A/N: Thanks to my guest reviewer for chapter 1 ^_^ LOL those bus drivers ;)

Forgot to mention in the first chapter, but the posting schedule for this fic will be Tuesdays and Saturdays and there's five chapters total :)

Now let's see what happens!

Chapter 2 - Into the Fire

Crowley did not want to admit to himself or Aziraphale just how bad this was. The bullet hole in his gut throbbed with intense pain that made him think of Hell, which was a really very unpleasant thing to think about. Especially given the ever increasing likelihood that he was going to find himself there again before the day was through.

He didn't know how long it would take to bleed out, but Crowley already felt weaker; even without knowing much about human medical whatnot, the demon was pretty sure that wasn't good. If they didn't get out of there soon, it would be past the point where he was strong enough to heal himself at all.

No sense worrying Aziraphale with that sort of information when there was nothing they could do about it, though, so Crowley gritted his teeth and did his best to hang on.

Lady Robber was downstairs, ostensibly trying to get the vault open, while the man (had he called her "sis" earlier? Did that make him Brother Robber then?) paced around the hostages. Now and then he would prod one of them with a boot or mime shooting them. Crowley would give anything to wipe him off the face of the earth with one good snap of his fingers.

"Crowley," Aziraphale whispered, awkwardly trying to keep his head lifted while flat on his stomach.

"Mm?"

Instead of answering, the angel dipped his head towards Brother Robber, who was standing over a silently crying woman. Every time he nudged her with his toe, she choked back another sob.

"I believe she's…" Aziraphale didn't finish, but there was no need.

Crowley's eyes widened as he sensed it, too. A second heartbeat. Either she had two hearts (binary vascular system, that would be cool) or she was pregnant, still too early to show.

Indignation flared in the demon's chest. He'd done evil things before (well, mostly it was all just mischief and inconveniences) but his one hard and fast line was that you didn't mess with kids. Which included babies and pregnant women. Crowley felt his fangs extend in his mouth and had to force himself to put them back away. Not because that was any kind of miracle—it was just the way he looked—but because he was already too weak to take this robber out with nothing but his teeth.

"Oy, you!" Crowley called out instead. "Yeah, you, menacing fellow. I don't suppose I could get a towel or something?"

Brother Robber looked up from the woman he was bullying and narrowed his eyes. He strode Crowley's direction, which at least was what the demon had intended.

"Handkerchief?" Crowley suggested. "Band-aid? One single square of toilet paper?"

"Shut it," Brother Robber snapped, digging his toe into Crowley's side.

"You don't want him discorporating," Aziraphale piped up, rolling slightly onto his side and craning his neck in order to look up at the man. "I mean, er, dying. You don't want him dying. My knowledge of the British Empire law is fuzzy-"

"I don't think they call it that anymore," Crowley reminded him.

"-but I do believe if you've killed him, that's frightfully more severe than just a bit of burgling. So it's in your best interest to let me bandage that for him. At the very least, loan him your scarf. You did shoot him, after all, it's the least you can do."

Brother Robber scowled down at them. Crowley was pretty sure he wouldn't be getting any help at all.

"You know," the robber snapped, "I think you two talk too much. Shut it, or I'll shut you both up!" He pointed the gun at Aziraphale, imitating the sound of a gunshot.

Aziraphale only huffed. "Well, really."

"We got it!" Lady Robber shouted from downstairs where Crowley assumed the vault was. "It's open, we did it!"

Turning away from his prisoners, the robber whooped and headed for the stairs. "Al-right, attagirl! Bring up that money, sis!"

Thank heaven- or hell. Or something. Crowley wriggled, preparing himself to start magicking away the damage done by the bullet as soon as they were able to leave. It was going to be close, and they'd have to immediately relocate, and this was all going to be devilishly tricky but at least this part of the whole irritating ordeal was almost over.

"There, there, my dear," Aziraphale was whispering to the silently crying woman they'd gotten Brother Robber away from. "I've read dozens of books on these sorts of escapades, you know. The villains have no reason to harm any of you, not once they have what they want and you won't be able to identify them. They'll be in a hurry to leave, quick as they can, and then you'll be right as rain."

She looked up at him and sniffled, nodding frantically.

Crowley watched as Lady Robber emerged from the stairway and tossed two large duffel bags to the ground before taking two more empty ones from Brother Robber.

"Come on, come on," he grumbled softly through gritted teeth. His hands were already so slick with his own blood, it was hard to tell if he was stemming the flow even a little bit. "Hurry and get out…"

And then the lights went off.

Curses filled the room, as well as a few terrified shrieks from the hostages. Outside, sirens wailed and flashing blue filled the now darkened space.

The police had arrived and Crowley groaned with dismay. This had just gone from a robbery to a hostage situation.

None of them were going anywhere.

"No, no, no!" Lady Robber shouted, dropping the duffel bags and hurrying towards the door, gun brandished. "Damn it! Now look what you've done! It's the cops!"

"I can see it's the cops!" Brother Robber shouted back. "It's not my fault!"

