept following. Where is he taking me? he wondered, feeling like they had been moving forever. He kept going before the earpiece cackled again
"My god she killed them! She blew them up! There is burning car debris and bodies! She has grenades! She's wearing a mask-ARRGGGHHHH" the explosion and the scream nearly deafened him. He looked down at the man and he seemed to be walking a bit happier now. Fuck he thought he was leading me away from it. He quickly kicked his hoverboard into gear and turned sharply, hitting the boost button and rapidly making his way towards the carnage.

By the time he got there several police cars were burning, body parts all over the area, chaos ensuing. He heard more sirens in the distance. He patched through to Commissioner Harrison
"Harrison, keep your men back. She wants you to bring them here. If you come they die. She wants me and she wants me alone. She knows that I won't let your men die to save me" he said, a large grimace on his LED mouth now. He looked around, anger boiling over him. He hadn't killed before but this bitch deserved to be put close to it. Killing innocent police officers to get to him. How low could you get? He looked around before extending his arms
"Here I am! Come out! Let's finish this right here, right now! I swear on my life you'll pay for every life you've snuffed out so far." he screamed, taking out something he didn't often use. He took out a metal stick, extending it on both sides before placing it over his shoulder. He knew how to use it effectively but he usually only used it when he was outnumbered. He planned to give her a massive introduction to it now.
 
It was a strange consideration to what what had really lead the hero to this point. Honestly she felt herself somewhat also ravelled in the possibilities of what sort of thing it was that really kept him committed to the sort of things he did come the fall of night. It was easy for her to consider just how far he'd be willing to go to take a swing at her under more fair circumstances, in reality there was no fairness in this city so what made him worthy of such a thing? Most people thought she was the problem, she was the real menace here when in reality she was really only providing the people with a public service that would really make them aware of the real crisis at hand. It was heroes like the one she had clearly pissed off that were the real problem here. If it wasn't for self-righteous do gooders then there really wouldn't be any competition now would there? It was obvious nobody thought like that and everything respected the hero of the city as if he was some form of angel from the heavens who had come to save the city under truly flawless circumstances.

Despite the disturbance she had quite the particular name for, her work was hardly easy at all for the most part. It took someone with very limited remorse, if any at all to take on the sort of guise that she did for what she deemed the greater good. The cops that had come obediently to the scheme of the crime were nothing more then stupid good for nothing dogs to her that simply barked up to their equally as tenacious superiors. This cities problem wasn't the amount of crime it had at all, but the fact that despite having "heroes" in it, the absence of justice still seemed to exist. As she'd stand around delightfully smiling back at the chaotic and disturbing nature of the gruesome war-torn like reality around her, she couldn't help but recall a single memory of a time where something very similar had happen to her, before she was who she was today. The smell of burning fumes and fire tickled her senses as her eyes found themselves shifting over the heap of destroyed metal that was the police car she had done incredible work to only minutes ago. The contrast of her deeply curious mask of painful colours seemed to reflect the dreadful glare of the flames sprouting from the cruisers tipped form, as she'd tilt her head to the side for a moment getting a closer look at one of the survivors inside..

Inside the car there would be a sole survivor of the tremendous accident, as he'd frantically protest in cowardice for someone to help him out of the car, blood stained the side of his face and he looked barely able to move at all. Instead of seeing the pain of the victim she had created beyond her, she instead only saw the familiar face of herself. In that illusive vision of what she'd account for her own past, she remembered a very similar scenario occurring but instead of protesting for help she didn't seem to make a sound at all. She wouldn't break from the stare until a strange sparking noise seemed to shift her from her watchful daze, as she'd watch the leaking gasoline of the car slowly slide down it's surface to the small combustion of sparks. In an instant her curious stare seemed to dissolve and was only replaced by a look of distasteful pleasure. The spark and liquid would meet together and the car would explode in a roar of fire sending derbies in every which way.

There was clearly nothing left to see here other then the carnage of the reality she had manifested and with a look of shallow content she'd find herself slipping away into the darkness of the alleyway, only to hear the sound of a familiar voice roar up over the symphony of destruction behind her. So he had come? And for what, to see more of the so called good people die? What a fool. It was clear to her that he simply hadn't learned from his mistakes already and was only aggressively throwing his emotion forward as a means to really get even with her. Hand't they already got even? That's what he liked to do right? Mess things up for her? Well apparently he hadn't caught on to what her whole lingo was about by now. With a sharp shifting of her heels she'd turn on them and bring herself back out of the alleyway she had originally intended to make her escape. With gentle footstep forward into the fire lit street she'd confront the hero who had summoned her.

