Star Trek-Outwardly Mobile

The Bank Job


By Jay P Hailey,
The Bendross Players
and
Jenni-Purr Hedlund

Los Angeles, July, 2125

[Note this story is Sequel to the Bendross stories on the Bedross Page]


Hamilton's entire world was a yellow kid with green eyes. Some sort of body coloration job, it was very subtle and well done, yet bland.

Hamilton assumed it was gang colors. "Breathe." He said.

"Frak you." The yellow kid hissed.

"You're a pro now. Pros don't make stupid mistakes and you can't afford to either." Hamilton said.

Hamilton focused near his face - the Kid's weapon was new to Hamilton. But the white knuckled grip was old news.

"Kanni, You said these people were soft!" The Kid's voice held an edge of hysteria.

"Shut the frak up!" Kanni yelled.

Hamilton could feel that Kanni and Martin where very close together and motionless - but he couldn't risk a look.

"What's this thing you have pointed at my head?" Hamilton asked. "I've never seen one."

"A Disruptor." The Kid said. "Blow your head clean off."

"Uh huh." Hamilton said. "I've never seen on before. What's it do?"

"It's a sort of phased microwave laser thingee." The Kid said confidently. "It'll burn your flesh from the inside out and you'll explode."

"A microwave laser?" Hamilton was confused "But any metal.. Oh! Space ships."

They were silent for a moment. The woman the third yellow kid held let out a gurgling moan. She was near a full fledged panic.

"So, what this you have pointed at me?" The Kid asked. His confident mask almost hid the quaver.

"A Gauss gun, Magnetic coils accelerate steel needles to insane velcocities. It'll liquify your head." Hamilton saud drily. He'd seen it happen to people and animals too much.

"Kanni, he's pointing a fraking needle gun at me." The kid said intently.

"Let's talk priorities." Hamilton said.

"Frak you!" Kanni yelled.

"I want us all to walk out of here alive." Hamilton said. "What do you want?"

"I want you to shut up!" Kanni screamed.

"Be proffesional." Martin said. "Don't make your homies look bad."

"My what?"

"Your fellow gang members. If you act like a green punk, that'll reflect back on them, won't it?" Martins voice was pleasantly conversational.

"We want the money." the Kid facing Hamilton said.

"And If I have to kill you all to get it, that's alright with me!" Kanni yelled.

Hamilton said "Look, right now it's armed robbery. That's bad but it's not so bad. Turn it into murder and you'll be crawling with cops in no time."

"Shut up!" Kanni screamed.

The Hostage held by the third Yellow kid started crying.

"How about this?" Hamilton said. "You take the money and walk out - no shooting. We all win."

Kanni was about to yell but stopped. "That's the frakking point!"

"Okay, good, good. Now we know what we want we can start taking steps in that direction." Hamilton said. He was closing the sale.

"Hook these guys up!" Hamilton yelled to the room at large. "Let's get them their cash and get them out of here."

"I'm not sure I like that idea." Martin said, calmly.

"You gonna stop me with a hole in your head, old man?" Kanni sneered.

"Yup." Martin's confidence was so unshakable that Hamilton heard the dry rasping of death moving across it. Hamilton's guts shook. "I hope I didn't just wet myself," he thought.

"You take the money and walk, we all win." Hamilton said, smiling.

The Kid facing Hamilton nodded "Yeah. Yeah, sounds good."

"Sir?" A male voice said shakily behind them "We don't have any currency here."

Hamilton blinked a few times. The woman being held hostage whimpered "Please... please...."

"Kanni, you said they were rich!" The Kid was close to loosing it. "How can you be Frakking rich with no Frakking currency!?"

"Kid, stay with me." Hamilton said. "Stay right here with me."

"Well you better go get us some currency, then!" the Third kid yelled.

"Give it to them! Give them what they want!" The woman shrieked.

Hamilton took a deep breath. "Breathe, Kid. We all need oxygen flow to the brains right now."

The Kid took a deep breath along with Hamilton. "It's a frakking bank with no MONEY, man!"

Hamilton nodded. "Yeah. That's kind of new on me, too."

"We gotta kill 'em!" Kanni sounded much less confident. Hamilton winced. Kanni had just seen his own death in Martin's eyes and wasn't taking it well.

"Shoot somebody and this ends with blood all over the floor and no one gets what they want." Hamilton said "We can do better."

"NO!" The Woman screamed and tried to sink to the floor.

"Hey!" The Yellow kid holding her yelled.

"Would you get a Fucking HOLD of yourself, Please!?" Hamilton Barked at her.

