The Two-in-One TV show, with hosts Michael Levin and Samara Saffian, breaks into regular local programming with a special report that Spider-Man has been taken into police custody following a fight with the super-villain known as Menace. Levin and Saffian indicate that this recent development may be quite advantageous to mayoral candidate Bill Hollister, on the eve of the election. With that said, they go live to special guest commentator, J. Jonah Jameson, on location outside the fifth precinct in Manhattan. They try to get some reaction out of him, but to no avail; Jonah is in seventh heaven.
At the Parker-Gonzales apartment, officer Alan O'Neil tells his partner, Vin Gonzales that he shouldn't have hidden the spider-tracers under his bed, almost in plain view. Carlie Cooper asks them how many cops are involved in the whole frame-Spider-Man-for-murder conspiracy. O'Neil responds that he doesn’t like her tone; Carlie apologizes, claiming that the discovery that one of her friend is part of a gang of cop serial killers has somewhat traumatized her. Vin argues that they never killed anybody – all they did was plant tracers on people who were already dead. Carlie is in disbelief that Vin would think it's okay to tamper with evidence. O'Neil interjects, telling Carlie that Spider-Man is a vigilante whose methods interfere with theirs, so they decided to do something about it. And that something was getting public opinion against him so they could get him off the streets and do their jobs. To both O'Neil and Gonzales' surprises, Carlie says that she "wants in". She claims to understand what they're trying to do and wants to be part of it – she's of the opinion that if this can get Spider-Man off the streets and make them look better, then she's all for it. Gonzales asks why she's changed her mind about the whole thing. Carlie responds that she's come to the realization that to uphold the law, sometimes you have to break it. She also think she can help them keep it a secret. O'Neil and Gonzales, making their way out the door, tell her they'll think about it. As he closes the door, Gonzales eyes Carlie suspiciously.
At the Fifth precinct, Detective Palone begins his interrogation of Spider-Man. Palone is about to take Spidey's mask off when Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil, enters the room and tells Palone to take his hands off his client. Palone contends to having every right to interrogate his suspect face-to-face. Murdock responds that it will up to a judge to decide that. Having said that, Murdock tells Palone that Spidey will now exercise his right to remain silent – no matter how difficult that may be for him. He then orders Palone to process Spidey through central booking, without taking his prints, and then he’s going to get arraigned. Murdock adds that, should any of what he just explained not happened exactly as he described it and without incident, he's going to file a "1983" suit against him and his entire department. Palone has no other choice but to stop insisting on having Spidey remove his mask; he thus walks away from the cell. Spidey tells Murdock that it's probably best he escapes out of there before someone else tries to take his mask off without an attorney present. Murdock argues that it's probably not a good idea to do that, seeing as it would make Spidey a fugitive from custody and then Palone could federalize the case with a single phone call, which – in turn – could put his loved ones in jeopardy should SHIELD and/or the FBI try to take him down. Realizing that Murdock is right, Spidey agrees to stay put, until Murdock figures out a way to get him out of there.
Detective Palone gets an unexpected visit from Carlie Cooper who wastes no time with pleasantries and cuts to the chase – she knows who's behind the spider-tracer killings. Before Palone can say anything, other than asking her to be quick, Carlie explains that the killings are in fact unrelated murders and deaths that some of his officers have been planting spider-tracers on after the fact, to frame Spider-Man for murder. Palone admits to being curious about the whole thing and proceeds to ask Carlie why she is blowing the whistle on fellow officers. She responds that she became a cop to punish people who break the law.
At Ryker's Island Prison, Spidey sits in cell, nursing his injured shoulder, when a guard slips a package to him through the slot in his cell door – it's a clean costume and a sling for his shoulder, courtesy of Matt Murdock. The guard wishes Spidey good luck, which surprises him. It turns out that the guard used to be a police officer and, had it not been for Spidey dropping in and stopping Doctor Octopus, he probably would have been killed.
A short time later, Spidey is in court where he pleads not guilty. On the Two-in-One TV show, hosts Michael Levin and Samara Saffian report on his arraignment. They are not surprised at all that he pleaded as he did, but they had not expected him to remain masked for the duration of the proceedings, the result of some fancy legal footwork from attorney Matt Murdock (read Amazing Spider-Man Annual Extra #1 for further details).
At the Hollister campaign headquarters, Bill Hollister and daughter Lily have been following Spider-Man's arraignment fairly close. The simple fact that Spider-Man was arrested could be what catapults Hollister into a position to win the mayoral election. Lily believes her father has got the win in the bag but he's not as confident as she is. He still thinks it's too close to call. She tells him she is willing to do anything to help (including transforming into the infamous Menace!).
