"...Due to the degree of danger, their superior technology, and the lengths/speed which they accomplished their crime with, it is in my opinion that the Dallas Police Department has no effective countermeasure to this 'Lottery Crew'. Aside from pure luck, I have no professional recommendations in how we could stop them if they decide to hit our town again."

-Report, Robbery of the Goodhills bank on 3/1/17. Dallas Police Department, Texas. Dimension B-129.








The van wouldn't of been noticed if it was driving down your city streets. You saw a hundred of them every day. It was actually one of the constants, across most realities... that type of van. Even now as you read this, you already see a picture of it in your head. Across an almost infinite amount of Earths, there were an almost infinite amount of those vans, driving along. Doing their jobs. Enjoying their time. Not doing a crime.

The van that the Crew was driving in, was the exception to that rule. A lone statistical anomaly as, this van, was absolutely doing a crime. In it, five people sat. Well dressed, to the point of almost obscenity for the immoral things they were about to do.

Antonia was already geared up, driving them. Alongside her seat, resting carefully between it and the console was a L85 assault rifle. It's safety was already off. On her body, was wonderful finery, however obscured by the layers of thick armor she wore. In her lap, was a very impressive mask with too-full lips, and a mockery of overdone makeup. A joke, laughed in the face of those who were more fake than real.

What she wore, in both arms, armor, and clothing was mirrored by the four men that sat in the back. They wore states of armor, they cradled assault rifles and light machine guns in their lap. They all busied themselves with the readying of crime. Magazines were checked, tapped against armored thighs to push rounds flush against the metal backing, to help with stovepiped rounds. Thick blue latex gloves were tugged roughly, to make sure fingers were perfectly aligned.

Something very bad was about to happen.

"One minute." Charley spoke out, he was the only one that ever did right before a heist. And only then it was orders. There wasn't even a series of nods around, all five of them were so well on the clock, that they all already knew. Charley laid down his rifle on the floor of the van, and picked up the mask beside him. It was a mockery of a human face, with a smug grin on it. Almost clown like. He flipped it over on his lap, as almost a ritual. It was deep, and the metal plates went quite a bit outwards. For good reason, as when he lifted his face and pushed it perfectly up, the metal folded down and hissed out. Encasing his entire head, almost organically. The red lights in his mock eyes, snapping on. The motion was mirrored almost perfectly by the other four, even Antonia, one handedly, before she took the turn that Charley knew would put him on the right street.

There was always a certain moment in everyone's mind when a vehicle they were riding in should of been slowing down. That the brakes should of been applied. Charley felt that in the stomach, even with his back to the front window. He had a second to pick up his rifle, and give an audible sigh that echoed out mechanically through the mic in his mask.

Two had the audacity to laugh psychotically. Right before the van hit the side of the brick building, full on, and smashed right through the reinforced wall. The chaos of the moment began to hit, and fade into silence, Just the van, sitting quietly, humorously, right beside an impressive sign that said 'Goodhills Bank'.

The shock that went through the people in the bank, the civilians, the guards, and the tellers was immediate. They threw themselves on the floor while screaming. But they were good people. After it seemed the moment was over, and there were no injuries, they began to get up. And some even moved over to the van, to check if anyone was injured.

Both front doors of the van snapped open quickly. Antonia and Charley were the first out of the driver and passanger side, respectfully. Antonia having the added benefit of a seat belt, and knowledge of the crash. The shock of the crash was suddenly over ridden by those looking at the van, by pure horror. As two masked individuals wielding assault rifles were suddenly there. With one of them yelling. It wasn't something the crowd could understand.

"Stealth! I said Stealth, Five!" Charley roared through his mask as he popped down from the seat and raised his rifle up to his shoulder as his body moved into a perfect light crouch. It barked once, and sent a round right into the center mass of a security guard that was trying to bring his pistol out of his holster. The round hit with a crackle of electricity that was even louder than the rapport of the rifle. The man jerked, and fell like a puppet who's strings had been cut.

His fire was answered by Antonia, as well as his comment... but not in words, she was just laughing. She lifted her bullpup rifle and squeezed the trigger once the red dot of the scope rested on the form of another guard in the lobby straight ahead. A trio of shots rang out, and two of them smacked the guard in the chest with electric light. She kept moving forward, just as another guard rounded the corner, confused. Elbow lashed out, sending the butt of the weapon across the man's face, roughly. Then she added insult to injury by bringing the weapon back to her shoulder and aiming it down to sent a three round burst into the already unconscious guards form.

"GET DOWN!" Her yell was made quite a bit worse due to the fact she was still laughing. The horror of the moment caused many of the civilians to drop from her order. Some were just stuck on the spot, too terrified to move. The call was echoed, by Charley's own mechanical yell. As was as Two, Three, and Four, as the climbed out of the truck somewhat akwardly.

"ON YOUR STOMACH! NOW!" Charley snarled out as he let his weapon point at, well, everyone. He moved through lines of cubicals, bankers screaming out in terror as they moved as quick as they could down. As he moved to the side, one hand dropped from the dual grip on his AN94 assault rifle, to pick up a chair. It was thrown, underhand, without even slowing down. Shattering the glass door that seperated one office from the rest of the small bank.

The man behind it was in the middle of picking up the phone to call the police when the smoked glass door exploded out from the business chair that was suddenly smashing into his file cabinets. For either stupidity or bravery, he stood up just as the form of Charley suddenly blocked up the whole of his door rather well.

"Do you know what you are doing?! Do you know who's money that is?!" Fear or confidence in exactly who's money that was propelled the bank manager.

"Yes." Charley's mechanical tone echoed out through the chaos behind him as the Crew flowed through the bank. Already Three and Four were binding people's wrists behind their back with zip ties. He rounded the man's desk quickly, letting his rifle drop and hang from the bandoler on the shoulder of his armor. Hanging comfortably down, between the armor and that heavy wool overcoat he always wore.

"They... They will come for you..." The man had meant for it to be a warning, but Charley was suddenly, there. Standing uncomfortably close to him, behind his own desk. It wasn't much of a warning. The grinning, almost, leering grin on the mask leaned in, until he was eye to red glowing eye with it.

