On what would be a quiet San Fransokyo night, a lone heroine leapt from rooftop to rooftop in an industrial district within the city. With the red twin tails of her scarf flowing behind her in mid-air, the young super hero landed atop a tall brick building and crept her way towards the edge.
"I see you've reached your destination, Master Karmi," a regal and formal voice spoke through Karmi's earpiece. She knelt down to present a smaller silhouette atop the building, looking on towards a supposedly abandoned warehouse. But with the activity going on, it was anything but abandoned.
"Yeah. Any idea what is going on in there, Heathcliff?" the young super hero inquired quietly, she could see a group of men clad in white dress suits walking into the warehouse.
"I could only gather so much on the matter. But I'd venture to guess two rival Yakuza syndicates are meeting for terms on a truce and a potential arms deal," the butler spoke through the headset.
Karmi responded as she cracked her knuckles, "Whether they play nice with each other or not, I can't have them trading goodies or doing business in this city. Folks are afraid of them as it is."
"So, I assume you shall be crashing their party then, Master Karmi?" Although she could only hear his voice, she could easily imagine that brief smile that would seldom appear on the Frederickson family's regal butler. He knew exactly that's what she would do.
With a chuckled, Karmi spoke into the earpiece, "Is there any other party I'd attend? I certainly don't need an invitation but I'll provide them with tonight's guest entertainment."
"Very good, young master. And shall I be tipping the police to assist in the 'party crashing?'" Heathcliff inquired with ever the slightest hint of concern within his formal tone.
It was rather sweet of the gentleman, it was one of the ways he'd show concern for the young teenager fighting crime alone as San Fransokyo's sole protector. For a 16-year-old college prodigy attending the prestigious San Fransokyo Institute of Technology while being away from her family across the country, fighting crime anonymously as the city's superhero is a difficult and, often, lonely task.
After assuming that mantle by the blessing and mentoring from the renowned Champion of Justice himself, Boss Awesome, Karmi was at least given support and resources from the retired legend. Among that support was from Boss Awesome's own old friend and butler to his family, Heathcliff.
With a haughty smirk, Lady Marvel responded to the butler, "I'd rather no one get needlessly hurt in the action. So, please allow me ten minutes to get them all wrapped up in a bow for the police's arrival."
Truly, the young girl was confident in herself. When she dons the mask and her suit, she could be more like the person she always wanted to be. Confident in herself and her abilities, more courageous and daring than her usual timid self. It was as if her alter-ego, Lady Marvel, was their own persona for Karmi to express herself more freely.
"I'm certain the police shall be delighted with their gift. Good luck, Master Karmi," Heathcliff conceded. With a nod, Lady Marvel smiled, "Thank you, Heathcliff. I'll wrap this up, I'm already late as it is."
Pressing along her golden bracelet atop her left forearm, it rapidly dispensed two small purple patches adorned with circuitry. With these two patches in between her fingers, Lady Marvel calmly walked to the opposite end of the rooftop away from her target.
Focusing on the warehouse rooftop out in the distance, she took notice of two sentries separated from each other atop the rooftop. She placed her hands on the floor while leaning towards her front leg in a sprinter's stance, taking deep breathes as she honed her focus. Beneath her bracelet, golden circuitry emanated in her skin as her muscles and senses felt invigorated.
Bursting forward into a blurring sprint, she picked up enough speed to explosively leap from the brick building in a wide arc towards the warehouse top. The sentry's focus was providing security from above, to look for intruders approaching from the streets. In the thick of night, he had no awareness of the teenage super hero approaching him from above.
Upon landing onto the warehouse rooftop, Lady Marvel had to quickly roll to dissipate the shock of the landing. But her landing wasn't as quiet as she hoped, as the nearest sentry turned to investigate. Rapidly throwing the extra-dermal nano-receptor patch onto their neck, it administered a sedative dose that immediately caused them to falter. Before the man could fall, Lady Marvel quickly dashed to catch him before he could loudly crash onto the rooftop floor.
Well, Karmi, you certainly aren't as quiet as Baron von Destruct's hired ninja assassins, the teenage girl thought to herself as she quickly looked around to see if the other rooftop sentry caught wind of their dozing partner.
