DECADES AGO

May Reily was in her home dealing with the unexpected arrival of her parents as well as Johnny Jerome a charming looking well dressed man with a moustache in a suit and a fedora. He put on his smile and presented her with an expensive looking necklace. "I don't know what to say Johnny; I can't accept something like this... You know that I am with Ben..." May told him but then her father went and took the necklace to put around her neck.

"Don't worry Johnathan; May has a habit of saying things she doesn't mean when she is shocked." Mrs Reily told Johnny assuringly and May shook her head as being talked over was something that she was too used to from her parents all of her life.

"May; you are a special kind of woman who deserves to live the best life with a special man. I hope that if you give a guy like me a chance then I could give you that best life." Johnny told May charmingly as it looked like he was going to go on his knees and May's excited parents look thrilled and Mrs Reily was ready to hand over her own wedding ring to Johnny in order to present to May.

"I am sorry Johnny; I hope you find someone special but it can't be me. I am with Ben as I said." May spoke taking the necklace off and handing it to a shocked Jerome and went up the stairs with her parents falling suit. Her father telling Jerome to let them handle it as they got the necklace from him.

"I don't know why you keep resisting when we try so hard to help you realise what is best for your future. A young woman in this economy in this city isn't going to get very far without the right man. Mr Jerome is a fine wealthy young man and he can help you live the best life." Mr Reily spoke firmly but calmly as he and his wife faced their daughter with their arms folded. May resisted the urge to retort 'as well as provide you with the best retirement'.

"Mum, Dad... I have had it with you keep trying to map out my life for me! I don't like Johnny that way and I love Ben. What's so hard to understand about that?" May asked practically pleading with them to just think that they could be mistaken for once in their lives.

"You are not going to get very far with him; working for a small building firm and it's not like he's going to be making something big to allow him to support you and future children. Plus his attitude about big companies and wasting so much time on supporting unions is not going to get him very far." Mr Reily spoke.

"Plus that brother of his and his wife; likely to get themselves killed..." tutted Mrs Reily as May groaned; "We will be back after we give you some time to come to your senses and realises that we are doing what's best for you." Mrs Reily said placing the necklace on a nearby table.

May sat on the chair thinking about everything as she heard the sounds of Johnny and her parents glanced at a nearby newspaper for today and decided that anything was better than stewing and picked it up; reading about a jewellery robbery with the perpetrators unidentified. She froze as she saw a photo of the stolen necklace which looked exactly like the necklace on the table; the description saying that it was one of a kind.

She invited Ben over and they looked over every bit of jewellery that Jerome had gift and each one had a report about them being like something reported stolen. They gave the details to the authorities and set up a trap at Johnny's place and caught him red handed. Months later May was now engaged to Ben as she read about his sentence and thinking about her parents haven't contacted her since the arrest or responded to the reveal of the accepted proposal and she was just fine with that.

A little had time had happened since the events at the UN building and May was packing up from a hard day's work at FEAST; being put in charge as Martin had a meeting to go to and now it seemed that the world and especially this city was adjusting to how much things have changed. The return of the X-Men, who was said to be actual Captain America returning, the formation of the Avengers who were being called Earth's Mightiest Heroes and getting support from government agencies and it turning out that a king of a small African nation coudl turn out to have his own alter ego.

She had everything packed up in the office as the TV showed a news report about how the new Mayor Edward Saks (who was previously the deputy to ex-Mayor Jameson) had made a decree about transforming the Anti-Vigilante Task Force and how it will now be known as the Enhanced Crimes Task Force. She turned it off as DBC news said up next was talking about reactions to Spider-Man & Firestar being New York's power couple, she never understood media's obsession with the personal lives of famous and public individuals.

She started going to her car where there was a man in a trenchcoat and a fedora; "Can I help you..." May asked eyebrows raised but noticed the man's smiling face and after a few minutes recognised the man despite how aged he looked. "Johnny Jerome?" May asked flabbergasted after having not thought of him for years.