"That what's we are hoping for. What does thirty pieces of Silver get you now a days anyhow?" It was rhetorical question. Charley's hand was already lifting a pistol up to the man's face. The barrel was pressed uncomfortably right against the man's eye. Until he had to move away, but it followed, finally pinning his head right against the wall. "Key card." Was all Charley said, then.

The manager carefully held up a hand, passively, then dipped it inside of his suit coat. Coming out with the requested key card between fingers, shaking like a paint mixer.

"Thanks, Judas." Charley plucked the key card from the man's shaking grip, Lifting the weapon, mercifully, just to bring the end of it down on the man's temple. The form folded like a deck chair. Charley still pumped a round from the pistol into his chest, before roughly turning him over so he could bind his wrists with a quick zip tie looped around them. Then, one hand still gripping a pistol, he grabbed the scruff of the man's suit coat and picked him like he was nothing, walking back out into the main area of the bank.

The lobby was hit last, by where the van had hit the wall. But it was only seconds before the other four forms of the Crew were moving through it. Quick paces ate up the short ground quickly. One teller looked down and to the side. Apparently looking for the silent alarm. A quick burst from Antonia's rifle slammed three rounds in the wall right above her head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Antonia rumbled a pleased little roll of worlds out, sounding smug even through the electronic mic of the mask she wore. "Get down. Now." Then suddenly, it was cold, The barrel of his rifle dipped, lightly. It was all people were focusing on. They got down.

"911 call just received to Dallas police department. Reports are gunfire in a bank." Through the earpieces of the Crew's masks, came the calm down of 'Zero', their overwatching boss. The countdown was already on. Soon, police would be here. They always came, but sometimes, you could get a minute or two before they responded.

The Crew was already moving fast though. Charley came into the Lobby seconds later, still carrying the knocked out form of the manager in one hand with a pistol in the other. He dropped the man, just so he could hand the keycard over to Two. The massive form of Two was flanked by the much smaller one of Four, as both of them moved on over to the only other door not opened yet. They already knew what to do.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Charley shouted once again. Moving around the manager as he came to the first civilian on their stomach on the stone floor. Binding the man's unresisting wrists, as he spoke. Like clockwork, Antonia was mirroring the same actions on another civilian. "We are the Lottery Crew. This is by now, pretty self evidently, a robbery. We are not here for your money! We are here for the bank's money!" The man's words paused, right at the correct time. As Two and Four opened the security door with the key card and the quick shots of gunfire from them taking down the remaining guards, puncuated Charley's words perfectly.

"Very soon there will be a lot of gunfire. So I am asking you, politely, to go where we tell you, lay on the floor, and keep your heads down. If you do not do this, me, or one of my associates will take great pleasure in shooting you in the face." Charley did not feel the need to mention most of their ammo was non-lethal. That kind of ruined the feel of the moment. Fingers gripped the man's who's wrists he had just bounded. Picking him up until he got to his feet. Charley pointed a single blue finger on over to the now open security room.

"There." A single word from Charley, and the man began to walk that way, his head down. This was repeated, on the next person Charley came to. One by one, bound civilians began to move into the security room.

Three was not doing this, he was already hopping the counter with a rather large pack on his back. He mostly ignored the people laying on the ground. The pack was unslung when he got to the vault door. Opening up to pull out a rather large contraption, something heavy and thick, it's one major point was a very large drill. He put fingers to the thick metal vault door, rubbing it along until he found the spot... then he hoisted the device up. Magnetic locks sealing it against the metal.

A few presses on the devices screen, and the drill suddenly snapped forward until it touched the door. It glowed red, then white, then with a sharp whine of power it began to spin and bit into the metal. Heavy, thick flakes already beginning to fall away, or even in some cases become molten and run down the front of the door. Three's mind calculated thickness and type of metal quickly, then calmly spoke into his mic.

"Four hundred seconds." It came through the ear pieces of the rest of the Crew. Charley nodded, without words to time frame. It was about right, in his mind. But they all knew there would of been a responses, no matter how it went.

"Two, Five, defenses." A quick order from Charley, but both Antonia and Two were moving from the lobby just as fast. Back to the van, to climb in it, and begin to pull out large, complicated looking metal plates. Antonia took her's and placed it against the first window she came across. It activated, spreading to cover the entire window in metal. Then, sharply, hydraulics activated and drilled thick metal screws all along it's edge. Turning the window into something that would take quite a bit of effort to get through. She and two covered up every window, rather fast, as Charley and Four shuffled the waiting people quickly into the security room.

Charley stopped in the middle of the herding, to pull back the sleeve of his coat on his left arm. On his forearm, was a wrapping holding a slim piece of glass. It snapped to life, electronically, showing a map of the building they were in. A finger on his right hand, still holding the gun, drew a line on the map. Then, another one.

"Block this off. And this." His fingers had wiped over a pair of doors to the outside, not even opened yet. Antonia and two aknowledged him with a pair of grunts, as they worked. Four was alone, picking up the last of the civilians, as Charley paced a few steps over the lobby floor, still looking at the computer screen on his forearm.

"Four, ammo here." A tap of his finger followed his words, and the map was marked once again. It was shown through the screens that layered the inside of the Crew's mask, in the height of technology. "Then take position here." Another tap, marking behind the counters.

"Three." Charley spoke just to get the man's attention, as the lovingly cared for the drill that was tearing through the vault door.

"Hmm?" Was Three's only response, obviously enjoying messing with the settings of the drill rather than pay attention to Charley.

"Sentry gun here." A tap of his finger. Followed by another quick couple of taps. "Explosives, here, here, and here. Got it?" Putting on the question as the mask, outwardly voiceless, quietly looked on over to where the man was fiddling with the drill. A grunt from Three had him in motion however, moving out to follow Charley's defensive plan.

On the map he began to see red lines draw over the outside of the stick figure of the building. Windows were being boarded up, as well as the two doors too. Charley only had to wait a moment or two, before he cut out the orders for the last two.

"Two, here." A tap of his finger on the glass, once again. "Five, here." Another tap, it spread the crew out dangerously. Only the front door was unbarricaded, not that Charley would put much confidence in their barricades holding, but the placement of the Crew through the building had them covering every angle while being able to see the front door, and thus put down the most volume of fire there.

In almost perfect timing, the calm voice of Zero came through their ear pieces.

"SWAT and hostile response teams are mobilized. ETA Ninety seconds."

Charley actually had to give a laugh at this. It was echoed by a few of the Crew.

