A Common Mistake
By
Scott "RaZrEsHaT" Hall

He sat in the dark and waited. The black tint to the coating on his armor made him nearly invisible in the darkness. All the moving pieces were in place and in motion; all that was left to do was wait.

It was all going according to plan, as it always did. Raptor never had a plan that didn't work out. Not since he left home; and this plan was perfect. Everything so far had happened exactly as he envisioned.

**********

His Heads-Up-Display showed the countdown. Just as the timer dropped past 1 the lights atop the Heritage Bank building flickered and went out. The power, and therefore the security system, would be down for two minutes.

The Death Sled wobbled in an updraft as it hovered toward the window ledge at the building's top floor. The world below was completely unaware of the events transpiring above, except for those who needed to know.

The claws on his index fingers made quick work of the glass and within seconds Raptor was inside. The Death Sled floated away-set to auto; it would fly a lazy figure-8 until called.

The pressurized rubber soles on his armor's boots made his passage nearly inaudible as he quickly moved toward the security panel. Once there he removed a small laptop computer and connected to the panel's uplink port. Several keystrokes later the system was his. When the power rebooted the security system would be routed through that laptop and be completely under his control and best of all-no one would know. With the security system under control, Raptor turned to one of the two prizes he came for.

The main vault of the Heritage Bank was more than forty-five stories below him, but Raptor knew of a much greater prize atop the building. Here in the massive office of the bank's president sat a second vault that contained more than just money. The vault contained priceless pieces of art, jewelry and heirlooms. It was little known outside of the Cleveland elite, but the president of the bank offered the safe as a storage area for such out-of-the-ordinary commodities.

Such items could easily fetch millions of dollars through the right channels and in turn be used to fund any sort of activities, including the founding of a criminal empire. Raptor's contacts claimed to be able to move every item he could confirm to be in the vault. Once this heist was over he would have the funds to form his own criminal syndicate and take control of the city's underworld.

The vault door would have been intimidating based purely on its size, but Raptor knew that it was the complex inner workings of the door's lock that should have caused concern. Not only was the vault door several feet thick of solid steel, but it also housed a computerized lock that maintained its own power supply. It would be impossible to pick the combination, impossible to breach…for a normal criminal. But Raptor had decided to circumvent the lock altogether.

A quick application of his titanium foam set the vault breach in motion. Slowly over the next twenty five minutes the foam would expand. Due to its greater than steel strength, the vault door would be eventually pushed out and the lock broken. Normally this would set off a long list of alarms, but not with the security system firmly under his control. Then he would be a rich man.

**********

A creak somewhere nearby in the building caused Raptor to shift momentarily. It had been ten minutes since the vault breach foam was applied and his second objective was almost late in arriving.

As brilliant as he was, Raptor was realistic enough to know that even his plans had faults. Or at least they had aspects that even he could not cover-after all he was only one man. But a brilliant man such as he could use even that to his advantage. Use those areas that were outside your ability to control to your advantage by planning for that fact.

The building's security system had one glaring flaw that could be take advantage of: the ventilation system had no means to detect movement within it. Raptor knew this and since his plan used the building's own security system, the plan inherently had the same flaw. He knew of the flaw, as did others he was sure; however he had planned accordingly.

Twenty feet from where Raptor sat in the shadows the cover for the ceiling vent slowly popped out and then disappeared up into the ventilation shaft. A long minute went by before a pair of athletic legs slowly slid out of the vent. Eventually the full body of a man hung from the ventilation shaft for a long second before silently dropping to the ground.

Cavalier was Cleveland's young and upcoming champion. He didn't appear to have any real powers; however his amazing conditioning and athletic prowess made him more than a formidable adversary. His string of victories over the super villainous criminals of the somewhat hero-less city grew weekly.

Through the night-vision lenses of his helmet Raptor could see how the hero could be intimidating to lesser men-the kind of men who put too much value in brawn and disrespected the value of brains, men just like his father. He quickly sized up his foe and inventoried the hero's assets. Coiled on Cavalier's right hip was his Stirrup Grapple Line and along his forearms ran his reinforced Battle Bands. Both tools had become famous in Cavalier's battles with the villains of Cleveland's nights. Successes over the likes of Gideon Steel, Dark Damon and The Rodent had made Cavalier's tools of the trade famous in their own right.

At full speed, Raptor launched out of the darkness; one of his Keel Bombs already having been tossed toward the hero. A quick forearm thrust by Cavalier launched the small grenade-like weapon back toward its maker. Raptor easily ducked the projectile and continued toward his adversary. Somewhere behind him the Keel Bomb detonated in a thick cloud of smoke.

Several steps away from his foe, Raptor squeezed his forearms just right and his Hallux Claws sprung to their deployed position. The foot long blades stuck out from his wrist guards and even through his armor's plating he could feel the electricity dancing along each blade. A long and powerful sweep with his right blade barely missed Cavalier as the hero stepped just out of reach.

Cavalier blocked a second blade swipe with his left forearm guard and grimaced with the resultant shock. A second thrust by Raptor's right arm was caught by Cavalier at the wrist and elbow. The athletic hero turned and leaned over as he pulled with tremendous effort.

Despite the mass of his armor, Raptor could feel a sense of weightlessness as he flew through the air-landing on his back several feet from Cavalier. The metallic plating of his armor absorbed the majority of the impact and Raptor quickly regained his composure.

Smoke from the deflected Keel Bomb now billowed from behind Cavalier as Raptor stood up and turned to face him. Both Hallux Blades retracted back into their housing in his armor's forearms as Raptor began to move forward again. His left hand punched out and a small pop registered as his Talon Blast went off. The dangerous taser wire uncoiled outward as its dart shot toward Cavalier's chest.

