Spider-Man: The New Animated Series Season 2: Against All Odds
Episode 3: Minds to Control
In the middle of the night, at the Ravencroft Institute in the Bronx, Christina Carrigan was supposed to be sleeping in her cell. Instead, she stood on the edge of her bunk, simply staring off at the wall in front of her.
Suddenly, the door to her cell opened up, and two men in white walked in.
"Christina Carrigan?" one of the men asked her.
Christina nodded wordlessly.
The second man in white then took out what Christina first thought was a syringe that was supposed to put her to sleep for the night. But instead, Christina made it out to be a remote that the man pressed a button on.
In the next second, the hallway outside went dark.
Christina felt her arm being grabbed, and then she was led outside of her cell in pitch blackness. As the man who wasn't grabbing her by the arm closed and locked up her cell door, Christina's vision adjusted to the dark and she was able to make out the forms of the two men who were helping her escape this hellhole. They led her over to a door, and there, they went down a flight of stairs. The door behind the trio closed just as the emergency power came back up, and there had been no trace of Christina ever escaping.
Soon, Christina and the men in white who were helping her escape reached the ground floor, and the man who wasn't holding her by the arm opened up the emergency exit. The trio then made a mad dash towards the unmarked grey van that was ahead of them. When they were halfway there, the back doors of the van were opened up by a woman already inside the vehicle. Christina and them climbed on in, the man holding her by her arm released her, and the other man closed the doors as the woman rushed to the front of the van. She quickly started up the vehicle, and sped the van toward the exit gate of Ravencroft.
The van rammed through the gate and made a tight turn to begin racing off into the night.
~o~
By the time the authorities discovered that Christina had escaped from Ravencroft, the van that carried her away was already parked in the back alley of an abandoned warehouse, which was still in the Bronx but fairly far away from the institution.
Inside the abandoned warehouse, Christina was led by the two men and one woman into a sparsely furnished room in one of the warehouse's upper floors. There, the woman of the trio who freed Christina motioned the Ravencroft escapee to a couch in one of the room's corners.
"Christina Carrigan," the woman of the mysterious trio said, "my name is Niske. This is Botya." She motioned to the man who had led her out of Ravencroft by her arm. "And this is Majes," Niske continued by motioning to the man who had caused the Ravencroft blackout with the remote he had. "We have broken you out of the Ravencroft Institute for one purpose: So you can build us a mind-control device for our..." Niske trailed off as if she forgot what word came next. "Employer."
"Mind-control device?" Christina asked. "What in God's name are you talking about?"
Niske, Botya, and Majes all noticeably grimaced. "We would never say anything in the name of God!" Botya stated loudly.
"What?" Christina asked. "What're you guys, Christians or something? Did I offend you by taking the Lord's name in vain or anything like that? Because considering that you guys got me outta that hellhole, I'm grateful, so I'm sorry."
Botya and Majes both appeared about to say something, but Niske waved them silent. "No, we are not Christians, Miss Carrigan," Niske said. "Far from it, actually. But for what services you will provide for us, we will gladly accept your apology. But anyway, as to answer your question, we're quite familiar with your history as a science major in Columbia State University. We understand that a science project you concocted was a mind-reading device, which, unfortunately for you, resulted in an apparent loss of sanity, as the doctors at Ravencroft would put, is that correct?"
"That's what those assholes said, so, yeah, that's what happened," Christina said with contempt.
"However, it's not your sanity we're interested in, Miss Carrigan," Niske said. "It's your intelligence. Are you able to adapt your previous mind-reading device from an individual scale to that of mind-control on a worldwide scale?"
"Worldwide?" Christina asked. "What're you guys planning to do, take over the world or something?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but yes, that is what we plan to do," Botya said before Niske could say anything.
"Oh," Christina said with an eyebrow raised. "And what'll I get out of it?"
"You will get the one thing you've always wanted," Niske said. "Spider-Man."
Christina's eyes widened at this. "How do you know about that? I understand that you probably could've done a little espionage to get in my public records while I was in school, but how do you my deep love for Spider-Man?"