"No negotiator? Full SWAT Response?" Four asked with a snorting, arrogant laugh.

"Guess we are in the right place... Cops are pissed." Charley laughed right back. Pistol holstering inside of his coat as he brought his rifle back around to hold it in both hands. Not readying it yet, but he was pacing to the front door. Putting a shoulder to the wall beside the double doors, so he could look out into the street.

Defenses and placement were complete well before Charley saw the lights and heard the sirens. What he was looking at was seen by the rest of the Crew, not first handedly, but by the red markings that outlined heavy looking SWAT vans coming quickly down the streets through the lines of random cars that had pulled over. The easy part was over.

"Heeeeeeeeere they come." Charley rumbled out, pleasingly. The toe of his boot edged open the door. He always picked the most dangerous spot, it was what he thought to do. Rifle butt came to his shoulder, perfectly, like it had done a million times before. When the vans stopped, and SWAT team members began to pile out they were met immediately. The green dot of Charley's laser sight danced to halt right on the first officer's armored chest. Without question he squeezed the trigger, gently. The round hit the officer square where the laser dot rested. Another explosion of electricity that knocked the man out. The fire was etched right down the line, even as officer's ducked and dived to get to cover.

On the other side of the van, an armored helmet peeked around. It was met the unerring accuracy of Charley, as a round pinging right off of it with a thundercrack of energy. Bodies were falling quickly, the rest of the Crew saw red outlines of bodies just blink away with every good hit. It wouldn't last though. There were way too many officer's out there. Suddenly the front door was shattered and exploded out in return fire. Bricks of the wall flecked off as errant rounds bounced around the man.

Charley didn't really react to being shot at, even as a round pieced the tail of his coat to make a sudden hole with the hiss of destroyed fabric. Form leaned away from the wall, but he kept firing. In the span it took him to slice the pie and duck away, another three officer's were hit by his rounds. And like a fool, he waited a second or two until they stopped firing at an empty door... just so he could lean back out it and firing on last long burst, accurately.

"Ha! Got you too." As if he was gunning for someone specific, but it was more likely he was just enjoying the random chaos and gun play. He was quick to move away from the door though. Dropping the magazine in his rifle, even if it had a few rounds left it in, plucking another one from the inside of his long coat the slip it home. He hopped the counter, somewhere near to Five. Both Antonia and Charley shared a glance.

"Fourteen downed. Not bad." Antonia admitted, roughly. Giving Charley a hard time. The man laughed it off, arrogantly, as he put his back to the wood and eased himself up the back of the counter.

"It's hard to be this good." Charley had no qualm about arrogantly stating this. It got a laugh out of Two, but that was more that the man was gnashing his teeth, ready to let loose his light machine gun on something.

The gunfire from outside died down. The SWAT teams outside were already readying to breach, even from the fire they had just felt from Charley. Confident, in their numbers, which was still quite a few dozen. There was pounding on one of the barricades, as an officer tried in vain to get through it. But all five guns were trained on the front door. You could hear the multitude of boot steps crunching over glass as a long line of SWAT members lined up on the wall beside on side of the double doors.

It was not a good day to be the first officer to enter the bank. The man turned the corner smartly and sharply, and was hit with a total of 8 rounds fired from five firearms. He jerked back as if thrown, straight out into the street. It was enough to cause the men who followed behind him to watch, even as they flooded indoors. Eyes so wide, they were all white. It was a horrible mistake.

It was only the first few seconds of entering the building, and already bodies were filling the door frame and the floor directly infront of it. The SWAT team was experienced, and quick. But as quick as they entered, they were shot down. In the span of a few eyeblinks, an entire SWAT team of 12 men were unconscious on the ground.

In response, the slamming on one of the barricades redoubled as the rest of the group of officers heard the report of a dozen men suddenly going silent. Through the screens of the mask, all five of the Crew watched as numerous other red shapes began to flow around the fortified building. There was still, quite a lot more. And right on time, Zero spoke out with more good news.

"Officers down call just came through. Full city response is in effect. Congratulations, you all have just become natural disasters." It was an all points bulletin. Like the kind that would come out for floods or hurricanes. All police officer's dropped what they were doing and moved in. Armoring and arming up to do violence.

It did not change a single thing any of the Crew were doing. Charley was already pulling another magazine out of his coat, as Antonia plucked one off her armor and slapped it into the stock of her rifle. Then, she stood up, and yanked a grenade off of her armor hard enough to loose it from it's pin. She still held the spoon carefully against the explosive.

"That better not be a molotov." Charley warned her, without even glancing her way. Her mask turned over to him, sharply.

"It's not!" She shot back, immediately, words just as sharp as the look her mask was giving him.

"Good. Because I remember telling you not to bring those." Charley commented calmly, as he lifted the rifle to his shoulder once again and waited the next officer he saw.

"I didn't!" Antonia said, much too defensively to make her believeable. There was a snort over from Charley, which, if masks could of glared, she would of been doing. She looked back to the front door, full of anger, just as a helmet came around it. The grenade was thrown, hard. It smacked into the mask of the SWAT officer as he came around the corner. It exploded a second later, into sphere of lightning. Whenever one of those white bolts touched a police officer, they were down with jerky spasms. It halted an already shakey advance. No one wanted to walk through a door with that many bodies around it.

There was an arrogant snort from her, as she lifted her rifle once again.

"Not bad." Charley half-admitted. The plain fact as that while he was always doing whatever she wanted in public, here, he was rough on her. Demanding of perfection. Even worse than the rest of the Crew. It matched how he was with her in practice. Here the man's grip was as firm as you could get. But apparently, it was working. She had already shot down more than a few cops, and the grenade toss had a couple of the Crew whistling or laughing in appreciation.

"Police are rendezvousing two blocks south. I am reading sixty eight more targets moving in on your position. Total count reads 98 on the ground and incoming." Zero spoke out more good news.

Charley knew what was about to happen, as did the rest of them. The sounds of gunfire snapped out again as more armored forms filled the front door, some were smarter and peeked around to return fire on the Crew. They soon got shot in return with out many of their rounds hitting even near their mark. One shot got lucky and smacked right into Charley's chest. Another sparked off Three's arm. Both men barely reacted before they pin pointed where the shot came from and accurately returned fire.

