Chương 27: Your Girls

The night had been clear, and the morning came in cold enough that I could see my own breath when I went down the stairs to get some coffee going. Behind me, Nadia almost refused to leave the bed. Yeah, we really needed to do something about the heating, and soon. The worst of the winter was yet to come and we were already reduced to this. Perhaps some wood or pellet burning heaters? Because the main fireplace was not enough, as testified by yesterday's fire being nothing but ash now.

"We could try the wood from the new pile outside," Nadia said from somewhere inside the blankets.

"Just a few pieces." We tried the pile. It looked dry enough, but looks meant nothing. It hissed, it sulked, and it made so much smoke we had to open the windows for a while, letting the frigid morning air in. We put it out before it finished smoking us out of our own house.

"Nope. This means, we gotta buy some good old store logs," I declared.

"Store logs," Nadia agreed. Later, during breakfast (cold!), she yelled in delight, grinning ear to ear, waving my own phone at me as she jumped up and down.

"It's here!" I couldn't see what was on it very well, but there was pretty much only one thing it could be, the day after our first official superhero run. The cash was here.

"How much?" I asked, matching her grin. Her energy was infectious.

"Umm," she said, checking the numbers.

"Well, we won't be repairing the roof yet, but there's more than enough to restock our pantry."

"Fire logs at the hardware store first." I mentioned, grabbing the jacket she offered me.

"Thank you, dear."

"Don't forget your scarf," she said, winking at me. I groaned.

"It's not windy, I don't need it."

"Oh, no, no, no, my prince. You do need it."

"Nadia," I said, grabbing her hand and making her twirl around. I cupped her face, kissed her and stared into her eyes.

"I don't need it," I said as sweetly as I could.

"Be a good girl."

"I am a good girl," she pouted.

"You'll catch a cold. It's no fair!" I smiled.

"I was just messing with you. Here, hold it and wait for me in the car. I need to do something real quick." She watched me as I moved the wood from the seasoning pile to another corner of the garden, against the house. It was wood made from her power growing and then shriveling trees in quick succession, but it wasn't yet ready to be burnt. The problem with the pile was that the spot I put it in was too damp. There was even some icy snow clinging to it, waterlogging the wood.

Luckily, I had a better spot, sunnier and drier.

"Wheew," I said as I sat in the driver's seat. Nadia always let me drive, preferring to be the passenger princess. I happily obliged.

"Look at you," she cooed.

"All sweaty. Makes me want to lick you."

"Behave!"

"Always. Buuuuut, you really do need to put on a scarf when we get out of the car, or the sweat will freeze on your skin."

"Yes, ma'am," I conceded.

"I will." She beamed. The shopping list wasn't too long, but it required us to hit two different places. The grocery store, where we finally bought more meat to go with our deformed, Nadia-grown veggies (they had this I don't know what to their taste that made them so much better than normal store-bought ones) and seeds to grow more of them. Then the hardware store for the fireplace logs. On the way back, Vera texted me.

"She's asking if she can stop by later today," Nadia said, reading the message so I wouldn't have to drive-and-text. She knew my phone's unlock code and I knew hers; there were no secrets between us. Well, I thought as the next glob of saliva was suddenly hard to swallow. There is one, just the one.

"Sure," I replied, feeling awkward.

"All good, love?" My Nadia, always perceptive.

"Yeah, sorry, I almost choked on my own spit." She chuckled.

"That's my Adrian, can't even breathe and swallow at the same time." I shot her a withering look that made her shiver in place. She wasn't a masochist by any means, but she really, really liked those looks.

"Worth it?" I asked her.

"Oh yeah," she stated confidently.

"In fact, do it one more time?"

"Nope, my eyes will be focused on the road," I said.

"Not gonna let the gorgeous lady distract me." She pouted but did not press.

"Okay. I told Vera she can come over whenever. We'll be home all day fixing up the cameras we bought, after all." By the time she dropped by, the job was still very much ongoing. We heard the car stop in the driveway, near the crooked gate that pretended to mark the end of my property.

"I see you are in the middle of house renovations," Vera said matter-of-factly, staring up at me from the bottom of the ladder I was precariously perched on top of.

