So some of you may know that James (footballandBTR) died a couple of days ago. I just want to say that I'm proud of you guys—those who were involved in that really bad review war between his friends and anon and Critics United—for burying the hatchet. I didn't want to get involved because I don't blame anyone and I hated to see us as Rushers fight so bad, especially in the wake of something so horrible. But Emily, thanks for posting that A/N (although that's against the rules… you should probably take that down in a couple of days…). I was afraid that this would flare into something so bad that I wouldn't even want to take part in any of it, but I am proud of you and thanks—on both sides—for keeping the peace.

Also, if you have a minute, just pay tribute to James please—a moment of silence, a story, whatever. I didn't know him as well as my friends did, but loss of life is sad in any case. And don't see it as a tragedy. James inspired me to stick up for cancer victims and take a stand against bullying, and I know that without something to believe in it would be so much harder trying to get through life. Faith is a powerful thing, and when you have people supporting you, it gives you a reason to keep going. Don't ever give up.

Okay, enough mumbo jumbo! Enjoy!

Rick danced into the room, safety deposit box in hand. James looked up and tried not to glare as the redhead robber knelt in front of him and grabbed his chin.

"Guess what?" he said cheerfully.

James didn't answer. He stared up at Rick expectantly. Rick reached over and grabbed a handful of his hair, twisting it around so hard that James hissed in pain.

"I said," Rick growled, "guess what?"

"Your sister's married to my dad?" James guessed sarcastically.

To his surprise, Rick laughed and released his hair. "That would be funny, if I had a sister." He stood, obviously in a good mood. "Kid, you're looking at one of the richest men in the world."

He flipped open the lid on the safety deposit box and took out a small, black flash drive, waving it around like it was the most important thing in the world.

James made an unimpressed sound in the back of his throat. "Eureka."

Rick cut his eyes at James, but didn't respond. "You obviously aren't smart enough to know what's on this flash drive, boys. But after I'm finished here, I'm taking a plane straight to the Bahamas to go live in my condo, just drowning in money."

The phone rang, and Rick didn't even glare at it as he crossed the room to pick it up. "Henry, my man," he said smugly. "What's what? You have my bus and my money now? Excellent." He started to hang up but paused, listening. "Right, right, the famous brats I still have… Tell you what. I'll leave one here for you and take the other two with me. If I'm not followed, I'll leave the other two on the bus. Sound good?" He laughed. "No? That's too bad. 'Course, I could always just shoot them all right here… That's what I thought. Me and my boys will be coming out. I don't believe I need to warn you about trying anything funny?" He hung up before the other man could protest.

"What do we do?" Logan hissed frantically as Rick turned his back to talk to his team.

James didn't take his eyes off of Rick. "We wait until the perfect time to make a break for it."

"Are you crazy?" Carlos spoke up. "They have guns and they've already shown us that they're not afraid to use them."

"Better than staying here," James shot back. "You don't really think that Rick is stupid enough to let us go? We've seen his face."

"He let Kendall go," Logan pointed out.

James was quiet at that point. "We can't trust he'll let us go," he said finally. "For all we know, he could hold us for ransom or do gross, unspeakable things to us."

Carlos' eyes widened. "I don't want gross, unspeakable things done to me."

"Exactly, so we have to get out of here." James shut up as Rick came over and pointed at him with his gun.

"Let's see," he mused, "you're in better shape than the doc, here, but you're a bit of a smart mouth." He looked at Carlos. "You're definitely coming with. I guess that just leaves you two to flip a coin, doesn't it?"

"You're not taking any of them."

James couldn't help but whip his head back to the back room. His eyes widened and at first he didn't understand what he was looking at. The man standing in the doorway, gun pointed at Rick's head, was blonde and brown-eyed, with freckles and a whole lot of blood pouring from a wound in his shoulder. His eyes were sharp and determined, despite being dulled by pain, and they never left their target—Rick.

The expression on Rick's face was pure shock. James might have enjoyed it if he weren't so terrified.

And then Rick's face smoothed out and he started to chuckle. "David."

David. David? But David was dead.

Or close to it, anyways. It was obvious from the pain pinching David's face that the blood on his clothes was his. "What are you planning, anyways?" he demanded. "You have the codes. You can go make more and more money. What do you need these kids for?"

