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Strays
Countdown

Countdown

Arin woke with a start, forgetting where she was for a moment before recognizing the refrigerator magnets of various characters and stupid pictures of herself and Cath. Groaning, she sat up and steadied herself, realizing she was still wearing the hospital gown and her phone was on the floor nearby. She began to stand before being taken by overwhelming nausea, quickly pitching over the sink and vomiting the little bile in her empty stomach. She stood after heaving again, turning the water on and drinking straight from the tap. The water was like holy elixir on her parched throat, making her realize just how thirsty and in turn, how hungry she was. Throwing open the freezer door, she grabbed whatever quick food she could and stuck it in the microwave, wolfing it down almost as soon as the alarm went off.

“Okay. Time to make sure I’m not crazy.” Arin muttered, making her way to the bathroom and turning lights on. Her face looked just as it always had. Hell, her skin was even clearer somehow, despite not showering since the night before being knocked out. She looked in the mirror, focusing hard in her mind on an image, ready to see nothing happen. She gasped in shock as her hair began to shimmer and pixelate, turning from dark brown to a light blonde. She clapped her hands over her mouth, muffling a scream. She calmed down again, this time focusing in on her eyes. Hazel, same as her mom’s… she gasped as small pixelations began to shimmer, turning her eyes from hazel to a deep grey. “Holy shit.”

Arin ran excitedly to her room, grabbing a tabloid magazine from the desk before rushing back to the bathroom mirror. She flipped through the magazine, an old issue but she had done some work in it and it became a guilty pleasure read. As pictures of various celebrities and politicians passed by she focused on their image, willing herself to change, taking on the image of these elite and wealthy in the pages while the air popped in digitized static around her. She changed from person to person, hopping between every race, gender, and age she could find to test her limits. She was three people in when a pain began in her stomach, causing her to lurch over the sink and heave, thankfully keeping the new contents of her stomach on the inside this time.

“Okay… may be a limit.” Arin muttered, pixelating back into herself and heading to her room, throwing the hospital gown off and putting on her own clothes finally. She plugged her phone in and lay down on her bed, opening the news again to see what had happened during the last day’s odyssey. The first headline immediately drew her: STRAYS LAUNCH WEBSITE.

Arin clicked immediately, following the link to the website the heist crew had put up out of nowhere. A blank page except for one embedded video. She hit play.

The screen began cutting from news clips about poverty, war, and mass casualties across the world. It continued for a few moments like that, more popping up about workplace accidents that killed people due to negligent leadership all the way to stories of family pleading on social media to pay their loved ones medical bill. What began as single headlines soon began to jumble together, reporters and anchors talking over each other until it all became a wall of dystopian voices screaming in the same, droning chant of American exceptionalism. The noise suddenly stopped as the Jackal stepped into view, mask and suit on as if they were about to go pull off another heist. He began to speak almost immediately.

