Hot new game

Last Christmas at the end of 2024, New Order Of Alexandria Productions released the highly anticipated hot new video game called The Grand Robbery. It was a game where you play as a criminal, letting you wreck havoc in the city of London as you replay the real life Grand Robbery of Royston Bank of 2013. It was a thrilling experience, one where you had to plan the heist, then act it out in-game. It had an incredible amount of replay value, you could make choices in the story that affected the narrative, who joined your crew of thieves and even what ending you got. It was highly sought after by millions and in the famous American city of New York, thousands upon thousands of people queued up to buy copies of the game before Christmas. All except for Arnold Sinbad, who had completely forgotten to buy his 12 year son the game he so desperately wanted for Christmas day. It was on Christmas Eve where Arnold tried desperately to get his hands on the game, even going so far as to commit a few small crimes along the way. This is a tale of desperation and how something as simple as a video game can drive some people crazy.

Arnold drove to every game shop in New York, asking the staff if they had the Grand Robbery in store, they often laughed, saying they only had Saints Of Crime game instead, which was a good awful rip off of the Grand Robbery game. Obviously Arnold wasn't willing to upset his son Jamie like that, so sometimes he'd even go so far as to slap the employees who nicked his desperate search for the fabled video game he was seeking. Not only did Arnold assault innocent shop assistants, he also raced across the city, breaking several road laws and even found himself in a police chase or two. He couldn't keep driving his own car, so he began committing grand theft auto, stealing other vehicles to avoid getting caught. Arnold soon began listening to the car radio, apparently other gamers were raiding stores looking for the Grand Robbery video game, it was out of stock almost everywhere in the city. Then there was an announcement on a popular radio show, the host said; "that hot new game everybody's talking about, The Grand Robbery, is becoming incredibly hard to find, luck would have we're offering a chance to win a free copy!"

"A chance to win a free copy?!" Arnold exclaimed, parking his stolen car and increasing the volume on his dial.

"That's right!" The radio host said, almost like he was replying to Arnold directly, "the first caller who can answer which city the Grand Robbery takes place in will win a free copy of the game."

Arnold scrambled for his mobile phone and called the number for the radio show.

"Hello?" The radio host answered.

"London!" Arnold screamed.

"Wha- hold on, we got a second caller... Hello?"

"It's London!" Another voice answered.

"That's right, the Grand Robbery is set in London, congratulation-"

"No wait!" Arnold barked, "that's what I just said, London!"

"Oh, looks like we have a tie!" The radio host laughed.

"No, I called first!" Arnold argued.

"Both phones rang at the same time, fellas!"

"But I answered first!" Arnold barked.

"No, we both called at the same time!" The other voice roared.

"Whoever can get to our radio studio first wins!" The host was positively howling with laughter. Arnold hung up and raced through Times Square, running many Christmas shoppers over and smashing through a hundred Christmas trees, destroying several lampposts and public benches along the way, his car was battered, smoking and stained red with the blood and gore of human road kill he slaughtered along the way to the radio studio. Squads of police cars chased him through the city, sirens blazing loudly, flashing blue and red. Somehow, Arnold avoided them all, crashing his car into the radio building, the host screamed like a little girl, as Arnold's car came smashing through the radio equipment, destroying everything in the studio.

"It's London!" Arnold yelled, looking like a rabid dog, as he climbed out of the broken windshield of his car.

"Wha- what?!" The host winced, gazing up at Arnold, as he was a huge Austrian man.

"I want your Grand Robbery video game!" Arnold demanded.

"It- it- it isn't here!" The host cried.

"What?!" Arnold gasped.

"We send it to your address!"

Arnold shouted his address at the radio host, "now send it! Sent it to my house, do it now!"

"Ok..." The radio host wept, as he phoned up the delivery service, he gave them Arnold's address, "it will come in two weeks." The host told him.

"Two weeks?!" Arnold gasped, "I want it now!"

