CHAPTER 13:

THE FALSE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Six months later…

Harry and Felicia were standing in the office of Medea Graves as she and Bloodknife briefed them. "Word on the grapevine is, the NYPD finally have enough evidence to execute a warrant on Wilson Fisk. They're doing so tomorrow morning," Graves said.

Harry and Felicia looked at each other, before Harry asked, "I'm guessing this is a 'good news, bad news' thing, right? I mean, why would the Aurors or Gringotts get involved?"

"Because we have learned only recently that Wilson Fisk purchased a few magical artifacts on the black market," Bloodknife said. "Nothing that warrants a major breach of the Statute of Secrecy, yet, but still concerning. They're mostly artifacts that were stolen from Mahoutokoro by disgruntled expelled students, and given Fisk's interest in Japanese artifacts, it simply may be that he bought them due to that very interest."

"Exactly," Graves said. "However, leaving them in his hands is a risk we cannot take. Thankfully, Captain Watanabe is now aware of MACUSA and the wizarding world. We will be liaising with her and, if necessary, any of the vigilantes who might get involved. Given their history with the Kingpin, we expect either the Daredevil or Spider-Man to potentially get involved. Also, the assassin Elektra Natchios. You two won't be getting involved in the raid directly, though. For the moment, operational jurisdiction is in the hands of the NYPD rather than the DMLE, so Aurors won't be getting involved unless as a last resort. What we need you to do is to pinpoint any potential places where Fisk may have kept these artifacts."

Bloodknife handed over a printout with names and pictures. "These are the artifacts we suspect Fisk to have stolen. Miss Hardy, you are an experienced thief, and I am sure you have stolen from the Kingpin before. How familiar are you with where he stores his goods when he isn't displaying them?"

Felicia frowned, tapping her lips. "I have stolen from him on occasion, but never too often. Steal from someone like Fisk too often, and he'll send the big guns after me. I'm no stranger to bringing down heat on myself, but I know when to pick my battles. He does own more than a few construction sites, but I doubt he'd use them to store substantial amounts of art or artifacts. I stole from his headquarters when I did steal from him, though. That, and a gallery where he displayed his artifacts. I actually once chased a rumour that he had one of the Masamune swords that went missing after the Second World War. I'd need more information before I can do anything solid, though. Do you reckon the NYPD would find anything on his computers to suggest where he might have this stuff?"

"We'll put in a request to Captain Watanabe," Graves said. "Fisk could have some sort of kill-switch for his servers, one that could wipe them, or self-destruct. We'll see if we can contact Daredevil or Spider-Man if they get involved."

Felicia nodded. "Don't get me wrong, I could figure out where given enough time to investigate, but waiting for any information they can salvage would be better. The problem is, Fisk getting arrested, assuming he can't drown the cops out with his lawyers, will cause one hell of a power vacuum in the New York underworld. He's been the one keeping most of them away. The Maggia have been quiet, especially ever since we put paid to Hammerhead, and the only criminals making much noise have been superpowered nuts or rogue elements. But, well, what do they say? Nature abhors a vacuum. Something's going to rush in and fill the gap."

"You wouldn't know it, given the way Osborn's been trumpeting his re-election campaign," Graves said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Arrogant bloody No-Maj…how he's able to run the city and still run a major corporation is beyond me. I know conflict of interest and nepotism are tolerated in MACUSA and in the wizarding world, but you'd think the No-Majs would be better."

Harry nodded grimly. Still, it was a truism that he held that magic didn't cause wizards' follies. Rather, it only magnified the follies humans in general were prey to.

Still, there was one folly he was glad he indulged in, he reflected as he looked at Felicia. It had taken quite a while of dancing around things, but they had finally progressed from boyfriend and girlfriend to lovers. He felt privileged, even if more than a few people back home would not have considered that to be the case, given that his lover was an infamous thief. But Felicia was smart, beautiful, and beneath a sardonic and pragmatic attitude, she was quite compassionate. She challenged him, and he liked to think he challenged her too. And unlike Silvija, she was quite flexible, mentally, anyway. Silvija, for all her virtues, tended to be unyielding and hard, and this was one of the factors behind her and Harry breaking up, even if it was amicably.

Felicia, on the other hand, was more mentally flexible. Perhaps it was the sort of mentality needed to be a professional thief. Then again, she was very flexible overall, including morally…and physically. And yet, there was more to her than that. People who looked at her immediately pegged her down as a sexy cat-burglar, like something out of a comic book. They didn't consider her to be a human being, with complex motives of her own, beyond hedonism and thrill-seeking.

"I don't think Felicia is wrong, Graves," Harry said. "Voldemort's death didn't end Magical Britain's problems, and even if nobody really took his place, the underlying problems are still there."

"I know that, Potter. I've been an Auror longer than you've known you were a wizard. But frankly, unless Fisk or other criminals pose a substantial threat to MACUSA, my hands are tied by our law. Yes, I know how ridiculous this is, in New York of all places. Between the Avengers when they're here, Dr Strange, the X-Men, Spider-Man, and all those others, who'd bat an eyelid at wizards? Still, we'll get any pertinent information from the NYPD, and send it to you via Gringotts."

"No more information on the Demons?" Harry asked.

"Not a damned thing, at least on any groups that use something like the Darkforce. Like it or not, your only lead died with that soldier. But we'll keep an eye on things, just in case they make their move when Fisk is out of the way…"

"I'm surprised you haven't gone for Fisk that often, Felicia," Harry remarked as they walked out of the DMLE.

