Rusty propped his feet up on the desk in the manager's office and leaned back in the incredibly plush chair. He took a swig of bottled water, which he had grabbed from the break room moments ago, and glanced back into the foyer. A snarl curled up the corner of his mouth when he saw Danny jerk wildly against his new restraints. Even from this distance, Rusty was able to hear the muffled yet angry exclamations emanating from behind the duct tape.
He'd come too far to walk away from this without some serious cash in hand. Yes, his share of $800,000 would have been much more than they originally would have gotten from the vault, but the situation had changed; they'd taken hostages. The team wasn't supposed to have had more than a few minutes contact with any of the bank patrons. Now, over an hour later, the risk they could be identified by some small idiosyncrasy—an accent, a limp, some random DNA left at the scene—had skyrocketed.
Because of all that, Rusty wasn't ready to settle for less than his share of a million. He'd been planning the perfect escape for months now: no airport, no bus station, just him and the used car he'd bought a few months back and had since paid off in full. He had already found the perfect town to live in until this all died down, and had been travelling there every few weeks to make his interest in a one-person flat well-known. After a few years, he could leave the country if he wanted; Canada, Mexico, it didn't matter. All he knew for certain was he was going to make his share last. In a couple months, he was going to get a blue-collar job and maybe even begin to invest some of the ransom, small amounts at a time, of course. He'd seen enough movies to know that bad guys were caught when they drew attention to themselves or lived beyond their means. He was determined to break that trend.
None of that mattered to Danny, who was only here for the planning, the adrenaline rush, and the perfect execution. He wasn't struggling financially like the rest of the team. So Rusty had knocked out Danny and taken his place as leader, determined to get every last dime from the city that had ruined him.
The phone shrilled and he let it ring once, twice before answering. "You have my money?" he drawled, lifting his weapon into the air and staring down the barrel at the hostages.
"Yes."
Rusty swept his feet off the desk, lowered his shotgun and leaned forward anxiously. "Tell me more."
"One million dollars. Cash."
"Non-sequential bills?"
"Considering you only gave us an extra half hour, I can't guarantee it."
"Very well." Rusty straightened up slightly and noticed that Linus was staring curiously at him. He motioned for his teammate to wait, then refocused on his call with the hostage negotiator. "Now, I need a van, unmarked in any way and a fresh set of plates. I want it parked in front of the bank in fifteen minutes. You do that and I'll release two more hostages. Then, you're going to place the million into a set of duffel bags and leave them at the front of the bank. At that point, one of the hostages will grab the money so I can count it. If it's all there, I'll consider letting four more of them go. Any questions?"
"What about the other two?"
"It depends on how well you follow directions."
"You'll get your van," Jones promised, "but the process will go much smoother if the city knows you didn't murder their favorite superhero. Will you allow us to get Johnny Storm the medical attention he needs?"
Rusty stared at the Torch, who was struggling to sit upright with help from another hostage. Sweat poured down his face as he attempted to keep his shoulder still. "Nope. He's my biggest bargaining chip. I'll tell you this though: he's alive. Keep playing my game and his condition won't get worse."
With that, he slammed the phone into its cradle. Then he lifted his shotgun off the desk, settled the butt against his hip, and walked into the main room, grinning widely. "Good news," he announced, instantaneously capturing everyone's attention. Even Storm looked up from the ground, though his gaze was hazy. "The money is in."
He paused for a moment, listening to the exhales of relief. "Linus, Frank, Reuben, prepare the hostages. Make sure they're secured." His men immediately set about checking the plastic ties around the hostages' wrists. Linus was ready to leave Colin's hands free, in case Storm needed further medical attention, but Frank roughly stepped in front of him and forcefully retied Colin's wrists.
When they had finished, Rusty squatted down beside Danny, dug his fingers into his boss' jaw and turned his head so the two were looking eye to eye. "You just didn't have the cojones to stick with it. Look at us now. A cool mil is heading our way as we speak."