The hero easily launched backward and just outside of the wire's range. His leap took him just inside the edge of the Keel Bomb's cloud of smoke and before he could react, a small explosion shook that end of the room.

A thick net blasted onto Cavalier's back-knocking the wind out of him temporarily. The heavy twine of the woven net proved to be more powerful than the hero's impressive strength and he was immediately incapacitated. His head stuck defenselessly out as the tightly wrapped net left his body motionless.

"That was a beautiful display of playing your part." Raptor's voice contained metallic resonance from the electronic air filtration system of his helmet. He stood gloating over the tightly restrained form of Cavalier and continued to revel in his success.

"But don't feel too bad, hero. Everything that took place here was choreographed down to the second. It was not an accident that my Keel Bomb exploded where it did. It was not an accident that you landed in the target area of my net. And it was not an accident that you lost." Egotism flowed from Raptor like water bursting through a breached dam. He proceeded to reach down toward his bound adversary, pulling the man into a seated position and extending the Hallux Claw on his right arm as he did so.

The defeated hero faced him and made no attempt to move as his mask was removed by the gloating villain. Raptor had decided that he wanted to see the face of every hero he would dispatch during his career of villainy; however he was not prepared for what he would see on his very first one.

The exposed face that stared up at him looked very familiar. It was in truth a stranger, but the hero's blonde hair, blue eyes and strong jaw looked far too much like Raptor's brother to go unnoticed. Feeling a strange sense of shock, Raptor took several steps backward while staring at the hero's face. He reached up and unhinged his helmet, revealing his own messy blonde hair. Raptor slid his helmet under his left arm and pointed directly at Cavalier's face. His own blue eyes grew focused but somehow distant. Raptor's mind reeled at the familiarity of the vigilante hero.

"I won!" A sense of deep and long repressed anger resonated in his voice. "I…I beat you."

Confusion played across Cavalier's face as he silently stared up at Raptor.

"Now it's my time! Now it's my turn!" Emotion built in Raptor's voice as he continued to yell at more than just his captive. "It's my time to be on top. You got everything-all the attention! Well, now we will see who the favorite is! We will now see who is loved best!"

"Who is loved…?" Cavalier's confusion was interrupted.

"Shut up!" Raptor's left fist cut the hero's question short. "It was all about you for long enough. Now it's about me! It is my time to shine. When I am done here there will be no stopping me. The criminal syndicates of this city will belong to me. Then you will see."

Cavalier slowly slid his hands behind his back. Just inside the back side of his spandex beltline was a small blade. Using the blade in his right hand, he made a subtle sawing motion and began to cut through the net.

"I was overlooked, never getting the respect I deserved. A simple smile or nod would have been enough, but no! Now it will be unmistakable. Now I will be able to hold my head high and know what was never said. That I am not just as good as you, but that I am better than you!"

Cavalier continued to stare into Raptor's eyes. He had no idea what the ranting villain was talking about, however he was thankful for the opportunity to work on the net. Strand after strand snapped under the sharp blade of his tiny knife. In another minute or two the hero would be able to break free of the net's grasp.

"No, I won't be simply satisfied knowing for myself. I will make sure that he knows….knows that I was not a disappointment!" A tear formed at the corner of Raptor's eye as he brought both fists up. "With you out of the way there will be nothing left in my way. I will own Cleveland. I could even blow the city up if I wanted!"

Cavalier wasn't exactly sure what his adversary was referring to, but he needed a few more seconds to cut a couple more strands of the net.

"He'll never love you."

"How dare you!" Raptor lashed out in blind rage with another blow from his left fist. Cavalier was lucky that the villain was left handed or it might have been the extended blade on Raptor's right fist that he was struck with. "He has no choice. He never appreciated what I was good at. He only wanted your trophies for sports. Trophies for the science fair were never good enough. Well, we will see when the whole city is my troph…"

A thunderous metallic thud echoed from down the hall where the huge vault door was finally pushed off its hinges by the expanding titanium foam.

Raptor looked in the direction of the sound. Clarity returned to his eyes as he realized he was off schedule and that he had deviated from the plan. A murderous snarl flashed onto his face as he returned his gaze to the bound Cavalier.

"Time to finish this."

Cavalier threw every ounce of muscle of his body into motion. The net covering him burst apart under the strain and both his arms flew upward in a double fisted strike. The blow connected with the jutted chin of Raptor-throwing the villain backwards and onto his back.

From on his back Raptor sat up and reached out with his right arm-firing his other Talon Blast. The uncoiling taser easily missed the target and showed exactly how dazed he was by the blow to his chin.

After easily dodging the Talon Blast, Cavalier closed the distance to the semi-prone Raptor and landed a powerful kick to the villain's already sore jaw. Raptor's head snapped back and smacked dangerously off of the floor.

Instantly rendered unconscious, Raptor's villainous career was over, at least for now.

**********

The flashbulbs were close to becoming as incapacitating as a villain's nefarious trap, but Cavalier was quickly becoming used to the attention. Reporters gathered around him as the police nearby wheeled out the unconscious form of Raptor.

"How did you do it? The security footage seemed to indicate that he had the upper hand." One reporter from the Cleveland Chronicle questioned.

"Easy. He made the same mistake they all make." Cavalier coyly revealed. He was quickly finding out that the secret to his own fame was largely determined on how he played the media's game.

"What was that?" The reporter from channel 8 happily played ball for a good sound bit.

"I caught him monologuing."