by M&CNICFYYY2K
The explosion we just heard, the second in a few minutes, came from the department store directly in front of the bank. That I don't get. You're a robber with explosives in the vicinity of a place that holds billions of dollars, and you settle for scoring a new wardrobe?
Unless... this isn't a robbery. Maybe it's just a guy who likes to blow things up.
Alfhild starts up her jetpack and heads for the fifth floor, the one with the broken windows and, you know, all the fire and stuff. I grab the mini walkie-talkie that comes in the belt of my uniform and call her while she's still in the air. "Uh, Alfie, dear, wouldn't it be wiser for you to enter the building through a floor that hasn't exploded in the past ten seconds?"
"This is precisely the one floor where I don't risk being blown to pieces upon entrance. They're not gonna blow it up twice," her voice answers. "You go in through the front door and inspect the place. Be prepared for anything."
"Got it, chief." As strange as it sounds, I gotta admit I kinda like taking orders from this chick. We both had the same training (as far as I know), but it's like she knows a lot better than me how to act during combat. Of course, this is balanced out by the fact that I'm like a thousand times faster than her and could kick her ass in less than a second.
I'm inside the building now, and I can state with confidence that the first floor is completely empty. Of people, I mean. There's still discount clothes and perfumes and all the crap everyone seems to love, but there's nobody here to go into debt over them. It did seem a little weird that people didn't come running out of the building after the explosions, now that I think about. It's the middle of the week, so it's improbable the the store is closed... unless I forgot another holiday. It's not December, is it? You kinda lose track of time when you move fast. And I move very fast. Did I mention I could kick Alfhild's ass in, like, half a second?
After making sure nobody is hiding under a counter or anything, I move on to the second floor. Also empty. This is looking more and more like a hostage situation. As I reach the third floor, something weird happens. It takes me a while to realize I've slowed down considerably, for no apparent reason. I swear this never happened to me before, and I'm not just saying that, like every other guy. Are... are my powers failing me? Are my nerves affecting me? No, that's impossible. I didn't slow down during the other fight, and I was just as nervous. Unless the defeat affected me more than I thought. See, this is what happens when you go see a shrink! You think like this for the rest of the day.
These thoughts cause me to crash with a rack of clothes, something I'd normally avoid with extreme ease. I instinctively reach out to grab it before it hits the floor, but I soon notice that wasn't necessary. The rack hangs in mid-air, barely moving downward, like a movie in slow motion. Unless the rack has recently suffered a serious defeat and is feeling distraught over it, I think it's safe to say that the loss of speed isn't the result of my internal problems. The whole place has slowed down. I didn't realize this earlier because there's still no people around.
I can feel things getting even slower as I run to the fourth floor. Once I'm there, it takes everything I've got to move in normal speed. Most people aren't lucky enough to have superspeed powers in a situation like this, which becomes obvious when looking at the two-hundred or so human statues crowding this floor. Normally I'd count them all in a heartbeat just for kicks, but right now I'm struggling to even walk through them.
The people look like they're in the middle of different activities, most of which are inapplicable to a place as crowded as this (like, say, walking). It's like they were grabbed from all the floors and dropped here. It gets exponentially harder to move as I get closer to the center of the floor, where there's some sort of elevated structure I can't get a clear look at. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say whatever is causing this strange predicament is placed there. Is it too naive to hope that it has a visible off-switch? Bah, even if it had one, I doubt I'd be able to move by the time I get to it.
It turns out that the structure in the center is some sort of stage. This is probably where a rejected gameshow host grabs a mike and starts yelling out the latest discounts and special promotions with an annoyingly upbeat tone. Looking at the people standing on the stage, I guess the guy with the suit who looks like he's frozen in the middle of a jingle is the "host." I'm gonna take yet another wild guess: the one with the red cloak who's looking at me and smiling is the villain.
"You must be 'SNAP,'" he says, seemingly unaffected by the time-stopping phenomenon. "Let me tell you something; you don't look too 'snappy' right now."
Does everyone in this business think they're a comedian? Maybe there's a parallel universe where there are no metaheroes or villains, but comedians have their own clubs and stuff, and they just stand up in front of people and tell their jokes, and occasionally get TV specials, and...
POW!
Ouch. If I wasn't moving in slow motion, the punch he just landed on my face would have me on the floor. Instead, I'm just floating there, like an average clothes rack. How the hell did he get off the stage so fast? Oh, wait. So... this is how it feels to be slow.
Still falling backwards, I try to make a fist to strike back, but the most menacing form my hand can give me right now is a duck. He just stands there, smiling as he looks at me, waiting for me to reach the floor. He has all the time in the world.
"Let me tell you how this is gonna work: I'm gonna unfreeze the floor directly above us, which I stopped the moment your partner landed into it, and then I'm gonna blow it up again. How's that sound? Any objections? No?" The most I can do right now is frown. "Didn't think so."
He turns around and walks toward a box with several wires coming out of it, that I hadn't seen before. During the few seconds it takes him to reach the box, I'm able to concentrate enough to move my hand to the walkie talkie in my belt. I can feel my nose starting to bleed, and I'm not sure if it's because of the punch or the effort I'm making. He places his hand in a lever, and I'm able to press the speak button in the talkie. My hand is almost moving at normal speed right now. It's strange to see your veins pop up because of the pressure when you're moving so slow.
"ALFHILD, GET OUT OF THERE!" I mean to yell. Only the sound of the "A" comes out of my mouth, staying suspended in time and sounding like a never-ending whistle. The annoying sound is soon joined by the loud explosion in the floor directly above me. I wonder if the frozen people around me can hear it. I wonder if they're as terrified as I am.