A/N: Hello, first multi chapter on this account hopefully. Please review and message if you have any ideas of what you want to happen, or to tell me what you think. Hope you enjoy and want it to be continued!
Robbers.
The day had started off bad; first, Jace had been unpleasantly awoken by a screeching girl in his bed, yelling at him for not remembering her name. He had forgotten that his hot water wasn't working, resulting in an unnecessarily cold shower. It had started to rain torrents of grey sleet the second he stepped out of his house and, finally, he had forgotten to pick up a present for his sister, which had resulted in him standing in a ridiculously long line at a dreary bank, hoping desperately that a large enough check would make his high maintenance sibling forget about his lack of gift.
He reached a hand up to smooth his hair, agitation making him fidget. There were only a few people ahead of him now as the bank was emptying, and he glanced at the small woman in front of him who was shuffling papers. It was only her left to go now, and she stepped up confidently, her height only just allowing her mouth to be in level with the speaker. Jace knew he shouldn't, but boredom got the better of him; he watched the transaction between the woman and the surly faced man behind the glass, frowning as their conversation became more heated.
"Listen." A melodic, female voice started. "There must be a mistake- I was paid yesterday!"
The teller sighed and typed something into his computer.
"I'm sorry ma'am, your account is overdrawn. I can't allow you to take anything out." His dull voice echoed and Jace began to feel uncomfortable; he could see the woman at the opposite teller looking equally awkward, and the remaining people in the bank attempted to look as though they weren't listening as the red head raised her voice.
"Well that is just impossible! Show me some proof that I have taken any money out, because I haven't been living off of instant coffee for fun." She placed a hand on her hips and the teller subtly wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. He began tapping on his computer again, frustration etched on his face and the woman in front of Jace picked at the seams of her worn jeans; he could tell that she was nervous, and he felt sorry for her. He had grown up, not pleasantly, but with a constant stream of money that had funded him his entire life- he had never had to 'live off of instant coffee'.
"Nope." The teller popped his words. "As I said- overdrawn. If not you, then someone with your bank details has taken a withdrawal. Sorry I can't be of more assistance."
The woman clenched her fist and began muttering to herself. Jace distinctly heard the word 'Jonathon' and almost leant in to respond, however he realised she was not talking to her and watched as she moved away, an awkward and embarrassed look on her face. It wasn't fair.
A sense of spontaneity and – surprisingly- compassion shook him and Jace suddenly took off toward the figure of the small woman that was headed to the restroom; most likely to wash away the frustrated tears that had formed in her eyes. He followed her quietly so as not to alert anyone- he wasn't even sure what he was going to say, and he was just about to reach out for her shoulder when, in perfect fashion with the bad day that he was having, the world exploded around him.
He felt himself grab onto the woman in front of him, just having time to turn his back to shield her when the blast of…something… threw him off of his feet, sending him flying. He felt shards of glass slicing at his bare arms and he gripped tightly to the stranger in his arms, world spinning as he hit the ground.
Everything was slow motion, sluggish as he rolled over, another rain of glass showering him, and Jace felt something wrap around his head. There was shouting. Someone was screaming. But everything felt as though it were underwater as Jace watched boot clad feet swim into his vision, obscured slightly by a fragile hand clutching his forehead. His mind was spinning, and he could hear someone talking near him, but it was too much. He saw a gun. There was no way that this was happening.
This was a bank robbery.
He was in a bank robbery.
He felt something hard kick at his back and the person beneath him jolted, finally bringing him back to reality. The red head was wrapped around him and they were both covered in glistening shards of fractured glass- from where, he wasn't sure. The woman had a jagged slash across her cheek, the crimson blood trickling like the spirals of her hair. Her eyes were wide, a brilliant shade of terrified emerald, and she was staring through her lashes at something behind Jace's back; turning slowly, still holding onto the woman, he saw a tall, broad shouldered man-presumably- standing over him, completely clad in black up to his piercingly black eyes. And he was talking to Jace.
