[Ludoviga + OPEN] Superb Superheroes? Or Well-Timed Appearance of DNA-Altered Mutants?

Frankly, Clark wasn't quite sure where his patience came from, or where its source was. Only that he had a remarkable amount, especially when it came to dealing with his cohort of vast intelligence but little common sense--Jacob.

"You do realize the chances of this working?" Jacob asked Clark yet again.

"One in ten; I heard you the first time." Clark held a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from biting back a retort.

"Actually, I said one in 11.7, because there is the chance that--"

"Clark!"

"Sorry." The younger replied, his face bowed with mixed emotion. "I got the glasses. You know, there were these really interesting gorilla masks, but I figured when you told me we couldn't be way too obvious, I thought that the gorilla masks were a little too much."

"Agreed." Clark took the pair of sunglasses from the other's hands and slipped them on. He surveyed himself in the mirror: not too bad for cheap glasses. He would've liked to keep them after this, if he could. But hopefully after this he would be able to afford a real pair of glasses.

Clark tucked them back and away. It was time to begin this.

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Ludwig gazed into the bank, gauging how long the line would be. It had been two weeks since he came to London. He was surprised, actually, because it had seemed much longer. He had gained superpowers, studied abroad, found his missing brother, met an assortment of characters who lived in the building, gotten into a bar fight over a girl (who had summarily disappeared,) and he had gotten superpowers.

Almost a lifetime of events in a matter of weeks, easily measured by his studying checks. It felt like he was building up everything he had lost three years ago in one fell swoop. None of it was the same, of course, but it was vastly more interesting.

Ludwig went inside the bank and stood in line. He thought coming in near the end of the lunch hour would have been a good idea, but he was now at the back of a last minute line.

Those superpowers though... he had gained the ability to change his mass... or density (he wasn't sure which, yet) and didn't have to sleep. Everyone in the building had been similarly affected, each with their own mutated abilities. Others might actually know more than he did, because he hadn't even begun to practice with these powers he had. He was simply cautious.

He needed to find out more, but he was working in tandem with some other people in the building to achieve that end.

Perhaps two months wasn't enough time to study in London. When he thought about it, Ludwig realized that would only be three checks left, to measure, and the first check had passed by way too quickly!

He would think about that later. For now, his thoughts had helped him pass enough time to reach closer to the front of the line. It had shortened considerably, and some people had to leave the line before their time to return to work.

But with only one person ahead of him, it was taking a little long. He leaned against the counter, talking to the woman, most likely flirting with her. Ludwig had to tweak his schedule to allow extra time for the bank visit, and he couldn't afford to let it go over the time limit.

He reached for the man's shoulder.

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John was awfully worried. But like Clark said, he tried not to let it show on his face. He played with his bangs a bit, making sure they kept his eyes covered. Clark had a gun, and so did John, and John calculated a 95% chance of them being safe until the police arrived, and then that number would drop sharply.

He avoided eye contact with the security. Clark was going to get the money, leave the fake bomb (John had a really small bomb, if anything went awry) with the person at the desk, and then the two were going to run south and away. And if it looked like anyone was going to bother Clark, then John was supposed to go over and get the barrel of the gun at 'em.

In fact, there was someone--a big guy--who looked pretty impatient at this point, but John didn't quite think he should do much yet. But he walked over there, just in case. If he or anyone did anything...

It was a typical day on duty. Lu was out on patrol, walking for the most part. She'd been given a car to take, of course, but it was more conspicuous than she wanted to be. So she'd parked it somewhere safe and would do a loop around a set of city blocks before coming back, moving, and repeating. She had a radio, her keys, badge, and weapons on her, so there was no point in taking the car and startling anyone suspicious into acting like nothing was up.

She'd caught some teenagers trying out some cigarettes and had confiscated three packs before sending them off with a chilling glare and a warning. Once they'd cleared she walked onward towards the bank. It was unlikely anything was happening, but it normally put tellers and patrons alike at ease to know someone was there just in case.

