"Xu, so you are the Chinese guy JARVIS spoke of who provided the clues!" Ben Reilly looked around, lowering his voice, "Shouldn't you remember me? We met in a dream."
"Of course, Ben Reilly, also Peter Parker." Xu Shang-Chi was somewhat surprised as he also leaned in and whispered, "Why are you here?"
"I'm here to investigate the mastermind behind the protests. We followed the clues from the murder case and ended up here... oh, it was your clue, by the way."
"I'm here for the same reason. Officer Juliette is waiting for me outside."
"So what have you found?"
"We'll talk about it outside."
Xu Shang-Chi appeared somewhat anxious, but Reilly, having the unique intelligence mixed with a hint of spirituality characteristic of Spider-Man, led them out. They first went to the top floor, then took the elevator down. Reilly, with his arm around Xu's shoulders, was heading toward the door. He greeted the receptionist, "This delivery guy got lost. He's supposed to be on the other side but he doesn't know the way. I'm taking him out. Let's go, I'll show you."
The receptionist responded with a gentle smile, but looked at Reilly with a tinge of regret and confusion, clearly aware of something.
After Reilly and Xu Shang-Chi came out, JARVIS recognized Xu. It was this young man who had provided the clues in the car's dashboard camera for the police.
Xu waved at them, saying: "Come this way. That officer is waiting for us in the gaming arcade next door."
Reilly changed back into his Spider-Man suit while Jarvis and Wanda didn't seem to mind. Soon, they found Officer Juliette in a nearby arcade, waiting for them while sipping on a beer.
Before Xu Shang-Chi could introduce them, JARVIS stepped forward to shake hands with the policewoman, saying, "Hello, we're part of the New Warriors Team, currently investigating the Bronx protest incidents."
Xu Shang-Chi seemed a bit taken aback. He hadn't heard of this team before, but he was more surprised by the fact that JARVIS was willing to reveal his identity so openly.
In his perception, cops and superheroes were perpetually at odds. Cops felt like the superheroes were taking their job and making a mess, while superheroes thought the police were inefficient, always arriving late.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing JARVIS' words, Officer Juliette firmly shook his hand, saying, "So you guys are the New Warriors Team. I have heard a lot about you. You have made significant contributions to the law and order situation in the Bronx. Plainly put, thanks to you, I can relax this quarter."
JARVIS smirked, "You should thank Mr. Matt. The leader of the New Warriors Team is his student."
"My god, are you guys students of Night Devil?!" Officer Juliette exclaimed. After a beat, she pondered, "You are not interns for The Avengers, are you?"
Before JARVIS could respond, Officer Juliette sighed admiringly, "Oh my god, I'm so lucky. I was just wondering when the Avengers intern program would reach my precinct. You are not like those noisy young offenders. Your approach to investigation and crime resolution has even left the seasoned cops in awe."
After finishing her sentence, Officer Juliette eyed everyone at the table, stopping at Wanda. A bit cautious, she asked, "... A mutant?"
Wanda was used to such looks. She shrugged without responding. As soon as JARVIS was about to speak, Officer Juliette sighed, "Okay, I understand. There are quite a few mutants among the Avengers interns. But of course, they are the controllable kinds. Since you are Night Devil's students, I suppose we can sit and talk, rather than having you lose control and me cleaning up the mess."
Wanda was somewhat taken aback. She knew no cop in New York liked mutants, having dealt with too many messes caused by out-of-control mutants. Most officers would often say: "If there were no mutants, the world would be half as peaceful."
The group sat down at a booth in the arcade. Officer Juliette ordered a few beers but said, "Minors can't drink, I'll have it."
Xu Shang-Chi looked around to make sure no civilians were nearby. A faint trail of black mucus appeared on his hand and with a swoosh, he made a few files and a cassette tape appear. He placed the files on the table and said, "After I disguised myself as the delivery guy and entered the TV station, I asked everyone saying, 'Someone ordered food to be delivered to the TV station's address, but the address was not specific, and the phone wasn't going through. Is anyone working late? The food might be theirs.'"
"Sure enough, most people pointed me towards a program group on the fourth floor. They normally do prime time shows, but today they broadcasted an emergency newscast. Could be their order."
"So, I immediately went up to the fourth floor, where a female director named Olayra was arranging the follow-up report. When I went in, she was emphasizing 'this was a disgraceful murder', but the police wanted to gloss it over as suicide. As members of the media, they said, it's their duty to expose the truth."
