A Very HIVE Christmas (HIVE/Open)

There was another hero on the scene, you couldn't exactly smash a sleigh through a window and expect to remain incognito. Kane had seen it while wandering along in his normal civilian identity, just some weird guys smashing the window with a sleigh and going into the mall. He ran away like any normal civilian would, but once he was far away enough he took out the Kicker outfit, which he always had on his person, and got changed in an alleyway.

Soon he was ready for action, but rather than just going in guns blazing he decided he should probably take the stealth route. So he jumped into the window, but before he landed on the ground he used his powers to keep himself in the air, interacting with the air as if there was another floor a metre above the real one that only he could see. He crept along, keeping an eye out for the intruders, but little did he know that if Nina was looking at the right camera, she'd see him immediately.

Tyres squealed as Pix tore rubber down the pristine marble walkways. He passed three boxes of palm trees that looked identical to one another before squeezing the breaks. His new electric scooter jolted to a stop inches from a turn. (=D) This was going to be a good Christmas after all. The sprite picked up his communicator again, "While you're up there, Kitsune, could you get the doors? Please and thank you." Pix powered his machine along again before coming to a stop outside an electronics store.

He slowly reversed until he could grab a hold of the shutter's handle. The locks were all automated and controlled by the master computer. The shutter almost flew out of his hands as a powered lifting system deposited the coverings in a niche above the store-front. A security lamp came on. Pix drove his vehicle through the double-doors, "Hey guys. Wanna do a secret santa? Impromptu gift grabbing."

There was plenty of fun to be had within a mall out of hours. Nina had crept into the security room, whilst Pix had sped off to go get some five finger discounts. Quinn meanwhile, had a choice to make. About whether to join Pix or not, and if not, then what should she do? There were endless possibilities, but Quinn instead opted to give HIVE some form of a contingency plan. No doubt, soon enough some hero or someone would come barging in to save the day. That was a given, a reality in Jump City that all of those partaking in criminal activity had to be aware of. And that suited Quinn down to the ground.

She had disposed of the mall cops in quick fashion, whilst no eyes were looking upon her. Now Quinn appeared on the ground floor, and ran through the mall looking ever so helpless in her Santa costume as she called out. "Heeeeeeeeeelp! Someone! Help meeeeeeeee!". Not only was Quinn going to have fun, but she was going to provide Nina with some quality entertainment that you can't find on Netflix, Hulu, or HBO GO.

Nina would be watching the screens, having put some microwave popcorn in the microwave of the little kitchen area, having split her clones to each monitor a few screens, flipping the switch to open the doors for Pix, one of the clones tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at the screen, Nina quickly got onto comms "guys there's an itsy bitsy hero coming to check you out, be on the lookout" she assumed anyone else who came along to their little midnight crime soirée would be a hero, a clone then retrieved the popped popcorn as Nina helped herself to the popcorn happily.

From her perch atop the pillar of the Santa's Village attraction, Kristen watched the events unfold as she remained undetected from the others.
She saw the figure known as Kane jump through the broken window and how he began to seemingly levitate-walk about a metre above the actual floor. Kristen sensed that this hero wasn't of demonic or holy origin - he was most likely a meta-human, if not of any other magical origin. She however did not recognize him as the shy sandy-haired Kane that she had met several days earlier in the park, either. The simple hero mask he wore hid his identity effectively, and Kristen deduced that, with the shy nature of the boy she had met earlier, that there was no way Kane would put himself in this situation without quaking in his levitating boots.

Kristen watched Pix speed down the main hallway and stop at a corner, pulling out a communicator of some kind and talking into it. His words echoed off of the walls and what little Kristen could make out from what he was saying was that there was someone in the security booth with access to cameras and security controls. The doors of the shop next to him unlocked as he drove inside.

Looking to the area in the shadows of the second floor balcony where Quinn was stalking around, Kristen noticed that the figure was no longer in that area. Moments later, she saw a girl in a strange Christmas suit appearing from one end of the main floor, yelling for help into the air. Kristen observed her height, her posture, and how her suit cast a strange shadow on the floor. As the girl's act went on, Kristen could feel a grin growing on her face as she deduced that this 'citizen' was almost definitely the girl in the shadows. What other logical reason would there be for a citizen to be in a mall after hours? Kristen decided to play along with this girl's antics, while keeping some of her attention on the positions of Pix and Kane, as well as the watchful eyes of Nina behind the camera.

Kristen looked back over to the double-doors and shot out her hand, using telekinesis to close and lock the doors behind Pix. Once that had been taken care of, she summoned her wings of light and flared them before taking off and gliding down, landing below on the main level, behind Quinn. Kristen was well aware that the light of her magic could be overwhelming for mundane humans, and if this intruder had any powers or special training, she would be resistant to it.