Lu walked in through the glass doors and stepped out of the way to have a look around.

Ludwig tapped the shoulder of the man at the counter. Looking a bit closer behind the man, Ludwig realized that the bank teller was crying. Poor girl; Ludwig felt bad for thinking she was flirting on the job. Perhaps the guy had dumped her. The man spun around. His mouth was turned downward, but his eyes were shadowed by sunglasses, so Ludwig was unable to pinpoint anything else. "Are you done?" Ludwig asked, exasperated.

"Uh, yeah," he replied, sounding almost unsure of himself. He slipped away (slipped was definitely the word Ludwig would use. The movement had a stealthy feel to it) and walked back toward the entrance. Unnoticed by Ludwig, the man made a hidden motion to the next person in line, and headed to the front door.

Finally, Ludwig approached the clerk. "I'm just here to withdraw some money." The woman's tears were almost painful, "I can wait if you want to send someone out here. Not meaning to pry, but perhaps you need a break."

"I can't," she hiccuped. "I just need you to stay here sir. Please don't move."

That didn't sound at all like a break up. "Excuse me?"

She gestured with a shaky finger to a box on her right. "That's a bomb. I shouldn't say that, but I'm just so scared." She suppressed a sob.

Ludwig was petrified for a moment, and then realized that he was the only one who could probably do something. The poor clerk was stuck there, and there weren't many customers there. "Let me just get the security. I won't go after him." She nodded, not having much else to say.

For the most part, things appeared to be in order. People were waiting impatiently in line, the tellers were doing there best and... that man slinking away from one of the tellers in a most suspicious manner. Lu glanced back at the counter where he'd just been to see the tall blonde man taking his place tense up. He was leaned over, speaking very quietly to the teller.

Her gaze went back to the suspicious man and she placed her hand on her radio as a precaution. Why was he trying to hard to be unseen? The German woman's brow furrowed and she began to move towards him.

Ludwig kept his head straight as he moved across the main room of the bank. There were two security guards near the back, and if he could just reach them, then he could talk to them about it. The man who had planted the bomb was heading toward the door. A small package was hidden in his coat--at this angle Ludwig could tell--but it was out of the line of vision for the officers. A risky move for the man, actually, since anyone coming in would probably be able to see the package if they looked closely at him. No ordinary passerby would question it though. Ludwig wanted to beat the man in and throw him in jail very much, but he had priorities, and he had to deal with them.

The bomber straightened up all the sudden, walking almost confidently, and dodged a bit to the left. What was the change? Ludwig turned just a bit to increase his line of sight.

It was another officer! Ludwig, confident that the new officer could handle the man, turned his attention back to his goal. He looked back to where the guards had been standing, and they were gone. Disappeared. A lump dropped to Ludwig's stomach as he realized how careless he had been. Now he had to openly look for them, and he could've be running out of time as it was. He looked back again at the officer; if he didn't notice something then Ludwig would just have to call it out to him.

The suspicious man caught a glimpse of Lu while he was looking around and immediately shifted a bit to avoid her. That certainly wasn't something she could ignore. He wasn't just a random shy man - he was up to something. The fact that he was being incredibly cautious with his coat only furthered her concern.

As Lu picked up her radio and began speaking softly into it, she noticed another man who was staring intently between her and the suspect. She couldn't tell if he was trying to get her attention or watching the other man's back, but either way there was something oddly familiar about him. Lu shook her head to regain her senses and radioed that there were two suspicious men in the bank.

Ludwig whipped back around, desperately searching for some sort of sign that would lead him to where the officers went. He didn't have to be so cautious anymore--the robber was heading out the door, and wouldn't really notice him.

"Go!"

Ludwig turned back around yet again, and the robber was running straight for the door, pausing when he got near the officer. He lifted a gun at him. "Get out of the way!" Now was where the real thing began, but the officer by the door had be told about what was going on--whoever it was was Ludwig's best bet at getting help. He began to head over and stopped mid-step.

