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Sin could almost feel the other's gaze on him, well that made sense. Gauging whether he was a threat or not, after all Sin's eyes flickered over this "Mercury's" form as well. Interesting, very interesting indeed. He couldn't smell a bit of trepidation, not a single smidgen of fear from him. Behind his mask, Sin smirked coldly. Oh, how he was going to get rid of this little problem? It looked like his adversary had a bit of a mouth. Dear heavens, he ought to run right back to Korea, because someone confronted him about the nature of his job. "My mother is quite complacent with my career actually, her little boy is a fairly big wheel in a very large company after all." He shifted his stance slightly, preparing for the eventual attack. He made a small humming sound, as if thinking about Mercury's question "Honestly, all of it is printed on pure cotton fiber. After all, that's what all Euros are made of." Sin shrugged innocently, as if he didn't understand the question.

Sin knew what was going to happen a second before it did, Bruce's nerves had been tightly wound all morning, and suddenly, his heart accelerated. People who are scared do stupid things, and this was not a time where he could tolerate something like that. Sin actually opened his mouth to warn Bruce, but it was too late.

The metallic scent of blood hit his nose, and Sin narrowed his eyes as those bright red drops immediately began to flow, and even drip onto the floor. Bruce screwed up his face, but to his credit didn't scream, nor cuss. Lowe on the other hand was showing just how well he knew the English language, and for a second, looked like he was considering opening fire on Mercury but Sin's voice cut in, cold with disappointment. "You heard him. Get out of here. Francis and I will catch a ride home with someone else." Sin watched as his men quickly made an exit. Without a doubt Richard would speed them both to somewhere safe, and Francis would make the necessary arrangements for both of them as well. Sin turned his head sharply to one side, cracking his neck. "Well then Mercury, let's talk." He paused for a moment, trying to figure out the clearest way to convey what he wanted to. "You have invaded my privacy, and have attempted to drain my funds. I hope you don't think that we can 'work this out' without me separating a few choice pieces of your anatomy from the rest of your body." As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and drew out his stiletto, letting the blade spring free. It still had the faint traces of the man who was guarding the back door. Sin began to slowly walk sideways, trying to figure out the best way to approach and attack.

As the second thug came over and grabbed the larger man, a look of trepidation of getting that close on his face, Mercury stared down his true opponent, no notice of the pair any longer. When Sin mentioned getting a ride for him and Francis, Mercury replied in his distorted bassy voice, "Francis, huh? I would very much like to meet this Francis. Maybe I can get the big guy some company in the hospital." As Sin tried to intimidate Mercury by cracking his neck aggressively, the robber watched Sin's disappointment at the two hired hands. He then went on to threaten Mercury with dismemberment in the classiest way he had ever heard the threat conveyed. He then drew a long thin knife; Mercury tilted his head, displaying mock confusion, as he said, "Firstly, how are you going to separate choice pieces of my anatomy with a knife that small?" To emphasis his point, he put the knife away and drew his two hooked blades and continued, "With these you could probably manage. How about I give you an alternative as you seem so confused with your's? I will give you one chance to save your precious currency. If you turn and walk away right now, leave London, and never even think of coming back I'll stop what I'm doing right now."

Sin audibly snorted. "Somehow, I don't think Francis would like to meet you until you require a toe-tag." He almost absentmindedly began to play with his knife single-handedly as Mercury expressed his doubt that he could damage him with such a weapon. "It's worked out fine for me so far, at least I know I'm not compensating for something." He pointed at the various weapons strapped on Mercury's body. Rather than gracing his offer with an answer, Sin instead, stopped in his tracks and tilted his head at the other, mocking the gesture he had made earlier. Then, at an inhuman speed, Sin closed the distance between both he and his opponent, and his fist and Mercury's face.

