Arson cursed underneath his breath. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he stood in the center of the large bank’s plaza, with his hand inside his suit jacket.

  “Everybody get down, right bloody now, any quick movements and everybody is dead!”

  Arson looked over toward Troy. His best friend wore a beautiful dress and heels. Contacts that gave her beautifully auburn irises, red square framed glasses, and a long blond wig as a disguise.

  Her mouth hung open as she watched the group of gun wielding bank robbers stride past the dressed up Builders of Godhood. Her surprised gaze mirrored on the faces of the rest of his guild mates as he looked at the rest of him.

  He’d literally just given them all the order to put on their masks and begin the heist, only to touch the Sword adorned ornamentation a mere blink before a group of balaclava wearing intruders stormed in behind them all.

  Arson sighed, and removed his hand from the mask hidden within his suit jacket and began to message his team through their Overlays.

  Arson: Xani, turn back on the bloody cameras, please.

  Xani: On it…!

  Xani pulled out her tablet, ignoring the screaming bank robbers as they tried to round everyone up, rolling her eyes as a shotgun was aimed at her in threat.

  Arson: Khalif, start evacuating everyone, please…

  Khalif: Got it, boss.

  Khalif stepped into Arson’s shadow and disappeared, one of the bank robbers noticing the vanishing act and beginning to look at his group strangely, as none of them were dropping to the floor as the others around them were.

  Arson: Troy, try and play nice. I know you are probably going to take this as an opportunity to blow off some steam, but please be nice to the idiots.

  Troy: No promises, boo. These fools are getting in the way of my boo living his dream…

  Troy blew him a kiss and began to crack her knuckles.

  Arson: No ultraviolet clones, please, I need you functional and…

  Arson sent the message without even completing it, knowing Troy was no longer paying attention. Arson chuckling inwardly as she began to stride toward a bank robber aiming a shotgun at a guard who refused to lay down.

  Arson: Rob, you got more knock out bombs?

  Rob: You know it!

  Arson: Good, hit anything that moves, hostages included. We may be able to save the heist if we can get everyone out of the way…

  Rob: My pleasure.

  Rob laughed, pulling potions with a smokey consistency within, and smiled as a nearby robber began to swivel his weapon back and forward between Troy who was literally stretching as she approached a bank robber, and the smiling Rob.

  “Yo, boss daddy, something ain’t right here!”

  Arson: Micro, please stop any of the guards from doing anything stupid.

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  Micro nodded as she walked by him, blades suddenly appearing in her hands.

  “Boss daddy, I need help over here,” yelled the masked woman in front of Arson. He took off his sunglasses and let his aura begin to flow free as he looked over at her; power rolling off his body, the room going silent as the pressure was felt by all gathered.

  “You all are going to regret getting in my way,” said Arson in a whisper, his words causing the woman to jump backward, and fire her weapon at point blank range at Arson. The shotgun rang out and chaos ensued as all the bank robbers began to fire at anything still standing.

  “Boss daddy,” yelled the woman as Arson dusted mana crystal particulates off his suit jacket, spitting out mana stone shards from the shotgun blast.

  “Yeah…”

  Arson reached out, yanking the shotgun out of her hands, knocking the woman unconscious with a quick strike. The handle of the weapon collided with her temple, and Arson crushed the barrel before flinging the gun aside in annoyance.

  Another shotgun rang out and Arson looked over to see the sole security guard’s body wobble before he fell over headless, Troy roaring in anger as she became a blur.

  Sparks, haven’t seen her use her kicker abilities in a while, she must not have liked that, thought Arson suddenly feeling bad at the loss of life.

  Troy: I’m sorry, Arson, I didn’t think he was going to pull the trigger!

  Arson: It’s not your fault, love. Just remember that we aren’t everyone else. Just because we don’t need to kill innocence, doesn’t mean that everyone else feels the same, my love. Don’t carry the weight of others actions on your shoulders, just do your best, that’s all you can do.

  Troy: Thanks, boo.

  Arson drew his scythe from his spatial inventory and let his hair down as a growl escaped his chest. His anger at once again having his goal of checking a bank robbery off his list being thwarted was enough to send him over the edge.

  Though Arson’s many goals were mostly philanthropic in nature, he felt his urge to develop a criminal enterprise below the surface was in his blood.