“I keep being told that I’ll understand when I’m older. About how life isn’t fair, and you just have to pull yourself up and work your hardest, not rely on others to help you when in need. See, I’ve been told I’ll understand that when I’m older, but when? I’ve been on this earth over two decades, and know what I’ve seen? Time and time again, I’ve seen the people that make the goddamn mess get away with clean hands while everyone else is left to clean it up. Think about 2008, when the bubble burst. Except it didn’t really burst for the people that caused it to happen. No, they got their money and got the fuck out, and only one damn person has seen charges for the millions of lives they ruined. That person wasn’t even one of the big ones either. No, he was just a fall guy. So I want to understand how I’m supposed to accept life isn’t fair when this same bullshit keeps happening every few years, with some new rich assholes coming in, deciding they can drain people dry for something that’s desperately needed, and pack up with all their gold once the veins are dry. We’re tired of seeing regular Americans- no, regular HUMANS be pushed aside for profit. We are no longer going to stand by while we are displaced, maimed, jailed, and murdered for simply having a different skin color or the audacity to be born into poverty. We are tired of being called a land of freedom and opportunity when it only applies to those that can pay for it like a goddamn commodity. We were never truly free, we were simply neglected, left to sit in a dark room while occasionally being tossed a few leftovers to live on. Someone fucked up though, decided a few of us weren’t worth keeping around anymore, and tried throwing us out in the street.” The Jackal was angrily gesturing as he said all this, going into a massive climax that was rapidly approaching as Arin realized she was holding her breath. He continued on, “They dropped us off on a back road and assumed we would die there. Thing is, after living like this for so long we’re a little more resilient than they expected. So now, here we are, we’ve found our pack, and we’ve decided that we aren’t okay with how we and our fellow humans have been treated. See, America has been making strays it’s entire life, just replacing them with fresh bodies when it grows tired of the ones it has. Not this time. No, the strays are stubborn bastards, and they’re going to pull down the system you’ve held to our necks like a razor our whole lives. Strays don’t take kindly to those that aren’t kind to them. We stick together, and we look out for each other. We’re all strays of the American Dream, and we’re about to bite back at the ones that threw us out.”

The screen went black except cash tag to request money from. The small message underneath it said “American Dream Relief Fund- Request what you need, no questions asked.”. Underneath that was a timer, counting down with 40 hours currently left on the clock. An image was posted beside it of a massive bank with columns lining the front door. Bold, golden letters across the front read ‘New York Central Financial’. A small note was scrawled on the picture, saying ‘See you soon xoxo’.

“There’s no way. That’s one of the biggest banks in the country. That’s right on Wall Street! How the hell do they expect to pull that off?” She was muttering to herself, searching over the page to see if there was anything else there that hadn’t been discovered yet. Nothing. She opened her money app, entering the tag and seeing it was set to request only. She hesitated while looking at it, before putting in one request for $10 to test it. The notification almost immediately dinged as approved, depositing the money. She almost screamed when everything lined up, realizing everything all at once while changing her face in the mirror, seeing the digital sheen over her face as it glitched into something different. “They know.”

Arin fell back into her pillow, feeling like there was someone that may know what it feels like, may know what was happening to her. She looked at the timer on the site, seeing the timer was now down to thirty hours since she had passed out.

“Shit. Okay, Thirty hours from Atlanta to New York City… that shouldn’t be much of a problem.” She said, realizing the hospital gown was still loosely tied around her back. She rushed over to the dresser and began pulling out clothes before deciding there was no way she was going on a plane smelling like this. Before heading to the shower, Arin requested two thousand dollars from the Strays account, dinging through with no issue almost immediately. All Arin could do was giggle as she threw her phone down and ran into a quick shower.

***

Arin stood in a crowd outside the Financial District in New York City, all looking at a barrier set up down the entire block around New York Financial, with no way for anyone but cops to get up and down the street. Not that it would be a problem for Arin, who had rested up on a last minute flight into the city flying out of Hartsfield back home and landing in LaGuardia with six hours to go. After getting out of the airport and finding her way to the general vicinity, making sure to grab some food so she had plenty of energy for what she was about to do. She didn’t know how this thing worked yet, but it made her tired and hungry so hopefully exhaustion wouldn’t hit midway through the plan.

“Jesus, fifteen minutes left and no sign of the the bastards.” One of the cops nearest the barrier said, Arin trying to sneak through the crowd, making her way steadily over to the barrier before attempting something she had only briefly tried before leaving home: changing her identity and outfit to match a nearby officer she had stood around studying for a few minutes until making her move. Her entire being digitized from her head down in a subtle shimmer, toned down in the sunlight baking the pavement under her feet. Her hoodie became a police uniform while a badge materialized over her chest, growing slightly taller as stubble appeared on her lengthened face, now noticeably sharper and more masculine. As she passed the barriers the change was complete, now resembling a cop stationed almost a block away and unlikely to show up here. Arin strolled her way straight up the sidewalk and into the financial district, New York Financial coming into view as she got closer.

