Rising Powers (Alvis Alendran & Raina Reader)

[Alvis Alendran]

Things just hadn't been going as well as they could have, and that was a source of no small annoyance to Sassa Tonasdottir. Sicne she'd left her homeland, there just hadn't been a lot of work for someone like her that didn't attract mindboggling amounts of attention that she just didn't want to have to wade through. So when the offer had come down for her to work by putting her size to work, she'd agreed. Making appearances for the purposes of intimidating people worked pretty well for her thus far, and why not? She stood six foot eight inches tall, and weighed in at just over three hundred pounds. Nearly five foot across at the shoulders, she cut a figure that didn't leave any doubt that if she'd wanted to hurt someone, she was more than capable of making it happen. She kept her golden blonde hair braided usually, though if she let it go it would drop past her shoulders. Her eyes were dark blue, like the sky getting towards twilight. She'd always attracted attention as the very model of an Icelandic woman, which had suited her fine since that was where she'd called home.

But now, here she was on the mainland, trying ot make ends meet. Scare detail paid well enough to give her a place to sleep adn food to eat, though only barely. At the thought of food she reached to her belt and slid out a protein bar. Most people ate one to stave off hunger. Sassa quickly demolished four. It didn't satisfy the hunger she felt, but it did keep her going. Since she'd...she didn't know what to call the incident, an Awakening, a Snap, she wasn't sure. She'd heard the rumours that she might not be the only one, but it was just that. Rumours. So here she sat, staring at the place she had been asked to deal with in exchange for a fair amount of money. She'd warned her employer that she could do it, but she wasn't likely to be subtle. He'd been okay with that, but she doubted he truly knew what that was going to entail. She coiled her braid onto the back of her head, and pulled on a ski mask.

She was dressed all in black, and she stretched. While she didn't much care for the direction of her work, there was a part of her that revelled in what she was about to do. She'd always been proud of her strength, proud of how she'd built herself up. And now she was the best she'd ever been. Hopping lightly, she felt the ground shake a little. She started to trot forward, building her momentum up. SHe was aiming for a point in the museum, gathering more and more speed. When she was finally running all out, the ground shook with every step, adn she was all but flying across the ground. Pavement cracked, cement broke under her charging weight, adn she tucked her head low to present her shoudler to the onrushing stone wall. She didn't slow down, she just pushed herself that much harder.

When she hit the wall, it was more than a half ton of mass at speed with more strength than might be expected. The wall shattered under the impact, Sassa pushing on, carrying herself through the outer wall and into the small stoarge area that was supposed to contain the goods she was after. She caught a glimpse of someone in the room, someone not dressed like a guard, a flash of gold at their face. The clean, sharp bark of gunfire rang out, and she instinctively raised ehr arm to protect ehr head. She felt a rapid seriers of impacts on her torso, well aimed and directed fire, and she felt the sting that told ehr what had just been shot at her. As she lowered ehr arm, she saw the compact pistol smoking in the hand of the person. And Sassa only felt a sense of annoyed indignation.

"Nine fucking millimetre?" She gave as much of a masculine growl to her voice as she could manage. "Mothfucker, are you out of your Godsdamned mind?" She demanded, stepping forward, intending to disarm her newly found adversary.

 

[Raina Reader]

It had been a good night, the last three places she hit had gone off without a hitch, which was rare for her. Usually, something or someone got in the way which forced her to bail early, which was always a pain in the ass because it meant a twenty-mile walk and two hundred mile bus ride back into civilization. Not that she wasn't accustomed to it by now and safer was always better, but the longer she got to play usually translated to a bigger haul overall, plus if she made it through this place without a hiccup it meant she could hang out in the city a bit longer, find some real action and then maybe case some more places.

