Meanwhile, at the offices of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson get a visit from Phillip Cussler Jr. who asks them to help him find his father, who's recently had a breakdown. Jameson, who is a friend of Cussler Sr., tells Cussler Jr. that he will mobilize his entire staff of reporters and photographers to help him find his father. Robbie exits Jonah's office and heads over to Kate Cushing's desk to ask her to call Peter Parker to get him to help them find the missing millionaire. Kate tells Robbie that she's been trying to get hold of Peter all week but she hasn't had much luck. It's as if he's disappeared.

At that moment, in the brownstone apartment of Peter and Mary Jane Parker, Peter staggers from the blows his double-life has dealt him. As he sits on the couch in his Spider-Man costume, pondering about Aunt May's recent stroke and subsequent hospitalization (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #392), the phone rings. He picks it up; it's Kate Cushing and she offers him the assignment. Peter is in the process of rejecting it and telling Kate that he will not be accepting any assignments for the near future when she explains that Phillip Cussler Sr. is missing and that his son is trying to find him. Having picked his curiosity, he asks her to provide him with more details.

Later that night, at one of Cussler's Fine China Shop in uptown Manhattan, Cussler Sr. tells the Scorpion that his son forced him out of the business, which is why he needs him as his instrument of vengeance. Ecstatic, the Scorpion thinks Cussler has brought him there to trash the place but he has in fact brought him there to get into a safe. While Cussler Sr. deletes digital financial records off his son's computer, the Scorpion decides that he will hang around with him a little longer until he gets what he wants.

The next morning, at the same Fine China Shop, Cussler Jr., accompanied by J. Jonah Jameson and Daily Bugle photographer Angela Yin, as well as New York City's finest, is investigating the previous night's burglary. Cussler Jr. tells Jameson that all his financial records have been erased from his computer database and that only he and his father have access to it. Angela mentions to her boss that eyewitness reports state that the Scorpion has been seen in the area, hence the burglary could be his work. Jameson replies that it is possible and arrogantly tells her to keep taking pictures and keep quiet. She does not do as told – because she does not like Jameson – and comments that the marks on the safe sure look like they were left by the Scorpion and suggests they bring the safe to the crime lab to see if they can get a match. Jameson once again tells her, with a tone of arrogance, to keep her mouth shut. She is not too happy about that. What she does not know is that Jameson was a key figure in the creation of the Scorpion (see Amazing Spider-Man #9) and he doesn't want to talk about his links with him. His thoughts reveal that he now plans to use his history with the Scorpion to his advantage. He believes – though he is wrong – that the Scorpion has kidnapped Cussler Sr. hoping for a huge ransom. With that in mind, Jameson plans to use the Bugle as an open forum for the Scorpion while negotiating Cussler Sr.'s release, as this could just be the thing that will put the Bugle back on top where it belongs.

Spidey is web-slinging across the City in search of the Scorpion when he runs into Mighty Mouth Martin, a two-bit hoodlum and informant, who's already finked on half the crooks in town.

Meanwhile, many miles to the west, a haunted solitary figure pauses in his fevered travel to New York City, stopping only for the most necessary sustenance. His thoughts reveal that he's returning to New York City for the simple reason that Aunt May is in the hospital. As he walks down the street, he sees a young child who is crossing the street right in front of a speeding truck. Moving quickly – and remaining anonymous to the reader as he does so – he manages to push the kid out of harm's way, to the utter delight of his father that arrives on the scene. The mysterious man hands the kid over to his father and quickly takes off towards a dark alley where he disappears in the shadows. Who was that mysterious man?

Back in New York City, Mighty Mouth reveals to Spidey that the Scorpion has gathered a gang together for a big job. Spidey releases him and takes off into the night, wondering which Fine China shop the Scorpion will attack next.

Cussler Sr. and Mac Gargan (a.k.a. Scorpion) are sharing a bottle of wine somewhere in a makeshift area of the sewers. Gargan is impressed with Cussler Sr. and asks how he managed to survive down there. Cussler Sr. replies that he has his ways and his thoughts reveal that he has access to his fortune through an ATM card. Raising his glass, Gargan tells Cussler Sr. that he's been enjoying himself a lot and that he's never realized what he was missing by ignoring his civilian side. Cussler Sr. replies that he'll have even more such evenings to enjoy himself soon but first, they have some unfinished business to take care of. While Cussler Sr. walks away, Gargan takes a look at his costume and wonders if he should give up a life of crime and violence as the Scorpion or live a peaceful and blissful normal life as Mac Gargan. Gargan does not know the answer to that question but does know that he owes Cussler Sr. for giving him back something he thought he had lost a long time ago. Gargan grabs hold of his costume.