“Hey, Reyes!” Someone from nearby called out. Another cop was moving toward her quickly, waving with a smile as he approached, “thought they had you stationed a block back?”

“Oh… I got moved up here to the doors. Sarge didn’t tell you?” Arin had to bluff hard, ready to kick herself for not considering the possibility when she was plotting everything on the plane here. The other officer got a confused looked back at her so strangely she almost checked to see if she was still in disguise before catching her reflection in a window, seeing the cop’s visage staring back at her. She slowed her breathing, trying to appear normal. “Yeah, said they wanted some more backup.”

“Weird, figured he would have called up. Ah well. You think they’re going to show?” He asked, making Arin breathe a quiet sigh of relief before answering.

“Don’t know. How much time is left?” Arin replied, looking up at the bank steps and continuing the walk, hoping he would leave her alone so she could slip in.

“About ten.” He said, checking his watch. Arin nodded, walking up the stairs leading into the bank, brutalist architecture making it look more like a prison than anything. Holding peoples lives hostage with stacks of paper and numbers on screens, forever dangling the knife over necks of those unlucky enough to be born middle class or lower in America. Her thoughts were cut short by the cops voice again. “Bro, you trying to go in there? SWAT isn’t fucking around out here. They’ll probably shoot you before you can get in.”

“Yeah but…” Arin grasped for a moment before finally remembering the universal method of getting out of awkward situations, suddenly blurting out in her best assumption of what a New Yorker would say, “Gotta take a piss.”

“Damn, man. That’s why they told us not to drink too much out here.” He shook his head, turning back and leaving Arin behind as she continued her walk up, finally stopping in front of glass windows with massive bars behind them, a small sign listing the hours engraved on the glass. Arin took a deep breath, steeling herself before taking what could be the final or first step in her journey. Her knock on the glass hung in still air like a gunshot through the street, everyone going quiet thinking something may happen before seeing Arin standing there, thankfully still in disguise.

A SWAT member burst through the door, screaming in her face almost immediately, “Who the hell let you up here! Nobody is allowed in or out! There are five minutes on this timer and damned if I will have someone in this building that I do not know!”

“I… I just have to use the bathroom. There wasn’t anywhere designated. Figured… better now than after the timer goes off, right? Don’t want to be the cop that pissed his pants!” Arin desperately hoped her try at ‘cop pride’ would be a successful enough ruse. The SWAT officer studied her for a moment before sighing and opening the door. “You got two minutes. In and out, restroom is right there.”

He pointed to a door just over his left shoulder, Arin following his directions and doing her best to scurry that direction like she really had to go. As she flew through the door and into a stall, slamming it behind her, the air around her broke down into code, digitizing and pixelating from head to toe as Arin once more became herself, collapsing against the door.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Holy shit. Holy shit, this is it. Okay…” She steadied her breathing, checking her watch and timer she had synced with the countdown. Three minutes. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to clear her mind. She was about to get answers. There was about to be something for her to keep going for. Something to keep living for in all this bullshit. She needed to know.

“Come on, time’s up! They’ll be here in two minutes!” The SWAT officer again. She focused herself, turning back into the officer and stammering nervously in a changed voice.

“Sorry… really uh, really had to go but you know a lot of pressure and uh…” The rambling started. She could hear footsteps approaching the stall and desperately flushed the toilet, trying to mask any other sounds. “Can I at least wash my hands?”

“Sanitizer on the wall. Come on.” The SWAT guy looked even more pissed as she walked by in front of him, taking extra time to get a couple pumps from the hand sanitizer on the wall, rubbing her hands together nervously before beginning to pace closer. The officer giving an angry grunt before pushing her in the back, causing her to stumble. “Come on, we’re running out of time. Nerves ain’t the same on you new street beats, I swear. Like you never seen danger anymore.”

