I like to offer music suggestions with my stories. For example, "Search and Destroy" from Operation Darkness and "Anti-You" by Blue Stahli.
Search and Destroy: watch?v=2pvWUcY-64I&list=PLYWSsSED4tGWH8SfXW38vg_JMvY8HFi_Y&index=2
Anti-You: watch?v=sF3aZyNDF1Q
I hope you enjoy it.
The clouds in the sky concealed the sun from the street below. People would mind their own business as they carried on their daily lives in a country called 'Vale.' Vale celebrated its history of agriculture and lumber industry for early economic growth. It honors this tradition with banners of crossed axes and circular wheat grains at the rims. In the various valleys of this nation, many died to claim such a breadbasket of a region staunchly. Hence the respect of its current banner. However, wheat and lumber are not the only methods of commerce of Vale. It possesses many settlements which provide electricity, plumbing, and other abundances of convenience. Money has undoubtedly changed and made Vale a prosperous nation. All of that money needs to be stored somewhere.
The Harvest and Trustee Bank held relatively low stature within Oakheart, the former capital of Vale. The bank was rather small for a single-story location. Yet, it had a vast lobby with an assembly line of attendants. The walls were of a dark green that must have faded from lime. The chairs had their dark brown from the grime, the equipment was outdated, but management did nothing about it.
A woman in a gold suit with a red button-up shirt beneath her coat entered the bank. She observed the bank; the tellers appeared bored, the security guard was napping in their chair, and citizens were eagerly waiting for their turn to speak to a teller. Above the lobby was a glass skylight. The left corner of her lip perched up slightly then walked to the closest seat, picked up a newspaper, and crossed her legs.
In the cubicles on the right side, an employee converses with a young man in a green suit. On his right shoulder was a black bag. Green sat across the banker while discussing a potential business venture with assorted small talk.
"Um, right this way, sir."
"Please don't call me, sir. I'm younger than you." The man gave a gentle pat on her back.
Gold noticed that the female employee blushed when she turned away from Green. Before long, Green was in the back with a manager to craft his pitch for investment.
"How can I help you?" The balding manager in sky blue button-up with a black vest interlocked his fingers in feigned interest.
"I have an idea to propose on a twenty thousand lien investment on Dust-based combat gear." Green leaned back in the chair in front of the red oak desk.
The manager interlocked fingers twitched. "Isn't that something more for the military?"
"No, they'll take it and give me scraps while the rest of Remnant will counter engineer it."
"I'm not sure about that." The manager scratched his chin.
"Well, can I ask you to do something else?" Green stood up and walked behind the manager.
"What are you doing?" The manager muttered while a pistol dug into his back.
"I want you to call all employees to the break room." The lack of emotion in Green's voice caused the manager to widen his eyes.
"I uh can't do that." The manager's eyes darted everywhere.
"Well, you better before the shooting starts. Don't you want to save their lives?" The manager gasped and nodded. The two walked side by side while the manager called for an emergency meeting.
"Hey Kailee, it's time to see the boss." One employee passed the tellers. Then, one by one, all employees went to the back. Confusion engulfed the employees. This meeting was the worst time to call in the afternoon.
Above the building was another woman with a heavy bag pulling out heavy machinery. She wore a pink suit and laughed while pulling away from the control panels. The woman ignored casually ignored the sparking wires that struck her hands because she was on the clock. Eventually, all the lights went out inside the building. All the customers expressed mild confusion.
Murmurs echoed within the lobby. By now, all the employees gathered in the breakroom. Green reached into his bag and took out a black mask. The break room could have confused a large kitchen with one table in the center and several couches in front of a television mounted on a wall. The manager stood at the opposite side of the room as one employee took out his lunch and began to eat his sandwich. Green walked the window and placed strange blocks that beamed red lights. Green then walked to the closest air vent and jumped to place another block beside it. He opened his bag and showed his gun.
One of the male employees noticed the weapon and screamed. It could have almost broken the sound barrier. The customers heard the cry as well, and many tried to find the source. Annoyed, Green fired a round at the ceiling.
