MONEY STAINED IN BLOOD

Three days later. In the cloudy sky, four mini drones hummed and raced toward a bank and two white vans drove to the same destination. Leo, a long-haired man, tapped his boots on the floor as his black gloves grabbed bullets and put them inside the magazine. From his pocket, he pulled a knife and a red mask that was marked with a marker, creating a sinister face. Leo gripped his knife, and he sliced the mask in pieces.

The drones surrounded the top of the bank and hovered.

A brown-haired woman parked near the bank, laughing and smiling as she talked on the phone. She raised her hand on the dashboard, and a gold ring was on her finger. The sun pierced through the clouds, and the ring glimmered. She hung up the phone and grabbed her purse, walking into the bank with a big smile on her face.

A red light blinked from the drones, and a pole stuck out from the top of it.

Through the crosshairs of a sniper rifle, Barry watched the entrance of the bank from a building. In the room, dusty tables and a few boxes laid in the area. A few other people with him watched the bank and guarded the door. Barry grabbed chips with his other hand, and his earpiece blinked. "Have your drones activated the frequency blockade yet?"

Donovan sat in a room with a computer. "Yes, no one will be able to communicate except us."

Barry crunched on his chips and said, "Good, are you ready? You sound nervous."

Donovan said, "I don't like this."

Barry said, "Well, none of us do. We don't operate like this, but we've all been forced because most of our money was stolen that one night."

The white vans drove up in the banks parking lot, and Leo's ear piece blinked red. As he nodded and grabbed his semiautomatic gun, he looked at the men in the van and said, "We go in and grab all quickly. Then we can afford to destroy the Scarlets for their theft." He put on his black ski mask and walked on the red torn up pieces and opened the van's doors.

In the bank, gray pillars were at the entrance, and people waited in line to talk to the bank clerks. The brown-haired woman waited in line and talked with a group of individuals, showing off her ring to a couple. She spoke with her hands, and the couple smiled as they held each other close.

Someone screamed near the entrance, and a man tumbled on the hard cold floor. Men in black ski mask rushed into the building and leaped over obstacles. People ran to the exits, but more masked men blocked the way. Others ran into hiding, and others swung their arms toward the masked men, but the robbers beat them with their weapons.

Leo walked into the building and shot at the ceiling as bits and pieces fell. Leo said, "Shut your mouths. I won't hesitate to fire." They then rounded up the people into a large group.

The masked men opened the vault and ran to the cash, opening their bags and shoving the money inside.

Leo patrolled with others around the group, and his earpiece buzzed. He walked toward a trembling scrawny man and said, "You there. What's the matter? You seem more nervous than the others. Are you hiding something from me?" He stood in front of the man. "No, ok, I believe you. It's only logical not to lie to the man with the gun since your unarmed, right? I mean only a fool would try to call the authorities, right?" Leo frowned and pulled the trigger. The bullet dashed through the middle of the man's head, and his phone dropped.

The people screamed and covered their mouths. Some held their loved ones, and others closed their eyes. Their tears streamed from their red faces, and their bodies quivered.

Leo said, "It won't work. You can't call them, but don't worry. I'm here to give you a proper response." Leo walked around the group with his gun and glared at them through the holes of his ski mask.

The masked men threw the money into their bags. The room was nearly empty, and they struggled to lift it.

In the parking lot, two black vans with tinted windows drove near the entrance, and nobody left the vehicles. The drones blinked red and the crosshairs aimed at the vans.

Donovan said, "Barry, do you know who's in those vans?"

Barry put his bag of chips in his pocket and said, "I'm not sure." A small explosion went off downstairs, and he stood and looked at the other men with him. His eyes widen, and he said, "The tripwire." Footsteps marched up the stairs and voices echoed as Barry, and his crew sprinted, loading their weapons. They aimed at the door and hid behind the dusty tables and boxes.

They took deep breaths and put their finger close to the trigger. The marching stopped, and the voices subside. The door knob turned.

In the parking lot, the black van's windows lowered and hands tossed out smoke grenades. The white smoke rose and consumed the area, covering the entrance.

Donovan's headset blinked red.

Barry said, "Donovan?"

Donovan said, "Yes?"

In Barry's location, gunshots and the cries of men consumed the room. Barry said, "Donovan, it's the ... Donovan, it's the ..." The communication went static.

Donovan said, "Barry? Barry?" He slammed his fist on the desk and called for the backup cars to meet toward the back exit of the bank. He spoke to Leo and said, "Leo, plan B. Hurry, somethings coming your way."

Leo said to his men, "Plan B, now. Take the money and go to back exit. Move it."

The smoke crept into the bank's entrance, and an eruption of bullets flew from the smoke. People screamed and ran for cover as the rapid-fire hit both robbers and civilians. The gunshots stopped and the used bullet shells clanked against the concrete floor. Papers floated, and dust filled the area.

Leo laid on the floor against a desk, holding his stomach as blood leaked through the cracks of his fingers. Injured people crawled and dead bodies laid on the floor. The dust cleared, and something rolled toward him. It was a gold ring with an inscription that read: Forever.

Some of Leo's men hid behind counters and desk as they held their weapons and the money bags.

Leo held his wound and said, "Tell ... the others to leave. We'll hold them off."

The masked men with the money bags ran to the back exit, and the remaining people locked and loaded their guns.

At the entrance, the smoke cleared and men in black uniforms with red ski masks walked and positioned themselves against the thick pillars of the entrance.

Leo's eyes enlarged, and the veins on his forehead bulged as he clenched his fist.

Leo's men rose and fired. The bullets eroded the pillars and pieces of it flew, causing dust to fill the air.