Mercury was sure that Sin wouldn't take the smart option; no one like this man ever did. They thought themselves unbeatable, invincible to anyone. That overconfidence made them underestimate who they dealt with. When Sin rushed forward, he was much faster than Mercury thought a man that big would be. As the fist collided with the side of his face, he felt as though a rhino had collided with him. His body flew back, slowing just a bit before colliding with the wall, almost as though a cushion had tried to stop the impact. A thud sounded as the two solids met, but when Mercury fell, he landed on his feet. He brushed his face with the back of his hand, helping to dispel the birds from the last collision, and said, "That was your free hit. Don't expect it to happen again." Mercury couldn't match that power, but speed was what he was good at. Taking a defensive stance, his left sword guarding high and his right ready to strike out at body height, he prepared for the next attack.

Sin smiled slightly as he heard the sound of the body of his foe hit the wall. Fewer things were more satisfactory. He shook his hand that had just applied quite a bit of force to a relatively hard object, if he wasn't careful, he was going to break a knuckle. Best to start using the knife. "Hm. Taijutsu? No, not quite. Interesting. Someone's worked hard eh?" Sin was many things, but patient was not always one of them. The way Mercury was reacting to his strike made him uneasy, most people were far more stunned after getting slammed into a wall, and fewer managed to remain on their feet. He was going to have to watch himself, make sure he didn't screw up too badly. After all, how would it look if he had to cancel his date later with the lovely lady he had been courting? A bruise or two he could make an excuse for, a lost hand was not. He shifted his weight forward onto his toes as he pressed the palm if his hand to the back of his knife handle. Again, he darted forward, this time with the intent of driving his blade into Mercury. Although he didn't want to admit it, his knife was certainly made more for making holes in people, rather than lopping off limbs.

When Sin guessed at Mercury's style he responded, "This is actually my own blend of moves that I have found to be effective. I don't like to limit myself to one style and miss out on more possibilities to defend myself." After that, Sin seemed to be taking a moment to make a decision. As his weight shifted and the knife moved, Mercury was ready. At the last moment before he was struck, the masked man leaned his weight to the side, sliding around the gangster's charge allowing him to drive his knife deep into the wall that Mercury had just recently collided with. As Sin pulled his weapon from the wall far easier than any human should, Mercury swung his arm around, trying to bring his left hand's sword hilt into the back of Sin's neck.

Sin bit back a curse as Mercury dodged him, and his knife sunk into the wall, barely managing to skid to a stop before he collided with it himself. The man was fast, he'd give him that. Much faster than he was used to dealing with. He yanked his knife free from the wall, luckily without breaking it, and was unable to completely block the blow to the back of his neck. Just barely, he was able to twist his neck so it only clipped him, but that was going to bruise. Not willing to let himself be a sitting duck, he thrust his elbow straight at Mercury's gut in response. He'd rather lose an arm rather than his head.

Sin had twisted out of the way of the brunt of Mercury's hilt. In response for the partially missed blow, an elbow came back towards him. Mercury leaned back in a back-handspring, the elbow barely missing the tip of his nose. He flipped back a few more times to insure there was distance between him and Sin. Mercury looked at the clock and said to the Korean gangster, "If you want to save your money, you're going to have to hurry up. The clock is ticking and the cops are coming."

Sin straightened himself up, highly disappointed that Mercury was proving to be much like his elemental name, rather slippery. That first punch had been incredibly satisfying, but now it looked like he wasn't about to get another strike in without seriously taking his opponent by surprise. His eyes were locked on the masked man from behind his mirrored goggles as he, almost absentmindedly, brushed a bit of grime from his shoulder."Why should I hurry up? No offense, but you are kind of the criminal here. Do you have any hard evidence that I've done anything wrong but help run a new branch of an entertainment company? Well, besides taking out your men." You could almost hear him raise his eyebrows mockingly. "Meanwhile, you are clearly the ring-leader of a group of bank robbers, and have at least one account of identity theft, and impersonation. I'm not entirely firm on British law, but I think this classifies me as a very violent vigilante, and you a criminal." Sin shrugged exaggeratedly "So really, shouldn't you be the one leaving?" After all, it did not seem that he had managed to access his money physically, and after something like this, his money would likely only be locked up tighter.

