With his wife Vanessa having been seemingly captured
by the Schemer last issue, the Kingpin sets off to find her. He quickly finds
her in the subbasement, which she claims to have receded to in order to avoid
all the fighting. Meanwhile, the Schemer frantically drives off in his special
car. He’s deeply affected by Vanessa’s reaction to him, so much so that he ends
up crashing the car. With his car too damaged to drive, he aims to acquire new
parts from a nearby warehouse. Elsewhere, Peter Parker stresses about not
catching the Schemer, when he’s paid a visit by Gwen and Captain Stacy. Captain
Stacy is curious as to how Peter seems to be the only one to get quality photos
of Spider-Man. Realizing he’s getting too close, Peter slips away, pretending
he has photos currently developing in his darkroom, only to return as
Spider-Man through the window. He claims that he and Peter have a deal to split
the money Peter makes from the photos, and he’s come to collect! Gwen stands up
to him, and Spidey leaves, while making sure they spot him watching them head
out.
With his drastic ploy a success, Spidey heads out once
more to look for the Schemer. Back with the Kingpin, he too wonders how the
Bugle was able to get photos of his battle with Spider-Man, when he spots
something that enrages him! He confronts Vanessa, showing her one of the
paper’s photos that shows her helping the Schemer to escape! She tries to
reassure him that she hasn’t betrayed him, but he finds it hard to believe.
Meanwhile, Spidey finds the Schemer’s broken down car and follows the nearby
footprints to find the Schemer himself in a nearby warehouse. Spidey confronts
the Schemer and finds his opponent outfitted with several concealed weapons.
The Schemer eventually surprises Spidey with a smoke bomb and tries to make a
break for it. We then cut back to Gwen and Captain Stacy, who had decided to
return to Peter’s apartment, only to find it empty, thinking that Spider-Man
may have captured Peter!
Back with Spidey, he diffuses the smoke and catches
the Schemer after he’s knocked out of the window. Spidey quickly swings him
over to the address given on the reward poster but immediately feels like
something isn’t quite right. His suspicions are confirmed when all the exits
are blocked off and the Kingpin reveals himself as the one who set the reward.
Kingpin drops a steel cable net on Spidey and confronts the Schemer about his
connection to his wife. The Schemer recounts the story of a young man who discovered
what his father really did for a living. This young man faked his death and
decided to don a new disguise in order to take down his father’s criminal
enterprise. The Kingpin doesn’t believe him until the Schemer removes his mask,
revealing himself to indeed be Richard Fisk! This shocks the Kingpin into a
near catatonic state, giving Spidey the opportunity to escape his bonds. Spidey
leaves the broken family, feeling this has been ample punishment, unsure
whether he’ll cross paths with the Kingpin again!