Heard her coming a mile away

[Deleted]

The the guards patrolling the A-01 through B-29 section of the docks rounded the corner to start the loop again, five minutes later a figure dressed in black with a black mask and red lenses appeared out of nowhere. The androgynous figure walked down the dock looking at the numbers ignoring the loud crashes of the waves and the howl of the wind.

The black clothed figure walked over to the side door ignoring the shipping containers outside. They paused looking at the door lock and the security system. They pulled a lock pick set out of thin air before setting to work on the lock. A thirty seconds later there was click. Without wasting a motion the intruder slipped though the door, slipping a card between the door lock and the door jam keeping it from locking again.


Catastor turned and looked at key pad and snorted, too easy. She quickly started typing. Fifteen seconds later the red light turned green. The thief grinned, in less than a minute's time now had a run of the place. She pulled out her flash light and started walking down the aisle of containers. "Hrm, CL4597, FL6958, DC4895," Pauses and shines light on container number. "Ah ha IL9865. There you are."  Turns off light and knees down to work on lock on the containers floor. Padlocks, pff, please. Her accident had given her a great gift as she could work with out distraction, but also she could miss things, like when the door to the warehouse blows open hitting against the wall.

[Gaunt]

"Spoiler, look!" Finally, Kaie's time had come. After too long a wait, and one especially frustrating patrol in this area, she'd finally witnessed a crime. Now was finally her time to shine! Kaie stayed low to the ground, trying to be as quiet as a giant could be. Her footfalls were still heavy as all hell, but they were paced a little more now. Miraculously, the thief didn't seem to hear. The dark figure kept on picking the lock like nothing was happening and slipped into the building.

"Awright, les go get her!" Kaie grinned, not waiting for an answer before she rushed over to the warehouse. The door was small, but Kaie had dealt with smaller. She could squeeze through easily enough. Kaie bent down, ready to crawl through, but her foot caught on a hole in the pavement. The giant toppled forward, and her face met the door.

Kaie groaned, pushing herself up. Her head and shoulders had slammed the door, and a big chunk of the wall around it, clear across the warehouse to hit the other wall. Amazingly, the thief hadn't noticed. The shadowy figure was at one of the shipping containers, apparently picking another lock. Kaie stood up to her full height and strolled up behind her, a smug smile on her face. Bruises aside, this was going to be a good night. "Stop right there!"

[Audrey]

"Huh? Oh, ssssshhh!" Stephanie responded to her temporary comrade after looking and noticing that she had indeed spotted someone trying to break into the shipment. There had been a couple false alarms so far tonight like that raccoon raiding the beach trashcan, that lost dolphin, and that homeless guy who thought they were both Nazis and that he was in Normandy, but this person definitely actually seemed like an real actual thief. From her reaction to the other false alarms, Stephy had been putting together that Kaie wasn't exactly the most... quick-witted of people. While stealth wasn't quite something Stephanie herself had mastered yet, Kaie could very well be considered the antithesis of stealth. Thankfully, she took to the warning to remain quiet as the two of them approached the thief from behind. Stephanie was a little baffled as to how the thief hadn't managed to hear both Kaie's blatant announcement of their presence or her louder than average footsteps, but hey she wasn't one to complain.

Barbara had asked Stephanie to accompany Kaie in her place as a sort of first test. Barbara had been brought on for her knowledge about the origins of the package, a chemical sample from Dr. Victor Fries, otherwise known as Mr. Freeze as well as for her stealth-based combat style. Seeing as Stephanie shared her Gotham knowledge and was also a stealth-fighter, albeit less skilled, it seemed like a nice place for her to jump in and get something done to show Barbara how good she was. Plus Kaie was friendly enough not to question a sudden replacement with someone she'd never met before. It seemed like a nice arrangement.

Stephanie followed Kaie in and seeing no sign of the thief, returned to regular walking stance to up her speed. With her leather boots and small stature, she could afford to do so without costing much in the way of stealth. Kaie... Kaie was probably better off remaining down low. Her long strides probably made up for what she lost in speed anyway. When they reached a door, Stephanie got a bit worried if Kaie would be able to make it without too much of a fuss. From the fact that she began to attempt it without question, Stephanie assumed it would be fine, but... that quickly was proven wrong when Kaie slipped and slammed right into the door letting out a loud metallic ringing throughout the warehouse. Steph was worried about the thief hearing it, but more worried about Kaie. It looked like an awful tumble. "Oh jeez, Rumble are you alright?" she checked, doing the best she could to help the giant up.

Evidently, she seemed to be alright as she just kept trudging on. Somehow the thief hadn't even caught on to them. What was this guy? (or girl, Steph really couldn't tell to save her life.) Deaf or something? With Kaie, Stephanie approached the thief standing tall. She was about to attempt some manner of takeout, in order to stop the thief while they still were unaware of her and Kaie's presence, but then Kaie completely announced their position with a loud hearty cliché. Stephanie backed away from the thief to avoid getting smacked by a surprise attack, and then proceeded to give Kaie a silent look of 'You really are kind of new to this aren't you?'

