“And this is your phone?” The IT guy asked me.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

I was standing in the local IT store, currently trying to convince the cashier that I locked myself out of my own phone. He didn’t seem convinced.

“Look kid, I don’t know where you stole this from and I frankly couldn’t care less. But don’t do this, leave it here and go home, you’ve got a lot to live for and it’s not worth losing that by leading a life of crime.” The IT guy said, reprimanding.

I stared at him with annoyance. The dude was just a teensy-weensy bit prejudiced, I mean I know I didn’t look exactly like a living saint but come on; it could totally have been my phone.

Grumbling I pulled twenty Quarks out of my pocket. I showed him the money but he didn't even blink, making me groan as I pulled another twenty out of my other pocket and placing it on the counter between us.

He kept looking at me but I refused to get any more money out, causing him to grin before sweeping the cash under the table.

“Wait here.” He said as he disappeared into the backroom with my phone.

I looked around the store as I waited for whatever he was doing to get done. Being the only IT store in the town made it really popular with the geeks, with piles of sweaty nerds browsing the shelves, sniffing out computer parts like no tomorrow. I admit going to the warehouse was dumb and I was definitely going to break in here and get myself a custom built monster.

I was still salivating at the latest batch of Graphics Cards when the dude came back holding the phone, which was unlocked.

“So I backed up the data and wiped everything off the phone, it works like a dream now.” He said, grinning enthusiastically.

I thanked him as I exited the store and looked through the contacts, there were a bunch of names on it that I had no idea what they meant, possibly nicknames or codenames, I put it away for further study later. Man I was pretty happy with myself at how much I’ve accomplished recently, got superpowers, solved the homework problem and gave the local gang a run for their money, not bad in a day’s work.

Now on to the current problem, I thought as I dropped some change in to a beggars bucket, is that I’m trying to go up against a group of people that wouldn’t shirk at the thought of violence, and given my small stature any intimidating techniques would probably be unsuccessful. Now since there is a police car driving right at me I should HOLY SHIT THERE’S A CAR ABOUT TO DRIVE ME OVER!

I hopped out of the way just in time for the police vehicle to crash in to the fire hydrant, causing a several gallons of water to burst out of the ground and cover anything in the immediate vicinity in a light shower, including me. Fortunately the water seemed to contain the flames that were licking the bonnet of the car, allowing the two policemen, one with a mustache, the other without one, to stumble out of the burning vehicle and on to the pavement.

Right behind the police car came another vehicle, this one looking like a beat up SUV, with spray painted sides and a double exhaust pipe. It looked like one of those really shitty cars that are tuned up by teenagers then driven around doing donuts at half past nine, in other words a fucking hazard to society.

It skidded to a halt across the road and a group of armed gangsters got out of the said car and crouched behind it. Likewise the two policemen scrambled behind their own vehicle, unwilling to go near the front of the car. Then the first gunshot sounded and I realized I just stranded myself in a firefight, it seemed like the mustachioed policemen noticed that as well and he hobbled over to me.

“What are you doing kid? Get down!” He shouted over the pinging bullets.

“Wasn’t my idea to be trapped here! You nearly hit me when you were speeding.” I shouted back, my heart still beating in frenzy from my brush with death. Fortunately my medical condition didn’t affect my common sense and I ducked down as well.

He grimaced at me “Look kid, this isn’t the time to joke around, stay low and when I tell you to go, run to that side street over there. Don’t look or turn around, just run as fast as you can.”

“What? Fuck that, I’m not gonna run out there! They’re shooting at us if you didn’t realize!”

He smiled a sour smile at that. “I’d normally agree with you but I’m going to have to ask you to trust me. We’ll create a distraction so you can escape, don’t worry we’re professionals.”

Yeah nah, oh wait, fuck I’ve got a superpower that is perfectly suited for this sort of situation!

I turn back to Mustachio. “Hey, I could help you if you want.”

