It was nearly pitch black in Sunridge City. As far up as Felicity was the only sounds to be heard was the wind howling between the skyscrapers reaching as high into the night sky as man's ambition dared. The famous arachnid burglar had her sights set on a single building. Most of Sunridge's citizens never gave the building a second glance because nothing about it stood out. It wasn't the tallest building on the skyline. It didn't, publicly, serve as the business for anybody particularly famous. There wasn't a huge plaque or statue out front declaring the owner or builder. It should have stood out to people because it was effectively unmarked but the average rat was too busy scurrying around looking for their cheese to notice a single almost completely unmarked building. There was of course a single tell, try as they might the criminals of Sunridge all had their tells and very few of them could resist leaving a clue or two behind.
In this case the single tell had been left in the records of City Hall naming the building the Janus Building in honor of the two faced Roman God. Felicity had actually gotten a little lucky stumbling onto it; she'd actually been searching for an appropriately themed place to set up her own stash when she'd noticed it. Normally she'd probably have let it slide but six months ago the Twin Terrors had screwed her out of the Twin Tiger statues out of India and she wasn't passing up a chance to recover what was rightfully hers. Cats were her thing, everybody knew that.
Night vision goggles cut through the darkness with ease allowing Felicity Dawn, a.k.a. The Spider, a clear view of the roof of the Janus building. Security was light, just two men pretending to the patrol the rooftop. Felicity actually preferred professionals, she could set her clock to a military patrol but two guys who were smoking and joking might just turn a random corner unexpectedly. After waiting for a few moments she decided these two weren't going to be a problem. Spreading her arms like an angel Selene leaned forward until gravity took over and she was plummeting towards the pavement. At what seemed to be the last possible moment she uncoiled her whip and snapped it out wrapping around a gargoyle then swinging herself into place on the rooftop. She made short work of a vent and slid her lithe frame into the air ducts.
Most people would have been lost in the non-descript grey metal tubes but Selene had memorized the plans for the building more out of habit than necessity. She had a Heads Up Display or H.U.D. built into her cowl these days and could easily use that to navigate if she'd chosen. Her goal was small vault on the fiftieth floor. Just like she'd expected she found it unguarded. It was almost literally in the center of the building, aside from the ventilation shaft there was no way in or out that didn't involve going through a check point with armed guards.
Felicity silently released the grate and lowered herself down to the floor and made her way to the safe resting her ear against the cool steel and started rotating the dial. "That's a good girl. Give me your secrets." She purred. She could hear the gears and tumblers inside falling into place with clicks and thunks. Felicity closed her eyes so she could focus completely on the safe.
Safe cracking was slow deliberate work and it took her full focus. So much that she somehow didn't notice the guard until he a very specific sound shocked Felicity out of her focus. It was a sound she'd only heard once before in her life, the sound of a shotgun round being chambered. "Don't move." Felicity shifted her weight just slightly and started to turn her head. "I said don't move!" The man roared putting a stop to everything. "Now you do everything I say or I blow your pretty little head off. Am I clear?" Felicity nodded her response. "Good. Now drop your whip and kick it away." Felicity did as she was told making a quick mental note of the bolas and caltrops he hadn't taken from her yet. "Hands against the wall. Now. Spread your legs." Felicity complied but not well enough since her captor immediately spread her legs even farther apart so she wasn't really standing so much as leaning against the wall.
The officer stepped up behind Felicity and quickly cuffed her hands behind her back pushing his fat belly up against her back in the process. He stank of coffee, sweat and cheap cologne it was enough to turn the delicate female's stomach but she kept her composure. There was still time for her to correct this situation and get away without trusting a coin toss not to snuff out her nine lives. It wasn't easy though with that greasy pig of a man pawing and groping at her through her leather costume. He seemed particularly fascinated with her breasts, cupping them one after the other. He pinched and twisted her nipples. The pawing pervert eventually found everything The Spider was concealing on her shapely person as well. "Well, well. I think now that we've handled that it's time we handed you over to the man in charge."
Behind her mask Felicity's eyes bulged. She still hadn't figured out how to get away from this guy. She might be able to take him out, handcuffs or no but not quietly and once the rest of the guards arrived her situation was going to go from bad to worse very quickly. "Wait!" She exclaimed. "There has to be something that I can do for you to make you pretend you just didn't see me here. No harm no foul?"
