-Somewhere in Manhattan: 30 minutes ago-

Mark Raxton walks alone through the cold wearing a white winter hoodie and blue jeans, probably taken from an abandoned thrift shop. So many thoughts lingered in his head as he looks to the sky for Spider-Man. He felt an invisible time ticking down, not sure if he had weeks, days, or hours left before his sister succumbs to the Green Poison. It's a shame he has to take out Spider-Man to save her. In his mind, Spider-Man's probably a good person trying to do the right thing, but he's onto something dangerous and it would be a shame if he ruined what AIM is trying to do; to take the city and usher a new age under their rule.

He walks through an alleyway underneath the tracks of a subway bridge, hoping to find someone who knows where they've last seen Spider-Man or a pair of people with fancy watches on their wrists. But would that draw suspicion on him, leading to his inevitable failure to save his stepsister? A.I.M made it clear that he had two options, to get the job done or not come back at all. He reaches the ladder that would give him access to the apartment and it would take him to the rooftop.

Just then, he hears someone making a creepy catcall whistle behind him. He snaps his head around and spots a group of men in hoodies and winter coats brandishing baseball bats, handheld SMGs, and other weapons as they approach him slowly like a pack of wolves stalking a rabbit. The leader pulls out his bat and snickers as he points at Mark. Mark turns his body around and clenches his fists.

"This one is not running or begging." The Rioter leader sneers. "Interesting…"

"Come on!" Mark shouts with a growl as he clenches his fists. He closes his eyes to concentrate on turning into Molten Man. However, nothing happened. He opens his eyes to see the Rioters haven't backed off and are starting to surround him. He closes his eyes again, hoping to change his form at will, making the rioters stop momentarily.

"This one is into it." A rioter daredevil remarks with a slight tone of remorse. She nearly felt sorry of robbing a man who didn't seem to have much. "I doubt he's got something on him. Let's just go."

"The screw up thinks he's tough." The leader laughs as he disregards his subordinate. "Phil, Alex, whack him."

Mark opens his eyes and sees the Rioters begin to surround him. He puts his fits up as he continues to concentrate on changing his form. A rioter charges forward with a baseball bat and swings. Mark ducks under and punches his attacker below the belt. The leader yells at his squad to go after him as Alex ducked over in pain. Mark turns around to run as he continues to concentrate on his will to transform into Molten Man. However, nothing seems to be working.

Up on a faraway roof, an A.I.M. agent in the yellow beekeeper suit was looking down at the scene unfolding. He'd been ordered by Monica to keep an eye on him to make sure he's not only safe, but not doing something that A.I.M. didn't want him to do. Seeing now is a good time for Molten Man to come out, he presses the button on a remote quickly. Just then, there was a scream followed by a mixture of shouting and gunfire coming from the streets below. The man in the beekeeper suit turns around and creates a portal to take him back to base.

-Somewhere else in New York-

Oliver walks with Spider-Man and explain what happened at the Napalm Production facility, from when they took on Ferro and his massive flamethrower to putting an end to the leader of the Cleaners. Oliver recounts how the watchtower had been blown up by the explosives the Cleaners set in place, and it was Ferro who had the detonator all along and blew the watchtower up with his own hand, forcing the agents to leave without him. Spider-Man's lenses close for a moment and rubs his head, making John move up to the web slinger.

"You are sure you're feeling good?" John asks with concern.

"I'm fine. My head feels fine." Spider-Man reassures the doctor while waving his hand. "I just wish Ferro would have made it out. He was a misguided blue-collar worker who believed he's doing the right thing all along."

"Well, someone should have told him lighting up is bad for his health." Oliver replies coldly. "But it doesn't matter now because with Ferro out of the way and with the napalm tanks destroyed, those Cleaners won't be much of a problem as they were before."

"True…" Spider-Man says somberly before Freya pats him on the shoulder.

"If there's any constellation, Spidey." Freya began with a smile. "You really helped us out with those Cleaners. Thanks to you, we are making headway to complete our mission to save New York."

"I'm surprised we haven't run into any of your bad guys who have yet to be locked up, if you know what I mean." Shane replies with a short laugh.

"Don't jinx it." John reprimands Shane with a groan. "I don't want to deal with someone who can shoot electricity out of their body. Anyways, let's get going to the base. Doctor Kandel needs me over there to clear the line of patients."

