He walked toward the edge to make sure, but as he did so, he saw a red figure falling from the sky.

The suited figure crashed to the rooftop in front of him, creating a small crater. Vecto was still alive. Slowly, he rose from the smoke, his suit flickering. Then the suit disappeared, revealing a mass of weaponry floating in the air.

"What-what are you?" The kid stumbled back.

The weapons dropped to the rooftop, leaving a single orb hovering in the air. It was accompanied by a small slab of graphite, which floated toward him.

The kid watched as metallic pieces transported around the orb. First a chest piece, encompassing the orb, then a waist, followed by pieces of arms and legs. It formed the shape of a nearly 8-foot-tall humanoid robot, each piece hovering next to another instead of physically connected. The slab of graphite vibrated in the air and slung itself to the robot's hand as if magnetized. It began to slowly disintegrate within his outer shield into the shape of a pencil, forming a sharp tip. The next thing the thief knew, a metallic hand had grabbed his collar and was lifting him in the air. The pencil was pointed at his eye.

"Go ahead; I'm not afraid of you!" the kid yelled.

"Where's the gun, you swindle drifter?" Vecto demanded.

"Look here . . . whatever you are. I only stole it 'cause I had to. I got a wife and family to feed and ain't got no job. So give me a break, will ya?'

Vecto restrained himself from stabbing the kid for having blown up his car. "The algorithms of your speech suggest you're lying," he said. He disintegrated the rest of the graphite and reached for the kid's mask, pulling it off his head.

It revealed a clean-shaven face. The kid had slicked-back brown hair and purple eyes.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? You just gave away my secret identity!"

"That's the idea," Vecto said. "Now, where's the weapon?"

"You know, it would be nice if you let me down," the kid said. "You do that, and I'll tell you where the rifle is."

Vecto grudgingly complied.

As soon as he was on the ground, the thief jumped back, kicked up the handle of his Crossblade from the ground, and snatched it. He yanked the chain with the blade attached, slinging it in the air, then ran at Vecto, snatched the flying blade by one of its slots, and struck Vecto in the face with it. The chain retracted into the handle, reattaching the blade. Vecto remained still.

"Enough!" Vecto responded. He knocked the sword from the thief's hands and pounded the nozzle of his Blaster 3,000 gun into the kid's chest, sending him flying. The kid crashed through a slanted glass window and fell out of sight, into the building.

That's for blowing up my car, Vecto thought.