Hello there! Cubuxian here. This is the first time I'm trying out something like this, ever. Hope you will enjoy the prologue of this long 7 month journey me and my friend partook in. More to come later on, but for now, enjoy the show!

Washington Downtown, July 14th 2017

"Zachary Moore and Keith Robertson, to the principal's office."

This was usual for the two of us. Zach and I have been friends since primary school. We were both marked as 'troublemakers' in our school due to coming from families that were not fully accepted into society. Zach's mother was unable to find a job due to her being a drunken mess after his father left the family, and I was distributing some pills across the school to the rich kids since they didn't want their hands dirty. It paid well, but it did cost me the respect of the entire school. Living alone is hard after all. Zach and I looked each other surprised, because we weren't expecting to be called to the principal's office today, since it was a half-holiday and the bell was right around the corner. We also hadn't done anything out of ordinary these couple of days, and even if we did, we hid them pretty well. We both got up from our seats as we passed the glaring eyes of students we had forgotten the names of and the physics teacher. I never liked the physics teacher anyways. His reputation was still high even though there were rumors of him harassing the female teachers and students during after school hours. He of course had the high and mighty look in his eyes as always. If I was given the opportunity, I would pay to punch his stupid looking face. Either way, we got out of class and started walking down the long and dirty hallways. Don Brown High was never a clean place anyway. Not only were the janitors just not doing their jobs, but there were police investigations ran across the entire school due to a report of drugs being sold out to the students and other shady business going around. I wasn't the only one making dark deals involving drugs, but Zach was also in the business as well. He told me he was in debt because of his mother spending money like no tomorrow. The mafia wanted his head after he couldn't bring back what he owed them. I got him introduced with the boss and he quickly learnt all the important stuff about distributing drugs to young populus.

We got in front of the office and stood there for a few minutes, waiting for one of us to knock the door. I sighed out and knocked on the door unwillingly. "Come in." the principal yelled out from the office, the voice echoed through the empty halls. I opened the door and slowly slid into the room. Zach was right behind me, he was calm, thinking this was just a 'regular' check-in for us. At this point, even I didn't know what was regular or what wasn't. "Ah, there you two are." The principal pointed towards the two chairs located right in front of his table for us to sit down. Zach proceeded to jump into the chair and crossed his legs. I sat down on the chair and waited for the principal to get mad at us like usual. This became a tradition at this point. Every week he would call us to his office to warn us about 'how drugs are bad' and how 'we shouldn't do anything illegal'. If only he was in the same position as us, maybe then he would try to empathize. But either way, I was prepared. "I heard you guys have been calming down for these past couple of weeks. No drug trafficking, no other regular bullshit you two are up to… That's good news." What? He wasn't here to just yell at us like the other past… I lost count… "However, you two better be watching out for other kinds of stuff going on in the outside world. If the rumors going around are true, then you two really need to be careful. Kids with pasts like you will draw attention. They will want you to work for them." He was doing all sorts of weird hand gestures to get our attention, as if he was trying to explain basic English to a preschooler. He really saw us like dumb kids, huh? "Yeah yeah, we get ya. Can we cut to the chase?" Zach stood straight and looked directly to the principal in the eyes. "Why were we called here?" Zach asked with a monotone voice. I could tell he was getting bored. "Well you see, a few people came to me to tell me they were gonna pick Zach up from school." Zach tilted his head in confusion. "They didn't look like they were a part of your relatives, so I had to refuse their offer. However, as you can see-" the principal pointed out of the window to show a gray pickup truck outside with a few people standing beside it. "They still haven't left the area, and I think really want you Zachary. I suggest you wait for me after school so I can drop you off at your house." Zach was still looking out of the window, terrified at the sight of the two men, the ones who made him partake in this whole ordeal. He simply nodded his head and continued to stare at them. "As for you Keith, you are free to go after the bell rings, keep up the work, don't do anything reckless. Let me remind you that-" I cut him off "You have footage of the both of us dealing drugs to the rich fellow, we know. You don't have to remind us every time." I got out of my seat, and as soon as I started walking to the door, the bell rang. The empty dirty halls were now filled with students trying to reach their lockers in the midst of chaos. I simply walked the opposite way of the crowd and made my way to the exit.

