2014.10.24 - The Trillion Dollar Coin

Kilroy has been preparing for months and it all comes down to tonight. He looks down at the small toy dog that was sold to him. It is far and away the most powerful magical object he has bought but he just can't believe it is what it is supposed to be. Nevertheless, he trusts the creator implicitly. Focusing intently in his mind, he closes his eyes, and whispers into the dog's ear...Fetch!

And off it goes! The dog vanishes from sight, becoming a small animated spirit, sprinting through timelines like shadows on a summer's day, the sun green one moment, red the next, then yellow again until he arrives in a sturdy fortress dire indeed, where happy pleasure lobotomized man quietly works his way through making magical currency in the 9 Prime Worlds, draining world after world as it is exposed in a window and using the magic from the Trillion Dollar coin to do so. Blithely smiling like an idiot, the former villain fails to notice the small dog steal the coin in his mouth and leap away to shouts of alarm from other guards. Back it goes!

The dog returns and drops the coin in Kilroy's hand. Then it barks happily, wags its tail and vanishes. To think the things he could have summoned with that....Thor's Hammer? The Infinity Gauntlet? But in Kilroy's hands this innocent little coin is quite dangerous indeed. To anyone else, its a theoretically redeemable in practicality ticket-to-laugh at coin minted by the US worth a Trillion Dollars a year ago in response to a budget crisis. But the magical symbology is potent indeed. In Kilroy's hand it pulses and hums. He feels...powerful. And with great power comes great responsibility. Responsibility to fix things....to make the world a better place. And tonight, after much planning and preparation, he will do just that.

The potion of invisibility works just as promised. He is able to walk right past the guards, and past the unseen magical wards that guard the reserve that few people know about. Kilroy is able to bypass those easily, and walks past another set of guards into the heart of the vault itself. He checks his watch, counting down slowly. When it is ten minutes before the closing of the bell of the stock exchange he will begin his work.

Well placed agents, those with friends or family whose homes were stolen, have been quietly moved into place by Limrick McFabisham, slowly setting up the dance that is to begin. All around the country but especially the city, Law Enforcement and several prominent heroes are raiding criminals with well placed clues, tied up and too distracted to easily respond to the the 'theft' that is about to occur. One that dwarfs all others in history...except the one that inspired this one.

And so the clock ticks down until finally...

The Federal Reserve begins to rumble and the skies over Manhattan begin to darken. This is not an evil cloud of dark omen but rather one of power, as gigantic ley lines are misdirected. Most every prominent magical being on the planet can feel the sheer magical energies being gathered here.

In every bank in the city, Kilroy's little gnome squad begins to change official corporate policy whilst their VIP's are on an official retreat in upper state New York. Legal procedures are changed to return mortgages taken by sheer attrition and neglect despite mandates from numerous federal agencies. Many of the regulators are also on that same retreat, in the interest of 'building bridges' so they can retire and work for the firms.

They think the plunge in bank stocks as the wiser hedge funds divest themselves of these entities is merely a passing fad. It is a lot more than that, because stolen assets are about to be returned to their rightful owners.

At the same time, all around the city, every corporate logo on walls, on products, in stock tickers and on advertisements begins to shimmer a little and begin to glow with a faint golden hue.

Fantomex knows little about magic. He knows a little about finances, but that is because he likes money a little too much. It is not as if he can legally invest his ill-gotten cash, he has no legal identity. But he keeps in touch with the news, with the world. E.V.A. is connected to the nets, she listens to the newscast, she notices when corporate logos everywhere begin glowing.

And E.V.A. floats lazily between over New York's landscape, an invisible, technorganic flying saucer. At Fantomex request, she is gathering information. They are looking for a reason or a cause to this unexplained development. Corporations are changing procedures (without being arm-twisted by the powers that be) and the weather going crazy at the same time. Both things are about as natural as flying pigs.

As the city begins to panic and money begins to move around, seemingly on it's own, a number of parties begin to fear for their finances. These actions have set into motion the deployment of a dangerous asset in order to remedy this situation. A cryogenic chamber manned by scientists and surrounded by armed men slowly unthaws and reveals it's occupant, a dark haired man, scarred but fit, with a cybernetic left adorned with a red star, the Winter Soldier.

Its not long before the Winter Soldier is ready to move. His mission is to identify and neutralize the individual who revealed the location of the safe house and hes prepared to do so. He stands in the open door of a helicopter, wearing mask and goggles to protect his face and identity. In his hands he carries an M4A1 carbine, equipped with a sound suppressor, reflex sight and an underbarrel grenade launcher, ready to move, watching the city below. He knows his mission, not the why of it. It doesn't matter to a living weapon.

Kilroy begins to move money. Lots of it. He moves more with a single wave of his hand than all other manipulations combined. It is like directing the ocean itself but precise and unearthly in its sheer awesome power. The curse of the Greek Goddess, designed to wipe The Economy from memory, makes all the paper work and each trail seem perfectly legal, perfectly concealed, backed up with paper work and title being sent out all at once.

Pagers in the retreat all begin to go off at once and VIP banksters begin to excuse themselves in the Ariodacks.

