The sun had set above Soweiland, and the police department was bustling, following the events of the previous night. Two bank robberies, back to back, all orchestrated by one mystery man, who is known to the world only as The Hook Master.
Detective McCord was pacing up and down his office on the 5th floor of the precinct. His "investigative partner", AJ has taken the Detective's distress as a sign he could freely lounge on his chair, and munch on a watermelon. (One which shouldn't even be there as it's completely out of season.)
"Are you 100% positive this is the correct course of action?" McCord asked AJ, who smiled and shrugged.
"Oh, relax, you big baby. My friend here will handle everything." AJ brushed off his concern, and continued munching on his fruit.
A couple minutes passed and at 9PM sharp, a man walked into the office, wearing camo gear, and having a rifle and a crowbar strapped to his back. He was also wearing a cap, the shade of which was covering his eyes.
"Banner! Mate! How ya been?" AJ greeted the man, with a wide smile on his face. Banner glared at his... acquaintance.
"I shouldn't be helping you, you know, after you set off military-grade explosives inside my workplace." Banner muttered, but AJ shushed him quickly.
"Shut up, mate, we're in a police department!" He spat, just as McCord approached the entrance of the room, in which the two were standing.
"Nice to meet you again, Manuel. Thank you for arriving on such short notice. Allow me to explain what we need you for." McCord said. Banner nodded.
"As you might know, we've been following the trail of this serial bank robber, and we've figured out where he'll strike next. He does his operations in a quick and efficient manner, and this is where you come in. I need you to keep him occupied, while me and this... thing examine his hideout. Try not to use lethal force." McCord explained, pacing around the room as he did. Banner nodded along, not speaking a word.
"Can we trust you with this job?" McCord asked. Banner stood for a moment, before saluting at the detective, as a sign of agreement.
"Excellent. Please head on down to Stormhaven bank, then!"
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Unbeknownst to the good detective, the not-so good Chief of Police, one Mr. Rowan Callaghan, also had a visitor of his own up in his office on the top floor.
In through the door, a little after 9PM, came one Aaron Knoxx, wearing his signature assassins' uniform, utility belt, gun holster, and also a black apron with an M symbol an it. He didn't look particularly pleased with himself.
"Callaghan, you rang?" Aaron asked once he waltzed in the room, hunched over with his hands in his pockets. Callaghan smiled at the sight.
"Is that a McDaniel's apron?" He grinned. Aaron groaned and glared at the Chief.
"Business hasn't been good, okay? Ending my contract with the mafia was good for my morals, not as much for my wallet..." Aaron scratched the back of his neck.
"You didn't make the correct career choice, if you are so concerned with morals, bub." Callaghan smirked. Aaron rolled his eyes.
"You gonna tell me what you want, or will you sit there and mock me forever?" Aaron asked, getting impatient. Callaghan chuckled at the sight, much to the mercenary's annoyance.
"Okay then, let's get down to business. So, I'm sure you know I have a problem, right? I don't want the feds to think I'm not doing my job, so I'll need you to take care of this problem for me. Do you catch my drift?" Callaghan explained.
"Too afraid to say 'kill', are we?" Aaron asked, to no reaction.
"I'll offer you 40.000 big bucks to kill the Hook Master for me, Ronnie-boy." Callaghan announced.
Aaron looked right at him, as he smiled that greasy smile of his. He thought about how killing a mere bank robber was below THE Enforcer, but he also hated working fast food, so...
"I have a bullet with his name on it." Aaron finally said.
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A couple hours passed, and the two gunmen had each been stationed on opposite sides of the Bank of Stormhaven. Aaron had perched on top of a nearby tree, and was read to strike, while Banner had hid inside the bank, hiding behind the front desk.
The two had been waiting there for a some time before the Hook Master arrived, exactly at midnight. The masked robber ran up to the building and cut the doors open with a swift slash of his dual blades, before walking in, and alerting Aaron and Banner.
