A six hour flight to the United Kingdom. A flight that was full of planning and talking and hushed discussions by the thief and the spy, by Felicia and Yelena. The pair had claimed the table.
Between them lay a spread of printed diagrams, tablets, and three different tablets giving angled outlines of the SHIELD card-production facility in the UK. The 3D models rotated with translucent blue-green lines showing structural divisions, access corridors, and restricted zones.
Felicia tapped the laptop with one finger. "Alright, let's say we get in clean. What's the fastest way out if everything goes sideways?"
"Well, let's think. We could through the maintenance shaft we went through…"
"We could but crawling is sooo slow," Felicia remarked. "Especially with M'Baku of all people. Good to get in, not to get out when or if shit goes sideways."
Then Herbie's voice emerged from the speakers embedded in the cabin: "PRIMARY EXITS INCLUDE TWO ABOVE-GROUND VEHICLE RAMPS AND ONE SUBMERGED MAINTENANCE SHAFT. THE MAINTENANCE SHAFT IS RESTRICTED BUT CONNECTS DIRECTLY TO THE POWER STATION'S COOLING TUNNELS."
Yelena raised an eyebrow. "The cooling tunnels? Won't those, you know, be too cool for them?"
"Nah, I can plug in a program and hack into it. Adjusting the temperature will be easy."
"CORRECT," Herbie replied. "THEY LEAD TO A CIVILIAN WATER TREATMENT OUTLET APPROXIMATELY FOUR KILOMETERS FROM THE FACILITY."
Felicia whistled softly. "Long walk but much better than crawling. Like I said, trust me, crawling is not fun."
Yelena leaned closer to the tablet, rotating it with a flick of her fingers. "Come on, you don't tell me they don't patrol the cooling tunnels?"
"NOT UNLESS THE FIRE EMERGENCY IS SOUNDED."
"Still," Yelena said, "they must know it's an easy escape."
"So we just make a real fire. Problem solved."
"Still…"
Yelena was unsure. Felicia was not. "Look, the only thing we need to be careful about is stealth. Disguise isn't an option since I have a literal giant with me. We have to stealth our way the ol' fashioned way.
"CORRECT AGAIN," said Herbie. "FORTUNATELY, ALL HALLWAYS ARE PATROLLED. PATTERNS ARE PREDICTABLE DUE TO THE ROUTINES."
"How'd you figure that?"
"CAMERA ANALYSIS."
There was a blink and a motion of exchanged glances between the ladies.
Yelena put a hand under her chin. "Really? Can we check the footage?" Herbie immediately did. Hell, he didn't just show the footage on the tablets, he showed proof there was evidence of basic patterns. Small quick little tabs that presented exactly what he was saying. "This is…impressive. Very impressive."
"THANK YOU."
"You aren't standard software."
Felicia chimed in immediately. "Yeah. No offense, but you sound like you could run a small country."
There was the briefest delay. Imperceptible unless one knew what to listen for.
"I AM A NATURAL-LANGUAGE USER INTERFACE SYSTEM," Herbie said smoothly. "MY CAPABILITIES ARE DEPENDENT ON DATA PROVIDED BY FELIX FAETH."
Felicia hummed. "Uh-huh."
Yelena folded her arms. "So you're not autonomous."
"NEGATIVE," Herbie replied. "I DO NOT SELF-DIRECT. ALL ANALYSIS IS BASED ON EXISTING DATASETS, BLUEPRINTS, AND INTELLIGENCE ACQUIRED BY FELIX THROUGH LEGAL AND ILLEGAL MEANS."
Felicia cupped her face. "Ohh, I see…so what about the plane?"
"DIFFERENT AI CREATED BY THE SUPERGENIUS MASTER FAETH. MY PURPOSE IS FUNCTIONAL," Herbie continued. "I CANNOT OPERATE WITHOUT INPUT."
Felicia snorted. "Supergenius. Talk about an ego."
Yelena accepted the explanation despite the joke. "He is Felix. He can do anything if he puts his mind to it. An AI for solving crime or even for flying planes." They snuck glances at Felix the self-proclaimed creator.
He really was an incredible man and that was the crux of the mission. They believed he was great and that he was good.
Sometimes, he didn't believe it himself.
