Preview to Chapter 36

(Avengers Mansion)

It’s pretty late when Spider-Man is sitting on the couch in the mansion's living room where he had the interview with Jonah a little over a week ago. Only now instead of the one being asked for answers, it’s the mysterious Red She-Hulk, who is currently staring out the window behind him. 

Jonah, with only his shirt and tie, is in the corner of the room and is staring at her back suspiciously. Silver is on the phone with her men, getting updates about the COH members that attacked them. 

And four of his teammates, Logan, Carol, Wanda, and Hope are also in the room with them. With Hope and Wanda on the opposite couch of Peter, Carol standing behind them, and Logan leaning against the door jamb. 

Silver nods before she says into her phone, “Good job. Remain at the station for further instructions.” She hangs up the phone before turning her attention to the mayor, “My men informed me that the two officers who attacked us are indeed real policemen. They are in custody and asking for their union representation.”

Jonah scowls at this, “Fantastic,” he says as he aggressively adjust his tie, “Men who swore to uphold the law in my city have made an attempt on my life, and what’s worse, is that I don’t know who else is involved.”

Spider-Man looks at his former boss and says, “You’re safe here, Jonah. Even those nut jobs wouldn’t attack a place where steam of superheroes live.”

“Wasn’t it less than a month ago this place was a pile of rubble?” Hope inquires. 

“You're not helping.”

“I’m not wrong.”

“Alright,” Carol interjects as she decides to address the elephant in the room. She turns her attention to the the large red woman and says, “Alright, Betty. Tell us how you knew about the Mayor getting attacked.”

Spider-Man looks at Captain Marvel curiously, “You know her?” 

“It’s Elizabeth Ross,” she informs him, “Banner's ex.”

The webbed hero does a double take on the large red skinned woman, “And here I thought she was connected with the red one,” he comments. Before he thinks about it some more, “I mean, Jen got that green gene so it’s not unreasonable to assume-Oh.”

Now everyone looks at the hero and Red She-Hulk glares at the hero as he comes to a realization on what possible connection this hulk has with the other red one. 

Spider-Man glances back and shrinks under Red She-Hulk's intense glare, "I'll just... stop talking now," he mumbles, sinking further into the plush couch.

Jonah doesn’t care about the connection she has with the Red Hulk, at least not right now, his main concern is with her timely arrival. "How in the blazes did you know I was going to be attacked?” He question the large muscular woman, rather aggressively too, “And don't give me any of that 'right place, right time' nonsense. You showed up precisely when those badge-wearing traitors made their move!"

She regards him for a moment before pointing at Spider-Man, “Why aren’t you asking how he knew too?”

“He has a habit of getting in the middle of these types of things,” Carol tells her as she keeps her suspicious look on the taller woman, “But you don’t. Last I heard from Jen, you were in the middle of some big thing with the army.” 

Betty turns from the window, her massive frame casting a long shadow across the room. The yellow glow of her eyes seems to intensify as she regards all the heroes in the room. For a moment, the only sound is the ticking sound of the grandfather clock and the nervous tapping of Spider-Man's foot against the carpet.

"You're right, Mr. Mayor," Betty says, her voice a low rumble that seems to vibrate through the room. "It wasn't a coincidence. I'm part of an organization that's been monitoring threats like the one you faced tonight for a very long time."

Logan raises an eyebrow, his interest piqued. "What kind of organization are we talking about here, Doll?"

Red She-Hulk takes a deep breath, "It’s called the Order of the Shield. It’s existed for millennia, working from the shadows to prevent catastrophic events that could reshape or destroy our world."

Almost everyone looks at her in surprise. They had no idea that such an organization existed without any of them knowing about it. Especially one that played such a crucial role in their survival.

Jonah on the other hand has his doubts and voices them, “What kind if cockamamie story are you trying to sell here? I've never heard of such an organization."

"They’re very real, Mr. Mayor," Betty assures him. "I only recently joined and became the new chosen leader. The founders include some of history's greatest minds. Imhotep, Galileo, even Benjamin Franklin. This organization has been instrumental in averting countless disasters, most of which the world will never know about."

And again, everyone is stunned silent by this. The fact that such famous geniuses in history were a part of this organization makes it seem even more unreal, but they don’t see why she would lie about such a thing. Even Jameson can’t come up with a response.

“So what?” Spider-Man breaks the silence, “You guys go around stopping grumpy old men from being shot?”

Jonah grumbles at the shot from his former employee ad Red She-Hulk responds, "Not quite. We use a device called the Terranometer to monitor potential world-ending threats. It alerted us to the danger Mr. Jameson was in."

“Wait what?” Spider-Man straightens up and whirls around to look at the newest hulk, “Jameson being killed is a world-ending disaster? How’s that work?”

“It's a chain reaction,” she informs him and points to the mayor, “He is killed, mutants are blamed, and a war is broken out.”

