Alexandria
Sun leaked into Max's car at around six a.m. The light was an arrogant wake up call, telling Max to get up and do her work. Max had a few choice words for the sun, especially since the robbery was scheduled at around twelve in the afternoon- six hours from six.
Of course, it was always a good idea to get up early. Then Max could do what she'd forgotten to do at Nudge's place: change her appearance.
Luckily, the public bathroom was open and Max was able to rinse the dye in at the sink and place the dark contacts on her eyes at the mirrors. When Max was finished, she looked up at the mirror to see her transformation.
It wasn't pretty. The hair was a bright superficial orange-red that stood out against Max's pale skin. And the eyes- Max didn't know where to begin. The black coloring made her look like a vampire on Halloween.
As soon as the dye rinsed out and the contacts were off, Max would be having a word with Nudge on her disguise choices.
To pass the time, Max stayed in the restroom and wrote on the mirrors and walls. Shockingly, no one came in while she graphitized the walls.
Halfway through writing the word "Tofu" on a stall door, Max got a text from Angel. It was possibly the most important information of the day. However, the information was hard to decipher when Angel texted like a teenage girl.
OMG, found prfect bnk 2 rob. On cornr of 5 stret. Looks . Get rich lol. Txt bak. TTYL.
That was Angel. Intellectual nine-year-old in reality, teenage girl in text.
Even though Max thought Angel made no sense through texting, she was still able to decode the message: Oh my god, I found the perfect bank to rob. It is on the corner of Fifth Street. Looks good. Get rich. Laugh out Loud/Hahaha. Text back. Talk to you later.
So the bank Max was going to get was on the corner of Fifth Street– only three blocks away. Max had to admit the place had looked pretty good when she passed it.
Stonewalls, glowing exterior, and the whole shebang. The only trouble Max had seen at all was the guards. Two muscular men blocked the small brass doors. But more intimidating than the muscle were the weapons at the side of the men.
Guns had always scared Max. Sure, she had used them plenty of times, but guns and gunpowder technology was the lead in cause of death. And Max wasn't prepared to die.
However, if she wanted to fuel her group's work (and just be wealthier in general), she would have to get over her fears.
Without Angel's mastermind strategy to guide her, Max made a plan of her own. The guards could be easily taken out with sleeping drugs. How to get the sleeping drugs in their bodies was a different thing entirely. And there was the fact that it would be suspicious if two guards fell asleep on the sidewalk.
Once Max figured out what she would do for the guards, she then proceeded onto the actual robbery. The doors, though narrow, were the perfect way to escape. If the bank were structured as Max thought it was, the doors would lead straight to where the money was.
Later That Day
Max walked towards the bank carrying only a bottle of water, a purse, and a gun. The water was drugged with sleeping pills, the purse would hold the money, and the gun was, well, a gun.
It was all Max needed.
Her plan sprung into action when she approached the two guards and took out her water bottle. Pretending to take a swig of the water, she tilted her head back just a little bit too far back.
The scene was going how Max wanted it to. By tilting her head back so far to "drink" from the water, it looked like the drink was being forced down her throat. With water coming out that fast, it would be the perfect excuse to "choke" on the liquid.
Max spewed water all over the guards and their coats. Truthfully, it was just normal water she had spewed, but it was scented with the same medicine smell the poisoned water held. And hopefully, the scent would lure them in.
The first guard was an angry sort of man, the type that has terrible insults but fights with people at every chance. He snapped at Max, "Are you kidding me? I dry-clean this suit every day and it's ruined! I spent all of my paycheck just yesterday getting this suit sleek and nice, and you have destroyed all of my money! You are covering my suit and my paycheck, do you hear me?"
Max put on an apologetic look. "I am so, so sorry. I really didn't mean any trouble."
The other guard was gentler. "My associate and I don't mean any trouble. Please, don't listen to him. We can get this cleaned up on our own. Just go ahead and– hey, what's this smell?"
