Chapter 218. The Bank Job.
Our trip to LA went faster than expected. While we drove, Lopez was able to call in with more details about what we were facing. Apparently, the bank branch that was hit was in the corner of a larger office building. The upper floors were evacuated by the police, but inside the bank were at least a score of hostages. From what they could tell, there were six perpetrators.
Five of the six appeared to be normal humans, equipped with long guns and pistols. The leader of the group claimed to be a wizard and had apparently killed the guard inside the bank with a blast of energy. For now, the perimeter was secure, and the press had been kept away due to the danger.
We met Lopez’s tactical team a block away from the bank, in an empty level of a parking garage. Lopez was there along with five men in black tactical gear who were armed with rifles sporting all kinds of attachments. We must have looked a bit underwhelming in our civilian gear, but the team didn’t seem to care.
“Thank you all for arriving so soon. I’m pretty sure my team could handle this, but I wanted you to be on hand in case we need help dealing with the summoned being,” Lopez said, directing us to a van where gear awaited us. We were supposedly getting all kinds of equipment from the government to keep at Refuge, but it hadn’t arrived yet.
“Do you need Elliot and Calvin? They’re both damage dealers and with all this firepower, you should have more than enough to deal with a group of bank robbers. I don’t want to risk them for no reason,” Marie asked to the obvious disappointment of the two younger members of our team. To his credit, Elliot kept his mouth shut, and didn’t start immediately arguing with Marie. Maybe our experience in the dungeon had knocked some sense into the kid.
“You and Rico should be sufficient. We’ll keep Calvin and Elliot with the follow up team in case you need more support. They can also advise us of what’s going on with all your powers and maybe identify what the other summoned being is doing,” Lopez said, wisely not just dismissing the pair out of hand, and giving them a job to do where they could still contribute.
“How would you like us to help?” I asked.
“We’re going to have to go in there soon, the robbers have already killed one hostage and are threatening to kill another every hour if we don’t agree to their demands. I was hoping that Marie could cover our approach with an illusion, and that your team of minions could distract the enemy while my guys mop up,” Lopez suggested.
“I should be able to mask our approach, but it’s not perfect. If the other summoned being is powerful, he may have some way of seeing through illusions,” Marie said.
Lopez looked down at his phone, reading the latest updates before answering. “From what we know so far, the one we suspect is a summoned being has generated beams of energy that burned through their target. He cut a hole in the vault and burned completely through the chest of the poor security guard.
“Other than that, he can also fire small bolts of energy that we’ve so far categorized as magic missiles,” Lopez explained.
“He sounds powerful. Showing off all those powers should have left his mana pool empty,” I offered.
“Don’t forget, he probably has access to mana tabs as well, not to mention his class may have some way to mitigate the mana loss,” Marie said.
“Here’s what I think we should do,” the leader of the tactical team, who had Simmons on his nametag, started. “We enter through the back of the building, and before we enter line of sight of the bank, we have Marie activate her illusion. If we’re not detected, my team will engage, and I’ll ask Rico to use his minions to block any return fire. If we’re spotted before we’re ready, Rico’s forces will attack while we move to cover.”
“It seems this guy is a mage class, and I have a new minion that should be pretty effective in this instance. It can also move stealthily to the target, hopefully getting close without needing to stay behind Marie’s illusion. It’s called a mana slayer drone, and it’s specifically designed to deal with mages. Let my minion focus on the summoned being and you guys deal with the rest,” I offered.
“I think we stick with my original plan; I don’t want to tip off he summoned being that something’s happening before we’re ready to strike,” Simmons argued, shutting my idea down.
“Maybe a quick demonstration, as long as you don’t think we’ll have trouble transporting my minion with us,” I suggested.
“How big is it?” Simmons asked.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“Around seven feet tall, humanoid, metal, with long bladed arms,” I explained.
“It should fit in the van, let’s see your stealthy minion,” Simmons said, sounding dubious about my claims.
I had the drone pop into existence just a few feet in front of Simmons, causing the man to stumble and fall back. Only a shouted order from Lopez kept the man from firing his rifle at my minion. The others on the tactical team didn’t point their weapons, but they kept their hands on them, ready to rock and roll if my drone went all terminator on them.
“Go stealthy,” I ordered the minion. His form began to shimmer and fade, leaving behind only a slightly blurry distortion behind. As he moved, only about half the team were able to track his position accurately.
“Go visible,” I ordered and the stealth field deactivated. “I take it I don’t have to demonstrate that the drone’s good with those blades?” I asked, feeling a bit cocky at this point.