"Surprised May? I got out and on probation. I heard about Ben, I'm sorry..." Jerome stated and May was silent and thanked him for that. "You know I got a secret account waiting for me as a reward from my old boss for not snitching and it had gone up with you know how the inflation works. I was wondering if you could give me a chance; we could leave this city and I can take you to someplace safe to start over." Jerome offered with a smile and May was open mouthed.

"I am sorry Johnny but no; not only is it too soon from Ben's loss in my heart... It was never going to work out; even back then..." May sighed hoping that he would take the hint.

"May it's dangerous out here; the city is tearing itself apart with all these powers and costumes... I wanted to give you space but I ended up learning about how you got sick thanks to that octopus guy and the Spider clown! You know that your folks liked me and they would agree that you should escape this sinking ship of a city." Jerome pleaded and May grew angry at the mention of Spider-Man as an insult to him and it only grew when he brought up her parents.

"Why should I care about what they would think?" May asked furiously shaking her head before calming herself down. "You know at Ben's funeral at the graveyard; I had seen my mother for the first time in decades. I recognised her and she did so when I spotted her but she just left without a word; she wasn't at the service and I just happened to spot her when I was going home with Peter; after she walked away I went to check the grave that she was visiting. Turns out that my father had been dead or years and she didn't see fit to contact me or invite to his funeral." May continued on as Johnny was saying.

"I have too much responsibilities here in New York; helping people at FEAST and looking after Peter." May told him hoping to find this conversation there.

"This is your safety we are talking about here May and let the foster system take care of the kid; don't let a Parker hold you back again..." Jerome pleaded one more thing.

"Goodbye forever Johnathan Jerome; may you find some peace in your free life for what it's worth. Contact me or go near my family again then I will be looking for a restraining order." May told Jerome for the last time as she left to go to her car; leaving behind Jerome to nurse his badly bruised cheek and getting up from the puddle that he landed back first from the shove to the chest by May.

A secret hideout in Chinatown, New York and there were the assembled members of the Demons crime organisation who had successfully taken over the neighbourhood's criminal element unopposed thanks to their latest leader over the last year. Said leader was looking over his men all wearing their Chinese demon masks as he was wearing a white business suit and his skin looked like a glowing photo negative effect.

"My friends; we have successfully outlasted Wilson Fisk's attempt to re-establish himself as the Kingpin once more as well as the Green Goblin's crime family. Chinatown is now our's to rule fairly and with respect. The money hungry crime lords who would endanger and target the weak has no place here; you shall all be well looked after without the need to do so at the expense of the normal law abiding citizen." the leader spoke to the Demons in Chinese.

"How about Spider-Man and the other superheroes?" asked one of the main underlings and the leader shook his head.

"We have made it this far not only with my shared powers but also staying on the down low; right now I am just a rumour for criminal underworld and let the fear of the Demons deter the other wannabe kingpins. Staying below the radar will allow us to continue unopposed; fighting Spider-Man will draw us into the public eye and that is not what I want. We can't risk a war that we may lose. Right now it's doubtful that he knows that I even exist and it shall stay that way. Let him continue on keeping the city safe from super powered criminals while we flourish on the down low." the leader replied as he put his hands together. "However make no mistake; should any gang, criminal or wannabe future kingpin tries to go into our territory or threaten us, they shall be dealt with without mercy. We will teach them to fear the Demons!" the leader spoke and they all cheered at him for it with him smirking.

Soon after the meeting left; the leader went to his secret exit and turned off his powers getting rid of the energy that was making his skin glow like a photo effect, turned his hair white and made his suit look white when it was black. Martin Li then walked with his driver to his ride in order to go home. "Ironic; after so many years fighting my own demons and my past... I end up leading demons..." Martin thought in his head.

Okay this is kind of repurposing a planned chapter that was meant to come out right after the Spider-Men storyline and dealing with Jerome was going to be shown as what May was doing while she was out of New York. Basically consider this a loose adaptation of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #4. Plus the Mr Negative set up at the end was supposed to be during the montage last chapter but I forgot to put it in when I was typing it. The name for the Enhanced Crimes Task-Force came from the Amazing Spider-Man 2 game which I think was alright but the previous movie's game was much better and is quite underrated if you ask me.