Avery’s window of opportunity to strike Hunsacher’s top secret computer was much smaller than she would like it to be. She was going to have to use the suit to damage the security protocol tech enough to get in there, which would surely set off some sort of alarm.

Security would be called and she would have to take them down without seriously injuring them, destroy the entire computer system beyond repair by inserting a virus Angelo had developed, then smash the place up to cover her bases. All before the cops, Mercury, or any other hero arrived.

During her time as a villain she had never run into any other heroes during her heists. She was so stealthy that none of them ever noticed her.

She had always wondered how he managed to find her every time…but after seeing how distracted Christian was on their date she had a suspicion about some sort of internal villain radar. She had no idea how it worked though.

Avery was keyed up about her heist through most of work and afterward. She barely managed to eat dinner but forced herself to because she would need her strength to be at peak performance.

She couldn’t strike until after the sun was completely down and everyone but the night guards had left the building. That gave her plenty of time to sit at home and stew in her worry.

When it was finally time to go she took a deep breath to calm herself before tapping the watch to activate the suit. The nanobots rushed over her body in the familiar sensation that used to make her shudder out of instinct because it tickled. It was show time.

Bouncing from building to building made Avery laugh in exhilaration most of the time but right now she was too nervous to enjoy it. She had to get in without breaking any windows to lengthen the amount of time she had to get where she needed to go, which would involve being very, very sneaky coming in from the roof.

She was used to these sorts of things but couldn’t help but be nervous because of how high the stakes were this time. They had been trying to get the intel to carry out this operation for months and it would seriously set Hunsacher back.

The insider who had gotten them this information would surely be targeted and killed for their trouble. Even once they had the information they couldn’t execute the plan until Angelo arranged a new, untraceable identity for the informant and their family in a country where Hunsacher had less power.

All their bases were covered. The rest was up to Avery now.

Unfortunately, she got caught by a night guard and had to knock him out and tie him up in a closet so he couldn’t raise the alarm. Twice. In two different closets. Should she leave a note or something telling someone to go look for them before she left?

She didn’t want them to get stuck in there for days because they were trying to do their jobs. Even if they were working for evil incorporated.

After what seemed like hours Avery finally made it to the front of the room the informant told her about. It was protected by a fingerprint and retinal scan operated scanner rather than a simple ID badge one. They didn’t want anyone that wasn’t supposed to be there getting in. Too bad for them.

She figured she had maybe ten minutes tops to get this done. The virus was supposed to be the quick-download kind that took less than five minutes but then she would have to destroy all the computers for good measure.

The virus was to get rid of the data and the computer smashing was to prevent them from having anywhere to store new things any time soon. This mission to cripple Hunsacher’s operations was twofold.

Their subsidiaries keeping the country afloat would be able to carry on as usual but whatever malicious thing they were planning that involved this top-secret computer hardly anyone had access to wouldn’t. That was what mattered.

Avery took a moment to steel herself for whatever happened next before she destroyed the panel and the door slid open. The alarm immediately began blaring and she winced at how loud it was before quickly locating the nearest USB port and inserting the memory stick with the virus on it.

Five minutes. She couldn’t begin destroying the computers until the virus was fully on it. But of course, the alarm brought every security guard in the building up to see what was going on. She had to knock all of them out and tie them up for good measure.

Doing so was child’s play—they were ordinary people going up against a high-tech super suit—but she did feel bad. They would have seriously wicked headaches when they woke up.

She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw the virus had downloaded completely and the data was unrecoverable. She stuck the memory stick back in a compartment of her suit so she wouldn’t leave any concrete evidence behind. Time to get smashing!

Avery wasn’t a violent person by nature but she was used to vandalism by this point. She let out hefty battle cries as she kicked, punched, or otherwise destroyed the equipment. It entertained her at the very least.

She was only halfway done with her rampage when the suit gave her a danger alert incoming from behind. She instinctively whipped around and grabbed the closest object—which happened to be Mercury’s wrist—before flipping him over her shoulder and into the computer.

Huh. Killing two birds with one stone. She momentarily stunned him and caused further damage to her target.

She had fought him enough times by now to know that this wouldn’t seriously hurt him. Otherwise she would have felt really guilty about slamming him into a solid object. It might not have caused any critical damage but it probably still ached.

“It seems seeing me yesterday wasn’t enough for you,” Avery said lightly.

She had expected it since he always managed to show up when she was in the middle of something but seeing him again so soon after basically figuring out his secret identity felt weird. She wasn’t entirely sure how she was supposed to act around him but had to do her best to keep up her usual persona.

Mercury didn’t seem amused. He recovered and immediately flew towards her to attack. She ended up spinning him around and slamming him into another part of the computer. He had interrupted her too soon so she needed to be efficient.

“Seeing you period is too much for me,” he replied flatly. “What are you trying to accomplish here, Nox?”

Avery laughed. He was saying this to the girl he liked enough to set up a second date with and had no idea. “Aww come on, I thought we had a connection!”

To dodge his next attack she had to do a backflip and landed rather hard on another piece of the computer. Excellent. More destruction. Should she use this to her advantage and dance around him crunching equipment beneath her feet as she went?

That would be more effective than using him as a human hammer. She would feel less guilty about it too. Dance of destruction it was! She flipped over his head to dodge a punch and landed on top of something else with a satisfying crunch.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Mercury said, ignoring her comment.

“Why would I go and do something like that? You would never understand my reasons,” Avery replied. “I’m more interested in why you happened to be at the restaurant I was at yesterday.”

She truly didn’t think he would understand since he was a proponent of law and order—he was a lawyer for crying out loud!—but she needed to raze this room entirely. Stalling him as she continued to make a mess of things was necessary before she could make her escape.

Nothing could be salvageable. So why not tease him a bit in the process? It was always fun seeing his reactions.

To her great delight, she saw his ears turn pink. He was blushing!

“For once we happen to agree. What were you doing there?” Mercury demanded as he tried coming for her again. She took the opportunity to toss him off of her and continue destroying things.

Avery grinned under her helmet before telling the truth. “Me? I happened to be enjoying a rather lovely meal before my table went up in flames. Most uncivilized. Inferno got what he had coming to him. Honestly! If you hate being single that much drown your sorrows in Ben and Jerry’s or forever alone memes rather than ruining everyone else’s good time.”

“…you were seriously out eating dinner like a normal person on a Friday night?”

“Excuse you, I’m as normal as they come!”

“I seriously doubt that,” he said as he managed to catch her by surprise and get a hit in. That would have really hurt if she wasn’t wearing the suit. “Inferno was only attacking tables with couples sitting at them. Don’t tell me you were on a date.”

“Oh?” Avery teased. “And here I thought you simply happened to be nearby when pandemonium broke loose. To know that you would have had to be on a date inside the restaurant yourself when he struck.”

“I seriously have the same taste in restaurants as my archnemesis?!”

“Aww, am I really your archnemesis? I’m flattered! If it makes you feel any better, you’re mine too.”