"For you, that's irrelevant to know," Majes said more aggressively than was needed.
Niske looked at Majes, giving him the stare that told him to shut up, which he did. The female of the trio then looked back down at Christina, and said, "What will matter to you, Miss Carrigan, in the course of this enterprise you will agree to be a part will be the reward you will gain, as stated."
Christina smiled, content with the deal she'll agree to. "Spider-Man. Then it's settled. I'll make the mind-control device for you guys. But just out of curiosity, what is with the God thing with you guys?"
"That is also irrelevant to you," Botya said rudely.
Christina looked at Botya, and then to Majes before settling on Niske. "It seems that a lot of things are irrelevant to me. But what the hell, I'll still make the damn machine for you guys."
"That is excellent to hear," Niske said with a nod. "Our master will be pleased."
"Master?" Christina asked.
All the members of the trio in front of Christina gave her a certain stare.
"Oh, right," she said. "Irrelevant. Of course."
~o~
It had been two weeks since Spider-Man's final fight with the Green Goblin–the one who had been Harry Osborn, rather than his father, Norman. And now a funeral was being carried out in Harry's name as his coffin was being lowered into the hole that was next to the grave of Norman.
Of course, there was no actual body in Harry's casket; after Harry went missing, a search party was hired by his friends, including Peter, who knew that there would be nothing to bury even if the world did find out what happened to him. But he threw in at least a few dollars–it was what money he could waste for something he knew would be a futile endeavor–to keep up appearances that he was as ignorant of Harry's whereabouts as much as Mary Jane and Harry's other friends were.
So after two weeks, the search party came up with nothing, and Harry was declared legally dead. Preparations were then put into motion for a funeral, and what would really be put into Harry's casket would his most prized possessions that could fit into the coffin. Now, on what Peter would point out as a cliché for a funeral, rain was pouring pretty heavily, as if to signify everyone else's emotions about this occasion, particularly Peter and Mary Jane's.
When the funeral was finally done, and everyone left, Peter met up with MJ outside the cemetery.
"Hey, MJ," he said.
"Hey," she said back unenthusiastically.
"May I walk with you back home?" Peter asked solemnly.
"Yeah, why not," MJ agreed. "You can come with me."
"Good," he replied. "Because I suppose you need someone to be with right now, don't ya?"
"And I suppose it's the same with you, isn't it?" MJ asked.
"Yes, it is," Peter answered with a mournful nod.
Then they walked all the way back to Mary Jane's apartment, not saying a word to each other–because they didn't have to. They both felt the same amount of grief over Harry's loss, even though, in MJ's mind, there was a still a possibility, however unlikely, that he could still be alive and out there somewhere. Peter's grief, however, was backed up considerably because he actually knew that Harry was gone for good.
When Peter and MJ finally arrived at the latter's apartment, they both said goodbye, and they parted ways, leaving Peter alone in the rain as he continued to walk back home to his own apartment.
Less than half an hour later, just when Peter started to open the door to his apartment, he half-expected Brian and Bernie to be there. Instead, the door behind him on the other side of the hallway, opposite Peter's own apartment, had opened up, and a familiar British voice said, "Ah, Peter, good, you're home. My word, you're soaked. Why didn't you bring an umbrella?"
As Brian spoke those last two sentences, Peter gradually turned around to face the human-disguised demon. "Hello, Brian," he said. "What is it that you wanted?"
"Well, do you remember two weeks ago when I told you that if there were any missions that popped up that had to do with stopping Ugly Kid?" Brian asked.
"The Antichrist, yes, I remember," Peter answered. "What about it?"
"Oh, nothing, I was just wondering if you remembered– What do you think? There's a mission that just came up for you right this minute." He said that as he pointed his thumb inside his new apartment. As an aside, he added, "By the way, just for your information, Bernie and I moved in here so we don't have to break into your own apartment." Getting back on track, Brian continued, "C'mon in and meet the boss for your mission debriefing."
