A.N: I was shocked by the overwhelmingly positive response the Ward brothers got! You guys are all amazing! Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it and as always, please remember to drop me a little comment. :-0)
Thomas kept an eye out while his brother was checking one of his safety deposit boxes at a local bank near their cabin. They were trying to catch a bus to Canada but Grant had wanted to make a stop before they left to be safe.
"How much cash you got in there?" Thomas asked over his shoulder.
"A few grand," Grant shrugged. "Should be enough to hold us over for a while." He stood and turned toward the front of the bank where a commotion was starting.
"What is it?" Thomas asked.
"Get behind me," Grant answered, pushing his brother's smaller frame behind his much larger one.
"What the hell, Grant?"
"Quiet…" he shushed him. "Things are about to go south… You need to stash this bag in that trashcan without being noticed; otherwise we're going to be broke."
Thomas nodded understand before throwing the small duffle bag into the trash can next to them.
"What now?" Thomas asked.
"Do everything they say," Grant answered already lifting his arms above his head and walking out of the safe where the safety deposit boxes were located.
"Who-"
"Nobody move! This is a stick up!"
"Them," Grant mumbled getting on his knees and laying flat on the ground.
Thomas groaned and lay down next to him. "This is all your fault."
"We need a plan," Grant whispered.
"What we need to do is wait for them to get what they came for and leave," Thomas answered. "Our stash is safe."
"Thomas…"
"Damn it, Grant," he growled. "Don't be a hero… just let them leave."
"They have powers," Grant told him.
"How can you tell?"
Grant nodded toward one of the gunmen leading the teller to the safe. She was crying that she didn't have the code but he just smiled before ripping the safe's door off its hinges.
Thomas' eyes widened. "Oh."
Grant nodded. "I've seen this before… it's a super soldier serum… it's dangerous… it makes them unstable."
"You think?" Thomas rolled his eyes.
"Hey! Stop talking!" Another gunman kicked Thomas' leg as he passed by them.
Thomas waited for him to leave before whispering, "So what do we do?"
"We know that he's the one with the powers," Grant muttered. "But who's the leader…?
Thomas glanced around quickly before looking back at the floor. "The guy by the door."
"How do you know?"
"He's standing watch and he's the only one with the cleanest getaway," Thomas answered. "It's what I would do."
Grant smirked. "Good eye, little brother."
"Shut up," Thomas rolled his eyes at him. "What's our plan?"
"I'll handle this," Grant said. "You stay here… the last thing I need is you getting shot."
"Grant…"
"Stay here," he warned before standing up with his hands above his head.
"Hey! What are you doing?" the gunman that had kicked Thomas pointed a gun at his chest.
"I need to use the bathroom," Grant shrugged.
"Are you kidding me right now?"
He shook his head. "It's an emergency…"
Thomas snorted on the floor next to him.
"Get back on the ground now or I'll-"
"Just take him, Joey," the one by the door spoke up. "What's the harm… make sure to keep your gun on him though."
Joey turned toward him, nodding to the back where the public restrooms were. "Keep moving… hands where I can see them."
Grant walked into the men's room with Joey right behind him. He started toward one of the stalls but Joey stopped him.
"Don't even think about it," he said. "You can use a urinal."
Grant nodded, standing in front of urinal closest to the mirrors. "You just gonna watch me pull it out?"
Joey trained his gun on him as Grant began turning around before he quickly disarmed the other man in a move he'd perfected over a decade ago. He used the butt of the gun to knock the other man out and hid the gun in the back of his pants. He pulled the unconscious man into a stall and threw him inside.
Taking the gun out of his waistband, he walked to the door of the bathroom and took a deep breath. The last time he'd shot a gun, he'd killed her. He hadn't held a gun in his hand since the day she died but it all came back to him so naturally. Almost like no time had passed by at all.
He opened the door, looking outside. Thomas was still on the ground. The other two gunmen were in the safe. He stepped out of the bathroom quietly, holding the gun in front of him. The other hostages watched him with wide eyes. He shushed them quietly by putting his finger to his lips, walking to the safe.
With the gun trained on the two gunmen, he stepped into the safe. "Drop them… And don't even think about trying to use them. I'm a much better shot than you both. Trust me."
The two of them turned toward him and looked at each other before dropping their guns at their sides.
"Kick them to me," Grant instructed with his gun still trained on them. "And don't even try to use your super soldier serum or I will put a bullet in your head before you make a move."
"What super soldier serum?"
Grant glanced between them. "You ripped a safe door off the hinges. That's not exactly something you learn in weight training." He cocked his gun. "If it's not a serum, what is it?"
"Grant!" Thomas ran into the safe. "We have company."
"What?" he asked. "Cops?"
"SHIELD…"
"Okay, we gotta get out…" Grant told him. "Go get our bag…. and secure the hostages somewhere safe."
Thomas nodded before running back to the trashcan where he had thrown their bag. He ushered the few hostages into the safe where they held their safety deposit boxes before running back to his brother's side, holding the duffle bag in his hands.
"What about all this money?" he asked, glancing at the vault.
"Leave it, Thomas," Grant muttered. "We have to. Grab their guns."
Thomas grabbed both guns, putting one in the bag.
"You two," Grant signaled for them to walk out of them. "Come on."
"Are you kidding me?" one of them mumbled.
"Would you rather I just kill you now?"
"Listen to him, Alaris…."
