Zayn Malik, 21 - Zink. Has the FBI looking for him because he hacked into NASA, CIA and their own servers several times until he slipped up. His IQ is 149. "The Brains."

So this is the second chapter, let me know what you think in the comments :)

I read all of your comments so keep them coming, they motivate me :)

Happy reading! :)

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Day 2 – 26 hours into the heist (Friday, 21st, 1:30pm)

They're let out of the rooms they've slept in at 12pm to go to the bathrooms, five at a time, and by the time they're served lunch (Chinese food-God knows whey they get all the food from), it's way past 1pm.

"Listen up." Mercury says once they're all done with eating and drinking water. "I know you all need some fresh air, so we're going to split into groups and go out on the roofs."

Harry turns his head to look at Niall, just to see if he's okay. They're split into four groups of ten people each, because the factory workers and the warehouse workers are still downstairs printing money with Silver.

"Iron, go with Hydrogen's group." Mercury tells Iron. "I think you need to keep an eye out for Styles."

Harry makes a face he hopes Mercury can't see, because honestly. These guys have fucking guns and there are probably snipers up on the roof and they expect him to act out? In all fairness, he has stolen a fucking gun away from Louis in the last 10 hours, but that's not the point. He'd never do anything to anger Mercury, that's for sure.

Niall is in his group once again, so Harry makes sure to stand next to him as they're handed the masks once they're up on the last floor, ready to go out on the roof.

"Put your masks on and behave, otherwise you won't breathe fresh air for the next eight days." Iron says, and it's a slip of the tongue, because Harry now knows they're planning on finishing the heist in the next eight days.

Three of the hostages get unloaded guns so they can't tell the hostages apart from the heist men, of course, and then Iron opens the door.

Harry never knew he'd need fresh air as much as he does now. Never knew he'd be this happy to be out in the open. He can see snipers on the rooftops of the buildings next to the Bank of England so he tries his best to act like he had nothing to do with the heist. Which is actually the truth, but they're all wearing red suits and masks, so there is no way for the snipers to know who's who.

He's sitting next to Niall on the ground. He could tell it's him because he's the only one who has custom made Converse.

"I tried to steal a gun last night." He confesses to Niall, and Harry can imagine how his eyes widen in shock under the mask.

"Oh my God!"

"Shh." Harry shushes him when he sees Louis (he must be Louis, because he's smaller than the other hostages up on the roof) turn his head in their direction.

Niall looks at Louis before he turns his head back to Harry. "And how did it go? Are you fuckin' crazy mate?"

Harry shakes his head. "Um...Hydrogen was sleeping and I actually got the gun but he woke up."

"And what did he do?"

"Took the gun back."

Niall shakes his head. "You're crazy, I swear to God. Don't pull stunts like that Harry, they're going to kill you."

"I'm pretty sure they've got a certain set of rules and one of them is not to kill hostages."

"They're literally keeping sixty-seven hostages trapped like rats while they wave their AK-47's around. I don't think they'll hesitate killing someone as long as it means their plan is going to work out."

Harry looks in Louis' direction now, wondering whether he'd be able to kill someone. If he were, Harry would probably be the first one. And he's sure Louis would've done it already if Harry wasn't their leverage to begin with.

"Shut your mouth."

Iron's voice snaps the two of them out of their conversation. He's talking to one of the hostages.

"No, I'm not going to shut my fucking mouth. You know what the Chemist said about relationships." Okay, so that's Mercury's voice. Harry didn't even notice when he came up the roof.

"I swear to God, if you don't shut up." Iron warns and points his gun at Mercury.

"Iron, there are snipers out here." Louis warns him and Harry was right when he guessed who Louis was, even with the mask and red hood on.

"I don't give a fuck. You can't talk about Zayn that way."

Nick gets down on his knees and puts his hands up. Harry's eyes widen, because Mercury is trying to act like he's one of the hostages, threatened by one of the heist men.

And he's right, because the next thing he hears is a shot, and then Iron falls to the ground, yelling in pain.

Louis curses and rushes over to him. "Everyone get back inside. Now!" he yells and then barks at one of the hostages to help him carry Iron back inside.

Harry's heart is beating faster as he follows everyone back inside, the door to the roof closing with a loud thud.

Louis takes Iron's mask off and checks to see if he's breathing. He looks at Mercury.

"Tell Oxygen to meet me in the office." Then he turns his head in Harry's direction. "Grab his feet. You too."

Niall and Harry rush over there and Mercury takes Iron's gun before he leads the rest of the hostages down the stairs. Louis holds Liam up from under his armpits as Niall and Harry hold his legs.

