Boomerang has just murdered Jackpot’s husband in her home. He now debates what he should do for an encore: Kill Jackpot, aka Sara Ehret, or her four-year-old daughter Maddie. He decides to kill the little girl and throws a boomerang at her. Sara acts quickly, leaping in the path of the sharp weapon and blocking it with one of her kitchen tables. She then charges at Boomerang and slashes his throat open with his own weapon. He then grabs Maddie and rushes her out, telling the horrified little girl not to look at her father’s dead body.

Almost an hour later, Sara has taken refuge at the Baxter Building where she tells Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman what happened. She can’t believe that her secret identity got compromised after being so careful. She then had Reed and Sue look after her daughter because she wants to go out and find who ordered Boomerang to kill her husband.

As Jackpot, Sara scours the city beating on crooks to find the name of Boomerang’s boss. Eventually, she learns that her husband’s killer was employed by the Rose and the highrise where he can be found. Spider-Man eventually catches up with her and stops Jackpot from seriously hurting a crook. He has come looking for her after the Human Torch told her what happened. Jackpot is deeply upset and blames Spider-Man for the death of her husband after he guilted her into becoming Jackpot again.[1] Spider-Man admits that he had no idea that Sara had a family, but assures her that knowledge wouldn’t have changed what she said when he told her to use her powers responsibly.

Jackpot calms down enough to fill Spider-Man in on how the Rose is behind a new designer drug called Ebony, which uses the Corruptor’s sweat glands as an ingredient.[2] When Spider-Man suggests Sara go back to the Baxter Building to be with her daughter so he can wrap things up for her, Jackpot gives him such a dirty look and makes him realize that she’s not just going to leave things be. Spider-Man instead tags along with Jackpot and asks her what the plan is. She’s not sure and then tells Spider-Man if she is worried about her killing the Rose, he warns him that if she decides to cross that line he won’t be able to stop her.

They force their way into the Rose’s office where they are ambushed by the Armadillo who has been drugged with a heavy dose of Ebony. He grabs Jackpot and tosses her out a window and then subdues Spider-Man as the Rose enters the room. Spider-Man has figured out that the Rose isn’t Richard Fisk, but someone else. Meanwhile, Jackpot manages to break her fall thanks to her grappling gun. However, she drops down into a gang of crooks who are all high on ebony. As she fights off the crooks, Spider-Man arrives to help her out having already dealt with the Rose. After the gang members are taken out, Boomerang arrives to try and finish the job he started. However, Jackpot easily overpowers him and is about to kill her husband’s killer when Spider-Man appeals to her with logic. He points out that if she crosses this line not only will she no longer be the same person anymore, she also won’t be the same person to her daughter. This is enough to make Jackpot stay her hand.

Composing herself, Jackpot goes upstairs where the NYPD has the situation under control. She decides to question the Rose to find out how he found out her secret identity. The Rose explains how Boomerang was able to match her finger prints but he already knew who she was earlier. The Rose then takes off his mask, revealing that she is her colleague Doctor Phillip Hayes. He figured out her identity earlier when she brought the Corruptor’s sweat glans for examination. When she asks why he would turn to crime, he reminds her about her accident with lot 777, the chemical that granted Sara her powers. He explains that because of this accident he lost his funding forcing him to earn a living through the sale of illegal drugs. Having heard enough, Jackpot turns to leave telling the detective on the scene that she’ll go by the station in the morning to sign an affidavit, telling him that she needs to be with her daughter.

Epilogue

After her ordeal with the Rose, Sara Ehret and her daughter have been relocated to Sherman Oaks, California under the Witness Protection Program. There, Sara quizzes her daughter on her new identity, having chosen the name Sydney. That’s when Maddie asks why her mother chose the name, Alana Jobson. She hugs her daughter and tells her that it’s a long story.

Recurring Characters

Jackpot, Spider-Man, Boomerang, the Rose, Maddie Ehret, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Scott Ehret (corpse)

Continuity Notes

1. Although Sara underwent training to become a licensed superhero, she didn’t want to be one. She sold her costumed identity to Alana Jobson a normal woman with delusions of being a superhero. In order to mimic superhuman powers, Alana took a drug cocktail that compromised her health and she died of an bad drug reaction. When Spider-Man learned the truth, he guilted Sara into becoming Jackpot again. See Amazing Spider-Man Annual #35.

2. Spider-Man states that the Rose is dead. Well, prior to this new Rose, there have been three men who held the identity and only two of them were dead at the time of this story:

   • The original rose was Richard Fisk, son of the Kingpin. He took on the Rose identity in Amazing Spider-Man #253. At the time of this story, Richard had been dead for a while after being killed by his own mother in Daredevil (vol. 2) #31. At the time of this writing (December 2020), he has since been resurrected and killed off again. See Clone Conspiracy #2 and Damnation: Johnny Blaze - Ghost Rider #1.

   • The second Rose was an NYPD officer named Sgt. Blume. (first name unknown) He took on the identity in Web of Spider-Man #84. He was later killed by Alfredo Morelli in Web of Spider-Man #88, who had him murdered for standing in the way of his becoming the next Kingpin.

   • The last guy to be the Rose was Daily Bugle reporter Jacob Conover. He took on the Rose identity in Amazing Spider-Man #414. His identity was exposed and was last seen being arrested in Amazing Spider-Man #436 and is presumably still alive. At the time of this writing (December 2020) his current activities are unknown.