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Cindy pries the ceiling panel loose and lowers herself slowly into the room. It’s empty, which means Felicia hasn’t arrived yet.
She’s been agonizing over this for days, losing the little sleep she would otherwise be getting, and she’s still not sure she’s making the right decision. But when she compares her options, this is the one that gives her the least amount of dread in the pit of her stomach, so cheers to that.
The door opens silently, a sliver of light on the ground for a few seconds, and then Felicia slips inside. She scopes out the room and raises an eyebrow when her gaze falls on Cindy, sitting on a wooden crate in the corner. “You’re early,” she remarks.
Cindy swallows. Here goes nothing.
“I have to tell you something,” she begins.
“Oh?” Felicia’s voice is cool, detached. She knows, Cindy realizes. Somehow, Felicia knows that she’s a double agent for SHIELD.
“SHIELD is planning to raid your warehouse tonight,” Cindy tells her. “They’re also tracking me so they can arrest you.” She pulls up the sleeve of her costume to reveal a thin black watch, tracking device hidden inside, then carefully removes it and places it on the box next to her.
Felicia approaches her, takes a step into her bubble of personal space, and picks up the watch to examine it. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t know,” Cindy says.
“That’s not good enough.” Felicia puts the watch back and turns to face her.
Cindy flushes. “I haven’t had a human connection with anyone like I’ve had with you in ten years,” she confesses. “It felt wrong to break that.”
Felicia’s expression softens just a touch.
“I still think what you’re doing is wrong,” Cindy adds. “I just...I want you to have the choice.” She looks over at the watch and checks the time. “You have some time before they go in. I know that we’re here to pick up a teleportation device. You can hide what you need to, enough to keep you on your feet until you come to a decision.”
“You’ve thought this all out, haven’t you?” Felicia says. “Okay. Come on.”
Cindy follows her to a safe in the back of the room. Felicia crouches down, runs her fingers over the keypad, then leans her head down and presses her ear to the lock as she starts to fiddle gently with the buttons. A minute later, the top pops open, and Felicia takes out something that looks like a thick silicone rope.
“What are you going to do?” Felicia asks, turning to her.
“Pretend you got the better of me and escaped with that thing,” Cindy says.
A corner of Felicia’s mouth quirks up. “I would never let you off that easy.”
“We can fight, break some of these boxes,” Cindy offers. “Make it look more realistic.”
“Hmmm. You should come with me.”
Cindy’s heart skips a beat, and for a second, she allows herself to imagine it. Letting herself get turned, being a bad guy for real, living on the run, just the two of them. Having each other’s backs, trusting no one but each other. Then, with a sigh, she comes back to the real world. “I can’t,” she tells her. “SHIELD offered to find my family. If they know I’ve broken my end of the deal...”
“If they’re such good guys, and your family is in danger, shouldn’t they keep looking even without your cooperation?” Felicia challenges. “Anyway, I have a network of resources, too.”
It’s tempting.
“Come clean,” Cindy begs. “I can vouch for you, and if you go to them...”
Felicia shakes her head. “Nah. That’s not me.” She moves in closer, and Cindy’s breath falters as Felicia tucks a lock of Cindy’s hair behind her ear and then leans in and whispers, “Come on, Silk. Be bad with me.”
The timbre of her voice makes Cindy’s insides quiver, and she’s never felt the urge to be bad as much as she does now, but...
“Stealing is wrong,” Cindy insists, although her voice isn’t as steady as she’d like it to be.
“It’s just a prototype,” Felicia retorts. She pauses for a few seconds, as if waiting for Cindy to change her mind. Finally, she sighs. “There are no good guys and bad guys. Right and wrong is more complicated than that. You think we’re on opposite sides, but you put me before your precious morals tonight. That means something.”
Felicia cups Cindy’s face in her hands and leans in. All Cindy can focus on are her lips, pink and full and slightly parted, and then Felicia kisses her. It’s so much more gentle than she ever imagined (if she can admit to herself that she’s imagined this), and much too short, barely enough time for Cindy to return the kiss before Felicia pulls back.
A pleased smile spreads across Felicia’s face. “I hope the next time we meet, you’ll understand that.”
She doesn’t want to argue anymore. “Take care of yourself,” Cindy tells her.
“You too.” Felicia hesitates, then takes a deep breath and shoves Cindy into a crate using enough force to cause the beams to crash around her. It hurts, but not as much as the feeling of emptiness in her stomach as she watches a glowing blue light fill the room and disappear just as quickly, leaving her all alone.