The customers ducked down as one was still standing, too terrified to move. Everyone prepared to leave the bank, but Pink stood at the entrance, with a grenade launcher and two bags at her back. One full. One empty. She lifted her submachine gun at the crowd.
"Get down on the ground," Pink ordered, her face covered in a blue mask.
One customer immediately glanced back at where the security guard should be. There, she saw him convulse onto the ground because a woman in a Gold suit tased him.
"You better do what she says." Gold chimed as she handcuffed the hands and zip-tied the guard at his ankles.
"What's going on?" The manager stammered.
"What else? This is a robbery." Green used his free hand and tapped his collar. "All clear, you can enter." Green looked over the group of people. "That bag on the table is full of explosives. Those lights are tripwires, touch the blocks, and they will trigger the bomb. When I leave this room, there will be a bomb on the door. Any of you who try to leave the bomb will go off." Green tossed something on the ceiling, and it was a rotating block with a camera.
"That will monitor you, do not test me." All the employees did as they were told and sat alongside the room's edges and laid down. Green left and loudly thumped on the door.
"Ready, come on in." Green walked to the entrance. Along the way, he passed an open door with three unconscious security guards laid on top of each other with zip ties on their wrists and ankles; that was Gold's handiwork.
"You took care of them as the power went out?" Green nodded.
"Yep," Pink kneeled and opened the heavy bag. Taking out an assault rifle and gently tossed it to Gold. Pink also passed out body armor to each of them. The load was still heavy as she made her way to the vault.
"Can you get the door for me, please?" A voice asked over the comms.
Pink walked to the backdoor and released the locks. A heavily armored blue suit came with an LMG and a black mask. "Let's go to work."
Pink nodded and jogged to the vault. It was reinforced steel; she chuckled at sight. The rest of the bag had disassembled pieces of a large drill with thermal canisters on the side. The drill would use intense heat to burrow into the vault. As Pink took the pieces out, she passed the empty bag to Blue.
"How long?" Blue inquired.
"Eight minutes tops." Pink began to piece the thermal drill together.
"You got six." Blue walked to the entrance and took control of watching the civilians. While Blue entered the bank, Gold and Green were sure to use zip ties and lead the civilians into the teller stand. There, they were in a private space and bullet-resistant glass to separate them from the potential chaos.
Three minutes passed as nothing happened; Blue and Gold patrolled the bank. Finally, Green was in the security room of knocked-out guards deleting and destroying the security footage. Then emergency lights lit up with no warning.
"What's going on?" Blue asked via earpiece.
"The vault has a separate, automatic system. When the door is being tampered with, it sets security off." Pink shouted back.
'This was going too well anyways.' Blue thought. "Alright, just open the door and be ready to move."
"Okie doke!" Pink responded.
Blue waved his arm at Green.
"Things may get hectic out here. What should we do about the civilians in the tellers?" Green asked.
"According to the blueprints, the teller stand has metal plates below the glass." Blue turned to Gold. "We're not going to let anyone get hurt in the crossfire."
"How much time do we have?" Gold focused on the street from the bank's window.
"Thirty seconds before any police show up." Blue calmly replied.
The Green and Gold took cover behind the teller stations, and Blue set his back to a pillar wall in the entrance.
"I'm almost through." Pink updated.
Play Search and Destroy
By then, the sirens were in earshot, and the flashing lights gleamed off the buildings. Two bulky black trucks split open as two dozen combat droids came online—each with a standard assault rifle or sub-machine gun. For every squad of droids would be one human captain. They took cover behind the droid trucks.
Blue broke the glasses and aimed outside. The street was empty as the droids took formation.
"I'm through, loading the bags now," Pink shouted.
The LMG peaked out of the window. Blue took a deep breath. The birds no longer chirped when the cracks of gunshots broke the air. Blue aimed at a squad of three droids, and each fell apart with fragments going everywhere and sparks of exposed electronic innards. Wires flickered as the police returned fire.
Gold and Green returned the favor as they fired as well. Bullets split the air past Blue; with that happening, he kept firing. The sparks ignited the air, and bullet casings rained. Finally, the first wave of droids was destroyed.
