Hammerhead has a badly bruised and battered Spider-Man hanging upside down by the ankle. Spidey has a dislocated jaw, broken ribs and a horde of other broken bones. Needless to say, he's in a lot of pain. Just then, Harold unleashes a barrage of bullets in Hammerhead's direction; unfortunately, to no avail, though he lets go of Spidey. Hammerhead repeats his earlier offer to the GFL2K: either they pledge their loyalty to Mr. Negative or they all die right there and then. Half-lying on the floor, Spidey notices how rotten and mouldy the wooden floor is. Realizing that the tiniest bit of pressure would cause it collapse, Spidey purposely pounds the floor. As predicted, the floor caves in under the collective weight of Hammerhead and Spidey. Before Hammerhead can do more harm to him, Spidey swings upward, away from his adversary. Spidey gets to Harold and Anthony, grabs hold of them and swings away; bullets zooming by, missing then but by a few inches. Harold fires back, hitting Hammerhead in the head. Hammerhead falls off the building and smashes into a parked car, flattening it like a pancake. Harold thinks he's killed him but Spidey knows that Hammerhead is not that easily defeated. With very little energy left in him, Spidey "lands" them in a large garbage bin. Spidey stumbles out of the bin and proceeds to put his dislocated jaw back into place by slamming his face into the side of the garbage bin. Barely able to stand straight, he covers his mask with webbing – to conceal his identity should someone try to remove his mask – and he then passes out. Harold and Anthony are left wondering what to do.
While unconscious, Spidey has weird dreams about Hammerhead, shown as a half-man, half-machine, with Mr. Negative looking on. When Spidey awakens hours later, he is furious when he discovers that his web cartridges and spider-tracers have been stolen by Harold and Anthony. Spidey wished he was still dreaming; no such luck.
The next morning, we find Peter sitting at the kitchen table of the apartment he shares with Officer Vincent Gonzales. His face badly swollen and scarred, Peter is eating his breakfast through a straw, literally. When Gonzales sees him, he is totally shocked and he asks what happened to him. Peter jokes around with Gonzales at first but eventually explains that he was beat up by a gang. Vin suggest that Peter stay away from those guys, as they have been bred to sacrifice their lives for their cause. Next time, they may not go easy on Peter; they might just kill him.
A short time later, at the offices of the Front Line newspaper, Peter meets with Ben Urich and Norah Winters to discuss Hammerhead's recent (deadly) efforts to consolidate neighbourhood gangs into his new crew; in other words, forcing them to join he and Mr. Negative. Though aware of the possible repercussions of doing a story on gangs, Norah is on board to write the story while Peter takes photographs. With that said, the meeting is adjourned.
Elsewhere, Hammerhead is getting his head fixed up by Dr. Tramma, a specialist in cybernetic implants who works for Mr. Negative. Mr. Negative is impressed with Hammerhead's work. In fact, the gangs are now flocking to him, swearing their allegiance, as they are scared that Hammerhead is going to find them and kill them all. Just then, Hammerhead receives a phone call from an unidentified caller. Hammerhead appears content.
After several subway and bus rides, Peter and Norah arrive in the Bronx. After looking around for a few minutes, they run into Harold who reveals to them that Hammerhead has his brother. As Norah tries to convince Harold that she and Peter can help, Peter ditches them by running up a nearby wall and disappearing over the rooftop ledge.
Minutes later, Peter has donned his Spider-Man costume and is searching the Highbridge Train Yard for any signs of Anthony, Harold's little brother. Homing in on his spider-tracer's signal, Spidey soon finds Anthony inside an abandoned bus. Unfortunately, Anthony is not alone – he has an entire crew of gang-bangers with him and they're all armed to the teeth. It turns out that Anthony, and the others with him, are in favour of pledging their allegiance to Hammerhead/Mr. Negative in return for protection, money, and a home. Spidey argues that Hammerhead is a coward who uses violence to make others do what he wants. Spidey points out that they have to look at the bigger picture, as it won't ever end unless it stops with them right there and then. He also cannot believe that they are considering shooting him. Spidey's speech works, as all the gang-bangers lower their weapons, indicating that they are not interested in killing him. Spidey reveals to Anthony that Harold is on his way and that he is scared for the two of them, as Harold doesn't want this life for either of them. Spidey is willing to help but only if Anthony chooses a different life. Before Anthony can say anything, Hammerhead shows up.
Spidey turns around and faces the mountain-esque Hammerhead. It turns out that the unidentified caller who called Hammerhead earlier, while he was getting fixed up, was none other than Anthony himself. Spidey cannot believe Hammerhead is going after kids. Hammerhead responds that he's found his new purpose – evidently destruction – and he's embraced it. He issues Spidey an ultimatum: he either sides with Mr. Negative or else die. Before Hammerhead can carry out any of his threats, Spidey spins a large web to try and prevent Hammerhead from reaching him and the kids. Unfortunately, Hammerhead starts tearing through the web with very little effort. Realizing that something must be done right away, Spidey escapes through the emergency hatch in the ceiling of the abandoned bus and surprises Hammerhead from behind. At the same time, Harold and Norah Winters arrive on the scene. Spidey snags Hammerhead with a web-line, pulling with all his might. Hammerhead, though surprisingly heavy, is sent crashing face first into the ground. Hammerhead retaliates by throwing pieces of shrapnel and glass at Spidey but he dodges the objects and proceeds to attack Hammerhead, purposely dislocating his metal hip. In undeniable pain, Hammerhead angrily wriggles on the ground, vowing to him. As Spidey webs up Hammerhead, he warns him to stay away from the gangs, or else he'll go after his other hip.
A short time later, Peter and Norah rejoice over the latest front page of the Front Line newspaper. The story of Spider-Man saving local gangs from Hammerhead is the main article featured (words by Norah with pictures by Peter). Despite this, Norah is somewhat mad at Peter for ditching her (as seen earlier). Peter tauntingly retorts that he doesn't need her permission to get a shot. Norah responds that thirty-four of the thirty-five shots he took were unusable because they were so blurry. To throw salt into the wound, she calls him "Peter Parkinson", which is the name ex-employer Dexter Bennett used to call him. Peter – all in good fun – replies that she is evil to say something like that, as she doesn't even know him. Norah tells Peter that she is willing to bet him ten bucks that he won't let her pay for dinner when she takes him out to celebrate later that night. Peter is left wondering if he was just asked out on a date.
The end...for now.
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