October 7th, 2014
11:49 AM

“Alright, let’s go over the plan one last time,” Bain said. Through her binoculars, Rainbow could see the van approaching, parking opposite the Roberts Bank. “I’ve gotten wind of some good stuff being moved into the safety deposit boxes here, as well as a decent amount of cash, which we’ll need to get Hoxton out. It’s only a small branch, but security’s tightened a lot since the last time we were here.”

“Cameras all over the place, and they’re probably not hooked up on-site,” Dallas cut in. “If we want to get anything done here, we’ll need to start by taking those out.”

“Then the vault, two keycards and a timelock, four minutes,” Chains added.

“Whole lotta windows in that place. Someone passing by might see something,” Hoxton said.

“And that’s what I’m here for.”

There was a short silence before Wolf continued, “Once the timelock’s run out, we open the vault, Hoxton opens a few boxes, we grab the loot, back to the van and gone.”

“Sorry there isn’t more I can do except keep a lookout. With my wings back, I thought that...” She trailed off, thinking about the men she’d killed in the helicopter. She hadn’t even known she could throw a lightning bolt that powerful.

“...You know you don’t have to keep doing this. You can stop any time you want...”

“No. No going back. That’s what death means, right?”

Bain suddenly crackled into life again. “Actually, there is something you can do...”

“What is it, Bain?”

“Pretty cloudy today. A bit of rain might convince people to stay indoors, if they don’t have to go outside. And the less people outdoors, the less chance of being spotted.” Rainbow nodded slowly, looking up at the cloud cover. She could probably move that down a little, start a storm over just the building. It might look a little suspicious, but with any luck nobody would catch on before the clowns were done in there.

“So: shoot the cameras, shoot the guards, keep the crowd controlled and don’t lose patience with the timelock. Easy, right?” Dallas asked, and everyone grunted confirmation. “Let’s roll.”

Hoxton split off into the building on the right, Chains broke left, leaving Dallas and Wolf standing around in the gas station across the street. As she brought a cloud down, she heard a commotion inside the building Chains had entered; he was still inside when Hoxton entered the bank’s rear parking lot. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Auto mechanic. Tried to get me with a wrench. He won’t be bothering us again.”

“Chains, you didn’t... You know we’re professionals,” Bain said slowly.

“Relax, he’s breathin’. Slowly, but I didn’t kill him. I left Murkywater because of that shit, remember?” He turned to Hoxton, who pointed at a camera on the back wall. Instinctively, Rainbow flew up to gather more clouds, suspecting that there was about to be a rather larger commotion inside the bank.

“On three,” Dallas said. “One... two... three!” He fired the first shot at a camera out the front, and the rest of the crew jumped into action. Dallas and Wolf charged inside, shooting the two guards between the civilians before aiming upwards at the roof cameras. Hoxton shot out the rear camera as Chains kicked down the back door, stopping a fleeing civilian in her tracks and shoving her back inside with the others. All told, it hadn’t taken longer than ten seconds. “Uh... something just happened on TV, and the customers got all excited about it. Reality TV, you know how it is.“

As he turned off the pager, Rainbow decided that her cloud cover was probably sufficient now, and after rubbing her hooves together to build a static charge, bucked hard into the nearest cloud. The electricity arced between the clouds, triggering the precipitation in all of them. “There’s your cloud cover, guys,” she said. “Returning to overwatch. Oh, there’s someone heading into the mechanic’s to get out of the rain—”

“Motherfucker!” Hoxton shouted, placing a device against the wall and pressing a few buttons. Suddenly, the air was filled with a noise that, to Rainbow, seemed loud and agonising. It filled her hearing range and buzzed incessantly, leaving her unable to hear Bain’s concern over her state. When it finally subsided, Hoxton was shoving a man in a navy blue jacket into the bank, and she shook her head out to try and clear it, her ears still ringing badly.

“What the hell was that?!” she asked, louder than she meant to.

“Electronic jamming, to stop that guy from calling out when he found the mechanic,” Hoxton explained. “And you don’t have to shout, really...”

“I think it’s something about her being a pony, that the jamming frequency also set her off,” Bain explained. “Her vitals went crazy as soon as you activated it. Maybe you’d better let her know if you’re planning to do it again...”

“...oh. Sorry, Rainbow. Didn’t know.”

