Heroic Acts

Eighteen

The alarms of the bank were loud and frightening. Trial number one of discovering the Blue Warrior's secret identity was going all according to plan. Eight of the Phantom's henchmen began the robbery just a few moments before. Three of them held a few cops and the bank tellers hostage at gun point, while one guarded the door and the other four worked on breaking into the vault. Regular, every day civilians huddled on the ground, in corners, and under desks. Some of them were crying. Seth, disguised as the Phantom, paid no attention to the civilians. After cutting all the power to the security cameras, he watched the door like a hawk from the ceiling above, awaiting his nemesis.

Instead of entering through the front door, Darien crashed through the window, landing in a somersault and hopping back up on his feet.

"G'day, mates!" he shouted in an Australian accent. Two of the henchmen turned to face him, pointing their guns in his direction.

"Don't move!" the first one shouted.

"Who are you?" the second one asked. The phantom hid in the shadows above, watching.

"You don't really think I'd be silly enough to tell you, do you?" Darien smirked. He began to walk towards the henchmen opening the bank vault.

"Man," Darien said. "I gave you guys like, a full five minute head start, and you still don't have this thing open?"

"Don't come any closer," a third henchman warned. Darien didn't listen, naturally, and continued on his way.

"Fire!" a voice shouted. Bullets sped past Darien and he panicked, back flipping and acrobating away from them. He grunted and began to conjure up his powers. Civilians were hit by bullets that bounced off of walls and objects.

It didn't take much to stop these henchmen. Without their weapons, they weren't very useful. Blue streaks of electricity lit up the entire building, and before he fired them, he shouted to civilians to get under the wooden desks. He accounted for everyone's safety and let go of a big power build up. To humans, it would be the same feeling as getting struck by actual lightning. To someone like the Phantom, it would be more like a strike from the worst Taser imaginable. All 8 henchmen fell to the ground in literal shock. The Phantom growled quietly and made his way out of the bank unseen.

The civilians, despite seeing such a traumatic event, recovered quickly and came to the Blue Warrior to thank him gratefully. The police collected the henchman and all their weapons, also thanking the superhero. An ambulance came and collected the wounded, and all was sound. Sort of. After all the civilians were out and safe and everyone was gone, Darien noticed a piece of paper on the ground, and upon unfolding it and reading the inside, he realized what was actually going on. The message was signed by Z, and it was a report describing that the Phantom only create crimes that could injure or put civilians in danger in order to force the Blue Warrior to come to the crime scenes. They wanted his identity, and he knew it. Just then, a burning sensation grew in Darien's side. It was like he was on fire. He looked down to find blood staining his costume purple. He had been shot.

"Shit," he whispered. He didn't really feel the bullet when everything was all crazy and intense. However, he couldn't go to the hospital like this. They would remove his mask and know exactly who he was. He decided to leave out the back door, and run, limping all the way to the alley that contained his belongings. He didn't have super-healing, but he did lose blood a lot slower in critical conditions. He changed into his day clothes and ripped a bullet-sized hole in his shirt. The blood began to create a huge stain in little time.

Darien shoved his costume into his backpack and buried it in a little ditch between the building and the ground. He would have to come back for it later. He needed a believable story to tell Andy. That's who he was going to tell. He ran as best as he could back to the vacant bank, "trapping" himself under some debris. He'd be a regular civilian accidentally left behind. This is where the acting part came in. He "struggled" for his phone, dialing Andy's number.