Chapter 37
Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it
Chapter 19– Justice Waits For No Man.
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"So... how was your night?" Felicia asks as I finally exit my room after a long ass time, the sun is high in the sky, and I am pretty sure it is midday. I didn't even look at the time when I woke up. I just needed to go out and put some caffeine in my body to kick it into gear.
"It was... a night. I don't really want to talk about it. Is the coffee done?" I ask Felicia, who nods. I walk past the kitchen island, where she is sitting on a stool, dressed in nothing but an oversized white T-shirt that stops halfway down her thighs and eating a sandwich. I guess I am not the only one that had a hard time yesterday because it is midday, and she hasn't dressed up or left the apartment, not even a side of make-up on her face either.
"Great. So... How was your night?" I ask as I begin to pour myself some coffee, fishing for information. I know I shouldn't be getting news like this through her, but I can't help myself. We agreed when we started this little crusade of mine that Felicia would not be sharing any information with me because that would leave a trail from her to Batman attacks. Unfortunately, the Kingpin never lets anything important be known by too many, so he will have a narrow list to find the traitor from.
"It was... A night. I don't want to think about all the hoops that damn fatty is putting me through, so can we talk about something else." Felicia says, obviously having a beleaguered last night much the same as I. So I let the issue go and sat down at the kitchen island next to her and started to drink my coffee, the both of us sitting in silence aside from the sound of my sips and Felicia's munching.
"Do you have any plans for today then, Felicia? I am pretty free today, and I have decided to take a rest day." I was pretty tired from my excursion last night. It was just one thing after the other. First, I stopped the multiple crimes I came across, including the incident with the girl who was traumatised by me and went full-on Christian, and then I stopped more crimes before finally reaching the crime den where I assaulted the place.
After that, I discovered that they were transferring people somewhere, and so I tailed the shipment to a secret underground facility which I snuck into. Then I made a distraction, freed the prisoners and then went out and helped Shield defeat the AIM agents and disappeared off into the night. Only to have a little skirmish with Daredevil, which was a bit weird and then I finally came home and rested.
Man, the superhero life is tough. I mean, I have memories of doing this kind of stuff again and again as Spider-Man, nights even more tiring than this one, of fighting and fighting all night, and then coming home all bruised, battered and bleeding and sleeping it off, only to wake up the next day and do the same thing. Thankfully I am not that guy anymore because while Peter would feel the all-powering need to go out there and do it again, knowing that anything terrible happening would be happening because he decided to not go out, I don't have such an obligation.
The only reason I am even doing this superhero thing now is to help out Felicia, we have been living together for a couple months, and I would say we are even friends. And even if I am not the superhero type, I am still a man that repays his debts and looks out for those he cares about. And right now, the only person in my life that comes close to that is Felicia, so I am going to do this for her. And after everything is resolved, I will leave with my new identity and try to forge a life for myself, far away from all of this craziness.
"I am not planning to do anything today, Ben. Nothing at all. Probably just stay home and go on the internet, watch some TV and maybe play some video games. I am at that fat fuckers beck and call, so I would rather not be doing anything important when he inevitably calls me and makes me drop it to go steal something for him." She explains, and yeah, I can understand that. I have yet to really ask about what jobs she's been given, and she hasn't been asking me about my end of things. We figure it will be safe for both of us that way. With no collusion between us, then nobody will ever figure out that we are colluding, if that makes sense.
"Hey, you checked for microphones and stuff today, right?" Felicia asks nervously a second later, and I freeze at her words. Then, quickly without a word, I get up and go back to my room, and go to the corner where I kneel down and closely examine a socket in the wall. I reach my finger out and stick it into the nails and start to undraw them and then pull the socket out so I can reach in and take out the little scanner inside that detects listening and recording devices.
Ever since the run-in with Fisk, when I made this scanner, I have continually checked the place we were staying every morning in case someone has come back and implanted more bugs in the wall and stuff. It occurred to both myself and Felicia that we would both be out and about during the day and night so people could sneak in and plant more bugs, so I checked every morning for them. I also figured that if they could come in and plant more bugs, then they could even come and mess with my scanner, so I hid it, and I checked its mechanisms every few days just to make sure it hadn't been tampered with.
Immediately I get to scanning my room, and when it comes up clean, I start moving to the other rooms to check them as well. Eventually, I make it back to the main room where Felicia is still sitting at the counter, the apartment is nearly completely clean, and as I look down at my scanner, that is confirmed the whole place is clean. Which I expected, but you can never be too careful. In the last week or so, we have had no trouble. Mainly because we have changed locations a few times, though bugs did pop up every so often in more subtle spots each time, but they underestimated my scanner, and I found them all.
