Well that was unexpected.

Noel was still off balance from Hades' laughter when the door broke down. She strained to see, but that pulled her cut. No time to stand, instead she pulled a cushion from the couch to block the first barrage of attacks. More bodies than she could easily count streamed into the room. Or maybe it was hard to count because they were all dressed alike and all moving.

A weapon popped out the back of the cushion and Noel twisted her fabric shield to divert the blade without having to touch the weapon.

She swept out with her gladius, sending the sheath out on the first arc where it spun harmlessly into ankles and feet. The next swipe was honed steel, but a slice made on the move.

There wasn't a lot of room to maneuver between the couch and coffee table so she went under.

An explosion sounded in the small space and Noel felt rather than heard a small rain of debris pelt the apartment, but she was used to working through disorienting situations. Finally! A time when the side effects of her mutation were a benefit. Her hearing was shot and she had enough time to notice that she could no longer see Hades' feet among the throng of black covered ankles.

Noel planted her feet on the underside of the table and launched it out and away. There were so many of them, the wooden structure didn't get far, but she'd needed the room. Following in the wake of the table, Noel swiveled up to a knee and then to her feet.

There were two teams. She could tell that much from her initial scan of the invader's grouping. Something clicked in her head. Recovery. They weren't out to kill them just yet.

Noel deflected a testing jab from one and stretched just barely out of range of another swipe when something silver zwipped behind her.

Distraction tactics. They'd been herding her toward the third and that silver thing... she tried to trace it back to its origin assuming Hades was there, but there were too many enemies to keep track of. Too many paralyzing blades ready to take advantage of any weakness.

Well. She didn't have to pull her punches here. It was time to start evening the odds.

She wasn't called the shadow of a god for nothing.

A quick deflection up let Noel duck under the guard of one enemy and she stepped in close, sheering through his neck shallowly enough to avoid getting her weapon stuck in the bone but deep enough to end his life. She turned and pressed her body against his, taking his weight against her back and taking command of his sword arm with her free hand.

She yanked his arm, using the meat of of her enemy to catch an incoming strike and then let the man go so that his weight would trap the weapon beneath him. Now Noel had a weapon coated in a paralytic agent and her own more familiar weapon, one in each hand.

They were down 2 men and one weapon.

Noel seemed to be handling herself just fine, well more than fine in fact. Now to the matter of the four surrounding him. They were well trained, they varied their rhythms and seemed to have trained together complimenting each other. He took their measure as he swung the sword backwards to perform an UlSah then carving a figure eight in front of him to perform the beginnings of the move called Sah together the two moves and the 20 or so variations covered his front and back. There were at an impasse, the Davronski team were well trained and obviously on combat stims and Hades had just taken a shotgun blast to the chest. True it was rubber bullets, but at that range Hades would be surprised if he had not cracked or bruised a few ribs. Given time their superior numbers would win but Hades had no intention of giving them enough time for that. Time to use the properties of this esoteric weapon to its full potential. One advantage of the sword having a two hand hilt yet being light enough for one hand wielding was that you could suddenly perform two handed power swings then switch to one hand rapid attack. Using a few two handed swings Hades cleared a space around him then changed the rhythm and attacked.

He launched a two handed lunge but mid way through pressed the button. It was as if the blade stayed still and the hilt slid forward and the two handed forward lunge became a left hand palm strike and a right hand underhanded sword slash which slashed open the throat of one attacker. The others moved in closer trying to cramp his style, they were holding shorter swords after all. In response Hades again pressed the button an d locked it half way so he had a short double headed sword staff which he could spin and thrust and cut. The fact that Hades could keep changing his weapon and hence changing styles kept the team off guard. a forward sword swing turned into a backward sword thrust which impaled one attacker. The second one charged in and Hades dropped and slid the hilt down so the second attacker impaled himself. Hades then set the weapon to sword staff, dropped to the ground and spun turning the stab wounds into evisceration. Spinning and extending a leg he swept the last attacker off his feet and ended his life with a sword slash.