The sudden muffled explosion tore out one of the barricades on a door, and most of the wall around it. On their screens, even through walls, one of the barricades flashed white and disappeared.

"Four, Five, right side." Charley barked the order they both knew was already coming. Four began to move, cutting off the new assault with a hail of fire from his submachine gun. Antonia waited, intelligently, behind the cover of the counter just as a new assault of bodies hit the front door. Charley flicked his thumb down on his selector switch to move from burst to full auto.

"Now." He ordered her a moment before he squeezed down the trigger and held it. She moved just as he covered her, the fire from the police coming in the front door almost halted on the spot as Charley hosed down the area. Not a single round from the bucking and jerking rifle in his grip hit the wall. Every one hit the armor of one police man or another. Antonia slipped through the sudden calm and repositioned herself overwatching Four.

The sudden click of his firing pin on an empty chamber had Charley dropping his rifle and quickly pulling free his pistol. Holding it in two hands he dropped the iron sights on helmet after helmet. Even as Three and Two added their fire into the mix, Charley was still attacking rather than taking cover. It was a small thing, but it was prolonging the time until the police were right up on them.

It didn't last long. The police had numbers, and were more than happy to use them no matter how many of their collegues went quiet on the radio, it would seem. The fire coming from the second assault that was rounding around the business area of the bank had Charley ducking down as the counter began to tear itself apart. Entire walls were beginning to show holes, torn out as if punched by wrecking balls.

The situation was disolving. The defense the Crew made was crumbling, as they knew it would. It was turning into something unholy and violent, as suddenly you could see the fear or rage in someone's eyes from this distance. And there in, were just the calm masks of the Crew laying into the police.

By now, over fifty bodies littered the bank and outside. None of them dead, but all of them unwaking even as some officer's did their best to do so.

"Third wave is readying at the rendevous point, I'm reading forty two targets. ETA, thirty seconds." Zero spoke out again, through the constant gunfire and violence. Here and there, a good or lucky shot hit one of the Crew, but the armor was strong. It might have lightly rippled pain and force into their form, but none of them have gone down yet.

"Overbreach on right side!" Four yelled out through it all as he ducked behind a corner to reload. Charley rose from his new cover and aimed his rifle down that way. He was greeted to the sight of Antonia jumping on a SWAT officer as he rounded the hallway and came into the lobby. She forced the barrel of her rifle up and under his armor and pulled the trigger, in mid fall. It sent the man right back down the hallway, to smack into a couple of other officers.

"You know, you don't have to worry about armor with our electric-rounds..." Four rumbled on over to Antonia, cheerfully, well, for Four. Who was a constant downer.

"Where's the fun in that?" Antonia answered back, immediately, as she reloaded her rifle. Her cheerfulness, was actual, and radiated out even through the stoic mask.

There was a laugh from the gathered criminals, once again. Now in the silence of a few seconds. They all recongized it, it was stark against the minute or so of violence they just sped through. It was a wonderful breeze on a hot day. They all used the time to reload, of course. It's what people like them did. Then they heard the steady whumpwhump of helicopter blades. The police were gathering up for another assault, already.

"On the roof. And they will breach that last door and one of the windows as well." Zero spoke out.

"Two, Three." Charley snapped and made a sweeping motion with his hand, forward in military hand signals. Both men reacted, leaping out from their cover and taking new spots. The Crew by position, was a marvel of modern military form. They were all decently covered, but could of been easily flanked. If it wasn't for the fact that flanking angle was being watched by another member of the Crew. As long as every one shot, it was quite well protected. A defense built on offense.

There was only a moment or two more, just enough time for Charley to roll his head around his shoulders in a comfortable motion, before the sky lights above shattered and glass fell. It was followed just a breath later by a pair of muffled explosions. Suddenly, forms were flowing in, even rapelling down ropes from the skylights above. Charley lifted his rifle and shot men even as the slipped down, they landed painfully on the stone tiles.

In that moment everything erupted into fire, like a volcano had broken through the floor. All Five of the Crew were shooting. They were mayhem in suits. In all of this, through the front door came officer's holding wide, thick metal shields. None of the Crew were dumb enough to fire right at ballistic shields, just a waste of ammo. Charley heard the metallic click of a firing pin hitting an empty chamber, signaling he was out of ammo. He was reaching up to his armor to pull a grenade from his armor, right when the sizeable air vent above him exploded out and a single slim form of a person slipped out of it and dropped. This officer wasn't armored, all the better to creep through the ducts to get to this spot where he could pounce on one of the Crew.

Charley suddenly had a man falling near him, firing wildly with a pistol. It matched the rounds of the police filtering through the front door around ballistic shields. The man didn't react much to the gunfire that sparked around him, or in a few cases, right off his armor in shots that would of been lethal without the protective coverings. The slim police officer's fall was suddenly halted in mid air, as Charley reached up and grabbed him at the throat in a single hand. His other hand dropped his rifle, and unholstered the pistol from his coat, even if it was open and empty.

The officer in Charley's grip, later swore that he saw the sleeve of the man's coat slip another magazine from under it's cuff line and snap it perfectly home in the man's pistol. This was attributed to the stress of the combat. It was true though. Once Charley's hand was up, he thumbed down the release and a round was snapped into the chamber just in time for Charley to aim it right at the caught officer's head. A single round hit him square in the forehead with a sharp crackle of electricity, then Charley dropped unceremoniously.

"They are in the air ducts. I am not kidding about that one..." Charley rumbled as he turned and lifted his hand to his armor once more, to tug at the grenade there. But it wasn't needed, the shielded officers had paced too far in. Antonia leaned out from her spot and fired on them from the side. Just enough space and a good enough line to their exposed bodies. One shield went down, then another, then another. The last turned to face Antonia, but it left him exposing himself to Charley. The man aimed his pistol and shot the officer square in the side of his helmet, he went down too.

It was over as quickly as it began. The flow of bodies became a trickle, became drips. Became a few lucky officers that had found good cover, but were being picked off one by one rather quickly. It matched the pace perfectly, as in the rushing silence, Three spoke out.

"We're in." With an air of pure enjoyment and giddyness. He was moving even before the fire fight ended, running across the lobby right in front of Charley's firing line. coming to the vault door and the drill. He disengaged the device, which fell to the floor, no longer needed. With a harsh yank, Three spun the main wheel. The sizeable tumblers now drilled out, the wheel moved effortlessly. Spinning and disengaging the metal bars that sealed the vault door in place. The door swung open on counterweights, tons of steel sliding to the side and revealing the inside of the vault.