The woman burst into demoralized tears.

Hamilton hadn't seen it often but recognized it. "It's her first time." he explained to the Kid holding the weapon on him.

The Kid nodded. "Yeah."

Hamilton took a winger. "Yours too?"

"No!" The boy was outraged. "I've killed people all over! We're Orions! We're the hunters! You're the prey!"

"Yeah, Kid. Yeah." Hamilton nodded. "Martin, did you hear that? The Orions."

Martin took the clue "I've heard of them. Bad news."

Hamilton's kid Rallied "Yeah! We're the worst!"

Hamilton nodded "So that really gives me motivation to work with you to get us out of here."

The Kid pressed his disruptor into Hamiltons head. "And this didn't!?"

"Stay with me Kid. We need to get you some cash and get you out of here." Hamilton said.

"Jrod, you are such a frakking idiot." Said the third kid.

"Shut up! We have to complete the raid and get out of here!" Jrod, The kid holding the weapon on Hamilton said. "We've been here too frakking long as it is."

"Raid for WHAT!?" Kanni yelled "They don't have any money!"

"Money isn't the only thing to steal. C'Mon you gotta use your imagination." Hamilton said.

"Well, yeah master Frakking criminal, tell me all about it!" Kanni said.

"I'm serious. I used to be in this line of work." Hamilton said. "We can hook you up and you can get out of this way ahead."

"What do you mean?" Jrod asked.

"Mister, what the hell are you doing?" The voice behind the counter asked.

"I'd like to take out a Loan to PURCHASE YOUR FUCKING LIFE!" Hamilton yelled.

"We have to kill some to let 'em know we're serious," Kanni said.

"Make sure it's really important to you." Martin said. "It'll be your last act in this world."

"We have to start with him!" Kanni screeched at and about Martin.

Hamilton sighed. "Okay, let's get back on track here. Swag, then leave. Say it with me, Jrod."

Jrod obediently repeated it with Hamilton "Swag, then leave."

"What's Swag?" Jrod asked.

"Loot. Plunder. Treasure. Ill gotten gains." Hamilton explained.

"oh. Good. Okay. Let's do that."

"Jrod you frakking idiot, he's not on OUR SIDE!" the third yellow kid yelled.

The woman hostage shrieked "Well he's not on OURS!"

"Like I said - our interests coincide - you want swag, then leave. We want you to leave, we're willing to part with the swag to get that." Hamilton explained.

"He's making sense!" Jrod yelled. "Lets go with it and get out of here!"

"Tell your friend to back off!" Kanni said, shrilly.

"Well, Kanni, you haven't paid for that, yet." Hamilton said. "What do you offer?"

"I want him to back up off me!" Kannie yelled.

-*-

"Distpatch, A-12, please acknowledge." The voice said over the communicator.

"A-12, go ahead, Dispatch." Kellington said.

"Call, armed robbery in progress at Bank of Earth branch, Rosecrans and Washington. Be advised, elderly and Orions having an armed standoff. Respond code three. Response team is en route."

"Unit A-12, acknowledges, responding." Kellington said.

Kellinton hit three switches with practiced ease, sirens began blaring and lights flashing. The Vehicle was removed from auto pilot and emergency power began to flow to the impeller drives.

Kellington rolled the flyer into a steep descending turn and accelerated to the south.

Alkuzati, his partner sounded a little choked, but it was the G's of the high speed turn. "I... hate... old people..."

As the flight leveled out, Kellington saw a handful more police vehicles flashing and moving with a purpose towards the suburb called Lawndale.

"You gotta admit they cut down on the violent crime." Kellington grinned. His grandmother's collection of tattoos, curse words, fire arms and body armor from the pre-war period always amused him.

"They *are* the violent crime." Alkuzati snarled. "I'm telling you man, we need to start taking those old guns off the street."

"Oh yeah. That'll work. Because Old people are so into obeying the law to begin with." Kellington laughed.

"Fuck 'em. If they want to play wild west each other they can have stunners." Alkuzati said. "These aren't the fucking old days."

"Yeah, well remember who bailed our ass out of the AI war." Kellington grinned.

"They did fucking not!" Alkuzati said. "Almost all our old folks were busy surviving the nuke and shooting each other. They aren't war heroes!"

"Anyone who lived through that shit is a war hero." Kellington said firmly.

Alkuzati shook his head. "We're building a world that works here. We don't need disfunctional relics running loose endangering everyone else."

"Spoken like a true patriot." Kellington said.

They were approaching the bank now where several other police flyers and vehicles were already at the building.