"All right then," Peter said reluctantly as he followed Brian into his apartment.
After the human-disguised demon closed and locked his apartment door, Peter followed him to the apartment's computer, which had three chairs, two unoccupied and one sat on by Bernie, and then Peter and Brian took those two unoccupied chairs. Once they were set in their seats, they all faced the computer screen, which showed the face of a stern-faced African-American woman.
"Peter," Brian said, "this is the leader of the angels on the hunt for the Antichrist Ugly Kid, Beatrice Lange."
"Thank you for the introduction, Brian," Lange said. "Although that still won't earn you anymore graces from me or any of the other angels."
Brian shrugged. "Well, it was worth a try anyway."
"No, it wasn't," Lange said before shifting her attention over to Peter. "Mr. Parker, your first mission as Spider-Man with the angels in our goal to defeat the Antichrist is related to one of your past ventures as a vigilante."
"Really? How so?" Peter asked.
"Let me refresh your memory," Lange said. "Are you familiar with a Miss Christina Carrigan?"
"Christina? Yeah, I remember her," Peter replied. "I was once partnered up with her for a science project in university. She was a nutty little fruitcake, I'll say. She was a big fan of my superhero alter ego, and by fan, I mean fanatic, pretty much obsessive, really."
"And I suppose you are able to recall the nature of this science project?" Lange asked.
"I can," Peter answered with a nod. "She made some kind of mind-reading machine, which unfortunately caused an accident that really made her go crazy. Christina thought she saw me, as Spider-Man, telling her to do some pretty dangerous things. In the end, though, I got the best of her and last I heard, she was sent off to Ravencroft for intensive care."
"Well, Miss Carrigan has escaped from Ravencroft, Mr. Parker," Lange informed him.
"What?" Peter asked in disbelief. "I mean, escaped how?"
"Our spies within the New York City Police Department," Lange explained, "have found this footage in one of Ravencroft's security cameras, which have been adjusted for night-vision."
Replacing Lange's face was green-tinted footage of two mysterious men in staff uniform guiding Christina out of her cell and then making their way through the emergency exit.
Lange's face came back on the computer screen, and she continued with, "This footage had been found by our spies, and were duplicated for this purpose. For your information, those two men you just saw were demonic loyalists to the Antichrist." The footage came back up, paused, and zoomed in on the men's faces as Lange's voice continued. "The one holding Miss Carrigan by her arm is Botya. The one locking up the cell door is Majes." Once again, Lange's face came back up. "So you say that Miss Carrigan's science project involved mind-reading, Mr. Parker?"
"Well, yes," Peter answered.
"Hmm," Lange said as she put a hand beneath her chin, wondering. "It's possible that the Antichrist would want Miss Carrigan to create another mind-reading device. But even with that added advantage to whatever powers he may have, I don't know why the Antichrist would want Miss Carrigan for such a relatively minor endeavor compared to his wider plans of controlling all of the Multiverse."
"Well, maybe Ugly Kid wants this chick to modify her original designs for mind-control," Bernie said in an uncharacteristic display of intelligence. "It's gotta be it, for it's a pretty damn good way for Ugly Kid to rule over all of reality."
"Yes, that would make sense," Lange acknowledged. She shifted her attention back to Peter. "Mr. Parker, would you please give any guesses as to where Miss Carrigan would acquire the necessary materials needed for a mind-control device?"
"Well, I don't think it'd be logical even in her unstable mind to know that building another device like that from scratch would be a waste of time," Peter said. "So my guess is, she'll get the original mind-reading device she originally created and modify it for mind-control."
"And where would Miss Carrigan get the original mind-reading machine, Mr. Parker?" Lange asked.
"Well, after she was shipped off to Ravencroft," Peter explained, "I took the device and put it in the closet my room back in my previous apartment. I completely forgot about it after I left. But I do think that finding it under my custody would be one of the first things she'd do if she just wanted to simply modify the design of her original creation."
