I Heard Drugs Were Nice

   Francisco breathed calmly as he strutted confidently into the lobby. He quickly noticed the comedy masked man glaring in his direction. His phone was glued to his ear. His body language was telling— Happy was unhappy.

   
   "I'm gonna have to call you back, kiddo. Love you," Happy ended the call. "What the hell is he doing out of his restraint?!" He proceeded to march over to Francisco, each step echoing loudly as his boots hit the marble floor. His shoulders swayed with machismo, clearly prepared to strike the financial advisor to the floor. Francisco cleared his throat and held his hand up.

   "We had a talk. I'll open the vault, so long as I get a stack for my troubles," Francisco raised his eyebrows repeatedly.
   
   The robber with the loudest voice stopped in his tracks. There was a slight chuckle, almost amused by what he had heard. Happy scratched his neck. "What makes you think we'll give you anything?"

   
   "I know exactly what bills are unmarked," Francisco smugly grinned. "Consider that I'll also be monetarily motivated. And as a sign of good faith, I'll show you the back door. It would be a lot easier for your getaway driver." Happy breathed heavily while staring hard. He gripped his gun in frustration. "Oh god, please tell me you have a getaway driver or vehicle or something."

   "Yeah, we have that. Shut up," he groaned. The masked robber grumbled, "Lead the way. Cat and Dog, follow the Clown and this guy." He ordered. His phone rang again, mumbling under his breath, he answered his phone.

   The Cat and Dog masked men quickly followed behind Richard as Francisco confidently led them to the back of the bank. Max, the rude co-worker, noticed the way Franky walked with no worries, his hands untied, and how he casually spoke to the essential leader of the robbery. He boiled with rage, leaning his shoulder towards Jessica. "Look at that. They're just letting him walk around. He's a part of this. I know it," he whispered with gritted teeth.

   Francisco led his brother and the two other bank robbers to the back. Richard leaned forward and whispered to his younger brother, unsure what he planned. "Hey, I thought you said you didn't have a key," he mumbled.

  Francisco clicked his tongue, "I don't. This is from my personal account." Richard leaned back, obviously confused as the other two robbers walked past him. The four of them approached an intersecting hallway: one path led down to a heavy vault door while the other path had both walls filled with numerous safety deposit boxes.

   Francisco walked down towards the deposit boxes and pulled out a small keyring. "Hey! The vault is that way!" The dog robber barked.

   "Give me a minute," Francisco responded quickly. He sighed before unlocking one specific box. Opening the door, he revealed a literal stack of racks of money. The denomination on the strand was hidden, so he hurriedly pulled out a single stack to show it was $10,000.

   "That's it? There is barely anything in there. We did all this for just that?" The cat robber whined.
   

   "There is about 200,000 dollars in this box. The vault is not accessible," Francisco shared.

   "This is ridiculous," the dog robber growled.
   

   "This is the best you can hope for. The vault door is impenetrable and closed for maintenance. You came at the wrong time. Luckily, we stored some aside for some elitist that was coming later today." The dog and cat robber stared blankly. Even through their masks, Francisco could feel the tension and anxiety rising.

   "$200,000 is more than I hoped for! This is from an elitist? Like the guys from Wall Street? Hey, steal from the rich and that makes us richer," Richard stepped forward and patted the two robbers on the shoulders. The red nose on his mask appeared to jiggle from his movement.

   The robber with the dog mask grumbled and pulled a folded white trash bag from his pocket. "Okay, so you guys only prepared trash bags?" Francisco mocked.
   
   The dog robber shoved him aside and began shoveling the loot into his bag. He reached deep into the box and pulled out the final stack of $100s. He used his fingernail and cut the stack, pulling half of the bills out of the paper band. 
   
   "You get half," the dog robber growled, handing Francisco around $5,000 of his own money. He put the rest of the loose money in the bag. "Let's go back to the lobby." The dog and cat robber started walking back down the hallway.

   Francisco stared into the empty deposit box. He clicked his tongue, feeling a mix of emotions as his entire savings were gone. Sighing deeply, he noticed his older brother taking off his mask. His expression showed empathy with confusion, even through his bruises.  "H-how? W-why? Why did you have this much money?" Richard blinked, unable to think critically.

   "I started saving when mom was sick. When she passed, I just kept saving. I didn't really have a goal in mind," Francisco muttered.

   "Franky, hey, there was not much we could do," Richard said calmly.   