“Neither did I. And at least it’s over now. Nothing to be sorry for, Hox.” Still shuddering, she looked left and right down the street, not detecting anyone coming. “Nobody’s here. You should be good for a little while.”

“Hey, Wolf, you found that other keycard yet?” Dallas asked. “Manager said it’d be in one of the trunks.”

“I know what he said, and if one of you would come out here and help me, you’d have your card sooner!” Wolf shouted back. He immediately added, “Oh, wait, here it is. Never mind, guys. Everything’s cool.”

He came back into the building and stood on the left side of the vault as Dallas took up the right, pushing one of the bound civilians out of the way. “On three,” he said, counting down again before they both entered the keycards at once. Immediately, a digital display appeared above the vault: 4:00 3:59 3:58 3:57. “Out of our hands now...”

“Hurry up and fuckin’ wait,” Chains said. Before anyone could reply, Rainbow faintly heard a phone ringing through the radio. “Who’s that?” he asked.

“Don’t know. Could be someone from GenSec asking about the timelock,” Bain replied. “Better pick it up and patch me through. Don’t want to make anyone suspicious by leaving it.” Through the window, Rainbow saw him pick up the phone and attach a strange device to it. Bain started the conversation, “This is Anders at Roberts Bank. Everything is normal. How can I help you?”

As before, when Bain picked up the call, it was transmitted to everyone listening. This time, though, Microsoft Sam said, “Skittles.” Nobody could reply to that. “Skittles?” Silence reigned in the bank. “Skittles! Skit-TELLs! SKY-tles? SKIT-SKIT-SKIT-SKIT-SKITTLES!”

After taking a moment to collect himself, Bain replied, “Uh... please hold and we will get back to you.” The phone started beeping, and Chains replaced the handset.

3:34 3:33 3:32

“Well, that was... not what I expected,” Rainbow offered. “Don’t see anyone coming yet... So what now?”

“We should try telling some stories to pass the time. You know, my father was part of the Great Train Robbery in ’63...” The phone rang again. “Uh, hold on. Someone get that?” Wolf jumped over the counter to pick up the phone. “This is Anders at Roberts Bank. How can I help you?”

“This is Hillary from GenSec. I wanted to talk to Barney, your manager.” Everyone gulped at once, not expecting the call so quickly. “Is he there?”

“He had to step out to deal with a customer,” Bain replied smoothly. “Can I take a message for him?”

“The timelock on your vault’s activated, and this isn’t the usual time. I just wanted to make sure that it was intentional on your part, that everything’s okay over there.”

“Yeah, everything’s normal here...” The manager tried to say something, but Dallas quickly covered his mouth to stop him. “...nothing to worry about. We’re all fine.”

“Okay... Well, I’m sending someone over to make sure. See you in a few minutes.”

Dallas quickly pushed the manager up to the phone, holding a gun against his head. “Uh, this is Barney. How you doing, Hillary?”

“Oh, Barney? Nice to see you again. I was just telling Anders there that your timelock’s had an unscheduled activation. Is everything okay? We’re sending some people over to check.”

“That, uh... won’t be necessary. Everything’s okay here.”

“Nevertheless, I just wanted to make sure. Be nice to my guys, okay? Bye now.”

Hillary hung up, and the manager fell down behind the counter. Dallas took off his necktie to use as a gag, sighing. “Well, we’re probably screwed as soon as those guys get here.”

“We’ll just have to hope that we’ve got some time before they do,” Chains replied. “Yo, Rainbow, keep an eye out for a GenSec van. Don’t want those guys catching us with our pants down.” She sent back a confirmation, turning to check down the road in each direction.

The phone rang again, and Dallas picked it up. “Hi, I’d like to buy a pen with a chain,” the caller said.

“I’m afraid we don’t really do that, sir,” Bain said, holding back laughter.

“But you’re a bank! You always have those pens that are chained to the desks, and I keep losing mine so I thought a chain would be...”

“We usually get them wholesale.” There was silence on the line for a few seconds before he added, “Try Google,” and hung up.

“Who’s next, someone asking for a loan for an animatronic pizza parlour?” Hoxton asked. Rainbow shuddered in response, as Hoxton had accidentally set her off again; this time by describing a recurring nightmare of hers. “Anyway, I’m just glad it wasn’t the police or GenSec calling back.”