Arin was stepping her way through the bank, elaborate marble floor contrasting dark black arches in the vaulted ceiling, held up by… gold pillars. As if the architecture wasn’t gaudy enough. She thought she was screwed, moving toward the door as SWAT was almost up her ass at this point, trying to eject her from the bank. She was barely saved by a voice coming over the bank speaker system, announcing the countdown’s final minute. Arin recognized the voice from countless times replaying the video message on her way there. The Jackal.

“Hello all you fine humans tuning in at home! Even more importantly, ‘fuck you’ to the pigs both corporate and in uniform watching today, hoping to protect their dear, sweet, money. What they don’t know is that we know this place like the back of our hands! We’ve been in the security system for weeks! Hell, I’ve been in here six times this week! See what I mean?” The Jackal continued, screens in the bank reflecting the countdown now, backed by the Strays emblem again. “One minute on the clock and they still don’t know where we’ll come from! They don’t even know we’re live-streaming all of this! Isn’t the future amazing, folks? All these resources put into these weapons and security and god knows how much public funding for ‘tax incentives’ am I right, everyone?”

A chorus of cheers rose up in the background as the SWAT officer became angrier, pulling Arin back and redirecting her to the bathroom once more, grumbling the whole time while keeping a hand on his assault rifle, “Took too damn long and I’m going to have your Captain’s balls after this is over! Now hide in here and try not to fuck things up!”

He shoved Arin roughly into the bathroom again and slammed the door behind, but she caught it and peeked out at the six officers now gathering in the bank lobby, guns aimed at every window and door possible. Jackal kept rambling on over the speakers, relishing the showmanship and theatrics while teasing the SWAT team. He was gleeful at this point.

“Now, this bank in particular holds a large amount of money held for hedge funds, stock inventories, all kinds of wild shit that you and I scraping by could never dream of. I’m telling you, their accounts have zeroes out the ass. That’s why we’re going to reduce those zeroes and give a few back to all of you. If you’re watching right now, there was probably an option for putting in some way we can get money to you, whether it be cash, online, or erasing debt. If you haven’t used it yet, please make sure you do and we will do everything in our power to get you help for whatever you may need. Now, please silence all cell phones, and enjoy the show.”

As he finished speaking the timer went out, all the cops twitching with fingers ready to spray enough bullets to drop an elephant. They did just that when the front door suddenly became a black void, as if the door had just been removed from existence with a view into the abyss beyond. Someone began to step out as they unloaded fire, bullets pinging off harmlessly as they hit the blank space, falling to the ground in a small shower of chimes and dings as the body had seemingly fallen back into the void, unseen.

“Stay alert boys, there are more of them!” Someone called out behind the officers. Arin peeked back through the door to see the person speaking, SWAT all turned away from them, looking at the door. Jackal stood behind the SWAT team, doing a little dance around as he went. After a moment the officer in charge looked behind them at the noise, realizing what was happening as Jackal began applauding, “Good job, boys! You got them! That’s got to be a record right? ‘Five poor people gunned down in a bank, officers didn’t even reload clip’. God, the PR people are going to be so fucking relieved about this.”

“Shoot him, dammit!” The Captain shouted, making everyone turn and shoot at Jackal, bullets now flying into the glass teller windows and lighting fixtures, making them explode in crystal rain. Arin stared with her jaw on the floor as Jackal suddenly appeared back in front of the void door, pixels glitching around him like Arin’s powers did. She almost squealed before realizing it would give her away.

“See, you guys can’t even figure out where the guy you’re shooting is! Could’ve killed anyone with that! Jesus, let’s get those toys away from you, way too dangerous.” Jackal gave a few disappointed tuts and grumbles as he began making finger guns at each of the officers in turn before they even knew he was there. Before they could tell what was happening their guns were all gone, vanished from their hands in a pixel haze with no trace of their whereabouts. As they looked at him, at a complete loss for what to do and still in aiming position without their guns, he suddenly snapped his fingers again, causing a fused mass of assault rifles to fall to the ground next to him, one briefly discharging and making him jump. “Shit! They’re not supposed to work after that!”

