The First Job (Jester's Joust) (06-22-2022)

== The First Score - [06-22-2022] | Wynborough, Straille ==
"Alright... let's do this," Storm said to himself, looking at himself in the rear-view mirror. He was right in front of the Provenance Financial branch in Wynborough, right where the note told him to start. He hesitated for a moment, before a beep came across on his phone.
"Still time to back out, new guy. You have five minutes, show us some action."
He looked at the text, and then back up at his surroundings. He remembered why he was here, and with that he got out of the car. He slipped on a mask and a pair of nitrile gloves, and retrieved a submachine gun from the car's trunk. Gun in hand, he stormed the building.
"EVERYONE GET THE FUCK DOWN!"
His voice roared with the strength of an overhead thunder cloud, striking fear into the patrons and sending them straight to the tiles. The few security guards that dared to stay standing quickly changed their minds as Storm pointed the SMG at them, electricity crackling off of his body. He didn't waste any time getting to the teller counter, smashing the glass with the butt of his gun and hauling ass over to the other side. He saw a teller reaching for the panic button, and instantly clasped his hand over the desk's fuse box. With a simple zap from his fingers, the entire alarm system was fried.
And now that they had no way of calling for help, he had a clear shot to the vault. He dashed through the employee's only corridors, leaving fried devices and popped batteries in his wake. And all this running stopped once he met his prize, the electronically operated vault door. He breathed in and out, calming himself and bringing the energy in his body to a balance before placing a hand over the control pad. He applied a direct and steady charge through the vault, something he'd only ever seen in movies... and it failed horribly. Without warning, the pad shocked back and displayed a lockout message. No alarm though, so he did it the old fashioned way. With the strength of lightning, he cut through the vault door with haphazard arcs of electricity leaving scorch marks all over the place.
"And here we fucking go!" he shouted, laying his eyes on the perfectly stacked pile of cash in the middle of the room. He almost rushed it all into his duffel, but remembered what the contact said. He carefully checked for dye packs, tossing each stack of dollars into the duffel until the table lay bare. He had one final finishing touch before leaving, he took the card he was sent, laying it down on the barren platform. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and he just felt right, had he really been missing out this much?
And then came the beep.
"Times up, new guy. If you survive, head to the alley beside Lion's Head."
Sirens rang off in the distance, the cops would be here any second and ready to shoot on a dime. Storm zipped the duffel up and made a run for it, sprinting through the employee corridor, over the teller counter, and through crowds of terrified civilians. And out he came from the bank's entrance, he could count five police cars and none of the occupants looked too keen to let him go. He ran down the stairs, throwing an arm out and casting a dense fog over the area. The police were confused... they weren't trained on these threats, and that gave Storm the advantage he needed. He threw the duffel into his car before getting in the driver's seat, cranking the ignition and peeling off through the gaps in the police barricade.
== Welcome to the Joust - [06-22-2022] | Gorgon Quarter, Straille ==
"Told you he wouldn't make it," Aragon said. Slim sighed, "Are we gonna be able to cover our tracks on thi-"
The door to the backroom slammed open, with a masked man standing in the doorway alongside the Lion's Head's frightened barkeep. He threw a duffel bag forward towards the Joust's members, and took off his mask. 
"Am I in?"
Slim started chuckling before shooting up out of his chair. "You beautiful bastard, I knew you could do it! Right nasty piece of work that thunder of yours is." He shook Storm's hand and pulled him into a friendly hug. "Damn right you're in, were you followed?" he followed before Aragon piped up. "The scanner says they've given up the search, passing it on to SACA like always." 
"Brilliant, have a seat new guy," Slim said as he led Storm to an empty seat among the others. The barkeep was relieved to know it was just an applicant, and left them alone and plunging the room back into dim light as he shut the door. "So, how was it? Exciting as hell right?" Slim questioned, pouring drinks for the gang as the others looked at the new guy with cautious curiosity. 
"I'd say it was. Quite electrifying," Storm replied with a smirk, earning a few chuckles from Slim, Vision, and another member of the Joust. Aragon and two other more serious-looking members remained silent though. Slim finished up pouring the gang's drinks, six in total, and had one more question for the newbie. "Now then, before we go toasting. What's gonna be your codename?" 
"I'm... not sure?" 
"How about Fresh Meat?" Aragon snidely said. 
Determined to make the most of his premiere within the group he took the idea and ran with it. "Now that you mention it... 'Freshy' sounds good," he said with a smug grin directed at Aragon. 
"Right on! Let's have a toast then you lot! To Freshy!" Slim shouted merrily, holding his glass up as the other members of the gang followed suit. Freshy hesitantly raised his glass, tapping it to the others with a satisfactory "clink!" before downing his drink. He was finally part of a team now, people he could relate to better than anyone from his civvie life. 
And it felt damn good. 
Category:Parables
Category:Elections Arc Parable