"Cameras?" This one was facing the very same driveway she had come through.

"Just a little added security," I said. She cocked an eyebrow at me, then swept the outside of the house with her gaze, hands on her hips. Going full circle, she looked at Nadia and a hint of a smile appeared on her face. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Well, I suppose it's something," she said.

"In our defense, up until yesterday we were rather broke," Nadia said.

"Don't judge Adrian too harshly."

"I'd never," Vera said quickly.

"You are not experts, I know. This was the best you could do."

"My thoughts exactly," Nadia said.

"I'm glad you understand." A few minutes later, I was finally done wiring the camera and attaching it to the porch beams.

"Well, Vera, thank you for being so patient while I finished," I said, searching for something to clean my hands with. Vera herself passed me the rag we had close by, and I wiped my hands and shook hers.

"Shall we take it inside?"

"Yes please, it's freezing out here. Wouldn't want to catch a cold, and you are not wearing much. Wouldn't want my favorite hero to fall ill after his first job. Now, that would not reflect well on my curriculum as a manager."

"Fair enough," I said.

"And funnily enough, you are not the first person telling me that today." I opened the door, using the winged key under my shirt and then tucking it back in like a necklace. Vera looked at the strange arrangement with interest, but did not comment.

"See?" Nadia said once we were finally near the fireplace, warming her hands on the flames. She stared at the store bought logs like they offended her, and I knew it was because they did.

"Great minds think alike, Adrian. You should really listen to the advice of your girls." I blinked, and Vera too did a double take.

"Well, yes." She recovered much more quickly than I did.

"You really should. We do care about you. In any case, I took the liberty of going through the various non-urgent job listings that we have for your, ahem, hero rank." The term felt almost forced.

"It's provisional," our manager said.

"These are jobs from the so-called quest board you no doubt saw at the CRC. I have selected four that I thought you might be interested in." She handed us four pages of densely written information. A full brief, but fortunately there was also a TLDR section at the end, and the pay and hazard were easy to spot.

"Mutated cellar pests under a barred-down tourist kitchen. Won't be able to reopen until someone clears them. Job deemed unsuited for the unregistered bounty app, but open to all registered Supes," Nadia said, reading through the first paper and flipping to the second.

"Roster uniform required at the winter market per the event policy, as well as to advertise CRC presence. Roster uniform, really?"

"Very provisional terms," Vera said diplomatically.

"Just like with the police protocols, there are big changes sweeping through the whole bureaucracy."

"That we won't have to care about, right?" I asked. She nodded, proudly.

"That is what I am here for." Nadia put down the other two briefs.

"Those are two snatch-and-grabs unusually suited for someone like Adrian," she said.

"Hand selected just for you, so you don't have to go through all the listings on the board. They can be quite messy. And the jobs are all perfectly legal, I assure you," Vera said.

"The pay suggests otherwise."

"I was wondering when I'd see operative Nadia again," Vera said.

"In any case, the jobs are legal. Just… sensitive. That is all. They require discretion someone with Adrian's power can provide." We asked some more questions. The jobs were all on a time limit, but some (like the pest-clearing one) had deadlines that were weeks away. And, she explained, these jobs did not replace the regular roster dispatch calls. It was just that…

"Given your unusual location outside the city," she said.

"Very lovely view of the hills and the sea, by the way."

"Thanks," I said.

"She's jealous," Nadia joked.

"I am," Vera said, perfectly balanced.

"Very. But you cannot deny that the location puts you at a disadvantage when it comes to responding to emergencies. And your power does not allow for quick travel, so unless you are willing to stand by in Halford proper the whole day, waiting for an emergency that may never come…"

"The quests it is," I finished.

"The way I see it," Nadia said, "there are only advantages to the quests over the regular calls."

"Well, not everybody would agree," Vera explained.

"They are less glamorous, for one thing."

"And they pay less," I continued.

"Illegal-sounding ones notwithstanding." Nadia hummed.

"I see your point, yes. And let me guess, the quests are not a quick path up."

"They tend not to be," Vera confirmed.

"I thought you'd rather spend time consolidating your household finances rather than shoot up the ranks. Correct me if I overstepped."