Hades ended up in a crouch with the sword extended in his right hand. For a while his perception of the world had shrunk to just include his attackers. He started to move towards where Noel was.

She may have had two weapons now, but Noel couldn't handle more than one effectively. The memorymancer threw her weapon point first into the leg of a man to her left that she only just had time to register.

She turned and managed to nick the hand of a man who had a shotgun, the paralytic took effect quickly making his arms seize and his weapon's muzzle to float up before it fired at far too close a range. Scattered shot bounced off the ceiling and showered Noel and the one remaining assailant with bits of plaster and rubber.

They locked eyes before moving at the same time.

Noel threw herself backwards onto the couch, tipping the whole piece of furniture onto its back. The man swung his blade after her and was too committed to stop his weapon from biting into the wooden frame.

She kicked the tip of the blade that she could see to the side, wrenching the hilt in his hand. It made a nice lever and her shoes weren't going to pass out from touching the blade.

Wrestling as he was with his own weapon, he'd be a sitting duck for Hades.

Hades slowly stalked towards the lone thug. His movements calm. He was breathing a little hard, still recovering from the shotgun blast which would leave bruises in the days to come. His yellow t shirt lay shredded in the corner, deposited there by the blast. He calmly moved forward his muscled upper torso glistening in the light. As he walked passed, without looking he stabbed his sword into a corpse lying on the floor and advanced empty handed towards the one attacker still standing.

Agent D45 was not having a good day. This was supposed to be an easy mission, one that would win them fame and renown among the Davronski family. They were taking the legendary assassin Hades, they had overwhelming numbers, they had inside information, it was sold as a cakewalk. They had done as much research and preparation as they could to ensure that they had all the advantages. Where had things gone so terrible wrong. Firstly the civilian with Hades was supposed to be weak and feeble, eye candy to be claimed after the experiments were done. There had already fought over who would get her first. Secondly as much as they had done their research, there was precious little about Hades to find. What stories or records that existed were either incomplete or seemed wildly inaccurate. He could not be hundreds of years old could he? Perhaps he could. How else could one explain how Hades had so efficiently decimated a full team. The eye candy was much more then met the eye as well. She could use that sword. Despite being on combat stims and pain blockers the gravity of the situation had filtered through his battle haze filled mind. He was afraid. He, who was an experienced killer, was afraid. He let go of his sword and figured that Hades was probably the more dangerous of the two. He spun towards Hades and pulled out his dagger. Hades was just walking? towards him. There was something chilling about his face, the complete lack of expression, the coldness of the eyes, the calm of his demeanor. As soon as Hades was withing striking range, D45 lashed out.

Hades calmly walked forwards with deadly intent. As soon as the guy lunged Hades grabbed his knife hand with his left hand and lashed out the the edge of his right hand to perform a stunning hand knife strike which turned into a grapple, pulling his head into Hades's rapidly rising knee. Then, Hades's left hand pressed a nerve that caused D45 to drop the knife, Hades spun tripping D45 with his right leg, continuing on to grab the falling knife with his right hand and completing the spin to plunge the paralytic tipped knife into the flesh of D45's left thigh. So to conclude D45 injured left writs, bruised neck, mind concussion when face met knee further exacerbated by a fall to the floor, mobility impaired by knife in thigh and mildly paralyzed by the coating on the knife which also counteracted any combat stimms in his system.

Hades stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He slowly rose and took stock of the situation. "Are you ok?" He asked Noel with real concern in his voice. "Is there any chance you could find out information from them? Numbers, the location of their base etc?" He asked. He walked toward a section of wall, thumped it once then pressed his palm to a black tile. A section of the wall swing out to reveal a mini weapons safe. Hades pulled out a holster belt and strapped it on selecting two daggers and two silenced 9mm pistols. He also pulled out a sheath that he strapped diagonally across his back for his "sword".

