Moonstone

I had visited the Forsberg Gallery earlier in the day, taking on the role of tourist. I've been here twice before, once as part of a school field trip and once with Mom. The place hadn't changed much in the intervening years. Sure, some of the artwork had been moved around, there were signs of cracks to the front facade from some cape fight or another, but the interior layout was relatively unchanged. For tonight's visit, the stagnation would be working in my favor.

Walking into the restroom of the diner I was in, I looked at myself in the mirror. Fifteen years old, 5'8" tall with curly black hair, pale skin, brown eyes and a wide and expressive mouth. Once upon a time I had been ashamed of the way I look. Surrounded by popular and beautiful girls who did nothing but denigrate everything about me, the only physical characteristic I had still been able to take pride in was my hair, so much like my mothers. Of course things were different now. When one had the options that I had, it was easier to appreciate all of the parts that make up the whole.

Locking the door behind me, I turned and faced the mirror again. A faint golden glow suffused my body and, in the blink of an eye, I shrank down. In between one breath and the next I went from abnormally tall to ridiculously small, easily standing at eye level with the roach that I could see scurrying under the sink. I took off my backpack and began to pull off my street clothes. The oversized green jacket, brown corduroy pants, orange t-shirt, all went into the bag. From the front pocket I pulled out my mask. Nothing fancy as far as Cape masks go, basically a slightly oversized domino mask. Tieing it on, I wedged the backpack with my street clothes inside of the small crack under the sink. I'm pretty sure Mister Roach won't steal it.

Fully changed, I returned to my normal size. In the mirror I took a moment to appreciate my costumed self. Dark red leggings and turtleneck with a so-dark-purple-it's-black tunic over top, red sash at my waist. Sure, it was a homemade costume, but it was mine. Reaching over to unlock the bathroom door, golden light again suffused the room as I shrank back down, racing under the door and quickly making my way out of the diner. Across the street I had a date with some fine art.

My short villainous career has served to reinforce lessons learned in another life. It is okay to break the rules, so long as you don't get caught doing so. If you can't avoid leaving evidence behind, make sure that witnesses won't be a problem. With those thoughts in mind, I slipped underneath the doors in front of the Forsberg Gallery and sprinted along the wall to my left, heading for an office I noted during my visit earlier today.

Security.

Peeking into the open room, I could see a guard, seated behind a desk with a bank of monitors to his right. Each monitor showed a different part of the gallery, flickering between two to three locations every few seconds. I stayed put and watched the guard (his lunchbox proclaimed his name to either be ROGER or BAD ASS SECURITY MOFO) for the better part of two hours. Long enough to watch him release the second security guard for a meal break. I never laid eyes on the second guard, the exchange was all done over the radio. Still, the wording used told me what I wanted to know.

"Roger I'm heading out to Mister D's for a hoagie, you want something?"

"Naaaa, I'm good. How long you gonna be?"

"This time of night? Half an hour. You got this?"

Roger grunted as he stood up from the desk.

"Yeah, I'll go walk the gallery until you get back."

I watched as Roger picked up a portable radio from the desk and slid it into the holster on his belt. Sprinting into the office, I took up position just under the front of his desk and waited. I didn't have to wait long. Roger took out his flashlight, aimed it at his face and flicked it on and off a few times before reholstering it, shaking his head and blinking. I used the distraction to come out from under the desk, soft golden light suffusing the room as I embiggened myself back to normal size...and then some. Behind Roger I loomed eight feet tall. I wrapped my arms around him, one pinning his arms to his side, the other overly large hand covering his face. The overweight security guard began to thrash, panicking as some unknown force held him hostage. I lifted Roger from the ground, stepping back from the door and into the middle of the room so that none of his flailing limbs would connect with the door, walls or furniture.

A little over a minute later and Roger was out. Lowering him gently to the ground, I relieved the man of his keys, flashlight, and radio. Zipties and a gag later and Roger was tucked in for the night. I turned off the light and closed the office door behind me.

Now that Roger the Security Guard was behind me, I was on the clock. Unnamed Security Helper #1 would be back in under half an hour. Fortunately this was not an impulse shopping trip. I knew exactly what I was after and where it was to be found. During my tour earlier today I noted that the Cytern Rubies were still on display. While I have never been one for jewelry, the appraised value of the rubies was in the neighborhood of $250,000.00. And the Gallery was so nice as to leave them out on display. Swinging Roger;s keyring around on my index finger as I made my way up the stairs, I couldn't help but whistle a jaunty little tune as I contemplated what I would do with the money. When I heard the tune whistled back from upstairs, my good mood soured.

I ran up the stairs, my legs stretching much further than a normal humans could, allowing me to climb the flights in seconds flat. Standing next to the Cytern display, dressed in red and black motley with a white painted face, was Circus. Fuck.

Coming to a stop at the entrance to the display, I took stock of what was in front of me. The rubies were still under the glass. Circus had her sack slung over a shoulder, which could mean she was on her way in, or on her way out. Either way, the rubies were still in play.

"Circus, fancy running into you here."

A nod and a smile.

"Are you doing the mime thing again?"

She held out her hand, fingers together, and shook it a little.

"So, only kind of a mime?"

A nod. ARGH!

"Well far be it from me to get in the way of a cape in pursuit of an honest day's robbery, but I was planning on picking up those rubies. We're not going to have a problem are we?"

Again the hand wave.

"What do you want?"

