Chronicles of the Spider

Sinister War Part 3 - Queens

Earth 616

Present Day

"This is not great," Ben remarked, looking down at the assembled group. Kaine, next to him, silently nodded, agreeing completely with the sentiment. 

Below the building they were standing on was the hastily built wall that guarded Queens, Ben's territory that he jealously guarded from the villains that plagued New York. On the other side of the wall was a veritable army of the criminally inclined enhanced population of New York. Many of them looked familiar, many did not. Despite that, the roaring of the group was in no way dampened. Guards positioned on and above the wall shook in terror.

Kaine and Teresa had stopped by a few days earlier to help him, informing him about a plot against the borough by both Osborn and Octavius. Ben had immediately asked the Mayor to begin evacuation protocols, moving everyone to South Queens. Ben would have preferred that the civilians be moved out entirely, but the threat of the 'Trojan Negatives', people secretly infected by Martin Lee to turn into one of his negative soldiers without their knowledge, prompted the United States federal government to cordon the city off, meaning that, until Lee and all the villains were defeated, there was no way out. 

The only people who'd actually entered the city since the quarantine began were the Avengers, who'd appeared in Manhattan to help fight back. But their efforts had stagnated in recent days. While they'd originally had a lot of success in liberating areas in and around the Baxter Building, they'd reached a stalemate with Otto's forces and HYDRA operating from Avengers Tower. While Reed and Tony were busy in the lab trying to counter the villains, Avengers Tower had a lot of tech lying around that was refined by Otto and the HYDRA scientists. Ben didn't expect any help coming in from them. In fact, the only people he could count on were his siblings, Kaine and Teresa, along with Flash and Eddie (despite Kaine's reluctance to trust the former villain). Felicia helped too, wanting to 'honor' his brother's memory, but Ben felt sick looking at the burglar. MJ too had donned the Iron Spider suit that Peter had redesigned for her if she was ever in danger, and patrolled the streets to help.

Regardless, it was only Ben and Kaine here now, the rest lagging behind to deal with a small riot on the Eastern walls. 

Both Ben and Kaine reflexively snarled as a familiar face emerged from the large group below them. He wore a suit much like their own, but the black and red color scheme, something he shared with Kaine, made a mockery of their brother's own suit. The much larger Spider symbol enveloped the chest, and the reflective bug eyes made the suit far more intimidating than it was supposed to be. Four mechanical arms emerged from the back, two of them holding him above the ground as he climbed his way forward, suspended from his tentacles.

He turned around to see the army he'd gathered. Most of them were New York based villains, with HYDRA being anchored in Manhattan, and the Maggia reinforcing them. But this was a special group, one that had consistently outwitted and stalemated the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. 

"My friends," Otto cried, his voice echoing over the group and making them fall silent. "This is the first stop in our journey. Justice is something our city sorely lacks. We will give New York back its justice, its hope and peace, under our watch!"

The group burst into cheers, listening to the Superior Spider-Man's rousing words. 

"Norman Osborn has been the scourge of this city for too long," he told them over the loud shouts. "We have felt the damage he has done to us. And now, the poor souls who hide behind these walls have been manipulated by him, believing that we are an evil that needs to be defended against. No, my friends, we are not! We are justice! We are truth! And we will take this island, so that Norman Osborn may never threaten the good people of Queens ever again!"