Vengeance
Chapter One

Despite popular opinion, former Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak had very much been enjoying her censure.

She had dealt with the worst of the worst criminals, the perverts, the rapists, practically all of her career. But work was work—what more could she do to change that? Working in any position but a lawyer had never crossed her mind—until now. An entire three seasons of dead-end "jobs," and a couple luxurious vacations here and there was exactly what she had needed.

All that being said, the enjoyment had gone far enough that she had nearly refused when Arthur Branch had called out of the blue, offering her her job back. "With all due respect, sir," Casey said, carefully. "I don't really think that I... necessarily want my job back—not yet, at least. What happened to my replacement, anyway?"

"ADA Greylek is... permanently unavailable."

Casey raised an eyebrow. "Unavailable?"

"She's dead."

Casey stifled a gasp. "Dead!?"

"Have you been ignoring the headlines during your time away, Ms. Novak?" Branch replied, exasperatedly. "It's been all over the news."

"Ah. Wait—what happened to Jack McCoy? I thought that he had taken over—"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Branch replied quickly, making it clear that there would be no more on the subject.

"Right," Casey sighed. "Well, I—"

"Great, that's really really great. I hope you know I appreciate you doing this for myself, and more importantly, the DA's office," Branch said in relief. "I expect to see you here seven AM sharp tomorrow morning, so that we can bring you up to speed on ADA Greylek's current cases."

Click.

"Shit," Casey cursed.


The Next Morning
6:58 AM
February 21st, 2011


Casey Novak honked her horn viciously, as she swerved past another vehicle. "LEARN HOW TO DRIVE, ASSHOLE!"

Oh how she loved New York's early morning traffic.

She glanced at her watch, narrowly avoiding hitting a little old lady crawling through the middle of the intersection. 6:58 AM. Shit. If she didn't step on it, she'd surely be late for her very first day back at work. Though, she didn't understand why she was rushing in the first place. It hadn't been her choice to come back. She'd been forced! But Casey Novak always took her job seriously—wanted or not wanted—and decided she would continue to do so.

Finally arriving at the DA's office, Casey snatched her briefcase out of the back seat and rushed inside the building. "Sorry I'm late, sir," she cried, out of breath. "Traffic was a bitch."

Arthur Branch barely looked up from his desk, and gestured for her to take a seat. "It's all right," he muttered. He pushed forward a large stack of case folders. "These are ADA Greylek's current case files. I've arranged for your friends down at SVU to bring you up to speed on the most current one."

"... Thanks."

"Detective Stabler should be by momentarily," Branch replied. "Oh, and Casey?"

"Sir?"

"If you're ever late again," he said, his voice low, and threatening. "Your ass will be out of this and any job faster than you can say Jack McCoy. Do I make myself clear?"

Casey sighed. "Crystal."