  Yet as he looked around himself in that moment as the Builders all worked to save those inside the bank, Arson couldn’t help but smile. His anger was diminished, Arson suddenly feeling as if he knew that his team and him could accomplish anything they wanted as long as they stayed together.

  Arson charged forward, swiping his scythe out, knocking a robber’s gun aside as he fired at the unmoving Xani. Khalif emerging behind her in the next instant, teleporting her through the shadows to the second floor of the bank while she continued to type away unaffected by the goings on within the bank.

  Arson swung his weapon a second time, yanking the same robber off their feet by using his scythe like a hook to pull the man toward himself. The man screamed and was choked slammed before he truly knew what was happening.

  Micro appeared beside the group of bank robbers aiming their guns at the nearby teller’s, dismantling the weapons they held with quick and precise slices from her twin blades. While Troy’s many clones blurred throughout the room, striking down Micro’s disarmed opponents before they could react to the loss of their weapons.

  The bank robbers had no chance to recover from the swift actions of the builders; Rob’s laughter and swift potions taking away any chance of escape. The sound of shattering bottles and screams suppressed by laughter and breaking bones; Troy leaving not a single robber upright.

  Arson nodded to himself as he spun slowly, looking around the room as silenced filled the space once more. The doors of the bank opened up and a Graveyard officer strode in; Arson putting away his scythe and raising his hands until he recognized the officer.

  “Well bloody embers, you might as well just join the force at this point young master Gestalt, your starting to make us look bad.”

  Arson took a deep breath, shaking his head.

  “Wrong place, right time sir, I apologize that we couldn’t save everyone,” said Arson, gesturing toward the security guard’s body.

  Troy stood over the dead man wearing a grimace that cut Arson deep. Arson sighing before he looked back at the same officer he and the builders seemed to interact with frequently since they entered the resort; the man trying to give Arson a reassuring smile.

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself, kid, all you can do is your best,” said the officer, patting Arson on the shoulder.

  “Thanks, sir, give me a moment to collect my people and we’ll get out of the way,” said Arson, looking over the man’s shoulder toward the rest of the officers funneling into the building with their weapons raised.

  “Yeah, right, kid, my commander would kill me if we don’t do an interview before you leave. You’re one of the most celebrated scions down here, kid.”

  Arson rolled his eyes, letting the officer pull him along; both he and the officer heading toward the door as he prepared himself to smile for cameras, already seeing flashing lights from where he stood.

  “Let’s just get this over with…”

  …

  Arson watched the interview with the rest of his friends, sulking as they all cracked jokes at his expense.

  “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, we’ll see about throwing you all to the wolves in the future, camera shy or not,” said Arson, giving a pointed look to Khalif. The Cultivator turned pale at the thought, his laughter cut off immediately.

  “Be nice, Arson,” said Troy.

  After the failed bank job, Arson decided to actually relax. He and the builders spent time enjoying meals, and actually partaking in the events offered by the resort.

  The longer that he spent casually letting time pass him by, however, the more his eyes continued to drift toward the timer in the corner of his vision.

  He knew that his time was limited, yet he wouldn’t replace the new experiences that he made with his friends since returned from Endless.

  It’s okay, Arson, there is a time for work, and there is time to play…

  “On another note…” said Khalif, drawing the conversation away from his potential holo-cast debut, and toward news he’d just come across while visiting the bounty hunters building within the resort.

  “We going to join that hunters’ event?” asked Khalif.

  Arson nodded, looking between all his friends. Xani, Rob, Micro, Khalif, Lane, Jasmine and Troy all looking at him for an answer.

  “Yeah, I think so,” said Arson with a smile.

  “Nice,” said Khalif, suddenly excited.

  “We have a lot of choices, anyone you looking at in particular on the list they put out,” asked Khalif.

  Arson thought a moment, before pressing a button on the conference table; the desktop station table manifesting the image of a smiling young man.

  “I think we will start small and go from there,” said Arson, pulling up their targets information.

  “Former Sword member, Oscar aka Lowly, surname unknown, rumored child of Kingpin Connor StoneFoot,” said Khalif, reading off the displayed details.

  “Why this guy?” asked Xani.

  “No reason,” started Arson, looking at all the builders and then back at the hologram above the table.

  “I just got a feeling!”