"They do not understand! He is a killer!" Richards screamed in frustration.
"And I guess you cannot understand that there has not been any evidence against him at all," Dan said while rubbing his temples.
"On what basis do you want me to take on a superhuman or mutant who could possibly do a job faster than my entire department and possibly lose a great asset who has been helping me in many ways?
An asset who has been quite helpful in dealing with the endless waves of organized crime in New York."
"That is what we do too!"
"Oh, please, do you want me to list all the times you have done more bad things than good?" Yuri asked sarcastically.
"Oh! They light up-...."
"Ouch." Johnny hissed when Susan elbowed him in the side.
"Not now, John."
"Oh, you want me to tell you, fine, I will gladly tell you, womanizer," Yuri said, and then Dan leaned back in his chair.
"The time Richards provided us with new equipment that ended up being completely unreliable because it had many openings that criminals found and took advantage of, thus taking some of our officers to the morgue or others to the hospital to give them first aid."
"Or the time he gave the firefighters that new device to put out fires faster and more safely, but it only lasted a few days before that same device almost brought down a burning building with people inside," Dan said.
"If it were not for the firefighters' quick thinking, several of those people would be dead, and let us not forget their equipment, which also turned out to be complete garbage, causing second and almost third-degree burns."
"And let us not forget the hospital incidents where you made them lose a huge amount of their energy along with their machines," Yuri continued.
"And you, Storm, with you, we have a long list from harassment to the near-homicide you caused by drunk driving, do you want me to go on?"
When Yuri and Dan confronted them about all the damage they had done, they could not help but feel ashamed. Reed just lowered his head in regret along with Johnny.
Susan closed her eyes tightly and clenched her hands so hard that her knuckles turned white. Ben, who was sitting on the floor, just clenched his fists tightly when he found out about the officers, firefighters, and hospitals.
"Look, I know we are possibly on bad terms, but-...."
"Bad terms is very soft," Dan said while crossing his arms. "There have been multiple accounts of your ridiculously dangerous inventions and how very dangerous they are both outside and inside Baxter."
"I...."
"I do not care if it is for the advancement of humanity or whatever the hell, your arrogance and negligence have caused us to lose many good men," he exclaimed while pointing at him, only for Richards to look away.
"Not to mention the time Captain Stacy almost died because of the defective equipment you gave us."
"I had already discont-...."
"Apologies will not bring the dead back to life."
He took a breath. "Look, Richards, I respect you as much as I despise you because you four have actually saved many innocent people."
"Because that is what-...."
"But that does not make the innocent people who died because of your disastrous inventions any less tragic and disturbing to my conscience," he continued, interrupting Richards. "That is why I was initially against Spider-Man as well."
"What has changed now? In any case, the doubts you had are really correct."
"Where were you during the Maggia terrorist attack?" Dan asked, and Reed swallowed back what he was about to say.
"I...."
"Where were you?" he asked while Reed remained silent, then turned his head toward Susan who shuddered at being the target now. "What about you, Miss Storm?"
"I.... I was in Seoul at a meeting with Helen Cho. Ben and Johnny were with me. We returned quickly when we found out what happened but by the time we arrived it was all over."
"Spider-Man cleaned up the whole city with the help of Wolverine and another vigilante named Daredevil, tell me, where was Mr. Richards?" Dan asked.
"I.... in his lab," Susan said hesitantly while Reed looked down in embarrassment.
"That is what I thought." He took a deep breath while gritting his teeth.
"What do I like about Spider-Man? He never claims to be a hero or preaches about heroism, and if anything, he is the embodiment of heroism for us here."
"Are you serious? A hero? He is a murderer-...."
"He knows what it takes to keep what we hold dear safe, and he will do everything he can to ensure it. It is something you do not seem to understand, even though you are probably a very intelligent person," Dan sighed as he looked away.
"Spider-Man has saved many lives and helped us with cases we could not solve, even solving some on his own in record time or providing us with important information.
He helped us avenge the people we lost on that fateful day. We owe him a lot, and we will do everything we can to help him."
"Even if it kills people?" Reed asked as he stood up.
"Spider-Man has never hurt an innocent-...." Yuri stood up to defend the protector of New York, but Dan just raised his hand to stop her.
"Where is your evidence, Richards?" he asked as he moved closer to Reed's face without backing down. Richards' eyes widened as he realized.
"You.... all of you are involved," he whispered while his hands trembled. "You are all helping a mass murderer."
"Where is your evidence, Richards?" he asked again, but this time his tone was harsh and cold.
"Captain Rogers also killed many people. He did what he did to save our country, to save his people. Are you going to criticize a symbol for that? I could criticize all the soldiers on the frontiers and in the wars."
"You.... you are making a big mistake," he said as he pushed Dan aside and started to leave the room. "Come on guys, there is nothing we can gain from these people."
Susan sighed, which was mirrored by Ben, while Johnny seemed uncomfortable with all the information that had been revealed.
They stood up to leave but stopped when Dan opened his mouth to give Richards one last piece of advice.
"If this fight is between good and evil, black and white, let me tell you something, Spider-Man is a neutral entity, a very gray person, one who will resort to any means to protect what he loves.
Whether that means eliminating the bad guys permanently or beating up the good guys to make sure they do not get in his way," he said, then turned to Reed. "Take my advice and stay out of his way."
"What if I do not?"
"You will regret it, this spider is not friendly, it is a predator, poisonous and if you tempt it it will bite you."
Reed said nothing.
"And when it does, you will wish you were dead."
"Come on Susan, we have a lot of work to do," Reed said.
He turned to Dan one last time. "And officer, how long will it take for your hero to start killing innocent people too, because he thinks it is the right thing to do?"