He didn’t look back at that, merely shooting around the rear of the car with his pistol. “Damn it kid, now is not the time to play hero! Just do what I tell you.”

“No you don’t understand. I’ve got superpowers.” I said reassuringly.

The policeman looked over his shoulder at that, “Run when I say go.”

I sighed before stopping time. I looked around to notice the fire under the bonnet stop roaring as the flames got stuck, the whizzing of the bullets stopped as well and I stood up to see a bunch of them hanging in the air, it was like looking at those hi rez photos of humming bird wings, really fucking cool.

I walked out from behind the car, musing at the implications of being able to literally stop bullets. The little things looked amazing, like flies only deadlier. As I made my way to the thugs who were shooting said bullets I had the chance to see one of them pause in mid fire, it looked like a mini mushroom cloud was coming out of the very end of the weapon. I stopped to admire the spectacle, it was quite a magical moment.

There were four thugs, all taking cover behind their own vehicle, I walked around them and checked their clothes, yep, snakes everywhere. Funny how I never even saw these people before, it must be that weird rule that the greater the force the greater the resistance, or something like that.

The problem I now faced was I had no idea how I was going subdue these guys, well taking away their peashooters might help. So I took away each one’s pistol and put them in a neat pile next to the policemen. Then I tried to pick them up, which I couldn’t do because they were too heavy, forcing me to resort to folding their arms and legs to their side and kind of half shoving, half floating them to the car. Whoops, didn’t check if there were any weapons in there, I found a couple of spare rounds of ammunition, two pistols, a shit ton of cigarettes and a lighter, I took the lighter, it had a cool skull symbol on it and looked expensive.

I went back to the policemen and sat down next to them again before starting time. The last bullets penetrated the car but then silence descended. The policemen didn’t move an inch though so I took the initiative.

“Told you I could take care of them.” I said, my voice dripping with self-satisfaction.

They didn’t move but when I pointed at the pile of guns next to me they took a closer look at their opponent’s vehicle. True to my word the gangsters were struggling to untangle themselves from the way I dumped them all in to the backseat of the car and locked the doors.

“You’d better arrest them before they get away.” I told them helpfully.

That snapped them out of their incredulity. Quickly taking action they both rushed over to the now captive gangsters, hurrying to detain them before one managed to get to the wheel, which wouldn’t have done them any good since I had the keys.

I stuck around for a while and pretty soon other police cars started showing up. From then on the entire thing was a smooth ride, a fire truck put out the fire and the wreckage was towed away. Strangely enough no one seemed to have heard or seen anything so there were no need to take any statements beside mine, so Mustachio, who I was sitting next to behind the car came over and took out a notebook and pen.

“Alright kid, name?” he asked.

“Norman Beck.” I replied.

“Date and place of birth?”

“Hillton, seventeenth of December, fifteen eighty one.”

“Alright, what happened.”

“Well I was walking home when I was nearly run over by a police car.” I started pointedly.

He didn’t rise to the bait, continuing to jot down what I was saying.

“Then the other car drove around the corner and started shooting at us so I was forced to take cover behind the police car. Some shooting happened then I apprehended the miscreants.” I said happily.

Mustachio took this with silent stoicism, writing it down expressionlessly.

“Aren’t you gonna contradict me?” I asked.

He sighed at that. “Look, Norman, this isn’t going to be used for anything anyway. The entire thing will be swept under the carpet.”

I frowned at that. “Why?”

Mustachio was getting more and more depressed by the minute. “Because that is how this town works. Now take my advice Norman, go home, forget about all this and pray to the Holy Father that no one noticed what you did today, whatever that was, otherwise you’ll be dragged down with the rest of this putrid ship.”

I blinked at that. Interesting…

“Well thank you for the heads up Officer. I believe I’m going to do just that.” I said as I let myself on to the ground. Without another word I started walking away.

Mustachio smiled his bitter smile. “Good luck Norman. And it’s Officer David by the way.”

I waved back at him in acknowledgement, my head already elsewhere.