Above them, on the rooftop of the adjacent building, Norman Osborn is confronted by New York's newest super-villain, Menace. Towering over Norman, Menace explains that he has plans for the city, which do not include him, so he instructs Osborn to leave right there and then, or else. Unfazed, Norman calls for backup through his mouthpiece. The agent on the other end of the line indicates that Songbird and Radioactive Man are on their way and asks if they should deploy Bullseye as well. Osborn responds that they should, just as Menace makes his move and takes him for a ride on his glider. Osborn's agent asks Norman for his access codes to release Bullseye but Norman lost his earpiece when Menace tackled him. Menace drags Osborn into the maintenance level of the building, where Osborn breaks free and lands safely on the floor below. Menace arrogantly claims to be in a better position of attack than Osborn; that is, until Osborn verbally activates the glider's overriding mechanism, which causes the glider to blow up under Menace's feet. As the explosion occurs, Norman advises Menace to ask before borrowing one of his gliders next time.

Not far from there, Songbird and Radioactive Man are approaching the scene of the Venom-Anti-Venom-Spider-Man battle. In charge of the operation, now that Osborn is MIA, Songbird instructs the ground troops to get Venom out of there immediately. When Anti-Venom notices that the Thunderbolts agents are taking Venom into one of their ships, he releases his hold on Spidey and turns his attention to the ship and its occupants. Unable to identify Anti-Venom as a registered symbiote, Songbird and Radioactive Man initiate an attack on the new villain, unleashing a combination of sonic waves and high levels of radiation, hoping that the air around Anti-Venom will ignite in flames. Their plan, however well-crafted and suited to defeat Venom if he ever went rogue, has absolutely no effect on Anti-Venom, other than pissing him off more than he already is. Shrugging off their attack, he launches one of his own. Inside the command ship, Bullseye tries to convince the Thunderbolts agents to release him so he can help out but they refuse to do so, until they are granted authorization from Norman Osborn.

Battling it out with Norman Osborn, Menace tells his opponent that his presence is going to ruin everything, as all the pieces had been placed on the board just right, until he showed up. Throwing pumpkin bombs at Menace, Osborn calls his adversary pathetic, a weak copy, a watered down model, the decaf version. Furious, Menace continues to upload his weapons in Osborn’s direction.

Several floors below, at street level, Anti-Venom is angrily exchanging blows with Songbird and Radioactive Man, telling them he is only trying to help Venom rid himself of the deadly parasite in his system. Songbird instructs the Thunderbolts and other agents to retreat, as they are not prepared to deal with Anti-Venom. Just then, Spider-Man attacks Songbird. While the two battle it out, Anti-Venom rips the mask off Radioactive Man, furious at him for giving people cancer because of his abilities. Spidey tries to convince Songbird, whom he's teamed up with in the past, that she is working for the wrong people; to no avail however. His spider-sense going crazy, Spidey gets hit repeatedly by Songbird. As he sent flying into the air, Spidey realizes that whatever Anti-Venom did to him causes his powers to fluctuate whenever he's near him. Spidey knows that the Thunderbolts must not come to this realization because they will surely exploit that weakness, especially with Norman Osborn as their leader.

Speaking of the devil, he's still hurling pumpkin bombs at Menace, using his mad businessman skills to deduce which one of his weapons caches his opponent raided. Osborn cannot understand though why Menace is using the power of the Goblin to play "politics" when he could be doing so much more. Menace argues that the real power lies in politics and that he had everything set up. Menace adds that should Osborn's men catch or kill the spider-tracer killer in Crowne's name, it could upset everything. Osborn replies that he couldn't care less about politics or anything else; all he wants is to get Spider-Man. Seemingly riled up at hearing this from Osborn, Menace tackles him to the ground and starts pummelling him. As he does so, he tells Osborn that he had everything – power, wealth and position, control of an empire, the right friends and family, the name and the Osborn legacy – but all he ever wanted was to get Spider-Man. As Menace prepares to deliver another blow, beeps are heard. Menace lets go of Osborn and takes off running, telling his opponent – upon leaving – that he's not worth his time and he's got places to be. Norman gets back on his feet and comments to himself that Menace's words were very "educational". His thoughts are interrupted by the nearby sound of something clicking. Peeking over the ledge of the building, he finds a camera (Peter's) webbed up to the ledge, automatically taking pictures of the Spider-Man-Songbird battle on the ground down below. Needless to say, Norman finds that discovery very much interesting.

Realizing that his fight with Songbird is going nowhere, Spidey shoots webbing in her face and swings away while she tries to peel it off. Anti-Venom calls out to Spidey for him to return, as he hasn’t cured him yet, but Spidey would rather he didn't, so he continues on his way. Having acquired Peter’s automatic camera from the rooftop ledge, Norman Osborn instructs the Thunderbolts to pull out. Songbird grabs hold of the wounded Radioactive Man and follows Osborn into the Zeus command ship. With only a few seconds to decide between going after Spider-Man or Venom, Anti-Venom chooses the latter, as the symbiote poses a greater danger. Anti-Venom then swings toward the Zeus.

