Five individuals dressed in suits entered the lobby of EL Bank. They gave a quick nod to the receptionist, who nodded back, and headed to the employee entrance. One of them stood by the card reader for a second, and then swiped her ID to open the door. Each of the five swiped their IDs as they walked into the employee area. They nodded at the resting guards as they moved towards the stairs to the first basement floor.

“Wow, I can’t believe that worked. I figured banks would be…a bit more wary? If I knew it was this easy, I would’ve robbed one way sooner!”

“Quiet Saydaa. Unnecessary chatter will get you caught.”

“Yeah, yeah. I thought you wanted me to act casual, boss-man?”

“I want you to act like you belong there. Not casual.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Confidence can be quiet.”

“Fiiinnneeee. Take all the fun out of bank robbery, would ya?”

The team continued through the first basement floor, passing by guard rooms in silence. Arvid turned his head to glance inside one. He stopped, pointing to the room. Inside was one particular guard, being served refreshments by another.

A guard with transparent wings on her back and diamond skin.

Arvid motioned for the team to round an empty corner, speaking in a whisper.

“As you can see, we have a problem.”

“Confused Query: The unit has not detected a problem.”

“Machines…that’s a super.”

“Response: The plan accounts for the presence of supers.”

“Not on the first floor. Security’s tighter than we thought.”

“W-What are we going to do?”

“We’re not going to give up just because of one extra guard, are we?”

Kiyosuke narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, grabbing his stun blade.

“I’ll deal with this.”

Elise stepped in front of him.

“Negative. Warning: Engagement at this stage will disrupt the plan.”

Arvid rubbed his chin.

“No, I agree with Kiyosuke. If we leave this alone, we’ll have to face multiple supers on our way out. If we strike this one now, we can take her out with the element of surprise. Divide and conquer is the basics.”

“Response: That will alert the facility to our presence. Bypassing later defenses will be immensely difficult, reinforcements will be summoned significantly earlier.”

“Then we split up.”

Arvid stood up and tapped Kiyosuke on the back.

“Kiyosuke and I will handle this. The rest of you carry on. We’ll wait for a bit so we don’t trigger things too early.”

“I-Is that all right? Bob-sama said we should stick together…we should follow the plan…”

“Yea, why do you guys get to have all the fun?”

“Warning: Elise cannot recommend this deviation.”

Arvid shrugged as he began walking down the hall.

“You don’t have a choice. We’re going to do this. So you all better get a move on.”

The girls glanced at each other.

“...Hesitant Acknowledgement: We do not have time for debate. Resuming mission.”

Nana and Saydaa glanced at each other as Elise resumed walking. Saydaa shrugged and followed after her. Nana sighed and then hurried to catch up with them.

The three arrived at the second basement floor. Elise’s robotic eye flashed as she scanned the floor.

“Statement: Defenses analyzed. No abnormalities detected. Let’s proceed with infiltration.”

The three moved forward. Saydaa waved her hand and a red barrier appeared over the group, causing them to shimmer and vanish from the outside. Elise’s hands glowed purple, illuminating pressure pads on the floor and preventing them from moving, even when stepped on. Nana took a laser pointer, shining it into the laser receivers as they passed to prevent them from triggering.

Slowly, carefully, they made their way through the hall.

And then the alarms starting blaring.

“W-What happened? Did we miss something?”

The ceiling trembled slightly. Saydaa let out a sigh.

“More likely, the boys have started messing around.”

Just then a bunch of panels flipped open, revealing turrets with large barrels. Several metal doors fell to the floor, cutting the hall into sections.

“...Statement: It seems the facility is entering lockdown.”

“No crap.”

“W-What do we do?”

“What do you think? No use sneaking now, let’s go all out and get through this!”

“Warning: Please wait a moment…”

“LET’S GOOOOO!!!!”

Saydaa thrust her hands forward. The barrier around the ground spun into a cyclone which surged forward, ripping the turrets from their stances.

“See? Easy…”

The trapdoor they had previously avoided opened up underneath them.

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”

Saydaa vanished and the trapdoor closed.

“Saydaa!”

“...Observation: We can no longer help her. Capture and failure imminent if we remain here. Let’s continue.”

“R-Right…”

Elise walked up to the metal door and placed her hand against it.

“Gravity Transfer initiated.”

Then she pulled back her fist and knocked the light door down the hall. In the next section turrets opened fire, launching nets and arcs of electricity. Elise spread out her hands as Nana jumped behind her.

“Gravity Barrier activated.”

A purple sphere appeared around Elise, absorbing electricity and deflecting nets. From behind her chakra bolts arced around the barrier, striking the turrets one by one.

“Statement: We will not fail, Commander Bob.”

Back upstairs, Arvid strolled into the room with the super. She was sitting in a recliner, resting her cheek on her hand as she sipped a smoothie. Her eyes appeared like diamonds, no pupils in sight, and she had two antennae rising from her hair. He walked right up to her. She glanced slightly with her eyes.

