Five seconds ago
The silent alarm sounds.
Across town, Charles Jenkins opened his eyes. He felt a twitch. Fourty-second sense.
Now
"Move it! Move it! Open the vault!" the lead robber shouted, pointed the high-tech rifle at the teller, "I'm not afraid to ventilate the whole lot of you!"
"Alright! Just hold on!"
As the young woman pressed the code, the heavy door swung quickly open. A moment later, the lights inside the vault switched on. It wasn't empty.
"You thieves are slower than I remember," X-Stream smirked as he leaned up against the inner wall of the vault, juggling five energy rifle power cartridges in his hands at mind-bending speed, "do us all a favor and give up now and save the cops some paperwork, eh?"
"He's just a kid! Rush him!"
Noticing their weapons disabled, the crooks charged the vault. It was embarrassing at best. Within two steps, each found themselves fighting one-on-one with the young hero (shifting him position from battle to battle from moment to moment). Within three steps, all five were out for the count.
"Screw that." With a screech, the truck began to back up. It made it about two feet. By then, both axles were missing. As the crook went for the door handle, he found the door lock was crushed into place, sealing him in, and his fellows were int he back of the truck, chained up with the type of industrial chain only sold in one supply outlet two miles away.
As the cops arrived five minutes later, X-Stream was long gone, with only a note scratched an inch-deep into the side of the truck remaining:
COURTESY OF THE MBL!
The teller checked her watch. The elapsed time from hitting the alarm to the battle bing over was just under fifteen seconds...