"Oh it's youuuu.. Didn't think you'd comeee.. You like what I did with the placeee? It was all for youu! Ha!"

She'd announce over to him in her usual unsettling cheerful tone, with her hands clasped tightly to her hips as if she were posing for a photo-shoot and the chaos around her would make the perfect scenery for the shot.
 
He looks around for, the fire from the destroyed cars flicking around me, my suit shown off to the street as the orange glow from the fires flicker all along the street. He looked at the cars and saw a badge at his feet, blackened from the smoke of the fire and the explosions. He looked down to read the number, regonising it as Phil Manson's number, a friend of his. When he had first started his mission to ensure that the city got cleaned up, Phil had been one of the people who had always stuck up for him. In fact he had found him once after a fight with one of the biggest drug gangs in town. Sean could barely move, and if he had to try and escape he wouldn't have been strong enough to. Phil had looked at him and told him he needed to arrest all the gang members before he could even think about trying to arrest the masked hero, basically telling him he was free to go. It had allowed him to escape on his Hooverboard before the rest of the force had arrived, the directive still being at the time that he was a vigilante and if possible he should be arrested. Phil, among with a number of other police officers and most of the citizens of the city, had changed it so the police actually accepted his help.

He had no idea whether or not some of the other cops, who had been amazing to him and made sure he never was caught or always had some help and intel, were also among the dead but he had never forgotten that night with Phil. He would make sure that, whatever happened tonight, he would avenge him and the other officers who had lost their lives only doing his job. That made him even angrier. Attacking his place of work and killing his employee's? That had been bad enough, he had taken that somewhat personally. But he had known that it wasn't against him, the person or the hero, directly. That had made it slightly easier to bear. However, this had been done to get his attention, to draw him out to her. And if there was one thing you didn't want to do, it was to piss off The Bridger.

He heard her voice coming from a nearby alleyway. His head snapped to turn and face her, his body shaking under the suit as he did. Not from fear or sadness, but from pure rage. A rage that was wracking his body. He pushed the staff off his shoulder, holding it almost like a sword, in his left hand, his wrist twisted around it, the rod vertical and parallel to his side. He looked at her, hate in his eyes behind the mask, his LED lights contorting into a image of pure hatred, similar to the expression he held on his face. She was so proud of it all, her body fixed in and almost pose.
"You wanted my attention?" He asked her, his voice dripping with venomous contempt for her, his face locked onto her masked face "Well you have it. But you know what they say, be careful what you wish for"

As he finish his sentence he ran towards her, rapidly closing the distance between them, his other hand wrapping around the metal stick before he leapt into the air, rising above her, bringing the metal rod up in front of him before flicking his wrists, putting the whole weight of his body behind it as he struck at her, attempting to bring the staff down on her head with a satisfying thud.
 
Things couldn't have gone more according to plan then she had originally hoped. Normally things had a certain habit of not rolling over so well with her when it came to her style of planning but the little number she had done here was more then she could expect. It was interesting to assume that even if things had gone so well for her in the end, that there was really no matter of standard when it came to this particular profile of work. This wasn't just about sending people a message any more apparently, now she had to get rid of a super-hero who seemed be the source of that whole ordeal in the first place. With only a handful of things to consider at the current time, she knew she'd have more on her plate then she'd probably be able to handle soon but that was never even the slightest degree of her worries. Instead of worrying about the repercussions of her actions, she seemed oddly delighted by the horrid sense of menace she had caused all those poor people at the scene of the crime. There was no doubt that this girl was hard to read, never mind the symbol she seemed to manifested, but what she had done here was really only going to be the tip of the ice-berg if things continued to turn out just as wonderfully as they had here tonight.

She honestly had half a mind to turn her attention elsewhere for the night, assuming the worst of the situation, that the hero was too scared to show up and face her and own up to the responsiblity she so apparently claimed titles too. It was somewhat of a surprise when she heard the roar of his anger fill in for the sense of missing screams that should have painted the scene instead. Clearly she had done a number on him as well, he was simply out of control tonight! Upon watching him explode into a fit of fury before her and foolishly throw himself at her like he was some sort of living weapon himself, she'd only find herself forcing a short impatient sigh as her smile seemed to widen as he'd close the distance between them. In reality the hero was being a fool, he should have known better then to so blindly lose his focus in the moment, especially since he'd have no excuse when he met the consequences since he was one of few who had the liberty of getting to know her a little better then most.

