Curse of the Phoenix

New York, September 24th 2020

A red car stopped in front of the New York National Bank and out of it stepped a rather short man with spiky brown hair. He was wearing a black leather jacket over his red shirt and blue jeans. Sunglasses protected his grayish-blue eyes from the suns violent rays and a small backpack rested on his shoulders. He lifted his left sleeve and looked at the watch on his wrist.

"10 minutes till showtime." he mumbled with a smile and walked towards the door. Stepping through the door, he was welcomed by the sound of people talking. The bank wasn't so busy on this day, so there weren't that many people in it. He casually walked by the security guards and headed for the bathroom. All the while he was walking he looked in every direction, trying to catch as much as he could.

When he entered the bathroom he checked if he was alone, before pulling out a walkie-talkie. "Alpha to Beta, do you copy?" he said into the radio.

"Copy that Alpha, we hear you loud and clear." the other side responded.

Satisfied, the man nodded, before replying. "Roger that. Are you all in positions?" he asked.

One by one the others began to sound off. "Beta in place."

"Delta in position."

"Gamma ready."

"Epsilon on standby. Just say the word boss."

"Four minutes until we strike. Preapre men." Alpha said as he put down the walkie-talkie. He looked into the mirror, before giving  big smile. "This is it Danny. We 'bout to make one of the biggest bank heists in history, you should be proud of yourself."

That's right I should be. Do you even know how long I've been planning this? Six months. Six months of grueling observation and recon, all for this day.

You're probably wondering what happened in the last two years, right? Well, long story short. Since the day when I received my immortality I've spent my days robbing.

At first it was the same shit as before I got my ability, braking into peoples homes and stealing their crap. But as time passed I got more cocky and decided to move up in life. I went from breaking into peoples homes to stores and from there to small time businesses. But don't think it was an easy road. I've died numerous times to get where I am now. But it was worth it.

Once I had enough money I bought my own house, somewhere outside the city, somewhere isolated. From there I began to plan bigger and bigger jobs, eventually coming up with this heist. As I said before, I've been watching this place for months and I immediatelly knew I couldn't do this one alone. So I recruited some guys to help me out. They were some low time thugs, who already spent time in prison for various crimes. At first they were wary of me, but after I told them about my plan they were onboard.

Right now they were all waiting for the right time and then they'll strike. I've gone through this plan hundreds of times in my head and I knew it would go without a hitch.

Once again I picked up my walkie-talkie and pressed the button. "We have four guards watching the lobby and two more in the security room. I'll take out the two at the back, while team Beta handles the two in the front. Gamma you have security room."

"Roger."

"Ay-ay capn'."

The plan was simple on paper. There were five teams, each having two members with exception of Alpha and Epsilon, which only had one. I was Alpha, and my job was to scout the place and take out any guards that might cause troublea dn retrieve the money. Gamma and Beta had similar duties, while Delta was waiting outside in the van, ready to drive us off. Epsilon on the other hand wasn't present, since she was responsible for taking out their systems, so they'd have no way of calling for help or retaliate.

I was thrown out of my thoughts by my watchs alarm. And as if on cue, the lights went out and after checking my phone I saw I had no signal went silent, telling me that the jammers were activated.

"Show time." I said as I pulled a mask, a gun and a few flash grenades out of my backpack. As soon as I left the bathroom I tossed the grenades at where the two guards stood. After a loud flash and a bang, the guards were incapacitated. They pulled out their guns and tried to aim at the threat they didn't see. With ease I disarmed them and knocked them out with the handle of my gun.

At that point the people began to scream and tried to run outside, but were stopped by two bulky men who were dragging the other two guards by the hems of their shirts. The people began to retreat back into the building.

In the corner of my eye I saw how the employees were desperately trying to call the police and were pressing the silent alarm, thinking I didn't see them. As the civilians continued to panic I raised my gun and pressed the trigger. Two loud bangs echoed through the room and everyone stopped in their tracks.

Having their attention and settling them I took a deep breath before speaking. "Alright everyone, I know that all of you know what is happening, but even so I'll say it anyway. This is a robbery. Don't try to call for help. We cut off all of your systems and are jamming your phones." After hearing me say that, the people realised they were on their own. "Now, unless you want to end up hurt or worse I suggest all of you to walk into that office over there," I said as I pointed with my gun at the room in the back. "And let us do our job in peace. That way we both get what we want, m'kay?"

