Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 60: Money?

Peter returned to his new room as he grabbed a towel and made his way to the shower. Stepping in and taking a quick 5 minute shower, he stepped out and walked over to the mirror. Looking at himself he couldn't help but compare his looks to just 3 days ago.

Gone was the long hair, the start of some stubble had been trimmed, bringing back his clean shaven face, and the gaunt cheek bones and eyes had started to fill out. Eating more food in the last 2 days than he had over the entire 2 week he almost felt like a new man.

But looking at the eyes that stared back at him, he knew he was still there, the him that had spent over a year on the streets. Shaking his head and rubbing his hair off he made it back to his room, slapping on some of the only clothes he had left and walked towards the TV, he was lost in thought.

He had thought about it a lot in the last few days and was finally, truly ready, to start a new life. He had a nice place to live…Good Company. The image of Felicia appeared in his mind. And it was time to turn his life around.

And to start that he had forgone his daily patrol and was planning all the things he needed to buy. It had just been the day before when it was decided that he needed a new phone, clothes and other necessities.

But that had brought up his first problem, money. He was flat broke, he couldn't afford to buy anything he needed especially the bare essentials. He didn't even consider asking Felicia for money, he still had reservations about imposing on her so much. And with that problem had come an answer so out of the blue that he had to take a day to think it over before he finally made his way over o the TV in front of him.

Walking up to the static filled screen Peter sat down slowly, a frown on his lips. He still remembered Crystal's words as he started to fret over the problem the day before. "Don't worry Peter, you have enough Money." Crystal was going to explain what she meant right then and there, but Peter had stopped her. He had a small inkling of what she meant, and it had taken him the whole day to come to terms with what he might learn.

Letting out a small sigh he spoke to the blank TV. "Crystal, what have you done?" His voice was a little heavier than usual, the strong moral compass that had been instilled in him by his aunt and Uncle, knowing that whatever he was about to hear wasn't legal in any sort.

The TV blinked for a second before finally a picture of a middle aged white man appeared on the screen. Looking overweight and wearing a white suit and shirt, Peter instantly knew who it was. "The King Pin?" Crystal's voice now spoke up.

"Yes Peter, Wilson Fisk, one of the richest men in the city. As well as the crime lord of the underground." Peter's mind thought of the man he had run into a few times, the few times they had fought surprisingly he could hold his own.

He was a ruthless business man that cared for nearly nothing but money and results. As his mind started to connect the dots between him and her previous statement, his eyebrows raised. "You didn't." "Sorry Peter I did."

Peter let out another sigh, even though there was a chuckle trying to force its way out. "Tell me everything." Peter couldn't see it, but he imagined that Crystal had just nodded and possible bowed her body at the request.

The screen changed as it showed an ever changing figure. It was a string of numbers that went up mostly, and sometimes went down, but that rarely happened. "After the first time you faced the crime boss of New York, I hacked into his security systems and stole his banking details. He may have tried to hide his dealings but it was Childs play to find his off shore accounts and dummy accounts."

Crystal's voice turned smug for a few seconds as she spoke. Peter really wanted to point out it wouldn't be hard for a super AI to do such a thing, but kept quiet instead, letting her continue. "I had been in need of an upgrade to the servers I had been running on for a while when we ran into him. After checking the amount of money he had in his possession, I calculated that siphoning his funds would be the best course of action."

Peter wanted to reprimand Crystal for using her abilities in such a way, but in the back of his head he couldn't help but be happy that Fisk was losing money every now and then. He had first run into him early in his carrier explaining why Crystal was in need of an upgrade. When Peter actually thought about it, he never asked about the upgrades that Crystal went under or the maintenance that would be required to keep her running for so long.

In his mind he had always chalked it up to Crystal finding a way of staying at peak efficiency, now he knew what she did to get such an outcome. Crystal continued not noticing Peter's stupor. "The funds were used efficiently to upgrade my system. I calculated that to continue siphoning funds would be a beneficial activity."

Peter had a few questions in his mind as he heard her words. It meant that for the last few years the King pin had been paying for his AI, without him even knowing. But there was one he had to ask, even though he knew the answer.

"Why didn't you just take all his money and cripple his criminal empire? Report your findings to the authorities?" A few new pictures appeared on the screen as different gang logos and syndicates were shown. "As I'm sure you've already figured out peter. To take down the head of organized crime in the city would create a power vacuum that could propagate chaos and destruction to untold heights. Knowing who the 'big player' is and obstructing their operations is better than getting rid of said 'big player'."

Peter had to nod reluctantly; he had been trying to drop some of his conservative thinking when it came to dealing with criminals. His analytical mind knew that this was the best outcome not taking out the King Pin, but to leave him to his operations still didn't sit right with him.

Crystal waited quietly as he thought things over. Finally he spoke. "What does this have to do with my money problem?" The screen changed once again as a new string figure appeared in front of him. Greater than the previous figure by a huge margin, the amount of zeros made Peters eyes go wide.

"After siphoning funds from Fisk, I also expanded my operations to other crime families and mafias, even branching out to international syndicates, Including Fisk's empire, the Maggia and Sablinova international, to name a few. I have been using their money for the past few years to fund upgrades and help your fight against crime."

Crystal paused as Peter stated to wrap his head around how much money Crystal had in her coffers. "This is all yours?" The digits were in the hundreds of millions almost a billion, and the number was still rising! A bell like laugh came from the speakers in the room.

"No Peter. This is a subsidiary fund I was going to give you on your 18th birthday, think of it as an inheritance." The room turned quiet for a few seconds before… "!!!!!!!!!WHAT!!!!!!!!"

Chapter end