Now, amid a night of refuge from the carnage at his high school reunion with his wife Mary Jane and long-time friend, Liz Allan-Osborn, Peter is attacked by his long-time foe, the symbiote named Venom. After Venom murders several of Peter's classmates, Peter realizes that something is dramatically different about the creature…that he might not be dealing with exactly who he thinks he is…

ACT 1: Peter grabs a hold of this new Venom and tackles him through a brick wall. Venom's human identity is revealed to be that of Angelo Fortunato, son of Don Fortunato, a very powerful NYC maggia figure who bought the alien symbiote for his son from Eddie Brock when the latter auctioned it off a few weeks ago. While they battle it out, Peter quickly switches to his Spider-Man costume. The fight soon spills outside the locker room and into the gym where the high school reunion is taking place. Mary Jane, who's seen worst than that before yells at everybody to evacuate the building immediately. As the other celebrants evacuate the building, the battle spreads outside the school, where Venom manages to crush one of Spidey's web-shooters. Spider-Man is in fact quite surprised as to how well young Angelo is merging with the alien symbiote and how fast he is learning from it.

ACT 2: The battle rages on into the streets where Spider-Man has to pull all of his strings to protect innocent bystanders while trying to not get killed by Venom. The fight then continues onto the rooftops. Having surprisingly learned all of Venom's tricks, Angelo turns himself invisible, just as Spider-Man jumps to tackle him. This causes Spider-Man to go right through Venom and land on a nearby wall where he tries to convince Angelo to let go of the Venom symbiote, to fight it. Venom reappears out of thin air right behind Spider-Man and puts his fist right through Spider-Man's chest, killing him instantly.

ACT 3: Venom revels in the glory of being the one that killed Spider-Man, when a short stubby man comes out from around a corner and begins to weep, his eyes filling with tears. Venom is confused and doesn't understand what is going on. He turns to the stubby man who reveals that the Spider-Man he just killed wasn't the real Spider-Man but just his buddy who wanted the five million dollar reward from the Daily Bugle for Spider-Man's secret identity so he pretended to be Spider-Man while he, the stubby man, took the pictures. At that moment, the real Spider-Man appears from above and begins to pummel Venom to a bloody pulp for the next few pages. Bruised and battered, Angelo starts to realize that, even with the Venom's symbiote, he's not doing very well. He starts pondering about why he agreed to go against Spider-Man in the first place and this does not bode well with the symbiote. In fact, the latter is not pleased at all with Angelo, who is now running away from the fight. Fed up with Angelo, the symbiote separates itself from him in mid-air, causing Angelo to plunge to his death before Spider-Man can save him.

ACT 4: One hour later, Angelo's father shows up with all these fat uncles and cousins and the whole scene is ripped straight from "The Sopranos". The Don himself is finished. This was all he had left, but he looks strangely proud as he stands there and stares. Like he finally made something of the kid that endangered his legacy. Meanwhile, on the corner of 53rd Street and Broadway, Eddie Brock is found, his wrists slashed, with little to no hopes of surviving the night. Brock is not he only one with blood on his hands though. The fake Spider-Man is the third death in as many days thanks to the five million dollar competition the Daily Bugle's been running. Peter knows that Jameson is completely out of control and that he has to stop it now before anyone else dies.

ACT 5: The next day at the offices of the Daily Bugle, Peter meets with J. Jonah Jameson to tell him who Spider-Man really is underneath the mask. Jonah is ecstatic that he will finally learn of Spidey's secret identity but when Peter tells him that John Jameson, Jonah's own son, is Spider-Man and shows him pictures to prove it, Jonah's facial expression quickly changes to that of total disbelief. Resilient to believe it at first, Jonah is soon convinced that it is the truth when Peter further elaborates on the deal that him and John add with regards to exclusive pictures and stuff like that. Confused, Jonah doesn't understand why John never told him. Peter replies that John probably didn't like what Jonah was writing about him in the Bugle and that either way, John asked Peter never to tell him any of this, which is why Peter's guessing that Jonah will do the decent thing and never actually print those pictures. Jonah agrees not to print the pictures but tells Peter that he won't give him the full five million dollar reward for Spider-Man’s identity since he can't print any of the pictures. Peter doesn't want the money at all but Jonah insists that Peter take it. Peter leaves Jonah's office holding a briefcase containing five hundred thousand dollars – ten percent of the total reward – while J. Jonah Jameson languishes in his office, pondering about how to approach his son John about this (Note: It makes one wonder whether or not Peter had some kind of arrangement with John Jameson and perhaps faked the pictures).

ACT 6: Peter is now outside – walking – pondering about whether or not he should keep the money. Keeping it would mean paying off all of his and Mary Jane’s debt but Peter knows that it's not his money. The story switches over to Adrian Toomes' daughter, Ramona, the black woman that works at the diner that Peter/Spider-Man went into for a pee in last issue. She arrives at work and her boss, Paolo, tells her that she got a package from some guy with brown hair and a brown jacket who said that an old man called Adrian asked him to drop it off for her. The package is in fact the briefcase that Peter was holding earlier. As she opens it, she begins to cry. Just outside the diner, we see Peter walking away, a smirk on his face.

ACT 7: Two days after the incident at the high school reunion, Peter and Mary Jane are asked to give a statement about Venom injuring all his classmates and murdering poor Seymour O'Reilly. While there, Peter receives a call on his cell phone. He excuses himself and answers the phone. It is the mastermind behind Aunt May's kidnapping. The mastermind tells Peter that he found it very interesting how he spent the money he received from Jameson and he adds that it's a shame to have lost Eddie Brock like that. Peter, only realizing now who is at the other end of the line, is angry and tells the mastermind that he is going to kill him for what he has done to his aunt. The mastermind tells Peter to calm down and adds that there are a lot of people involved in this situation. He tells Peter to meet him at lunch the next day and he, the mastermind, will tell him what those cops were doing with Doctor Octopus, why Osborn is in such terrible danger and why Aunt May has been an integral part of his plans. On the last page of the issue, the mastermind, although partially hidden in the darkness, appears to have powers similar to those of Peter/Spider-Man's, as he sticks to a giant antenna, several meters above the ground, using his bare feet.