“You need to fuse them so the barrels all cross, it keeps them from having an outlet. See? This one is fused by the stock. No worries, nobody hurt!” A tall woman stepped out of the void behind him, stepping up quickly and grabbing the massive hunk of plastic, metal, and gunpowder by the end of one protruding stock. The glitched mass of guns began to pixelate and flow around her hand, reforming itself into an elaborate baton, highlighted with copper inlays. She held her other hand up, breaking the staff into two she wielded in each hand. She paused in front of one SWAT member, eyes piercing him through her Bear mask. “Hey boys, we’ve got some work to do. We can do this the easy way where you just let me tie you up or the hard way where we beat the shit out of you. Which one’s it gonna be?”

“Will you shoot her? You have a damn pistol!” The Captain shouted as the SWAT she was staring at quickly drew and leveled his pistol, firing almost immediately. The bullet pinged off empty space, or empty to anyone not paying attention. The small, binary code flowing through it was visible to Arin plain as day. Instead of falling harmlessly like the Void door though, this bullet ricocheted and hit the firing officer in the leg, injuring him.

“That was your own fault.” Ferret said. She hadn’t been standing there just a moment ago, but was now standing by Jackal in the middle of the floor. Two more walked through the doorway after them, Sloth and… Arin hadn’t seen this guy in any of the robbery footage she had watched. The others were all dressed in bright colors, masks painted in different art styles and even sometimes changing between robberies, depending on the wearer. This guy was all in black head to toe, long sleeves and coat even in the summer. He matched the ominous tone of his mask though, with the image of a Raven.

“Is everyone done making their dramatic entrances now?” Raven asked, looking at Bear impatiently. “You said this would be quick.”

“We just walked through the portal and you’re already bitching. Seriously? Do you recall me bitching when you asked if I could help you out last week?” Sloth was teasing the Raven, despite the agitation growing from the impatient bird.

“Play nice, boys. Fifteen minutes, Raven. Tops.” She motioned a baton at him, bringing him alongside as the SWAT team kept eyes trained on him now almost exclusively.

“Captain,” One officer spoke up. “Is that the one the FBI is after?”

“Yes it is. Fancy seeing you all together here. Makes sense you bunch are workin’ together.” Captain spit on the floor, looking at Raven still as he returned the piercing stare, unflinching.

“Dude. This is a marble floor.” Sloth said, accusatory at the captain. “The fuckin’ audacity of this guy.”

“Everyone hush. Now, will you be doing this peacefully?” Bear asked again, twirling the batons and eyeing Captain as the SWAT officer with a bullet in his leg continued whimpering on the floor, holding his leg.

“Boys, we have a hostile target. Shoot to kill.” Captain said, moving to drawing his pistol along with the others. Before he could grip the handle he pulled a hand from his other side, a small canister with a pin now pulled. “Eyes!”

There a small ball of light briefly flying through the air as the flash bang exploded with a massive sound, Arin almost feeling the shockwave from it, before being completely contained into one small supernova of light. The sun floated over to Raven’s hand, holding it in his palm and motioning for the others to close their eyes. SWAT opened their eyes and uncovered their ears as the others closed their eyes, Arin following suit last second from her spot behind the bathroom door.

The officers all screamed as they were blinded instead, Arin seeing the bright flash even through her closed eyes. The officers were shouting in every direction, desperately trying to figure out where they were as the light blurred their vision. Captain tried to get everyone together, “Toward the center!”

“Ferret, they’re huddled. Box please.” Bear shouted, offering one baton to Raven who took it begrudgingly. Instead of handing it off though, she kept walking as it lengthened with her, flowing into a tense, dark cable she was now walking around the SWAT team with, now awkwardly huddled in the bank lobby as they overcame their shared blindness. “Actually, never mind. They’re too dumb to make this difficult.”

