Main theme: Can't Trust Anybody Now by Jeff Williams
Arc Theme: Deep Stone Crypt from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
Theme: Frigid Tomb from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
The club around her was dark, with bright flashing white lights, and with a square dancefloor in the middle, marked by glass pillars and disco lights in the ceiling. Swaths of people filled the club's dancefloor, blissfully partying the night away as they swayed their hips and bodies to the beat of an electronic song that she wished that she remembered.
But Yang Xiao Long didn't care for it. Not tonight.
She had an appointment, even if the person that she was meeting didn't know it.
Strolling up to the white-lit bar on the other side of the dancefloor, she spotted a pair of olive green-eyed twins- The short haired one with a pair of feathers in her hair and claws around her wrists in red, the long-haired one with a flower ornament in her hair and sharpened heels in her boots in white- Talking to a woman with sunglasses covering her eyes, long black hair (That looked like it was dyed black) Draping down past her shoulders, with red string flowing through it, and dressed in what looked like a customised school uniform, with a white dress shirt with a black bowtie and red heart pin on the right breast, a short black skirt, and black dress shoes with knee high black socks.
They spotted her, and the black-haired woman said something to them, and then walked off into the back of the club, presumably through the backdoor exit.
Ah well, not her business.
Pulling up one of the stools nearby, Yang looked to the bartender- Some jokester wearing a black and red bear head for... Some reason- And raised her finger, "Strawberry sunrise. No ice," a pause, and then, "Oh, and one of those little umbrellas."
It paid to be cordial at first, before getting down to business.
Next to her, the two twins from before approached her, with the white-dressed one, with a crass voice, asking, "Aren't you a little young to be here, blondie?"
Yang shot them a smug grin, "Aren't you?"
The white-dressed twin growled- Actually growled at her- But the red-dressed twin put her hand before her sister and said, "Easy, sister," in a much more formal, stoic, and maybe even regal tone to her voice, "She does have a point," there wasn't even a hint of offense in her voice. Instead, it was almost fond. Amused.
The white-dressed one clenched her fists, but then backed off.
The television up above the bar blared to life- Probably the bartender- But Yang ignored it as she asked the both of them, "'One of you Junior?"
"The proper wording for that sentence is, 'Do either of you happen to go by the name of 'Junior'," the red-dressed twin corrected, earning a frown from Yang.
"You mind answering the question?"
"Do you mind using proper pronunciation?" the red-dressed one smiled.
Yang frowned more, and moved to stand up, before taking in a deep breath, and calming herself. Just like her dad had taught her, "Are you Junior?"
"No," the red-dressed one said, before gesturing to her sister, "And neither is Melanie here."
"Oh really?" Yang tilted her head to the side and smiled, trying to regain control over the conversation, "So where is Junior?"
"Out back," the white-dressed twin replied with, gesturing her thumb to the back of the club as she said, "You disturb him, you answer to us."
"Oh?" Yang pushed herself upwards in her stall, shooting the white-haired twin a challenging look, "Is that so?"
"It is in his best interests that he isn't disturbed," the red-dressed twin verbally restrained her sibling once more, "He is currently-"
"Don't tell her!"
"-Recovering from serious injuries."
That got Yang to hesitate for a moment, "Oh really? Why's that then?"
The white-haired one scowled (It seemed slightly fake), "Got caught in a fight between the White Fang and Human Liberation Front," she gestured to a pair of workers patching up part of the wall nearby, "About a week ago," she shrugged, "Some customers are a bit rowdier than others."
"...Huh," the blonde girl hummed.
"'Huh' indeed," the red-dressed twin cut in with, "He was badly hurt, and is still healing. Therefore," she pulled out a stall of her own, and sat down, "Any business that you have with him, you can take with me."
"Us," the white-dressed one shot in with.
"If you would act more cordial, then that might be the case," her sister fired back with, causing the white-dressed twin to growl at her as the red-dressed twin turned back to Yang and asked, "So, what is it that you wish from us, apart from a drink?"
