The peace in the bank was shattered with a gunshot aimed toward the roof, Sonata's smoking rifle a vibrant clue to what she had in mind as she leveled it at the crowd. "Stick your asses in the air, or we'll blow your hands off!"
Aria and Adagio maskpalmed in unison.
"I mean, hit the deck, dirtbags!"
Hearing the voice behind that mask, the people still didn't quite seem to understand, glancing around nervously, as though needing more to go on before reacting.
"Alright," Sunset said to the bank-goers, "everyone just-"
"GET. DOWN. NOW!!"
Adagio's loud, percussive command froze Sunset where she stood, her whole body lightly shaking as cold tingles ran up her spine. She felt something tap her shoulder, turning her head to see Aria's flat-nosed mask.
"She's talkin' to them. See?" Aria motioned to the people being tied at the wrists by Adagio and Sonata, all lying prone, face-down until their turns came.
Oh. Duh.
She had forgotten that the Dazzlings had once been intimidating all on their own, even if she hadn't seen Adagio's hippocampus aspect shout down Twilight's magic. Again, Sunset felt the benefits of her silly mask in conjunction with heat under it.
Aria chuckled, but her tone was sympathetic. "Toldja you'd be scared of her too."
Sunset let out a short, sheepish laugh. "Haha, y-yea. Guess so." That in mind, she hadn't forgotten what she'd witnessed that night in Fatbear's Pizza. When as many people as they had cable ties for were bound, the group went looking for the vault, and quickly found it.
"Wow," remarked Sonata, pulling on the valve with all her might, "this thing's shut tighter than Aria's pants!"
"Pfft," scoffed Aria, "it is not."
Everyone else's unseen eyes flickered down for a quarter of a second.
"Sooo," Sunset hesitantly inquired, looking at Adagio, "that underwear comment a while back, is it because-"
"Yes."
Aria started to blush beneath her mask. "ANYway..."
"Alright," ordered Adagio, "Punch, drill." There was a pause. She turned to knock twice on Sonata's mask. "That's you!"
Aria sounded confused. "You're actually using the names?"
Adag-Fluffy nodded. "Don't ask why, but the one who hooked us up with the equipment mentioned a 5% bonus to our cut if we did it." Hers might have been a little embarrassing, but they'd already laughed at her for it anyway. Suppose I've endured more than enough humiliation at this point to go along with it if it means a bigger paycheck. Maybe that little scuffle earlier was for the best? "So," she again turned to Punch, "the drill?"
"I have the drill!" She held up the bag she'd hung from her hip when they were gearing up at the van, a portable industrial drill.
Fluffy maskpalmed. "The thermal drill, the one big enough to crack a vault? That one might get us through a door or a wall-safe, at best."
Punch sounded irritable. "Well what am I supposed to do, carry a whole ton of different drills around?!"
"Just go get the thermal drill! Take Star as backup, the police should be here soon." She turned to Sunset. "Jacket, you're with me, we'll pile the hostages by the vault door and guard both until the drilling is done."
Star and Punch moved together, walking out the bank door and keeping an eye out for the other kind of sirens as they glanced back and forth across the street. For once, it was Punch complaining about the plan. "Why are we drilling the vault, anyway? Couldn't we just stick everybody up and tell them to open it for us?"
"I'm guessing there's some computer crap keeping it locked, like you have to authorize it like you would nuclear launch codes or something. That or, 'it's the principle of the thing' again. Either way, this is how we've gotta do it."
"Do you think Dagi is-"
Star cleared her throat meaningfully.
"Oh, right," Punch giggled, "do you think Fluffy is just playing up the bad guy thing for a little extra money? Like if there's bonuses for us wearing masks, too?"
Star was audibly grinning. "Who cares? We get to be bad guys again for a little while! This is gonna be awesome."