Three quarters of every rentable helicopter in the tristate area has been commissioned to move the Gnomes safely to the air port and out of the country to a tropical location without an extradition treaty with the US. Not that there will be much evidence. Not that this stops certain agencies from acting in the interest of the rich.

The corporation logos begin to vanish, one by one, everywhere, from everything. Well, that's...harmless enough.

The guards at the reserve figure out by now something is up, but titans made of invisible Rai stones knock them out and gently deposit them outside of the building and in waiting cabs that take them home. This is all planned and accounted for.

Up in the sky the almost sentient E.V.A. notices all that weirdness but can't make sense out of it. Fantomex, however, could... if he was focused enough. But he is an assassin and a thief, he is biased. Weather, check. People that shouldn't be moving is moving, check. Increase of crime, check. To him, the master of misdirection, it looks like an elaborate setup. But for what? It must be grand, it is so complex.

And then there are those cabs taking unconscious men from the Federal Reserve to private residences so early in the afternoon. The Federal Reserve is maybe one of the few targets in the city worth such an elaborate operation, and that is where E.V.A. is coming down.

The sky seems full of helicopters, not just the news and police helicopters hed suspected, but a number of chartered birds. The Winter Soldier scans them for threats but he doesnt seem to find any, not that his guard seems to drop at all. Thats when he reaches his cybernetic hand up to touch his ear, then drops it back to his weapon as he loudly instructs the pilot, "Liberty Street." The bird makes good time and is soon hovering near the Federal Reserve Bank.

The Winter Soldier stares down at the people being placed, unconscious, into cabs. Expressionlessly, he orders, "Bring us over the roof."

This is going to take time. There's just no way around it. The fact is that transferring a trillion dollars to a hundred million accounts, no matter how powerful the magical oomph from the coin and the site is going to make this EASY, but it is FAST and powerful nevertheless. He has a backup plan regardless.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, strange figures begin to appear, a clown, a dapper man that looks a like a men's suit store, a giant donuts shaped man over 12 feet tall, corporations, artificial people, temporarily made REAL people begin to experience life for the first time...and most of them have no consciences whatsoever.

Spirits of the Gold, the Green, the Red and many others begin to manifest as the thousand year curse begins to manifest itself, animals running wild, plants coming to life and going berserk and clouds of floating coins wandering by folks and causing minor riots.

Winter soldier is able to get on the roof with no interference whatsoever. E.V.A. also lands unchallenged.

E.V.A. is quite hard to see thanks to Fantomex misdirection abilities, but she didn't quite land as just drops the thief in white near the most convenient entrance. Probably a window. It would take him just a few seconds to get through the alarm and other security.

Now that hes at his location the Winter Soldier disembarks from his vehicle, stepping off of it while its still several feet off of the ground. He lands smoothly and starts moving forward, his determined stride eating up distance. The connection to the security system on the rooftop entrance to the building doesnt stand up to a brief EMP before its physically shoved open. Once inside the Winter Soldier quickly ascertains that it wont be coming back online before moving into the building, weapon at the ready.

Kilroy is about half way done as he senses Fantomex's presence. He doesn't recognize the name but he does not the airborne landing. He knew that this was likely to happen and sends an invisible man made of coins to try and stop him but its not particularly skillful since Kilroy is supremely distracted.

Meanwhile, a slightly mischevious trench coated Carmen half way across the city peruses books herself on the occult, having had one of her favorite accounts taken over by law enforcement. There are plans being made.

As chaos wreaks across the city, multiple heroes spring into action, curtailing the worst of the actions by the spirits of animals and plants, but the spirits of the Gold go crazy, with mobs going after the free money as they scamper playfully in the streets.

Fantomex is used to go around undetected, getting stalked by an invisible critter made of coins is a new experience. He has very sharp senses, so he can hear the spirit coming, and tries to hide, reaching with his powers to misdirect. Termite inspector here, nothing to worry!

Smoothly, the Winter Soldier clears rooms. Hes fast but nothing seems to escape his notice. Whatever is happening here, hes going to find the cause. No room in bypassed and hes in and out quickly from each one, wasting neither time nor energy.

The workers have all gone home for the day so the offices are empty. If he had time there might be valuable papers to steal here but there is a roar coming from below which both of them could recognize as the vault, though because of the organization of the place, they're both likely to run into each other before arriving at the location of the ritual. The spirit possessing the coins is easily fooled and lets Fantomex go.

Adieu, you creepy invisible metal thing. Fantomex sneaks down, heading for the vault. The vault must be the most interesting place in the building, so chances are the crazy people doing this crazy thing are there. If they aren't, he is sure he will find something interesting anyway.

Only he is being stalked again, this time probably by a living person. Maybe a ninja, he moves quietly. Would ninja kill a termite inspector? Odds are they would. He hurries up. If he gets caught, the Vault would make a more stylish battlefield. That, you see, is also important.

Is that movement up ahead? The Winter Soldiers slows down for a heartbeat to listen better, but doesn't stop for long. Whether or not someone is up ahead doesn't make much difference to the cold hearted killer and killing him wouldn't slow him down. The muzzle of the weapon sweeps each hallway and room he enters as he makes his way towards the vault, the likely location of his objective.

