Making his way through the last few remaining pieces of rubble, Spidey becomes aware that the timer on the earthquake machine reads 45 seconds. Realizing the trouble that he'll be in if the building collapses, Spidey struggles to push the debris out of his way. Back upstairs, J. Jonah Jameson leaps behind his desk and activates a hidden button, setting off an alarm. On cue, a half dozen heavily armed men, known as the Wild Pack, on retainer from Silver Sable International, enter Jameson's office and surround Doctor Octopus, who is still clutching Mary Jane in his tentacles.
Several floors below, Spidey finally comes through and emerges from the rubble. With only 15 seconds left on the timer, he wonders what to do now. Back upstairs, Doc Ock throws a desk at the Wild Pack gunmen, telling them to back off. One of the gunmen takes out this huge weapon and aims it at the evil Doctor. Jameson reminds him to be careful not to harm Mary Jane just as the latter takes his shot. The projectile, a small round disk about one inch thick, glides through the air and slams into Doc Ock's chest. Within seconds, Doc Ock falls to his knees; the result of the small disk emitting ultra-gravity fields that mobilized him. The unexpected happens however. One of the Doctor’s arms is not immobilized completely and he uses it to destroy the small disk attached to his chest. Standing back on his two feet, he tells Jameson that it is too late for him and the others, because the tremblor is activating. However, looking at the clock on the wall, Doc Ock realizes that something has gone horribly wrong; the tremblor is not activating.
Downstairs, Spidey is in total disbelief. The tremblor had an on/off switch so he simply turned it off. While trying to understand why Doc Ock purposely made such a blatant mistake, Spidey makes his way up the building to check on Mary Jane, not knowing that she is in mortal peril at the hands of Doc Ock. In Jameson's office, one of the Wild Pack agents uses a weapon that shoots concrete foam laced with titanium threads and covers Doc Ock with it. Within seconds, the foam hardens, trapping Doc Ock in an unbreakable shell. At that exact moment, Spidey, who had been crawling through the ventilation system, appears and, thinking that his wife is at the mercy of Doc Ock, bursts through the meshed vent, grabs the tentacle holding his wife's neck and tries to pull it off. Jameson, who surprisingly had the situation under control at that point, screams at him to butt out. Just then, one of Doc Ock's other tentacles breaks free from the concrete foam and heads on a collision course with Spidey. His spider-sense tingling, Spidey brushes off the warnings, too concern about saving his wife's life. Mary Jane screams at him to look out, seconds before the tentacle's claw grabs him in a chokehold. Having a hard time to breath but feeling the claw slightly loosen its grip on MJ, Spidey continues pulling on it until MJ is finally set free. Unfortunately, that gives Doc Ock the perfect opportunity to slam Spidey into a wall, break free from his concrete prison, and make his way outside the building by breaking through the wall. Spidey checks on MJ only to be told by Jameson to go after Doc Ock. Ticked off, Spidey replies that he, unlike the Wild Pack, is not on his payroll. Jameson retaliates by grabbing the phone and calling the rewrite section, telling them that he has a new headline for the afternoon edition: "Doc Ock thwarted by courageous Bugle publisher". Feeling sick to his stomach, Spidey takes off.
Hours passed, as highly specialized technical crews converge on the maintenance tunnels below the Daily Bugle to dismantle the tremblor. Hidden in the shadows around a corner, Doc Ock observes them with hatred in his eyes and frustrated about how much money and time he spent building his fake earthquake device; money that he intends to recoup from J. Jonah Jameson very soon. Making his way unnoticed through the maintenance tunnels, he arrives in front of a seemingly normal wall and activates a hidden button. This opens a sliding door, leading to his lair, which he prides himself of having built directly below the Daily Bugle building. Ock grabs a nearby bottle of champagne and serves himself a glass and begins walking around his secret hideout, pondering about how to get revenge on Jameson for what he did. Thinking about how Spider-Man fought savagely heedlessly for the redhead (i.e. Mary Jane), whom he assumes Spidey did not know, Ock suddenly realizes how to get back at Jameson: his wife!
Meanwhile in Soho, at the Parker penthouse apartment, Peter is extremely thankful that MJ is all right and hugs her appreciatively. But, despite this, he is angry with Jonah Jameson for the way he continually acts around costumed superheroes. MJ tries to calm him down and tells him that Jonah's hatred of him, as Spider-Man, has nothing to do with the costume since Jonah reveres Captain America, who, like him, wears a costume. Peter replies that it must be him (i.e. Spider-Man) then, since Jonah's taken down all the pro-Spidey billboards put up by Thomas Fireheart (a.k.a Puma) when he owned the Daily Bugle. MJ replies that Jonah likes Captain America because he is sanctioned by the government, whereas he hates him, as Spider-Man, because he gets away with breaking the rules, which gets under his skin. She adds that Jonah has a rigid, not very realistic sense of right and wrong. Peter replies that it doesn't sound so bad, although it can create problems when choices have to be made.