I think the main reason that we have had no bugs so far in this apartment is that it is not under Felicia or any of her alias names. It is under mine. Not my main Ben Reily one because that would be stupid, but I asked Felicia for assistance. She helped me to find a guy to get me some fake identification that wasn't the best, but the hotel staff definitely wouldn't see through it, and I got the hotel room this time, and Felicia had to sneak in through a window, and we have had no problem here yet.
"Alright, we are all good. Feel free to start badmouthing him off even more, maybe comment on his weight and big bald head, or how about the fact that he doesn't have a neck." I say, putting my scanner down on the coffee table, picking up the TV remote, and turning on the television to see what is on.
"No, I am not in the mood anymore. Plus, I want to save up all the insults so I can use them on the man himself someday. But can you please remember to use that thing? If Fisk heard me mouthing off about him, things could turn out really bad. He really doesn't take disrespect well." Felicia says, breathing a sigh of relief. Even if it was unlikely for there to be any bugs here since we haven't had any since we moved n, the confirmation is a relief.
"Sorry, Felicia, I just had a tough night and forgot about it this morning. Which is why I am planning on going to the movies tonight, and I think you should come with me. I tell her, pausing in my channel, flipping to look back over the sofa towards her.
"Ben, I-" She spins around on her stool and turns around to give me an answer, but I cut her off before she can.
"I know, I know. But you can't just stay cooped up inside while your skills are being used for Fisk. That would be letting him win. You need to keep on living your life and don't worry so much about Fisk. Eventually, you won't be under his thumb anymore, and I am working to make that day come as soon as possible. So relax, take a load off and try to enjoy yourself for a bit. Come to the movies with me, we'll eat snacks and popcorn, watch a comedy, or a horror or whatever. Just enjoy yourself for a bit." It is a bit sad to see the woman that would be out and about all day, shopping or robbing, be reduced to hiding inside and waiting to be called upon.
"...Alright, fine, but you are paying. And we are going shopping afterwards as well, and you are going to help me carry it all." She says, agreeing to my request but also enlisting me for a bothersome time afterwards. Looking at the sly smirk on her face, I can tell she knows my unwillingness to go shopping with her but knows that I won't refuse either since I want her to come to the movies with me.
"Alright, you got me. I'll pay for the movie and all the snacks, but the shopping is your own thing. I will carry all the stuff for you as well, but you will be paying for dinner." I already know that I am the perfect shopping tool for women. Given my strength and my stickiness, I can carry multiple bags and can even stick them firmly to my body as well, ensuring they won't spill. I know my worth, as does Felicia, since she wants me to accompany her shopping.
"Okay, I will buy dinner. But I won't be getting takeout or something. It will be really fancy, like sushi or something. In return, you can pay for three of the things I will pick up today." She says, leaving her stool and hopping over the back of the sofa to land on the soft cushions next to me, jostling me sightly and making me drop the remote to the floor. Looking down, I can no longer see the thing, meaning it has travelled underneath the sofa. Shooting Felicia a look, she, in turn, looks sheepish, but I ignore her for now and start to rifle my hand about under the sofa in search of the remote control.
"Yeah, how about no, Felicia. I am already paying for movies and snacks, and you are paying for dinner and your own shopping. You have already convinced me to take on every man's bane, following a woman shopping, and you won't be rinsing me for anything more. Yes, got it," I say, exclaiming with happiness when my hand finally grasps the remote, happy that I didn't have to get off my seat and kneel on the ground to get it.
"Come on, Ben. I haven't been feeling the best, what with everything going on lately, and I could really use a pick me up. Some nice shiny things for me to wear would really help. Please, Ben." She starts to plead, shining those emerald green eyes at me and subtly emphasising her chest with her arms by making a pleading gesture with her hands.
"Ha, that is not going to work on me, Felicia. I have lived with you for months now. I know all your tricks and schemes and can easily resist your wiles. I have seen it all, how you take longer than necessary to pick things off the floor, the way you like to chew on the ends of pens and how you scrunch your face up into this cute face when you eat something too spicy. Felicia, I know everything about you...r methods, and I am totally immune to them." Even if Felicia stopped trying to overtly seduce me after I dropped her in that alleyway, I still notice the stuff she does around me.
"Right... So, what movie are we going to watch then?"