Chapter 19

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

Chapter 10– A Life of Crime.

Edited: 23/03/2023

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"Why the fuck would you do that, Ben? What fucking drove you to fuck everything up?" Felicia screams at me as she paces back and forth across her apartment while I am calmly seated on her sofa, not knowing why she is so bothered. as far as I can tell, I haven't even done anything wrong.

"I don't know why you are so angry, Felicia. You said I could do it. I remember your exact words, take everything you can and burn the rest for all I care. That's what you said, wasn't it?" I state calmly, a vast contradiction to her frantic mood and her fidgeting self. I followed her letters to the order, so I don't get why she is panicking so much.

"I was talking about the cash, the MONEY! It was a stupid figure of SPEECH! You can take what you can of it and burn the rest for all I care. The money, nothing else, certainly not everything in the fucking WAREHOUSE!!" She screeches, pulling at her own hair as she stops pacing and looks at me with a fearsome look in her eyes.

"So what if I burnt it down, you went and got whatever it was that you wanted, and I dragged all of those guys outside before lighting the place up? I truly don't understand, so what if I burnt the rest of it? We were stealing stuff anyway, so what has got you so damn worried?" Honestly, what is her problem? After beating up all those thugs and knocking them out, we got to ransacking the place. Felicia disappeared inside to take whatever it was that she had come for.

I started loading up a few duffel bags with cash for myself, and when they were all filled, I realised how little of an impact I had on the warehouse. The whole place was still full of stuff, and I had barely managed to even take half of the loot inside of a single crate.

I had opened a few boxes of drugs before finding this one chock full of money, and then I had to leave all this stuff here and run away with what I could carry. That pissed me off. The point of me robbing bad people was so that I could get away with it easily, as they won't report it to the police. But also so I would be stopping the bad guys in some way, although profitable, which would appease the parts of Peter in me that didn't want to hurt anyone innocent.

But I would hardly make a dent in them if all I could carry and take with me was a few duffel bags of cash, not when I knew how much merchandise was in this warehouse that was going to go out there and cause damage and bring in even more money. So it is all just in front of me, and I am just going to let it go.

I decided to take Felicia's words to heart, and I dragged all of those guys out of the warehouse, and then I piled all of those crates in the middle of the warehouse and took whatever drugs and shit I could find and poured it all over the containers in the hopes that it is flammable, the stuff certainly was toxic at the very least.

When Felicia came back from wherever she was, I opened a zippo lighter I had found on one of the thugs and chucked it on the pile without hesitation the moment I saw her, and then we quickly ran away, the warehouse going up in flames with all of its contents, with Felicia freaking out until we got back here where she has continued to berate me for a while.

I know it was probably a rash idea to set all that stuff on fire, especially the drugs, because that stuff going up in flames can not be suitable for the environment. I probably just caused a lot of pollution. But you know what, I don't care. I could give a fuck about pollution and the environment, not when people like Tony Stark and Reed Richards exist. They probably already have a solution to it and just haven't implemented it yet, so that sort of stuff isn't my problem. It is theirs.

"Why am I so worried? Why? Because you just blew up the warehouse of a very powerful man and burnt up all his stuff, he is the sort of man that will hunt us for this and make sure we die gruesome deaths, do you not UNDERSTAND!" Again she screams at me, making me very confused since events are contradicting each other now.

"But, you were the one that decided to rob that place. If he was such a powerful man, then why would you choose to rob him and risk such a gruesome death? It makes no sense." Why would she choose to rob this guy if he is so dangerous? Felicia doesn't really kill people, so she should have known that the thugs would report our attack, but she wasn't so worried about that. she only started panicking after I set the place on fire and destroyed everything.

"People as influential as him have a bottom line, but in a world like this, he has to have various bottom lines for multiple people, and the line depends on who you are. With so many powered people in the world and so many dangerous people, he has to adapt to each of them and allow them to get away with a certain level of stuff, or his organisation will be driven into the ground if he bites off more than he can chew. So you and me, we just crossed our line." She says, losing some of her heat and flopping down on the couch next to me.

"Who is this guy then? And why didn't we just rob some other gangs instead of this guy, so we wouldn't have to worry about some dumb bottom lines?" I ask because we shouldn't have been going near this guy at all. If Felicia says he is as powerful as he is, even if we are allowed to act to a certain degree, there is no point in risking it.

