AN: A short, three part fic about a trip to the bank w/ Nick and Ellis… oh, and there's some douche bags who try to rob the place, or whatever. :T
Rating: M - for hardcore smut in the epilogue (part 4). You've been warned!
By this time, the felons had filled their bags with cash up to the breaking point and were just about ready to make their getaway.
"Okay, that's good, boys. We gotta split."
The leader zipped up all the pockets of his bag in a few practiced motions, and strapped it to his back like a student would. This was super efficient if one wanted to keep both his hands free while blowing a joint. The youngest robber did the same and got "Twitchy's" pack ready as well since the Hispanic was currently keeping watch over their hostages.
"Alright, now all of you…" he gestured to the bank employees behind the counter, "come out from behind there, hands behind your head, and join everyone else on the floor." The employees did as they were told without argument, carefully filing out one by one from behind their workstation and getting on their knees in front of their captors where they could see them.
Nick and Ellis peeked over their shoulders to see what would happen next.
"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your kind donations. It's not often we find such generosity in today's world, am I right?" Robber #1's theatrics were going to cost them the precious time they so desired, but he had the money and the upper hand, so what harm could a little gloating do? "Please let it be known that if any of you so much as try to scratch your crotch before we go, you will be put down by yours truly."
None of the people really seemed to care about his threats by now. They were leaving! Finally, they could all go home to their family and friends, wake up the next morning, and dismiss this awful experience as a simple bad dream. Sure, the criminals might possibly escape and never be found, but it was a small price compared to losing their lives. During the leader's conclusory speech, Ellis was wondering why he hadn't hear the wail of sirens in the distance already.
"Shouldn't the cops've been here by now?" he asked Nick.
"Depends. In all likelihood, a silent alarm should have been tripped, but we won't be able to know for sure unless someone says so."
The mechanic snorted. "I doubt anybody's gonna come clean about that."
"I wouldn't either," his partner admitted.
Robber #1 waited until their younger team mate threw one of the backpacks to "Twitchy" before they starting making their exit. "Hope to see you all again real soon." He gave his audience a cynical grin and directed his cohorts to the door opposite the bank entrance, as expected, where they would slip out the back.
Just as Ellis and all the other hostages were about to let out a sigh of relief, a black figure shot up from the kneeling crowd and alerted the robbers of his presence.
"HEY!"
All eyes were on a middle-aged man with salt and pepper grey hair who had stood up somewhere in the middle of all the other hostages. He was dressed in a dark pinstriped suit and had the air of a rather wealthy entrepreneur, but the small handgun he was pointing at the fleeing criminals made him look more like he belonged to the Mafia instead of your average business corporation. The man seemed pretty nervous even while wielding a weapon, though, so Nick didn't peg him for the gangster type. If this guy was as loaded as he appeared, then it wasn't much of a mystery why he carried a gun around for protection.
Robber #1 turned and looked their opponent up and down before chuckling to himself. "Wow, look at this! A good samaritan? Haven't encountered one of these before. I thought this was a job for the boys in blue?"
"You… you have no idea who you're messing with!" The business man said, his voice tight and wavering. He had to get a better grip on the gun in his hand due to how much his palms were sweating.
"Ha! And, uhh, neither do you, apparently. You really wanna play this game, old man?" The felon took a few intimidating steps towards the gentleman.
"Look, I just want back what's rightfully mine. I had twenty-thousand dollars worth of jewels in that vault and I'm not leaving here without it. After that, I won't get in your way."
The hostages surrounding the scene mumbled and groaned. If this idiot had just kept his big mouth shut and accepted the fate of their bank accounts, the robbers would've been out of their hair by now! The man was tempting death with every word that tumbled from his lips.
"Oh yeah? And I've been trying to get what's rightfully mine for YEARS. But you know what? They never gave it to me, so I figured it'd be easier to just… take it," he shrugged. "Besides, fat cats like you don't need all that money. Hey, if you're that worried about it, just sell off a couple of your cars. I'm sure you'll be rollin' in the doe again in no time." The robber offered him a chastising smile.
"Now you listen here! I'm Drew Rockwell, the CEO of -"
Before the ol' Drew could finish his introduction, the felon's glock was shoved into his nether regions, point blank, faster than anyone could blink. He froze up and held his breath, the sweat that had been beading on his forehead now given a reason to roll down the clean-shaven face.
