Why so serious!? (Gabriel, Open)

[Malix]

(OOC: All participants may mod the NPCs. IT'S ALL IN GOOD FUN)
(OOC#2: Sorry to start the thread and run but I'm rrreally sleepy so I'll be back for more tomorrow)

The sound of sirens' wailings thud dully through the building's walls. Malix crouches behind a fake palm tree.

What the !#@%, world!?

That's right, folks, you guessed it, a bank heist was underway.

Malix had come to the bank to open up her first debit account, since this place was so conveniently nearby her new school. Today, however, she was getting more than she bargained for.

Masked men of indeterminate number and strength had stormed the bank from the basement stairs, and were even now hardat work with loading up the safe's contents.

At least she had gotten her account started before business got held up by all this pesky hostage nonsense...she would need that debit card very soon in order to buy some things...essentials like a new camera and a new set of soccer cleats. Essentials, you know!

The exits were all being guarded. Malix wonders idly how long until the thugs left, and who else she might be stuck in here until then...

[Gabriel Seran]

Gabriel had been in the main hallway when everything seemed to break out. The lines packed with countless civilians while the thugs seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Their dark sock masks hiding their features but it was apparent that they were very low budget operations at the time being. Gabriel on the other hand was their opposite. Standing very tall and dominant with a very business suit looking attire a faded gray suit dark slacks matching it. This morning he'd been on a collective errand to make quick deposits along with a shift in his funds.

The chaos had caused a bit of disruption as a pistol fired off and the customers hit the floor with a bit of screams. Gabriel hadn't been afraid though shocked was a better word for it. A grim face covered his features as he remained standing opposed to the rest. To his vision there were about five of them scurrying into the entrance while he didn't know there were a good six more working undercover in the back rooms.

"Git on der ground sunneh!" Gabriel found the metallic rim of the gun shoved into his gut as he doubled over onto the ground.

His eyes shifted up disgusted at the man's power over him. Such a pathetic waste of life, scurrying by just to live off of the morsels of others.

"What'r you lukin at?!" The gunman signaled waving the barrel in front of his face.

Gabriel remained quiet setting his eyes to the ground. He chuckled lightly at Gabriel's submission, "punk ass kid. Get them into the rooms!"

In a few moment's Gabriel found the masked men pushing and shoving the groups of people into small confined office rooms. Each room had about ten people in each while the gunmen waited at the door. Behind that each of them shifted about the vaults trying to make way at the bank's money. Worthless vile. Gabriel felt a heated anger fill him. Survival was first priority, then vengeance.

[Trizen Takano]

Soon they were inside the office room. Probably about ten people. For some reason, it was always those kinds of situations where you met all kinds of people. All kinds of personalities. But even now, Trizen didn't know who was who and what was happening, aside from them robbing the bank -- and what he came there for.

A little earlier in the day, Trizen had received a call from a lawyer of sorts to meet at that bank to discuss what his mother was holding for him to have. The boy knew he would have to somehow keep this from Yukimura, his father, and thankfully it seemed that sort of shinobi training paid off -- that and his father wasn't home. Though his step-brother and step-mother were, though by grace, any monkey can sneak by those two. The boy was mainly worried about his father. Though in any case, upon his arrival at the bank, the man who met him was an office worker there. Had his own cubicle and everything. Sitting down, Trizen managed to lay his eyes on a thick black briefcase and what looked to be a sword that was sheathed and wrapped in cloth. Interesting. Enclosed with those items was a letter, though Trizen wouldn't get the opportunity to read it. He would be interrupted by the thieves who would snatch the three items and shove nine other people in the cubicle.

Now you're caught up. The nine others were there in the cubicle with him and he sighed. Though there was someone he hadn't see in a while since geting his sight back. It was Gabriel. He would know what to do. Though the boy wouldn't acknowledge his excitement. He didn't want to excite the guards any more than they already were. So for now, Trizen would wait. He wouldn't approach Gabriel, he didn't try to stop this whole mess. No. He would wait.

[ethan]

Ethan was there as well, withdrawing some money from a secret account his people had arranged for him at the bank. After dealing with his business, he was in the process of leaving when suddenly they burst in, brandishing firearms and shouting for everyone to lay on the ground.

Luckily, Ethan's survival instincts worked immediately, and he'd had experience dealing with problematic situations that arose out of nowhere such as this. Before any of them caught sight of him, he ducked down quietly behind a counter and quickly removed a vent on the wall next to him, crawling into it.