While the heroes are shocked to hear this, Jameson has a different reaction. “Of course. That makes sense,” Jonah nods as he comes up with his own theory, “My country would wage a war for me. I am and have been an integral part of this country’s greatness. Why without J. Jonah Jameson being a newspaper man then mayor, this city would be a cesspool of crime and villainy! I've been the backbone of this metropolis since before most of you were in diapers. My journalistic integrity is the stuff of legends, my mayoral prowess unparalleled!"

Jameson feels overwhelmed with emotion by his own words. Tears pool in his eyes as he realizes how much he means to the country he loves and calls home. Completely unaware of the flat looks he is getting from everyone, in particular by Spider-Man. The hero drops his head into his hand at his boss’s arrogance. Apparently, the man is forgetting the years of slander he has been saying in regards to the hero.

Hope decides to correct this, “I don’t think that what she-”

Spider-Man raises his free hand to stop her, “Don’t bother, trust me,” he tells her. Years of working for this man and dealing with his newspaper slander have taught him when he can’t change his mind. He instead decides to get back on the topic of how the world ends, by looking at Red She-Hulk and pointing out, “The guys who tried to kill him were members of the Church of Humanity, so how do mutants get blamed?”

“The first men who made an attempt were policemen,” Silver informs him, “It's very likely they aren’t the only ones on the force.”

Red She-Hulk nods and continues, “And those men, along with several others in positions of power, would have pinned with murder on Cyclops and his people. Which wouldn’t be difficult to sell, with what happened today.”

Wolverine steps up, “But we know now that it wasn’t our people that did that,” he announces, drawing surprised looks from Jonah, Silver, Wanda, and Hope, “Slim came to the school to recruit some students to join his school and cleared himself.”

“Cleared himself?!” Jonah shouts indigently and steps up to the feral man, “You’re just taking him on his word?!”

Logan growls at the man, and Spider-Man intervenes, “Jonah,” he grabs his boss’s attention, “Logan can tell when someone lies and so can I. We know Scott was telling the truth.”

Jonah scoffs, his mustache bristling with indignation. "And since when did you develop lie-detecting powers, wall-crawler?"

"It's... complicated," Spider-Man says with hesitation, not wanting to delve into the intricacies of his spider-sense. "The point is, we know Cyclops isn't behind this. But clearly, someone wants us to think he is."

“That someone is Norman Osborn,” Betty reveals to them.

Spider-Man whips his head around in shock, “WHAT?!”

She nods and elaborates, "The terranometer revealed a future where Osborn would have propelled himself into being the president of United States after revealing he a powered team that captured and killed the X-Men who attacked the rally.”

Everyone is shocked by this, but none more so than Spider-Man. The Queens-born-hero is completely floored by this revelation that his greatest enemy would have been president if Jonah had been killed.

Seriously, how messed up is that.

“He would then go on to officially declare war on all mutants and powered individuals,” she continues, “Most countries offer sanctuary to them, but because of the individuals under Osborn’s command, it means little.”

“So basically, the registration act but ten times worse,” Spider-Man simplifies.

Red She-Hulk nods in confirmation, “More or less.”

Spider-Man's mind reels at the implications. His greatest nemesis, the man who had terrorized him and his loved ones for years, ascending to the highest office in the land. The thought sends a chill down his spine, and he finds himself desperately not rushing out and making sure everyone he knows and cares about leaves the country as soon as possible. Not yet at least.

He stands up, “Okay, so we obviously can’t let that happen,” he announces before he looks to the largest person in the room, “So does that terra thing know where Osborn is?”

Betty shakes her head and says, “Unfortunately, no. Whatever Osborn is involved in, it somehow is blocking the terranometer from knowing everything.”

Spider-Man nods and gets a thoughtful pose, “Well no clue can also be a clue. Tell me, what can stop it from knowing things.”

She thinks about it, “Not much,” she says after a moment, “I would say cosmic forces, or direct interference.”

Spider-Man hums in thought, “The fact that he has resources, and influence means he’s got to be working with someone in the government.” He looks to Logan with an expextant look, “Which also means we need someone who knows how to get info nobody wants out.”

Getting the message, Logan nods and pulls out his phone, “I’ll call Natasha.”

“Thank you,” Spider-Man says before looking to his former boss, “Now, you stay here. I got something I need to do.”

Hope looks at the departing hero in surprise, “Wait, you’re not gonna help.”

“Of course I am, they tried to kill my boss,” he declares dramatically, “They were gonna steal the American dream from me. I cannot let that stand.”

While some find the quip funny, Jonah does not, “You insufferable, web-headed menace! This is no time for your juvenile quips! My life is on the line here! Take this seriously!”

Spider-Man holds up his hands placatingly. "Relax, Jonah. Don’t blow a gasket,” he says before he heads out the front door, “Call me when you got something!”

He closes the door behind him, leaving the heroes wondering what he needs to do right now that is more important than this.