Suddenly, Peter's spider-sense tingled. He silenced Lange by putting his index finger in front of his mouth, and then indicated with his head the direction of the doorway leading out of Brian and Bernie's apartment. "My spider-sense is tingling," he quietly explained. "I think it's coming from outside this apartment."
Lange nodded for Peter to check it out; he got up out of his seat and quietly but gradually headed over to the door. He looked through the peephole, and found that his door was broken in. He could see the intruders there, and he found Christina among them, along with the two men who helped her escape from Ravencroft–Botya and Majes–along with a woman he didn't recognize.
Peter then turned around and headed back to where Brian and Bernie were sitting. "It's Christina and those demons you mentioned, Miss Lange," Peter quietly informed her, along with Brian and Bernie. "They must've found out where I lived so that they can get the device."
"How convenient," Lange said simply before shifting her attention to Brian and Bernie. "You two, get the Heaven guns. Even the one for Mr. Parker."
The human-disguised demon and angel both nodded, and went to a nearby cabinet, where they pulled out three white handguns from the bottommost drawer. Bernie handed Peter one of the guns whilst he and Brian loaded up their own white weapons.
"I don't use guns," Peter said to Brian and Bernie after looking at the weapon in his hand.
"Listen, we don't have time for this, Mr. Parker," Lange said. As he turned back to face the computer monitor that displayed her face, she said, "Brian, Bernie, go out there and take care of those four."
They once again nodded wordlessly, and moved to the door, taking out ski masks from their pockets that they put over their faces.
"No, wait!" Peter stopped them quietly. "Why do we have to kill them?"
"Because simply putting Christina back in Ravencroft isn't going to cut it this time, Peter," Brian explained. "Even if we do remove Niske, Botya, and Majes out of the equation, whether or not we kill them, Ugly Kid will simply bring in more demons to break her out so that he could use her again, even if Ravencroft does increase its security. We have to kill her and those three demons in your apartment right now with these guns specifically, as they'll be imprisoned in Heaven."
"What?" Peter asked in wonderment about the nature of these "Heaven guns."
"Look, if we kill them any other way, they'll go to Hell and Ugly Kid will be able to resurrect her to do his bidding," Bernie interjected for Brian. "These guns are blessed with modicums of God's power that make sure their spirits will go to Heaven, where they'll be trapped and out of Ugly Kid's power."
Peter looked at Bernie. "Are you really an idiot, Bernie?"
"Only when it's convenient to annoy the crap out of me," Brian answered for his angelic counterpart. "Anyway, we have to kill them using these guns before they find out that you don't have that mind-reading device and leave."
As the computer monitor blackened to nothingness, since Lange decided to sign off to allow Peter, Brian, and Bernie to accomplish the task of killing Christina and the three demons with her, Peter sighed and took out his Spider-Man mask. He quickly slipped it over his head and stripped down to his costume.
As one, just after Spider-Man quickly opened the door that led out of Brian and Bernie's apartment, he and the ski-masked teens jumped into Peter Parker's apartment and aimed their guns for the four intruders inside. But Niske, Botya, and Majes had all pulled out their own black guns and had them aimed at Spider-Man and the teens just as quickly, while Christina was left to look at the scene in perplexity.
It was three-against-three, evened odds, leaving all six gun users in a Mexican standoff. And Bernie was even courteous enough to close the door behind him by using his foot, so no one who happened by in the hallway would be able to view this scene.
"Well, well, well. It's nice to see you again, Brian," Botya said sarcastically.
"The three of you betrayed your true master and the rest of us who followed the true way of leadership," Brian said without humor.
"Gee, doesn't that sound familiar," Bernie said sarcastically.
"Shut up, Bernie," Brian said without turning his head or pointing his gun elsewhere.
"You're still an idealistic fool, Brian," Majes said. "The only difference between you and the angels is that you have a little bit more sense in you to follow the way of evil."
"You don't know what you idiots have done," Bernie said. "You and your 'master' Ugly Kid have thrown off the Balance of good and evil, and the Multiverse is suffering because of you."