“Got that right.” Jackal jeered as Bear finished one revolution around the officers, ducking under the other end of the cable before taking it back from Raven and holding it together with hers as they shrank to withhold all the officers struggling against it.

“Okay, now that’s made out of all those fun toys you boys so nicely shot at our friends earlier, okay? Now, you’re gonna sit here quietly while we work, or I’m going to reconstruct some of your boots into gags, sound good?” She looked at them after leaving off on a note far more cheerful than it should be. “Good, knew you could do it. Alright, crew. We know our places?”

“On the computers.” Ferret bounced into the air, walking on small plates of pixels and code over the shattered glass and bullet casings and across the desks, settling at a terminal and beginning her mission, erasing debt and making some ‘creative’ money transfers. “That was way too easy to get into. They really haven’t upgraded this in a long time, have they?”

“Beats me,” Sloth said as he and Jackal moved to the massive vault door opposite the counters. Jackal stood in front of it, concentrating for a moment with his hand raised to the dense security barrier. “Trouble getting it up?”

“Shut the fuck up, it’s hard moving something this code dense.” Jackal snapped back at him, making Sloth giggle like a little kid as Jackal finally slid his hand through the air, glitching the vault door through space instantaneously and fusing it with the wall nearby. “See? No problem.”

“”I wasn’t doubting you.” Sloth raised his hands in self defense as they walked through the door. Arin peeked out from her spot a little further, still unsure of how to get their attention in all this chaos. She saw Sloth and Jackal walk into the vault and begin throwing stacks of cash or any paperwork they could find inside through the door behind them. Instead of landing on the floor in the lobby though it simply disappeared, gone into thin air without a sound or trace. Raven began walking over to the vault as if to help before Bear stopped him, quickly running forward with hands raised.

“Don’t walk through the opposite side of a portal. Bad things.” She pulled him back before pulling a small piece off the end of her remaining baton, forming it into a small ball and tossing it underhand into the vault doorway.

The ball hit the doorway, stopping in midair before bending and stretching, growing in different directions before being flung from the doorway, punching a hole in the roof as it went through. Everyone’s eyes followed it as it went, Raven remarking as sunlight poured in from the small hole it left, “Holy shit. Thanks, I guess.”

“I’ve asked you not to do that!” Sloth shouted through the door as Bear simply shrugged.

“Had to show Raven how cool it was!” She shouted back. Ferret continued working on the computers for a moment, deleting numbers and clicking through accounts as Bear shouted over to her now, “How’s it going over there, sweetie?”

“Good, about done. Couple of nice individuals in here we’re gonna clean out then I’m good.” She replied. Jackal and Sloth had apparently finished their job, Jackal disappearing into thin air before Sloth walked through the same doorway into the lobby, rejoining Bear and Raven in front of the still angry SWAT team glowering at them.

“We’re going to get every last one of you.” Captain said, venom dripping from his voice. “Never gonna see the sun again.”

“Thank fuck.” Ferret said, bouncing back over to the rest, job done. “Let’s get it over with then.”

“Alright, it’s been a pleasure meeting you gentlemen. Oh, I would make sure to get medical in here right away for him too. You boys be safe, and don’t play with dangerous things anymore, okay?” Bear blew a kiss at them, turning back to the front doors as they once more became the dark void. Raven walked through first, with Ferret hop-skipping through behind him. Bear walked in next with Sloth pausing for a moment before going through, looking back at the SWAT.

This was Arin’s chance. She had to steel herself to follow them in. She knew she couldn’t have spoken to them here about anything, so best just to follow them out and show them who she was, that she was like them. She saw Sloth begin to disappear into the abyss and made up her mind, bursting through the door and speeding the short distance, SWAT shouts echoing before being cut off as she leapt through into the darkness, not knowing what would be on the other side.