He pulled out a small black object and slid it towards Noel. "That is a brand new encrypted cell phone. When you first power it up it might sting a little, it is keying itself to your DNA. No one will be able to unlock it aside from you."

This was no small gesture. For a start the phone was the type usually used in covert opps, Hades did not just casually hand them out. Secondly it had Hades's cell number. That alone spoke volumes. It indicated that Hades viewed Noel as more of an ally then just a stranger. It was true that a lot of killers and mercenaries were relatively polar and decisive when it came to friendships. That was more because they could die so it put things into perspective, and also when you fought with someone could easily see what they were made of.

Noel squeaked as the weapon she was kicking came free unexpectedly and spun toward her face. The man had let go of his sword to face Hades. She heard them clash, but all she could do was pant to catch her breath. Hades had it. If not, well... she just needed a moment. She'd thrown herself around enough that her ribs were very, very unhappy with her. That coupled with the sword that stood mere inched from her ear... yeah. She just needed a second to savor the fact that she still had an ear.

>"Are you ok?"

"I'm okay." She wheezed, not surprised in the least that Hades had come out on top of that fight. Now, also unsurprisingly, he wanted answers. "Yeah." Noel grunted as she shoved the unfamiliar weapon away from her and struggled up to her feet. "On it."

She found only one alive. Injured, bruised, bleeding, paralyzed, and dazed but alive. Noel knelt next to him, looking into his mismatched pupils that still managed to convey a special kind of loathing and a hint of something else. Fear?

"This won't hurt." She touched his face to keep him still, not quite sure why she'd offered words of comfort to an enemy.

Then she kissed him, tongue delving deep enough to elicit a surprised sound from the man.

Again information poured in, but this was the most complete kind she could get: his thoughts, his words, anything he'd had mental access to was now her playground.

Noel did not like what she saw.

A strange texture filled her mouth and Noel pulled back suddenly. "Cyanide capsule." She whispered the answer before she could even fully form the question. She also had a mouth full of second-hand suicide pill.

She spit. She clawed the foamy mixture from her mouth and then grabbed at the man's earpiece even as the foam coming from the man's lips bubbled out pink, his deathmask a smile. "Snipestilllisten" She slurred and waved the earpiece at Hades, who was talking about a phone? They were still listening! They were getting away!

Noel grabbed at her face, hyperventilating now.

To say Hades was surprised when Noel kissed one of the Davronski's was an understatement. The slight shock turned to one of galvinized action as soon as Hades heard the word cyanide. He dived for the cabinet and came out with what looked like two epi-pens. He stabbed one into the side of Noels thigh and the other into the thigh of the Davronski, well they were both bruised anyway and it was better than them dying. At this point it would be dicey if he survived or not but hey if that gave them more intel then it was worth the price of the cyanide "antidote".

Then hearing what Noel said, Hades inwardly sighed. He was tired and his ribs were hurting. True he had been hurt worse than before but still he looked forward to when the last of the cell had been killed then at least they could rest for the evening, perhaps go attack the cell base in the morning? At least that was if there were not more of them. Hade did not think there were but it would be better to be sure. This felt like an all or nothing mission. He took the earpiece from Noel and put it in his ear. The snipers knew they were made, and they knew that they were being hunted, it would now be a case of 2 snipers against 1. Hades grabbed a piece of paper and hastily scribbled a message fo Noel so when she recovered she would know aobut the phone and that two buzzes meant the cost was clear and 3 meant to expect company. He then went to a different part of the wall and opened another hidden safe. From there he pulled out a silence sniper and ditched the "sword". After checking that Noel looked like she was recovering Hades took a deep breath then ran at the table kicked off it, grabbing a ceiling beam he swung himself up and phased through the ceiling.

