PREVIOUSLY: Pretty weird things have been happening in New York City. Lifeless objects are suddenly springing to life and attacking citizens all over the place. As Spider-Man, Peter is attacked by an air vent while web slinging above the rooftops. He defeats the vent but is weirded out by the whole encounter.

Later that same day at the Osborn Chemical Corporation, Peter meets with his long-time friend, Harry Osborn – who has been having nightmares about the Green Goblin – and the two take a walk around the facility. Suddenly, they are attacked by inanimate objects and Harry is captured by a slithering pipe. Peter disappears, pretending to run out to get help, and switches to his Spider-Man costume behind a large containment unit. He then comes back and saves a-now-unconscious-Harry from the pipe. Up above, hidden in the smoke – created by fires raging across the facility – the Hobgoblin watches the whole thing. Did his presence at the facility cause those objects to spring to life or was it purely coincidental?

The story switches to the wall-crawling wonder known as Spider-Man who is web-slinging above the Manhattan skies pondering a landscape gone lunatic. Down below at street level, innocent civilians are scurrying in all directions, demons hot on their trails. Spidey has no idea exactly what is going on so he decides to head towards the Daily Bugle hoping that his alter ego, Peter Parker, might be able to find out a bit more about this strange occurrence. Suddenly however, a demon wind picks Spidey out of the air like a leaf caught in a hurricane and slams him against the wall of a building. The wind knocked out of him, Spidey plunges to his death. Fortunately, his fall is interrupted when he manages to grab hold of a gargoyle statue protruding from a nearby building. But as he does so, the gargoyle magically springs to life and bites him just above his right leg, just below the ribs. Spidey falls to the ground (a few floors down) and loses consciousness for a few minutes. When he awakens, he is bleeding pretty badly and as he manages to lift himself back up on his legs, he recognizes the entrance to the Daily Bugle. He makes his way inside the building.

Inside the building, J. Jonah Jameson is leading his employees against several demons of all sizes and shapes that have infiltrated the building. Ben Urich is impressed at how well his boss is reacting to the whole ordeal. What Ben doesn't know is that Jonah, like him and all the other employees, is frightened but doesn't want to let them know how he's feeling. At that moment, a bleeding wall-crawler enters the offices through the elevator and falls to the ground right in front of Jonah. Jonah screams at Joyce Mercado to come and help him.

Meanwhile, somewhere downtown, Mary Jane is at a photo shoot when one of the demonic creatures storms the room they're in. Accustomed to these kinds of situations, Mary Jane grabs a wooden stick and smashes the creature on top of the head. The creature simply blows up to the astonishment of everyone present at the shoot. MJ takes the command and tells everybody to use anything they can find to build a barricade to prevent any more of the monsters to enter the building. All the while, MJ wonders where Peter is since she hasn't spoken to him since he went out to Long Island to meet with Harry Osborn (in Web of Spider-Man #47).

Speaking of Harry Osborn, we find the latter in his Goblin guise hovering above the Hudson River on his glider, gloating about having beaten the Hobgoblin. Harry is anxious to get back to Hicksville and tell Liz, as she's probably worried half to death that he's become the Green Goblin again – just as he did during a drug flashback years ago. This time however, things are different. Harry is only wearing the Goblin outfit today because he was defending his family from the Hobgoblin. He knows that as soon as he gets home, he will put it away for good. His thoughts are suddenly interrupted when a demonic creature made of water (from the River) takes shape right in front of him and tells him to stay behind the "barrier" and "make a nice meal for its master N'Astirh". Using one of his goblin blasters in his gloves, Harry easily destroys the creature. Freaked out by his encounter, Harry decides to head back home to his wife Liz and his son Normie but first, he decides to make a stop at May Parker's house to make sure that she is okay.

Peter, MJ and Harry are not the only ones fighting off the demonic creatures. In Jackson Heights, Queens, Joe "Robbie" Robertson is out for a walk when a man equipped with a chainsaw comes out of nowhere and attacks him. Using his cane – a result of having his back broken by the mercenary-for-hire known as Tombstone – Robbie trips his assailant and grabs the chainsaw out of his hands. As Robbie smashes the chainsaw into a brick wall, the attacker flees the scene. Robbie's wife, Martha, comes out of the house to see if he's all right. At the same time, Robbie's son, Randy and his wife, Amanda, arrive at the house in their car. Randy tells his parents to come with them but Robbie refuses to leave, telling them all that he's been so afraid since Tombstone came back into his life, he hasn't thought straight. He explains that all he wanted to do is run and tells them that he's done with running. He adds that it's time for him to fight back, starting right there, right now.

The Hobgoblin has made its way towards the Empire State Building, which appears to be the center of the commotion; where the forces of evil seem to be focused. Following a trail of demons, he has made it there unseen, or so he thinks. As he rounds a corner, he comes face to face with two large creatures that spring to life from the concrete pavement right in front of him. The two creatures are about to grab him and have him for dinner so he tells them that he wants to see their master, as he wants to make a deal with him. The two creatures turn around and head back inside the building to fetch their master, whose name is revealed to be N'Astirh. Suddenly, a teethed door opens in the side of the building and N’Astirh appears through it. N'Astirh, a cross between a horse, a goat, and a bird, tells the Hobgoblin to amuse him. The Hobgoblin however, has one thing on his mind: becoming a demon. He tells N’Astirh that he is willing to offer his soul to have the power of a demon. N'Astirh bursts out laughing and tells him that his soul is disgusting and that he has no need for it. He explains however, that since the Hobgoblin did make him laugh, it is worth something. Having said that, he shoots a red beam at the Hobgoblin who is sent flying into the air miles away.

Back at the Daily Bugle, the demonic creatures return for a second confrontation. Jonah Jameson leads his employees into battle, while Spider-Man slowly regains his strength. Nearby, Ben Urich is pinned down by one of the creatures and is trying to get the creature off of him. Spidey shoots a webline at the creature and pulls it off of Ben. The creature turns around and attacks Spidey so Spidey punches it right in the face. Somehow, the creature turns into dust from the impact. Standing up, Spidey notices that Jameson is being surrounded by the monsters so he climbs on the ceiling and crawls towards Jonah to give him a hand. The battle rages on for what seems to be hours until the creatures are all destroyed. Spidey asks Jonah if he thinks they've won but Jonah simply stares right ahead and bites right through his cigar from being so tense. Spidey breaks out laughing, telling somebody to get a camera. Jonah is furious with Spidey and tells him he had expected him to laugh at the whole situation. But as Jonah says that, he notices that Spidey's side is still bleeding profusely so he points it out to him. Spidey replies that not only does it bleed, it hurts too, especially when he laughs. He can barely finish his sentence and blacks out, falling to the floor.

In another part of town, the Hobgoblin slowly awakens on the ground and immediately realizes that something is just not quite right. His eyes are aching; he can barely see and the colors and the lights are all wrong. He pulls his mask off, wondering what has happened to him, and on the last page of the panel, that question is answered. He has been transformed into a demon.

To be continued in Web of Spider-Man #48.