Slinging the bag containing the thermal drill over her shoulder once they reached the van, Punch gave Star the most inquisitive look she could manage through her mask as they headed back. "So, why'd she want me to fire off a shot when we went in? Why didn't we just tell everybody to stick 'em up, hit the deck, and drill the vault without the cops ever knowing we were there?"
"Fluffy-" she answered with only a light snicker, "-probably thinks something would go wrong, and I kinda agree. Even if nobody slipped away to call the cops, you think nobody'd ever drive by and see something we didn't want them to? Or someone call the bank, not get a reply, and notice something's up? Besides, what would we do if no one tried to stop us? Wait for the drill, bring every bag to the van, drive away? That's not a bank robbery, that's helping someone move."
"I guess that makes sense. Hey, how do you think D-Fluffy and umm..."
"Jacket."
"Right, how do you think Fluffy and Jacket are doing with the dirtbags?"
---
"I said, STAY DOWN!!"
Suns-Jacket watched in silent shock as Fluffy back-handed one of the braver (or less intelligent) civilians, who'd gotten up and started looking around fearfully. Apparently without having noticed the two masked robbers coming his way. The blow from Fluffy, though it didn't seem to include the brass knuckle, sent him straight back to the floor.
"Was... was that necessary? I know we didn't have cable ties for everyone, but I thought you didn't want us hurting potential hostages."
"I said I wanted them alive," she said as she forcefully hoisted one of the bound hostages to their feet, "slapping them around a little is fine." She demonstrated by shoving the man who probably only wanted to check his bank account today towards the vault. "Bank Vault. Move." She was also kind enough to escort him at gunpoint.
Maybe it was the way Fluffy's behavior brushed certain memories, maybe it was a direct response to her lack of compassion that made Jacket want to show more, but she was much gentler with the hostage she was moving, gingerly helping him to his feet. "Nice and easy, follow us to the vault, okay?"
Neither needed to say out loud why they were only moving them two at a time, but Jacket couldn't help picturing Punch voicing the question anyway. While it might have been quicker, Fluffy probably came to the same conclusion she did, that if they moved them individually, they'd feel divided, isolated, and weak when not on the floor, less likely to do anything dangerous.
"So, F-" Don'tlaughdon'tlaughdon'tlaugh, "Fluffy, how have things been going with Rarity?"
Fluffy spared Jacket a quick glance over her shoulder. "Instances in which she actually needs me to wear her designs are few and far between. While she pays better than I'd anticipated, she can't manage much, hence doing-" she made a vague gesture to their surrounding area with her pistol as she pushed her hostage to the ground by the vault door, "-this. For the most part, I've been getting little gifts in the form of, admittedly, very nice clothing in exchange for letting her use me as a living mannequin, which isn't exactly difficult, and helping around the boutique."
Just a little teasing would be fine, right? "And letting her play with your hair?"
"She does not 'play' with-" Fluffy stopped, turning to look at Jacket. The quiet, earnest surprise in her tone was the only reason this didn't draw a flinch. "wait, how did you know she...?"
"Well," giggled Jacket, "apart from it being Rarity we're talking about? Your hair looks a little straighter. Still really wavy, but straighter than it used to be." Before today, Fluffy hadn't known warm smiles could be detected through a voice. "It's a good look for you."
Fluffy's mask emitted nothing but the sensation of a silent stare before it quickly shifted toward a nearby window. "K-keep an eye out for the police, they should be here any-"
Not too far away, they heard the rat-tat-tat of Star's SMG. They were here.
"Damn, let's grab a few more hostages and hunker down by the vault, Punch should be back with the drill soon!" They managed to move two more to the vault without so much as seeing any cops, though the encroaching gunfire was definitely getting louder.
Star came charging around the corner, her gun smoking. "Six already!" From the sound of her voice, she was enjoying this. "How many have you guys got?"
Fluffy readied her pistol, glancing around for any sign of someone carrying guns and not wearing crazy masks. "It's to your credit that we haven't seen any yet. Where's the drill?"
"Coming!" Punch was moving at a snail's pace as she dragged the bag carrying the thermal drill.