"Both of you- up now and in the corner." His voice was smooth, menacing, and Jace noted his cool demeanour, along with the glistening gun that hung lamely at his side.
Shaking only slightly the pair untangled and rose to their feet, Jace pulling the woman up to stand slightly behind him, gripping her hand tightly. It was so surreal, so strange as Jace followed behind another man, all dressed in black, into the corner of the bank where there were no windows and no desks, and eight other people. Three were bank tellers: the surly older man who was sitting as though he had wet himself, sweating profusely and constantly staring at one of the men who had a gun pointed at the hostages; a taller woman with a muscular build and hazel coloured skin who was sitting with her back to the wall, and a young man with spindly arms and greasy hair.
The rest were all bank customers and they sat with varying degrees on fear etched on their faces, all watched carefully by the three men that had gathered around the group. Jace turned and sat on the ground, his head aching, and his entwined hand pulled the red haired woman down beside him. He expected her to be shaking like the blonde with fuzzy hair and watery eyes opposite him, but she just sat stoic, staring defiantly at their captor as blood trickled against her mouth.
There was another loud crash and one of the men let out a string of profanities.
"You two, guard the doors. I'm gonna see what's going on. And you lot-" He stopped, his strange blue green eyes dull and sharp under his balaclava. "Keep down, keep quiet, or you'll be sorry."
The three men all split off in different directions, and Jace finally allowed himself a moment to catch his breath. He was in a bank, during a freaking bank robbery, and now he was in some kind of crime-novel-action-movie style hostage situation. As long as Dennis Hopper wasn't involved maybe things would be alright.
Then again, knowing his luck, the situation could only go from bad to Armageddon.
Jace looked around at the rest of the group, and decided it would be a good time to gain their trust. Maybe then they would have a plan.
"Well." He said quietly, allowing only a touch of humour to colour his tone. "In any other situation I'd say that it's lovely to meet you all. I'm Jace Lightwood." He raised his brows and took in the response from the others, which was very little except from vacant stares until the dark complexioned girl with the piercing Amber eyes leant closer to introduce herself.
"Maia. Maia Roberts. I work here, obviously, but after this I reckon pursuing a career in anything else doesn't sound too bad." She grinned at him slightly, and Jace liked her. At least she wasn't afraid- that was a good sign. He watched as she dug a thick elbow into the side of the skinny boy next to her.
"Ow!" He protested indignantly. Maia raised her eyebrows. "Okay, okay. I'm Eric. I work here too, but I swear to God if we talk any louder I think they might come over here and shoot me." Eric's expression showed blatant fear, and Jace glanced over at the two men who stood poised at the front entrance; they were facing out and didn't seem to be paying much attention. He didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.
"I think that we're okay, they don't seem-" Jace was cut off by a fierce hiss exploding from the middle aged man, who was sat scrunched up as small as he could get, glaring at Jace.
"Shut up, boy! I personally don't want to die here, stop trying to get us in any more trouble than we obviously are in." He pursed his lips darkly, but before Jace could retort Maia stepped in.
"You shut up, Hodge. I for one am not gonna let these creeps terrorise me. The more we cower the worse it'll be." She turned to Jace, watching the old man huff. "Take no notice of Hodge; he's scared of his own shadow. Wouldn't be here if he didn't have to be." 'Hodge' muttered something along the lines of 'Damn straight.'
"I'm Jordan." This came from the man next to Eric; he had close cropped brown hair, and startlingly bluish eyes as well as an obvious scar on his neck that gave way to several tattoos. Despite his thuggish appearance his voice was smooth, and he looked to be the same age as Jace- early twenties. They nodded at each other in acknowledgement and Jordan spoke again, gesturing to the man beside him with dark features and a jagged mark across his cheek.
"This is Bat."
He wasn't a man of many words. Jace felt something shift, and glanced down at the red head who had just dropped his hand, the hand he hadn't realised she was still holding. She was watching the blonde girl who was sitting next to Hodge and Jace's eyes flicked over.