Uptown, Marla Jameson is rummaging around in her bedroom closet, trying to find something to wear for her husband, J. Jonah Jameson, to make him forget how the dedication of his new building was spoiled, when she hears a crash coming from the adjoining room. Thinking that it must have been Jonah knocking over the service cart, Marla peeks around the corner and comes face to face with Doctor Octopus.
Moments later, J. Jonah Jameson returns home and finds his penthouse apartment completely trashed. Looking around the apartment, he notices a letter on a nearby desk. Grabbing hold of the letter, he reads what it says: "If your building isn't worth twenty million, is your woman? Betray me...and she dies!" Sitting down on a nearby chair, Jonah grabs the phone and calls his accountant, telling him to liquidate all his assets and to bring him the money by the next morning. Then he calls Vital Statistics and tells them that, for file purposes, he'd like to dictate an obituary.
The next morning, Peter arrives at the Daily Bugle and asks secretary Betty Brant if his check for the dedication photos he's taken is ready. Betty replies that Jonah put a freeze on all expenditures and tells Peter that the rumor has it that Jonah has even put the Daily Bugle up for sale. Just then, Jonah comes out of his office, suitcase in hand, and tells Betty to cancel all his appointment, as he's leaving for the day. Realizing that something must be wrong, Peter decides to follow Jonah, as Spider-Man.
A quick costume-change later, Peter/Spidey follows Jonah into Central Park where the latter heads towards a large storm sewer steel pipe. Spidey goes to follow him but his spider-sense alerts him of the presence of mini-camera paying a close watch on Jameson and making sure he's not followed. Quickly thinking, Spidey throws one of his spider-tracers at Jonah's suitcase upon which it attaches itself. When Jonah reaches the large steel pipe, he starts speaking and tells whomever is inside the sewer system that he couldn't get all the money he wanted but that he's put up the Daily Bugle for sale and will give it all to him as soon as he receives an offer. Throwing the suitcase inside the conduit, Jonah adds that if Marla is harmed but slightly, he will kill him. Nearby, hidden in a tree, Spidey is taken by surprise to hear that Marla's been kidnapped. Just then, his spider-sense kicks in, the spider-tracer alerting him that the suitcase has begun moving and that someone is making off with it. Keeping track of the suitcase using his spider-sense, Spidey makes his way across town all the way into the high-tech maintenance tunnel built under the new Daily Bugle building.
Inside the tunnel, in his secret hideout, Doctor Octopus, is counting his money while his prisoner, Marla Jameson, sits on a nearby chair, disgusted with him. Feeling confrontational and seemingly not afraid of him, she calls him a monster and says that if her mouth wasn't so dry, she'd spit in his face. Infuriated and insulted, Doc Ock advances upon her, his tentacles drawn out. Just then, Spidey comes crashing through the wall behind Doc Ock. Doc Ock claws at him with one of his tentacles and grabs hold of Marla with another. Tired of being a victim, having been recently kidnapped by the Scorpion in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18, Marla grabs a nearby wine bottle and smashes it over Doc Ock's head. Momentarily startled, Doc Ock release her and loosens his grip on Spidey as well. Marla takes off running towards a gap in the wall, closely followed by Doc Ock. Fortunately for her, Spidey steps in between her and Doc Ock, allowing her to make ground. Furious and almost unstoppable, Doc Ock violently smashes Spidey into a wall and continues the pursuit. As he reaches Marla, who has begun climbing up a ladder towards a manhole, he tries to finish her off but, once again, Spidey intervenes and grabs hold of the attacking tentacles with a webline. Totally enraged at this point, Doc Ock attacks with all four tentacles. Spidey falls down and smashes into the floor. Having reached the manhole and having pushed it aside, Marla Jameson watches on as Doc Ock advances towards a bruise and battered Spider-Man. While she tries to figure out how to help him, Spidey is trying hard not to get killed by his rival. He gets hit right in the face and falls into the sewer water. Stunned and out of breath, Spidey knows that he has to surface soon or else he'll drown. His prayers are answered when Doc Ock grabs him out of the water but not for very long. Wrapping one of his tentacles around Spidey's neck, Doc Ock prepares to deliver the final blow. Just then however, shots are fired inches from his head. Turning around to pinpoint the source of the blast, he is shocked to discover that Marla Jameson has contacted the Wild Pack to come to hers and Spider-Man's rescue. Using that opportunity to his advantage, Spidey wriggles loose and flees towards his saviors. Outnumbered, Doc Ock disappears into a nearby tunnel.
A short time later, at the Jameson's penthouse apartment, J. Jonah Jameson is on the phone with a potential buyer for the Daily Bugle and is prepared to sell it to him when Marla walks inside the apartment, accompanied by policemen. Ecstatic, Jonah tells Marla that he knew he could count on New York's finest. Marla tells her husband that the police helped, although it was Spider-Man who saved her. Incapable of accepting that Spider-Man saved his wife, Jonah replies that he's simply glad that she is back. Just then, Robbie Robertson walks into the room and tells Jonah that the work crews are spread kind of thin and that, as a result, they can't repair the maintenance tunnels and finish taking down the Spider-Man billboard put up during Thomas Fireheart's reign at the Daily Bugle. Hugging Marla, Jameson tells Robbie the leave the billboards up, just for a little while.
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