It all started with a bang.

Actually, it started with hostage negotiations but the exciting part began with a bang.

“Alright! No need to get feisty!”

“You got this handled, brother?” Liv ignored the shot, even if the noise seemed to ricochet right through the safe and her stethoscope. Her sole focus remained on the faint click of the dial. This could, in theory, be one of the last few jobs she and her brother ever have to pull. So, to be frank: fuck the bullets.

“Handling it,” Connor bit out, cutting his gaze around the blown bits of door casing. "Who in the hell let you operate a firearm? Is it fucking amateur hour right now?” Quickly he squeezed off a shot and heard rather than saw it hit its mark. The computer monitor, an innocent bystander in their sudden standoff, burst. The two officers behind the desk cursed as shards of the screen rained down upon them. Satisfied, Connor ducked back around the corner. 

That was how to properly shoot, with intent. Control the gun, don’t let your fear of the gun control you, yada yada yada. Connor had always had an affinity for this type of shit, thanks mostly in part to his old man.

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“You can learn to shoot it when you learn to pull it apart and put it back together.”

He was sixteen years old the first time he looked at his father with anything close to admiration. This was the highest honor in the Kelly household, something that had been bestowed upon Liv the year before. He knew how to do this. He’d watched his older sister practice when their father was away, sliding the pieces of  his favorite gun apart just to see how it worked.

Connor’s hands barely shook as he picked up the Ruger American and started to disassemble it with methodical precision.

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"Drop your weapon! We have the building surrounded! Drop your weapon and lay down with your hands behind your head! NOW!"

"No can do, chief." Connor murmured, more to himself than to the man screaming from the opposite room. They must've gotten most of the civilians out of the building by now and that meant Liv's time was running out.

Titan. Lotus. What's your status?

"In over our heads," Lotus whispered, "and drowning. They've got two officers in the building and more outside." She listened intently to the inner workings of the safe, waiting for that $200,000 click.

Is this you requesting backup?

"If you’re not too busy, it’d be nice." Titan waited a moment and his patience was rewarded when Lucky’s low baritone came through his ear piece again.

Copy that. Incoming.

"Sis?"

"Just a minute more." Hopefully Lucky would make good on his promise for backup because Liv wasn't sure they had another minute.

Connor kept the place where he'd last seen the policeman in his sight, ready to squeeze off another warning shot. Only silence came from the front room now that all but one of the hostages had been removed from the building. The last sat quiet and quivering beside Connor, bound and gagged. Insurance. 

“Titan and Lotus.” Both Connor and Liv tensed at the voice, knowing full well who called out to them from the doorway of the bank. Connor re-adjusted his grip on the Ruger, casting a glance over his shoulder at his sister. 

They smiled.

“This is Lieutenant Morse speaking. Aren’t you tired of hearing my voice?” Their silence was a resounding no and they assumed Morse gathered as much because he continued. “Drop your weapons, release the man you have inside and come out with your hands up.”

“C’mon, Derek— you know we can’t do that, man.” Connor called and the silence on the other man’s end was long-suffering. “Call off your hounds and this won’t get ugly, alright?”

“Call off yours and I’ll make sure you get a nice, comfy cell in prison. Big, lots of blankets, maybe some books.” So, Lucky had made good on his promise. Connor could imagine their team surrounding the cops as they spoke.

“He was never good at the prison part of the game, Derek. Remember? Didn’t my brother bite your arm so hard you cried once?” She could imagine the man’s face clear as day— pinched and agitated, the same one he’d made when they were kids. 

Liv didn’t think any of them ever thought their childhood games would turn out so dangerous.