Thick as Thieves Ch. 18 (Marvel) (Patreon)

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

A/N: Poor Cameron is still reeling.

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Talk about a damn rollercoaster of a night. Just a few hours ago, he was facing down the fucking Kingpin in his office while knowing full well that he was going to steal the man’s entire décor before the night was over. And afterwards he was riding the high of not only doing exactly that, but also just barely managing to edge out Felicia for the victory in their little wager.

Fuck, less than two hours ago he and Felicia and Lady Loki were having a threesome, fucking away in the goddess’ demesne without a care in the world and no idea who was waiting for them outside once they were done.

Meanwhile, the entire time… Ghost-Spider had not only followed them back from Fisk’s party but stuck around until they’d come back out of Lady Loki’s domain so she could confront them. Not because she wanted to catch them though, but because she wanted to warn them… to warn him specifically.

And why? Well, because apparently Ghost-Spider was actually Gwen Stacy, a friend of Cameron’s that he had truthfully never thought he would see again before the beginning of tonight.

Of course, now that he knew her secret identity, it suddenly made a lot more sense why Gwen was at Fisk’s party. It didn’t make it any less foolhardy or dangerous in Cameron’s opinion, but at least now he understood that she was there to spy on Fisk and his guests for her vigilantism.

Not that Cameron was judging her for being Ghost-Spider, mind you. That seemed like it would be a little hypocritical, given his own life choices. He’d leave the hatred directed towards spider-themed vigilantes to men like J. Jonah Jameson, thank you very much.

Still, it was every bit a mind fuck to find out that Gwen was the same woman who had quipped about his naming choice and tried to web him back at the Met. It was incredibly hard to wrap his head around… and yet he had to because it was the reality he was faced with.

And then there was what Gwen had overheard. Fisk had his number. He had his brother’s number. The Kingpin, one of the most dangerous men in the criminal underworld, knew exactly who Cameron and Brandon were and was keeping that knowledge in his back pocket to use later.

Likely to blackmail Cameron into doing his bidding, but of course there was the fact that Cameron had basically just stole the insides of Fisk’s entire mansion and the knowledge that his physical illusions would only last a couple weeks more at most…

Letting out a sigh, Cameron looks Gwen in the eye and slowly nods.

“… Alright. You can help.”

Gwen’s shoulders slump in relief, like she actually thought he might reject her or something. Felicia’s reaction is more muted by what Cameron sees out of the corner of his eye lets him know she’s not disappointed with his choice either. Of course she isn’t, he’s not stupid… he could tell she was trying to set things up in a certain way so that he and Gwen might have the same weird ‘frenemy’ style relationship that she and Spider-Man were said to have.

The difference is that his and Gwen’s relationship, whatever it becomes, will almost certainly come with baggage. Lots of baggage. At least on Cameron’s part, Gwen had actually been his very first crush… and he’d never quite gotten over her.

He’d wanted to prove he was worth something before he made a move, but in the end he’d had to drop out instead to help his brother. Forgoing graduation had been the moment Cameron had also forced himself to put to bed any possibility of him and Gwen ever being a ‘thing’.

And yet now here they were, together again. But he wasn’t the same boy he was back then and he highly doubted Gwen was the same girl either, regardless of it only having been about a year or so since.

Still, that didn’t mean he was going to pass up her offer to help. Not when his brother’s life might very well be on the line.

“Well then, shall we get off this rooftop and adjourn downstairs?”

Felicia’s words are said lightly with an amused lilt and Cameron can tell she’s going to enjoy messing with both of them, though probably mostly Gwen. Which is rather funny because before now Felicia and Gwen, as Black Cat and Ghost-Spider, had had quite the antagonistic relationship, hadn’t they?

Regardless, at Felicia’s bidding they all make their way downstairs to her penthouse. Gwen looks a little uncomfortable as they do but also relieved to be getting out of the open, especially with her mask off as it is. Finally, they settle into Felicia’s living room, the same living room that Cameron had found himself ‘recruited’ in all those months ago after making the mistake of breaking into the Black Cat’s home. Not that it felt like much of a mistake these days…

Crossing her arms over her chest, uncomfortable but trying not to be too obvious about it, Gwen clears her throat.

“Right. So. Where do we start? How do we stop the Kingpin from threatening your brother?”

Cameron sits down and balances his elbows on his knees, sighing as he rubs his forehead with his thumbs. Because… that was the big question, wasn’t it? And the problem was, he didn’t have an immediate answer. He had ideas of course, but he was discarding them as inoperable just as quickly as he was coming up with them.

Meanwhile, Felicia remains quiet. Whether that’s because she’s still reckoning with her own obvious guilt over any part she’d played in tipping Kingpin off to him and Brandon or because she wants to see what they come up with first, Cameron doesn’t know. He wouldn’t put either option past her, ultimately.

In the ensuing silence, Gwen eventually has to speak again, sounding a little frustrated.

“Seriously?! Nothing? I mean… aren’t you two professional thieves? Why don’t we just steal Brandon out from under the Kingpin’s nose or something? Make a proper heist of it!”

Cameron had already thought of that option, of course. It was one of the first ideas he’d come up with in fact. However, it was also one of the first ideas he’d discarded. After all…

“Impossible. His brother’s situation is… delicate. The medical equipment alone… but also the around the clock care. Brandon is currently receiving the best possible treatment that my money can buy. To remove him from that environment would endanger him just as much as keeping him within Fisk’s crosshairs.”