As soon as he’d said it, the phone rang again. “This is Anders at Roberts Bank, everything is normal. How can I—”

“Are you related to the four men in clown masks who are currently robbing the Roberts Bank branch in the West End?” The voice was controlled, but sounded extremely snide. He took Bain’s silence as confirmation, and continued, “I know who you are, and rest assured, I have only the greatest respect for you and yours.”

“Yeah, right,” Wolf muttered.

“I have no wish to see your talents go to waste in a federal prison. And I believe that we can do some business towards that end.”

“What did you have in mind?” Bain asked guardedly.

All the fake sweetness in the caller’s voice disappeared immediately. “A hundred thousand, cash. Throw it over the rear wall of the parking lot as soon as you’ve got it. If a single banknote crosses the road before I get my money, I will call the police. Take it or leave it.” He hung up after that, and it took Dallas a while to put the phone back.

“How big of an asshole do you have to be to blackmail the Payday Crew?” Chains asked. “Bain, what do we do?”

“Not much we can do but acquiesce,” Bain murmured. More loudly, he added, “ I traced the call. He’ll get what’s coming to him, for sure, but for now, do as he said.”

“And wait for the timelock to open. How much longer?” 2:00 1:59

“Next time we deal with a timelock, can’t we insert a virus or something to make it go faster?”

“No point talking about next times and coulda-shoulda-wouldas. Focus on the job. We can’t lose sight of our goal now.”

Rainbow scanned down the street and suddenly noticed something. “Uh, guys, there’s someone coming. Brought an umbrella, so he’s not gonna be deterred.” After a short argument inside, Wolf ran out, waving his revolver around and shouting. The phone suddenly rang again as he was subduing the civilian.

“This is Anders at Roberts Bank. Everything is normal. How can I help you?”

A distorted voice came through the receiver: “This is ‘Toby’ from the car dealers.” The emphasis was in strange places, with pauses as though they were being placed in sarcasm quotes. “We need a ride delivered to our customers at E 5th Street. Be sure to dress up for the occasion.” Before anyone could reply, they hung up, and everyone just looked at each other strangely.

“Apparently that call was all the way from Miami,” Bain said at last. “Don’t know what happened there.”

“Hey, anyone else wonder if that guy in the chicken mask is still alive?” Wolf asked.

“Dunno, didn’t see him on the news at all... Maybe the cops didn’t get him.”

“Or they kept it hush-hush.”

“Could be. But nobody knows for sure, and anyway, that guy’s a psycho. We’re probably better off just sticking to the group as it...”

The phone interrupted that statement, and Dallas picked it up again. Before Bain could give his usual spiel, the caller cut in, “Hey, is your refrigerator running?”

Hoxton sputtered, trying not to laugh, as Bain said in a monotone, “Uh, no sir. This is a bank.”

“What? Oh, well... you’d better go... catch it?” As he hung up, everyone fell over laughing at once, drowning each other out over the comms.

“Why do we keep getting so many prank calls at this number?” Rainbow asked, once she’d calmed down enough. As she did, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye, and focused on it with the binoculars. “Oh, guys, we’re on the clock. GenSec van incoming, I’d say about twenty seconds out. Be ready for ‘em.”

“Thanks for that. What direction they coming from?”

“West.”

“Is that right or left from the front of the bank?”

“Uh... Right! Right!” The van had pulled up on the curb, only a short distance down from the bank. The crew weren’t ready for its arrival, and had to rush out of the bank, masks on and guns drawn. That got the attention of the two men inside. One of them reached for his pager while the other stepped out with his own handgun drawn, only to be cut down by Chains’ Desert Eagle. The second took two shots from Hoxton’s silenced pistol and went limp. Hoxton then pulled out the pager, seeing that he’d touched it, and waited to see if the controller would call back.

Just as the pager beeped, the phone rang. “Holy shit, did I call you?” Hoxton asked. “I must’ve butt-dialled. Just keeps happening to me... Everything looks okay over here. It’s all perfectly normal, yeah.”

“Roberts Bank. Everything’s...”

“Yeah, sure. I’d like forty-two pizzas. Six with no crusts.”

As everyone looked around and shrugged, Bain replied, “I’m not sure if you heard me. This is a bank.”

“...So no pizzas, then?” Dallas just hung up the phone.