Star chuckled. "She didn't even shoot one."
Slinging the bag against the vault door, Punch huffed. "Screw you, this thing is heavy!"
"Pfft, excuses."
Ignoring their squabble as Punch set up the drill, Jacket scanned the immediate area by the vault door. There were doorways to watch at the left and near-right, plus the corner Star and Punch came from to the far-right down the hall. At the far wall was a window she'd have to watch for anyone trying to pick them off from the streets. Fluffy seemed to be thinking something similar, leveling her pistol at the window.
Star glanced around anxiously. "Well, what're we standing around for? Let-"
"The drill," Fluffly answered flatly, "we're waiting on the drill. To rob the bank."
"Yea," added Punch, apparently feeling sassy, "try to pay attention, Star."
"Tch, whatever." Star looked at Jacket, the mask making the hairs on the back of her neck twitch. "I'm gonna go shoot more dudes, you in?"
Glancing back and forth between Star and Fluffy, Jacket was gripped by indecision. "Uh, er-"
"We should be alright here," said Fluffy in a relatively assuring tone, "they won't send in heavy firepower as long as we have hostages, you two can keep the bulk of them from closing in on us at once."
Jacket counted four people tied up and lying by the vault door, where Punch had just gotten the noisy thing fired up. "Alright," she shouted to be heard over the cacophony of metal versus metal, "holler if you need anything!"
Turning the corner with Star, Jacket was immediately startled by a man in a SWAT uniform leveling a heavy SMG at her, finger already on the trigger. Not thinking, she shrieked, swinging her sledgehammer straight for his face and sending him to the floor, motionless. By the time her brain caught up with what she'd just done, she noticed three more SWAT guys on the ground, Star chuckling and her gun smoking.
"Nice one, you even got a battle cry in there."
"Y-yea. No sweat."
"I'm still up on you by eight, let's roll!"
Jacket just focused on following Star, hoping she wasn't just employing the terrible tactic of wandering around at random hoping to find more people to shoot. Or run up and bludgeon, in Jacket's case, which Star eventually caught on to.
"Uh, you know you're carrying a shotgun, right?"
"I'm saving ammo."
"Uh-huh. You're also the one carrying the ammo bag."
"I'm saving more ammo!" Sunset wasn't deeply familiar with guns, but she didn't want a repeat of the Fatbear incident. Though, technically, that would require her entirely dropping the gun and hugging someone while not paying attention to-
She was snapped awake by the impact of bullets against the armor on her chest and forearm, turning and blind-firing in the direction it had come from at the same time as Star's much more concentrated fire.
When the nearby police were all down, Jacket swore Star was smirking. "So that's the real reason."
"What?"
"Using your hammer because your aim is crap."
"WHA-?! My aim is just fi-"
"Sure, sure," she said with a chuckle, "hey, whatever works."
Jacket grumbled, but she would use this fury in her hammer swings. Shotguns were hard to aim with anyway, more-so at a distance!
With the next wave of SWAT guys came two tall, black monoliths that seemed to float just off the ground. Upon closer inspection as the cops behind them started firing, it looked like the monoliths were just thick slats of metal being held up by one extra-armored SWAT guy each. Star ducked behind a pillar and picked off the standard SWAT units by popping out, firing, and taking cover again, Jacket focused her fire on the guys with shields. It looked like results were mixed; the distance minimized her shotgun's effectiveness, but the spread of the shells seemed to have enough impact to slow them down, even if it didn't get through the metal.
"Star, loop around and shoot them in the back!" Jacket glanced to the pillar she'd seen Star using for cover. "Star? Where-" She was nearly knocked over by one of the shield guys ramming into her at full speed, the sudden, painful impact and proximity of the enemy responsible filling her with rage. Nearly snarling, she swung in full force with the sledgehammer, clanging it against the shield, staggering its holder, and pushing him back. Going a step further, she rained down wilder, faster swings to floor him, then brought the hammer down on his head when he was trying to get up.
