Thick as Thieves Ch. 21 (Marvel) (Patreon)

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

A/N: Doing things ‘right’.

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“Seriously Cameron?! There had to be a better way!”

Sighing, Cameron shakes his head as Gwen gesticulates wildly, showcasing her disapproval over what he’s done so far.

“We talked about this, Gwen. There wasn’t another way. James Wesley is Wilson Fisk’s fall guy. The only way we’re going to take down Fisk is through him. And the only way we’re going to be able to use him is if we burn him in Fisk’s eyes first.”

“Right but we could have done that a different way. You were literally able to sneak into Wesley’s place… you could have used your illusions to make him unknowingly embezzle money from Fisk instead or something like that! Having him send out orders to all of those underlings to start getting more aggressive… do you have any idea how much damage that will cause?”

Yes. Of course he did. That was the point. Cameron crosses his arms over his chest, staring Gwen down. In the end, he’d decided that it was best to still work with her. As the vigilante ‘Ghost-Spider’, Gwen was perfectly suited for taking all of the ‘heat’ for going after Fisk.

Indeed, if Cameron just let Fisk kill Wesley after uncovering his manufactured malfeasance, while it would certainly be simple enough to have the Kingpin caught in the act… it could eventually blow back on Cameron and Felicia. After all, eventually Fisk would start to wonder how he got played so hard.

But if Gwen saves Wesley’s life from Fisk directly… well then, it just looks like Wesley and Ghost-Spider have been working together, doesn’t it? It doesn’t have to involve Cameron and Felicia at all at that point.

Unfortunately, Gwen really wasn’t happy about how Cameron had decided to go about things. She thought he’d been a little too reckless with it all. But even her proposal… it wasn’t good enough.

“If I’d gone that route, Gwen, it wouldn’t have been enough to take down Fisk’s organization. We might have been able to turn Wesley against him and even got Fisk put away for attempted murder, but the rest of his criminal enterprises would just continue chugging along. They’d break apart into their original components and continue their illegal acts. And eventually Fisk would have gotten out of prison again, like he always does, and he’d rebuild… like he always does.”

Cameron sweeps his arm through the air.

“This way, they’re going to expose themselves to law enforcement much faster, revealing themselves through their reckless, aggressive actions. And all under orders from Fisk’s second in command, orders they’ll believe are coming from Fisk himself. They’ll tear themselves apart before Fisk is even put away and if he does still manage to get out of prison, at least his assets and his empire will be mostly demolished!”

Gwen grimaces.

“People are going to get hurt in the process, Cameron. Innocent people. Shop owners are going to get squeezed hard, homes are going to be robbed… you’ve basically given New York City’s entire criminal underworld leave to surrender to their worst impulses after Fisk and Wesley have been keeping them suppressed and contained for years.”

Cameron scoffs.

“You almost sound like you’d prefer we kept to the status quo, Gwen. You’re the one who won’t just let me end the threat at the source.”

That has Gwen looking stricken.

“You’re not a killer, Cameron. Fisk is an awful man, but you’re not… you’re not an assassin.”

Maybe not. Cameron had never killed anyone before. But…

“I’m not a hero either, Gwen. I’m not like you. My only responsibility is to Brandon.”

Not quite true, but Cameron isn’t about to tell Gwen about Lady Loki. She doesn’t need to know that he’s literally the Champion of a Goddess of Lies and Mischief at this point. And in the back of his mind, he can feel Lady Loki’s approval over the subterfuge.

“I won’t let anything happen to my brother, Gwen. I’m going to keep him safe, no matter what it costs me. And if you won’t let me kill Fisk… then we’re doing it this way and crippling Fisk as much as possible before locking him the fuck up.”

Gwen still doesn’t look happy, standing there with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. So… Cameron throws her a bone.

“Besides… we copied Wesley’s entire harddrive after sneaking into his place and having him leave his computer on for us. Felicia has been going through it ever since and we’ve begun feeding the right people in law enforcement information and tips useful for stopping the bad guys as they become more reckless and aggressive. I’m not leaving it all up in the air or anything like that.”

Blinking, Gwen looks taken aback… and even mollified.

“W-Well… that changes things! Why didn’t you start with that?!”

