Such concerns are not entirely baseless, as Francis Klum, a.k.a. the new Mysterio, has now proven. The villain made his move on Midtown High, transforming it into a haunted house and trapping Peter, Flash Thompson, the principal, Ms. Arrow (the new school nurse) and a small group of kids inside.

But even for Mysterio, not all is as it seems. He now finds himself face-to-face – or bowl-to-bowl, rather – with someone else who purports to be Quentin Beck, the original, now-deceased Mysterio.

ACT 1: Surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke, Midtown High is impenetrable. The captain in charge of the situation is trying to keep the amassing crowd at a reasonable distance away from the building, so he can figure out his next move. As he asks one of his subordinates to tell him who is inside the school, another Mysterio, different from the two that were introduced last issue, appears and tells the captain that a man named Francis Klum is inside the school pretending to be Mysterio. Drawing their weapons, the captain and his subordinate point them at this Mysterio, since he is after all a bad guy. This Mysterio walks right past them, quoting the "Art of War" – the enemy of my enemy is my friend – and explains that his helmet will allow him to penetrate the cloud. With that being said, he disappears into it.

ACT 2: Inside the school, Peter Parker, as Spider-Man, is still trying to figure out where his students went, when a greenish mist starts to spread through the halls. Protected by the filtration system of his new costume, Peter is unaffected. Deducing that Mysterio-Klum does not know that, Peter decides to pretend that the mist is having an effect on him to lure him out. Subsequently, he throws himself to the ground and starts to scream and squirm that there are monsters all around him. Just then, Roger, the school principal, shows up, asking Peter if he is okay. Peter replies that he was trying to act scared to lure out Mysterio-Klum but Roger is unimpressed with Peter's acting. Suddenly, Peter’s spider-sense kicks in, warning him of danger. Peter throws himself over Roger, knocking him to the ground, just as hundreds of bats come flying down on them. As the bats flutter away, Peter hears someone calling his name. As he looks up, he sees that the bats are carrying Mary Jane in their claws. Getting back on his two feet, Peter takes off after her, closely followed by Roger, who does not want to be left alone.

ACT 3: Inside the school auditorium, Mysterio-Klum accuses Mysterio-Beck of being an impostor since Quentin Beck is dead, or supposed to be dead anyways. Mysterio-Klum then tries to teleport where Mysterio-Beck is standing to basically blow his body apart from the inside, but Mysterio-Beck is somehow protected against his attack. Trying to regain his footing – he was knocked to the ground when his attack failed – Mysterio-Klum contests that he cannot be Quentin Beck, since he committed suicide, so he asks if he is Beck’s old friend, Daniel Berkhart. Mysterio-Beck replies that he is not Berkhart; however, he comments that Berkhart did show up a few minutes earlier, thus revealing that the Mysterio that entered the school in the first ACT is in fact Daniel Berkhart. Mysterio-Beck tells Mysterio-Klum that he has been given a rare opportunity to prove himself and to conquer not only a fellow pretender but Spider-Man as well. He concludes that his new associates are very interested in the outcome.

ACT 4: Flash Thompson, Nurse Arrow, and the students they are looking after, stand at one end of a corridor, preparing to make their way to the other end. Flash tells Nurse Arrow to stay with the kids while he runs the hallway first to make sure it is not booby-trapped. After yelling football jargon to get himself all fired up, Flash takes off like a bullet across the hallway and makes it to the other end, opening the door leading into another room. As he does so, he mysteriously finds himself standing right behind Nurse Arrow and the students. Needless to say that Flash is flabbergasted. He tells them that, since he was not attacked, they can now go, and as he steps forward, the floor underneath his feet opens up like a giant trapdoor, revealing one massive red eye surrounded by squirming tentacles. Flash tumbles in but manages to hold on by his fingertips to whatever remains of the floor.

ACT 5: When Peter finds Mary Jane, she is being held hostage by none other than Dracula. Peter is about to save her from the vampire lord when he realizes that she is not real and decides not to save her after all. Roger is utterly dismayed and wonders how Peter can be so sure that it is not really her. Peter explains that whoever "built" her forgot to put a wedding ring on her finger. Roger comments that perhaps she was wearing it and it fell off. Realizing that Roger could be right, Peter decides to phone MJ to make sure she is safe. His instincts were right; she is indeed safe at Avengers Tower.

ACT 6: The squirming tentacles are coming up on Flash, who still dangles from his fingertips. Heroically, Flash tells Nurse Arrow and the kids to get out of there. Listening to him, they start running, with the exception of one student, Jeremy, who comes to Flash's rescue, using a Swiss army knife he carries in his pocket to jab at the tentacles. The tentacles let go of Flash and he and Jeremy join Nurse Arrow and the other students, who are waiting nearby. Flash briefly drills Jeremy for having a knife at school but chooses not to do anything about it, since Jeremy saved his life. As Nurse Arrow lies against a locker, commenting on Jeremy having a knife at school, the locker door suddenly opens and she is dragged inside, before Flash or any of the students can do anything about it. Flash tries in vain to open the locker door and when he does, it is empty and Nurse Arrow is nowhere to be found.

ACT 7: One last time, Peter calls for Mysterio to show up and confront him. On cue, Mysterio-Klum materializes in front of him and vows to kill him easily and quickly. Just then, Mysterio-Berkhart appears and tells Peter that he is going to help him beat Mysterio-Klum, whom he calls an impostor. Peter is taken aback with the fact that Mysterio-Berkhart wants to help him.

ACT 8: Nurse Arrow falls out of a locker and into a hallway different from the one where she was last seen standing. Mysterio-Beck appears to her and comments that she seems to be an innocent bystander in all of this. He then comments that "seem" is such a subtle word; as in, things are not always what they seem. He then taunts her saying "isn't that the case, Miss Arrow?" Nurse Arrow asks who he is. Mysterio-Beck replies that he is Quentin Beck, also known as Mysterio, and adds that she probably heard that he was dead and that he'd taken a gun and blown his brains out. Nurse Arrow comments that the reports of his death were undoubtedly greatly exaggerated. Mysterio-Beck replies that they were not and proceeds to remove his fish-bowl helmet, revealing Quentin Beck with half of his head missing.

To be continued.