"Not at all," I said.

"Besides, aren't superhero ranks sort of capped by your power?" Vera nodded. It was known. And it was something we'd have to deal with, sooner or later, given my own peculiarities.

"Yeah," Nadia said.

"Alright. That leaves the rest of today empty. Anyone got ideas?"

"I have prepared a fifth job, anticipating this very question," Vera said.

"The police are going on a raid in three hours at an eatery near the civic offices. I believe you are familiar with the location." The food street near the CRC and the city hall. I was familiar with it, although it also brought with it the unpleasant memory of the violation against my mind. I had been near there when it happened. Or rather, inside the CRC itself.

"We are," I said.

"One Supe on call is requested. You fit the bill. Low risk, but hazard pay and the lunch are included, so you are already inside when it happens." I looked at Nadia. She looked at me, waiting for my decision. It was up to me.

"Free lunch you said?" I asked.

"When do we leave?"

"Now would be a good time," Vera stated. I made a gesture, and Nadia immediately went to fetch the Mind Privacy gear near the door.

"Let's go then." ◈◈◈ We only took one car, because finding a parking spot near the CRC was wishful thinking at the best of times, and impossible near lunchtime, and Vera had only one reserved CRC employee spot. We chatted along the way, talking about this and that. It was mostly her, asking questions about the house, the roof works, and the cameras.

"The brunt of the works is still to be done," I said, fiddling with the Mind Privacy devices and turning them on.

"But at least it's not raining inside anymore."

"We had to weather a whole-ass storm with buckets and curses," Nadia said.

"Mm," Vera said, watching the road distractedly. I risked another glance at her via the rearview mirror, but no more than that, then it was eyes on the road again. The peak-hour traffic was a bitch.

"I see. No need to call the contractor again until you can afford to finish the job. And having a garden that can feed you is nice." Nadia put her devices on, clearing her throat.

"I was just thinking the same thing." That made it twice already today that the two of them were almost completely in synch. This could spell trouble for me. Girl trouble, especially if one of them was my manager while the other was the woman I loved. I shivered at the thought. Vera's head snapped away from the passing houses.

"It must be a problem, in winter, though."

"We are considering building a greenhouse," my girlfriend said.

"But, again, money. We chose to buy the cameras first." Vera's eyes went to our Mind Privacy gear.

"It pays to be cautious, yes. I have never lived in the countryside since the Onset, but rumors say it's getting more dangerous year over year. Did you have insurance problems?"

"We straight up don't have home insurance," Nadia said.

"Oh."

"Nothing to worry about," I joked.

"We have cameras now."

"I… saw," Vera said.

"You didn't like my Adrian's work on the cameras, did you?" Nadia challenged her. Vera looked a bit green.

"I, ah…" Then Nadia broke out laughing.

"Oh me too, me too. It sucks. But I don't think I could have done any better."

"Ah, well, me either," Vera said, sighing in relief a little. Then her face turned pensive.

"Although," she said after a few moments, "I might be able to help. After all, we do have a mad scientist who owes us a favor now." Kimberly. I thought about his place full of creepy trinkets and shuddered.

"Uhh," I stammered.

"I can keep him in line. Think about it? It would be completely free, which I think wouldn't hurt. I'll handle everything." She paused.

"Well, I don't want to impose, of course. We can arrange for a time when you are both at home and comfortable having us around."

"Sure," I said.

"And besides, you haven't met Nero, have you?"

"Nero?"

"Our cat. Strange he didn't show himself when you came over," Nadia said, then chuckled.

"Real smooth, Adrian. Inviting the hot manager to your place for a SECOND TIME using the cat as an excuse." Oops. I hadn't even realized. In fact, I was still thinking about the girls trouble, far from wanting to actually make it happen ahead of schedule. But what was done was done.

"Ah." Vera's usual ready answer took a moment to arrive.

"I have… never had a cat."

"Then you clearly need to win him over," I said, ignoring Nadia's joke, and choosing to double down now instead. Vera nodded to herself, fiddling with her coat.

"Then it is settled. What sort of manager would I be if I didn't?"