9 『Clockwork Coinage I』

Three and a half hours later, it was like clockwork. The sound of shuffling through clothes emanated from Winn's room. He was pretty focused on what he was doing, trying to find a set of clothes which were good for today. It took him a short while, but he got what he wanted.

He was dressed in a pair of earthly brown slacks, he wore some running sneakers and a white dress shirt with a sweater vest. He came out of his bedroom stretching slightly, half expecting to see his new roommate half dressed or not dressed at all. He didn't like the fact that is what he thought of. He shook his head slightly, but when he did manage to step out of his room, his eyes rested on the couch.

There she was, seated there watching Television with a dull expression across her face. She was dressed in her leggings and pumpkin shorts. However all she had on top was the tank top from earlier.

"Morning?" Winn chuckled as he rested his arms behind his head. "I'm going to the bank, do you need anything?" He asked curiously, not knowing if she had any cash or anyway to get her own food. Let alone what she would be doing all day while he was attending his classes.

She looked over at him as a notification appeared on her interface overlay.

『Milestone Quest – Make your first bank account at the National City Bank with Winn's Help. This will make it easier to have money for future endeavours. Reward: 500 V-Coin Monthly and 500 Experience Points.』

She had been in a convenience store one or twice, even been to big belly burger. It was quite clear how much five thousand dollars was worth. She could live for months on a single Month's income of V-Coins. At the same time, if she saved up every bit of dollars she got through this, she'd be rich by the time she was eighteen.

"Um... Can I go with you?" She smiled blatantly, "I'd like to make a bank account."

Winn frowned when she said this and shook her head slightly. "You can't make an account at your age. You're only what? Fourteen, fifteen?" He sighed, "You have to be eighteen years or older, or have your legal guardian open one for you."

"Sixteen," Her eye twitched hearing this and she sighed in annoyance. "Didn't know that." It appeared that this world didn't allow the young to be entirely independent. "I'll go with you anyways~" She'd chime as she pulled her blouse over her head and proceeded to put on her accessories, her neck tie and gloves.

Looking at herself in the reflection on the blank TV screen, she'd give Winn a glance, he was rolling jaw idly waiting.

Walking over to the couch, she snatched up her satchel and swung it over her shoulder, and kept it to her side. "Lead the way, Mister Winn-it-all."

"That's not my name," he'd snicker as they made their way over to the front door of the loft.

Hekate grinned at this and pouted, "Then what is your name?" Her voice was a soft whine, she was now teasing him or at least trying to do so. Yet he could hear the sarcasm behind her pouting and her childish antics..

Once they did, he opened it inward and both of them paused as a man in a tan trench coat walked by.

Both of them peered out into the hall for a moment before looking at one another. The guy had vanished only moments after walking by.

"Someone you know?" Hekate asked as she looked up at Winn with a brow raised. He simply shook his head in response and they both stepped out the door. She was first out, he was second. "Weird... He kinda looked like..."

"John Constantine from the Comics?" He finished her line and she nodded slightly.

The two of them walked beside one another, only a few inches between them. They didn't hold hands, but they walked as a pair. Once they reached the ground floor and walked out onto the street. One of his college mates came walking by and slowed his pace to see the young girl standing beside Winn.

"Who's this?" The guy whirled around on his heel and stood in front of them.

The girl looked up at him for a few moments before tilting her head to the side. "We were in the foster system together," She had spoken before Winn could come up with a witty lie. "He's my big buddy friend friend." Unlike when she lied to Kara back in Midvale, she sounded and looked rather convincing this time around.

The guy chuckled a little bit, nodding as the girl had answered the question instead of Winn. "Hm, Well, have fun catching up then." He gave a faint wave before turning around and continuing on his way.

Hekate simply stared at the dude's back before he was gone and let out a sigh. "People are always so curious," she shrugged to herself and turned to smile up at Winn who patted the top of her head cautiously, not knowing if she would bite.

"I think we should hold hands so no one tries to take you," she said teasingly as she raised her hand up and grasped onto the one which was patting her head.

