“Need something stolen?

Call ###”

The ad had been posted on the dark web. Lucien stared at the digital flyer, thoughtfully.

He was putting together another crew for a heist. He would damn well interview this one person. He already had two of the three needed for his four man job. If they had powers that dovetailed nicely with his other two people, fanfreaking tastic.

Guy one was skilled at the size game. He created a sort of... gas. It made things grow or shrink, depending on the dosage. Or his intent. Or something. Called himself Gnat-Man. Lucien honestly thought the moniker should have been Stinkbug. The gas smelled like crap.

Guy two had a garish yellow costume with black stripes. Wore goggles and had fake antennae... unless they were real. Really played up the gimmick. His power was... bees. Bees, bees, bees. He also had his favorite one, a trained wasp he kept in his belt. He talked to it all the frigging time. It was his best friend. Someone needed to tell him some of those buggers die when they sting. It would really pee on his parade. His moniker was... Gary. Jackass didn’t really go in for aliases. Lucien had taken to calling him Bee Man or The Wasp Trainer.

As for guy three... that was him. He’d be the getaway driver, as well as the brains. He had already worked with Gnat-Man and the Wasp trainer on gathering the tech. Set up a camera for the little wasp, and special communications headsets for all those involved. He’d even prepped them to size, in Gnat-Man’s case. Though he could make it change sizes with him as well.

Just need to meet with guy four. Lucien made contact and told them where to meet him, and when. How to tell it was him. They’d each wear a notable item. Bowler hat for him, and for the other person... he hadn’t been certain of gender, so he had just said “something red”.

He could have done code words and phrases of course, but he’d been unable to think of anything clever. The kid had been driving him crazy with the late nights studying and avoiding public places, so his minions had been unable to make him appear. No sneezing powder in the face, no Lucien. And no Lucien meant no Zagan, to organize the heist. That was his alias this time, Zagan. It fit.

The day and time came. It was a public place. A coffee house with an outdoor seating area and round tables with parasols. He sat at one of those and waited discretely. Just a short fat man in a bowler hat, sipping a latte. Nothing to see here, folks.

This would be a first, and she was super nervous about it. She wasn't solo robbing a bank this time, or low-key theft from department stores so she could keep her closet well stocked. Nope. She had put her number out there on the web for other people to find, a new number attached to a simple touch screen throw away phone, and attached to it a simple ad. She was looking for work.

It hadn't taken long for someone to bite.

A man who had called himself Zagan was interested in her services. They had chatted briefly viz text before a time and place to meet were settled on, and she hopped to finding a good enough outfit to wear. She needed something to conceal her face, but... her usual costume wasn't going to cut it in broad daylight. Sky goggles and all black clothes tended to make her stand out like a sore thumb when the sun was out.

Instead she purchased herself a new, yellow zip up jacket, some jean coveralls, a long sleeved t-shirt, and a brand new winter beanie. All of which she could throw away after the meeting if she needed too. A pair of sunglasses and a red mouth and nose masks and she was set.

The time for the meeting rolled around and she was strolling up to the place right on time. It didn't take long to spot the hat he has said he would be wearing. Juniper stopped by the chair across from him, pulling it out a little so she could sit herself down and lean back.

She was seriously on edge, but the fact that she had covered up everything save for her ears helped to lessen the stress a bit.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting long." She hadn't, but if anyone was listening in she wanted it to seem like normal conversation.

The fourth man was a dame. A paranoid dame, if the shades and the face mask were any indication.

Well good. At least her paranoia would keep her from outing the entire plan before they took it to the bank.

Compared to her, his outfit was far more casual. He wasn’t covering his face. Tended to make one more memorable. Stand out. He wore a simple pair of slate grey slacks and a white business shirt, under a comfortable old business jacket. It fit with the bowler, made him look dapper, but not too outstanding. Like a banker with an affectation, who hoped to potentially impress a pretty young girl with his foppish ways and his assets. If he needed to disappear in a pinch, all it would take was a sneeze.

“It’s not a problem,” he said smoothly, Jersey accent all the way. “Gave me time to think.” He dropped his voice to add “like the mask. Very fashionable. You got a the corona virus or something?”

He smirked at her, and continued on as if he hadn’t just teased her about the mask. “So, anyways. Before I get the gang together, I just wanted to meet up and sort out some loose ends. Your resume didn’t list any special skills. Anything of note to add?”