“Okay, I think we’re in the clear now,” Hoxton said. “And... open sesame.” The timelock ticked over and the vault slowly opened, revealing a small room with a number of safety deposit boxes in neat rows and columns. Crossing the entrance were a few thin red lines that, after a few seconds, switched into another arrangement. “...and there’s lasers. Great. Just fucking great!”

After studying the lasers for a few seconds, he quickly crawled under them while they were in a pattern that gave him room, and stood up inside the vault. Rainbow couldn’t see anything past that, and returned to checking the road. “Alright, I’m staying in here and getting these open. You guys hang around and hold down the fort, okay?”

“Alright,” Dallas replied. “You heard the man. Keep the crowd controlled...” The phone suddenly rang, and Wolf jumped over the counter to grab it. “...and the phone.”

“This is Anders at Roberts Bank. Business as usual here. How can I help you?”

“Yeah, this is the Chief of the Metro Police.” Rainbow gulped; how had they gotten here already? They didn’t even have any loot out yet... “We received a call from GenSec about some strange things happening here. They sent a couple of guys out a few minutes ago, right? Should be there by now. Can you put them on for me?”

Everyone was silent for a while. Bain started to say something, but was interrupted. “Listen, Anders. I’ll make you an ultimatum. You have four minutes to put those two guys on the phone, or I will send over some of my own people. To be precise, a SWAT team. Four minutes and counting.”

More silence followed as Wolf gingerly put the receiver down on the desk. “Hey, fellas!” Hoxton shouted as he slid a duffel bag through the vault door under the lasers. “There’s a hundred grand in there for our blackmailer!” Chains picked up the bag and headed out into the rain, tossing it over the far wall of the parking lot and rushing back inside.

“Now I gotta find some more...” Silence reigned in the bank for a short time as Hoxton opened more of the safety deposit boxes. It was broken by a reminder from the Chief that there were only three minutes left before he would send a response team. “Gotcha! Looks like... I’d say about three hundred here!”

As he prepared to kick the bag out of the vault, everything seemed to turn into slow motion, and Rainbow realised too late that it was a premonition of something going wrong. The bag started sliding, and suddenly the lasers changed, blocking the ankle-height path. Before anyone could react, the bag had tripped the laser, and the alarm went off. Wolf tried to hang up the phone, but it was probably too late. “Oh, leave it out!” Hoxton screamed.

She heard squealing tires from just below; Twitch was bailing on them with the van. “Well, this is a pretty mess we’re in now,” she said. “Twitch just left. Now how are we gonna get out?”

“And what about the loot?” Dallas asked.

“I had an idea for this contingency,” Bain said quickly. “Just let me get Alex on the horn. Hey, Alex, we need Plan B at the West End, soon as you can!”

“Alright, spinning up now. Gimme two minutes.”

“Hoxton, you’d better open a few more of those boxes. We want to be ready to get any loot we find moving quickly!”

“Good idea. On it!” She could hear the sirens in the distance, but couldn’t see the police vehicles arriving yet. “How long until the bullets start flying?”

“Twenty seconds, maximum!” Bain shot back. “You found any more loot yet?!”

“Nothing in this one but a toasted cheese sandwich...”

“Cops are here!” Rainbow shouted, seeing the first two cars pull up outside the bank, one on either side. Three officers exited each, just as the phone rang again. Nobody was able to pick it up, as the only member nearby, Wolf, was too focused on aiming.

After three rings, it went over to the answering machine. “Hi, this is Franklin at the Pig or No Pig studio, and you’ve been” the next part was cut off by Wolf firing, taking out one of the approaching officers with a body shot “show! So why don’t you come on down and see if you can win a free pig!” Canned applause followed the message, and the phone hung itself up.

Hoxton was running around the back and through the auto mechanic’s shop in order to flank the officers. Two silenced headshots took out the pair remaining behind that car, and the other three turned to face him as he took cover behind their car. “Shit, SWAT van incoming! I need cover fire!” he shouted, seeing the van approach.

Chains and Wolf started firing on the other car to keep the cops behind it suppressed as Hoxton made a break back towards the auto shop and the rear parking lot. As he ran back inside the bank, a loud noise exploded from behind him, and a bullet nearly hit him in the leg. “They’re moving in sniper teams around the bank!” Rainbow reported. “Eyes on the rooftops if anyone’s gotta go outside!”

