Vance - 5.1

The night was thick with the scent of exhaust fumes as I dashed through the late-night traffic, weaving between cars and leaping over obstacles with the agility of a seasoned parkour master. Trees, mailboxes, trashcans—nothing stood in my way. The city lights blurred into streaks of neon as I sprinted towards the bank, my heart pounding in sync with the rhythm of my footsteps.

Not only are the lives of the people in the building at stake, but also every person who chose to bank there will wake up tomorrow penniless. Checking, saving, retirement money will be lost. Entire lives destroyed without physical harm.

Alleys, roads, city blocks passed by quickly. As I rounded the final corner, the scene came into view—a chaotic mess of destroyed cars and debris littered the street. The bank loomed ahead, its façade marred by destruction. I quietly pushed through the wreckage, my eyes scanning for the man of the hour.

The interior of the bank was a scene of chaos and destruction. The once pristine lobby was now a battlefield, littered with debris and the remnants of shattered glass and broken furniture. The air was thick with dust, making it difficult to see clearly.

To the left of the entrance, a row of teller counters lay partially collapsed, papers and coins scattered across the floor. Behind the counters, a group of hostages huddled together, their faces pale and filled with fear. 

Scattered across the floor were several unconscious security guards, their uniforms stained with blood. It was clear they had tried to resist but were quickly overpowered by the villain's superior strength and advanced technology.

To the right, a set of private offices had their doors blown off their hinges, the walls scorched and blackened. More hostages including a man in a suit and a younger girl with an IT badge were inside, clinging to the remaining pieces of furniture for cover. Some peered out from behind filing cabinets, while others pressed themselves against the far walls, trying to stay out of sight. Counting the injured guards, seventeen lives were at risk.

In the rear of the lobby, through a hole punched in the middle of the wall, stood the villain in a hulking exosuit. The green fluid from the tanks on his shoulders and waist bubbled ominously, tubes connecting from the cylinders to various locations on the technological armor. The legs of the suit sprouted a metal lattice than crept toward the ground, shaking the foundation as the structure embedded itself into the floor.

I rushed right while the man was distracted by his objective, clearing fallen debris from the doors. I tapped several of the janitors on the back while shushing them, motioning for them to drag out the injured guards. Ten left.

While I was helping the cleaners, two shrill screams pierced the air. The girl and the suit now lay underneath a section of collapsed roof. I made way toward them, clearing all of the cement before carrying them out of the building. 

Turning back, I saw the villain retract his arm, steam releasing from actuators in the mechanized suit. The neon fluid flowed through from the tanks into the tubes attached to his right side. Another stage of pneumatics triggered, shortening his reach further. Simultaneously, he stepped forward, twisting toward the wall, his arm breached the cement. The force shook the whole building, shattering the previously compromised roof.

With a burst of speed, I dove towards a group of soon-to-be-crushed bank employees. I punched the cement away from them, crushing the debris into small pieces with the force of my blow. I rescued one of the employees who was pinned under a piece of roof, lifting the heavy chunk off their leg. With a person slung over each shoulder, I leapt towards the exit, my muscles straining but holding firm.

The vault door, a massive, reinforced structure, deformed groaning under the pressure of another lattice structure growing into the metal. The sound of the door straining echoed through the lobby. The suit contracted, releasing more pressure from its pneumatic systems. The building tremored from the force pulling upon the lynchpin in its construction. 

Gently setting down the employees, I checked their breathing. The girl passed out from the pain of her broken legs. The first paramedics climbed from their ambulance, fresh on the scene..

I instructed, "Stay here, I'll get the rest out,"

Inside, the exosuit-clad man was embedding another lattice structure into the vault door, the reinforced metal creaking under the pressure. More chunks of the roof fell, and I pulled three more people out of the way just in time, carrying them outside to safety.

The vault door was slowly deforming away from its frame, groaning as it bent under the strain. I turned to the hostages behind the tellers counters, patting several on the back to grab their attention.

"Stay quiet and leave through the front. I'll keep robo-criminal distracted," I whispered, motioning for them to move.

They nodded, their faces pale with fear, and began to slip away through the chaos. I took a deep breath and turned to face tonight's villain.

"Hey, big guy!" I shouted, stepping forward with confidence. "I need to see your withdrawal request."

He turned, his face obscured by the glowing verdant visor of his helmet. The exosuit whirred and hissed as he adjusted his stance, the green fluid bubbling throughout his tanks and tubes.

"You're not supposed to be here," he growled, his voice amplified and distorted by the suit.

"That makes two of us," I shot back, my fists clenched. 

The villain laughed, a deep, mechanical sound that echoed through the shattered bank. "One man in his Halloween costume or not, this vault is coming with me."

I glanced at the vault, the door now separated significantly from the wall. With the hostages outside safe, now is the time to save the safe.

"I will not let you steal someone's past and future," I said, focusing on the criminal while blocking out everything else.