In Scarlet Spider #1, Dr. Seward Trainer is hospitalized as a result of being attacked by VR-37, and it doesn't look like he is going to make it out of his coma. However, it is soon revealed that Seward's mind has been stuck in the virtual world and, as such, he has been able to spy on his daughter, Carolyn Trainer, the new female Doctor Octopus, who uses the virtual world to communicate with an associate of hers.

Carolyn hires a mysterious assassin called The Pro to kill Mr. Tso at one of his clubs, Club Noir, where Ben Reilly happens to be working as a waiter and where an important gathering of powerful mobsters is taking place. The Pro's and his henchmen's plans are thwarted by both Ben and his alter ego, the Scarlet Spider. At issue's end, Mr. Tso hires Ben as his bodyguard.

In Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1, the new female Doctor Octopus hires the Looter, Aura and Override to once again try and kill Mr. Tso. Ben Reilly himself – now working for Mr. Tso – and his alter-ego, the Scarlet Spider, come to his employer's rescue once again. At issue's end, it is revealed that Mr. Tso is working for Alastair Smythe, creator of the deadly Spider-Slayers, who is looking to test his new Cyber-Slayers.

In Web of Scarlet Spider #2, the new female Doctor Octopus arranges a meeting with Mr. Tso at the Children Zoo, of all places. The Scarlet Spider, having caught wind of the meeting through his sources, shows up to make sure no innocents are caught in the crossfire, if things go wrong. Unfortunately for him, he runs into problems of his own when he comes in between Doc Ock's henchmen and a bunch of Cyber-Slayers, responding to the commands of both Alastair Smythe and Mr. Tso. He manages to defeat them all and keep innocents out of harms' way, but not before making Doc Ock and her mysterious computer ally angrier.

In Amazing Scarlet Spider #2, the woman super-villain known as Joystick is informed that her next opponent in the "Great Game" is none other than the Scarlet Spider (see Spectacular Spider-Man #231 for more information about the above-mentioned game). Elsewhere, in her laboratory, the new female Doctor Octopus is working on a plan to eliminate the Scarlet Spider with her computerized ally, the Master Programmer, who seeks and enlists the mysterious female known as Stunner to help them out.

Joystick tracks down the Scarlet Spider and attacks him. The new Green Goblin, who happened to be in the neighbourhood, shows up on the scene and ends up making things worse. Joystick is directed to conclude her assignment and back out, since the Green Goblin is not a player in the game. She takes her leave, leaving the Scarlet Spider to try and figure out what the heck is going on.

In Scarlet Spider #2, the issue opens with the revelation that one of the female Doctor Octopus' henchmen is a special agent from the FBI. Doc Ock straps the agent to a mechanical device and starts to download computerized files straight into his brain. While this takes place, Dr. Seward Trainer watches on in horror from Cyber-Space. Suddenly, there is an explosion in the lab and moments later, a solid holographic counterpart of the Scarlet Spider appears and swings off into the night. The real Scarlet Spider witnesses these events and goes after his cyber counterpart, who has begun to wreak havoc all over the city.

He catches up to his cyber-self and the two battle it out. The real Scarlet Spider gets the upper hand and webs up his opponent. But when he goes to unravel the web cage imprisoning his adversary, the web is empty.

In Spectacular Scarlet Spider #2, the Scarlet Spider cannot go anywhere without the entire city shouting obscenities and throwing hard objects at him. This causes him to be late for work so Mr. Tso fires him. Returning home, he finds his apartment completely trashed by his cyber self. Seward Trainer appears to him (from the virtual world) and notifies him of his daughter's plan to merge reality with Cyber-Space (Seward's daughter is the new female Doc Ock).

The new female Doc Ock and her henchmen attack Mr. Tso to get hold of a chip needed to finalize the "merge" of the two worlds. Alastair Smythe, Tso's employer, sends his Cyber-Slayers after Ock and her cronies. However, before Smythe can revel in his victory, Mr. Tso double-crosses him and he takes control of the Cyber-Slayers, leaving Smythe to take on Doc Ock by himself. Though Mr. Tso momentarily gets away, he meets his demise when The Pro catches up to him.

