I let out a frustrated scream as I couldn't bring my paddle to the ball in time, resulting in a loss for me. It's been a few years since Dad and I moved away from Lunaris to Aestrea. The house wasn't as pretty or big as the one back in Lunaris but I got used to it over time.

Dad went to work every day and he's been changing jobs a lot recently. I think he just got a new job though, hopefully it doesn't break him mentally again like last time.

I refreshed the game to try again. It was Pong. A ancient arcade game that Dad showed me and often played with me. I heard the front door slam shut and I scrambled up with excitement. I ran to the door, "Welcome back Dad!! Can you play Pong with me?"

Dad just stayed in his spot, leaning against the door. "Dad?" It looked like this job isn't good for him either. But he said that he would stay in this job no matter what because the pay is good.

"Pong?" He spoke, his voice gruff and I caught a sniff of alcohol.

"Dad, did you go drinking? I thought you said you weren't going to drink anymore."

He just ignored me. Jeez. "O'ay, les pay a game ov Pong." He slurred out before making his way into the house, swaying on his feet as he walked.

I ran after him, "You know what Dad, it's fine. You should go get some rest."

He ignored me again and rummaged through the kitchen drawers. "Dad?"

"Game... sthart!"

Then a knife came flying straight at me. I don't think I've screamed that loud my entire life.

I still have the scar on my arm where it sliced me before it struck the wall behind me.

~***~

"They're playing a game of Pong," I explained, "But using banks as paddles and money as the ball."

"How is this like Pong in any way?" Kyle asked, frowning.

"But before that, what exactly is Pong?" Vanessa cut in.

"You've played it before, Nessa." Hugh pointed out. "That game where you passed a ball back and forth on a screen between two paddles. And you can't let the ball touch the floor."

"I think I vaguely remember it. So how is this like the game?" Vanessa asked. She leaned forward to get a closer look at the information spread out around the table.

"I think I might understand what Amelia is getting at..." Lindsey trailed off towards the end.

"There is one person in Sector 2 and one in Sector 4. The time limit to get the money is a week. And if that time is pass then someone dies during the next robbery since one side 'lost a life'. Am I on the right track Amelia?" Vincent summarized, continuing after Lindsey. I nodded. So he can be serious. Huh, who knew.

"But what is the money for and why are they only targeting these two banks?" Max asked.

"Well these two banks are the major banks in these two Sectors. And I don't know, why do people want money?" Hugh replied to Max.

"This is still a little confusing, but Amelia, what else can you gather from the information here?" Kyle said.

"Which bank they're targeting next." I said, reaching my non-injured hand over to enlarge the map of Aestrea. Using a finger, I pointed at each of the banks that were robbed in sequential order. Pointing over at the first one, I hovered my finger over it and said "One." And the number one popped up on top of the bank. So this thing can do voice-to-text recognition.

I did the same for the rest of the banks and paused after the last one. "Fascinating." Vincent said, leaning forward with a grin on his face.

"And the next target is," I pointed to the spot on the map, "Here."

"I see the pattern now!" Vanessa exclaimed, moving even more closer to get a better look. The banks they're targeting are getting bigger and bigger in size. And the money they're robbing is increasing each time too.

"These people have turned robbery into a game. Does that count as childish or does it count as genius?" Hugh asked, leaning with both his elbows on the table.

"Then we need to let the police department know so we can plan to catch them in advance." Max said, pushing away from the table and reaching into his pocket for his phone.

"Wait!" Vincent started. "If we catch this person now, we may not be able to catch the next person without any consequences. Someone might die if this robbery isn't completed on time."

"Then what crazy idea have you got this time?" Lindsey asked with a grin on her face and leaned onto her hand on the table.

Vincent rubbed his hand together and smirked. The faint blue glow of the room lit up part of his face giving him an evil look, "Listen up, this is what we're going to do."

~***~  

I sat in the soft cushion chairs that the second largest bank in sector 4 provided in the waiting area. My eyes wandered around the bank, taking in any detail. Vanessa sat next to me, humming a soft melody to herself as she flipped through a magazine that sat on the table in front of us. Max was at one of the counters pretending to be depositing money, but was relating our plan to the staff members to avoid panic.

I squirmed in my seat, not knowing what to do. Max walked back towards us and nodded to let us know that the staff understood. Now just to wait for the lights to go off.

I inhaled a deep breath to calm my nerves but I continued to shiver. Adrenaline? Or am I just cold? Rubbing a hand over my arms to warm myself up, I stared at the clock. How much longer? What if they don't arrive and my assumptions were wrong?