"Uh-oh.. Somebodies getting reallyyyy maddddd... I guess I must have done something wronggg"

As he'd thrive forward with more anger then possibly imaginable, she'd simply raise both her pom pom's towards her chin as if to gawk in fake fear at his coming before raising them up in front of her. It was fun to mock him, especially when he thought he was so empowered by the moment of the situation when in reality he couldn't have played into her hand more perfectly. With nothing more then discreet sound of a gentle metal click a loud bang would echo throughout the vast bloody streets around them, as she'd release a single forty calibre bullet towards him. It was his own fault, he had practically put a target on his head and forget the most important rule in the world, which was this girl was never dull on her surprises when it came to those colourfully frilly accessories she'd always tote around with her.
 
She stood there, arrogant as she had been during the previous encounter, sighing as he moved through the air towards him. He grinned, her annoying tone about to be shut up by his metal rod about to hit her. He watched her raise her pom poms, thinking there was no way that they could stop him. Then he remembered they had burnt him last time. He knew his suit could live up to the flames, but it would still make him feel like shit. He was determined to hit her, nothing he could do to stop himself now anyway as he was in mid air, even if it meant taking a bit of pain himself. He then heard the click and prepared himself, gritting his teeth, telling his brain to get ready for the heat that was about to wash over him. Then he heard the pain and felt a sharp pain in his chest as the bullet hit him. It halted his momentum, the pain forcing him to gasp loudly a he was sent crashing back to the ground, feeling the cold tarmac against his skin, the bullet stopped by his kelvar mesh suit but the pain of the impact still searing his flesh.

He coughed and rolled onto his back, groaning from the impact, trying to get the air that had been taken out of his chest from the shot back into his lungs. He got to his knees, trying to stand up but sinking back to a knee again, the other foot planted on the ground. He looked at her, a painful grin showing up on his mask, the lights twinkling as the grin switched between pain and amusement
"Akuf...Did you not...cugh...learn from last time?" he said between coughs, looking up at her as he finally managed to get back to his feet, his back arched downards a little, slumping as he recovered "unless you have...kuf kuf...seven guns firing at my h..cuf..ead at once you can't get through the suit" he said, finally straightening up, still grimacing from the pain. He raised the metal stick again, in both hands this time, more of a defensive position as he tried to recover, the police scanner in his ear telling all units not to interfere in The Bridger's fight with the unknown assailant.

He smiled at her now, focusing and pushing the anger of losing friends and cops out of his mind, focusing entirely on beating her now
"So, it's jut you and me. No cops this time, we are the only ones here. How about we settle this, man to fruitcake?" he asked, taunting her as he kept the rod up "Bullets won't work, fire didn't work. Unless you have something that can crush my body in those pom poms of yours, you're going to have fight me to win this" he said grinning "So let's get this over with so I can knock you out and drag your crazy ass to prison"
 
Honestly she had never expected the shot to kill the hero, especially since she hadn't exactly aimed for an easy kill spot like his head or anything along similar lines of vital nature. As much as she loathed having this light show breathing down her neck everywhere she went now, even if she wanted to kill him she'd take her time in doing it making sure he really had nothing worth living for before she took him out completely. If there was one thing she had quickly learned in this business, simply gunning people down was only half the message as there was just so much more potential to do things only so much more worse and keep the victim alive in the mean time. She sort of related it to how she had felt about herself in her former life, never really having anything she wanted and seeing everything she may have hoped for taken out of the picture on the whim of some other selfish persons actions. She never had a say in it so why the hell should he? Or anyone else for that matter? If there was one thing she had learned fairly quickly it was that this world wasn't even the slightest bit fair and any damn do gooder who thought there was some sort of actual fairness in this worth was the perfect person to make victim out of for even thinking in such a selfish mindset in the first place.

This wasn't about killing him, it was about making him lose his focus over what he stood for so it would only be easier to make a total fool out of him and hurt him closer to home in the future. While the hero spent his time trying to head on run into her like she was some sort of rodeo clown flashing a red flag at him, she was really just analysing the entire time and he'd have to realize that if he really ever did want to get any sort of real advantage over her. He had already done a number on her supporters and that was a decent blow enough to the arsenal of destruction she'd bring in the future and she didn't exactly like the idea of having her muscle crippled by some freakshow in a flashy costume. This was more about getting even with him and taking advantage of his weaknesses while she toyed around with his emotions a bit further to see what really would get him to crack in the end.

