Money Heist is a story about a group of thieves who break into the Bank of Spain and hold it under siege. They want to buy time to melt the bars of gold down into pellets to them export them.

In the middle of the heist, a navel seal is in the building, unfettered, and sneaking around killing the crew one by one. Nairobi learns her men in the basement have stopped the melting down of gold. This can’t happen. If they stop melting the gold, then they’ll never get out alive. How does she rile them up? A story.

“Are you afraid?” she asks three men, hiding behind a bunker, bearing m16.

“Come on, man,” one says, “There’s a lunatic armed to the teeth.”

“I’m afraid too, you know. Bogotá, are you afraid?” she asks her burly partner.

“Maybe the most,” he responds.

She then describes other teammates who are upstairs. “Palermo, Helsinki and Stockholm are scared too. They’re taking the hostages to the library. Denver and Rio are practically shitting themselves upstairs. Because they’re looking for Gandía. [the navel seal on the loose] And Gandía… Gandía is the most afraid, so he’s won’t stop until he kills us all. Everyone else is doing their jobs, and you’re over here… scared shitless… hiding behind a little trench.”

Previously the men in the basement told themselves “there’s a lunatic coming to kill us, we must defend ourselves.” After Nairobi’s speech, a different story rotated through their head, “I’m scared. My team is sacred. But each of us has a duty. Come what may.”

And they unstrapped the m16s, tied on the leather aprons, and began hammering away on gold bars.