Avery took time to take care of herself on Tuesday and was back to normal the day after. Vanessa and her other coworkers were concerned but she blew it off by saying it was a simple case of food poisoning. That never lasted long.

She let things get back to normal and felt herself relaxing. She wasn't going to have to do a crazy "business trip" like that again any time soon.

Summer passed into fall in a haze of cake decorating, insulin deliveries, and Christian becoming an even more vital part of her life. After they admitted they loved each other (but honestly, she already knew because of how he treated her) things changed.

He started staying at her apartment every weeknight and only went back to his place on weekends. If they were a normal couple they would have moved in together by now but they both needed their own place in order to keep their secrets. He didn't realize she already knew his so he was concerned about that getting out.

Avery wasn't about to tell him. She would have to explain how she jumped from "Christian is missing during a hero fight" to "Christian is a hero" and that wouldn't end well for her.

She had pursued him because she already had a major crush on his alter ego and she wouldn't be able to talk her way out of that one. As far as he knew they only met twice.

The more time went on the less sure she was that she was going to be able to carry on like this. He would get suspicious eventually…but she couldn't bring herself to break things off first. She loved him. And if she wasn't Nox she would gladly spend the rest of her life with him.

Unfortunately, she was. She probably would be for a very, very long time in order to fulfil her father's last wish.

Being a villain didn't mesh well with being a woman in love. This had been a stupid idea to begin with but she had always been rash when it came to matters of the heart. She had come this far so she had to see it through to the bitter end.

Avery thought about all of this as she stood in a very long line at the store. It was like every person in Queens decided to do their shopping here tonight. All she needed was some ice cream to drown her sorrows in as she watched TV! She had half a mind to give up and go home but then she would have wasted her time for nothing. She stubbornly remained in line.

While she waited she pulled out her phone and got on the internet. The first page to pop up was a news site as always. Normally she ignored it but this time the word 'Mercury' caught her attention. She clicked on it and saw there was a video of someone reporting live on a situation.

Feeling oddly uneasy, Avery watched the video with closed captioning on so she wouldn't disturb the other people in the store. The reporter stood on the ground and was in a small box in the corner of the video. The rest consisted of Mercury fighting a villain up in the air who seemed to be able to jump like she did.

'…Mercury continues to fight Circus Freak despite having what appears to be a knife sticking out of his chest. It's amazing he hasn't gone into shock yet…'

That reckless idiot! What did he think he was doing?! Worry flooded through her and she immediately abandoned her place in line to run out and stop him, heedless of exposing herself. The only thought in her head was getting him to the hospital.

Avery knew the general part of town he was in because of landmarks in the video and rushed there as soon as she found a safe place to activate the suit. It was clear how much he was struggling and she saw red.

How dare this villain hurt her man right in front of her?! She was not going to get away with that!

Circus Freak noticed Avery's presence before Mercury did and tried throwing knives at her too but they bounced right off the suit as she furiously dove for the other villain. She slammed her into the side of the building making the outside crack slightly from the force.

"What makes you think you can hurt what's mine, huh?" Avery snarled.

A flicker of bewilderment flashed across what little was visible of the other woman's face. "Who are you?"

"The one who's going to make you regret messing with Mercury!"

Circus Freak was agile and had the ability to soar through the air like a trapeze artist but she wasn't as strong as Avery. They were about even in terms of speed and flexibility but she wasn't able to get out from the stronger woman's grasp. This fight was over before it truly began.

She was tied up and tossed roughly over Avery's shoulder in less than a minute. She turned around to see what was happening with her boyfriend and he was staring at her in a daze.

"Nox. What are you doing?" he asked weakly. "You have no reason to be here."

It would certainly seem that way from his perspective but couldn't he give her a thank you or something? "Saving your ungrateful butt."

"Why—"

Mercury could barely get the word out because he lost consciousness and began falling out of the sky. No, no, no, no, no! This could not be happening! He must have finally gone into shock at the worst possible time.

Avery growled in frustration and launched herself downward to catch him. She had to be careful not to aggravate his wound as she grabbed him and that was rather difficult to do. She barely managed not to crash to the ground under the force of the unexpected weight while already carrying someone.

She ended up crushing the roof of someone's car and they leaned out the window to curse at her. That didn't matter right now; saving the man she loved did.

She roughly dropped Circus Freak on top of the car and leapt off toward the nearest hospital ignoring the questions of all the bystanders with a racing heart. He was going to be fine. He had to be fine! She had to have made it in time because she couldn't afford to lose anyone else like this.

"Help him!" Avery begged as she arrived in the ER startling everyone present.

To be fair, she was wearing a black super suit that completely covered her and had a scary villain voice while holding a well-known hero in her arms. They had probably never seen anything like this before.

"Um…do you know anything about the patient and the nature of his injury? Age, medical history, blood type?" the woman asked as some nurses whisked him away on a gurney.

"He got stabbed; isn't that obvious?! He fainted and fell right out of the air. I barely managed to catch him in time!" Avery replied in a voice bubbling up with hysteria.

Of course she knew about the patient! But if she told them those things it would be a dead giveaway to who she was! She needed to save him…was there a way to do it without exposing herself?

She was still frantically trying to think of what to say when the woman behind the desk got a call. She took it and listened to whatever the person on the other end was saying before nodding grimly and looking back up at Avery.

"The man you brought in needs a blood transfusion and has a rare blood type we don't have on hand. Are you a relative?"

Her heart sunk. She was not…but she knew where to find someone who was. Screw her secret identity. Christian's life was far more important than that. She was going to save him no matter what!

"No but I know where to find one. I'll be back in about fifteen minutes," she said with determination, sprinting out the door before the woman could stop her.

It was a Friday night; Liam would be playing video games with his usual raiding party right now like he always did. He should be at Christian's apartment. All she was going to have to do was break in and grab him without giving any explanation.

It took her about five minutes to bounce her way to his place. The window by the fire escape was left unlocked, likely because he didn't want to make his brother get up for him when he flew back in. That worked out in her favor.

"Close the window, will you? It's drafty," Liam complained from his place on the couch.

He didn't even look up until Avery yanked off his headset and threw him over her shoulder. "Chris, what are you—you're not Chris! Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

"Do you have the same blood type as your brother?" she asked urgently as she began hopping from building to building.

"What kind of question is that?!"

"Just answer it! His life depends on it!"

"…you're serious, aren't you? I do. What happened to him? Did he get hurt?" Liam fretted.

Avery was relieved he was focused on the fact that his brother was hurt more than the fact that he had been kidnapped by someone in a villain getup who knew Christian's identity. She didn't know how long that would last though.

"He got stabbed and needs a blood transfusion. That's all they told me."

Liam cursed before going uncharacteristically quiet the rest of the way to the hospital. As much as they might bicker, he did care about his brother.