"Armor?" Kellington asked. They may have political disagreements but you covered your partner's ass.

Alkuzati checked his ballistic armor and other equipment "Check."

"Weapons." Kellington said as he grounded the vehicle.

Alkuzati took two weapons out of holsters and checked them. "Stunner, check. Lethal, check."

"Go." Kellington popped the canopy. Alkuzati hopped out of the vehicle with practiced ease as Kellington completed his own check and left the patrol flyer.

-*-

Hamilton didn't quite keep the wince inside as the sirens approached and then stopped.

"Frak, frak FRAK!" Kanni screeched - his weapon extended toward Martin.

"Stay with me, stay with me." Hamilton said urgently. "If you're smart, you can use this."

This was an outright lie. The cops meant they were all in grave danger. But as sure as hell these yellow kids would never leave the block with a cent of stolen money. But Hamilton was counting on the kid not to know that.

"Locals. Guards." Jrod said tightly.

"They'll negotiate for hostages." Hamilton lied earnestly. "You have a bank full of bargaining chips. Stay chilly and this can work out."

Kanni's eyes were wild. "We won't be captured! We'll die before we're captured!" But the rasp in his voice meant that his heart wasn't in it. His adrenaline glands were, however.

"I'm for sale," Martin said, smoothly continuing Hamilton's line. "You have to buy me backing up. What do you offer?"

"I'M OFFERING YOU A DISTRUPTOR BEAM!!" Kanni screeched.

"Let a hostage go, and we're cool." Martin was implacable. "It'll let the people outside know you mean business."

"What?" Kanni didn't believe his ears.

"Business, Kid. Not martyrdom, no political statements, no fanaticism, it's just a business transaction." Hamilton said "That way the cops know you're reasonable, and reasonable measures can sort things out." Hamilton explained. Thirty years before Hamilton was born, this might have actually been true. Hamilton kept his game face on. Police negotiators were just a tool to lure suckers into ambushes.

Fortunately Kanni, Jrod and the Third Kid were green enough not to know this.

Kanni smiled. He thought he had an evil idea. "Hano, let that woman go and cover this human."

"Are you sure?" Hano asked.

"That's good." Hamilton said. "That's a good start."

Kanni looked at Hamilton and Martin "Do humans get crazy as they get older or something?"

"Yes, Sir. That's exactly the case." The voice behind Hamilton at the counter agreed earnestly.

The sound of running feet could be heard outside. Hamilton didn't know how many vehicles had arrived. He prayed the SWAT team was hung over this morning.

Hamilton debated if he could turn and shoot the teller "I am trying to be the voice of reason, here people. It's bank robbery, not the end of the world. We focus on first things first and we can all walk out of here."

"I have to say that your needle gun doesn't look very reasonable to me, Sir." Jrod said.

Jrod got general agreement from the bank patrons.

Hamilton blinked. "I'm not terribly happy about your disruptor, there, kid."

Hano pointed his distruptor at Martin. "Get out of here." he told the woman he'd been trying to hold.

-*-

With audio sensors, intelligence officers were reporting the situation

"The shorter black one is trying to act as a negotiator, with decent success."

"We have files on them."

"Jesus Christ, the big one's a space marine."

That decided Captain Mancuso, the scene commander. "Stun grenades. Now."

-*-

The rest of the Bank patrons leaned as if to follow the woman.

Kanni exasperated waved his weapon and yelled "Not YOU!"

As soon as the weapon was off him Martin stepped in and grabbed Kanni.

Hamilton grimaced and prepared to move.

Jrod, bless his newbie soul had subconsciously written Hamilton in as "The guy I am talking to," and therefore not an immediately appropriate target to shoot. He turned to shoot at Martin. Hamilton planted a big kick into his groin and clubbed him with the well used needle gun.

As he did so, Kano's shot went off - a greenish beam of energy sizzled across the bank. There was screaming, but Hamilton wasn't listening. Nothing worth saying or listening to was happening right then.

Cursing himself for turning soft in his old age, Hamilton whipped the gun around in time to see a small cylindrical object crash through the window to the bank. Hamilton was about two years too late as he flung himself for cover. "GRENADE" he shouted, trying to warn Martin.

It was the SWAT Team's way of dealing with armed robbery. The civilians in the bank were counted as already dead. This way, the punk-ass morons would never get a chance to hurt anyone else.

It made perfect sense - from outside the bank.

The grenade detonated, Hamilton's last thought was that it hurt worse than he'd heard it would.