"Good," Botya said. "It should go well enough when Ugly Kid finally does take over the Multiverse then."
"I'm sorry, what the hell is going on here?" Christina asked. "What're you guys even talking about?"
"Christina!" Spider-Man called.
"Spider-Man!" Christina replied in uncontrolled giddiness, completely forgetting about what was happening around her. "It's so good to see you again!" She tried to run over to him, but Niske stopped her with her free hand. Nevertheless, Christina didn't seem unfazed as she continued with, "I've been seeing you every day at Ravencroft; telling me how much you loved me; how you thought I was so smart and beautiful; it's always good to see you again, you delicious hunk of combined meat of spider and man!"
Even with the guns trained on them, Brian still managed to learn near Spider-Man and murmur, "That is one screwed up chick."
"These guys told me that you and I will be together forever!" Christina exclaimed.
"Shut up," Majes said to the deranged woman with them.
"But only after I find out where my former science partner, Peter Parker, put my mind-reading device," Christina explained.
"Shut up," Botya repeated for Majes.
"And then I'll modify it so that whoever these guys work for will be able to rule the world and then you and I will be together for–"
Christina didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as Niske knocked her unconscious with his free hand.
"Thank you," Botya and Majes said simultaneously to Niske without turning their heads or weapons away from Spider-Man, Brian, or Bernie.
Each trio continued pointing their guns at each other, their arms getting tired, for a while before Niske said, "So. How about the three of you let the three of us safely take this girl, tell us where you put that mind-reading device, Mr. Parker, and allow us to walk out of here with it?"
Beneath his mask, Peter raised an eyebrow. "How did you know who I am? And, not to give you any ideas, but why didn't you tell Christina my identity if you knew it?"
"We have our ways of finding out, Mr. Parker," Niske answered. "And we didn't tell Christina because that information is irrelevant to her."
"Bitch seems to want to know more than she needs to," Majes murmured to himself.
"So that's how you found out where I live?" Spider-Man asked.
"Pretty much," Botya answered.
"And you still didn't tell Christina this?" Spider-Man asked.
"Again, she doesn't need to know that," Niske repeated herself.
"Oh," Spider-Man nodded, still not letting his aim or sight off from the opposing demons. "Well, guess what. That device you speak of; it's not here. I left it back at my other apartment."
"You lie!" Majes nearly shouted.
"No, I don't," Spider-Man replied slyly.
"If that's so, then where is your other apartment?" Niske asked angrily.
Spider-Man snorted. "I'm not telling you."
"Then so be it," Botya said.
Simultaneous shots were then fired.
And all of those fired bullets all hit the guns out of their holders' grips. The weapons flew off into various corners of the room, and that left the two trios weaponless, but still able to fight.
The three demons charged first, and Spider-Man, Brian, and Bernie met them head-on. The three separate fights that ensued–Spider-Man fighting Niske; Brian fighting Botya; and Bernie fighting Majes–from that point began to diverge across the apartment of Peter Parker, as each combatant in each fight fought for their very lives.
Sure, the demons knew that if they were killed by their enemies without the Heaven guns, they would simply go back to Hell and be resurrected by Ugly Kid. But it would still be quite a setback, and in the time it would take for them to come back to life, if either one of them died, their victorious opponents would find the time to grab one of the Heaven guns scattered across the room and end Christina's life by assuring her soul would go to Heaven; hence, their mission would fail whether or not they would be resurrected. Even ending her life themselves would be too much of a setback that Ugly Kid wouldn't tolerate, for it would take a lot longer to resurrect humans than it was for demons or angels; the longer Ugly Kid had to wait for his plans to take over the Multiverse came to fruition, the heftier the punishment was brought upon the demons who failed to serve him to the best of their abilities. So while ending Christina's life and making sure she would go to Hell would give Ugly Kid a more likely victory, it wasn't an excuse that the Antichrist himself would kindly deign to accept.