This, thankfully was a bbattle of a different kind. This kind involved patience, cunning and alot of waiting. while in the attic, Hades pulled out his spotter scope and carefully peered through the wall. While it was true that mechanical devices such as guns would not wrk when phased their properties remained so a telescope would still magnify far away objects. Hades's first job was to find the two snipers. as this was a residential neighbourhood Hades had ensured that when he purchased this house as a safehouse that it was the tallest structure in the immediate neighbourhood. That gave him an advantage. It meant that one sniper per side and it meant that if they wanted to use silenced rifels and still be close enough to offer further tactical support as needed they would need to be on a roof or in a nearby attic. There a slight shift of movement, and a slightly cracked attic skylight was all Hades needed to pinpoint one snipers nest. On the other side the cover was even more sparse so the sniper had set himself up peering over a roof, the cammo was good but this was one of Hades safehouses, he knew the most likely spots that snipers would choose and knew where to look. The enemy snipers were starting from a disadvantage.

The trick to sniping was to let your body guide you. You got your position right, then aimed at your target, closed your eyes and took a breath. If when you opened your eyes and the scope had drifted off target then you adjusted and repeated. It took patience. Once Hades had his target, he took a breath, let out a little bit and lightly caressed the trigger. The was a soft Pfffft sound and the contents of sniper one's head exited through a hole in the rear of the skull. Hades immediately displaced, grateful that the snipers kept good radio discipline. Sniper 2 did not even know that sniper one was no more, they did not ahve line of sight. Hades promptly dealt with sniper number two. He buzzed Noel's phone twice and phased back through the ceiling to a roof beam and peered down at the room below ready for anything. He hoped the antidote had worked.

They were not nice people. Noel knew that going in, but what she saw now about what they'd planned for her made her already tight throat feel tighter. They'd do the same or worse to Lumen. They knew a lot about her already.

This wasn't going to end unless she ended it.

Hades was a man of action. He brought something, stabbed it into her leg, and took the earbud. Beyond that, Noel wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Did he just disappear into the ceiling?

Noel shook her head against the vertigo and, rather than risk another bout of nausea, she put her head between her knees and closed her eyes.

She had to focus. She would not be useless. She needed to sift through the mind-dump before things got hazy.

There'd been a wheelman. Two, actually, for the 12 man team. Whoa. Twelve? They were probably long gone, back to... she saw a house, an address, a basement that led down into a complex nest of hamster tunnels. She saw training rooms. She saw intelligence monitoring. Files. Scientists. Torture. Drugs. Generators.

That was just one cell. This man knew there were more, even if he didn't know where off the top of his head.

The man, designation D45, gasped suddenly and violently began to seize from the cocktail of drugs in his system. Noel sat up enough to remove the dagger from his leg. She would have preferred to re-insert it in his eye, but it was too much work. She eased the weapon into the throat. He sighed in relief, it sounded like relief to her anyway, and Noel flopped down onto her side on the plaster and rice covered carpet.

The phone somewhere near her buzzed softly twice.

They still had work to do tonight.

Noel picked up the phone and dragged herself to the kitchen for some water. "After this, Tahiti."

Hades entered the kitchen in time for him to hear her remark. "To be honest Noel, after all I have dragged you into you deserve to be sent on a trip to Tahiti. Consider it my attempts at amends." Said Hades with a slight smile while mentally making a note to make that a reality. "I am glad to see you survived your brief brush with cyanide. How are you holding up?" He asked her remembering that she was not of his profession. With all the fortitude, inner strength, professionalism  and calm that she had shown sometimes it was difficult to distinguish her from a mercenary/ hitwoman early in their career with vast potential. After hearing her reply, he almost reluctantly picked up the topic again. "So what else did you pick up?"

He was tired, bruised and wanted to sleep but also wanted to make sure the situation was contained. So many potential filled careers had been cut short because someone cut corners and quit early. 

