But one thing still eludes Peter – a good night's sleep. Terrible visions of death haunt his dreams. Are week-old Chinese leftovers causing the unrest or are these premonitions of something far more sinister?

Spider-Man tries to ignore the dreadful omens, but after being wounded in a battle with a new villain called the Tracer, his blood is checked and the doctor finds something so alarming in the diagnosis that she cannot discuss it with Peter over the phone.

And meanwhile, the mysterious Morlun – a parasitic hunter thought to have perished in a previous attempt to kill Peter and consume his life force – suddenly reappears to spy on the hero and his loved ones...and to wait for the opportune moment to strike!

ACT 1: The story opens up backstage at a Broadway theater, where Mary Jane is reading J. Jonah Jameson's latest anti-Spider-Man editorial in the Daily Bugle newspaper. She is annoyed that Peter has gotten himself into trouble with Jameson once again and mashes the newspaper into a ball. As she makes her way onto the stage, she wonders why Peter does some of the things he does. Unbeknownst to her, she is being spied on by Morlun, who seems to be exhibiting spider-like powers that allow him to stick to the ceiling.

ACT 2: The story goes into a flashback where Mary Jane is playing pool with Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America and discussing why superheroes do what they do. Peter, in his Spider-Man costume, comes in and accuses Cap of flirting with his woman, which of course Cap denies. Peter then replies that he is only kidding but what he says next makes both MJ and Cap wonder what he means by that (if you must know, Peter makes reference to the fact that she'll be able to stay at Stark Towers and eventually hook up with Cap when he – Peter – is gone, though he doesn't say it exactly like that). But when MJ goes to ask him what he means, Peter puts his mask on and web-slings out through the window.

ACT 3: Mary Jane's Broadway performance comes to an end to the sound of thunderous applause. In the crowd, one of the spectators seems to be her biggest fant and he's got flowers to prove it. As MJ heads backstage to take her makeup off, she learns, from one of her costars, that a TV newscast is showing an ongoing battle between Spider-Man and a villain calling himself Tracer, who is threatening to set off a bomb that's hooked underneath some kind of flying platform that he's operating. MJ asks them to turn up the volume but no one can find the remote control. Ticked off and worried sick, MJ grabs her coat and storms out of the theater. As she exits the building, she is accosted by some autograph-seeker and the guy that was in the crowd holding the flowers, whose name is revealed as Johnny. MJ ignores them – she needs to find out what is going on with Peter/Spider-Man – which does not bode well with the autograph-seeker-guy, who calls her a witch (although he probably meant to call her a bitch but the editors felt it was too harsh for this comic). Anyways, Johnny doesn't like what he hears from the other dude and he smacks him in the back of the head and proceeds to kick him in the gut. Johnny is fired up and turns to face the guy standing next to him, who happens to be Morlun. Morlun does nothing and points Johnny in the direction of where MJ went.

ACT 4: Seconds later, MJ finds a bar and pays the bartender to change the channel to the news so she can find out what is going on with Peter/Spider-Man. As we can see from the view from the traffic chopper, the battle between Spidey and Tracer has gone out over the East River. The reporter mentions that it is unknown whether Spidey has managed to deactivate the bomb beneath the wing of the flying platform. As the action takes place, the reporter informs us that Spidey has disarmed Tracer and has the weapons out of Tracer's hands. The reporter then tells us that Iron Man has just arrived on the scene, apparently to aid Spidey in apprehending Tracer, to Mary Jane's delight. But MJ's enthusiasm soon changes when the news correspondent reports that Iron Man appears to be attacking Spidey. As a matter of fact, at the scene, Spidey has just been hit by one of Iron Man's blast. Spidey falls on one of the platform's wings and tries to hold on to it using his amazing spider-grip. Just then, Iron Man appears above him and grabs him in a chokehold. Inside the armor, Tony Stark informs Spidey that Tracer is somehow controlling his armor and suggests that he tries breaking free before it's too late. With difficulty, Spidey breaks free and web-slings away, while Tracer escapes and Iron Man tries to regain control of his armor.

ACT 5: Back at the bar, MJ is annoyed that the chopper has decided not to continue with the pursuit. As she sulks, Johnny (from the theater) shows up and offers to buy her a drink. MJ tells Johnny that she's glad he likes her work in the play and that she appreciates his patronage but informs him that her obligation to him ends when the curtain goes down. This does not bode well with Johnny and he grabs hold of her wrist, twisting it. The bartender intervenes and tells Johnny to release her immediately but Johnny pulls out a gun on him and shoots out the mirror behind him. Just then, Johnny gets smacked in the back of head with a pool cue and another hit makes Johnny drop his gun. As Johnny lies on the ground, he looks up at his attacker, who happens to be none other than MJ. With anger (and probably a bit of shame since he was beaten up by a girl), Johnny throws himself at her. MJ smacks him in the face with the cue and then proceeds to hit him in the nads with it, knocking the wind out of him. Just then, one of the drunks at the bar yells out that Spider-Man has been killed when the flying platform crashed and exploded. A terrified MJ asks them if they actually saw Spider-Man on it but they're not so sure after all. The bartender interrupts them and tells them that they're probably too drunk to tell which one's made of metal and which one wears spandex. MJ asks the bartender if he saw who was on the platform, to which he replies that he was not facing the TV when it happened. Worried sick, MJ storms out of the bar. As she runs down the street, she calls for a taxi but it does not stop right away. That is until Morlun steps right in front of it. The cab comes to a screeching halt inches from Morlun. The driver puts his head out the window and calls Morlun a nut. Morlun tells the taxi driver that the lady desires his service and that ladies must always be accommodated. The driver replies that he's off duty but that does not seem to bother Morlun one bit. In fact, he tells the driver that he's talking to a man who returned from the dead to kill Spider-Man, which seems to frighten the driver so much that he agrees to go on duty. Morlun watches on as the cab drives away with MJ onboard.

ACT 6: A short time later at Stark Towers, MJ finds Peter sitting on the bed in their room. She gives him a huge speech about how she believes that he'd rather be with his dead Uncle Ben more than he does her, who – of course – is alive. As she (shockingly and uncharacteristically) accuses him of wanting to die, she enumerates some examples where he's come close to dying and where he could have been more proactive (to try and avoid being killed) but did not even try to be. Peter replies that she's wrong and that he has no desire to die. Having said that, he grabs a nearby sheet of paper and hands it to her; it is from Dr. Castillo's office. He reiterates that he does not want to die, because he read Dr. Castillo's report and did not want to believe it. She starts reading it as well and is stunned to see the results of the blood work (taken back in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1). MJ hugs Peter, dropping the letter to the ground.

To be continued in Amazing Spider-Man #525.