So, of course, neither Niske, Botya, or Majes were going to allow Christina to die via a Heaven gun from any of their opponents as they fought their hardest with all their combat experience summoned to end the lives of their foes. But Spider-Man, Brian, and Bernie fought just as hard with their own combat skills, even if their attempts to grab one of the Heaven guns in the midst of their diverse fights went all for naught due to their demonic opponents' effort to stop them for good.
As each fight progressed, with all six opponents sustaining ample injuries thanks to the blows that they've had to endure, Christina began to stir from the spot she landed unconscious on. Spider-Man was the only one out of all the combatants in the apartment right now to see this, even if it was just for an all-too brief two seconds that was one of the few lulls in his fight with Niske.
Eventually, Christina woke up completely and was dumbfounded when she observed the chaos raging throughout the apartment. Niske then became the second combatant in the room to notice her wake up, and then she shouted, in between blows between her and Spider-Man, "Christina! The device! It's not here! It's at Peter Parker's previous apartment!"
Suddenly, police sirens sounded and red and blue lights flashed, as could be seen from one of the apartment's windows. And all at once, each of the fights stopped, as all six combatants looked from their current positions to realize that the police have arrived.
"Huh," Spider-Man commented. "It seems that the neighbors have called the cops to investigate the disturbance going on in here."
"Well, doesn't that just add to the fun?" Botya retorted.
Then a squad of eight police officers stormed in to the apartment, and bared their weapons at everyone else in the room. Despite the weapons levied at them, it was the demons who attacked the gun-toting cops first. They each managed to duck out of the way of the incoming bullets where they rightfully suspected the cops would shoot, and they were all able to kill two cops each by either braking their necks or using their own guns to shoot their heads at point-blank range before Spider-Man knocked down the two remaining cops with simple punches to the face.
Meanwhile, as all this happened, Brian and Bernie scrambled to gather up their own Heaven guns, and aimed them at Christina. But the three demons had already taken care of the cops they dealt with at that point, so Botya and Majes knocked the weapons out of Brian and Bernie's hands respectively before resuming their fights with them, just as Niske did against Spider-Man.
With all of the chaos around her, Christina decided to escape the room so that she could take the van herself and go to Peter Parker's previous apartment in order to find the mind-reading device.
But she only realized the problems of that plan once she actually got to the van; one, she didn't know how to drive, as her love for science, and, more importantly, distracted her from the regular things in life that other people take for granted every day; two, she didn't have the keys to even unlock the van, never mind drive it even if she could; and three, she didn't even know where Peter lived before this apartment.
Christina wasn't really one who planned for these things.
But at least two of her problems in this situation–those being the driving and unlocking the van parts–were resolved when Niske crashed from out of Peter Parker's apartment window, having been kicked out of there by Spider-Man himself. The fall from the height that Parker's apartment reached didn't kill Niske as she landed painfully on the roof of the van.
"C'mon, Niske, we've gotta get out of here!" Christina exclaimed.
"Understood," Niske replied, though grunting from the pain she sustained. "Botya and Majes can take care of themselves. We have to find out where Peter Parker's previous place of residence was." She rolled off the roof of the van by herself, unlocked it, and she and Christina clambered inside from the driver's side.
Meanwhile, after Spider-Man took care of Niske, he looked around and only just realized that Christina was gone now. Before he could turn around and look out the window to find where he suspected she would be, he had to dodge Brian and Bernie being thrown as projectiles in his direction, after Botya and Majes used their respective opponents' arms as leverage to fling them towards Spider-Man. The latter caught the ski-masked teenagers from landing harshly against the floor, but watched with them as the two male demons rushed out the door. This happened as Spider-Man heard a vehicle start its engine and zoom off.
Spider-Man, Brian, and Bernie all followed suit, forgetting about Niske and Christina's whereabouts as the former of the females started up the van, and drove off. Meanwhile, Botya and Majes managed to make it to the stairs that would take them down to the ground floor. Spider-Man tried to stop them by spouting two web-lines in their direction, but the human-disguised demons had already vaulted over the stairs' railing and descended for two floors before arresting they landed in deep crouches against the stairs a couple levels below.
