It was three days later that Felicia would be ready to commit her assignment. Following the acceptance of Raymonds proposition, Felicia got to work the next day assembling the equipment she'd need to infiltrate the building she was to break into. Unfortunately for her, she had left her original equipment and uniform back in New York with her former lover, Spiderman. Whether or not he still had it, she wasn't about to call him to deliver it back to her. It only took her two days to fabricate a new uniform and much of her original equipment. Her new uniform was a dull white bodysuit, not as sleek as her previous suit, but protective enough to suffice for the job. Being mindful to her continued anonymity, she left the suit absent of any cat motifs and any other aesthetic details and functionality similar to her previous uniform. Consequently, it lacked the retractable titanium claws of her previous suit, thus negating her ability to climb up walls and limiting her offensive capabilities. To compensate offensively, she had the knuckles of the suit's gloves tipped with titanium. In place of goggles, she wore a white mask that covered her face all the way to her ears. It was rounded, with standard lenses, and only slightly followed the contours of her face. The back was held on with a strap, her hair tied up tightly in a bun. Instead of a wrist mounted grappling hook, she had created a grappling gun based on her father's original design. Her overall appearance made sure that if she were spotted, there would be very little familiarity to her previous identity for any bystander to suspect who she was.
Felicia wasn't fond of short notice burglaries, her m.o. typically involved surveilling a place she intended to rob, for a week or two, acquiring as much information as necessary to ensure a successful heist. Raymond unfortunately didn't have the patience to allow that timeframe and insisted he needed his property back asap. The details that Raymond had provided, vague as they were, had informed Felicia that the item in question that needed to be recovered, was a hard drive containing vital information that Raymond only describe as "very important research." The hard drive was encrypted, but Raymond imagined that it wouldn't be long before the security was bypassed and its contents harvested. Fortunately, the hard drive had a tracker installed into it that gave its current location, the residence of a James Melvin, the CEO of the "Brand Corporation," a subsidiary of the "Roxxon Corporation." Felicia didn't ask Raymond what his relationship was to James, but she figured he was a particularly aggressive business rival of Raymond's. The investigative part of her wanted to delve further, but remembering the trouble her previous curiosity brought her, she put her focus on recovering the item in question. In addition to recovering the hard drive, Felicia was to plant a blank duplicate, that was also encrypted, in its place, so as to not immediately draw attention onto Raymond once it was discovered the hard drive was blank.
It was a little after 7pm and Felicia was perched at the ledge of a building overlooking the Melvin residence. She was peering through a mounted scope she brought with her, surveying the residence for occupants and the best point of entry. Although it appeared that the homeowner was not present, there was no absence of guards patrolling the premises. From Felicia's experience burglarizing the homes of duplicitous businessmen, they were usually keen on keeping a surplus of guards to protect their illicit wealth. In this case, three, that she could see, keeping watch around the premises. Two were situated in the living room while the third was outside on the terrace smoking. The residence was a two story penthouse situated downtown near the Loop. It had a modern look, large glass windows that made apparent the luxurious furnishings that adorned the house and a balcony that overlooked a very large terrace. The very top of the building was rudimentary, containing nothing but a large ac unit ,vents and a number of skylights. Felicia figured this to be her best point of entry: she'd swing over, disable the security system and enter through one of the skylights. From the tracker Raymond had provided her, the hard drive appeared to be on the second floor. Felicia turned to her side, where she had a bag beside her, and peered over its contents: A small tablet with an RFID harvester, a taser, a burner phone, the duplicate hard drive, and a small lock picking kit. She slung the bag across her shoulder as she stood up and gave a deep exhale; it was time. She grabbed the grappling gun that was hanging from her hip and raised it, aiming it upwards towards a taller building that was beside the penthouse, before launching a line towards the buildings rooftop. She swung over easily enough, but as she landed she lost her footing and tumbled forward, bracing her fall with her hands.
"Ow," she grumbled as she stood up.
