Triple Threat

Chapter 5

Anya's phone started playing her morning alarm, and she dismissed it. She hadn't gone to sleep in the first place. She sat up, pulled open the curtains, and stared out over the city. People were getting in their cars to go to work, Mr. Johnson was opening the convenience store across the street, and Benji was walking down the street with his dog Brownie.

She turned and sat down on the edge of her bed, opening the notes app on her phone. She clicked on the one dated from last night, and was dismayed to find that in fact, Blue did exist, and she wasn't hallucinating. Which also meant that currently, there was a guy in a hero suit using her very recognizable hoodie as a pillow. On a rooftop. In broad daylight.

She still wasn't sure if Blue was trustworthy or not. They could very well still be a very convincing citizen. Or, they could be telling the truth, which would mean that some sort of time rift opened in an abandoned warehouse in L.A., shoved another spidey through to her timeline, and closed again.

Probably the latter.

Butternut headbutted her hand, circling Anya like a hungry shark. Anya scooped her up. "C'mon kit-kat, let's get some food."

Entering the kitchen, she set Butternut down on the couch, where she sat impatiently awaiting her food. Upon hearing her food bowl hit the ground, she sprinted for it. Anya grabbed an instant coffee packet and turned on her kettle.

A few minutes later, she had chugged the coffee and was in her bedroom again, pulling on her suit. She didn't particularly feel like talking to Swimming Spider, as she hadn't decided whether or not to believe them, but she did need her hoodie back. She shouldn't have left a key piece of her suit with someone she didn't know, who was now asleep on a very visible rooftop.

She swung out from the fire escape, making her way downtown towards the warehouse. The usual chatter about the heroine could be heard as she swung her way down mainstreet. A little girl, probably no older than 6, giggled gleefully as she passed. "Mama, look! It's Anarchid!"

She hit the ground on the gravel outside the warehouse, but unfortunately on the wrong side. She hopped over the fence and proceeded to scale the broken window sills and crumbling ledges of the building. Sure enough, there was Swimming Spider, asleep on top of her hoodie.

She gently kicked them in the side to wake them. "Rise and shine, sleepy head."

Blue startled awake, bolting upright. "What time is it??"

"It's ten on a Saturday, and you're sleeping in broad daylight with a well-known hero's hoodie."

They cocked their head sheepishly and tossed the hoodie back to Anarchid. "Sorry."

"All good," she said. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Like a baby."

An uncomfortably long silence followed, and Anarchid didn't know how to break it. She sat down near them.

"Listen, Blue-"

"Swimming Spider."

"Right, Swimming Spider, sorry." she paused. "You're still here this morning, which means I didn't just dream about that weird light thing last night, or you showing up."

"Nope. I saw it too."

"I'm assuming you're still going to hold to the fact that you're a vigilante, and not just a wannabe hero citizen."

"Correct," they answered."

"And I'm also a vigilante, a heroine if you will, which you don't currently seem to believe either."

"Also, correct."

"So I'm gonna suggest the really stereotypical thing here, and say we should just show each other our powers."