“Everyone out! Now!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The blaring sirens were deafening. The police cars raced down the street, red and blue flashing lights streaking across the night sky as they drove past onlookers and coming to a stop in front of the bank. A quick glance told me that everyone had gotten out of the way and was standing clear. I could see several people pointing their cell phones at the bank building, capturing the images for all eternity.

I gave one last look around, seeing all my crew by my side. “Hope you guys are ready,” I gave them a smirk, “ Cause this is the hard part!”

“All of it is the hard part, Zeke!” Doren yelled.

I turned around to the rest of the gang. “Remember, we don’t kill.”

There was a murmur of agreement all around.

“If there are any deaths tonight, I’ll make sure every one of you does time,” I finished.

The crew nodded their agreement.

“Now follow the plan. Doren is in charge! Go!” I said. The rest of them kept running towards the back of the bank while I stayed behind in the main hall.

We started the heist just before the first squad car screeched to a halt in front of our van. Three squads surrounded the building as officers ran into the lobby. One officer began running towards me and I rushed back at him. I was clearly faster and stronger. When I reached him, I lifted my knee into the air, contacting his chin and knocking him to the ground. The officer was knocked out cold. I looked at the rest of the officers to see them unmoving, not even aiming their guns at me.

“What gives?!” I said, motioning to all of them.

The click clacking of heels was echoing throughout the main room of the bank. Appearing from the sea of police officers was a slender woman dressed in a black suit. She wore black leather gloves, with rings on the outside of her gloves wrapped around her fingers. Her hair was long, straightened, and jet black. Her eyes were bright, almost glowing, and lips were painted red, matching the color of her lipstick. A small smile graced her face as she walked through the police line.

“You’re late.” I said to her, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “Now, care to explain why only one of your guys attacked? Frankly, I feel disrespected here.”

This wasn’t our first encounter. I’ve run into her multiple times in the past. Obviously she has yet to catch me because we are once again meeting.

She smiled at me. “He was a rookie, no idea of your background, so don’t get too cocky that you brought him down. As for why we aren’t attacking, well, it’s because I wanted to see the look on your face when I tell you the truth.”

I rolled my eyes and took a mocking tone. “Please Ms detective lady, don’t tell me it was all a setup!”

“Yes, Mr. Faller. This bank is empty.”

I blinked a few times, then finally spoke up, “Wait, someone got here before us?!”

“Uh. No, that’s not wha- “

“Listen Marlin.”

“Marleen.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“That’s what I said. But, did you really think we spent all those months planning this heist without knowing that it was Godsdamn empty?”

She looked at me confused, “What are you getting at?”

I raised my arms into the air and motioned around at everyone watching. The police, the innocent onlookers, captain Marleen. Everyone. “Look at everyone here, all focused on me.” I pointed out to her. “My crew and I? All of us know exactly what we’re doing. We’ve been waiting for this moment since the moment we formed. It’s gonna take so much more than a 30th rate detective to stop us.”

Marleen’s face changed from her normal, calm demeanor to one that contained a mixture of rage and desperation. She turned to the officer that was standing right behind her. “Get every unit patrolling every street right now.”

One officer spoke up. “But detective-“

“Whatever you have to say, I don’t care! Their plan was to lure us here, and raid everywhere else while we are occupied!” She shouted, her voice booming throughout the bank. “Do it!”

The officer nodded and began sending his team of officers out in full force.

The officers all cleared out. All except for Marleen.

“Just you and me Ezekial. I plan on bringing you in once and for all here. “

I sighed, “Weren’t you listening, like at all? This part was planned out too, seriously you suck at your job.”

“Plan all you want. You have no Gift to fight back against mine. Come peacefully and I won’t hurt you much.”

“Marleen, I want you to look up there.” I pointed above her head where a giant electronic sign hung. On the sign was the date and time.

“October 15th, 9:59 PM,” she said. “What about it?”

“Come oooon.” I groaned. “You are supposed to be a detective and you can’t put two and two together on this? Here, I’ll spell it out for you. I was born on October 15th at 10:00 PM. I’m currently 17 years old.”

“So in 1 minute you’ll be 18.”

“Brilliant work, detective! I'm sure you know what comes next.” I smirked.

The sign switched to 10:00. A bright light enveloped my entire body and shot into upwards, phasing through the roof of the bank and into the night sky. “Yes! Finally! Get ready for the ass kicking of a lifetime, Marleen.”

I was laughing hysterically. All my preparations, all my patience, all of it finally paying off. The light faded away.

My Gift was nowhere to be seen. “Huh?”

Marleen let out a slight chuckle. “Right here.” She started tapping her temple.

I followed her directions and tapped my temple and felt something there. I grabbed the item and pulled it off my face. It was a simple pair of glasses, colored black with basic square frames. They were unremarkable and nondescript.

“What is this?!” I let out, frustrated beyond belief.

Marleen’s confident demeanor returned. “Well, it my honest detective opinion, I would say those are a pair of glasses.”

I was angry, but it wasn’t Marleen’s sarcasm that fueled my rage. It was this Gift, or more accurately, the Gods that thought giving me this dumbass, useless trinket was a good idea.

“Screw this! Screw all of this!” I screamed in anger and clenched my fist and crushed the glasses.

In that moment, I felt a rush of what I can only describe as energy pass through my entire body. I looked down to see in my hand wasn’t the glasses anymore but a handgun. A feeling of familiarity washed over me, like I already knew what it was I could do with this weapon.

I looked back at Marleen and waved the gun in the air. “Well, it seems the tables have turned once again, Marlin!”

She stared, frustrated. “Don’t act like that was part of your plan! You got lucky that you have a semi-conditional type Gift!”

“I don’t know what the hell that means, but I’m going to go on a limb and say I have the upper hand, since you don’t have your Gift with you.”

“How- “

“If you had it with you, you would have already pulled it out as a part of your little threat to get me to back down. Seriously, I have never seen a more incompetent detective in my life.” I shook my head and shrugged. “They should’ve brought Celeste.”

“She..She was assigned to a more important matter right now.” she responded with a defeated tone in her voice.

“More important?! What in the hell is more important than me?!”

“Why is that what you are worried about?! Whatever, I don’t care anymore. You’re, I can’t fight back here. Just shoot me and be done with it.”

“Hold on, “I said, “I’m sure you don’t want to get killed and I don’t want to kill you, so let’s come to a compromise here.”

She thought for a few seconds, then sighed. “Go on.”

“So your incompetent ass must have some crazy connections. How else would you have gotten your position?”

“Make your point.”

“My demand is in exchange for sparing your life; I need you to use your connections to pull some strings for me.”

“Depends on what you need done. They aren’t omnipotent. “

“There’s a school I gotta get into. I’m sure you heard of Arkphis?”