He slipped his binoculars into his belt after surveying the building across the street. Even so late at night, New York was truly the city that never slept, and the road below bustled with traffic, police lights, honking horns, shouting people. Maybe Friday night had been a poor choice in terms of timing for the job. But he needed this technology, and he needed it now.
And it was just across the street, in Starrware Industries, in a flimsy glass case that he could easily break into. There were minimal security precautions in the building, which was a classic reconfigured New York building that was part office, part laboratory. It also had plenty of secret entrances, unused elevator shafts, and tunnels which were not on the blueprints. The owner of the office had seen to that.
Karen Starr was sharp and driven. The number of times her business had been put in danger was matched only by the number of times she pulled it out of peril. She was smart, aware, and beautiful.
To put it frankly, she was a babe. But Jason also knew she was Power Girl. And Jason knew that was bad news for him. Any woman who could bench press him in half-and there were many, in his line of business-was bad news for him. Especially when he was doing less-than-savory things like trying to steal nanotechnology from them.
Jason had heard Dick talk about her, part admiration, part lascivious horn-dog, maybe looking for another notch in his belt, following in the footsteps of good ol' 'dad'. Jason was less interested in those kind of pursuits. Not to saw he wasn't interested at all. He'd had experiences of his own, it was almost humbling to sleep with a woman who could crush your dick in her hand, but that wasn't what he was after. Not tonight.
He slipped his helmet on and flipped through the shadows, skirting buildings and making his way towards Starrware. According to his research, the building was shut up, with no one in the offices at this time of night. A quick infrared scan while in the building next door confirmed it. As far as he could see, there were no warm bodies in the building.
Jason flipped gracefully from the roof of the adjacent building to the roof of Starware. There he found the conspicuously unused elevator shaft which he knew through which Power Girl made her speedy, day-saving exits. Attaching his grappling hook to the lip of the open shaft and jumped, repelling down the slick walls.
As Jason slid down his foot unwittingly hit a small nub. The silent click of the nub made no sounds in the building, but a buzzing was activated in a Brooklyn apartment on Prospect Park West, and a large figure was groused awake.
