A week ago, Mr. Negative's main base was raided. A raid meant the NYPD were on the offensive and that the wider Inner Demons were susceptible to normal arrests. By tipping Officer Grimm off during the past couple of days, Felix was able to whittle their numbers down and incite anxiety among their ranks without having to lift a finger. More importantly, it led to two key events: one, a panicked attack on Grand Central as declared on their shared channel; two, the corruption of two members by Mr. Negative to keep his people in line and to protect himself. When that happened—and it did—the surrounding CCTV and general technology would get glitchy. The signature was very particular and specific and Herbie would know exactly where Mr. Negative was.
It wasn't completely planned out but he did have a rough idea of what would happen when he was on that ship. When the announcement was officially made that they would attack in two days, Felix slipped on his suit, the spider-symbol formed of Secondary Adamantium and the wiring in between made of rubber.
Their guard was down. They were switching gears and preparing for a preemptive strike. They were impatient and afraid and had to act. Spider-Man wasn't on their radar anymore. Right here, right now, the Inner Demons, the Maggia, and the Hand were at their most vulnerable.
And first, he was going to pick off the Inner Demons.
Felix flexed his hand, feeling the slight increase in weight. Three hours had passed since the announcement, since the Inner Demons declared these words: "The attack on Grand Central will be happening in two days!"
Three hours. Three hours of basic training. Three hours to get used to this suit and its multiple new features. Felix threw a fist, then a kick, which led to a flick of the wrist. Thwip! The ball of webbing splattered against the wall. For a moment, he remained still. "Herbie, can you clean that up?"
"I believe it would be better to wait for it to dissolve," said his little robot companion.
"Fair." He checked his web-shooters. "I asked Kavita for some help on this. It should work." She was the chemist out of their group and a woman that did not help very easily. However, when Felix began their phone call by saying, "Do you think Spider-Man's webbing can work against Mr. Negative," Kavita went on an hour-long explanation all on her own. Felix got some popcorn, listened, and had Herbie take notes.
Kavita conjured up three potential formulas. Herbie and Felix decided to take all her ideas and combine it into a new single cohesive webbing formula: Polyethylene glycol: a water-soluble polymer known for its adhesive properties and ability to form strong bonds; Titanium dioxide nanoparticles: these particles acted as a reflective barrier, deflecting and dispersing any negative energy emitted by Mr. Negative; Carbon nanotubes: added for reinforcement, these nanotubes provided strength and durability to the webbing, ensuring it could withstand the intense forces of battle; and Trisodium citrate: a chelating agent used to stabilize the formula and prevent degradation over time.
There was a lot of theory and guesswork on Kavita and Felix's end. Without a physical analysis, they were merely guessing the composition of the lightning. This was the best Felix could do with the time and resources he had, however. He double-checked the contents of his web-shooters, ensuring that the formula was loaded and ready for action. With Kavita's expertise behind him, Felix felt confident in defeating Mr. Negative without casualties or immense property damage. Because that was the crux of it; defeating Mr. Negative while destroying a whole neighbourhood versus defeating Mr. Negative with a couple of broken walls were two different things. One helped the common man, the other did not.
"He won't break out of my webbing so easily this time," Felix said, determined. Just in case, he had a utility belt for extra web cartridges. "Herbie, are you ready?"
The voice echoed from every wall of the laboratory as well as from his robot buddy. "Yes, sir."
He promptly went to the rooftop of the building that sat on top of Daxter Lab, taking the elevator like a normal person. It felt a little weird standing there, waiting. The tension was thick and the adrenaline was already pumping through his veins. He overlooked New York City.
Just some time ago, he had been terrified to take this leap. But now—
Thwip!
He jumped like it was his calling, like he was meant to do this. "Destination set?" Felix asked.
A map appeared, giving him the most efficient path toward his destination: 79 Walker St, New York, AKA the Sunny Day Cleaning Supply Company in Chinatown. It was where the Inner Demons produced their drug, Shade. Felix's plan of attack was to hit fast and hard.