Though he couldn't see, she was smirking behind that mask. The short man was funny, at least. That didn't make him any less likely to be an undercover cop, or some putz who was bad at his job.

"CDC says you can't be too careful these days." She replied back, folding her hands with fingers laced together on top of the table.

Special skills? Hmm. "I don't want to go into too much detail until i'm more comfortable with this plan," She started, keeping her voice calm and low as well. "But if I had to say anything about what I could bring to this partnership, it would be that i can steal pretty much anything, from anyone, anywhere. There isn't much that can physically stop me."

She pointed one slim finger at him. "I can steal that shirt off of you right now, without mussing up your jacket."

It might have been hard to tell that she was smiling, given the mask and all, but he might have been able to hear it in her voice.

"I can give you a demonstration, if you want. All you have to do is ask."

“CDC says you can’t be too careful these days.” She said.

He raised a hand, in a gesture of agreement. Moved on.

Then the girl gave a long winded explanation that boiled down to nothing of note. Lot of posturing. And something about his shirt.

He could hear the amusement in her tone. The idea of messing with him pleased her. Lucien shrugged. “Losing my shirt wouldn’t phase me very much, but I don’t think you’d be very happy with what you saw.” He laughed.

He smiled. “Now, if you can get the can of mace from my front jacket pocket without disturbing me or dropping it, I will give ya props.”

The can of pepper spray was there, alright. But the weight of the thing would surprise her. Most people don’t expect a little thing like that to weigh as much as a heavy double-barreled shotgun.

Can of mace? Okay. She could do that. It was less entertaining than de-shirting someone, but probably less likely to draw attention too.

"Consider it done."

Standing from her chair, she reached over and her delicate fingers reached through the fabric of his coat that covered the front pocket. He wouldn't feel anything because her hand was also phased. In fact, her arm was phased, just in case he tried to grab her or something.

Without too much fuss the solidified tips of her fingers found the smooth side of the can, and she plucked it up with her power. It was in her hand as she withdrew, leaving him un-touched as she went. She was wondering what he had meant by 'don't drop it'
when she let it have it's form back and the damn thing's weight almost dropped her hand flat onto the table.

Almost.

"Jesus, what is this filled with, cement?"

He smiled at her innocently.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Lucien leaned forward to gently pluck the can of pepper spray from her fingers. He held it as if it weighed nothing more than a can of mace.

If she could be evasive with her power descriptions, then so could he. It had taken a lot of effort to hone his muscles to be able to carry around a shotgun in his fingertips. Or, just, you know, being prepared?

His guess had been right, though. Phasing. She could go through matter. That was good. Useful. No need to figure out how to pop the safe. No need to pack explosives to do it, or try Gnat’s powers. She could just waltz on through. And when she’d been phased, he’d noticed the weight had not affected her. Not until she’d come out of it. Then she’d staggered.

“So, what you do.” He nodded. “Can you take more than yourself? Because I got a guy and a bee.” He slid the cab back into his front pocket as he spoke.

Sly old man.

She didn't press the matter though, just leaned back in her chair and tucked her hands away in her pockets.

"I absolutely can. There isn't really a limit as to how many things I can have phased with me at once. I do have a time limit of sorts, about ten minutes for full body intangibility... but i have workarounds for it."

She paused as someone walked by, pretending to cough a few times into a fist until they were gone.

"Two guys is a cakewalk."

“Excellent,” he said. They would have no problems.

She could manage far more than two men, it seemed. He would keep the time limit in mind, but for what he had planned, he doubted that would be an issue.

“I don’t think I have any further questions right now. Yeah, I think you’ll do just fine, Missy.” He finished off his coffee. That was some good sh*t. Didn’t get this near often enough. “If you’re free right now, I can introduce you to the people you’ll be working with.”

—

“This is Spekter.” He said. His voice echoed off the walls of the warehouse. “Watch your mouths. She’s good. And she won’t tolerate any of your goddamn bee puns, Gary.” He pointed at the guy on the main level of the warehouse, dressed in the yellow and black bee-themed costume with the goggly headgear and antennae. The man goggles at him dumbly, and Lucien moved on.

“She will be handling the safe. We will go over the game plan in a few minutes. Spekter, this is Gary. The wasp trainer. And that guy over there in the red flight suit with thirty belts over his chest and the cyborg-looking silver helmet is Gnat-Man.”