"I told you someone would have heard that shot. Now what are we supposed to do? That guy is going to die and then we're going down for murder!"

The woman whirled back around; Crowley didn't like the desperation in her eyes. Desperate humans tended to do really, really stupid things. He knew that well, used it often to accomplish various forms of mayhem. This time, though, it was going to go very badly for him indeed.

"Terribly sorry to mention, but I did tell you this," Aziraphale piped up from the floor, staring intently at the two thieves. "He's not dead yet, though. See, look at him."

Gritting his teeth in a tight smirk, Crowley waved a wry hand. "Yup, not dead. Still alive. No need for panic. Let's everyone calm down-"

"Shut up!" both robbers yelled together.

Aziraphale sighed impatiently, but Crowley thunked his head back down onto the floor. Why did these things always happen to him, anyway?

"End this quickly," the angel insisted, ignoring their warning. "And there will still be time to save him, and then it won't be as bad for you. It's quite clear you won't be getting out of here, and we'd all like to avoid any unnecessary… unpleasantries. So if you would simply-"

"I said," Lady Robber snarled, storming towards Aziraphale and jamming the gun against his head. "Shut… up!"

"Hello in there!" a voice called from outside, thankfully distracting the woman into forgetting about Aziraphale. Honestly, Crowley thought, shaking his head at the angel. Aziraphale was going to get himself discorporated before Crowley finished bleeding out, at this rate. Never could leave well enough alone. Though in this case, the demon knew it was to protect him, and that made him all kinds of warm.

Which was good, because everything else was starting to get cold.

"This is the London Police!" the voice outside continued, someone shouting into a bullhorn. "We're bringing a secure phone up to the door so we can discuss matters calmly. Do not shoot. Repeat, we're bringing a phone line to the front door, do not shoot!"

Crowley tried to sit up so he could see what was happening outside but fell back again with a grunt of pain. He watched the bad guys instead, keeping an eye on their tense forms and hoping they didn't start shooting anyways. Why couldn't the cops have waited just five more minutes for the robbers to escape? Sure, the bank would lose all their money, but Crowley was having a hard time caring about that in the face of potentially losing his life instead.

"Wait, don't go up there, you idiot," Lady Robber hissed. "It's a trick! They'll shoot you if you don't have a hostage. Grab the girl."

"No, come on!" Crowley instantly grumbled as the other robber reached for the pregnant woman. Not like he could stop them, though.

The woman immediately began sobbing, struggling against the man and quickly approaching actual hysteria. Crowley's jaw clenched in trepidation of what they would do if she didn't calm down. He caught Aziraphale's eye, noting the expression on the angel's face. Crowley shook his head.

"Angel, don't," he hissed, but it was too late.

"Now really," Aziraphale said, addressing the man. "Leave her be, my dear fellow. Take me, I won't be half as hard to hold onto. Besides, if you're going to use someone as a shield, shouldn't it be someone tall enough they couldn't still shoot you in the head if they were clever enough?"

Since when did Aziraphale know so much about bank robberies, anyway? Crowley filed that away to wonder about later. Right now his main concern was that Kevin might be standing outside, attracted by the hubbub, and might spot the angel. Of course Aziraphale had to help the woman, though, that was just par for the course, damn him. Crowley's focus zeroed back in on the two robbers, who traded a look with each other.

"Whatever, just take him," Lady Robber snapped. "I'm starting to hope they shoot him."

Aziraphale huffed but remained steady and calm as he was heaved up to his feet. Brother Robber slid in behind him, one hand clenching the back of Aziraphale's collar and the other keeping the gun pressed to his temple. Slowly, they made their way to the front door and the robber had to let go of Aziraphale to pull out a key ring.

"You even think about running for it," he warned, "and we'll make sure your buddy dies quicker than expected."

Aziraphale didn't reply, though Crowley had to snort at the very idea of the angel running off and leaving him. These stupid robbers had no idea who they were dealing with. He shivered again as the front door opened, allowing a cold breeze to swirl into the building and across the floor. Surely it shouldn't be so cold… Crowley shuddered against a wave of nausea and faintness. Bless it, he was starting to fade and that was really bad…

"Back, all of you!" the robber hollered. "I'll shoot him if anyone even twitches! You, drop that phone. Now get back, I'm serious, I'll kill him right here and now!"

The door slammed again a second later and there was no immediate appearance of the demon assassin, so Crowley hoped that meant Kevin hadn't been standing in the crowd after all. Keys jingled and then Aziraphale was being hauled back from the front of the bank at last. Crowley released a sigh of relief.

Still, as tense as he was, the sound of a phone made him nearly leap out of his skin.

Brother Robber jerked the phone out of its box. "What?!" He motioned for Lady Robber to take hold of Aziraphale. She obligingly stormed over and forced the angel to sink down to his knees.

Catching his eye, Crowley raised an eyebrow in questioning. Aziraphale shook his head. Assuming they were discussing the same question, the angel hadn't seen Kevin outside, either. Again, Crowley exhaled slowly in relief. Okay. They still had a bit of time on their side, then.

