Zack was really pumped up in the game.
This wasn't like the calm tutorial levels before. Now that they were actually in the game, pulling off a heist, he only had one thought.
"This is so intense, it's freaking amazing!"
FPS games are already super exciting, and adding a bank robbery theme, plus that thumping electronic music, made it totally awesome.
"Zack, reinforcements are here! The cops are here!" Ben's voice crackled over the comms. Because of the game's theme, the guys had picked up a bunch of slang from TV shows and movies.
"Let's regroup. We'll head over to Ben's spot. We'll grab some hostages to make the cops hesitate. Then, we'll crack the safe and see if we have enough cash. We can't go on our first supply run empty-handed!" Zack made the call.
He'd noticed that while smashing cash registers and grabbing money felt cool, there wasn't really a lot of cash in the convenience store. Most of it was small bills – twos, fives, and tens. Occasionally, there'd be a twenty or a fifty mixed in.
It looked like a lot, but in total, they only got a few hundred dollars.
"Gas prices have been going up lately. Robbing a convenience store for a few hundred bucks – is it even worth it? We might not even break even," Zack mumbled into his mic, looking at the crumpled bills in his backpack.
After all, this wasn't a free gig.
Masks, guns, clothes, gas, and even the car – none of that came for free.
While Zack was thinking, the police reinforcements arrived outside the coffee shop.
Sirens wailed, and the police quickly cleared out any bystanders from the street. Then, they started using the cars parked haphazardly on the street for cover, slowly advancing towards the store.
But by then, Zack and his crew had already moved to the antique shop.
*Drrrr drrrr drrrr...*
As soon as they entered the antique shop, Zack heard the sound of an electric drill. In the corner, by the counter, a drill was set up in front of a built-in safe.
"This is taking forever!" Zack grumbled, looking at the timer on the drill's screen, which showed 170 seconds.
"It's a game, after all. Get ready to defend, Zack. The cops are here," Ben explained.
Even though many details in "Payday" were well-done, and Lucas had even studied professional knowledge with the development team, it was still a game at its core. While many of the settings aimed for realism to immerse players, they also had to consider gameplay.
Even more importantly, this was just a game about being robbers, not a guide to actual heists.
So, the game was mostly a mix of real and fake. In reality, robbers wouldn't just stand around in an antique shop for three minutes while a drill opened a safe, not knowing how much money was inside. If they did, they'd be dead meat. In a way, it served as a cautionary tale.
But Zack and his crew in the game didn't care about that.
Because the police outside had started probing attacks. It was clear that in the game, after the hostages had bought them some time.
At this stage, the police were still focused on rescuing the hostages and weren't going to storm in.
But compared to some of the hesitant cops, Zack and his crew inside the antique shop were much more reckless. They opened fire with a burst of shots at any approaching officers.
*Bang bang bang... boom.*
As soon as the gunfire erupted, two officers who had just gotten close fell to the ground.
Those two fallen officers seemed to trigger something, as the rest of the officers immediately drew their pistols and started firing back.
Suddenly, the muffled sounds of gunshots echoed through the street, plunging the entire area into a fierce firefight.
*Bang bang bang... rat-a-tat-tat.*
They went from pistols to assault rifles. At the same time, Zack and his crew inside the antique shop noticed that the police officers' levels seemed to have increased.
The officers who had been wearing simple body armor were now fully equipped SWAT officers, clad in heavy body armor and riot helmets, advancing slowly towards the antique shop with ballistic shields.
Shrapnel flew through the cramped antique shop, and people kept falling.
"Damn it, How are these cops like clones, multiplying the more we shoot them?" Hannah emptied her clip, finding her ammo depleted. Under the hail of bullets, she dashed to the bodies by the door to reload.
Luckily, it was the lowest difficulty. Although she took a few hits, her armor was just depleted, and her health didn't drop much.
"That's obvious, isn't it? We're not fighting just one precinct, so endless soldiers are bound to show up," Zack said, reloading his magazine with a *clack* and firing a burst towards the door. As he spoke, a stray bullet shattered an antique vase behind him, startling him.
"I'm gonna puke, who sold me this piece of junk drill? It even broke down and quit!" Ben was frantically trying to fix the now-silent, beeping drill that had gone on strike.
"Don't panic, we'll have money after this one! I'll give them a little present!" Zack pulled a grenade from his pocket.
When it came to bullets, they could kill police officers and pick up their ammo to resupply. But grenades were truly one-and-done items. Zack hadn't used any yet, saving them for when there were a lot of enemies. Now was the perfect time, wasn't it?
He pulled the pin, pulled back the lever, and threw it.
*BOOM!* A loud explosion echoed.
Then, Zack's expression under his mask froze.
Because a line of text appeared in his vision.
[Civilian Killed, Deducted 8000 for Cleanup]
What the heck!?
Zack was completely bewildered by the notification that popped up.
Killing a civilian in this game deducted money for cleanup?!
And that much money?!
Zack was still stunned, looking at the hostage who had just become a corpse not far away.
*Clang...*
At that moment, the safe next to them made a crisp sound. The drill had finally opened it.
Inside were stacks and stacks of cash.
With a *swish*, Ben and Hannah stuffed the cash into their backpacks. But the number that appeared made all three of them fall silent for a moment.
+7500
This was actually a significant amount. Compared to the initial mission, this one safe had already brought them halfway to their goal.
But when they thought about the cleanup fee for killing the hostage, the feeling changed completely.
"Zack, let's try to be nice to the hostages. If this keeps up, we're not here to stock up, we're here to do charity," Ben sighed.
He still didn't know what this cleanup fee actually covered, but whatever it was, the deduction of 8000 had genuinely shocked him.
What if the money they stole wasn't even enough to cover the cleanup? Then what was the point of being robbers?
"Besides, after that hostage died, the cops went crazy!" Hannah said with emotion, watching the police swarm in now that they had no reason to hold back.
"Enough talk. There's a thing called Restart. I clicked it. Did you guys?"
(End of chapter)