Amazing Spider-Man #268
This Gold Is Mine!
This story is continued from Web of Spider-Man #6...
After the Beyonder turned an office building into solid gold the government, with the aid of the Kingpin have been trying to cover-up the clean-up operation as the discovery of so much gold would ruin the world market and create an economic depression the world has never known. Spider-Man, witness to the transformation of the building came to the rescue of the trapped workers and in turn learned of the Kingpin's "aid" of the clean-up operation in return for several gold type-writers. Fed up of being shortchanged while criminals profit, Spider-Man would take a golden notebook for himself before leaving the scene.
As Peter web-slings away, the working day is beginning and office workers are being turned away at the military blockade. As Spider-Man web-slings home to his Soho apartment he reflects on the night's events and after checking the news to find out that nobody knows what is going on behind the barrier decides to get some rest and worry about what he has learned the next day. As Peter sleeps, Agent Anderson instructs the military in loading the final trucks full of the gold to be shipped off to the docks of the Hudson River. There the gold would be transported out to sea and dumped a deep ocean trench off the coast of Puerto Rico by military ships escorted by F-14 fighter jets.
While this is done with the utmost secrecy, moles within the Pentagon relay the information to the Kingpin's minion the Arranger. When the Arranger brings this to his master, the Kingpin informs the Arranger that he is already aware of the governments plan to dispose of the gold and has come up with a plot to capitalize on it for himself.
The next morning at the Daily Bugle, Peter Parker reports to the office to see that J. Jonah Jameson is on a rampage seeing if his reports have any leads on the mysterious military operation happening in the middle of the city. Seeing Parker, Jameson sucks up to Peter hoping that he has some exclusive pictures of the site. When it turns out he does not, Jameson loses his temper and orders everyone to get out of his sight and get an exclusive no matter what it takes.
Peter decides to change back into Spider-Man and keep an eye on Agent Anderson, and as he heads back to the site of the collapsed golden building he wonders if he should expose the governments deal with the Kingpin and how he might be able to do it. As he arrives at the site, he is surprised to see how quickly the military has cleared the area and that they are finalizing the last shipment off the site. As this is happening, one of the military ships on its way back to the Hudson River is left alone by the air patrol, which assumes that it is no longer at risk now that it is empty of its gold. This leaves it open for an attack by the Arranger, who's minions knock out all the sailors aboard the ship and take their places so that they can collect the final shipment of gold which they can then dump elsewhere along the route for more of the Kingpin's men to collect later.
What they don't anticipate is that Anderson accompanies the final load and that Spider-Man -- still suspicious of Anderson -- follows after to keep an eye on things. When the ship leaves port, Spider-Man stows away and overhears as Anderson learns that the soldiers aboard the vessel have been replaced by the Kingpin's men and the Arranger's plan for the gold. Spider-Man attacks the Kingpin's men, the battle alerting the fighter pilots in the air who report back to base. With the military sending ships to intercept the one loaded with gold, Spider-Man easily rounds up the Arranger and his men and prevent them from dumping the gold before it can reach the trench near Puerto Rico. As the other military boats arrive, Spider-Man hides. When Anderson is recovered he cannot confirm Spider-Man's involvement as he was knocked out at the time. As Spider-Man hitches a ride home on the vessel taking the Kingpin's goons back to the mainland, he is spotted by Anderson who salutes the Wall-Crawler. Spider-Man realizes that in the end perhaps Anderson wasn't such a bad person.
As Spider-Man rides home, he realizes that he didn't get a single picture for J. Jonah Jameson and wonders how his day could get any worse. These prove to be words that may come back to bite Spider-Man later, as in the deepest reaches of space the former herald of Galactus known as Firelord speeds toward the Earth.
This story is continued next issue...
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Kingpin, Arranger, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Betty Brant, Ned Leeds, Charles Anderson, Firelord
Continuity Notes
Spider-Man recounts his interaction with the Beyonder which ended with the Heroes for Hire building being turned into gold, and how he found out that the Kingpin is involved in the cleanup operation. These events occurred in Secret Wars II #2 and Web of Spider-Man #6 respectively.
Spider-Man is concerned about his neighbor Bambi, who likes to watch the sunset on the roof of his apartment building. He learned this in Amazing Spider-Man #266.
The depiction of the original twin towers at the site of the World Trade Center should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
Secret Wars II Reading Order
Secret Wars II #1, New Mutants #30, Captain America, #308, Uncanny X-Men #196, Iron Man #197, Secret Wars II #2, Web of Spider-Man #6, Amazing Spider-Man #268, Fantastic Four #282, Secret Wars II #3, Daredevil #223, Incredible Hulk #312, Avengers #260, Secret Wars II #4, Dazzler #40, Alpha Flight #28, Rom #72, Avengers #261, Secret Wars II #5, Thing #30, Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #74, Fantastic Four #285, Secret Wars II #6, Cloak and Dagger (vol. 2) #4, Power Pack #18, Micronauts (vol. 2) #16, Thor #363, Power Man and Iron Fist #121, Secret Wars II #7, New Mutants #36, Amazing Spider-Man #273, Spectacular Spider-Man #111, Uncanny X-Men #202, Defenders #152, Secret Wars II #8, New Mutants #37, Amazing Spider-Man #274, Avengers #265, Uncanny X-Men #203, Fantastic Four #288, Secret Wars II #9, Avengers #266