"Maybe if you go to the Atlantic warehouse in Queens!"

Arnold ran away the moment the radio host said that.

Arnold found himself surrounded by a hundred police men outside the radio studio, all of whom were aiming their guns at him.

"Where's your Christmas spirit?!" He said to them, "can't you see I'm trying to get Jamie the new Grand Robbery video game for tomorrow?"

"Surrender, put your hands in the air!" They ordered.

"I don't do requests!" Arnold laughed, taking cover behind a nearby car, as a hailstorm of bullets tried to kill him, "for Jamie!" He cried, breaking into the car he was hiding behind and smashing it through the police barricade, keeping his head below the steering wheel so he wouldn't get shot.

"Hasta la vista, baby!" He grinned, driving away from the absolute carnage he had caused, soon a city wide manhunt began. Police helicopters scoured the air, chasing Arnold through the city. Not only that, but the American army had been sent in to take care of him too, jet fighters equipped with missiles and machine gun turrets flew into the city, shooting wildly at Arnold's new car, but the mad dad was so good at driving he avoided every hit and explosion. Eventually para-troopers glided in, firing small machine guns as they landed near Arnold, who was already five minutes away from the warehouse in Queens. Soon battle tanks raided New York to try and destroy him. Arnold exited his car once the warehouse was nearby, the staff inside were alerted of his presence and fled screaming, knowing that some insane, determined father was willing to kill anybody who got in the way of him getting his son the Grand Robbery game for Christmas. Arnold tackled one of the escaping employees to the ground, "where is the Grand Robbery video game!" He screamed at them.

"I- in the wa- warehouse, aisle 3, bottom shelf!"

"Aww, poor baby!" He mocked the crying warehouse worker, then knocked him out with a sucker punch to his forehead.

"Don't worry, Jamie! Santa Claus is coming to town!" Arnold roared, as thousands of soldiers and police men in riot gear chased after him, firing rocket launchers and large machine guns in his direction. Somehow, miraculously, Arnold avoided all of those bullets and rockets, breaking into the warehouse and finding a copy of the Grand Robbery video game, exactly where that poor warehouse employee had told him to look.

"Hurray!" Arnold laughed, gleefully, dancing with the game, "now time to wrap you up and put you under the Christmas tree for Jamie tomorrow!" He smiled, before placing the game in his coat pocket and fleeing the warehouse through the back entrance, Arnold found himself near the docks and a red speedboat was waiting for him in the water.

"Don't worry, Jamie, I'm coming!" Arnold said to himself, before racing towards the boat, hot-wiring it and racing away from the city. Eventually he saw a giant battleship awaiting him in the ocean.

"Just my luck!" Arnold groaned, as the crew onboard began firing at him using mini gun turrets attached to the railings.

"This is the US Army!" A loud voice boomed from the speakers of the ship, "surrender yourself now and you won't be killed."

"In your dreams, sailor!" Arnold spat, racing his speed boat away from the battleship, fortunately for him, the big ship was much slower than his little speed boat and he managed to get away from them altogether.

Sneaking back into the city was tough, but Arnold used to be a highly trained navy seal (of course he was) back in his youth, so staying low and discreet was like riding a bike, you never forget. Whole police squads and soldiers were searching all over for him.

Back at the Sinbad residence in Manhattan; Arnold's wife and son had been informed of his city wide rampage looking for the Grand Robbery video game. Arnold's wife was horrified, crying hysterically, but Jamie was over the moon.

"I can't believe dad got me Grand Robbery, mom!" He cheered, "I can't wait to play it with my friends online!"

"Son, your father's going to go to jail for a very long time, he may even get the death penalty!" His mother cried. Jamie merely shrugged, he was just happy to finally get to play Grand Robbery.

In order for Arnold to stay hidden, he broke into a shopping market and stole a Santa Claus outfit, full with the big white beard, red hat, coat, boots and everything. He was completely unrecognisable, as police and armed forces searched far and wide for him. One of them even asked him if he saw Arnold.