With that, after about a thirty minute walk, they made their way up to the double glass doors of the National City Bank. Hekate was the first ones up the handful of cement steps and up to the doors, so she was the one who pulled the door open for him to step inside.

She remained relatively close to him as they both casually walked over to the line to get to the teller. She didn't exactly know why they were here, and why he wasn't using an ATM, she could only assume he was putting a check in or something along those lines.

It took them about ten or so minutes before they reached the mid-length of the line. There were still about ten people in front of them, and now there were ten of them right behind them too.

That's when her eyes gazed towards the front doors of the bank. There were a couple individuals wearing ski-masks walking right on into the building.

『You have spotted a hostile threat to the general populace, Armed Bank Robbers. They are armed with automatic weapons, clearly illegally obtained. It is unclear of their objective behind this course of action, that doesn't matter. You have to two or three options, all have the same reward. Kill all of the hostile combatants, Incapacitate all the robbers, kill some of them but not all. Your choices will affect how others view you, choose wisely. Your virtual rewards are 1,000 V-Coins and 1,000 EXP. 』

She had seen enough action flicks to know what that meant. Shaking her head slightly, "I'mma go to the restroom," She said as she looked up at Winn who was also looking in the direction of the men.

"You go do that... Guess I'll get on the ground when the time comes," He didn't know if she was going to try and escape on her own, or try to hide. It was likely that she wanted to fight them, but she didn't want her identity to be exposed, even though it had only existed for about as long as a week. Was there a super suit in that bag of hers?

The girl slipped out of line and dodged the many people who didn't know of the impending situation. She rounded a corner and walked into the women's bathroom just in time to hear the gunshots and the shouting.

"Everyone down!"

"Get down on the ground!"

"Anyone calls the cops, you're all dead!"

Letting out a huff, she shook her head. After looking around to see if anyone was in the bathroom, she began her little plan. Opening her interface overlay and going into the Virtual Shop, she ended up purchasing the Super Suit for Zero V-Coins.

The moment she bought the suit, it constructed itself over her already existing attire in a hexagon pattern. When it was completely formed, it had the same texture as a padded compression jumpsuit. It was tight, but it wasn't thin and appeared to have padding. The main color was a deep blue with graphite black sleeves and high neck collar. The House of An Emblem was also on her chest, in the secondary darker blue color. It was made of the same material as superman's attire, making it extremely durable against conventional weaponry.

Covering her nose and mouth was a graphite black tube mask freely extended from the suit along with a dark blue hood. The mask had a downward pointing dark blue triangle in the center of it over her mouth.

Taking the pair of non-prescription glasses off her face and placing them on the counter by the sink. She could hear the baddies barking orders to one another outside on the main floor.

"Go check the bathrooms! Check if anyone is in there, I don't want any surprises!"

With a deadpan expression, she looked over towards the door as she dropped the satchel on the ground before shoving it under one of the stalls. Her personal belongings moving across the tile floor.

It didn't attract anyone' attention, at least not right away.

She could hear the a single individual kicking open the men's bathroom door and going in, followed by the guy kicking open each and every bathroom stall. There had been no one in the men's room.

The man exited the men's restroom and walked over to the women's. He seemed hesitant as he stood there for a few seconds before knocking.

Lulling her head to the side, she watched as he shoved the door open, his gun wasn't aiming forward. "Who are..." The man didn't take time to identify the symbol on her chest, all he saw was what he mistook for the basic outline of Superman's emblem. "Shit!"

As he raised his rifle and began to release hell upon his target, her eyes would light up with the energy that was building up inside of her. Within a split moment, a pair of green and copper colored beams were unleashed from her eyes and the man flew backward and onto his back. Lifelessly staring at the ceiling as he had two holes smoking from his chest.

"And that's why I call shot through the heart..." She muttered quietly as she narrowed her sights at the bullet holes in the wall which had bounced off her body without her really noticing all that much. "That's problematic."

Strolling out of the bathroom, she stood over the corpse for a few moments until another armed man came running down the hall and skidded to a halt. Seeing the short masked girl standing over his dead comrade, he slowly began to creep back, but kept his weapon aimed at her.

