Beneficial Alliances

Spider-Man is swinging across the city on patrol, his mind focusing on how hectic his life has been recent. These thoughts include impostors who claimed to be his parents, his withdraw from people, his Aunt May's declining health, the return of his clone, as well as his and Mary Jane's unborn child.[1] Spotting armed men walking toward an outside of a fancy restaurant, Spider-Man doesn't like the look of it and decides to go in for a closer look. These are Maggia gunmen who have come to make a hit on some of their own members. Spider-Man swings in and tries to contain the bloodshed as best he can, but he wonders why there is a conflict within the cities biggest crime family. With innocent people caught in the crossfire, the wall-crawler ends the battle as quickly as possible. However, he is horrified to when one of the women on the scene dies of a gunshot wound. Before she dies she tries to warn Spider-Man that he needs to stop someone, but she dies before she can name them. As the authorities arrive on the scene, the wall-crawler wonders how he can bring a child into this world when such violence exists on the streets. Meanwhile, Deathlok is exchanging gunfire at Coney Island.[2] As he reminds his computer to initiate its no-kill parameters, he clashes with Speed Demon, Beetle, and Hydro-Man. Unfortunately, Deathlok is ill-prepared for Hydro-Man's powers and as the villain attempts to drown the cyborg, Beetle and Speed Demon manage to escape. Deathlok manages to blast himself free with a plasma blast, but this superheats Hydro-Man's liquid body, scalding Deathlok and stunning him long enough for Hydro-Man to escape. When Deathlok tries to follow Hydro-Man into the sewers, even his enhanced senses he can't track his foe.

At that moment, in Upstate New York, current Maggia leader Cesar Cicero meets with Silvermane. He is unphased by Silvermane's attempts to retake control of the Maggia. Seeing Silvermane's cybernetic body in a life support unit, Cicero doesn't think that the elderly mobster has what it takes to regain control of the Maggia. However, Silvermane was prepared for this, explaining that he has made an alliance with many of the gangs operating in Hell's Kitchen and he has commissioned the creation of a new Scorpion that will outperform the original. Lastly, he assures Caesar that his enfeebled cybernetic body will no longer be a concern. At that moment, Peter Parker has returned home to his wife Mary Jane. There he tells her about his night out on patrol and how he is concerned about what kind of city they are bringing their unborn child into. He insists that he needs to go back out and put a stop to this gang war, as he can't let it happen to his city, and he can't just pack up his family and leave because of the absence of Spider-Man will only make things worse. Although Mary Jane is concerned for Peter's safety, she still supports his decision to go out and put an end to the current spate of gang violence. Later, Silvermane's minions are going around New York City planting explosive devices on the bridges and tunnels that bring people in and out of Manhattan.[3]

As Spider-Man patrols the city, and Deathlok continues his hunt in the sewers, Silvermane prepares to initiate his plan to bring the city to its knees and force it to pay proper tribute to him.

Notes

Continuity Notes

1. The opening narrative of this story touches on a lot of information all at once. These details are:

   • The origins of Spider-Man as they were told in Amazing Fantasy #15.

   • His marriage to Mary Jane Watson. The couple were married in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. Although Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.

   • Peter's parents were killed in action roughly twenty years prior to this story, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5. The impostors appeared claiming they were his parents in Amazing Spider-Man #365. The fact that they were impostors were revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #388.

   • The Spider-Clone, was long thought to be dead after he first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #149. Spider-Man discovered that he was still alive in Web of Spider-Man #117. At the time of this story, Peter assumed that his clone died in an explosion in The Spectacular Spider-Man #217.

   • Mary Jane announced that she was pregnant in The Spectacular Spider-Man #220.

   • The narrative of this story clarifies that this story takes place prior to Amazing Spider-Man #399.

2. The narrative also details Deathlok's origins, as they were told in Deathlok #1.

3. The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline here. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. The original towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, and have since been replaced by the Freedom Tower.