Because it didn’t really change anything and deep down Cameron suspects Gwen knows it. Even if they do give a bunch of tips to the police and the FBI and other agencies involved in criminal activity, it won’t actually stop some of those criminals from doing harm before they’re caught. Not to mention law enforcement can be notoriously unreliable at the best of times… they’re probably going to fuck it up along the way.

Hell, if the law enforcement agencies in this country could actually do their damn jobs, someone like Gwen wouldn’t even need to exist. Her vigilantism and indeed the rise of street-level superheroes like her all across America and other so-called ‘First World Countries’ was emblematic of just how bad things were and how corrupted and terrible their justice system was at this point.

… But Cameron wasn’t going to spend too long on his soapbox. He was literally a criminal himself, a thief who didn’t intend to stop stealing any time soon. So it wasn’t really his place to pass judgment or anything like that. No, all that mattered was he could use Gwen in the same way he was using the system to try and take Fisk down.

“Let’s just get to work, Gwen. It’s going to be a long week.”

Gwen bites her lower lip… but ultimately nods. And so they do get to work.

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Ultimately, a week turns out to be a generous estimation of how fast they can tear down Fisk’s empire. To be fair, Cameron had sort of known that, he’d just been trying to rush to get ahead of the moment when all of the fake versions of the furniture and artwork and other things he’d stolen from Fisk’s mansion would start to finally disappear as the solid illusions began fading.

Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that drek. Ultimately, nobody moves on Cameron’s preferred timetable for a variety of reasons. First, the law enforcement agencies… of course they aren’t going to have a turn around of days even when they’re being handed everything they need to catch the bad guys red handed and put them away.

No, some of them move as slow as molasses and in some cases, the bad guys aren’t even caught by the people who Cameron and Felicia tip off, they’re caught by different law enforcement altogether, or they’re caught by a vigilante like Gwen or one of her ‘peers’.

And then, funnily enough, there’s the criminal side of things as well. Namely… it takes Fisk way too long to realize that Wesley has seemingly ‘turned’ on him. The sheer amount of trust that the Kingpin has put in his second in command, the way he’s allowed Wesley to run his entire empire while also letting Wesley act as oversight for everyone else… well, there’s a reason that the British man is the frame here, isn’t there?

In the end, Cameron has to stay practically on top of Wesley in the coming days, keeping the unsuspecting and unaware man stuck in a carefully crafted world of illusions so that he doesn’t realize he’s unknowingly screwing over his boss more and more with each passing day. Fires within Fisk’s organization that Wesley would normally spend his days putting out begin to start up… and remain untouched because for the first time, Wesley is truly unaware of them.

But it certainly doesn’t look like he’s unaware of them. In fact, from the right point of view, it looks more like he’s the one causing them.

At the same time, Cameron finds a moment to return to Fisk’s mansion and with Lady Loki’s tutelage on how to go completely undetected to ‘Midgardian Technology’, he’s able to slip in and refresh the solid illusions he’d left behind before they can fully fade.

That gives them all another couple weeks… and fortunately, as those weeks start to pass by, things finally start to move. Government agencies take notice of the tips they’re receiving and how they coincide with the criminal activity that’s becoming more and more detectable as days go by.

Everyone starts to get involved as time goes on and it’s not just the police either… no, Fisk’s ‘criminal associates’ are starting to be picked up by every single agency under the sun. Even the Post Office does a couple of raids, much to Cameron’s shock and stupefaction. He hadn’t even known the Post Office HAD a law enforcement arm.

Regardless, that’s what finally tips Fisk off that something is wrong. When word starts to get back to him that low level underlings are starting to snitch and his moles in the police and FBI and everywhere else begin reporting in that he’s being investigated by half a dozen agencies… well, it becomes obvious that something is wrong.

Especially because… none of this is coming from his second in command. From there, Fisk of course starts his own investigation… and finds everything that Cameron wanted him to find. Until at long last it happens… Fisk calls for Wesley to meet with him.

There’s no doubt in any of their minds what’s going to happen at this meeting, so Cameron gets ahold of Gwen and he and she go down there together. Felicia stays back to watch over Brandon just in case there’s some sort of trap being set, and Cameron has every intention of remaining completely hidden, even as he and Gwen skulk in the rafters of a warehouse.