The (for now) silent cape pointed to the rubies, then held up seven fingers...one for each stone. She gestured to me with two of the fingers, and brought the other five back towards her chest.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Why would I let you take that many?"

A shrug.

"No, you know what, fuck you. I've been here for hours trying to do this the right way. Guards out of the way, keys in hand. In and out with the rubies. I'm not going to just give most of them to you because you happened to be up the stairs before me."

There, that sounded sufficiently forceful. Circus seemed to agree with me. She held up her fingers again, this time with the numbers reversed. Five for me, two for her. I nodded.

"That is acceptable."

Circus stepped back from the display, giving me a half bow and allowing me the space to get up close. I started going through the keys, looking for one that looked like it might fit the display. According to my watch, I still had about ten minutes before I could start expecting the other security guard to get back. For her part, Circus placed her bag on the ground and began to root around inside of it. Shit, none of these keys look like they will fit. Circus began tapping her foot, obviously impatient with my lack of progress.

"Um, maybe I grabbed the wrong keys?"

The other cape took on a look of extreme understanding. Damn but her face was expressive. Reaching forward, she patted me on the shoulder. Then she reached back into her bag. A few moments of digging around again, and she began to pull out…...A FUCKING SLEDGEHAMMER?

"NO!"

But I was too late. One swing of the hammer later and….the glass didn't shatter into a thousand pieces. Instead is gained a couple of deep cracks. And alarms began blaring throughout the Gallery. Circus wound up for another swing. Fuck it, in for a penny, in for a pound. A soft golden glow suffused my right arm as I reached back and up, my fist embiggening until it was easily the size of vending machine. Circus caught on the what I was doing and backflipped out of the way. I couldn't help but sigh.

"Was that really necessary?"

Circus gave me a thumbs up as I brought my fist down, well and truly destroying the case covering the rubies. I reached down for them when four throwing knives stuck into the ground...between each of my fingers.

"What is your fucking problem?!"

Circus pointed to her hammer, than to the rubies. Again with the fingers. Four to me, three to her. The blaring of the alarms filled me with not a small amount of urgency.

"Fine, four three split, catch!"

I tossed three of the bubies over my shoulder. I did not hear them hit the ground. Snatching up the four remaining stones, I slipped them into a hidden pocket in my uniform and dashed for the stairs. Circus was already out of sight. I made it as far as the landing between the first and second story before the rest of my night went the rest of the way up shit creek.

"FREEZE!"

Say what you will about Aegis, the flying brick cuts a nice figure in his costume. Also, fucking Circus and fucking Wards. Still, I might as well try to rally. I give Aegis my best shit eating grin.

"Sorry, I think I got lost, I was looking for the gift shop?"

"I think it's closed, but we have a really nice one back at base."

Aaaaaaaand there was Clockblocker, coming in from the other direction, a woozy Roger behind him.

"You know what? This is probably a bad time. I'll just let myself out and come back during normal business hours."

Several things happened at the same time. The golden glow that signaled my changes began to shine through my skin and costume. Aegis took to the air, flying right at me. Clockblocker ran towards the visible exit doors, his hand outstretched. As Aegis neared me I turned my back on him. I extended my leg as I began to run in the opposite direction. At the same time I shrank my upper body. For my first several steps I'm sure I looked ridiculous, as my top half went from normal to small to tiny while my legs tripled in length in order to cover ground. Turning a corner, I glowed again as I brought my legs down to scale with the rest of me. Aegis flew around the corner. When he didn't see me he landed and began to scan the room. As quietly as I could I tiptoed behind the Ward, making my way towards a service door.

"I know you're still here Putty. We've been briefed on you, it would be best if you turned yoursel…"

I didn't let him finish the sentence. Instead a fist the size of his entire body collided with the back of his head, flinging the Ward forward and embedding him in the wall on the far end of the hallway. I ran for the service door, yelling in my tiny voice.

"MY NAME ISN'T PUTTY!"

Entering the stairwell I popped back to my normal size before again extending my legs, chewing my way up the stairs until I came to the roof access. Behind me I could hear the service door as someone broke through it. No time left for stealth. Embiggening my fists, I smashed the metal door. Three good swings and it folded open. Running out onto the roof I was greeted with a view I never get tired of, Brockton Bay at night. Skyscrapers rising in the distance, lights hiding most of the decay you can see at street level. Still, no time to bask. I ran to the edge and dropped over the side, grabbing the ledge with my left hand and allowing my arm to extend, bungeeing my way to street level. Aegis was right behind me, soaring over the top of the Gallery before going into a sharp dive and heading for me. My feet made contact with the ground right as Clockblocker emerged from the side door, a hand to the side of his helmet.

Considering how strong Aegis was and the effects of Clockblockers time stops, I was literally between a rock and a hard place. Well, going meet tough. Tough? Meet going. I turned and ran straight for Clockblocker, raising my right fist into the air, expanding it until it was roughly the size of a trashcan. I watched as he braced his feet, his body language screaming concentration as he prepared to try and freeze me before I flattened him. At the last second I dropped the fist. Not only that, but I dropped to my knees, golden light suffusing me as I shrank, until an inch tall Taylor slid between the Wards feet. Getting to mine, I made for the manhole cover behind him and dropped through one of the finger holes in it.

I couldn't help but giggle to myself as I walked away from the sight of the conflict. Sure, I was missing part of my haul, but I would address that issue with Circus later. For now I could celebrate a still substantial payday, and another marvelous escape from the Heroes by Moonstone. All that was left was to collect my clothing and get back to my hideout.