Manhattan, New York City
It's closing time for all the stores and businesses here in 'The Big Apple'. Different kinds of safes are electronically locked, shutters are pulled down and padlocked, and all staff, except for the security of course, are packing up and leaving for home.
It's around this time that a certain someone or super-criminal chooses to 'take the floor', visiting these places at exactly the same time. For this super-villain had acquired such an ability when involved in a certain 'accident' that had occurred several years prior. And not by some 'freak' meteor shower, mind you, but by another means entirely.
Clad wholly from head to toe in black spandex with a dark green circle imprinted on his chest and two parallel lines etched vertically over the eyes of his mask, the super-villain stood in front of one of the most important buildings ever to be built in New York City.
The American Museum of Natural History.
There's a section in there that he's particularly interested in and it housed certain 'trinkets' that are worth millions of dollars, if sold to the right buyer of course. The Star of India, a star sapphire, and the DeLong Star Ruby, an oval cabochon star ruby.
As he stands in front of the main entrance, two exact 'copies' of himself split from his original body, which he calls his 'duploids', via his power of bio-fission and gives them their orders, his voice soft as though whispering, "Alright you two, you know what to do."
His duplicates merely nod, understanding what he wants them to do, before they're right in front of the glass, their fists clenching and pulling back, punching forward until they're showering in glass shards, all in different shapes and sizes.
Nevertheless, the glass simply bounces off the duplicates' bodies, their heightened durability capable of withstanding injuries of all kinds and impacts, to a certain extent of course.
Naturally, this sets off the building's high-tech security system but the original's not at all worried because he's on a mission, and whenever he's on a mission, nothing gets in his way. As anticipated, two security guards armed with their stun batons, which sparked with short burst of electricity, appeared from their booth to apprehend them.
The villain sneered, his arms crossed over his chest as he mentally commands his duploids to take them down quickly and quietly. Not wanting to waste time with them when they can do their 'mission' just as swiftly. The guards waste no time in charging at them, stun batons held high and ready to strike but their 'attempts', if you can call them that, are futile against Multiplex's duploids. Within a few seconds, the guards are knocked out cold, one's even thrown back against the security booth's wall, his back cracking its window.
Like he thought before, whenever he wants something badly, nothing gets in his way. Well, except for…
"Well, well, well," a seemingly young voice occurs from somewhere behind him, and when the black-costumed villain turns on the spot to see who it belongs to, he's not the least bit surprised, "Seems like you haven't learnt your lesson yet, have you Multiplex?"
Descending from the air the hero known to those who reside in New York City as Firestorm, sporting a red and yellow spandex costume complete with puffy sleeves and a sun emblem etched over his heart with rays radiating from it, lands just a few feet away from his arch-enemy. The corona of flame that's encircling around his head, similar to that of a halo, gives off a incandescent radiance that brightens up the night a bit.
The villain stares at the floating hero, laughing callously, "Why, if it isn't my annoying little nemesis, Firestorm! Sadly, I have no time for you right now but rather than be a old spoilsport, I'm gonna let you enjoy getting pulverized by my duploids here."
The two duploids step forward, standing firm as though like statues, while Multiplex takes two steps back. A second later, he mentally duplicates another three more, now balancing the odds to his favour, 5-1.
Firestorm's halo burns a little brighter, signifying the hero's excitement as the duploids stampede him all at once. A few seconds later the duploids find themselves spearing straight through him, as if he's a ghost, ending up in a pile on the asphalt. He'd just altered his body's density, making him insubstantial enough to phase through them.
However, the duploids are quick to their feet and are already on the offensive as they go to tackle Firestorm again. This time, the fiery hero flies into the air, firing off blasts of nuclear energy as he goes, which take the duploids out with impressive force but it seems to him that the more he takes down, the more Multiplex duplicates himself until it looks like he's up against a small army.
Hovering in the air Firestorm surveys the area, evidently noticing that Multiplex's duploids have completely blocked the front entrance. He may be able to take down a few of them but they'd eventually overcome him and then he'd been in a whole heap of trouble. In the corner of his eye, he detects one of them slipping away, further into the museum, denoting that that's the real Multiplex.
So, silently asking for forgiveness to the director of the AMNH for what's he about to do, he soars higher into the air and in the direction of the roof, remembering that above a certain room lies a glass window that he can easily smash through. In seconds, the Hall of Minerals and Gems' showered with glass, raining like diamonds, as Firestorm descends through the now glassless window, releasing an energy blast that hits Multiplex square in the back.
"AARRGGHH!" He hollers, the sudden attack sweeping him off his feet and into the nearby exhibit. Luckily, for Firestorm that is, the exhibit's under repairs so there isn't much damage done to it, as Multiplex climbs out from under it…and another one…and another one. Now the three Multiplexes stand before the red-and-yellow hero, and now he's starting to worry if he can take him down but he must! He's the Museum's only hope of making sure that nothing gets too badly damaged.