That was the real trick to her success, and something she learned over the years. Despite her natural gifts she didn't get rich very quickly when she had to turn tail fifteen minutes into a heist because she didn't plan ahead, she knew it was better not to rely too heavily on her talents to make herself scarce since it only turned into an inconvenience in the long run, which was why she put painstaking effort into casing each and every place before hand, like any other thief. Staff schedules, security patrols, camera locations and their ranges, everything. Cameras were the most important. She didn't care if she was caught on them, no, considering her Venetian mask, hood and long flowing white trench coat, she was pretty anonymous, infact she loved grandstanding infront of the cameras, it's how she earned her name. Some papers were calling her The Venetian Others simplified it to Venice Which she took a liking too. The medias hyper fixation on the mask was what she wanted, because the mask became her identity, nothing else mattered, which was perfect for her because when everyone talked about the mask, it meant less people were focused on how she pulled off her heists and how she would escape everytime, because when things did get bad? She was never there to be a caught, because that was the real trick, and something she ensured never was seen on camera.

"Finally." She muttered as the final object of value within her hand disappeared like magic, yet another trick she made sure was out of the cameras sights. "Shit, I might actually get to go out for a drink after this." She laughed feeling mildly cocky as she turned the corner to strut within the camera's line of sight, wanting to put on one final show for which ever sorry officer had to review this tape when suddenly the wall before her exploded into flying brick and rubble.

What in the flying-- Panic mode kicked in and both of her white gloved hands slid into either side of her coat, withdrawing two matching Sig Saur 938's and opening fire on what ever had just come bursting through the wall as she darted behind a pillar. The sound of the gruff, mildly aggressive voice catching her ear as she tilted her head, yet refraining from taking a look. It was a person? Had they used a car? It was quite dark and there had been too much dust and rubble before she kicked into defensive mode, but whoever this was it sounded like the gun fire didn't scare them. Are they armed too? Police or Criminals?

Shit, she had to get out of here, but whoever this neandrethal was, the silent alarm was certainly tripped by that stunt, one of the first things she noted to becareful of when casing this place. She had to get out of here, but her options for a quick escape were zero with the stranger around and police on their way, if this one wasn't in fact an officer and something in the back of her mind told her they weren't.

Refusing to speak, she reached an arm around the side of the pillar, firing three more shots from the gun in her right hand before dropping the gun to the floor and breaking into a sprint down the opposite hall, firing behind her as she ran with the other gun, dropping it just like the first once she heard a click.

 

[Alvis Alendran]

Bullets. Small arms firee really just annoyed Sassa at this point, and she was certainly annoyed at this jumpy pain in hte ass. SHe managed to get a better look at them as they danced away from her. Gold mask? A white coat? The hell was this, a circus show? More impacts with her torso made ehr growl, though she saw the pisotl hit the floor. She also saw the small statuette she'd been sent to get. One of them anyway. She stwoed it in the small pounch on the small of her back, flicked her eyes for the other one. When she didn't see it, she realized the other person must have snagged it.

"Hey! Gimme that statue!" She called. She started after the person, stooping to pick up the fallen pistol. She skid to a halt at the start of the hall, seeing hte other person was a rapidly gorwing distant thing. Sassa Hurled the pistol with all her might at the person. Her aim was off, missing hte target, but slamming intot eh wall a few feet from their head, the gun bursting into pieces, though the slide stayed embedded in the wall. Sassa took off after them. Once again, the weight of her tread caused the ground to shake, and she was sure that the museum was just going to love this, with all their displays rattled loose. She scooped up the other fallen pistol as she ran past it, wanting something else to throw when she got a clear shot. She saw the person turn a corner, readied herself for hte turn, then saw a flash of white as they turned again almost immediately to keep vanishing down the hall. Sassa built up momentum, knowing she likelyt wasn't going to be able to make the turn.

SO she put her shoulder into the corner, adn simply smashed through the wall.

"Hey! Get back here damn it!" She bellowed down the hall. She wasn't built for a lot of running, she knew that, but she wanted to get paid tonight, adn that meant making sure that she got what she came for. "Damn it! Gimme the satue, and I'll leave you the hell alone!"

Nothing was every easy it seemed.

 

[Raina Reader]

Were they wearing some kind of body armor? She was certain she had landed a couple hits, but the figure continued it's pursuit, yelling for a statue. As she reached the end of the hall, the earth-shattering sound of exploding brick echoed throughout the chamber, nearly sending her off balance as the figure appeared again. what in the hell She didn't waste time looking back to see how the person was doing this, but she had to act fast otherwise she would be unable to find a nice corner to hide with whoever it was hot on her tail. The night had been going so well too, she really didn't look forward to returning to the cabin, but everything about this wall bursting stranger shouted danger.