They lay him down on the couch in the office, and Iron keeps groaning in pain as Louis unzips his suit and pushes it off his shoulders to reveal the gun wound. Now he has two gunshot wounds, and the bullets are still inside.

"Fucking hell, fuck fuck fuck." Louis curses and runs a hand through his hair.

The door to the office slams against the wall and Oxygen enters, followed by a really mad Zayn.

Oxygen kneels in front of the couch and checks his wound as Zayn grabs the landline, saying he'll call the Chemist.

"Yeah. Iron's wounded. Again!" he yells into the phone. "You need to talk to the police and tell them to send in doctors to get his bullets out. Right fucking now."

Harry exchanges looks with Niall. They're awkwardly standing next to the couch, hands hanging by their sides, not knowing what to say or do. Oxygen looks at them then.

"Don't just stand there, grab me the First Aid kit from that shelf!" she yells at them and Harry quickly reacts. He takes the kit to her and Niall hands her whatever she asks for.

"Why do you know so much about treating gunshot wounds?" Niall asks her.

"When Silver and I used to do our schemes, she would take care of the counterfeit money and I would take care of the...other stuff. Which means I would several gun shots all over my body and I eventually learned how to treat them until I saw a doctor."

Niall stares at her. "That's hot. Wait, forgot I said that."

Oxygen rolls her eyes and then returns to stare at Iron's wounds. "Yeah, we'll need doctors to come in and take the bullets out and then stitch him up."

Zayn repeats everything she's saying to 'the Chemist' and after getting confirmation his face relaxes and he hangs up.

"What did she say?" Louis asks.

"She'll talk to the police and get some doctors in here. Fuck!" Zayn swears and punches the wall.

Harry and Niall are eventually escorted back downstairs in the main hall, to sit with the other hostages, because Oxygen's had enough of Niall's nervous rambling.

***

Day 2 – 32 hours into the heist (Friday, 21st, 7:30pm)

Louis tightens his fingers around the gun and points it towards the main doors, mask on his face. The sound of the doors opening echoes through the giant, silent hall, and two men and one woman step in. Louis' eyes widen, because that's-that's the Chemist. What is she doing here?

"I'm the doctor." One man says and lifts his arms up as he's being searched by Cowell and Nick, both with their masks on. "These are my two assistants from the hospital."

Louis cocks his head to look at the Chemist, who shakes her head and smirks. The two men are obviously scared because everyone, including Liam, who's on the table in the middle of the room, has masks on.

The Chemist comes up next to Louis and pretends to be looking at Liam's wound while the two men are still being searched.

"The other one is with the police." She mumbles as she takes out a stethoscope from her bag and listens to Liam's heart. "With the glasses. You know what to do."

Nick takes the tray with their stuff upstairs so Zayn can put a tiny microphone in the policeman's glasses.

"What are you doing here." Louis states and steps back when the doctor and the policeman walk over.

"I'm an assistant at the hospital." She tells him and takes out a syringe from her bag, which is probably an anesthetic.

Everyone watches silently as they pull two bullets out of Liam's shoulders and then stitch him up. It last about two hours and by the time they're done it's almost 10pm. Liam's asleep on the table, mask still on his face, when the three of them get back their stuff and the doors open.

Zayn's calmed down by the time the doors close once again. Everyone is told that they can take off their masks, and Louis never knew he'd enjoy getting a breath of (almost) fresh air as much as he has right now.

Hailee and Zayn go to get sandwiches for everyone so they can eat dinner and finally go to the bathroom and then sleep, because it's been an exhausting day and everything is starting to slowly take a toll on them. All Louis can do right now, is hope that people won't snap, because they've got eight more days and then they're out of here.

While the first group of guys is taken to the toilets to brush their teeth, he takes a shower in the main office and then goes downstairs to the factory to see how Gigi's doing with the printing.

There's an office there, where the phone lines have been cut and everything that might have been used as a weapon has been removed, so five workers are locked in as they sleep. The sight makes his heart weak, because he hates seeing these people trapped like that, but he tries to remember how Lottie needs surgery and how he's been running for the past several years for no reason.

Gigi is in another office, right next to the one where the people are sleeping, talking to the guy in charge of the factory. There are a lot of serial numbers written on the windows of the office in lipstick.

"How are we doing?" Louis asks her and she turns around.

"Pretty well. We're printing around 130 million pounds a day in fifty pound notes." She tells him and smiles. Louis' eyes widen.

"So we're gonna get more than a billion?" he asks, doing the math in his head.