Any other time, James would've bristled at being called a kid. But he was more intrigued with the sort-of dead bank robber, holding the other one at gunpoint.

Rick scowled. "None of your business." He started to turn around. "C'mon, boys, we're packing up."

An ominous click sounded through the bank and for a moment, everything was frozen.

"You're not going anywhere." David's voice was low, dangerous, and left no room for argument.

"Oh yeah?" Rick turned back around to face him, blue eyes steely. "And what are you going to do to stop me?"

"Whatever I have to do."

James tore his eyes from the two men to gauge the others' reactions. Carlos and Logan looked on, wide-eyed, and even Max, George, and the third robber looked frozen, at a loss of what to do.

Rick took a step towards David, and in one fluid motion pulled out his gun and grabbed James at the same time. David started forward a step but by then James was up and pinned against Rick's chest with the gun pressed to his head.

David swore. "What are you doing?"

"Whatever I have to do," Rick mocked. "If you honestly don't care for the kid, David, then by all means, take another step."

"Rick," the nameless robber protested.

"What am I supposed to do, Aidan?" Rick snapped. "David wants to play hardball, we can play hardball."

"Don't I get a say in this?" James asked nervously.

No one answered him. That was probably for the best. And the worst part was, James couldn't even turn around to see how Logan and Carlos were faring. Probably not well. For a second he started to panic. With Kendall gone, James felt the need to step up and be a leader. That had never happened to him before. But he felt the strongest urge to protect Logan, who was injured, and Carlos, who was so innocent there was no way Rick would take mercy on him.

"Boys," David said without taking his eyes off of Rick, "go."

"No." That came from Carlos. James didn't even need to look to identify his voice. And he'd expected that from Carlos—he would never abandon his friends.

David growled low in his throat. "You have the opportunity—"

"If you even think about leaving I will shoot your friend in the head and then I will shoot you for good measure," Rick threatened.

He glared at David. "If you're going to shoot, shoot!"

David didn't say anything for a second. His eyes shifted to the others. "You're going to let him do this?" he demanded. "He shot me. He shot two other people!"

Rick scoffed. "You were getting soft." He jerked James to emphasize his point. "I told you not to make connections with the hostages! Damn it, David, you do this every time!"

"My nieces love them," David said, glaring. "And you don't—"

"FREEZE!"

For a second the world tilted on its axis. People screamed—James couldn't be sure he wasn't one of them—and Rick pulled James tighter to his chest. James didn't know what was going on, his head reeling, as finally he was pulled to a stop, suddenly facing the other direction.

"I think you know what happens if you come any closer." Rick's breath was the first thing James was aware of, tickling his ear and smelling like… James didn't even know, but it didn't smell good. As James' eyesight snapped back into focus he could see guns—lots of guns—pointed at his face.

Then he looked beyond those guns. Each person was in uniform. They were cops.

Wait! Where was Carlos? Logan? James tried to turn his head to look, but Rick tightened his grip and James gagged as his bicep crushed into his windpipe.

"Let the hostages go," the officer in front of him said firmly.

James' heart sunk. Hostages. Plural.

Rick was trembling from head to toe, although James couldn't tell if it was from anger or fear. The former seemed most likely.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Rick demanded.

The man in front of him looked like he wanted to answer that. James was glad he didn't. "We have your bus, Rick," he said carefully. "And your money. James and Carlos won't do anything for you."

James and Carlos. Did that mean Logan was free? If so, where was he? James wished he could turn his head to look.

"Listen to them, Rick," David pleaded. He was now to James' right, still holding the gun, although he looked torn between pointing it at the cops or pointing it at Rick.

"Shut up," Rick said harshly.

James got the feeling that Rick's anger was coming to a peak. He could barely breathe, barely move, barely see anything. For the first time since this started, James actually started to feel scared for his own life.

Rick was talking. James didn't realize that he couldn't hear or understand what he was saying until the edges of his vision started to darken. James' eyelids fluttered, his lungs bursting as he tried and failed to draw a breath. Panic didn't even hit him as he realized that Rick was literally strangling him.

Something was happening in front of him, and James wanted to pay attention but everything was foggy and weird. The last thing he felt as he slipped off the precipice was something slamming into his chest, and then he blacked out.

A/N: Ohhh… that was mean. Next chapter should be up tomorrow or the next day to make up for it. :)