Author Notes: This story is inspired by a series of fever dreams. I got really sick eating too many Twizzlers and discount Valentine's candy while watching a marathon of Snapped.
1: Doomsday
"You got it?" Seth whispered into his burner phone.
The lobby of the bank was silent. Seth could feel the sweat dripping down his forehead. His dark gray mask was suffocating in the high Texas humidity, despite having wicking fabric that was supposed to make it easier. He didn't dare remove it.
"Almost there. Hit a snag," Roman whispered back through the same phone.
Seth kept the phone close to his face. It served as an obstacle so the customers and employees lying on the floor wouldn't be able to give an accurate idea to a sketch artist about the size of his head or the outline of his jaw. The mask was designed to distort these things anyway, but Seth had learned that you can never be too careful.
He waited patiently by the first bank teller window. The skylight of the bank was allowing rays of sunshine in which were making it seem even hotter. Seth hated being in such a tight mask and body suit. He hated wearing the bulletproof vests and the military grade boots. He hated carrying a gun, even though it only shot blanks.
Seth wanted to ask what was taking so long, but he had been doing this for a while. He knew better than to look or sound nervous when others were watching him. Even a slight change in his voice or a twitch of his fingers could tip one of them off that they might be able to take him down.
Roman was the level headed one. He would've made it known if the snag was a big one.
Seth wanted to run his hand through his long dark hair, a habit he did when he was stressed. His hair was tied up on back and mostly covered by his mask. He tried hard to avoid instinctively trying to reach up to his head. He imagined the stress filtering through his body and out through the soles of his boots. If he dreamed it away, maybe it would stop bothering him.
"Excuse me?" a young woman's voice pricked his ears.
Seth turned to face a woman on the floor. She was smaller than the others and her shirt was bright pink and green. She was wearing a short jean skirt and her dark hair was tied up in a bright green ponytail. The woman looked very young, but her eyes said she had more experience. She was trying to remain as close to the floor as Seth had ordered earlier, but she was still forced to look up at him as she pleaded, "I'm sorry, but I really have to use the ladies' room."
Seth almost scoffed. This woman really couldn't hold it for five more minutes?
She responded as if he had said what he was thinking out loud, "I have an infection. I really shouldn't hold it or I'll make it worse."
This wasn't the first time Seth had gotten a bathroom request from someone on the floor. Ironically, it was usually men and they were ready to shit their pants out of fear. He had trained himself to think of the people on the floor as mannequins instead of living breathing souls. A mannequin could hold it. A mannequin wouldn't try to take him down once he let them up.
The woman was different. There was something disarming about her. Her bright colored clothes made her look like she came from the 1990s. Her cute little face was scrunched up in distress and her eyes were on the verge of tears. She didn't have to tell him she had an infection. It made her seem more honest.
Seth glanced up at the bathrooms. They were just a few feet away. He could keep an eye on everyone while standing guard at the door in case the woman tried to make a cell phone call or something.
He slowly walked across the marble floor. It squeaked under his shoes as the woman slowly got up on her knees. Seth reached down to take her hand and lift her up to her feet. She bounced a little bit like she was trying to calm down the sense of urgency. If she was only pretending she needed a pee break, she was doing a great job of it.
Seth scanned the room several times. No one else moved or looked like they wanted to make a move. He led the woman to the bathroom. She gripped his hand in a rough but tender way, like someone would if they were afraid to let go of another.
He opened the bathroom door. It was a single stall and very small. Seth warned the woman before she went in, "You cause a problem, and I'm shooting through the door."
"I understand. I won't be a problem," she nodded.
The woman was about to step into the bathroom when a loud explosion went off across the room.
Seth grabbed at the woman and pulled her to the floor. He instinctively tried to shield her from the debris, knowing that his bulletproof vest would keep him safe. Ash and concrete scattered in all directions. Smoke temporarily blocked out the sun coming through the skylight. The bank suddenly went dark.
Alarms went off. They were loud and made it hard to think. Seth was trying to find the source of the blast. It came from near the entrance, which was unexpected.
Customers and employees started panicking. Some of them got up to run toward the far wall away from the blast radius. Seth did a quick scan of the area. He couldn't see all that well, but it looked like no one was hurt.
Seth felt a big hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to look up at Roman.
"Cops are here."
Seth nodded and started to get up. He sank back down once he realized the woman underneath him wasn't moving.
"Are you alright?" Seth asked.