Why say go?

He looked toward the lady at the counter, who looked at the bomb and then shook her head and shrugged, motioning him toward the officer. Nothing there.

But the other occupant in the bank (who was suspiciously close to Ludwig, now that he thought about it) was lifting his arm. Ludwig ran over and did a tackle on him.

((Sorry for the wait and the response; I realize that I'm not giving you a lot to respond to... I'm trying to fix it though :) ))

((I think your post was fine! XD))

The gun suddenly aimed at her face was shocking even in her line of work. In her own mind she'd be nearly invincible lately, with newly discovered abilities that would surely make her more immune to such things as petty criminals. This was a harsh wake-up call to that not being the case, and when the tall blonde man she'd noticed earlier tackled another man, this startled her enough that she carried out her next action without thinking.

Ludoviga took one, firm step forward, causing the tile around her food to dent and the floor to tremble, the dent moving forward to where the man aiming at her was standing. This happened in an instant and he toppled to the ground. Lu wasted no time in jumping on him, attempting to get him into handcuffs.

Ludwig could tell the man he was on top of wasn't in the best of shape--his struggling was flailing as he tried to sit up. Ludwig pinned him down with his knees, pressing his arms into the tile with as much strength as he could muster. But the other had a grip that made up for his lack of power, and he pointed the gun at Ludwig as far as his limited wrists could move. Ludwig, too engrossed in trying to keep him still or knock him out, didn't notice.

The gun in the man's hand fired; Ludwig felt something hit his side but whatever it had been must've mainly missed. With his ears ringing, Ludwig headbutted the man, and the other fell back, eyes fluttering shut. Ludwig took the gun and slid it down the lobby; he didn't want it to be close to the man on the ground in case he woke up.

Ludwig stood, and his movements were very slow, he realized, and he was only able to watch the officer as his body refused to react at proper speed with his commands.

There was a small depression in the ground next to where the officer and the original robber were. It radiated out in a circular pattern, which was strange, but Ludwig turned his attention back to the officer.

The robber's gun had flung out of his hand--it was closer to the front desk at this point--but the robber was much stronger than the man Ludwig had dealt with. Ludwig saw handcuffs, and though one of the robber's hands was cuffed the other was trying to wrestle the other handcuff from the officer's hand. The robber kicked, and--

Ludwig's body suddenly shot up as his legs returned to their normal state. It was his power wearing off; he had involuntarily become denser as he was fighting his opponent.

The gunshot was startling and it took Lu a moment to realize that it wasn't the man she was struggling to cuff who had fired. She looked up and realized that it was the other robber, the one the random citizen had tackled to the ground himself. When she looked up in concern, there was no sign of blood, but the distraction was enough that man she was arresting managed to free a wrist. This was frustration enough and then he began to kick.

A quick glance around revealed that nearly everyone in the bank had evacuated and those remaining were on their way out, except for the blonde man who was getting to his feet. Causing a ground wave through the criminal would kill him and honestly she didn't want that. Thankfully another means existed to disorient him. Lu closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and teleported about two meters to the left.

After getting over the disorientation of moving almost normally again Ludwig looked back to the scuffle. It looked as if everything had shifted, and he rubbed his eyes to make sure his eyes weren't fooling him. The small depression from before became a checkpoint; the officer had definitely been closer to it before.

The robber looked just as confused. He spouted a line of profanities as he looked around in bewilderment. He paled, looking like he was going to be sick, his kicking power reducing as he struggled with less effort than before. Ludwig started moving a bit closer to where the officer was. His torso was still stiff, making his movements very tin-like, but overall he felt okay, minus some dull pain.

As hoped, the criminal was disoriented and his struggling weakened considerably. She was able to subdue him long enough to handcuff him, and the lifted her head to look around for his accomplice as well as the blonde man who it seemed was actually on her side.

The blonde was walking and upright now, headed in her direction. Now that she was able to focus on his appearance, something was incredibly familiar about him.