by David Estes
Chapter Twenty-Three: Nikki blows up a lake
She sprang into action, rushing from her hiding place like a bomb was about to go off. Oh wait, a bomb was about to go off! Leaping into the vault, Nikki discovered a large nest of explosives at the back of the chamber.
Blue digital numbers counted down the timer. Seven, six, five…Nikki’s mind was racing. She felt like she was missing something. There wasn’t time to diffuse it and she wouldn’t know how to anyway. She could close the vault door and seal the bomb inside, but the money would still be destroyed. Four, three, two…What was she missing?
It hit her like a ton of bricks. The timer changed to one second as she pushed her thumb to the clock symbol on her gold glove and shut her eyes. Every cell of her brain was focused on one thing: Stop time.
She heard a strange rumbling sound. Her life flashed before her eyes as Nikki knew she was too late—the bomb was exploding. She waited to go to heaven or hell or wherever she was destined for, but then one second slowly passed. And another second. If the bomb did go off, wouldn’t she be dead already?
Nikki opened her eyes. Everything in the vault looked the same, except for the bomb, which had broken apart and was levitating in four large pieces, along with numerous fragments of shrapnel. A mix of fire and smoke hung in the air like a foggy sunrise. The scene looked like she had been watching an action movie and pressed pause on her remote control just after an explosion.
Nikki wondered what to do next. It was obvious that if she started time again, the bomb would continue to explode and blow the money, the bank, and her to smithereens. She had to find a way to get the bomb pieces outside and away from everyone and everything.
Her first instinct was to switch her gloves to two powers that would help her, but she realized that she needed to be very careful and remember not to remove the gold glove, because it was the only thing keeping time stopped and preventing her from dying a very quick and explosive death.
She peeled off the peach glove while holding her breath, unsure as to whether removing one glove would interfere with the power of the other one. Time remained frozen and she let out a big sigh of relief. The only change was that her body transformed from the old security guard back into Nikki Powergloves, complete with her superhero costume and hair-mask.
As she reopened the treasure chest, she considered the benefits of each of the various powergloves she could choose. First, she needed to contain the fragments of the explosion. A heavy dose of ice should do the trick, she thought, grabbing one of the white gloves.
Soon she had coated the explosion with a thick layer of ice, which made it look like some crazy piece of art you would find at an ice sculpting exhibit. Given the size of the bomb and the weight of the ice, the next decision was easy. She would need her super-strength.
In seconds, she had swapped the white glove for a purple one, and had hoisted the icy explosion onto one shoulder. She retraced her steps through the vault door, the secondary door, and into the hallway. Halfway down the hall she passed the short man, who had been in full stride when the clock had stopped ticking. Heading back into the public portion of the bank, she saw people lined up at the teller windows, going about their business, without any knowledge that they had nearly been blown up. For now, they would have to remain stuck in time.
She lugged the ice outside and carried it down Main Street, as if she were a pizza delivery boy making a regular delivery. Despite the urgency of the situation, she couldn’t help but laugh as she passed various scenes, now frozen in time. On her right, a dog’s leg was lifted and a yellowish stream shot from his undercarriage onto a tree. On her left, a little boy had a finger jammed up his nose, while his mom’s finger scolded him for digging for gold in public.
Within 15 minutes, Nikki had reached the outer limits of the commercial district and was into rural Cragglyville. As she walked, she looked for a place to safely explode the bomb. Ideally, she would fly it into outer space and blow it up there, but she couldn’t use her super-strength and her flying ability while still using the gold glove to stop time.
Based on some of the movies she had seen, another good option would be to get the bomb underwater, so she kept her eyes peeled for any farm lakes. Eventually, she found one that couldn’t be any more perfect—it was a large pond that was set more than a hundred yards away from the main farmhouse. She carried the bomb to the lake and jumped into the water with it still on her shoulder. The ice floated and she kicked her legs to propel herself forwards, like a swimmer with a paddle board.
When she reached the approximate center of the pond, she left the ice to melt and swam back to shore. Nikki waited patiently for the bomb to submerge. Once she was sure it had sunk to the bottom, she removed her gold glove.
KABOOM!! The sound was deafening, as a mountain of water erupted from the lake. It was like the fattest man in the world had just done a cannonball off of the high dive at the swimming pool. Nikki was sprayed by a thousand droplets of water that were carried on the wind, but she didn’t care because she was already wet. She had saved the day and this time it was more than just a cat from a tree. Real human lives had been saved.
She knew what Spencer would want her to do: make an appearance. Nikki returned the gold glove to the chest and switched it for the light blue one. There is something about flying that catches people’s attention, she thought. Just as she took off into the air, she saw a farmer run out of the house waving his fist at her. Sorry, Mister, she thought, you can’t please everyone all the time.
She zoomed back to town, where there was already a commotion outside the bank. The short man, who it turns out was the bank manager, was explaining to the police what had happened. He was clearly very confused by the fact that, in his eyes, the bomb had mysteriously disappeared shortly after he had seen its timer counting down to zero.
One of the people saw Nikki coming and shouted, “Look! It’s Nikki Powergloves!” The crowds’ eyes shifted to where the woman was pointing, and they started to cheer as she swooped in. With her adrenaline pumping, Nikki landed on top of the bank, not wanting to be too close to the camera crews, who had just arrived on the scene.
She stood, looking down at the people, not knowing what she should say. A woman reporter took control. “What happened here today, Nikki?”
Nikki deepened her voice and said, “There is no reason to panic. There was a bomb in the bank vault, but I disposed of it.” Upon hearing the word “bomb”, a frightened hush fell over the crowd.
Someone yelled, “Thank you, Nikki!”
Nikki was about to bow to the crowd and fly off, when the woman reporter fired off another question. “Nikki, how is it that you seem to always be in the right place at the right time? How do we know that you didn’t plant the bomb and then remove it, so you could save the day and look like a hero?”
Nikki was stunned by the question. How could this woman suggest that she was a villain when Nikki had just saved a whole bunch of people? “Because I wouldn’t do that,” she said, her voice taking on an irritated edge to it.
“Then who did plant the bomb?”
“I have no idea, but I will not rest until the villain is brought to justice!” Nikki declared. Not wanting to deal with any more questions from the nosy reporter, Nikki decided this was a good time to make her exit. For effect, she did a swan dive off the roof and swooped down over the heads of the crowd, before rocketing into the sky.