[Deleted]

Catastor grinned as the pad lock clicked open. She pulled it off, she undid the lock and stepped back to open the door and ran right into someone. Karmi! She twisted around surprised, stepping into the shipping container a bit getting some space between her and the giant. It look all of about two seconds to figure out who the giant was, the person in purple was someone she didn't know, and it too more seconds of surveying the damage to figure out what happened and why Kaie had a large bruise forming on her face.

The person in purple was careful, not coming too close, but Kaie was still very much in range. "Well this was certainly unexpected," Her left handed moved behind her back as she replaced the pick set into her pocket. She brought her hands in front of her cracking her knuckles as she planed out what she was going to do, taking in the numbers that were flashing in front of her. She and the purple person were about the same height and weight, and they were standing still. "I see the door was too small, that's rather unfortunate; that looks like that is going to hurting for a few days. I'd put ice on it." She glanced over to the person, girl, what metahuman guy wears purple? She was wearing a mask so she couldn't read her lips, but that wasn't completely important. A small smile formed on her lips, Vectors locked and checkmate. "So, ladies what can I help you with tonight?" Her eyes turned back to Kaie to read the reply.

[Gaunt]

Wow, that was embarrassing. It was cool working with an experienced hero like Spoiler, but she was constantly being reminded of how much she had to learn. Then again, their specialties were worlds apart. Spoiler was nimble, subtle, and sneaky. Kaie was huge, strong, and loud. She was starting to wonder if they made a good team. She messed up Spoiler's sneaking, and Kaie worried about squishing the human if it came to a fight.

"I'm alright!" A bit of a bruise was forming, but Kaie was fine. With how fast she grew she'd gotten used to tumbles growing up. Changing sizes that fast, limbs were always a little longer than you expected. Still, it had been a while since anything had really hurt her. With her giant power it took a lot for her to even feel a hit. But she could walk it, off, Titans had to be badass. She could put some ice on it when she got home.

Remarkably, the girl didn't hear her until after she'd announced her presence. The thief seemed really calm, considering she was cornered by a titanic Titan. "Hey! That were an accident, heroes don't smash walls just because." She paused for a second to think. "Except Superman. ANYWAY, what are ye breakin into here?" She folded her arms, glowering down suspiciously.

[Audrey]

So things were down to a standoff. All three of them egging each other on to make a move and set things off, covering it up under the guise of small talk. "Well what you can help us with is to keep Jump City a little clean tonight. You could do so by just walking on out of here and pretending like we never had this conversation" Spoiler piped, putting her hands on her hips, slightly nudging the utility belt on her waist. What hopefully this thief didn't know was that Stephanie had pulled this little move intentionally as she had left a little button in one of her pockets that turned on a signal in the guard's office letting the civilian patrollers know that something was up in the warehouse. If they could keep Ms. Thief here occupied long enough, then the guards could have the warehouse surrounded with no way for this bumbling idiot to get out of here. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't hear us coming and all. We made quite a racket. Maybe you're in for an ear cleaning next time you stop by the doctor. Does prison healthcare cover ear cleaning? They gotta, I've heard it's ridiculous."

[Deleted]

"Work, someone asked me to get them some so I am. Nothing big, nothing personal just what I do, and on that note..." She stepped a little further back into the create grinning. Bingo, the thing she came for was right at the front, or at least the the create was she could just take all and sort thought it later; being caught has thrown the whole need to 'without a trace' out the window. With thought and poof it storage. Cat never leaves a job unfinished, even if it almost got her killed, that was why they paid good money for her services. "I have what I came for, so if you will excuse me ladies." Her black gauntlet appeared on her arm as she looked at Kaie and bowed politely.

Catastor grinned locking onto the purple girl before swapping with her, leaving the girl in the box and her on the outside. Cat laughed as she moved to the top of the creates, making several jumps to reach the top of the warehouse. Theoretically she could escape by teleporting but she didn't know the area well enough to jump, she would like be blocked or end up in the open air or somewhere worse and her 'lock' positions were too far away to move to ether. Cat wasn't too worried, when she made it to the roof she would be clear, unless the Purple was a speedster, then that was just be really bad luck. If that were the case then she would have to play cat and mouse till she could get in range of one of her lock points. 

[Gaunt]

Kaie gave Spoiler a weird look. Was she really suggesting they just let this ruffian go? She supposed Spoiler was more experienced, but why would she even suggest that? Especially after Kaie had faceplanted through a wall, it seemed a waste to just walk away from it without even an arrest. The giantess regained her composure, folding her arms and looking serious.


