In the distance, the criminal underground boss Isaiah Delton, a man with $740,000 marked upon his head is chased by a car. Behind the car are other vehicles awaiting their turn to get a crack at Delton’s bounty, followed by a fervent film crew desperate to capture a money shot.

The vehicle directly in pursuit of Delton are the twins Mary and Richie Gomez. To the outside world their vehicle is fashioned to look like a police car, but its interior would say otherwise. Leather seats, seamless Bluetooth capabilities, and speakers that would make any audiophile envious; this car was a luxury car, one built to go fast, and to capture criminals.

***

Mary slammed her steering wheel. “Damn it!”

“What?” Richie said.

“Something takes away our abilities during this chase,” Mary said.

“Really?” Richie said. He lazily threw a fireball at the vehicle in front of them.

“Yeah,” Mary said. “I’m thinking about what to do. My powers are telling me that they’ll let us toy with him for a bit, to give the audience some entertainment, but once it looks like we’re onto whatever they’re doing, then we’re done for.”

“Also a bad thing if we play coy,” Richie said. He threw another fireball, this time with more vigor.

“Yes,” Mary said. She eased off the accelerator just a bit. “I say we have five minutes before whatever cuts off our powers, cuts it off.”

“That sounds manageable.” Richie said throwing another fireball out the window.

The radio in their car pinged, and through radio waves Mr. Gold yelled, “What are you doing!”

“Ah,” Richie said. “It appears we have some car troubles, Mr. Gold.”

“Car troubles?” Gold said. “How could you possibly have car troubles? You have the most expensive car on this side of the coast. Did you not do as I said and get it checked up?”

“We did,” Richie said coolly. “Car does car things. You know? There’s no need to worry. We have things under control.”

“You better not lose, Richie!” Gold said. “You too, Mary!”

“Don’t plan on it.” Richie said. He disconnected the radio. “Idiot”

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“You think you can simulate some smoke?” Mary said.

“The hood? Sure,” Richie said. A second later smoke began to billow out from the car.

The 30 second delayed live feed of their chase just returned from commercial break. Within thirty seconds the broadcasters would mention the grey smoke, then equate it to the reason why they have not advanced on Delton.

“Anything change?” Richie said.

“No, our powers are still cut.”

“Think they rigged it?”

“Maybe, or could be one of Delton’s crew, or maybe just a troll,” Mary said.

“What troll would mess with this business? That’s asking for a death sentence.”

“You’re right,” Mary said. “Both of the other possibilities sound plausible though.”

Mary accelerated, but broke immediately, then accelerated again; just something to show the crowd. She already had a plan in her head, one formulated in seconds, but she knew it was the one.

“I have an idea,” Mary said.

“What is it?” Richie said.

“I’m going to ram into that—!” Mary said. She pushed on the accelerator and within seconds was on pace with Delton. She rolled down her window. The blaring wind pushed against her black hair. “Delton! Open your window!”

Delton yelled something unintelligible. All she could understand was being called obscenities.

“Couple minutes?” Richie said. Mary leaned back, and Richie pointed his finger like a gun. From the tip of his finger begun a flame that formed into a thin line, the same size as his index finger. He shot the flame and it travelled through their car and sliced into Delton’s car. “Damn, I missed.”

“On purpose,” She noted, although the observation was not needed. “A few more minutes.”

“Few or a couple? A few is a wide range.” Richie said.

“We have time,” Mary said. “Just entertain the crowd. My clairvoyance should be bugging me incredibly when that time comes, and that’s when we do it.”

“Twenty seconds sound good?” Richie said. He fired more shots with no means of stopping. He continued to spam at Delton.

In a fit of anger, Delton slammed into their car.

“To execute the whole thing?” Mary said. She instinctively rammed back into Delton. “Hey, I’m the one that’s supposed to be doing that!”

***

Richie fired more shots towards the bounty’s car. He sprayed careful not to hit anything important. Whenever one of his shots became critical like one aimed at Delton’s head, he would immediately disperse the flames, but everything else was free game. It took immense concentration for him to control his flames so willfully, especially when he had to be reserved in creating a show. He was used to performing in front of others now, the jitters rarely came his way anymore, but now that there was a possibility of an altercation with a third party, he could not help but grow anxious.

“I’m starting to run low,” Richie said as he fired more shots. “But I should be fine.”

“Situation still hasn’t changed,” Mary said.

“I was hoping it would,” Richie said.

Richie eyed the analog clock as soon as it changed; less than two minutes left. The passage of time passed by differently in a car that moved a hundred miles per hour, one in pursuit of a criminal while his own life was on the line. Richie wondered how things could happen so quickly in a perceptively slow world. It would be sooner rather than later before Richie could go all out, and he secretly hoped for more time. He was disappointed that the chase would be cut short, but the new challenge excited him. Somebody had an ability to get rid of abilities, and the thought made his blood pump ferociously.

“Soon,” Mary said. “When I say now, execute the plan. Now listen carefully.”