Spider-Woman #7
July 4, 1978...*
July 2nd
After an outing at a zoo, Jerry Hunt informs Jessica Drew that they can use SHIELD's computers to try and figure out who killed her father. Jerry agrees to let Jessica consult SHIELD's records, in spite of her friend Magnus's reservations about the idea. Soon they arrive at the SHIELD headquarters in Los Angeles where they search the records. The computer comes up with the answer: Pyrotechnics. That evening there is a meeting among the board of directors at Pyrotechnic. It is here that Senator James Wyatt tells the other members of the board that Spider-Woman must be destroyed due to her recent interference in their operations. As he gives this order, he is unaware that the building is being staked out by both Spider-Woman and Jerry Hunt. When Wyatt leaves the building, Spider-Woman follows after him while Jerry infiltrates the Pyrotechnics building to try and learn what the company is up to.
Spider-Woman follows Wyatt's car to a nearby military base, where she overhears Wyatt talking to one of the commanding officers about an injection of some kind. She decides to leave the scene to follow up with Jerry, believing that she will get caught if she hangs around for too much longer. Meanwhile, Jerry, having successfully broken into the Pyrotechnics building, begins to snoop around. Taking on the guise of a security guard, Jerry manages to take pictures of Pyrotechnic's files and hear a bit more about the company's plans as well before departing back to home base.
July 3rd
Back at the boarding house where Jessica stays with Magnus, the trio compare notes. They deduce that shortly after Jonathan Drew abandoned Jessica and left her in the care of Herbert Wyndham, he traveled to London, then on to America where he would work for Pyrotechnics. When Magnus deduces that perhaps he was being held against his will and later murdered by the company when his usefulness ran out, Jessica pieces it together and abruptly leaves the two men behind. Jerry tries to go after her, but Magnus tells him that she has to go and face her destiny alone.
Changing into Spider-Woman, Jessica barges in on Senator James Wyatt at his home and demands answers, revealing that Jonathan Drew was her father. She learns that the chairmen of Pyrotechnics are planning some kind of attack on July 4th. When she confronts the board members at the Pyrotechnics' office, she's knocked out by Brother Grimm, who has arrived to collect money. When Jessica revives, she finds herself sealed in an armored truck. Wyatt gloats about how they had her father's perfect serum that would make their soldiers immune to radiation so that they can deploy a neutron device and seize control of the United States. Before they can launch their scheme, Wyatt's compound is raided by a SHIELD unit led by Jerry Hunt. As he fights his way into the control room, Spider-Woman manages to break free. In a panic, Wyatt tries to activate the bomb but Jerry guns him down before he can press the trigger. As Wyatt dies, he tells Jerry and Jessica that he wanted power and wealth, he also admits to murdering Jonathan Drew. Before dying, he pushes the self-destruct button on the base, forcing Jerry and Spider-Woman to flee as quickly as possible.
July 4th
Spider-Woman, Jerry, and the SHIELD agents just narrowly escape as the Pyrotechnic facility self-destructs. They then return to the SHIELD outpost, where they inform Nick Fury of Senator's Wyatt's plot. Fury explains that they are rounding up the rest of Wyatt's men. When Fury asks Jessica how she feels now that she has learned who killed her father, she explains that she is happy because she also found a man she loves at the same time.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Woman, Jerry Hunt, Magnus, James T. Wyatt, Brother Grimm, SHIELD (Nick Fury)
Continuity Notes
The narrative of this story states it takes place in the year 1978. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
Jessica learned about her father's involvement with the High Evolutionary and his departure in Spider-Woman #1. Here it is suggested that a relatively normal period of time had passed between Jonathan Drew's departure from Wundagore and his travels to America to work for Pyrotechnic. However, as revealed in Uncanny X-Men Annual #12, Jonathan Drew left Wundagore Mountain in 1958. That date is a factual reference when measured to the Sliding Timescale as the High Evolutionary was a long-lived individual and Jessica Drew was in suspended animation. By this estimate, Drew likely remained in London until the modern age before traveling to America to work for Pyrotechnic. How Drew maintained his relative youth during this period is unexplained at this time. However, New Mutants Annual #4 event depicted Drew as having access to highly advanced genetics equipment and around powerful supernatural forces. Either of these would be a likely explanation.
However the above as all been called into question in Spider-Woman: Origin #1-5, which tells a vastly different story where Jessica was the product of Hydra experimentation. To date an explanation of these two conflicting events is yet to be made. I present a theory here.
