Author's Note: I found this short story that I wrote for a creative writing class I took last year. I based it off the novel I started called "A Gang of Thieves". The assignment was to write a story with an outcast and a villain. It was fun to write, so I suggest trying it out if any of you writers are experiencing writer's block. I hope you guys enjoy!

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"You remember the plan?" Fox asked.

Ace watched as Scout's hands trembled over her gun. Fox raced down the street. Scout's shoulder slammed into the door when he took a sharp turn. Twitch was typing with one hand while holding onto the laptop with his other.

"Of course we do," Ace said.

Scout nodded her head and bit down on her lip. She could feel the bile rising in the back of her throat. The men felt a rush whenever they managed to escape with a bag full of cash. They wasted it all on alcohol and lines of cocaine. Within a few short weeks the money would be gone. Scout only ever joined so that she'd have the money to feed her son Jesse.

She traced her finger along the jagged scar on her chin. Ace wasn't happy with how their last job went. Scout didn't rip the expensive collection of rings off of the teller's fingers before leaving the bank. Ace smashed a beer bottle on her face to teach her a lesson. He warned her that if she disobeyed again, Jesse would be the one to suffer.

The brakes screeched and the van came to a hault. She grabbed the seat in front of her to stop herself from falling. Fox had parked behind the bank.

"Don't go until I say," Twitch told them. "I haven't hacked the security system yet."

"They can't see us. Can they?" Fox reached for the key.

"Of course not. I'm not stupid," Twitch said. "I disabled the security cameras around the perimeters before we got here."

Ace pulled the mask down over his face. A wolf with its lips curled into a sickening snarl was staring at her. Scout took in a deep breath before putting on her mask. She pulled up her hood to cover her blonde hair. She fiddled with the earpiece Twitch had given her.

"Okay," Twitch said. "Go when I tell you to."

Scout could hear her heart pounding in her ears. Her breath was trapped inside the mask and she could feel the sweat rolling down her skin. She hooked her finger through the handle on the door. Her stomach tightened as she heard Twitch's typing become faster.

"Go."

Ace and Scout burst out of the van. A steel door was the only thing stopping them from entering.

"The code is 1-9-9-7-1-0-1-8," Twitch told them.

Ace entered the code and charged in. Scout stayed close behind him. There was a loud buzz when the door slammed shut.

"You're locked in now," Twitch's voice told them. "I rerouted their security and sent a message to the police. They think this is just a drill. No one is concerned."

They stormed into the bank. They hurried down a narrow hallway and into an office. People were examining their computers and trying to fix their blank screens. All of their eyes grew large when they saw Scout and Ace.

"Get down on the ground!" Ace yelled.

He raised his gun higher and pointed it at them. The workers dropped onto their stomachs and threw their hands over their heads. A few tried to scurry under their desks.

They burst through the next door to see the steel blinds lowering over the windows. The civilians in line were watching with their mouths hanging wide open. A teller turned around to see Ace pointing his gun at her. She clutched her chest and took in a deep breath. She reached behind her and pressed the small red button. Twitch had disabled the alarm.

"Everybody down on the ground!" Ace yelled. "All cellphones out of your pockets!"

They dropped onto the floor. Many were on their knees and were fishing through their pockets. They slid their phones across the floor before lying down on their stomach.

A bowl of mints was sitting on the counter. Scout tipped the bowl over and emptied the mints onto the ground. Ace grabbed a man by his collar and pulled him up onto his feet.

"I promise I gave you my phone," the man said as he held his hands up.

"Shut up." Ace ripped the bowl out of Scout's grip and shoved it into the man's hands. "Go and collect everyone's."

The man nodded his head and Ace let go of him. He bent down and picked up the phones. They were slipping through his fingers and smashing off of the ground. He got onto his knees and began piling them in as quick as he could.

"If I find out that any of you tried to be a hero and kept their phone, I'll blow his brains out," Ace said aiming the gun at the man. "Understand?"

Ace pulled out the bottle of bleach in his bag. He unscrewed the lid. When the man came back, Ace poured the bleach into the bowl.

Scout tried to swallow, but she struggled against the lump forming in her throat. She ran over to the counter and hopped over it. The office workers were still lying down. She heard a faint sob from under one of the desks. She knelt down to see a woman burying her face in her arms.

"Get up," Scout told her.

The woman looked up. A mixture of mascara and tears were streaming down her face. She bit down on her lip to stop herself from sobbing. She sprung up onto her feet.

"Go to the safe," Scout said.

The woman's heels clicked across the floor. Scout followed her with the gun pressed up against her back. Scout had no intention on pulling the trigger. She made herself a promise the night she joined the gang. She would never kill anyone. Ace had spent many nights explaining the rush he felt when he killed. She would nod her head to hide her disgust.

"Please," the woman said. "Please, don't shoot me."

"Don't give me a reason to," Scout said.

