There were people entering and leaving the bank every minute, above its entrance read the sign ‘Thompson Bank’. In an alleyway but a few streets away from the bank a Van pulled in, in the van were none other than the Oteng family.

The members of the family were all dressed in the same outfits; black pants with a black long-sleeved shirt. Their shoes and gloves were of course the same color, their outfits were completed by the masks over their faces. With all these items their image as robbers was complete.

Alex who was seated in the back picked up an AK before looking to the rest of his family, at this moment he stopped and looked at them. He took a long hard look at them, it was at this point that he realized it had been a while since he performed such a simple action.

The memories of when he and his family first stepped on this crooked path flashed through his mind.

Alex sat by his dining table with his head buried in his arms, on the table surrounding him were bills of all sorts. He and his family were literally swimming in depts with no hope in sight. He had recently lost his job and with the increasingly harsh economy was unable to find a job.

His daughter and youngest son both dropped out of high school as they were unable to afford the bills. His eldest son had managed to stay in college by relying on a multitude of part time jobs, but even he was eventually overwhelmed as tuition fees kept on climbing with no end in sight and even, he had to drop out.

The world seemingly did not think that was enough as his landlord was evicting them the next week. Everything had just become too much causing him to just stay there not knowing what t do when a crazy idea popped in his head, an idea that led to all of this.

Alex came back to the present and took another look before he spoke up, “okay guys, this is the last one. I know it’s been tough on everyone”. Everyone turned to look at him, “I’m sorry I led all of you into this, but we can final end this put everything behind us and live normal lives” his wife reached out to hold his shoulder seeing the flash of emotions on his face.

Alex turned to her sharing a look before speaking up, “okay, let’s do this!” Alex pulled down his mask heading out with the rest of the family following after leaving Jackson alone in the van. The remaining four made their way to the Bank, the two security guards before the building who laid eyes on them moved to call for the but were stopped by the two ladies who didn’t hesitate to open fire.

The gunshots of course caused everyone in the bank to be alert, a bang sound was heard as the doors was kicked open. “This is a robbery, you know the drill, everybody get down!” Alex ordered everyone.

***

“They’re there” Ferdinand spoke up when an alert popped up on his screen. A thud was soon heard as Hank dropped from the ceiling, walking behind Ferdinand, Hank saw the camera footage.

Ferdinand after finding the code left something of his own which allowed their feed to still exist even if Kwesi activated his code. Hank let out a grunt before turning to suit on the mannequin.

The Oteng family had arrived in the vault and began filling up their bags, they were almost done when the sounds of sirens made their way into their ear. “Becca, handle it” Alex ordered Becca who was out with the hostages, “yes dad” Becca responded before pulling out a switch and pressing on the button.

The officers who were parked outside attempted to run out but were stopped by explosives going off before the bank. Becca pulling out a megaphone warned the officers, “there are explosives, lined up around the Bank think of getting close and they go off. If that isn’t enough there are bombs in here as well break through and the hostages won’t see tomorrow.”

Becca placed the megaphone away after making her threat, moving her hand to her ear she spoke to her father. “Dad it’s done, but I don’t know how long it will hold them off for”, “don’t worry about that we are just about done, prepare the hostages” hearing her dad’s words, she pulled out a bag and dropped it before the hostages.

“Get dressed”

Outside the Bank; The streets were cordoned off by the police. Naa alongside her partner had their bullet proof vests on as they headed to the man in charge. “What have we got?” Naa questioned, “One confirmed robber with three others suspected on being in there. The robbers have laid out bombs before the bank, bomb squad says they need a few more minutes to disarm enough for us to rush in”.

“Hostages?” Jarred asked, “twenty-three, they killed the two security guards when they rushed in. We also can’t get a camera feed for some reason so we are blind”. Naa turned to address the other officers, “okay guys you heard the man, look alive. We have twenty-three hostages with four robbers in there, these guys are all armed and extremely dangerous, lethal force has been licensed, immediately bomb squad is done we heard in.”

***

In the vault, Becca had come in to join the rest of her family as they set up explosives on the floor. They all went out the vault as they activated the bombs causing an explosion that was contained by them closing the vault door.

After waiting a few more seconds they came into the vault looking down at the hole they created with a smile on their face. The bomb squad finally dealt with the bombs outside allowing for the police officers to rush in with Naa in the lead, as they made their way in they soon saw four people in all black outfits with mask on their face standing behind the hostages, on even seemed to hold a trigger device at hand.

Noticing the device Naa looked to the Hostages only to see they were each wearing vest lined with C4, “drop the trigger in your hand or we will not hesitate to shoot you” Naa made her threat as she and the other officers trained their guns at the four in black.

The four in black waved their hands in response, “I said put the trigger down!” Naa screamed out once more as the one with trigger at hand kept waving his hand more frantically with incomprehensible sounds coming from him.

‘Bang!’ a gunshot was heard followed by a thud as Naa took her shot, shooting the one with the trigger at hand down while the other officers quickly tackled the others. Taking of their masks they were finally able to speak. Telling the police that they were hostages dressed as the criminals and set up so the couldn’t speak nor move from the spot where they stood.

Naa hearing this took a closer look at the guy she shot and realized the trigger was tied to his hand, quickly taking off his mask Naa checked his pulse, it was weak but still present. “Medic! We need a medic over here!” Naa screamed as she applied pressure on the wound.

Underground the bank, The Oteng family made their way through a tunnel that run right under the bank and led to the alley where their van awaited them. They laughed amongst themselves as they made their way through the tunnel, but Becca who was in the lead soon came to a halt causing the rest of her family to stop as well and look at what made Becca stop.

Before steam was a cloud of steam and within that cloud of steam where two glowing green lights that seemed to stare right into their soul. The steam faded away revealing a cloaked figure who stood there staring at them, seeing this figure they all subconsciously took a step back.

“You… how the fuck?” Alex stuttered as the familiar figure stood before him, after being shocked for a few seconds he moved to shoot but the phantom dropped a flash bang blinding him and causing him to shoot randomly bursting a few pipes and causing more steam to fill up the tunnel.

“Dammit” Alex cursed as he and his family tried to retreat and take cover but something flew by them knocking their bags of money out of their hands and somehow locking it on the ceiling above them causing the family to stare at it with mouths agape.

The four finally managed to take cover firing a few shots hoping they hit him but to no avail. “how did he even get here in the first place?” Becca asked the question that was on everyone’s mind, as there were only two ways in and out of here the hole they made in the vault and the alley where they had parked their van. As they thought further into the situation a horrid idea flashed through their minds, “What did you do to my son, you caped freak!”

The mother screamed.