Yang took the strawberry sunrise that was just placed down onto the bar beneath her and took a long sip, before replying with, "Actually, yeah," she pulled out a scroll, and the picture of a woman who looked very much like her, only with constantly red eyes (As opposed to her own alternating lilac and red), And obsidian-black hair, "This woman."
The red-dressed twin narrowed her eyes as she looked at the photo on the scroll, "...She looks like you," she looked up to Yang, "Is she your sister?"
"My mother."
"Ah."
"Raven Branwen."
The red-dressed twin blinked, "The bandit queen in Anima?"
"She's my mother."
The white-dressed twin barked out a laugh, "Yeah, and I'm one of the Seasonal Maidens!"
Before Yang could shoot back a retort, the red-dressed one cut in with, "What do you want to know about her?"
"I want to know where I can find her."
Any semblance of humour left the red-dressed twin's face, "Yes, you and half of Mistral, of course."
Yang's smile left her face, "Don't joke with me."
"I wasn't joking," the red-haired one retorted.
The white-dressed twin scoffed, "Raven and her tribe have been hiding from all four kingdoms for years. If they couldn't find them, then what the hell makes you think that we can?"
"Because the Xiong Family's contacts reach out across all of Remnant, including the deepest parts of the underworld."
The white-dressed twin raised an eyebrow, "Meaning?"
"Meaning that if there's anyone that can find the Branwen Tribe, it's Junior's guys."
She didn't address these two twins as the current leaders of the Xiong Family in Junior's place. It was a show of dominance over them, a way of asserting herself over them, a way of taking back control of the conversation.
The red-dressed twin didn't acknowledge it at all, though, as she tilted her head to the side, and said, "That requires the Branwen tribe to have had any sort of pattern to their attacks, or any interaction with any sort of element within both the Mistralian government and criminal underworld."
She tilted her head to the side.
"Which she has not."
"..."
"At least, according to my knowledge."
Yang stood up from her stall, "Then what about Junior's knowledge?"
"That's not for you to know, yourself."
"So he does know something," was her retort.
"Not that I know myself," was the red-dressed twin's reply.
Yang then took a step away from the bar side, "Then why don't I ask him myself?"
The white-dressed twin stepped out in front of her, pressing a hand against Yang's chest as she pushed her back, "Back off."
Yang's eyes turned red, "Make me."
The white-dressed twin smirked, "Yeah, why don't I do just that-"
"Hey, Xiao Long."
Yang looked over to the red-dressed twin as she herself stared at the television above the bar side, "How do you know who I am?"
"Everyone this side of Vale knows who you and your family are," the red-dressed twin said, "Thanks to your dad's company."
Yang's eyes narrowed, "Is that a threat?"
"An observation, though I should warn you: Our contacts are more informative than you'd think, if not about Branwen, then about everyone else."
"What does-"
"Isn't that your sister on the TV?"
Yang blinked, and then looked upwards towards the television, the screen flickering with violent life as it looked over what Yang recognised as a block in what looked like the middle of Vale, currently in the middle of a brutal gunfire, smoke and fire fluttering into the air in pillars as red, blue, and green flickers of light flooding the air with light as...
She saw her, standing next to a group of people...
And covered in blood.
"Where is this?"
"I don't think that-"
Yang whirled around to the red-dressed twin, her eyes blazing red as she yelled out, "WHERE IS SHE?!"
"In Gris Square," that was the red-dressed twin's calm reaction, not flinching at all as she stared down the angry blonde woman, her hair alit with fire as she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, Ember Celica transforming around her wrists as she stared down the smaller woman before her. The red-dressed woman continued, "That's what it said in the-"
"OUT OF MY WAY!" Yang screeched out as she ran- Practically sprinted- Out of the bar, pushing aside everyone around her- Almost throwing one of the bouncers at the door into the wall- As she started up her bike, Bumblebee, and sped down the streets of Vale, leaving skid marks down the roads as she drove frantically towards the centre of Vale
All the while, two pairs of olive-green eyes followed her out.
