Leading right from last issue, Spider-Man and
Nightcrawler hang from cables while the Punisher aims to shoot them from a
cable car! Spider-Man swings around to the cable car while Nightcrawler hops on
top, flipping down to attack the Punisher. The Punisher flips Nightcrawler over
his head and back out of the cable car as Spider-Man lands inside. Spidey
disarms the Punisher but he ends up pinning Spidey to the wall with a couple of
knives. Before anything else can happen, the cable car gets lit up by sniper bullets
from afar, causing Spidey and Punisher to duck inside, and Nightcrawler to seek
refuge on the underside of the cable car. Once the bullets have stopped,
Nightcrawler teleports to the nearby bridge, where he spots the shooter making
his escape. Still too weak from his long teleport, Nightcrawler hopes that one
of the other two saw the shooter as well. However, back in the cable car,
Punisher at least realizes that someone else is impersonating him and offers
Spidey to join his hunt. Spidey and Punisher swing down to Punisher’s van and
break through a police barricade to escape. Once free from sight, Spidey and
Punisher plan to reconvene the next night to put their plan into action.
The next morning, while walking with Harry at ESU,
Peter spots Mary Jane lounging around with Flash on the grass. Evidently still
upset with Peter for abandoning her on yet another date, Mary Jane chooses to
head out with Flash and tells Peter to call her sometime. While Peter stews
over his love troubles, he notices J. Jonah Jameson arrive and sourly thinks
that he’s already had enough grief. However, Jameson heads to see Dr. Marla
Madison, a prominent electro-biologist, and asks if she wants to help him destroy
Spider-Man! Later that night, Spidey meets up with Punisher and they head to a
neighborhood in the midst of a block party, where Punisher’s sources told him
his impersonator will strike next. While Punisher searches the alleys,
Spider-Man watches from the rooftops, not entirely sure what he’s looking for.
Spidey is spotted by a lookout, who alerts his boss to Spidey’s arrival, just
before the lookout is taken out by someone unseen! Meanwhile, Spidey spots
someone lying in an alley and thinks the killer has already struck! However,
when he goes down to investigate, he’s surprised by two henchmen and knocked
out.
Not long after, Spider-Man is hung up by chains in the
middle of the gathering, as the Punisher impersonator finally makes himself
known as Jigsaw! Wanting revenge on Punisher for disfiguring him, he taunts
Punisher to come out or he’ll start killing people in the crowd. The Punisher
shoots at him from afar, but Jigsaw avoids his fire and threatens to kill
Spider-Man unless he shows himself! At that moment, Nightcrawler makes his
presence known as well, having been the one who knocked out the lookout earlier,
and pounces on Jigsaw! The Punisher drops to the street as well, shooting and
gassing Jigsaw’s men, as Spidey finally wakes up. Spider-Man breaks the chains
holding him, and he, Nightcrawler, and Punisher start barreling through
Jigsaw’s men! Not wanting to be caught or killed, Jigsaw runs and commandeers a
firetruck to escape. Spider-Man catches up with him, and Jigsaw tries using the
water hose to knock Spidey off. Spidey disconnects the hose, which ends up
getting tangled in the truck’s axle, causing the truck to crash and Jigsaw to
get taken out. Nightcrawler and Punisher catch up with Spidey, having taken out
the rest of the gang. With Jigsaw captured, the three go their separate ways,
with one last note in Punisher’s journal stating that another battle was over,
but that the war goes on!
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