Avery got a text from Regina saying she was good to go and grabbed the night guards two at a time, triple checking to make sure she got all of them out, before beginning to plant bombs in key places. She was going to blow this all sky high so it was a good thing the factory was in the literal middle of nowhere.

Angelo had studied blast radii and told her all about them when he first got into bomb-making. She knew how far away she needed to put those security guards so they wouldn’t get hurt.

She also knew she was going to have to absolutely book it when she set up those timers so she could get to where they were before the bombs went off. This was the scary part.

As soon as the last one was set she ran for her life and flinched when she heard the explosion go off. The helmet helped muffle the sound but barely. She untied the bewildered guards watching the smoking remains of the factory in the distance.

“Go on and call the fire department to put this out before it spreads to any nearby grass or trees, yeah?” Avery suggested.

“…sure. Why did you get us out?” one of them dared to ask.

“Because you didn’t deserve to die for trying to make a living even if you were working for a monster. Better luck on your next jobs. See ya!”

She sprinted off into the night and disappeared because her suit made darkness the perfect cover. It was a large part of why she always struck at night. The other reason was that less people were around so it was easier to pull things off without people getting pulled into it. Minimizing collateral damage was important.

The factory was about an hour and a half from Regina’s place by car and she did NOT want to have to run that entire way. The suit may make her faster but she was still doing the running.

Avery used a cheat that she had never used before on an actual mission. She discovered this function of the suit entirely by accident while messing around with it one day in the early days of her being Nox.

She made the suit pop out wheels under her feet to double her speed. She was a blur zooming down the side of the highway until she saw a semi-truck going the direction she was headed. She leapt on top of it and lay down to look up at the limited stars out in the California countryside with a sigh. Hitching a ride was much better.

She didn’t get back to Regina’s until late and her host had left a spare key under the mat for her to let herself in since she wouldn’t be back anytime soon. She was driving a bus over the Oregon border taking turns with one of the other bus drivers since it was a long trip.

Honestly, Avery was a bit surprised the woman trusted her not to do anything to her house while she was gone. If she was any less altruistic she could have robbed this place blind.

Regina trusted them because she was one of the first to join in their mission even if it was only over encrypted email at first. She knew they were doing good things to help people. Why would someone who cared about the working class steal from them?

She only stole from Nolan Hunsacher, the literal trillionaire. That sort of wealth hoarding shouldn’t even be legal. The very thought of him sitting on more money than he could ever spend while people died because of his overly inflated medicine prices made her sick to her stomach.

As promised, she sent a text to Angelo to let him know her part of the plan was taken care of and the rest was on their California comrades. He didn’t respond but she hadn’t expected him to. It was late.

Avery got a few hours of sleep before her alarm mercilessly woke her up so she could call for an Uber and quickly eat something and pack her limited things before it arrived. She got to the airport with just enough time to get through security and board her plane, falling asleep again before liftoff.

She had to wake up for the layover but as soon as she was on the second plane she fell asleep again. She was so out of it she barely managed to stumble off the plane and make it to where Angelo was waiting to pick her up, having told him her ETA in advance.

“…did you get any sleep at all this weekend?” he asked with a frown when he saw the state of her.

“I’ve been sleeping on and off all day and it still hasn’t been enough,” Avery moaned miserably. “The worst part is that to avoid suspicion Christian is coming over in less than an hour like usual and I’m totally dead.”

“Then use him as a pillow and go back to sleep. Pretend you’re sick and call out from work tomorrow if you must. You look terrible.”

“Thanks, Angelo.”

“Just being honest.”

Avery probably felt worse than she looked. She had a splitting headache and her legs hurt from all that running/roller skating before she managed to hitch rides on a few different trucks. She still had to skate the last several miles anyway because no one was going the exact way she needed to go.

He dropped her off at her apartment, told her to get more sleep, and she quickly put her suitcase and everything in it away before Christian arrived so he wouldn’t suspect anything. She was finishing up as the doorbell rang. She made it by the skin of her teeth!

He smiled at her like everything was normal for a split second before it dropped. “What happened to you?”

“I’ve joined the ranks of the undead,” Avery said in a spooky voice as she curled her hands into claws, trying to play it all off as a joke so he wouldn’t ask too many questions.

It worked. He chuckled, “Must have been quite a weekend. Why don’t we order some pizza? My treat. We can watch a couple of movies or something too; that doesn’t require much effort.”

“I love you,” she replied fervently. Christian stiffened and she realized what she said, immediately trying to backtrack. “Not like that! I meant it like ‘thank you’ because I was so relieved and appreciative of your offer to let me relax.”

“Oh. So you don’t actually love me.”

That wasn’t true! She hadn’t meant to say it—it was the sort of ‘I love you’ she gave to Angelo or Vanessa all the time when she appreciated something they did—but she did love him. So much. Too much considering all she was keeping from him.

“I didn’t say that. I just…didn’t mean for it to pop out the way it did. I do love you. Sorry,” Avery said quietly.

Christian frowned at her. “Why would you apologize for that?”

“Because you didn’t want anything serious. Telling someone you love them is serious.”

“I know that’s what I said but don’t apologize. I…I love you too.”

She blinked at him in surprise. Obviously, she knew he cared about her but she hadn’t anticipated that. He insisted on keeping things casual since he was a hero and had a lot of the same things to worry about that she did even if they were on opposite sides of the law.

This was a problem. A big one. Monumental. Possibly even the biggest problem she ever faced. Yet she couldn’t stop herself from beaming and throwing her arms around his neck so she could kiss him.

Christian loved her. This was a huge deal! Avery could think about the ramifications later. Right now she needed to bask in the glow of a beautiful moment.

They kissed for several minutes before he went to go order the pizza. Meat lover’s—the way both of them liked it. When that was done he joined her on the couch to start a movie. She managed to stay awake until the pizza arrived but once she was full she became too sleepy to resist conking out in his arms as the little spoon.

She felt so warm and safe wrapped in his arms that she didn’t wake up until he gently shook her saying he needed to go. She was wide awake then and groaned when she saw the clock.

There was no way she would be in a good enough condition to go to work tomorrow at this rate. She ended up taking Angelo’s advice and preemptively called in sick so she could fix her messed up sleep schedule.

Avery never wanted to do anything like that again. She sincerely hoped she wouldn’t have to but she was the one and only Nox. Would it have been so terrible for her dad to make multiple copies of his tech? That would have made their work a lot more efficient! She was only one person.