He kept his eyes locked on hers.

She smiled half-heartedly seeing his horrified expression beneath the mask. As he was distracted by her luminescent eyes, she used her right foot to kick up the submachine gun rifle from the ground, and into her gloved hands.

"If you leave your house and are prepared to kill another person, you should be prepared to be killed yourself. Don't you think?" The girl smoke, the mask muffling her voice as she began walking towards him.

"You fuckin frea–" Before he could finish his last word, she winked and fired a beam of copper energy from one eye. It burned through his forehead and sent him clambering to the ground.

"What's going on over there!?" It seemed like the boss man who was looking over the witnesses had heard the man's body fall.

She heard him ready his weapon and began to walk down the hall. Kicking the dead corpse of the man who had his weapon pointed at her, sending him barreling across the main floor of the bank.

"What the hell!?" The boss stared at the man with the smoking hole in his head. He then looked over towards the archway to the hall leading to the rest rooms. He already had some people in the vault, he couldn't just run now empty handed!

There she was, hovering out into the open with an expressionless look in her colorful glowing eyes.

Winn who was on the ground, stared at her. His eyes going from the body, to her, to the boss. Fear was written on his face. She was going to kill criminals? His eyes locked on the gun the man was holding.

"If you are prepared to be killed, please, continuing holding your gun. If you want to be spared, put it on the ground..." This words made it to everyone's ears. It was similar to how the police would have their criminal counterparts disarm or face lethal force.

"You little bitch, do you think you're all mighty? You think you're superman! There's only one of him! There's only one man of steel!" The man was angry, far from rational. Just what was he planning? "You're dead!"

"Pitty..." She uttered as she bent the rifle in her hands until it split in two. She then tossed it to the ground, letting it skid towards the front door.

That's when the man opened fire, she used her super enhanced speed to side step side to side. She got closer to him with every zig-zag motion. She was a blur, and she was getting deadlier and deadlier.

Then she appeared right in front of him, her head lulled to the side. When he went to fire, the end of the barrel exploded, she had it blocked with her hand.

"Son of a..." Her other hand traveled quickly through the man's sternum, shattering it, bit she didn't stop there. The hand continued and exited through the spine. He fell to his knees and coughed up blood. He had a face of anguish, but didn't make another sound before dropping onto the floor limp as any other dead body.

Her eyes gazed over the face of the people standing there. Some of them were horrified, but most of them were grateful. The threat to their lives had almost ceased. There were a handful of people in the vault packing up the cash.

Looking at the gun in her other hand, which she was holding by the barrel, she pursed her lips. Absorbing it she was give a notification of her gains.

『AKM asset transmuted into 250 V-Coins. Congratulations, you have gained your first batch of V-Coins.』

Seeing the weapon had disappeared, Winn slowly began to stand up, he was confused. He wasn't afraid of her necessarily, especially since she had given the bad guy an ultimatum. Surrender or die.

He was just confused of how and why the weapon disappeared. While she had absorbed it, to him it just disappeared into thin air, like it had never been there.

He'd watch as she gathered the bodies, she was clumsy as she dragged them by their arms. She dropped the three corpses at the front door before heading behind the teller's desk. She resumed hovering this entire time as she did so.

After a few seconds voices erupted from the vault.

"Who the hell are you!?"

WACK! CRASH! WABAM! It sounded like something fleshy was thrown across the interior of the vault, and then something collapsed on top of them, likely one of the open drawers or something on a shelf.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?!" Kehate squealed before a single gunshot rang out. There was silence for about five seconds before a body could be heard thudding on the ground. "Great job... You just shot yourself by shooting me in the head. Bravo, bravo." She began dragging to the individuals out. There was one dead, and the last one was barely breathing.

She dropped them and their weapons off in the front of the bank with the other corpses

『Congratulations, you have killed and or captured all of the targets. You have been rewarded 1,000 V-Coins and 1,000 EXP. Would you like to spend your EXP, or save it for later? You are currently at the max amount of EXP allowed to be stored.』

'Save it for later,' she thought inwardly before looking over at Winn who walked over toward her, with the crowd following slowly behind.