Once her internal conflict was completely resolved, Felicia had nothing more to hide from Peter. She immediately spilled the beans, revealing the entire plan she and tide had designed.
From tide's birth to the kidnapping operation by Crossbones and Buggy, to how they read memories and turned Buggy against his masters... After listening to Felicia's explanation, Peter was stunned for a moment before he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Felicia's slick maneuver of creating a fait accompli and then shifting the blame onto HYDRA was truly... a huge help to Peter!
Helping him naturally make substantial progress with Felicia was only secondary.
What was even better was that her actions hadn't just secretly helped Peter find a breakthrough in his grand plan to wipe out HYDRA.
More simply and directly, it helped Peter solve a long-standing problem... how to find Buggy and naturally use him to hook Captain America like a prize fish, so he could bring both of them under his command.
Felicia didn't know what Peter was thinking. Hearing him laugh so happily, she thought he was mocking her for using any means necessary to get him. For a moment, she felt a bit of ashamed annoyance.
"Stop laughing!"
"I was forced into this by you!"
Felicia, in her anger, gave Peter's shoulder a light bite.
"Who told you to always act like you only have eyes for Gwen... If I didn't use some tricks, how would I have a chance..."
By the end, her voice trailed off, sounding somewhat aggrieved.
Seeing her like this, Peter couldn't help but feel an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
A woman, a great beauty capable of making countless men fall head over heels—and not some yandere landmine girl—willing to do anything to have you; such a thing was incredibly satisfying to a man's vanity.
At that thought, he couldn't help but pinch Felicia's cheek and tease her.
"So, in the end, you just crave my body, right?"
"I..."
Felicia didn't expect Peter to say something so narcissistic. With her slight "young lady" temper, her first instinct was to retort.
But the words died in her throat. She suddenly felt that it was her previous habit of saying the opposite of what she felt that had kept a barrier between them.
To prevent similar situations from happening again, she decided to just go for it. She puffed out her chest and replied righteously:
"Yes! I crave your body! So what!"
Seeing her cute, rogue-like behavior, Peter smiled again.
This was what he liked about Felicia.
Her tsundere nature, her straightforwardness, and the massive contrast between her disdain for outsiders and her behavior toward him... though she had some "little witch" tendencies, she was undoubtedly full of fatal attraction.
She and Gwen were like a Righteous Fairy and a Demonic Saint. Such a combination was hard not to be obsessed with, making one want to have them all lined up and share the rewards.
Well, as expected, once a person has "tasted meat," their thoughts gradually become more unrestrained.
Shaking his head to clear those less-than-healthy thoughts, Peter quickly made a decision.
"To prevent HYDRA from being spooked, I'll have to trouble you to stay here for a few more days."
Peter didn't plan to take Felicia and tear through HYDRA right now.
Mainly, if he let Buggy join the Avengers without giving Tony a heads-up first, the situation could easily slide into a scenario like the original Civil War plot.
Peter didn't want that to happen. So, before uprooting HYDRA, Peter had to at least do some preparatory work on Tony's mindset.
He needed to make him realize that Buggy wasn't the enemy who killed his parents, but merely a weapon without its own will.
Let him recognize this first, then have him fight alongside Buggy and the Captain to thoroughly wipe out the real killers, HYDRA. That was the best way to eliminate the hatred.
"Once I've settled the HYDRA matter, I'll take you to have a good talk with Gwen."
When Peter said this, Felicia couldn't help but look a bit panicked.
"Peter, there's no need for that..."
She didn't want Peter to be caught in the middle, trying to please both her and Gwen.
But Peter looked incredibly serious.
"Don't say that, Felicia. This is my responsibility. Since I've already come this far with you, I should take responsibility for both of you."
"If I don't even have that much courage, then I'm not worthy of having you both, and you wouldn't be able to love such a cowardly version of me for long."
Boom!
After Peter's words, Felicia felt as if a sweet bomb had been dropped into the lake of her heart. She was so touched that her eyes were filled with little stars.
She had thought that by offering herself up, the best outcome would be maintaining an ambiguous underground relationship with Peter.
She never expected Peter would choose to help her share the burden.
She really hadn't misjudged him. Peter was a completely different species from those scumbags in today's society who refuse to take responsibility.
At this moment, Felicia felt her heart melting. Her eyes grew hot, and tears unconsciously rolled down.
Then, as emotions peaked... the horse talisman was forced to work overtime once again.
About several dozen minutes later, Peter finally remembered he had serious business to attend to and couldn't stay here any longer.
Thinking this, Peter got dressed and, before leaving, took out a vial of perfect lizard serum.
"To ensure everything is foolproof, I think I should give you an upgrade first."
"Even though you have tide's protection now, having an extra layer of security is always good..."
As Peter spoke, he gave Felicia a brief overview of the lizard serum's effects.
But after hearing about the effects and the genetic blueprint, Felicia suddenly got her "young lady" temper up and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"No."
She shook her head and flatly refused.
"I don't think this ability suits me at all. In terms of recovery and strength, tide's boost is already enough, and..."
Speaking to this point, Felicia suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and murmured softly:
"Super strength, wall-crawling... these abilities are too similar to Gwen's. I still want to have more things that are different from her."
Hearing this, Peter couldn't help but find it funny, though he could understand Felicia's little competitive streak. He asked curiously:
"Then what kind of ability do you want?"
"Emmm..." After a moment's thought, Felicia spoke with a hint of mischief and anticipation:
"If I can choose anything... I want the abilities of a cat!"
"You know, my father's nickname is 'The Cat,' and my favorite animal since I was a child has also been The Cat!"
As she spoke, she playfully mimicked a cat's meow, making clawing motions with her hands while sticking out her pink tongue to lightly lick Peter's face.
This time, even Peter almost couldn't hold back. Without thinking, he said:
"Cats are great! The black cat serum must be developed."
Fine.
He admitted it.
He just craved The Cat-girl's body.
He was despicable!