Bringing Down The House!

While attempting to stop Sneak Thief from stealing a priceless vase from the antiquities department at Williams University, Spider-Man finds himself caught between a disputed between Warrant and Spoiler. Spoiler wants to eliminate Sneak Thief for failing to steal the vase, while Warrant wants to claim the bounty that is on her head. Although her feet are webbed to the floor, Sneak Thief manages to pull her feet out of her boots. To ensure that Sneak Thief doesn't get killed, Spider-Man quickly carries her outside and webs her to a tree until he can stop Spoiler and Warrant and find out what is going on. Unfortunately for the wall-crawler, Sneak Thief has a concealed laser and she begins cutting through the webbing as soon as he is out of sight. Back inside, Spoiler manages to shoot Warrant, clipping him on the shoulder. While the bounty hunter is recovering from the shot, Spoiler pulls a grenade launcher and attempts to fire it at his foe. However, Spider-Man arrives just in time to attach a web-line onto the grenade and tosses it aside. The blast causes the ceiling to collapse. Digging himself out of the rubble, Spider-Man discovers that Spoiler is loose as well. After tossing another grenade at the wall-crawler, he makes his escape thanks to the rockets built into his boots. Spider-Man is forced to let him escape while he smothers the grenade. When he finds Warrant, the bounty hunter is furious that Spider-Man interfered with his attempt to apprehend Sneak Thief. Although the wall-crawler failed to stop Warrant from killing the Lizard, he refuses to let him murder anyone else.[1] While Spider-Man is stopped from interfering with Warrant further by the authorities, Sneak Thief manages to escape with the vase she was hired to steal.

However, when she tries to escape in her car, Warrant manages to track her down and apprehend her, returning the stolen vase to the university. Spider-Man has stuck around, and after Warrant leaves, he makes sure that the police manage to get Sneak Thief into a squad car. Before they can, the ground begins to shake as a massive digger suit breaks through the ground below. As it goes for Sneak Thief, a news crew arrives on the scene to capture the situation. Spider-Man swings in to help Sneak Thief and pulls the camera crew to safety. At that same moment, Doctor Toshiro Mikashi sources his office for the disk that contains his files on the Arachnia Project to make sure the police did not confiscate.[2] That's when the men in suits return with it, telling him that they killed his student when he discovered it. They threaten Mikashi not to be so careless in the future, reminding him that the Arachnis Project is a matter of national security. However, Toshiuro knows that these men are not with the government, they don't deny this, but tell him that they are patriots and warn him against talking about the project again.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man continues to fight the suit of digger armor, in a continued effort to save Sneak Thief from its grasp. However, the thief isn't exactly helpless as she tries to cut through the digger's grip with her pocket laser. Unfortunately, the digger keeps Spider-Man away with a burst of white phospherous before escaping back underground with Sneak Thief as his prisoner. While in the underground bunker, the Jury sits down to dinner. Ramshot is still upset over being demoted to reserve status.[3] Ramshot doesn't want to get into it again, so they change the subject to the secret society they have been hired by. Ramshot wonders why they haven't been devoting their efforts to eliminating Venom and is suspicious of these new employers.[4] Screech points out that these new benefactors -- that they believe are government agents -- have promised to assist in destroying Venom after this current mission. After all his military service, he had never seen anything more horrifying as when Venom murdered their friend Hugh Taylor.[5] However, Screech has more of an investment in killing Venom, since Hugh Taylor was his brother.

At that moment, in a San Francisco hotel room, someone watches the news coverage from Washington, D.C. He recognizes the digger as equipment belonging to the Carleton Drake and decides to investigate.[6] While back in Washington, Spider-Man breaks into the medical examiner's office to examine the autopsy reports on Jerry Powers, the student that Toshiro Mikashi is suspected of killing. He doesn't find anything that conclusively proves if Mikashi did it or not and so he decides to pay him a visit. Changing back into Peter Parker, the wall-crawler pays Mikashi a visit. Toshiro is happy to see his former student. Toshiro is happy to see his former student and welcomes him in. After introducing Peter to his daughter Miho, Toshiro invites Peter in his den. There Parker asks if there is anything he can do to help. Toshiro tells Peter that he can return to New York and never come back. He tells them about his Arachnis Project and how an organization that he thought was a secret branch of the government.

He had hoped to use the project to cure illnesses like cancer, but this organization wants to take the formula for their own twisted ends. As Toshiro explains how the formula works, Peter's spider-sense begins going off. This is because a member of this organization is listening in on their conversation from a concealed van across the street. Suddenly, the den starts filling with gas. When Peter tries to smash out of the window but jolted by electricity. He then tries to break through the wall but succumbs to the gas. As he passes out, a group of men in dark suits enters the room wearing gas masks who have come to clean up this situation.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Sneak Thief, Warrant, The Jury (Sentry, Firearm, Ramshot, Bomblast, Screech), Life Foundation (The Spoiler), Toshiro Mikashi, Miho Mikashi, Venom

Continuity Notes

1. Warrant seemingly killed the Lizard in Web of Spider-Man #111 (This story incorrectly attributed that story to Web of Spider-Man #112) This Lizard survived, resurfacing again in The Spectacular Spider-Man #238.

2. These disks are depicted as 3.5" floppies. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timsecale of Earth-616 as this technology is considered obsolete.

3. Ramshot was demoted after insisting that they spare Spider-Man's life in Amazing Spider-Man #385.

4. The Jury was formed by Orwell Taylor to hunt down and eliminate Venom. This is because Venom murdered Orwell's son during an escape from the Vault in Amazing Spider-Man #375. He formed the Jury in Venom Lethal Protector #2 to capture him

5.  Screech states that he fought in Grenada and the Gulf War. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.

6. This "mystery person" is Venom, as revealed Issue #4 of this series. Venom first encountered the diggers in Venom Lethal Protector #1.