Gnat-Man looked up from what he was tinkering with to look at Spekter. His helmet obscured all his facial features. “I like the red mask.” He said. He sounded handsome, like his diet consisted of honey, honey, and more honey. Though that was Gary, more than likely. Not the Gnat.

She just so happened to be free, and so off they went.

Zagan seemed charming so far, and hadn't once tried to hit on her... so that was good. Made her a bit more relaxed around him. It also helped they he was a few inches shorter than her, though... she had to remind herself that appearances could be deceiving. The man had held that heavy ass can of spray like it was nothing after all. That hinted at some pretty incredible strength.

He took her to a warehouse, where her two supposed partners would be. She didn't bother glancing around anymore than she needed to spy a few possible exit points, as her attention was turned to being introduced.

It was both easy and hard keeping a straight face at the names. Gnat-man and Gary? Super silly. villain and hero names tended to be though, unless a lot of thought was put in. She didn't even put an effort into her name, seeing as she had ripped it straight out of the papers way back from her first few robberies. 'The Orrville Specter!' had been all the rage for a few months in such a quiet town, until she'd gotten a bit more clever at evading the cameras.

"Nice to meet you, Gary. Gnat-man." He liked her red. She liked his shiny metal face. But, she wasn't here for fun, or pleasantries, she was here to work. She kept her greeting short and glanced down at the man in charge.

She did wonder just how bad Gary's bee puns were, though.

They exchanged pleasantries, good good. Once that was done, he shuffled them all to a large table in the center of the room. The table had donuts and coffee on it. Lucien took a donut, pour d out some coffee, and sat down.

He took a bite of his donut. Drank some coffee. He didn’t die or anything. People would just have to take his word on it that the whole tray of donuts did not have any hidden razor blades or poison, and that he’d taken the one good chocolate cake boy.

Once they were settled, he began.

“So, you all have particular skills. Think I went over them. Gary has his bees, Gnat-Man can make things get big or small. And Spekter can ghost through things, and make them lighter when she’s holding stuff that’s all ghostly and stuff. Right? Right.”

He’d seen the can thing, he knew she had not struggled to hold it. And then she had. That had given him a fairly good read on that aspect of her power. Enough to know how he could utilize her skills to their fullest.

“We’re gonna rob,” he listed off a bank. It was a nice sized one. One girly probably had not robbed, what with their terribly effective security. “They have gold bars held in the vault, and there’s a safe deposit box I got my eye on. Their security, though... it’s pretty good.”

He sipped his coffee. Then spoke. “The front entrance is your basic bank front. Cameras and guards. Nothing special. When you get past it, though, there are certain traps laid out for people. I’m not sure how they do it, but they have a system that detects if a mutant power is used within a certain area in the bank. Once that’s triggered, a silent alarm is sent out that alerts some private security guards in their nearby stations to trouble.”

He grimaced down at his donut. “These trouble shooters nullify mutant powers in a large radius.”

Gnat-Man smacked a hand down on the table. “So how do we deal with them?” The honey had gone from him. Now, he was all business.

“Team effort.” Lucien smiled. He pointed to each person, in turn. “Spekter, Gary, Gnat. You are all gonna work together to circumvent this security. Go ahead, ask how?”

They were led into a room and Juniper positioned herself a polite distance away from the others, and sat. The donuts and coffee were tempting, and after Zagan ate one and seemed fine she reached for one of her own. The coffee came second once she had a chance and just because she could, she ate and drank both of them through her phased mask.

She listened quietly as the short man started to explain things, though, for the life of her she wasn't 100% sure how exactly bees were going to help in the long run. She supposed she would have to see how they worked in action? Zagan at least has a decent grasp on her power.

Juniper was definitely growing more anxious as he talked. That bank in particular she had avoided on her various lists of places to hit. It had a lot of security, and she'd gathered that much just from taking a stroll inside on a busy afternoon. Too much security for her to feel comfortable with ever trying. Gold bars has never really been on her list of things to take because trying to get rid of them for cash was problematic for her. She only dabbled in the occasional crime, she wasn't a full fledged nefarious criminal. Not by a long shot.

It kept getting worse though. Special security guard and equipment that could detect powers. Also, the guards were those types that effectively rendered her power mute. She barely suppressed a shudder at the idea of being caught by one of them.

Gnatty seemed just as nervous at she was if she was reading the tone change accurately. Zagan apparently had ideas, but... she wasn't sure.