They continued on downstairs as Spider-Man, Bernie, and Brian made it to the railing that Botya and Majes vaulted over, and paying no mind to what Brian and Bernie would do, Spider-Man vaulted over the railing like the two demons and arrested his fall as he descended to the level that his quarries were now on by spouting a web-line overhead against one of the railings.
Now on level with the two demons, Spider-Man tried to kick them in their sternums, but they ducked out of the way, vaulted over the next railing, descending another two floors before coming to another less-than-soft landing before continuing on downstairs. But Spider-Man let go of the web-strand he was now holding on to and allowed himself to flip end-over-end downstairs to try to get Botya and Majes this time.
However, they then just scurried out the door only to find the van gone.
They spun back around when they heard the door to the apartment open again, and they found Spider-Man there.
"What, did your mommy forget to pick you boys up from soccer practice?" Spider-Man quipped.
Suddenly, the unmarked grey van that Niske drove appeared from around the corner, and it began to zoom right towards Spider-Man. The latter jumped up out of the way, sticking to the wall behind him as the vehicle made a screeching stop as it made a tight turn for its backside to face Botya and Majes.
Christina opened the doors, motioned for the two male demons to climb inside quickly, and they did. Spider-Man jumped down from his previous position and spout out a web-line to at least nab Christina out of the van, which succeeded. Botya and Majes made futile grabs, which they even missed, as the web-string pulled Christina right to Spider-Man's heels.
"Christina, listen to me!" Spider-Man said as she came to her feet and hugged him just as Botya told Niske not to drive away yet. And even as that happened, Majes jumped out and rushed for Spider-Man and Christina. One kick sent that demon plowing right into Botya behind him, having them fly right back into the van. "They're just using you for their own ends! They don't care about you; they won't give you to me even if you succeed in what they want you to do!" As he said this, Botya and Majes got back on their feet and dashed to get out of the van again.
But once the demons got out of the van, Spider-Man watched in shock as Christina's head snapped to the side just less than a second following a loud bang! that sounded from above. As Spider-Man looked at the bloody wound on the side of Christina's head, Botya and Majes stopped in their tracks, and they then looked up with Spider-Man to find Brian's Heaven gun smoking as it was aimed at Christina's direction. The human-disguised demon himself was standing alongside Bernie at the window that Spider-Man kicked Niske through.
Beside Brian, Bernie complained, "You know, if you had given me just one more second, I could've ended her myself!"
Ignoring Bernie's complaint, Brian motioned for him to train his gun on Majes as he aimed his own for Botya. But both demons had already scrambled back into the van, their mission an utter failure with Christina's death and soul in Heaven now, and Brian and Bernie's shots only hit the empty road. They fired some more against the van, hoping that maybe some bullets would might get through and kill the demons, but none did as Niske drove off in a rush, ramming through the police cars that came to halt the fighting in Peter Parker's apartment.
Brian and Bernie then disappeared back into the apartment as people watched Spider-Man hold Christina's corpse in his arms, some of them knowing that it wasn't he who killed her this time. He then laid her body on the ground, closed her eyes, and then swung away, so that he could return to his apartment as Peter Parker.
~o~
Later that day, Peter returned to his apartment building, only to find it cordoned off by the police, as expected, considering the events that transpired there. All six of the cops who died there, and Christina, were loaded into ambulances to be taken to the morgue. The two cops who Spider-Man only knocked out were seen giving a field report of what happened to their fellow officers; Peter even saw Officer Barr as one of the two interviewers.
And then Brian and Bernie, their ski masks off and dressed in different clothes rather than the ones they were seen in when Brian killed Christina, stepped in beside Peter.
"You two got out of there pretty quickly," Peter commented.
"Yes, well, that's how we work when you do missions needed to take down the Antichrist," Brian said.
"Say, how did you know you'd have the opportunity to kill Christina?" Peter asked.
"We all heard the van go just as Botya and Majes were leaving, didn't we?" Brian asked Peter.
"Yeah, we did," Peter acknowledged.