In an alley not far from the battleground, Spider-Man changes back into Peter Parker and heads over to the F.E.A.S.T. centre to check up on Aunt May. When she sees him, she assumes he's there to help them clean out the place so Peter plays along, thus not revealing that he was in the neighbourhood for a completely different reason. Unbeknownst to Peter, Aunt May, or anybody else for that matter, several Asians are watching the clean up efforts from a dark alley across the street. They appear to have lesions on their body and it seems they have heard of the so-called miracles performed at the F.E.A.S.T. centre, which is why they are there.

Ben Urich and Sally Floyd sit in a booth at the Red Cent Diner on 22nd Street and 3rd Avenue, awaiting the arrival of Sally's confidential source into dealings between Randall Crowne and Norman Osborn. In comes none other than Harry Osborn, Norman Osborn's son, holding a stack of files. Harry sits next to Ben and hands him the files, which are records of financial transactions between Crowne Industries and Oscorp. Harry explains that he found them while working at Oscorp and that they contain proof that Randall Crowne has been dealing in human trafficking, with the help of Oscorp's shipment to and from main land China. Ben indicates that he’ll have to go over the files with a fine-tooth comb, because of the history Harry has with his father and the fact that he is part of the Hollister camp. Harry replies that he understand and, when Sally points out that he's now playing with the big boys, with very high stakes, Harry tells her he is well aware of the stakes, especially with the games Randall Crowne and his father like to play. Having said that, he takes his leave.

A few minutes later, Harry arrives at Mount Sinai Hospital to see how Bill Hollister is doing and check up on his girlfriend, Lily Hollister, Bill's daughter. Carlie Cooper, Lily's best friend, is already there, with officers Alan O’Neil and Vin Gonzales, who are on sentry duty. Vin is telling Carlie that he wish they could have done more to protect Bill Hollister and she replies that he probably could not have done much more than he did. Harry makes sure Carlie is all right, since he knows Bill means the world to her, and he then heads into Bill's room. Lily is sitting at her father's bedside, tears flowing down her cheeks. Harry apologizes for getting angry with her in Amazing Spider-Man #569; she accepts his apology, as she knows that wasn't really him talking. Having said that, she tells Harry that she blames herself for what happened to her father, as she pushed him so much into running for mayor. Harry answers that she shouldn't blame herself; her father is a good man and someone that the city needs looking out for her. Harry goes on saying that he wish his father had been more like hers. Lily asks Harry what his father did to him that would prompt him to say such a thing. Harry responds that his father always had more important things to occupy his time and his thoughts reveal his father's obsession with Spider-Man. Having said that, Harry tells Lily that he's not going to be like his father, not this time, not with the two of them. Lily tells Harry that he is part of the family and will always be.

At the Osborn Manor, Randall Crowne pays a visit to pal Norman Osborn to talk about the latest DB headline, which reveals that the spider-tracer killer has struck again. Crowne is mad because the headline makes him look like a total moron for supporting Osborn and his Thunderbolts. Osborn points out that, according to the coroner’s report, the time of death was before the arrival of the Thunderbolts in the city; therefore, Crowne shouldn't be jumping to conclusions and should read past the headlines. Osborn believes that the article will help in convincing citizens to support their presence in the city to arrest the spider-tracer killer. Having said that, Osborn points to the door and tells Crowne and his men to get out, as he has work to do, like winning the election for him. As Crowne leaves the room, one of his men hides in the shadows and transforms into Anti-Venom. Unbeknownst to anyone, Anti-Venom changes his appearance once again, this time to resemble that of one of Osborn's Thunderbolts agents. He exits the room with the other guards.

With everyone gone, Norman turns to Songbird, Radioactive Man and Bullseye and shows them Peter's automatic camera he found webbed to the ledge of the building he was trapped on. He then tells them to look at the monitors in front of them, which shows the content of the camera's memory card. The Thunderbolts are impressed with the pictures and Songbird comments that it looks as though Spider-Man is posing for them. Bullseye asks what the heck Spidey is fighting in the pictures. Osborn explains that the creature calls itself Anti-Venom and tells them to pay close attention to the pictures where he joins forces with Spidey. From that moment on, whenever Anti-Venom and Spidey are in proximity, Spidey's reaction time appears to be slower and weaker, which is something Osborn believes they can use to their advantage. Radioactive Man speaks up and tells Osborn that they should avoid Anti-Venom, as he does not seem to possess any of the original symbiote's weaknesses. With an air of confidence, Norman replies that he'll find those weaknesses. Having said that, Norman explains that, all these years, Spider-Man has been taking his own pictures, using the automatic camera he discovered, and uses Peter Parker as his front, and splits the profit with him. Then, Norman points out that, in every shot, even when Spidey is facing away, the spider on his chest is dead centre, meaning that there is some sort of locator chip in there that allows the camera to track the frequency and take pictures accordingly. Norman indicates that he knows what that frequency is and is already at work, engineering devices and weapons that can track it, wherever Spider-Man goes, counter his spider-sense, and never miss. Coughing to get Osborn’s attention, Bullseye tells his boss that he already has a weapon that can do that: him! With that said, he flings a bunch of play cards into some of the display monitors, and tells Norman that Spider-Man is as good as dead.

To be continued.