"I need to head back to base as well." Oliver nods in agreement. "Benitez wants me to train a group of new survivors how to fight."

The five continue walking down the street while keeping a look out for any bad guys to take down or civilians to help. It took several minutes of walking until Madison Square Garden was in their sightline, indicating they are close to home. Spider-Man receives a call from his mask. The ID on the call came up as Mars. Realizing this call could be important, he presses the button on his wrist to answer the call. He slows down as a friendly voice begins to speak to him.

"Hello, Spider-Man." The agent greets with a warm friendly tone. "Are you done with your mission?"

Spider-Man looks around to see the agents have stopped and are staring at him. Spider-Man gestures with pointing a finger to the air, telling his team that he needs to take the call. The Division agents keep walking with Spider-Man as he talks in a quiet tone into his mouthpiece. The agents didn't seem to care who was talking to the wall crawler. The base is in sight, standing proudly with a group of JTF soldiers patrolling the grounds.

"Yeah, you need me?"

"Well, I believe I have a lead." Mars replies on the coms before Spider-Man could hear someone grunting from the other end, making the wall crawler a little worried. What's going on at the other end? Is Mars in a bit of a firefight? Did he rescue a helpless citizen? Then, there is another pause. "Come to my location as soon as you can. I'll mark myself on your map."

Spider-Man nods and starts climbing on the wall. Oliver stops and turns around with his other fellow agents.

"Where are you off to, Parker?" Oliver asks.

"I need to check out something. I got word from… the JTF that they have intel that could lead me to Molten Man."

"The dude on fire we fought in that mall?" Shane asks before Spider-Man nods away. Then, Shane chuckles. "I'm not going to stop you. You sure you can take him on without us?"

"I don't think I'll get that lucky." Spider-Man responds with a weak laugh. "For a guy who can light himself on fire, he hasn't burned anything down or started any fires that have caught my attention."

"Just come back alive." Oliver shouts out with worry before Spider-Man leaps off the wall and starts swinging. "People look up to you, count on you."

The agents watch Spider-Man swing away to the west of Manhattan. The four looks at each other, wondering what the wall crawler is up to. Oliver scratches his head as he tries to come up with an explanation for Spider-Man's disappearance from the group. They just struck a huge blow to the Cleaners and Spider-Man wants to keep working instead of taking a moment to relax. Plus, why are the JTF contacting Spider-Man and not the agents.

"Anyone else think he's acting weird?" Freya asks.

"I don't know. Perhaps he's trying not to get us involved in something beyond our control." Shane explains. "If he needs us, he'll let us know, right?"

"I doubt it. He always shoulders responsibility." Oliver sighs with a hint of worry. "Anyways, lets head back and see what Commander Lau has for us. We'll worry about Spider-Man later."

-Later-

It took Spider-Man ten minutes to reach to the location in Hell's Kitchen, faster than a 20-minute subway ride and walk through the city to get close to an alleyway underneath the train tracks. The wall crawler leaps off the roof and lands onto the ground in front of the alleyway. He quickly smells something burnt as he steps into the alleyway, blast marks of human remains, charred corpses, little bushes of fire scattered around, all the telltale signs of Molten Man was here. Then, he spots Mars pinning a man against the wall. Spider-Man's lenses rises up as he glances at the scene unfolding.

"Hey, who is he? A witness?" Spider-Man asks with concern in his voice. Mars pulls the man off the wall and pushes him to the ground. "Ok. You don't have to manhandle him."

"He's a looter. You can't be lenient with these people." Mars replied while pulling a pistol out and pointing at the rioter. "Please introduce yourself to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

"You with the Spider? This is rich." The rioter replies. Mars pulls the slider on his pistol back before letting it go to load the next round, making Spider-Man shake his head slowly at the hooded agent. The rioter gulps and looks to Spider-Man. "I'm Alex. Just let me go, I've got my family to take care of."

"Alright, Alex." Mars keeps his pistol on the rioter. "We'll let you go. But tell us what happened here."

"There was a guy we were following. I hoped he had something expensive or his wallet. I attacked him and the fucker got me below the belt. The son of a bitch ran as the rest of them left me to chase him down. Then, that's when the screams came. I turned around and see this monster covered in orange tossing my friends like ragdolls and shooting flames and whatever goo he had on him."

"Any idea where he went?" Spider-Man asks.