Danny's eyes burned with anger but Rusty just shook his head sadly. "Be glad I'm not leaving you." He released his hand, leaving Danny's head to collide with the tile.
"Oops," he deadpanned, without an ounce of remorse, as he stood and clapped imaginary dust from his gloves.
"What now, Rusty?" Linus asked, after examining the last hostage.
"Now we wait."
The next fifteen minutes were the longest of Sue Storm's life. After handing von Doom's money over to Agent Jones, she had nothing to do but wait.
Donna had forwarded the live stream of the security footage to Sue's phone, knowing there wouldn't be room in the van for her, Reed or Ben, once hostages started being released. After consulting with Chief Hicks, who told the Four that should wait to see how Jones' plan played out before doing anything drastic, they stood to the side of the FBI van, just far enough out of the reach of prying paparazzi or reporters, their eyes glued to the silent black-and-white feed.
About ten minutes after Jones had made his latest call, they heard the screeching of the police barriers being moved, and glanced up to see a nondescript white van pulling in. The driver had a quick discussion with Agent Jones before he backed the van into the unoccupied space in front of the bank, stopping just before the sidewalk.
The gunmen must have been watching for, within the same minute, the door to the bank opened and a younger man and woman were roughly thrown out. SWAT was instantly on the move, forming a protective barrier around the couple and guiding them to safety. They were quickly ushered into the back of Jones' van, followed immediately by an FBI-cleared paramedic. While the Invisible Woman was glad two civilians had been released, seemingly unharmed, the big sister in her grew more fearful for her brother's safety, especially as he became less and less active on the security feed.
Minutes after that, she saw SWAT Captain Malone reach for his earwig and respond affirmatively. He walked over to a hunter green sedan, where a majority of his team was standing, and tapped one of them on the back. That man nodded, then reached into the backseat and pulled out a blue duffel bag, signing a form with his left hand as he did so. He hoisted that bag onto his back and lifted the duffel from the von Doom estate with both hands while another SWAT agent picked up a ballistic shield and stepped in front of his teammate. On Malone's nod, the men moved in tandem past the police barrier to the front stoop where the second man lowered the bags to the ground. Never turning their backs to the bank, the men quickly retreated.
When they were back at the police barrier, the door to the bank slid open again and a male hostage—the one who had been assisting Johnny, Sue realized—stepped through, his bound hands raised in surrender. As the barrel of a shotgun poked out of the door jamb, the hostage cautiously bent down and chucked the heavy bags into the bank. When he was finished, he slowly stood upright and faced the open doorway. Without a word being exchanged, the barrel of the shotgun disappeared and a second hostage, a redheaded woman wearing a polo shirt with the bank's logo emblazoned on the pocket, was shoved out. SWAT waited until the door slammed closed before collecting the hostages with practiced fluidity.
In the moments that followed, Sue remained glued to the feed on her phone, while the entire crowd outside the bank fell into an eerie silence, as if everyone was holding their breath. Finally, the door opened a third time and two more hostages, a semi-conscious security guard and a blond bank employee, on which he was leaning heavily, were ejected. SWAT collected them as easily as the first seven.
After a few more agonizing minutes, Jones walked over to Reed, Sue and Ben were standing, his mouth set in a grim line. Sue grabbed Reed's hand, feeling her husband's mass disappear under her tight grip.
"They're coming out," he reported.
"Why do you look less than thrilled?" Ben questioned.
Jones sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair. "His final demand was that Johnny and the bank manager, Jessica Applefeld, travel with them to ensure we don't follow them."
He paused as he heard Sue inhale sharply but refused to meet her harsh glare. "I did what I could but he refused to give in."
The shock finally wore off. "For all you know he could wind up in a ditch forty miles out of town!" Sue shouted, unable to keep back the anger and frustration any longer. This man was keeping her from helping her injured brother!
"Mrs. Richards," Jones reached out peacefully but Sue ripped her arm from his grasp. "We will do our very best to ensure that doesn't happen."