From outside near the entrance, other Scarlets aimed and moved their crosshairs to the heads of the Trioscepter henchmen. They pressed the trigger. Flesh tore, and blood splattered as their bodies and weapons hit the floor.

Leo's fist tightens as the blood of his comrades flowed toward him. He extended his fingers to a gun on the floor and loaded it. After his weapon was ready, he pulled a picture of him in his teen years, and it was an image of his father, his brother Ron, and himself, dressed in suits.

The Scarlets rushed with their weapons and walked past the corpses of their enemies. They yelled and ran toward the back exit.

A body rose from the corpses, and Leo held the trigger at the backs of the Scarlets at close proximity. He yelled as the bullets shattered their bones and ripped their flesh. The hot bullets impacted their bodies, and the pain inflicted dictated their bodies movement.

Multiple bullets fired and went through Leo's back, and he descended in a rain of bullet shells. His gun dropped as smoke left the barrel and a dozen dead Scarlets laid on the floor. He opened his mouth, showing his bloody teeth, and his hands trembled as a coolness spread through his body. Leo coughed up blood and laughed hysterically as his hand dropped to the floor.

The remaining Scarlets yelled and pointed the finger at each other. They then kicked Leo and dragged him, but a device that Donovan created for him fell out from his clothing. It ticked, and the Scarlets yelled Leo's name.

Aldrich, a bald, middle-aged man, directed Leo's men into the vehicles. An explosion shook the ground as he leaped into the driver seat and his ear piece blinked red.

Donovan said, "Hurry, the police are rushing your way."

Aldrich stepped on the pedal with the other identical cars, and all the valuable cars were bulletproof as other decoy cars cruised around the city. The decoys were controlled by Donovan's small droids which would fly and rush out once the car was caught. Aldrich's vehicle had most of the cash and a tracking device on it for Donovan could supervise it with his drones.

The cop cars came and the Trioscepter cars scattered like cockroaches afraid of the light. The cops separated and followed the different cars but as they gave chase, the four mini drones above disturbed the communication between the cops, allowing Aldrich's car to get away.

Aldrich drove, and his rear-view mirror revealed a gray car following them. He sped up, but the gray car sped up as well.

A man in the backseat yelled, "It's the Scarlets."

In the gray car, the Scarlet's stepped on the pedal and caused the engine to roar. They rush toward them and in their hands, they loaded small machine guns.

Aldrich sped up and turned in different directions, hoping to lose them, but the gray car appeared in the rear-view mirror again.

The gray car's windows lowered, and the Scarlet men in red ski mask hung out the window and fired into the Trioscepter car. The driver sped up, and the cars met side by side. They fired again and left cracks on the glass as the bullet holes covered the car.

Aldrich twisted the steering wheel and rammed the side of the Scarlet's car.

A Scarlet man in the passenger seat dropped his gun out the window and hit his side on the door, and the pain pulsed as he held his injury.

A pillar was up ahead, and the Scarlet driver gasped for air. His car swerved and missed the pillar, and he sped up at the tail of Aldrich's car. Two men in the backseat fire and the back glass was full of cracks looking as if were going to burst.

In the sky, the four mini drones rushed to Aldrich's car but couldn't keep up with the speed. While they gave chase, the drones transmitted Aldrich yelling at the men in the car that were with him.

The men in Aldrich's car couldn't lower the windows because the Scarlet's kept shooting at close range, and as the bullets continued to hit the car, sweat slid down Aldrich's bald head.

Donovan said, "Aldrich, there is a shortcut near a bridge. I have a plan. Drive there, and my drones will catch up. They'll explode, and the shockwave will distract and divert them away."

Aldrich took the shortcut, turning a sharp corner and speeding off.

The Scarlets took the sharp corner as well.

Two drones rushed toward the Scarlet's car, and a bullet launched into one of the drones causing it to explode far away from the gray car.

The Scarlet's mouth dropped, and one of them pointed at the explosion. Another drone rushed, and they tried shooting at it but missed. Their eyes enlarged as the drone came closer.

Donovan's finger moved toward a red button, and he pushed it.

The Scarlet driver swerved and missed the mini explosion, but shrapnel pierced through one of their faces and cut one of them severely.

A man in Aldrich's car lowered the window, but as he looked out, bullets launched into his body, and he fell out the car. More shots fired and the back glass finally shattered. As the pieces of glass cut the men in the backseat, bullets hit their stomachs, and they held their wounds as blood leaked out.

Aldrich's heart pounded as he raced toward a bridge, and someone stood on there.

The Scarlet rushed toward the bridge and were shocked at what they saw. A few of their own men hung on the bridge as their bodies swung with the wind. The hanged men's faces were covered in a red sheet, and a sinister face was drawn on the sheets with black marker. The men in the car clenched their fist, and a fire burned in their eyes.

A blue light glowed on the bridge, and a finger slid close to the trigger of a large black weapon. It was Barry holding a weapon called the Plazroid. A smirk went across his face, and he said, "Donovan won't mind me using his prototype. I'll think I'll test it out for myself."

The light shined, and the Scarlet squinted their eyes.

Barry pressed the trigger and flew back as a blue laser soared out.

The laser slammed and melted the front of the Scarlet's car, engulfing it in flames as it raced and flipped toward Aldrich's vehicle.

Aldrich swerved, missing the burning car, and he sped away toward headquarters.

Barry wiped the dust from his shoulder. "Damn." He grabbed the weapon, and the front of it was melted. He got on his motorcycle and drove off. As he came close to the ocean, he threw the damaged weapon into it and thought, I wonder who hung the Scarlet men on the bridge?