Shoulder first, she slammed through the door into a larger room lined with industrial-sized metal shelves, not unlike a warehouse. She had already cleaned out this area of many valuables. She thought back to the other room, before the figure burst in, recalling a statue until a small statuette appeared in her hand. "This must be it." She muttered under her breath, before dropping it in plain view on the floor and darting forward before the stranger burst through again. Desperately searching for a place far enough away to hide.

Quickly she snuck into a corner wedging herself between two shelves, hugging herself as she focused, hoping to god she wasn't seen or else she was fucked two ways to sunday. There was absolutely no way she'd be able to tussle with what ever or whoever that was.

 

[Alvis Alendran]

Sassa growled as she pushed on, trying to keep pace. Smaller people were light on their feet, and this one was certainly that. She heard a dfoor slam open, and pushed herself a little harder to get there. She saw the door that was assumed to be the one she'd heard. Sassa lowered her shoulder, adn aimed closer tot he hinges than the usual point that opened. The door cracked, breaking into smaller pieces and flying intot he room, but she'd used that impact to bleed off some momentumn, letting her stop without carving furrows in the floor. She swept her eyes around the room, ready to throw the pistol if she aw the slippery bastard that had been running from her.

She instead found the statuette.

Sassa blinked, approached it, looking at it cautiously. It was just...there. Ripe for hte taking. It seemed like a trap, but she knew that her entrance was likely to not leave her with a lot of time before some very unhappy and confused cops showed up, and then she'd be in deep. She lifted hte statuette, finding nothing that exploded, or went off terribly. She tucked it away, looking around the room. She knew she had one last thing to do.

"Uh...thanks, I guess. Sorry about the gun I threw at you. Here." She tossed the remaining gun into the room gently, letting it clatter on the floor. "It's still okay. Figure one less thing you ned to pay for. So...yeah. No hard feelings about the bullets. Good luck on getting out ofhere before the cops show up." She called, turning away. No sense in sticking around from here.

"Oh, and nice mask! I like the classic feel of it!" She caleld back, stepping out of the room. Sassa was starting to move when she heard the faint wailing of sirens. "Ah shit." She groused. Now it was going to be complicated.

 

[Raina Reader]

Doing the best she could to steady her breath as she hid underneathe a shelf within the darkened corner. It was too cramped where she was it wouldn't work at all for an escape. Recalling and vanishing items to her own personal sanctuary was one thing and a skill that had become second nature, but making her self disappear and reappear within the safety of the cabin, while possible, was still a relatively new skill that needed honing. The other drawback was she only knew how to send objects within her hands to the cabin, or recall them from the cabin into her grasp, so sending herself to the cabin was a one way trip and meant a very long walk back into any semblance of civilization.

The hulking figure stepped into the large warehouse, taking the bait albeit with a little hesitancy. She had no idea what this statue was worth, but she was correct in assuming it was what the pursuer was here for. One object regardless of worth mattered very little to her compared to her own survival. She could always get more trinkets easily enough and whomever this was, they managed to instil the fear of god into her in a very brief period of time, which was impressive considering she hadn't felt fear like this since her powers first manifested themselves, and she didn't believe in any gods.

To her surprise, the figure tossed one of her gun deeper into the room and offered what sounded like professional courtesy. Thank Fuck She thought to herself while breathing a brief sigh of relief. Whoever this was, they weren't interested in taking lives, all the wanted was the statue. She couldn't help but smirk to herself as the figure wished her luck in escaping the cops. You too She thought silently, before rolling out from underneath a shelf once she was sure the figure had left the room. Sparing no time she rose to her feet, her arms wrapping around herself, hugging herself tightly as she closed her eyes and focused, while the sirens and the sound of voices grew distinctively louder. Focus....Focus....almost there The warehouse door crashed open as the sound of police screamed for anyone within to drop to the floor with their hands on their head. As she opened her eyes she was greeted with the view of a rustic kitchen and a large window overlooking a beautiful lake shimmering under the moonlight, framed by towering pine trees.

