Shellshocked!

As the FACADE armor stands empty within a vehicle parked outside the Daily Bugle, Betty Brant is en route to meet with Archer Bryce in a limo driven by his assistant Victor. While back inside the Daily Bugle, a security guard talks to Detective Sloan Chase regarding the latest attack by FACADE. The guard suspects that the cyborg killer was after Betty Brant after the series of articles she wrote about the armor's theft. Chase learns that the only other people in the building at the time has been John Jameson, who is waiting for his father to come to the office as well Cole Cooper. Upstairs, Cole has pushed past the police tape in the darkroom where Lance Bannon was murdered by FACADE. Cole knows that Lance learned the identity of FACADE and has decided to poke around the crime scene for any clue the police may have missed. While in the office of J. Jonah Jameson, John thinks about how he lied to the police about his and his father's alibi on the night that Lance was murdered. As this FACADE murder lingers on, John worries about how it is taking over his own life.

Meanwhile, in Forest Hills, Mary Jane has arrived at the home of Aunt May and discovered that she has suffered a stroke.[1] Trying to make sense of what has just happened, Mary Jane realizes that whatever she has to face moving forward, she will have to do it alone.[2] At that moment, Spider-Man arrives at the apartment building where Lance Bannon used to live before he died. Inside, the wall-crawler thinks about how similar his life was to that of his rival, Lance Bannon. His recent death, just hours after he proposed to Amy Powell, confirm all of the fears he has for his own family. As he begins looking for clues, Spider-Man has to hide when Amy Powell returns home escorted by J. Jonah Jameson. She thanks Jonah for helping her cleaning out Lance's desk but tells him that she needs to alone to organize her late fiancee's funeral. Jonah tries to tell her that he was always so griff with Lance as a way of acting in the boy's best interest. She understands and says goodbye, but Jonah isn't sure he convinced her when he cannot even make his own son believe this of him.[2]

Alone in Lance's apartment, Amy thinks about how ready she was to take the next big step in her life with Lance and now this is all over. She begins to mourn her loss when she is interrupted by Spider-Man. The wall-crawler empathizes with her situation and assures her that things will get better, and promises that Lance will be avenged. As he swings away, the web-head wishes there was more he could do for Amy, but he has to check in on Betty Brant and hopes that she is at her apartment. At that moment, Betty has arrived at the home of Archer Bryce, who reminds Betty that she had asked him for an interview and so he sent for her to get the job done. She is surprised to see that he has arranged for a special dinner for them on his penthouse balcony. She explains that she wants to know about Bryceco's involvement in the creation of the FACADE armor. He is interested in telling her, but wants to know what her fascination with the FACADE killer is first. While back in Forest Hills, Mary Jane answers the phone and can barely hear the person on the other line. The mystery caller is surprised that it is not May Parker who answered the phone. That's when Mary Jane tells him that she is in the hospital after suffering a stroke. She then tells him to contact the hospital for more information as she wants to keep the line open in case her husband calls. The mystery man hangs up, upset that this has happened to May Parker. He then rushes out of his cabin and hops onto the motorcycle waiting for him outside.[4]

By this time, the killer who has been piloting the FACADE armor has returned to the stolen device and flies out into the night to finish his mission. Meanwhile, Betty Brant has returned home with data on the FACADE project that was given to her by Archer Bryce. She suspects that Archer Bryce might be FACADE, a troubling thought since she is finding herself attracted to him. This causes her to think about her late husband, Ned Leeds, who later became the Hobgoblin.[5] Going over the data, she discovers that Archer has been secretly liquidating his family assetts in order to keep Bryceco operating. Before she can look any further, FACADE comes smashing through her patio door. However, Betty is able to slip out another window and down the fire escape before her attacker can get her.

FACADE follows after her and rips the fire escape loose from the side of the building. However, the Brant woman has nerves of steel and manages to grab hold of the ledge of the building before the fire escape crumbles. Before FACADE can catch her, Spider-Man leaps in to stop him. This gives Betty time to climb to safety, although she is surprised to see that the wall-crawler is more focused on battling FACADE than he was trying to rescue her. Spider-Man has the upper hand at first, webbing up the FACADE armor. However, he notices that Betty is still there and tells her to get away before it's too late. This allows FACADE to break free and stun the wall-crawler with one of his bio-blasts. As Spider-Man tries to shrug off the effects of the attack, FACADE moves in for the kill.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, Cole Cooper, John Jameson, FACADE, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Archer Bryce, Sloan Chase, Amy Powell, Ben Reilly (unidentified)

Continuity Notes

1. Aunt May suffered her stroke in Amazing Spider-Man #391.

2. 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.

3. Jonah and John have been at odds recently since the job that Jonah offered him in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #27 was turned down in favor of joining on as chief of security at Ravencroft Institute in Web of Spider-Man Annual #10.

4. This mystery person is later revealed to be the Peter Parker clone that has long since believed to have been dead. His identity is revealed in Web of Spider-Man #117.

5. Betty married Ned Leeds in Amazing Spider-Man #156. Ned was later murdered in Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1. At the time of this story, she believes that her husband was the villain known as the Hobgoblin. However, it is later revealed in Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #1-3 that Ned was actually brainwashed into thinking he was the Hobgoblin by the real villain, Roderick Kingsley.

Continuity Errors

1. Spider-Man refers to himself as "The Spider". In Amazing Spider-Man #392, after hearing of his Aunt May's stroke, decided to abandon his civilian identity and embrace the Spider. However, the narrative of this story places it as taking place just after Amazing Spider-Man #391, before Peter learned of Aunt May's stroke. This is confirmed by Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Amazing Spider-Man #1 confirms this. As such, Peter's referring to himself as "The Spider" here is in error and should be ignored.