In it, there was not even safe deposit boxes. There was just six rather large pallets of money. Enormous cubes, five feet to the side and height. It had to be hundreds of millions of dollars. It explained why the vault was empty besides that, even for such a small bank. There was nothing else to store, once you were storing that amount of cash for someone.

All five of the Crew slowly moved over to the open space of the Vault, or at least near enough that they could see inside. There was a chorus of whistles or laughs. It was just enjoyable to see that much money, in one place, and know it was now yours to do what you wanted with it.

Antonia moved first. Laughing and stepping towards the vault.

"Let's get this gathered up!" She almost squeeled in delight as she spoke, pacing a few more steps to peer deeper into the vault.

"No." Charley laughed out, over to her, as he changed the magazine in his rifle. "We're not here to steal it." A moment, just to let the oddness, set in. Then Charley would speak up, once again. The deep grin of his mask, matching him perfectly in that instant. "We're here to burn it."

Antonia stopped her pace, and looked right on over at Charley in pure disbelief. Her hands, happily clapping a moment ago, were now still against each other.

"Wh-... Why?" She asked, half between awe and half between confusion. Hands motion to the rather impressive pallets of money.

"I would assume to piss someone off, I suppose. Zero is paying for this heist, out of pocket. Three..." With a motion to the man, who already knew of the plan. He had kept Antonia out of this small loop, just to mess with her. Three was moving to the interior of the vault, taking a small can out of his many pockets full of things on his armor. Spraying liquid from it, on each on of the closely bunched pallets.

"That... That..." Antonia was still a bit dumbfounded. Destroying all that money made no sense to any criminal. But, the Crew did the heist they were paid for. Without question.

"You want to spark it up?" Charley asked over to her, as he unvelcroed a pocket on his armor and pulled out a simple road flare. It was waggled in the air, enticingly. As if he really had to ask, but presentation was important.

"Yes!" Antonia squeeled out again, humored, and made a motion for the flare to be tossed. Which Charley did, after a moment. She caught it out of the air, and was quick to run on over to the open vault door. Coming to it just as Three was walking out, and giving her a small flourish inside. The flare burst into light after some hurried strikes of the ignitor over the tip of it. She watched it for a moment, then carefully, put it down near the first stack of cash. It burst into a quickly moving flame before the flare touched the money. Antonia laughed deeply, and moved to the next pallet. The flames would of spread anyway, but she went to each pile to set it alight. By the time she was walking out of the vault, black smoke was already pooling up on the ceiling and drifting out broken skylights. The heat from the fire in the vault was easily felt.

The bank was deathly silent, except for the occasional fall of unlucky walls or broken glass. As Antonia came from the vault, the four others of the Crew were already standing in the lobby. Almost unnaturally casual, considering that it was somewhat of a chore to find enough of an empty floor to stand on, the amount of unconscious bodies and spent rounds made it almost impossible. There wasn't even a conversation between them, they were just readying themselves for the next part of the heist. Reloading weapons with quick motions. Adjusting straps, Tugging at armor that still smoked from impacted rounds.

"Time to go." Charley finally spoke up, giving a raise of his chin over to Three and Four. "We'll do what we planned to do, if she drove the van into the bank. It's going to be too hard to run with so many out there. Two, you're with me. I think they even gave us the edge..." With a point casually over to the falling ballistic shields. The monster of a man that was Two was already moving over towards the fallen officers. Antonia spoke up, as she caught up on what Charley said.

"Wait, you knew I was going to drive into the bank? How? I didn't even know, until I did it?" It was the usual tone she had when she didn't believe him. It happened quite a lot.

"Mmm. Yeah, we kind of did." Charley admitted, arrogantly, over to her. Moving on over to where Two was already hefting up a shield, hooking his forearm under the heavy metal bands on the back. Testing it's weight, even if it didn't seem to weigh anything to a man who was about as broad as he was tall. Charley did the same, flipping a shield over, hooking his forearm into the grip, and lifting it up.

"Wait until I give the word, then get the van out of the wall and run. Get the cops off of you, then come back... Say about, five minutes?" Charley was looking back over to Antonia, but she was already running on over towards the van half sticking out of the wall. Three and Four were already climbing into the back from the front doors.

"Hmm." She was quick, and getting quicker. It left him standing there beside Two, who was already facing the destroyed remnants from the front door. Charley waited a few moments, then looked on over to the other man. "You ready?"

Two's mask looked down and over to Charley's own. It was a mask like the rest of the crew, a mockery of a human face. His had complicated lines and angles drawn in black over it, chaotically. The man gave a snort of a laugh, and a nod. It was returned from Charley. Who offered the shield up and over towards Two. Two's own shield was knocked over against Charleys. With that, both men walked to the front door and just barely out it.

"Corrupt Defenders of this city! Come! Show us what passes for fury among your misbegotten kind!" Charley yelled this out from his mic, just before the barrel of his rifle stuck out from around the side of the shield and opened fire. First, straight out. It was joined by the fabric tearing constant sound of Two as he opened up with his light machine gun right beside him. A torrent of gunfire that tore through the cars on the far side of the streets some officers were using for cover. More importantly, the fire tore through the officer's themselves. They fell, one right after another in almost a perfect domino affect, starting in the middle and moving out. It was rare for a shot from either man to hit the wall behind them.

"Out." Charley ordered, but Two was already stepping out even before he said it. They both were. The shields faced outwards as both stepped a few paces out and turned. Charley took cover beside a thick concrete column. Kneeling down on a knee as his rifle came around in his grip. The too-hot barrel and upper receiver was caught on the underside of his knee, caught between his thigh and calf. It was a tight enough grip so he could pull out the magazine on the rifle, completely empty. A new one was slapped home, and he brought the rifle around again. One round left in the chamber, the man counting his shots in his head perfectly. It was only a second or two, lost in the chaos of all the return fire and Two still shooting behind him.,.. but the man was returning shots once again. The police felt no respite to fully attack either man.

