Three children, early in their teens, were talking in front of the bank. Maria, one of the bank's cashiers, had been watching them intermittently for about fifteen minutes, bored from having to work on Christmas day. They were standing across the street from the bank, and they looked pretty normal: two were boys, one blond and one hazelnut; the last one was a blonde girl, and looked like the blond boy's sister. The hazelnut boy was carrying a suitcase, and his friends, backpacks, so they probably were waiting for someone to join them before going somewhere.
Maria turned her attention to one of the clients. When she looked again, they were crossing the street through a zebra crossing, still chatting happily. They went in front of the bank, and split up. The blonds went to opposites sides of the bank, while the hazelnut opened the bank's door and flung the suitcase inside, running away afterwards.
A loud explosion shattered the windows of the bank, blowing up the entrance's checkpoint. Half a second afterwards, the youngsters were entering the bank, the blonds carrying handguns, and the brown-haired boy with a knife in each hand.
"Nobody move! Lie on the floor, hands on your head. Now!" Yelled one of the blonds, firing a shot at the ceiling.
The few people that were in the bank at that unfortunate time obeyed. The bank's guards didn't, and the three of them did the same movement to pull their guns. Before they could take aim, they were dead on the floor, bullet holes right in the middle of their foreheads. The blonds lowered their guns while their companion asked Maria for the money.
"Give us all the money in the bank. Not a single word." He said calmly.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that." Said Maria, brave on the outside but terrified on the inside.
The boy answered with a flick of his wrist, slicing her throat. He then spoke louder:
"The money, all of it. Don't try our patience."
One of the cashiers went to take it. The boy looked away from her, and started observing the hostages.
"How many did the boss say?" He asked.
"Six, I think." Answered the other boy, while the girl nodded.
"We're missing two. You, get up" He pointed at a woman who was hugging a little girl.
"Oh no please don't…" She said, words failing her when the tears overwhelmed her. The boy ignored her, grabbed her from the neck, and stabbed her in the jaw, his knife reaching up to the brain, killing her and then dropping her on the ground.
The little kid started crying, hugging her mother and asking her to speak to her. The killer looked at her, lifted her by the neck, and stabbed once again, this time in the heart. When he dropped the small corpse on the ground, he said:
"I think that makes six, doesn't it?"
"Pretty much. Let's get moving." The two blonds had filled their backpacks with money,,and were now waiting at the door. Sirens sounded in the distance while the criminals run into an alley and entered the sewers, closing the hatch after them.
"Took you long enough" Said another boy, standing up and handing the hazelnut boy a bag "Here's your stuff, Spider."
"Thanks Fox." He started rummaging in the bag, and pulled out a grenade and some wire. In a few seconds, he'd armed a booby trap on the sewer's entrance and another one on the corridor. "I think that'll do."
"Then let's keep moving. They'll probably be here soon." Said Fox, running deeper into the sewers.
They had been walking for about a minute when they heard an explosion in the sewers, and started running. Fox guided them through a labyrinth of tunnels to another hatch. Outside, a car was waiting for them. The blondes opened the trunk, dropped their backpacks inside and pulled out SMGs, while Fox sat at the wheel, and Spider tinkered with something from his bag, on one of the back seats.
"So how did it go?" Asked Fox, starting the engine and driving away calmly and discreetly.
"Pretty well. Wolf 7 got a couple of headshots, I only managed to get one." Said the blond boy. "And Spider killed the rest of the quota, but they were unarmed."
"Not bad. Uh-oh, cops. I wish I looked old enough to be driving this thing legally." Fox accelerated, rushing past a police car in a crossroads.
"Damn! They're chasing us now, Fox!" Said the girl, Wolf 7.
"They'd be chasing us anyways if they saw me driving. Don't shoot, though, I think I can shake them off."
"I've got something they won't like here. Get us somewhere safe and I'll get rid of them." Said Spider, throwing something up and then catching it in the air.
"Got it. We're leaving the city in about one minute, and we'll be going through a tunnel under repairs. The workers are gone, so it's just us and them."
"A nice setting if I ever saw one."
When they entered the tunnel, Spider looked out the window and dropped something. When the police car was going over it, he pressed the detonator, causing it to go up in flames.
Fox drove for about half an hour until they reached a small dirt road in the countryside. They followed it inside a forest, where it ended in front of a large concrete building. Outside of the building, more youngsters were training, some of them in an improvised firing range and some of them in unarmed combat.
The bank robbers got off the car and headed inside of the building, where two middle aged men were waiting for them.
"Reporting mission success, sir." Said the blond boy.
"Excellent, W6. What's the loot?" Answered one of the men.
"Two bags full of money."
"Casualties?"
"The six we were ordered at the bank, and outside probably two or three policemen, in a car."
"Fair enough. Go to sleep, W6, W7, S5. You'll have a busy day tomorrow."
When they were out, they started talking again:
"Fair enough? We just got about two thousand dollars, no wounded, no trace… We did fucking great, not just well!"
"Heh, I agree. But we'd better get some rest, tomorrow's going to be busy. As always. G'night, wolfies." Said Spider, heading to the showers. He heard them saying goodbye, so he waved. He entered the showers, undressed, and headed for the nearest empty one, closing the door once inside. He opened the tap, and enjoyed the feeling of the cold water on his skin. He realized he had some blood on his hands. He tried to wash it away, but it just wouldn't go, so he just put the shower's head to hit them straight, but instead of washing it off, the water turned red as well. He ignored it, and tried to leave the shower, but the lock was stuck. Suddenly, the sink got stuck, and the water level started rising. But it wasn't water, it was blood. He was up to his knees, his waist, his neck… Nobody heard him hitting the door.
Sergei woke up startled once again, and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. Another great beginning for another great day.