The mysterious Kaine, a failed clone of Peter Parker, awakens and finds himself sitting on a wooden chair in the middle of a dark room, asking himself how he got there. Suddenly, the lights come on, and five thugs of various sizes, race and gender attack him without revealing why. With extreme force and brutality, Kaine mows through them, one by one. After the last thug is sent crashing to the ground, a woman – one arm in a sling – enters the room, introduces herself as Shannon Fitzpatrick, a.k.a. the Muse, and welcomes him back to the "land of the living".
Ben Reilly, recently revealed to be the real Peter Parker, is web-slinging above the New York City rooftops in his new Spider-Man costume. He is extremely happy because he has a job, an apartment, and a life. He swings down to an alley, changes into his civilian clothing and makes his way into the Daily Grind, the coffee shop where he works. He exchanges quick pleasantries with the regular costumers and prepares himself to work.
High on a bluff overlooking the Tropical Island paradise sits the opulent villa of one James Johnsmeyer – international financier. He is a billionaire several times over, his every financial decision, garnering the notice of worldwide corporations, as well as huge articles in all the popular investment magazines. And yet, despite his celebrity, he does well in concealing his more clandestine activities, as he is one of the mysterious sponsors behind the more mysterious "Great Game". Johnsmeyer is conversing with another sponsor via videophone about the above-mentioned game and uses one of the whores surrounding him as a wager. The whore is pissed at him but is hauled out of there by two huge black bodyguards wearing Hawaiian shirts. As this takes place, the Muse appears on the videophone and updates him on his latest acquisition (Kaine) and how he tore apart his "welcoming committee" (she also reveals, during the conversation, that Kaine was given to Johnsmeyer by a mysterious benefactor). Johnsmeyer reveals that he intends to make Kaine the best player in the history of the game. On cue, we are treated to a flashback of the game and how it came to be. It's basically a contest in which billionaires sponsor super-powered players of their choosing to battle each other, with the winners making it to the next round and earning significant cash bonuses. Muse was Johnsmeyer's player but she got hurt so he acquired Kaine as a substitute (though it is hard to believe that Kaine would want to participate in this crazy contest). Johnsmeyer tells Muse to give him anything he wishes and that if he asks questions about how he got there, to just to tell him the truth.
Later that evening, Muse checks up on Kaine. Kaine appears to kill her. But the next thing you know, Muse walks in the room and she is still alive (???). She invites him to walk with her to clear his mind. As they walk, Muse comments that he must be wondering how he came to be there, what he is doing there and why. Kaine replies that the last thing he remembers is being impaled by Spidercide (in Spectacular Spider-Man #227). Muse fills in the blanks for him by revealing that once they caught wind of him, during the Parker trial, they started to trail Detective Jacob Raven to try and find him (see Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1). When they did find him, Raven was unconscious on the floor and he – Kaine – was in a vat of green slime, which was in fact nutrients, according to their doctors (Johnsmeyer’s doctors). Kaine is perplexed and seemingly does not remember being put in the regeneration pod by the Jackal. His thoughts are interrupted, however, when they arrive in Johnsmeyer's office and Muse introduces him to Johnsmeyer.
Back in New York City, at the Daily Grind, Ben Reilly surprises Jessica Carradine, a frequent customer of the coffee shop, when he displays amazing knowledge in physics.
Miles away, Johnsmeyer offers Kaine a role in the "Great Game" but Kaine turns down the offer and tries to escape. As he reaches the mansion's front gate, he is suddenly surrounded by two of Johnsmeyer's other players: Quorum and Mosh. Heavily armed, they tell Kaine to stay put or else. Suddenly, Quorum is sent flying to the ground...courtesy of Muse. Using her powers of persuasion, Muse convinces Mosh to drop his weapon and, as he does so, Kaine knocks him out.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Brooklyn, at the site of a somewhat familiar factory, a wrecking ball goes through a large smokestack and two construction workers make the gruesome discovery of a skeleton clad in a torn Spider-Man costume at the bottom of it. This is the same smokestack into which Peter dropped the clone's body (Ben) in Amazing Spider-Man #149.
To be continued in Sensational Spider-Man #2.
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