With nothing more then the flash of a insane playful smirk she'd watch the hero collet himself from the shot, as she'd gently flick the side of the gun open in her pom pom and gently cross her attention over to the empty barrel of the revolver she held.

"Well lot at that, only had one shot anyway.. I guess I shouldn't just give you the gun myself and let you hit you were it mattered.. Would have saved me alot of trouble don't ya thinkkkk? Heheee."

She'd mock him with the idea as she'd only spoil herself with imagery of watching the deprived useless defeated hero blow his own brains out in shame, oh how she'd just love to see him do that when she was done with him if she didn't get the personal honour of doing it herself.

A soft giggle escaped her lips at the mention of using several other guns at a time to try and penetrate his kevlar, or just a gun that fired rapid amounts of ammunition at a more quickened pace. In a slow patient display, she'd plant both her hands on her hips as she'd sort of lean forward bending over at the waist to get a better look at the lousy hero collecting himself from the ground.

"Ya know.. you shouldn't really be giving me ideasss.. You're suppose to be the good guy after all righttt..? Ha! Well, just so you know I regularly pack bigger toys with a hell of a lot more fire powerr.. but since you were so naughty the other day it's been tough getting what's left of my good boys and girls to collect me more toysss.. and I really don't like thatt.."

At the end of her second statement she'd find herself slowly circling around the hero on the ground who remained in a defensive state but still a very concious one.

"I got to say.. you got some spunk in yaaa.. But I wouldn't have it any other way hehe.. So when are you and I gonna go on our next little datee? Maybe this time you won't cause as much calater damage as last time yeahhh? I'd hope not, cause we've both seen just what Im capable of when it comes to getting even yeeaa?"

It was somewhat unusual for her to be so captivated in the idea of keeping someone so dangerous to her alive for any longer then several seconds but it was almost impossible for her to refrain from the idea of harming him in such immoral ways that it hardly seemed worth it to take him out right here and now and in his state of weakness. She half expected him to attack her, throw that last bit of remaining strength at her like a fool so she could once again quickly out wit him with some sneaky dishonourable cheapshot like she had done so many times. It was all about that dominating flare to she got when she outplayed the good guy in the room with nothing more then a couple cheap tricks and equally crummy toys.
 
He was annoyed now. The way she had just stood there after shooting him, like as if she had thrown a baseball to him and it had hit him in the face accidentally. He watched as she showed him the gun she had used to shot him, annoyed that she was just so nonchalant about the whole thing. His body was still recovering from the shot to his chest, the fact he hadn't been expecting it had made it even worse. However, that was nothing compared to the comment that she wished he had killed himself with the gun. She was just so casual about it, so easy with saying he should take his own life. This woman wasn't normal and not just because she was evil. She was clearly psychotic.

But she underestimated him. He would never think of taking his own life in that. Sure, he knew what he was doing was suicidal in it's own way, he had long since known that one day someone would get the better of him and kill him. That's what being a hero was all about. He had no delusions of being the guy that always saved the day and never losing, of being the hero that would retire one day with the city under no more attacks, with crime being a long distant memory. But he knew that if he were to be killed at least the city would see the criminals for what they really were: scared bullies who could be defeated if challenged. And so as she stood there, bending over slightly, taunting him he knew what he had to do. He would fight until the bitter end, he wouldn't give in to her.

He gripped the stick better, feeling the coldness of it even more against his gloved hand. He laughed as she taunted him, looking up at her, his LED mouth in a defiant grin.
"You're just the same as the rest of them. You're deluded. You need support to do what you do whereas all I need is me. My body and my mind. That's all I need to take you down. And there won't be another date" Sean's voice was filled with confidence now "I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else or terrorise this city any longer, this ends here". He quickly rose, the metal rod swinging with rapid velocity, his arms bringing it around, aiming for her mid section so she couldn't duck or jump out of the way. He wanted, no he needed to connect with it. He hadn't much left in his tank.
 
