Christian had unwittingly jinxed himself. Right as he was about to ask Avery more about herself his sixth sense tingled.

Normally when it started he was able to feel the general direction it was coming from then followed it from there because the feeling got stronger the closer he got before stopping entirely once he found it. If he ignored it, it would go away after a few minutes.

People were constantly in danger of something or other so he was bombarded with the signals all day. It was hard to explain but there were varying degrees depending on severity and distance. He was usually able to ignore the little or far away ones since he had to while he was working.

The bigger the signal the more likely it was that a villain was involved. This one was definitely a villain running amok.

He couldn’t run out in the middle of a date though! Especially not with someone he liked as much as Avery. Some other hero could handle it this time; he wasn’t the only one though he wasn’t aware of any others that could fly.

“Christian? You okay there?” Avery asked and he realized he had been spacing out.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. What were you saying?”

“I was asking where you went to school.”

“I went to NYU for my undergrad and to the University of Idaho for law school. Super random, I know. It was a nice change of pace for a while though since literally nothing happens there,” Christian admitted. “Too boring to stay in permanently though. I’m a New Yorker through and through.”

Avery laughed. “I know literally nothing about Idaho except that they grow potatoes. I stayed here for culinary school so I could take advantage of living at home but I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere else, anyway.”

His internal alarm went off again and he felt a vein bulge in his forehead. Why couldn’t people solve their own problems for five minutes?!

“Makes sense,” he said as calmly as he could. “Did you ever want to do anything else?”

“Nah. What about you? What made you interested in law school?” she asked.

Way back when he was a starry-eyed idealist that wanted to make the world a better place his dream had been to fight for justice. Then he realized that he hated being in courtrooms and couldn’t withstand the stress of having his arguments ripped to shreds all the time.

He was still a purveyor of justice in different ways. He helped people patent their ideas and sue people who stole their work or ideas without authorization. His clients got their justice if nothing else. You know, and the whole hero thing.

“Young idealist me wanted to fight for justice,” Christian said dryly. “It isn’t always so simple though. If I didn’t hate being in court so much I probably would have tried to become a judge.”

Avery smiled. “Nothing wrong with wanting to avoid confrontation. And you are still helping people in a way. Not all noble causes are flashy.”

He appreciated her perspective. She was right too. There were plenty of good people quietly plodding along making a difference in the world no matter how small. He had seen it time and time again.

“Thanks,” he told her right as another internal alarm went off.

Christian was getting really frustrated. He was trying to enjoy himself here! He did so much for this city and its people; couldn’t he do something that made him happy for once without being interrupted?

It happened another six times throughout their meal and he wanted to scream. That wasn’t the worst of it though. The last one became so incredibly persistent that he knew something was going down nearby. What he didn’t expect was for the entire table in front of him to be decimated by a fireball without warning.

People began screaming and running away in horror as Inferno, a villain he normally didn’t fight because he didn’t have water or ice powers, began cackling madly and attacking every table in the place that had a couple sitting at it. Oh, why now?! Even his luck usually wasn’t this bad!

Christian grabbed Avery by the hand and pulled her toward the girl’s bathroom as quickly as he could before shoving her inside and hissing, “Stay here! I’m going to get help.”

She didn’t make a single peep of protest. With that taken care of, at least on a temporary basis, he went into the men’s room to change. He needed to hold Inferno off until someone better equipped to fight him came along.

He always kept his costume on under his clothes to be safe but he hadn’t expected to need it tonight. At least it was cool, breathable fabric that was specifically invented with heroes in mind. At this point he hardly noticed it was there.

It was primarily yellow with a swirling cloud insignia on the chest and a red mask, cuffs, and long compression socks. He quickly hid his outer clothes and fake glasses in the air vent with the intention to come back for them later. He preferred using rooftops since people were much less likely to go up there but in a pinch it would do.

Christian didn’t get mad terribly easily but he was livid that his date had been interrupted. Fat chance Avery would want to go out with him again after getting attacked by a villain!

“Inferno, you really picked the wrong night to mess with me!” he yelled as he flew around from the outside of the building after escaping through the window. Coming out of the bathroom would have been too suspicious.

Inferno looked at him in vague surprise. “Mercury? What are you doing here? I would have expected Delta or Frostine.”

“…I happened to be in the area. What are you trying to accomplish here?”

“I had a bad date at this establishment. If I can’t have a good time why should anyone else?”

Ugh, what a terrible motive! But honestly, Christian had seen worse. Skulker’s escapades came to mind. Of all the restaurants to attack though why did it have to be this one? He knew he should have gone with the Indian place across town.

He was about to retort how stupid that was when an unexpected figure appeared on his left. What on earth was Nox doing here?! He never operated on Fridays! He had never hit a restaurant either.

What was going on? Had this unlikely duo decided to tag team to ruin his night?

Some villains did have partnerships, as did some heroes, but he had never heard of Nox working with anyone. Or getting involved in anything where there were a lot of witnesses. Most people didn’t even know he existed.

Christian was immediately on the defensive, ready to fight them both when Nox laughed. “I’m not here for you, believe it or not. Funny running into you though. I thought our date night was tomorrow.”

A shudder ran down his spine. He knew the villain was messing with him but it was still beyond creepy to have their weekly run-ins referred to in such a way.

Inferno looked between the two of them in confusion as he continued shooting fireballs. “Who’s this, Mercury? Your new sidekick?”

“Absolutely not!” he said with a scowl. “I don’t even know what he’s doing here.”

“Helping you out, my ungrateful friend!” Nox said cheerfully.

He flipped through the air and wrapped his legs around Inferno’s neck to slam him to the ground. The fiery villain groaned and tried attacking his opponent with fireballs but his suit was impervious to flame.

“We all have bad dates, Inferno. Doesn’t mean you should destroy a perfectly good restaurant or anyone else’s good time. That’s too petty,” Nox said as he pinned him and shot some sort of wire out of his wrists that bound the other villain.

Inferno lay there groaning in defeat. “Who are you? Some new hero? I’ve never heard of someone with your powers.”

“I’m no hero. Simply a bystander who doesn’t like playing with fire.”

Christian was completely baffled. That was pretty darn heroic for a villain. That didn’t change anything though. One opponent was down but he had one left. He flew toward Nox, who blocked his kick.

“This is how you repay me for preventing you from getting a fireball to the face? You wound me, Mercury!”

“What are you even doing here? Why did you do that? You’re both on the same side!”

“The same side? Not even close. I don’t wreak havoc for the fun of it. And here I thought you knew me by now! I happened to be in the area and didn’t want to see my favorite hero get torched,” Nox said.

“Don’t make me use my getaway plan on you now. Then I’ll have to come up with something before tomorrow. Shouldn’t you be evacuating people rather than focusing on me since I’m not here to cause trouble?”