[OCC sorry for the shrotness. Being mobbed by little ones and the threads of my creativity seem slightly frayed at the moment]

Tahiti sure did sound nice right about now. Not that she'd ever gone before. Not that she'd ever been out of the country before. Hades was talking about Tahiti like it was a done deal, though. Noel smoothed back the flyaways from her hair, of which their were many and she chugged a second full glass of tap water.

She gasped for air afterward, having taken no breaks in her chug. Really what she needed was to sleep for a couple days and not get up. "You do that a lot," she observed, "you assume it's gonna be okay and that you're in control of the situation at all times. It's... unnerving." She'd thought herself brave once. Hades was either more brave or more... stupid. Noel pulled the pen-needle contracption from her thigh, only just now remembering it.

> "How are you holding up?"

"Mostly the same, just a little extra skull throbbing. Your phone made me bleed." She frowned at her hand where some small pinpricks showed in her palm. He'd said something about DNA encoding...

"I know from what I saw, we probably have to do this tonight." Because this place was like cancer. They needed to stem the flood. "I don't..." She cut off her own objections. Didn't matter if she didn't want to. Didn't matter if she was tired. So she took a breath and changed tack. "I don't want you going in without me." So she told him everything she'd gotten. Numbers, locations, heck she even knew what the men they were about to ambush and kill looked like underneath their masks and what they preferred to eat in the mess.

By the end Noel was rubbing her hands over her eyebrows in a vain attempt at some relief. She could probably forget that information now. Better to save it and use it like a weapon, though.

"You do that a lot, you assume it's gonna be okay and that you're in control of the


situation at all times. It's... unnerving."



Hades paused for a moment to cinsider her words. "That would be one way of thinking about


it" Hades said. "In my line of work you face the possibility of death daily, it puts many


things into perspective. And people have different ways of dealing with it. As for me,


until I actually expire I will continue assuming that the world will continue to revolve


and that there is no situation that I cannot overcome regardless of how long it take me to


over come it. I life with hope and plan by being very practical and tactical. Not all


hit-men are twisted and sadistic." Hades replied with a slight smile.



"Sorry about the phone, it is now keyed to your DNA, no one else can unlock it."



Upon hearing that there was more work to be done that night, Hades shoulders slumped a little bit. "Hold on, are there any more people in this cell? Usually for an internal contract like this one they will set around two cells competing with each other, the surviving cell gets acclaim and other benefits." He then sat back, floored as probably the most complete intelligence report was just.... laid at his feet. The completeness of it, the amount of detail.....it stunned him. He just sat there for a full minute, a look of slight shock on his face.



"That....that was the best intel report I have ever had handed to me. Thank you very much. From what you are saying and from what we know, the second cell is probably staking out your house. We are both tired and weary so I suggest that we head to the base of this cell, grab their data and clean house then return here to rest. Tomorrow when we are both rested and refreshed we can plan what to do about the second cell. I don't know about you but I would rather deal with another full Davronski cell on a full stomach having had rest. What say you?"



Inside he was still marveling over the amazing gift that Noel had given hem. For crying out loud she had even found out access passwords, coded handshakes, safe-houses, encryption keys. With this he could crack any Davronski cell wide open and find out who had sold him out. For them to execute an attack like this one they had to have intel, intel that Hades did not casually give out. He was VERY interested to find out who.

> "...people have different ways of dealing with it. As for me, until I actually expire I will continue assuming that the world will continue to revolve..."

Understatement of the year. Still, he had a point. There was no point to having hysterics. It didn't really help anything. Noel pressed her hands into her eyes, still trying to relieve the pressure of her headache.

Scientists estimate the human brain can comfortably hold 60 to 80 years worth of information without loosing too much. Noel had to keep some parts of her memory in near constant rotation to maintain a comfortable level of remembrance. "Information like that comes at a cost." Noel folded her arms across her stomach. She no longer felt ill, now she just felt empty. "I'm going to lose things now, memories I mean, since I took more in. Payment, I guess, for downloading so much new information." This was her reality. One step forward, two steps back.