Aaron immediately used his sniper rifle to shoot at the robber through the window, but as he did that, Banner jumped over the desk and kicked the Hook Master in the chest, knocking him out of the trajectory of the bullet, much to Aaron's bewilderment.
"Ah, an adversary! Here to prevent me from acquiring my beguiling fortune are we?" The Hook Master exclaimed upon noticing Banner, who just glared the robber.
Banner tried to run up to the Hook Master and hit him with the crowbar, as the latter got into a fighting stance, but he was met with the back of a rifle to the face, knocking him aside, as Aaron arrived on the scene.
"Hands off my victim, you second-rate gun!" Aaron announced. "This bank only has room for one of us."
"What an unexpected twist!" The Hook Master announced. "Another frivolous fiend has appeared to try and stop me from getting my terrific treasure!"
Aaron swiftly turned around, took his pistol out of the holster and shot at the Hook Master's face, but his mask stopped the bullet in it's tracks.
"What an abysmal attempt at taking my life. You should've have guess that my marvelous mask would block your silly shot!" The Hook Master mocked the assassin, but before he could respond, Banner tackled him to the ground.
"I don't know who you are, but you should get going, friend." Banner said, upon getting off of the floor himself. Aaron tried to pull him down again in response, but banner moved aside before he could latch onto his foot. While that was happening, the Hook Master took the opportunity to kick a chair over at the two gunmen, knocking Banner over.
"Aha! The path to my pleasing prize has opened up!" He exclaimed, and started running towards the register. The other two opened fire at him, and he blocked a couple of bullets by spinning his hook-swords, but eventually forced into taking cover.
Once he did that, Banner and Aaron started shooting at each other, the former leaping behind the desk, and the latter jumping out of the building through the window he broke earlier, and covering himself with the wall.
"Why are you fighting me, Banner? Aren't we trying to kill the same guy?" Aaron asked.
"I have orders to keep him alive." Banner said, and then took a smoke bomb from his belt and hurled it towards the broken window, impeding Aaron's view, before running up to him and kicking his pistol away. Aaron let out a cry and smacked him on the side of the head with his rifle, before taking out a knife and trying to stab him.
Banner twisted Aaron's wrist, making him drop the knife, then trying to shoot his gut at point-blank, but Aaron was prepared for that, and used fired his rifle next to Banner's face, startling him. The stray bullet from the rifle headed towards the Hook Master, who was nearing his goal.
Aaron took the opportunity and punched Banner in the face, before grabbing a piece of glass and hurling it at the Hook Master, stabbing him in the shoulder.
"This is but another hurdle in my heroic quest..." The Hook Master mumbled, and stumbled back into his hiding spot.
Banner regained his composure and tried to whack Aaron over the head with the crowbar, but Aaron rolled out the way.
"Cheap shot." Aaron smirked. He pointed his rifle at Banner.
"And I'm to assume your shots aren't?" Banner asked, before also pointing his gun at Aaron. The two were in a standstill.
"40K ain't cheap, I know that much." Aaron said.
Suddenly, out came the Hook Master from his hiding spot, and tackled Aaron, knocking both of them over.
The Hook Master let out an evil laugh, before rushing to the cash register, which he ripped out of the desk. Aaron and Banner noticed this, and immediately opened fire on him again, but he used the register to block their bullets as he advanced towards them.
"Ha-ha! Your measly bullets have no effect on me, the Hook Master! Now surrender while you have the chance!" The Hook Master exclaimed. Aaron decided he had enough of his nonsense, took out a hand grenade and threw it straight at him, knocking the robber down and blowing up the register to smithereens in the process.
"N-no!! My fabulous funds! How dare you, you catastrophic clown!?" The Hook Master yelled.
"Night night." Aaron said, and aimed directly towards the Hook Master's face. As he pulled the trigger however, Banner swooped in, and tackled him to the side, making the bullet miss it's mark, and hit the robber's foot instead.
