Thieves in the Shadows (Persona 5 / Young Justice: Outsiders)
Prelude
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Al-Qawiya, Bialya
In the dead of night, something is taking place at an abandoned mall. Standing vigilant are men in black military uniforms stood guard at the entrance. Each of them is armed with an assault rifle. With them are tanks aimed away from the mall. Several cars are parked in front of a wrecking ball. All was quiet on this starry night.
Until the windows at the front of the mall shattered.
The soldiers turned towards the sound of shattering glass. A figure flew out of the mall, head tucked in as it twisted in mid-air and landed on the ground kneeling and with a hand placed flat against it.
The figure wore a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants, brown-black winklepickers, and a pair of red gloves. He raised his head, face covered in a black and white, birdlike domino mask, his messy black hair exposed. Despite the soldiers aiming their guns at him, he gave off a strong smile of confidence.
The soldiers aimed their guns at him and open fire. The black-clad figure charges headlong into the hail of bullets. By sheer luck, the bullets passed him, none of them hitting him. He didn't stop running as the bullets hit the glass doors behind him.
The black figure reached one of the soldiers and grabbed the gun he carried. The weapon turned red hot. The soldier screamed and pulled his hands away as the weapon turned into hot slag. The figure wasted no opportunity to grab him and throw him to another soldier. A third soldier was aiming at him, but when he pulled the trigger, the gun backfired. The figure gave him a brief as he fell to the ground.
The sound of whirring drew his attention. Turning around, he saw the tanks moving the end of their barrels towards him. Despite the situation, he gave off a confident smirk. Behind him, a shadowy wall rose. The figure stepped backward, letting the darkness obscure him. When it faded, he vanished.
Inside the tanks, the drivers are confused as to where he went. Then, one of the tanks begins turning its barrel towards its fellow tank. A several meters away, before the tank shells reached their point of impact, the figure reappeared in a cloud of darkness, two Bialyan soldiers slung over his shoulder. The tanks blew up in two balls of fire, the wind blowing at the figure's back, coat tails flapping. Then the fire died down and smoke rose to complete his reentry.
The figure placed the two tank drivers onto the ground and dusted his hands off. Then, in his mind, someone spoke.
"Way to play, Joker," A young female voice speaks up. "If the stunt inside didn't do the trick, you really got the enemy's attention now! I'll leave the diversion to you! The rest of you, I'm counting on you to carry out the plan while Joker holds them off!"
"Roger," A punk voice said. "Leave the cells to me and Queen!"
"We'll support the hacking," A deep male voice said. As he said this, more soldiers came running out of the abandoned mall. They are armed with the same weapons that the one's Joker defeated.
"Yes," A dignified female voice said. "That list takes priority. But first, we need to secure the area."
"Leave it to me," Joker said as the Bialyan soldiers open fired upon him. Joker took off running, the hail of bullets following him. He took cover behind a row of cars, the bullets damaging them. They kept firing upon his position until their guns clicked empty.
As they began to reload, they didn't notice their target standing on top of a wrecking ball. He gripped the chain while he formed a ball of blackness in one hand before throwing it. The ball hits the ground at the center of the soldiers and expands into a large sphere of blackness. Joker could hear their shouts of confusion from inside. Grinning, Joker leaps off the wrecking ball and lands inside the black cloud. From his point of view, he can see the red outlines of the enemies still struggling to make their way out of the darkness. He began to make short work of them.
"Very nice!" The younger girl's voice shouts as he wrapped one soldier in a tentacle of darkness and threw him out of the cloud. "All of that training is paying off. Kick their butts Joker! The enemy's attention is on you. This is going well! Keep it up!"
"Joker's taking on so many at once," A boyish voice comments as Joker trips up a charging soldier so that he falls into another one. "Just what I expected."
"I bet Skull wouldn't pull it off that smoothly," A female voice said teasingly.
"Why do I feel like I heard that before?" The punk voice asked as shots rang out within the darkness as they attempted to hit their attacker. All those shots missed Joker by a hair, some of them hitting one of their allies. As Joker knocked out one more soldier, the dark fog dissipated. Every soldier is now on the ground, either unconscious or nursing their wounds. All said this fight was done.
"Heads up Joker! You've got incoming!"
Joker turned as four figures came out of the mall. He knew right away that these are the top dogs of security. Two of them are bigger and more muscular than the other two. One had blue skin and ice growing on his arms. A female was glaring at him with no small amount of hate. This fight is about to get even more deadly. But he had faced worse.
"We'll provide backup as soon as we can. Though these people should be no problem for you. Take them down Joker!"
Joker held out a hand. A black knife with red edges materialized in his hand. With a flourish, he brandishes it at the four enforcers.
"Let's go!"
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That's the prelude. Hope you liked the teaser for this reboot. I went with prelude because let's be honest, we're getting tired of hearing prologue, right?
Anyway, I promise I will work on this fic as much as I can. Just please don't expect a regular rate because we may not know what would happen tomorrow. I promise I will do a better job than the last one.
Anyway, the Phantom Thieves are back, and they are going to tackle the Metahuman Trafficking. Along the way, they'll be facing agents of the Light that will take notice of them. What's going to happen? Wait till next time to find out.
Thank you for reading and stay safe out there!