Spider-Man: The Power of Terror #2
Warzone
With a gang war looming, Spider-Man had decided to put a stop to it. His primary concern is for the type of world his unborn child may be born into.[1] He has recently become aware that there is a schism in the Maggia crime family and that the gangs of Hell's Kitchen have entered the conflict. He arrives on the scene of a battle between rival gang members which includes the super-powered criminal known as Boomerang. As Boomerang flies over the battle, Spider-Man tries to snare him with a web-line. However, the villain's jet boots pull with such thrust that it pulls Spider-Man off the wall he is clinging to. While Spider-Man struggles to dodge Boomerang's weapons, Ceaser Cicero arrives on the scene and guns down the members of the gang that have refused to join his side. Eventually, Spider-Man manages to stop Boomerang by hooking his legs onto a lamp post. He then subdues Boomerang and learns that Boomerang was hired to distract the wall-crawler while Cicero finished the Maggia's objectives. That's when the police begin arriving on the scene. Frustrated that he was just played for a fool, the wall-crawler knocks out Boomerang and leaves him wrapped up for the authorities to head back to the battle scene.
Meanwhile, in upstate New York, Silvermane observes his new operative testing out their equipment. This woman, the daughter of an old family friend, has been selected to be his new Scorpion operative. She is impressed with the weapons systems that have been equipped into her armor, which are superior to those of the original Scorpion, Mac Gargan. However, the woman insists that she is called Scorpia instead. Satisfied with her new equipment, Scorpia heads off to do the Maggia's bidding, much to Silvermane's approval.[2] At that moment, back in New York, the cyborg known as Deathlok continues to search for Hydro-Man, after the villain escaped capture. Finding himself in a subway tunnel, Deathlok finds himself stopping to prevent a collision between two subway trains. As the cyborg stops the trains, he is observed by Hydro-Man, who is impressed that Silvermane was able to orchestrate this in order to try and stop Deathlok from following him. The water-based villain hopes that the back-up he called for arrives soon, but is confident that he can do much to attack his enemy before they arrive. By this time, Spider-Man arrives on the scene of the gang battle to see the police closing it off as a crime scene. Seeing all the dead bodies, Spider-Man can't help but wonder if these people have families of their own. He is drawn to a pair of officers who are covering up one of the bodies. Overseeing the operation is Detective Fagan, who recognizes the dead man as an old neighborhood friend named Joe Flannigan. When Spider-Man asks Fagan what's going on, and gets scolded by the detective for not being here to stop the slaughter. Fagan has a piece of advice for the wall-crawler, if he wants to help fight crime he should take off the mask and join the police force. Spider-Man can understand why the officer is upset. Since he is not the only hero in town, he wonders how his other allies are doing to deal with the current crime war.
As he thinks this, Daredevil is busy breaking up a mob operation in Alphabet City. While fighting the gangster, Daredevil maintains his grim and gritty persona in order to maintain the illusion that he is a different man in the Daredevil costume.[3] With violence slowly taking the city, Daredevil becomes determined to find the root of the rise and crime and stop it. While in the Bronx, the Punisher has tracked down a gang who have been running numbers in the area. Among the dead mobsters are their leader, Bruno Giraldi, who left the Silvermane family after his run-in with them in Las Vegas.[4] Having heard a lot of talk about Silvermane over the past few days, the Punisher has decided to put the elderly mobster at the top of his hit list. While back in the subway tunnel, Deathlok has survived his rescue attempt with minimal damage. As he checks his system diagnostics, Scorpia arrives to provide Hydro-Man back-up. After checking to make sure the passengers are safe, Deathlok connects to the internet to search the NYPD database to learn what he can about the cause of this near collision. Seeing that their target is distracted, Hydro-Man and Scorpia attack Deathlok. This angers Deathlok, and while Hydro-Man thinks they might need more back-up, Scorpia assures him that she is all the help he needs.
While above the city streets, Spider-Man is surprised to see the Beetle flying around, as the villain was in prison last the wall-crawler heard.[5] When the Beetle smashes through the street, Spider-Man decides to follow after him into the subway tunnels below. There he discovers Deathlok in a losing battle against Hydro-Man and Scorpia. The wall-crawler aids Deathlok, asking how this battle started. As he returns fire against their foes, Deathlok explains that he got here after chasing after Beetle, Speed Demon and Hydro-Man after he failed to capture them at Coney Island. Their battle takes them up onto the streets of Times Square where they begin to gain the upper hand. That's when Silvermane appears on all of the massive electronic billboards. He then threatens to totally devastate the entire city unless Deathlok surrenders his body for Silvermane to use. Not wanting innocent lives to be put in jeopardy, Deathlok agrees. Unfortunately, Spider-Man refuses to allow Deathlok to turn his body over to Silvermane, and is willing to do anything to prevent that from happening.
Notes
Continuity Notes
The narrative of this story makes mention of a few details pertaining to Peter Parker's personal life:
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.
Mary Jane recently revealed that she is pregnant in The Spectacular Spider-Man #220
Here, Silvermane states that Mac Gargan has retired from his costumed identity of the Scorpion. The Scorpion retired following the events of The Spectacular Spider-Man #215-216. However, he will come out of retirement in Spider-Man Unlimited #13.
Daredevil has been pretending to be a different individual since faking the death of Matt Murdock in Daredevil #325.
The Punisher is referring to the Dead Man's Hand event. He states that those events happened about "a year ago". Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, the Punisher's measurement of time is factual.
The Beetle had been in prison following his defeat at the hands of Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Web of Doom #1-3.