"Because this is WILSON FISK, THE FUCKING KINGPIN! EVERY TWO-BIT CROOK IN THIS CITY WORKS FOR HIM IN SOME WAY. NO MATTER WHICH CRIMINALS WE ROBBED, WE WOULD BE STEALING FROM HIM AT THE END OF THE DAY!.. It's why we were only supposed to rob a little from the warehouse, and I said you could burn the cash, things like that are not that much in the grand scheme of it all, and they are below Fisk's notice. But you set fire to the merchandise, and not only that, but you burnt down an entire warehouse, which will disrupt his operations in that area. He won't let things like this go." She starts heatedly before burning out and finishing with a sigh.

Wilson Fisk, huh? I have a few memories of going up against him and his crooks, fighting them all, and even having a slugfest with the big man himself. And being the big meaty man he was, he managed to hold his own, though, against Peter, that isn't much of an accomplishment since he is always holding back. But even after all those fights, Fisk still remained in his position unfazed. It's like all those fat jokes didn't even get through his beefy exterior. Peter really is a bit too innocent and naive for this world, thinking that a fistfight will be enough to stop a man like that.

Even though I knew his title was The Kingpin, and he was a big deal, I never knew that he was the head of basically all organised crime in the city. With the amount of crime that happens in this city, it is hard to believe that most of it is committed under the orders of a single man.

"Wait, what about The Maggia? Couldn't we have stolen from them instead of Fisk? The Maggia is split up into twelve different families who own their own turf. If Fisk owns most of the city, then we could have gone after one of those families. They are much less powerful and dangerous."

"Haa, Ben, you really have a lot to learn about the gritty side of New York. Fisk owns seventy-five percent of this city, with the other twenty-five percent being owned by The Maggia. And that twenty-five percent is further split up between the twelve Maggia families, which is why we robbed from Fisk, understand?" She explains out for me like I am an idiot, except I still don't understand. She clearly sees that from the expression on my face and rolls her eyes before continuing her explanation.

"You see, Fisk owns seventy percent of New York's underworld, which means he has a whole lot on his plate, and he can't oversee every little thing. So as long as no one makes too many big waves, he will let the little things go and not waste time. However, Fisk sometimes seeks retribution for some of those little things, which sends a message, which is why most people don't risk it. But he doesn't go for people like us because we are not worth the hassle, especially for so little. Plus, he can hire us for jobs in the future, and this is the sort of thing he can reveal in a negotiation to get a better deal. So you get where I am going with this, right?" I shake my head no.

"I get why we robbed from Fisk. It was because we were beneath his notice, and he wouldn't have bothered with us if we didn't do anything too big. But I don't get why that rules out The Maggia. the consequences of robbing them instead of Fisk would surely be less." Felicia shakes her head at this.

"The Maggia only own twenty-five percent of this city, and that is further divided between the twelve families giving each family approximately just over two percent each, give or take a few percent since the families aren't all equal. This not only means that all of their manpower is contained within their small turf, but it also means that they only have a little to lose, and they are going to hold on to it for dear life, afraid that they will lose it. So they will fight to protect what little they have. Even the smallest slight will bring down their full wrath as that faction of The Magia will be scared of the other factions and other gangs thinking they are weak and taking their turf, which is why we didn't steal from them." She explains, and it makes perfect sense now.

"Alright, alright, I get it. I understand why it was the best option to steal from Fisk and not anybody else, okay."

"It was a good idea to steal from Fisk, but not anymore. Burning down his warehouse is like a declaration of war. Fisk has to retaliate now. Otherwise, everybody is going to think he is weak, and when you are at the top, you will fight even harder to keep it and get even more than you would if you were at the bottom. We are going to be hunted constantly by Fisk and his men non-stop every time we go out. I hope you are prepared for that." She says pointedly, showcasing her frustration and annoyance.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Fisk and his men will only be looking for us when we are out on the prowl for more loot, at which point we will be stealthy, and anyway, since we will be dressed in our costumes. Not to mention I am with you, and I am super-powered, and together, we can fight off any firepower he sends after us." I try to reassure her because this is my fault in the end, and I don't want her to decide to lay low because I still need to amass money for my future. Plus, I need some proper identification, as accurate as it can get. That sort of authenticity is going to cost the big bucks, and she will lead me to that.