"... Don't wanna piss in your cornflakes or anything, but before we get to the how shouldn't we focus on the why? Don't get me wrong, I like a good heist just as much as the next guy, but this is a whole heck of a lot of danger... for... what? What exactly do we get out of this for putting our necks on the line?"

Behind her big sunglasses she shifted her eyes around at the three other people in the room with her. "Not that I don't wanna hear the how, because I really would like to hear how you plan on getting the three of us in and out, but i'd rather know what exactly is in this for me. I can easily go find some smaller places to get money from where there aren't power-negating roadblocks in the way."

“Oh, don’t worry about the roadblocks.” He smiled knowingly at her. He was Annoyingly confident. “We won’t be taking the road. As for what’s in it for you... well, in addition to your usual fee, which we have discussed, you’ll get an equal portion of whatever we take home.”

An equal portion was more than fair. Especially since they could take home quite a bit.

“Gnat here can shrink things with his breath. And while they’re tiny, they weigh less. So we can literally stuff a duffle bag full of bills or gold and stuff and carry way more than we normally could. Plus, your power helps with that sort of thing too, Spekter. And then there’s the safe deposit box.” Lucien grinned.

He wasn’t going to say what was in that box. That was for him to worry about. Well. Except maybe she really wanted to know. She was really pissing in his cornflakes here.

He grimaced and rubbed at his chin. “On second thought, the safe deposit box really wouldn’t interest you. It mainly has information someone stored. Stuff for personal security... for some very bad people. I plan to sell it back to them at an exorbitant rate. Really... does not affect you. Honestly, I’m not sure what would convince you to put your life on the line beyond loads and loads of easy money, but—“ He rambled and trailed and shrugged.

“Eh. What can I do? If you don’t want to stick your neck out, you don’t want to stick your neck out. Would it help if I explained to you. To all you people. Exactly how we will be circumventing the danger of adapteds and the majority of the building’s security? Promise it’ll only take a few minutes. And if you all still do not like the idea, I guess we can cut our losses and I can pay you for your inconvenience and send us all on our happy little ways?”

He smiled weakly at the group, focusing mainly on the largest dissenting voice. Gnat-man glanced around, looked at the girl, and laughed. “I got five minutes. Company isn’t too bad.”

Gary blinked dully. “Um. I never had any objections in the first place? Not like I’m a busy bee...”

Lucien glared at him. He coughed, into his fist. He glared harder. Gary pulled out a disinfecting wipe from a pack in his pocket. Cleaned his hands.

Yes, the fee had been discussed, but that had been before power nullifying demons had come into play.

She was already pleased by hearing that there would be an extra cut in whatever they managed to get. She could imagine that could make a pretty penny, and if it was enough for a few months of rent with a little bit to play with on the side, she was happy.

She let him continue though since she didn't wanna be rude and interrupt him.

Ignoring the company comment, she kept her attention fixed on the guy who was going to be running this rodeo instead. "Nah, I've heard enough I'm not worried anymore. I don't care about gold bars and stuff, too hard to try and find a place to sell it without questions.

Juniper settled back in her chair and reached up to pull the big googly glasses from her face, and slip her mask down under her chin. "I'm still in. So, what's your master plan for helping us pull this off?"

She was curious about the whole 'sell back information to bad people thing' but not enough to wanna get involved. She was doing enough with Blondie that had put her in a bad spot and one someone's list, apparently. She didn't need another.

On the plus side of this whole thing, Gary seemed like a true gem and she felt like working with him was gonna be pretty fun.

Good. He had assuaged her concerns. At least, for the moment. Didn’t care about bars, but they could find plenty to pay her way. He was not worried about it either.

Lucien was thankful that Gary had never had any concerns. He was one of the more important members in this crew. Him and his bee. Gnat man... was concerning. That he had concerns, concerned Lucien. He kept it close to the chest.

Girly was still in. So— it was time to talk.

“Okay. Here’s the plan. Gnat man can shrink the main party. Gary, your bee if the main ride. I will be in the getaway vehicle, running commutations. Overseeing the whole operation. Not as fast as I used to be,” he smiled at the group. “But this still works alright.” He tapped his skull.

“So anyways, we take the bee and go through the vents. With our shrunk down equipment, I can walk you through the building vent layout and we can handle anything they throw at us. We will be well out of shot of any adapteds. Then, we get in. Get out. And get on with our lives.”

There. That was the quick summary. Clear as mud, right?