Though she was still in shape, retirement had waned the skills she had honed over the years. She only hoped that the detriment wouldn't prevent her from fulfilling this one last job. She peered over the edge of the penthouse's rooftop and saw the lone guard still outside smoking, oblivious to her presence. She walked back towards the middle of the roof and pulled her tablet out and started scanning for the penthouses security system. Fortunately, James's budget to security seemed directed mostly to employing guards as Felicia found the most rudimentary security system protecting the premises. She had no trouble shutting the system down and initiated a timer of 8 minutes till the system rebooted. She opened the tracking software on her tablet and tried to isolate which skylight was closest to the hard drive. She made her way towards the north skylight, towards the back of the roof. She hovered over the frame peering to see if any guards were in the area. Seeing none, she placed her hands around the frames and attempted to lift it open, but found it locked in place. She looked at her right hand, waving her fingers before clenching it into a fist, wishing she had her claws to cut through the glass. She sighed as she realized she'd need to find an alternative entrance. She tried the nearest adjacent window, but found it locked in place as well. It was the northernmost window, the one furthest away from the hard drive's location, that finally gave way. She carefully clipped the hook of her grappling gun onto the frame of the window, rappelling down to the floor before unclipping it. She glanced around, trying to get a sense of where she was exactly. From the paintings adorning the walls and statues and sculptures carefully placed about, she realized she was in a small gallery. The owners exact artistic interests could not be immediately discerned as the collection varied wildly, to such an extent that the only consistent theme amongst the catalog of items was that they were all of gross value. The intent of the collection was likely more an expression of wealth than the owner's own artistic interests.
Knowing the security system was down, the experienced thief in her wanted to take a moment to surmise which item had the greatest value, a residual force of habit from her criminal days. She shook her head disapprovingly as she made her way out of the gallery. She peered out the door to see an empty hallway, slight echoes of a conversation were emanating from downstairs. The guards were still downstairs, she figured, and were too engaged in their conversation to refocus on their paid duties. She pulled her tablet out and opened the tracking software on it, seeing that the hard drive was down the hall, nearby.
"God, so gaudy…" she thought as she quietly made her way down the hall, ignoring the expensive, glossy trinkets that furnished the home. She stopped before a door that she knew ,from its size, was the master bedroom. She noticed it was dim under the door, the lights being off inside. Following her intuition that the room was unoccupied, she turned the door handle and entered. The room was dimly lit by the lighting coming through a pair of adjoining windows overlooking the cityscape. She could faintly make out the figures of a king size bed, several drawers, and a large desk facing away from the windows. Her lenses lacked the night vision setting that her previous goggles had, and she was consequently forced to turn the lights on. The room illuminated, she realized the room was much larger and more furnished than she initially believed. With the timer on her tablet reading less than five minutes left, she made haste and followed the tracker signal to the hard drive's location. She reached the desk where the signal was the strongest and found a small lockbox atop it with a basic key lock alongside a rotary 4 number input, nothing that intimidated her security bypassing skills. She pulled out the small lock picking set from her bag and quickly unlocked it. She gave a sigh of relief as she saw a hard drive, the same model as the duplicate she had with her, nestled within safety cushions inside the box.
"Thank god," She thought as she pulled the hard drive from its case and replaced it with the duplicate. She held it close to her mask, pondering the contents of the small object in question that had caused her so much turmoil. She dismissed the intrusive thoughts as she placed the hard drive into her bag. Exiting the property was now her utmost priority. She walked towards the windows of the bedroom, hoping they could open and allow her to shoot a line towards an adjacent building to escape.
"Damn it," she muttered as she realized the windows were locked in place. She tried the windows at the end of the bedroom, but they were unyielding as well. Not having an intimate knowledge of the buildings layout, a consequence of the time constraints placed on her, was an unfavorable situation that Felicia never liked to be in. Knowing every possible entrance and exit was essential for a quick exit. She sighed as she knew she'd have to make her way back to the gallery to escape. As she walked away from the window, her eyes glanced at a mahogany table with a large round mirror at its center.
"Oh, hello."