Hoping he wouldn't be heard, Ethan shimmied(sp?) his way through the narrow accessway, stopping to look at what was happening back in the lobby.

Ethan observed as one of the gunmen beat down a hostage, a young man in business attire. He went sprawling to the ground but made no noise, only looking up with a certain coldness and anger.

Ethan looked closer and immediately recognised the look and the face, having been on the receiving end of it. A slow smirk came to his face. It was Gabriel. Now he was in a situation where he was helpless. Karma certainly worked swiftly against him.

Now the civilians were being shepharded into another location. Ethan resumed moving through the ventilation as well but ended up following the vent to a different location until dropping out into a back hallway. Ethan had no idea where the other hostages were, but he had no intention of helping them, especially not Gabriel. If Ethan was to follow Gabriel's authority, than the latter would have to prove himself.

He crept through the hallway, following the voices of the robbers. Obviously they were after the money in the vaults, which was apparently close by.

One man was standing outside the vaults standing guard with a pistol. Before the man could react, Ethan sprinted up to him, ran along a wall and kicked the gun out of his hand, following with a punch to the temple to knock him into a kneeling position. Wrapping an arm around the thug's head, Ethan seized his gun with one hand and snarled into the man's ear, "Hello. I'm going to be walking out of here with the money instead. Cooperate with me and maybe you'll end up in jail instead of dead."

[Max]

Max was at the bank opening a new bank account. He was at the head of the line The woman seemed to not understand him

“Maim. You don’t understand. I am 18, I just need to open a banking account.”

Ok, well maybe he wasn’t eighteen but he had a fake id on him so it didn’t matter. The woman was being stupid. Max heard the doors open and heard someone scream. He looked back and noticed a whole bunch of men running in with guns. Great, first bank he ever goes to gets robbed. What a wonderful day. Max quickly ducked behind on of the desks. As he was hiding he watched as a guy walked by him. This was the only chance he had. He swept the kids feet out from under him and grabbed his head. He then bashed it into the ground at stripped him bear. Still under the table he changed and threw on what the thugs were wearing. He saw the kid he played chess again. Max couldn’t remember his name. Max watched as the kid was it. Max got orders to watch a room full of people. He had to take one where he knew people.

Max walked over to the door where the chess kid was. He told the other thug that the boss wanted him. He hurriedly ran away. Max quickly ran over to the kid who had gotten hit.

“Ok. Guards gone and you look fine. What’s the plan.”

Max didn’t take off the ski mask the kid had so hopefully the kid knew who he was.

[Gabriel Seran]

Gabriel's eyes turned up curiously to the bank robber with the sock mask adorned over his head. A small smile peered open before his swift reaction took hold. Freedom was but a second away. How many had he counted in there a good fifteen bank robbers one here another right outside the door he had this under control.

"We'll start with this!" Gabriel said in a low voice bringing a swift fist up into the man's nose probably breaking it before tearing of behind him moving swiftly to lace a strong grappling grip on his arms.

one down, now he would free the prisoners row by row. Emerald eyes would peer over to a man he'd recognized. Trizen? What was he doing here.

"Trizen." Gabriel whispered in a beckoning command as he'd crawl towards him, "I'm gonna need some help to get these hostages untied and out of here safely." He made a serious grin and a nod leaning against the door cautiously. His next strike would be on the one outside the door. As for the one he'd hit in the face well he'd be left to the others who were now freed.

[Max]

“Gosh Dam*** Gabriel. It’s me, Max. The chess player. Take off my mask if you don’t believe me.”

Max’s nose was seriously bleeding. It didn’t feel like it was broken though. That guy had a serious punch. Now that he had his arms behind him he couldn’t do anything. He was stuck. Stuck right in the middle of everything. All he was trying to do was help and this was what he gets. When Gabriel said another kids name it meant he had more help than just Max. That was good for there was many of the robbers outside. They would have to pick them off one by one.

[ethan]

((OOC: Is killing NPCs acceptable? If not, I can change this post a bit.)

"Whoa man, what the f--,"

"Shhhh," Ethan interrupted his captive, pressing the gun against his side. "Walk forward. And don't try to escape."

Holding the man by the throat, Ethan marched him into the vault where three other men were piling money into some black duffle-bags on the floor. Ethan fired a single shot into the ceiling to get their attention, the round emitting a resounding *Bang* throughout the rest of the building.

Ethan leveled the gun back at the other men, who started panicking but were smart enough not to reach for their own firearms.

"Shut up," he barked at them. "I've taken control of the situation. Resume as you were doing and keep loading money into the bags. Now."

