Josefer Martin - A Day in the Life - Chapter 3

"Control," I continued, but there was no answer.

"It's no use Joe," Mike noted.

"Control, this is Joe, come in Control."

"I told you, it's useless."

"Control, we have a problem, respond," I said, worried.

"Joe!" Mike shouted, I stopped and looked at him. His hair, which used to be dyed black last year, was now a bright red. He was angry. "Your radio can't get through these walls."

"But," I began., he interrupted.

"But Jessica could sense us, I know," he put way his gun, it's holster hidden under his suit jacket. The jacket, along with his tie, the shirt, his pants, and even his shoes, were all dyed in a flame pattern. Right now, his clothes matched his hair, a combination that probably hadn't happened since the last time he worn the black jumpsuit before he graduated. "That's because it's a trap. I set a trap, a simple bank robbery. Have the mooks hold up the joint, create a ruckus, while Zel and I snuck into the vault. Since there are only four of them, and there weren't any supers overtly involved, I knew they'd send you. You see, it was all a part of my plan."

He smiled. I didn't. He continued.

"This vault," he gestured around him, "is very secure, at least, now it is. A minute ago, it wasn't. When we got here I had Zel whip up a two stage spell. The first stage weakened the vault, making it as easy to sense thoughts through as a piece of paper. That was the bait. Now that you're here, it's a bit stronger then it normally is, stage two." He smiled, "Zel, tell our guests what you've done."

"Gladly," she sneered. "Well, originally, the vault was just protected by a two foot thick wall of lead, concrete, and a titanium mesh. Secure, but only against telepaths, and only up to a Grade Four. Now, it's been reinforced to be completely magic, thought, and radio impenetrable. So, even though Miss Grade Two here could sense in," and she gestured to Jessica, "now nothing can get in or out, except me of course."

"Good job Zel," said Mike with a smile. "So, with a new situation, there was only two options you had. Either stick to the plan, take care of the mooks with all four of you, but potentially let the real thieves go, or split up, the Brick and the Telekinetic taking care of the mooks, four on two, a good morale booster, and you two coming here to the vault via one of Jessie's teleports. I knew you'd go for the latter. You're so predictable, all you Intuits are. Give you a situation and ninety percent of the time, you'll all do the same thing. Having known you for as long as I have, plus a bit of pushing from Zel, and I got it up to a hundred percent."

"So," I interrupted, "now that you've got us, what do you want?"

"To gloat," he said confidently. "To prove that no matter how fast you plan, you're too short term. That I can still out-plan even you, a Grade Five Intuit, because I'm smarter."

"Revenge?" asked Jessica.

"No, that'll come later, just you wait. No, now that we've had this little chat, it's time to get moving," Mike countered.

"So, you're robbing banks now? That the best plan you could come up with, Mr. Flame?" I goaded him.

"Wait," interjected Jessica, "I thought it was the Human Zippo?"

"No," I said, a smile creeping across my face, "I know what it is. The Great Flambé."

"Stop!" shouted Mike. His hands were clenched in fists at his side, wreathed in flame. Zelda stopped snickering a half-second later. "Zel, silence them."

Zelda smiled, "My pleasure." Her hand left the grip of the pistol, which continued to float in mid-air, pointed at Jessica. She brought her hands together, palm to palm, in front of her, and her irises fading from blue to white, and her skirt billowing up to fly straight out from her hips. The color of her tank top, skirt, and knee-high boots faded to white as well. Then, a second after she began, she stopped, her eyes returning to blue with a blink, and her clothes to their former hot pink just as fast. She grabbed the pistol from out of the air.

I opened my mouth to speak, but found that I couldn't, which was expected from Zelda's actions.

"Now that I don't have to listen to the two of you yammer on, I'll continue," he preached, probably not realizing the irony of his words. "I came up with this trap for two reasons. First, to let you two know Zelda and I were back in town, and that we're on the rise. Second, well, if you're going to rob a bank," and he pauses to point at the small pile of black plastic crates in front of the vault door, "you might as well take it all."

He gestured around the room, "Two hundred safe deposit boxes, and the morning's cash deposits, plus the records from the last five years. I got it all, and you can't stop me." He walked over to the crates, and popped one open, "Two million dollars in bonds." He then opened another, "Fifty-thousand in small, unmarked, non-sequential, used bills. A kidnapper's dream come true." He then closed them both, and walked back over to Jessica and I, "Oh, and I'll also be taking this."

He reached up to my face and grabbed my goggles. I tried to move, tried to stop him, but I couldn't. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Zelda shake her finger at me, scolding me, "Not so fast Mr. Martin."

"Exactly," said Mike, pocketing my goggles. "Now, I've got your goggles, the set of goggles your father left you when he died. The goggles that you received a special dispensation to wear as part of your uniform, after you integrated advanced electronics of course. These little babies change this from just a botched attempt to stop a bank robber to something personal."

It did, and every person in the room knew it was true.

"So," started Zelda, "Now that all is said and done, it's time we take our leave." She turned, leaving the pistol pointed at Jessica, and strutted over to the crates. She turned on the ball of her foot, "In about," and she paused to look at her watch, "thirty seconds, the silence will wear off, as will my reinforcements on the vault. You'll probably have ten seconds to get some sort of trace on my teleport, which we all know neither of you can't do in under twelve, before the path corrodes too far to trace." Mike walked up next to her, and put his arm around her waist, bringing her close and kissing her on the cheek.

"So long, and thanks for the good time," Mike said sarcastically.

Zelda smiled and waved goodbye, as the pair and the crates disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Her final word still hanging in the air, "Toodles."