"Stop right there!" I screamed. It had been just an average day before the bank robbery occurred. As an amateur police officer, this was the most action-packed thing I had ever done, the second being yelling at some people vandalizing the side of a building. I made sure to keep my left hand hovering over my gun just in case, even though I really didn't want to hurt the robber.

The robber was definitely female, with brown hair poking out the bottom of her black mask, which fit her entire face like a glove, only revealing a mouth, a nose, and a pair of emerald green eyes. The rest of her body was dressed in a skin tight black suit, for whatever reason.

I internally sighed at my own frizzy brown hair tied in a ponytail, dull blue eyes, and just my entire average self. I was in a standard police uniform, although I requested the male uniform since I wasn't curvy enough for the feminine one, although I was female.

The robber pulled a gun from who-knows-where considering her attire, and shot at me. I focused, and a blue aura surrounded me. Time came to a crawl for everything except me. The bullet was about to penetrate my left calf, but I quickly stepped to the side and avoided it, returning time to its normal state. It always takes a huge toll on my body, and my knees began to buckle. I quickly straightened myself, not wanting to show weakness to this stranger.

An orange aura flared to life around me, about two inches thick, as time sped up just for me. The problem with this, though, was that if she shot again and hit, the blood would drain out of me so fast, I'd die in seconds. Being low on energy as I was, I needed to try and keep this fight short.

She shot again, and I sped out of the way and aimed for the sides of her neck and face. I got on her right side, and pressed on the nerve just an inch below her ear, which should've knocked her out. News flash, it didn't. I must have missed. My powers decided at this exact moment to fade away into nothingness. Time regained its normal rate for everything, including me.

The robber hit me in the side of the head with the butt of her gun, effectively knocking me to the floor. She was about to take her third shot and end me. I was low enough on energy and could hardly move. I looked at her and awaited my death.

Memories came to me. My mom. My dad. Their deaths. My little brother, whom I was so carefully raising for them. My friends. My useless partner whom I had left in the dust just twenty minutes ago.

I could not leave, not just yet. My brother was almost fifteen and he was not going to be raised by anyone but me, that's for sure. I was not joining our parents just yet. My friend, Natalie, would, ironically, kill me if she knew the mess I had gotten myself into. My parents wouldn't want me joining them at the young age of twenty-five.

The doors swung open, revealing my partner, whom was pretty late. He looked around and eventually saw me and the female robber. She gasped, not expecting backup as I hadn't used my radio to alert anyone else yet.

I wasn't supposed to leave my partner, Clyde, because I was a newbie. He was my partner until I got the swing of things, and then he could go. I couldn't wait for that.

"Hello, ladies. Annika, dear, you're supposed to wait for your partner, not run off and make them search for you for almost a half hour. I'm afraid you're doing it all wrong and won't be leaving our partnership for a long, long, time." Clyde announced cockily, like the arrogant jerk he was.

"I'd love to have a nice, long chat about that but my little time-trick has reached its limit and one good shot could easily kill me and I'd really love to not die today." I replied in a sickenly sweet tone.

"Oh, so now you need me, Annie-kins? I remember you telling me that you didn't need me for this job and you'd love to take it on yourself. In fact, I'm only here because Chief said to not let you die." Clyde chuckled.

"If either of you say one more word, I'll put a bullet in her head!" The robber yelled, pressing her gun onto my temple.

"Go for it, honey. I dare you."

A sickening crack followed. The robber, keeping her word, pulled the trigger. Luckily, Clyde had decided to be useful for once and put one of his forcefields between my head and the gun at the last second. The bullet ricocheted off the forcefield, narrowly missed the lucky robber, and embedded itself into one of the nearby walls of the bank.

Clyde summoned another forcefield to encase his right arm, causing the one near my head to vanish, as he can only summon one at a time. He ran towards the robber. Forcefields are meant for protecting, but if you get hit by one, it's extremely painful. He slammed his fist into her stomach, causing her to fall onto her back. He rolled her over so her stomach was on the floor, and fitted her with a pair of handcuffs.

"Now, was that so hard?" He asked.

"When you're still developing your powers and your limit is very small, then yes. You also seem to forget I'm a time-breaker, which physically drains me more than you, Fielder." I spat. I immediately felt bad for hanging my superior status of time-breaker over him, even though as an officer he was the superior one. Sometimes he seems to forget that I'm new to all this.

I pushed myself onto my feet and called for a police car via radio. Clyde looked unaffected completely by my previous statement, probably because he got it all the time.

Everyone in this society has some sort of power, big or small, and each came with a certain name. The rarer it was, the more powerful it was. The more powerful, the more physical drain it gave you with each use. Fielders, like Clyde, were the most common. Our abilities come from our true desires, most people having the desire to protect. Most Fielders never made it that far and were considered inferior, but not Clyde. He was an extremely powerful Fielder, but that didn't save him from discrimination.

Police sirens could be heard coming from outside. Clyde helped the girl off the ground and began walking her towards the doors to outside. I sighed and began my slow walk, already feeling the exhaustion come over me. I needed some serious training, as much as I hated to admit it, I would've died without Clyde. It's only been a month since I began this job and it was much more dangerous than I had originally thought. At least the pay is good.

"Annika, hurry or I'm leaving you!"

I sighed and ran out the door after my partner.

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Over 1200 words were written for this story, but it seems more like a chapter one and less like a short story to me. I got the idea while in the car coming home from school today, but a lot of things changed, but they were all good changes to me. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time I decide to write.

~ Grace (ASilentMelody)