"Like I said, I know when to pick my battles. I'm too well-known, and Fisk has a long reach. And with my father being an example of how things can go wrong…" She shrugged. "And then, well, I stole a portrait of his wife a few years back. The amount of heat he called down during that…well, I decided to be a bit more circumspect where he was concerned. Still stole from him on occasion, but it was mostly opportunistic stuff. I'm a risk-taker, not utterly suicidal."

"Well, we'll have to find out where he's keeping those artifacts. Hopefully, the NYPD might find something. I think we should speak to a certain friendly neighbourhood vigilante too."

"Later. I believe we had dinner plans before Graves called us up…"

As they ate dinner at the restaurant, Felicia seemed pensive. She gestured for Harry to erect a Privacy Charm. After he did so, she said, "Actually, I do have one place we can scope out. There's a gallery on the Upper West Side, it hosts a substantial portion of Fisk's collection. I can't guarantee that the items Gringotts wants us to look for are there, but…"

"It's worth a shot. I'll do some recon later. Fisk's men may know you, but they don't know me as well."

"I'm not a porcelain doll, Harry. Remember, that's what split Peter and MJ apart."

"They're on talking terms again. And we're talking about acceptable risks. I know you're good at stealth and small-scale combat. It's another thing entirely if Fisk sends a bunch of goons to you to gank you while you sleep, or bomb your apartment. The motto of Hogwarts is basically dodgy Latin for Never tickle a sleeping dragon."

Felicia snorted. "Yes, and did you ever take that advice? Don't get me wrong, I know you're concerned, and you want to protect me. But I've been in the thieving business longer than you. You'd be surprised at how much you can transform using a change of clothes, makeup, a wig, and some cotton balls. That, plus changing how you hold yourself, can do a lot. You wizards have it easy with your spells and…what's that godawful crap Hermione allowed me to try out once? Polyjuice Potion? Ugh. We mere mortals had to make do with good old-fashioned ingenuity."

"I know, I know. I just don't want you to get hurt, Felicia."

"That's fine. Once he's in prison, I'll have less trouble to worry about anyway. He's got enough influence to run his organisation while in prison, true, but his ability to retaliate will be less."

"I'll use spells anyway, just in case." As he toyed with his food pensively, he said, "Nearly two years since we first met. Time flies."

"Yeah. Have to admit, I'm enjoying doing this commission work for Gringotts. Can barely feel the leash," Felicia said, rubbing her neck pointedly. "At least doing this work is interesting, even if it doesn't pay as much as the usual heist."

"Hey, I'm still fine with you sticking it sideways to other criminals and corporate fat cats," Harry said. "Gringotts couldn't give a damn either. I'm honestly surprised you haven't done much to OsCorp."

"…Yeah, well, that's another thing entirely. You hear a lot of shady things about OsCorp, stuff that makes me second-guess going after Osborn's shit. I mean, Octavius has a bone to pick with Osborn, and Osborn is circling Octavius like the vulture he is…not like the actual Vulture, who is an edgelord who's too old to play dress-up. Then again, calling Osborn a vulture is an insult to vultures. If Osborn makes his move, I'll see what I can do to make up the difference to Octavius, through some robberies on Oscorp. Octavius seems like a pretty sweet guy…though I'm pretty sure he's hiding something."

"Hiding something?"

Felicia sighed. "The last time I was over there, Octavius offered to help me improve my gadgets. I refused politely, because I'm a bit paranoid about having people tinker with them. But while I was there, I noticed more than a few letters from a certain physician whose name rang a bell. I looked up that physician…and they specialise in neurodegenerative disorders. I think Octavius is suffering from some sort of degenerative illness. That might be why he has such a fixation on artificial limbs. I honestly don't know if Hermione or Peter know."

Harry stared at Felicia in shock. "And you didn't think to say anything sooner?"

"Believe it or not, Harry, I'm more considerate of people's privacy than being a thief would suggest, at least as far as those who I give a damn about are concerned. My targets are fair game, but Octavius is another matter. And the thing is, he's paranoid, as you well know. Mildly, but when it comes to Osborn and his associates, he's still touchy. And given that NDAs are involved, I think he might be right to be paranoid about Osborn. Norman Osborn may have a façade of a good person. Hell, he treats Peter genuinely like a second son, as far as I can tell. But you hear all sorts of rumours about dodgy business practises and dangerous experiments in their biotech wing, even if nothing can be proven. Then again, Octavius cofounded Oscorp. Part of it may just be sour grapes. I honestly don't know, and Octavius, paranoid though he is, seems like a decent person."

"…Should we say anything?" Harry asked.

"Not to Hermione or Peter," Felicia said. "That's Octavius' call, not ours. But…look, if you want to say anything to the man himself, that's fine. You can blame me for finding out, it's not like I went out of my way to nose into his business. It's just the nature of cats to be curious."

Harry nodded. He'd have to find a way to broach the subject gently, and in private. Even if he was on better terms with Otto since they first met, and was supplying a good amount of funding, Otto did remain a little skittish about anything involving Osborn or potential industrial espionage.

"Well, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it." He held out a glass. "Here's to Fisk falling from grace."

"Amen to that," Felicia said, clinking her glass to his own. "It's been a long time coming…"

CHAPTER 13 ANNOTATIONS:

Heh heh…it's been a while, huh? Admittedly, that was due to me not playing the game for a while, having more or less completed the whole thing. Still, never mark any of my stories as dead until I say so. I should really get to buying and playing the Miles Morales game too, see what that's like…

No numbered annotations this time.