"...Melanie?"
"Yeah, sis?"
"Contact our gods. Let them know that I'll call them soon."
"...Yes, sister."
"...Everything is falling perfectly into place."
Her eyes were on the screen, as were the eyes of so many others. The screens in the electronics shop display were all showing the same image: Once blackened, filtering only noise, they were now showing a direct view of the nearby Gris Square.
An Gris Square that was both burning and freezing under the constant strain of battle.
Her ears twitched as she heard the gunfire from all the way in the other side of the city, but she kept them hidden underneath her green cloak. Her neck craned to the side as an old woman walked up next to her, poked her on the shoulder, and rudely went, "Do you mind moving?"
She raised an eyebrow underneath her cloak, but then rolled her eyes, and allowed the diminutive woman to pass her, before readjusting the bow and arrow that she kept slung over her shoulder, and began to walk away. The people around her took her for a Huntress, thanks to her attire, and thankfully kept their distance from her.
"Fucking Faunus," she heard the old woman mutter, but did not pay her any mind. Humans have always acted like that. This was no different than before. An unfortunate truth, but the truth.
Walking out of the shop and onto the street, the violet crystal on her person hummed in her pocket, and she willed it into her hands with a flash of purple light. Once again, people thought her a Huntress, assuming her to be using her semblance, and paid her little mind.
It's amazing, isn't it, how, with enough time, even the magical and the other worldly can become mundane? At least she didn't have to hide her abilities when so many others in the same city could do so much more than just will a crystal into her hand.
Unfortunately, she couldn't explore those abilities at the moment. Right now, she had other things that she had to do.
A face appeared on the crystal- Another woman- And she said, "Kaylin, good to see you. How are things in the city?"
Kaylin, Lost to None, nodded her head, and said, "Good to see you too, sister," she looked around herself, before continuing, "Things are not going well. Panic is beginning to set in with the populace, thanks to the-" in the distance, another round of gunfire could be heard. She winced, and then continued, "Thanks to the battle in the middle of the city."
Her gaze turned to a group of people nearby, crowding themselves around their scrolls, watching and listening intently to the feed on their scroll.
"Avin, things are not good within the city... Tensions between the groups known as the White Fang and the Human Liberation Front is beginning to agitate the Faunus and human groups within the city, and across Remnant as a whole, the group known as Providence is beginning to gain ground where it should not, and this sudden bout of violence within the city will not be helping anyone. It will only serve to bring about more despair and negativity-"
"And that will bring the Grimm," Avin, Born of Light, finished for her, ruffling her own white hair as she groaned, and went, "This is going to be problematic for the humans..."
Kaylin bit her lip, and then said, "Avin-"
"Don't."
"Avin…"
"Kaylin, we've had this conversation hundreds of times before. You know my answer."
Avin, we have the means to help these people. We have the domain!" she hissed quietly, "We can-"
"No, Kaylin!" Avin hissed in turn, "We stay hidden, we stay safe. That's the code that we live by. Understood?"
"...Fine."
"...Look, just- Just get back here, okay? We'll talk later... I love you, Kaylin."
Avin just smiled under her hood, "I love you too," and with that, the crystal disintegrated in her hand.
Back in the old days, she would've taken to hiding from all of the eyes around her to use her abilities. Back in the day, if she had done so in the middle of a crowd, people would've panicked, become scared and frightened, and inadvertently bring the Grimm in by their fear alone.
But, as said, nowadays people took her for a Huntress, and paid her no mind.
As such, when she was teleported out of the city in a flash of purple light, no one batted an eye.
And if anyone noticed the elongated, pointed ears under her hood, they didn't say.
Probably just another Faunus...