"No idea, I swear on my mother!" Alex pleads back. "But I got a good look at him, white man in a hoodie with blue jeans carrying a green backpack."

"Thanks for sharing, Alex." Mars pats Alex's back.

Spider-Man watches Mars pull Alex to stand up. He leans forward and whispers something to the rioter, making him walk forward out of the alleyway. Then, Spider-Man walks up to Mars as he puts his pistol back into his pocket before looking at the charred crime scene. Then, Mars crouches on his knees and sees scorched footprints leading out of the alleyway. Mars traces the footprints with his eyes and grins underneath his scarf.

"Well, we got ourselves a lead." Mars notes to himself out loud before he turns to Spider-Man. "The tracks lead out of the alleyway and continue to go out onto the streets thanks to the scorch footprints. With any luck, we could find our friend before he… causes anymore damage."

"You're going to track Molten Man down so we can find out who is behind all of this?"

"Exactly. With ISAC's help, I could find where Mark is." Mars stands up and begins to follow the tracks. "I'll contact you as soon as we get a visual on this Molten Man. I'll be heading out and follow the footprints. You go out and make New York safe for me, ok?"

Spider-Man nods and casts a web to start swinging his way back to base. Mars steps out of the alleyway and begins following the footprints on the ground. Mars grins to himself a little, happy that it isn't snowing. He looks up to the sky to see Spider-Man leap off the wall of a building before swinging again. He taps his watch, pulling up ISAC, and asks to follow the footprints.

ISAC: Tracing targeted footprints… Projecting route…

Mars grins to himself and follows the path ISAC created to track the scorched footprints. With any luck, he could get to Molten Man before another massacre could happen to anyone else. As the scorch marks reach out onto the street, he keeps his eyes above the ground to keep himself safe from any of the hostile factions roaming the streets.

-Near the JTF HQ-

Spider-Man swings around the Madison Square Garden before dropping down to the ground on his feet. He looks up to the JTF guards posted on the outside perimeter. Then, he ducks under an alleyway to change out into his clothes. A few minutes later, Peter emerges and gets the attention of the JTF before he steps inside the base.

He carefully looks around after passing through the hall lit up in blacklight and sees Aunt May in the kitchen making soup with some of the volunteers, Miles slowly walks upstairs with a heavy tote of components in his hands, and MJ walks out of the JTF barracks with the gunrunner talking between the two. Peter walks up to Mary Jane and the gunrunner, grabbing their attention. The gunrunner nods and leaves to return to his post. Mary Jane runs forward to Peter as he waves to her.

"Pete! You are back!" MJ exclaims quietly with excitement before looking around briefly. Her eyes then returned to Peter. "You're just in time for dinner. The JTF recovered an airdrop containing food and water from the Rikers."

"Really? What they got cooking?"

"I don't know." MJ shrugged her shoulders a little. "But it's better than the MREs Aaron shares with Miles and I."

Peter laughs a little and follows MJ to the cafeteria. The cafeteria was set up in the far back of the base. There's a group of JTF serving soup to a family of three before they send them off to a table. Then, MJ and Peter stepped up to the window. The JTF disappears for a moment before returning with two hot Styrofoam bowls of soup. The soup was simply chicken noodle, something warm and easy. Peter and MJ grab their bowls and head to an empty table and sit down. Peter waits a moment. The warm air rises out of the bowl of broth, chicken, carrots, and noodles. They both decided to let the soup cool down and start chatting.

"The Joint Task Force really out did themselves." Peter says before blowing a little into his soup. "It's pretty hot though."

"I agree. They aren't exactly the best cooks in New York. But I'm just glad to have a warm meal for once." MJ remarks.

"Yeah, same. It's freezing out there." Peter stirs the soup with his spoon but keeps his eyes on MJ. "Is it me, or am I getting warm in here?"

"Don't worry, you're not going crazy. The base just got a new heater. Now I'm not freezing while working and sleeping." MJ nods before letting out a quick laugh.

Things fall silent for a moment as the broadcast of "Wouldn't ya know it" is on the air. Peter breathed a sigh of relief, happy to not hear JJ spam his crazy anti-Spider-Man rhetoric. Freya steps up to the window to get her bowl of soup. As she gets her tray, she walks over and sees Peter and MJ talking together. Peter sits up and waves to Freya who waves back in return. Then, the SHD agent looks around before setting her eyes to the nearly empty table that Peter and MJ were sitting at. Her face turns a bit red slightly.

