Home Again, Home Again

At the Wellvale Home, one of the doctors pays a visit to Conchata O'Hara, one of their patients. Picking up where they left off during their last session, the doctor asks her about her sons. Upon hearing this, Conchata begins to scream, prompting the doctor to call for help.

At this same moment, Spider-Man has returned to Nueva York from Downtown and is glad to be home. He nearly gets hit by a Mag-Lev car and has to leap out of the way. As he recounts his recent battle with the Vulture, he is caught by a Public Eye officer who orders him to freeze.[1] At first, the reluctant hero complies, but this is only to get close enough to the officer to web him up. Pretending to be the officer, Spider-Man radios in and says he's going homesick. Appeasing the officer's superiors, Miguel steals his Public Eye uniform so he can get back home uninterrupted. While back Downtown at the Throwback's hideout, Kasey Nash demands to know what her boyfriend, Gabriel O'Hara was doing during their battle with the Freakers. He tells her that he was trying to keep her safe. She scolds him for saying such a thing, telling him that she can take care of himself. She wonders if Gabriel is not unlike his brother, Miguel, who she despises because he works for Alchemax.[2] Raff, another member of the Throwbacks, is impressed with Spider-Man's part in the battle. Kasey agrees but also let’s slip that she finds the hero attractive. This upsets Gabriel, but Kasey assures him that he has nothing to be jealous about.[3]

Back Uptown, Miguel finishes putting on the Public Eye uniform and begins flying home. However, he soon is surrounded by other Public Eye Fly-Boys who say that they are going to arrest Spider-Man. At first, Miguel thinks they figured out his disguise, he is shocked when he hears a radio report about a Spider-Man sighting nearby, making him wonder what is going on. Meanwhile, Angela Daskalakis takes Rico Estevez into the town of Nightshade where her indy company. She tells him of her plans to utilize him as a weapon against Alchemax and Spider-Man. Since both are responsible for his becoming unemployed and homeless, Rico accepts her offer. As they arrive at the gates of Nightshade, Estevez is given one last chance to back out. He declines to do so, and Angela welcomes him to the first day of the rest of his life. While in Nueva York, Miguel discovers that the Public Eye is going after an impostor in a Spider-Man costume. As they give chase, he spots others dressed in the same outfit fleeing from the authorities. Naturally, none of these men are really Spider-Man, and as the Public Eye begins rounding them up, they discover that these men worship Spider-Man. They are an offshoot of the Thorite religion and call themselves Spiderites. Meanwhile, Miguel catches one of the Spiderites and tells him to go home and burn his costume, saying that Spider-Man is not someone to worship as it is dangerous. When the youth refuses to listen, Miguel extracts one of his finger talons revealing that he is Spider-Man. The young man regards Miguel with religious awe and it is only then that he agrees to listen to him.

When Miguel returns home, his holographic assistant Lyla instantly recognizes him. When he asks her what he would need to do so she won't recognize him, she begins detailing all the gruesome ways to obscure his identity from her. Hearing enough, he tells the hologram to stop, and she gets visibly upset by being yelled at, telling him that she has feelings as well. He reminds her that as an artificial intelligence she doesn't have her own feelings no matter how well she can imitate them. Growing weary of her antics, Miguel goes to the bathroom to have a shower and deal with his bruises. Meanwhile, Gabriel O'Hara returns to his apartment, upset that his girlfriend, Kasey, has a crush on Spider-Man. After venting his frustrations, he checks his messages and is not happy to hear what is waiting for him. Back at Miguel's apartment, his bath is interrupted by the arrival of Dana D'Angelo who has finally got him to herself. He apologizes for acting strangely recently, telling her that he has been working on a way of getting over his Rapture addiction.[4] This allows him to explain his sensitivity to light and fangs. Accepting these explanations, Dana hops into the bath for some romance, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Gabriel. He tells Miguel that he got a call from Wellvale Home, regarding their mother.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Kasey Nash, Raff, Gabriel O’Hara, Lyla, Dana D’Angelo, Puglisi, Rico Estevez, Angela Daskalakis

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man's time Downtown and subsequent battle with the Vulture was chronicled in Spider-Man 2099 #6-8.

2. Kasey briefly met Miguel in Spider-Man 2099 #4.

3. Gabriel has every reason to be jealous since he knows that Spider-Man is also his brother, discovering this secret in Spider-Man 2099 #1, and the fact that Miguel stole Dana D'Angelo from him, a fact revealed in Spider-Man 2099 #5.

4. Miguel was led to believe that he was injected with the highly addictive drug known as Rapture in Spider-Man 2099 #1. This led to his becoming Spider-Man to reverse the effects. Unknown to him, Miguel the Rapture injection wasn't real and was an attempt by Tyler Stone to make him loyal to Alchemax, as revealed in Spider-Man 2099 #25.