I Fell For My Nemesis

Avery continued sobbing on Christian like the world was ending and he sighed. She still hadn't answered a lot of his questions but he wouldn't be getting more out of her anytime soon.

A lot of her confusing behavior was coming together though. Why she had been so angry on the anniversary of her father's death made a lot more sense if she both missed him and resented him for leaving such a big responsibility to her.

To think! The original Nox had been his father-in-law! How had he never realized the person he fought every weekend had been replaced?

They were about the same height and sounded the same. He had no reason to suspect it but he still felt stupid. All those years he had been fighting a girl.. And not just any girl. The one he had liked under different circumstances. His own girlfriend.

They had been dating already when she used him as a springboard and punted him into that building so he got hurt. How was he supposed to feel about that? She might not have foreseen the consequences but still!

Avery had given Christian minor injuries more times than he could count but that was the only major one. And a lot of these supposedly happened when she had feelings for him.

How? How had she been able to do it? How could someone with as big and sappy a heart as hers live with that sort of thing? How desperate had she been to defeat the man who killed the only parent she ever knew that she could disregard any personal feelings on the matter?

Though she hadn't been able to do it completely. She had uncharacteristically jumped into the spotlight and saved his life despite knowing it could put her secret at risk. All because she didn't want him to die.

Christian's anger was fizzling. Avery loved him. That much was clear. She hadn't gone about showing it in the best way but how was he supposed to fault her for it when he had seen how hard a time she had with what she had lost?

She wasn't a bad person. He knew that. She was kind and cared too much about people. Even if she did go about a lot of things all wrong she wasn't the villain he had painted her to be.

This was partly his fault. If he hadn't been so judgmental before she wouldn't have felt the need to hide this from him as long as she had. She had been terrified of being left behind by yet another person she loved.

How was he supposed to stay angry knowing that? He had never been good at holding grudges.

Christian tightened his hold on her and kissed her hair. "I've got you. I told you I had your back no matter what and I meant it. So stop worrying, okay? I'm sorry."

Avery hiccupped and looked at him rather pitifully with astonishment in her eyes. "Wh-what are you sorry for? It's all my fault!"

At least she knew what she did was wrong. That was something.

"I'm sorry that I put you in a box with all of the other villains I knew. You wouldn't have felt so insecure if I hadn't done that. I can't even imagine how terrible you must have felt all of those times I said things to you without knowing what I was talking about," Christian said ruefully.

Avery shook her head. "You didn't know any better. I knew that."

"But didn't it hurt?"

"…yes."

Christian sighed. "That's what I thought. You shouldn't have had to deal with that, Avery. You've been dealing with so much alone. But you don't have to do that anymore. You need to be honest with me from here on out, alright? I can't help you if you aren't."

Avery wiped her nose as her eyes filled with shame. "I have nothing else to hide. Angelo is going to kill me though. He's going to find out who you are if you help us."

"Suddenly, how he acted when we got engaged makes a lot more sense. He was worried about you jeopardizing the mission."

"And about getting hurt. But I guess that was a pointless worry on his part."

Christian was reminded of Angelo's unwavering confidence that he wouldn't be able to handle finding out more about Avery and his determination to prove him wrong. He would be eating his words soon enough.

Finding all of this out hadn't been enough to make Christian leave the woman he loved. He still wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Now more than ever since he knew she was carrying his child. He had to get involved in her fight in order to end it as quickly as possible so she could stop putting herself in danger.

"I won't let him kill you," he said grimly. "He owes me an apology."

Avery let out a watery laugh. "I suppose he does. He isn't going to be happy about that. Or any of this, really."

"Is he the reason you seemed to be omniscient?"

"Yeah. He can hack anything. I've never met anyone more proficient with computers, even Tío Horatio. He's the brains behind this operation. I just do whatever he tells me to. I'm not exactly much of a planner."

Clearly, since she had been so impulsive about all of this and had been heedless of any potential consequences. He was still having a hard time believing it.

"I'm surprised someone as overprotective as him would let you do something so dangerous," Christian said.

"There's no reason to when I'm in the suit. It's virtually indestructible," Avery replied with a shrug. "He worries about me more than enough when I'm out of it. He trusts my dad's tech and so do I."

He wanted to ask more but didn't get the chance because her phone rang. It was obviously Angelo based on the look on her face. She did not seem happy to take this particular call. She sighed and accepted it reluctantly.

"Hunsacher was waiting for me, Angelo," she told him. "I'm lucky I managed to get away. I had to use my favor from Mercury after I got shackled to a chair. He used some sort of knockout gas and I couldn't find the stupid filtration button. There really needs to be clearer instructions for this thing."

"WHAT?!" Angelo yelped so loudly even Christian could hear it.

"I'm fine! But I didn't manage to plant the virus. He'll be expecting us next time so I'm not sure what we're supposed to do. I'm sorry."

"Forget that! Get over here RIGHT NOW."

"I'll be there soon."

Avery sighed again and looked like he imagined a chicken would on its way to the chopping block. "He's definitely going to kill me. It's been nice knowing you."

Christian scowled. "I already said I wouldn't let him kill you. I'm going with you."

"…dressed like that? Because he's going to figure out what I did. Aren't you worried about your secret identity?"

"Not with your family. Mine knows. They sort of had to since they're aware of my powers. I really doubt Angelo will say anything considering how protective he is of you. Whether he likes it or not, I am your husband. He won't do anything."

He was confident of that. Angelo had been looking out for her the entire time without even having the full picture. He would have been a lot worse if he had known she was involved with her old nemesis.

"And you aren't doing any more jumping tonight," Christian added firmly. "We're flying."

Avery squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm really not a big fan of flying your way. I prefer being the one in control."

"Do you really think I'm going to drop you?!"

"No, but it feels weird!"

"Come on, Avery! You owe me this much after all the secrets you've been keeping. I know the truth now so I'm going to  you take care of yourself and the baby if I have to."

Christian still hadn't fully processed his anger about that. She had known about it for days based on what she said earlier and hadn't said anything because she "didn't know what to do." He didn't like the implications behind those words.

Avery couldn't argue with him and she knew it. She let him pick her up and held onto him tightly with her eyes closed the entire time. She was a bit shaky when he set her down on the fire escape outside Angelo's apartment. She had told him which one it was without opening her eyes. She must have gone in that way a lot of times.

Angelo was waiting for her and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He obviously hadn't been expecting Mercury to tag along.

"What's  he doing here? Calling him to get you out is one thing but how could you be this stupid?"

"Lay off her, Angelo. I'm on your side now," Christian said with a scowl.

"How does this hero know my name?!"

Belatedly, he realized he was still using his Mercury voice by instinct. It must be because he was in costume for the first time in a while. If he was going to out himself and explain why he had suddenly decided to help he was going to have to use his regular voice.

"It's me."

Angelo's eyes widened and he looked back and forth between Christian and Avery before ranting in Spanish and throwing his hands in the air. Well. This was going about as swimmingly as she had predicted.