Gigi nods. "More than expected."

"Aren't you tired?" Louis asks her then as she watches her looking down at the workers.

"A bit. But Oxygen and I take twelve-hour shifts, because Neon is busy with, you know. cracking through the floor of the vault."

"Do you want me to take over so you can sleep?" Louis offers, even though he's sleepy himself.

She gives him a happy smile. "No Hydrogen, it's fine. Go sleep. I got it here."

He leaves her alone then and walks back upstairs to take his group to the bathroom and then to the room they've slept in last night.

***

Day 2 – 36 hours into the heist (Friday, 21st, 11:45pm)

"Don't try to steal my gun again this time." Louis tells Harry right before he enters the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Niall gives Harry a look and then Mercury enters the bathroom and asks Louis to come outside for a bit.

As soon as the door closes, one of the guys from last night turns to the rest of them, whispering.

"Listen, we can wait until he falls asleep and then take his gun." He suggests. "We need to take control of the situation otherwise who knows how long we'll be in here for."

Harry shakes his head. "Bad idea."

"And why is that?" another guy asks, putting his hands on his hips.

"Because they have guns, that's why. And I'm pretty sure they have earpieces as well, so all he has to do is scream and the others will be in the room in no time."

"Do you have a crush on this guy or something?" Max asks, butting into the conversation.

"No, I'm just-"

They're interrupted by the door opening and Louis steps in, but not before the guys all agree that they're not going to sleep tonight so they could get the gun and threaten Louis.

Obviously, Harry can't sleep either. He's not sure how much time has passed since they've been in the dark but he can tell for sure that nobody is sleeping, because no one's snoring.

He pops his head out from the back of the couch to look in Louis' direction. His gun is in his arms this time (probably because Harry himself has tried to steal it jus the other night) and his head is thrown back against the back of the chair. He looks asleep.

There's movement on the other side of the room. Tom (the older guy, Harry has learned) motions over to Louis as John (the guy who came up with the idea to steal the gun) watches and nods his head.

Fuck, this won't end without someone being hurt.

Harry's heart is beating out of his chest as he gets up from the floor and walks over to Louis.

"What are you doing?" Max hisses and Harry shakes his head as he pushes at Louis' arm until he's awake.

"What?" Louis asks, rubbing his eyes.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Harry tells him.

"Can't you hold it until tomorrow?"

Harry shakes his head. "No."

Louis groans and presses the inside of his ear. "I need someone to come to room 28." Then he stands up from the chair and cracks his joints.

The door opens and Oxygen steps in.

"I got it." she tells Louis, who nods and then ushers Harry out of the room.

It's not until he's on the way to the bathroom with a gun to his back that Harry realizes he'll have to actually force himself to pee if he doesn't want to tell Louis the actual reason he insisted on getting out of the room.

Harry stares at himself in the mirror when he gets to the bathroom and Louis cocks his head.

"Didn't you have to pee or something?" Louis asks.

"Yeah I uh...I don't have to go right now."

Louis rolls his eyes.

"So what did you do?" Harry tries to prolong this as much as he can.

Louis makes a face. "What?"

"Zayn is here because he's wanted by the FBI or something, so that's why he's got nothing to lose. Everyone involved in the heist is probably in the same situation, so I was just wondering what you did."

"Do you honestly think I will tell you that?" Louis snorts.

"I mean, I already know your name, right? What do you have to lose? Plus, I'm pretty sure I already know what you did because when I met you in that pub I knew you looked familiar."

The expression on Louis' face is everything Harry needs to know, really.

"Look, either you're going to use the toilet or I'm going to take you back." Louis says and Harry nods before he walks into one of the cubicles.

He unzips his suit and takes the phone out because he's discovered that the suits have pockets and it's been starting to bother him. The screen lights up when he takes it out and his heart starts beating faster.

"I don't hear you peeing." Louis says from the other side of the door.

Harry's heart is threatening to jump out of his chest.

"Give me a minute." Harry says and hears him sigh.

It's now or never, so he opens the messaging app because Simon didn't even bother to password protect his phone. He types his father's number in and then composes a message.

This is harry. I found a phone, I'm ok. Don't text back.

Louis knocks on the door then and Harry hurries to put his phone back in his pocket before he flushes the toilet and comes out of the bathroom.

"I didn't hear you pee." Louis says as Harry washes his hands.

"Yeah that's because I peed on the side so..." Harry tries and Louis doesn't seem to buy it, but doesn't say anything anyway.

When Harry turns around from the sink, Louis is watching him with an annoyed expression.