Juliette snorted coldly, "They just expose the truths they want the public to know."
Xu Shang-Chi paused for a moment and continued, "Even if I hadn't gone in, I could hear the uproar in the control room, but I don't know how many were genuinely upset."
"I heard Olayra telling an assistant named Wayan to get a script from the next door control room, so I picked the lock and snuck into the control room. I hid behind the door and knocked out that male assistant called Wayan."
Juliette scrutinized Xu Shang-Chi with a surprised look, Xu Shang-Chi chuckled, he pretended to be mysterious and said: "I just came from S.H.I.E.L.D."
Juliette came to a sudden realization, she took a sip of beer and then said: "I knew it, S.H.I.E.L.D would not just sit there and watch, the nature of this event has now totally exceeded the capacity of ordinary people to handle."
Juliette looked around and lowered her voice, then said: "To keep things secret, I haven't told anyone before, but since you've mentioned S.H.I.E.L.D, I have nothing to hide, the leader of the protest who died was very likely not shot, but was pierced by a mysterious power."
"You dared to investigate without applying for a search warrant?" Gwen asked in surprise, "Unofficial actions resulting in casualties will be your own responsibility!"
"I know, but I have no other choice." Juliette sighed, "The police in the Bronx region have always been negligent. If I tell my boss the truth, he'll just say we'll wait for the SHIELD agents to investigate, then we'll have to wait forever."
"The reason my assigned area still manages to maintain basic order is that most of my actions are personal actions... All right, Xu, you continue."
Xu Shang-Chi nodded and said: "I found their script in the control room, and also discovered something more interesting. Look at this videotape, the name on it is Peter Parker."
Julie frowned as she flipped the videotape over and found a piece of paper attached to it with the date and Peter Parker's name. Jarvis reached out and took the tape, and somehow produced a small projector which he placed in the middle of the table.
Wanda looked around and snapped her fingers, a red light engulfed the surroundings of the seat, Miss Witch nodded and said: "Don't worry, no one can see what's happening here."
Jarvis activated the projector, a screen appeared in the middle of the table, and soon the footage from the tape began to play. It was a scene of Peter Parker being interviewed.
The more they watched, the more they furrowed their brows. The Peter Parker on the screen seemed to be avoiding the questions, and the various expressions he was making didn't seem very smart, he looked like a total clown.
"What's going on?" Riley was thoroughly confused, he said: "Did this Peter Parker have too much to drink? How can he not even understand the most basic questions? Even if I wasn't involved in the research on the Shuttle, I know that the design of the Shuttle's shape is not for aesthetics, it's for aerodynamics, energy saving, and speed."
"This is malicious editing." Xu Shang-Chi spoke up: "I saw the original footage in the control room, they just didn't bring it out. They cut the answers to the later questions and put them on the earlier questions. This makes it seem like Peter Parker is talking nonsense and avoiding the questions."
Juliette hit the desk, and Jarvis began to speak, "Clearly, they haven't given up on their smear campaign against Peter Parker, and they have chosen to attack on two fronts: smearing Peter Parker on TV, while also creating a murder case to smear agents and the police."
"The female director named Olayra mentioned that she has a friend at the Global Daily newspaper who is the editor in chief of the social news section. Tomorrow morning, the Global Daily will add two extra editions as well as a digital news bulletin, all regarding today's murder case."
"And their unanimous conclusion is that the police are covering up the truth of this murder case and want to label it as suicide. From her tone, it's clear she's quite experienced, probably done this kind of thing before." Xu Shang-Chi added with a tinge of irony, recalling a case where a victim shot eight times was deemed a suicide.
"Editor in chief..." Juliette muttered the words and her face turned worried. Seeing the puzzled expressions on the young people in front of her, Juliette could only explain: "All traditional media are mouthpieces of political parties, what you see on TV, in newspapers, and even some apps are what they want you to see."
"To interfere at this level, there has to be..." Juliette shook her head, "I'm just an ordinary police officer, I'm afraid I can't help much, and you guys are still young and ignorant of the darkness in politics, rushing in recklessly could be very dangerous."
Jarvis and Wanda exchanged glances, Wanda shrugged and said: "Can it be more dangerous than going home?"
At this moment, Venom took control of Xu Shang-Chi's body, and started speaking: "Getting involved in politics, dealing with those big shots, even disrupting their plans, indeed is dangerous, and it's not something that we should be doing."
His deep, dark tone drew everyone's attention, and Venom continued: "Listen, I have a plan..."