The SWAT van had pulled up and blocked off the road by that point, but nobody jumped out yet. “Alex here!” the pilot shouted suddenly. “I can see the sirens from here! ETA one minute to contact!” For a moment, Rainbow tried to spot his plane with her binoculars, but more screeching tires brought her attention back to the road.

Another two vans arrived to block off the other street, and six jumped out of each. “Eighteen SWATs and sniper teams against the five of you,” Bain reported.

Chains huffed eagerly. “Hardly fair. Those guys don’t stand a chance!”

“Well, you might wanna take a deep breath... Here they come!”

The SWATs started charging towards the bank, being led by members with riot shields to protect the rest from the crew’s gunfire. A few split off into the buildings around each side. Dallas tried to take a shot at the sideways-moving group, but was forced back into cover by a sniper round. “Damn it, can’t anyone deal with these snipers?!”

the helicopter’s windshield shattered, and it started spinning as the pilot lost control

“Rainbow? Rainbow Dash, you in there?!” Dallas was shouting, and around her, the battlefield had changed. Another flashback... she thought, as she looked at the nearby rooftops. There were a lot more snipers around, and suddenly the door behind her popped open, a sniper and a spotter moving out behind her.

The spotter immediately raised a handgun and tried to fire at her, but she saw it coming and rolled out of the way, using her wings to throw herself forward. Before they had another chance to fire, she’d already tackled the one with the gun, and suddenly got hit over the head with the butt of the sniper rifle. She rolled over with the spotter still in tow, and snatched the gun out of his hand, pointing it upwards and focusing on her hooves.

Little spots all over, focus on just the ones around the trigger...

Despite her lack of any bendable fingers, the trigger pulled back and the gun fired, hitting the sniper right in the face. His helmet went flying, revealing the bullet hole straight through his left eye for just a moment as he fell to the ground. Rainbow stared at it for a moment that felt like an eternity, before she registered the squirming of the spotter below her. Quickly, she pulled the gun up to the side of the spotter’s head and fired once, before dropping the gun and turning away from the scene, back towards the road.

Before she could report anything, she heard the noise of the buzzing airplane. “This is Alex! Party supplies, coming down!” Everyone paused as the three green-and-black bags fell from the plane, landing down the far end of the street and knocking down one of the SWAT members.

All at once, the crew began shouting over the gunfire, until Bain shut them all up. “Damn it, Alex, you’ve gotta work on your aim!”

“Why do you keep hiring that guy?” Chains asked.

“Well, anyway, someone’s gotta get all those bags and set ‘em up on the roof. That’s our Plan B. Wait for the assault to pull back...”

“Don’t worry, I think I can get at least one of ‘em while they’re not looking!” Rainbow shouted, shaking her head quickly to get her mane out of her eyes, and the scene she’d just been part of out of her head. Stretching her wings, she jumped off the roof, snatching one of the bags and pulling up despite the weight. As she dropped the bag on the roof, a sniper’s bullet whizzed over her head, and she turned towards the source.

“Rainbow, get off the roof!” Bain shouted, and she snapped back to reality, throwing herself straight up just as another bullet passed through where she’d been. She took cover above the clouds and threw a lightning bolt down at the two snipers who had taken pot-shots at her. “Okay, that’s them taken care of... And, hold on, I’m picking up some radio chatter. They’re pulling back!”

Bain was right; the SWAT teams, or what was left of them, were retreating, for the time being. One of them tried to pick up one of the bags as he passed by, and got a round in the brain from Wolf for his trouble. He and Dallas ran out to grab the two remaining bags, Chains and Hoxton laying down cover fire for their approach, taking fresh magazines from a bag that Chains had set down between them. As they returned, Rainbow kept track of the pair as they headed for the roof and started emptying the bags, throwing another lightning bolt at a sniper who tried to head out onto the rooftop. He ran back into cover quickly, and stayed there.

Dallas and Wolf had assembled a device that looked a lot like a cage. “Simple enough,” Bain started. “When you’ve loaded the cash into the cage, hit the button on top to raise the balloon. Alex’ll fly back and grab it, taking the cage and the bags to safety.”

Downstairs, out of curiosity, Hoxton tapped the flashing ‘messages’ button on the phone. “You have –two– messages. Message one: Hey, it’s John. I know you needed me to come in today, but the voices said I had to get all my guns clean today. But, I’m done now, do you still need me?” The machine beeped and was about to get to the second message when the phone rang again.

