Downtown

In the slum known as Downtown, a pair of Watchdogs are cruising the neighborhood. They spot a young mother and her child walking down the street. Checking their computer records, they determine that her insurance isn't paid up and decide to have some fun. They grab the woman and her child and drag them into a nearby alley. However, before the men can rape the woman, Spider-Man suddenly emerges from the garbage asking for help. The two Watchdogs recognize the reluctant hero from the uptown video feeds and try to eliminate him. Quick thinking, Spider-Man quickly dispatches the two thugs. When he asks the woman where he is, she runs away in fear, leaving the masked hero more confused and disorientated than ever. He tries to climb back up to Nueva York, but it is too painful because he broke something when he fell. Spotting the Watchdog's buggy, he climbs in and asks the vehicle's onboard computers to return him to Babylon Towers. Unfortunately, that location is out of range. He then tells the vehicle to get him out of there.

Meanwhile, uptown, Tyler Stone and his Board of Directors go over the footage of Spider-Man being mowed down by the Public Eye. He believes that Spider-Man is dead, and is furious at Sargeant Estevez for disobeying orders and fires him with prejudice. With that, Tyler has his assistant Winston to remove Estevez from the building. On his way out, the former sergeant vows to get revenge against Tyler Stone. That's when Tyler Stone is contacted by the CEO of Alchemax, who demands to know why they failed to capture Spider-Man, as he wanted to use the hero against Stark-Fujikawa. According to the CEO, this is a lost potential especially since he was familiar with the original Spider-Man. He then warns Stone that he must restore the company's faith in him, then terminates the call.[1] Stone calls Winston back into his office and orders a team of Public Eye's gathered to go searching for Spider-Man's body Downtown.

Meanwhile, the buggy continues to drive the injured Spider-Man through downtown. Delirious from the pain, he thinks he is talking to his holographic assistant, Lyla. He explains how he survived the fall by using his talons to scrape along the wall to slow down his fall. Still, his body is seriously injured and says he needs to get to a doctor. This activates the voice commands in the buggy that begin bringing him to the nearest doctor. Elsewhere, Kasey Nash searches Downtown aboard her stolen Public Eye hovercraft looking for any sign of Spider-Man. Having no luck, she decides to get some friends to help. At that same moment, Uptown, Gabriel O'Hara is rushing to his car trying to brush off his ex-girlfriend Dana D'Angelo. She wants to know why he suddenly wants to take off after they saw Spider-Man's apparent demise. He brushes it off and tells her that he has an appointment that he needs to get to. However, he actually drives toward the tunnel to Downtown. Once his car reaches the end of the mag-lev lines it switches to tires. While back Downtown, the buggy pulls up to a nearby Docs-In-A-Box. When the doctor comes out and sees the injured man in the buggy, he calls for a nurse. By this time, the Public Eye has arrived in Downtown. Learning about Spider-Man's survival and theft of a buggy, and are working with the Watchdogs to track it down. As they follow the signal, they are unaware that a strange winged figure is watching them from the rooftops.

Later, Spider-Man wakes up in the Docs-In-A-Box with his wounds treated. The doctor explains that he helped the hero for free because he is a Thorite and Spider-Man is considered a harbinger of Thor. However, Spider-Man doesn't want to listen to this religious nonsense and leaves. Once outside, he is surrounded by the Public Eye and Watchdogs. When he tries to escape in the buggy that brought him here, they blow it up. Making a run for it, Spider-Man sets up webbing snares that knock down two of the Public Eye's who chase after him. That's when the hero is cornered by members of the Watchdogs. However, before they can apprehend Spider-Man, something swoops down and cuts the Watchdogs into ribbons. Still weak from his injuries, Spider-Man begins to pass out when he is picked up off the ground by a man calling himself the Vulture, who believes that he and Spider-Man will become great friends.

Continuity Notes

1. According to Peter David, the shadowy C.E.O. of Alchemax was originally intended to be an elderly Peter Parker. However, Pat Mills and Tony Skinner revealed in Ravage 2099 #11 that the Alchemax CEO was an entirely different entity known as Avatarr. As a result, David’s idea was scrapped.