The shooter reaches the rooftop access door and is just about to escape through it when Spidey shows up and webs the door shut. Spidey confronts the gunman and asks him to talk to him but he refuses to talk. Spidey knocks him out with a single measly punch. When the gunman regains consciousness, he is webbed up and hanging upside down from a flagpole. Terrified, he reveals that he doesn't know who hired him and that he was only told to hit Robertson and that he, Spidey, just got in the way. He gives Spidey the address of the place where he received his instructions: Aggie's Pub on 10th Avenue. Leaving the shooter for the police, Spidey swings back towards the Bugle to meet Robbie.
When he arrives at the Bugle, Robbie is already gone but has left a cassette in his tape recorder with Peter's name on it. Spidey listens to the tape. Robbie's voice is heard and directs Peter to open a file folder on his desk. Spidey does as he is told and opens the folder, which contains newspaper clippings on killings linked to the man called Tombstone. Robbie explains that he is responsible for those killings as if he'd pulled the trigger himself. Just at that moment however, Spidey hears the voices of Kate Cushing and J. Jonah Jameson coming from the other side of the door to Robbie's office. Grabbing the file and tape recorder, Spidey exits through the window mere seconds before Kate and Jonah enter into Robbie’s office.
Meanwhile at the Kingpin's headquarters, Roland Rayburn, who was abducted by Tombstone in last issue, is being slapped around by the latter for refusing to cooperate with the Kingpin's assistant: the Arranger. The Arranger tells Rayburn that – on behalf of the Kingpin – he has been following his career on Wall Street and that he knows what he can do, which is persuading people to do his will. He goes on explaining that the Kingpin wants Rayburn to work for him so as to amass a fortune using his unique abilities. Rayburn tells the Arranger that he is nuts so Tombstone slaps him around again. His eyes suddenly glowing, Rayburn turns towards the Arranger and tells him to let him go. The Arranger immediately acquiesces and tells Tombstone to release Rayburn. Tombstone replies that Rayburn has just used his powers on him. Totally embarrassed at how easily he was persuaded, the Arranger orders Tombstone to dislocate Rayburn's arm. Tombstone gives Rayburn's arm a thug and dislocates it. Just then, the phone rings for Tombstone. Robbie Robertson is at the other end of the line and asks Tombstone to meet him in an hour down at Battery Park. Tombstone agrees to the meeting and takes his leave from Rayburn and the Arranger. As he exits the office, a nurse named Sheila enters the office and gives Rayburn a shot. As she does so, the Arranger tells Rayburn that "one way or another, you will help us, Roland".
Web-slinging away, Spidey listens to the remainder of the tape recording that Robbie left him. In it, Robbie explains that he first met Lonnie Lincoln, a.k.a. Tombstone, in his senior year at Harlem High School. He, Robbie, was the editor of the school newspaper and he was writing an article about Tombstone beating kids up unless they paid him for "insurance". One Friday night after school, Lonnie attacked him and beat the crap out of him. Lonnie finally stopped but only when he agreed to kill the story. The next day, he reluctantly spiked the story, to the disbelief of one of his teacher. He put the whole thing behind him and swore never to retreat from a story again. Eight years later, now happily married and the night desk catcher for a paper in Philadelphia, the same thing happened again. He got a call from an anonymous tipster who told him that he saw the guy who popped Ozzy Montana, a crime boss who, three days before, had been found dead in the trunk of his limousine. He went out to the waterfront to meet his source but when he got there, he couldn't find him. After searching through the darkness for a little while, he finally found him but the matter in which he found him was rather terrifying. The informant's dead body, his eyes bulging and his tongue lolling out of his mouth, was being held up by Tombstone. Tombstone threw the body at his feet and simply winked at him. Terrified, he fled the scene, certain that Tombstone was now going to kill him. But amazingly, Tombstone didn't. He explains that he returned home later that night and just sat down in the living room, trying to decide what to do. Then the phone suddenly rang and as he picked up the phone, he heard Tombstone's voice whispering to him that he did good work. Then the line went dead. When his wife, Martha asked who was on the phone, he simply replied that it was nobody. Robbie goes on explaining that a month later, Martha and him left Philly and moved back to New York where he took a job at the Bugle. Over the next twenty years, he continued following Tombstone's career as a Philly mob enforcer with a kind of sick fascination. Tombstone was arrested a dozen times for a dozen murders but never tried because some witnesses recanted their testimony and others disappeared. Tombstone always went free. Robbie goes on explaining that a couple weeks ago, as he was leaving a pub near South Street, he saw Tombstone and it was as if someone had opened a trapdoor in his heart. He explains that he felt frightened and bitterly ashamed when he saw him and then he found himself looking at old newspaper clippings he didn't realize he'd been keeping over the years, which led to him leaving a tape recording for Peter Parker/Spider-Man.
Peter/Spider-Man continues to listen to the tape recording of Robbie. Robbie explains that he was at Al's Pub earlier that night, along with other Bugle reporters, when he overheard Ben Urich talking about Tombstone and making comments about him. Ben's remarks caused Robbie to blow a fuse and shout at Ben for listening to rumors, and then he left the pub. Standing outside in the rain, Robbie caught himself staring at a newspaper vending machine with the headline "Mob Hits Multiply". Furious, Robbie slammed his fist through the glass, cutting his hand in the process. Robbie goes on telling Peter that although he can't change the past, he can change the future; therefore, he's decided to meet Tombstone tonight and put an end to this sordid affair (he arranged the meeting earlier).
Having heard enough, Peter/Spider-Man makes his way to the Kingpin's headquarters to meet with the Arranger. Spidey tries to get the Arranger to admit that Tombstone is working for the Kingpin but the latter denies his accusations. The Arranger does suggest that Tombstone may be in Battery Park. Meanwhile in Battery Park, Robbie waits in the rain for Tombstone to show up. Finally, Tombstone shows up. Robbie pulls a gun out from his jacket and tells Tombstone that he is there to arrest him. Without warning, Tombstone launches himself at Robbie who, caught by surprise, fires a shot in Tombstone's direction. Tombstone disarms Robbie and grabs him in a fearsome bear hug. Tombstone tells Robbie that he should have aimed for the head since he is wearing a Kevlar bulletproof vest. He then proceeds to tell Robbie that he's always liked him and that for old time's sake he will give him one more break. Having said that, he squeezes Robbie, whose screams echoes across the park. Spidey finally arrives on the scene but Tombstone is already gone. He finds Robbie lying motionless on the wet pavement and checks on him. Spidey asks him if he's hurt and Robbie replies to not touch him because Tombstone has broken his back.
To be continued.
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