"Uhm. There's no telling what'll go, but usually it's last in, first out with bulk. If I'd had time to cherry pick... well. Next time. For now, I'll try to keep you in mind. Maybe make a deliberate memory." She fiddled with her earrings as she mulled over her options. It wasn't too unlikely for her to remember him. She had some of his memories now from the keyboard and the cup. Lips and hands. Nothing so full in spectrum like she'd gathered from D45.

> "Tomorrow when we are both rested and refreshed we can plan what to do about the second cell."

It sounded like what they needed to take care of tonight might not be so bad after all. If the enemies were mostly out and about covering Noel's apartment, Hades and Noel could take the cell's base of operations without too much fuss and leave the operatives out in the field without back up, support, or orders. Sure that'd bolster other cell numbers, but it'd be less to do tonight. Noel was all for that right now.

"Is it... safe here? I know you, uh, have other places to go." She was a bit embarrassed to have to admit that she'd learned about some of his other safe houses. Secretive killing machines were not always the best at sharing their info even if not all of them were twisted and sadistic.

And speaking of sadistic. "Don't suppose there's a maid service you can call..."

> "Information like that comes with a cost"

Hades nodded, it usually did, "Sadly that is usually the case" Said Hades recalling the many deaths he had witnessed over the years just for the sake of obtaining information, the cost was always high.

>"I'm going to lose things now, memories I mean, since I took more in. Payment, I guess, for downloading so much new information."

"Does the amount lost scale with the amount gained?" Asked Hades wondering what the ratio was, he hoped it was not 1:1.

>"Uhm. There's no telling what'll go, but usually it's last in, first out with bulk. If I'd had time to cherry pick... well. Next time. For now, I'll try to keep you in mind. Maybe make a deliberate memory."

"I.. am honoured." Said Hades a little surprised at the gesture. It was.... touching.

>"Is it... safe here? I know you, uh, have other places to go."

Hades smiled and chuckled. Oh he would have to watch this one. "Hmm as different cells are usually in competition the second cell will not likely know of this place. As you probasbly know there is the true safehouse underneath this one. However if it would give you peace of mind, yes there are other safehouses if you would prefer it. Tell you what, if it would make you feel safer, whay don;t you pick the safehouse you prefer from the ones you know of and we will head there after downloading their data and wiping their hard drives?"

>"Don't suppose there's a maid service you can call..."

At this Hades threw back his head and laughed. Here was a woman who was not only a capable fighter, conducted herself in a professional manner and adapted to situations like a professional but was also very practically minded. "And they had you as security. Noel you are a very unique individual, a very unique individual indeed! A very practical question, and Yes as a matter of fcat there is a cleanup service that I can call. I will grab a few things and warm up the car while you decide which safe-house you would like to go to next. Oh and I have unlocked the gun safe beside the computer, help yourself to anything in it. SMG's, pistols and body armor. I wil lbe in the garrage." Hades moved off to first arm himself then disable the tracking device in the motorbike and then warm up the Merc SLK while he waited for Noel.

> "Does the amount lost scale with the amount gained?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that question. It's not like I know what I forgot." If she knew what she forgot then it wasn't really forgotten. Noel shrugged and then winced as her cut pulled. If she didn't stop re-opening it, it was going to scar. "An outside observer who knows me really well would have to answer that one." And her tone made it clear that there wasn't exactly a whole lot of those to spare.

There it was again, that full throated masculine laughter. She was caught between turning her face up to Hades' laughter like a flower seeking the sun and looking at the assassin like he'd sprouted a third head. She'd just asked a question. A normal one, given the circumstances. It seemed like that kind of depth and richness of mirth was wasted here in this bloody place.

"It's a long drive, but the one off Monroe and Market seems good." From what little she'd gleaned, it was a lot like this apartment with its multiple layers of security and medical room. "It's scary close to another cell. Not sure if those will be our guys, but it can't hurt to sit on 'em." That was the real power of her abilities. Cross-referencing. Besides. That apartment had a painting she liked hanging in one of the halls.