"But you can't promise anything, can you?" she asked, her gaze deadly.
"No," Jones admitted sourly, the word feeling foreign coming from his mouth. "But we've done everything they've asked. They have no reason to escalate their crimes from robbery to murder."
The color drained from Sue's face and Jones winced, realizing too late that that was probably the wrong thing to say.
"I think you should get back to your job now, Agent," Reed interjected, wrapping his arm around Sue's shoulder. Jones looked like he was going to say more, but he just nodded and walked toward Captain Malone, who was conversing with Chief Hicks.
Reed had known Sue long enough to see the slight tremble in her taught shoulders and the way she kept fiddling with her pants pocket. To anyone else, she just looked nervous, but Reed knew she was deeply afraid. He led her into a makeshift corner formed by two vehicles parked at perpendicular angles. Ben had noticed the same nervous tendencies in his longtime friend and stood in front of the Richardses to shield them from the prying onlookers, but with his back turned to give them some privacy.
"He'll be alright Sue," Reed said, pulling his wife close.
"How can you be sure?" Sue asked, hating that she sounded all of five years old. Never in her entire life had she felt this helpless in a situation where her brother's safety was on the line. She wanted nothing more than to storm into the bank with Ben and Reed, take out the perps and get Johnny to the hospital. Still, a small part of her recognized that those actions might do more harm than good, which meant she was resigned to hoping that Jones and his team were as good as Hicks said.
"Jones was right. We did everything they've asked for. And look, they released nine out of the original eleven hostages. The odds look very good for Johnny's release as well." Reed offered his wife his most reassuring smile as he gently massaged her shoulder.
"You still have that metal containment unit, right?"
Reed balked momentarily at Sue's non sequitur. "Um…yes, why?"
"When this is all over, we're locking Johnny in there and throwing away the key."
Both Reed and Ben were smart enough to figure out the rest of the sentence: So we never have to go through this again.
"It's time," Rusty announced, motioning toward the door with his automatic weapon. "Reuben, Frank, get them up."
Before Johnny had time to brace himself, there were two strong hands on his biceps, pulling him unceremoniously to his feet. The motion jarred his injured shoulder and Johnny groaned, his knees faltering slightly as pain lanced through his system.
The hands immediately released him and he pitched forward. He was caught at the last moment by a rough grip on his collar that whipped his momentum backwards, causing the front of his shirt to sear a deep line into his throat and agony to explode in his upper back. Then his collar was released and an arm looped through the space between his left side and his elbow.
By this time, the earthquake rocking Johnny's vision had passed and he bit his lip, determined to stand by himself. He very carefully arranged his right arm so it wrapped around his torso and pinned it tightly to his ribs with his left hand.
"Not so fast," the fifth man, who was apparently named Reuben, said as Storm attempted to pull away.
They were interrupted by a yelp from the other side of the room.
Johnny concentrated on turning his head ever so slightly and saw Frank roughly hauling the pretty bank manager upright, one hand under her arm, the other grasping her hair. Johnny leaned forward slightly, instinctively wanted to offer aid, but Reuben yanked harshly on his uninjured arm.
"You wouldn't make it ten feet," he muttered, just loud enough for Johnny to hear. Storm scowled, knowing the gunman was right.
"Frank," Rusty warned, shooting the man a knowing look.
The lackey grumbled something under his breath but released his grip on the woman's hair. "Let's just get this over with," he raised his voice in order to be heard by his leader.
"The van's fifteen feet from the front entrance," Linus announced, stepping out of a far office where he had been watching action outside the bank.
"Reuben, you and Storm go first. Frank, you follow with Ms. Applefeld here. Linus, you take a duffel and watch Danny, who'll take a bag too. I'll go last and cover you. Any questions?" Rusty asked, looking around. "No? Good. Let's take a walk."
