I Fell For My Nemesis

Angelo spent the next hour or so explaining things to Christian with Avery occasionally interjecting. He had a lot of questions, specifically about the legal side of things. 

Finding out he had looked into Nolan Hunsacher trying to figure out his nemesis after "he" saved his life was unexpected. He knew about the lawsuits that had either been dropped or involved a fine rather than jail time. 

Of course he would be interested in the legal aspect of all this. He was a lawyer. 

"And there isn't anyone within the legal system you trust enough to try and take Hunsacher down? You have plenty of evidence," Christian pointed out. "Though I suppose it has mostly been obtained illegally. You would need the testimony of the original witnesses." 

"I doubt that would be enough to get a warrant," Angelo said grimly. 

Hunsacher had time and the ability to get rid of evidence before the government came knocking. Most judges weren't willing to grant a warrant without sufficient information beforehand so they couldn't exactly surprise him. 

That had been part of the problem with a lot of the previous lawsuits. The other part was buying off the cops, DA, or jury. 

"We would have to find someone with power in the legal system willing to work with us. Do you know of anybody?" Angelo asked skeptically. "It's not like you're a judge."

"No, but I know a few. I usually don't go to court since I handle the paperwork side of things but that wasn't always the case. In the early days of my career I had to handle patent litigation a lot," Christian said with a shrug.

"….do you know them well enough to vouch for them?"

"Not personally. My boss is very good friends with one of the judges though. They've known each other since law school. He might be our best bet." 

"Wouldn't we need more than a judge? We would need a detective or the FBI or somebody like that to get the warrant in the first place too, right? Where are we supposed to find one of those who are trustworthy? Our network is mostly made up of scientists," Avery pointed out. 

They all frowned. That was true. A trustworthy judge wouldn't make a difference without someone to get the warrant for them. They would have to be located in New York City too so they couldn't simply use any old relative or friend of someone in their network scattered across the country. 

Their New York contacts were spread pretty thin. Though Hunsacher HQ was located here their informants from that office had all been moved out of the country for their own safety. 

Angelo supposed he could contact them through secure channels and ask if they knew of anybody they trusted back in New York. It was a long shot though. 

Even if they managed to find someone they would need to have them investigate things without tipping off Hunsacher. The warrant would need to blindside him for it to be effective. Then they would have to make sure Hunsacher couldn't buy his way out of it once they made a rock-solid case. That was asking for a miracle. 

Those other times he was sued he didn't go to jail at all. It was all civil cases rather than criminal ones. To nail him they needed to get him charged with a crime and stuck in jail where he would be denied bail as a flight risk and kept locked up. 

He would surely hire the most expensive defense attorneys money could buy but he would be stuck in one place. That would help them at least somewhat. 

"I have some people I can ask but the whole thing is still risky," Angelo sighed. 

"No riskier than blowing things up," Avery replied. "That reminds me…is there anything else you need me to blow up any time soon?"

Christian didn't seem happy about the prospect of blowing anything up but kept quiet. Until a minute later when he jumped to his feet looking as if a lightbulb had been lit over his head. 

"I have it!" 

"Have what?" they replied in tandem. 

"The solution to our problem! This won't break up Hunsacher's monopolies but it very well might land him in jail and buy us some more time," he said eagerly. "If you're looking for evidence that can lead to a warrant I've got it. Insurance fraud."

Avery looked at him blankly. "What does insurance fraud have to do with anything?"

"You've been blowing up Hunsacher facilities for ages! I'm willing to bet someone somewhere has already connected the dots. If they haven't all we need to do is make them." 

The wheels in Angelo's head were turning. They had blown up a lot of Hunsacher facilities but a lot of the vandalism they had committed was on shell companies that weren't easy to connect back to him. 

If they continually struck known Hunsacher holdings someone would notice a pattern sooner or later. Especially if they focused on one location. It would look suspicious that nobody got hurt in all of the explosions. And if Angelo tracked down the witnesses first and convinced them to testify against Hunsacher…

"This might actually work," he said in disbelief. "But the two of you are going to have to blow up an awful lot of buildings without causing collateral damage."

He could make sure they didn't get caught on camera and if they got to the witnesses first and promised them money to compensate for the fact that they lost their guard jobs this would be too easy. They could use the law against Hunsacher for once. 

Avery grinned at him. "Fine by me! Those sorts of missions are a piece of cake."

Christian sighed. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this."

She patted him on the arm. "You can do it! All you have to do is knock some people out for me unless you want me to do the fighting."

"You are  doing the fighting. You need to take it easy." 

"Can I knock people out from behind? That takes hardly any effort at all. I'm really good at it!"

"…not the sort of thing I would be bragging about, Avery. But I suppose if it's that simple for you. But no jumping around or getting into actual fights," Christian said firmly. 

"Fiiiiine."

Avery pouted and Angelo was completely floored. This entire conversation was difficult to believe. A retired hero and his villain wife were arguing about what degree of fighting was appropriate because she was pregnant. No one would ever believe this even if he could tell them!

He would need to figure out the right targets to blow up. And start targeting Hunsacher's closest lieutenants as well. There had to be a few people he trusted with the full extent of his business dealings. He couldn't have gotten to where he was alone. 

There was still a lot of work to do if they wanted to give this country back to the people. Nolan Hunsacher might be the biggest perpetrator but he wasn't the only one. It was time for them to step up their game. 

Angelo wanted this to be over and done with before Avery's baby was born. Then she would be able to focus on her future like she wanted. 

He owed his best friend that much after giving her such a hard time about all of this. He wanted her to be happy. Looking at the way she and her husband were interacting despite their confrontation earlier gave him hope that she would be able to have the life she wanted even with the truth out. 

Unfortunately, this meant he would be getting even less sleep than usual. He needed to work harder to get this all done. He had so much to do he should really kick them out now. They could continue their mushfest elsewhere. 

"I have a lot of work to do so you two should go home," Angelo informed them. 

"You sure you don't need any help?" Christian asked. 

Avery shook her head. "Knowing him, we would only get in the way. I'm kind of exhausted anyway. Let's go get some sleep."

A wise choice. She knew she wasn't good at coming up with plans in her best form and right now she was tired and emotionally strung out. It was better for them to leave him to it. He didn't have work tomorrow so he could keep going until he had to crash then get at it again once he woke up. 

Angelo watched them go out the window and saw the way Christian tenderly picked her up before flying off and still couldn't believe that those two had actually fallen in love. Nox and Mercury. Who would have thought? 

It was also strange that his best friend's husband had superpowers. Those weren't terribly common. Did that mean her kids were going to have superpowers too? How would she handle that?

He had to push those questions aside and get to work. He could worry about Avery later. Right now he had to focus on strategy. The sooner they could get this taken care of the better. 

Who knows? With any luck, she might be able to take part of her pregnancy easy. His sweet, stupid best friend deserved that.