"Ibuprofen." That's what she'd forgotten in the medical room. Noel let Hades do his thing while she followed up with some medicine and a big glass of water. She needed sleep soon or things were going to get bad.

Noel grabbed a towel or two from the bathroom and a change of shirt for herself and Hades, since she was already in the closet. Now they could be twinsies in Hades' button up shirts. As for weapons, Noel plucked two pistols and some body armor that looked small enough to not get in her way. It would have to do. She couldn't carry any more.

Down in the garage, Hades looked to be wrapping up whatever prep he was working on. "Here." Noel tossed him a towel and clean shirt before stripping her second ruined shirt of the evening off and putting a towel down for herself so that she could get into the car without ruining anything.

Shower. She needed one of those too. Noel wanted to mess with the new cell phone badly, but pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes instead. Electronic screens were not her friend right now.

"Monroe and Market it is. [OCC as you picked the location you get to describe the decor, well at least of the "surface house" the bunker below would be rather standard], after stopping to grab some data of course."

Hades gratefully accepted the shirt from Noel and changed it from the shredded one he was wearing. Then they hit the road with the Mercedes purring smoothly and powerfully through the streets.

The Davronski base was a cake walk. Not only did Noel have the pass codes to get in, thanks to her kiss, she also knew how to disarm the traps, where they were and how to bypass them. Grabbing data was even easier as Noel had the passwords. "You know Noel, you make my job so very much easier, if not for the annoyance of imminent death and the constant attacks as well as you having to loose memory, I would almost suggest we should do this again sometime." He chuckled slightly to himself at this. He downloaded a copy of all the data to both of their phones, wiped the drive and set about constructing an accident. "Right lets go." He would let Noel play with the data. He might look at his copy in the morning. As the car rumbled to life and they accelerated smoothly away the house receded behind them smoothly while seemingly lit from withing with a yellowish glow.

Soon they had reached the chosen safe house. With how tired he was Hades grabbed a quick bite to eat, mumbled something about Noel getting to pick a bedroom and then promptly fell asleep in one of the other unoccupied bedrooms.

It felt good to do something based on the information she’d gathered. It made it more worthwhile, like whatever she was losing wouldn’t be a waste. Doubly so when they got to set up the accident afterward and got to watch that cell burn.

The Davronskis were not stupid. It didn’t matter if they knew they had a fire hazard in the form of an old radiator. Half of New York still used those death trap radiators. It was just too convenient that, after all this time, it would choose this moment, in summer, to catch fire.

Whatever they knew, or even suspected, would not be enough now that Hades and Noel were destroying what they had.

It was a good day’s work. Was it bad to think that about killing and destruction of property? Her head hurt too much to dwell. The Mercedes practically purred all the way to the M&M safehouse. Hades had a lot of time to accumulate wealth. It helped that he worked in a high risk, high reward field, but without having met this man, despite the bizarre turn of events, Noel was sure she would not be riding in fancy cars or helping to unlock fancy hidey-holes with weapons stored in the walls.

Where the other safehouse was more homey, this one was decorated in a more ultra-sleek, minimalist decor. Lots of blacks, woods, metals, and brick. Noel went straight to the hall where she’d seen the abstract painting in Hades’ memory. She didn’t know the artist, but she liked it. Black lines on a white canvas. It almost looked like movement.

Hades, again, went about his business on his own. That suited Noel just fine. She left him to putter in the kitchen while she took a shower. By the time she was out, hairbrush in hand, Hades was nowhere to be seen. She scrounged a granola bar, took another round of medicine, and found a spot on the couch to brush hair that was entirely too long for this line of work. She kept meaning to cut it, but… would it be lame to make the excuse that she’d forgotten?

She all but collapsed onto one of the spare bedroom mattresses, too tired to even braid her still damp hair.