"The bags are ready. Let's move." Pink appeared and began to fire with her submachine gun at the street; all the cops took cover with a new truck of droids arrived. Gold broke from the cover. Green looked about as two droids dropped from the skylight behind Blue.
The two droids gained their posture, and one aimed directly at Blue. Green charged forward and used his right fist to knock the forearm of the droid to the ceiling. It fired, and it was elbowed in the helmet by Green. It laid flat on its back as it lost its grip on the gun. The second droid used the stock of its weapon and punched the Green's mask. Ignoring the pain, Green ducked in to have the droid lean in as well. Green took this opportunity to punch the droid directly in the center. It was lifted in the air by force. In part of the flurry of blows, Green did a right uppercut then left uppercut, and when his right hand was low, he grabbed his pistol. Then, aiming directly up, Green fired a round into the helmet of the droid.
"Good work!" Gold shouted.
The first droid knocked back barely lifted its body from the ground before Pink ran to it and punted the helmet to shatter against the wall. Then she slid to the pillar next to Blue.
"How's it going?"
"It's not the time to be talking." Blue placed his back to the wall and began to reload his LMG for the second time.
"It'll be like free pancake day, but every day. So that is the best part about all this." Blue looked at her. She rested her left arm on the pillar. A droid stood at the entrance, so Pink quickly drew her handgun and shot it where the eyes would be. "Totally worth it."
"I've got my bag, now let's move!" The Green ducked down and took cover behind the cubicle to reload.
"Now it's my time to shine!" Pink said while she ran outside, sparks of blue light emanated underneath her mask. Gold watched her from a window as she raised her free arm then focused on the incoming barrage of bullets. A black mist blurred from her hand as several bullets strayed off their path from striking Pink.
Pink rolled forward, and her right arm was straight with her pistol and grenade launcher in her left arm at a 90-degree angle. She fired the pistol three times to take one droid down and fired the grenade launcher to take out a squad. She jumped forward to the center of the street as a squad of droids swarmed her. She threw the grenade launcher in the air for a moment to reload her pistol, and when the launcher came back down, the pink suit grabbed it on the stock. She brought it close to her right shoulder and swung it to her left as it changed into a hammer knocking the squad of four droids back.
The Pink heister looked around to get a view of their attackers. Everything planned to arrive, did. A droid on top of a truck tossed a grenade at her. "Batter up!" She laughed with her grenade launcher at her side. She is narrowing her vision, and Gold uses her extraordinary ability to guide the grenade to fall where Pink could see it. Pink wind her grenade launcher back, hit the grenade like a baseball and sent it back to the droid. "And it's a home run!" Pink shouted as the grenade exploded in front of the droid. She sprinted back to the entrance using her grenade launcher to fire thermal smoke in all directions.
"We got more droids heading this way."
"Alright, time to bug out." Blue jogged to the vault as Green tossed him a bag of money.
"We better leave now. I am sure some airships will arrive, and all of this will be impossible." Green took cover beside the door. He took a peek outside as the droids regrouped for another assault.
"It's calming down for now," Gold and Pink shouldered bags of money. Blue was halfway there as the ceiling blew open. A brawny green droid emerged from the dust.
"Just get going! I'll catch up!" Blue shouted.
"But Jaune."
"NOW!" The droid brought its arm down like a sledgehammer as Jaune raised his right forearm as the padding transformed into a shield. The heister kneeled in time as the shield absorbed the force. Dropping the LMG, Jaune pulled his sword out of the shield. At that moment, Jaune raised his sword to damage the droid's arm. "I'm ready."
The droid circled its right arm to Jaune's left arm, which held the shield. Pointing his sword to the ground, he reeled in front of his stomach. In a half-circle motion, he brought the blade upward. It severed the droid's hand. Sparks were flying. The droid lifted the second arm as it was a built-in cannon. Jaune didn't waste any time as he slammed the sword into the barrel and charged the droid to the vault, and pulled out his sword with it toppled backward. In the vault was nothing but plastic explosives surrounding it. Jaune ducked from the opening as the tremor finished off the armored droid.
