Chapter 1

(Omen and his associates are from the STC plot "Roots" Issue #94-#96)

Mobius. Midnight. Location; Metropolis city.

Even though the city hardly sleeps, there are some places that are silent as the night. In one of the districts, even a pin drop could be heard. But at that moment, the only sound anyone could hear, was the faint sound of shoes landing safely on a nearby rooftop.

Jumping swiftly from one rooftop to another, the figure was close to their target.

Carefully sneaking towards the edge, the figure reached out from behind them and opened into their bag pack, pulling out a pair of night binoculars. Carefully placing them over their eyes, they could detect even the slightest heat signature coming from below. Zooming in, they could see the detection of a few guards posted. Soon it be time for them to change shifts.

The target, was the Metropolis gallery. The figure swiftly moved the device across the parameters and to their excitement, there weren't any body guards patrolling in the location where they will make their move.

Easy picking, they thought. Suddenly they felt the presence of the rest of the group. Lifting themselves up from their hiding place, they turned around to their annoyance, to see the others had finally caught up.

Landing with a heavy thud, the associates stood above them from their sheer height; carrying all the heavy guns and gear. Falling down gently to the roof, their boss looked at them with a smirk, stroking down his long white moustache.

"It seems your information was correct "Ex Agent". Let's just hope you other information is on point."

"Oh, I assure you Omen, this mark will make you rich beyond your dreams." The figure smirked as they throw the binoculars to their leader.

Standing from their hiding spot, the Sorcerer smiles at the lack of guards. His two associates; two large bulky gorillas, adjusted their weapons looking at their newest recruit. They could feel their stares onto them.

Seems those two are harder to reassure, they thought. But in a way they did understand. After all they only agreed to do this job a week ago. The figure moved onwards and ordered them to follow their lead. Darting to the side of the building, they made their entrance near to the side, where less guards were patrolling. They hoped the big bulky associates of Omen's wouldn't make too much noise, as they could hear the rattle of metal from their green and red armour.

Carefully, with the coast being clear, the figure moved onwards and headed straight to the top of the gallery. Scattered across the roof, large windows made it easy to look down at the exhibitions.

As the team continued onward, the figure couldn't help but look down at the other treasures it beheld. Ancient Jewellery, Gems and everything shiny was bestowed to them like a sweet shop. It was so tempting to go down and grab them but to their annoyance, they had to stick to the original target. Another time they thought to themselves.

The one they were looking for, was of course located at the centre pillar. Hoping to not waste too much time, the two leaders move onwards, leaving the gorillas to follow behind. Their job was to keep out post and shoot down any cameras before they were spotted. However, the figure wasn't used to working as a team, slightly cursing to themselves whenever they heard a small shot being taken. Any slighter bigger sound, could cause alarm.

Looking down at the booklet provided by the place itself in their hand, their main target was located just a few meters away. But they had to be careful, their surveillance and security was super tight. There, they had reached their destination. Peeping through the large glass, was the target in full display. However even approaching the large window was near to impossible, as they saw the thin trigger lines all across the glass. One false move and it was game over. This was Omen's turn to take over.

Stepping forward, the Sorcerer shifted his stance as he concentrated on his magic. The figure watched impatiently as their magic created a small, but extremely intense blue flame. The magic bounced off the security wires, making it easy for Omen to extract the glass. Carefully placing their fingers on the window, they watched as the Sorcerer carefully removed the glass to create a perfect circle; enough space for them to sneak through undetected.

"Right Boss, that's all the camera's down." One of the gorillas spoke as they joined the team.

Suddenly the figure raised their arm in frustration. Omen looked at his team mates and shook his head, suddenly pointing to a small box located yards from them. The gorillas looked and almost instantly, raised their hand to their mouth.

Even the slightest ping could cause the sound alarm to go off. Blasting it with guns was a big no, as it would cause a massive uproar within the building. A simple cutting machine would have made their entrance, but it would have taken time and the machine could make too much sound; magic could very be helpful at tricky times. The leader of the mission however planned all of it. Using the magic, they were able to get in quietly as they gently fell down with grace.

In the correct precise time, the figure lifted up and unfolded their wings out. As the wings slowed them down, they were able to fly down gently onto the ground with the slightest tap of their shoes. Removing their hood, the bat was finally able to shake off the strain off her ears and ruffle her white fur.

Rouge the bat had found their prize.

In the centre of the large room, stood a precious stone. Surrounded by a thick glass, the room was decorated with large banners and billboards, showing the beauty of this unique and very unknown piece.

Sighing of being rushed on the job, Rouge got straight into it. Placing her bag pack down, she opened up the can of spray. There all the detection wires were all seen; red lines all scattered in every angle. To her, it was just another enduring task she had to complete. Omen used his magic to gently land down without a sound, carefully not triggering any of the red lines. The gorillas stayed up by the window.

"Hurry up! The change of the guard will be any moment." He whispered.

"Oh, don't worry your sweet little head. Won't take but a moment." She smiled.

Placing back the spray, she pulled out a small device. Pressing a few buttons, the device started to glow, creating a small humming sound. She could have used the Sorcerer's magic to remove the trip wires. However, these were more upgraded; for any source of magic used, could sound the alarm. She had to be creative for this task.

"What the heck is that thing?" Omen asked as he could hear the humming sound getting higher.

"Just something I came up with. Inspired by a certain yellow hedgehog." She winked.

