Canarsie burns as the Avengers and the New Warriors try to stop a violent clash between police, protesters and the Sons of the Serpent. The new Hate-Monger, hiding nearby, secretly uses his emotion powers to make everyone more hostile, causing the Avengers and Warriors to fight each other. When the outmatched Serpents finally flee, Hate-Monger departs and calm is restored. The Avengers advise the Warriors to stay out of Brooklyn’s social unrest and let them handle the Sons of the Serpent, but Rage insists he’ll find a way to fight the community’s problems, and the Warriors soon join forces with him in hunting the Sons. The Avengers’ own investigation leads them to an old Serpent base in a vacant Richmond building where J.C. Pennysworth had led an earlier version of the Serpents. The Avengers find the new Serpents there and defeat them easily, but the Sons’ new backer, the Hate-Monger, ambushes the heroes. The New Warriors and Rage come to the Avengers’ rescue until Hate-Monger’s power subdues them, too, but Rage resists, and ultimately prevails by letting go of his feelings of hatred and anger. Hate-Monger departs, and the Avengers demote Rage from active service since they have discovered he is underage, but they agree to keep him on as a trainee. Later, a disguised Hate-Monger relocates to another town where he uses racial demagoguery to gather more followers.