Seeing that the other sentry was obliviously keeping their attention to their sector, she smiled giddily at the opportunity. Stepping ever so lightly until she was directly behind them, she whispered, "Pssst."
Rapidly sidestepping to remain behind them even as they turned around, the goon was shocked to find no one where the sound came from. Nonchalantly placing her next nano-receptor patch on them, Lady Marvel spoke softly and pleasantly, "Jumpy, aren't you? You look like you could use a nap."
Before they could turn around once again, the rapid sedative dosage caused them to spin lazily as the super hero caught them and moved their weapon away. Pleased with herself, Karmi whispered to herself, "Hmmm... maybe I've actually been improving my stealth stats more than expected."
Surely, armed Yakuza thugs were a dangerous lot. But for Karmi, she often saw crime fighting like a video game or living in her own comic book. Although she is still a beginner at being a super hero, her time working under Boss Awesome's tutelage and now gaining experience on her own has improved her crime-fighting skills.
Making her way to the rooftop-access door, she peeked through and quietly shuffled through the top mezzanine level. Soon she was able to look down into the large warehouse from a catwalk, seeing several Yakuza thugs facing each other. One of them, presumably one of the faction's leaders, conducted business, "I trust you've brought the products I need, Yama?"
"That's right. I think you'll find this business deal will benefit us both, kyodai." The rival syndicate leader, presumably Yama, didn't bother to stand up and simply nodded to his men to wheel in a large wooden crate. A rather large and intimidating man that resembled a rakishi sumo wrestler clad in a yellow-striped blue track suit, Yama certainly had the presence of a mob boss.
Yama's men opened the wooden crate to reveal a man-sized armored Samurai-esque robot. "I present to you, 'Big Yama.' With these as our bodyguards, we can finally conduct our business without having to worry about that pesky Lady Marvel. Next time she decides to interfere, she'll have a warm reception."
"I'm touched you guys think about me. I don't usually get invited to parties," Lady Marvel's voice reverberated throughout the warehouse as the Yakuza members looked around.
Jumping from the mezzanine level, the super heroine landed before them with her scarf fluttering behind her. Standing up with her hand on her hip in a heroic pose, the scarf tail landed unceremoniously along her face. Attempting to maintain her posture, she briefly brushed the scarf away and resumed her pose.
The henchmen each pulled out an assortment of weapons, ranging from katana swords, chains and metal bats. With an eyebrow raised, Lady Marvel deadpanned, "I suggest you throw down your weapons and prepare to spend the night in jail. Or I can hand out naps now if you'd prefer?"
The syndicate bodyguards rushed forward, as Karmi merely cocked her head to the side, "Naps it is, then." One of the henchman swung their chain and tossed it towards Lady Marvel. She casually lifted her arm for the chain to catch and entangle around her forearm.
"You guys are making this too easy," Lady Marvel laughed, grabbing the chain and bursting into a sprint as she circled around the henchman to ensnare them together. As they struggled, Karmi gingerly placed a nano-receptor sedative patch on each of them. "One for you... one for you... oh and you, too."
The rival mob boss backed away, "Time to get out of here, Yama." The track jacket-wearing mobster laughed, "We planned for this. How about a product demonstration, kyodai?"
As their systems initialized, four "Big Yama" models sat up from their wooden crates. Looking at the samurai-armored machines, Karmi cracked her knuckles with a smirk, "You guys look like fun. You should give me more XP. Time to level up."
The machines lifted their arms, each of their hands being replaced by a rapidly-cycling buzzsaw. They ran towards Lady Marvel, the metallic stomping of their feet ever enclosing on her.
The first one reached her, swinging it's buzzsaw arm successively as it rotated it's body. Karmi dodged each swipe, a grin plastered on her face. The glowing circuitry underneath her bracelet crept further along her arm. Studying it's movement, she allowed its last swing to barely miss her and then closed the distance to rip the buzzsaw arm from its socket.