Aboard their patrol car, officers Alan O'Neil and Vin Gonzales are discussing what just happened with Carlie Cooper, back at Vin's apartment. Just then, the central dispatcher calls their vehicle, asking O'Neil to go off-speaker to take a call from Detective Palone. Once he's done with Palone, O'Neil turns to his partner and explains that warrants have been issued for him and Carlie for suspicion of aiding and abetting Spider-Man in connection with the tracer killings. Gonzales is flabbergasted, to say the least. O'Neil indicates that he's witnessed him in possession of at least a dozen of the spider-tracers and they also have a sworn affidavit from Julian Beck in C.S.U. saying that he built a tracer-tracker for Carlie. Gonzales comes to the realization that he's being set up by Palone and his own partner. Pulling out his gun and aiming it at Gonzales, O'Neil apologizes to him for everything, but Carlie and him have stepped in it too deep. O'Neil explains that Carlie went to Palone, who is now freaking out. Gonzales asks why Palone is freaking out and why he's setting him and Carlie up; after all, all any of them did was drop some tracers on a few dead bodies. O'Neil gives him a shamefaced look, prompting Gonzales to ask what else happened. O'Neil reveals that Palone had something to do with the Bookie's death; it turns out that the Bookie figured out that all the tracer killings were caught by uniformed officers out of their precinct. So, assumingly, Palone had to take matters into his own hands (read Amazing Spider-Man #582 for additional details). Gonzales is in total disbelief – he is stunned beyond anything he could have ever imagined. With that, their car comes to a halt and O'Neil starts telling Gonzales his rights. As O'Neil and Gonzales exit the car, Gonzales finds himself surrounded by fellow officers; he's in a heap of trouble now.
At Ryker's Island Penitentiary (hours later), Spider-Man is escorted back into his cell. His guard calls attention to the fact that it is rather odd that he hasn't tried breaking out of there yet. Spidey indicates that the thought has crossed his mind; however, a friend of his convinced him to stay put. The guard replies that it's probably just as well, seeing as he would have to fight his way through the hundred or so guys in general population, some of which are D-listed super-villains who were incarcerated there once the Raft ran out of room. Spidey reaffirms his intent to stay put. Just then, he notices Vin Gonzales (in shackled) walking by, escorted by guards. Stunned, he asks the guard what happened to him. The guard guesses that he was arrested for breaking the law and, since he’s a cop, the odds are that he’s going to be real popular in general population.
One phone call later and Matt Murdock visits Spider-Man, who informs him about his friend Vin and the whole thing in general population.
The next morning, is brought to the courthouse, where he meets, once again, with his attorney, Matt Murdock. Murdock hands Spidey this huge law book that he wants him to study, since this might be the trial for his life. Spidey had thought Murdock was going to get him out the charges laid against him but Murdock explains that he's working at letting him keep his mask on for the duration of the trail and get him out of a civil suit that was slapped against him by a guy he rescued back in Amazing Spider-Man #550. Matt adds that it's going to take more than what he has planned to get the criminal charges against him dropped. Spidey asks what he has planned but Matt wants it kept as a surprise.
The Two-in-One TV show, with hosts Michael Levin and Samara Saffian, breaks into regular local programming with a special report that the judge in the Spider-Man spider-tracer killer case has ruled that Spidey can keep his mask on after dozens of Spider-Men showed up in the courtroom (read Amazing Spider-Man Annual Extra #1 for additional details about the ruling).
In a small meeting room near the courtroom, Spidey asks Murdock where Iron Fist got one of his web-shooters, as it was confiscated at central booking. Murdock answers that someone broke into the evidence locker the night before and stole it. The web-shooter then just showed up at his office, so he didn't ask any questions. Smirking, he tells Spider-Man that the Black Cat sends her regards. Taking his leave, Murdock then tells Spidey to not forget to read the law book he gave him. When Spidey opens up the law book, he is stunned to see that a square-shaped hole has been cut through the pages of the book and his web-shooter sits in the middle of the hole.
At Oscorp, Norman Osborn enters his secret room to discover that several items are missing: a glider, a pneumatic dart gun, a pair of goblin gloves and a goblin mask. Norman's thoughts indicate that, of all the raids into his secret stash in the past months, this one has been by far the biggest. He always thought Harry Osborn, his son, was behind the thefts but he’s now second-guessing himself.
At Ryker's Island, Spidey is sitting in his cell when he hears a commotion outside. Peeking out through the windowpane in his cell door, he notices that the general population inmates have surrounded Vin Gonzales and have started to beat up on him. Realizing that his friend needs help, Spidey fashions himself some kind of leverage system using a strand of webbing, in order to remove the inhibitor collar that he has to wear around his neck. He struggles for a while, to the point where he is close to losing consciousness, seeing stars, so to speak.
Vin is getting pummeled by the inmates; he's barely conscious with blood staining his once white shirt. Fortunately for Vin, help arrives in the form of Spider-Man! He warns the inmates to stay back, or else. Unfortunately, they do not listen very well and gather up to face him.
To be continued.
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