That night Peter was out on patrol as Spider-Man web slinging around the city; he jumped down on top of a building overlooking Jefferson at his police car as he knew that this area was his normal beat. The police scanner in his mask picked up the conversation of a meeting between crime groups to buy samples of OZ in Chinatown; Jefferson sounded freaked out and soon the call ended.
Peter's eyes widened as he more than remembered that his first year was spent fighting foes created by that stuff and it led to the events of the UN building. No way is that stuff going to create more villians to terrorise the city or world on his watch.
"Hello there Jeff." Peter said casually jumping down and landed right behind Jefferson as he turned to face him as if he was now used to this. Peter grinned underneath his mask and laughed saying "I love how our friendship has grown over the years; you used to get annoyed when I called you Jeff. Shows how much you have grown to like me."
Jefferson looked amused as he put his hands on his hips and replied "no; the reason why is that I have long realised that complaining about you talking to me like we're buddies will get nowhere and raising a teenage son along with my job means that I have more important stuff to focus on than what my vigilante contact calls me."
"Well; hope you don't mind but I heard your conversation and don't worry; consider that little super powered OZ deal dealt with..." Peter told him and this alarmed Jefferson as he caught Peter's arm before he could say anything else. "Something the matter..." Peter asked uneasy as he never seen Jefferson like this; worried and concerned.
"Spider-Man listen... Leave this deal to us... You don't want to get into any stuff in Chinatown... That's the Demons' territory. You don't want to get on their radar." Jefferson said as Peter just stood there confused. Jefferson sighed and said "the Demons; they have been active in Chinatown for along time and were just a small crime gang who uses Chinese demon masks. That was until sometime before Fisk got released all those years ago; they were organised and made stronger by a mysterious new boss. All that they know that they got powers and there are officers in the department swearing that it's an actual demon leading the group. They now RULE the Chinatown crime element; you can't even pickpocket without their permission and they are probably the most organised crime group here in New York. Ever since the collapse of the Gentleman's organisation, the Maggia, Fisk's Neo-Kingpin organisation, Octavius' Six and Osborn's Jack O'Lanterns... You got the crime element in this city scared but the Demons..." Jefferson explained as Peter took this in confused.
"What? How have I never heard of them then..." Peter asked as Jefferson shook his head.
"They made damn sure of that and to make sure that nothing could lead back to their operations... Any reporter or cop investigating them leads terrified and any informant ends up in their clutches... They made sure to stay out of the public eye and to make sure that they are ruling Chinatown from the shadows. Last year we got a crook who was dealing with them and turned himself in for a plea deal to spill what he knew. Before he could be interviewed... An officer shot him in the cell dead and then pulled the gun to his head and fired... He was like in a trance..." Jefferson continued to explain looking uncomfortable and Peter was taken aback uncomfortable at the story. "Please as a partner and... A friend... Let this one go..." Jefferson pleaded as Peter was silent and sighed.
"Thanks for the concern Jeff but... This city is my neighbourhood and no Demon is going to stop me from protecting it..." Peter replied as he started web slinging as Jefferson facepalmed.
"Stubborn idiot..." Jefferson groaned.
Octavius was smirking as he looked through the facility that he was put in charge of by Alchemax and would be working from now on after his release. Soon his mind will be respected for what it is and he will redeem his own name after it was tarnished thanks to the late Osborn. "Doc; how exactly did you end up with Ms Book? She was like a miracle worker..." asked a bewildered Max Dillon who would be working as his assistant and wearing a specialised vest underneath his clothes to stop him from using his powers.
"Ms Book called me after I contacted her wishing for her services and explaining my story; she loved challenges it seemed and was confident that she could pull through a release for me. Her confidence wasn't misplaced..." Octavius said as he had his new head of security come up to him in his uniform.
"Doctor Octavius sir... I just want to say... Thank you so much for taking me in... Not even my old workplace from before I was arrested would take me back after my record and what I had done..." the head of security said gratefully as Octavius put up a robotic limb to silence him.
"No need to thank me; this is a place for second chances after all Mr Davis." Octavius told Aaron who grinned and nodded.
Peter sneaked through the warehouse in Chinatown where the sales pitch for lack of a better term would be taking place. He saw the ex-Oscorp employees on a podium to take the potential buyers who definitely looked like criminal deal. There were 2 bald guys leading a group with purple suits and the backs of their suits had the letters 'FOH'. Looks like they were representatives of the anti-Mutant hate group the Friends of Humanity who were protesting the pro-Mutant support ever since the public return of the X-Men at the events of the UN those years ago.
"We have some beauts and that includes OZ mixed in with different animals. Don't worry we got plenty of vanilla OZ for the right price! Surprised to find the Friends of Humanity here!" said the lead talesmen looking to the FOH.
"We need to level the playing field if we are to fight back." said one of them and Peter got a good enough look at him to scan him with his mask and there was a file on him as he connected with the police database. Tomas Calderon an ex-SHIELD agent and scanned his partner: Jace Turner a police officer turned officer of the Mutant Response Division.
The lead salesman was about to ask for offers then barging in were people wearing black suits and wearing Demon masks and Peter then thought that they must be the Demons. "Apologies but this monstrous concoction doesn't belong on the streets." said one of them in English as they began firing at the criminals as they got out their weapons and fought back. However Peter saw that several of the Demons had black and white energy whips and swords that were quite strong.
Peter got back down and started attacking the criminals and the Demons but they were quite strong; he had to dodge using his Spider-Sense as the Friends of Humanity started to fire upon him in anger. "You know... I could have just let the Demons kill you but what should I expect from bigots who attack innocent Mutants while calling themselves friends to humanity..." Peter quipped as this got Turner and Calderon furious.
"We calls ourselves the Friends of Humanity for we are! We are the true Champions fighting for the human race; I was kicked out of SHIELD for wanting to be strong in fighting you freaks! I saw an enhanced cyborg run down cadets at a SHIELD academy..." Calderon ranted as he was caught by the neck from one of the energy whips from a Demon.
"Innocent Mutants..." spat Turner as he looked to Peter and got a good punch in; "My younger daughter was innocent and we were having a family picnic... There was a Mutant march nearby that escalated... My daughter was a casualty and I swore to never let it happen again and it led me to the MRD. Nowadays when I see X-Men comics more popular than ever and you being hailed as a hero; it feels like people are vandalising my daughter's grave..." Turner thundered at Peter only to get kicked in the gut by Peter.
"I am sorry about your daughter; that was a terrible tragedy but you think that you are honouring her by joining a group of hateful terrorists? You think that she would be proud of you for that?" Peter asked and this infuriated Turner but he ended up stabbed from behind by one of the Demons using his sword and Peter had no time to react as his felt his Spider-Sense go off hard. He had the energy knocked out of him by a Demon and he collapsed. The Demons finished killing the rest of them.
One of the ex-Oscorp employees tried to escape with the samples but got shot in the back by a Demon; he dropped the samples and Remy who was hiding jumped down and grabbed one of the samples and left smirking about his pay from John. the Demon went to the corpse and shot the rest of the samples.
Peter groaned as he got up and found himself strapped to a chair and in a white room surrounded by Demons with Martin there in his photo negative form. "My apologies Spider-Man but we would like to have a civil discussion and I am sure that we could come to an agreement about you staying out of our affairs as we have everything in Chinatown all under control. If you want a name to call me by; you can go with Mr Negative." Martin told him calmly.
Jace Turner came from the Gifted show where he was the most consistent and recurring antagonist of the show. Tomas Calderon was part of the 'Real Shield' from Agents of SHIELD which was the source of my least fave storyline of that entire show.