"Ho ho ho!" Arnold replied to the policeman, "I haven't seen that naughty boy!"

"Ok, dude..." The cop shook his head, "you better leave, this Arnold guy is some serious terrorist!"

"Terrorist!" Arnold exclaimed, removing his fake white beard.

"It's him, you're Arnold!" The officer gasped, reaching for the pistol in his holster. Arnold slapped the man so hard, he dropped his gun and blacked out against the hard concrete ground.

"I'm not a terrorist. I'm a good father!" Arnold spat on the unconscious policeman, then fled the scene, pulling back on his fake Santa beard. Before walking to his home, Arnold checked the pockets of his Santa suit, the copy of Grand Robbery was still there in its plastic case and everything. It was night time when he finally arrived home for Christmas eve, dressed exactly like the red, jolly giant who gifted presents to good children. Of course, Jamie had been an exceptionally good boy and deserved his violet, bloody and mature video game, more than any other kid on the block. Arnold saw police men guarding his home, so he sneaked round the back of the house and climbed over the fence, then up onto the roof, there was a chimney and he jumped down inside it, landing in the fireplace of his home.

"Oh my god!" His wife saw him land, "intruder!"

"No, honey, honey it's me..." Arnold whispered. His scared wife stared at him in disbelief.

"Arnold?!"

"Yes, honey. It's me!" Arnold smiled, "is Jamie asleep?"

"Nevermind that!" His wife cried, "you're the most wanted man in America right now, you killed countless innocent civilians trying to get that damn game!"

"Well I have it!" Arnold smiled brightly, revealing the Grand Robbery from within his red Santa jacket. His wife rolled her eyes.

"Like that's going to save you!"

"As long as I stay in the basement, nobody will know I'm here. I did this for Jamie. All so our son can have a good, old jolly Christmas!" Arnold sang.

"Oh I yeah!" His wife sighed, "his father in jail on Christmas day, what a great present!"

"As long as you can keep a little secret, nobody will know I'm here." Arnold winked.

"I only work part time, honey!" She pleaded, "how are we supposed to pay the bills on a singular salary?!"

"Well..." Arnold smiled weakly, "maybe it's time you got a full time job, sweetie!"

"Whatever..." She gave up, "I'm going to bed!"

"Good idea honey, I'll wrap up little Jamie's present for tomorrow. Have a jolly, jolly Christmas!"

"Fuck you, Arnold..." She groaned, climbing upstairs to go to bed. Arnold cleaned the blood and gore off the plastic case containing the Grand Robbery video game. He even checked the disc to make sure it was spotless and had no scratches on it. To his relief, the game was brand new.

"Oh, Jamie, you're going to love it!" Arnold smiled brightly, as he laid the wrapped gift underneath the Christmas tree, then ventured down into the basement.

The next day, Jamie awoke and ran down stairs excitedly, only to see his father dressed like Santa smiling in the living room.

"Dad!" The son cheered, running in for a hug.

"Oh Jamie, merry Christmas my boy!"

"I saw you on the news, you're a real badass, father! They say you killed 87 innocent civilians, 44 police men and a few soldiers trying to get me this game!"

"That I did son, I did it all for you!"

"Wow!" Jamie smiled brightly, "is that it, dad!" He pointed under the Christmas tree.

"It sure is, son!" Arnold chuckled, sounding just like Father Christmas.

"Oh my god!" Jamie screamed joyously after ripping open the wrapped present, "you got me the special edition!"

"I didn't even realise!" Arnold laughed, "now come on son, let's plug the game into your PlayBox7 and play together. I hear it has co-op!"

"Awesome!" Jamie replied, "then we can kill cops together!"

"Like father and son!" Arnold smiled warmly. It was a wonderful, violent, bloody Christmas after all!