An Ordinary Day in New York

"According to NYPD reports, New York's crime rate dropped significantly in the first half of this year. And I can tell every one of you with certainty: this has nothing to do with Spider-Man!"

J. Jonah Jameson, as always, voiced his dissatisfaction with Spider-Man on the Daily Bugle's program. "That Spider-Man jumps all over New York every day, but he isn't the one truly saving us. New York's crime rate has kept falling because of the NYPD's ongoing efforts! Especially since June, when the NYPD underwent a round of streamlining and purged a large number of corrupt officers..."

A young Black man drove along, irritably listening to the guy ramble on. He shut off the radio and put on some Black rap instead. He was in a hurry to buy some potent boosters, and had no mood to listen to that guy making noise.

When he arrived beneath the overpass where the deal was set to take place, he opened the car door and looked around at the empty surroundings. He glared at the buyer in displeasure. "Why'd you pick a godforsaken place like this?"

"The places we used to go got watched by those damned Defenders again. Those so-called superheroes might not be all that capable, but they're more than capable of making our lives miserable."

The Black guy picking up the goods cursed as well. Then both sides exchanged food stamps for merchandise—these food stamps were distributed by the government to people in need. The reason the government issued food stamps instead of direct cash assistance was to prevent certain people from spending the money on drugs or other things.

But people were adaptable. Food stamps weren't money, but they could be exchanged for food. Naturally, large numbers of gangs bought up and hoarded these food stamps with