Just as the final thought nearly pulled me over the edge of worry, the lights in the bank flickered off. "About time." I heard Vanessa mutter next to me.

A gunshot was heard and the serene air in the bank filled with screams and scrambling to find a save spot. The three of us dropped to the floor and pretended to be victimized.

A man clothed in black, with a black face mask as well, walked over to one of the counters. Pointing his gun at anyone who moved the slightest. The staff didn't hesitate to give him the amount of money he demanded for and he left after firing off another shot. Lights flickered back on a few moments later.

Max got up and moved to the counter to ask how much the man had demanded for and I took out the tablet Lindsey had given to me. The tablet is originally a thick white bar but when you pull the two sides of it, a transparent screen slides open.

"On." I said and the screen lit up. Well I'm glad that worked. It took a while for this tablet to sync with my voice. "GPS."

Lindsey, Vincent and Hugh had tracker chips on their bodies. They're following the robber after he left the bank so we would be able to track him after he's left. The map loaded and three dots appeared on the screen. Lindsey was black, Vincent was green and Hugh was blue.

"Amelia, are you ready?" Vanessa asked at the exit of the bank, Max was already outside. I nodded and ran over to her.

I looked down at the map and tried to figure out the destination they're heading towards. If they keep continuing that way... they'll end up in Sector 3.

"Should we try to catch up with them?" Max asked.

I shook my head. "Let's go to Sector 3."

"Do you think you have enough strength for the full run?" Vanessa asked, scanning my body for signs of any other injuries.

"I'm okay."

Vanessa nodded. "Let's get going then." She turned into an alleyway and took her dress off, leaving her in gym shorts and a tank top that she was wearing underneath. Jumping up, she grabbed onto a nearby pipe and scaled it to the top. Max ran up the wall, grabbing onto window sills occasionally. They're amazing.

I followed Vanessa and climbed up the pipes. This is harder than I thought it would be and the metal is burning. But I ignored the burn and kept climbing. At the top, Vanessa pulled me over and let me breathe for a bit. "Let's see if your training with Kyle paid off."

She turned on her heels and sprinted towards the next building. Max waited for me to run so that he could act as support from behind. I ran towards the edge of the building. I gathered all my strength in my leg and imagined the floor to be sticky like the walls in the training room. With a grunt, I pushed off and felt the air blow through my hair. This feels much better than in the training room.

I landed over on the other side with a grunt. I stumbled a bit before stabilizing myself. I smiled. I can do this. I shook my legs before running off to the next building.

To my surprise, I actually managed to run the whole way to Sector 3 without running out of stamina. It is easier to jump when the surface isn't that sticky. Once we reached the border of Sector 3, I took the tablet out again and checked on their locations. I saw that Hugh and Vincent's dots were still moving but Lindsey's has stopped. "Let's go meet up with Lindsey then." Vanessa said as she looked over my shoulder.

Vanessa headed in the direction that the GPS indicated where Lindsey was. Soon enough we found Lindsey. She was sitting on the edge of the roof, swinging her feet and tossing a sheathed knife up and down. The moment we all got onto the roof, she stopped playing with the knife and tilted her head to look at us. Her face was expressionless and her eyes were dark.

I felt a shiver go down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I've never seen Lindsey look so threatening before. When she saw that it was us, she softened up but I could tell she was still tensed up. I wonder why there's such a big difference to her.

"Hugh and the big dope are following the guy who's been doing the robberies in Sect. 2." Lindsey stood up and stretched. The one who just robbed the bank in Sector 4 is already in the police's custody. The two will be back after they make sure that the police have caught the other person. We can go wait in a cafe somewhere."

Max nodded and pointed to a nearby building, "There's a nice cafe there. I've been to the same cafe in Sector 5." Lindsey nodded before stepping over the side of the roof and landed on the ground below. Max followed and dropped down as well.

I looked over the edge of the building. Well, it's not like I wasn't going to try this anyways. I hopped over the edge and landed. A jolt of pain ran up my ankles and legs. After stabilizing myself, I twisted my ankles around trying to ease the pain. At least it's not broken.

As we sat in the cafe waiting, I tuned out the other three who had started talking about what had happened in the bank. My thoughts turned back to the case. We've caught the two robbers and now we can get back the money they've stolen too. But what was the main point of doing all this? If they wanted money they could have easily robbed that certain amount of money that they wanted but why go through all this trouble? Was it boredom? There was a tugging feeling in the back of my mind. I wasn't sure what or why but I knew that...

Something is missing.