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Chapter 278  The Money Heist

Customers and employees froze in shock, the sterile hum of air conditioning now accompanied by the clicks of automatic weapons.

"Everybody down! Now!" barked the tallest of the group, his voice muffled by a skeletal black mask.

This was the leader of the crew, Cain. His piercing gaze swept across the room as the bank\'s patrons cowered on the floor.

To his right, a woman in a sleek red mask grinned as she sauntered over to the bank manager, who was visibly trembling. "Hi there," she purred, twirling her pistol. "You\'re going to open that vault for us, aren\'t you?"

The manager hesitated, his lips trembling as he tried to stammer out a response. Before he could, Cain\'s partner—a hulking figure called Torque—stepped forward. His body brimming with an unnatural, metallic sheen. His superpower: the ability to transform his skin into steel.

Torque slammed his fist into the glass countertop, shattering it like it was made of paper. "She wasn\'t asking," he growled.

The threat was enough to send the manager scrambling toward the vault without further resistance.

At the rear of the group, another man, slim and wiry, was scanning the room with sharp eyes.

"Eyes open, people," he muttered, his tone calm despite the chaos. "Cops will be here in five minutes tops. Let\'s move."

The fifth member of the crew, a petite woman with a dark green mask, leaned against the wall.

As the robbers spread out, Cain turned to Blink. "Cover the exits. No one gets in or out without us knowing." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Blink gave a curt nod and disappeared in a flash of blue light, reappearing instantaneously near the entrance, where he placed a series of small, glowing devices on the walls. "Trip mines armed," he reported.

Meanwhile, the bank manager nervously entered the code to the vault as Red, the second woman, kept her gun trained on him. "Keep your hands steady, old man," she teased, her voice like silk wrapped around a dagger.

The vault door hissed open, revealing rows of cash and gold bars. Torque grinned, grabbing duffel bags from a nearby table and tossing them toward Cain and Red. "Let\'s fill up and get out of here."

Suddenly, the piercing wail of sirens filled the air. Red rolled her eyes. "Right on time," she muttered, grabbing fistfuls of cash and stuffing them into the bags.

Cain\'s voice cut through the tension like a whip. "Blink, status?"

Blink reappeared beside him. "Cops are setting up a perimeter. SWAT\'s probably on the way."

Cain cursed under his breath. "Alright, everyone stick to the plan. Ivy, you\'re up."

Ivy nodded, stepping forward and placing her hands on the tiled floor. Small cracks spread outward as green tendrils began to burst forth, snaking their way toward the bank\'s entrances. Within moments, the front doors were covered in a writhing mass of roots and vines, creating a natural barricade.

"Buy us some time, but don\'t trap us in here," Cain ordered.

"Don\'t worry, I know what I\'m doing," Ivy shot back, her tone cool and measured.

The first gunshot rang out, a warning shot from a police officer outside. "This is the police!" a voice boomed through a megaphone. "You\'re surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"

Cain sneered, grabbing his weapon and checking the chamber. "Alright, people. Showtime. Blink, stay mobile. Ivy, keep the cops busy. Red and Torque, on me."

Before anyone could respond, the police opened fire, their bullets ricocheting harmlessly off Torque\'s metallic skin as he charged toward the barricaded entrance. He shoved aside the vines with ease, opening a small gap to return fire with his automatic rifle.

Blink teleported in and out of the mix, his movements unpredictable and disorienting for the officers.

One moment he was at the entrance, the next he was atop a nearby desk, taking shots at the cops through the window.

Ivy, meanwhile, focused on reinforcing the barricades, her vines growing thicker and denser with each passing second. She sent a cluster of tendrils through a broken window, wrapping them around an officer\'s leg and pulling him off his feet.

Red laughed as she provided cover fire for Cain, her bullets forcing the police to take cover behind their vehicles. "This is too easy," she said, a wild gleam in her eyes.

Cain, however, wasn\'t smiling. He knew they were running out of time. "Everyone, fall back! Blink, prep for extraction!"

As the team began retreating toward the rear exit, the sound of a flashbang grenade filled the air, followed by a deafening explosion. The room was momentarily bathed in white light, and Torque let out a roar of pain as a bullet found its mark, striking him in a vulnerable joint where his metallic skin couldn\'t fully protect him.

"Torque\'s hit!" Red shouted, rushing to his side.

"Leave him!" Cain barked, but Red ignored him, slinging Torque\'s arm over her shoulder and helping him limp toward the exit.

Blink appeared beside them, his expression grim. "We need to move. Now."

Cain and Ivy provided cover fire as the team made their way to the alley behind the bank. Police sirens grew louder, and the heavy thud of boots signaled that SWAT was closing in.

"Blink, get us out of here!" Cain ordered.

Blink grabbed hold of Torque and Red first, teleporting them a few blocks away to a predetermined safe house. He returned a second later, grabbing Cain and Ivy and disappearing just as the SWAT team breached the rear door.

***

In the safe house, the team regrouped. Torque was laid out on a makeshift cot, his face pale and his breathing labored. Blood seeped from the wound in his shoulder, staining the metallic sheen of his skin.

"We need to stop the bleeding," Ivy said, already pulling supplies from a first aid kit.

Red knelt beside Torque, her hands trembling as she applied pressure to the wound. "You\'re going to be fine," she murmured, though the fear in her eyes betrayed her words.

Cain paced the room, his jaw clenched. "This wasn\'t supposed to happen," he muttered. "We were supposed to be in and out. Clean. What the hell went wrong?"

Blink leaned against the wall, exhaustion etched into his features. "We underestimated their response time. That\'s on me."

"It\'s on all of us," Ivy said firmly as she worked to stabilize Torque. "But we don\'t have time to point fingers. We need to get out of the city before they track us here."

Cain nodded, his mind already racing with plans. "Alright. We\'ll split up. Blink, you\'re taking Torque and Red to the secondary location. Ivy and I will handle the cleanup here."