It was a rather odd engagement the two had had, despite her intention for it to turn out that way. She knew better by this point then to not expect him to try and justify everything he did with some sort of tacky statement and usually with another bold aggressive action to follow in the footsteps of his arrogant choice of words. She knew that despite trying to talk him down and out of the sort of thing he was doing he'd probably still blow up on her for some stupid reason and get in her way, that's just what people like him often did. It was a sad conclusion to know that now she'd basically be forced to spend more of the time then she would have wanted on a small fry excuse for a hero like him. He had proven just how uncooperative he could be and thus she had done the same for him and still he choose to rage on in violence against her, but what he didn't yet understand was that was exactly her field of expertise. He had limits and she simply did not, he'd lose eventually if he wanted to play that game or maybe she could trick him into winning for her and make him out to be the bad guy, now there was an idea!

The idea hit her just about as hard as his stupid little stick did her stomach. It send her back a ways and really put a sore feeling through it. Even someone as dissolved in her own insanity as herself, couldn't hit the fact that she felt the pain from the blow but the oddest thing was, she was still wearing that creepy little grin of an overly cheerful psycho cheerleader that she always had, even in the event of feeling pain thrive through her body. It send her across the street a few feet as she'd be force to stumble on her side and roll over in a decline of momentum as she'd finally hit the ground hard with nothing more then a soft moan of an excuse of expressing the pain she felt.

"Owwww... That wasn't very niceee.. And here I thought we were going to solve this like civilizeddd people.. Oh well I guess huh?"

She'd state back to him as she'd slowly collect herself from the ground.

After she'd recover from the blow she couldn't help but become obessed with the thought of what sort of things he thought about when he got hurt. Just the idea of knowing what this good for nothing so called do-gooder considered when he was beaten half to a bloody pulp was more then enough totally ignore the fact that she'd normally be to concerned with finding a clever way to kill him herself.

"Say.. when you get all smacked around, do you like the feeling? I bet you doooooo..! Or maybe you worry about stupid little things.. Like your friendsss.. familyyy? Oh I'd just love to meet them! Maybe you should tell me about more about yourself and what it is you really fight for huhhhh?"

She'd call back to him as if his attempt to harm her had totally blown over and she had found humor in the idea of him beating on her, she'd even end her sentence with a pleasent giggle to top the whole thing off.

She already knew how this situation was going to turn out, but despite seemingly rather defenceless at the moment she still had a few remaining grenades on her belt after all..
 
He felt the rod connect, catching her in her midriff as she was off in her own little world, seeing her eyes widen a little as he felt the friction on the rod, felt her stomach causing pressure against the bar but when flesh and bone met a large metal object moving at velocity, flesh and bone gave out. He grinned as he watched her move backwards, trying to stay on her feet before eventually both the momentum and pain made her fall. He was amazed she still had a grin on her face, even if her eyes and even a part of the grin betrayed the pain she was actually in. He couldn't help but grit his teeth again, pushing the rod onto his shoulder What is this girl? he asked himself, each time he found an answer 10 more questions sprung up in it's place. He heard the moan of pain from in her direction and took it as a compliment.

He watched her get up, gingerly, asking him why he hit her.
"I don't believe you wanted to settle like a civilised person. In fact, I think all you wanted was to gloat and gloat and gloat before killing me, just like the countless other maniacs that are behind bars because of me" he said, looking at her now, a firm expression on his face, not giving anything anyway to this madwoman. "And while you are different I still believe all you wanted to do was say how great you are, what your plans are and how useless and powerless I am to stop you. And to be honest, I'm not much in the mood to play this game today." Her next sentence took him by surprise. She asked did he enjoy the pain. In the moment? No, but every bruise, every scar he had gained from being out fighting the good fight had brought him some pride, some sense of purpose. They were his medals for fighting the good fight so to speak, as well as reminders of just how dangerous what he was doing actually was. But did that mean he enjoyed the pain?

His retort to the question was on his lip when she mentioned his family, the breath being taking from his lungs as she did. Sean could never, ever let anyone near his family. It was the real reason he wore the mask. Not because of who he was or what he did or even the fact that his office might get raided and staff hurt. It was so his mother and sisters never were hurt for what he did. They all lived comfortably now thanks to him and he had no plans to change that. He felt the anger swelling again and he tried to keep calm.
"You don't even get to mention my family" he said, his voice raising in anger, unable to keep it down "You can threaten this city and it's people, you can threaten it's police officers and you can threaten me but you never, ever threaten my family" he yells, his body shaking now, the anger taking over once more.

He saw her hand move to the grenade belt and he ran at her quickly, knowing that while his suit would protect him from the shrapnel and explosive power of the grenades, the concussive force would still knock him out or at least have him dazed and concuss for the time being. He grabbed his rod and swung, hoping to hit her again.
 
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