Spectacular Spider-Man #177
Fever Pitch
Blaming Spider-Man for her further devolution, Corona shoves the masked hero out of her brother's tower. As they fall, Corona tries to slash the masked hero with her razorsharp finger nails. Struggling to stop his plummet, Spider-Man fires a web-line and tries to swing back into the building, but slams into the side of it instead. This knocks the wall-crawler out, allowing Corona to drag him back inside to get her revenge against both Spider-Man and her brother, Cedric Forrester. She believes that Spider-Man was in league with her brother by withholding a cure for the "Soho Fever" that would have also completed the transformation she underwent. Demanding a confession of this collusion from the hero, she becomes more and more furious the longer Spider-Man remains unconscious. Her demands are interrupted by the Forrester security forces who begin opening fire upon her. Vulnerable, Corona drops Spider-Man and flees, vowing to get her revenge later.
Later, at St. Vincent's Hospital, Peter Parker returns to the hospital room where his wife Mary Jane is undergoing treatment for the Soho Fever.[1] He tells Mary Jane about how Dagny Forrester experimented on herself, but this experiment was interrupted by her brother, turning her into Corona. Peter then assisted Corona in breaking into Forrester's building to get at the cure. However, she turned on him, revealing that she was going to take it for herself in order to complete her transformation and gain even more power. During the scuffle, the antidote was destroyed. With no time to create a new batch, Peter knows that there must be another solution but he can't think of any. Peter's thoughts are distracted when he sees Norman and Liz Osborn running down the hall. They have brought their son Normie to get treatment as he has become yet another victim of the Soho Fever. With no cure in sight, the Osborns fear for the life of their son. Suddenly, Harry hears a voice accusing him of poisoning his own son. However, he can find no source of the phantom voice, and Liz didn't hear it.[2]
While at the Cedric Forrester's office building, Cedric's secretary is trying to keep government officials and the press at bay. In his office, Forrester tries to get some favors from a US Senator to get the Environmental Protection Agency off his back. However, the Senator's hands are tied unless Cedric can produce a cure. After Cedric ends the all, he is interrupted by one of his guards who tells him that Spider-Man is waiting for him on the roof. When Forrester meets with him on the rooftop he sees that the wall-crawler has brought Harry Osborn with him. Osborn has offered the service of Osborn Chemicals to help recreate the cure. Forrester is unimpressed that Spider-Man was not able to get Reed Richards or Henry Pym to help. However, Spider-Man stands by Harry Osborn's ability to help solve this crisis. Meanwhile, on the campus of Empire State University, grad student Roger Hochberg is putting on a demonstration to other students when suddenly Corona comes smashing through the wall. She tells them to get out, as she only needs use of the lab. Corona has come to gain access to ESU's field acceleration chamber, exactly what she needs.
Meanwhile, Harry has put in a call to his company to get the chemicals they need to create a new batch of the antidote. As Harry and Cedric get to work, Spider-Man suddenly feels faint. When he almost falls off the wall, Harry checks out the wall-crawler and confirms that he also has Soho Fever. As he does so, a guard enters the room and tells Cedric that Corona has been sighted. Overhearing this, Spider-Man demands to know where she is. Although Cedric reveals her location, he refuses to talk further. Spider-Man suspects that Cedric still wants to experiment on his sister. Suddenly, the ceiling is blown open by Corona, who has completed her transformation and has come to end their lives. Remembering how Corona stated that with her full power she could cure everyone with a wave of the hand, the wall-crawler doesn't want to hurt her but lures her outside. While back inside, Cedric orders his men to capture his sister and then continues his work with Osborn. The wall-crawler tries to convince Corona to help them, but she refuses to do anything that might strip her of her powers. She manages to shake the wall-crawler by endangering a window washer, forcing the masked hero to give up pursuit to save the man. Catching up with Corona, Spider-Man has slowed further thanks to a combination of the fever and Corona's transmutation power. He tries one last time to appeal to Corona. Promising her that if she helps them find a cure, he will ensure that she won't be harmed or imprisoned, offering the chance to strike him down if she doesn't believe him.
Surprisingly, this gets through to Corona who agrees to go back and help. When they arrive at Cedric's building, Spider-Man asks her to wait while he goes inside to tell Cedric how she has agreed to help. However, Cedric's guards had been waiting to ambush her. When they try to restrain Corona, she flees the scene. Spider-Man is furious that Cedric still sees her as nothing more than an experiment and not a human being. Even though Spider-Man is succumbing to the fever, he refuses to let her get away and swings off. Spider-Man catches up to Corona, who has decided to end her life. When she tries to jump off a rooftop, Spider-Man saves her life. This angers her even more, but before the fight can begin anew, they are once more ambushed by Forrester's men. At this point, Harry and Cedric have completed a new batch of the antidote. By this point, a feverish Spider-Man beats all of Forrester's men. Before losing conciousness, the wall-crawler goes to a nearby pay phone and calls for help but blacks out. When he wakes up, the wall-crawler discovers that Harry has found him and administered the antidote. It's then that Mister Fantastic and the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four arrive after getting Spider-Man's emergency phone call. Reed has come to offer his aid in curing Corona of her condition.
However, before they can get her back to the Four Freedoms Plaza, Cedric Forrester and his men arrive on the scene. He presents Reed Richards with a court order that puts Dagny in Cedric's care as long as she is in her current condition. When Spider-Man protests this, Richards points out that the legal notice is ironclad. The web-slinger can't understand how Cedric could get away with everything that has happened. Gloating, Cedric explains that his speedy creation of the antidote has made him a hero. All Spider-Man can do is watch in anger as Cedric and his minions take Corona away. Later, Mary Jane and the other victims of Soho Fever has been cured. As Peter takes his wife out of the hospital, she points out that regardless of what happened Corona, he still did good work. When Peter can't bring himself to accept this, she turns his attention to the Osborns who are celebrating the fact that their son Normie has been cured. Suddenly, Harry hears someone calling his name. Looking to see who it is, Harry is horrified by who is speaking to him.[3]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, Liz Osborn, Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, Corona, Cedric Forrester, Normie Osborn, Roger Hochberg
Continuity Notes
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by the demon Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here as opposed to husband and wife.
Harry is being haunted by hallucinations of his father, Norman Osborn as revealed next issue.
As explained above, Harry is having hallucinations of his father. Harry can't believe his father could be present here because, at the time of this story, Norman Osborn was believed to have been killed in Amazing Spider-Man #122. However, as explained in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1, Norman survived and he will resurface again in Amazing Spider-Man #418.