Linus nodded and swiftly unlocked the thick chain that wrapped around the door handles. He pressed himself against the wall and tentatively pushed open the door. It swung wide then smashed back into the jamb, with no additional commotion.
Linus, who had been prepared for gunshots or an explosion, happily cracked open the door again and shouted, "We're coming out!"
He quickly grabbed the smallest bag and slid his arms into the two straps, wearing it like a knapsack. Reuben made a noise in the back of his throat and Linus immediately turned, grabbing Johnny's uninjured shoulder so Reuben could sling his shotgun onto his back and take the handgun Rusty was holding out. Then Reuben looped his arm through Johnny's again, and jammed the barrel of the handgun into Storm's ribcage. Johnny inhaled sharply as his shoulder jostled uncomfortably and he glared at his captor.
Linus waited until Reuben had a firm grip on Storm before bending down, picking up a second bag, and shoving it into Danny's bound hands. Then he stepped into line behind his old leader.
"Now walk. Nice and slow," Reuben ordered, guiding himself and Storm both toward the door.
Johnny unconsciously held his breath, praying SWAT wasn't planning on shooting the first people out of the bank, as Reuben pushed him through the doorway and into the darkness.
Well, it should have been darkness, but the area had apparently been lit by a series of spotlights. Storm squeezed his eyes closed as his pupils were assaulted by the brightness. Momentarily blinded, he stopped moving, wanting his eyes to adjust before he attempted walking again. He heard a collective gasp then heard someone scream "Johnny!"
"Sue!" he shouted back. His eyes flew open and he whipped his head around, trying to see his sister in the whiteness.
He was in the process of opening his mouth to tell her he'd be fine, to not do anything older-sisterly, when something hard collided with his back, stealing his breath. Stars danced in front of his vision and his knees buckled as pain knifed through his shoulder. He would have fallen flat on his face if not for Reuben's support.
Through the haze, he heard Sue screaming, swearing and crying for them to let him go. Then he was being yanked backwards and pulled tightly against a warm body. His heart skipped a beat as he felt a cool metal circle pressing against his temple.
"We don't want to hurt anyone," Reuben shouted, "but we will if we have to. You all stand back now, put down your weapons and shut the hell up."
The crowd instantly fell silent, the sobs and cries of protests stifled.
"I mean it! Weapons down!" Reuben shouted after a moment, pressing the barrel of his weapon deeper into Johnny's forehead.
There was lots of muffled shifting and Johnny could only assume that it was the SWAT team and the police department carefully placing their weapons on the ground. He was having too much trouble focusing to look up and see.
"That's better." The gun disappeared from Johnny's temple and buried itself against his ribs again. "Walk!" Reuben hissed, pushing Storm forward.
"'m fine," he gasped as he stumbled along, hoping Sue would hear him. In the absolute silence, he was almost positive she would. He'd given this moment a lot of thought as he'd watched everyone else get released. He'd overheard Rusty say he wanted Johnny and Jessica, the manager, to go with them to ensure they weren't followed…If they were planning on killing him, he didn't want his last words to his sister be an argument about how she was having her friends over this weekend, meaning he'd have to watch the X Games on the smaller TV in the garage.
He gathered the saliva in his mouth and raised his voice: "Sorry, Sue…I lov—"
Suddenly his shins collided with a roundish rubbery object and he pitched forward. Knowing he wouldn't be able to put out his hands to brace the fall, he tried to turn his head into his left shoulder to avoid a broken nose and did his best to shift so he would take the impending collision with his uninjured left side.
Despite his best efforts, he landed awkwardly on his front and his head collided with an unforgiving metal object. His vision was bathed in colors and he struggled to remain alert.
Around him, sounds and motions muddled together, confusing his senses. People were clambering over him, one going so far as to roughly kick his long limbs out of the way. Then, he heard more shouting followed by a feminine scream and a harsh clanging.
Seconds later, the van revved to life and peeled away from the curb, leaving his friends, family and the rest of the crowd behind them.
Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you thought!