Felix and M'Baku were sitting together on an adjacent table. They were taking a break. The group had been talking, talking, talking. The boys had to eat. They had big appetites, especially M'Baku. Spread out on the table was a feast of burgers, bottles of juice and soda, and salads.
Burgers weren't new to M'Baku. Even so, he wasn't particularly good with eating them. Much of the sauce spilled when he took a big bite. Felix had to chuckle and teach him. He pretended not to hear what was happening just a couple feet away.
'Herbie's helping them out but I instructed Herbie to let them be creative and find the solutions on their own. Partially because Felicia…' He eyed her from the corner of his eye. 'It's not just Felicia. Yelena has noticed that Herbie is no normal AI either. I was able to brush it off to Yelena since she's of this world. But Felicia? I get the feeling she suspects a bit more…'
Or maybe he was paranoid. Maybe they were just impressed.
M'Baku chewed. M'Baku gulped. "You look troubled, friend."
"Huh?" He looked across at M'Baku. The burger in his hands was devoured in three quick bites. Big guy ate fast. "Oh, uh, yeah. A little bit."
"Do you feel guilty? About what you had to do?"
His eyes drifted. "It's…" He exhaled through his nose. "It's the fact that I didn't do anything. That I made someone else do it. That…"
That he could do it. It felt like too much power. The fact that he call Yelena and M'Baku and Felicia. The fact that he could hack any military base in the world.
"These governments, these secrets…" M'Baku leaned forward. "Never feel guilty for trampling on them."
"Huh?"
"Revolution is never pretty. Ever. You must fight for change, or kill for it if you must."
"...I'd rather not kill, but…"
"Do you think yourself better, Felix Faeth?"
"I try not to," he grumbled.
"Then that's good enough. Some of us are destined to make changes. And those changes require sacrifice and dirt."
Felix stared at him. "...you know, I heard that you tried to kill King T'Challa and that you fought Captain America."
"I did."
"Is it true? Is that all there was to it?"
M'Baku pulled on a piece of a salad. He contemplated eating it. "That's all it was."
"You just…wanted to kill him."
"After I gained these abilities, after I could lift boulders…yes. I realized I had an obligation to act. In the beginning, there was idealism. There was hope. But to be able to fight the darkness, you must be tainted by it. You must. And there is no shame in it. You will stumble. You will fall. There is no great leader in history, no revolutionary, who did not have to kill. Who did not pardon bad men. Who did not stain their legacy with someone. It is the world we live in. It does not matter if it is a Wakandan or an American, our leaders are as fallible as us."
"So why kill T'Challa?"
"Because a crown," he emphasized, "is different. It is too heavy a burden for anyone—too corrupt. It is the one system that must be demolished. I rather Wakanda fall from the acts of an elected leader than by the hands of an elite who sat there because of his blood. And it was my duty to end that." M'Baku crossed his arm. One hand fed him the lettuce.
Felix hated to pointed it out but he had to. He did his research on M'Baku. He knew the ins and outs of his story. "And it has nothing to do with the fact that the region you were raised in and led was the poorest economically? Struggled the most with integrating with the rest of the world?"
"Hrn." That was the closest he could to M'Baku being impressed. "It did. Of course it did. I won't deny that. But it was a matter of principle too. Tell me, why did you help me? Was it to someday use me for something like this?"
"No. It was because it was the right thing to. Dehumanizing you and keeping you around like a dog was wrong."
"I see. Do you still associate yourself with Ororo Munroe? My dehumanizer?"
"...she…doesn't do that anymore."
"Is that right? The sins of the past are washed away, just like that. Why? Because it is the right thing to do? To forgive after change?" There was a dramatic pause. "You should realize something, Felix—you are tainted in darkness. You are not the naive young man you once were. Understand that. Come to terms with that. Realize that not all your choices will be the right ones and that the choices of your opponents will also be the same. They seek justice while tainted in darkness. And so you do."
His eyes widened a little.
Tainted in darkness.
'Tainted in darkness…'
Ah. So that was what it was.
"Felix, the best time in a scientist's life is in their beginnings. When they are naïve and open-minded and bursting with ideas. You are not yet tainted by the darkness. All scientists when they see the youth see themselves. I wish to continue for you to be bright-eyed. Yes, please, keep yourself wide-eyed, for the world."
Not yet tainted in darkness.
Wide-eyed, for the world.
'I see. So that was what it was.'
