Amazing Spider-Man #301
The Sable Gauntlet!
Silver Sable's Wild Pack has been hired to test out the security system in a new building constructed by Jason Pruett. This confirms Frank Cruz, his head of security is not convinced that the building is secure enough until Silver Sable herself is unable to beat it. Silver Sable refuses to do it because it is not in her line of work. However, when they offer her a large sum of money, which puts her in a position. Her nation of Symkaria relies on the revenue generated by Silver Sable International and the Wild Pack. After the last few failures, she is in desperate need of more income. With great reservation, she takes accepts the contract.
Meanwhile, at the brand new condo apartment owned by the Parkers, Peter helps Mary Jane figure out where to move the furniture. Soon, Mary Jane has to go for a magazine shoot, while Peter intends on going to Empire State University for an advanced photography course. When Peter begins putting on his Spider-Man costume, he tells his wife that he has an errand to run before he goes to the university. Peter is happy to finally have a proper costume to wear. Soon, Spider-Man arrives at the Symkarian embassy, to ask Silver Sable why she and her Wild Pack attacked him recently. She tells him that she was hired to do so. She ends their meeting when Jason Pruett and Frank Cruz arrive. This sets off Spider-Man's spider-sense but he leaves anyway, figuring she can figure out the danger on her own.
Back at Bedford Towers, an elderly man has come to see Peter Parker, but is informed by the doorman that he is not home, but tells him where Parker can be found. When Peter arrives at Empire State University, he is warmly greeted by his former professor, Morris Sloan. Sloan is happy to see Peter resuming his education and asks him to stand in for his physics calls. Elsewhere in the city, Mary Jane is being done up for her shoot by make-up artist Sandy Kitzler. They are joined by a rival model named Topaz who mocks Mary Jane's look. Mary Jane quips back, cementing their rivalry. Back at ESU, Peter has finished classes but can't shake the idea that Silver Sable might be in some kind of danger and decides to check it out. The man who was seeking him at Bedford Towers just misses Peter as he slips away to change into Spider-Man. Meanwhile, at the Purett Building, Silver Sable is about to run the gauntlet of security that has been set up. Purett and Cruz will be monitoring her progress from a security van outside the building.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man has done research on Purett and Cruz to find out if they are on the up and up. While Jason Pruett has a clean record, Spider-Man can't find anything about Frank Cruz beyond the past three years. So, the wall-crawler decides to check out Cruz's apartment to learns what he can. After slipping past the security systems, Spider-Man searches the entire apartment but finds nothing on Cruz. Sitting down in a chair to ponder over this situation, Spider-Man suddenly notices light shinging from a seam in the wall, revealing the location of a secret room. While back at Pruett building, Silver Sable scales up an elevator shaft. Suddenly, gun barrlets pop out of the walls and begin firing what appears to be paint-balls at Sable. She quickly destroys the guns with her weapon and exists out the nearest elevator door. She doesn't realize that what she thought was harmless paint is actually acidic. Meanwhile, Spider-Man looks for a way to gain access to the secret room in Cruz's apartment. He finds the trigger hidden under the telephone. When the door opens, Spider-Man is horrified to see that the secret room is packed with Nazi perifinallia. Seeing this, Spider-Man wonders what Silver Sable has gotten herself involved with.
At that moment, at the Pruett building, Silver Sable enters a hallway that appears harmless. Not buying it, she uses a chemical fog spray to reveal trip lasers that crisscross the hall. Using her acrobatic skills, Silver Sable manages to slip through. However, her satchel nicks one of the laser beams but raises no alarm. Sable considers this lucky and continues on her way, unaware of the scorch mark that was left on her bag. At that very moment, Spider-Man is going over the files he found in Cruz's secret room. He discovers that Frank Cruz is actually Franz Kraus, a Neo-Nazi who had a relative, Heinrich Cruz, a Nazi war criminal who was captured by the Wild Pack years ago. Franz vowed revenge and used his connections to eliminate Silver Sable. As Spider-Man rushes to Pruett Tower, Silver Sable is defending herself against a security robot that has attacked her, narrowly avoiding it's poison filled needles. Spider-Man arrives on the scene, but when he attempts to smash through one of the windows, steel shutters close in front of it. Using a web-line, the hero manages to swing outward to smashes through a window before the shutters can block him out.
Meanwhile, Silver Sable has broken into the nerve center of the security system. However, before she can push the shutdown button. However, before she can push it, Spider-Man webs her hand. When he tries to warn her that it is rigged to explode, Sable thinks that the wall-crawler was hired to stop her and attacks. As the two fight it out, Spider-Man ultimately convinces her of the danger when he explains Franz Kraus' plot to destroy her. He pulls open the shut off device, revealing a powerful explosive inside. Convinced that Spider-Man was telling the truth, Silver Sable thanks the hero for saving her life. Later, after reporting her safety, Pruett explains how "Frank Cruz" fled after learning she survived the gauntlet. Jason agrees to pay her fee, but also offers additional payment if she tracks down and captures Franz Kraus. Spider-Man can't believe that Sable is getting paid a large sum of money, while he can't even afford care fare home. Later, when Peter Parker returns to his home in Bedford Towers, he finds that Mary Jane is entertaining a man named Martin Jacoby. Martin explains that he has been looking for Peter all day. He tells Parker that he is a representative for On-Line Research in Kansas, and at the recommendation of Curt Connors, he has come to offer Peter a job as chief assistant in their experimental division.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Silver Sable, Mary Jane Watson, Franz Cruz, Wild Pack, Uncle Morty, Morris Sloan, Sandy Kinzler, Martin Jacobi
Continuity Notes
Silver Sable's recent failures included trying to capture the Black Fox, Jack O'Lantern, and Spider-Man. These events happened in Amazing Spider-Man #265, 281 and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #128 respectively.
This story refers to Peter and Mary Jane as husband and wife. However, years later, the demon Mephisto altered reality erasing their marriage from existence. This happened in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the new timeline they are no longer husband and wife, but a common-law couple.
Peter Parker's original red and blue costume was reduced to tatters in Web of Spider-Man #18. This left Peter with nothing to wear but his black costume in made for him by the Black Cat in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #99. While on assignment in Germany without a costume, Peter was forced to wear a store bought version of his red-and-blue costume. After Mary Jane was terrorized by Venom, Peter agreed to stop wearing his black-and-white costume in Amazing Spider-Man #300. Peter finally had a new red-and-blue costume made for him in Web of Spider-Man #39.
J. Jonah Jameson hired Silver Sable to capture Spider-Man in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #128.
Peter Parker decided to quit grad school back in Amazing Spider-Man #242.
The possibility that Franz Cruz is the son of Heinrich Cruz, and the fact that it was Silver Sable who led the Wild Pack in Heinrich's capture becomes increasingly difficult the more the Sliding Timescale pushes the modern age forward in time. Marvel has yet to provide an explanation for this situation.
At the mention of Curt Connor's name, Peter recalls how Connors is sometimes one of his most dangerous foes, the Lizard. This has been the case, on and off, since Amazing Spider-Man #6.