Doc Ock's and the Master Programmer's plan to merge reality with Cyber-Space seems to come to fruition when reality begins to shift and the Master Programmer start to take on a more human form. Fortunately, the Scarlet Spider, assisted by Seward Trainer, uploads a computer virus into the system and it neutralizes the entire merging process. The Scarlet Spider saves the day, however Doc Ock manages to escape before he can stop her. Despite his heroic efforts, people still think the Scarlet Spider is a terrorist and monster.

Ben visits Seward Trainer at the hospital and tells him that his daughter (Seward's) was easily able to destroy his reputation because no one had a reason to trust him in the first place. He adds that it was easy for Doc Ock to ruin the image of an unknown like the Scarlet Spider, however, she would never be able to do the same to Spider-Man.

In the last pages of Spectacular Spider-Man #231, a skeleton clad in a torn Spider-Man costume is found at the bottom of the smokestack where Peter Parker dropped the body of his clone (i.e. Ben Reilly), way back in Amazing Spider-Man #149.

In Sensational Spider-Man #2, Ben Reilly learns about the skeleton found in the smokestack and wonders how that can be, since he was the one who crawled out of said smokestack after Peter Parker left him there, believing that he was dead. Ben heads over to the morgue and, after authenticating the skeleton's Spider-Man mask as being one of his creations, steals the remains.

On his way home, Ben comes across the Rhino in the midst of a battle with Kaine (and his partner Shannon Fitzpatrick). The Rhino is a player in the "Great Game" (see above) and is trying to take Kaine out so as to score major points. Spidey jumps in the mêlée but the Rhino causes a building to fall down on top of him. In the ensuing confusion, Kaine and Shannon disappear, closely followed by the Rhino, who chases after them.

Ben extricates himself from the rubble and makes his way to his apartment. After finding out that Jessica Carradine is waiting for him alone, he stashes the skeleton outside and casually goes in. At issue’s end, they share a kiss.

In Amazing Spider-Man #409, James Johnsmeyer, creator of the "Great Game", and his associates vote to include Spider-Man (unbeknownst to him) into the game. Meanwhile at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson argue about how the whole Spider-Man skeleton story should be reported.

Elsewhere, the Rhino catches up to Kaine and Shannon Fitzpatrick. The ensuing battle is soon "crashed" by two contestants of the "Great Game", Joystick and Polestar. Ticked off, the Rhino focuses his energy on destroying them, rather than continuing to beat on Kaine and Shannon. Swinging nearby, Spider-Man decides to intervenes, before the entire city is demolished and innocents are hurt. During the battle, Kaine gets the upper hand on the Rhino and manages to slip away with Shannon, but not before Shannon is able to place a call to Johnsmeyer, whom she has been allied with all along. At issue's end, Carolyn Trainer, the female Doctor Octopus pays a visit to her father, Dr. Seward Trainer, at the hospital, and tells him that he will soon pass on.

In Spider-Man Volume 1 #66, Spider-Man catches up to Kaine and Shannon, and tries to arrest Kaine. Though Kaine means him no harm, he simply cannot allow himself to be captured so he brings down a wall on him using his adhesive power. Just then, the police arrive on the scene and try to arrest Spidey for stealing the skeleton. Though they are not immediately interested in Kaine, they soon try to arrest them all so Kaine is forced to bring down another wall, causing enough of a distraction for all of them to get away. Meanwhile at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson places a call to someone he believes will be able to get all the dirt on the Spider-Man-costume-clad-skeleton.

Kaine and Shannon break into Johnsmeyer's mansion to try and put an end to the "Great Game", once and for all. After sharing a kiss with Shannon, Kaine gets a vision of a dead Shannon, with his mark on her face. Infuriated, Kaine tears through the building to try and find Johnsmeyer. Just then, Spidey arrives on the scene and agrees with Kaine about stopping Johnsmeyer. Before they can even start, the rooftop opens and the three of them fall into a large room.

Johnsmeyer appears on a video screen, as well as the other sponsors, and he reveals to Kaine that Shannon was in on it the whole time. Furious, and wanting to fulfill the prophecy he envisioned moments earlier, Kaine prepares to make a move on Shannon to kill her. Spidey reasons with him and manages to convince him not to go along with his intentions. Kaine reluctantly agrees and lets Shannon go. He then vows to hunt down Johnsmeyer and prepares to leave. Spidey tells Kaine that he has to take him to the authorities but Kaine replies that he will not allow him to do so. Though Kaine is far bigger and stronger than he is – the result of his degeneration – Spidey gives it all and manages to get the upper hand on him, until Shannon reappears and uses her powers to stun him and give Kaine the diversion he needs to escape.