"Kaelie." She simply said, her tone hushed and small. They all nodded again, ignoring Hodge's look of disdain. "Look, I don't really know what's going on, but I really don't want to die here."
Maia turned her nose up and retorted.
"None of us are really in the mood to die, Princess. Just keep your head down and do what they say."
Kaelie looked slightly shell shocked and looked away, ignoring the dirty looks from Maia.
Tensions were obviously high.
The woman next to Jace looked up once more, a vacant expression on her face.
"I'm Clary." She said quietly, her voice melodic and soft. "And I don't want to scare anyone, but I think we should be quiet. Someone's coming over."
They all glanced around and saw that she was right- the one with black eyes that had been stood at the door was now walking toward them, a small object in his hand. He approached the group.
"One of you has a phone on you."
It was cryptic, and everyone shuffled back as the object let out a beeping noise. Kaelie flinched.
"Shit." Eric muttered. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone, his face pale white and palms sweating. "Look man, I didn't realise-"
He was cut off as the black clad man slammed a foot into his chest, sending him hard into the wall. Everyone gasped and moved back as he moved to pick up the phone that Eric had dropped, instead cringing as he brought a hard soled boot down to crush the phone. Eric let out a groan as he watched, and Jordan subtly helped him sit up.
"Stay put." The guy once again strode away, and the group watched as three people emerged from behind the banks counter, all of them dressed in the same black, nondescript outfits. This made five.
Clary watched carefully as the five of them came together, muttering to themselves. This wasn't right- something wasn't right.
"Not that I'm an expert on bank robbery." She whispered carefully to Jace. "But isn't this taking a while."
He looked at her sceptically.
"As long as they aren't bothered with us, I'm good. They can take as long as they like."
She raised her eyebrows and glanced over to Eric, who was slightly pale and green looking, but otherwise seemed fine. Bat was watching the five robbers in rapt attention, and Maia was staring at her hands.
But no matter what, Clary couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to happen.
She glanced over at Hodge, and then at the group of five, then she wiped the blood away from her eye, staring at the scarlet trail on her finger tip. Jace watched her do this, and leant forward to whisper again.
"It's all going to be fine." He said as reassuringly as possible, and she grimaced.
Things were definitely not fine.
The group sat up straighter as their captors made their way over, walking briskly as the tallest of the group stepped forward.
"Raphael." He barked at one of his group, a man with dark brown eyes. "Set a charge at the door. And you lot." He raised a small hand gun, and Bat flinched. The other of his men followed suit. "Follow me."
The blue eyed man leant forward and grabbed Jordan by the collar, hauling him to his feet, pointing a gun to his head and making him walk. He obviously seemed like a threat. Slowly but surely the group of eight rose up and followed, Hodge bounding along, eager not to get on the wrong side of them. Clary was the last to stand, the same blank look on her face. No emotion. Jace grabbed her hand and attempted to lead with her behind him- a protective instinct overcoming him- but he felt a tug at his wrist and the warmth of her small hand was pulled away.
Clary let out a small yell and found herself with an arm around her waist and something hard pressed against her head. Something she didn't want to think about.
"Don't go trying anything, sweet." It was the voice of the black eyed man, volatile like an unexploded shell, something evil hiding behind his words.
Jace spun around to face him, but was kicked forward by another one of the men. He just held his fists tightly, watching the rest of the group whilst listening to the automatic whimpers that Clary let out every time her captor shoved the gun into the small of her back harder.
They were led through to the back of the bank, dim lights casting shadows off of their faces. Jace could hardly see, and he caught his breath as he was pushed into a room that he could tell was small and stale. A foot came out in front of him and he lost his balance, falling into the dark room and hitting the cold floor with a thud. He felt other bodies in the room, the shuffle of anxious breath, and he turned just in time to see the glint of an eye as the heavy metallic door was closed on the hostages.
Silence.
"Jesus Christ." Came Maia's voice, loud and echoing in the tense room. "And I thought that things couldn't get any worse."