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Description
The car ride over to 1158 Franklin Street was awkwardly silent. Even BD's attempts at filling the void with the radio were futile, and he eventually just turned it off. He turned around, attempting to break the ice with Dan. "So, how're you doing?"

Dan simply groaned and turned his head. He was still feeling a slight hangover. He had no clear idea of what was going to happen next. And he was stuck with two absolute strangers, one of whom shoved him in the car trunk, and the other seemed much too happy about everything that had occurred.

"Oh, come on," prompted BD. "Aren't you gonna say SOMETHING? I already apologized about punching you. We all signed up to do this, no reason you can't talk and try to be friendly."

Dan snapped his head around. "Signed up?" he asked incredulously. "You SIGNED UP for this insanity?"

"Well, yeah," BD replied. "That hot October babe came over and-"

"BD," interrupted Sung, looking legitimately concerned for some reason. "You weren't threatened or bribed or anything? You just did this on your own free will?"

BD did not give an immediate reply. "Yeah," he finally said, drawing it out slowly so it took him a few seconds. "I was told to sign some….I don't know, a form that says they aren't responsible if I do something stupid, I guess, and then I got my mask and cell phone here," he lifted them up, as if the act of seeing them would do something, "and then you two picked me up."

Sung just shook her head in an exhasperated manner, pushed her short black hair out of her eyes, and went back to focusing on the car's GPS. Dan, however, simply covered his face with his hand and groaned. Why? Why do I always end up getting assigned with the idiots?

"So," said BD, "were you guys? Blackmailed, I mean?"

"Don't push me, punk," muttered Dan.

"I won't tell anyone!" promised BD. "Listen, uh…"

"Dan."

"Right, right, Dan. Come on, tell us! What were you doing? Spying on people? Embarassing porn?"

"Wha-NO! NO!"

Sung took the opportunity of a red light to punch BD hard in the arm. "Will you just be quiet! There's no reason for you to be so invasive!"

BD grimaced and slid back a few inches in his seat. He looked at Sung and Dan, then said in an understanding voice, "Oh, I get it. You two. So, which one's cheating?"

Sung looked as though she would slap his eyes out. "EXCUSE ME?" she yelled.

"You two are in an affair, aren't you? Yeah, that'd explain it." He turned back to facing Dan. "Listen man, I can definitely understand. She's old, yeah, but you can't get everything, right?"

"Old? Who do you think you're calling old?"

"You're what, forty-five? Forty-six?"

"THIRTY-NINE!"

BD turned back to Dan. "Still, a bit old, but-"

Dan interrupted him with a quick punch. It didn't leave any major marks, and didn't even hurt that much; Dan wasn't a very athletic guy. But it did accomplish his main goal; shutting BD up. "You don't need to insult her. And I'm not telling you anything."

BD, surprised by the outburst, decided to say nothing more on the subject. He just kept his suspicions to himself, for once. The unsettling silence returned, with only the voice of the GPS giving directions to break it.

Sung actually welcomed the silence, as opposed to BD. She was still shaken up by what she had seen in Dan's hotel room, and the casual way that October had delivered the threat against her son. What she had remembered of October from their first meeting was someone more likely to be a glorified secretary, someone whose only job was to talk to important people for other, busier, more important people. Not someone who would off-handily imply physical harm to a young boy.

She also just liked silence. She had never been very comfortable with people. It was one of the reasons why she had enjoyed being an artist so much; the only real people she had to speak to on a frequent basis were her agent, the guy who was responsible for helping design her website, and a few of the hardcore fans who encountered her at her shows across the country.

Sung knew them. Sung understood them. That's what she liked most; understanding her surroundings. Hence her preference towards photo-realism. And why she hated her current situation.

The two men (or man and man-child, as she thought of them) were, in essence, complete strangers. The competition that she had dragged herself into was barely described at all. All she knew was that these two strangers, one found in a hotel room with a corpse, and the other clueless to everything.

