Software Heist

BLITZ Team: Software Heist is a comic-style art panel project created by RampGroovesFighter. It is the third episode of the series.

## Synopsis

Barton and Ward must stop Kurt and Gren from stealing a top-secret unreleased anti-virus software, while Kylee gets jealous of the company's pretty young receptionist.

## Plot

At the end of a long work day, Nia, the receptionist of VeriTech, is working on her computer trying to reorganize her reports for the day. Suddenly, a large black vehicle careens through the front door, skidding across the floor and hitting the front desk. Nia ducks before the impact to avoid getting hurt.

Kurt and Gren jump out of the vehicle, along with several B.A.D. henchmen, and Kurt orders the henchmen to search the building for the files. Suddenly, the Double-Iron appears, and Barton and Ward park on the curb and rush into the building. They fight off Kurt and his team, and Ward calls for backup while Barton helps Nia out of the mess behind her desk. Nia briefly hugs Barton, thanking him for his efforts to save her, as several of the company's employees emerge from the building's staircase, with many questions about what happened.

After the new press leaves, Barton takes Nia to ASSD's headquarters, and she is seated in the control room. Barton and Nia sit and converse while Kylee works on repairing the main computer. Kylee begins to notice Barton get slightly flustered when Nia compliments his fighting ability, and as a result Kylee becomes upset. When Barton asks what's wrong, Kylee responds by saying, "Nothing, I- I just need a minute."

Barton and Nia continue talking while Kylee goes downstairs and begins to cry. Jacky notices she is upset and asks if she'd like to talk about it. Kylee tells him she is upset because Barton seems to be infatuated with Nia, and Nia feels the same way about Barton. Jacky tells Kylee that Barton is simply being friendly, as Nia just survived a car crash while she was at work.

Barton is preparing dinner for the squadron later that night when Kylee walks up to him. She asks him what he thinks of Nia, to which he replies, "She's a very interesting person. I enjoy her company." Then Kylee proceeds to ask Barton what he thinks of her, to which he responds, "You're a goodhearted person with a mission, a quality I tend to admire in ASSD." This makes Kylee blush, but before the scene goes any further, the alarm bell rings. Felicia's voice reads a report over the intercom, stating that Kurt and Gren have broken back into VeriTech, and stolen the microchip containing the unreleased program. Barton grabs his coat and car keys, takes his food off the heat, and bolts for the door, telling Ward and Jacky to come with him. Nia asks Barton if she can go as well, and Barton allows her to go as long as she remains inside a vehicle. Nia and Barton head for the Double-Iron, Ward gets into the Scarab, and Jacky uses the Grenadier.

In Rivvia, Kurt gets into a small black civilian car and heads for the highway, with Gren in the Everam closely behind. COVID cars guard them. Barton leads Ward and Jacky through the streets and they meet up with Kurt on Expressway Six. Ward attacks Kurt's car from behind, damaging the rear. Kurt brake-checks Ward, causing him to fishtail and hit the back wall. Asa result, the Scarab loses a tire. Jacky continues pursuing Kurt a Gren while Barton pulls over and turns around help Ward.

Barton gets out and calls for backup. Several minutes later, Shannon pulls up in the Spider, and Barton instructs her to go to Jacky's location and assist him in defeating Kurt and Gren. Suddenly, Kurt passes by, flipping the bird at Barton and Ward on his way by, and Jacky follows closely behind. Shannon whips a U-turn and goes after them, with Gren appearing once again. Ward pulls out a laser pistol and shoots the Everam in the left-rear wheel-well, knocking the tire loose. Ward says he feels better now that he got to return the favor. Ward runs over to the Everam to arrest Gren, but she jumps out and catches a ride on a COVID car, beating a hasty retreat.

Later, Barton, Ward, and Nia have returned to headquarters and Barton has finished preparing dinner, when Jacky radios in, stating that he and Shannon have managed to get the microchip back from Kurt. Nia congratulates Barton and Ward for their hard work, to which they both say they are glad to be doing their job. After this, Barton jinxes Ward, but says his name after a few seconds.

The next morning, Barton and Ward are getting the paperwork signed with Nia's employer, who has arrived to pick up Nia. Kylee appears with another piece of paper, which is revealed to be a copy of the accident report, and states that details of the event have been sent to the Rivvia City Police Department for further investigation. Nia thanks Barton and Ward for rescuing her and gives them both a kiss to the cheek, before she leaves. In the last panel, Kylee doesn't seem too happy about this, but rather angry.

## Trivia

* It has been confirmed that Nia and Barton may be crushing on eachother in this episode, though RampGroovesFighter strongly encourages viewers to "not tell Kylee that".
* Kurt and Gren wreck a total of 17 civilian vehicles, including Kurt's black Hurricane, during the episode.
* The panels where Ward's Scarab loses a tire are inspired by a scene in a children's cartoon where a police car loses a tire after accidentally running over a curb.
	+ In exchange, the tire is lost after Ward hits the highway siding due to Kurt's antics.
* B.A.D. members try to steal the company's software twice during this episode, albeit RampGroovesFighter has stated that B.A.D. among others has tried more than twice to steal software from this company prior to Software Heist.
* RampGroovesFighter has given hints about "other paths" in the final battle at the end of the episode.
	+ If Ward hadn't tried to attack hurt from behind, he wouldn't have crashed the Scarab.
	+ If Kurt had brought a fighter instead of a civilian vehicle, the Scarab would've lost a lot more than just a tire.
		- This fighter would likely have been a new model, designed specifically for this episode.
	+ If Barton hadn't stopped to help Ward, Gren would've been arrested.
	+ If Ward had shot the front wheel-well instead of the rear, either he would've missed or the truck would roll over, and cause a pileup when the COVID cars came barreling through.
	+ If Ward had braked suddenly when Kurt braked, the Everam would've been destroyed.
		- This is likely due to the fact that the Scarab has extreme braking power and traction, and the Everam likely would've crushed its front end on the rear shock bumper of the Scarab.