The night was quiet—eerily so. The hum of the city outside barely reached through the thin walls of your apartment. A single lamp on the end table cast a dim glow across the room, painting long shadows against the cracked paint of the walls. You sat slouched on the couch, one hand loosely gripping a glass of water, the other scrolling absentmindedly through news headlines on your phone. Every story seemed the same—another robbery in Star City, another meta incident in Central, another mask in the headlines.

You let out a tired breath, setting the phone down. Just as the silence started to settle back in, there came three sharp knocks at his front door.

Not the careless thuds of a neighbor, not the lazy rhythm of someone passing by—but deliberate. Intentional.

Your body tensed instantly, instincts kicking in. Very few people even knew where he lived. And none of them would bother knocking at this hour.

The knocks came again. Louder.

Whoever it was… they weren’t going away.