Jaune had to hurry because his mask cracked. The heister sheathed his sword and searched for his LMG. It disappeared, and after several seconds of frantic searching, Jaune realized the armored droid had taken his weapon from him. Now it was smoldering, bent, and inoperable. Jaune went into the vault and took the LMG back, then sprinted out of the door with a bag on his back.
'I hope Pyrrha and the others are alright.' So Jaune thought when he walked outside in the back. But, fortunately, the crew reacted quickly enough, and the police did not seal the back exit off.
Play Anti-You
Jaune continued to sprint as he made it to the end of the alley. He peeked out to see Green and Pink gridlocked with another green armored droid as Gold fought a squad. Jaune sprinted forward
Gold's weapon shifted into a spear while she whiffed the air with it. The closest droid impaled on the spear, and Gold lifted it in the air with no difficulty and tossed it at two more droids. Unhooking her pack on her side were two grenades, and she threw them far ahead using her polarity to extract the pins. By the time they arrived at the next squad, the droids were all blown up. An officer appeared in the smoke.
A Detective looked at him and in his left arm was a morning star and a bulky right boot.
"Are you okay, Pyrrha?" Jaune appeared behind Gold.
"Yeah, we're almost there." Gold looked back as she was glad to see her teammate reunite with the group. Pyrrha helped Jaune stuff the broken LMG into his bag.
Behind them was an explosion, and Green and Pink walked away from the wrecked armored droid. "Great job, take care of the droids and clear a path."
"Gotcha'!" Pink raised her hand in a mocking salute.
The Detective sprinted to them as Jaune readied his sword, and Pyrrha walked to droids and pulled her spear out. The two regrouped then the Detective was on top of them. He wore a grey suit with a fedora hat. He gave it a tip and started to spin the spike ball around as it lunged forward at them. They saw it as their attacker, Jaune and Pyrrha jumped on opposite sides, and the Detective chose to go after Jaune first. The brought a bulky black boot down as it knocked all the air out of Jaune's lungs.
Coughing, there was a kick on his left hip as Pyrrha came in for the assist. She did an array of stabs with her spear. The Detective kept backstepping, and eventually, he brought his flail up and spun it rapidly at the end until wrapped around Pyrrha's spear. He gave a slight smile, pulled Pyrrha close, punched the center of her mask, and tried to high kick as Pyrrha dodged his boot. He pulled his flail back this time, jumped, roundhouse kicked Pyrrha's shoulder. Spinning, Pyrrha landed on her back as her spear untangled from the flail.
Still winded, Jaune used his free arm to rest at his abdomen. It was sore as he shook his head then helped Pyrrha get back on her feet. Once they supported each other, Pyrrha kicked the back end of her spear to flick upward for her to catch it.
The Detective double jumped up back onto his feet and made a click with his flail as the chain extended further. He kicked it, then tugged the chain for the spiked ball to halt, and then started to swing it round and round. So, Jaune walked in front of Pyrrha and dashed forward as she tossed her spear again. The Detective kicked the ball and spun around, having the chain wrap around his body, and turned in the opposite direction for the ball to smash into Jaune's shield. Jaune jumped up for a downward slash for the sword. The Detective kicked the chain back up and split it apart to the blade to be blocked. Pyrrha came in from the sky again, and before she could strike the Detective, he stomped the ground and jumped up to avoid the attack. Pyrrha twirled in the air, and Jaune his shield like a platform to further boost his teammate. She leaned forward, and her polarity moved the flail's chain away from the Detective. When she caught up to the Detective, he was dumbfounded. Pyrrha smiled, and she did a downward kick. The Detective flung to the ground, and dust from the area puffed. When it cleared, the Detective was unconscious. The fedora was wrinkled and landed on his face.
Still spinning, Jaune used his arms to try to catch his teammate, and she landed perfectly. Jaune's mask began to split open. The heister quickly set her down and looked behind her. Jaune had to hold his mask together with his free hand.
"Hey guys, we're ready."
"Good." Pyrrha smiled under her mask. The two sprinted to the next alley to see Green reloading his weapons.