"We don't have to do shit, you little--," snarled one of the masked robbers as he reached for a shotgun laying on a table. Not so smart.

Ethan didn't hesitate. He put one clean round between the man's eyes and he crumpled to the ground. The others didn't make a sound.

"Don't think I won't do the same for any of you," Ethan said cruelly, filling the silence of the room. "Get to work."

Ethan released the man, kicking him to the floor. The poor bastard crawled away towards the others and began heaving cash into the bags.

Ethan's plan was already forming rapidly in his mind. He actually had no real use for money; his financial concerns and living arrangements were pre-arranged by the same individuals he served in exchange for the real work he was to bring about at the school.

Aside from that, money was meaningless to him other than as a means to an end. Instead, he intended to deliver all this cash to the Paladins. For them, resources were limited, and they needed everything they could get. And if nothing else, it would put Ethan in higher standing with their ranks.

Of course, he'd have to dispose of these men, since they'd seen his face. Otherwise, the only complication was carrying this money and finding an alternate route out of the building.

[Malix]

(OOC: Killing NPCs is fine...but I just realized...Ethan, we're in two threads together where the characters haven't met each other yet in either place...how do you want to handle the time paradox? Should we just ignore it?)

Malix has not been idle all this time, from her vantage point behind a potted palm tree in the lobby, it was easy for her to observe the movements of the thugs, who herded the majority of the hostages into offices for safekeeping.

Others made their way to the vault. Malix watches curiously as a blond-haired guy slinks along behind one of the bandits with a gun, and manhandles him into the vault. His reasons for doing this are unknown to her...is he attempting to break the break-in?

Malix bites her lip. She shouldn't get involved...this isn't her bank, and she isn't a professional. It isn't her job to interfere. It's her place to simply lay low and not interfere in any way.

But still...these thieves were in the wrong, and a society whose general population tolerates thievery and leaves its handling to "the professionals..." well, that spoke of weakness. When you CAN act, you have the responsibility to do so, that's a motto she'd heard all her life from her mum, who was chock full of little inspirational sayings like that, as if she had a fortune cookie factory in her head.

Malix reaches a hand out from behind the decorative greenery and snatches the neck of a passing bandit, and yanks him into the bush, where a moment of rustling is halted by a dull but decisive *THUD* and Malix steps from behind the bush with the thief's handgun.

She had never held one before. On closer inspection, she is able to locate the safety and disable it. Aside from that, what's there to know...aim and pull the trigger!

Malix follows in the footsteps of the blonde guy, around the corner towards the vault, and hears a voice.

"I've taken control of the situation. Resume as you were doing and keep loading money into the bags. Now."

There's another snarling voice, which is silenced by a gunshot.

Malix steps around the corner, to see the blond student standing over the masked bandits. one is bleeding on the ground, and the others have resumed their nefarious operations, stuffing money into bags...this guy was...siding with the thieves?

At that moment, had Malix thought about it, she would certainly have walked away. She didn't though, so she foolishly steps into the situation. She aims her handgun at the blond's back, from a distance of around eight feet. "I don't think that's your money." she says evenly. She shifts her gloved hands on the grip of the gun slightly, so that he can hear that she's holding it. "Don't turn around..." she adds.

[Trizen Takano]

Trizen heard the voice after the reaction. It was kinda funny. One of Gabriel's friends seemed to be incognito with everything, and props to the man for being able to have done such an amazing job. He actually did look like one of the robbers.

"I'm gonna need some help to get these hostages untied and out of here safely."

Trizen nodded at the command, so to speak and looked around the room. There were quite a few people that were still tied up and shaking. Trizen was lucky. Either they didn't tie it too tight, or he was getting stronger. Either way, he thought the situation wasn't impossible to get out of. Then...

*BANG!*

It seemed that the robbers weren't kidding around. Someone was shooting something or someone. He hoped it was the former. He didn't want anyone to die, though for whatever reason, he felt like something had gone wrong.

"Gabriel... someone's trying to break up the--"

The words were audible from the distance. Ethan (unknown to him) was talking and said he had taken control of the situation. Though... not in the positive spin Trizen expected. The other young man was robbing the bank. They had to stop him. But how if there were fifteen--

BANG!!!

-- Fourteen bank robbers around the immediate area (that including Max in disguise). Trizen had to put thought to work. They couldn't particularly just burst out stop him, or the guards surrounding the area, though most of them would have been distracted by the added turn of Malix stepping into the fray.

