Banana Bus Squad Oneshots

H2OVanoss - Sacrifices

We always said it as a joke. We never wanted to actually put that phrase to use.
"We ride together, we die together."

It was a regular day for us, the same as any other. I made sure that everyone understood the plan so there wouldn't be any mistakes. Jonathan, Tyler, and I would grab the jewelry while David watched our backs; Lui would be up on the roof across the way with his sniper; then Brian would hack the security and distract the police. I had it all figured out, it was the same plan we always used for our heists. Everything was going quite smoothly for us at Vangelico's until an off-duty cop decided to intervene. I remember being in the store stuffing jewelry into my bag when we all heard the first gunshot. My head shot up and looked towards the door. "Lui report." I calmly said. He said nothing and instead I heard another gunshot go off. "Lui! What the hell is going on?" I shouted out. I cast a worried glance towards David, who decided to join us in collecting jewelry. "Uhmm, sorry Vanoss. There was a guy. I, uhhh, need to check something..." he trailed off. "Lui, don't leave your post." I commanded. I waited for his voice to flow through my earpiece and took that time to break another glass case. "Brian's gone." Lui finally said. I felt myself stiffen and my head automatically turned to look at Tyler. I knew he wouldn't take this well, those two were thick as thieves. Well we are thieves but they were best friends... inseparable. I had never lost someone on a mission, and the only feeling that ran through me was immense guilt. I, no longer caring about the jewels, ordered my friends to abort the mission. Jonathan looked straight at me with a raised brow, I had never cut a mission short no matter how dangerous it got. The blaring sirens I was expecting could soon be heard and I began barking out orders. "Lui start the car! David, cover fire! Tyler, Jon on me!"  The cops, as expected, were using their cars as shields while they shot at us. "David now!" I ordered. The loud rumble of automatic gunfire told me we could safely get to the van. All the cops hid like cowards while Jon, Tyler, and I dashed into the running van. I heard David's gunfire stop and he soon joined us in the back. I cursed under my breath as I saw Brian's body lying on the floor. The smell of blood was like death itself, and its' choking grasp clung to our noses. The only thing that distracted me was Tyler's face which showed me his every emotion.

"It was the first of many deaths that day. I am cursed with the guilt eating me away, wondering if they could have lived." I stopped what I was saying and looked down at my hands. "Mr. Fong it'll be better if you tell the whole story to me." I glanced back up at the suited man across from me. I just nodded my head and continued, "I will always look at a road and think of a massacre from now on."