"But he can't hurt me, Max.."
"Mr. Ward has somewhere else to be right now, isn't that right?" Max asked.
Grant positioned his gun in front of himself. "How do you know my name?"
"Where's our friend Joey?" Alaris asked
"Passed out in the bathroom, now answer my question."
"He's not important. He was only human after all." Max waved him off.
"Who are you?" Thomas asked.
"Who I am, is not important." Max gave him an eerie grin. "What is important is that we'll meet again… soon…"
"We need to go," Thomas grabbed his brother's arm, pulling him back. The ground began shaking around them. Thomas held on to his brother trying to hold steady. "What the hell is that?"
"We have to go," Grant told him as the front doors blew off their hinges. Grant threw Thomas to the ground and covered him. He looked up to find Alaris walking toward the front doors where she came in by and something in him snapped. She'd stopped in her tracks, not even realizing she was about to be attacked.
"Hey!" he fired off a round in Alaris' back but the younger man didn't even stop. The bullets just ricocheted off him. "Skye!"
She finally came to and blocked the punch that was intended for her. Grant turned to find Thomas standing and walking toward him when an electrical charge lifted him off the ground. He turned to find the one who was currently holding his brother off the ground standing close to Skye. Grant trained his gun on the other man's head. "Put him down or I will shoot you."
The other man turned his eyes on him, staring at the barrel of his gun. He dropped Thomas who fell to the ground, hitting his head on a piece of rock that had fallen when the quake had started.
"Thomas," Grant called out. "Get up… we're leaving…"
"No!" Skye called out in anger before blowing Alaris away from her and against a wall.
"You've got your two bank robbers already and the other one is knocked out in one of the bathroom stalls," Grant told her. "Me and him are gonna walk out of here though… and you're not gonna follow us…"
"Skye…" the one who'd shocked his brother spoke up.
She turned toward him and clenched her jaw in anger as Max walked toward the group.
"You are powerful," he stepped in front of Skye. "But you're not the most powerful Inhuman that I've come across..."
"Who are you?"
"You'll know soon enough," he said before disappearing with Alaris.
Skye glanced around, her eyes landing on Grant who had his weapon trained on her.
"I don't want to have to use this but I will…"
"Oh you're going to shoot me now?" she asked in mock disbelief.
"To save him, I'll do whatever it takes." Grant answered glancing at Thomas on the ground. "Come on, Thomas."
His brother stood, leaning against him for support. Grant walked backwards toward the back exit. "You still have one hostile in the bathroom but he's kind of an idiot so you should be able to handle him. And the hostages are all safe in the back."
"So you mean you weren't the one trying to rob this bank?" she asked.
"Look around you, Skye… does it look like I'd want this kind of attention?" he asked. "I guess it's true you never really knew me after all."
He slipped out the back, half carrying his brother to their car. He tossed the duffle bag in the back seat and carefully helped his brother into the front. "Put your head back. We'll have to take care of that cut as soon as we get somewhere safe."
He ran around the car into the driver's seat and sped out of there. As he drove away, he glanced in the review mirror and found her watching him.
"Stay still," Grant groaned in frustration trying to stitch the gash on his brother's forehead.
Thomas pushed back away from him, grabbing the almost empty bottle of cheap vodka he'd been drinking since Grant started working on his cut. "Who the hell taught you how to do this, anyway? Frankenstein? It hurts you know!"
Grant rolled his eyes. "If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much."
"You know I can tell when you're lying, right?" Thomas asked. "You get this little twitch above your eye."
"You're drunk," Grant glared at him. "And no I don't."
"You think spy school taught you how to get rid of the twitch? It didn't." Thomas narrowed his eyes, taking another sip of the vodka. "But fine… finish already…"
Once he finished stitching up Thomas, he worked on stitching his own wound where he'd been shot. The bullet had barely grazed him so he hadn't needed immediate attention like Thomas.
"Woah! You got shot?!" Thomas noticed the wound when Grant took off his shirt to get a better look.
"Not a big deal…" he sucked in a breath before threading the needle through his own skin without any kind of anesthesia. "I've been through worse."
Thomas frowned. "Need help?"
"Where'd you learn to stitch?" Grant smirked.
"I lived in the jungle, jackass," Thomas rolled his own eyes. "You have to pick up a few skills for survival."
Grant shrugged.
Thomas took that as approval and walked toward him, taking the needle from his hands, expertly threading it through his older brother's skin.
"So, what happened out there?" Thomas asked while he worked.
"I don't know what you mean…"
"You seemed… distracted is all," Thomas shrugged. "I'm assuming that's when you somehow got shot and didn't even notice."
"I noticed. I think that guy was bulletproof because the bullets just ricocheted off him," Grant argued. "I just didn't need immediate attention. You did."
"Thanks," he said. "But something still happened out there… I've seen you hunting and you are the most attentive person I know. Tonight, you were somewhere else mentally. You snapped when…"
"It was nothing," Grant frowned. "Momentary lapse in judgment… it won't happen again. Besides, priority number one was getting you out of there."
"Did it have anything to do with those SHIELD agents we ran into?" Thomas asked as he finished stitching up the wound.
"Thomas…"
"I know," he shrugged. "You'll tell me when you're ready."
"What makes you think I'll ever be ready?" Grant asked him.
"I don't know," he smiled sadly. "You're my brother… I hope you trust me enough one day to tell me."
