Glass shattered below, a dented trash can slammed through the front window and set off an alarm in the empty store. More glass cracked into smaller shards as the hooligan responsible for the breakage entered through the window. A bandanna covered his lower face, long brown hair was tied into a ponytail which flailed as he avoided cutting himself on the damaged window. A moment later the alarm was removed and the hooligan pushed open the front door to let his four companions in. Each of them had their faces covered too, they were small town crooks but still criminals. The cops weren't going to come for them anytime soon.

Mason Richards, better know by his 'heroic' alias of Vindicator watched each second of the scene unfold from two stories up on a building next to the store. The street was pretty barren, some dead end road in the downtown section. Anyone with semblance of sanity was tucked in their homes. The only ones bold enough to be out here at this time were criminals and the vigilantes that aimed to stop them. Vindicator didn't have a 'sense of justice' like some of the others did. He was a fully legal, government endorsed vigilante that was bored between missions. He smiled underneath his helmet, then waited for the entire group to enter the store before he dropped off the roof and landed in an alleyway between the buildings.

As Vindicator came around the corner he leaned against the wall, he could hear them inside rumbling around. He imagined one of them was stamping through the cash register, stuffing green paper into his pockets. It was a pawn shop, there was all manner of valuables inside. Televisions, jewelry, instruments, stuff petty robbers just couldn't resist. He felt like a predator hunting its prey, and that was a feeling he loved. He stepped towards the front of the store, then into the doorway, flicking his night vision on as he did so. Three glowing red forms appeared in his sight, two with flashlights, and sure enough one at the cash register. The fourth and fifth must have been in the back office of the store. The armored vigilante turned his vision back to normal right as a flashlight was shone on him, he could practically sense the fear in the crook as he figured out who was after them. This made him smile again as the robbers stared at him, non moving yet but several yelling.

"Who the hell is that?" One over in the far right corner shouted as he stood over the jewelry display, a crowbar in his hand.

"That's Vindicator, don't ya know? He's with the feds!" The one behind the register exclaimed, still shining the now shaking flashlight on them.

"No way man, no way. Those heroes are a bunch of wannabes, none of them are like that." The would be jewelry thief replied.

"We can take this fucker, come on!" The third one in the room, and the one was also closest to Mason yelled. A wooden baseball bat in his hands as he was about to steal a couple of electric guitars when the vigilante walked in the door. The crook charged towards Vindicator, the bat raised. At the last second as the man swung at him, Vindicator rose an arm and blocked it. The bat cracked as it was blocked, the force of the blow shook his arm but did not do any real damage. 

The robber was not so lucky as Mason lashed out at him and grabbed him by the shirt. Then with his attacker in hand, he slammed downwards, spiking the criminal into the hard floor. The force of the impact shattered a couple of ribs but he was not done with this fool. Vindicator rose a metallic boot and slammed downwards right into back of the man's right knee, easily shattering the kneecap and keeping him off his feet. 

As the first one hollered in pain Vindicator was on the move as he charged towards the one behind the register. The flashlight went to the floor as the hooligan was slammed into the wall, Mason tackling him powerfully. He hit the man with a hard right hook, blacking him out and knocking teeth out. Merchandise which hung on the wall fell to the floor in a commotion, only adding to the chaos.

One more left in the room, as Vindicator moved towards him this one tried to dash for the doorway. The vigilante lunged and brought the criminal to the ground. He placed his hand on the man's head and bounced it off the floor, then he peeled the bandanna off the down man's face. He looked to be in his late teens, early twenties, just some stupid kid. Mason would [i]try[/i] not to kill them all, unless of course they angered him enough. That didn't mean he couldn't have some fun with them. With another smile he was on his feet and towards an open doorway in the back. That was logically where the two other hooligans went. His logic was proven right as he entered into another room, a desk at the back of it, file cabinets around. Behind the desk knelt one of the robbers as he tried to open a safe. The other and final accounted for crook was to the side and staring right at Vindicator, he also had a revolver in his hand.

"Stay back! We don't want no trouble." The criminal muttered as he tried to intimidate the vigilante. It didn't work, not even the slightest bit. It actually almost made Mason laugh underneath his helmet. 

[color=f26522]"Well, I do. Where's the fun in anything else?"[/color] Vindicator replied, his voice amplified by the helmet's speaker. It made him sound more imposing which often worked in his favor. 

He then took a step towards the gun pointing crook who squeezed the trigger twice in reaction. The flash of light came from the revolver as two shots rang out and both of the .38 Spc bullets pinged off of his armor. Then Vindicator was upon the man as he body-slammed him into the wall, throwing a kick at his face. While that occurred the fifth crook had made a break for the back exit and was currently running through it and into another alley. 

Mason was calm as he yanked his submachine gun off his back, then knelt down and aimed it in the direction of the running man. The red dot centered on his left leg, and with one suppression of the trigger a bullet slammed out and right into the final robber's leg. The man went down with a yelp and a spray of blood as Vindicator was on his feet and walking coolly after him. The crook was still trying to flee as he weakly pulled himself to his feet. Unfortunately for him Mason was upon him as put a free hand on the man's back and pushed him back onto the ground, hard. He then pressed the barrel of his gun into the criminal's other leg and pressed the trigger, blood spraying out once more, another scream coming from the wounded fool.

[color=f26522]"My advice kid, put pressure on those wounds and don't try to move too much. The cops will be here soon, make sure you tell them who took you idiots down."[/color] Mason said with a wink as he taunted the downed criminal, he then holstered his gun and disappeared back down another alley.