“Hi, John, remember me?” the voice started sweetly, as Chains and Hoxton grabbed two of the three bags that Hoxton had left inside the vault and climbed up to the roof. “Yeah, I know you do. You oughta remember the voice of the guy you fucked over!” With the bags loaded inside, Chains dropped down to grab the last bag, rushing back up the ladder while returning fire with his Desert Eagle at an overeager cop who had tried to breach the building through a broken window. Everyone was on the roof. They all nodded that the haul was enough, and Dallas hit the button to send up the balloon.

“Now, you listen here, John, and you listen good. I’ve got your entire family hostage. You know where you live, right? Oh, I know you do, you don’t have to tell me. So, you better come over here with the fifty grand you owe me. That’s with interest worked in, before you get lippy.”

“Uh, guys, there’s a lot more cops coming in...” Rainbow reported. “That gun they’ve got mounted on one of the vans looks huge. Better finish up as soon as you can!”

“We’re all waiting on Alex here!” Dallas shouted.

Alex’s voice crackled to life just as Dallas said his name. “Okay, I see the balloon! Gimme one minute to turn this thing around!”

“What’s the matter, John?” the phone guy asked, after getting no direct response. “I know you can afford that. Hell, you’ve probably got that much in your pocket! You shouldn’t have any trouble paying me back. But I haven’t gotten to the fun part yet. Every thirty minutes until you get here, I’m gonna take one of your family and slit their cute little throats. Oh dear, it takes an hour for you to get from the office to home? I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Well, too late to change it now.”

“Thirty seconds!” Alex shouted, as Dallas and Hoxton continued trying to suppress the incoming police forces. It wasn’t working very well.

“I think I’ll start with Hailey first. C’mon, Hailey, come over here... you got something you wanna say to John?”

“Honey, don’t listen to this madman! Call the cops!”

“Thanks for reminding me, Hailey. You might not wanna do that, John. If I hear a single siren, I’m gonna kill ‘em all right here and now! Got that, Johnny?!”

Silence descended over the bank for a few seconds, before Bain asked into the phone, “Uh... who exactly is this?”

“Wait, you ain’t John! Shit, uh... listen, this was just a prank call! A harmless little prank, that’s all...” Everyone in the bank started laughing, one after another, and the phone guy growled. “Hey, stop laughing! You’d better stop that right now, motherfu—” It was Chains who hit the button to disconnect the call.

“Cavalry incoming!” Alex shouted, as the noise of the plane came into focus. There was a loud metallic crashing noise that followed, and Rainbow saw the cage being lifted off the roof and into the distance behind the plane. “Did I get it?” he asked.

“Nailed it!” Rainbow replied, and the rest of the crew started cheering loudly.

“Hahaha, I knew I hired you for a reason, Alex!” Bain cried. “Looks like we’re all finished up here. And it’s a good thing, too, because you’ve got a small army headed your way. There’s a manhole in the rear parking lot. That’ll lead you to the sewer complex. Head north; Twitch has gone into a parking garage, and he’s waiting to pick you up again.” Everyone headed out the back, Dallas leading the charge with his assault rifle.

As Chains turned to leave, the gun slung over his back brushed over the ‘messages’ button again. “You have –one– message. This is an automated call from the Department of Public Works. We would like to make an emergency notification: a water pipe has burst a few miles north of your location. The sewers are predicted to back up and overflow within the next fifteen minutes. Please evacuate the building and steer clear of manhole covers and storm drains. Message repeats...”

The four heisters dropped down into the sewers. Rainbow stayed above, flying north to the parking garage under Bain’s direction. A few armoured FBI members dropped into the manhole as she left, after taking a few parting shots. “Guys, I was wrong before,” Bain said. “You have the army coming after you. National Guard are locking the area down; get to the van as quickly as possible!”

“It’d help if you could direct us! This place is like a maze down here!” Wolf shouted.

“Left hand rule, Wolf!” Dallas replied. “Turn left whenever you can and eventually you’ll make it out!”

Rainbow had arrived at the parking garage by then, seeing Twitch and the van. She slid off the manhole cover nearby, dropping down into it and shouting, “Guys! The exit’s over here, if you can hear me! Hurry!”