"ACK! My terrific toe!" The Hook Master exclaimed, before collapsing on the floor again. Upon landing, his mask fell out, revealing the true identity of the Hook Master to the world once and for all as none other but...
"Jacques Lanos?!" Aaron exclaimed upon witnessing the Frenchman hidden being the mask.
"Who?" Banner asked, with an exasperated expression on his face.
"Former Mafia, went missing after the mass escape a couple months ago." Aaron explained.
"Looks like the metaphorical cat is out of the broken cash register. Such is the faith of the Hook Master!!" The Frenchman said, making various exaggerated hand gestures as he did.
"He's nothing like when I last saw him though... personality wise, that is." Aaron pointed out.
"Right you are, you asinine assassin! The super mushrooms I found in the woods have given me immense power, considered by some to be unnatural. And this power henceforth allows me to do this!!" The Hook Master exclaimed, and proceeded to do absolutely nothing.
"I don't get it, is something supposed to happen?" Aaron looked around, hoping for an answer. Banner shrugged.
"SURPRISE ATTACK!!" The Hook Master yelled, and jabbed his fingers in both of the gunners' eyes, and jollily dashed away from the scene, laughing to himself like the maniac he had become -- but not before snatching his mask off the floor.
The moment the two men back at the bank regained their composure, they pointed their weapons to eachother once more.
"I'm afraid I'll have to take you to prison now, Mr. Assassin." Banner growled. Aaron smiled.
"Two words; hell nah." He replied, before taking another grenade from his belt, and throwing to the floor with all his might, making it instantly explode, and taking the opportunity to escape from the distracted revolutionary hero, into the dark of the night.
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The Hook Master ran and ran, hoping to reach his hiding spit in the woods as fast as possible. The hiding spot in question was the small cave, situated in-between Stormhaven and Sowei City, the one occupied by Hyperriox before.
Unfortunately for the thief, Detective Owen McCord and his search party has already discovered his hiding spot, while he was kept busy in the bank.
"Freeze! Don't move." An officer yelled, once the Hook Master stepped in his lair. "Reach for the sky, freak!"
The Hook Master did indeed raise his hands, but he also raised his blades, seemingly ready to attack the 10 or so policemen at the scene, but before he could do anything someone let out a warcry and smacked him right on the top of the head, knocking him out cold in an instant.
AJ, the man behind this incredible action, wiped his hand in victory.
"What a day this has been, hasn't it mate?" He said as he nudged the good detective. McCord rolled his eyes.
"What do we got on the perp?" McCord asked one of the invesigators.
"His name is apparently Jacques Lanos. He escaped from prison during that mass jailbreak of Black Island Mafia Members, a couple months ago. He was apparently pretty high in the ranks, but after the remodeling they went through, he just never went back." The Investigator, AXON Agent Carlton explained.
"Looks like this chap stuck around the forest and ate a bunch of psilocybins, which are hallucinogenic mushrooms native to Soweiland. I would know all about that, as I am a mycologist in my spare time." AJ explained. McCord raised an eyebrow.
"It appears he also found this 5th Century BC ancient Soweian stone mask, which belongs in a museum. This specific one is said to have been lost in these woods eons ago. I would know all about that as I'm a museum curator in my spare time." AJ went on.
"Does this guy have any other jobs, or is that everything?" Carlton whispered to McCord.
"I'm actually a glazier in my spare time as well." AJ confirmed, looking extremely proud of himself, and leaving the Agent dumbfounded. McCord, who had become numb to the nonsense by now, just shook his head.
"I'd better go home soon... Big day tomorrow." McCord said.
"Why, sir? What's tomorrow? Agent Carlton asked.
"I'm supposed to appear in Casey Kane's trial. Good evening then, gentlemen." Detective McCord said, then proceeded to walk out of the small cave, as the remaining investigators carried on with their job.
With the Hook Master soon behind bars, the banks of Soweiland should be able to breathe a long sigh of relief, right?