Amicia looked over her gear. She actually had time to pack everything before setting off for this mission. In fact, she had started packing her gear the week after getting back from her first trip. She was feeling awfully smug about having everything ready to go now. Who’s a procrastinator now, universe?

Let’s see. She had her new crossbow. It had come with a stock, allowing her to carry 7 bolts within. There was a mechanism for easy reload. While Amicia still had her gun, she realized something during her fight with the variant. The gun did minimal damage at best. It barely even served as a distraction to the variant. She wasn’t even sure it had even broken skin when she wasn’t specifically aiming for soft spots.

Her new crossbow would. It cost her around 400$ online. In addition to that, she had some ash-blessed bolts. Occasionally, a church would burn down by accident or irresponsible electrical wiring. Amicia had received a jar of ashes from a burned down church. The pastor didn’t ask that many questions when selling to her. He had a church to rebuild after all. The ashes held a history inside them. Decades of people wishing for something better in the world. She’d coated the crossbow bolts with the jar of ashes. This was her most powerful weapon so far.

Then there was her brother’s knife. He always said it was his lucky knife. Whenever he needed it, it always seemed to be around. It had a comfortable grip and serrated edges. A survival knife with a 5 inch blade. There were some symbols etched into the knife’s grip. When she had first asked about the funny looking knife, her brother said he’d had it commissioned for a renaissance fair. Thinking back on it, she probably should’ve asked him more questions because he was never a fan of that sort of thing.

Finally, she opened up her phone to check her new account balance. $513,652 was the number shown on screen. Mallard had gotten her a portion of the money left to her. Apparently Galaton was still putting up a fight in court, but they had no case. Instead they just kept asking for more and more time, hoping that Amicia would run out of money to pay her own lawyers. They wanted to bleed her out and swoop in to finish off the carcass. Mallard had told her not to worry though. That she’d fight for Amicia’s case even in the event that her funds dried up. She owed Araña on a personal level. Plus Mallard found taking Galaton Industries to task in court was quite fun.

Amicia was ready to head out. Only one last thing to take care of. She grabbed Blossom up in her arms, petting her as she walked over to her neighbors. Amicia knocked on their door. She heard running from the other side before the door opened.

An 8 year old girl opened the door. She was wearing her favorite unicorn pajamas. As she saw Amicia standing there, she let out a squeal of delight.

“Amicia!” she said. Amicia went down on one knee, letting the girl hug her.

“Hey there Lilypad. Blossom said she really missed you. She wanted to come stay for a while. Is that okay?” Amicia asked.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Lily answered. She grabbed Blossom out of Amicia’s arms. The cat allowed her to with a soft meow. Amicia heard other noises from the apartment. She looked back to see a man around his 30s. He had a 5 o’clock shadow and baggy eyes. He was wearing a gray T-shirt and sweatpants. He was thin but had a slight pudge in his belly. His hair was getting a bit long and scraggly.

“Lily, I told you to let me check before answering the door.” he admonished wearily. “Oh! Amicia! Is your trip today?” The man hastily combed back his hair, trying to look a bit more groomed for his cute neighbor.

“Daddy, Daddy! Amicia brought Blossom over! She said Blossom could stay with us again!” Lily excitedly explained.

Amicia felt herself smile. The little girl’s joy was infectious. “Good morning Jack. Have I caught you at a bad time?”

“No, no! Not at all.” Jack said. He came over to Amicia at the door. He stopped by to give Blossom a little pet, but Lily pulled him back.

“Mmmn, no! My floof!” she said, rubbing her face against Blossom’s snow white fur.

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“Okay, okay. Why don’t you show Blossom your new playhouse? Daddy has to talk with Amicia about grown up stuff.”

“Okay! C’mon Blossom!” Lily agreed. She ran off deeper into the apartment.

Amicia gave Jack a hug as he came to the door. “I’m sorry to have to ask you to pet sit again. This new job of mine can be demanding about travel.”

Jack scoffed.”Please. It’s no trouble at all. Honestly having Blossom around is great for getting some peace and quiet. Lily just has so much energy these days.”

“I understand Jack. Being a single father can be difficult.” Amicia said.

“It’s rough sometimes, but me and Lily make it work. Anyways, it’s good for her to learn how to take care of a pet. Maybe one day, we’ll get a cat of our own. Then all 3 of us will come over to your place for a playdate.”

“I’ll hold you to that Jack. Lily definitely will.”

“So how long is your trip this time?”

“I’m hoping for just a few days, a week at most?”

“What’s this new job yours again?”

“I’m a scenery coordinator. I do location scouting for studios. Sometimes the studios haven’t even decided on whether to film a movie, but they want to know available locations in advance.” Amicia lied.

“Wow, that sounds exciting. Going out to cool places, enjoying life outside.”

“It’s certainly different from bartending.” Amicia said. She shifted her duffle bag that was hanging on her shoulder. “What about you Jack? How’s the programming life from home?”

“Oh it’s pretty nice. I used to not get much work done at the office and now I don’t get much work done from home.” he joked. Amicia laughed politely. She’d babysat Lily a few times while Jack still had to be in the office. He always looked so tired coming home. He still had bags under his eyes, but Amicia thought Jack looked much happier these days. She checked her phone for the time.

“Oh! My train’s almost here. I have to run now Jack. Thanks again for everything.” Amicia leaned up, pecking him on the cheek. Jack’s face turned red. He tried to stammer out something, but Amicia was already heading to the elevators. “Give my love to Lily!” she said, as the elevator doors were closing.

Jack was still stammering before he finally got out, “Have a safe trip!” After Amicia left, he groaned to himself. He smacked his face with his hand and said, “Have a safe trip? C’mon Jack.” He looked down at himself. “And dressed like a total schlub. 10 outta 10, Jackie boy.”

“Daddy?” Lily said behind him. “Did you tell Aunty Amicia you like her?”

Jack sighed while bumping his head against his door. “No pumpkin.”

Lily patted him on the leg. “There, there, Daddy. I’m sure you’ll tell her one day.”

Jack felt a wry smile come on as his daughter consoled him. “C’mon Lilypad, I’ll make you some pancakes. I bet Blossom would love some tuna.”

The cat let out a soft mew in response. Lily let out another squeal at the thought of the sweet treat. “Pancakes!”

Amicia was sitting on the train. It would take her to Knoxville, from there she’d have to rent out another car. Fortunately she could afford to now. She sat back against her seat, pressing the button for it to lean back. She relished at being able to afford a seat like this. A train ride 12+ hours long would be almost unbearable without it. She was just about to take a nap when she heard someone speak to her.

“Excuse me ma’am? I believe this is yours?” a stewardess said. She handed Amicia something wrapped in plastic attached to a lanyard. Amicia looked down to see her own face on a press badge. Alicia Danvers, SNY radio it said. Amicia knew SNY, it was one of Serenity City’s publications. She looked back up to the stewardess.

“Uhm, yeah. Where did you find this?” she asked.

“Oh we got a very terse email from your publisher. They insisted on our lost and found box being emptied to see if this was inside. It was quite the surprise to actually find it. If you need anything else, feel free to ask any of us. Enjoy your trip ma’am.” she said while walking off.

Amicia looked at the badge. Was it real? Did Araña have some pull with the paper? It was probably better not to have to test it. Amicia opened the little plastic that encased the badge. Inside she found a license to match the press badge.

No more flashing an FBI badge it seemed. Doing it once probably meant she was perilously close to tripping the FBI’s radar. It looked like she was a journalist from now. At least she didn’t have to wear a fancy suit anymore.