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[hr][b][I]Bridgewater Bank
June 19, 2021[/I][/b][hr]
It only took around ten minutes for them to be loaded up and driven to the city bank. They were briefed in great detail on the way there and given a few suggestions on how to run the operation, especially since civilians were being used as hostages. Richter listened without really paying much attention. Not outwardly, at least. He wasn't stupid enough to [i]completely[/i] ignore their advice, just kind of. If nothing else though, they were right about one thing; Kintsugi's constructs wouldn't last more than a touch against him, nor would the Cape himself. If only he was allowed to.

Well, anyway, he was still glad their first mission wasn't something boring.

The fact that Blackburn carried around firearms didn't bother him one bit. Guns were only useful if you could hit your target, and it wasn't like he was a stranger to the dangers of a firefight, though this particular experience was new. Usually, he wasn't on this side of it. His power was pretty helpful against weapons too, if all else failed. The advice to treat the gang as if they were going for the kill gave him the makings of an idea. He wondered if he could use that as an excuse....

Hm. That was an idea that required a bit more thought.

Before Richter could decide on a course of action, he noticed something odd. The clone girl's.... clones looked like they were glitching for some unexplained reason. One second they were there and the next, they were gone. Over and over. She didn't seem to be taking the situation very well now they were here. Considering she'd been practically buzzing with excitement back at the HQ, it probably wasn't the robbery that bothered her. In that case, it was most likely the hostages that did it. He wasn't sure why, but she was obviously recalling some pretty bad memories. They had to be bad to evaporate her enthusiasm like that. It was the fastest drop in mood he'd ever seen.

Speculating would only get him so far. At this point, he'd have more success just–

Oh. She was gone.

And so was the pink menace. Rushing ahead without backup probably wasn't the best idea, but he wasn't going to be the one to tell her that. Someone who cared more would do that.

With a shrug, Richter climbed out of the vehicle and briefly surveyed the area. The bank's facade was bustling with activity, and he meant that in the loosest sense of the world. Everywhere he looked was filled with police cars and policemen idling around doing fuck all, and pedestrians doing even less. What a useless bunch they were. His eyes wandered up the building; twenty-five enormous stories of glass and concrete. It was one of the biggest buildings he'd ever seen, but he did have to wonder why exactly a bank had 25 floors. Like, what did they even use them all for? It was an utterly irrelevant question but it nagged at him all the same.

Richter's thoughts were interrupted by someone saying something about the hostages.

Oh, right. Hostages.

The grump shared the information his power had provided. It had a lot of assumptions, but it wasn't like he had anything to add at the moment. The hostages being held on a higher floor, if true, was potentially problematic. Getting into the building and through most obstacles was easy enough, but going up? That was a bit harder. The rat-bird offered to carry some of them with him, but he didn't even think about accepting. Not because he couldn't get in from up there, but because he didn't trust it to carry him anywhere. 

His eyes trailed up to the highest point of the bank.... Yeah, there was no chance he was getting up there any other way. He wasn't [i]that[/i] good. Not yet.

With a sigh, Richter pressed his palm to the front of the bank and focused his senses on his surroundings. The great thing about vibrations was that they were everywhere. Literally. He couldn't focus on everything on a floor at once, but searching for the movements of a human being, even if subdued, wasn't an issue. Any more than that and everything would just start becoming incomprehensible. He hadn't had the chance to practise much yet.

He stepped back from the wall and looked up once again. Well, that confirmed the hostages weren't down there at least. They still had to actually find them though. With that thought in mind, he finally entered the bank, or at least what was left of it. Shattercrash sure did a number on the place. He nonchalantly stepped on shards of broken glass, leaving behind tiny piles of dust in his wake.

Richter glanced over to Decree, who all of a sudden wasn't moving anymore. It was ironic that she'd stopped dead in her tracks almost immediately after telling the clone girl to be careful.

Usually, he wouldn't care what she did but this situation wasn't exactly what he'd call "regular". Getting people killed because you weren't prepared was a weak excuse. All she needed was a light touch to jolt her into action, and since he was the closest to her right now, he decided to take it upon himself to do so. The slightest miscalculation on his part would kill her, but nobody needed to know that.

With more care than anyone could know, Richter flicked Decree on the forehead.

[colour=silver]"Pull yourself together, [i]durak[/i]."[/colour]