"No, YOU listen, gramps. I don't care if you're the goddamn Pope. Do you honestly think you're in a position to be calling the shots here?" He pressed his weapon into the man's junk for emphasis, receiving a terrified shutter in return. "Go ahead. Shoot me with that little toy of yours, but…" the robber allowed his stomach to push up against the pistol his opponent was holding, and cocked his own gun, "… are you really gonna have the balls to do it?"
No one made a sound, although a few hostages had covered their ears ahead of time, chocking up Drew's life to an early grave. Ellis looked on with rapt attention, fully expecting at least one of the weapons to go off any moment, while Nick, on the other hand, licked his dry lips and watched the self-acclaimed CEO's face, waiting for him to cave in like he expected he would.
So far, the gambler's bets had been well placed.
Drew eventually lowered the gun and averted his eyes towards the floor, pride thoroughly thrashed by the criminal before him. The hostages weren't sure what to make of this just yet. Was he still going to be killed for his insolence? Were they going to leave now?
Robber #1 smirked and pulled the pistol from his opponent's clammy hands, stuffing it into the front pocket of his sweatshirt.
"That's what I thought."
He then held up a shiny black wallet which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The business man saw it and frantically rifled through his pant pockets for his own, which happened to be in the crafty hands of his captor. He'd been robbed blind.
"Shit, is this your shopping money or something?" He opened the leather pouch and marveled at all the crisp one-hundred dollar bills neatly placed inside. With a thoughtful nod, he stashed the wallet and patted Drew's arm. "Nice doing business with you."
Drew wilted back into a kneeling position, finally resigned to the fact that he wasn't getting his money back anytime soon. No one really felt sympathy for the man since all of their money was being taken as well, although Nick kind of knew how the guy felt. Mr. Rockwell was probably well versed in the art of "stealing" if he was the mighty and powerful CEO he claimed to be. Being stolen from, however, was just fate's way of giving the man a taste of his on medicine, something Nick had to go through many a time in his younger, more vivacious days.
The lead robber leered at all the other hostages practically bowing at their feet, and formed a fun little idea he hadn't tried in any of his prior heists. "How 'bout we give these good people a shake down?"
Ellis was about to ask the conman what that meant, but "Twitchy" spoke up first. "I thought you said we had to blow out of here? The cops're gonna be here any minute now, man."
"And? The ball's in our field, my friend. There's no way they'll challenge us as long as we have the hostages. Just do it."
"Twitchy" gave a hesitant nod before moving toward the closest hostage. He mumbled something that got them to keep as rigid as possible, and proceeded to dig out whatever loot he could find in the customer's pockets. Robber #3 did the same on the other side of the room, taking whatever valuables the hostages had tucked away in their purses and other hidden compartments, even the jewelry around each woman's neck and fingers.
Truthfully, this was kind of a good sign. Mr. Follow-the-Leader was getting a little too confident for his own good, and that's when karma would rear it's ugly head and bite ya in the back. Perhaps things would turn in the favor yet.
The leader stepped up to Nick and grabbed his wrist to examine the watch he had on. "Nice," he said, and brought it into his possession.
"Thanks. Got it as a Christmas gift last year," the conman said casually.
The robber immediately strapped it around his own wrist and admired the look of it. "Hm. Suits me a bit better, don't ya think?" Nick responded with a sarcastic smile.
The felon then moved on to Ellis. "And what 'bout you, Clyde?" he asked in a mocking hick accent. "Yew got somethin' fer me, too?"
If the mechanic's hands weren't behind his head, he'd have given the guy a double birdie, or socked him right in the jaw at best. Instead, he glowered at the criminal with all the malice his pretty blue eyes could muster.
"Oooh~ sorry I asked! Well, if you'll excuse me…" The man began patting down Ellis in an attempt to find cash or other commodities on his person.
Nick kept an eye on the whole situation and furrowed his brow when he saw the robber's hands getting too close for comfort near Ellis' crotch. "Watch the hands, pal," he ground out.