The police's numbers were falling off every second. Both Charley's and Two's eyes were glued on the small slit of safety glass in the ballistic shield. Swinging their weapons carefully around at their hip. But the mass of fire from the police was already taking it's toll. Charley felt the shield in his grip shake more and more with each impact of a round deflected off. And even the concrete pillar beside him was losing it's mass rather more quickly than Charley wanted to have happen.

"Smoke. 2 by 2." A sharp order from Charley, fingers dipping to the inside of his coat to pull free a much thicker grenade than the ones the Crew usually carried. It was tossed lightly over the top of his shield. Fingers dipped in again, and tossed another one out over to the side. Both motions were mirrored almost down to the exact by Two. Four explosions popped, in the area between the fighters. Oily, thick smoke suddenly suffocated the area, and grew even thicker. It was an irritant, and impossible to see much more than your hand infront of your face. But, it did not seem to affect Charley or Two.

In the sudden confusion, the gun fire from the police died and finally stopped. There was a second or two of silence, which was only possible because both of the criminals were reloading at that very moment. It was broken first by Charley, who stepped out from his cover and lifted his rifle up with both hands. As if the smoke was nothing to him, he took aim again and opened fire. Police began to fall to the ground once again. The police recovered with a rallying cry from one of their own.

"Keep fir-AGH!" It was cut short from a single round from Charley's rifle to the man's helmet. This rapid assault was matched behind the man by Two. Then the chaos the men made was taken over by the sudden erupting of fire from the remaining police, but it was crazily aimed without much hope.

"Now, go." Charley spoke to the entire Crew, and the roar of the van starting up was followed by the squeel of backtires. Thankfully, force overcame brickwork, and the van snapped back out. Barely missing the already smoke misted sign of the 'Goodhills bank', before it halted, and went forward down the street. Some fired on it, but not a lot, and they were immediately shot at by Charley or two from the depths of the every expanding cloud of thick smoke.

The battle in the street waged on, even as the sound of the van died off with some select sirens. But it was already over. Both Two and Charley ducked between concrete pillars to reload just to pop out again and send another score of SWAT officer's to the ground. By the time Charley had paced out into the street, he was overcome by the lack of sound. His back hit something hard, but he already knew it was only the back of Two, there just when the man had gotten there. Smoke cleared, as it got affected by it's own lack of weight. A sharp breeze began to push it out among the city, the two forms of the criminals were the only one's still standing there. There were the sounds of boots hitting pavement, but it was in that way of a quick retreat rather than a repositioning. Both men used this time for nothing more than reloading.

"They are coming." Two stated, as if it was an obvious fact. Charley was snorting a hard laugh over at the man as he clicked a new magazine home. The rounds in this one, looked quite different. They looked, mean.

"I know." Charley's laugh moved right through his words. "Go Lethal."

The police had been called off and back. But what came around the corner looked just like the police. It did not fool Charley though, who immediately smelled something off about them. First of all, even if they were in the same clothing and armor as SWAT officer's, they didn't have weapons. And they moved, wrong. Too jittery. And there was also when the first one got to a car, and leapt on top of it. Just to explode wetly as it's body expanded. Armor and clothing became tatters as a red skin beast roared to the sky in a manner no human could roar. It's body was much larger than it once had been, perhaps topping out at ten feet tall even before you took into account the sharp and impossibly chaotic horns on it's head. It leapt the forty feet between it and Charley like it was nothing.

"Go go go!" It was all that came to Charley's head as the moment of peace was once again broken and he lifted the rifle up to the leaping form of the demonic creature. Leaping meant it wasn't going to be a hard shot. A squeeze of the trigger sent rounds smashing into the nightmarish form and tore bleeding black chunks out of it. It was the round that went right into the roaring creatures mouth that silenced it though, and fell to a heavy, crumbled heap near to where Charley stood. The man was already aiming down the next horned head and opening fire to it.

The speed and reckless hunger that the demons moved with meant that Charley and Two were overrun in mere seconds. More than a few fell in the initial onslaught, but it was only drops in the flood that suddenly smacked into the two men. But it was not the end. Charley ducked the first monster that came up and slashed at him with eight inch long, black claws. Hand coming off the front grip of his assault rifle and reaching into his coat to pull free a small black tube. That snapped out into four feet of sharpened metal just as the demon passed by in it's rage. The too-thin blade whipped across the beasts leg, using it's own speed and momentum to slide through the flesh like it wasn't there. The creature howled in pure pain as it fell, and was soon silenced by an accurate burst of fire from Charley's rifle.

The two men were not fighting back to back anymore, but were fighting in a very compact circle. No monster could attack either from the back, and it seemed to be just enough. Some monster stumbled into Charley's line of sight, holes torn out of them from Two's light machine gun and then met a shot from Charley's rifle or a slice from his blade. Some stumbled and fell into Two's line of sight, missing limbs from an expert slash from Charley, to end from a burst of fire from Two's machine gun, or every once in a while, a couple hard, quick slams of his boot to it's face. It was not pretty, but it worked. Even as one of the monsters got lucky and too close to Charley. Picking him up in a clawed hand, preparing to slam him right down against the pavement. But it halted, looking down to the blade Charley had stabbed into his chest even as he was attacked. It roared, right in the man's mask face.

Charley, roared right back. And lifted his rifle just enough between them. Holding the trigger down to tear the beast apart...

The situation in the van was at least, a little bit better. It sped down the streets, passing around civilian cars like they were not there. Followed by a line of police cruisers and SWAT vans. Both Three and Four were kneeling in the back, beside the open space made by both backdoors being opened. Both men were hooked up to the metal walls beside them, to make sure they didn't fly out from one of the breakneck turns Antonia was taking as she moved both streets, and alleyways, with the same insane grouping of speed.

Three could just begin to see the police begin to get lost, when the shadow in the sky blocked out the sun from him and his heart leapt into his throat. The picture clear form of an attack helicopter swung around a corner fluidly, and joined in the chase.

"Oh." Was all Three said. It was lost in the long run of curses that came from Four.

"What?! What is it?" Antonia demanded without looking back, keeping her eyes on the road.

"Just a small problem. It's an attack helicopter." Three spoke up calmly, as both men hurriedly reloaded.

"An attack helicopter?!" Demanded Antonia, taking the prompting to take another ninety degree turn down another street. The Helicopter followed however, being much more agile than the van.

