In Spectacular Spider-Man #198, Professor Power and his army of Roman Centurions take the X-Men aboard his hovering medieval castle, where he imprisons them inside an energy cell. Power reveals his plans to them, which is to decimate them and their leader, Professor Charles Xavier, as retribution for the death of his son Matthew, which he blames on Xavier and by association, his X-Men. Fortunately for them, a revitalized Spider-Man has managed to hitch a ride when the castle took off and Jean Grey, using an image-inducer, also managed to sneak onboard by disguising herself as one of the Centurions. While Spidey keeps the Centurions busy, Jean Grey uses her telekinetic powers to free the others from their prison. At issue's end, Jean Grey pushes Power's consciousness to leave his cybernetic body but as she does so, the link between Power and his castle is severed and the castle starts plummeting towards the Earth surface.

This is where this issue picks up.

REVIEW: Inside the hovering castle, Spider-Man and the X-Men are trying to remain calm. Knowing that they cannot just leave the Roman Centurions to die in the castle and knowing that there is every chance that the castle is going to hit in a populated area, Spidey and the others make their way to the castle's control center to try and figure out how to stop its descent. After fidgeting around with the buttons on the control panel, Spidey and Beast are able to bring its descent to a stop. As Spidey and the others exit the castle, the Roman Centurions, who were thought to be unconscious, try to flee the scene but our heroic friends put an end to their escape.

A short while later, a S.H.I.E.L.D. hovering carrier has arrived on the scene and is hauling the hovering castle away. Roman centurions are thrown into waiting patty wagon, while Spidey says his goodbye to the X-men. He then swings off and hitches a ride on top of an AMTRAC train heading towards the City. He then makes his way, by web-slinging above the skyscrapers, to his Aunt May's house in Forest Hills, Queens. All the while, he's thinking of his parents' recent return from the dead and how he has a difficult time accepting that they are back for real.

Meanwhile at Aunt May's house, Mary Parker is worried sick about Peter, ever since he disappeared to take pictures of the burglary that occurred in Spectacular Spider-Man #197. Aunt May tries to comfort Mary, telling her that Peter is a grown man, but Mary takes it the wrong way and accuses May of rubbing in the fact that they weren't there to take care of Peter all these years. Aunt May is taken aback by this accusation but Richard (Parker) comes to her rescue and blames his wife's sudden outburst on the fact that she is a little on edge. Just then, Peter arrives at the house and acts as if nothing happened. Richard, who was calm a second ago, blows up at Peter and accuses him of being inconsiderate for his mother and him, because of how he left them at the restaurant earlier; as he does so he points his finger in Peter's face. Peter retaliates and tells his father not to talk down to him or not tell him how to live his life; he then takes off towards the living room. His dad comes over and apologizes to him and explains that he simply wants to know everything there is to know about him and that even if they can really be father and son, at the very least, they can be friends. Peter agrees with his father to try and find out about each other a little bit better.

In lieu of web-slinging back to his apartment, Peter hitches a ride on the subway. While aboard the subway, some punk starts bothering a woman sitting not far from Peter. Exhausted physically and emotionally and wanting things to be quiet around him, Peter intervenes and tells the miscreant to stop bugging her. The punk comes over and starts badmouthing Peter, who simply stares straight ahead and tries to ignore him. The punk pushes too far when he points a finger in Peter's face and Peter grabs hold of his wrist and starts crushing it. Within seconds, the miscreant begs Peter to let him go.

A short time later, after reflecting on what just happened on the subway and on how he almost lost it on that kid, he arrives at his apartment. As the elevator doors to his apartment open, Peter finds himself staring at his wife, Mary Jane, Liz Allan Osborn, Normie Osborn and Harry Osborn. MJ explains that Harry was released from the Vault and Harry further explains how his lawyers managed to prove that the prosecution had no case against him and got them to drop the charges (the District Attorney was trying to indict Harry for his father's crime as the Green Goblin). Harry goes on explaining that the DA was so desperate to try and indict him that they tried to get Liz and his brother-in-law, Mark Raxton, to testify against him by saying that he kidnapped them; Harry comments on how amazing that was. Peter reluctantly concurs. Harry then goes on thanking Peter for everything he and Mary Jane did for Liz while he was away. As he says that, Harry comes close to passing out. Peter manages to grab him and hold him steady, while Liz checks up on him and mentions that Harry has had a bad fever coming and going for weeks. Liz suggests to Harry that he goes to bed to rest so Harry, Liz and little Normie, who is ironically smacking around a small Spider-Man doll, head downstairs to their apartment, leaving a flabbergasted Peter and MJ to stare at the elevator door.

Peter is utterly furious. He grabs MJ and drags her in their bedroom. He then proceeds to throw a bunch of her clothes in a suitcase and explains to her that he is sending her and Aunt May to Florida to her Aunt Anna's place until he figures out what to do with Harry. MJ categorically refuses to leave and tells Peter that they have to work their problems together. She then storms out of the apartment and slams the door behind her. Furious, Peter grabs hold of a nearby bookend and throws it into a wall; all the while, he vows to not let Harry do this to them again (referring to the events that occurred during Spectacular Spider-Man 178 – 184). Peter makes his way downstairs to Harry's apartment to confront his so-called friend. Liz opens the door to Peter and lets Peter know that Harry has gone out to get a paper. Peter freaks out and asks Liz if she knows where he went to get the paper as he needs to talk to him immediately. Liz promises Peter that she will get Harry back into bed as soon as he comes back and that there is nothing to worry about.

Mary Jane is walking around the neighborhood, still fuming from her confrontation with Peter, when a voice calls for her from behind. As she turns around, she comes face-to-face with the Green Goblin.

To be continued.