After Iron Man announces to the pro-registration group that they have a traitor among them, he and Reed Richards decline to say who it is in the interest of security which makes the rest of the team angry. A short time later, Ms. Marvel secretly meets with Sally Floyd to pass her a message containing data on the nanite controllers which have been tampered with in the Green Goblin. Sally calls Ben Urich with the revelation and he has one for her but first Ben goes to the Daily Bugle offices. He interrupts J. Jonah Jameson during a meeting and announces that he has the biggest story but he knows the Bugle will never print it so he is resigning. Jameson sends everyone else out of the room—and quietly wishes Ben success in this future….
Tony Stark is greatly troubled at the news reports of a possible war between Atlantis and the United States as a result of Norman Osborn’s attack on the Atlantean ambassador (in "Sleeper Cell" in issue #8); Reed Richards tries to encourage him….
Ben and Sally meet up in Times Square just as a battle between good guys (including Daredevil) and bad (Venom) breaks out. The two reporters seek refuge in the subway where they compare notes. They find they have independently discovered the real reason behind the civil war….
Story #2The Accused Part Ten
Plot: Paul Jenkins. Penciler: Steve Lieber. Inker: Steve Lieber. Colorist: June Chung.
Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Robbie Baldwin, the former Speedball, meets with the man who shot him (issue #6),
James Stricker, father of a child killed in
Stamford. Robbie explains that he will receive amnesty for signing the
Registration Act, but he had one condition: that Strickland also be freed. The bereaved dad reacts badly to what he perceives as a lack of justice and breaks down in tears. Robbie does not sympathize as he is in constant pain from the fragments of Stricker’s bullet near his spine and he will never stop thinking about the 612 who died in Stamford. Walking out, Robbie encounters
Reed Richards and pours out his bitterness over the unintended consequences of the Act. The crowning irony is all the pain he’s caused and now his powers are driven by pain. Outside, Robbie builds a bonfire and tosses his Speedball costume onto it. He is met by the man he hired to make him a new costume, one studded on the inside with exactly 612 spikes. He mentally drafts a letter to his mother, revealing his belief that the only way he can atone for the Stamford disaster is to cause himself pain until the day he dies. The costumer unwillingly helps him into the suit and the formerly joyful Speedball stands revealed as the bitter
Penance.