"Well, now it's a party," Cihuateteo, the Aspect of Awe, said as he looked up at the television screen up on the wall nearby, hands tapping against the scrollpads placed on the desk nearby, wires protruding from them and into the electronics nearby as a pair of black-armoured soldiers wheeled out carts of cash from a large, now-opened vault door from downstairs, and pushed them into the middle of the golden and beige main lobby, rectangular-shaped, with pillars along the sides of the walls that stretched up high into the ceiling, with tills and cashpoints running along the side of one wall, and screens showing stock values and corporate rates on the other. Cihuateteo continued, "And here I thought that Jaracas was all about subtly."
He didn't make any comment about one of the creature's pets being there as well. No doubt that his partner in this mission felt the same way, so there was no need to communicate it to her.
"Well, this operation wasn't exactly about subtly, was it?" Draugr, the Aspect of Interest, said from nearby as she continued to pull cheques and bank statements from the drawers, desks, and sliced open safe deposit boxes behind the cashpoints, breaking apart shelves and safes as she morphed her hands into long blades- Via her semblance- And pulled out the contents within, throwing them on top of the carts of Lien gathered in the centre of the lobby. Draugr continued as she carried on her work, "Not on his end at least. At least now, he's drawing most of the heat away from us."
"Most of the media attention, you mean," Cihuateteo corrected as he continued to download the essential files from the electronic computers around him, and then tapped the side of his helmet as it showed him diagnostics and download statistics.
Both of them were disguised in the same armour as their followers, albeit with a few slight modifications to them to accommodate for their semblances and specialist needs. It helped to keep their identities hidden, for the time being, at least.
It was a good thing to keep themselves as unknowns when robbing the crime families of Vale.
Valerian Central Banking, that's the bank that they were currently robbing. It was here that the major criminal syndicates and organisations within Vale kept all of their money secure, behind hundreds of layers of legal bureaucracy, shell company contracts, and alternating accounts. Underneath this web of legal jargon was a wall of legal protection and legitimacy protecting their accounts, supported by an unhealthily corrupt staff and local police protection force, all combining together into a wall of safety that allowed the crime families of Vale to come together and hide their millions and billions of dirty Lien and blood money away from prying eyes.
Underneath all of this protection, it would make it almost impossible for anyone within the legal system to attack the bank and seize the crime families' cash.
Cihuateteo and his fellows had no such compunctions.
Nearby, another pair of black-armoured soldiers pulled the last cart of physical money out from the vault, all the way up from the basement via the elevator, and pushed it out into the middle of the lobby, Draugr joining them a moment later with the last of the documents from the safes at the cashpoints and throwing them onto the piles of Lien, whilst nearby, the last soldier with them finished setting up an automatic, remote-controlled turret, cobbled together and covered neon-red, glowing accents and highlights, uncoiling itself and pointing at the door to the lobby.
"Why isn't Jaracas here, then?" Cihuateteo complained as he creaked his head to the side, "He's all about subtly."
"He's much better suited for that job than everyone else," Draugr shot back to him, teetering her helmeted head to the side as she stepped away from the money piled into the centre of the lobby, "And besides, would you rather have Hsi-Hsue-Kue chasing after Ruby and Orion instead?"
"...Jaracas it is."
"Wise choice. Less collateral damage that way."
"God. Goddess," one of the soldiers nearby began as he put down the scroll in his hands, "We've got police forces outside. About four SWAT Teams with tactical gear and weapons and additional units in police cars, armed with pistols, stun guns and batons. They're burning through the seals we put on the doors."
Draugr nodded, regarding the ringing alarm sounding off across the lobby, "When will they get in?"
"Around four minutes at least, Goddess."
"Hm," she hummed, and then looked to Cihuateteo, "They got here quicker than expected, with a much more disproportionate response as well."
"Actually, it's not at all unexpected. They're slower than I predicted, in all honesty, considering that this place hides all of their dirty money," Cihuateteo looked to the side, "Isn't that right, Mr Manager?"
On the floor next to him, the manager of Valerian Central Banking, wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt, grey tie, and black gloves, growled and squirmed on the floor, his legs bound together and his hands tied behind his back, his mouth jagged and wedged open by a ball of cloth.
