Spider-Man: Friends and Enemies #1
Power Meetings
It's dusk in Madison Square Park, seven mysterious crystal shards begin to glow in the bushes.[1] The following morning, Spider-Man swings over the park as large crowds begin to form. News that the band known as the Channel Surfers are giving a free concert in the park has drawn young people in droves. His passage is spotted by Alexander Patel, who is unaware of the fact that his fate will be intertangled with that of the wall-crawler. At that moment, in a building across from the park, Elias Flynn has just made a killing playing poker. Deciding that he has played long enough, Flynn decides to call it a day. Noticing the young people in the park, he decides to go down and see if he can find a way to exploit this gathering for his own gain. Back down below, Alexander meets with his friends Edward Wong, Barbara DeGioia, Denise Havens, and Fiona Rivera who have also come to see if this free concert is going to happen. As time goes on, Denise begins to doubt it will happen and wants to go because she has school work to do. At that moment, Elias Flynn is paying off Carl Hollister, a busboy who was helping Flynn cheat at cards. Elias then suggests that they go into the park and see what they can steal from people's pockets.
By this time, Denise spots a strange glow from the bushes and alerts her friends of the situation. They find the seven strange crystal shards and Denis hands one out to each of her friends, keeping three for herself. However, they are discovered by Elias and Carl who snatch the two spare crystals and offer to pay her forty dollars for them. With each crystal in the hands an individual they all begin to glow and in a sudden flash of light. It only lasts a moment and is quickly dismissed. Elias decides that it is time to go and has to pull Carl away as he has started hitting on Fiona, getting her phone number in the process. Edward suspects that there is something more to these crystals than meets the eye and suggests that they keep in touch and they all exchange phone numbers. Suddenly, the crowd becomes excited when Nova and Speedball arrive on the scene to watch the concert as well.[2] With the crowd getting out of control, the police convince the two heroes to leave, making Nova regret showing up in costume. As all eyes are on Nova and Speedball, Darkhawk arrives in the park looking for the crystals that he was forced to leave here to battle Mahari, only to discover they are gone.[3] Finding no trace of the crystals, Darkhawk has to leave. He wishes he could just forget about the crystals, but he still doesn't know what effect they will have on Earth.
Darkhawk's fears are warranted, as the young people who collected the crystals suddenly begin experiencing strange incidents the following day. In Brooklyn, Alexander Patel's excitement from watching his favorite science fiction series causes a strange crystal spear to appear in his hand. He is shocked by this sudden manifestation, especially since it disappears as quickly as it appeared. In the East Village, Barbara DeGioi is folding clothing at the store she works at. While she is distracted by some male customers, she suddenly fires heat beams from her eyes that set a clothing display on fire. While others put out the flames, a frightened Barbara flees the store before anyone can identify her. In Queens, Edward Wong is playing basketball with his brother. Suddenly, the brother begins to scream in pain as something attacks his mind. When Edward realizes that he is responsible he runs away. On Staten Island, Fiona Rivera is walking home from school. When some construction workers begin catcalling her, Fiona wishes they could be flattened for being so rude. Suddenly, an unmanned bulldozer comes to life and almost runs the construction workers down. Watching this all unfold, Fiona has the feeling that she somehow is responsible for making this happen. In Yonkers, Carl Hollister is attempting to break into a vehicle in a used car lot. Suddenly, his body turns into crystal, giving him enhanced strength. Caught off guard by this sudden transformation, he rips the door right off the hinges. In Midtown Manhattan, Denise Havens and her mother are crossing the street when they are sideswiped by a cyclist. As she shouts at the cyclist, Denise is shocked when a bolt of energy fires from her finger, striking the man on the bike. She is horrified but relieved that when the man gets up, glad that she didn't somehow kill him.
After these strange experiences, the six youths get in touch with each other and reunite the following evening in Madison Square Park. There they talk about what happened to them the day before. As Carl is explaining his story he suddenly enters a trance state. That's when Elias Flynn makes his presence known, showing off that he has the ability to enthrall the minds of others. Flynn then uses his powers to force the kids to hand over the crystals that were brought to the meeting, intending to use their newfound powers for his own gain. He dubs the teens the "MetaHumes". He then orders the others to go and bring the crystals that are missing so they can begin training in the use of their powers. Meanwhile, Darkhawk arrives at the New Warrior's Crash Pad headquarters. There he tells Nova and Speedball about the crystals and his suspicions that reports of teenagers manifesting powers may be responsible. He convinces them to help him locate the crystals before someone gets hurt. They begin retracing the steps of the eyewitness reports. In Queens, they cross paths with Spider-Man, who asks what is going on.[4] After hearing what they are doing, Spider-Man agrees to help them find the crystals before someone gets hurt.
Meanwhile, in the Bronx, Elias uses his powers to force the MetaHumes to learn how to use their powers. He looks forward to using these superpowered teens to make him rich. However, Flynns plans are known by a mysterious cabal of individuals. At an office building, these individuals make their own plans for the MetaHumes.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, New Warriors (Speedball, Nova, Darkhawk), Metahumes (Elias Flynn, Hardnose, Assault, Blazeye, Hyperia, Makina, Diamond Hammer, Honcho)
Continuity Notes
The origins of these crystals are detailed in Darkhawk #45-47.
Everyone thinks that Speedball is Robbie Baldwin, however, this is an impostor taking his place as revealed in New Warriors #68-69. He took Speedball's place in New Warriors #50.
Darkhawk left the crystals here in Darkhawk #47.
Spider-Man was at the hospital visiting the woman he thinks is his Aunt May. May suffered a stroke in Amazing Spider-Man #391. However, she was replaced with an impostor sometime during the following issue. This is revealed in Spider-Man #97.