The criminal seemed to just ignore Spoiler's critique of her listening skills. The thief girl was trying to keep professional and dignified, despite being stone-cold busted by the loudest entry since catapults had gone out of vogue. Must be tough, trying to keep your cool after such a colossal screw-up. Then again, Kaie was the one who had smashed her nose through the door, so she wasn't in a position to talk.

Then it all went to hell. The perp started to move, and Kaie reached out to grab her. But for some reason, her hand wrapped around Spoiler's shoulder instead. How had that happened? Kaie let go, her head turning to follow the sound behind her. The thief had swapped places somehow. "She's there!" Kaie shouted, turning to grab again. By the time her hand was in place, the thief had moved again. She was a full-on teleporter! Kaie charged after her, grabbing and missing again. "Dammit!" The thief was going to get away at this rate.

[Audrey]

A twinge of aggravation swept across Stephanie's brow unseen as the thief just flat out ignored her. She never actually had a villain fail to retort to one of her provocations before. It was a new experience... as was teleporting which came not too much later. After finding herself several feet from where she had been before, it took Stephanie a second to start comprehending what exactly had just happened, only for Kaie to shake her for a second and make things all fuzzy again. If life were a cartoon, she'd be making that sort of dizzy glotteral sound so many character do when they get shaken around just a bit too much. Shaking her head and finally gathering her bearings, Stephanie put two and two together that the thief had switched places with her.

Realizing where that'd put the thief, Steph quickly got out of the box where she was and hopped atop the crates after the thief. She was no teleporter, but she was acrobatic and nimble and had a couple gadgets in store to make up for her lack of magical or complex abilities. With relative ease, she got up onto the crates and was on the tail of the thief, leaving Kaie behind realizing this wasn't a fight for her. It was an unfortunate judgement, but truth hurts. Giants weren't meant to float like butterflies and maneuver through complex arrangements. They were certainly good at stinging like bees though. Quickly going through her gear, Steph prepped the makeshift grappling hook, she'd assembled some time ago. While nothing compared to the bat hook, the baby got the job done. With it at the ready, she prepared to sling herself to whatever surface this sneaky thief was preparing to go to. "Kappa Alpha Iota, Sigma Pi Omicron is in hot pursuit of the Kappa Rho Eta, roger!" Spoiler said out loud with the intention of Kaie hearing it, but with more intention of seeing if the thief would hear it. She had a bit of a theory here, and this would be the first step in testing it.

[Deleted]

Cat paused a minute glancing back, purple was fast. She had to give her credit for that, but she was faster. The thief grinned jumping to the other side of the glass. She paused looking around a moment, she had the roof or the alleyway but that patrol was coming soon, and the roof was faster anyway, she could see where she was going.

The teleporter jumped onto the roof before hoping to the next one, moving toward the bright lights of Jump. Deeper into the city there were better places to hide and a subway tunnel. For now she had to not get caught. It was reminiscent of her younger days when she had been just starting out. So many close calls, and some none too thrill victims. She still had the scars from a couple of heated "discussions". She winced at the memory. That was history and tomorrow was mystery right now she had to deal with the present. And presently she had a tail.

[Gaunt]

This had gotten really confusing really fast. The teleporting was throwing her off, and Spoiler's shouting wasn't helping. It sounded like math words, and Kaie wasn't too fond of those. Or math in general, really. Her career goals were centered around punching big monsters, you don't need to know the square root of whatever to do that. Superman didn't have to know that stuff. Probably. She was starting to realize she didn't know a whole lot about Superman.

Kaie was reasonably fast, but she wasn't agile. Her speed was less like those two and more like a freight train, it couldn't be controlled as easily and could cause a lot of property damage if used irresponsibly. She had to be careful leaving the warehouse, and by the time she was outside she had lost the trail. The two of them were up somewhere on the rooftops where Kaie couldn't really pursue them, not without crashing through the roof. Kaie pulled out her communicator, but quickly put it back. Spoiler was in hot pursuit, she couldn't take calls now, and Kaie couldn't call anyone else. She thought. The giant wasn't too clear on the communicator rules, it was kinda confusing. Instead, she just started searching at ground level for signs of the chase.

[Audrey]

A grin crawled onto Stephanie's face as she saw the thief maneuvered onto the roof. "Totally called it," she thought as she busted out her grappling hook and pulled herself onto the roof after the thief. She hoped her cape hadn't gotten itself any holes since that day with Batgirl, she was gonna need it to descend back down to street level. Unfortunately, it seemed Kaie didn't quite understand what was being said to her but it was of no consequence, It could've helped her theory a bit more if she had responded, but she had gotten the first hint she needed as to her suspicions about this thief and it was time to check further into it. "You do realize you're running into a police trap, don't you Ms. Amateur don't you?" Steph called out to the thief. It was a bluff, but even her calling the bluff would be all she needed. At least, verbally calling her bluff. If her theory was right, she wouldn't say a word at all about the trap and just keep on running.