But to their annoyance, moments felt more like minutes. The device was still warming up.

"How long is this going to take?" Omen raised his voice higher.

"Any…minute now." She replied, keeping her cool.

But he was right to be anxious, this was taking too long and she knew time was running out. They could hear the commotion from the guards, most likely seeing that security cameras were down. Soon, they will be coming their way to check the parameter. The device was no longer humming, but screeching.

"You better get this thing working now bat!" Omen spoke louder.

"Hey! Give the girl a break, only had two days to come up with this." She hissed back.

Suddenly there was a commotion from above. The gorillas were getting just as agitated as they darted around. The sound box from above could hear the high emitting sound from the device. It won't be long till the box makes the alarm.

"Boss! We haven't' got time, we can see lights coming our way." One of them tried to whisper down.

Begging for the device to hurry up, Omen was getting agitated as torch lights headed their way. Suddenly with an intense shriek of sound and a click, the device blasted out a huge electrometric pulse into the sky. The shock of it, caused Rouge and Omen to get down. In an instant, the building was in complete darkness. The security was all off and the red lines had disappeared instantly.

With no time to spare, Omen stepped forward and enchanted the last security magic to be removed. But with no trigger from the security, it was removed with ease and silently. Rouge removed the glass case onto the floor and took the stone.

Then all chaos blew up. Not everything was conducted by electricity as she looked down at the stone's display unit. Rouge cursed to see a simple weight button under the stand. Once the stone was removed, the alarm will go off.

Alarming sounds echoed all across the building as the guards shouted out with confusion and awareness of the shutdown; trying to figure out what was going on. Rouge held the stone in her hands first, but Omen used his magic to drag the stone under his robe. Rouge knew she wasn't being played with. The animals rushed in with their weapons at the ready, checking the parameter.

Suddenly both of them looked around to see the entrances and exits, were shutting down in quick pace. They had to make their move now as their only exit will do the same.

Omen created a diversion as he used his magic, creating a massive cloud explosion. The guards were confused and waving their hands around, trying to see the culprits. They took this distraction to make their escape. Rouge took the lead as she flew up to the window. The gorillas moved out of the way quickly, as they couldn't see much as well from the dust cloud. Omen quickly followed in pursuit, lifting himself up with his magic. Suddenly from behind, the window gate slammed shut just moments before Omen quickly moved his tail towards him.

"That was too close for comfort Rouge!" Omen shouted his frustration.

With the team got what they needed; they made a dash for it. Jumping over the many buildings, the sirens would be on them soon. The building was erupted with life as guards scattered across with their weapons and torches. But the background, they couldn't hear the sirens of police cars heading to their destination. Not even the spinning of helicopters rushing towards them. This was their only chance to get to the rendezvous point undetected.

"Why didn't you use the device when we were outside?" The green armoured gorilla shouted out.

"Because sweetheart, if the device was used in the beginning, security would have noticed and make the full place into lockdown. We wouldn't be able to get in. Plus, it was kind of a "work in progress" so had no idea if it will work or not. Now will you two hurries up! That device only gave us a few minutes open; power will be back on anytime!". Rouge shouted back to him as she flew off.

However, to Omen's dismay, there was a problem. His two associates were bulky and too slow. He had ordered them to take as little weapons as they needed, but the bat insisted in case they needed heavy backup. The Sorcerer had no choice but to force Rouge to take a shorter route to their destination. The bat looked down, smiled and pointed downwards to the quiet streets.

Omen was starting to feel relived as they gathered themselves from their run. He pressed his yellow gloves to his purple scarf and felt the stone still there. The bat passed them, accidently bumped into Omen and shouting she knew the quickest way back to the rendezvous. However, something wasn't right. As they continued with Rouge in front of them, he was getting suspicious. Where they had landed was small and cramped. Litter and large bin containers scattered in the alleyway. The gorilla's large armour knocked a few times into them; banging down the street. This was causing too much attention to their location.

Wait a moment; wasn't this-

Suddenly Omen and the gorillas stopped in their track as a large wall blocked them. But for Rouge, she simply jumped up high and flew across it to the top.

Looking quickly behind, the gorillas were finding it hard to move further down. The bulk armour made it impossible to move and they were getting angry by the second, causing large arguments between them. Omen looked up and saw the bat waving the stone in her hand. To his shock, he checked his robes to find the stone wasn't there. Was making the gorillas keep the armour so they became an obstacle? So, they would have no choice but to change route? So, she was close enough to reach for the stone?

"You filthy thief!" Omen shouted to her.

"Tut Tut, such dirty language. I like to call myself a "collector". Thanks for the help boys, will have to say, this has been fun." She replied with a wink, flying high into the sky.

Omen was furious. Being conned out, the green gorilla blasted the wall down with one of his rockets in fury.

"No wait don't-!" Omen cried out.

In the explosion of the wall, dust erupted the whole street. Waving his hands around, he tried to see the bat but she was nowhere to be seen. He could have chased her down, but now with the commotion of alarm around the closed buildings, it won't be long before they are seen. If Rouge was right, the security and power would now all be back on. All of it was a distraction and she used them as the fools they were.

The bat had played a very clever trick. But he had a trick of his own.

"Sorry boss." The green gorilla spoke, feeling the anger from the Sorcerer.

"Never mind that. Because she will not leave with that stone; even if I have to search the WHOLE CITY!" Omen shouted in rage, pulling his moustache in frustration.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT PART "Bat out of Hell!"