“Who the heck are you? Haven’t seen you before.”

Arvid chuckled.

And then slammed his fist down, smashing the chair.

“What the crap, dude?! That was, like, my favorite chair!”

A shadow sped through the room. Thuds rang out and men cried as the other guards in the room fell to the ground. Kiyosuke appeared behind the super. She leapt forward, dodging the strike from his stun blade. Arvid ran in front of her, fist pulled back. She quickly dug her feet in to kill her forward momentum, and leapt into the air, wings buzzing.

She looked at the two for a second before smirking.

“Oh, I see. The latest bunch of punks who think they found an easy score.”

She let out a dramatic sigh and placed her cheek in her palm.

“Can you guys just, like, not? I don’t want to work today. It’ll, like, be less painful if you surrender, or something.”

Arvid chuckled and slammed his fist into his palm.

“This one never surrenders! You will have to make me, fiend!”

“Fiend? Fiend?! Oh, you’re so going down. Fine then, I’ll, like, show you what Lady Diamond Hornet can do!”

She spread her hands out, shining claws on her fingers. She then vanished, and a scratch appeared on Arvid’s cheek. His eyes widened slightly before he grinned.

“Ah, a worthy fight this shall be!”

Arvid strode forward, his fist pulled back. Lady Diamond Hornet appeared before him, a clawed palm swiping at him.

CLANG!

Arvid grunted and stopped, trying to kill his momentum as Kiyosuke leapt in front of him. Kiyosuke’s transformation wore off, revealing his ninja garb.

“Stay out of this, this one’s mine.”

Lady Diamond Hornet raised an eyebrow.

“Ew, a cosplayer. Are you, like, some kind of weeb? I think you, like, watch too much anime or something.”

Kiyosuke just narrowed his eyes and vanished. Lady Diamond Hornet sighed.

“Like, why do I always get the creeps?”

CLANG!

She swung out her hand, blocking Kiyosuke’s strike to her side. She turned to him and grinned, and then vanished herself. Kiyosuke vanished himself, following her into the air.

CLANG!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Black shadows and shining flashes sped through the air, sparks flying whenever they collided.

CLANG!

With a final clash, the two appeared midair, Kiyosuke holding his stun blade with both hands to the girl’s side. Lady Diamond Hornet had one hand held out, holding the blade still. Kiyosuke clenched his teeth.

“Still not good enough. I should be stronger than this. But this is taking too long, so I’m ending it now.”

He flicked a switch on the blade and electricity surged through it.

And nothing else.

“Yeah, like, that sort of thing doesn’t work on me. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, you know? And also, like, super good insulators or something.”

Lady Diamond Hornet crushed the stun blade in her hand, then swung a fist into Kiyosuke’s stomach. His eyes widened and he gasped as the air was forced from his lungs, and then he shot into the floor with a crash.

And then the alarms started blaring.

“Like, took their time! Am I, like, the only one doing their job today?”

Arvid grinned and pulled his sword from his back.

“It seems we do not need to hold back with you.”

“More, like, I gotta hold back with you, you know? Well, do your best, pretty boy. It would, like, be a shame to ruin that face.”

Arvid prepared his stance as Lady Diamond Hornet spread her claws.

The battle was joined.

Meanwhile Elise and Nana reached the end of the hall, broken doors and the sparking remains of shattered turrets behind them. The two made their way into the staircase.

As the two made their way down the stairs, Nana began to sway.

“What…is this…”

Elise’s eye flashed.

“Warning: Detecting high concentrations of toxic substance.”

Nana’s eyes closed and she dropped to the floor. Elise picked her up and leapt down the rest of the stairs, punching the door at the bottom open. Elise looked over the girl.

“Observation: Friendly Nana unharmed. Incapacitated, projected to regain consciousness within one hour. Resuming mission.”

“That’s cold of you, girl.”

Nana spun around, hands lifted. An old woman with messy white hair and tattered robes hunched in front of the door, resting on a gnarled staff. She spoke in a raspy voice.

“Honestly, what is that father of yours doing? You should know better. Take care of your friends first, girl.”

“Response: Executing orders is the primary directive. The unit will not fail.”

The woman heaved a dramatic sigh.

“Young people. Always focused on the wrong things. That’s why I hate dealing with them. Oh I will have words with little Ivan after this! Bothering an old woman with this sort of thing.”

“...Status Report: Hostile detected. Preparing to engage. Recommendation: Please surrender if you do not wish to be harmed.”

The woman heaved another sigh.

“Not going to give up, huh girlie? Not going to respect your elders either? Hah, this sort of thing is why they think I eat children. Oh yes, Miss Baba Yaga goes and punishes all the naughty children. Never mind the ‘children’ always want to beat her face in for no good reason. I swear, just parent your dang kids already and teach them not to mess with witches.”