Saving ammo.
She quickly looked around, eyes wide and alert under the ridiculous mask. There were no other SWAT guys in her sight, not even the other charging guy, but she heard Star's SMG around a corner. Rushing in that direction, she turned just in time to see Star getting crushed up against a wall, the Charger bashing her with his shield. Jacket sprinted over, slammed her hammer into the side of his knee, and punctured his helmet with sheer force when he'd fallen over.
"Ugh," came Star's pained groan as she sat slumped against the wall, "was tryin' to shoot through his little, damn peep-hole thing in the shield, needed to reload. Go get Fluffy, I think my ankle's twisted."
"I'm here." Fluffy approached at a rather leisurely pace for a criminal in a building surrounded by the police, Jacket turning to her.
"That was fast."
"I came to get you two, we should be through the door soon."
"That's great," remarked Star, "still injured here." Fluffy casually walked up to her and knelt down, but didn't do anything. "What are you waiting for?! Help me!!"
The team doctor's tone was worryingly calm. "What do we say, Star?"
"Wha-?! Are you nuts?! Just fix me up alrea-"
"What do we say, Star?"
The downed robber groaned with exasperation as much as pain. "P...'Please, do your damn medic thing before more cops show up'?!"
"Good start. Now about when we were gearing up..."
"Oh, come on, you've gotta admit 'Fluffy' is a funny na-"
"What do we say, Star?"
"God, you've gotta be the most-"
"What do we say, St-"
Star groaned with pure exasperation this time. "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I'm sorry I laughed at you, okay?!"
Fluffy chuckled, gripping Star's injured foot in both hands. "Good girl, now hold still."
"What are you gonna-"
Crack!
"OW, SONOFA-"
Crack!
"Ohhh," Star muttered with a light giggle, "tha-hat's actually pretty nice..." Most of the pain in Star's ankle effectively vanished, Fluffy lightly massaging the area with one hand and retrieving a cold compress from her bag with the other.
Lifting Star to her feet a moment later, Fluffy almost sounded like an actual doctor. "Try not to run around too much and you should be fine."
So THAT was it, thought Jacket, she wasn't just tolerating a laugh at her expense and letting it go, she was biding her time! She knew we'd be counting on her if we got hurt, and I was the one who read the note... A little thankful her expression was hidden behind a unicorn mask, Sunset resolved not to let Adagio trap her the way she did Aria, that she wouldn't get taken down or put in a position where she'd have to beg for help when she needed it. Should be easy with all this armor!
"By the way," said Fluffy, "watch out for vent covers, Punch was drop-kicked by a lunatic that jumped out of one and threw a smoke bomb."
Star stopped where she was. "What."
Fluffy nodded tersely. "Be wary of men in gimp suits with green lights attached, is all I'm saying."
"...What."
Ignoring Star and Jacket's mutual confusion, Fluffy led them back to the vault, walking past at least two dozen dead SWAT guys to see Punch kneeling down by the hostages, leaning really close to talk to one of the bank tellers they'd taken captive.
"Punch," called Fluffy to be heard over the drill, "what are you doing?"
Punch turned back to face them, Jacket just looking away this time. "I was just telling the dirtbags that everything would be okay, that we probably wouldn't even have to bust a cap in one of 'em as an example! But I had to get real close so they could hear me."
Goddammit, thought Jacket, just thinking about that horrible thing up close is gonna give me nightmares! She had a whole new level of sympathy for the hostages now. Looking down at them, she noticed a body that startled her; a black-leather clad man with glowing, green goggles. Judging by the bullet holes, he'd been shot in the back of the head around five times. If they have changelings in this world, I bet this is what they look like.
About a minute and another dead SWAT team later, the vault door slowly slid open, but to the robbers' immediate and collective irritation, there was no money, no jewelry, no gold, no anything on the little table in the center of the room.
Star sounded like she was smiling as she went in. "Jackpot!"
