Thick as Thieves Ch. 17 (Marvel) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Felicia’s mood is ruined!

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Ugh, and it had been such a nice night until now too. Felicia hadn’t minded one bit being the submissive sex kitten in the middle of Cameron and a literal goddess. Sure, it rankled that she’d just barely lost their wager, especially since she’d intended for it to be a lesson for Cameron in how to always be on the lookout for the smallest valuables he could find.

… But at the same time, it wasn’t like she was truly beat up about it. Not when the ‘consequence’ of losing was getting railed by her protégé and dominated by his patron goddess. She’d been quite happy to just let them take control and show her a good time… and a good time she’d had.

Of course now she has to shake off that satisfied, sleepy feeling that came from being plowed silly and focus on the here and now. Her hackles immediately raise as Ghost-Spider stalks towards them, the other woman’s words permeating through the happy, contented haze that had settled over Felicia’s thoughts.

Two hours? That was pretty much exactly how long they’d been inside of Lady Loki’s domain. That implied Ghost-Spider had seen them arrive on this rooftop and watched them vanish two hours ago. Had she found out where Felicia lived? Had Peter given her Felicia’s identity?!

Felicia was well aware that the upstart spider brat was Peter’s protégé and that he’d trained her up so he could ‘retire’ to be there for his wife and child. It still frustrated her to no end that he’d given up the best part of his life (being Spider-Man and his relationship with her) to be with that red-haired harlot just because he’d finally knocked MJ up, but she’d been slowly and steadily coming to terms with it.

Cameron had helped a lot in that regard. She wouldn’t call him a ‘rebound’ necessarily, but damn if he wasn’t a good way of taking her mind off of Peter cutting her from his life. Still, cutting her out was one thing. Exposing her to his protégé? If Peter had done that, Felicia wasn’t sure what she would do… but there would have to be retaliation of some kind.

That said, something strange was afoot… because while Felicia and Cameron had both tensed up, expecting Ghost-Spider to attack… the webcrawler stops a few feet away from them, fuming but making no move to try and ‘bring them to justice’.

“What were you two even doing all this time?! Where did you go?!”

Felicia blinks and exchanges a confused look with Cameron, who just shrugs in response. Finally, huffing, she looks back to Ghost-Spider and narrows her eyes.

“What’s it to you, Spider? Can’t you see we’ve been having a night to ourselves. No crime here, so why don’t you scurry away and wait until we’re actually doing something naughty before you try to read us the riot act.”

Rather than bristling, Ghost-Spider scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest.

“No crime here, huh? Nothing naughty, is that right? Don’t make me laugh. I know you were both at Fisk’s party tonight. And I know you both stole shit from him as well.”

Oh. Oh. Felicia feels a wave of relief right alongside a deep sense of chagrin as she finally realizes how Ghost-Spider found them here. She didn’t… she followed them here. That was frustrating to be sure, knowing that they’d been tailed all the way from Fisk’s building to her own, but at the same time it did mean Peter hadn’t utterly betrayed her just yet. Felicia took some solace in that fact.

“And? Fisk is as much a criminal as us. Is stealing from another criminal really stealing at all?”

Ghost-Spider throws her hands up in the air.

“YES! But that’s not the problem here! The problem is that Fisk knows all about both of you and is already seeking leverage for you, Crow!”

Wait, what? Felicia’s brow furrows, even as Ghost-Spider growls and continues on.

“I was watching your interaction with him. I stayed behind and listened while he spoke with his henchman, some weasel named Wesley. They know who both of you are!”

Well yes, Felicia and Fisk had… history together. So he did know her true identity, as much as she hated that fact. But they had an uneasy understanding, the two of them. While he could have sent someone to kill her, she would have retaliated ten times worse if he’d succeeded. Not to mention how Peter would have reacted if she’d died…

What was this about Fisk knowing Cameron’s identity though? And leverage? The only leverage Fisk could possibly seek on Cameron would be…

“What kind of leverage, exactly?”

Cameron’s voice is grave as he stares at Ghost-Spider intently. The heroine crosses her arms over her chest again in response, becoming a bit subdued.

“Your brother. Brandon. Fisk knows where he is and has eyes on him. He’s ready to use him against you at the drop of a hat if it proves necessary… which the Kingpin might decide it does prove necessary, given your little competition tonight!”

