-- The Daily Bugle, Manhattan --
An hour ago
The phrase 'the city that never sleeps' has always been seen as more of a general statement then an expression used to describe the frantic lifestyles of those who live in New York, but tonight of all nights made it seem truer than ever. Especially for the employees at the Daily Bugle. The tired reporters and investigative journalists had been working non-stop for almost the entire day now trying to catch up on what seemed like the billionth story they had received concerning the criminal group known as 'the Hand'. As rumour would have it, the splinter group had begun setting up shop in the Big Apple. On top of that, there were unconfirmed reports of giant mutant frogs practicing kung-fu in the sewers or something along those lines. Or were they ninja turtles? Well according to an
artists rendering the Bugle had received, the true answer was still up for debate. What made things even stranger was the idea that these supposed 'heroes in a half-shell' were single-handedly taking the fight to the Hand-- and they were winning!
But as ridiculous as that might've sounded to most, in a world where meta-humans are popping up like flies all across the planet, the idea of four mutated turtles practicing ninjutsu in the sewers of New York City wasn't all that far-fetched.
As the workers continued to rush about, hurrying from their computers to the office printer, which had jammed numerous times in the past couple of minutes thanks to its age. The only thing J. Jonah Jameson was willing to upgrade at the Bugle were the computers, and even then he only did that every couple of years. Most of, if not all of, the technology at the Bugle came from the year 2003 and the floors of the office were practically coated in wires, connecting various whozits to an assortment of whatevers.
Sitting in the midst of the chaos, awkwardly perched on the most uncomfortable wooden stools ever designed by man, were Peter Parker and
Eddie Brock. Back when Parker applied for a freelance internship at the Bugle last year, Jameson had paired him up with Brock (a recently designated 'senior' journalist at the time) so the two could function as a team. Eddie wrote the articles, did the interviews, and chased the stories wherever he could find them, whereas Peter... Took photographs. Thankfully though, most of the work Jameson gave Eddie and Peter correlated to the various superhero goings-on in New York, which not only kept Peter in the loop about what was going on crime-wise, but also allowed him the chance to capture Jameson's favourite type of photo; ones that had Spider-Man in them.
Thankfully the school year had concluded for the summer, so Peter was able to devote whatever time he wasn't out as Spider-Man or trying (and mostly failing) to have a social life to working at the Bugle. The flexible hours really helped, but that didn't mean he was overly excited whenever he got the call late at night to come in and meet with J.J. But at least Eddie was cool enough to bring donuts for the office, so that was kind of a plus. Eddie had taken a bit of an older-brother attitude towards Peter and often teased him about small things, but Peter knew he wasn't trying to be mean. Occasionally though they butted heads, but again; it made them seem like brothers.
Just as Peter went to take a bite out of a jelly-filled doughnut he had been eyeing up ever since Eddie arrived with the box, the door to J.J's office opened and out stepped
Betty Brant, Mr. Jameson's personal assistant. As she opened the door, both men could hear the frantic shouting of their boss.
"IF THEY'RE NOT HERE YET, TELL THEM TO MOVE IT OR ELSE THEY'RE FIRED!"
Smiling sheepishly at the two men sitting beside the door as she closed it, Betty shrugged her shoulders and kindly spoke in her usual soft tone.
"Hi Pete, Eddie."
"Hey Miss Brant" said Peter, lifting his right hand as if to say 'hello'.
"Hey Betty." said Eddie, nodding at her.
"J.J seems to be in a good mood today."
Betty chuckled a little at Eddie's comments and shook her head with a sigh. The three of them knew just how little patience their boss had, so their small-talk would have to wait until after Jameson finished blowing up (like that would ever happen). Standing up, Eddie tapped Peter on the shoulder with the back of his hand and walked towards the door Betty had just exited through. Peter followed him, quickly setting down his doughnut on the stool, using a napkin as a plate of sorts so it wouldn't get dirty.
As the two of them entered Jameson's office, they saw
Robbie Robertson, the senior editor for the Bugle, standing at the far end of the room by the window. He offered both men a quick nod, knowing the time for words would come later. Almost as soon as they walked in, the man himself,
J. Jonah Jameson spoke up.
"Took you long enough! Where the hell've you two been?" shouted Jameson, pointing aggressively towards the two vacant chairs in front of his desk. As Peter and Eddie went to take a seat, Jameson continued his rant.
"Doesn't matter, here's all you need to know; port authority's currently headed to a warehouse on the docks, apparently there was a massive Hand-related scuffle earlier this evening. Captain Stacey's trying to keep a lid on the whole thing so the public doesn't go nuts, but we've got to get in there before the cops clear out the whole thing! I'll send you the address, now GET. GOING]/b]!"
-- Somewhere between Harlem and Hell's Kitchen, New York --
Present Time
The warehouse was a complete and utter dead-end. Despite what Jameson said about the ties to the Hand, by the time Peter and Eddie arrived, the cops had already surrounded the place and although he couldn't lay an exact finger on it, Peter could've sworn he saw some undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel working to prevent any further investigation from outside sources. Once they figured out the trail was luke-warm at best, Eddie told Peter to go home while he reported back to Jameson.
Fat chance, Eddie.
Although any signs of tracking the Hand had disappeared for Peter Parker, perhaps something would turn up for Spider-Man. He didn't have much to go off of apart from the warehouse, but he knew somebody who might be able to shine a little more light on the Hand; Daredevil. Although the two heroes didn't exactly cross paths on a regular basis, Spidey and Daredevil had shared quite the team-up a couple years back after Peter tried running an expose on the legendary "Kingpin of Crime" for the Bugle. He was still pretty young and stupid back then and despite the amount of evidence stacked up against Fisk, Peter didn't quite understand why the cops had not made a move on taking him down.
After sneaking into Fisk's apartment, Spider-Man kicked off his career of 'unfortunate ass-kickings at the hands of Parker Luck', as almost immediately, he was cornered by Fisk's goon, Electro, knocked unconscious, de-masked (thankfully though nobody knew who he was), and thrown out a window while landing head-first into a dumpster. After a bit of a recovery period, he found himself getting contacted by Daredevil, who thought he was trying to disturb a current investigation that the vigilante was running. After a brief quarrel, Spider-Man and Daredevil wound up teaming up to help track Fisk and dish out some good'ol fashioned justice.
But seeing as how Daredevil got his training from an organization similar to the Hand, Spidey guess that the guardian of Hell's Kitchen would have a few more leads on the criminals then he would.
However, as he swung towards DD's usual hangout, Spidey saw something that caught him completely off-guard; Captain America, uniform and all... At a diner? What made things more interesting was the fact that the good Captain was hanging out with two randoms. Deciding to put his Avengers credentials to good use, Spider-Man swung over to the roof of the diner and quickly stuck to the windows, crawling around so only his head was viewable from the table the others were sitting at. Trying not to attract too much attention to himself (seeing as how Steve was already doing enough of that for the both of them), Spidey gently knocked against the window and offered the group inside a casual wave. Knowing they couldn't hear him through the window, Spidey pointed to the door, indicating they come outside to talk properly without too many prying eyes.