"Cops this side of Vale are dirty as hell, aren't they?" Cihuateteo continued as he looked back to the electronics before him, "I mean, any police forces that aren't in the pockets of the local mob families are either clean as hell- And may the Grand Machine bless them if they are- Or extorting money from the local drug houses, prostitution rings, and gangs, and storing it all here. No wonder so many SWAT Teams and extras are outside," he let out a laugh, "Honestly the anti-corruption department would have a field day with this lot. No wonder the higherups diverted funds from internal affairs, if not to fund their own activities, of course."
He paused, and then looked down to the tied-up manager.
"Sorry... I haven't had a conversation in a while."
Draugr looked to him, "You know, you can always talk to the rest of us if you're that starved for interaction. We're here for you. You don't need to hole yourself in your room all of the time."
Cihuateteo shrugged, "If I did that, then nothing would get done. Lots of work to do, after all... Thanks for the reminder, though, sis."
He leant back in his seat and went to say something else, but stopped as a-
{PING}
-Went off in his helmet.
Sitting forwards, he saw how one of his scrollpads said 'DOWNLOAD COMPLETE', and smiled, "Thank the Grand Machine. It looks like she has blessed us on this day," leaning to the side, he then pulled a USB stick out of one of the computers near him, and shut down all of the electronics near them, pushing them towards the pile with a kick of his foot, and examining the stick in his hands, "Here it is. Every crime family and dirty cop in Vale had thousands, millions- Hell, maybe even billions- Of Lien stored in the electronic servers of this bank, and here it all is, on this little stick."
He raised it up as if it were a holy sword, lost to legends and time-
"With this, we could probably buy out a small kingdom. Hell, maybe we could make one of our own."
-And then dismissively flicked it into the pile.
"Pity we already have all the money that we need."
Draugr looked at the pile of Lien and servers in the middle of the lobby, and then tilted her helmeted head towards him, "How were you able to get past the bank's firewalls? I thought there was like a million of them safeguarding all of the accounts in this place?"
"Ha, no. Hacking doesn't work that way. If you think there's a skull virus like in the movies involved, then you're wrong," he shrugged, "I just asked Melanie and Miltia for the access codes and administrator identities to this place. The Xiong Family aren't informants for nothing. Didn't even need to use my semblance on these machines."
The manager beneath them squirmed even more at Cihuateteo's statement, but neither he nor Draugr paid him any mind. The Aspects and their men had already cut the cameras and listening devices embedded in the buildings before they arrived, and all the other witnesses were stored in the manager's office upstairs. The man below them was the only witness.
And he had been the one trading around the money of the crime families, handling the money of slavery and sex rings within and without the city, and funding the most notorious of criminal groups across the kingdom, including both the White Fang and the Human Liberation Front.
And he had done it all willingly.
That made him just as guilty of their crimes as the rest of them,
As such, he was to be punished.
That solved the problem of liabilities.
Nearby, a pair of soldiers brought in a wooden crate from the back of the lobby, placing it next to the pile of Lien and hardware, and popping open the lid.
Deciding to humour the bank manager for a moment, Cihuateteo pulled the gag out of his mouth, and allowed him to speak.
"You motherfuckers!"
Such crude language.
"Do you have any idea who you're stealing from?!"
"Of course," said Cihuateteo in response, "I thought that it was obvious."
"When I get out of here, you're dead! You, your friends, your family, Junior, his slut twins, and everyone else in the Xiong Family! You're all-"
Cihuateteo bonked him on the head, "Be nice. Melanie and Milita are lovely women, and I don't quite appreciate you taking about them like that."
"Fuck you! Do you have any idea how much money you're stealing!?"
Cihuateteo laughed, "Stealing?"
The manager's eyes widened as the soldiers pulled out canisters of petrol from the box, and began to pour it all over the piles of Lien and computers.
"Who said anything about stealing?"
Next to him, Draugr pulled a lighter from a side compartment in her armour, flicked it onto the pile of hardware and cash, and-
{FWOOSH}
-Let it all go up in flames.