Opening the door let me get some fresh air in my lungs after a long time. All the windows were closed because the school's shitty A/C was already enough due to most of the teachers. I walked nearby the school before getting to the window of the principal's office. The principal was talking to someone over the phone while Zach was impatiently sitting in his seat. I thought of staying there for a while to make sure nothing would be going wrong, but I didn't want to risk getting myself caught by someone I didn't want to see. I got back on the sidewalks and started walking to home. I passed by the bakery and had to stop the instinct of getting in and buying one of those 'breakfast deals' they had. Fucking hell, if someone cannot afford a god damn bagel with some tea and cheese, then there is a problem. I finally made it over to the house I was staying at during all of this shit. I was barely paying the bills, but the owner was also thinking about increasing the rent. Great. I went up the creaky old wooden staircase and unlocked the door to the so called 'house' of mine. It was just a dusty old room with nothing but a bed (not really a bed even, just a mattress) inside. I just threw myself on the bed and looked on my phone to see if there was any notifications. I did feel it was vibrating in my pocket, but I couldn't see anything over the sun. Now I could barely see the notification Zach sent me. The crack that was covering half of my screen didn't help the case.

(Zach) – "Dude, you saw those two as well, right?"

Yeah, no brainer. They were a part of the mafia he was owing money to, but he had seen other members of the mafia do cruises around the school, why was he scared of 'those two' specifically?

(Keith) – "Aren't they just regular-ass dealers like you and I?"

(Zach) – "No no, not at all. Those two are the brothers of the don. Real serious business."

Brothers of the don? What did he do to mess up this time?

(Keith) – "What made them even come to see you? Shouldn't they be, you know, doing better things then looking after someone like you?"

(Zach) – "Yeah yeah, fuck you too."

(Zach) – "Anyways, they didn't do anything since 'Mr. Principal' was with me all the time. However, they did come up to me and tell me to meet them in a specific location, near some stupid bank."

(Keith) – "A bank? Why a bank?"

(Zach) – "How should I fucking know?!"

(Keith) – "The worst thing they can do to you while you're in public is just beating you up. Don't get too worried."

(Zach) – "Real encouraging words Keith, you're doing great."

(Keith) – "It's not like I wanted all of this to happen alright? I'm sorry but I cannot say anything else other than 'good luck' and 'don't worry'.

(Zach) – "…Fucking hell… I want you to come with me. Not because I'm scared or anything, but because I want some support if their true intentions are actually beating me up."

He wants me to support him? He knows very well that I got a C- in PE, yet he still want me to come with him…? It's not like I'll leave him hanging, but if they beat both of us up and just leave, that may be a bad sight for the principal to see. He might actually report us to the police this time… Yet, I cannot leave Zach alone like this.

(Zach) – "'Ello? Earth to Keith, you there you dumb bastard?"

(Keith) – "Yes, I'm here. And also sure, I'll come with."

(Zach) – "Thank you, oh, and bring a baseball bat or something. The ones that we used back in the day to protect Samantha.

(Keith) – "You're gonna keep bringing that up won't you?"

He has been opening this topic for about 2 weeks by now. A few months ago, the physics teacher was at it again, harassing a girl. Normally me and Zach wouldn't care too much, because we would be the ones getting called out in the end if we were to interfere. However that time, he had been messing around with the wrong girl. Samantha is Zach's younger sister, and also the one who's been giving Zach emotional support whenever their mother would come home drunk. She didn't know about Zach and the drug business since the school buildings were separated. She did hear rumors, however she didn't care for them. That day, the physics teacher was harassing Samantha. He was asking her for her phone number and other personal information so he could reach out to her anytime he desired. Perverted bastard. At the time me and Zach were in the sports club, we played baseball quite often. We were just getting out of practice when we saw this entire situation. Zach started to run to the two of them, and tackled the teacher down on the ground. He yelled out to me to pass his bat, and I did so without saying a word. We beat up the teacher as much as we could before some schmucks called out our homeroom teacher. We were stuck in detention for quite some time before Zach's mother picked us up, drunk like always of course. She (by some holy miracles) managed to drop me off at home and got back to their house safely. The bond between me and Zach got even deeper that day. I knew I could trust him with my entire heart and mind, he was like a brother I never had. I got out of my thoughts and looked back at my phone.