"Yeah, but it won't fire on us with all these civilians around..." Three spoke out, then mask turned over to look at Four. "Right?" Four however, wasn't looking back. He was watching the helicopter. So close he could see both of the pilots. Could even see as the weapons officer in the front, confused at the sudden lack of chasing for a second or two, give a look back to the pilot who went quiet. Then the entire inside of the cockpit's glass was coated in an explosion of thick, black, liquid. The helicopter did not go down, though. It even tilted forward and began the chase down city streets, anew. In the blackness of the front window, a collection of... eyes, suddenly grew from the liquid. Peering out and towards the van. Full of anger, easily recognizeable no matter the alien origins of all dozen of them.

Four, gave a little grunt at this new development, and finally answered Three's question.

"It might."

Three looked back over to the man to the, corrupted, helicopter. And suddenly was spouting off a long line of cursing himself as he freed himself from the strap holding him in place. He got control of himself as he crawled somewhat over the open back of the van.

"Plan B! Plan B!" He yelled out, just adding to the chaos. Reaching under the bench seats as best he can with the speed and motions of the van.

"Plan B it is then." Four said calmly, as he dropped his sub machine gun and reached over the wall to pull a rather large sniper rifle off of the metal.

"What's going on?!" Antonia screamed out again.

"Nothing!" Both men spoke up at just about the same time. Just a moment before Antonia had to swerve to the side as the explosive of a hellfire missle just exploded on the sidewalk beside them. She screamed back at them in pure rage and slammed her foot down on the accelerator, then the brake to take another turn.

"That was not nothing! And what are you grabbing Three?!" Antonia yelled out over the roar of the engine as Three finally manged to pull a heavy looking box out from under the bench seats.

"Just, a small thing. It's going to work perfectly! It definitely probably will most likely not kill all of us!" Three yelled out as the first horrendously loud shots from Four's sniper rifle began to bark out. Shots pinged off the helicopter and tore off chunks of armor, but it did not stop. Just opened fire with the cannon under it's nose and tore up a long line of pavement right infront of the van.

Antonia responded to this in a sharp turn that had the van smashing through a fence and down into an empty causeway, roughly. But the van was still moving, and even accelerating as he bottomed out.

"Is that a bomb Three?! That's a bomb isn't it?!" Antonia yelled out once again over her shoulder the the man pressing buttons on the box and dialing in calibrations.

"No! No no no. Nonononono..." Then a small pause. "Yes." Then he pressed a big red button. The explosion wasn't really felt, as it was an electromagnetic bomb. The wave of energy radiated outwards, and suddenly the city began to shut down around them. Lights went out, sirens went silent, cars slowed down and then stopped. Then the wave of energy hit the helicopter that just had ducked down into the cause way to take another run at the van. And the whine of it's engines just went silent. It hung in the air for a moment, defying gravity, then as it's blades of it's rotors slowed down it pitched and fell from the air. It smashed into the ground, impressively. Rolling over end over end before it finally slid to a stop against one of the concrete walls.

Both men gave a cheer out, it was picked up by Antonia who was realizing what had just happened. Then both men's cheers moved smoothly into 'awww's of disappointment. Just as the shattered glass of the cockpit exploded out and, something black and wet and large tore out of it. Long lines of it's substance reached out and gripped at the causeway, pulling it's self out of the cockpit and immediately forward. Four aimed carefully with the Barret sniper rifle and squeezed the trigger once more. The round went right through the black that opened up to move around the bullet rather than letting it hit it.

"We got a plan C?" Four spoke up a second after seeing his round move right through the black mass, that was catching up with him. Three was already in motion, crawling back to the front frantically. "Antonia! Where are your molotovs?!" He yelled up to the woman, just as she turned and went down one of the tunnels of the causeway. The light of day suddenly blocking out from the darkness, and much to Four's horror, the small pool of light from the entrance they just went in was covered a moment later by the black mass forcing it's self down the tunnel at them.

"I told One I didn't bring any!" She defended herself admirably. But the silence of Three said that he, like Charley, didn't believe her. She relented. "Under the driver's seat!"

Three reached under and pulled out a trio of bottles, stuffed with rags and sealed with wax to make sure none of the liquid spilled out. He gathered up all three and managed to make his way back to the open back of the truck. He sat two down on the side beside him as he went to a knee. Picking up a flare and sparking it alight, looking over to Four who was watching him.

"Fire!" Three explained over, as he lit up the first molotov. It flared it in his hand. "You're going to shoot it!" As if this was a foregone conclusion.

"I'm going to shoot a bottle, in pitch blackness, against a thing that is all black?" Four questioned over at the man, but he was already tilting his head to look down his scope.

"Yeah! It's going to be on fire, so it will be an easy shot. You ready?" Three braced himself against the metal wall, and positioned himself to give the bottle the best toss without burning either of them. There was just a moment of a sigh from Four, before he spoke.

"Throw it." He focused down the sight, looking out into the black that he rationalized that did not look like impossible mouths, or beaks, or whatever tricks that black mass was creating and destroying in the same instant. The bottle was tossed, and once again, the mass just flowed around it. The crosshairs of the scope landed on it, and Four squeezed the trigger. Suddenly the darkness of both form and lack of light was pushed back, as flames suddenly burst to life in the tunnel. It stuck to the walls, but more importantly, it stuck to the black mass, which made a noise like none of them had heard before. But it barely slowed the mass down.

"Well, we pissed it off." Said Three, unpleasantly. Four however, was focusing on what bare light was in the tunnel. And the bright yellow pipes he sometimes saw sticking out of the top of the tunnels ceiling.

"Light another one up, and toss it when I say." He commanded four, as he dropped the large magazine of his rifle and slapped another one into position. The heavy bolt of the weapon drawn back, to chamber a new, large, .50 caliber round. Three picked up the next bottle quickly, and sparked it alight from the still sputtering flare he had in his hand. Then, he waited.

Four was half watching the ceiling of the tunnel they were speeding through. Each yellow pipe they passed by was small, just a foot or two, for maintenance purposes. Each new one passed overhead in a rhythm with the speed they were gaining. His finger on the trigger tapped lightly to that beat... Then when he was ready he spoke a single word to Three.