“Hey! Don’t move a muscle!” a familiar voice shouted. Rainbow turned—

She was staring at an image from her past; someone who should have been dead. The Skulldozer had returned, and he’d levelled her gun straight at her. “Don’t try to run, or I’ll pull the trigger and cut you down with a hailstorm even you can’t dodge.” He took a few more steps, when she turned to follow some echoing footsteps. “The fuck did I just say?!” he shouted.

“Rainbow, is that you?!” Dallas cried. “Hold on, we’re coming!” She threw herself straight up as quickly as she could, despite not having tensed up for it. The Skulldozer fired; the bullets slamming into the wall behind her, the noise and the tracers giving a fair warning to the Payday Crew as they approached the exit. “What the hell?!”

“And here comes the catch of the day!” The Skulldozer’s thumping footsteps approached Rainbow, and she knew that she would have to do something.

the hatred welled up inside her, hatred that anyone would treat her friends that way, that they could be so casual about it

As soon as he was directly underneath her, she dropped down again, snatching at the machine gun to try and get it away from him. He pulled back, and she twisted around, trying to stay on top. “Get in here!” she shouted to the others, who started running towards her. The gun let off another burst, but it was aimed away from anyone, and only collided with the far walls of the sewer.

Rainbow froze up suddenly as she heard a noise like rushing water. “Shit! Everyone haul it!” she added as she bucked off the Skulldozer’s armour and rushed up the manhole, just behind Chains, who was bringing up the rear. As he shook himself out, he screamed a curse and tried to point his gun up the ladder—

The wave of sewer water hit him first, carrying him away down the tunnels. At the same time, just above, Rainbow saw the water bubbling up through the open manhole. “Go!” she shouted to Twitch, and the van sped off without another word. She followed behind it until they were out in the open, and then she made a break for the sky, keeping to cloud cover to avoid notice.

~~~

Nobody had said anything by the time that, fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the airport. Alex had already gotten out of the plane, and walked up to meet the van. The clowns still had their masks on, and just stared at him for a few moments. “What’s up?” he asked, before Wolf tackled him into a hug.

“That was the best heist ever!” he cried, tightly embracing the hapless pilot. “And you kicked so much ass out there! Never shoulda doubted you for a second!” Everyone else joined in with similar sentiments, though rather less physical intimacy. “Hey, where’s our loot at?”

Alex tapped on the back of Wolf’s shoulder, trying to get room to breathe. When the Swede backed off, he pointed towards the cage, and the crew rushed over to grab the bags. Rainbow was the only one who didn’t join in, and Dallas noticed. “What’s up?” he asked, as he stepped back to rejoin her.

“I... I killed someone again today. A sniper, coming up behind me... And I probably fried a couple more with lightning. But...” She looked down at her hooves. “I didn’t feel anything that time. Is that... normal?”

Dallas thought for a while about his answer. “Unfortunately, killing is something that only gets easier the more you do it.” Another pause. “If you can do it without hesitating, that can be a useful skill. But if you get so good that you can cut people down and laugh about it... well, then you’ve turned into us. And...”

He trailed off, not wanting to continue, but Rainbow nodded. “You’re all rubbing off on me. If I ever do get home, by then, maybe I’ll be one of you.”

“Yeah...”

Rainbow trotted off back to the van, unable to speak her last thought out loud. ...And I don’t know for sure whether that’s entirely a bad thing anymore.

Author's Note

The flow of this chapter was based on a real GO Bank run that I was part of. DW, everyone geared up for full stealth. Didn't know that ironically, stealthing GO Bank is easier with loud gear. Still don't know how we made it out of that one.

As soon as I knew what I wanted to do, and how I could work all your calls in, my fingers were on fire. Writer's block, dead and gone. Hopefully I can keep this streak up for the chapters to come sooner than six months apart like this one.

I'd like to thank the authors of the calls, in order:
-ShadowDuskX
-Metallark Flint
-Joshleb1098
-killerkobi
-Demopan the Conga King
-Jreogorath
-Albionian
-duithy
-SniperSentret
-Long Jump
-And all the others who might have come late, or that I didn't find a way to work in.

Knowing that you guys are still following this and still care is the best impetus to keep writing that a guy could hope for.

Sorry about the false alarm on publishing this chapter before. I thought it was a new day, but that's what I get for my far-east timezone.