"Face it, Firestorm! How can you hope to defeat me when I can duplicate an entire army?" Multiplex asks smugly, as though he believes he's truly won this battle even though it hasn't really started yet.
"Simple," Firestorm says, floating a little closer to the ground but still staying buoyant, "I use brain instead of brawn." He then raises his hands, yellow energy emitting from them brightly, and almost immediately the ground beneath Multiplex and his duploids begins to swallow them up, as though like quicksand.
With his full concentration on the task at hand, Firestorm doesn't notice that several of the duploids, the ones guarding the front entrance, have entered the room and one of them is flying towards him, fist held back, ready to strike.
It does so, with impressive force, launching the fiery hero across the air and crashing on top of one of the glass exhibits that holds precious gemstones and minerals within. He might not be as invulnerable as the Martian Manhunter or Aquaman or even Cyborg from the "Justice League" he's been reading about in the papers, but he can withstand some impact, clambering back onto his feet to find the Multiplex, who grounded him, regrouping with the others. All now advancing on him.
Firestorm knows that he needs to end this quickly if he's got any hope of catching Multiplex, the real Multiplex, but he's reluctant to attack, worrying that he might wreck the place even more in the process. However, seeing as his back's just crushed one of the exhibits, he feels that a few more wouldn't hurt.
The profit they earn from the millions of visits they have a year will surely cover the damages…right? Firestorm surmises, his fists glowing brightly before unleashing an arc of nuclear energy, sending several of the duploids back, some through the wall, some on top of more glass exhibits.
Instantaneously, Firestorm flew into the air in pursuit of Multiplex, who'd disappeared down the corridor while he was fighting his duploids, and found him, with his two 'lackeys', standing in the middle of the Hall of Human Biology and Evolution.
Multiplex lifts his arms into the air, as though he's about to give a great speech, which wouldn't surprise Firestorm in the least, "Glad you could finally join me, Firestorm, but alas, I must depart. You've ruined my chance in stealing some of the world's most valuable jewels so I leave you now with a parting gift," he then looks to the twin duploids standing either side of him, "Boys, go have fun!"
The duploids nod in understanding, their attention now fully on Firestorm, who's standing defensively waiting for their attack, as they fly into the air. Together, arms stretching out, fists clenching, they attempt to strike their fiery adversary with a drill-like move but Firestorm immediately uses his phasing ability to allow himself to pass through them.
As expected, the duploids punch nothing but the polished floor beneath them, creating two small craters where their hands and feet are. Returning to normal, Firestorm unleashes a nuclear energy burst, hitting one of them square in the back, hurling him straight into the wall. The other retaliates quickly, rushing towards him, with his fist held back, in an attack that mirrors exactly what the other duploid had done earlier on. Countering this, Firestorm punches the duploid hard in the gut before flipping it over onto its back and knocking it out with a kick to the face.
When he catches his breath and is satisfied that there's no more opposition, he watches in amazement as the duploids suddenly dissolve into a gaseous-like state and float back to the real Multiplex, who's nowhere to be seen and probably long gone by now.
"You know, being a Nobel Prize-winner and all, that still manages to amaze me. Thus is the power of fission," the astounded voice inside Firestorm's head articulates, one that doesn't belong to the hero himself but rather to one nuclear physicist, Martin Stein.
"I was wondering when you'd start talking, I thought for a minute there that you were finally out of my hair." Firestorm quips, flying into the air once again on his way back to the entrance to face the police and, inevitably, the press.
"You know that's not going to happen until you transform back into Ronnie Raymond again."
Seeing the flashing red and blue lights of several police cars parked outside, Firestorm gradually descends back down to the ground, ready to face his adoring public, "Alright, time to face the music."
"Just don't let them get to you, alright Ronnie? You remember what happened last time they did and just think yourself lucky that they didn't lock you up in Belle Reve. The proper one they've built to hold metahumans like yourself, not the one that's posing as an insane asylum."
Ronnie just grunts, knowing exactly what he's talking about but not wanting to talk about it any further as he meets up with the Chief of Police, who looks to be in a foul mood, "What the hell did you do this time, Firestorm?!"
The Chief's face's red with frustration, mostly anger, and Firestorm raises his hands in a peaceful gesture, "Easy there, Chief. I just impeded Multiplex's attempt in stealing whatever he was going for in there. You should be thanking me, not shouting at me!"
"I would do but you've probably caused a gold mine's worth of damage in the process! Can't you superheroes do a job without tearing up the place?"
Meanwhile, as Firestorm and the Chief of Police continue to shout at each other, somewhere several blocks away, taking cover in a dark alley, Multiplex recuperates and ponders on what he's going to do next when his eyes spot something on top of a nearby dustbin.
Taking it out he notices that it's today's paper and its headline reads: "MAYOR TO REOPEN SPIFFANY'S IN METROPOLIS TOMORROW!"
Behind his mask Multiplex sneers, "Well," he utters as he throws the newspaper back in the dustbin, "I know where I'm going...where they'll be no Firestorm to stop me!"