As much as Christian hated it the villain had a point. He hadn’t done anything wrong this time. That didn’t change the fact that he had committed all sorts of crimes and needed to be brought to justice though. If he managed to catch Nox now he could prevent whatever was planned for tomorrow.

None of Inferno’s fireballs had made it as far as the bathroom but the fire was spreading. Who knows how long it would take before the fire department, Delta, or Frostine got here?

Most people had run out screaming already but there were a few trapped by the flames. So which was it? Let a villain he knew would strike again go or take care of the people that were already here, including the woman he liked?

He continued fighting Nox as he deliberated before deciding with great regret. In this case the lesser of two evils was taking care of people that were actively in danger.

Rather than giving the villain the satisfaction of saying anything, he began rounding up the stragglers in both the dining area and the kitchen since they were currently at the greatest risk. He could get to Avery and anyone else hiding in the bathroom next.

“Good choice! Feel free to take credit for this one; I’m not interested. See you tomorrow!” Nox’s voice trailed off as he vanished into the night.

Frustration bubbled up inside Christian at letting his nemesis get away but there was nothing he could do about that now. He flew people out two at a time and managed to help nearly a dozen before he got to Avery.

She was in the bathroom trying to comfort a girl no older than ten who had been separated from her parents. “It’s okay. Mercury’s here; nothing bad is going to happen to you. He’ll come get us out any minute.”

His heart warmed when he heard that. She believed in him.

But that was beside the point. He needed to get them out of here as quickly as possible. “Are you two the only ones in here?”

Avery looked up at him with a dazzling smile. “Yeah. See, what did I tell you?”

The girl seemed a bit starstruck. “Wow! A real hero! You were right, Avery! Are you going to fly us out?”

“Yes. For the sake of time, I’m going to need to take both of you at once so I’m afraid it won’t be very comfortable,” Christian apologized. “Hold tight.”

He flew them out, dodging the flames as he went, and set them down safely across the street with the rest of the people who had fled the restaurant. There hadn’t been anyone else in the bathroom when he was there but he should double check to be safe.

By the time he came back out Delta had finally arrived. His costume was reminiscent of silver fish scales and he created/controlled water the same way Inferno did fire.

He had beaten the fire department but not by much. The sirens could be heard coming up the street.

Delta began doing damage control and addressed Christian without looking at him. “Mercury, did you take down Inferno all by yourself? I wouldn’t have expected that since you don’t have a single scorch mark on you.”

Taking credit on behalf of someone else didn’t sit well with him so he didn’t follow Nox’s instructions completely. He could omit part of the truth here.

“No, I had help from an unexpected source. What took you so long?”

“I was out in Long Island. Excuse me for not being able to fly.”

Delta could get around quickly by using water to propel himself but it resulted in a lot of bystanders getting wet and still wasn’t as fast as flying. Christian supposed he couldn’t blame the guy too much. He was just upset this night had not gone the way he wanted.

“Whatever. Now that the fire’s under control I’ll get Inferno to the cops. I’m pretty sure I saw them outside dealing with crowd control,” he said and the water hero nodded.

He picked Inferno up by his bindings and dragged him out one-handed, depositing him in front of a police car. “Here. I don’t know who he really is but he caused a lot of property damage and some people may have been hurt. That’s only tonight; he probably has enough counts of arson to put him in prison for life.”

There were specific measures that could be taken for villains with powers in jail to make them less dangerous. Materials a room could be lined with that nullified them. Powered villains may be harder to catch than tech-based ones most of the time but at least there were measures in place for when they were. Nox was a rare exception to that rule.

Christian was coming to realize that he was an exception to most rules of villainy. He was still baffled that the man got involved in taking down another of his kind.

Wasn’t there some sort of creed preventing villains from encroaching on each other’s schemes? He had never heard of one villain taking down another before. He didn’t have time to ponder it though because he needed to get his clothes back and return to Avery.

“Excuse me, Mercury?” her familiar voice called hesitantly from behind him.

He slowly turned around and saw her worriedly biting her lip. “When you were getting people out did you happen to see a guy with brown hair and glasses wearing a blue shirt? I haven’t seen him out here yet.”

Christian’s heart stuttered. She was worried about him! That was bad though. He didn’t want her to be stressed out because of his prolonged, unexplained absence.

“No but I’m sure he’ll turn up,” he told her with his best attempt at a reassuring smile.

“Thanks.”

He flew around the block to divert suspicion so he could sneak back in through the bathroom window and get his clothes out of the vent. Checking to be sure the coast was clear, he went back out to where Avery was anxiously awaiting him.

He had most likely blown it with her by making her worry. He had to play it cool even as his heart sunk.

“Avery! There you are. I couldn’t find you for a while because this crowd is nuts. I’ll never understand why people like goggling at disasters. Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m fine. You?”

“I’m fine too. I’m really sorry about this…I would completely understand if you wanted to go home and never see me again after this,” Christian sighed.

“It’s not like this was your fault unless you personally invited Inferno here.”

“Of course I didn’t!”

“Then we’re good. Want to get some ice cream or something? I’m still hungry because I didn’t get to finish my food,” Avery said casually.

He blinked at her in shock. “You serious?”

“Yep. Unless you’re too freaked out by what happened and want to go home. Because I’d totally understand if you were.”

Christian was more surprised she wasn’t. She had been uncontrollably shaky the last time he saved her but right now she was as cool as a cucumber. This didn’t make sense. Weren’t villains a lot scarier than unpowered assailants?

“I’m not…but I’m a bit surprised you’re okay with all of this. People don’t run into villains every day.”

Avery shrugged. “I guess it’s because Mercury was here. Did you see him?”

Boy, did he. He answered rather ironically. “Yeah. Did he get you out?”

A slight smile played around the corners of her lips. “He did. Once I saw him I knew everything was going to be fine. He is a hero, after all.”

In a way, that was the highest compliment she could give him. And he couldn’t even thank her for it. A subject change was in order before his emotions overwhelmed him and he did something stupid like hug her without warning.

“Makes sense. Heroes are good at that. I think I saw an ice cream place a few blocks from here on our way in. Do you mind walking there?” Christian asked.

“Not at all,” Avery said before moving to his side so they could walk together.

This was by far the strangest date he had ever been on but he wasn’t complaining since it didn’t seem like she was mad at him. He could process all the weirdness with Nox later. For now he wanted to enjoy himself like anyone else would on a Friday night now that the villain mess was behind him.