"Hello Peter, Mary Jane." Freya greets before her tone shifts awkwardly. "May I sit with you guys?"

"Of course." MJ smiles. "Have a seat."

The former reporter of the Daily Bugle takes a seat and looks up at Peter. Freya takes a bite of her soup, only to stop as the spoon nearly burns her tongue. She sets it down and stirs it a little. Freya gets some glances from JTF and some civilians as her ISAC brick on her shoulder glows bright orange.

"So, what brings you here, agent Freya?" Peter smirks a little.

"I got hungry." Freya laughs a little. "An agent can get hungry too, right?"

"Good point." Peter nods away.

"So, Mary Jane, I heard you've been moved out of the medical wing when Doctor Kandel took over." Freya says. "What are you doing now?"

"Well, they had me do some tasks here and there. I think we're at a point where we're overstaffed in the base, and I bet the JTF have no idea what to do with me other than signing me up to take defense classes. I don't want to be walking out on the streets with a gun. It's not exactly my style, but I think it'll be a reality unless I can convince them not to send me out to patrol the streets."

Freya thinks for a moment as her soup cooled down. Then, her face brightened up with a thought. "I heard the tech wizards in the JTF are looking for a reporter to handle communications in the tech wing. You could ask Rhodes for a position in the communications hub."

"Hah, I'll have my old job back." MJ then lets out a slight grin. "Sure, that would work perfectly. But they probably don't have the equipment to create a radio broadcast and I have to share the airwaves with JJ and that weird conspiracist guy. What's his name again? Eh, it doesn't matter."

"You're looking at someone who can help set that up." Freya laughs quickly before shifting back to a more serious tone. "Want to meet me upstairs when you're done eating?

"Of course." Mary Jane takes a couple scoops of warm soup into her mouth before looking at Peter. "What will you be doing?"

"Just finishing my meal before getting out back out there. There's bound to be some people that could use some help."

"You're going back out there, after all that action in the Mall and the construction site?" MJ shakes her head slowly. "There's no stopping you. Hopefully I can be on the air and provide great intel for the JTF."

"You've only got JJ and Valassi to worry about. The sooner we get you on the air, the better." Freya replies with excitement. "It'll be nice to give the JTF something better to listen to as they are on their patrols throughout the area. I'll be heading upstairs to talk to Rhodes."

Mary Jane nods and finishes her soup with Freya. The two then head upstairs as Peter finishes up his soup quickly. He smiles to himself, happy to see MJ being able to use her talents to good use. He's also glad she hasn't stepped foot outside of the streets with Rikers, looters, and what's left of the Cleaners running around. He could see Aunt May walking out of the kitchen before she passes a smile to him. He smiles back as she walks up to his table.

"There's my favorite Aunt." Peter greets.

"Hello, Peter." Aunt May replies. "You've been busy with the Joint Task Force. You're on break I assume."

"Of course." Peter nods. "How is are things with FEAST?"

"It's developing. See for yourself." Aunt May points to a group of volunteers setting up the FEAST banner above an area filled with beds and tables. As they finish setting up the banner, civilians begin parking their stuff on the bed and join with their friends and family. Other people head to the medical wing to receive counseling therapy or medical care. The base is slowly coming together, making Peter beam a smile with hope. The agents weren't just soldiers, but efficient survivalists that can provide infrastructure to people.

"The federal agents have been providing resources and recovering manpower to make this base better to work in and bring FEAST back to its feet." May goes on before stopping herself.

"Yeah, what can you do without them, right?" Peter chuckles a little. He finishes the soup in his bowl and pushes it to the side. "But don't sell yourself short. Your collaboration with the JTF have helped this place to house civilians displaced in the chaos, keeping them safe."

"That's true." May places her hands on top of Peter's. Then, she looks at her watch before getting up from her seat. "It's good catching up with you Peter. I've got to go back to work."

Peter nods and watches his aunt get up and leave the table. Peter grabs the bowl and tosses it from his seat to the waste basket. It goes in. Peter lets out a fist bump and gets up from his seat and heads upstairs to check out what's going on upstairs. He notices Doctor Oxton patching a wounded JTF soldier's leg tight with a bandage. Peter squirms a little as he hears the soldier grunt and whine in pain before going upstairs to see what Miles is up to. He opens the door into Mile's new workspace and walks inside.