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This was supposed to be the easy part.
The drives were tucked away securely and the stage was set for her final dramatic exit. One last trick and it would all be over. Everything had played out exactly how she wanted it to. The high of adrenaline and satisfaction coursed through her, but were soured by the Spider still hot on her heels.
He was still following her. He was still trying to save her. The worst part was that she should have seen this inevitability, but didn’t.
Felicia was used to testing the bounds of what she could get away with, and was all too familiar with the sting of rejection that came when she inevitably pushed too hard. When he broke it off after finding out she had been stealing again, she thought for sure that was it. He would have nothing more to do with her and that was fair and fine. She played her game and she would take the consequences.
She had tried to change. She had put in the hours at any interesting looking job she could find, enduring the dull monotony of her day to day to try to prove that she was capable of being the person he thought she could be, but in the end all that was left was the desire for more. All she could think about was the Cat.
The tip off from her source in the Maggia certainly didn’t help.
It really was just the perfect setup. Hammerhead was dead-set on getting the drives, and even with her help, the other dons would be too preoccupied dealing with his uprising to notice the Black Cat until it was too late. Felicia would get all the spoils and Hammerhead would take the fall. How could she not jump on that opportunity?
She had planned every moment, worked out every kink, and in the end there was no problem she could find that she wasn’t prepared for. Backup plans for backup plans. She felt alive again, the thrill of the hunt finally back after too long lying in wait.
Raiding the police headquarters for her old gear set off the chain of events. It would have been an easy in and out, but the racket needed to be big enough that Hammerhead and Spider-Man took notice. They did. The Black Cat was out of retirement and the plan was set into motion exactly as she had planned.
Though Spider-Man was always going to be the biggest potential problem, she knew needed his help, and was confident in her ability to play him. He was too earnest for his own good, and that made him easy to read, and easy to manipulate. It didn’t take much in the end to get him exactly where she needed him to be. She just had to give him a trail to follow and a mess to clean up that kept him distracted long enough for her to get the job done.
It was unfortunate that she needed to use her son to get him on her side. There was only so much pulling he would take before he started to question her motives, especially since he was back with his ex. Luckily for her, it would be easy to convince him that her son was in danger.
A misdirection was always easier to pull off than a flat out lie. No one knew about her son, she had made sure of that, but he could be in danger if Hammerhead found out about him. Just telling Peter about him tipped the scales into dangerous territory, but it was a necessary risk.
The call from Mary Jane had also been unexpected.
Though, again, she really ought to have known that the investigative reporter her old flame hung around with would be able to track her down. MJ hadn’t said anything that set Felicia’s plan out of motion, just insisted that if Felicia was set on jerking her boyfriend around that she at least tell him if he had a son. He deserved that much, really.
Where other people had the tendency to get caught up in the fine details of feelings, Felicia had always excelled at seeing the bigger picture. No matter what her doubt tried to tell her, tying herself to Peter Parker with a child was a bad idea.
Even though it had been so long, Felicia could still remember one of the only times she had visited Peter’s apartment. She recalled the hastily hidden eviction notices, and knew that even though he could barely afford to keep himself afloat, he would do anything for the boy he thought was his. He was better off not knowing.
Still, she could have done without the guilt. That, along with Peter still following her, trying to convince her she could still change, was almost too much to bear. So instead, she set her focus towards the lives they would have after this.
There was no outcome where Felicia Hardy and Peter Parker got to live a happy life together. They were too different and someone was always going to be miserable, so really this was better for the both of them.
It was obvious that MJ cared about him, and Felicia had always gotten the impression that he never stopped caring about her. They’d be happy together, and Felicia could finally focus on what she wanted, rather than the gnawing guilt.
Besides, if you thought about it, he was helping her son in a way. They had never been hurting for cash, but the money she would steal from the Maggia would set them up for life. Her son would want for nothing, thanks in small part to his father, whether he knew it or not.
With her apartment quickly coming into view, Felicia steeled her resolve, the adrenaline rushing back again as she prepared herself for the final part of her plan. It was too late to turn back now. This was going to be better for the both of them, she just had to believe that.
“Love you, Spider. I’ll miss you.”