Oh fuck. Ghost-Spider knew his name. That wasn’t… Felicia had honestly wanted to deny it. To call the other woman a liar. Because if Fisk had information on Cameron and his brother, there was only one place it could have come from… her. Somewhere along the way, she’d been the one to fuck up. Somehow, she’d been the leak.

It wasn’t like she’d been entirely cavalier with her efforts to help Cameron’s brother or anything like that. Felicia was well aware that she had enemies like Fisk who knew exactly who she really was. She’d tried to obfuscate her funding of Brandon’s medical bills and treatment.

But obviously her efforts hadn’t been good enough. Not if Fisk not only knew about her protégé, but also his comatose brother. Teeth clenching, hands curling into fists at her sides, Felicia can only watch as Cameron comes to terms with Ghost-Spider’s knowledge.

“But… how? This isn’t even my real face. He shouldn’t have been able to connect us that easily.”

But Ghost-Spider just shakes her head.

“He had information on you before you had this… glow-up of yours, whatever it is. They used what looked like StarkTech to scan you at the party and measured your gait and vocal patterns to match you to the previous info they already had on you. Changing your face isn’t enough when you’re dealing with people like this, Cameron.”

Felicia flinches along with Cameron at Ghost-Spider’s casual use of his name. Fuck, she really did know everything, didn’t she? Of course, Ghost-Spider isn’t done… she looks to Felicia with a glower that Felicia can only read through the mask because of years of experience with Peter.

“You fucked up, Cat. You fucked up big time.”

What’s wild is that Ghost-Spider doesn’t sound smug about it. She should, this is all Felicia’s fault and the two of them had been at each other’s throats since Peter retired and left her handling this half-pint. But instead, Ghost-Spider sounds actually offended on Cameron’s behalf… like she has far more of a stake in this than she should have otherwise.

“Lay off her, she’s done nothing but try to help me.”

Of course, the last thing Felicia is expecting is for Cameron to defend her in this moment. So when he does exactly that, both she and Ghost-Spider look at him in shock.

“What?! She pulled you into a life of crime, Cameron! She’s the reason Wilson fucking Fisk is sniffing around your brother, ready to put a gun to his head to force you to do whatever he wants you to do!”

Cameron grits his teeth and shakes his head.

“Wilson Fisk is the reason that’s happening. His actions are his own and if he goes after my brother, he will regret it. But Black Cat didn’t pull me into a life of crime… I was already a thief before we met. She probably saved my life, keeping me from biting off more than I could chew early on.”

Ghost-Spider looks shocked by that… and then almost depressed for some reason. Again, only years of learning to read Peter through his mask and costume have prepared her for correctly reading Ghost-Spider now. She actually looks sad on Cameron’s behalf. What’s that about?

No, actually… what’s all of this about? Ghost-Spider didn’t owe them this heads up, though Felicia could understand why a bleeding heart trained by Peter might feel obligated to warn them anyways. However, this was starting to be way more than a warning. She was acting like they were all in this together or something, like she was five seconds away from asking what their next steps were as a team or some shit.

“Cameron…”

“Its Crow. Knowing who I am doesn’t give you the right to address me like we’re friends, Ghost-Spider.”

Ghost-Spider winces, looking genuinely hurt by that.

“R-Right… of course… sorry.”

Okay, wow. In that moment, Felicia has a choice to make. On the one hand, she sees an opportunity to drive Ghost-Spider away. ‘Thank’ her for the info but tell her to get lost. It would almost certainly work on the back of Cameron’s latest words. He’d thoroughly shutdown her overt familiarity.

On the other hand, the problem with that was… that overt familiarity was still there. And while Felicia wanted to send Ghost-Spider packing so badly… she also sensed something deeper at play. Something that she might regret not prying into later. Especially… if it could be used to get Ghost-Spider on their side in some similar way to what she and Peter had had.

She wouldn’t be much of a cat if she didn’t pounce on such obvious prey, right?

“Hold on a second.”

Almost as if she senses her doom approaching, Ghost-Spider freezes at Felicia’s tone. Cameron, meanwhile, gives her a curious glance. But Felicia only has eyes for the spider in their midst.

“Something’s not adding up here.”

That gets a bristle from the heroine.