Tossing it aside, she thrust her hand through its body as the machine powered down. Realizing her arm was stuck within the machine, she remarked annoyedly, "Aren't you clingy?" She planted her feet and launched away just in time as another robot used its buzzsaw to tear through the incapacitated Big Yama.
She angled herself and funneled them, causing the next Big Yama to get in the way of the other machines' approach. Being outnumbered doesn't matter if you are only facing them one at a time.
Especially if you can turn them into a weapon against each other... Lady Marvel found her opportunity to thrust forward and used the heel of her palm to crush the incoming machine. Launching it towards the next machine, crushing both of them into each other.
Dumbfounded, Yama and the other mob boss watched the carnage unfold and his prized product being dismantled before them. Yama exclaimed, "This- this isn't possible!" The other rival mob boss decided to high-tail it, but quickly felt something attach to his neck and immediately fell to the ground.
Seeing the other Yakuza faction leader incapacitated into a sedative slumber, Yama quickly looked over to Lady Marvel who was atop the last bodyguard machine. "No one is allowed to leave the party early until the show is over," the teenage heroine declared. Having ripped off one of the machine's arms, she used its own limb to bash off the other.
After tossing it aside, she grasped the machine's head and ripped it off with ease. Casually standing atop it as it fell to the ground, she hopped forward as it crashed. Still holding the robot's head, she smiled slyly, "No more 'Big Yama.'" The crescent crest atop its head comically popped off before unceremoniously dropping it.
Attempting to flee, Yama ran towards one of the exits before the body of a wrecked "Big Yama" suddenly flew in front of him. The hulking remnants of his machinery blocked the exit, as he looked towards the hero that threw it casually walking towards him.
"Don't you dare think this is the end of this, little girl! Before you arrived, I ruled San Fransokyo's underground! I owned this city and I will find a way to retake it! Even in jail, I have connections. You haven't seen-"
"Yeah. Yeah. Can we wrap this up? I have somewhere to be and I might just still make it," Karmi deadpanned at his monologue, rolling her hand to tell him to finish his rant.
"Why you little-!" In a last ditch effort, Yama threw his fist with all of his body mass towards the young heroine. She caught his fist into a dead stop. Suddenly, Yama's vision blurred as he began to stagger, "W-what's going... on?" He looked at his hand to see a purple patch latched onto him.
The mob boss ripped it off as he swayed and attempted to remain on his feet, continuing to swing futilely at Lady Marvel. Casually dodging his swings, she whistled, "Well, I'm impressed. Everyone else usually goes 'night-night' right away. Kudos to you, San Fransokyo's 'former ruler.'"
As the mob boss staggered but continued, Karmi thought aloud, "I don't mean to be rude. But how much do you weigh?" Yama could only mumble incoherently in his attempted barrage. "No, no it's okay. I can see you are a bit occupied right now. Let's see..." Karmi continued on as she did some calculations in her head.
"Welp, I'd say it's safe to administer another five milligrams of midazolam. Goodnight, 'Little Yama,'" Lady Marvel waved goodbye briefly, before quickly placing another extra-dermal nano-receptor on his neck.
The large man finally began to buckle, closing his eyes before falling down. Karmi caught the man and lowered him slowly to the ground. Were it not for the enhanced strength granted to her via her invention, the Chimeran chip embedded in her forearm, the image would have looked preposterous with their size differences. But then again, so is a teenage girl ripping apart Yakuza-funded robotic bodyguards.
She moved each of the Yakuza members together as they slept. Taking out her cell phone, she looked at her timer that was set to ten minutes. It had more than a minute to spare as she smiled triumphantly. "Well, Heathcliff. You can go ahead and send the police here for their gift."
"Very good, Master Karmi. However, numerous first responders are currently tied to a large-scale emergency," Heathcliff responded through her earpiece.
Karmi sighed heavily, the work of being San Fransokyo's protector was tiresome and demanding. But she was also a college student with obligations to her friends. She had to see if she was truly needed, "How bad is it? Is this something they can handle? I promised I'd try to make it to the SFIT Showcase to support Tadashi's little brother."
Heathcliff responded right away, "Well, that's the problem. There is currently a three-alarm fire at the campus' Exposition Hall."