"Pfft…" the criminal held back a laugh. "Sorry. Forgot this was your man." He crudely clamped his palm over the southerner's junk, making Ellis jerk forward a bit with a grunt of discomfort. Nick had a right mind to knock the guy's block off, but figured it wouldn't go over too well in the end.
With that, robber #1 left to search and seizure elsewhere since the kid didn't have anything on him except a guitar pick and some pocket lint. Ellis' eyes bore holes into the man's back as he went, feeling more violated than that time an old lady at the diner he frequented pinched his butt while standing in line to pay. Nick had thought it was funny, but he wasn't the one who was assaulted, after all.
"You okay?" Even Nick thought it was a stupid question, but he wanted to make sure the guy hadn't damaged the goods in any way.
Ellis was still giving their captor the stink eye when he answered. "I will be once I kick his ass all the way to China n' back."
Despite the circumstances, Nick couldn't help but chuckle at his partner's statement.
A distressed yelp alerted everyone to some sort of struggle going on between "Twitchy" and the same woman who was fervently praying earlier. He had a grasp on her jade rosary beads, but she wasn't willing to part with them in the slightest, screaming and crying for the thief to let them go. It was as if she was losing part of her sanity, but no one would dare intervene. A lot of the hostages were growing restless as their plight went on, afraid that another life would soon be extinguished right before their eyes.
The shrieks were becoming too much for Ellis and, without warning, he whirled around and shouted at the smaller man, lifting one knee so that his left foot was flush against the floor. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"
"Twitchy" whipped his head towards the interruption and let out an irritated snarl. He closed the distance between he and the mechanic and shouted back, "Jesus FUCKING Christ, I am sick and tired of you queers!" The robber lifted his leg and shoved Ellis to the ground with the sole of his shoe, sending the boy tumbling flat on his back with an "oof!"
There was no time to recover once his assailant aimed the gun at his chest, but Nick was moving before the felon had a chance to clasp his other hand onto the glock's handle. The gambler charged him right in his middle and took the smaller man down with ease. His hand shot for the weapon his opponent was holding, but could only manage to get a grasp on his wrist instead. As strong a the robber's hold on his gun was, Nick's own iron grip kept the weapon from pointing anywhere below eye level, trying to keep the hostages and himself out of harms way. They rolled and jerked against each other, both trying desperately to gain the upper hand before the other one did. Nick finally wormed his fingers around part of the weapon and had almost wrenched it away from "Twitchy" when a loud pop assaulted everyone's ears, causing most of the hostages to cower. The sound came from robber #1's pistol that was currently aimed towards the ceiling. Attempting to shoot Nick came with the risk of accidentally hitting his fellow team mate, so he fired off a shot above to get their full, undivided attention.
"Alright. Clearly, some of you are more trouble than you're worth." He said in a surprisingly nonchalant manner, as if he'd dealt with tough crowds before. His cold eyes drifted towards Nick, obviously the thorn in his side he was referring to. "All we wanted to do was come in, grab some cash, and leave without any problems, much like the rest of you all," he shrugged. "But, it looks like we're not welcome here, so I guess we could just start headin' out. Ready, boys?"
The youngest robber glanced warily between his boss and their other cohort who had shoved Nick off of him after the warning shot, but not before yanking away the gun and glaring daggers at his opponent. The conman leered back just as brutally, all but used to having stare downs with his numerous past enemies. "Twitchy" here was a far cry from any of the ring leader lunatics Nick had to deal with way back when, so keeping an impassive disposition wasn't hard to do. This wasn't to say the man was without fear, although most of his concerns were towards everything but himself (that wouldn't have been the case back when it was all about looking for number one, of course.) In fact, the gambler would often recall a quote he'd read some years ago, before Ellis and before the zombies.
"Courage is looking fear right in the eye and saying, "Get the hell out of my way, I've got things to do."
The phrase stuck with Nick throughout his trials and tribulations, figuring that it suited his style more than any of those dumbass motivational posters he'd seen hung up in every office building he'd been to. Too bad he couldn't remember where the saying came from…
Ellis made his way over to Nick's side just as the robbers were beginning to leave, intent on scolding his lover for doing something so stupid that was likely to have gotten him killed.
He didn't even get a chance to touch him before robber #1 directed his pistol at the northerner and pulled the trigger.
To be continued...