Though she had been good at keeping her temptation at bay, her better judgment fell to her weakness to fine jewelry. Laid out across a number of trays was a collection of jewelry, consisting of a variety of rings and Rolex watches. Felicia's focus was on the rings, particularly one that was absurdly large. She picked it up and examined it. At its center was a large round diamond, surrounded by a ring of smaller diamonds. It had grooves that were inlaid with platinum that followed in an intricate pattern etched across the rings perimeter. By her estimate, the ring had a worth of at least half a million. She playfully juggled the ring between her fingers. The thrill of the heist, a sensation that had driven her robberies in the past, had suddenly reignited in her. Unfortunately, the sensation distracted her from the approaching guard who was making his way to the bedroom. It was when she heard the guards footsteps coupled with a voice speaking aloud did she suddenly snap back to reality. The sudden realization made her lose her grip of the ring and it bounced between her hands as she tried frantically to get a hold of it. She finally managed to clench it in her right hand and wasting no time threw herself under the bed. Not the particularly ideal spot she'd wanted to be in, but as the alternative, the bathroom, was further away it had to do. She snuck under just moments before the guard entered.
"Alright I'm inside, you said your desk?" The guard answered to his phone. Felicia could only see his feet as he walked towards the desk.
"It's inside a lockbox, make sure it's there. Codes 3154," the voice answered on the speaker phone. The guard inputted the code and opened the box to see the duplicate hard drive Felicia had planted.
"Yeah, it's here."
"Oh thank god. I got an alert the security systems down. Get it over here asap."
"You sure? Everything seems fine here."
"Listen I'm not taking any chances, that hard drives too valuable. Get it over her now," the voice barked as the phone call ended. The guard closed the lockbox and carried it under his right arm. As he was about to exit, he paused suddenly and looked back inside, thinking about his employers words that the security system was compromised. It occurred to him that he couldn't remember if the lights had been off previously. Before he could contemplate the matter further, he remembered his employer's words emphasizing the prompt return of the item he was holding. Not wanting to test his employer's patience, he shook his head, dismissing the matter and left the room. Felicia waited a few seconds, until the echoes of the guard's footsteps could no longer be heard.
"Note to self: look out for external relays," Felicia thought to herself as she crawled out from under the bed. It had been an oversight of hers, partly brought on by her sudden un-retirement, to not consider whether there were relays in the security system connected to outside wireless devices. Although the system was shutdown and its countermeasures temporarily neutralized, the shutdown created a disconnection to a likely an app on the owner's mobile device that alerted him that something was amiss. Felicia realized a simple adjustment to the systems relays would fix that next time, until it suddenly dawned on her that wouldn't be a next time. She looked at her tablet, the timer reading just over a minute before the system would reboot. She made haste and headed back to the gallery. Her exit was uneventful, much to her relief as she launched a line to an adjacent building and swung away. She made it a few blocks away before she stopped on the rooftop of a building and called Raymond. It rang a few times before it answered.
"You have it?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful, please bring it over to my home asap."
The line disconnected as Felicia made her way to the buildings ledge, preparing to launch a line to a nearby building. It surprised her that she was making the delivery at Raymond's home rather than a dead drop, but anxious to finally complete this job, she thought nothing more of it other than be on the ready for any surprises. It was ten minutes later that she finally arrived at the terrace of Raymond's home. The terrace was strangely vacant, as Felicia remembered it had been furnished with many luxurious outside amenities. As she approached the glassdoors of the home, it became more apparent that the home had been vacated as the furnishings she remembered previously were now missing. The only things present were strips of broken shipping tape and unused, unfolded boxes stacked poorly across the floor. It appeared to her that Raymond and her had some similarity as they both knew when to make an abrupt departure when the situation called for it. Felicia pulled out her phone and dialed Raymond again.
"Hello? Are you here?"
"Yes."
"Ok great, I'll be out shortly."
It would be a few minutes before a few lights came on in the home and Raymond made his sudden appearance, having been waiting in one the home's many rooms. He came out, slightly disheveled, his shirt rolled up at the sleeves and his hair somewhat undone, stemming likely from the process of moving his entire home's furnishings in a short space of time. As he got close to the door and saw Felicia's figure through the glass, a sudden elation came over his eyes. Her uniformed and secretive appearance affirmed his assessment that she was indeed the "Black Cat." As he walked through the glass doors leading into his terrace, a smile drew across his face as he clapped his hands in excitement.