"It took around five to six years. If mom got sick earlier than maybe..." Francisco clicked his tongue again. Richard put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder.

  "Why was it in a safety deposit box? Why not online?"

   "I withdrew it a couple of days ago. I've been contemplating whether I should spend it on myself. I heard drugs were nice," Francisco joked. "Though I couldn't bring myself to it. The thought of a shopping spree made me cringe, honestly."

   "Well, I'll take you shopping one of these days," Richard chuckled.

   "You have no money," the financial advisor muttered. "You know, I was thinking about giving half of it to Ophelia anyway. It was already written in my will," Francisco admitted.

   "Ophelia? Why would you give it to her and not me?" Richard questioned.

   "She's barely 12 and she's three times more financially responsible than her father," Francisco insulted. The two brothers laughed as Francisco closed the door to the deposit box.

Meanwhile....

   

   The robber, wearing the comedy mask, busily spoke on the phone. He kept shifting his eyes back and forth, trying to keep up the appearance that he was looking at the hostages. The man with the old lady mask came up from behind. "You sure listening to 'that guy in the suit' was a good idea?" Old Lady questioned.

   Happy turned his face slightly. He tilted his head as the phone still stayed to his ear. "It's fine. It should be somewhere in the fridge," he responded, nodding his head.

   "What? What are you saying?!" The old lady masked man pulled his head back.

   Happy grunted, putting the phone on his chest. "Shut the hell up! I'm talking to my kid and he's going to hear you say some-"
   

   "Would you hang up and take this seriously?" The Old Lady growled. He approached Happy, his mask a few inches away.

   "You think I'm not taking this seriously? I stepped up. This is the reason why I'm doing this in the first place," Happy argued, nodding his head at his phone. He hung up. "Mind your own business and shut up."

   "We all have our own reasons. You're making me nervous with this caring father schtick."

   As the two bank robbers continued to argue, Max panted heavily. He clenched his teeth as his body temperature rose. The thought of Francisco, the bank's cheapskate, working with these robbers gave him a feeling of angry nausea. He shifted slightly, not regretful of his bullying and name-calling throughout work.

   
   He glanced over at Jessica, who was shivering next to him. "Don't worry. Francisco is not getting away with this. He is just cheap scum," Max ensured. "I'm going to put a stop to this."

   Jessica lifted her head slightly, her face red from stress. "Please don't. Just... stay still," she muttered.

   Max wasn't listening. The thought of being a hero for this bank against the frugal weirdo was already racing through his mind. Watching the two bank robbers have a confrontation, he noticed the dinosaur mask-wearing robber start to move toward them. The rest of the hostages seemed stiff, unsure what was going to happen.
      

   Max used his lower body strength, slowly lifting himself up from the floor with just his legs. With his hands still tied behind his back, he ran for the back. He moved quickly, his steps striking the floor in a rapid succession. Immediately, everyone turned.

   Happy pointed his firearm at the running employee. As he pressed the trigger, Old Lady jerked the barrel to the side. Bullets sprayed the wall, causing the hostages to start screaming. "What are you doing!?" Happy screamed.

   "I'm not trying to get life!" The old lady masked man yelled back. He started sprinting after Max. "Just stop him!" The dinosaur-masked man followed suit. Max managed to run past the open heavy door into the back. He ran down the teller's windows toward the wall. The two bank robbers behind him bumped shoulders as they tried to squeeze through the door frame. The rude employee quickly dropped to his knees, feeling his heart rise into his throat. He spotted the button underneath the first desk.
   
   With his hands tied behind his back, he tried poking at the button with his nose. He kept missing it due to panic. The two robbers managed to push themselves through the door, racing down the teller's windows to put a stop to Max's heroic act.

   Calming his nerves, Max stuck his tongue out. Steadily, he leaned forward and licked the button. He tried feeling for a 'click' but was hurriedly punched in his right cheek by the rampaging dinosaur-masked man. He hit the tiled floor with a loud thud and went unconscious.

   The two bank robbers stared at each other and exchanged pants. They looked through the bulletproof window back at Happy. The comedy mask-wearer raised his hands. "Well, did you stop him?! Did he press it?!"
   
   The dinosaur-masked man shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know! He licked the button!"

   
"He licked the—what does that mean!?"

   Within a few seconds, Happy instinctively covered his ears as a loud, blaring noise forced the bank to rumble.