The ritual is nearing completion. He has gotten much farther than he expected. His secrets, his coordination and his diversionary plan seem to be working though he notes the single individual approaching the vault. The magic is enough to make the hair on the back of one's neck stand up, and the entire area thrums with power....the stone titans are walking in front of Kilroy, protecting him whilst he finishes....

Meanwhile, across the city, a circle of chalk is being made in a basement. What worked once, can work again...

Fantomex is sneaky. As much as he can afford with someone probably dangerous behind him. When he steps into the ritual area he draws one of his handguns, and keeps close to the wall. "Bonjour," he greets, "you have caused quite the disturbance, monsieur. Now, stop. Don't make me kill you."

Magic doesnt interest the Winter Soldier much, but he notes the feeling hes getting as he continues forward, only to find himself staring through the optic on his rifle at another interloper in a mask and large, stone monsters. As hes just turned a corner he stays where he is, using as much of it as cover as possible, keeping his weapon aimed and staying quiet until he knows more about the situation at hand. He seems unphased by anything ahead of him.

“I'd be ashamed to die sir, but the chaos outside had to happen for the magical balance anyway, I've managed to keep it contained, but more importa...” he shudders. Something was wrong. Something was pulling away force of magic around him. Indeed, only the power of the coin and the location were ceasing it entirely.

The titans looked a little less lethargic.

important to finish! Assuming that whatever it was was trying to stop him, he moved to finish the ritual....almost....there!

Fantomex keeps a gun aimed to Kilroy, then draws the second one and aims for the Winter Soldier when he appears. Aiming to the stone giants seems pointless, but they don't seem very spry. "Ashamed to die? Well, that is an interesting way to put it. Seriously, stop."

As soon as he realises he's spotted the Winter Soldier goes into action, apparently a man of few words. The dot on his reflex sight finds itself on Fantomex before the Winter Soldier presses the trigger on his weapon, unleashing a trio of black tipped shaped tungsten core penetrators at the other man. The slow moving giants can wait, for now.

Kilroy stops whether he likes it or not. By now he can feel the magic leaving him and pours every ounce of will he has left to finish the ritual...and he does! But just barely....the mayhem begins to lessen in the city, and the weather to clear. The stone giants begin to fall down. And its about now that someone at DHS has noticed THERE ARE NO GUARDS AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE.

An alert begins to sound in the vault.

Meanwhile, in a chalk circle in the floor across state lines in Jersey, a rather pleased Carmen Sandiego is looking at one reincorporated and highly confused God/Almost Endless formerly known as the Economy. And Kilroy finds himself without any magic in the middle of one of the most secure facilities in the world.

And Fantimex finds himself with three holes in the chest caused by armor piercing bullets. "Sacre bleu," he falls to his knees. "Not nice." He should be dead, but of course he is not. He only lost some important but redundant organs, and the nanites in his blood are already doing some basic repairs. He shares the pain with E.V.A. and avoids going into shock.

Even as he falls the handgun aimed to the Winter Soldier remains steady, and the man in white fires thrice, sending high calibre ceramic bullets towards the assassin's head and chest.

As his target manages somehow to let off some rounds of his own, the Winter Soldier dodges back around the corner, letting Fantimex's heavy ceramic rounds smash into the wall, aside from the one that catches him alongside of his ribs, drawing a line of blood. Then the rifle appears around the corner again, this time with a metal hand gripping the trigger of the underbarrel grenade launcher. Apparently, he doesn't intend to play nice.

Kilroy is without magic and is fortunate that the two warriors are utterly ignoring him. He pulls out his last ace in the hole. The last spell not used....he takes out a can of reflective spray paint and begins to tag a wall. A short while later he sounds a chime and a rather gorgeous looking woman appears on the other side. She reaches her hand through...and pulls Kilroy inside, leaving only the tagged wall behind.

Fantomex was trying to pay attention to Kilroy, but someone put three bullets in his chest. That is distracting! By the time the Winter Soldier brings out his grenade launcher, he is moving very quickly, trying to catch the mage... too late! He shots a few rounds to the cyborg, but chances are he is only hitting his metal arm. Maybe the grenade launcher too.

But apparently he is not quick enough, pieces of French thief everywhere. Oh, the humanity! Oh, the misdirection. Hopefully that epic death illusion is enough he can sneak out past the Winter Soldier before half the police of New York arrive.

Just before the sound of an explosion the Winter Soldier's rifle is shot out of his hand and his prosthetic is banged around a little. There's no hesitation as he draws a pistol from his hip and moves to clear the vault, ignoring the various pieces of Frenchmen he perceives once he's ascertained there's not enough left to put up a fight. He makes his way to the spray painted wall and reaches out to touch it with his cybernetics, looking at his hand afterwards. And then, after one more look around, he skulks back from when he came.

The police and DHS and BSA swarm on the place, now identified as the center of...whatever it was. But...all hint is gone. And they begin to dust for prints or any other clue that will give them an idea of what has taken place here...the greatest theft in history by a single person...but one up there is accomplished when a certain shiny coin is grabbed by Fantomex...