Back at his apartment, Miguel O'Hara continues the story of his strange transformation for his holographic digital assistant, Lyla. Though he had been changed, he was so numbed by the experience that it hadn't quite registered. He stared at his hands, his vision to out-of-whack to see them for the claws they had become. There was a buzzing in his ear, which he still couldn't quite make out as the voice of Aaron Delgato. (Unbeknownst to Miguel, the older, higher-ranking Aaron had just sabotaged the genetic template process Miguel had just undergone in an effort to do away with the young upstart.) Fearing for his life, Delgato pulls a gun on the now monstrous scientist, but Miguel manages to leap effortlessly away from the blasts. Miguel is barely able to recover his ability to speak before a stray blast hits a large canister labeled "DANGER". The resulting explosion punches a large hole through the Alchemax building, and sends the two men flying.

Miguel manages to catch Aaron by his arm, holding him stories above New York. Miguel holds as tight as he can, but Aaron resists, claiming the skin is being flayed from his arm. Finally freeing himself, Aaron Delgato falls to his death. Confused and horrified, Miguel finally notices that each finger is tipped in a razor-sharp talon. "Talons... Heightened vision... leaping like a spider...Dear Lord... the spider program... I'm a freak!" This startling realization is interrupted by a heavily armed squad of Public Eye security agents, who have Miguel (with his face covered) in their spotlights. Preferring death to being a freak, Miguel leaps from the building just before the agents open fire. As he falls Miguel just hopes to die -- for all of three seconds.

"What am I, nuts?!" Miguel screams for help, grasping at the building's smooth metal facade. Miguel manages to dig in his claws, slowing himself, and finally comes to a stop when talons on his toes dig in as well. Resolving not to look down, he begins a slow descent.

As more Public Eye and Fire Control arrive on the scene, Miguel looks on from a nearby rooftop. Aaron's bumbling attempt at homicide has left Miguel a monster, and now he doesn't have the guts to finish the job either. With "Public Eyeballs" crawling everywhere, there's no chance for escape. Or so it would seem until he hears a strange voice from above.

"Repent! Repent all of you! Repent Tyrants of Alchemax!" yells a man dressed as Thor from his personal glider. The man is a Thorite, a devotee of the Church of Thor, heralding a new day when Thor will return to "smite the Frost Giants of industry". Miguel calls after him, and leaps for the so-called "sky-kite", trying not to rip it to shreds. When the Thorite demands to know who he is, Miguel replies, "Easter Bunny. Santa Claus. Spider-Man. Take your pick." The name Spider-Man strikes home for the Thorite. Surely the return of one of Thor's legendary allies proves his own return is nigh! The two crash the kite into the ground below. Miguel is sorry about the ruined sky-kite, but the Thorite encourages him to take the torn fabric to fashion a mask. ("Spider-Man must be masked!")

In his office, Tyler Stone takes a tense call with Tiger Wylde, ruler of Latveria.[Continuity 1] Wylde shows stone what remains of his "assassin", stating that Alchemax must have declined sorely after he left the Corporate Raider program. Stone disavows any knowledge of an assignation, but Wylde just cuts him off. Enraged, Stone demands to see Dr. Crane and Venture, but his secretary informs him that Venture is already in the building, inspecting the damage site.

Down in the lab, the Elite agent known as Venture surveys the damage. His cybernetic eye can still pick up the thermal imprints left by Aaron Delgato and Miguel O'Hara, from their footprints to full body-shaped imprints where the men hit the floor. Venture's presence visibly shakes the investigators from Public Eye. When one whispers to his comrade that the Elite gives him the creeps,

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