บท 38: He Would Leave Her
Whatever Nox was up to wasn't Christian's business anymore. All he was doing by looking into Hunsacher a bit was satiating his own curiosity. He needed to retire in peace and focus on what mattered to him.
Putting his confusion out of mind was difficult but he needed to think about something else. Like getting in contact with a power suppressor…and testing the waters with Avery to see if she was okay with moving forward in their relationship. Going back and forth between apartments was silly when there was nothing to hide anymore.
He felt a weight lift off his chest at the thought of not having to worry about secrets for the first time in years. If Mercury disappeared off the face of the earth, he could ignore that chapter of his life and think about the future instead of simply living in the moment.
The following morning, Christian went to a power suppressor firm and explained his problem. "I want to know if it's possible to turn off one power while keeping another."
The man behind the desk folded his hands under his chin thoughtfully. "That depends entirely on whether or not the two powers are the same general type. Physical powers such as superstrength are one. Brain-based powers such as telekinesis are another.
"We offer various medications dedicated to turning off specific power types so I'm afraid it wouldn't work if they're the same. Could you tell me exactly what your powers are? Everything is confidential, I assure you."
Relief flooded through him. It seemed like this could actually work!
"Flying and a sixth sense about danger that acts somewhat like a homing beacon. Those would count as two different power types, wouldn't they?" he asked eagerly.
The man nodded. "Indeed. I assume you want the sixth sense turned off but want to keep the flight? Retirement could be rather difficult if you're constantly trying to ignore distress calls. I completely understand."
"Yes."
"That shouldn't be difficult. It will take a few weeks for the drugs to kick in but the sixth sense should remain suppressed as long as you keep taking them like you would any other medication."
"I'll take it," Christian said firmly.
The man smiled and pulled out some paperwork for him to sign. "Excellent! It's a pleasure doing business with you."
It was as simple as that. He walked out with a box containing a month's supply of power suppressors and a subscription to continue receiving them in the mail. He was actually doing this!
Christian had devoted nearly half of his life to hero work. It was high time he started living for himself. All the things he thought were impossible for him weren't out of reach now that he wouldn't have that alarm blaring in his head constantly.
Unfinished business or not, this was something to be happy about. He had a future and that future was bright.
===
Avery had been drowning in misery from the moment she dropped Christian off at the hospital until Liam texted her to let her know he had been hurt. Her misery turned to confusion. Had he really not figured it out?
When she arrived, she didn't see anything but relief to see her on his face. He truly hadn't made the connection. Was she in love with an idiot?
Apparently so because two weeks passed and he let her take care of him like everything was normal. Not that she was complaining! This was the best thing that could have happened. He was alive, safe, and didn't know the truth so she could continue staying with him!
She was in an excellent mood as she waited around a warehouse for the drones to get everything out to Jorge's truck for her monthly delivery. Until her idiot boyfriend showed up looking for her.
Avery panicked because she didn't want to hurt him but she also didn't want to give herself away. If he wanted to talk, he might want answers to questions she couldn't give him.
Mercury (though he was wearing lounge clothes he was still wearing his mask) seemed surprised when she said she saved him because she thought he was a good person who didn't deserve to die. It was a small part of the truth but she had thought he was a good person even before she had a crush on him.
He was surprisingly understanding and non-accusatory as they continued to talk. Like he actually wanted to know why she did what she did. She hadn't expected that from him because of how he seemed determined to think the worst of her when she was in her villain persona.
Talking about it, albeit in a very limited way because she couldn't give away all of her plans in case this was a trap, was kind of nice. She had never been able to talk to anyone about this before aside from Angelo.
Avery couldn't help teasing him though. He had always been so easy to tease and it was a good way to deflect from what she really didn't want to talk about.
She cracked up when he called her out on it because he had her motivations completely wrong. She decided to be honest knowing he wouldn't believe it and told him she had been flirting with him.
Mercury totally panicked and she laughed even harder. From his perspective, she was not only his archnemesis but a guy. That would be a weird thing for him to hear. The look on his face was priceless!
It was within Avery's best interest to play it off so she did and he immediately dismissed the idea even though it was the truth. She had been flirting with him.
When she flippantly referred to him as 'her hero' and he denied it, he had no idea how wrong he was. She was reflecting on the irony when he surprised her with his next question.
"Does this mean you aren't going to leave me alone if I retire?"
She had no idea he was thinking about retiring. It made sense though; he wasn't getting any younger. She also had the heady notion he was doing it for her…without realizing that she couldn't settle down with him permanently.
Her heart ached at the implications but she continued with the conversation and their usual banter as if nothing was wrong. If she ignored Avery's side of the equation, her nemesis retiring would make things much easier for Nox.
She tried striking a deal with him so that both of their secrets would be safe and inadvertently ended up revealing way more than she meant to. She was tempted to burst into hysterical laughter at the fact that he was smart enough to figure out who her enemy was with such little context but hadn't been able to realize that his girlfriend was the one in the suit.
Avery finally lost it when he left and said he sincerely hoped he never saw her again because the irony was too much. He would be seeing her again tomorrow night and wouldn't even know.
Jorge noticed her weird mood the rest of the night as they were making deliveries but was wise enough not to call her out on it. She had a lot to think about and was wrapped up in her own head as they drove around.
Thankfully, she was worn out enough by the time they were done that she was able to turn her fevered brain off and get some sleep. She was going to need to be well-rested in order to act normally in front of Christian when she saw him again.
He was in a much better mood than she was when she went over to his place to make dinner on Sunday night. Why was that?
Yesterday had to be every bit as perplexing to him as it was to her, though for very different reasons. What was he being so cheerful about? Did he think things between them were resolved after their little chat? He had seemed plenty anxious throughout the conversation.
Avery got her answer after they had eaten and Liam fled to his room to avoid what he terms as 'the biggest mushfest on earth.' The two of them were sort of cuddling on the couch (they couldn't do too much with Christian's injury) when he sprang the worst question of her life on her out of the blue.
"Do you think we should move in together? We're at each other's places all the time anyway. It would save a lot of commuting."
If she was innocent, she would have said yes in a heartbeat. But she wasn't. He was planning on retiring and, even if he wasn't, he wouldn't be busy on weekends for the foreseeable future. She could easily be exposed.
Oh, she wanted to though! Was there a way to work around this? Could she push her luck? She had gotten away with her monthly insulin run last night because she claimed she was with Angelo but that would be a lot harder to pull off if they were living in the same space.
Christian would notice she was missing. He would likely assume she was cheating on him rather than that she was Nox but what if he did put it together?
He would leave her; she knew he would. That was always the end they were destined for but she didn't want it to happen like that. She would rather end things on a high note than have them completely shatter.
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