At the same time, an alert is sent off to the FBI agent in charge of the burgeoning ‘Fisk’ case. Luckily, this latest agent isn’t one of Fisk’s moles or on the take whatsoever from what Cameron has been able to figure out. No, they’re a total glory hound and extremely eager to make a name for themselves by taking down the Wilson Fisk.

Finally… the moment that Cameron has been waiting for arrives. James Wesley and Wilson Fisk step into the warehouse, along with several armed men. Wesley doesn’t look like he has a clue that anything is going on… otherwise he’d probably be a lot more nervous and anxious than he actually is.

Meanwhile, Fisk has a dark look in his eyes and not a hint of a smile on his face. It probably should have tipped Wesley off that something was wrong, but instead he’s looking down at a tablet in his hands.

“Everything is going according to plan, sir. We have-!”

“No, Wesley. It’s not.”

Fisk’s grave tone is what finally catches Wesley’s attention. He looks up from his tablet, his brow furrowing in confusion.

“Sir?”

Rather than enraged, however, Fisk actually looks… pained. He looks legitimately upset at Wesley’s supposed ‘betrayal’.

“Why, Wesley? Why did you do it? I gave you everything… you’ve been like a son to me. Why would you betray me after everything we’ve been through together?”

Wesley’s baffled expression is a sight to behold, even as Gwen tenses up, sensing that her moment is coming soon.

“Sir, I don’t understand. I haven’t betrayed you, I would never-urk!”

Fisk’s massive hands are suddenly on Wesley’s shoulders, hoisting him up into the air and shoving him against a nearby stack of heavy metal crates.

“DON’T LIE TO ME! I know about the orders! I know you’ve been going behind my back! I know about the cases being built against me, cases that couldn’t exist without information you had to have given them!”

Cameron blinks, even as Gwen begins to lean forward, ready to leap. Honestly, the Kingpin looks well and truly emotionally distraught. He had expected fury and rage… murderous fury and rage at that. He hadn’t expected Fisk to actually get upset and look like he might actually cry over Wesley’s seeming betrayal.

“S-Sir… I swear… whatever you’ve been told it’s not true. It’s not-!”

But Fisk just lets out an anguished cry at Wesley’s continued denials. From his perspective the evidence is impossible to ignore, after all. Wesley’s only defense would be extreme incompetence, but even that doesn’t hold up when so many of the orders had Wesley’s rubber stamp on them.

One of Fisk’s giant hands comes up and closes over Wesley’s face and indeed his entire skull, cutting off the other man’s protests of innocence and beginning to squeeze. That’s when Gwen leaps into action, jumping down from the rafters and shooting a web that covers Fisk’s head in response.

Letting out a muffled, angry cry, the Kingpin is forced to release Wesley in order to rip the webbing off of his face so he can see and breathe again, causing the other man to drop to the floor at the foot of his murderous boss.

Of course, all of the armed men immediately raise their rifles to begin shooting at Gwen, but Cameron is quick to make sure they don’t see the real her, creating illusions that have them firing rather wildly at nobody and nothing at all.

Taking advantage of this, Gwen gets Wesley to relative safety and then begins taking down armed gunmen left and right while Cameron acts as support and Fisk shouts about ‘traitors’ and ‘kill them all’ and other things while red in the face and a vein popping out of the side of his neck.

… Which is about when the warehouse doors all get slammed open and a tide of FBI agents comes flowing into the room.

“FBI, EVERYONE DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!”

Cameron watches from the shadows as everyone, except for Gwen herself of course, is arrested and taken into custody. Specifically, Wesley and Fisk are both taken into custody… and thankfully separated almost immediately due to the tips provided to the FBI agent in charge of this operation.

Wesley might not have been a traitor before… but after Fisk just tried to kill him and Ghost-Spider had literally come to his rescue, he would no longer have a choice. He might have been willing to go down for Fisk before… hell, he might have even been willing to die for the other man.

But now? Now that his options were to go into witness protection or die ignobly as nothing but a traitor? Cameron was confident he knew what Wesley would choose.

Wilson Fisk… was finished.

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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/11RG2dGpNaE-aO1OW7qiDXvUT0dbGeqFSl3dHTtq058g/edit?tab=t.0