Super Crush (BxB)

Visitors Tiptoe In

--ME--Will you be back in time to get some sleep?

I text Abe as I lie down in bed.

--ABE--Yeah. We're already passing Chicago.

I look at the time. 12:36 AM. Actually, it's an early night for my crime-fighting buddy.

--ME--Cool. You could use some sleep. It'll help you look less like a zombie. 🧟‍♂️

My joke doesn't get a quick response, so I assume Abe got busy with something.

--ME--Night, mister. Send me a text when you make it home.

Just as I put my phone on my nightstand to charge, he replies.

--ABE--Will do. Night, Noah. Be sure to set STAN.

STAN, or Secured Techno-Assistive Network, is a security system in which Abe got special permission from Matriarch, the leader of The Fleet, to outfit my family's condo. It connects through the network that runs the same system at The Fleet HQ. In the beginning of his superhero career, Abe was seriously worried for my safety and wanted to be sure I had an extra layer of protection just in case any information was ever found out about the loved ones of The Fleet.

--ME--I may be brash, but you already know I am way too paranoid to not set STAN. LOL Thanks for looking out tho.

--ABE--😝 Night.

I lie back down and STAN turns my lights out. For the first time in years, when I close my eyes, it's not Abe I envision. Instead, an image of Clay, cross-armed and leaning in close, plays in my mind. Big biceps and powerful pecs press against his graphic tee. A creak comes from the darkness of my room. My eyes snap open and my fantasy is gone. An icy doom feeling blizzards through my insides as I sit up in the darkness.

STAN doesn't register my movement. That's weird.

"Who's there?" I say, unable to make it sound like anything other than a cheesy horror movie line, but I know I am not alone. "STAN, scan!"

The red emergency lights illuminate my room, alerting me that there is an intruder in the house. But I am already aware. A triad of figures stands in the corner between my desk and the door to the balcony.

In front is a slender female decked head to toe in black leather, black tutu, and topped off with a black masquerade mask covering her perfect mahogany skin. Her fluorescent purple hair is pulled up in a perfect bun and it matches a tulip emblem of the same color on her chest. I know her. Well, in the internet news sense. She goes by the codename Tiptoe. An unaffiliated holder who most recently has been working alongside Sir Madness, The Fleet's arch-nemesis.

On her left is a young person with a visor covering their eyes. Like a miniature digital billboard, ones and zeroes scroll in high speed across the screen of their single-piece eyewear. The trio is completed by the muscle to the right of midnight ballerina. Yes, he is an enormous guy dressed in combat gear and a full-face tactical helmet, but it's his arms that steal my attention. From deltoid to fingertip, this bruiser's skin has been replaced by stone. Picture a perfectly cobble-stoned street taking the form of carved biceps, triceps, and forearms extending from each shoulder.

No one moves.

Beside me, my phone rings. I already know it is Abe. He probably got a notification from STAN. Without taking my eyes off my visitors, I reach for my cell. With a swish, I feel the force of the dagger as it passes millimeters from my wrist and lodges itself in the wall above my nightstand.

"Tell him it was a false alarm," the boss lady instructs me, holding up a second dagger.

I clear my throat and accept the call. "Hey."