"Now." And the bottle was tossed. It was about right under the pipe, which was suddenly displayed for Four who leveled his crosshairs on it and pulled the trigger. The small sign around the pipe which read 'Natural gas maintenance valve' shattered and the pipe exploded, but not in flame, in a thick collection of liquid that turned to gas right infront of Four's eyes. The weapon chambered a new round, and Four fought against it's recoil without lifted his head from the scope. Aiming it back down and sighting right on the bottle spinning in the air. Another round was fired right when the chamber snapped the new round in place. The bottle exploded in fire once again, which caught the beast. Then caught the natural gas, and the small explosion was one that shook even the van from the force of it. Now the night of the tunnel was turned into a form of day as the flames spread over the ceilings and walls that shook and splintered out from a combined explosion of natural gas.

Both men gave another cheer, that died off once they noticed the flames were dying down. If anything, they were growing. Even through the unnatural noise the mass made as flames ate it away. They were even, catching up to the speeding van...

"Faster! Faster!" Three yelled out to Antonia, who took a look in the rear view mirror to the side to see the sea of flames behind them... just as a piece of shrapnel tore it off of the van...

Back at the bank, the last monster was being finished off. It was half held in mid air, locked in an attempted attack on Charley. The blade from the man was stuck in it's eye, and exiting the back of it's skull. It fell as Charley yanked the weapon out of it's flesh. The ground now was just a collection of bodies. Police officer's, still mercifully unconscious to the combat that was happening beside them, and the slowly disappearing forms of immense demons. There wasn't a spot on Charley, nor Two's bodies that wasn't cover in thick black ichor or torn in to. Charley breathed heavily a few times, bending over at the waist, as he did his best to get his air back in his lungs. Tilting his head just to make sure Two was okay, giving the man a nod as he looked his way.

Then Two's mask was looking away from Charley's, and Charley looked the way the man was. Right to a single person, standing in the middle of the street. This man wasn't dressed in the SWAT armor like the officer's, or the demons before they changed. He was dressed in an immaculately tailored two piece suit. Both criminals watched him for a moment, before Charley leaned back up and spoke out over to the man.

"Well now, this town isn't big enough for more this many well dressed people." It was a plain taunt, as Charley hoisted his rifle around and reloaded it without dropping his thin sword from his grip.

"I know, and that tailoring. Old school cuts are last year homie!" Two called out over Charley's shoulder, tiredly. Both men laughed though. It did not get the other man down the street laughing. He didn't even seem to recognize the words. He just smiled, gently, then his flesh bulged and exploded out like the other monsters. This form kept growing though, larger and larger, until it was a head or two above the very buildings that flanked either side of it. It roared a sound that had to have been heard across the entire metropolitan town.

Both men wasted no time, even as the monster was transforming, chunks of it was splattering away from the combined fire of Charley and Two. Already aiming down as the beast roared out and looked down towards the tiny insects that were bothering it. It did not rush at them, in it's rage it just smashed a hand the size of a bull into the side of a SWAT van. Sending the entire vehicle into the air and aimed right at both the criminals. They both dived out of the way, to either side. Hitting the ground, rolling, and coming up on a knee that had them both still aiming weapons up at the nightmare. Triggers were held down, a steady torrent of fire bloomed across the beasts upper chest and face almost constantly. But it was not slowing down. Another car was picked up and flung right at Charley who dived again in stomach clenching terror to the somewhat safety of an alleyway, reloading once he got to his feet feverishly fast.

Two was still out in the street, and still firing as he stepped to the side to some hopeful cover. The twenty foot tall demon singled him out with his black eyes and took a step forward that shook the very ground both men stood on and spilled dust from the tops of buildings. Black flames were pouring from the beasts mouth as it roared again and charged over at Two. Charley ran right out of the alley way to meet it from the side, his blade piercing into the creatures leg that was thicker than he was. It fell to a knee with a rumble that shattered some of the few lucky windows left, roaring again as it lashed out a clawed hand back over at Charley who was already yanking out the blade and running around behind it. It's concentration had been on one of them, and it was suddenly split. Two emptied the last rounds from the box of light machine gun ammo attached to his weapon. He dropped it and began to pluck grenades off of his armor, tossing everything he had at the monster.

The explosions of light and sound from the grenades going off after they smacked into the creature was matched by the unrelenting torrent of gunfire from Charley, that sprayed into the creatures back until his magazine ran dry. There was a pool of black underneath of the creature, it's essence leaking. It started small, at the beginning of the combat, by now though it was hard not to step in it. It clung to the bottom of Charley's boots as he sprinted away. The beast fell again. Putting an enormous hand to the ground to keep it's self upright and it's head off the pavement. It opened his mouth to roar again, but that was when the Crew's van came out of the alleyway beside it, fast. Sparks coming from the brick work as the side of the van scraped against it. It shot out and smashed right into the beasts face, full on.

The monster had been weakened, but this put the final nail in the coffin. Both machine and monster lifted a bit, and the massive creature rolled over and landed on it's back on a few parked cars that were crushed flat from it's weight. But it did not move, once it settled still. Charley and Two both leaned out of their cover, cautiously, aiming down at the prone finger of the beast. Once it was not getting back up, both men looked at one another, gave a nod, then looked to the smoking van.

Antonia peeked her mask out an open window, staring right at the massive form of the demon and the city street that was covered in demonic ichor. She looked over to Charley for explaination, but he just shrugged casually. Blade disappearing back into the black tube of a grip, which was lost on the inside of his coat. Rifle being reloaded as he walked calmly over towards the van.

"Let's get out of here." It wasn't much of an order, the entire Crew was feeling it. Charley stopped, once the enormous form of the demon shifted, just a bit. Two black eyes looked over to Charley's messed up form, full of anger.

"This is... our world..." The monster breathed out, weakly. The words caught Charley, who tilted his mask at it out of confusion. Confusion at the monster's arrogance. He pulled back the slide of his rifle to chamber a new round, pointedly. Lifting the weapon to aim right at the beasts eyes.

"Tell me... Does this feel like your world?" Charley asked, right before he pulled the trigger just for a moment. Sending a single round right into the prone beast's eye. Which exploded outward, and ended the weakness of the enormous beast. Charley got to the van, and accepted Three's hand to get up into the back of the van.

"Now, let's go. Before we have to explain this..." Charley spoke with a soft laugh as he tiredly dropped down to a bench seat in the back of the van, and Antonia sped off to find a place to hide before they came home to Rhydin...