The Bank Job

Written as an exploration of a character's backstory from a longer story I am working on.

   “Boss has this covered for now, get these people out of here before Praetorian destroys the place,” Damian said to the guys crouched behind the tellers' counter with him, his voice calm but urgent. 

No one moved. No one spoke. All three Rockers sat frozen somewhere between awe and fear as the gravity of the situation settled upon them.

 “Move! Now! While there’s still time,” he saw the uncertainty on their faces. He grabbed the closest of them by the collar and forced him to see him. For the first time Damian noticed how young the Rocker was. He was just a kid, probably no older than twenty. Realizing this might be the first job these guys had been on, he tried to hide his frustration. “Before everyone here is dead. Go!” 

            “Are you f*****g kidding me? You know what he can do, we’re already dead!” the kid shot back. His voice was low, but Damian could hear a tremble in the words. Damian regretted not having learned these kids' names. It wasn’t sympathy as much as knowing it might help him connect and motivate them to keep their eyes up. To help them survive the day. 

            Grabbing the kid by the arm, Damian made his way along the length of the counter towards a pair of closed doors, taking care to stay low and out of sight. “Look kid, I get it, he’s a big scary a*****e. None of us expected him to show up, but he did. Right now we gotta get to Mick and get those hostages out the back before anyone gets--” 

The glass that usually separated the tellers from customers exploded as something flew across the room. Damian felt a shower of broken glass, dust, and debris as it smashed into the wall and landed on the floor halfway between himself and the doors. He stopped, straining to hear if he should expect anything else to come flying in their direction. Pausing only a few seconds he realized all he heard was a ringing in his head. He had to get everyone out the back before the genetically enhanced jarhead brought the roof down on them all. Passing over the rubble in his path he could make out a shape through the dust cloud. The makeshift projectile was half of an office desk, looking as though it ripped in two. Damian realized his boss might not actually be able to handle this. If Praetorian was pissed off enough to tear a desk in half, following The Rules might not be his first thought.

            Another thunderous crash somewhere across the room was followed by shouting. Damian couldn't make out the words over the ringing in his ears, but he could hear the distinct sound of his boss’s reply. Cypher was speaking in a low, deliberate manner but Damian wasn’t listening to his words; he knew he had to use this distraction to get them all out of the room. With a renewed sense of urgency, he made his way around the shattered desk and into the conference room. Mick stood inside, shotgun aimed at the door, a Rocker and a dozen hostages behind him. He lowered the weapon when he saw his friend come through.

“Dame, you good? What's going on out there? Sounds like s**t didn’t go to plan.” Mick looked concerned. This was supposed to be a straightforward job. Get in, keep the employees out of the way while Damian and Cypher did their thing, and get out.

            “Clearly s**t went sideways.” Damian snapped. 

The look of distress Mick saw on his face unnerved him. Friends since third grade, Mick knew it took a lot of rattle Damian.  

“Praetorian.” That one word told Mick everything he needed to hear. Turning on his heel he started shouting at the Rockers to give him a hand moving furniture in front of the doors.

The floor shook as a cloud of dust burst from the wall. One of Cypher’s drones had just gone into the other side. One of its arms hung limply through a hole in the wall, ringed by splintered boards and cracked sheetrock.

            “Ok folks it’s been real fun but time to get the hell out of here, I’m going to need each of you to head through that back door and out the fire exit.” Damian’s words came out measured and level, surprising himself, considering how close they were to getting crushed. The sounds of a fight going on in the next room continued to grow louder, and he knew they were running out of time; his boss was smart and clever, but he was no match for Praetorian in a physical fight. 

Damian realized the hostages were cowering in the far corner. No one had made any moves towards the door. He saw the same look on their faces that he had just seen on Rockers. Fear, shock, uncertainty. The uncertainty broke as the doors splintered and flew open, knocking Mick to the floor just as he was pushing a desk against them. 

Cypher landed on the floor just inside the room. He didn’t move. No one moved. No one spoke.

The dust settled; heavy footfalls grew louder in the next room.

Mick was the first to break the silence, groaning as he pulled himself back to his feet. He grunted at the Rockers while pointing at the hostages, “Get out, now! Get THEM out, NOW!” 

            Damian took a step towards Cypher but stopped as something inside the man’s jacket began beeping. He heard three muffled beeps and then Cypher’s whole body seemed to tense up for a second before going limp again. Damian and Mick looked at each other, silently debating what to do. 

            The footfalls stopped out of sight. They heard something metal being crushed out in the lobby followed by something heavy rolling across the marble floor. Mick raised his shotgun, unsure what to expect. One of Cypher’s drones rolled into the room, gun barrels bent and arms ripped off. Mick took a step backwards. Both men jumped, startled, as their boss suddenly gasped to life on the floor behind them. 

            Damian trusted his old friend to keep watch on the doorway as he knelt next to his boss. “Cypher! You’re alive! We gotta get you out of here.” 

            “I’ll be fine, you should have been gone by now,” he replied, sounding annoyed. He pulled a data stick from his wrist mounted computer and stuck it in Damian’s hand. “Both of you get out of here now.”

            Cypher sat up and typed something into his wrist unit. Damian heard the drone that came through the wall just a couple minutes ago whir back to life as he took a quick look around the room. It was just the three of them now, his team and the hostages had all made it out the back.

            “Mick let’s go,” Damian said, placing a hand on Mick’s shoulder, then headed for the door himself. He took one last glance behind him as the door swung shut and caught the sight of a large imposing man entering the room. 

His metallic blue armor resembled a roman soldier. The black mohawk on his helmet brushed the top of the door frame as he stepped inside, sword in hand. This was the third time Damian had seen Praetorian in person and each time had felt equally intimidating. He knew this man once eliminated an entire militant compound single handed after they kidnapped a senator on a diplomatic mission. This was not a fight Damian wanted to have, and he was hoping it would be the last time they were in the same room.

The door swung shut behind Damian, but he didn’t hear it. The two of them were already running. He knew Praetorian wasn’t behind them, but looking back would mean thinking about what Cypher was dealing with, and he couldn’t afford that right now. He couldn’t stop until they were well out of danger, until they were back at the safe house.

 

---

Damian stood in the hallway trying to catch his breath, hands on his knees. Mick pushed past him, disappearing into the bathroom, the sounds of him retching echoed in the hallway. They were exhausted, but the day wasn’t over. Damian needed to make sure the Rockers had made it back, so he rubbed at a cramp in his side and made his way towards the kitchen.

Three of the Rockers sat around the table looking dejected, still covered in dust.. Their gear dumped on the floor next to them instead of being put away, but after what they had just been through Damian let it go this time. He still had one more Rocker to find before he could sit down and clear his head. The kid next to him at the bank wasn’t in the kitchen and he did not want to have to go looking for him.

Damian found the missing Rocker standing in the living room, staring out a window. A sense of relief came to him now that he could sit down for a few minutes. Before he could even sit down though, the new kid was upon him, clearly still shaken.

 “So, what happened? Did everyone make it out?” the kid asked. A hopeful desperation hung in his words. “Did anyone manage… I mean… did anyone make it back with the loot?”

The question hit Damian in a way he hadn’t expected. There was a time when he would’ve had the same thought, but experience had driven those habits from his mind.

            “What do you think f*****g happened?” Damian said hints of pity and remorse in his voice. Without another word he kicked off his boots and collapsed onto a nearby couch, the last of the adrenaline fading from his system. 

“God damn I hate superheroes.” he muttered. He was asleep almost before finishing his thought.