The people were hesitant, they weren't sure if I was lying or not. I didn't have time for their second thoughts, so I again shot into the air.

"NOW!!!" I shouted. With horrified expressions the people began to move into the room, while one of my teammates walked over to one of the workers and pulled her to the side.

"Not you." he said with a raspy voice. "You gonna help us, getting all of this money out, capish?" The worker nodded with vigor, fearing about his life. The man smiled under his mask. "Good, but before that you're gonna lock them up."

With shaky legs the man walked over to the room, took out his keys and locked the door, trapping the people inside the room. While he was doing that I pulled out my walkie-talkie and contacted Gamma.

"How's on your side?" I asked.

"Took them down like flies." sounded the reply.

"Good." I said with a nod. "Delta, any cops?"

"None." responded the man.

Excellent. Everything was going according to plan. I walked over to the worker and patted him on the back. "Alright, good job." I said to him in a cheerful tone. He looked at me with horror. "All you have to do now is open up the vault and you'll be done here, so you have no need to worry Jeff."

I thought he was terrified before, but now he seemed like he just saw a ghost. "H-H-How d-do you know m-my name?" he stammered out.

"We've had coffee before." I wasn't lying about that. Though I did die soon after that, so I know for certain he won't remember me. "Now move your ass over to the vault." I said to him, as I shoved him. We were followed by one of the two guys, while the other kept watch.

On the way to the vault we met up with Gamma, a man and a woman, and we simply nodded to each other as we headed towards the vault together. Once we arrived, the employee punched in the code and opened the door. When it was opened we were greeted with numerous stacks of money.

"Thank you." I said to Jeff. "And good night." As soon as I said that, one of the guys smacked him on the back of his head and he collapsed unconscious. We each walked inside and filled our bags full of cash. I don't know how much we ended up with, but I estimated around 7 million.

Once we were done, we headed back towards the lobby. But as we walked back, the sound of a gunshot resonated across the building. At that moment I knew, something was wrong. I picked up my pace, trying to see what had happened.

When I arrived, I couldn't believe my eyes. At the entrance laid a young man, not that much older than I was, blood pooling under him. My eyes then landed on one of my teammates and the smoking gun in his hands. I quickly ran towards the fallen man and as I came close I saw he wore the security uniform, blood seeping from his chest. His eyes were open and turning from side to side, telling me he was still alive.

"What happened?" I yelled as I began to press down onto his wound in hopes of trying to stop the bleeding.

"This fucker walked in, saying something about leaving something behind and when he saw me he tried to pull out his gun, but I was faster than him." the man explained as he and the others watched.

"Why the hell do you have live ammo? I thought we agreed we'd use blanks, to only scare them, not to kill them?" I yelled back as I continued to look at the man under my arms.

"That's what you said, but you didn't think about what would happen if we were forced to use them to defend ourselves, only to end up shot down without even putting up a fight." the man argued back.

"That's because I planned for that to never happen."

"Well what do you call this then?" When he said that, I realised he was right. Just this one guard could've ruined our plans. But even so...

"At least help me!" I begged. "He's going to die if we don't do something."

"That's not our problem." the man said nonchalantly. At that I looked at him in bewilderment.

"What?" I barely whispered out.

"I said we don't care what happens to this guy. All we want is the money and nothing else."

"So you're just going to leave him to die. We can still save him." I countered, but the man simply raised his gun at my head.

"If we do that then the cops will bust our asses and none of us want that." he said with a threatening tone.

"So what? You're just going to shoot me?" I questioned. "If it wasn't for me, you'd never had been able to pull this whole thing off. So do as I say and help this guy."

The man and the others began to laugh. I just looked at them confused. "Kid, you're smart, I'll give you that. But you're so gullible." The other two grabbed my bag, that I dropped and walked outside, leaving me alone with the other guy. "From the begining I knew you were soft. You think that you'll get what you want without having to sacrifice anything. Well let me tell you something."

He leaned down and looked me in the eyes. "That's not how this world works. You have to ready to do unspeakable things, if you want to progress in the world. Betray, lie, cheat..." He slowly stood up and pointed the gun back at me. "Kill."

I took a moment to process what he had said. I glanced back down at the man beneath me and saw he longer breathed. I closed my eyes, holding back my tears. "Fine." I said as I stood up. "He's dead anyway. Let's just go."

"Ah ah ah." the man said as he pulled back the guns hammer. "I'll be going, you'll be staying here."

