Our hearts were in our throats

"Dad!" He cried out.

The last robber climbed the blue truck and found an exit route. The other, not so much. He scraped against the wall when Ernie restrained him with tiles from afar. She stood up straight.

The last robber drove the blue truck slapdash on the empty lane with the second door ajar.

Stephen clenched his teeth at the runaway robber.

She frowned and thrust her hand up, two rocks hedged the truck's front tires. The rear tilted up and it rebounded, crashing.

The truck dropped and he hit his head against the roof. The robber's head spun inside the roomy truck. He looked up and gasped at the person in black wearing a white and red mask. "Jeez." He abandoned the car and ran away.

Stephen roared when he saw red.

"Big mistake!" He struck him at full speed. The robber screamed wildly and flew off.

"AHHHH!" He sped over to kick his stomach.

He bashed him on the head several times and Ernestine's jaw dropped.

"Stephen!" She waved her arms frantically.

The robber attempted to crawl away. Stephen landed a foot hard against his head. He groaned and fell over.

Ding!

[ Quest completed. ]

Stephen dropped the bat enraged and he softened at Jason who sat up on the pavement unhurt. His eyes brightened at the police who came closer to see the ceramic cat toy he was holding.

Jason was pale as a ghost when he saw the bullet encased in the ceramic cat toy. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed.

~~~

Friday Evening~

Stephen reached the pavement with Ernestine.

She dropped her hood and took off her face mask. Sighing.

"That was close." Stephen said wiping his forehead. He took off his black hoodie and picked up Bear from Mrs Fritz's house.

She was German by ancestry and she taught 6th-grade French at Clancy Junior High School. She had honey-brown hair and large brown eyes, there were worry lines on her forehead and she wore round-rimmed glasses. She wore a drab white coat and she was very concerned about Stephen's late entries.

"Stephen, I expect your Oral Report next Tuesday." She said sternly to him and he groaned inwardly.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good."

His face bloomed when he looked down at her furry white terrier raising a foot beside his leg.

Stephen sighed. "Stupid pooch." He was upset that her dumb dog peed on his foot. Bear raced ahead of him to his house.

His father nearly got killed by a robber, one who saw no other option than to take him out before stealing his car. As if that helped. He figuratively shot himself in the foot. Dragging Ernie into the field. She was absolutely disciplined, maybe too hardcore.

Stephen wished he could relive that moment again and give him a beatdown he would never forget...

Ernestine stood by the porch. She still had his Star Wars robe on. Staring at nothingness. Bear touched the palm of her hand with his snout.

She brushed his head absentmindedly.

Ernestine was reading her stats. She had a boost in [ Dexterity ] by 30 points. Forcing rocks to bend to her command was not easy. She had to focus on hand movements, the mental work was not that difficult. She had the sheer will of a... She had more XPs.

She did not care about silly stat points. But if she had to know where was going, she would have to consult the AI more often. She scrolled through the blue tabs. It showed costumes in the works, gadgets and the like.

"I wonder what this is..." She tapped a falling flaming meteor icon and it expanded into a large hologram of a meteorite with labels.

"Whoa." She was awed at the map of the galaxy, and the solar system.

The orbit of Mercury was its origin. During a fallout from its orbit, the meteor was encased in space junk comprising ghastly radioactive waste. Forming its uppermost layer. She read. "The planet is closest to the sun, known for its speed and rising boiling point..." She read more facts.

Stephen zoned out after he speedily skimmed through the system's scoreboard.

300 XPs, a fall and a rise in dexterity by 12 per cent. A gift bag with dozens of hit points. Another level up at 13. He grinned.

"Mach 2. Here I come."

"I can't believe you're saying this after they almost killed Jason," Ernestine said angrily.

She was equally upset too. Stephen may be fast but he was still liable to be hurt.

Stephen frowned. "That's the only way I get to stop a bullet, right? Accepting tasks."

She groaned. "Run a marathon or whatever it is that you do." Then she poked his shoulder with a forefinger, staring angrily at him. He winced.

"Maybe next time. You let me pick the quests. Do you understand?!" She roared. With a flick of her hair, she stormed across the street.

Stephen smiled. "Does that mean you're in?!"

She fumed picking up speed.

"Hey! My coat!"

~~~

Jason huffed as he returned to the house, he had a bullet hole on his old shirt. He had one hell of a night at the hospital. He was lucky to have packed extra clothes. The medic staff suggested a compulsory check-up on him due to the ceramic pieces. His heart raced, and he tried to reassure himself that he had just been in the way of unforeseen circumstances. It was random and he got lucky. He tried to cheer himself up with that fact. "Nothing to worry about... Oh, who am I kidding...?"

He drove past Mrs Fritz's house and waved when she stood by her window. She waved back hesitantly and then shut the blinds quickly.

He huffed at that and smiled. Returning home only to be pummeled by not one but two of his kids. He laughed at Bear's incessant kisses but Stephen's face was buried in his shirt. He held on firmly to his waist. Jason felt a warm liquid dampening his shirt. His shoulders trembled.

"Are you...crying?" He said.

"Yes!" Stephen mumbled through his fabric with a crackling voice.

Jason held him tightly. "I'm fine." He said with a soft voice. "I just had a few stitches done on my chest that's all." He said as if he dodged bullets every day but he was equally as restless. He smiled sadly.

"And...I happened to have brought back your favourite meal."

"Happy Meal!? Awesome." He took the bag and opened it. His throat clogged at the toy inside and he passed it on to Bear.

"Ah." Jason seized it quickly before he grabbed it and gave Bear a treat instead and he huffed.

"I just...I just need to lie down." He said and stood akimbo in the unkempt living room. A blanket was spread on the couch.

The table was covered in popcorn and a bottle of coke was laying on the edge.

He practically gave up on scolding him and he laid down. He was shocked that the blanket smelled like flowers instead of sweaty gym socks. The clothes were rumpled but they smelled divine.

He made no comments and he laid his head on the couch. He grabbed a remote and turned on the TV.

"Hop." He groaned when Bear climbed up his body into the couch and nestled behind him wagging his tail.

"Bear, Daddy needs some personal space okay?" He muffled when his head rested on his side.

Then the news reporter appeared. "This is Nat Fury and you are watching Clancy TV News at 8 O'clock, the headlines..."

Stephen was just enjoying an eggplant parmesan cheese fry at the table. He hated surprise attacks. His dad went for the vegetarian option.

'I don't want reports of stomach issues by tomorrow and don't forget to chew, do not swallow too fast

His eye caught an amateur video of the robbers getting nabbed by the police. He chuckled at the men. They looked absolutely traumatized. Babbling about a crazed person in a brown hood. Some of them were disguised as old people and it couldn't be more laughable. He laughed.

The reporter with pink pixie hair said that they could not get a live feed of the action at City Square but some witnesses mentioned a small person in a brown robe lifting rocks and another in black that could teleport. He spat out diet coke. "What the_? Teleport?"

"This is...fantastic," Jason said with round eyes.

[ This is ridiculous! ] Stephen frowned.

Some claimed that they were absolute heroes. Others were worried. He grinned munching on a burger and dumped the cucumber.

Then he bit his tongue at a flick of his dad talking nervously on the mic. Nat had to repeat her questions twice over to him. He had the look of a bewildered gazelle and Stephen chuckled.

Bear looked stunned at the image of him on TV and pawed his head to make sure Jason was real.

"That's me." He said drily.

He meticulously spoke about The Superstore, probably increasing the marketing by a helluva lot~

"Classic dad," Stephen said in between laughs.

[ I'm still gonna need to get faster. ] He thought as his legs thumped speedily on the floor under the table.