-*-

Hamilton had the bed spins. He didn't like that. Bed spins meant drinking. He didn't recall drinking.

"Shit." He whispered.

"Sir, are you alright?"

Hamilton considered it. "I've just been blown up by a grenade. I am doing surprisingly well in the light of that."

"It was a stun grenade, Sir. There should be no lasting harm."

Hamilton opened his eyes blearily into the face of an earnest looking Emergency Medical technician. The guy looked twelve years old. "That's what they told you, huh?"

The EMT grinned "I did get to experience the effect in the Army, Sir. If you experience any persistent ringing in the ears or hearing loss, contact your doctor immediately."

Hamilton sat up. It hurt and was slow going. "Shit, that's just how you know the concert was any good."

Hamilton noticed that Martin was already standing and swigging water from a bottle while talking to the cops. No one said life was fair.

-*-

The cop was slim and had rakish lines to his face. "Sir. Your weapon."

Hamilton took it gingerly. It was unloaded. "Ummm. You're not going to confiscate it?"

The cop looked grim "As much as I'd like to sir, I can't. However I'd like to suggest you be careful with it." His glare said "draw that thing near me and you won't be getting it or any part of your body back."

Hamilton nodded. "Thank you."

"Now, I have some questions." The cop said.

"Okay." Hamilton nodded. "Think I could get some water, too? And some aspirin?"

"Yes, Sir." The Cops expression said that Hamilton's hangover was well deserved.

-*-

Later, outside the Lawndale police station, Hamilton found Martin sitting on a bench waiting for him.

"Hey," Hamilton said.

"Hey," Martin replied.

"Kids say they'll be here to pick us up as soon as they can call a cab." Hamilton reported.

"We'll be perfectly safe out here waiting for them." Martin said.

Hamilton sat down slowly on the bench. "You think so?"

Martin looked at Hamilton directly. This was unusual. "They've turned this place into Disneyland."

Hamilton looked at the bright shiny buildings of the rebuilt Los Angeles. He looked at the cars and flyers streaming by. Teenagers bounced down the street, dressed rock stupid and listening to some crap Hamilton couldn't hear clearly. It sounded like dance mixed classical sung by a smoky jazz singer.

"They didn't lay a hand on me." Hamilton sighed.

Martin nodded. "Same here."

"Usually the police rough me up to figure out what I was up to. They used to figure, rightly, that I wasn't up to anything they'd like anyway." Hamilton said. "Now they said 'please stop being a dangerous old looney'."

Martin looked back at the evening sky line. "Same here."

"We're relics here. Relics of a different time." Hamilton said.

Martin nodded. "I was slow in the bank, to let that kid get so close."

"Could that have something to do with being on the high side of sixty years old?" Hamilton grinned.

"When he gave me an opening, I was slow, too." Martin said. "I didn't want to kill him, and he almost twisted out of my grip before I disabled him."

Hamilton nodded. "You're not used to it, Huh?"

"I'm used to home. I can always see it coming there and move casually before things get out of control." Martin said. "I find I move casually now, like it or not."

Hamilton looked at Martin. "And how much to you bench these days?"

Martin looked a little sour. "350 Kilograms. Once."

Hamilton snorted. "If I counted it all day, maybe I'd get up to 350 kg."

"Maybe I belong here on a Nerf-Earth." Martin said.

Hamilton chuckled. "Do you really think that?"

There was a long pause.

The Taxi pulled up. Some sort of swooshy, futuristic thing that Hamilton couldn't identify. It opened like a yellow inviting flower. John Ashby, Ellen Kerenski and Joshua Sunrise were there. They waved cheerfully. There was no driver.

Martin slid to a standing position easily and then offered Hamilton a hand.

"Last time I was at Disneyland, Disney Special Security beat me and threw me out the back gate." Hamilton said. "They took about fifteen hundred euros worth gear off me, too."

"And just what were you up to at Disneyland?" Martin asked with the faintest hint of a grin

"The usual."

"I'll bet you a bucket load of Work-energy-social-benefit-credit-objects that they don't remember that." Martin said.

Hamilton blinked. "You're right. We have to take the kids to Disneyland while we're here."

"Where?" Ellen asked.

"Oh, you think the Andorians were weird." Hamilton said.

"Well, it's said to be the Happiest Place on Earth." Martin said seriously, sliding into the cab.

Ellen, John and Joshua exchanged looks.

 

-end-

Disclaimer: Paramount owns all things Trek. I claim original characters and situations in this story for me.

This story posted by permission of the author. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Jay P. Hailey

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March 11, 2006