SHORT STORY: The Cobbler VS The Vacuumist
It was pouring rain in the dead of night. The quiet London street was dimly illuminated by the orange light of the street lamps. A boot splashed into a puddle in the gutter, the boot belonged to a man that the police knew as; The Vacuumist. The Vacuumist looked up at the shop in front of him. It was an old-fashioned cobbler, and inside, all of the lights were off in the front of the store, however, as The Vacuumist looked further into the back of the store, over the counter and through the small circular window of the "staff only" door, he could see the glow of an orange lamp. He had found him.
The Vacuumist walked up to the glass of the front window of the store and tapped on it. He saw a figure shrouded in the cover of the darkness quickly switch off the dim orange lamp and open the door slightly, scanning through the front window, looking for who was tapping on the glass at this hour. Before the Vacuumist could even react, a hammer flew through the glass front window of the shop, narrowly avoiding the Vacuumist's head, but he wasn't as lucky when it came to the glass itself, which exploded across his face, cutting his cheeks. He was lucky that he hadn't been blinded. As he got his bearings and looked into the newly formed hole in the window, out stepped the Cobbler from the darkness.
"You picked the wrong shop Vacuumist"
"No actually, I don't believe I have. You see, you are the Cobbler correct? And if you are indeed the Cobbler, then your actions have led to quite the disruption of my operations, something I can abide no longer"
The Vacuumist tossed a homemade grenade into the shop toward the Cobbler, although, unlike a typical grenade, instead of exploding, it immediately imploded, creating a miniature black hole, sucking in all of the air in the proximity into a negative space. The attack missed the cobbler, who had dived backwards into his shop, and back over the counter. He tried to grab a pair of his specialised shoes to combat the Vacuumist. Not having a moment to be picky, he grabbed the nearest pair of special shoes he had. He grabbed his patented "time-stopping stompers", strapped them on his feet and stomped the ground, slowing time down to a point that the Vacuumist was hardly able to move, at least from the Cobbler's perspective. Instead of going on the offensive, the Cobbler used this time to organise a proper counterattack. He rushed further into the workshop, grabbing a few small hammers, his large hardy hammer, a pair of pincers and his protective helmet and gloves. As he finishes equipping his gear, the effect of the time-altering stompers wore off, meaning that the Vacuumist could once again fight his foe, it would take a full day before the "time-stopping stompers" could be used again.
The pair faced off one another, waiting for the other to make the first move, like a high noon standoff. The Vacuumist went first, flicking his wrist and revealing a hidden vacuum that had been secreted up his sleeve, this wasn't just any vacuum, however, it was a highly precise and highly powerful custom vacuum, with a suck and blow function. The Vacuumist turned quickly, pointing at a nearby litter bin, sucking it from its mounting point bolted to the floor, and firing it straight at the Cobbler. The Cobbler was prepared for this, however, as he smashed the bin out of the way with his long-handled hammer, and took the fight out into the pitch black streets. He kicked the Vacuumist across the road, over a bush and into the nearby park. The Cobbler lept over the wall, pursuing his foe, who had taken a defensive position and quickly laid out a few traps that the Cobbler had, unfortunately, sprung the second his feet touched the floor. A Vacuum landmine went off beneath him, sucking him onto the ground, and ripping the air out of his lungs while tearing his protective clothing. The Vacuumist took this chance to draw his melee weapon, a long metal tube usually used by vacuums to reach high up and hard to get to areas, but today was being used to smash the Cobbler's head. He struck the Cobbler, again and again, who was unable to react while he gasped for air as the effects of the Vacuum mine dwindled.
Luckily, the Cobbler managed to steady his breath despite being hammered in the skull over and over as the Vacuumist tried to kill him. The Cobbler thought it was time to do some hammering of his own. He swung one of his hammers wildly, bashing the ankle of the Vacuumist who screamed out in pain as the bone of his leg shattered. The duelling pair, now both injured, struggled to their respective feet. facing off once again. The Vacuumist was prepared for such occurrences as a severe injury, as he took a shot of adrenaline he had kept on his belt. It wouldn't heal him, but he would at least be able to carry on the fight. The Cobbler removed his mangled helmet, tossing it on the ground. He swiftly threw two of his hammers at his enemy, but they were countered by two vacuum grenades which had been thrown even faster, taking away any momentum they had. The Vacuumist swang his metal rod over his head, bringing it down towards the head of the Cobbler but it was met by the Cobbler's pincers, with which he expertly disarmed the Vacuumist, before kicking the side of his adversaries injured leg, flooring him.
"It's over Vacuumist, Surrender" he offered
"Do... Did you really think I was stupid enough... To come alone?"
A jet of molten metal blasted into the Cobbler's thick apron, which protected him from damage, but not pain. He screamed out as he turned to see the latest dancer at the party. The Vacuumist smiled as his ally arrived on the scene.
"Cobbler, I'd like you to meet someone else you've pissed off. Meet the Smelter!"
As the Vacuumist finished his sentence to look up at the Cobbler, hoping to be met with a look of pure anguish, he was instead met with a hammer to the face that the Cobbler had thrown.
"one down... One to go" said the Cobbler
"G'day Cunt" replied the Smelter
The Cobbler leapt at the Smelter, a man wearing a reflective heat repellent protective suit, and breathing apparatus that the Cobbler could see through the protective window of the Smelters suit. On his wrists, the Smelter had a small pneumatic servo and cylinder, which was operating the firing mechanism of the Smelters molten metal cannon, which was in itself a heat resistant metal tube along his arm, connecting to a currently operating metal melting crucible mounted to his back. With his spare hand, the Smelter ripped the rungs off of the monkey bars set in the park, tossing them into the back of the crucible, giving him more ammunition to fire at the Cobbler.
"Why work with the Vacuumist? word on the street is that you hate each other?"
"the enemy of my enemy is my friend, keep your friends close your enemies closer, whatever you want to call it. At the end of the day, cunts like you are getting in the way of my meetings, and it's really fucking annoying"
The smelter fired a glob of molten metal at the Cobbler, who dived out of the way as he watched it light the tree it had hit on fire from the radical temperature change. He through his last small hammer at his new enemy, but before it could even get close, the Smelter shot his metal at it, melting it instantly. The Cobbler used this as his chance to disappear, darting out of the way of the Smelter's limited peripheral vision. He crept around behind the Smelter, who was slowly turning looking for him and approached the unconscious body of the vacuumist, pickpocketing a vacuum grenade from the fallen man. He threw it into the Smelters crucible. The Smelter span around, alerted to his enemies' presence.
"Got you now cunt!"
before he could fire, the grenade exploded, collapsing the crucible inside of itself rendering it useless. The Cobbler used the confusion to sprint at the Smelter, smashing his vizor open with his hammer, knocking him out. His foe fell, but his problems were far from sorted, as he began to hear police sirens in the distance. It wouldn't take the police long to put two and two together, seeing that his shop window had been smashed open. At a minimum, the police would assume that his two foes had attempted a break-in, but then the police would want to know where the Cobbler was, and why these two men were laid out on the park opposite. He didn't want the police going into the shop and seizing any of his inventions as evidence, they were far too valuable, not to mention dangerous. He had been left with only one choice.
He ran back to his shop, gathered up his inventions and went into the back office. On the wall, he had a fitted safe. He inputted the combination and opened the door. Inside the safe was all of the Cobbler's important documents as well as a small brick-shaped mobile phone. He unlocked the phone and navigated to the contacts section, in which there was just one number, which he dialled.
"Davidson, It's me. I know I said I'd never need your help again. But I'm up shit's creek. They found me, so I'm coming in".
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