That was why Felicia had stayed quiet. She’d been waiting for Gwen to come up with something so she could shut it down. Cameron shoots his mentor a distinctly unimpressed look at that… and where Felicia might normally have preened a bit in amusement, she actually looks slightly chagrined and a little bit guilty, sitting back even as he looks over to a frustrated Gwen.

“Felicia is right, unfortunately. Moving Brandon is a non-starter. There are only a handful of places we could even trust with keeping him comfortable and in good health while managing his coma properly. Even if we did move him to another one, Fisk would probably be able to find it just as easily as he found him the first time. It’s a short list, especially if the Kingpin knows exactly what sort of care my brother requires at this point.”

Gwen grimaces and so does Felicia, albeit for different reasons. After a moment though, Gwen groans.

“So what do we do then? How do we get Fisk off of your back and keep him away from your brother if we can’t hide Brandon somewhere Fisk can’t find him?”

… It was too bad that his patron wasn’t a goddess of healing or anything like that, Cameron reflects. Because if Lady Loki were amenable, her demesne would be exactly the sort of place they could store Brandon without Fisk being able to locate him.

Not a terrible idea, my Champion. But as you’ve noted, I am not trained in the arts necessary to care for your brother. Nor does my domain have the necessary… integration to handle the Midgardian technology that monitors your brother.

There’s a pause before Lady Loki continues on.

… Hmph, if you could get to Asgard somehow and steal some of their technology, we might be able to put your brother in stasis properly and relocate him to my demesne while keeping him in an infinite state of good health until he could be cured… but that feels like quite the tall order.

Yeah, that would be quite the solution. But the goddess in his head is right. It was entirely unfeasible, at least right now. Until Cameron could find out more about Asgard and more importantly Odin’s situation, Lady Loki wasn’t willing to risk exposing herself to her fratricidal father. And Cameron didn’t blame her, not one bit. Still, it did mean Asgard and its advanced technology, more akin to magic than anything, was currently locked to them.

“It’s simple, really. We can’t move Brandon… so we remove Fisk.”

Meanwhile, Felicia finally suggests something… which of course instantly results in a veto from Gwen.

“Whoa! No killing! No way… look, Fisk is a monster, don’t get me wrong, but we are not going to kill him. He needs to be put in prison.”

Cameron exchanges another glance with Felicia, this one a little bit amused. They both knew when they ‘recruited’ Gwen to help out with this that killing would be off the table. Indeed, if Cameron had intended to just try and assassinate Fisk to deal with the threat that he posed to his brother, he would have simply sent Gwen away entirely and refused her help.

But the truth was…

“We’re not going to kill Fisk. And I doubt Felicia was suggesting that anyways.”

The white-haired cat burglar simply shrugs, lounging back at this point in a bit of a provocative pose that has Gwen scowling and unable to look directly at her for too long without going a bit pink.

“Meh. It was an option… before we let the vigilante join in on our plans. But no, I’m not talking about icing Fisk. I’m talking about removing him from the equation… prison is fine. Exile is another option. He’s no stranger to it, really.”

Cameron arches a brow, which prompts Felicia to continue.

“Wilson Fisk, for all his perceived power and strength and reputation… is more of a cockroach than anything else. He’s been taken down by the likes of Daredevil and Spider-Man loads of times… but he always pops back up. There’s a very simple reason why that is.”

Gwen scoffs.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s because vigilantes like us work outside the law so Fisk gets away with a lot of his crimes because the evidence becomes inadmissible in court. So even if he goes to prison for a time, he just has his lawyers force through appeal after appeal until he gets let out again.”

But Felicia just shakes her head.

“You’re close… but you’re missing the forest for the trees darling. Yes, the fact that vigilantes are the ones taking him down gives him a path to freedom, certainly… but without his resources, that path would remain closed. You said it yourself… its his lawyers who get him off the hook. His extremely well compensated lawyers.”

Gwen blinks, looking like she hadn’t considered that. Cameron, meanwhile, sees where Felicia is going with this.

“You’re suggesting that we need to go after Fisk’s foundations. His organization, his money, his people?”

Felicia nods.

“Exactly. Wilson Fisk is only as powerful as those who work for him. He is only as strong as his weakest link. This ‘weasel named Wesley’ mentioned previously, for instance. Those who do his dirty work while he smiles and shakes hands with the city’s movers and shakers, forcing them to smile back even if they hate his guts. The Kingpin can only be King so long as he has an army. Take that away from him… and he’s just a man.”

Felicia raised a good point. Cameron certainly liked the idea. But that did beg the question…

“How would we even begin?”

Grinning wickedly, Felicia waves a hand through the air.

“Simple enough. I already said, didn’t I? Fisk is only as strong as his weakest link. Rather than find that link… we can just create it ourselves. He already tried to recruit you tonight. If we have a ‘falling out’ between us, you can go running to him as the next best thing and join his organization. And from there, you can destroy it from the inside.”

Ah. That was… well, that was certainly a plan. Though part of him did rankle at the thought of taking orders from a man like Fisk.

As you should. The only mistress you need is me, my Champion. Even still, I will not begrudge you this subterfuge should you believe it to be necessary.

Well, it was nice to know that Lady Loki wouldn’t be insulted if he went with Felicia’s idea. And really… it wasn’t like they had anything better yet. Even Gwen is biting her tongue, looking concerned but not actually voicing her opposition to the scheme.

… Was Cameron really going to do this? Was he really going to infiltrate the Kingpin’s organization, joining up with the man who was threatening his brother before Fisk could actually truly make a threat to his brother? Hm…

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ZxEXVi3AGhClrQ_W1oLIpC0b_ZYWx25bYd6ahcjth0/edit?tab=t.0