First, he was going to ambush the Sunny Day Cleaning Supply Company and stop the production of their drug. While it wasn't the only factory that produced it, from Herbie's estimation and summary reports on Chinatown CCTV, it was easily the most vital. Intercepting it would mean wiping out thirty percent of all Shade production in New York.
As for the remaining seventy percent…
"As requested," Herbie began, "Officer Grimm has been tipped off. He and a small squadron will be invading other smaller productions."
"Perfect," Felix said. He had waited three hours for a reason. One, for nighttime to settle in. Two, for Officer Grimm to be able to hound up some guys for the other locations. Once the Inner Demons reported that both the police and Spider-Man were after them, they were either going to retaliate hard or panic and run.
If all went well, it would be the latter.
Felix landed gracefully on the rooftop directly beside the factory, his keen eyes scanning the area for any signs of trouble. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary warehouse, with rows of windows lining its weathered walls and a single entrance guarded by automatic sliding doors like from a grocery store. A bright yellow-toned sign hung above the entrance, proclaiming it to be the "Sunny Day Cleaning Supply Company". From his vantage point, down at the alleyways and the back, he could see several Inner Demons guards hanging around. In other words, at the front, it was normal and safe. Everywhere else was dangerous.
One lone Inner Demon was walking through the alleyway. Felix leaned over the rooftop, feet on the thin edge. This was something he had been experimenting with alongside the development of his special webs.
Thwip!
"Huh—"
Before the gangster could move, Felix jerked him up and webbed him up. His entire body, from his legs to his face, was covered in white. He could still breathe through the thin layers but his voice was entirely muffled. No amount of screaming could bring his allies to his position. Felix smiled to himself. Stealth Mod was officially capable of silent takedowns. Everything from the webs to the cocoon was built for clean pseudo-assassinations. Next up, he crept toward the parking lot where three more Inner Demon members were loitering.
'I'll take care of them later.'
The windows at the set could be opened from the outside—as long as a person had super strength and an inhumane grip. Felix leapt to the wall, crawled up, and focused his fingers to purely rip out the window. Success. Thwip! He attached the window to the wall of the opposing building and crawled inside. The space was cavernous, with high ceilings and rows of industrial equipment lining the walls. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting eerie shadows across the scene.
'There it is,' Felix thought.
In the center of the room, a series of large vats bubbled and hissed with activity, emitting clouds of noxious fumes that hung heavy in the air. Surrounding the vats were Inner Demon members, wearing their renowned white masks and gloves as they tended to the production of Shade. As he clung to the ceiling, observing what lay below, he observed and overheard two things: one, it was a type of substance that tried to replicate Mr. Negative's corruptive touch; two, the liquid chemicals eventually would come into the form of a rectangular transdermal patch with a taijitu symbol on it.
"There are thirty Inner Demon members," said Herbie. "How shall we proceed?"
Fifteen of them were up with the vats. The other fifteen were down at several tables tending to the creation of the patches. To think they were hiding all this behind a cleaning company. It was a bit funny.
In the left corner was a small fleet of stairs leading to an observatory-type office with a glass encasing. A broad captain of the Inner Demons stood in the house behind the glass encasing, overlooking the whole operation. He was corrupted, every pore in his body leaking with a mystical black and white energy. Felix crawled on the ceiling and toward the closed observatory. There was a vent directly above where the glass stopped.
"The walls are waterproof," Herbie said. "You can defeat the captain without the others noticing."
'That's the plan.'
He opened up the vent and stealthily crawled through, officially placing him above the captain. Felix couldn't wrap him in a cocoon and defeat him, unfortunately. The webs for a stealth takedown were too thin. So there was only one option.