He was trying to live up to what Alistair wanted. What Alistair thought of him right up until his death. He was trying to be the ideal Spider-Man when…
…when maybe that Spider-Man never existed but in the dreams of its creator.
A Spider-Man who was completely unstoppable and completely infallible did not exist. A Spider-Man that saved everyone did not exist. It never did.
But…that didn't mean he could start hesitating and looking back. He couldn't because…because he had the power to change things. He did. For the good, for…for justice, or his definition of it.
"With great power comes great responsibility…" Felix murmured.
"What?"
"Sorry, just…something someone told me a long time ago. I wasn't sure what it meant because…because what is responsibility? Is the world our responsibility? Our people? How far can we go with it?"
"Our responsibility is whatever our power grants us, and we go as far as our conscience carries us. For a man like me, my responsibility are the Wakandan people and…" He gestured at Felix. "...those who I owe my life to."
"...but what if our justice takes us too far. Then what?"
"Then that is when others will tell you are wrong. You have friends and family. So do I. They are good people." M'Baku nodded. "I believe these people are what separate good men that are trying but from the bad ones."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." M'Baku looked out the window. "Trust me. I've been in your position. As long as you are not alone, you will be able to make the right choice. That is how I feel."
"Surprisingly idealistic for a revolutionary," Felix replied, chuckling.
"Idealism is the fuel of revolutions. If we don't believe there can be a good future, who will? Who can?"
Indeed. In some ways, he was a revolutionary too. 'So is M'Baku and…and even the Auction Master. The Devil.' Each one of them was trying to change the world in their own ways. Whether what the Auction Master was doing was right was dependent on the answers he got from Cindy Moon.
'Cindy Moon…'
What the Auction Master believed in did strike a cord in Felix. But killing people like that…he had to know more. He just had to.
***
The hours ticked by. The plan was formulated. M'Baku and Felicia were set.
The jet descended through a low ceiling of cloud, the world below resolving into a patchwork of dark fields, hedgerows, and narrow roads that caught the occasional sweep of headlights. The landing strip was private and unmarked. It was a stretch of asphalt cut into the countryside of Norfolk coast, maintained just well enough to be useful and just poorly enough to escape attention. They got lucky, really. It was five kilometers from the location. Due to the stealth mode of the plan and the jamming of frequencies, SHIELD didn't know a thing.
The jet touched down smoothly.
The engines never fully powered down. They idled, patient. The aircraft itself understood this was only a pause.
Felicia stood first, already shrugging into her jacket, white hair tucked beneath a dark hood. She looked relaxed. M'Baku followed, larger than the narrow aisle liked, moving with careful restraint so he didn't bang shoulders or knock into seats. He carried nothing but a small duffel slung across his back.
The rear hatch opened, and cold air rushed in, sharp and wet. It smelled like grass, rain, and distant salt.
"This is the countryside of the UK, eh?" Felicia said lightly, peering down at the tarmac. "Lovely."
The actual facility wasn't among farmland, it was in Cambridge. It was approximately a two-hour train ride from here. The train station itself was a thirty minute walk. More than enough time.
Felix was smiling, surprisingly. His eyes followed every movement as they stepped toward the open hatch.
Felicia turned at the top of the ramp and leaned one elbow against the frame. "Alright," she said. "Plan's in motion. We go in, get the ledger, send it to you, and while you're in the submarine, you print it out. Kapeesh?"
M'Baku inclined his head.
"The chances of this going smoothly are pretty low, if we're being honest. But, all of us are motivated, aren't we?" Felicia flashed a smile. "We got this, don't we ladies and gentlemen?"
The stakes. The distance. The fact that once the hatch closed, they were splitting into different worlds.
"Good luck then." Felix offered a hand to M'Baku. M'Baku took it. "Really. And thank you."
M'Baku met his eyes. "You too," he replied. "Stay alive."
Felicia watched the exchange, her expression softening for half a second before she smirked again. "Try not to crash the plane along the way," she added.
"No promises," Felix said dryly.
Felicia hopped down onto the tarmac, boots hitting with a quiet thud. M'Baku followed, the ground seeming to accept his weight without complaint. They didn't look back.
The ramp lifted. The hatch sealed.
Inside the jet, Felix returned to his seat beside Yelena. Automatically, the engines began to climb, power building as the plane turned back toward the runway.
Ahead of them was the long flight west.