Mercury had been sure he would have to continue to stall for time, but the man in front of him did it all for him; he loved when a plan fell together just perfectly. Right as Sin finished his monologue the sound of a series of controlled explosives were audible from the vault, followed quickly by the sound of something very heavy falling and crashing to the ground several feet below. Mercury smiled underneath his mask as Sin's face twisted into an angry snarl. Just as he looked to be about to recover, the sound of gunfire and screams could be heard from the bank manager's office. A spike of fear came from the room, but as the thud of a body dropping to the floor was heard, the room was filled with relief as the hostages disappeared one by one. Finally, Mercury said, "The people of London thank you for your generous donation. We've left you enough to crawl home and try your luck again there." As the masked man finished speaking, the overly large fan clicked on, sending the giant stacks of paper everywhere. In the blinding white, the sound of a fire exit being opened could be heard. As it clicked shut, the vault alarms blared on, finally registering the break-in.

Sin stilled as he heard (and felt) the rumblings beneath his feet. That was not a good sound. His face twisted into a snarl as he realized that he had been led into a trap. And that a great deal of cash that was rightfully his was now in someone else's mitts. Well, they could have fun trying to get home in a van with the window shield and tires blown to bits thanks to Francis, maybe the engine had been damaged as well if he had been a good as a shot as he had claimed this morning on the phone, and again on the way over here. His eyes darted in the direction of where the hostages were being kept, his muscles briefly coiling as he anticipated someone marching out and attempting to shoot him, but only grew more alarmed as people stated to disappear. Literally. One second, they were there, their hearts pounding away in terror, the next, they were gone. He could even sense relief as they were spirited away by something, or someone. Well, the game was over now. For today at least. Yes, he could try and engage Mercury again, but indeed the cops were coming. And they would be more than happy to lock up anyone wearing a mask with a weapon on them in a bank. He could almost feel his blood boiling as Mercury stood there, smugness radiating off of him, then of all thingg, a massive fan hummed to life, causing the beginning of a blizzard of paper work to lift into the air. Any chance of a fight going down now was ruined thanks to the lack of visibility.

So, Sin did the only thing he could and pulled his phone out of his pocket, flipped it open, and snapped a partial picture of the masked man that had utterly ruined his morning before the paper fully engulfed his newest target. "You forget I'm not without allies. And seriously, money is no object; it's that you decided to touch it." He tilted his head as he registered the sound of his ride getting here, Francis was able to get friends to come over much quicker than he thought. For a parting statement, Sin spat out, "575k. I'll enjoy having your head on a plate soon." Even if he couldn't see him now, without a doubt, he could hear him. He then let his legs carry him out the front door, to the heavy black BMW with heavily tinted windows that had just pulled up. Brushing off a partially filled out tax form from his chest where it had decided to stick to him, Sin opened the passenger’s side door, and the heady smell of cigars wafted out. "Thanks for the ride Javier." Almost leisurely, the car drove off, as to not attract any attention. Because nothing said discreet like a car barreling down the road from the direction of a robbery.