The guards sniffed their jackets simultaneously. The angry guard looked at the water bottle accusingly. "What do you have in that bottle?"
Angry Guard snatched up the canteen. Then, in an odd series of events, he sniffed the drink, took a sip, and then passed it to his coworker, who did the same.
Wow. Max knew her plan would work some way or another but she hadn't expected the guards to be this stupid.
Both guards looked at each other and said, "Sleeping pills." Nicey turned to Max.
"What are you doing with sleeping pills?"
Max began to look frantic. "Nothing, I swear. It's just to help me sleep at night. I have insomnia."
Angry Guard looked suspicious. "Alright, let's haul her up to the station."
Nicey nodded. "It's the only way."
Max was going to face-palm. Was this some sort of joke? Sure, it was part of her plan, but it was never meant to go this well.
The guards led Max to their car. It was an old SUV that was disintegrating at the wheels. No way they thought this would hold Max. They might not have known her identity, but that wouldn't stop her even if she weren't Maximum Ride.
But they were serious, and lo and behold Max was in their van as they slowly snailed towards the station.
This was the easy part. Max had laced the sleeping drug with a mixture of her own. It was a concoction she liked to call Gazzy, named after Angel's brother the Gasman (yes, that was the name his parents gave him).
Gazzy, an eleven-year-old boy, was also an important asset to the crime team. He worked with Iggy to make explosives, and together, they made the world terrified. Plus, he also had his natural talent- being Gazzy.
It was the natural talent Max was using in the mixture. If you bottled up the scent of Gazzy, you could knock someone out for at least thirteen hours.
And that's what was happening to the guards. The first one to drift away was Nicey, who was in the passenger's spot. Soon after, Angry guard fell asleep too, and Max hopped out of the car before it crashed.
Looking at her surroundings, Max saw that she wasn't very far from the bank. The guards hadn't gotten far- in fact; they'd both fallen asleep almost exactly where the public restroom was.
So Max only walked three blocks before reaching her destination. The bank, now with no armed people, was perfect. Max walked in, prepared to take all the money she could.
She swung the door open, and then locked it behind her. There was a considerable amount of people in the bank. Great for making panic.
Once she had walked to the corner of the bank, right where the locked door to the money storage was. Hopefully, her standing so close to the door would make people uncomfortable.
It wasn't long before a bank employee came over there to tell her to move it or lose it. "Excuse me, but we have to ask you to please move. You're not supposed to be in this section of the bank."
Max nodded, reached in her purse and then pulled out her gun. She put it to the woman's head.
The woman froze. Her eyes widened with fear. Typical, Max thought. Can't hold her own against a weapon.
Max waited a few seconds for people to look at her at get scared. All eyes were on her as she turned to the people of the bank.
"I want five hundred dollars from each of you or I will kill this woman and everyone who didn't pay me. And if any of you think you can win against me, you should be informed that my comrades are ready to bust this place anytime." A lie, but the people would eat it up. They always did.
The first person to move was a man in his early thirties. He shuffled out and handed Max all the money in his wallet (besides the coins, but who wants coins?). He was about to make a move for the door, too, but max stopped him.
"If you think you're going anywhere, you're mistaken. You and every person in this place are staying until I get what I want."
The man shuffled back to his place. Max smiled heartlessly. It was just the trick to get everyone to pour his or her money out to Max.
After Max had gotten all the money she needed from the people around her, she exited the building as quietly as she could. Nobody around her seemed to notice a thing.
At first she thought that was strange, because someone always was a little bit suspicious of Max after a crime. But Max saw almost immediately why no one was looking at her.
It was a riot. It was the very thing Max and the gang (called the Flock) were looking for in Alexandria. The riot would be great for hostage getting. Thanks, Karma. I'll pay you back one day.
She scanned the crowd quickly. Nobody stuck out. Damn. Max was out of luck.
Until she saw the boy in black crossing the street.
