Felicia watched the scene before her in disbelief, then turned helplessly to Peter, unable to contain her curiosity.
"Can you believe this? Fisk is actually running advertisements here saying he's recruiting the homeless."
Felicia sat back down, stunned, and picked up her coffee to take a sip. "I was fully prepared for the possibility that the homeless in New York had been wiped out or something equally grim, but the reality is—Fisk is doing charity?"
At this point, Felicia looked at Peter Parker with a smile, only to find that the latter didn't seem particularly surprised. Instead, he appeared to be deep in thought. She couldn't help but ask, "You're not surprised?"
"No, not at all. This can only mean one thing: Kingpin is planning to step back out. Not just step out, but he's planning to go big..." Peter furrowed his brows in concentration, and a sudden realization struck him: "Is there a mayoral election this year?"
"If you're suggesting that Fisk plans to run for mayor, that might be a bit too far-fetched. It's already September, and the elections start in November. Even if he wanted to run, he'd have to kick out a party nominee and actually win. What does he have to run on? Just garnering goodwill from the homeless right now?"
Peter pondered. Although he wasn't clear on Kingpin's specific plan, he truly felt that if Kingpin intended to come out and run for mayor, it wasn't necessarily unfeasible. With the Hand's purge activities in New York, the crime rate had dropped drastically. In this situation, if Kingpin could use the gang forces at his disposal to keep the crime rate consistently low, he might actually stand a chance.
However, wasn't it a bit too rushed?
Seeing Peter lost in thought, Felicia helplessly waved her hand in front of his eyes. "You know? When the cookies were about to burn this morning, you had this exact same expression."
"...Sorry, I just started thinking about related matters."
"So? Are you finally going to tell me why you aren't that surprised?"
"Some things happened in Hell's Kitchen recently. To put it simply, of Kingpin's two main henchmen, one—Bullseye—was killed by Daredevil, and the other—the Prowler—was captured by me. In other words, the criminal forces that originally belonged to Kingpin appear to be leaderless and falling apart."
Felicia nodded as she watched Peter. "Which means... hmm... Fisk can create an image for people that none of this is connected to him. Since the criminal empire was running normally while he was away, it gives the impression that he isn't the mastermind? Wait, what did you just say? Daredevil killed Bullseye?"
In reality, he hadn't. Bullseye was likely not dead. Peter had verified the transport procedures for Bullseye's body and was certain the man had escaped before being sent into the incinerator. Furthermore, considering the previous cases involving Carnage, even being put into an incinerator didn't necessarily mean death.
However, this matter was strictly confidential. Not even the Avengers had any shared intelligence on it. Only a handful of people could confirm the entire plan; the fewer people who knew, the higher the security.
"Yes, so his state of mind hasn't been great lately. Fisk definitely knows about this too."
Peter's words gave Felicia some understanding of what he had been thinking about that morning. However, she didn't have much to say regarding those matters. After thinking carefully for a moment, Felicia suddenly asked, "Then do you plan to stop him from running?"
"What? Perhaps, but only if there's a way—and it has to be a legitimate way."
The best way to defeat Kingpin was not physical elimination. Fisk was simply the most outstanding of all the mobsters in New York, the most powerful man to emerge from the likes of Hammerhead, Tombstone, and Silvermane. Even if Kingpin died, someone new would step in to fill the void. To eliminate this kind of grassroots organized crime, one had to make them realize that the city no longer provided a foundation for their survival.
But even on this point, Kingpin had already realized that gangs in the new era needed to make new changes. That was why he was so eager to launder his image and intended to switch tracks to a different game.
Thinking of this, Peter felt that what the Hand was doing actually seemed to be helping Kingpin... Could it be that from the very beginning, Kingpin had arranged everything and collaborated with the Hand? Otherwise, how could the Hand's actions align so perfectly with his own interests?
Kingpin goes clean as part of a deal, letting the Hand take over the underworld of Hell's Kitchen or even all of New York. In return, Kingpin uses this to control the crime rate, allowing him to be elected mayor. He creates an illusion for the Hand that he only wants a black-and-white cooperation, then turns around and uses the Defenders to deal with the Hand?
Peter took a deep breath. He began to harbor a doubt: could the Kingpin in that prison truly calculate to this extent, or was everything just a massive coincidence?
"Alright, we've finished buying the clothes. Do you have anything else to do?"
Hearing this, Felicia looked at Peter with a half-smile. "What's wrong? Are you in a hurry?"
Peter looked at Felicia with some confusion. "No, why?"
"I thought you were in a hurry. Or maybe you just hate me so much that you plan to leave the moment the task is done."
Peter was so caught off guard by the question he nearly choked on his coffee. "No, why would I hate you..."
"Why is it impossible for you to hate me?"
Felicia asked back curiously. Peter paused for a moment before beginning to explain. "First of all, I'm certain you aren't a bad person. I mean, we've fought side-by-side several times now; we should have a bit of an understanding of each other."
"Uh-huh?"
"If I were to hate someone, that person definitely wouldn't be a good person to begin with..."
Felicia nodded, stirring the little bit of coffee left in her cup with a spoon. "So you can still dislike someone even if they are a good person, right?"
What kind of logic is this... oh, wait, the logic seems sound. I really dislike Nick Fury, though it seems like no one likes Fury, and Fury isn't exactly a 'good person' either.
"And..."
"And what?"
Peter suddenly realized something. He took a deep breath and then shook his head. "You are very beautiful, very smart, kind-hearted, and exceptionally capable... I'm quite certain those are the things you're looking to hear."
"It would have been better without that last sentence. Alright, let's go. I actually do have somewhere I need to go."
Peter immediately stood up, holding his new suit, and asked, "Where?"
"A place where we can see if the formal wear we picked out actually matches."