*CLANG*
Thick iron bars had fallen from the roof trapping Rodney and his friend in the small vestibule.
"What's goin' on?" Rodney exclaimed, tugging at the bars, trying to lift them.
"Oi Let us out you old codger!" Travis banged on the door to the small antique shop through the bars.
"Oh my what do we have here then?" The door swung open and to reveal the large elderly shop owner frowning, "A sneaky pair of shoplifters it seems. You two young men ought to know better."
"We're innocent!" Rodney spat. "You can't keep us in here."
"Yea" Travis yelled, kicking at the bars "Let us out, we didn't take nuffin!"
"Is that so?" The old man snorted, "Tell you what, if one of you turns the other one in I'll keep the criminal here and let the other one go...if neither of you says anything then we'll just sit here and wait for the police. But if both of you turn on each other we can leave the authorities out of this. I got my own little punishment in mind."
Rodney briefly considered his options. Of course he knew his partner in crime wouldn't betray him. They'd been terrorizing the neighborhood since they were kids. But if the crazy old man let him out Rodney figured he could use the chance to bust out Travis. Besides he didn't know what the old man was capable of but he doubted it was any worse than jail.
"It was him" Rodney said pointing at Travis, "He's stashed a few gold coins down his pocket when you weren't lookin'"
Travis turned on him looking betrayed and angry.
"Oi what about you!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Rodney, "You nicked that fat ruby!"
"Looks like there's no honour amongst thieves" The old man tutted, shaking his head.
"Travis you fuckin' dolt, I was gunna try break you out after I left!" Rodney barked.
"Yea sure, and if you couldn't then I'd be the one stuck 'ere and you'd be off scot-free."
Rodney would be lying if he had said it hadn't crossed his mind. He was about to retort when the old man interrupted.
"Okay, settle down you two." the old man bellowed. "Now firstly I'll be taking my items back."
He held out his wrinkled palm expectantly. The two men grumbled as they fished around their pockets and passed them through the bars. Suddenly his other hand shot out from behind him and slapped them with a pair of cuffs faster than one would expect from the old fat man. Their wrists were chained together across the bars.
"Oi get this thing off me!" Travis yelled, tugging on the cuff and trying to pull his hand through.
"I don't think so," the old man smirked. "These aught to stop you from committing any more crimes. And maybe give the two of you a lesson about trust."
"What is this?!" Rodney demanded to know.
"Just a little trinket I cooked up, now whenever either of you commit a crime you can choose who gets to be punished." the man grabbed the chain connecting them and yanked it hard, snapping off the links on the ends and freeing them from each other but leaving the bands locked onto their wrists, "If you both choose O you'll both be mildly punished. If you both choose X you'll receive something a bit harsher. But if one chooses X and one chooses O... well the person who chose X won't be effected at all but the one who chose O will face severe consequences."
"What the fuck you on about?" Rodney asked "What consequences?"
"Oh the punishment will fit the crime." The old man grinned. "Now get out of here I'm sick of looking at you."
With that the interior door slammed shut and the bars to the door leading outside were raised as quickly as they had dropped. The two men stood there surprised and confused by the sudden end to the confrontation.
"Wait 'e's just letting us go?" Travis asked incredulously.
"Let's get out of here before he comes back"
The two exit onto the street and run down to the next block, ducking into an alley way. As they caught their breath Rodney examined his cuff. The cylindrical iron looked about two inches long and a quarter inch thick. A small inch wide iron disk with a section cut out was riveted to it. Beneath the cut out section, a small X was engraved on the cuff. He turned the disk slowly and on the opposite side of the X there was an O.
"Ha! That barmy old codger thinks these little bracelets are actually gonna stop us!" Rodney snickered, "What a nutter. They're just pieces of metal."
The two men laughed as they decided on what they would get up to next...