I Fell For My Nemesis

Angelo didn't speak again until they landed on their fire escape and he pulled off his ski mask. "How did you even know where to find me?"

"I know you, Angelo Cruz. Where did you get that gun?" Avery demanded.

"The black market at the same time I got that freeze ray you never ended up using. Can you not look at me like that?"

"You can't even see me looking at you."

"Yeah, but I can feel it all the same," Angelo muttered.

Avery retracted her suit and looked at him seriously. "There. Now you can see how I'm looking at you. Am I judging you for what you almost did? Do you really think I would do that? Give me the gun.."

He could see the lack of judgment in her eyes but was still ashamed and looked at the ground as he handed it over. "Here."

She gave it directly to Christian, who seemed to take her hint and flew away to dispose of it far from here, likely in a body of water. Goodness knows there were plenty surrounding New York City.

"I'm not mad at you, Angelo. I'm just glad I was able to stop you before you did something you would regret for the rest of your life," Avery said as she pulled him into a tight hug. "I understand why you wanted to. I really do. But we need to be better than that. We're the good guys, remember?"

"Yes," Angelo whispered reluctantly as his hands trembled on her back.

She pulled away and led him in through the window. "Come on, I'll make you something to eat. I'm guessing you didn't have dinner. You tend to be more impulsive when you're hungry."

"Can you make chicken quesadillas?"

"You got it."

Avery was in the middle of making them when Christian came back and announced that the gun was now at the bottom of the East River. He didn't say anything else aside from the fact that he wanted some of what she was cooking because flying made him hungry.

The three of them sat at the table in an uncomfortable silence eating their food when she was done. She also pulled out a half-eaten cake she had made a few days earlier when she was stressed that everyone dug into with gusto.

The police would deal with Nolan Hunsacher. She desperately hoped they didn't believe him about being attacked by three masked strangers.

Even if they did there was nothing that could be done about it. They had all been wearing gloves and their hair was covered. She was certain Angelo found a way to shut off whatever security system or cameras Hunsacher had before striking as well. Otherwise he wouldn't have dared to do it in the first place.

"You covered your tracks, right?" she asked for clarification.

He looked insulted. "I'm not stupid!"

"Well, you did try to kill someone tonight. Not exactly the smartest idea. But I'll let that go for now since we all need to sleep. I'll get you a blanket first."

"You go get ready. I'll do it," Christian told her before giving her a peck on the lips as he passed her to put his plate in the sink.

"Thanks," Avery said as she shot him a grateful smile.

She was exhausted but also felt gross so she went to shower and brush her teeth. It was late, she was sleepy from being full, and she didn't want to do anything at all tomorrow. Now that the major drama was out of the way she should finally be able to take it easy for a while.

When Christian joined her he reached for her in the dark and held her close. "You did good tonight," he murmured. "I'm really proud of you."

"For what?"

"Not being tempted to kill him yourself. He did kill your dad, after all. But you never thought about it for a second and you managed to talk Angelo down. That was a really brave thing to do."

Avery scoffed. "Please. I wouldn't qualify that fully as a win. If the cops hadn't come when they did—"

"I think he was listening to you though. You would have been able to do it if you had more time. Are you sure you're okay after all of that? You did have to see your worst enemy up close for the first time."

"It was different than I thought it would be…maybe because I was so frantic about stopping Angelo. I didn't want that monster to take anything more from me."

She hated Nolan Hunsacher. She would never forgive him for what he had done to her personally and to society at large. But that didn't mean she was going to let one of the people she loved most in this world kill him and deal with that burden for the rest of his life.

Angelo had poured his heart and soul into stopping Hunsacher. How could she let him become a killer when they had worked so hard to do this right? How could she let him go past the point of no return?

"If we manage to get him convicted he won't be able to take anything from anyone ever again," Christian said reassuringly. "That's our next step, right?"

"Yeah. That and taking care of the people who worked closest to him. But since Leah will have his shares once he's locked up if all things go according to plan she might be able to handle them for us. She'll be able to come out of hiding once he's in jail because he'll have no way to kill her."

"So our job is mostly done?"

"Yeah. From here on out it's the planners' game. I'm just muscle. I doubt I'll be needed from here on out," Avery said, not quite sure how to feel about that.

Was it really over so easily? Could she finally focus on her pregnancy and her marriage now? She didn't want to leave it all on Angelo's and the network's shoulders but she could admit that she needed to take it easy.

Christian kissed her forehead. "Good. You've done enough. You deserve to be able to retire too, Avery."

Retirement. A beautiful word. Would she truly be able to put being Nox behind her forever? What would that even look like? It had been such a huge part of her life for the past four years.

Avery drifted off to sleep with that happy thought. Retirement. It was finally almost over. Wasn't it?

===

Hunsacher never figured out the identities of the people who framed him. Nobody believed that men in masks and super suits were out to get him based on the evidence the insurance investigators had collected.

He tried pushing the trial back as long as he possibly could but the DA working the case had been involved in law suits against him before and apparently held a grudge about him getting off scot-free. He was determined to see Hunsacher burn and showed no mercy.

The trial happened only five months after the arrest (which was amazing considering Hunsacher's reach and money). Avery had been convinced he would stall it as long as possible but they weren't the only ones out to get him.

Angelo kept working all that time with Leah and the rest of the network trying to take down any potential allies of Hunsacher's once they ensured that the court case was in good hands. However, he was better about taking care of himself now that Avery was no longer involved in the process.

His mission to get her to a place of normalcy had been accomplished. She was able to spend the rest of her pregnancy worrying about baby names and how to decorate the nursery like a normal person.

Because of that he was able to relax a little. He started joining in on group activities again and saw Vanessa for the first time in ages. He tried to pretend nothing was wrong and for some reason she went along with it. Avery was rather surprised by that but figured the two of them would have to talk for real sooner or later.

Everything was on track. So why was she still unsettled? Because it didn't feel real?

During the investigation it came out that Hunsacher had a lot more money than anybody knew about. He was also being charged with multiple counts of tax evasion, illegal business practices, and murder.

That was the best part of all of this. One of his lieutenants had cut a plea deal after Angelo managed to get information on him to the DA in question anonymously and confessed to Hunsacher ordering him to kill people. A lot of people.

He knew he would spend the rest of his life in prison but wanted to be in his own cell. He had been the one who messed with the brakes on Levi's car and both his and Horatio's deaths were now ruled as murder rather than accidental. It was more than Avery could have ever hoped for.

Justice had been served. But they hadn't managed to accomplish what their fathers were originally after yet. Maybe that was the problem.