Whereas the last two weeks had gone by excruciatingly slowly for the cities favorite heroes, Jack had been quite busy and they had flown by. Naturally he'd jumped right back into his 'job'; whether or not Sid was still wandering the city, he couldn't afford to just sit around and do nothing anymore. Aside from the fact it was driving him crazy, there was just too much going on to not take advantage of the lapse in security in the important places. Naturally there wasn't anything could top the theft of the Crown Jewels that he and Rotor had pulled off some months ago, all of which had sold for a very high price a while ago, but there were still plenty of things to steal that would cause a stir. And with everyone focusing on this whole revolution thing going on and the sudden appearance of a haven for the poor and homeless, now was the perfect time to strike. Several wealthy households had suddenly found themselves with quite a lot of their rare, expensive objects missing with no trace as to where they had gone. After so many years of thieving, Jack could pretty much lift anything he wanted without notice. It would take some very high tech sensors to catch him and even those would be worthless if he and Rotor were working on a job together. The items Jack stole were sold for high prices, far higher than they usually would've been if not for Jenny, which was saying something considering how much Jack could usually get for the things he stole. At least with Jenny around he didn't have to go through the arduous process of making himself look like a normal human for business transactions. Aside from working, though, Jack had also spent quite a lot of time with Celia. They'd been to a movie, he'd taken her out to dinner, and they'd gone ice-skating again... But not on a pond outdoors. Since Jack knew that Hana was now in London, he didn't want to risk her interrupting anything and so spent time before each date to be sure that the crazy blond wasn't around. He had to make sure that she didn't know he was checking for her though, because that had the potential to bring the full crazy out and make her think that he was looking for her to get back together again... And he definitely wasn't interested in that. He was interested in Celia. Just to make sure that Hana didn't ruin their next ice-skating trip... Jack took Celia to an indoor pool late one night after closing, icing over the water with a single touch of his foot, and it was illuminated by the pool lights underneath. They spent a few hours ice-skating in the peace and quiet of the pool, where small piles of snow drifted here and there. Celia seemed to have a great time ice-skating with him. Aside from the ice-skating, the movie, and the dinner date, they'd also watched the sun set from the roof of her apartment building and there had been a new rose waiting for Celia on her window sill every morning for the last two weeks; he went right by her place during his 'commute' anyways, so why not?

Today, Jack was picking Celia up for lunch but before he did that... He had a little work to do. Getting into Buckingham was the easy part; it wasn't difficult to sneak past the guards who weren't supposed to move and slip through a window on the top floor that had a simple lock on it. What he was after were things from the Royal collection and boy was there a lot to choose from. He'd known that it was a big collection but he'd never imagined the vast amount of rare items to steal. Naturally there were things he couldn't take, as they were too large and he didn't have the strength to take that stuff... Only stuff small enough to fit in a bag would be taken. After a bit of hunting, Jack finally located the items he wanted to take. These items included a Faberge cigarette case, Queen Charlotte's Lever Watch and Pedestal, a cameo of Emperor Claudius, and Queen Charlotte's Notebook. All of it was in great condition and would sell for a lot. Once Rotor wasn't so busy, he intended on coming back and cleaning the place out; hopefully it would be more of a challenge when that time came around. By then, the items he was taking today should have been noticed as missing and security increased. It was really only a lot of fun to steal things when there was a high chance that they could get caught. A woman did almost run into Jack while he was picking a lock but quick reflexes helped him get out of the way; thankfully she didn't notice the ice on the case, which was the product of his hands. Being extremely limber was helpful in this line of work and he had flipped himself up onto the case in a handstand to avoid getting bumped into. With the stolen loot secured in a bag, Jack left Buckingham palace with none the wiser to his having been there. All of it would be looked over by Jenny and then it would go on the market, so Rotor's place was his next stop. His friend would be out - he'd been very busy these last few months and wasn't home often - but Jenny would be there. The thieving duo weren't the only people she was working for, after all. The flight to the apartment was fast, as though it appeared that no one was out and about patrolling this morning - which was odd but he wasn't going to complain - and the only commotion appeared to be that of a bank robbery, which he stayed far away from. Where bank robbers were involved, there were guns, and he made a point to avoid those. He slipped in the window to Rotor's apartment and landed silently, flickering into visibility as he set the bag of stolen goods down. Jenny was typing away at her computer system, which Rotor had gotten her as a gift, and the ice-wielding thief was sure that she'd had a hand in the bank robbery that had just gone on downtown; nobody pulls off a bank robbery that fast without Challenger interference unless they've got help and Jenny was the best. She looked worried though, maybe even a little distracted, like there was something bothering her. "What's wrong Jen, you look like you've got something on your mind." He didn't know the blond as well as Rotor did but that wasn't going to stop him from asking her if there was something wrong and if he could help.



ooc: ugh, shite post. Sorry

Location:First Annual Challenger’s Obstacle Race Thoughts:Oh gods… this isn’t going to go well.