"The hard drive?"
"Here," Felicia said as she pulled it from her bag. Raymond grabbed the item eagerly, holding it close to identify particular details that would confirm it was indeed his original hard drive. He let sigh of relief out as he realized it was indeed his original hard drive.
"Fantastic, well done, You have no idea how much this means to me."
"As long as our business is concluded."
"Of course."
"Moving?"
Raymond chuckled as he noted Felicia's observation of his home.
"Oh yes, this particular 'hobby' of mine has necessitated the need for a sudden departure. Something I'm sure you're familiar with. Damn shame, really did enjoy this home."
"Well, our business is done. I'll be on my way."
"W-wait," Raymond stammered as he reached into his left pocket. He pulled out a ruffled white envelope that Felicia could tell contained a significant quantity of cash.
"I did say I was going to compensate you, $50000 for this job. I'd have given you a hundred but…you broke you my plaque."
Felicia smirked slightly as she let out a small laugh. She'd worked for a variety of characters in the past, mostly high ranking mafia figures, with little patience and even less humor, but Raymond was an outlier from the bunch and not just in intelligence. She figured ,however, that he was tempting her for continued business, his collection was short a thief to procure more collectables he sought after. Felicia waved her hand dismissively.
"Thank you, but no. This is a one time thing and that's it."
"Okay if that's what you wish. Rest assured I have no intention of leveraging your identity for continued business. Our transaction is complete, but should you change your mind and wish to procure some 'items,' for me in the future, then you have my number."
Though she knew he could be lying, his tone assuaged Felicia's fears he would compromise her identity. Felicia nodded as she turned away. She walked towards the ledge, before launching a line and disappearing from sight. Raymond only stood in awe, slightly disappointed in Felicia's answer, but happy to have recovered his research. He put the envelope back into his pocket before pulling out the hard drive. He glanced over it again before placing it back into his pocket and going back into his house.
It would be twenty minutes before Felicia finally made it back home. She left a duffel bag on the rooftop of her apartment building with a set of civilian clothes to change into. After changing she hurried downstairs, stopping just before her door to fix her hair and compose herself. She entered to find her nanny Jessica asleep on the couch, her son Jason caressed in between her right arm sleeping as well. Felicia chuckled slightly before walking over and gently tapping Jessica on the shoulder.
"Hmm..Oh, oh," Jessica groaned as she stretched her body. She nestled Jason's head down gently onto the cushion of the couch as she stood up. "He's all tuckered out."
"You too! Sorry I'm late."
"Oh…. it's no trouble. He was so good today. I'll head out, I'll see you Monday. Have a good night kiddo," Jessica whispered as she rubbed the top of his head. Felicia saw Jessica out before returning to her sleeping son. She picked him up carefully bracing his head against her shoulder as she walked towards his bedroom. As she reached his bed, she pulled him from her shoulder and rocked him slightly.
"I love you," she whispered as she pressed a kiss onto his head before laying him into his bed and tucking him in.
For as intense the last days had been for her, seeing him breathe softly in his bed validated all the extreme efforts she would take to keep him safe. She walked towards her bedroom, her duffel bag strap still slung across her shoulder. As she entered, she threw the bag in the corner and made her way towards her bed. As she reached it she fell flat with back towards the bed onto the mattress. She sighed heavily as she rubbed her hands across her face, the stress of the previous ordeal finally unloading. She laid there still for a few minutes, exhaling heavily before she began to think again. She thought of the heist, her routine, her mistakes, where she could've improved. The recollection and assessment was a residual habit that Felicia always did after a heist. Her mind then turned back to Raymond and his offer of employment. Had they met previously, before Jason was born, she felt he would have been a very interesting client. She thought about the compensation he offered. Declining the 50000 would have been a lot harder had it not been for the prize she had snagged that night. She raised her right hand and juggled between her fingers the large ring she had stolen from the Melvin residence.
"Nice."