The Omega Effect Part One

Spider-Man has fought himself in the middle of a fight with ninjas of the Hand. As he evades their attacks he thinks about how this all started when Mister Fantastic called him in for a favor….

Mister Fantastic had called in Spider-Man because Daredevil had showed up earlier that evening. He had brought Reed a hard drive created out of unstable molecules. It had data on it about five of the world’s most powerful crime cartels. After getting data on an organization called Black Spectre, he took off with the hard drive. Daredevil then took off with the drive when Reed wasn’t looking. Since he can’t leave his current experiment, Richards has called on Spider-Man to recover the drive since the materials belong to the Fantastic Four. Before Spider-Man left, Reed warns him that if knowledge of the hard drive gets out, there are going to be some heavy hitters out to get it….

As Spider-Man finishes his recollection he spots that the ninjas heading for Matt Murdock’s apartment and tries to stop them from getting there.[1] As he fights it out with the ninjas, he hopes Murdock is having a better night than he is.

That that same moment, Matt Murdock is visited by the Punisher who has come with a bottle of whiskey so they can talk about handing over the drive.[2] Murdock’s enhanced senses can tell that Castle is not alone, as his partern — Rachel Cole — is upstairs rigging explosives. Frank has come because news about the drive has gotten out and it will be safer in his hands. However, Matt wants nothing to do with the Punisher, or his methods. When reason doesn’t work, Frank has Rachel blow the ceiling to Matt’s apartment. Unfortunately, before they can take the hard drive by force, Spider-Man comes crashing in throught the window with Hand ninjas on his tail. This distraction allows for Matt to change into his Daredevil costume.

With ninjas surrounding the building, Daredevil takes command. He tells the Punisher and Rachel that if they want access to the drive they’re going to have to comply with Spider-Man’s wishes that nobody gets killed in the coming battle. Working together the quartette take down all the ninjas with no loss of life. They all retreat to a nearby rooftop where Daredevil explains that he has been using the contents of the drive to give an ultimatum to the world’s biggest crime cartels. After taking down Black Spectre, he held a meeting with with members of AIM, Hydra, the Secret Empire, and Agence Byzantine to let them know that he will go after them next. He banked on the fact that this will keep these organizations away from Matt Murdock and his friends based on the fact that whoever gets the drive will start an instant gang war between the other organizations. From here, Daredevil is improvising his next steps, prompting the Punisher and Rachel to demand, once again, that he hand over the drive.[3]

Spider-Man insists that they turn the drive over to the Avengers. They quickly formulate a plan where Daredevil hands over the drive to Reed Richards to mine the data while Spider-Man, the Punisher, and Rachel keep the crime cartels busy. Then, in the middle of the battle, Daredevil will destroy the drive in plain sight to stop the attacks. The Punisher reluctantly agrees with these conditions and says he needs 45 minutes to prepare the non-lethal ordinance he and Rachel will needs to fight. They then split up to begin planning, agreeing to meet up in an hour. As Spider-Man and Daredevil head off together, Spider-Man quips that people can tell they are friends because he just agreed to team-up with the Punisher in order to save Matt Murdock’s life.

This story continues in Punisher (vol. 9) #10…

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Punisher, the Hand, Rachel Cole-Alves, Mister Fantastic, (in flashback) AIM, Hydra, Agence Byzantine

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man quips that Daredevil has the worst kept secret identity. This is reference to the fact that Matt Murdock was outed as Daredevil by the Daily Globe in Daredevil (vol. 2) #32. Although Murdock publicly denied these claims it hasn’t prevented.

2. This story depicts the Punisher with bandages on his face covering one of his eyes. This injury was caused when the Punisher fought the Vulture in Punisher (vol. 9) #3.

3. It’s here that Spider-Man recalls the news about how Rachel Cole-Alves suffered a tragedy when her husband was murdered two hours after they were married. This happened in Punisher (vol. 9) #1.

Topical References

• Dated pop-culture references: Hanna Montana