n

n

nChristian gaped at his nemesis. Flirting?! Nox had to be messing with him right now. There was absolutely no way all of that was flirting.

nSaving the person you were actively working against was wild enough; flirting involved some degree of attraction. There was no way this weird guy liked him like that. That was so messed up he was getting the heebie jeebies just thinking about it!

n

"You were what?!

" he screeched.

nNox cracked up so hard he doubled over. He wrapped one arm around his stomach and pointed the other at Christian gleefully.

"Your face! Hahahaha! I really had you going for a minute there, didn't I?

"

n

"Were you seriously teasing me again?!

"

n

"Duh. Who ever heard of a villain having a crush on their hero?

"

nHe frowned.

"I'm not 'your' hero.

"

n

"Yes, you are! If you weren't I wouldn't have bothered saving you. I was in the middle of something when I saw that news report, you know. I never did end up getting what I went out for because I was too busy making sure you didn't wind up dead,

" Nox said with a casual wave of his hand.

nChristian recalled how he seemed genuinely angry and possessive when Circus Freak hurt him. His hero indeed.

nThough that had worked out for him alarmingly well he was still uneasy that his nemesis had formed any degree of attachment to him. While not as evil as he originally anticipated, Nox was bad news.

nHe might not be so off about the 'my hero' thing anyway. Christian was the only one capable of tracking this guy down because of his sixth sense. Otherwise he was too sneaky to get on anyone else's radar. He didn't deal with any other heroes.

nIf Christian truly did retire because of this incident how was he supposed to rest easy knowing no one else would be able to stop this guy? Or that someone with some sort of weird attachment to him wouldn't leave his secret identity alone once he didn't have a hero to mess with anymore?

nHe sighed.

"Does this mean you aren't going to leave me alone if I retire?

"

nNox tilted his head slightly, as if curious.

"You're really going to retire? You have some sense after all!

"

n

"Answer the question, Nox.

"

n

"I thought we established you already used up all of your questions.

"

n

"I think I get another one since you nearly gave me a heart attack by joking about flirting earlier,

" Christian said dryly.

nNox chuckled.

"Fair enough. How about a deal? I let you do your thing if you let me do mine. You already know I'm not hurting anybody.

"

nAs much as it pained him he supposed that was as good an offer as he was going to get. His nemesis had the upper hand as always.

"This would be a lot fairer if I also knew who you were.

"

n

"As if life is ever fair.

"

nChristian couldn't argue with that. Sometimes it seemed like life was nothing but unfair.

"Can you at least tell me why you destroy things? I get the insulin stealing to a point but why blow things up?

"

n

"To cause trouble for my real enemy until I can figure out how to stop him permanently. You might be a nuisance but, like I said before, I have no beef with you. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire as much as I might not like it. Believe it or not, I'm a peaceful person by nature.

"

nThat was hard to believe…but he supposed there was the fact that he went out of his way to make sure no one was seriously injured as he did what he felt he needed to do. He wasn't like those villains who wreaked destruction heedless of who got hurt and never had been.

n

"Who is your real enemy?

" Christian asked curiously.

n

"I can't tell you that but I can say he's probably the most powerful man in the country even if no one else realizes it. He takes advantage of the broken system like it was built for him specifically. I hate people like him more than anyone else,

" Nox said in a hard voice.

n

"But I've said too much already. Are we good? Can you go home now? I still have things to do tonight and you should really get back in bed before you keel over. There's no point in saving you if you kill yourself.

"

nThe most powerful man in the country? Wouldn't that be the president? Christian couldn't let treason slide!

nThen again, Nox did say 'even if no one else realizes it'. So it probably wasn't anyone too obvious. Although…wasn't the first big, targeted attack he ever pulled off at Hunsacher Inc.'s main headquarters?

nNolan Hunsacher did run a large conglomerate but saying he was the most powerful man in the country was a bit of a stretch. There were plenty of other people like him out there.

n

"Is your enemy Nolan Hunsacher?

" Christian blurted before he could stop himself.

nNox let out a heavy sigh.

"We're done here. If you even think about warning him there's someone out to get him I'll rat you out and ruin your retirement. I know a huge secret of yours, you know a huge secret of mine. We're even now so we can part ways with nothing owed. That's the only thanks I want for saving your life.

"

nHe guessed right! What did Nolan Hunsacher ever do to this guy to cause that much of a grudge?

nBut he really couldn't do anything about it with the threat of his secret identity being exposed over his head. He had been the one to suggest they even the playing field by exchanging secrets.

nThough Christian hated being blackmailed and hated the idea of being in cahoots with anyone doing something illegal he couldn't deny he felt less backed into a corner now. Nox had more on him but he could still do something to mess up the villain's plans. Having any degree of power in a situation where he previously felt powerless was better than nothing.

n

"Done,

" he said reluctantly.

"I won't say 'good luck with your plans' or anything like that.

"

nNox laughed.

"I didn't expect you to. Letting me carry on is good enough. Have a good life, Mercury. It was fun while it lasted. I'll never find anyone else like you.

"

nHe thought their nemesis relationship was fun? Christian knew this guy was a wacko.

"You're being creepy again.

"

n

"Force of habit, I guess. Seriously though, take care of yourself.

"

n

"I can't say the same. Goodbye, Nox. I sincerely hope I never see you again.

"

nAs he flew away he could hear Nox laughing hysterically but was too tired to wonder why. He already knew there was something off about that guy that nothing could fix. He hoped he hadn't made the biggest mistake of his life by agreeing to keep his mouth shut.

nNox's grudge against Nolan Hunsacher seemed legitimate based on the way he was talking earlier but with his abilities he could totally take over the world if he wanted. Letting him go like that killed Christian but there was nothing he could do about it.

nHe had been wondering about Nox's motivation for years so now that he had some small idea of what he was after he couldn't stop himself from doing internet research on his former foe's true enemy when he got home. There were so many articles that going through all of them would be impossible but he had the wry thought that he finally found something to keep him busy while he was laid up.

nChristian discovered a fair amount of negative publicity about Hunsacher Inc. mixed in with the informational or promotional stuff. They had won several lawsuits filed against them by various people including former employees…and lost several others.

nReading through those articles he got the sense that Hunsacher had some pretty skeezy business practices but no one could prove it because they had the best lawyers money could buy. When it was provable they paid the fine and got off scot-free. There were plenty of businesses like that out there though. Why would Nox target this one specifically?

nAnother article caught his attention about one of Hunsacher's factories that got bombed in California. That was definitely Nox's MO but what would he be doing all the way across the country?

nOr did he have accomplices? He might not be the only one with a serious grudge against Nolan Hunsacher.

nChristian sighed. The more he read the less he understood.

nHunsacher certainly did seem to get out of punishment for wronging people more often than not but wasn't nearly as powerful as Nox claimed…unless he had more information than the public did. Either that or he was a conspiracy theorist.

nHe didn't know the guy well enough to be able to tell one way or the other. But he probably did think he was doing the right thing, whatever he was trying to accomplish.

n