"Well, I knew that even though she's a demon whose sole purpose in life is to obey the wills of whatever master she'll follow, she wouldn't have wanted to endure the punishment Ugly Kid would've inflicted upon her for driving off with two demons," Brian said. "Yes, two demons may not seem like much, but one thing I knew in all my years of interacting with the Antichrist is that he doesn't like to waste resources, no matter how small."
"So why drive off in the first place? Why not just wait for them?" Peter asked.
"With us on our tail?" Brian asked. "Niske wanted to catch us by surprise, kill us, and then pick up Botya and Majes. It's a nice two birds, one stone tactic I admire."
"Or two girls, one cup," Bernie commented.
"Never mention that again, Bernie," Brian said through gritted teeth.
Ignoring the interaction between the demon and angel, Peter asked, "So, you knew that Christina would get the opportunity to come out in the open to embrace me so you could shoot her?"
"It was a gut instinct that might happen, yes," Brian stated. "And, as you saw, it succeeded."
"Even I was skeptical that it might work," Bernie said.
"Yes, and you failed to get the opportunity to shoot her yourself," Brian said sardonically. "That's what you get for doubting me, Bernie." Brian didn't really sound serious when he said that, though.
"Peter!" a familiar female voice called.
Brian and Bernie slipped away inconspicuously as Peter turned and found Mary Jane run lightly toward him. She hugged him, then pulled back and said, "Oh, God, I was so worried. It was on the news, I heard what happened at your apartment today. Spider-Man was there, that crazy Christina chick who was so gaga over him, and a few others that those two remaining cops couldn't identify. I thought that maybe you were there, and that maybe you were hurt, or worse."
"I'm fine, MJ," Peter assured her. "I was out trying to get some photos when all this happened." He looked over to see Officer Barr and another fellow cop look over his way. "Though I think I'll probably have to give a more complex explanation to the cops when they ask why my apartment must've been so special to warrant all that violence."
"Well, I'm just glad you're all right," MJ said. He then gave him a kiss on the cheek, then turned and walked away as Barr and his fellow officer approached Peter to question him.
~o~
Niske, Botya, and Majes all returned to their abandoned warehouse hideout in the Bronx later that night. It took them longer to return because they were forced to ditch their van in an alley and had to scurry into the sewers until they were sure they made it out of Manhattan. They all smelled of sewage and crap, but those they encountered on their way back to the warehouse on foot throughout the rest of the city didn't comment on the stench they emitted.
The three demons disappeared in the back alley of their abandoned warehouse hideout just as the police finally announced to the public to send out any 911 messages regarding the whereabouts of Niske, Botya, and Majes, who were identified in drawings by the authorities. But just because they were back in their hideout didn't mean they were safe.
Reluctantly, they returned to the sparsely furnished room where they debriefed Christina of what she had to do; unbeknownst to any of them in that room the very previous night that they would fail the next day. Once they were all inside, and the door was shut behind them, a black, swirling crowd entered into the room through the cracks of the room's floorboards. It coalesced before the three demons, who all stood united, into that of the spectral form of their master.
Ugly Kid.
"The three of you have all once again failed me," he said in a deep, gravelly, Italian-American voice. "You shall all be punished accordingly."
Niske, Botya, and Majes all nodded acceptance of their punishment, and the spectral form condensed into a cloud that rushed the three demons. It slithered around like a snake throughout their body, entering through their orifices, and they screamed like mere mortals rather than the human-disguised demons that they really were.
But just as their torture began, it ended just as quickly. The three demons, kneeling and panting from the pain they've just endured, managed to compose themselves and stand back up proudly, mustering what dignity they still had before the spectral form of the Antichrist.
"You have all been punished accordingly," Ugly Kid said. "Now, Niske, as you will speak for you and your companions, you will answer to me. So, you have met the Spider-Man, I presume?"
"Yes, we have," Niske answered.
"And he is a worthy opponent, I presume?" Ugly Kid asked.
"Yes, he is," Niske answered.
"That is all I needed to hear."