"One more group of droids, I'm tired, and that means the same thing for my aura." Green rubbed the front of his mask.
Pyrrha's spear shifted back into her assault rifle, and she took cover at the corner. Pink passed her sub-machine gun to Jaune. Both of them took the time to pick off the closest droids.
Green got back to his feet and sighed.
"Don't worry, I got it, Ren." Pink peeked from her cover and shot thermal smoke, and they sprinted to their getaway van with a robotic driver. All four of them loaded up and closed the door. After thirty seconds, the van broke from the smoke and drove onto the highway. After a long fifteen-minute chase, the police ran the van off the road, and a squad of humans surrounded the vehicle. In heavy armor, the door was propped open. There was nothing inside but the driver bot.
-In the sewers-
"Great work, everyone." Jaune exhaled with a heavy burden. By now, his mask broke entirely, so he was the only one without his.
"No worries," Ren gasped.
"We didn't even…." He gasped again, "break a sweat." Ren gave a thumbs-up as he leaned on a wall. He lifted his mask and took a deep breath. Unfortunately, his green suit had smudged by a sewer wall.
"Great work on disabling the security system and jamming communications, Nora." Pyrrha complemented.
"It was nothing." Nora beamed a wide smile as she dusted off her pink suit.
Ren removed his mask, fake color lenses, blond wig, fake nose and rubbed off a fake face tattoo. The team continued walking, and they made it to the docks as three empty cars waiting for them. By now, night has fallen over Oakheart. Each of them removed their gear and placed it into their bags. Jaune walked in front of the team.
"Excellent work, everyone. For now, we go dark." Each of them said their goodbyes. Ren and Nora took one car.
Jaune walked to his car and pressed the button for the doors to unlock. "Hey, Jaune," Pyrrha called out to him with her scarlet hair was free from its knot.
"What is it?" Jaune turned around.
"I'm sorry for what's happened. It was stupid for Beacon to have kicked you out for what Cardin did." Pyrrha stood there with her eyes giving a hint of sadness.
"All of you have a good chance to do something with your lives. I'm just getting on by just fine." Jaune stood straight and did a heroic pose. But, standing with that posture, it was evident that he didn't have the confidence to back it up.
"Well, we did rob the bank of Roman Torchwick. That's something to be proud of." Pyrrha looked at the ground. "I'll try to clear your name and have you back in Beacon before the end of the first semester."
"I'm very grateful. But, you better get going." Jaune didn't want to keep her; there was an army of cops looking for them. So, Jaune's next task was to find a place to burn to dispose of the money and equipment they used for the bank heist. That was the story Jaune told them.
Pyrrha said her goodbyes and drove the second car.
Jaune opened the car and sat down. "Are you here?" He into the rearview mirror.
"Of course, I see you're alive." A woman in a black dress appeared. She was a precarious woman, and she sat in the back on the opposite side of him. In the distance were two distinct individuals, a young man in grey hair and a woman with dark skin with tortoise hair.
"The bag is here, and you can take it. May I please have my payment?" Jaune took out his gear and placed it on the passenger side of the car. The woman nodded outside while the other two, her enforcers, walked to the car. The guy grabbed the bag and when "Hmm." The guy raised his eyebrow at Jaune.
No one took the time to take Jaune seriously.
When the guy left an envelope tapped his left shoulder. "As promised." The woman smiled, which made Jaune's spine tingle in her speech. He opened it with a testimony of Cardin admitting that he lied about Jaune forging his application. Status: suspended. This testimony will allow Jaune to return to Beacon.
"Thank you very much, Miss Cinder Fall." Jaune started the car. The woman did not leave the vehicle. Instead, she gave a gentle smirk.
"Um, do you need something?" Jaune asked as the car's engine hummed.
"Nothing in particular. Please drive me to the World's Eden hotel." Cinder relaxed, crossed her legs, and rested her hands in her lap.
"Sure." Jaune proceeded to pull out and drove the speed limit to her destination. 'I hope this isn't some 'tying loose ends' thing.'
Cinder looked outside the window. "Well, Mr. Arc, I have a proposition for you."