“Should have worn my brown pants today, okay, we’ll go with your plan Rico,” Simmons agreed. I had to hand it to him, the man was professional and didn’t let his hurt pride sway him from the right decision.
“Let’s move, we’ve got ten minutes before they’re supposed to kill the next hostage,” Lopez said, ordering us into the large cargo van we were using for transport. It was a tight fit with the drone going with us, but it was only a block away from our target.
We entered through a back door to the building, and listened as the team watching the bank gave us continuous updates on the positions of the robbers. Three of the bank robbers were in the lobby area, with guns on the prisoners who were all down on the lobby floor. Another pair were loading up all their loot into large gym bags. The guy who was supposed to be the summoned being stood atop the teller counter with his hands on his hips like he was posing for the cover of Super Villain Magazine.
Our path led us through the building itself, but the door from the building directly into the bank was locked down. We’d have to exit the building and enter through where the front windows had been shattered by the summoned being’s attacks.
“Now, Marie,” Simmons whispered before we stepped out of the building. According to Marie, she could keep up the illusion for only about thirty seconds or so, forcing us to move quickly. I ordered my mana slayer forward, under stealth, to attack the summoned being. My other minions were summoned as we walked, and I kept them in a long line behind Marie, so they would be covered by her illusion.
We had just reached the broken window we were going to enter through, when the drone, which was just inside the building now, stepped on a small bit of glass, causing a loud crunching noise. All eyes turned in his direction.
“What’s that, I think there’s something there, it’s invisible, shoot!” the summoned being ordered. Chaos exploded around us as the tactical team rushed into the building, firing at the robbers. I managed to cast Duplicate on the drone just as the summoned being pointed his arm at my minion and unleashed a blast of white-hot energy into him.
My minion took two more steps before faltering and turning to mana vapor as the beam burned through his torso and he was unsummoned. My other minions were already attacking, and the goblin Glurk was able to fire an arrow into the summoned being’s chest, knocking him off the counter and into cover behind the teller line.
“Get him,” I ordered my team to focus on the now hidden summoned being, holding only Elida back so she could heal anyone that was injured. Three of the robbers were already down, Lopez’s tactical team were no joke. The other two robbers were exchanging fire with them now, but a quick cast of Fail Weapons caused one of their weapons to jam, giving the tactical team all the advantage they needed to drop the rest.
Further down the counter, the summoned being suddenly popped up, already firing a beam at Simmons who was moving up to clear the room of any other threats. Just as the beam connected, the air behind the summoned being began to shift and shimmer as my duplicate mana slayer drone appeared. With a meaty snip, one bladed hand swiped the head off the summoned being, causing the beam he was firing to shut off instantly.
“Elida, heal Simmons, use all your slots!” I shouted. The halfling healer ran forward, already spamming her Minor Healing Burst, as I added a Health Bloom over the area.
When I reached Simmons, I could see the damage was bad. In just the second or so that the beam had connected, it had melted its way through Simmons’ body armor and cooked off the rounds from the magazines stored nearby. The smell of burnt flesh assaulted me as I got close. Marie checked on him, letting us know Simmons was still breathing.
After the five seconds on my Health Bloom spell expired, I cast it again, but now my mana was down to ten points, which wouldn’t bleed off as they were within my core shielding. Elida finished her last spell, then I had her channel mana for ten seconds so she could recover her spell slot and cast Minor Healing Burst one final time.
As I cast my last Health Bloom, the wound was visibly beginning to heal and Simmons had regained consciousness but was moaning in pain. A medical team arrived and began to work on him. Elida fired off her last healing spell, and I hoped that we had done enough to save him.
Among the hostages, one hadn’t been that lucky, and was killed instantly in the exchange of gunfire when the foolishly tried to stand up and run out of the building. Even now, more of Lopez’s people were arriving to escort the rest of the hostages out. The man had his work cut out for him, and I wasn’t sure how he was going to spin this display of our powers.
“You both did good, and despite losing a hostage, we managed to save the rest of them. Your magic will also give Simmons a fighting chance to live, thank you,” Lopez said. He had only a moment to spare on us before he was back on his phone and running around the bank, instructing his people on what he wanted them to do.
I dismissed my summoned creatures, no reason to keep them visible. There would be a short cooldown before I could call them out again, but I had consumables if things went sideways. Thinking of that, I pulled out a mana tab and began to chew. I didn’t need mana to summon my minions, but I did need a point to summon a figurine.
“What now?” I asked, usure of what I was supposed to do.
“Let’s go home, it’s been a long day,” Marie offered, and I heartily agreed.