PREVIOUSLY: In Kraven's Last Hunt, by J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck, in which Kraven the Hunter commits suicide, the creature known as Vermin is captured by Spider-Man and sent to the Ravencroft Institute where Dr. Ashley Kafka begins working hard to try and cure him, as he used to be a human before the infamous Baron Zemo turned him into a half-rat half-human creature.

In Spectacular Spider-Man #178, Vermin escapes from Ravencroft. While hiding in the sewers, he comes across a young boy with whom he seems to share a special connection. Elsewhere, Peter Parker/Spider-Man spends entire nights patrolling the city with the hope of capturing Vermin while Harry Osborn hears more than just voices now; he actually hallucinates the ghostly figure of his father, Norman Osborn, tormenting him from beyond the grave.

Spider-Man pays another visit to Dr. Kafka who reveals to him that Vermin was sexually molested by his father as a child. While there, Vermin shows up, begging Dr. Kafka to help him. But Vermin picks up Spidey's scent and tries to take off. Spidey intercepts him and beats him to an inch of his life before Dr. Kafka makes him stop. She then tries to reason with Vermin but the latter bites her and orders his rats to attack her while he runs off. Luckily, Spidey rescues her.

Also in this issue, Harry Osborn continues hallucinating the ghost of his deceased father, Norman Osborn, which causes him to have bouts of insanity. At issue's end, Norman's ghost appears to Harry, the Green Goblin costume in hand, and tells him that his time has come.

In Spectacular Spider-Man #180, Harry Osborn finally falls prey to the hallucinations of his dead father and takes over (again) the mantle of the Green Goblin. He attacks Peter/Spider-Man while the latter returns home from patrol and manages to render him unconscious. As the issue concludes, Harry pulls Peter's Spider-Man mask off and informs him that the war must not be settled between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man but between Harry Osborn and Peter Parker.

Vermin has a quick cameo in this issue but his status remains the same: he is as crazy as ever.

In Spectacular Spider-Man #181, Peter Parker/Spider-Man is subjected to drugs by Harry Osborn/the Green Goblin and finds himself at the mercy of hallucinations in which he relives the death of relatives, friends, and enemies who have passed on as a direct/indirect result of his actions/inactions. But something happens to Peter while he’s in that condition, which causes him to emerge from his hallucinatory state and go on a rampage inside the warehouse where Harry/the Green Goblin is holding him captive. Harry tries to calm Peter down but he is unsuccessful and Peter manages to take off into the night. At issue's end, Peter crashes through Dr. Kafka's office window, begging her to help him.

While the above takes place, Vermin returns home, grabs his mother hostage and enters his father's bedroom where the latter is resting. Holding his mother by her hair, he tells his father that he’s come back to kill him.

Speaking of Vermin. When we last saw him, he had broken into his parent's residence and was holding his mother hostage, while threatening to kill his father. Well, that's exactly where he is right now, accompanied by hundreds of rats. Releasing his mother, Vermin leaps on top of his father, who is lying in bed, and tells him that he must pay for the "bad things" he did to him when he was a little boy. But a voice behind him tells him to not hurt him and as Vermin turns around, he comes face-to-face with the little boy he met back in Spectacular Spider-Man #178.

Out of the darkness, a naked Peter Parker comes into view. He is frightened with the thought that his parents are dead and when he realizes that they have indeed passed on, he blames himself for their death. A voice suddenly penetrates the darkness enveloping him and tells him to stop blaming himself and to bury that guilt within his heart. Peter follows the voice and seconds later, he awakens in Dr. Kafka's office, in his Spider-Man costume, which is what he was wearing when he crashed into her office in last issue (although he was not wearing his mask at the time). Peter/Spidey stumbles off the couch and lands heard first into the floor. He slowly gets up, struggling to keep himself balanced, and heads towards the window, hoping to get out of there. But, as he reaches the window, he hesitates to leave, recalling how he came to be there and how Dr. Kafka pulled him up out of the darkness. Dr. Kafka comes close to him and puts her hand on his shoulder, telling him that he's faced the monster and is going to be all right. Not far from there, in the sky, the Green Goblin hovers in front of the moon.