"Can we...I mean, can we stay here for a while? The air is much...cleaner."

"It's a bathroom." Louis states and leans against the sink.

"So is that a yes?" Harry asks and Louis rolls his eyes, shrugging.

Harry walks over to the locked window and slides down against the wall right under it. So the window has a view of a brick wall, which means it's between two parts of the building.

"Can I open the window?" he asks.

"Obviously not." comes the answer.

"Why not? It's literally between two parts of the building. And I'm not planning on jumping out of it and fleeing."

"Shut up."

Harry leans his elbows on his knees and places his head in his palms.

"What are everyone's names again?" Harry asks.

"Do you sometimes need to talk just to hear your own voice or what?"

Harry shrugs. "I'm just trying to make conversation. It's been two days and I think I'm going to go crazy. So the least we could do is be civil to each other, even though you obviously have the upper hand."

Louis sighs. "I'm Hydrogen, then there's Neon, Oxygen, Iron, Zink, Silver. And Mercury."

"And the woman who was the assistant today is the one who planned all this, right? The one you guys talk to on that landline."

Louis' eyes widen in horror. "What?"

"Isn't she?"

"How did you get that idea?"

Harry shrugs. "She's the woman you were talking to in that pub."

"Fuck." Louis says under his breath and points his gun at him. "I should kill you right now."

Harry puts his arms up in defense. "Please don't. I swear, I won't tell anyone."

"Yeah, sure." Louis laughs.

"Even if I would, which I won't, you all will probably be long gone by then, am I right?"

Louis thinks about it, finger on the trigger. Then he lets his gun down.

"I'm actually glad you are the one supervising us and not Mercury." Harry says after a few minutes of silence.

"Why's that? Nevermind, I get it. He has quite the temper."

"Yeah, I think he wouldn't hesitate to harm someone as long as..." Harry trails off, frowning.

"What?"

Harry shrugs. "It's just, by definition, Mercury is a poisonous, liquid metal and it's compounds are potentially toxic and cause harm to the central nervous system. Which is kind of fitting to your Mercury's character."

"How do you know all this?" Louis asks, stepping closer.

"I wanted to study chemistry at Uni at some point and I used to read a lot when I was in school. What are the other names? Oxygen? Colorless gas, used in hospitals to aid patient respiration."

Louis raises his eyebrows. "Which is exactly what she does. Like sort of a healer. Tell me about Iron."

"Uh...Iron? Medium-hard metal, magnetic. It's a strong metal and really...malleable, when it comes in contact with other elements. As in, it's easy to be pressed into a certain shape without breaking or cracking-"

"I know what the word means." Louis retorts. "So, you could say it's the 'muscle' of the elements?"

Harry nods. "You could say that."

"Shit."

"What?"

"Nothing. What about Zink?"

"Main use is to prevent iron rusting."

"Ha." Louis says. "How...ironic."

Harry laughs at that.

"No pun intended." Louis says, a smile playing at his lips.

"Zink is pretty useful in chemistry actually, especially when it's combined with other elements. Like...a 'brain' of the elements, you could say."

Louis looks lost in his thoughts, so Harry continues.

"Silver, for example, is a soft, shiny metal. Used for jewelry because it's also malleable. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm describing Silver, as in, your partner." Harry says. "So whoever gave you the names kind of thought things through."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Louis mumbles. "Neon?"

"Colorless, unreactive gas. Not much to say about it to be honest, it's like, used in fluorescent tubes and such. But at a party for example, with fluorescent lights and stuff, it's like a key element, you know? Very important." Harry says, trying to figure out what Neon's role is in all of this.

Silver is most probably the one in the money factory, since Harry hasn't really seen her around as much, seeing as it's a metal used for jewelry and shiny stuff.

"Don't you want to know what Hydrogen symbolizes?" Harry asks, trying to look for information about Hydrogen through his brain.

"Sure."

Louis standing up makes Harry kind of uncomfortable, plus there's a gun in his hand, but he doesn't say anything.

"Hydrogen is an explosive gas and also the lightest element. Very flammable and explosive if ignited in air. Mainly used for um, rocket fuel, but the thing is..." Harry stops.

"What?"

"It's the most important element because without it, nothing would be able to exist and survive."

Louis licks his lips. Harry continues.

"So yeah...I'm pretty sure you're like...the most important piece of the puzzle in 'her', whoever she is, eyes."

Louis swallows. "Well. Yeah, I don't know. Did you get enough fresh air? We should go back."

