Charlie (somewhat) aces his interview with Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) and is given a large sum of money and access to very expensive lab equipment. A week goes by before Peter gets any news from Charlie. The manner in which he gets the news however, displeases him very much. The Project Manager at Stark Industries calls Peter inquiring about the status of Charlie's project and Peter is left with no other choice but to lie to her; Peter only agreed that Charlie could use his name as a reference, not put him down as a project partner.

Angry with himself for accepting to help Charlie in the first place, Peter makes his way to Charlie's laboratory to confront him. While there, he realizes why Charlie did not update Stark Industries about his project nor call him. Charlie is using shortcuts with the Vibranium. Shortcuts that Stark Industries would not approve of, that would lead them to cancel the funding for his project. Peter gives Charlie an ultimatum: whether he tells Stark Industries the truth by the next morning or else he'll tell them.

With Peter gone, Charlie freaks out and sets in motion the production of the Vibranium skin-suit but something goes horribly wrong and the whole lab blows up. At issue’s end, Charlie lies on the ground, amidst the wreckage, covered in the Vibranium substance.

In Amazing Spider-Man #516, Charlie is rescued by firefighters rummaging through what's left of the laboratory but escapes before the police are able to interrogate him. In another part of town, Peter learns of the explosion so he heads over to the laboratory, as Spider-Man, to further investigate. While there, he overhears the police talking about Charlie mishandling Vibranium during his experiment and how he was not properly licensed to use it. Having heard enough, he heads back over to his apartment and only minutes after he's arrived, Charlie shows up at the door, begging him for help. Peter tries to reason with Charlie and entices him to turn himself in – the explosion killed two people – but Charlie refuses to do so and threatens Peter and his loved ones to help him or else...

ACT 1: Charlie is absolutely furious and blames Peter for everything that's happened. Peter tries to reason with him but he simply refuses to listen. Peter explains to Charlie that the police will not associate him with the explosion at the lab if he gets the skin suit off but that requires resources and money. Charlie replies that he personally cannot access his accounts looking like that but Peter can. He tells Peter to meet him at the United Bank on 3rd in two hours so that Peter can go in and withdraw the remainder of the funds out of his accounts before Stark Industries freezes them. Peter refuses to do so but Charlie threatens to kill Mary Jane and Aunt May if he does not go along with his plan. Once again, Peter reluctantly agrees.

ACT 2: Peter changes to his Spider-Man costume and makes his way across town to the theatre where Mary Jane is currently practicing for her Broadway play. After staring at Mary Jane for a few minutes – she is after all wearing fine lingerie for her role in the play – he informs her to swing by and get Aunt May, and check into a hotel while he takes care of the whole Charlie situation. In another part of town, Charlie has returned to his apartment to get checks to withdraw money at the bank. While he rummages trough his desk to find the checks, he sees a television news program that reports on the latest developments in the explosion at Stark Industries. Charlie does not pay attention to the broadcast until the news anchor mentions that an individual has come forward to tell them about Charlie, as he knew him in earlier years. Turning his attention to the television, Charlie listens as a man named Rich and his wife Sheila tell the camera that they knew Charlie from high school and that they always thought he was kind of weird and didn’t get along with anybody.

ACT 3: Flashback to when Charlie was attending Midtown High School years ago. Gym class is over and the boys are heading to the showers. Charlie is among them but gets easily distracted when he catches sight of the cheerleader practicing. Standing in awe at the cheerleader captain, a young blond woman named Sheila, Charlie is approached by one of the school's jocks, a guy named Rich. Rich tells Charlie that he'll introduce him to Sheila, so as to make amends for all the times he's picked on him. Rich pushes Charlie towards Sheila and introduces him as her biggest fan. Sheila appears flattered and asks Charlie which of her moves he liked best. Stuttering, Charlie replies that he liked them all and that he thinks she's beautiful. Sheila appears to be even more flattered by Charlie's compliments but then she turns to Rich and begins kissing him passionately, telling him that her boyfriend (Rich, obviously) also thinks she's beautiful. Distressed, Charlie starts walking away but Rich tackles him to the ground and pulls his pants off, giving them to Sheila as a souvenir from her biggest fan. The other cheerleaders burst out laughing at Charlie, who takes off running.

ACT 4: Back in the present, Charlie continues watching the news report, which only serves to infuriate him beyond the extreme. Having noticed that Rich and Sheila live at Rich's dad's old house, Charlie makes his way over there. Rich is getting out of the shower and heading back into his bedroom to get changed when Charlie shows up and – after a bit of small talk – impales Rich right through the chest.

ACT 5: Meanwhile, at the rendezvous point where Peter and Charlie are supposed to meet (i.e. the United Bank on 3rd), Peter – as Spider-Man – waits impatiently, several stories above the street level, for Charlie to show up. His spider-sense tingling, Spidey finally spots Charlie – his shocking appearance concealed with a hat and trench coat – amidst a crowd of bystanders unaware that a killer is walking amongst them. Trying to find a justification to go down at street level and get involved, Spidey shoots a webline at Charlie and snags his hat off, revealing his less-than-pleasing condition to those surrounding him. As bystanders flee the scene – having recognized Charlie as being the "guy the police have been looking for" – Spidey swings down and attacks Charlie. Charlie retaliates by striking at Spidey but only manages to destroy a nearby car and brick wall. Realizing that webs are the best chance he has to capture Charlie without hurting him, Spidey webs him up real good. But Charlie's trench coat takes most of the blast and Charlie easily tears through the webbing by taking it off. At that moment, Spidey notices that Charlie is covered in blood that does not belong to him. Not thinking twice about concealing the fact that he knows that it is Charlie underneath the skin-suit, Spidey calls him Charlie and asks him what he did. Realizing that it wasn't simply a coincidence that Spidey was waiting for him, Charlie deduces that Peter called Spidey and asked him to come over there. Pissed off that Peter betrayed him – so he thinks anyways – Charlie advances towards Spidey, who tries to web him up. But Charlie's abilities allow him to prevent the webbing from sticking to his Vibranium-covered body. Fuelled by his enjoyment of his new powers and his newfound hatred for Spidey, Charlie grabs a SUV parked nearby and throws it at a bunch of innocent bystanders standing close by. Spidey leaps atop the flying SUV, performs a series of pirouettes and flips, and manages to land it back on the ground, safely away from the fleeing pedestrians. But as he does so, Charlie uses that opportunity to flee the scene. Realizing that Charlie is gone, Spidey swings off after him, hoping to pick up his trail before anybody else gets hurt. A few minutes later, Charlie arrives at the Parker household in Forest Hills, Queens and kicks the front door down. As he makes his way into the house, he calls for Aunt May and tells her that he is going to show her how little Peter thinks her life is worth.

To be continued.