They finally arrived at 1158 Franklin Street. Sung parked her car across from it, and stared at it in confusion. BD and Dan also looked it over, each surprised by the building that had that address.

"What, exactly, are we supposed to be doing at a bank?" asked Dan.

"Maybe get something from a safe deposit box?" suggested Sung. The bank itself was of a slightly large size, enough to be intimidating, but not so much that was the tallest building in the area. It appeared to be only two floors tall, and that itself was probably a stretch given how the roof was structured.

"So, what? Should we just, go in? What?" BD looked at his new compatriots for answers. As was so often in his life, he was completely confused.

Each of their phones began to ring. BD picked his up with his usual enthusiasim, while Sung and Dan were more wary.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" announced October, in a chipper, teacher's first day of school way. "We'll be beginning the first round of this competition in just a few short minutes. I trust you are all outside the given address?"

"October…why are we here? Seriously, what are we going to be doing at a bank? I want some straight answers. I'm tired of you pushing me and everyone here around like you're some…..some…." Dan paused, unable to think of an appropriate way to continue.

"While I wait for you to finish that, Mr. Nascon, I will proceed with the explanations. Mr. St. Sebastian," she said, in a tone of "I've memorized exactly what I should say and feel pleased about that fact", "you may now open up the bag I gave you."

"Will do, October," BD replied, in a tone of "I want to have mind-blowing sex with you". He crawled into the back with Dan and began to zip open the gym bag.

Inside, he saw a shotgun, a pair of pistols, and a machine gun.

"Oh, this doesn't look good," he remarked.

"What?" asked Sung. "What's in the bag?"

"Guns," answered October. "Guns that will be necessary for the three of you to rob the bank."

"Woah, woah, woah!" BD pushed the bag away forcefully, where it landed directly on Dan's lap. "Uh, look, October, I'd love to impress you, girl, but, I'm not robbing a bank for you!"

"This is insane!" shouted Sung. "There is absolutely no way that…..you can't possibly…..WHY????" She sputtered out a few more vague fragments of thoughts, before finally settling on one. "We can't just go in and rob a bank! It's illegal!"

"Hence why you were given masks to cover your faces," noted October, continuing her calm voice. "Now, Dan, I believe I don't need to explain WHAT I will do should you refuse to go ahead with this. Sung, I would like to remind ask once again about how your son is doing today. I've already arranged for the alarms and cameras to 'conveniently' shut down, with the assistance of my superiors. You have a twenty minute window. Get as much money as you can. Good luck."

"Uhm, hey, October, baby, sweet thing, I think you're forgetting someone," interrupted BD. "Now, I can see, maybe, you've got something on Dan here. He's shifty. But, but guess what? All I have to is call 911, since you've got nothing on me, baby! However," he cleared his throat, going into full-on seduction mode, "if we were to, possibly, talk about all this this Saturday…?"

"Oh, yes, Mr. St. Sebastian, how could I forget about you and the giant bag of cocaine you were sitting on when we met? I'm sure your parole officer would be very interested in that."

Dan and Sung looked at BD, startled but not entirely surprised. "It…it was sugar," he weakly replied. "Just…sugar. I-I-I-I was….making a cake. Yeah, cake. Delicious cake."

"And finally, before I leave, I will need the three of you to appoint a leader for your team. Official purposes, just a minor detail, really."

"I'll do it," immediately offered Sung.

"I second that," said Dan immediately.

"Hey!" whined BD. "Why are you picking her?"

"Because she seems to at least have some clue what she's doing, and didn't punch me in the face earlier!"

"Oh, please! You can't still be upset about that!"

Sung turned back to Dan. "Thank you," she said softly. She actually had very little of a clue what she was doing; she only volunteered just to prevent the other two from taking the spot.

"Fantastic!" exclaimed October. "I'll make a note then. So, Contestants B-19, C-8, and H-71, once again, you all have twenty minutes to take as much money as you can, get it into the car, and leave. Best of luck to you all!" And with that, she hung up, leaving the three contestants to plan something for themselves.

