A tall figure passed between the strike team members and stepped to the front.
She was a bald woman with blue skin, black eyes, and a lean, powerful build. She wore a tight, dark-blue Vought tactical suit.
In the month since joining the Vought Group, she had single-handedly destroyed three criminal organizations led by supervillains. Her swift, ruthless methods had made her famous throughout Vought.
Her name was Nebula, but people more often called her by another name: the renowned Ms. V.
"Give up," Nebula said coldly. "Under the Wartime Emergency Act, you are under arrest for attempting to move critical assets and fund hostile forces. Your property has been requisitioned in full."
"Fuck the Ellis Act! Fuck the Vought Group!"
The financial oligarch, who was accustomed to deciding the fates of thousands with a few words, screamed in fear and fury, his face contorted.
"I'm one of this country's biggest taxpayers! I bankrolled those politicians! You can't touch me!"
He pointed at Nebula and the others and roared at the bodyguards standing in front of him, "Shoot! Kill that blue-skinned freak! Kill them all! Five million dollars each!"
Five million dollars was enough to make anyone brave.
The dozen or so trained private bodyguards immediately pulled their triggers.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
Flames burst from the muzzles of submachine guns and automatic pistols.
A dense hail of bullets swept toward Nebula and the five strike team members.
But to Nebula, the muzzle flashes looked like tufts of cotton slowly expanding.
Even the bullets hurtling through the air seemed no faster than metal peanuts inching along.
To the bodyguards, Nebula suddenly blurred into a trail of blue afterimages they could not track.
Every bullet aimed at her tore through empty air and struck the expensive oil paintings and antique