“What?! I’ve told you both everything I know! I’m telling the truth!”

Felicia just grins.

“Oh… I believe that. I just don’t believe you’ve told us the full truth. You want us to think that you really followed us all the way from Fisk’s place and then waited two hours for us to show up again after we’d vanished from thin air… because what, you felt bad about Crow’s brother?”

Ghost-Spider falters.

“I… y-yes?!”

Cameron, also sensing weakness, leans forward.

“Is that a question or an answer, Ghost-Spider?”

“It was an answer! Yes, I waited for you both for two hours! How else would I know everything I did if I wasn’t at the party with Fisk! What are you even saying?!”

But Felicia just shakes her head.

“I’m not disputing you waited two hours… I’m saying you had ulterior motives for doing so. What exactly is your real connection to Crow here?”

Ghost-Spider freezes up entirely, giving away the game even if she didn’t want to. And Cameron… well, Cameron has the last piece of the puzzle apparently, because after a moment, his incredulous voice echoes through the cool night air.

“Gwen?”

Felicia’s eyes widen in realization, even as Ghost-Spider lets out a loud groan and covers her masked face with her hands. After a beat, she grabs hold of her mask and rips it off her head, revealing the features of one Gwen Stacy, Police Captain’s daughter, who just so happened to be at Fisk’s party dressed as a server tonight.

“For fuck’s sake Cameron, did you have to expose me in front of her?!”

Then, pointing a finger at Felicia, Gwen growls.

“Well just so you know, I know that you’re probably Felicia Hardy, the socialite! Fisk let it slip by calling you Ms. Hardy while talking about Cameron!”

Felicia just arches a brow, more amused than anything at this point. Which of course causes Gwen to falter a bit, having clearly expected more of a reaction from the cat burglar. Cameron, meanwhile, is finally getting over his shock.

“Gwen… what the hell were you thinking going to a criminal kingpin’s party as your civilian identity? Your civilian identity who’s father is a fucking Police Captain?!”

Flushing, Gwen scowls and averts her gaze.

“It wasn’t that dangerous, Cameron. I changed up my appearance significantly, making sure I didn’t look anything like the few public appearances of me with my dad. The only people who were going to recognize me were people who knew me really well. Like close personal friends… even ones who dropped out of school and fucking disappeared all of the sudden without warning.”

Its Cameron’s turn to flush, though he doesn’t back down, speaking through gritted teeth.

“I had to take care of my brother. He was more important than some stupid piece of paper from Midtown fucking Science.”

Gwen immediately softens and nods at that.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I didn’t… I should have been there for you. And I wasn’t. So I’m sorry… please let me be there for you now.”

Cameron looks torn but Felicia knows he’s far too emotionally compromised by all of this to think things through clearly. So she steps in before he can potentially come down on the side of driving Gwen away again.

“And how exactly do you intend to do that, Ghost? You’re still a vigilante and we’re still thieves. Are you just going to look the other way and let us do whatever we like?”

Gwen scowls, her hands curling into fists at her sides.

“What?! No! Of course not! But I’m also not going to let the Kingpin blackmail Cameron with his comatose brother! I’ll help you guys keep Brandon safe and stop Fisk from ever harming him… but if I catch either of you committing crimes or stealing from another museum, I’ll have to try and stop you!”

Felicia grins… that’s precisely what she wanted to hear. Of course, Gwen knows better than most what things between Felicia and Peter were like… as she makes abundantly clear.

“It’s just… it’s just like what you and Spider-Man had, right? We can be… frenemies, or something.”

Tch, she didn’t have to spell it out so clearly, and obviously the ‘had’ bit rankles something fierce… but yes, that’s exactly what Felicia wanted for Cameron. Because as much as Ghost-Spider might try to claim she wouldn’t let their relationship get in the way of trying to apprehend Cameron when she next caught him committing a crime… Felicia knew better. It would influence her, in small ways if nothing else. And that could mean the difference between Cameron in a cell or Cameron remaining free.

Of course, while you could lead the horse to water, you can’t make them drink. Felicia looks to Cameron, the ball in his court now. If he didn’t pick it up and go for the slam dunk she’d just lined up for him, that was on him.

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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VMTGzhuH9W7zEhvUE5Xay2U_lEYLoZTRT670Sh7NdrU/edit?tab=t.0