We were heading to our hideout so we could wait out the cops... at least that was the plan. "This is all your fault Vanoss! We should have parked the van further away! Then Brian wouldn't be dead!" Tyler yelled at me. He was broken inside, we all could see that. I rubbed my temples in frustration, I did not want to fight with him right now. I looked out the back window to see a police cruiser awfully close to our own vehicle. The cruiser accelerated, slamming into us. My body flew forward and Lui quickly lost control of the van as we flipped onto our side. The sound of metal grinding against the pavement is a terrible one, especially when you are inside that metal box. I was thankful that friction existed as we grinded to a halt. I groaned and wiped off the blood on my forehead. The blood, tasting like metal, reached my mouth which I spat out in disgust. All the guys seemed pretty much fine with only me sustaining an injury from the crash. I grabbed my mask with a newfound anger and pushed open the backdoor. There were cops already coming to surround us, so I began to shoot without hesitation. Laughing as they ran like cowards back to their cruisers. "Come on guys!" I shouted as I crawled out of the wreckage. I was shooting out in the open with no fear as my crew crawled out. My fear was consumed by fury and revenge, they had killed Brian and I wasn't going to let anyone else die. I felt myself smirk as I spotted my friends standing next to me out of the corner of my eye. "We ride together!" I simply said to them. "We die together!" they all chorused in yells next to me. I'm sure we put the fear of god into those cops with our dedication and fierceness. I was enjoying spraying them with bullets but we all had to take cover eventually as the police' backup arrived. Everything seemed to go in slow motion for me as it all went south. I heard a scream of pain and I spot Tyler on the ground with a bleeding leg, but with clenched teeth he gets back up to shoot again, we would not give up until we were dead. Oh, how I thought too soon we all would be fine. It was the grenade flying through the air that caught all my attention as it sailed towards us. I couldn't even yell out any warning to my friends when it landed, blowing up not seconds later. The explosion threw me back a few feet away from where I had been. I opened my eyes to see only the sky, the only sound in my ears being a high pitched ringing, and my body filled with pain all over. I notice Jonathon enter my eyesight, my right hand man... my best friend. He kneeled down next to me and tore off my mask. He was moving his mouth but I couldn't hear him, just that damn ringing. I focused on Jon's face, spotting the tears in his eyes, and his voiceless pleas. The ringing slowly began to fade, thankfully, and I regained my senses. "Come on!" Jon shouted, "We need to get out of here! Get up!" I finally heard him straight and pushed myself up. Jon grabbed my hand to help me out. Once I was up, we bolted away from the destroyed road. I could hear the footsteps pounding after us, random bullets hit the walls of buildings next to us, and our heavy, labored breathing. In the back of my head I just knew we wouldn't escape and Jon knew that too. He pulled me into a random building, slamming the door behind us. "Jon?" I question him worriedly. "Hold the door Vanoss, I'll be right back." he told me. I push myself against the door just as it was about to be burst open by the cops. I watch Jon curiously as he disappears around the corner, leaving me to the door. It was terrible of me to think in such a way but all that ran in my head was if he was leaving me to die. "Jon?!" I shouted out as I almost lose the fight with the door. He came around the corner and instructs me to help him move things in front of the door. When that job was finished he pulled me around the corner. I was pushed into a chair and before I could react Jon was tying a rope around me. "Jon... what are you doing?" I ask him with nervousness. Did my right hand just betray me? "They won't kill you if you're tied up..." Jon told me. "But Jon-" I countered. "No, Vano- Evan. I've always got your back, Evan." he told me simply. Those six words he had said hundreds of times to me and I always responded with the same five words. "And I to you Jon, but yo-" "Always remember what fun we had Evan." he interrupted as he finally turned to leave. "J-jon..." I weakly said, but he refused to stop. "We ride together!" I shouted as a last attempt to stop him. He stopped suddenly, all of his muscles looking tense, Jon and I always swore to live by this one phrase. Our one and only rule in the gang. He turned around with a smile and shook his head, "Not this time Evan... not this time." He left quickly without another word and I heard gunfire start up again. I pulled and tugged at the ropes holding me. Tears streamed down my face, but I didn't care. My wrists became raw and my voice became hoarse, but I didn't care. The cops finally burst in with guns pointed at me, but I didn't care. My gang, no, my friends were all dead... and I was alive.

"I still feel the guilt swell up in me, the pain, knowing they're all gone. Everyday I wake up in the morning still not believing it actually happened. I... I shouldn't be alive." I finished telling the suited man. I feel the tears build up in my eyes and slowly roll down my face. The suited man outreached his hand towards me which I hesitantly took. "Thank you Mr. Fong. Now, I have a business proposal for you." He told me. "I know your past is dark, Mr. Fong, but your skills are incomparable to anyone else. I'm offering you a new chance." I nodded my head. "Please, call me Vanoss." I said weakly with a small smile. "Well, Vanoss, nice to finally meet you. The name's Chilled, Chilled Chaos. You're really willing to do this?" Chilled asked me. I nodded my head knowing that this would be the only way to distract me from remembering them. "Very well then. Let the party begin." he said with a huge smirk. After he had said this, an explosion went off creating a hole in the roof. The prison's alarms started blaring in my ears, and I could see police scrambling around outside the large interrogating room I was in. They didn't even bother to stop and check up on me. I smiled as a helicopter ladder dropped down through the hole. Chilled climbed onto the ladder and held out his hand towards me. "You coming Vanoss?" he shouted. I nodded and grabbed his hand.

That moment when I took his hand I knew I would eventually learn to forget them, but there was one thing I could never forget. I would make sure that next time I would actually carry through with my most favorite phrase:

"We ride together, we die together."