Jeremy Wells walked leisurely up a street in downtown Nashville. The sun beat down on him, but his hat kept him cool enough. A gentle breeze blew, and caught the tassels of his shirt. He’d only lived here for a few years, but they’d been wild. He came here as a country singing hopeful, and just so happened to be the luckiest man alive.
He looked down at his phone, and confirmed he was in the right place. He stepped up to the automatic doors, and walked into the cool air conditioned lobby of Nashville People’s Bank. No receptionist greeted him, but he’d expected that.
“Get on the ground, cowboy!” A man shouted. He was big and wielded a shotgun. It was enough to spook even Jeremy for a second.
“Settle down.” Jeremy paced forward, as the man slowly lowered his gun. He glanced around the room and saw many people now calmly sitting and looking at him. He had to be careful about what he said next. “Now put down all the guns you have on your person.”
The man obliged, and gently laid his gun down on the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, Jeremy saw a civilian laying his pistol on the ground.
Jeremy motioned the man towards him, and whispered in his ear, “Tell me how many more robbers are here.”
“Just my brother.” The man nodded.
“Tell me where he’s at, will ya?” He whispered.
“Oh he’s in the vault behind the counter with the bank manager.”
“Alright.” He turned back to the rest of the room, and called so everybody could hear. “Everyone stay where you are, and don’t move.” He started to walk behind the counter, but caught himself. “Except to blink and breathe. No moving except blinking, breathing, and other automated bodily functions.”
He turned his attention to the open door behind the counter. He positioned himself right next to it, and took a deep breath. After a moment, he pivoted and entered the room. Inside there were two men, one in a suit that looked quite frightened, and one holding a gun. They both turned, as Jeremy entered the room, and the one with the gun started to shout something, but Jeremy cut him off.
“Calm down, and put your gun on the ground.” Jeremy shouted.
The robber nodded, and gently placed his gun on the ground. The man in the suit no longer looked afraid.
Jeremy took a few steps forward and leaned in to whisper to the man with the gun. “Now, go stand by your brother in the lobby.”
Both men nodded, and went out of the room. Jeremy groaned. At least that command wasn’t too bad. He followed them out of the vault room, and saw the manager go stand by a man who did, now that he thought about it, look remarkably similar. He walked past the manager, and went up to the two robbers. He motioned for both of them to lean in, and started to whisper. “Go turn yourself into the police for this crime, and every other crime you’ve ever committed. Answer every one of their questions with the complete truth.”
Both of the brothers nodded, and left the bank. Jeremy thought for a moment, but couldn’t think of any way that instruction could’ve gone wrong. He turned his attention to the rest of the people in the bank. He needed to set them back to normal, so they could handle whatever paperwork they need to do. He gave one last glance to ensure the brothers were still gone. “Everyone, ignore all instructions I have given you for the last 5 minutes.”
The bank erupted in a frenzy. The civilians began to cheer, and many of them cried. The man with the gun picked it back up, and the manager ran to the phone. After a moment, Jeremy saw nobody seemed to be paying him any particular gratitude. He figured that specifying only commands he had given them would make them still remember, but it was easily fixable. “Everyone, remember that The Siren saved you today!”
The people turned their attention to him, and began to shower him with all the praise and adoration that he had come to expect. He smiled. That was much better. He figured he could probably hang around for a few minutes, but he should probably get out of here before the police got here. He wasn’t a fan of dealing with the police. It was too high pressure, and there were too many chances for him to screw up. They already knew about it anyways, that’s why they called him in. Well, technically they called him in because he instructed them to call him and ask him if he wanted to handle any crime within a few blocks of his apartment, before they sent in anyone else. That one had taken a little bit of thought. It had definitely gotten his public approval ratings up. Not everyone listened to his interviews and press appearances, after all, so he did have to do some actual work.
Hope you enjoyed! If you’re new here, I write a serial, which is currently between seasons, while I work on it and deal with some real life things. I write a lot of, what I consider to be, interesting superhero stories, so if that’s your thing, please give the rest of my stuff a look! I upload every Friday at noon, and plan to continue doing so through the hiatus, if I can.
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