At the Daily Bugle office of J. Jonah Jameson, Jameson and Cussler Jr. are using Jonah's computer to track down which store Cussler Sr. goes online with after hours. Within seconds, they have a hit: the Herald Square Shop. Jameson, Cussler Jr. and Angela Yin head over there. It should be worth mentioning that Jameson lies when Cussler Jr. asks if he called the cops, as he wants to get exclusive pictures first, then he'll call the cops.

Meanwhile, at said Herald Square Shop, Spidey arrives on the scene undetected. The Scorpion's goon squad is already there so Spidey drops down and takes them out one by one. Inside the shop, Cussler Sr. is deleting files off the store computer, while the Scorpion watches on. Shots are heard – the result of Spidey fighting the Scorpion's goons – so Cussler Sr. instructs the Scorpion to proceed with the next phase of their plan. The Scorpion leaves the building and heads into the sewers through a manhole. Spidey, who is webbing up the goons gets alerted of his presence by his spider-sense and notices him going down the manhole; Spidey takes off after him.

Spidey makes his way through the sewers, his spider-sense sounding off the whole way. He reaches the intersection of several sewer tunnels and his spider-sense signals to him that something lies up ahead. On cue, over two dozen miscreants come out of hiding and attack him. Spidey defends himself admirably, all the while being watched by whatever was crawling through the sewers earlier in the issue.

Meanwhile, at street level, Cussler Sr. concludes that Spidey must have beaten that rogue's gallery since there is not a sound coming from the sewers. Just then, Cussler Jr., J. Jonah Jameson and Angela Yin show up on the scene. Cussler Jr. tells his father how worried the whole family has been but Cussler Sr. accuses his son of trying to get his hands on his inheritance. His hand clenched around a wrench, Cussler Sr. tells them to stay back, to the utter amazement of his son.

Back in the sewers, Spidey has taken out his assailants and is crawling through a tunnel when the Scorpion comes out of nowhere and attacks him. They start fighting and Spidey realizes that if he doesn't move the battle to a more open tunnel, it's just a matter of time before he's one squashed spider.

Several tunnels away, the Scorpion's goons regain consciousness, only to get attacked by whatever was crawling through the sewers earlier in the issue. We get a closer look at this thing and it looks like a big green blob of matter.

While battling the Scorpion, Spidey hears the screams of what sounded like the Scorpion's men and wonders what it was, hence not paying attention to the Scorpion. The latter almost takes him out with his tail, though, if it weren't for his spider-sense, Spidey would have been dead meat. Spidey has had enough and knocks the Scorpion out with five consecutive solid punches to the head. He then decides to head back to where he left his attacker to check out why they were screaming. As he gets back there, they are all gone and all that remains is some sort of membrane coating the ceiling and the walls, as if some sort of slug crawled through. Spidey wonders if something ate them and answers his own question when he hears more screaming coming from a distance. He considers catching up with them when his spider-sense warns him of impending danger. He turns around and thinks he sees something in the corner but then, second later, there is nothing. Blaming it on stress, he ignores it and crawls into one of the tunnels in search of the Scorpion’s men and Cussler Sr.

Spidey emerges from a manhole at street level, just a few meters away from the confrontation between Cussler Sr. and his son, J. Jonah Jameson and Angela Yin. Seeing this, Cussler Sr. goes ballistic and runs towards Spidey waving his wrench at him. His back turned to Cussler Sr., Spidey is warned of the attack by his spider-sense and instinctively reacts to the attack by swinging his arm in defense. As he does so, he hits Cussler Sr. and sends him flying into a nearby wall, knocking him out. Jameson's eyes open wide and he immediately jumps to the conclusion that Spidey has attacked him and to make matters worse, Angela Yin got it on film. Cussler Jr. runs to his father's side and yells at them to call an ambulance. Jameson verbally lashes out at Spidey for injuring the very man he was supposed to save and tells him that he's got pictures that will end his vigilante career forever. Feeling terrible, Spidey takes off.

Minutes later, Cussler Sr. is put into an ambulance and transported to the emergency ward. Spidey watches on from a nearby rooftop and hopes to God that Cussler Sr. will pull through, especially after a blow like that. As he looks out towards the horizon, he recognizes that he has failed his Uncle Ben's adage, that "With great power must come great responsibility".

To be continued.