Having dropped by the Daily Bugle to pick up his paycheck and stopped at the bank to make a quick deposit, Spider-Man now swings across the City, making his way to a restaurant where he is meeting his parents for lunch. He comes to rest in an alley and switches to his civilian clothes. He almost gets caught changing by an old lady staring out her window so he quickly gets out of the alley and continues making his way towards the restaurant.
Warren Worthington the Third, a.k.a. Archangel, Hank McCoy, a.k.a. Beast, and Bobby Drake, a.k.a. Iceman are sitting at a New York café enjoying a few drinks and talking about old times when Scott Summers, a.k.a. Cyclops (and their leader), joins them for a few drinks, since Jean Grey, his wife and X-Men teammate, is indulging herself in some Manhattan shopping.
Peter arrives at the restaurant and joins his parents, who are already sitting down at a table. They start reminiscing about his infancy amongst other things but their conversation is interrupted when Peter's spider-sense goes off. Across the street, a burglary is in progress.
On a mountain hill, a lone tombstone lies on its back; a hole dug in the ground right in front of it. The tombstone reads "Matthew Aaron Power, Beloved Son". The ground suddenly starts to shake uncontrollably and the tombstone shatters. Out of the grave emerges some powerful entity.
The four robbers jump into a car and try to flee the scene of the burglary but, as they prepare to leave, the car will not move. One of the burglars peeks out the car window and notices that webbing is holding the car in place. Just then, Spider-Man's face appears in the windshield, upside down. Not wanting to get caught, the thieves abandon the vehicle and take off running. Spidey takes off after two of the bad guys while the other two take off in the opposite direction, thinking that they are in the clear. Unfortunately for them, Beast, Archangel and Iceman arrive on the scene. Terrified, the two thieves try to run away but Archangel uses some of his sedated blades to stop one of them while Iceman and Beast, using a well-placed layer of black ice, catch the other. The two other thieves that Spidey was following make their way into a dark alley, believing to have lost Spidey. They are wrong however; Cyclops shows up in the alley and blasts them. The two thugs are sent flying into a wall of webbing, courtesy of Spider-Man.
Minutes later, the boys in blue put the thieves in the patty-wagon, while Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Archangel and Spider-Man exchange a few pleasantries. They invite Spidey to join them for an afternoon on the town but Spidey passes on the offer since he has to meet his parents, which happen to be watching on the sideline wondering where he is, since he told them he was going to take pictures of the crime in the progress, which was his excuse to switch to his Spider-Man costume and stop the thieves. Spidey prepares to leave when his spider-sense suddenly kicks in. As he looks skyward, he notices a gleaming figure descending at alarming speed. The powerful entity seen emerging from the grave flies towards them and blasts them with a powerful discharge of energy. All are temporarily rendered unconscious, except Spidey, who dodges the blast and saves his parents from imminent death by catching a large piece of debris heading their way, using a web-line.
Now standing amidst the wreckage caused by his energy blast, the entity gloats and revels in the fact that he is about to kill the X-Men. Just then, Spidey shows up and takes him out using the piece of debris he caught with his webbing. At the same time, he recognizes his opponent: Professor Power (Power is a super-villain who had is own consciousness fused into the body of his son). The crowd of bystanders assembled cheer for Spidey and so do his parents. Spidey is delighted by his parents' reactions but his happiness is soon interrupted when his spider-sense suddenly kicks in. The alpha-burst from Power's cybernetic eyes comes so quickly, in so wide a burst, that Spidey is unable to avoid it and consequently blacks out. But as Spidey recedes into darkness, the X-Men rise up out of it. Witnessing what is happening, Cyclops screams for Beast to go and catch Spidey who is falling down towards the ground. Beast moves quickly and catches Spidey. All the while, he recalls his earlier encounters with Professor Power, who has borne a hatred for the X-Men for years, blaming their leader, Professor Charles Xavier, for the death of his son. Seeing how all this is turning ugly, Peter's father, Richard, grabs his wife, Mary, and suggest they get to a safe place before something happens to them. Mary does not want to leave, fearing that Peter might be trapped out there somewhere. Back on the battlefield, Spidey regains consciousness. Beast is looking after him when Professor Power grabs Beast in a chokehold and prepares to snap his neck. A blast from Cyclops visor hits Power square in the chest, making him loosen his grip on Beast. Then, simultaneously, Archangel and Iceman attack Power. Unfazed, Power retaliates and takes them both out rather easily. Meanwhile, on the sideline, Richard (Parker) convinces Mary to leave before they get hurt. Back on the battlefield, Cyclops has had enough of Power and challenges him to a duel (kind of). Cyclops fires his optic blasts at Power, who retaliates with alpha-beams from his cybernetic eyes. The two beams connect in mid-air and seem to stand still for a few seconds. However, Power's alpha burst is too powerful and it forces Cyclop's beam back into his eyes, knocking the lights out of him. Power starts to revel in the fact that he’s won the battle until Spidey shows up and tries to take him down. Power is just too powerful for him and he takes him out with a single backhand. At issue's end, Power stands amidst the unconscious bodies of Spider-Man and the X-Men.
To be continued.
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