So, it isn’t with the lackey. I shouldn’t have expected it to be.Scarlet Shadow kept her face - what showed - neutral as the man before her ended the call and put the flip phone away. Her mistake was taking her eyes off of him after. She pondered on how to escape the museum and make her way to the chemical plant, eyes looking to the carpeted floor. A movement was caught in her peripheral vision causing her to glance sideways at Chronos. She hadn’t even registered what he was doing until she heard the click and then the immediate explosion prevented any action on her part.
The shock of the unexpected and contained blast caused her to stagger forward slightly, her ears aching and ringing. She groaned in anger and disorient. The scum had rigged the door to blow prior to her arrival! The master thief could hear alarms blaring and the shouting of the guards as she struggled to regain her composure. Hearing the approaching heavy footsteps coming down the halls outside, she ignored the treacherous Chronos and with a shake of her head set her mind to escaping the museum.
With a steady hand she drew two smoke grenades from her belt, the pins hitting the floor with soft metallic tinkling sounds and seconds later the projectiles flew out into the hall. The grenades detonated and sent clouds of choking gray smoke roiling in both directions down the corridor. Scarlet Shadow could hear gags and muffled coughing coming from outside the blow open storage room.
With no more than a flicker the thief zipped through the gaping jagged hole that was the exit. Using her reflexes and super speed she navigated the clouded hallway, naught but a breeze disturbing the writhing smoke, unseen by the men caught in the chemical miasma. She wasn’t free yet though. The windows were all sealed by metal shutters too heavy to pry or break loose. Even Semtex wouldn’t do the job. She would have a better chance with the front door in truth.
The entire museum was lit up by flashing red lights and both the ringing of the fire alarm and additional alarms triggered by the guards. Scarlet Shadow stuck to the ceiling as long as she could, leaping across support beams and ornamental chandeliers. Totally unseen by the blue uniformed security men below who scurried about with flashlights and guns in hand. She finally reached the entrance hall which was guarded by three men spread across the room, one with his back to the door gun drawn. Scarlet Shadow couldn’t wait any longer, the police would be here soon and set up a perimeter which would make her escape even more difficult.
She sat perched up on a chandelier in the middle of the room. The screaming alarms and shouting gave her an advantage. Timing it just right she leapt forward summersaulting off of the chandelier and dropping down with a direct kick to the top of the head one guardsman. His body fell limply to the linoleum floor, the alarms covering the sound of both the blow and the fall. The super powered thief streaked across the room and delivered two quick punches to the back of the head of the second guard, his body inches from the floor by the time the thief shot across the room again and leveled the final guard with a punishing kick to the ribs and a finishing strike to the back of the skull.
She doubted between the flashing lights and otherwise darkness that the final guard had even caught a glimpse of her. With a grunt Scarlet Shadow drug the unconscious man away from the front door and returned to plant a a small Semtex charge on it. She hated forced escapes and bombings weren’t her thing either, the Semtex were for an emergency situation, like what she was in now. She took cover behind a nearby pillar and - with a grimace - set off the charge courtesy of a small detonator. The explosion tore apart the front entrance nearly as bad as the upstairs storage room, sending shards of burning wood and metal flying. Pocketing the small remote detonator the thief surged from her cover and out the into the night air, police sirens in the distance drawing closer as the thief dashed through the darkness, darting between buildings and other cover as she fled the scene.
She knew where the chemical plant was and she planned to be there within an hour. This mysterious “Astra” owed her more than the prize she was guaranteed after all.
He’ll be lucky if I don’t shatter his nose. Scarlet Shadow thought bitterly as she vaulted over a red brick wall and made her way across a small park.
It took her just short of an hour actually, and she was rather tired at that when she arrived just outside the factory. Taking a moment to catch her breath, the master thief made her way up to the roof as instructed. Alternating between the fire escapes and climbing up over small ledges and through windows. The factory seemed abandoned what with it being so late but she never let her guard down. Finally reaching the rooftop, annoyed and just wanting her prize, she came to face the mysterious Astra and see what he had to say for himself.
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