She was curled up in a ball and shaking. Seth looked up just as their third member, Dean Ambrose, breezed past them on his way to the entrance.
"We're out," Roman said, getting up to follow after Dean.
Seth watched as Roman and Dean grabbed their futuristic looking guns from their backs. The guns fired acidic chemicals that could eat away at the police cars, rendering them useless for giving chase.
Their fans on Twitter loved that shit.
Seth was still kneeling over the woman. He asked her again, "Are you okay?"
He tried to reach for her. She stopped shaking and took his hand. Her expression was stoic, like she had turned off her own reactions. Seth had seen others do this when he was serving overseas. It was a way to handle trauma. Turn off the switch and keep moving.
Seth led the woman up to her feet. He pushed her into the bathroom and closed the door behind them. He turned his back on her and said, "Hurry up."
He doubted there would be another blast, but he and the woman were safer if there was. Dean had probably set off one of his custom bombs to alert them the police were outside. He usually planted them away from where the customers and employees were to avoid any deaths. They were fun to watch, but they tended to put a lot of shit in the air, which made it hard to get out.
"I'm done," the woman said.
She had been quick about it. Seth didn't turn back to face her, but opened the door to get out. He was greeted by a fist coming at his face from one of the guards.
Seth ducked out of the way and used his martial arts skills to take the guard down without much effort. He could hear yelling from outside and the air was permeated with the strong scent of citrus and burning rubber. He knew that smell from the chemical guns that Dean and Roman were using. He only had seconds to get out.
He tried making a run for it right through the lobby. The other people were huddled against the far wall and weren't paying much attention to him. Seth leaped through the frame of the front entrance where the glass had shattered from the blast. He caught sight of Roman and Dean across the street. They were using the guns on the last of a line of police cars. The officers themselves were running the other way to avoid the yellow and green projectile that was burning through their engines.
"Put your hands up!" Seth heard someone yell from nearby.
He turned to his left and saw a stray officer holding a gun on him. Seth couldn't believe he missed the heavyset guy. He was usually extremely accurate at scanning his surroundings. Seth considered the distance between them and the effort it would take for him to disarm the cop. There was a high chance Seth would be shot somewhere in the process. He was about to put his hands up when he saw the officer's expression change from one of determination to one of fear.
The officer was looking behind Seth. He turned around to see the woman standing there. She was startled and had her own hands up.
Hostages were never supposed to be a part of their playbook, but Seth had no choice.
He grabbed the woman and held her close. He made sure not to hold her too tightly, but he wanted it to look good enough for the officer to back off. Dean and Roman had noticed them by then and Dean was yelling curse words at the cop. The heavyset officer had his mouth gaping open and he glanced from Seth to the woman and back up to Seth.
"Just let her go! Let her go!" the officer ordered.
"Fuck you!" Dean shot a blast of chemicals in the officer's direction to force him backwards.
The officer stumbled and nearly hit the pavement. Seth turned the woman around and picked her up. She was forced to straddle his hips to keep from falling off as he turned away from the officer and broke off into a dead run.
Seth was headed for the getaway car. He thought he could drop the woman off once he got there, but he could hear more sirens form nearby.
"Get in the fucking car!" Dean yelled from behind him.
Seth heard Roman coming up on his right. Seth reached the tan colored car first, opening up the backseat and putting the woman inside.
She moved over and let him take a seat next to her. Seth leaned in and told her, "Get down in case they shoot at us."
The woman nodded and sank down to the floor of the vehicle. She squeezed herself between the front and back seat as low as she could go. Dean was at the wheel and Roman was in the passenger side within seconds. They were driving erratically down the road and breezing away from the sirens.
"What's your name?" Seth whispered to the woman.
"Bayley Martinez," she replied softly.
"We're not gonna hurt you, Bayley Martinez. We'll get you out of this as soon as it's clear," Seth reassured her.
He was being honest. The guys still had their masks on. She hadn't seen their faces.
She nodded, but her expression was sad. Seth thought she probably didn't believe that they were going to release her. Bayley covered her ears and sank even lower against the floor. She kept quiet long after the sirens had stopped. The cool evening air blew through the open windows as Dean laughed maniacally and Roman told him repeatedly to shut the hell up.
Seth watched Bayley out of curiosity. She seemed afraid to move. He told himself it was just the trauma of the bank robbery and being taken hostage, but his gut told him something else.
Bayley Martinez didn't look very upset that she had been taken.