Dominus

Chapter Four

Once we were sure The Chef was back inside, we sprinted for the back of the bank. The parking lot felt so much bigger once we were actually running across it, so I'm still not sure how nobody saw us.

When we arrived at the back door, we could now see both devices up close. They were almost like old pirate ship steering wheels made of metal with the fun addition of a bomb in the middle. Each device had small timers on the outside that were set for ten minutes. Immediately, we each got to work on both sides. I took the right and Annabella the left. 

The main device in the center seemed to have a cover plate drilled into it at all four corners. I'd only ever defused a bomb once in training with Eli. Deciding to take an arrow out from my quiver, I pulled the arrowhead off. I've preferred traditional arrows for a long time because of situations like this. Using the arrowhead as a screwdriver, I began unscrewing the four bolts and looked to Annabella, who seemed to have the same idea.

"How's it going over there?" I asked.

"Good, about to get the last screw out!" she yelled back.

I finished my last screw when Annabella looked at me, worried, "Uh, Mason?" she asked vaguely.

"Yes?"

"Red or blue?" she asked, and I looked at her confused until I turned to mine and saw exactly what she meant. All that was underneath the front panel was one red wire and one blue wire, each connected to the timer, which now read eight minutes and forty one seconds. Time was running out.

The classic red wire or blue wire, every hero's worst nightmare--but also, weirdly, a bucket list item. Cutting one could either save everything or destroy it all in one go.

"What do you think?" I yelled back to her.

"Ummm, I'm not really sure."

She was beginning to panic a little bit, but I just knew there had to be an easier way out of this.

That's when it came to me.

"Annabella."

She looked over to me, worry filling her eyes as the timer ticked down. Now, seven minutes exactly.

"How strong are you with your enhanced strength?" I asked calmly, being sure not to make her feel like anything could be wrong.

"Pretty strong, why?"

"You think you could punch a hole in the wall?"

She thought about it for a moment, then looked at the bombs on their respective sides. Then, her eyes widened, "You think that would actually work?"

I shrugged. "Got any other ideas?"

Her face looked uncertain. "Okay, let's try it," she said.

The plan was simple: Annabella would punch a hole through the wall around the concrete attached to each bomb. This would allow them to be pulled out of the wall without disturbing the devices.

Somehow, she managed to punch through the concrete wall repeatedly without raising any suspicion. Once Annabella got the first one out, she pulled it back and threw it out into the atmosphere as far as she possibly could. That's when I nocked an arrow, drew my bowstring back, aimed and shot the wires of the device midair.

As soon as the arrow hit the wires, it felt like time froze for a millisecond and in that time, the entire piece of concrete exploded to smithereens. If any human had been nearby, they would have been killed immediately.

We soon destroyed the second one and regrouped at the back door of the bank. Now standing in front of two giant holes on both sides of the wall, I opened the middle door closest to us, and we made our way inside.

The back of the bank was full of vaults and endless hallways of filing cabinets. Towards the front, we could hear The Chef talking to someone. Annabella eyed the door to the front lobby and we ran for it. While crouching behind one of the reception desks, I tried peeking over the top to see what was going on.

The Chef stood in the center of the room, and it looked like he had a gang of copycat henchmen beside him. All of them were dressed in a chef's outfit, holding individual civilians hostage.  Since Annabella and I had cleared the back, everyone left in the bank was now inside the lobby. After listening for a moment while The Chef babbled on about his hatred for superheroes, his tone changed to somewhat excited--which in no way could mean anything good.

"Hahaha," he cackled maniacally. "Looks like time is up!"

His voice was deep, but it managed to reach Joker-level pitches when it came to evil laughs.

He then pulled out a remote control, which I knew controlled the bombs. I looked to Annabella who was watching behind a chair across from me. She nodded.

We then watched as The Chef clicked his remote repeatedly. "Whats going on with this stupid thing?!" he yelled. The civilians began to shift and murmur as the The Chef began acting crazier by the second.

We needed to act fast. With one more look of confirmation to Annabella, who was more than prepared to jump out there, I turned to The Chef and stood up.

"It's been destroyed!" I yelled, making sure to sound confident, no matter how many goons he had. (Five to be exact.)

"What's a kid doing here? You don't know what you're dealing with. Go back home to your mommy right now. Before you get seriously hurt. By me."

"Not gonna happen."

I was surprised to see Annabella right beside me, battle ready. I refaced The Chef, drawing an arrow from my quiver as I felt a sudden rush come through me.

"Okay, fine. You wanna play with the grown ups? So be it! Get em!" The Chef yelled, motioning his henchmen towards us.

Each one began running straight for us, and Annabella turned to me.

"You sure you're ready for this?"

I looked at the civilians in need of help, took a deep breath, and aimed my bow.

"I've always been ready."