"What's the matter, girl? Lost?" she asked in a calm manner. Even though Quinn was actually a year older than Kristen, Kristen was several inches taller, giving the appearance of someone older. Her angel's armour glinted of the light of the moon through the skylight and the light of her ethereal wings. She allowed her permeating presence to release a bit.

Kane was creeping along, unaware that his creeping was useless as he had already been spotted on the camera, but still, acting stealthy was fun! Fun? What is he, a child? This is serious, he had crimes to put a stop too, well really, these guys were more being vandals than anything, unless of course they had killed people, then they would be real criminals. But of course, this was entirely theoretical, it was most likely that nothing wrong had happened, unless... SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED!!! Hmmm, maybe Kane was just rambling... OR MAYBE HE WASN'T RAMBLING ENOUGH!!!

Kane's inner rambling was interrupted by the screams of a girl who needed help. What was a girl doing in the mall after closing... unless she was in fact one of the infiltrators. Still, whether this girl was an innocent girl who needed saving or a criminal who Kane needed to capture, both of these situations demanded Kane's attention immediately. So Kane threw caution to the wind and dashed off towards where he heard the girl's cry from super fast.

He arrived there faster than any normal person could, yet he was still there second, he had been beaten to the punch by the girl he had met at the park a few weeks back, the same day he had met Melissa. This girl was... what was her name...? Kristen? Yeah, Kristen. But still, now that Kane had arrived, he needed to make his presence known Hey guys! 'sup? It's everyone's favourite trio: Angel... he pointed to Kirsten ...Santa baby... he pointed at Quinn, making a reference to the popular Christmas song and her sexy santa outfit ...and me, who needs no introduction He wasn't just being full off himself, he was one of the most popular heroes in the city, everyone knew the name Kicker So are you alright Ms Clause? Is the hubby not going to pick you up in his sleigh?

A featureless dark was suddenly illuminated by two dozen television screens. Tens of laptop lids flung themselves open, adding to the lighting effect, and even small iPod screens burst into static. None of these appliances were fed by electricity. Pix was just making use of the arsenal he had walked into. A swarm of pixels peeled off their surfaces and set about congealing into shapes. With a thought the cloud of pixels began to tear up the store. Display cases were smashed, tills infiltrated, and hoovers flung bodily across the store - dashed into many pieces.

Continuing his journey of destruction, Pix entered the stock room, knowing that the majority of merchandise would still be hauled up here, waiting until there was adequate room on the shelves. The pixels made a couple of large hooks and wheeled a loading trolley around the back of Hugh's vehicle. A portion next fashioned a harness to connect the two. The remainder began loading boxes. The sprite remembered that he would need to save room for the pets store too. Gilda would kill them if they forgot her crackers and Blake needed a catnip fix.

Quinn’s pace lowered to some degree as she could see the shadows of Kristen’s wings loom over her. Quinn came to a stop eventually, and straight away turned around. Wings, eh? It was nothing that Quinn hadn’t seen before, yet still she seemed somewhat startled as the winged hero spoke. “You… you need to go, get away!”. Quinn would say as she stepped backwards, away from the hero. But then another appeared, faster than anything – though not the speedster Quinn knew of. Though it seemed speedy individuals shared the same arrogant nature. “There’s something, someone, on the loose… they attacked me”. Quinn would say, her movement slowed though she did take another step or two back. “We’re not safe, we need to leave, now… please”. Quinn’s eyes looked about the place, anxious, scared.

Nina would continue to watch the cameras, as a kitsune Nina would smile and watch, feeling somewhat proud of Quinn.

'This one's acting skills are quite good...' Kristen thought to herself as Quinn continued her act. It was then that Kane decided to make himself known, however it was likely that, if Kristen spotted him from her perch, then whoever was manning the cameras had spotted him as well. His arrogant nature was another trait that deterred Kristen's thoughts of him being the boy she met even further.
Kristen frowned inwardly as Quinn explained that there was something, someone on the loose in the mall, and that she had been attacked. However, Kristen didn't let her skepticism show. She knew there was no demon or shade here, so whatever else she must have been referring to were likely just her teammates.
There was a slight technicality that Quinn had missed, though. "They attacked you? How so? You don't appear to be injured." she made a sideways glance at Kane, a look that says 'something isn't right here.' She doubted that Kane was a telepath, but she was holding on to the hope that he could read faces sufficiently.
Kristen sighed, turning back to Quinn. "Well then, if you haven't noticed, the both of us are fully equipped to deal with any threat you may be referring to. So run along, girl. Let us handle this." At the end of this sentence, Kristen enveloped her own body in an aura of protective light, thus releasing her permeating aura.

There were reports of multiple department store raids all over the district. It was the kind of holiday treat a villain would come up with. It seemed like the Russians really were pushed back enough that the local criminals felt they could start causing trouble again. Mav found herself at the scene of the commotion a little bit late as she had passed by a couple of other places that turned out to be false alarms. The Galleria though, with the gaping hole on the window, was obviously broken in to and the bright lights coming from the inside suggested whoever was responsible was still lurking within.