Punch groaned. "Do I really have to be the one to point out the obvious to you?!
Drawing a lockpick from her coat pocket, Star nodded to the safe deposit boxes lining the walls, turned to Punch, and just stared at her.
Punch's blush wasn't visible, but her sheepish stance was. "Oh... Right."
Huh, thought Jacket, Aria knows how to pick locks? Guess that's part of her 'favorite task'?
"We'll defend her while she works," ordered Fluffy, hoisting one of the bound civillians to his feet, "start moving the hostages into the vault."
Jacket (gently) grabbed a hostage in much the same way, but Punch apparently hadn't learned anything watching the two of them.
"You, get up!" No response from a balding man in a blue shirt and black vest. "Get up, dirtbag!" She had to kick him to get him to comply, but gunfire in the distance seemed to make him panic, looking around everywhere (even at blank walls) for the source. Then he caught sight of Punch's mask, screamed, and staggered in the opposite direction of the bank vault, straight into three SWAT members coming around the corner.
"Don't shoot," said Fluffy, despite the fact that bullets were already impacting the cover she, Jacket, and Punch were ducking behind, "you might hit the hostage!" Seeing the police untie her wayward captive seemed to change her tune. "Alright, shoot, but aim carefully!"
Jacket held her fire, knowing she couldn't reliably aim with a shotgun, but Punch's rifle punctured the knees of two SWAT officers while Fluffy drew their fire by popping out where they could easily see her and immediately ducking back. Jacket wasn't sure in the cacophony of battle, but it sounded like Adagio was shrieking with barely-suppressed fright under that mask every time they aimed at her. Sunset smiled.
Ohh, Dazzle.
While Punch was finishing off the two downed police, the third took aim at her and fired, despite the fact that the man in the blue shirt was still standing around between them.
The former hostage fell over, dead.
Fluffy exploded. "HEY!! WHAT KIND OF GODDAMN COP ARE YOU?!"
Still working on the deposit boxes, Star called over her shoulder. "The careless kind!"
Punch took the opportunity to shoot Officer Unfettered in the leg. Fluffy motioned for her to hold fire, stomped out of the vault, and trained her pistol on the wounded cop's head, her tone murderous. "Drop the weapon."
To Jacket's surprise, he complied. She watched in quiet fascination as he was booked (Is that the right term? I wouldn't really know...) with his own handcuffs.
Fluffy put a hand on her new hostage's shoulder, pushing him toward the others. "You're my bitch now. Get in the vault."
A minute later, the four robbers, three civilians, and one SWAT team member were all in the vault, waiting for the next police assault as Star kept picking locks and bagging valuables. Jacket glanced over her shoulder at her, and couldn't help an eerie little feeling itching at the back of her neck.
Star was lifting her mask just enough to reveal her mouth, her tongue extended to gingerly touch the edge of the lockpick before getting to work.
Jacket's jaw dropped. "What the Hell are you doing?!"
Star jumped with a start, glancing over her shoulder. "P-picking locks, do ya mind?!"
Sighing, Fluffy retorted before Jacket could. "Some people have hobbies, Jacket."
She was only more baffled. "Whuh, I, thah, buh-"
"Hey guys," Punch asked conversationally, "are bullets pointy?"
"Some models for higher-caliber weapons," answered the bound SWAT member, "why do you ask?"
"Well, if they make holes in people, they must be at least a little sharp, like a drill when it goes into your eye. Right?"
The cop didn't have an immediate reply.
Some part of her mind rejecting everything that was happening here, Sunset wondered if wearing those evil clown masks might be having some kind of effect on the Dazzlings, more-so as Punch turned her rifle around and started to look straight down the barrel, Jacket quickly reaching out to stop her.
"Haha, w-why don't you just focus on lookout, Punch?"
Jacket cursed herself for not anticipating Punch's mask looking directly at her, thought it sounded like the girl beneath was smiling. "Okay!"