The lobby began to glow a hadean orange and red as smoke began to bellow into the air. Lien card after Lien card burnt up and fizzled into nothing as the electronics near it sparked and burnt and glowed under the sudden heat. The smell of chemicals and burning metal filled the air as the USB stick in the pile melted into gelatenous slag, turning into nothingness within the burning fire.
"We're not here to steal your money, Mr Manager," Cihuateteo explained after a few moment's silence, "We're here to destroy it."
"You... You maniacs!" the manager cried out, "Do you know what you've done?!"
"Bankrupted every single major criminal element within Vale, from the dirty cops and petty gangs, all the way to the likes of Roman Torchwick and the crime families of Vale. Hell, even the White Fang and HLF chapters in Vale as well."
"All of that... All of that money... That was the only thing keeping the crime families from killing each other!" the manager cried out, "You idiots will start a war in the streets!"
"That's the point."
The manager quailed, and froze, "What... What do you mean?"
"Now that all of their money's gone, there will be no reason for the dogs to stay loyal to their masters," Draugr took over the conversation, "Goons and henchmen will rise up against their bosses and kill them, gangs will fracture, and violence will break out in the streets," she laughed, "And not just here. Across all of Remnant- Across all four kingdoms- Every mobster's piggy bank is being cracked open and drained of their funds."
"...W-What?"
"With all of their money gone, they'll need to find a way to recuperate their losses, but by then it will be too late. Helped along and given just the tiniest push by us, the crime families will fracture, their minions will lose all loyalty to them, as will the cops that they own, due to no longer being handed a fat check, and they'll all decide to go their own way. Violence will break out in the streets, the police forces will be exposed for their corruption, and major reforms will begin," she laughed again, "Reforms that we will be in complete control of."
"It won't be enough," Cihuateteo said to her, ignoring the manager as he stared up at them in shock, "If we really want to make a difference, then we'll need to hit a larger target. Or at least make much more noise than just this little thing."
"Hm, agreed."
Nearby, the door to the lobby's front entrance began to bang and break, as well as the backdoor, which a pair of black-armoured soldiers quickly sealed up with makeshift locks and stoppers.
"One minute until they breach," one of the soldiers called out.
"That's our que," Cihuateteo said as he pulled out his scroll, and dialled a number, "Jaracas, it's me. Meet us on the rooftop of the Valerian Central Banking building in ten minutes, copy?"
"Copy," said the voice on the other side of the line, "I'll be on my way, once I've wrapped up things here."
"Copy that. We'll hold out till then. See you in ten, out," Cihuateteo hung up, and a black-armoured soldier ran up to him with a detonator in hand, "Thanks," he said as he took the detonator, and looked towards the door being forced open at the front of the lobby, and then to the automatic turret at the front of the lobby, facing the door as its fat, tube-like body supported the pair of cannons and miniature quad-rocket launcher wedged between them, running red tracer lines across the wooden door.
Draugr took over the mission, "Everyone move out! We've got fifty seconds on the clock!" and as the black-armoured soldiers began to run down the side of the lobby and towards the stairs on the far side of the wall, she turned to Cihuateteo and asked, "You good to take care of things here?"
"Yeah," Cihuateteo said as he began to walk over to the manager on the floor, pocketing his scroll and detonator as he continued "You go ahead without me. I'll only be a few seconds."
Draugr nodded, and ran off to follow the soldiers.
Cihuateteo picked up the manager by the scruff of his collar with both hands, and the older man began to protest and kick him, struggling against the Aspect's grasp, "Please! Please please please! I didn't- I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't-"
"Oh, I beg to differ, Mr Manager," the hacker known as Cihuateteo said quietly to him as he began to lift him towards the still blazing fire in the middle of the lobby, "You knew the kind of money that was being stored in here. You knew about the connections that this bank- And many others around Remnant- Had to the mobs and mafias and crime families, and not only did you not do anything about it, but you actively participated in these illegal activities."