I turned around to face him. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

The man chuckled, before replying. "You still don't get it? We planned to kill you and take your share from the beginning."

My eyes widened and I began to breath quickly. "W-why?" I stuttered.

"Cause," He pulled the trigger and I felt a sharp pain in my chest. The force of the blast knocked me down on my back and I could no longer move. I felt the familiar pain of a bullet going through me and the taste of blood in my mouth. My eyes were wide open, but I couldn't see clearly. All I could see was a shadow descending over me and the voice of the man speaking the last words I could hear. "You are the necessary sacrifice."

I didn't even see or hear him leave me, as darkness enveloped my vision and I was once again thrust into the grasp of death.

***

When I awoke, I was lying in an alleyway, behind a dumpster. I looked down at myself and saw only my bloody clothes, but no wound.

"SONS OF BITCHES!!!" I screamed while slamming my fist into the wall behind me. Anger consumed my senses as I slowly got up and began to walk out of the alley. When I got out of it I saw the bank that I robbed in front of me. It was swarmed by the police and reporters.

Over these three years I've learned a few things about my immortality. One is that I only resurrect in the same place I died when there are no witnesses around to see me come back from death. Otherwise I'm transported to a secluded location, without any prying eyes. Two, I always come back around 10 minutes after my death. Don't ask me why though. And lastly, my apperance changes from time to time, it's never consistent.

Speaking of which. I looked into the window of a nearby car and saw that I still had the same apperance as I had before. Satisfied with that I began to walk away from the scene, but not before catching a glimpse of the bodybag that was carried out of the bank. It made me sick. This was the second time someone died becasue of my actions, only this time it wasn't me who did the deed.

That thought reminded me of the betrayal I experienced and my anger returned. I stopped by a street phone and once I deposited the money, I dialed 911 and waited until someone picked up on the other side.

"Yes, hello, how may I help you?" the receptionist greeted.

"Hello, my name is Theo Morris. I'm a resident of the Lucky Star apartment complex. I would like to report strange behaviour from some of my neighbours." I responded, in as scared of a voice as I could.

"What kind of behaviour?" she asked, trying to get as many details as she could.

"Not too long ago one of my neighbours returned home, along with a bunch of his, what I would presume, are his friends. But the strange thing is that they all arrived in a black van and they were carrying some rather large bags, that looked filled with something."

"Sir, that alone doesn't mean that they're doing anything wrong. Maybe you're ju-"

"They also had guns." I quickly cut her off before she could argue. "They were all carrying guns and I even saw one of them having a clown mask hanging by his side. And when they saw me one of them approached me and threatened me, telling me that I didn't see anything." I stopped for a bit, so the receptionist could comprehend what I was telling her. "And even now I'm hearing them yelling something through the wall. Something about scoring a motherload." I took another pause and made a loud gulping sound. "I think they're the ones responsible for the robbery that happened in New York National today."

After a few moments the receptionist responded. "Understood sir. I'll send a dispatch to your area. Can you give exact location and the room number sir? As well as your name please."

"Theo Morris. I live in Lucky Star apartment complex, room 604. The people I told you about live right next to me in room 603." I answered, still putting up my act.

"Thank you sir. The police should be there in about ten minutes. In the meantime you stay put and lock the door if necessary." she advised.

"Thank you and I will." Finished I put the phone down and exhaled. I stared at the phone for a few seconds, before turning around and heading back to my car. I had to wait for a while, until the police dispersed.

As I waited I heard over my phones radio that the ones who were responsible for the robbery were found and put into custody, thanks to a good hearted samaritan. I chuckled at hearing the news. "That's what you get you fucking traitors." I thought to myself as I took out a cigarette and lit it. I took a deep breath and let the nicotine calm my nerves. But it didn't help calm my mind, as what the words of the guy who shot me ran through my mind.

How can he say things like that? How can he claim that the only way to achieve something is by sacrificing? How can he take a life so easily and not care at all? How can he betray his own comrades?

These and many more thoughts continued to plague my thoughts, but out of all of them, one stood out.

Will I end up like that?

The thought made me shiver. I was afraid of that ever happening. I shook my head as I cleared my head and continued my smoke. I didn't want to think about it, so I instead focused on what I will do.

I concluded that I'll no longer take on such big jobs, where I needed other people to help me. I didn't want to be betrayed again and end up in scenarios where other people got killed because of me.

But that was wishful thinking, for very soon I would be thrust into a situation where I had no chooice, but to kill.