"Could have gone worse I suppose."

It was at this thought that her gaze fell to the oak finished kitchen counter overlaid with blueprints of the many areas she hit that evening and a sense of dread flooded every muscle. She had been careful when pilfering the warehouse to position herself in such a way that the security cameras never picked up on how she was stealing the items, this had always been a crucial element to her success. Up until now the police and media could only assume she was a very skilled and slippery thief, however in her panic after dealing with that maniac and the police seconds away from capturing her, she vanished in full view of one of the cameras.

"Shit. Shit shit shit shit."


"It doesn't matter." She reassured herself. "Let them lose their minds over my disappearing act on camera. It's fine. They still don't know about this place, you're safe."

With that she began to remove her coat and mask, lazily dropping each item into the floor before heading to the shower. She had a long walk back to the city ahead of her in the morning, best to clean up and get some rest first, then she could assess her situation and possibly look into that freak of nature she encountered.

 

[Alvis Alendran]

Sassa heard the cops kicking in the door. She was supposed to be gone by now but the detour with the other theif meant that she was way behind schedule. It wasn't easy for someone her size to fade away, but she'd manage. She was padding away as quickly as she could while staying quiet. Cops were swarming in, and why not? As far as they knew there was some kind of terrorist or the like in the building that had used explosives to get in. Sassa was looking for an exterior door, something that would let her slip out quieter than a repeat performance of her imitation of the Kool-aid Man.

She smiled as she saw an emergency exit. Normally not her first choice, but hey, the alarms were going off, what would it matter? She bumped hte door open, and stepped out.

Bright light hit her, adn she staggered back, noting that she was under a spotlight from a police chopper.
"Drop your weapons, and lay down on the ground!" A voice boomed out over the sound of the beating blades of the chopper. Sassa opted for another option. She punched the wall to shatter off a chunk of brick, and heaved it intot he sky. The sound of breaking glass spelled the end of the spotlight. She started to run.

Dressed in black on a dark night, it was hard to track her, but she knew that cops would be everywhere in no time at all. The ground was still shaking under her tread, but it was hard for someone like her to move fast and not have that problem. When things had changed for her, her weight had changed. And it was a lot to take in now. She was about to dart across the street when a bullet smashed intot he ground beside her.
"Freeze!" he voice roared from behind her. Sassa didn't hesitate. She wrapped her hands around a nearby parking meter and ripped it out of the ground. There was a sound of choked surprise, but Sassa simply turned adn threw it back at her pursuer. There was a shriek, and the cop dove aside, while Sassa bolted. She hadn't thrown it very hard, not looking to kill anyone, just scare them. She was smiling, going to make it tot he alley that would take her to safety. A car skid to a halt in front of her, and she saw a door start to open, a cop about to jump out to try and stop her, so she ducked, and put her shoulder intot he car.

Stopping in front of her like that probably had seemed like a good idea, had she been a normal person. Sassa, however, was not a normal person by now. The car weighed almost two tons, but she hammered into it with enough force to cave in the side and slide it away from her. She heaved at it while she was still in contact, the car creaking and finally flipping onto it's side. Sassa made it into the alley, and vanished, leaving the confused and more than a little terrified police behind.

* * * * *​

Sassa relaxed in her chair. She'd had it made custom, all tubular steel construction and reinforced to support her. It was nice to have something she could recline in without worrying. The news was on, and she wanted to know if she should be worried. She smiled as they descibed her as what was likely a tall black male wearing a ski mask, considered armed and extremely dangerous. What was more, there was a report that she'd been there with a partner, someone that had managed to fool the security cameras into losing sight of him. The video was played, showing a person being on camera, and then not.

Trick it might be, but it made Sassa lean forward. It was a good trick. And it was one that made her wonder. Her...she was reluctant to all them a foe, since there didn't seem to be too much real animosity there, so she settled on competitor, had been skilled, and vanished like that. Was it possible that...there was someone else out there that might have changed like she had? It was something to wonder about. To pay attention to.