Gotham City
June 12
22:36 EDT
Eve Tsing touched down on the roof of Gotham Central Bank, the helicopter that had been her transport taking off silently, its black paint job allowing it to blend in seamlessly with the inky darkness of the starless night sky above. She wasted no time making her way over to an air duct. Removing a short-bladed sword from a sheath on her back, she used it to quickly pry open the vent before crawling inside and dropping gracefully down the shaft to a crossway between several other ducts. She glanced in all four directions and then scurried on her knees and elbows down the one that would take her to the vault, remembering to keep her head down in the cramped space. According to the schematics she had memorized, this route should take her directly to the room outside the vault door.
Within minutes, she had removed another vent in the ceiling and descended to the floor. Scanning the room quickly for any signs of security, she saw none and relaxed a little, returning her sword to its sheath. If there were any security guards on duty, they would probably be more concerned with the little distraction outside her partners in the Light were supposed to be supplying than the vault. That should give her the time and space she needed to work. Still, she only had a limited window of time in which to get the job done, so she couldn't afford to dawdle.
Walking over to the massive vault door, she pulled a small, thin cable from a compact device strapped to her wrist. After pulling off the cover to the security terminal situated next to the vault door, she plugged the cable into its exposed circuitry and tapped a few keystrokes into her own mini-computer. It would take a few minutes for the program the client had given to her to crack the access codes to the vault. As the small holographic display projected by the device on her wrist showed its progress gradually cycling in what seemed like a never ending loop, Eve counted down the seconds. 45. 30. 20. 15. 10. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1...
Done. With the click of a button, she switched off the display, the hologram blinking out of existence, and the cable retracted, slinking back into the port on her wrist. She could now hear the mechanisms within the vault door coming to life, the sound fully audible despite the several feet of solid steel separating the inner workings of the door and herself. With a final click and a hiss of escaping air, the vault door popped open, although this only left an opening a few inches wide. She struggled to push the massive seal aside, leaning against it with all her strength. In the end, she only managed to expand the opening a few feet. It was enough, however, for her to slip through and into the vault itself.
Walking past the numerous shelves that lined the inner walls and completely disregarding their contents (mostly lockboxes and safes), she made her way to the back of the large, high-ceilinged room. There she found what she had come for; a nondescript black case about the size of a hat box in the shape of a perfect cube, its outer surface unmarked except for a narrow seam that ran all the way around it. Eve grabbed the box and immediately headed back out through the gap she had made. Her getting paid was hanging on making a quick escape without any holdups, and she hadn't come here tonight and risked getting caught breaking into Gotham's most high profile, well-protected bank to not get paid.
Hearing a series of explosions outside, she almost thought the gig was up, but after freezing in her tracks for a few moments and not seeing a S.W.A.T team come bursting in with guns blazing, she ignored the noises and made her way into the bank proper, figuring it was all a part of the prearranged distraction. She darted over to a large stone column, taking cover behind it, the black box cradled under her arm. Leaning out to see if there were any obstacles to her quick getaway, she was somewhat surprised to see there was not so much as a single security guard there. Her suspicion slightly piqued by this, she checked every corner in the room before she came out from behind the column. Dispensing with stealth for the sake of an expedient escape, she took off on foot, racing toward one of the side exits.
Suddenly, she came across a pile of rubble and dust on the floor. Glancing up, she saw there was a large hole blown out of the ceiling high above. Whether it had been made as part of the diversion or by her extractors she didn't care or have time to figure out, as a long black rope was dropped down through the hole and landed at her feet. Taking hold of it, she paused a second to make sure the box was secure before yanking once on the rope. Without a moment's delay, she began to rise as she was hoisted out through the opening in the roof by the same helicopter that had dropped her off barely twenty minutes before.
Gotham Harbor
June 13
1:36 EDT
Eve strolled through the main reception hall of the Iceberg Lounge. It was mostly devoid of human presence at the moment, the majority of it's usual clientele having called it a night. Those people that remained were either hired muscle or personal friends of the club's owner, The Penguin. Cobblepot himself was seated on a throne of what appeared to be carved ice, alone save for a pair of skimpily dressed females standing on either side of him, who were hanging over the stunted man and fawning obsequiously, and a single tuxedoed bodyguard.
Eve placed the box in Penguin's lap, his deformed hands folding over it as she backed a few steps away from his throne.
"I take it you didn't run into any problems." The Penguin spoke, a long-stemmed cigarette protruding from the corner of his mouth just under the tip of his hooked, beak-like nose.
She shook her head silently. It was the truth, for the most part. She had avoided the superheroes who seemed to be running rampant everywhere these days, and luckily she hadn't run afoul of Gotham's infamous cowled guardian.
"Excellent. Now, let's take a look at the little prize you were so kind as to fetch for me."
Penguin pried open the top of the box, revealing the object nestled in its velour-lined interior. Eve could almost have mistaken it for a large stone, except it was almost perfectly elliptical. It looked for all the world like a cement football there grasped in the fused fingers of the gleefully grinning crime lord.
"Titanis walleri. Also known as the terror bird. A flightless predator that died out nearly 2 million years ago." he explained. "This is one of the only intact fossil specimens that remain in the world."
Eve gave no indication of interest or concern. It might have seemed odd to some infiltration specialists that they had been asked to retrieve such a thing, but it wasn't for her to question the predilections of her clients. Or her clients' clients, as was the case. Then again, why should it seem odd for a man named after a flightless bird to be interested in extinct bird species?
Looking very pleased, Penguin handed the egg to one of his companions who carried it off to a side room. The short man then regarded Eve with a gaze that was almost predatory. "Tell Luthor I will send him what he asked. Ah, but how will I refer to this mysterious new operative? Most of the people who do work for me take on avian code-names like my own personal sobriquet. But what shall we call you?"
She paused for a moment, considering, before she answered.
"Call me Harrier."