The woman hesitantly brought her hand up to the lock. Her fingers fiddled with the knob and tried to unlock it. She muttered a curse when she failed.

"Scout, you're going to have to scare her," Twitch told her. "We're running out of time."

Scout took a quick look over her shoulders. He hacked into the security cameras and was watching their every move.

She pushed the gun farther into the woman's back. The woman took in a sharp breath.

"Please, my name is Cynthia," she said. "I have kids at home. I need to get home to them."

"Open the safe and I promise you'll get home," Scout said.

"You don't understand. My kids need me."

"I have a son."

Cynthia pressed her forehead against the safe. She took in a deep breath. Her shaky hands managed to put in the correct combination. She spun the wheel on the front of the safe. The door creaked open.

"Ace, the safe is open," Twitch said.

He ran up behind them and shoved Cynthia out of the way. She crumpled down onto the ground. She covered her head with her arms and curled up into a ball.

"You can go back with the others," Scout said.

Cynthia crawled across the ground and took shelter under her desk.

Ace threw his bag onto the ground and unzipped it. "Go watch the hostages."

Scout jumped back over the counter. She held her gun high. She prayed that everyone was too scared to challenge her.

She watched as they laid whimpering on the ground. A few dared to look up at her, but most were staring down at the floor.

Ace was soon out with the bag hung across his shoulder.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"I'm ready," he said.

Scout took a step forward, but Ace held out his gun. He pointed it towards her. She stopped and her heart felt like it had dropped into her stomach.

"You're staying here," he told her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked.

"I'm tired of dealing with you, Avery."

Scout gasped at hearing her real name. "You're going to kill me?"

"You aren't one of us," he said. "I'm not splitting this money with you."

"I'm part of the gang."

"It didn't work out. We do this for the money. You do this for personal reasons. That makes you weak."

"Just let me leave then. I'll take Jesse and you'll never see us again."

Ace laughed. Scout was panting for air behind her mask. She looked at the security cameras pointing down at her.

They all knew, she thought. They all knew that when I came in here, I wasn't going to be leaving.

"That's not going to happen," Ace said. "You know who we all are."

"Ace, just shoot her and get out!" Twitch's voice cracked in her ear. "We're running out of time. The cops will be here any minute."

Scout dropped to the ground right before Ace pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the window and shattered the glass. The civilians screamed and crawled to the back corner of the room.

Scout's hands shook as she raised the gun. She didn't want to kill anyone. Her promise was still valid. She couldn't die though. She had to get out of the bank alive.

She chewed on her lip and aimed for Ace's shoulder. The blast from the gun rocked her back on her heels. Ace yelled and his gun slipped out of his hand. He grabbed his arm. The blood already began to soak through his jacket.

"See?" he said through his gritted teeth. She could barely hear him over the ringing in her ears. "You can't even kill somebody."

Scout aimed her gun again and fired. The bullet whistled by his ear and he dropped to his knees. She had shattered another window.

"You're so pathetic," he told her. He cradled his arm as he stood back up.

Scout grabbed the gun with both hands for better aim. She closed one eye. If she shot him in the leg he wouldn't be able to chase after her. She pulled the trigger and heard a faint click. Ace rushed towards her and she pushed the trigger down harder and harder.

Ace picked up the bowl of cellphones off of the counter. Scout's heart was pounding in her chest while she watched Ace raise the bowl. She was continuing to pull the trigger, but she knew there was no hope. She had run out of bullets.

Ace brought the bowl down across her face. Her vision went black and she fell. The cellphones rained down onto the floor next to her. Ace threw his leg over her chest and pinned her down.

"Ace, just kill her already!" Twitch screamed.

Ace reached down and tightened his hands around her neck. His wounded arm was weak, but he still managed to crush her throat. Her chest started to burn and she tried to gasp for air. He didn't notice Scout raising her arm until she had torn the mask off of his face.

He was revealed to a room full of people. His identity was no longer a secret. Fox was already driving away from the bank. There was no saving either of them.

"You bitch!" He ripped the mask off of her face.

Scout felt her nose crunch under Ace's fist. Her eyes began to water and she cried out in pain. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. She reached out and started to claw at his neck. She dug her nails into his flesh. He continued to pound his fist into her face.

He picked up a shard of glass off of the floor and stabbed her in the neck. A crimson spray covered Ace's face. The pain exploded in her throat. The bleach seeping into the wound made her feel like her body was on fire. Scout's screams were garbled by the blood rushing into her throat.

The blood trickled out of her mouth. She struggled for a final breath before collapsing.

Ace got up off of Scout once she stopped moving. Only a few civilians were looking up at him. Most were covering their eyes.

He picked his gun up off of the ground. He knew there was nowhere he could go now. He refused to spend the rest of his life rotting inside a jail cell.

He placed the cold barrel of the gun under his chin. He pulled the trigger and joined Scout's body on the ground.