He dropped down behind him, making no noise, and thwip! Shot a ball of webbing at the red button on the control panel to the left, causing the glass encasing to darken. The corrupted captain turned—and was met with a strong punch to the ribcage. The darkened glass encasing cracked from the force and the corrupted captain was stunned.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
With his new special webbings, Felix trapped all his limbs, keeping them there. Even with Mr. Negative's power, he couldn't escape. 'The webbings are a success,' he thought. 'And now, even the police can bust this place. Not that I'll do that just yet.'
There were only a total of four men in Mr. Negative's ranks that were corrupted. One of them was here, the captain responsible for overlooking all Shade production in Chinatown and the reason Herbie was able to discover said production sites. Two corrupted members were apart of Mr. Negative's personal guards, and the last was with Otomo, the leader of the Hand and Maggia. Obviously, spamming the corruption ability would lead to distrust within Mr. Negative's ranks so he used it sparingly. Smart.
Luckily, one corrupted member was enough to test his webbings.
"Raaaghh! You…! You…!" Lightning coursed through the captain's body. He pushed and pushed and pushed, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break through the webbing. In the face of science, he was but an ordinary human.
The captain screamed. He shouted.
Thwip!
Felix got annoyed and shut him up. Then, he walked close and picked out the radio from his front pocket. Thwip! Thwip! Felix blocked the captain's ears.
His spider-sense tingled. His ears picked out two sets of footsteps. 'There you are…!'
The door flung open and in came two men in red zoot suits: high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. Put simply, these guys were a part of the Maggia and they figured something went wrong when the glass encasing suddenly went dark.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
"Huh?"
The Maggia men slowly approached the trapped captain of the Inner Demons.
"The 'ell is going on…?"
"Webbing…?"
All they saw was a forgotten radio on the ground and the struggling captain trapped by webs. No enemy was in sight—
Thwip! Thwip!
In two simultaneous pulls, Felix brought them up to the ceiling and enveloped them in sticky strands of webbing, cocooning them tightly and rendering them immobilized. They couldn't hear, they couldn't see, and they were providing just enough oxygen to survive.
Felix dropped back down and closed the door. The office didn't have much other than several chairs, a table, and a couple paintings. Felix didn't move for a second as his gaze swept the area. 'A single long table, several chairs, and…four paintings?' That was a bit suspicious. This place was normally impossible for normal people to enter. After all, the front receptionist desk was intended to be the primary cover for the drug operation. Thwip! Thwip! Thwip! One by one, Felix snatched the paintings off the walls until, as he expected, he found a secret safe. On the left wall, hidden behind the painting of the city of Rome, it appeared to be a Maggia addition.
Felix could have manually figured out a way to unlock it but he decided to cut time and pull the door of the safe off its hinges. What lay inside was…
'Uhhh…'
"Those are ten stacks of ten-thousand-dollar bills," Herbie analyzed.
'...I'm taking one.' Felix took the thick wad of bucks out and opened up his utility belt. It was a tight squeeze but one of the holders made it fit by curling it together. 'Ten thousand dollars…yeah, I deserve at least that much. The police can keep the rest for evidence.'
Thwip! Felix grabbed the radio on the ground, turned it on, and cleared his throat. "Reporting in—bzzzt! A hundred—bzzzt! Can't—bzzzt! Too many cops! Run! Run from New York! Operation—bzzzt! Compromised! I repeat! Compromised!" His voice was low and rumbly, an almost mocking imitation of the captain he defeated. It worked too.
"How many did you say!?"
"Captain Wang, please confirm."
The Hand, the Maggia, and the Inner Demons were on the same channel, though only captains and high-ranked members were allowed.
"A hundred! They're all here! They're everywhere! I-I'm breaking up! I can't—!"
"Hello? Hello? Captain Wang? Do you read me?"
Felix crushed the radio. That did the trick. 'Now, to web everybody up and call the police.'
In two days, the Inner Demons were supposed to attack Grand Central, but tonight, they came to understand that would not happen. They understood that both the police and Spider-Man were after them and that their choices were either to retaliate or run.
As Felix planned, many began to run.