F.R.E.A.K.S

Chapter One: Operation B.A.N.K

"We literally only have one shot at this so try not to screw up alright" The voice was deadly serious but all of them could hear the smirk in his voice through their earpiece, even if he was alone in a whole different town.

"Wow, no pressure then" this time it was Hoai who spoke while sucking on the lollipop he had taken from one of the receptionist's desk.
"Alright guys, remember we're against the clock and once Meg takes out the cameras I'm not gonna be of much use. Operation B.A.N.K. begins...now!"

With this words spoken the air around everyone changed and became static and crispy for an instant. Megan smoothed her brown hair getting rid of the electricity that always remained after using her ability. "Cameras down, 5 minutes on the clock" She said to the rest of the team via her earpiece as she walked into the long line of people waiting to be served by the bank. Her part was done, at least for now.

Wasting no time Jia walked towards the security guard "Hello officer may I ask you a question? Is for a school report" She said holding the notepad in her hand and a sweet smile on her face. It was times like this her being the youngest and having child- like features came in handy. "Sure, but make it quick" The officer couldn't be older than 35, but he was already going bald, he seem like a nice lad but that wasn't gonna stop her "Do you have any hearing impediment?" The question was definitely not what he was expecting but once he saw her expression he knew she wasn't joking around. "No, not really sometimes I have problems with my right ear but that has never compromised my work"

"I see..." She scribbled down something but was quickly interrupted by a loud thump sound, officer down..She kneeled down "Help, somebody help me!" She took a look at his right ear, noticing the stream of crimson red that looked like it could keep going forever. "Sorry..." This was the last thing the youngster was able to murmur before being pushed away by the concerned people that seek to aid the officer.

They had less than 4 minutes remaining but with a distraction created Hoai and Aubrey could keep moving.. Using the moment of chaos to their advantage they sneaked into the hall that the officer, now being taken care of by a self-proclaimed doctor, had been guarding. There was nothing special about the hall, a wooden door here and there, but nothing interesting besides some weird stains in the carpet.

"Alright Payton we're in, now what?" Even if the cameras of the bank had been cut earlier, Payton was still able to navigate them, the map of the bank memorized and secured into his thick skull. "Keep going straight until the hall divides, then take a left and then a left again you'll see two metal doors facing each other, it's the one in the left, now, you shouldn't encounter any guards, they should be changing shifts right now, but stay on the lookout" And they did. Everything had been going way too smoothly, suspiciously smooth, Audrey noticed, but hey she wasn't going to complain.

"Wait a second" Hoai had stretched an arm in front of her stopping her in her tracks, "He said to use the door on the left, right?" He said referring to the two reinforced metal doors that were in the hall, she nodded slowly trying to catch on to what he meant. "His left or our left?" The look on his face was a perfect combination of confusion and determination. "Hoai..." This voice came along with a sigh from Payton "Tell me something" The voice was calm and soothing, something not characteristic of him. "How the fuck would you know which one is my left?!" They could almost hear the vein popping on his forehead. "Hehe true..." Aubrey rolled her eyes while chuckling at his friend's moment of stupidity. "2 minutes 13 seconds" Payton remained.

Wasting no more time she approached the thick metal door, to her left, and placed her hands on it. The heat that radiated off her was enough to make Hoai sweat and he was at least 5 feet away from her. 26.8 seconds later the steel that had previously made up the protecting barrier, aka door, had become useless after a big hole had been melted into it. "We're in" She announced "You need to check boxes 158, 231, 324 and 176" Payton said referring to the safety deposit boxes. Aubrey began to act on them. As she went ahead and partially melted them Hoai had to go through the content of them all. Using his super speed, he was able to look through everything and find what they were looking for.

Shooting followed by the sound of sirens penetrated their ears. "The heck...what's going on?" Aubrey wondered looking at Hoai who dropped the watch he was examining and was gone for a split of a second. "They've taken hostages and the police is here, the bank is being robbed...by someone besides us" He was quick to give a status update on the situation and clarify on the last part. "Not trying to hurry you or anything but if ya'll don't leave within the next 13 seconds the probability of getting not only caught but also exposed increases by a factor of 78 and don't forget why you are there"

They look into each other's eyes for a split second and before she could say something Aubrey found herself outside, a good 4 streets from the bank. With a woosh of air a small figure with black hair joined her, Jia. Another second passed and this time Hoai had Megan on his arms. "We gotta go, now" Hoai had strategically dropped all of them by their silver SUV. Everyone began entering the truck when more shooting was heard.

"No, we can't leave. We have to save those people" Megan turned her view from the bank to her friends and the building once more. "It's too risky Meg" Aubrey pointed out, she hated to say it but it was the truth. "What's the point of having powers if we can't help people" This time it was Jia who spoke, her sharp eyes as big as saucers staring right at her. "Besides, what's life without a little risk?" Damn these kids and their big hearts, she swore one day they would get killed because of them. "Anyone have a plan?" Aubrey gave in, she had a soft spot for the kids and it was hard to deny them anything, and honestly, she too wanted to save those people.
...

"There's no way in" They had decided to send Hoai to search for an entrance point as there was too much security around the perimeter and they couldn't risk getting spotted. "Now what?" Megan began pacing "Hey Payton, do you have access to the security cameras?" If they were gonna find a way to get in they needed to know what the heck was going on in there, and it couldn't hurt to know what they were up against.

"Always, I'll send you a link" They quickly pulled a laptop from under the seat of the SUV receiving visual feedback almost immediately.

Blood, people sitting in a circle with a gun being pointed at their head, men in masks. That's what they were expecting, not this. Everyone and I mean everyone was down even those who had ended up in a compromising position in the restrooms. They didn't seem dead, just unconscious, which honestly just made the situation even weirder. "There!" Megan pointed at one of the camera's view at the bottom of the screen, it seemed to be the only one that was capturing any type of motion at the moment. After clicking on it, they were able to have a clear view of the scene. Two figures stood there, a masculine one accompanied by a female one, both wearing smoke masks, hey at least they got one thing right.

"Wait a minute isn't that..." Hoai began "The vault we broke into" Aubrey finished. Before they could act on this new info the couple was gone, they hadn't run they had just...disappeared.

"Hoai perimeter now!" Hoai was gone, a small amount of smoke in his trail being the only proof he had been standing there before "Megan see if you can pick up on any suspicious phone activity, they can't have gone too far and they may be trying to contact someone. Jia we need to know what in the name of caramelized pickles happen in there" With that, both girls began running towards the bank. This wasn't a normal robbery, something was off, but what? Whatever it was none of them liked it.

Damn it, it was supposed to be a good day, they had even rented a couple DVDs to watch when they got back to headquarters, they even got Jia to bake some of her famous extra chewy peanut butter and marshmallow cookies. Oh well, it seems their weekend had just becomed a whole lot more intriguing.