Looking ahead, she guessed the thief would be up to playing some parkour with her. She couldn't say she was looking forward to it, but hey, them's the break being a hero and all. She just hoped she didn't get her boot caught in an air conditioner vent like she did the last time she chased someone across the rooftops. Gravity was a cruel mistress in many ways. She also hoped down below would be the guard team she had summoned earlier. Having them there to intercept the thief would be quite helpful.

[Deleted]

Cat glanced back a moment she was a little over a building ahead at the moment, which was good and she was making great time. The lights were getting closer as they crossed the port. Fortunately it thin and most building here close to the water. She jumped off building land in the no man's land between the fence and the street. With a quick move order she was on the other side running again.

A little past the road that separated the port and the city was an outer neighbor house. This area she had a better understanding of. To her left was were several abandon building, and on the right there was several apartment buildings along with business fronts for several gangs that ran the underground down here. And lucky her she always paid her respects. She worked for the Rats Nest, but other friends were always good. She doubted they would help her out, but luck sometimes seemed to work out in her favor from time to time.

The thief grinned as she ran down an alleyway before teleporting into the building. She took a moment to catch her breath and steady her head, she was still a mile out from being in rang of one of her lock points. Her best bet was the subway station near the end of the neighborhood. She could catch a ride there till she is the center city and it would be easy to get to the Nest and lose the tail there; but that was another few blocks. With a thought, the most distinctive part of her costume, her cloak, disappeared. She put her claw away to. Cat took out her Hermes charm kissing it more teleporting back to the street taking off running at full speed.

Cat took one more moment before taking off again running. She smiled a little thing up a little rhyme. Run run as fast as you can, I won't let you catch me, I'm Catastor, my friend.

Jumping = Teleporting (makes my life easier)

[Audrey]

"Uggggggggggggggggggggh, why are regular patrolmen so. damn. slow?" the thought crossed Stephanie's mind as she found herself completely without back-up chasing this thief across the rooftops. She was fairly skilled in parkour, at least enough to keep herself from falling down to an untimely life in a wheelchair, but this thief obviously trumped her in the areas both speed and acrobatics. They knew what they were doing. However, Stephanie's theory had yet to be disproven. In fact, at this point considering the thief didn't answer her quip at all, she believed the theory was nearly confirmed. She just want to yell one last thing to confirm it for sure. Unfortunately, just as she was about to yell, the thief jumped to the street instead and traipsed into an alleyway.

Using her cape to slow her descent from the rooftops, Stephanie followed her to the street level and down the alley only to find herself alone. There were no doors to the buildings on either side, so Stephanie could only assume she either took the fire escape which is unlikely seeing as she SHOULD still be on it if that were the case, or the thief was a metahuman and had done something magical in order to escape. Stephanie hedged a bet on the latter and prepared something of a specialty for this situation.

From her belt, she pulled out a small bag of some material with the open end tied shut. She pulled the string holding the bag shut off and immediately threw it into the center of the alleyway, releasing the material that seemed to just be ordinary cooking flour. With the trajectory, the flour splattered all over the alleyway, covering it from head to toe in whiteness. Stephanie liked to keep a bag on hand if ever in the event she ran into an invisible opponent. Couldn't exactly stay visible for long covered in flour. Unfortunately for Steph, it seemed this particular villain had not turned invisible though.

She sighed and kicked a trash can in frustration that she had let the perpetrator get away so easily. If only she had been faster... more agile. She needed more training. She needed training from the best. It was unfortunate that the hero who was probably best at acrobatics in this city hated her. Hero... She'd have to think about that one. For now, she needed to cut her losses and regroup with Kaie. She thus began the empty-handed walk of shame back towards the docks, keeping towards the dark areas to avoid seeming lame.

[Deleted]

Cat slowed down ducking into an ally see she had lost her tail. She pulled off her mask and pulled on a non-script sweat shirt before stepping out and heading down the stairs to the subway. Compared to a normal hour the subway was not bustling with people. It was fairly quiet. The Thief smiled hoping the turn style and walking toward the platform to wait. About ten minutes later she was standing at the rear of a car holding on the pole as the underground train speed toward the heart of the city. She watched as more people got on and off. 

Red eyes shifted look at the red blinking sign that displayed the stop. West Orient Station. Cat let go as the train slowed and stepped off joining the people on the station. No one gave her any mind as she headed up to the surface and walked down the street. She turned into an alley were she donned her mask and cloak again before warping to the meeting the deserted Subway platform to meet the buyer and get payed. Cat tapped her claw against the concrete wall, twitching as the adrenaline ran through her system still from the chase. Where were they?