At issue's end, Peter and Mary Jane Parker arrive at the Daily Bugle and it is revealed that it was Peter that Jameson called to get to the bottom of the whole Spider-Man skeleton story.

This is where this issue of Spectacular Spider-Man picks up.

REVIEW: Still trapped in Cyber-Space, Dr. Seward Trainer, pulls his consciousness together – it had been scattered to the four corners of the virtual world – and heads back towards his body. It should prove relatively simple for him to jump back inside his body, since he can just ride the electric impulses of the various monitoring devices right into his brain, as long as the hospital is still monitoring his vital signs obviously. Unbeknownst to him, his daughter Carolyn, a.k.a. the new female Doctor Octopus, has requested that the hospital take him off the monitors in preparation for his transfer, which is scheduled for later that afternoon.

Peter Parker and his pregnant wife, Mary Jane, pay a visit to Ben Reilly at his apartment. Ben is ecstatic to see them and, after Peter explains the reason why they are in New York (i.e. the skeleton clad in a torn Spider-Man costume), he shows them said skeleton, which he stashed in a closet. Peter and MJ are taken aback so Ben explains that he wants to run tests on it to find out if he is just another clone...or something else. Just then, the doorbell rings and the voice of Jessica Carradine echoes through the door. Realizing that he had a date with Jessica, Ben totally freaks out, grabs the pouch containing the skeleton – sending bones flying all over the place – and tells Peter to hide in the airshaft, because when Jessica sees that the two of them look identical, she will start to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Peter tells Ben that he cannot climb in the airshaft, because he lost his powers (as seen in Spider-Man – The Final Adventures). Mary Jane jumps in the conversation and tells them to pretend that they are cousins whose fathers were identical twins. Ben and Peter go along with it and Ben opens the door for Jessica. He introduces Jessica to Peter and MJ and, as anticipated, Jessica is amazed at their striking resemblance. As she questions Peter about it, MJ calls Ben's attention to a bone lying on the floor in the middle of the living room. Ben nonchalantly kicks the bone underneath the couch, while Peter distracts her with talks of photography and takes her into the kitchen.

While Ben rushes to get the bone from underneath the sofa, Seward Trainer appears on the television to enlist Ben into helping him rejoin his body. Trainer explains that he has found a way to make it back into his body, however, his daughter Carolyn, has been orchestrating a coup that will ultimately lead to his demise. Just then, Peter and Jessica return from the kitchen and when asked what they are watching, MJ quickly replies that they are watching the Weather Network and Seward starts to rattle off the five-day forecast. Realizing who is on the TV screen, Peter almost lets it slip until MJ interrupts him and makes up a story about how they have to go visit his and Ben's uncle at the hospital. Ben jumps on the bandwagon and tells Jessica that only family is allowed to visit. Jessica buys the whole thing and leaves. The second she is gone, Ben suits up as Spider-Man and heads over to the hospital to try and stop Doc Ock from hurting her father.

Spidey arrives at the hospital and finds Carolyn Trainer and her two goons in the process of finalizing the necessary paperwork to get her father out. When confronted by Spidey, Carolyn "loses it" and attacks him. Spidey fends off her attack and tackles her out of the hospital and into the street below. Back inside the hospital, Carolyn's two goons grab hold of Seward and begin their escape. One of the doctors calls the police and security. Outside, the battle rages on between Spidey and Doc Ock. After several minutes of fighting, Spidey finally gets the upper hand and knocks her out.

A short time later, Carolyn/Doc Ock is taken into custody while Spidey checks up on Seward who has returned to his body and has emerged from his coma. It is revealed that, after taking care of Doc Ock, he apprehended her two goons, as they were trying to escape unnoticed, which is how he got Seward his body back. After a brief conversation, Spidey tells Seward that he has to go and that he will see him later.

Ben goes to Jessica Carradine's apartment to meet her, as they are planning to go out to the movies. Jessica is in her dark room developing photos and tells Ben to wait a few minutes, then she tells him to come on in. He is completely shocked when he opens the door and comes face-to-face with hundreds of pictures of Spider-Man, plastered all over the walls and ceiling.

To be continued in the pages of Sensational Spider-Man #3.