Description
The car ride over to 1158 Franklin Street was awkwardly silent. Even BD's attempts at filling the void with the radio were futile, and he eventually just turned it off. He turned around, attempting to break the ice with Dan. "So, how're you doing?"

Dan simply groaned and turned his head. He was still feeling a slight hangover. He had no clear idea of what was going to happen next. And he was stuck with two absolute strangers, one of whom shoved him in the car trunk, and the other seemed much too happy about everything that had occurred.

"Oh, come on," prompted BD. "Aren't you gonna say SOMETHING? I already apologized about punching you. We all signed up to do this, no reason you can't talk and try to be friendly."

Dan snapped his head around. "Signed up?" he asked incredulously. "You SIGNED UP for this insanity?"

"Well, yeah," BD replied. "That hot October babe came over and-"

"BD," interrupted Sung, looking legitimately concerned for some reason. "You weren't threatened or bribed or anything? You just did this on your own free will?"

BD did not give an immediate reply. "Yeah," he finally said, drawing it out slowly so it took him a few seconds. "I was told to sign some….I don't know, a form that says they aren't responsible if I do something stupid, I guess, and then I got my mask and cell phone here," he lifted them up, as if the act of seeing them would do something, "and then you two picked me up."

Sung just shook her head in an exhasperated manner, pushed her short black hair out of her eyes, and went back to focusing on the car's GPS. Dan, however, simply covered his face with his hand and groaned. Why? Why do I always end up getting assigned with the idiots?

"So," said BD, "were you guys? Blackmailed, I mean?"

"Don't push me, punk," muttered Dan.

"I won't tell anyone!" promised BD. "Listen, uh…"

"Dan."

"Right, right, Dan. Come on, tell us! What were you doing? Spying on people? Embarassing porn?"

"Wha-NO! NO!"

Sung took the opportunity of a red light to punch BD hard in the arm. "Will you just be quiet! There's no reason for you to be so invasive!"

BD grimaced and slid back a few inches in his seat. He looked at Sung and Dan, then said in an understanding voice, "Oh, I get it. You two. So, which one's cheating?"

Sung looked as though she would slap his eyes out. "EXCUSE ME?" she yelled.

"You two are in an affair, aren't you? Yeah, that'd explain it." He turned back to facing Dan. "Listen man, I can definitely understand. She's old, yeah, but you can't get everything, right?"

"Old? Who do you think you're calling old?"

"You're what, forty-five? Forty-six?"

"THIRTY-NINE!"

BD turned back to Dan. "Still, a bit old, but-"

Dan interrupted him with a quick punch. It didn't leave any major marks, and didn't even hurt that much; Dan wasn't a very athletic guy. But it did accomplish his main goal; shutting BD up. "You don't need to insult her. And I'm not telling you anything."

BD, surprised by the outburst, decided to say nothing more on the subject. He just kept his suspicions to himself, for once. The unsettling silence returned, with only the voice of the GPS giving directions to break it.

Sung actually welcomed the silence, as opposed to BD. She was still shaken up by what she had seen in Dan's hotel room, and the casual way that October had delivered the threat against her son. What she had remembered of October from their first meeting was someone more likely to be a glorified secretary, someone whose only job was to talk to important people for other, busier, more important people. Not someone who would off-handily imply physical harm to a young boy.

She also just liked silence. She had never been very comfortable with people. It was one of the reasons why she had enjoyed being an artist so much; the only real people she had to speak to on a frequent basis were her agent, the guy who was responsible for helping design her website, and a few of the hardcore fans who encountered her at her shows across the country.

Sung knew them. Sung understood them. That's what she liked most; understanding her surroundings. Hence her preference towards photo-realism. And why she hated her current situation.

The two men (or man and man-child, as she thought of them) were, in essence, complete strangers. The competition that she had dragged herself into was barely described at all. All she knew was that these two strangers, one found in a hotel room with a corpse, and the other clueless to everything.