Back at Vermin's parents' house, the little boy tells Vermin that he cannot hurt his father because it isn't right. Furious, Vermin replies that his father did very bad things to him and he got away with it and asks the little boy why he can't return the favour. He then grabs hold of his father in a chokehold and instructs him to confess what he did to him to the little boy. Gasping for air, Vermin's father replies that there is nobody there. Seemingly content that the young lad is gone, Vermin lifts his father right off the ground and tells him that he's going to hurt him as much as he hurt him when he was a child. Just then however, Vermin's mother intervenes and begs him not to hurt his father. Vermin roars in anger but subsides when he sees the frightened look on her face. Tearing up, he kneels down in front of her and they hug each other. Meanwhile, outside the mansion, the police have arrived and are surrounding the house.

Another video footage of Vermin, taken before he fled from Ravencroft, is up next. In it, Dr. Kafka – presumably, since the reader cannot see who the interviewer is – is asking Vermin questions about his past. It is revealed throughout the interview that Edward Whelan, Vermin's human alter ego, was working in Mexico as a research scientist specializing in genetics when he encountered Baron Zemo. Zemo had been building on Arnim Zola's research, pushing the limits of genetics engineering, turning men and women into "mutates". Edward tried to stop Zemo from experimenting on humans but the latter simply laughed at him and decided to make him the next experiment. Unbeknownst to Edward at the time was that the process was as much psychological as it was physical: the deepest part of his unconscious, the darkest, most deeply buried sense of self dictated what he was going to mutate into. Having repressed the memory of being sexually molested as a child, Edward was forced into recalling the "bad thing". Strangely, he felt responsible that it had happened and even felt guilty that he hadn't been able to stop it. All these combined feelings and emotions made him feel like a criminal, an animal, inhuman...a vermin.

Back at Ravencroft, Peter/Spidey explains how he never realized how much he blamed himself for his parents' death, though he had absolutely nothing to do with their deaths. Dr. Kafka offers him words of advice but is interrupted by one of her nurses who storms into her office with news of Vermin. The nurse reveals that Vermin's been holding a retired judge and his wife hostage. Realizing that the hostages are Vermin's parents, Dr. Kafka turns to Spidey but he's already taken off into the night towards the mansion. Making his way in the direction of the mansion, Spidey realizes that it is up to him and him alone to stop Vermin and the Green Goblin.

Back at the mansion, Vermin is furious with the police for having surrounded the house. He turns to his mother and tells her that he is not bad to which she replies that she won't let anything happen to him and that she'll protect him. Hearing her talk about protecting him infuriates him, as she was never there to stop his father when he molested him. Grabbing her in a chokehold, he yells at her, asking her where she was when that happened. The voice of his father interrupts him and as Vermin turns around to face his father, the latter is pointing a gun at him, telling him to get out of the house. Unfazed, Vermin orders his rats to attack his father. Dozens of rats jump on Vermin's father, biting him and making him lose his gun. Vermin grabs hold of the gun and points it at his father's head. But Vermin is unable to squeeze the trigger and lets go of his father. Just then, Spidey shows up on the window's ledge and tells Vermin to come with him so they can go see Dr. Kafka, who will put an end to all this once and for all. Seeing Spider-Man there and then, Vermin realizes that he can hate him without feeling so confused, which is how he felt when he tried to kill his father just a few minutes before that. Vermin launches himself at Spidey and tackles him through the window. As the two of them start falling towards the ground below, Spidey spins a web and swings the two of them onto the mansion rooftop, where they land hard. Spidey tries to reason with Vermin, telling him that there is no need for them to fight but Vermin is simply not listening. He leaps towards Spidey, who dodges the attack, but does manage to slice him in the back. As Spidey attempts to regain strength, Vermin continues his attack. Spidey evades Vermin's claws but not a solid punch that sends him flying into the brick chimney. As le lies there unconscious, Vermin draws near and grabs hold of his neck, vowing to eat him alive. Just then however, Vermin is zapped with a strong electrical current and is rendered unconscious. His hand-zapper still smoking, the Green Goblin, hovers above the mansion rooftop and tells the unconscious Vermin that Spidey is his and that it's time to die.

To be continued.