(Zach) – "Look, I gotta go and get some deliveries done. When you're free, maybe we can meet up at the diner near school. I heard they have some delicious waffles. I know how much you might be in debt, so it's on me alright? See you at 7."

Waffles huh? I wouldn't say no to waffles. Though Zach treating me to dinner like he doesn't have his problems worries me. I do have some spare change somewhere. Maybe I'll find a few dollars and we'll share the cost. It's 2:33, so no need to rush things. Playing mobile games just wastes my already non-existent data, so it would be better to just get some sleep. There's nothing better to do to pass time, and my work hours are after 12 AM anyways. So why not? I laid down on the mattress with my school uniform on and fell asleep as soon as I put my head on the pillow.

Meanwhile, in a small flat near Harvest & Trustee Bank…

I asked myself the same question over and over for so long. I questioned the ethics of the job, I questioned the choices that led me to be in a situation like this. Debt and boredom. I was never able to hold a straight face or get serious when I was in a high-end job. Whether it was cleaning after a hit and run, or simply being a bartender. These kinds of jobs never stood out to me. When I was offered the career of my life, I took it without hesitation. A crime spree, so legendary that my name along with the others would be going down in history. Little kiddies would open up their books and see us in the trivia pages or some other shit. What mattered most was however, we'd be so rich that we would be able to buy literally anything and everything we desired. Bain said he was training us for 'the greatest heist of all', but he never gave any information about what or how this heist would be played out. For now, all we were doing was robbing regular banks and sometimes jewelry stores of sorts. The operation that took place in First World Bank was a big failure, if it wasn't for Bain's connections we would be toast. Dallas nearly got his ass caught, Wolf and Chains took a big hit and I, well, I wasn't even a big part of the operation. They told me to watch the civilians and if any of them were to attempt escaping, I would either shoot them down or put them back in place. No one tried anything, even the special forces rolled behind me. None of them were interested in me, as if I was nothing but a fill-in.

After all of that, Bain told us to take things slowly, and start from the very simplest job of all: a regular small bank heist. A small hit, but enough to jumpstart the operations. Our target was the beloved Harvest & Trustee Bank, located right in the middle of a distant Downtown district. Not many buildings mean not many witnesses, and the low number of guards mean we can just go in and out easily without raising the alarm. Thanks to Gage, we got our hands on some suppressors and laser sights, so our aim wouldn't be an issue. He also gifted us some necessities like signal jammers and body bags in case things got out of hand and dirty. Our weaponry was limited though, Gage didn't fully trust us with his arsenal yet. He did tell us he would expand the catalog as long as we completed more jobs and our name was heard more in the world of crime. All of us had suppressed Chimano 88s, a classic when it came to all pistols in the market. All of us were also carrying AMCAR assault rifles that had custom nozzles and laser sights on except for Chains, who was carrying a non-modified Reinfield 880. He told us he wouldn't be getting involved in the operation unless the alarm would go off. He seemed confident, but I can see behind his mask that he is worried that we might fuck the job up again. He doesn't trust me one bit unlike Wolf, who just seems to trust anyone as psychotic as him. I turned to my right and got up from the plastic chair I was sitting at and looked at the table we set up one last time. Other than cheap whiskeys and beer stains, the blueprint was in fairly good condition. I started walking towards the balcony and took a look around the area. The bank was right in front of the flat, so we wouldn't have to waste any needed energy or fuel. I took out my pack of cigarettes from the pocket inside my suit, and found one that wasn't crushed. I put it in my mouth and lit it up. As I started to inhale the smoke in me, a familiar voice yelled out behind me. "Hey Houston, you sure you memorized the plan, right?" Dallas walked right next to me and stood there, locking his sight at a woman that was crossing the street. Even my own fucking brother didn't trust me with the job? "I did alright, seems easy enough. Get rid of the guards, get the civilians under control, drill the vault with the thermal drill. Piece of cake." I exclaimed as I got the cigarette out of my mouth and blew out the smoke. Dallas nodded his head and pat my shoulder with his hand, before walking back in the flat. I didn't want to draw any attention towards myself. After all, people just sitting on the balcony with suits in Downtown isn't really a common thing, especially in a shitter like this. I threw the cigarette that was in my mouth down the balcony and walked back inside, locking the balcony door on the way in.