A Scripta

“You’ll be drawn to them…”

Grim heard Stefan’s words as he walked among the crowd at Founder’s Falls. He caught some glances from Crey, but they didn’t want to start any trouble with him at the moment, and he didn’t want to get himself involved with them right now either. He went to the bank and let himself in.

The tellers weren’t busy, so they glanced up at his entrance. Grim looked around to see the security guard at the door. He nodded to him, and made a big show of pulling out his Hero ID. He went to sit beside a glass cubicle, where customer representatives and loan officers sat.

“Can I help you?” called a pleasant lady.

Grim smiled and got up. “I’d like to open a few mutual funds.”

“Do you have an account here?”

“No.” Grim knew that this could take some time, and he needed an excuse to wait. He sat across from her, and waited until she was settled before handing her his Hero ID.

“Do you want to go by your real name?”

“No,” he said, as she scanned the barcode on the back of his ID. He watched as his hero name, what agencies he was with, what his powers were, and who was listed as beneficiary. NONE. He'd have to fix that.

“Hm,” the lady said. “Not that many references.”

Just then, the door burst open. “This is a robbery!” yelled an electronic voice, and Grim jumped out of his seat to face them.

Arachnos.

The Wolf Spiders moved like lightning, grabbing a worker and throwing her into the other room. The Crab Spiders dashed into the vault, while Grim calmly walked out of the customer area to come face to face with a Night Widow.

Grim grinned, “Hello,” he said, and she threw a grenade at him. Grim dove back behind the glass – he realized that was probably a stupid move – and the grenade burst into smoke. Grim reached out and summoned a wandering soul -You hung yourself in the vault in 1929?- who appeared before him. The soul went out to the Night Widow, who screamed and froze in fear. Then Grim summoned darkness that encompassed the whole room, though he could see through it fine.

He walked out of the area and pawed through the smoke, seeing four people cowering in fear of the soul. The soul began to suck the life force out of them, even has he stood there. Grim walked beyond him to the room where the teller was held.

The Arachnos soldiers were well trained, but when he stepped out of the inky abyss that was the other room, they also cowered in fear. He put his hand out, and uttered a spell that would strike them with fear and dark energy that he gathered from the other room. He felt the power in him, writhing like tendrils, searching for a way out of him. He obliged, and threw a ball of darkness in their direction. It exploded at their feet, but the energy surged through them, stunning them. He pulled out his wand and struck them down with black energy.

"They're in the vault!" the teller screamed. Grim nodded, watched as the woman ran past him to the door. Grim turned, seething with darkness. He pulled together shadow, hardening them and making them like tentacles that lashed out and grabbed at the Wolf Soldiers. They were able to fire at him, and three bullets hit him. He felt the impact, but they didn't penetrate his skin. If they were point-blank, they would have. He raised his hand, and uttered a spell where all they would see was horrors of the Netherworld. They cowered, and Grim let loose again with his black wand.

He advanced past their prone bodies and headed to the vault. A Crab Spider was just heading his way, his arms full of bags. He fired at him using the guns and missiles on his back. Grim got hit, and his shoulder was blown apart. The soul stepped forward and robbed the Spider of his life force, even while Grim did the same and Raina's gift put things to rights. Then, Grim stood up slowly. He unsheathed his blade and stood in a crouch like Kal had taught him.

"You're kidding, right?" The Spider chuckled. "That won't go through my armor."

Grim took two steps and lunged, aiming right for the gut. The dagger slipped through the armored plates like butter, and Grim felt no resistance. He thrust further, feeling the stickiness of the blood flowing over the blade, and he cut horizontally, splitting the man's abdomen open.

All he could do was gasp and put his hands to his stomach, as blood flowed like a river and his intestines leaked out. He fell hard to the floor. Grim raised his hands, and spoke aloud the summoning chant to pull the soul out. The soul flew out of his body, and Grim cut the bond the held it. The man now looked up at him, his eyes empty. Grim bent to pull off the Spider's gauntlet to get at his fingers.

"Boy, you suck."

Grim whirled around to see dark-haired young man, dressed casually in jeans and a grey t-shirt. The young man, who looked no older than sixteen, shook his head at Grim. "What a mess."

"Who are you?"

"You'd better get out of here before the heroes come."

"I am a hero."

He looked at the body in a pool of blood. "Doesn't look like it from here."

Grim got up, sheathing the blade. The soul hovered.

"Well, dismiss him."

"I can't use that magic."

"Just do it!"

Grim made the rune and uttered the words that he knew from the time when he had the white magic and could send spirits on their way to their rest. He watched as the soul disappeared. Twice in twelve hours - could it be...?

"Let's go." The young man led Grim out, just as the doors burst open and a team of heroes came in.

They looked at Grim. "Stop right there!" a man in tights yelled.

Grim looked around. "Me?"

"Hold him!"

"Wait, you got the wrong guy. It's Arachnos."

The man in tights glared at him. "Likely story. You look like a robber to me."

A woman, also in tights came forward. "He works with dark magic," she said, looking down at him, disgusted. "I can smell it on him."

Grim blew her a kiss. The woman's look got even more disgusted.

An archer had his arrow on him, and a man held a fireball loosely in his hand. All four of them were glaring at Grim.

"Really, you got the wrong man." He looked around - the bank was empty of people. No one could come to his defense. Even the young kid was gone.

"Search the place," the first man ordered, and the archer pulled his arrow down, and the firebrand squished the fireball in his hand with a hiss. Grim would have paled if his skin wasn't black. If they went in the back and saw that Spider...

They headed into the back. Grim started moseying on over to the door, but got stopped with a glare from the leader. Grim held up his hands. "My hero ID is over there, on the desk."

The leader folded his arms against him. The archer came back. "No one here. There were some bags of money on the floor."

Grim stared at him. But the body...even the teleporter wouldn't have kicked in with a dead body...

"Caught you in the act!" the leader accused him.

Grim focused and found himself rolling his eyes. "If you'd get off your high horse and listen for a second, there were Arachnos here."

The firebrand said, "The radio did say Arachnos..."

"Do I look like Arachnos?" Grim pressed.

The woman and the leader didn't look too convinced. The archer and the firebrand merely shrugged, and started to the door. Grim went to the desk where he had left his ID and retrieved it. The leader held the door open for the woman and Grim. "Sorry, buddy," the leader said.

"It's okay. Heat of battle and all that."

He nodded. "Okay, let's see what else is on the radio..."

Grim left them, and wondered where the body went, and who the hell was that kid.