"Wait." Harry says, but stands up nonetheless. "Where do you guys shower? I'm getting like...stinky. Can I use it?"

"What?" Louis asks, shaking his head. "No way you're going to use the shower. Who do you think you are?"

Harry lets his head hang and then walks out of the bathroom first.

"Took you long enough." Oxygen says when they enter the room, pointing the flashlight at them.

"Sorry, had an irritable bowel." Harry tells her and tries to ignore the angry looks he's getting from the guys.

"Did you change shifts with Silver already?" Louis asks.

"No, was just about to."

Harry gets back on the floor behind the couch and Niall gives him a look as Oxygen and Louis continue their conversation.

"What?" he asks.

"What took so long?"

Harry lowers his voice to whisper. "I just don't want these guys to start a fucking war, you know?"

"Harry." Niall whispers back. "It's going to happen eventually, and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"We can warn them."

"No way you're going to do that. They're the enemy after all. The hot enemy, mind you, but still the enemy. We shouldn't let our attractions get in the way."

"What attraction? I don't have an 'attraction'." Harry hisses, doing air quotes.

"Oh please. I've known you all my life."

"No you haven't."

Niall rolls his eyes. "Either way, it's fine. I get it. I'd ask her out too, you know. But like, obviously now's not the time."

Harry chuckles. "Obviously."

"Also, I think she fancies me too."

"How'd you figure?"

"She pointed her gun at me like three times since you've been gone."

"Hey, shut up over there." Louis says once the door closes behind Oxygen, interrupting their conversation. "Go to sleep now."

Niall wiggles his eyebrows at Harry, who swats his head and fluffs the pillow before he places his head on it. He won't sleep anyway, but it's alright.

***

Day 3 – 45 hours into the heist (Saturday, 22nd, 8:34am)

Harry is woken up by a gun pressing into his ribs.

"What a lovely way to wake up." he mumbles and rubs his eyes to see Louis looking down at him.

"Don't be a smartarse. Get up."

"What?"

Harry stands up anyway, really wishing he'd have a coffee and maybe a cigarette. Should he ask Louis for one? He knows he's been smoking, even in the tiny room they have to sleep in.

His eyes fall on Mercury though, so he refrains himself from saying anything else. He doesn't like him, and after his conversation with Louis yesterday about the chemical elements, he's pretty sure that the woman who gave them the names made sure they matched their characters. So Mercury is definitely toxic, that's for sure.

"We're going to the bathroom." Louis informs Mercury.

"Do they really need to go to the bathroom three times a day?" comes his answer.

Harry looks up at the camera they've set up in the corner and pretends to be in The Office, because he knows that 'the Chemist' is watching.

"What are you looking at?" Mercury asks Harry, stepping closer and pointing the gun at him.

"Stop it." Louis tells him and gets in front of Harry. "They're human beings, they need to go to the bathroom more than three times a day."

Mercury cocks his head and Harry is very aware of everyone in the room watching them. The guys are huddled in the corner of the room, waiting for instruction, and Harry's sure that they all wish to strangle him because he ruined their master plan of taking over the heist men.

"What is this Hydrogen?" Mercury laughs. "You got yourself a little crush or what?"

Harry's cheeks burn, so he presses his cold hands against them in the hopes of getting them to cool down.

"Do I get to defend people's human rights only if I got a crush or what?" Louis asks, getting angry.

"Alright, chill out." Mercury laughs, stepping back.

Okay, so Mercury does feel like Louis could beat him up. Good to know, Harry thinks.

Mercury eventually barks out at them that they should get moving towards the bathroom before breakfast, so Harry follows Niall out of the room. Louis is leading the line towards the bathrooms and Harry is incredibly aware of the fact that Mercury is a meter behind him with a gun in his hands.

For some reason, Harry never feels threatened when Louis is holding a gun pointed at him, but with Mercury, it's a whole other story.

He makes a mental note to try and ask Louis to use the shower in the main office again as he brushes his teeth with the single-use toothbrushes they're given. They take off the upper parts of their suits and wash themselves before they pass the deodorant amongst themselves.

"Take them downstairs." Mercury tells Louis.

"Yeah, I know what to do." Louis says.

Just as they're about to exit the bathroom, Harry's pocket vibrates.

His entire body freezes and every single fiber of his being is overtaken by a rush of adrenaline mixed with fear.

Then the phone starts ringing, echoing through the bathroom. He smells Mercury behind him, before he's being turned around to face him. Mercury unzips the pocket and takes out the ringing phone.

Harry already knows it's his father.

"Well well well." Mercury laughs. "What do we have here?"

---

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