After a couple more days of searching, Avery uncovered one more spy that had managed to weasel their way aboard his ship as a mber of the crew.
This individual, however, did not work for Douvoi but instead was an agent that had been feeding information to Iniquus’ widow.
It seed that while the rcenary Association had warned the man’s family against taking action against Avery and his team, that had not been enough to stop them entirely.
Fortunately, the person in question had only joined recently and not had enough ti to sabotage any key systems or transmit any truly valuable data.
In an almost ironic twist, they were a Baccigan chanic who had been hired to be one of Grito’s many assistants.
They had been chosen due to Kasandra being unable to distinguish when their species was lying or not.
Sothing that had apparently leaked from Storren Corp. due to their many etings with Ardesen.
Learning just how far his enemies were willing to go to get him made Avery realize that he needed to be more careful than he already was.
There were stringent procedures anyone joining his crew were required to go through, but even that had not been enough to avoid four spies sneaking onto the ship.
It was lucky that none of them had belonged to the Odium Syndicate, otherwise their current mission could have ended in a catastrophic disaster.
At least if the hypothetic spy had been able to send out any information.
Ever since the start of the mission when the entire crew learned about Cerise’s assignnt, Avery had made sure that only necessary transmissions were sent out, and they were all monitored closely.
His and his entire crew’s safety relied on secrecy during this job. He was not going to be lax and let a simple slipup in security ruin everything. The fact that there had been multiple spies onboard had honestly co as a major shock.
"It’s over now though." Avery sighed as he retired to his quarters after a long day of work.
They were in a sort of limbo right now since the attack on the Intrepid had clearly spooked their Odium Syndicate contact.
Thankfully, Avery had managed to pass the assault off as a simple pirate attack. Sothing that was not too uncommon and easily explainable.
When he entered his room, the first thing he did was head to the shower.
He turned the water up as hot as it could go and stepped inside to let the scalding liquid wash over him.
Had this been before his body began undergoing a tamorphosis and he was still a normal human; the heat would have doubtlessly burned him.
Now though, he was able to take it without any issue, and it helped him to relax and push his worries to the back of his mind.
Honestly, he wanted to stay in the shower for hours and forget about everything, but he felt conscious about wasting their clean water supply and energy.
Not to ntion he only had around nine hours to rest before he would go back on duty and there were other things he wanted to do.
"Maybe I should lean more into my fake identity and beco a deadbeat captain." Avery muttered, a tired smirk on his face.
After drying himself off, he exited the bathroom and was surprised to see soone sitting on his bed and waiting for him.
"I didn’t expect to see you here, Liesel. What’s going on?"
He had not made any plans with his wives tonight, so he had expected to be alone for the night. Plus, he was not really in the mood to be participating in any intimate nightti activities after all of the business with the spies.
"I’m here to comfort you. Now, co over here and lay down." Liesel said, patting her lap in an obvious invitation.
"Liesel, I’m tried right now. Can we do this another ti"
Avery rubbed his eyes and the bridge of his nose in a display of his exhaustion.
Yet, Liesel showed no intention of leaving.
"No. We’re doing this right now. Otherwise, I’m afraid that scowl your wearing might beco permanent. I don’t want you to ss up your handso face."
Confused, Avery reached up to feel his own lips.
He had thought that he was just wearing his usual resting expression, but as Liesel had pointed out, his face was stuck in a deep frown.
Before he could say anything else, he noticed mont at the door and saw Jasmine dragging Kasandra in behind her.
Like Avery, her face had twisted into a dour expression. The day’s events had hit her just as hard if not harder than him.
"Jasmine, what is this all about?" Kasandra asked when she saw that everyone had gathered in Avery’s bedroom.
"Liesel and I decided that the two of you won’t be spending the night alone."
In a surprising turn of events, after giving her brief explanation, Jasmine grabbed ahold of Kasandra and tossed her onto the bed.
She then jumped on herself and wrapped her friend and fellow wife up in a hug.
"It’s your turn now, Avery. Or do you want to get up and toss you onto the bed as well." Liesel said, her lips turned up into a playful grin.
Avery rolled his eyes in exasperation and walked over.
However, the look on his face that had concerned Jasmine and Liesel was already starting to soften.
That night the four of them snuggled up together and shared in their warmth and comfort.
Both Avery and Kasandra had clearly been wounded by the discovery of the spies.
It was for different reasons for each of them, but the results were the sa.
The two of them were feeling worn down and guarded against other people. Which is why Jasmine and Liesel had made sure that they all gathered tonight so that the two of them could heal.
The touch and presence of loved ones could help to ease the pain of betrayal. To make sure that those that were hurt knew that they were not alone.
And Jasmine’s and Liesel’s efforts paid off. By the ti that Avery and Kasandra had fallen asleep, their expression had beco far less agonized than before.
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