The Aspect of Awe positioned himself to throw the manager into the fire.
"And for that... You must be punished."
"I... I..."
"Also, you called Melanie and Miltia sluts."
The manager began to beg and claw and whimper, but it was to no avail, as Cihuateteo reeled back, and-
{FWOOSH}
"AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
-Threw him into the fire.
The manager screamed and screamed and screamed as his skin was cooked and burnt, peeling away and bubbling like jelly as his clothes burnt to cinder (Brr…) And ashes, his eyes melted into bloody goo, his arms flailing about as his body burnt and blistered, splitting apart underneath the heat as his tendons and muscles fizzled into nothingness and his screams became more and more course and ugly to listen to.
Cihuateteo could've left him to burn and die. He really could've.
But he could survive, couldn't he?
He could survive, the police could interrogate him, and he could reveal all that he had learnt about him and their plans to them.
That wouldn't do.
So instead of leaving him to die, Cihuateteo simply whipped out a pistol from his waist- An ML-17- And-
{BANG BANG}
-Double-tapped the manager. One shot to the head, the other to the heart. The manager died instantly.
The dead couldn't talk, thankfully.
(Of course, that wasn't always true...)
Satisfied with his work, and with the destruction of all of the money in the bank, Cihuateteo ran to the other side of the lobby, not bothered at all by-
{CRASH}
-The sound of the doors being forced open, and a team of SWAT officers running in with shields and assault rifles, because as soon as they did, he used his semblance to take control of the automatic turret, and-
{BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMP}
-Fired its miniature quad-missile launcher into the corrupt cops, and-
{BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM}
-Killed many of them, and scattered the rest in four compressed, yet powerful explosions, before-
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
-Unloading the twin cannons into the remaining SWAT troopers and the lobby entrance.
Then, as the automatic turret swivelled around to the back entrance to the lobby to kill the officers charging through that way as well, Cihuateteo reached and began to climb up the stairs, before pulling the detonator from his pocket, and-
{BEEP}
-Flipping the red switch at the top of the hilt.
{BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM}
Immediately, detonators scattered by the soldiers across the cashpoints, tills, and safes within the bank detonated, breaking apart the bank and bringing down part of the wall and ceiling above (The bank had multiple floors, so that wasn't something to be worried about) In a shower of debris and detritus. Smoke and fire flooded through the lobby as Cihuateteo continued to run up the stairs, all the way into the first floor.
If the bank had any backup servers, then they didn't exist now.
All of the money within the bank was gone for good.
Vale- And Remnant at large- Would have its gang war...
And it would only be the tipping point.
It would be that which would help lay the foundations for the new world.
And it would be the Cult of Silver that would tear down this old past, in favour of a bright, new future.
Reviewer response time:
VV: Thanks! I've definitely learnt a lot of lessons from my original draft of this story.
ReDestrobo: No problem, dude! Real life do be a pain like that. And considering the reaction time of the authorities (Providence, Glynda, and her associate) In response to a shootout in the middle of the city, in my mind, the fight as it was presented in the story was about four to six minutes long, which, logically, isn't a lot of time for SWAT teams to gather and respond, especially in a very populated city, which I like to think is as big as either London or New York. If anything, the authorities got there exceptionally quickly, including the corrupt cops that were there with them.
bosterflaming: Thank you, and hey, chaos is where romance happens! I kid, though... Maybe.
Xealchim: Really? I can't say that I've ever had a problem with the site's push notifications, though that might just be my memory.
Mattysteel: I'm glad that you're intrigued! It makes me happy that I caught your attention like that.
In case that you couldn't tell, Draugr and Cihuateteo were using the chaos of Gris Square as a distraction to rob a mob bank and bankrupt every criminal group in Vale, in order to start a gang war.
Anyways, sorry that this chapter wasn't as meaty as the last one. I'll get back to the main story next chapter.
And with that, please leave a review, follow and favourite, and I shall see you all next time!
Titanmaster117 out!