"Hostage negotiator?" Brother Robber demanded to the phone. There was a pause. "Yeah, damn right we shot one of them, and if I don't see the police force backing off, there'll be more shots fired!"

Another pause, then the robber stared at his partner. "He wants to talk to one of the hostages."

The woman glowered and fisted her hand in Aziraphale's hair, jerking his head back so she could slide the gun under his chin instead. "I want to hear every word said between them," she grumbled. "Keep the phone out where we can hear. You! Tell him everything is fine in here!"

For his part, Aziraphale seemed unruffled and cool as he cleared his throat. "Yes, hello, to whom am I speaking?"

"This is Detective Ellicott of the London Police. Are you hurt?"

"Oh no, I'm quite alright, thank you for asking. How are you?"

"…Uh, fine. Listen, how many people are injured inside?"

"Just the one, I believe. It's difficult to tell with the unbelievable levels of stress in here, you understand. Can't sort out the emotional turmoil from any need of physical healing. It interferes with the signals."

The robber holding the phone frowned at his sister. "Is he using some kind of code?"

"No funny business," Lady Robber warned, giving the angel a little shake.

Crowley rolled his eyes.

"…Okay, that's good, I think," Ellicott replied. "Let them know we'll be asking their demands and doing everything we can to negotiate a peaceful resolution to this."

"Oh thank heavens for that," Aziraphale said brightly. "A peaceful resolution is always best."

"…Yeah. Anyway. We'll get to that, but first as a sign of good will, it would make everyone out here feel a lot better if they gave up just one hostage. Just one, that's all we ask. The injured man, that would be good."

"What?" Aziraphale gasped without looking to the robbers to consult with them first. "No, that wouldn't be good at all!"

"…I'm sorry, what?"

Crowley met his eyes and shook his head in agreement. The last thing in the world they should do right now was split up. In his current condition, Crowley would have no way of fighting Kevin off if he showed up. And it wasn't like he was doing Aziraphale much good like this, but he couldn't bear the thought of letting the angel out of his sight. What if Kevin cornered him? Aziraphale was a good fighter but he would be outmatched on his own. No, they had to stick together, no matter what.

Impatiently, Brother Robber put the phone back up to his own ear.

"No hostages," he retorted stubbornly. "They're all staying in here. Unless you turn the power back on, then maybe we'll send one out. One."

"The woman," Crowley growled from the pool of his own blood on the floor. Both robbers turned to glower at him in suspicion, but Crowley set his jaw and nodded towards the pregnant woman. "Her. Send her out, not me. I'm staying right here."

"Are you nuts?" Brother Robber hissed, even as the other hostages gave the demon disbelieving looks. "A second ago it was, 'get this guy some help before he dies', now you don't want to go?"

"I said… the woman." Crowley gave the robbers his most severe and stubborn stare, though of course they wouldn't see it through his dark glasses.

For a moment, the little trio engaged in a short but one-sided stare-down, while Aziraphale's gaze flicked between the robber and the demon. Crowley considered taking his glasses off just so they got the full impact of his blinkless glower. On the other hand, he'd probably be shot several more times on the spot and scare the other hostages in the process, so best to just let things get on with it. Although if this escapade didn't progress to its endgame pretty damn fast, he was going to have to rethink that strategy.

"Fine," the robber snapped to both Crowley and Detective Ellicott. "We'll send out a woman. Just get the power back on. As for demands, we want a truck, clear passage out of here, and fast."

He paused to listen to the answer as Crowley and Aziraphale traded one more look.

"No, you have an hour!" the robber shouted in reply to whatever response he had gotten. "After that, more people start getting shot!"

He slammed the phone back down while Lady Robber hauled Aziraphale back up to his feet and thrust him towards the other hostages. Kicking out the backs of his knees, she let the angel fall heavily to the floor without the use of his hands. Crowley reached out weakly to try and catch him but barely had the strength to get his hand out that far. A crimson droplet splashed to the floor beside Aziraphale's head.

"Alright, angel?" Crowley whispered.

"Alright. Oh, my dear boy, an hour… you can hold on that long, can't you, dear? You- you'll be quite alright?"

Crowley coughed and of course his body chose that moment to send some blood to his mouth so that it dribbled out the corner. Aziraphale's eyes widened in fear.

"No, Crowley, we can't wait!" he fretted. "Just heal yourself and we'll run for it-"

"Angel. I told you. It's going to take too long if I try to heal myself and I won't be in any shape to move, and there's too many people here. Let's just…" He hissed in pain and rested his head back down. "One thing at a time. Don't worry about me, just be ready to fight."

Aziraphale didn't look appeased, but at least he nodded and turned his attention back to the front where the robbers were having a hushed conversation.

Crowley exhaled a shaky breath and felt for his inner power. Regardless of what he'd told Aziraphale, he was starting to have a nagging doubt he'd be able to heal himself at all. Another wave of dizziness hit him out of nowhere and Crowley closed his eyes.

They needed to speed things up. And he was starting to develop a plan.