They finally arrived at 1158 Franklin Street. Sung parked her car across from it, and stared at it in confusion. BD and Dan also looked it over, each surprised by the building that had that address.

"What, exactly, are we supposed to be doing at a bank?" asked Dan.

"Maybe get something from a safe deposit box?" suggested Sung. The bank itself was of a slightly large size, enough to be intimidating, but not so much that was the tallest building in the area. It appeared to be only two floors tall, and that itself was probably a stretch given how the roof was structured.

"So, what? Should we just, go in? What?" BD looked at his new compatriots for answers. As was so often in his life, he was completely confused.

Each of their phones began to ring. BD picked his up with his usual enthusiasim, while Sung and Dan were more wary.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" announced October, in a chipper, teacher's first day of school way. "We'll be beginning the first round of this competition in just a few short minutes. I trust you are all outside the given address?"

"October…why are we here? Seriously, what are we going to be doing at a bank? I want some straight answers. I'm tired of you pushing me and everyone here around like you're some…..some…." Dan paused, unable to think of an appropriate way to continue.

"While I wait for you to finish that, Mr. Nascon, I will proceed with the explanations. Mr. St. Sebastian," she said, in a tone of "I've memorized exactly what I should say and feel pleased about that fact", "you may now open up the bag I gave you."

"Will do, October," BD replied, in a tone of "I want to have mind-blowing sex with you". He crawled into the back with Dan and began to zip open the gym bag.

Inside, he saw a shotgun, a pair of pistols, and a machine gun.

"Oh, this doesn't look good," he remarked.

"What?" asked Sung. "What's in the bag?"

"Guns," answered October. "Guns that will be necessary for the three of you to rob the bank."

"Woah, woah, woah!" BD pushed the bag away forcefully, where it landed directly on Dan's lap. "Uh, look, October, I'd love to impress you, girl, but, I'm not robbing a bank for you!"

"This is insane!" shouted Sung. "There is absolutely no way that…..you can't possibly…..WHY????" She sputtered out a few more vague fragments of thoughts, before finally settling on one. "We can't just go in and rob a bank! It's illegal!"

"Hence why you were given masks to cover your faces," noted October, continuing her calm voice. "Now, Dan, I believe I don't need to explain WHAT I will do should you refuse to go ahead with this. Sung, I would like to remind ask once again about how your son is doing today. I've already arranged for the alarms and cameras to 'conveniently' shut down, with the assistance of my superiors. You have a twenty minute window. Get as much money as you can. Good luck."

"Uhm, hey, October, baby, sweet thing, I think you're forgetting someone," interrupted BD. "Now, I can see, maybe, you've got something on Dan here. He's shifty. But, but guess what? All I have to is call 911, since you've got nothing on me, baby! However," he cleared his throat, going into full-on seduction mode, "if we were to, possibly, talk about all this this Saturday…?"

"Oh, yes, Mr. St. Sebastian, how could I forget about you and the giant bag of cocaine you were sitting on when we met? I'm sure your parole officer would be very interested in that."

Dan and Sung looked at BD, startled but not entirely surprised. "It…it was sugar," he weakly replied. "Just…sugar. I-I-I-I was….making a cake. Yeah, cake. Delicious cake."

"And finally, before I leave, I will need the three of you to appoint a leader for your team. Official purposes, just a minor detail, really."

"I'll do it," immediately offered Sung.

"I second that," said Dan immediately.

"Hey!" whined BD. "Why are you picking her?"

"Because she seems to at least have some clue what she's doing, and didn't punch me in the face earlier!"

"Oh, please! You can't still be upset about that!"

Sung turned back to Dan. "Thank you," she said softly. She actually had very little of a clue what she was doing; she only volunteered just to prevent the other two from taking the spot.

"Fantastic!" exclaimed October. "I'll make a note then. So, Contestants B-19, C-8, and H-71, once again, you all have twenty minutes to take as much money as you can, get it into the car, and leave. Best of luck to you all!" And with that, she hung up, leaving the three contestants to plan something for themselves.