Rather than enter from the obvious entrance, Mav decided to make her way around the back where the delivery trucks would drop off supplies and goods for the mall. Anyone who was after quality products would probably head for the stock room instead of going after the used unboxed display items on the store shelves. She made it a point to avoid the cameras as she was locating the back door, not wanting to be mistaken for one of the burglars. That was one hassle she didn't want to bother dealing with.

Finding her way in was easy enough and she soon found herself walking down the stock room aisles with boxes of all sorts lined up and organized. But she was not alone. Someone was making a noticeable ruckus nearby. She quickened her pace and soon found herself face-to-face with a person she wasn't particularly fond of. Well, she couldn't actually see his face from that angle but the pixel-based constructs were unmistakable.

"HIVE huh. Well, let's get this over with." Maverique cleared her throat.

"Put down the merchandise and surrender quietly or I'll be forced to get rough with you."

Perhaps she was feeling a little generous because it was the Christmas season. The usual Mav would have been incapacitate first, ask questions later. Then again, this Mav was not the same one the HIVE leader knew from before. He might be surprised to find she was a tad tougher.

The girl claimed that someone or something had attacked her, coincidentally she had no injuries from this attack, it was very unlikely, she was probably lying. Of course, she could be telling the truth and she had just been very lucky to get away unharmed, but either way, Kane should proceed with caution. Kristen then gave him a look, from what Kane could tell she was either hungry or sick, Kane was never good at reading faces.

Kristen informed the girl that they were both more than capable of defending themselves from whatever was out there, she then told her to run along, Kane had to speak up Woah woah woah woah, what are you doing!?! Did they teach you nothing about being a hero before sending you down from heaven? You don't just give the princess a weapon and have her fend for herself to escape the dungeon, you escort her out of the dungeon! he sighed in exasperation and gestured towards the girl We can't just have her go off on her own with dangerous criminals around, she asked for help in the first place because she needs help! Seeing how you don't want to, I'll escort her out of here, if you find any criminals, just come a hollerin' and a real hero will show you how it's done!

With that over and done with, he turned to Quinn Don't worry, I'll just guide you to the exit and you can be on your way, come with me! he started to walk to the exit, gesturing at Quinn to come with her, he'd stop and wait for her if she didn't follow, but he wasn't an idiot, there was a chance that she could be one of the criminals so he was keeping a healthy distance and was constantly talking to her to put her at ease as an excuse to keep his eye on her. Not that keeping an eye on her wasn't a pleasure with that outfit.

A familiar voice pique Hugh's interest. He cast the glow of pixels over an area previously in shadow. Down an isle of shelving stood one of the younger teen heroes. Mature for her age but lacking in importance, the girl's unexpected appearance did not chill his heart as others may have done. The sprite was almost glad it was her come to test his mettle. Statistically, HIVE could expect one interloper to investigate the correct robbery location. Thank goodness it was this loser and not a Titan, "Maverique. How cowers the team?"

With his attention now centred on her, the mass of pixel production ceased. Boxes half-loaded would crash into the ground, one releasing an audible shatter from inside its packaging. Pix remained sat upon his electric scooter, shifting one leg over so he could be seated side-saddle. He observed her and tried to gleam knowledge from her appearance, "You appear to be going solo on this one. Did you finally realise you were putting others in danger?" Four hooks made out of pixels would yank at shelving either side of Maverique, attempting to tip them down upon her.

Not all attacks left a person with visible injuries. A common theme more so in Jump City, with supernatural beings that may do harm to others in different ways. It was something that Quinn hadn’t entirely thought through, but then Quinn always had something of a knack for thinking on her feet. She looked towards Kristen with a certain sadness about her, suppressing tears the assassin wept, speaking in a soft tone, stuttering a fair bit. “I was fortunate enough to get away… the others though… I don’t know”. Quinn looked down to the floor, a tear emerging that hit the floor.

Kristen then appeared rather rude. It was something that Quinn hadn’t seen before, a hero with an attitude problem. Heroes were supposed to be good, right? Law abiding, happy… always willing to help. Kristen appeared to be an exception to that. Fortunately enough the other hero stepped in, calling Kristen out about it. Good. Kane was good enough to actually have manners, and offered protection upon escorting her away.

“Thanks”. Quinn would say, a faint smile appearing momentarily, though it suddenly returned to the glum look Quinn had about her. She followed after Kane, and made it a point not to waste any time as she kept pace with him. It was fairly noticeable the way that Kane looked at her, the ogling eyes. “You can stop staring”.

Nina chuckled as she watched the cameras "Quinny, remind me to recruit you as my leading actress if we ever have a HIVE theatre group" she spoke quietly into her earpiece, tossing another piece of popcorn into her mouth and keeping her eyes fixed onto the monitors. Leaning over to sip her slushie as she looked out for her team, informing them both of any possible dangers and newcomers.