Ethan had the gunmen, and Malix had Ethan. They were all distracted. And luckily for Trizen, Max, Gabriel and those hostages in the room, the vault was a good distance from plain sight due to portables and other such offices along the way. Interesting.

"Gabriel, I think we're gonna have to try and take out as many as we can bit by bit while these guys are trying to relieve the power struggle." the boy said in a whisper, "Silently I mean. While that happens, we could sneak the hostages out of here. Though we'll need an exit..."

Trizen was also concerned about his three-itemed package. They were very much important.

"Start on the outside-in?" he asked. He figured knocking out a guard from the distance would force a guard or two to go and find out what happened. Sneaking to that area, they would be able to take down those handful of guards and probably take costume like Max had. But it was Gabriel's call. He did have the insane amount of charisma going. And he had his head on his shoulders.

[Gabriel Seran]

Gabriel's eyes took in the character Max who's face was still concealed by the robber's mask. He couldn't trust him Gabriel knew the kid had some kind of motives driving him. Why in the hell however did the boy feel the need to dress up as a robber unless he was indeed associated with a rat pack like such.

"Nonetheless, we cant be too careful." Gabriel grabbed a ziptie from the back of the man's suit and asuming he didn't struggle his way free Gabriel would tie him off preventing any acts of betrayal.

*BANG!*

Gabriel's eyes shot up his body tensing as he heard a distant rumble of the gun spark.

"Gabriel... someone's trying to break up the--"

*Bang!!!*

He heard the muffled sound of the body collapse to the floor. Damnit they were dropping off human bodies. Gabriel's mandible flexed instinctively. He would no longer stand by as they resorted to such maddening extremes. He had to save their lives. He looked to Trizen who undoubtably had the right idea. Though he wanted to hand the reigns over for some reason. Gabriel knew the man was humble but he knew this better than anyone.

"Alright... lets go quietly..." Gabriel said with a nodd pulling Max along as he would help escort a small family about at his heels.

Gabriel came to the door with great caution looking through a crease. "Shhh..." He'd hold up a finger sliding out gracefully as the way was clear. "Okay, the vault is where they'll be then we should head to the storage exit..."

Gabriel turned to confirm with Trizen. A small nodd as he took the lead a small group at his heels. He only hopped they didn't bump into the bank robbers. Though at one point it'd be inevitable. Trizen had the right idea soon enough once the citizens were out of harms way. The two of them could knock them off one by one.

[ethan]

((OOC: Umm... you know what, I have no idea how to address that, Malix ;D Yeah, let's just ignore it, I don't feel like trying to tie it in, maybe worry about it another time?))

Still with his gun pointed at the robbers, Ethan didn't move a fraction of an inch. Although he didn't turn his head, Ethan glanced out of the corner of his eye through his peripheral vision to see which hand held the gun on her end. The right one.

"I'm impressed," Ethan said tonelessly, not turning to address her. "How long were you following me back there?"

*Response*

Regardless, Ethan felt he could handle some overconfident, foolish girl trying to play hero. He'd handled far less than her in his training. His advantage was that she probably thought she'd already won just by pointing a gun at his back, and her guard would be down.

Ethan slowly raised both hands in the air in surrender, holding the gun in a way to indicate that he had no intention of using it. Holding it by the tip of the barrel, Ethan let his grip on it loosen until the gun finally slid from his fingers, silently but intensly watching the weapon's course.

Now.

As soon as the gun was no longer in his fingers, Ethan threw himself onto his back as fast as he could, reaching the floor before the gun did and catching it perfectly in his hand. Ethan was actually a great shot with a handgun from prior practice, but here he gave himself only less than a fraction of a second to aim.

He fired three rounds in her general direction, shooting to knock the pistol out of her arm at least to immediately neutralize the threat, though simply putting her down would be good as well. This was starting to get out of hand. Ethan needed to get the money and then get it out of here before anything else happened.

[Max]

So Gabriel had tied me up. He didn’t seem to understand that he was on their side. He had taken the clothes so he could walk around freely, that was it. He was part of this stupid hold up. He was just trying not to be like Gabriel and get captured. Max quickly broke the zip tie and stood up. He was so weird sometimes. After he broke the ziptie he would break out of the hold Gabriel had him on. You don’t drag Max for you ruin his clothes.

“Since you don’t trust me you go release the hostages. I’m going to go do my job.”

Max would take off the other way, right to the vault. When he got there a guy had launched himself on his back and fired at the girl. Max would quickly run to the guy, try to kick the pistol out of his hands and then mount the guy and hold him there.