From a small room, a woman named Cindy is bored and walks around the ceiling of her prison with her spider powers. She pauses at a group of photos of her family hanging on the wall. She hasn’t seen them in years and looking at a picture of her brother, Albert, she figures he must be 19 years old by now. Having had enough, she decides to leave the confined space she has been living in. However, she has to figure out the code for the door. When she fails to guess the right number, a recording by Ezekiel Sims comes up on the screen. He knows that she desires to be free, but assures her that her continued confinement is important. He implores Cindy to do the right thing. Cindy curls up on the floor and curses Sims for being right.[1]

Meanwhile, on the Upper West Side, the Black Cat correctly guesses the passcode to gain access to a penthouse apartment. This was her former home before she was arrested and she thinks about how Spider-Man took it all away from her.[2] When the current owners become aware of her intrusion they ask her what she wants. With a smile on her face, the Black Cat asks them what they have got. Moments later she has the couple tied up and is helping herself to their supply of caviar and champagne. She comes to thinks about how she stole to get the money to buy such extravagances but now she realizes that she can just take whatever she wants. What she wants now is Spider-Man’s heart on a plater, but first, she is going to make him squirm.

While in Alphabet City, Electro has gone to an abandoned building to sleep for the night. Unfortunately, it’s a fitful sleep as he is in the middle of a nightmare where Spider-Man is controlling him like a puppet.[3] When Electro wakes up and discovers his surging powers have caught the building on fire. Electro is even more upset that his uncontrollable abilities prevent him from sleeping, on top of everything else, and vows to get revenge against Spider-Man.[4]

At Parker Industries, scientists are hard at work coming up with a way of containing and curing Electro. They are doing so out of fear of their boss, Peter Parker. However, when Peter arrives in a Hawaiian shirt to try and boost morale. His employees are shocked by this sudden change in personality and wonder if Parker might be bipolar. When he is updated on a tracking device that will allow them to follow Electro’s energy signature, Peter suggests they go into the field to test it. He is stopped in the motor pool by his business partners, Sajani Jaffrey and Anna Maria Marconi. Jaffrey is particularly upset that Peter is focusing on Electro after he severed ties to Spider-Man. However, Peter justifies the move, saying that government contracts are constant and lucrative and that coming up with ways of containing and de-powering super-criminals will be providing solutions. With that, Peter takes off with his staff to test out the tracker. Sajani can’t believe that Parker suddenly dumped their nano-tech project for this. Anna Maria knows why, since Parker recently took back his body after it was taken over by Doctor Octopus.[5] Anna Maria then offers to continue the nano-tech project on the down-low so Peter doesn’t find out. Anna Maria then returns to her lab when Octavius’ robotic assistant, the Living Brain, offers to bring her a tasty beverage.

Back in Alphabet City, fire crews have arrived to battle the fire that started in the abandoned building. One of the firemen on the scene is Pedro Olivera, who just started dating Mary Jane Watson.[6] While his co-workers gawk at his latest beau, Pedro keeps going into the burning building, risking his life to save the people trapped inside. That’s when the Parker Industries van pulls up. Seeing the fire, Peter sends his staff to get some snacks while he slips away to change into Spider-Man and help with the evacuation. Also arriving on the scene is reporter Pheobe Gold, who is reporting live for the Fact Channel. When she spots Spider-Man swinging by, she has her crew focus on the wall-crawler. Catching this news broadcast is the Black Cat, who decides it is now time to act.

Meanwhile, at the Fact Channel studio, J. Jonah Jameson is meeting with Natalie Long for what he thinks is a news interview. He rails against the public criticism over his tenure as the mayor. He justifies his resignation to avoid being torn down by the vultures in the media and boasts that he handled things that would make normal people curl up in the fetal position. Lastly, he blames Spider-Man for everything that led up to his resignation.[7] That’s when Natalie reveals that this isn’t an on-air interview, as she has invited him to the studio to offer him his own show on the Fact Channel. Jameson is pleased with this offer, believing that television has just justified its existence.

In Alphabet City, Spider-Man helps Pedro save a little girl trapped in the building. With nobody left in the building, Spider-Man orders Olivera to get out. However, as he tries to make his way out, the ceiling collapses, trapping Pedro under burning debris. When Spider-Man tries to help he is ambushed by the Black Cat. He tries to get her to help but Felicia attacks him instead. When he tries to explain how Doc Ock was the one who busted her, she refuses to listen, saying that she needs to destroy him in order to restore her reputation. Realizing that he is not getting through to her, Spider-Man then pretends that he is still possessed by Doctor Octopus and pretends to attack her at full force. This convinces her to break off her attack and flee, vowing to come at him again when they aren’t trapped in a burning building. With the Cat gone, Spider-Man can then save Pedro. Mary Jane is outside when they get outside and she and Pedro are happily reunited. Spider-Man decides to stop and take his leave, but can’t help but feel bad for Mary Jane since dating Pedro is not all that different than dating him as they both face danger nightly due to their professions.[8]

As Spider-Man slips away to change back to Peter Parker, the Parker Industries staff realizes that someone has stolen their Electro tracker. This was the Black Cat who uses it to find the villain. She locates Electro on a nearby rooftop lamenting about his current situation. Making her presence known the Black Cat offers Electro the opportunity to get revenge against Spider-Man.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Black Cat, Anna Maria Marconi, Sajani Jaffrey, Living Brain, Mary Jane Watson, Pedro Olivera, J. Jonah Jameson, Natalie Long, Cindy Moon, Ezekiel Sims Electro

Continuity Notes

1. For more on why Cindy Moon was confined, see Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #4-5.

2. Felicia was arrested when Spider-Man (then controlled by Doctor Octopus) busted her in Superior Spider-Man #20.

3. Although this is a dream, the Unofficial Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe, this happened in another reality. It has been designated Reality-14083.

4. Another lovely parting gift from Doc Ock. Electro was kidnapped by the Octavius Spider-Man in Avenging Spider-Man #18 and forced him to be part of his Superior Six in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #5-7.

5. What you’ve been living under a rock? Doc Ock was Spider-Man from Amazing Spider-Man #298 to Superior Spider-Man #31.

6. Pedro hit it off with Mary Jane after he rescued her when her nightclub was lit on fire, as seen in Superior Spider-Man #10.

7. J. Jonah Jameson became the mayor of New York City in Amazing Spider-Man #591. When Doc Ock was Spider-Man, he blackmailed Jameson into handing him over the Raft and giving him free reign while crime fightings in the city in Superior Spider-Man #13. Later, Jameson attempted to build an army of Spider-Slayers to stop him, but these machines were hacked by the Green Goblin during his recent attack on his city in Superior Spider-Man #27-31. The backlash of this snafu prompting Jameson to resign from his post in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #1.

8. Peter and Mary Jane dated on-and-off for years starting back in Amazing Spider-Man #42. They finally called it quits, seemingly for good, circa Amazing Spider-Man #545. See Amazing Spider-Man #638-641 for all the details.