Having just defeated his henchmen last issue,
Spider-Man comes face to face with Doctor Faustus. Faustus recounts how he
survived his previous scheme (from Captain America #192), by parachuting from
his plane despite his fear of heights. Faustus blows smoke into Spidey’s face
and just as Spidey lunges to attack Faustus, he’s grabbed by who appears to be
Doctor Octopus coming right out of the wall! Several more of Spidey’s deadliest
enemies join Ock as they all pile on Spidey! Spidey is then saved by Doctor
Faustus, who commands the apparitions to begone, and they vanish just like
that! Faustus then tells the dazed Spidey that he’ll feel alright in a matter
of moments! Meanwhile, Mary Jane joins Liz in dress shopping for her wedding.
Liz holds the dress up in front of Mary Jane, thinking it looks better on her.
MJ idly wonders what Peter would think if he saw her like this, before
frantically pushing the dress aside when the shop attendant comes over to check
on them.
Back with Spidey, it turns out the smoke Faustus blew
at him has caused him to fall under Faustus’s hypnotic suggestion. Faustus has
his men use the laser cannon they brought along to shoot a hole into the
building next door and tells Spidey to lead the way through the traps on the
other side! As soon as Spidey peeks his head through, his spider-sense goes
off, so he decides to test the corridor by rolling a couple of bullets down it.
The bullets don’t get far before stun-beam lasers shoot out of the wall,
attempting to incapacitate anyone who tries to walk down the hallway. Spidey
uses his spider-sense to warn him about which tiles will activate the
stun-beams and has everyone else literally follows behind him in his footsteps.
As they make their way down, strobe lights flash from the walls, blinding the
whole group! Spidey attempts to continue to lead them with his spider-sense,
but one of the henchmen accidentally steps on the wrong tile and sets off the
stun-beams! With everyone else not daring to move, Spidey flips through the
beams until he reaches the control box at the end of the hallway. Spidey rips
it off the wall, which shuts off the lasers, and lets everyone proceed into the
next chamber, and Faustus’s goal!
Elsewhere, in Forest Hills, a real estate agent shows
a mysterious man around Aunt May’s old home. The man says he’ll take it and
swears to himself that he won’t leave until the secret hidden there is his! Back
with Spidey, Faustus reveals his ultimate plan. Inside that chamber is a new
flu vaccine set to be distributed to the entire country. Faustus plans to mix
in his psychogenic additive, in order to put everyone who takes the vaccine
under his hypnotic control! Just then, Spider-Man comes back to his senses, the
vents right above him having purified the air and cleared his head. Spidey
snatches the additive and webs it to the celling before taking on Faustus’s
men. Spidey makes quick work of the henchmen before taking on Faustus himself.
Faustus hits Spidey with more of his hypnotic gas, causing Spidey to stumble
around while Faustus escapes. Spidey follows Faustus down the corridor they
came in through, and has the bright idea to reconnect the torn wires in the
control box, reactivating the stun-beam lasers and incapacitating Faustus!
Spidey hears police sirens approaching and leaves Faustus and his men tied up
for the police to find, all bundled with a note from your friendly neighborhood
Spider-Man!
Give that special marvelite a timely gift